The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-05-24 00:00:00

. THE STATES tAN

duct, and the dreidful consequencei• attendant
upon them—es must d'i:d ought to deter us front
lightly agitating a question founded upon the
sertion of our rights upon ally other grounds than
those which aro perfectly consitutional. May
God remove from this country evils such as these,
and may he in time olio' the eyes of our Rulers
to, see the danger into which their precipitate Mea-
sures are hurling the people of this kingdom !--
Ma, they see the danger Of a Systematic opposition
'to all those measures which are by those best ca-
Pablo of judgingt I mean the People at large,
considered fur their benefit! May they reflect
upon the probable consequences Of the contempt
they have hewn fur the public opinion, amid
their unfeeling regard and inattention( to the op-
pressions under which this country labours! May
they be actuated by a proper feeling towards this
plundered; oppressed, hilt enlightened, and there-
fore, patidot People !. [Loud plaudits.] I ant
no theorist—l am no visionary theorist, I want
nothing new—l wish only to see the Constitution of
the country restored—l wish to see the Constitu.
tioii as it was enjoyed by our ancestors—l wish to
see it restored to that purity which an enlightened
People are justified in expecting; and wise Alai.-
ters actuated by constitutional principles, might
with safety establish—l wish W see the venerable
fabric of the British Constitution teutain entire--
I wish we may Hand it clown to our posterity as
our ancestors transmitted it to us—l feel a con-
viction in my own mind that our Constitution has
been violated by pretended Reformers.— that it has
been deteriuriated by innovators—=that in the
beauty of its structure and the fitness of its parts
it cannot be equalled.—What I wish is to unite the
advantages which are to be found in the theory of
the British Constitution with its practice, and to
connect the energy of despotic rule with the
freedom of Goternment—l wish to lay
open to the meritorious the paths of honour.
—I wish our old Constitution to, be restored
to us, and to . exclude from public rewards;
honours, and emoluments, those persons - who by
improper means, and by servile and unconstitu.
tional conduct, attempt to arrive at and obtain
them. Ido not know any man with whom I can
be disposed to act, who is inclined to go farther
than myself. If any man wishing to go greater
lengths was pointed out to me, I shall consider
him as an enemy to his country. My object is to
see the Constitution, which has been trodden
down, restored to its ancient purity. Gentlemen,
if by perseverance, and the line of conduct which
I have hitherto pursued, I hate fortunately me-
rited your approbation, I can assure you that my
conduct his been dictated by my conscience. If
1 shall continue to conduct myself according to
the impression of my present opinion, and if I
shall meet with your approbation, I shall consi-
der it the happiest hour of my life ; but should I
unfortunately,A from the weakness and debility of
human stature, appear to act wrong, I am per.
suaded you wilt asesibe it to no improper motive,
but to the frailty I have noticed. [Loud applause
followed This speech.]
• 'rho Chairman then gave as a toast—
The Purity of Election.
• A song was calk,' for, anti sung by Mr. Najaf.
We cannot say it was Well suited to a eotlvitial
&teeing it was sung to a very old, trite, and
common tune, and the straius were altogether of m
most tristful feature.
The tibkt Toast was—
The First Principle of joitice, that none May be Judge
la his own Cause.
Lord COCHRANE then rose, Lod gave as
toast—
MAGNA 6HARTA t and stay its'Wholesome provisions
Bever be superseded by Undefined Privilege.
the cothpany were then favoured with a song
from Mr. Lemaitre. It favoured the cause of Sir
!rands Burdett; and of course was heard with
homplaceticy and delight, although the singer's
focal effort was not entitled to any thing more
than negative praise.
The nett toast *as
Lord ERSKUIE and the Trial by dory; with three times
three.
It was drank With all those expressionS or ap-
probation, which, with the exception of otte soli-
tary instance, now forgotten arid forgiven, hate
characterised the feelings of the online With regard
to this distinguished Orator and Statesman.
The Company Were next inVitell loth-ink a toast,
the theme of which was— •
Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY, an& the Dominion of the
Law. •
Reiterated plaudits manifested the great este*
in which this Learned Mao was held by his coats:,
trytnen. .
Lord COCHH,ANE—Gentlemen, I hate 't
honour to propose to you a toast, which I la
lure you will drink with satisfaction. It is—
To
the health of that courageous Exposer of Corruptims4.
COLONELIVARD4X--
I propose to you to drink it with three time/
three.
