The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-01-28 00:00:00

r

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.

'EETING OF THZ FREEHOLDERS OF BERK:.
• SHIRE

PlMalta, to a Illeittitios.eigned try Lord Folkestone,
Sir F. Burdett, C. F. Palmer, Esq.- J, B. Monk, Esq.,.
ils&leteralif the most rearrtabls. Freeholders of .the.
county of Betio. the High Slierift Sir Gilbert East, yes-
terday confined a"Meeting.at Abingdon, " for the .pgr-
6pore of taking' Into consideration the present stent
inClso flew of Commons, and the necessity of a reform
thereof." •
• ' *fere twelve o'clock, the. HIGH Sarum
eittended t,y Mr. Wino, as •Under Sheriff, entered the
Town Hall, *skirls was filled by a very numerous body
nfttse-gentey and yeomanry of the county. Lord Folkii-
.loone. Messrs, Pauper and Monek, the members for
Reading. Dundee, T.Goodlake, I'm., H. Marsh, Esq.,
gysiop,Beq.,Wiliallett, Esq.. and many °the: gentle-
Plea.ol tank and consideration in the county, were
rasomt._,-
Mae Sumer opened the business of the day.
. T. Groom mite, Req., proposed that the High Sheriff
;skould take the Chair, which was carried by inch.
*nation.

