The Statesman.
London, England, 1809-07-03 00:00:00

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ESYEX COUNTY 3 iIIIING.

am—
Cilt.l.llSFOELD.—SxtvaatY, JULY is 1809.
•

A numerous and respectable Meeting .of the
Freeholders of the County of Essex was held
within the County Hall, at Chelmsfurd, this day,
fur the purpose of taking into consideration the
propriety of returning Thanks to G. L. 'Waning,
Esq. for his spirited and upright conduct in the'
House of Commons, and to the Members who
supported him during the late Inquiry ; and also
for the purpose of expressing their sentiments on 1
the corrupt practices and gross abuses which had
bees brought to light by evidence given in that
Rouse daring the late Session of Parliament.
This Meeting was held in consequence of a Re..
quisition addressed to the Nobility, Clergy, Free-
holders, and Itthabitants of the County of Essex,
by a number of respectable Freeholders of the
County, who, owing to the refusal of the High
Sheriff to call a Meeting, after two several Requi-
sition made to him on the subject by up yards of
one hundred Freeholders, felt themselves dispelled
to make a direct application to the County iu ge-
neral to assemble and assert their rights.
Oa the motion of Colonel Burgoyne, Sir H.
St. John Mildmay was unanimously called to the
Chair.
The first ten Resolutions (see the first page)
which were proposed to be pet, having been
handed to the Cu t IRttlA t, he stated that he should
not take up the time of the Meeting with any ob.
servations on the subjects on which they were now
assembled.—The Resolutions fully expressed his
opinion; and after thanking, as he now,did, the
Meeting, for the honour they had done him in
milling him td the Chair, he should read the Re-
solutions for their adoption.
These H4olutions were all received with ap-
plause'. The whole being read—
Mr. Hoer WRITE said, that as there was no
Resolution on Parliamentary Reform, he should
us the freedom to move one on that subject ;
be accordingly moved the eleventh Resolution.
This Resolution was also received with arch'.
mations.

Colonel BURGOYNE wished that the original
Resolutions should be disposed of befoce the ques-
tion of Parliamentary Reform was gone into.—
There was no man more friendly to the cause of
Parliamentary Reform than he was, yet he had
cogent reasons for objecting to its forming a part
of the original business of this day. There was
no mention of that subject in the Reqnisition, in
consequence of which they were now assembled.
There was nothing so necessary as, that the Meeting
shoold ex press their sense of the conduct of the High
Sheriff, in attempting t. deprive the co. of Essex of
their right, to meet and declare their sentiments on
important concerns. This, and the avowed object
of the Meeting, he wished first to see disposed of.
The present respectable Meeting, and the charac-
ter of the promising young in whom he was
happy to see in the Chair, would prevent the usual
charge of mob and rabble, with which Meetings for
popular purposes were in general branded, if their
conduct, as he was convinced ft would be, was
consistent with their professed object. However
much, therefore, he approved of Parliamentary
Reform, and that be did approve of it he has
given woof. by acting as one of the Stewards at
the Crown and Anchor Meeting, he most oppose
it now, because be had stated to many persons
that such was not the object he had iu view in
calling the Meeting. He hoped, therefore, the
Honourable Gentleman would withdraw 'his Mo-
tion for tba present. [Cries of Nor fio!] He did
not mean that it should be withdrawn entirely, but
only till the other Resolutions had been agreed to.
He was jealous for his own word and honout, and
if persevered in at this moment, he must, though
be should stand single, oppose the Resolution. He
did not object to it in its proper place, he only
hoped that it would not be put as one of the ori-
ginal string of Resolutions.
Mr. HOLY WHITE. said, he had no objection to
this, it being understood that his Resolution should
be put after the original owes were agreed to.
Colonel Boneoesz.---" I shall then have no
objection to second it."
Mr. FLowita was of opinion, that the subject
of the Resolution now proposed was as much en-
titled to consideration as the other. He therefore
could not allow it to be set aside. The Meeting
was unquestionably under great obligations to the
Hon. Gent. who had just sat down, for the zeal
with which he had brought about the present
Meeting ; but at the same time, it was not proper
that his declarations as to the nature of the pro-
positions to be submitted to them, should bind the
Meeting. He contended, however, that the Reso.
lotion now proposed was not only necessary, but
essential, to theattainment of the objects fur which
they were assembled ; and ho trusted the Meeting
would not separate till they came to Resolutions on
this subject ; among others, that by Parliamentary
Reform they meant a reformation of abuses, which
it alone could completely effect ; and that seeing,
as they did, abuses proved and even acknowledged,
and the decisions which, notwithittanding, ensued,
they expected Parliamentary Reform to follow,
so as to be a preventive of similar abuses in fn.
tune. That bargaining and traffic* ie Seats in
Parliament, as in any Commodity in a fair, was
in general practice in this country, the Meet.
ing could not doubt, when the Speaker of
the House of Commons had warned them of
the existence of practices, at the bare men-
tion of which their ancestors would have
startled : he asked then, was that Meeting to se-
parate without 'hewing that they were startled at
the certainty of the actual existence of such prac-
tices, coming, as the information did, from so
highly respectable a quarter ? We had seeu several
measures passed within these few years, the ob-
jects of which were professed to be the remedying
of abases, but they were uniformly declared to
have no connection with Parliamentary Reform.
The Bill lately introduced by Mr. Curwen, from
which he expected little good, was agreed to by
ninny on the express declaration that it was not at
all connected with Parliamentary Reform ; and a
NbbleLord in Opposition (Lord Temple) had even
espressed an opinion that it would supersede it. We