Mr. W Alt DLE—[Vehemenf tileniditsfor tome
osinutesd—Gentlemen, your great kindness to
use, renders it almost impossible to say what I
wish, in order to thank yen, as becomes me; but
•I trust you will give me credit fur • all I ought to
say—and in doing that; you will do me, I assure
,yon, no more than justice. We are met noon an
• Occasion, certainly of deep importance, and touter
one circninstance peculiarly interesting to you—
that circumstance is, your being deprived of your
helolved Representative—of that man, whom we
all mist respect, whom every man must respect,
And every man respect most, who knows NM beat.
Lametsting, its. common with you, his absence
from you this -day, it is no small consols_.
lion to Me, anti to you, to know the extensive
gOod that is arising from hie being confined—a
toed, The extent of which is not to be calculated.
Verily believe that, splendid as his taknts are,
and honest and pure as Ms heart is, stilt by his
coefinement,more good will bellow, to the country
than 'co'uld have been effected by any exertions vif
M. if he hod been at large. (Plaudits.) Such
ate my lettings., and 1i Ira glad to find that ouch
ate yonrt. We have had an excellent specimen of
whit be Would hive said) given to at r Ives val at.

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bid brother. The Noble Lord, our CheleM kW,
and my much-esteemed friend, hat said much to us,
and has placed many things before us in, a strong
Vuint of view. -I am sure, one
.Getttleutan who
has addressed you, has done hiatitelt great honor
by the speech He has delivered. I cettaittly do
feel myself' particularly fortunate id having this
opportunity of skating my Sentiments to you,
ftir it Will limible mc, through your` indulg.
vice, to finish a speech I commenced on
Monday last. You probably . Will grant me
that indulgence which the-ilonourable }louse of
Commons }would not. [hear, hear !] Ido press
upon your indulgence tut permission to finish that
speech. I beg leave to make a comment on some
of the points that occurred in the debate on Mon-
day with respect to Sir Francis Burdett. One
would have thought, that when he *as a prisoner
in the 'lower; he Would have been suffered to es.
cape observation ; but, on the contrary, as cu-
rious an attack was made upon him as ever was
made against any man. The attack I allude to
wit this—that he had been the means of keeping
in his Majesty's present Ministers. You know,
-as well. as myself; Sir Frauds Bordett's opiniod
with respect to his Mttjesty's .present Ministers.
You will be astonished at the occasion of his hay&
ing been so attacked: I own I was at a loss to
guess the grounds upon which it wasmatie ; but re.
tolling in my mind how our worthy friend could
have committed himself, it occurred tome, that not
many weeks ago he had been !tensed of having, by
his conduct, blinded the eyes of our Sovereign.
Now as this heavy accusation against your worthy
Representative comes from the party generally*.
nominated the Outs, it occurred to mo that what
was meant by his blinding his Sovereign was this,
that he bad 'blinded the King with regard to their
great merits, and had. prevented him from bringing
them into office as the only people he could trust.
I should think something of this kind must have
been the foundation of the application made to the
prejudice of the. worthy Baronet. Whether the
King had been blinded to their valuable talents
and integrity; it is not for me to conjecture, In
this I know you will bear me out, that the people
of England hate been too long blinded to their own
interest. [Great applause.] Another point urged
on Monday, generally urged in the course of the
debate against Parliamentary Reform, or rather
the main ground of opposing it, Was, that there
were so few petitions on the Table. Oue Mem:.
ber particularly urged that topic. I think it
would have been candid in him to have stated how
the people stood in this respect; what extreme
difficulty they had in presenting their - petitions,
so as to please the Honourable House ; how hard
it was to have their petitions so worded as to ea....
sure their being received) provided they spoke the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing-but the truth t
how difficult it was to find out any pleasing way
of expressing the truth, at all times extremely dis.
agreeable: When the Honourable Gentleman
held this argument forth as an objection, it would
hive been candid in him to have assigned the rea.
son I have stated to you, When be mentioned the
want of Petitions on thdtablevand I ideerted Lathe
difficulty of framing them so at tnpledin the HUM;
it brought to my mind the story of uelratttmee,. wife
was laying the lash upon a soldier for some offence,
which had subjected him to torpors} punishment.
