The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-10-25 00:00:00

VIE STATESVRN

from some paltry saving or some new scheme to gull
the country. But we say—look, reader, to the ge-
neral face of affairs; and if the Minister chews that he
can extract gold from ruin, he must add to the misery
and accelerate the final destruction. Nothing can he so
clear. The value of commodities is lessened from 30 to
50 per cent. Fixed incomes have emigrated ; many per-
sons of capital, industry, and talent, also have expatri-
ated themselves. The Gardens of taxation are increased
both in the nominal and in the real amonnt. From what
source then is national prosperity now springing ?
There is fraud and fallacy upon the face of every as-
surance that is held out to make us believe in the possi-
bility of such an improvement. It is not, nor it can-
not be. And if the giant power of the State appears
to lift its head above the flood of its embarrassments,
its exaltation will he found to proceed from the heaps
of the weaker multitude of its children who are bu-
ried in ruins heneatb its feet, by the influx of the over-
whelming tide.

SIR ROBERT WILSON.

No. I.
SIR ROBERT NEILSON TO THE ELECTORS OF SOUTH-

WARK.

GEN TLEmcx,—l feel it to be my duty to lay before you
Copies of the letters which have passed between Lord
Viscount Sidmouth and myself ; with an accompanying
memorandum of a conversation with Sir Richard Ilirnie.
—And 1 have the honour to be your most obedient
servant, R. WILSON.
_ _

18. Regent-street. Oct. 23. 1821.
To the Electors of Southwark.
No. 11.

SIR ROBERT WILSON TO TILE LORD VISCOUNT SID-

MOUTH.

IS, Regent-street, Oct. 19, 1521.
MY LORD,—llaving► seen a statement in the news-
papers, authenticated by the signature of Mr. Thomas
Jnlion, Clerk to the Magistrates of the Kensington Di-,
vision of the county of Middlesex, in which it is asserted
that Sir It. Birnie, one of the said Magistrates, did, at
a General Meeting of Justices, held on the Bth of Sep-
tember, 1821, at the Hammersmith Coffee-house, declare
that information had been given to him, at Bow-street,
upon oath, that a meeting had been held at the house of
Mr. Youde, at which the plan of interruption to her late
Majesty's funeral was concerted, and that I had attend.
ed the meeting ; I have to *quest that your Lordship
will be pleased to direct a copy of such information upon
oath to be delivered to me,' that I may be enabled to in-
stitute a prosecution for perjury against the person so
swearing.—l have the honour to be, your Lordship's
obedient servant, It. WiLsort.
To the Lord Viscount Sidmonth.
No.

TILE LORD VISCOUNT SIDMOUTH TO SIR ROBERT

WILSON.

Whitehall, Oct. 19, 1921.

SIR,--4 have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of this day, referring to a statement in the newspapers
that Sir Richard Birnie had declared at a general meet-
ing► of Magistrates, that information had been given him,
on oath, that you had attended a certain meeting, at
which the plan for interrupting her late Majesty's fu-
neral was concerted ; and requesting me to direct a copy
of such information upon oath to be delivered to you,
that you might be enabled to prosecute the informant
for perjury. In reply to this request, I have only to ob-
serve that, if any such information does exist in the
hands of a magistrate, it does not appear to inc that I am
the proper channel through which an application for
its production should be made.-1 have the honour to be
your most obedient and humble servant.
To Sir Robert Wilson.
No. IV.

SIDMOLtTII.

MINUTE OF ♦ CONVERSATION BETWEEN SIR R. WILSON

AND SIR R. BIRNIE.

On the receipt of Lord Sidmouth's letter Sir R. Wil-
son addressed a letter to Sir R. Birnie, for a copy of the
deposition on oath, assigning also the motive of the re-
quest.
The letter was sent on the 20th. On the 22d Sir R.
Birnie sent a note to Sir R. Wilson, stating that he
had been absent attending the funeral of a friend in the
country, and requested Sir R. Wilson to call upon him,
when he would give him the information he required.
Sir R. Wilson having waited on Sir R. Birnie the
same day, with Mr. Wm. Lambton, and renewed his de-
mand for a copy of the information on oath, Sir Richard
informed Sir It. Wilson "that no information in writing
had been taken; that the information was a verbal one,
founded upon a report at the Freemasons' Tavern of a
Meeting having been held at Hammersmith, at which an
officer had been present; but that, on the examination
of the Tavern•keeper at Hammersmith, Mr. Youde, all
the Mag►istrates were satisfied Sir R. Wilson had never
been in the house."• R. WI Lao
* The above Minute was shown to Sir R. Birnie, and re-
ceived his sanction.