were told in that Bill too that it was uot meant to
prevent implied, but only express contracts for cor-
rupt Sales of Seats in Parliament. He was taut ac-
quainted with the arcane of state affairs, but he
found the difference between implied and corrupt
contracts pointed out in the Diary of the late
Bubb Do&lington, who stated, that in soliciting a
place, he promised to the Minister six scats in Par.
liamentfor xothirtg at all, and that this was not an
express but an implied contract. Was it prol:er that
this system of corruption shoeld remain ? It was
owing to such practices that we had within the last 20
I•years been pilfered of millions of money, and of
I our best rights; and but fur the existence of the
same systom we should not hare to bear the load
of taxes under which we now groaned. As to the
assurances of any Gentleman, as to the extent of
• the propositions to be brought forward, the
Meeting had nothing to do with these. He con.
tended, that the Resolution last moved easel:pally
' entitled to be disposed of as those which had pre.
ceded it. He hoped that such a respectable Meet.
ing as that now assembled would follow the ex.
ample of other Meetings on the same saject.--
He was satisfied that they would not de their
work by the one tenth part, if they did not de-
clarc those to be their opinions. Without dictat-
ing, he could have wished that the weeds of Sir
F. Burdett in the motion last made by him on the
subject of Parliamentary Reform hi the House
of Commons, had been adopted ; whatever lan..
guage they used, however, he was satisfied that a
Reform in Parliament was the only mode of re-
storing the Constitution...-the only safe, radical,
and easy remedy for those abuses which they were
now assembled to consider. He trusted they would
all feel themselves called on to exercise a fair opi-
nion on the subject, and that there was no time
improper for the declaration of this opinion. He
called on the Hon. Gentlemau (Burgoyne) to join
him in this declaration of sentiment; all he asked
of him was to repeat the same line of conduct
to-day as he had observed at the Crown and An-
chor Tavern this day two Months.
Sir H. Sr. J. MILDMA Y reminded Gentle:nen
that the Resolutions were not seconded.
Mr. JOYNER seconded them.