- t'• A:: EvivoS, Earl. then proceeded to address the aseem-
oilije. When-he considered the extreme inclemency of
etite•itmsoni It give him great pleasure to see so nutne-
.rot4 a meeting, more particularly as it was attended by
iso Opal *Away of the gentry and yeomanry of the coun-
ty.--(Appleuse.)—He ever looked neon the independent
and sound body of the middle class of society—the yen-
' entfluetabsi farmers of the country—as the chief stay and
. enieperrA of the state,—(Applause.)—Other nations might
,peemerut the .snitunit and the base of society, bat they
• sefatisi BM boast of that which was the pride of English-1
,bortn—a middle class—(Applause.)-11 had been said,.
.aq most teuly, by one of the greatest men this countey-
. ever produced—it had been observed by Mr. Fox, in his
1 historic4i work. that it was a distinguishing feature of
.0 free, liovernment to place the pubic purse in the''
hands of the people, or under the controul of those who
~wyre their real' representatives.—(Applause.)—There-
. fore-it
,was that the care of the public purse should be
, .
-vested in. the.lieese of Commons; because they were,
- .__._ •
,peat least osght to he, the true representatives of the,
. pip,—(Applause)—and being an elective body, they
less likely to be influenced by corrupt or venal
. "oat s.—(Applause.)—lie regretted, however, to say
-that Parliament bad ceased to be the efficient orgautif
;the pulalic yoke ; it no longer operated as a check on the
• • imp:* ever repenilitnre of the national wealth ; and, to
,tiro absence, or to the non-observance of that excellent
• f .
. '..priociple of the Constitution, by which the people were
7 .etppeoesl to possess a proper controul over their re-
. preeentatives, they were to trace all the evils and ruisi-
,
. raws by which the country was now overwhelmed. (hear.)
Thor, and human corruption, a still more powerful
• agent than time itself, had sapped and undermined the
• representative system. There were, in the ;present ad-
• ministration of the government, many abuses so ex-
. trernely glaring, that it was hardly necessary to point
'them rant to so enlightened an assembly. Seats in Par
. , li•lnteet fur rottes, boroughs were as openly 11114 noturi-
_ ;
~...., -*este mold, as corn was exposed to sale in that town on
''; IL. • market day.—(liear, lsear.);se*Those who celled this
.
; • . -we
thiroeming hati.not in view any visionary project. Their
•
wish was to pnt down a system which was alike hostile
, . to their properties and their liberties.—(Cheering.)--
• Let the people of England look to what other nations
were doing. Yon behold them looking for safety and
• happiness in a representative system—(lean) The
• present lie conceived to be the %nom favourable moment
• for-bringing forward the great question of reform in
:Parliament. —(Hear.)—'Pee different bodies of reformers
• • .lappearell to him to .I:resealing towards one common
• •I• centre.---(llear.)—The aristocracy began to see the ow•
r ihstity of .reforming, aed the great body of the people
. laseersed ansionwto 'coalesce With then. The people had
• : 'hewn. that
,shoy sesihj., moderate—they had alto
itileadd That they. Isteubliee . I. klad Its shwa' abets.**
lat
• the end, throe 'would procure
*restoration
of that consti-
* feline, candled ng of King, Lords, and Commons (a body
: of, Cu 11111 l nns ready and truly representing the people),
under which, in former times, they bail been a prosper.
one and glorious nation, and under the benign influence
of which they might again hope to be the envy and
admiration of surrounding vonntries.—(Cheers.)—ln
the few nbsereations which he had hail the honour of
submitting to the meeting, he was not, if he knew his
•olirribeitrt, actuated by passion, by prejudice, or by
.
• party; the sentiments lie had expressed stoic solely
f.'m the sincere conviction of his own inind.--;llear,
bear) —He worthl now pit the Meeting in possession of
rite whole petition which had been prepared for their
ennsidefatiob. Waist petition he was not the anther;
but ite'entirely concurred in every sentiment whit li it
et4etaineel.,-(Near, hear.)—The Hon. Gentleman then
read the petition, which was as follows:
.
"gb TOR natito as nye THE COMNIONS OF THE UNITZO KING-
Ron OF GREAT BRITAIN AND sasLanti, IN PiRLIAMINT
ARBFAIIILED.
• . " Tre petition of the Nobility, Gentry. and Freeholders,
of the county of !;eras, in county meeting assembled.
• •` Sheweth,—That the only legitimate end of Government
• le thalosppiness of the governed. and that the Government
: which faits to produce this happin...is is unworthy of support
, and ought to be reformed.
.' That where no visitations of P:ovidence, such as human
. ppwer cannot avert or gcard against, where famine or pes.
thence. or hieasion front without, has not occurred, the ob.'
Pence of happiness In the people is a sure sign of defects in
. " thodass and government of the country.
" That there exists at this time, io every part of this coon-
• try, the greatest distress amongst a very numerous and most
ittiportat part of the people, viz.—all those connected with
• aorta:ham pursuits; and that the circumstances which have'
plunged them in. ruin-are those,which alone have rescued
. from equal distress another part, superior in numbers, and 1
. * second on'y to• then in importahce, viz. the manufacturing 1
• classes.
....• 0 That thli errantry
.has bees visited by no smarting or
• overwhelming dispensations of Proadence ; that all eater-
•
salvors hue ceased for more than seven years; that inter-
. . Oat tranquillity has been nuinterrupted ; abundanee has
crowned all the labours of the Iturbandtnan ; yet distress
and poverty, so far from abating, seem to increase in pro-'
5..
...portion as peace and plenty, heretofore reckoned tile surest
• foulteatioes end symptoms of happiness and prosperity,have
' bekpedi Peritonea and general.
• •• That 'though it appears. therefore, that the Government
• . : otitis country has failed to produce its only legitimate pa-
' , pine; yet the Constitution is so beautiful in theory, and did
in practice produce for so many arras such beneficial effects.
• this meeting Anna• but attribute these unhappy results not
• to any tpbertpt Or necessary defects, but to abuses grows
up in the eefte of time.
"not by the theory or the Constitution the House of
Corambee onglir lo be the representative of the people.
" That, In fact, by far the majority of its members have
sesreely any corthaxiou with the people as such ; nominated.
• not by their voice, but by persons whose interests
are directly oppositit to their's. and in very many eases
tbenteelves enriched by their spoils.
" That, by-the theory of the constitution. no part of the
executive Government of the ouuntry resides in the House
of Commons; that their main duty ts to cootroul those who
administer the offairs•and direct the powers of the slate: so
that the people may receive no damage in their persons.
liberties. or properties.
" That in practice this dilly has been wholly neglected.
and that, on the other hard, almost the whoie Government
of the country has been absorbed by the House of Commons.
" That, from the period when the country was first mould-4
ed to its present form, no steps have heel: taken by the
Legislative generally to extend and invigorate the po-
pnlar voice In the elections of members of the House of
COMMON..
" That the extension of the elective franchise in particular
places, by oceasloaal Acts of Parliament, and in counties by