I am sorry to state a !ethereal; ciesternstatece, wizen
it is connected with a mode of punishtneet .feteit
I have always considered degrading to the charac.
ter of a soldier and art Englishroan) and disgeadee
feel to the country—a Ottnishi.teet, which it is to
be regretted your Represc!itativee have made no
effort to have done aw ay,—[Very great ap.
plausel—Hut to proceed with the story of the
drummer : ho was in the act of flogging this un.
fortunate soldier, and when he had been striking
him for some, time) " pray," iiitid the poor fel.
low, 44 strike die a little lower:" The drum-
mer, like a merciful drummer) willing to
oblige him, immediately granted his request.
It was hot long, however, before the soldier, a*.
dressing him agani, said) " pray strike me a little
higher." The drummer turned round) exclaim,.
bug, 46 Way really this is the most unreasonable
-fellow I ewer met with, there is no flogging him
so as to please him I" So it is with the people and
the House of Commons—there-is ,:e such thing at
presenting petitions that will please them. But
I hope they Jaye found the way at last.—
The three 'petitions that got upon the table. on'
Monday evening, I trust have paved the way'
for others) and many hendreds Will follow, 'where'l
is another point to which I beg to call your at.
teution, which occurred on the same memorable
night, and that is, that Sir Francis Burdett, and
those few who are of no party,,were accused of
objecting to every thing in theshspe ofilieform==
that they Were •determined to• reject every
proposition. Via was truly curious. I believe{
your worthy Representative' the Noble Lord!,
and. toyself,—wooki- -be thankful If -they would I
give us any thing in the shape of Reform. Furl
my part, I will readily take any thing they will
give me, that has the least tendency to MOW
We were accused by theOn4e, at least by , use if,
their leaders) of objecting to every plan of Reform'
but one own. They - said they were contineed
that let them propose what they would, we sheedd
start something in opposition to it. That if they
were to propose that all freeholders should rote, we
shottitlSib giie us householders;. and that if they,
grant us householders.
,weshould get tip and pro.
pose that women might be introdueeds lam sore
I can answer for myself, and the lion. Baronet ie
the Tower, that such an idea Hever entered our
heads. We never had any intention of making
such an attempt. ' We were far from thinkiog of
any thing of the sort: r think we could show,_
why they are more hkeiy to make a motion of
the kind. 'He had . never been • accused of the
crime of supporting the **defined privilege:of the
House of Commons. Among all the crimes
and abominations with which We have • been
charged, both itt Prenett and Euglikbv for the
English langnage is not sufficient fte, the Inv-
pose, we have never been accused of that ; we
have hevpt leeks up onr hands for the arbitrary
peivikees of the Reese ot Commons. Ourskt-
ensers • have,. Gentlemen' happeniiig to vast my
cycs over Di: Lime, *who
,yon knettivmelt. UM'

-.7WW•

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oitatry, I observed he
•vast variety of ptiti:
!he Legislature in
he did not klow
to ekccpt making a
woman. I think
we had better ground
hat which has beett
,iorters of privilege,
idea au extraordinary
first to introduce sun
_
a measure as that of extending the right of election
to womeni Ido really think that a more unfair
attack neten was made, than the one I have refer.
red to. • Gentlemen, Sir Francis Burdett, last. ses.
siun, after being styled a Demagogue and Jacobin,
was Palled upon to declare what the plan was
which wee to give to the rabble--the mob, with
au hjndred other such insulting names, the sure.
macy. He was called upon to give in his plait—
What did Sir Francis Burdett do ? He came fors.
ward in that noble and dignified manner which hes
longs to his character, and stated his specific plan.
I took the liberty ofealling to the recollection oldie
House what he said last session,.and upon his autho.
rity I stated that he was still of the saute mind—that
the plan he had before proposed was all lie asked,
but because I repeated this, they asserted that we
were ready to oppose every plan of Reform. le
answer to the charge, we appeal to those opinions
which had your satiation, or they never would
have been onitted to yott•—they hare your sane.
Lion, and the sanction of the people of England,
We look to nothing else but the restoration of alto
i—*ea
Constitustkiorno—r
it t r
oiel twoaskf sinp
fur that, and nothing, beyond
te,sclear,
and defined
propositions. Your worthy Representativedrew up
a plan which contained all the wishes of the pee:.
plc. Having done this, was it to be expected that,
in the very first instance, we were to second any
plan coming from another quarter ? All we seek
is the restoration of Cue Constitution ; but should
we have been .doing our duty to you and to the
country, if we had quitted the high Constitutional
groutitni upon which we stood, and had approved
some new plan of Reform ? As • for myself, as
long as I tread in those steps that through life have
I marked your Representative with the approbatioh
of every honest man—as long as I look up to that
approbation which you have given me through my
short I•!itical life, and that approbation is the
summit of my hopes, I shall never refuse any thing
that comes fbrward in the shape of Reform. Let the
Amine of the plan of Reform be What it may, I shall
say, aye, because at least it will have this effect)
jt will lead to discussion—there is nothing so ems
frevagatit that I would not say aye to. If Slr.
