The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-04-27 00:00:00

No 1300.

.111DBLESEX MEETING.

sin FRASOS titIRDETT.

At the present awful and momentous crisis,
obeli a noble, dignifled,• and DETERMINED stand
to been made by the Constituents of this power-
ful kingdom, ag•tinst the encroachments and usur.
Wit alb of these rho are supposed to represent,
Ito ought to protect them, it was -naturally to be
niie..ed that' the People of the County of Mid.
sloe: woold avail themselves of the earliest op.
portuoity of rallying round the ancient Cunstitu.
goo of the country, and of expressing their just
.v.goation at the viulent, flagrant, and °pyres.
she ..trastikee Which have recently heels productive
of scenes of civil tumults and have stained the
ae;roplis of England erith the sacred blood of
its citizens. •

Accordingly, in pursuance of a Requisition to I
that effect, the Sheriff yesterday convened a
lloeting of the Freeholders of the County of Mid.
a{es..t. at the Mermaid Tavern, Hackney, to
e.mi•ter tae oropricty of adopting any and what
awabare., by Address, Petition, Resolution, or
otherwisP, on the subject of the late Votes of the
}Lame of Commons in the case of Sir Francis
Burgett, and of the new and extraordinary pro-
ceeding had thereiyon.
The Meeting was so extremely numerous, that
it was found nee.!sssry to adjourn front the largo
room into the open air.
•
Soon after one o'clock the besi.vess commenced.
Mr. Sheriff WOOD canto. f.lr ward, and address-
ing* Freeholders said, " Gentlemen, the Slice
fiki, in consequence of a Requisition which will
be read to yoo, signed by many of the Freehold-
en of thea Comsty, have convene(' 'the Meeting.
' i hope and temil yon.wPl pay attention to every
starer, let his sentiments' be what they may,
fur yoa.at'stFrtreAware that et s Meeting like this
. every Man Afraid he heat& I hope thist will be
,the race-upon the present occasion, fur unless you
'bear a man you cannot know, his sentiments, 1
'therefore hope you will pay attention to every
speaker, Whether you agree in opinion with him
et wt."
Mr. S•heriff . It is not possible
far me, nor is it necessary,, to add one word to
:Ith.tt bag been said by. my Colleague,. I lievei only
to request that every Gentleman may be allowed a
patent and silent hearihg.'!
The Requisition was then read byli4r. SMITH,
thei.Fadr iheriff

Mr. Sheriff WOOD.-44 If there ii any Gen-
tle:eau has any thing to offer, let .him step for.,
ward."
Mr. HENRY HARE TOWNSEND.-Gen.
denten Freeholders of the County of Middlesex',
as I in to have the honour of proposing some
Resolutions for your consideration, in consequence
of the Requisition you have just beard iced, I
• think it right on entering, into the subject to no.
tice a cry which has been sent abroad for the put.
pose of injuring Sir Francis Burdett in the pub-
ic not to complain time it succeeded.
NI), Gentlemen, it could not succeed, the trick
eas too Male. laipplanws.3 I notice it be.
close I wish to shew yOut the motives of those
whose object always etas been to run Sir Francis
Burdett down, by attributing motives to hint
which have no existence but in their own per. •
vetted minds. Gentlemen, as the adherents VS"
either faction in the House of COmmons have
more Or lives corrupt objects in view, it is as im..
pisrible that either of them cats like Sir Francis
Burdett its their hearts, as it is itopOnible for the
wolf to lore' the -shepherd end his dog, or the'
poacher the keeper and his gun. From all we'
have known of these two factions within the last
fifteen years, experience has shewn us that Sir
Francis Burdett has been uniformly right, end his
opposers uniformly wrung. Rad we ktrown Sir
Francis Burdett but yesterday it might be allow.
able in us to pause, but experience has proved
him true and faithful to our interests. We there.
fore should not let his sighat Illy in vain, and leave
lint to fight the battle by himself, but each man
should Ily to his assistance, and bear him on to
victory and triumph.) [Great applause.] Gen.
Vinci], you must hive observed that one of the
fictions I am speaking of bad gone with Sir Fran-
cis Burdett hand in hand nearly the whole way
till he came to the defence of his castle. I wish
to draw your attention to this point. I wish to
tear off the mast of hypocrisy from the faction I
aim referring to, and show you these.peliticians in
their true colours. I desire you to look at Sir
Francis Burdett, who always means what he says,
and then look to his calumniators, " THE TA.'
I,ENTS,"• who seldom mean what they say, ex.
rept when they tell you they wish to change from
their position to the ,'treasury Bench. We have'
had some strong proofs of this—fur Sir Francis
Burdett has always redeemed his pledges, but the
TALENTS have never redeemed any one of theirs.
They have octet diametrically opposite, unless I
mil strangely mistaken. When the TALENTS came
first into office try heart heat high in their favour;
I thought we might look with confide,nce fur an
economical administration, fur a reduction of the
tuablic eases, and fur a salutary Reform in Par-
liament. lint, Gentlemen, bow did they act ?
Why they laughed at Parliamentary Reform, and
they raised that inquisitorial tax, the incense tax,
Item six to ten per cent. which they told you was.
Its natural level—they did nut stop there, for, as