The ltesul,ttions were then pet successively,
when the first and second Resolutions were agreed
to unaniniousty.
On putting the third Resolution—
Colonel Buttnirrat entered Int• a narrative of
the conduct of the Sheriff, and of the steps taken
to procure thecalling of the present Meeting. With
the first requisition the Sheriff had refused com-
pliance, on the ground that the persons signing it,
to the number of one hundred, were not designated
as freeholders, although they were well known to
be so. To render the measure palatable, though
the freeholders probably yielder) too far in doing
so, this objection was removed. The Sheriff then
took a new ground, and refused comPliance, al.
leging, that he had received a counter requisition,
with a greater number of names attached to it. Co.
lone' Burgoyne, on inquiry, found that the original
refusal had proceeded from a Letter to the Sheriff
from Mr. Conyers, Mr. Brimstone, and others, on
the ground that the meeting was unnecessary and
inexpedient. The names to the counter-requisi-
tion, too; lie found to be, in many instances, false,
In others improperly obtained ; some by the abuse
of tie clarion' character to poiitleal purposes—that,
too, even in the church or vestry;. others by re-
presenting the matter as gone by, and interpreting
an implied acquiescence in the artful observations
on this subject of the person making them, into a
disapprobation of the principle of the meeting.
On finding these to be the facts of the case, the
present meeting was called, on the conviction that,
without the right of meeting aed petitioning, the
Constitution was at an end, and liberty was a
mere shadow.

Mr. WII.LIAM SMITH (Member for Norwich)
asserted the propriety of every man's maintaining
his own principles. If the decision of the Sheriff
in this case had been acquiesced in, the right of
the people to assemble must bare been waved
for ever. It was plain the object of the Requi-
sition was not to assert the claim of those who
signed it to be the majority of the Freeholders
of the County, but only to call on the Sheriff to
assemble the Freeholders, that it might be sten if
they were or were not the :majority. Tho ques.
tion was, if he was to be entitled to take on him-
self, from partial representation, without call.
ing a Meeting, to decide bow the majority ac-
tually stood. No position could be more absurd
than this.

The Resolution was than put and carried una.
nitnously. The 4th, sth, 6th, 7th, Bth, and 9th
Resolutions were also put and carried unanimously.
Mr. 110 LT WHITE, on his Resolution being
'nosed, observed that the present Resolution e as
peculiarly called for in consequence o( the Remo-
lution which bad just been passed. To prevent
us from talking about Parliamentary Reform, and
to divert the attention of the public to another
subject, it would be the object of the proprieleora
of rotten boroughs to talk of economy. Mr.
Burke had formerly set the example ou this sub-
ject, and even took credit to himself for the de_
ception. He even esteemed it of such import.
lace, that, enumerating his services to Mi.
Dieters, he arrogated to himself more merit from
this one circumstance, than from all his other
services. In like manner, at the present mo-
ment, Earl Selkirk was endeavouring to divert
the public attention from Parliamentary Reform,
by directing it to the inferior, and, comparatively
speaking, trifling advantages to be derived, iu the
present state of our representation, from political
or national economy. It was therefore essential,
if the meeting felt, oho was sure they did, that
Parliamentary Reform was necessary, that they
should not allow even the possibility of having it in,
ferred, particularly from their own resolutions, that
they were willing to he satisfied with the mockery of
economy...for mockery any species of economy
would prove, where the peoplewere nut represented.
When Sir F. Bnrdett brought forward, in the last
Session, his Motion on the subject of a Reform in
I Parliament, the Chancellor of the Exchequer was
kind enough to say, that the people of this country
did not want Parliamentary Reform. If the present
Meeting, after the Resolutions they had already

come to, were to onsit all notice of Parliamentary
Ituform, what would be the effect ? The Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer would feel himself war-
ranted next Session, in arguing on the proceedings
I of this day, as a confirmation of the assertion for-
merly made by him. Bo would say—" In the
county of Essex the urgency of Parliamentary
Reform, nay, idea of the necessity, or even
of the propriety of it, passed by unnoticed
at a Meeting called for the special purpose
of considering of corruption and alitiies, and
that too at a time when you had called their
attention, and the attention of this House and of
the country, to the sobject, within the preceding
furtnight."—Thus, instead of doing good by the
present Meeting, or of contributing to a diminu-
tion of the abuses felt and acknowledged to exist,
their assembling together to-day would only tend
to strengthen and to increase the mischief. Being
himself a non-resident freeholder, Mr. Holt IVhite
felt ftituself under the necessity of apologizing fur
the time he had consumed, and fur the seemingly
officious part he had acted,in bringing forward a Re-
solution of so much importance. He was afraid
they would think him too forward. [Cries of No,'
No, from every part of the Hall.] He assured
the Meeting, he never would have come sixty miles
I but for the special purpose mentioned in his Rest,_
lotion. lie had worded it in the mildest manner
i possible, his object being to preclude all objection
. to it. He had applied to several Gentlemen, re.
sident in the county, to bring forward the motion,
but they had declined doing so. If there were any
I other Members besides those he had particularised,
who, in the present Pirliameut, had given any as.
surance of their determination to support P41114_
i mentary Reform, he should with cheerfulness in-
clude their names in his Resolution.
The names of Mr. Brand and Lord Cochrane
were suggested as being in this situation. -
Colonel BURGOYYE said, he rejoirei to see a
Naval hero who was likewise a Reformer of
Abuses.