Brand had proposed that the first Sift hundred melt
who passed over Westminster.brodee, oil any
given • day, should beloasi" Representatives, I
would have said aye to thatl. woad have stid it
upon the full conviction, MR niehone can be
worse than the. piesent Representation. lam Or.
leaded nothing can induce the People of Doeland
to lose sight of their rights, till they bare the+
fights and the full benefits of the Constitution id.
stored to them, Gentlemen, lam sorry to tres.
past upon ,folur time! put, having since I cattle iota
the Moth had Dhe Mmes of yesterday put We my
hands, I think-it neenisery that I should call you!
nttentico to what is Veiled to have been proposed
to the House by 4-/orthy Iteptesentativet and
how It was received. ,1 do not mean to say, that
it was any intentienet misrepresentation lii the
gditoi of the paper; or that the Noble Lord with
speaks it could have intetiJed to misrepresent my
Honourabie eilend ; I know thd tiling to be ims
PoSsible. I•cOriceive it most be an 'error of the
rinter. What. says Sir Francis Burdett tlpoil
the subject ! he madn the speech last Session s
which I hold in my hand; it is a speech whit!'
does him honour, as all his outer speeches do-.-he
did in that speech ask for nothing on pair behalf
which lie had not the fullest claim to ask, nay, to
demand as a right : his first.ptoposition was, that
every householder paying direct taxes to the Poor)
Church) anti State, should he allowed to vote for
Members of Parliament, This, Gentlemen, was
his first proposltiott) and his second was,. that
Parliament should be brought back to a coolants.
tional duration. This was all he asked of the
House of Commons; he did at the same time
submit. to the House his plan for of that
constitutional duration he wished for. All he •
risked for was, that taxation and representation I
should go hand in hand, and that Parliament should
he of a constitutional deration. Having stated
"that he did propose, I beg leave to read the pas
regraph out of • the speech of Lord Milton, bat
Ishich I think it is impossible he should have used.
Ye is stated to have said, that Sir Francis Bur.
dett's plan *as " 4 that the right of voting should
be in Householders paying taxes, thus cutting off
the right of the Freeholders altogether." I ton
certain itte Noble Lord could not have so mistaken
the fact; and I think it not right for any Editor to
commit to writing what ate supposed to be the
sentiments of another, without being certain that
the statement is correct. I hue trespassed upon
Say, an
•d
your time for the purpese of widely spreading the
fact, what it was your representative did
that the people of England might see that he asked
i upon two simple clear defined
propositions, what
yon are entitled to by the Constitution, the laws
gvf the land, and ancient usage. There w ants nu.
Ming to prove in 1810, that property should be
the basis of power, or that Parliaments should be
ppf short duration. But what do they say, in
iinswer to our just demands ? They say that those
:who are pleading your cause, intend ill to the Kingand Country. This is all the argument they will
.
give us, if you can allow it to be &Numcot. So
,
far from thinking, that to restore to the hotly of
the People that power which is their birthright,
It ,old weaken tile other branches of the Constite.
tilsl v I rather think it would tend to strengthen
em.. If I thought that to restore the political
oqrWer to the People would be the means of Illey.
the A ristoecttic fart of oar Government, and
reducing the Constituti4on to an eadellned mass,
should he the first to oppose it; hut fecling that
! swain)); but the restoration of the Rights of the.
People call protect the King., and defend the
14 :wintry from a power that has borne dee ii /di he.
hica Isiat) Itecrase.tke" Pelvic hare au pu a Oh'

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the Codstitutioitilf our Coun
ito stated, after euttmerating a
legekewhich belonged tn. tl
USA/IS-Ductile
,caffeity, that I
alty thing they asAilkipsiut do
404 'woman man, ~an I
ou madame at wr
making such chjir as ti
%atle agaiust us by,. uppi
Mid that it yontd•notiaVe bee
thing, if they had beet* the firs
. . .