The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-06-16 00:00:00

'\l46

Requisition to the High Bailiff sins prepared, and put
,in circulation. Being in three parts, these could not
be again collected twfore the 'post Wettedut on Sit ur.
day ; trot on Monday, the eggs, it envy was trees.
milted to the lfigh Num at his l:00%o noir C.ilts.
brook, its a letter requesting he a tult! iostiuct hie
Deputy to orange matters kesPeetieg the Need*
for which we applied. The iterpiisltlon was eigtied
by 118 householders. It is understood 10 be a rule
of common ciliate, between Getrilerhen grid Gentle-
man, always to answer a letter on business; but to
this letter I never received any answer Witaterer.—te
The 118 householtleis received as little eitentiOn.
—After waiting till their pritlence was quite mt.:
hausteti, and eonceillisg theologies to be very
sharhefully triard with, they detehtiltieel to tie no
!Center obstructed in the etetefee of their right to
petition actin; aitti therefore on Sattert!hy last, ht.
in the evening, they detpatchell to the Sartaiey
pers their Advertisement for plfittg this
With regard to the High Bailiff, f im sorry that hit
:1.43 sho.. II himself so touch ender the influence of
ill @dike; but, as be has done so; it ii high time to
let hire etirl.hie tethers know, abet iengllshMen do
not etepeod on men in office for the liberty of as:
Isendilirig-tn consult together on qiiestlnrit of import•!
ance.—This etindoet of the Bight i3ailitf brings us
beck to the practice •of Westminster when I was
first connected with her. as one of her Committee
of Associative for Parliamentary &form, 35 rani
ago. A paper. new in my hied, mime-his the Pro:
ceedings of a General Meeting, whkh *is not callete
by the High ii-tilitf,• neither did he therein preside.
The Meeting had been' called by a Constaineei.nbick,
Committee hid been appointed in ai prier Genterri
Meeting, and instructed to cn!t ()friend Meetings,
whenever it should appear to them tweets/try. At
this General Meeting the Representative of the City,
Mr. For, presided ; as our Representative, Sir
Fraveis Burdett, now presides, anti its lest Resetutien
is this—
' Restored. That Viia Meerfez t.e :ie.:our:el, :abject to a call
he toe committee ef
Had the High Bailiff uniformly acted accotcling to
his own disposition, I am persuaded lie should hare
had no reason to complain. But, having subletteet
himself to ill advice, the case is otherwise. That we
may never mote bow our necks to a yoke Ott has
been found so very galling, I shall propose to you a
Resolution or two, that will emancipate you in fu.
lure, and leave the citizens of Westminster toasters
of their own meetings, w ithoat having to dance anon&
ance at. an attorney's office, exposed to indignity,
counteraction, and the meanest mid most vexatious
obsruction to which a petty agent dare retort...-.
This person has, more than Once; had the *sump.
Lion to demand of Englishmen, applying to his Male
ter for general nseetinge, to couch their requisitions
in words of his dictation, as the condition of listing
those meetings called. Can we then• be surprised
that an all-potent state faction Should attempt to die.
tate in what sort of language petitions shdold be mei
pressed, as a condition of their not being rejected?
What has been experienced at the Affica of the De-
puty-Bailiff, not only on this last, but on foimer oc-
caeions aloe, fatly illostretes the difference hetweem
public officers ' who are concerned in matters that
aloes the liberty of the people,' being by the people
themselves elected, or being otherwise appointed.—
Formerly they were all elected by the people • but
now, with the exception of Middlesex and West.
mornsd, the Sheriff's are appointed by the Crown,
and the Prince of Wales, es Duke of Crimean.—
Our Hills Bailiff is appointed by the Dean and
Chapter of Westminster, of whom be buys his office.
I em therefore of opinion, that an ratter so appoint.
ed is net so likely to watch over your portieal righti
and liberties, or st ill be so ready to convene you in
support of them, as your Representative, Sir F.
Burdett, assisted by thirty others of your trusty
fellow-citiz• ns, forming such a Committee as I mean
to propose to you. Nor till any Such Committee
in the smallest degree abridge the gotterd liberty
of calling meetings, a right that will still be vs °pert
as before to the householders at large. 0., the
subject of the rejection of our Petition, I feel my.
self particularly called on to stand forward In its
vindication, as it was at my Itistnnee that it was
honoured with the adoption of my fellow.cliizens.
In the new Petition I no* mean to submit to yon
(a Petition which has already been submitted to
friends who are eminently learned in the Coned.
tution), I hare carefully attended to that vindica-
,tlors. I have, therefore, the less occasion to trouble
.you with verbal arguments. With reference, how.:
ever, to Petitions, praying a House of Commons
to. reform its o.wrt eerruptions, you must be aware
hew impossible it must be to write any thing
worth reading, to which seek a House could listen
.without displeasure. Such a tiffs must bees imprac.
nicable as it was for the lamb, in the fable; to please
the wolf. What, then, is to be done? Are we to
affect blindness of the corruptions and so betray the
cause of Reform ? Are we to be silent on oar
wrongs, and so abandon all hope of recovering our
rights ? If it be this blindness and this silence; which
placemeo (who ought not to have is that House either
vote or voice, teaching the liberties of the people)
call respect, it is as evident that they make as free
'-with our language as with our laws and our purses.
-Respect is the homage due to that which in its own
nature is respectable. Is corruption respectable? It
a violation of liberty and property respectable? Is
usurpation of seats In a Commons House, by 80.
rough-monger Peers, respectable? Or is a buying
and selling of the seals, like the buying and selling of
soap and candles, respectable ? I think slot ; and
no power on earth shall compel Inc to treat such
abominations with respect. But a Commons !lonia
of Parliament is respectable. Granted. So say we all.
In the ti ut h of-language, however, a Commons Pointe
means an Assemhly, consisting of real Representa-
tives of the Commons. If, however, persona have
got possession, who are not real Representatives,
how stands the case then ? Here, Gentlemen,
the hinge on which our controversy turns- Here it
is that our adverseries piny with us at erosi-par.
poses. When we speak. of a Ointinots House, we
acknowledge it to be an object of tee/sect; those
who have got fraudulent pusseaslon immediately cry
out, ' We are the Comm erts Rouse—lt is in vein
that we quote facts recorded on• their Jeconels....
it Is in vain that we refer them to a list of Peers,
who have sent them thew by hundreds—it is In vale
that use question;- whether twenty In 658 can lay