The propriety of omitting all names being sug-
gested,
Mr. lIOLT 'Winne said, he highly disapproved
of this suggestion. Iu canvassing, which he had
often done, it had bmit his uniftum practice to
inquire if the Caintulate whom he suppnited was
or was not frieudly to Parlianstintary Reform. It
was necessary that we should know who were
for us, and who against us. There was an addi-
tional rea'on which he begged to suggest in fa-
vour of his motion : Mr. Whitbread, Sir F. Bur-
dett, &c. were the friends of the public cause in
the House of Commons. If the people did not
adhere to them, and support them, at least with
public sanction and approbation, had they not a
right, and was it not natural, that they in their
turn should desert the cause of the people, in
which even the people themselves did out afford
I them sufficient countenance ?

Cul. BuaouYsia was afraid it might be esteemed
an affront if any name friendly to the cause of
Reform should be omitted.

Mr. 11. Witi-re said, he had introduced the
words any other Member in either House of Par.
liament, to prevent any offence, and also to
comprehend Peers, who, like Lord Grosvenor,
had made declarations on this subject.
Sir it. Sr. J. MicomAy observed, that the
lion. Mover of this Resolution had said that all
those to whom he had applied to bring forward the
Resolution, had declined doing so. Ile begged to,
assure the Meeting that had the Ilon. Gentleman
applied to him, he should not have declined the
office. (Applause:.]
Mr. %Punic said, 1: he had seen Sir 11. Mild.
may before he had taken Oe Chair, which he had
not, he should assuredly nave applied to him to
bring forward the Resolution.
Colonel BURGOYNE, the other Resolutions hav-
ing been agreed to, now found himself at liberty
to second the present motion. lie proceeded
to state, as matters of fact in favour of the
Resolution, the case of Lord Castlereagh,
and the decision of the House upon it, on
the ground that the transaction had not been per.
fected. Also the case of Lord Castlereagh and
Mr. Perceval, in which evidence had been rejectA
which would have been received in any suit or
criminal action in the lower orders of life. Ills
(Colonel Burgoyne's) principles were those of
King, Lords, and Commons. The system was
equally bad if one preponderated more than ano-
ther. It was only the nice and equal poise of
these that constituted the excellence of our Con.
stitutiou.

This Resolution was then pat, and carried una.
talotously.
Mr. HARVEY then rose.—After having dope
so much to the satisfaction of themselves, it must
naturally arise in the minds of all meu.to inquire
—Having acted properly to those who had done
right, what should be said to those who had done
wroug ?—For his own part, he should be deci.
dedly for the naming of ail persons against whom'
any Resolution was meant to be passed. When
he considered, however, who were the objects of
censure—men whom, (ruin their deficiency of ta-
lent and of virtue, the Meeting muststauip with
a degree of greatness which they did not merit--
instead of calling them forward into public no-
tice, he thought the best way of punishing them,
was to consign them to silent contempt. If they
were, at any future period, awakened to a sense of
recollection, they would then be enabled to contem.
plate the estimation in which worth and virtue were
held. The Hon. Freeholder proceeded to enter
into some private disputes between himself and Mr.
Western, Member for Malden ; and concluJed by
moving, that C. C. Western, Esq. the only Mem-
ber for Essex who had supported Colonel Wardle
in the late inquiry, had, by his uniform conduct
in Parliament, merited the thanks of that meeting.
He was not the author of this moliao, because he
could find no other person anxious to make it.
ale found every person whom he had consulted
agreed in the propriety of it.
Mr. W. SMITH said the present-motion had not
been communicated to him, because, probably,
the lion. Mover knew, from his affection to the
object of it, that lie might reckon on his support.
That the Hon. Geotleman alluded to in the motion
had always actcl right, and had made one in those

