The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-06-15 00:00:00

set by the extiyessions of regret at a Si an's conduct
hem,* while it prorested to leave the i ad v of his nee
dyes unqnestiooefl, it sTaim-le armies the sonthinem
°qedfpnit'onk
coauinte:enatrynnitgeetdaictilik:rwth'rrhionuegegNhn't:bhrleael
;ssiliraloesfrqinofesft:telaili:s.:ntneetaiproprat,ineirei'
Li he c innty of Kent were Cu have DO mane. be knew so
y
4 6ar sabersleie
riie;ieagainst
o whichce.co utilthtdhe
elaywnir
ba
st
itheiige impossible,L slighteste:adieer4
nde claimea
however,
hp::dt ua,ips
obrutoiatbmini
ttfinhosb
ee:
the meeting. oonlil both be sustained. If the inefeina
item to blame,
Leader. were to blame. the Meeting must escape.—
ILA attacks could sot exist together with env appear.
ance of reason. lbs. Whig ',Owlets, however, were
clearly exculpated ; fir a tt big Nobleman opposed the
objectionable proposal, and be and his frimids Tare.;
against it. Blame, for factions purposes, bad heed
thrown.upos them; hilt tiny had given their decided
opposition to the proposal, and more could not be ex-
petted of them. He (Mr. itrolighem). had their .nth..
L,gity for saying. that in their belief the opinion of the
'meetin was so decidedly in favour of the proposal
that affg outo.sition to it wool I be ineffectual. H
certainly believed, that hail the meaeisg.and theses,.
quinces of this proposal been fully explained to theslll
they would nut lave adopted it ; but he .hid not think
the'afloptiou of it t",k away frd.o the vale of the rest
of the petition. The distress., of the !wiows, and of
which they complained, could not be denied. fir it trae
notorious; and he bogged to deny that, in eonseqtaam
of the adoption of this proposal by.the Kentish meet.
ing, men of weight sad character °tight to withhold
their attendance sad support from coutee meetings.—
Ile trusted the comities of England vomit continue to
meet, to describe their 'offerings, and to protest aeairist
the system of misgovernuseut "bleb had neeesioned!
them And will regard to the presereatiow of national
raith, he Couch: tbatihe more the immtimi was dis-
cueseil and sifted 'o the bottoin, the more 'was laic,
credit likely to be snetaised.—(llea, liear.)— per-
fectly agreed that nothing but that state of thin
altogether precluded comment should indoor. pettiest*.
to listen fora momeot to. the crude arneletpdierstear pro=
posal which bail found its way into tioliphilermh.
Mr. CA Lelt.% FT explained. i
Sir E. KNATCiI.aiI....I. said he exerted himself to
point out the tendetcy pf the proposition in question;
hut the meeting world not lists is to Isita.—(,t fang's.) .
Mr. IiONYWO(M) explained, hut we etsulit not oi--
tinntly hear the explteatiou. We 'ender:steed Mtn to
say that a Noble Prienil of his wield idol have ex:
plained the consequence of the proposal had it not been
that he was fatigued by being squerz.el up lit a waggon
at the nfeetin,e..—(A laugh.)
The 'Marquess of LONDONDFARY said, be believed
the Whig Leaders would be little thankful for the de-
fence which had been made fur them by the Hon. and
Learned Gentleman. But he (the Marqnees) tray in the
judgment of the House, whether lie had said any thin;
to discoarage the bolding of County Meetingo.
Mr. BROCIIIIAM said, that however objectionable
or unjust the proposal of the Petitioners might be. it
was nut more so than the policr of the Noble Ma-
gness respecting the Restriction of 'Cash Payments, ant
the subsequent Resumption of them.—(there there was
a general cry of " Sixths., spoke ;" and the lion. atd
Learned Gentleman sat down.)
