The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-02-06 00:00:00

' MIDDLESEX MEETING.

C. -.

• A 'Meeting of Freeholders took place yesterday at
Ritekney. •
Mr..theriff,tri/CAS said, that before the Reqnisition
rest read;• be had a few words to submit to the meet-
.
iisg./ The objeCt of the meeting was, he observed, to
solicit, by, their Representatives in Parliament, an
amelioration of the grievances under which the coun-
try laboured, and as the best andgreatest of men had
been engaged in support of and in opposition to the
Reform now so generally called for, be hoped that
every Gentleman who should address them this day,
would meet with a liberal and patient hearing. For
himself, he bad no hesitation in stating, that he
Olonght all grievances could be removed by the Par;
Utmost as at present eonstituted,without that Reform
for which be understood the Petition intended to be
submitted to this meeting prayed ; and he thought
rich opinion was _strongly supported by the Speech of
Majesty last night to the Hittite of Parliament.
A' Rmernment feeling what was there expressed, cannot
be worthy of the • confidence of those over whom as a
pt iplitheyPreside, in a just and free administration of
tliClairt,las established by the Constitution by which
t
theY. rule. ,
The Worthy SHRIMP again begged a patient hear.-
lag for all who might address the meeting, and thanked
AO fist the Indulgence with which they had received
itetptilitlen having been read by the
theriff:' . •
leisjoiCirritsairt presented himself to the Meet-
He. hail the happiness of again addressing the
:Freeholders of Middlesex, but tbathappiness was ma-
terially lespened by the necessity which had brought
them together, namely, the daily increasing. want of
a . Reform in Parliament. He trusted that a general
_feeling of the necessity a real and boas fide Re.
form in the representatiob of the people now prevail-
ed. Last night some gentlemen, members of a Com-
mittee, he believed, who had
.taken great interest in
the .election. of one of their worthy members, called
upon him to say that they had prepared a petition,
the object of which. was, to procure a Reform, with-
out stating in whit that Reform consisted. Now he
,hadever been; and ever would continue to be, a plain
arken and a plain dealing man in business which he
felt to be important. Mr. Thomas Paine had imlttna
much, and had beets much talked about; now for that
gentleman he had a very high respect, as far as he had
advocated the principles of liberty. (Great applause
.some disapprobation.)-It was well known that he
had materially-contributed to the salvation of the li-
berties of Antedea.--(Cheers and dissatisfaction, with
'tries of no allusion to Paine.)-This same person (he
would nut mention his name at it was not pleating to
_some of the gentlemen now present) had many years
ago said,we possessed no Constitution, and he believed
he had said trulfiliWise'(Majoe C.) had never heard
that Constitution satisfactorily defined ; it. should_ be
of such a nature as • our Lord's Prayer, which was
learned by oar children and understood without diffi-
culty. When the Contnittee gentlemen called on him knit
%night, they exptlissedreat anxiety that hewoald not
embody in his Perkins what alone he eansidaain of
`essential IntioitatbAmillellatisaing-Awa ail"'
'the Representation, or, in'other word's, that he would
petition for something, but that he would not give
'rink-something it definite character; that he would
not, in short, pray for Anneal Parliaments and elec-
'tie* by ballot; he hoped,- however, that Englishmen
•w-re neither so enslaved as to fear to state their
• rieyances, and 'mg* their claim to redr'ess, nor so pit-
t iltanknons as to claim redress, without stating the
grievances under which they labour, and the Constitu-
tianal ble sings for which they petition.—(Much
• coughing on the hustings, followed by considerable
applause Trim the body of the-room.) At the time
of the Revolution, Parliaments had no right to sit for
a lene-erperiod than one year. There was no law en-
titled them to do_ so; and there were laws which, if
fairly construed, Hinkel' the existence of those Parlia-
ments to one Sessitm,o'-(Conghing and applause.)
Mr. Sheriff Tnowehert hoped the Meeting would
give the venerable. Major.a fair hearing.
,
Major Caurwaseirr .resanned-those Parliaments,
however. made taws far their own convenience-sat
for three' years, and were then as unwilling as ever to
return to -their constituents. -(Coughing.), lie should
. not detain the meeting longer than by reading the Re.
solutions upon which he had grounded his petition,
and he hoped they would be found explicit and fully
explanatory. Moses had given the people of Israel
the ten commandments ; he had not said, Be good
people, and behave yourselves decently, but had de-
fined' the line of conduct that would make them good
and happy ; to the Romans, as Cicero told them, gave
their-children tables of the laws which they were to
obey-and support ; and were Englishmen to be con-
teat with inertly staling to- their Representatives,
-"'We, want Reform, but cannot tell you what we
call Reform 7". Rather let the Petitions of the peo-
'llpdscatige,Atenti strongly, -too, the nature of the Con-
stitntion they claim at the hands of those who would
•little anderstarid-wbiCtims 'meant and understood by
the solitary word Reform." The worthy Major then
read his first Remlution, advocating the election by
ballot and sonuei Parpausenti.
The Reg: Mr: DIPER rose to advocate the cause
of Reform, end he did so with-pleasure, because the
• teemy had disappeared frmn the gates of the citadel.
. • He had beeetnted to meet on occasions like the pre-
- • neat with some Ministerial Gentlemen, who would op-
pose any thing that looked like opposition to their
measures. ' They hid, however, (thanks to the perse-
verance of the Reformers), left the field of battle ;
• still, at a distance, they charged them with being in-
novators - rather let them say renovators, for that was
their just denomination. 'Sir Robert Wulpole's as-
sertion that " every-man has his
sprice," n-as not a
o'6o assertion; was'horne out by daily experience.
Tfii Chiplain of the Ist Regintent of Horse Guardr
• eitiployed es .his Deputy for some years; arid the
-Cornmandiwr Officer • (sot 'Lord Harringtish;
e dohet,).bat the ConanaldinT Officer, .Hbnourists'
Colonel Lrgoa, t*.ught-alistlergyinen hereto..
%eked him, you. the 'Mr. leas
„ibis 'proposlid'sitch iigliVt*tisithitions at such p.
41neeting ? arievierid,.',,7ll4 Sir:, Well, 'the
wrote to the ,Chiphthi o 7 the rigiment
another deputy. TheCbtplein cant t• town atarn-
ingly, and he had an inierviiw with the.-Liayned