lists which stood fur -the constitutional rights ved
liberties of his country, was true ; and be prestouvnl
to think, there could be no better pledge for lii, sin..
verity than that lie had uniformly done so. It
would have been indecorous in him (Mr. Smith)
to have said any thing on the former Resolution ;
but as it was now carried, he might nithout any
' impropriety deliver his sentiments urn% it. lie
should, iii doing so, simply allude to some of the
excuses made in support of the system as it ii.tw
existed. We were told that under the mask of
Reform, revolution and subversion of the ex.
iiting Government was meant. Every man, who,
as lie did, knew the present Meeting, must be
satisfied that they were the real supporters of the
Constitution, nut the subvertcn of it. The latter
were to be found in another class, who wished to
strengthen the Constitution by retaining, not as they
. did, by taking away the rotten part. What would
be said of two persons, who having a near and
dear friend in a dangerous disorder, while the one
prescribed a Physician to endeavour to restore to
him his health, the other should say, " I like him
iwell enough as he is, I admire him, with his dis.
order, eveu as he stands. Ile Is the object of my
admiration, even with the c weer about him, and
wby should you call in a Physician to destroy him,
by eradicating the disease under which he labours."
What principle could be more ridiculous in private
life than this ? yet this was the amount of the ar.
• gument which it would be incumbent on such per.
! sons to maintain. They were told too of the evils
i• resulting from the want of that subordination which
uurvenal suffrage was likely to produce. The Re-
-1 form which those who thought with him wished was
I not the abolition of the inequality of rank, het of
the inequality of rights. Ranks were levelled on-
'ly in those countries where one person was the
• tyrant, and the others were all slaves. Subordi-
nation to laws was the duty of every man ; obe-
dience to illegal authority was the duty of no man.
1 While the yeomanry of this country, therefore,
did their duty to every good man, be heartily
wished to see the day when the people of Eng-
Ilaud would he independent of all influence
1 arising from power, wealth, or rank oldie. An
lion. Gent. had on a former day, in talking of the
influence of the Martpuis of Buckingham in pro-
! curing meetings of the county, deprecated the in-
terference of any Marquis whatever. Ile was hi-
Alined to cstend this, when it went to undue in-
fluence, not to any Marquis merely, but to any
man, unless to one of talent and integrity. In
such hands the public sentiment would lint be ex-
erted to their own prejudice. Ile hoped to live
to see the day when every unconstitutional iullu.
1 enee would be done away in this and every other
country. When this motion should be agreed to,
i ho should trouble the Meeting with only one more
i observation.

The motion was agreed to unanimonsly.
Mr. %Vassal's expressed his gratitude for the
honour which had been conferrixl on him, of which,
indeed, he was scarcely worthy, haring only tilt_
charged an incumbent duty. lie should propose a
Resolution on which he knew there would be no
difference of opinion. The Thanks of the Meeting
to the Chairman for the readiness with which ho
had taken the Chair, and for his conduct in it.

After a few words, in volvinga question, its which
it was proposed to thank the Chairing'', Mr. Smith,
Mi. Western, &c. to whom the calling of the pre-
sent Meeting was principally to be ascribed, the
latter motion was withdrawn, and the former agreed
to unanimously.
Sir H. fir. Joan MaLuau begged leave onto
more to reborn the Meeting his thanks for the ho-
nour they had again done him. He did not mean
to enlarge on the object of their present MeetinF,
but merely to entreat them not to stop here. It
must be from themselves, not from the Rouse of
Commons, that they were to expect relief. Was
it to a parcel of butchers that they were to look
for the cheapening of meat ? It was from the
people themselves, and from them only, that It
must all proceed. prpfauses.l
The Meeting then a►ijourned, with nine cheers,
to the County Room, where a handsome dinner
was prepared.