Lord CLIFTON said, he admitted there had been t
want of spirit among the Whig Leaders on die occaaioe
in qaestion.—(Cheers.) lie would, bauble an aulivi•
dual as he was, have addressed the alerting an the sat.,
Joe' of the proposal in questioe, had hr not !vein in,
duced to forbear doing so by the opinion or a Noble
Relative of his. But notwithstanding the obnoxious
ryder to this Petition, be trusted the Mouse would not
consider the whole of this Petition as without valise.—
How Mr. Cobbett bad got possession of the Meeting it
really was impossible to imagine. He (Lard C.) for.
one condemned the proposal es one of a revolutionary
character.
Mr. Secretary PEEL said, the manly and haeoming
acknowledgement at the Noble Lord was a better de-
fence for the Whig Leaders than that which had bees
made for them be the Hon. and Learned Gentleman.—
(Cheers.) Why Mr. Cobbett bad got possession of the
Meeting was evident enough, he had boldly and MlTl-
filly stated his proposal The charge againit the Meet-
ing was not that titter had petitioned for Parliamentary
Reform, but that t hey hail made the proposal eentained
at the end of the Petition. The Leaders were highly
blameable for neat cooling forward and meeting Mr
Cobbett in 'exultant. It was Ile defence for them that
one of them was Bred and squeezed in a waggon. The
proposal was tinionbtedly crude mid uo ligested, but it
was manly and direct; and he preferred even that, to
the insidious observations which went fort'. to the world
that, though that Impose' war hail, the Parliament bad
adopted measures which were worse.
Mr. BENNET r said he was not surprised that the
Right lion. Gentleman was dioirons to do sway the dis-
grace which a•ta :lied to the pillage in the first instance
of the public creditor, and the pillage afterwards of the
public debtor, which had been committed hy the tar.
vernment. These profligate and abandoned exanip!t,
had corrupted the hosed feeitigs of the colintry ;
though after all be did not think that the proposal le
question could lot coneidered as the act of a discuseine
body.
Mr. IVESTERN said, he was surprised at the con-
summate assurance of the Right lion. tlestleinior (17.7:,-
site, in denouncing the people of Kent fer an et:pre--
4cm coming from them in the depth of tl*ir misery.--
The meeting was most respectable, no I lie believed ;,
was not Mr. Cobbett who wrong the ol,nnaititie expo.-
sion from theta; hut that it was of their own accord.
He believed too, that it was not their opinion alone. but
that of so many of the most respectable people of the
icountry, and was gaining groan(' so fast, es to eeflanga
the peace and tranquillity of the contitry.
Mr. IHTMh: coutended, that the words of the Petition.
calling for a just redaction of the interest of the debt
after the reform of that house could be coestmed in
fairness to mean no more than a similar reduction to
that lately made by the ClEtneellor of the FACheqllNr.
The Whigs had been accused, but he complained of the
'Furies as the etiernies of the country. and those who
were the cause of all the evils tattler which it was wt'
ferieg.
Sir F. BURDETT thought it was veer hard that hi,
Hon. Friend, the Member for Kent (Mr. llonyemAe
should he fallen spun in the way lie had been bea both
sides of the douse, is consequence of his omission to
do what few of the most experienced public men 'Retail
have had presence of mind to do in his situation. It was
plain that his Hon. Friend was overwhelmed by a sad.
den elilli.ion of popular feeling. Out least of all did
he think his lion. e rten,i's Colleague (Sir E. h.:tau:t-
hrill) had any right to censure histi, when lie, the Tory
Member for the county, and known to be the liostils to
the proceeding altogether, did not manfully 4.., forward
to no. With respect to the' merits of the e .tton, hr did
think that it was not at all fair to stigmatiee the MOk
in the way they bad been for the proposition the pet;.
tioners had made. He hoped the House would not a -
low the Noble Marquess opposite to put diem in a star.
of I cea ilitywitla the people. The people had a sit.,
cativo.% any question as to the just union' of any deb"
fir which they were burdened; and in espressim: Incr..
opinion on the result of their deliberation, they wee,
nhmstitoa heri4.l7latntoiltelseewriethirdpuischbossenesnttyc.
extent ; and whatever the Noble Marquess might le!,
this House on the subject, the people would not het
ti it.
dopes in schemes that almost idiots Ciiiiit sec We g
,orfi
eh
lie ytot h
tohmeg bttttth;.l