The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-02-17 00:00:00

THE STATESMAN:

• MIDDLESEX COUNTY MEETING.

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consulted through real Representatives, is an uncoil• not havintobtained a radical Reform theft Repro.
stitutional tax. Unconstitutional taxation is there- sentation 25 years ago ; such Reform would have an.
THURSDAY, Fee. 16.
foresort of usurpation,ee taxation by an arbitrary power, which, by some nihilated the grand pest of our country, the Borough
This day a numerous and respectable meeting ofhath shut the people out of their Faction ; made a Court and its Ministers the Consti.
the Freeholders of the County of Middlesex,
in own House of Parliament and assumed to itself a tutional servants, instead of the illegal masters of
power of taxing them without their consent. Would the State; and such Reform would have secured the
County Court assembled, was held at the Mertaid
Tavern, Hackney, before the High Sheriff of the you know by what means such a usurpation crept in nation from the madness of a war against liberty and
County, Joseph Leigh, Esq. and John lt
eay, Esq. and has taken effect among ourselves, I must refer property ; for nn free People in their senses would
to take into consideration the evil of unconstitutional you to a circumstantial record of the mischief and tax themselves for riretting on their own necks the
Taxation—the striking exemplification of that evil its manner of operating, which the House of Com- yoke of servitude and dishonour. The grand object
in the Property Tax,--and the remedy which ought
1,111 10its entered in its own Journals on the Gth day of of despots being to obtain, for the gratification of
to be applied. , ay, 1793, the very year in which commenced the their licentious passions and lawless will, nu absolute
j war, the unnecessary war, that caused the expendi- uncontrolled power of Taxation, without the con.
The Requisition having been read, to re which gave birth to the odious measure of the sent of those who are to pay ; were you to study till
Major Canewnreue then proceeded as follows : ! Property Tax, if the famous Petition I allude to— doomsday, you could not hit 611 truer .definitions of
We hare this day three distinct subjects for our con- a copy of which I hold in my hand--proved that the Liberty, and of Slavery, than these :—Tatatlon with
sideration ; namely, Ist, the evil of unconstitotional House did not represent the nation, as it unques. Representation, is Liberty : Taxation "witheut
Taxation; 2illy, the exemplication of that evil in lionably did prove, was not that proving that such presentation, is Slavery. These propesitions being
the Property Tax ; and, idly, our remedy. Touch- a House had no right to tax the nation ?—How did perfectly clear, it has caused me no les9 gtief than
ing unconstitutional Taxation, I will not begin with the Honourable House proceed ? It heard this ac- ; astonishment at the very same conduct of (holm cou
a dry legal definition, bat `with an expressive picture. cusatiun of itself in silence : it did not dis- ! ties and other communities Which have petitionc-1
Tho two Members of our County, now present, are puce a tittle of its contents: it entered the titian. against the continuance of the Property Tay. 'l'n
both men of great wealth. Suppose them to have swered document in its own Journals ; equivalent,'. this conduct the sole exception, so fir as I have seen,
converted all their wealth into precious merchandise ; in my bumble judgment, to pleading guilty ; and it was that of the City of Westminster, which city set
to have freighted the whole in a single ship, as rich went on taxing more and more furiously than ever.— an enlightened example ; as I trust the County of
as a Spanish galleon ; and to hare embarked in per- The money wrung from the people of England was Middlesex will this day in like manner •do. The
son on a trading voyage.' In the next place. suppose lavished ou Continental despots, for once more re- County of Essex, indeed, spoke good abstract truth ;
these 0 eolemen, with their treasure, to fall into clueing France to theextreme tyranny she had thrown but, in my view of it, there was a want of a right
the hands of pirates, and to be carried into Algiers. off : and what, after pauperizing a fourth part of application of that truth, for making it practically
Here then, under the supposition of these Gentlemen our population, and all the inroads that have been beneficial. I hope, Gentlemen, lem not amongst
hating been reduced to slavery, and by that circum- made on our property, is the upshot ?—France sits men capable of acting the part of _over-loaded
stance exposed to pillage, at the discretion of rob. down with limited Royalty, representation without camels—mere beasts of burden,—who, to escape
bers, you have a true picture of the evil of uncon- rotten boroughs, and taxes as light as a feather.— broken backs, instinctively kick off a present inset,.
stitutional Taxation. The whole difference between England, on the contrary, finds Crown influence ir. portableload, but without any rationalcare or thought
taxes which are constitutional and the contrary, is resistible, is still subject to the curse of taxation how to prevent another, and another, and anotlt'r,
this : constitutional taxes are gifts and grants of a without Representation, and under the intolerable as galling, being laid on them by their Arab. masters.
free people, after the once-English fashron ; uncon- hurthen it has brought upon her, is writhing and I hope I see around me a body of high-minded
'Motional taxes, are the plunder of persons preei. groaning in the deepest agony. But, Gentlemen, Freeholders, who, when the nation, as one man,
ously enslaved, after the Algerine fashion. Happily while bleeding at every pore of our property, while hathcompared the Property Tax, for its unprecelent-
for us, Gentlemen, there is one attribute of that it melts away like a waxen image before the fire of tyranny, to that Hell upon Earth, the Inquisition,
Mouse in which taxes originate, that bath escaped., tyrannical tatation,..ancl while deploring the mean- are determined on a line of conduct, which, if its.
the modern corruptions, namely, its title. To this choly situation of our country, which not peace it- tionally followed up, would speedily wrest from the
day it is called " 'The Commons of the Realm in self can restore to ease, let us not lose sight of the hand of the Borough Faction the iron rod of
op.
Parliament assembled;" and this title may guide us / true Cause, nor the crimes of those who have been ,Ipression and torture. Against Taxation without
to important truths. Who are the Commons?—Et- , the more immediate authors of our national calami-y Representation, it is fit we declare that we do now,
elusive only of the King and the Lords, are not all ' ties. The war of 1793 was a war against human and ever shall, protest. Will not that public voice,
the rest of the community theCommons?—The King hortY; Seeing those French exertions which scat- j which at this moment universally execrates the op-
and the Lords legislate in one House of Parliament, tered to the winds the yokes, and bonds, and badges pression, call, in unison with ours, for its abolition ?
the Commons or People in the other; wherefore it at ancient slavery, English patriotism, awakening Did petitions of humanity beat down the African
is, (fiat the title of their House is, " The Commons from a slumber, was re-animated in the cause of Par- Slave Trade from Congo to St. Christopher's, and
of the Realm in Parliament assembled." This as. !, liamentary Reform. Tyranny took the alarm, and shall not petitions of right beat down the more de_
sembling of the People not being visible to the vut. I coalesced for arresting the progress of freedom. The tested Slave Trade from Cornwall Co. St. Stephen's ? •
gar eye, may require explanation ; and being a poiut iEnglish Court and Borough Faction, sounding aloud From shore to shore, from north to south, from
of the utmost consequence, I have to request an iu.l the lying trumpets of pretended danger, foreign and east to west, the public mind is in the happiesestate
dulgent bearing. It is, Gentlemen, an eternal prin.. domestic, made war against France by fleets and ar. for taking a right direction. It is every where in •
ciple of truth, that there can be no liberty where a mies ; and against Parliamentary Reform by perm- agony, end looking around for relief. It has every
People do not consent to the laws under which they ending and a reign of terror, as abhorrent to the ' where reprobated the Property Tax as " uncoil-
live. It is equally true, that, for the purpose , Constitution as disgraceful to the character of our stitutional," or, is other words,-it.calls on the Con-
of giving this consent, the People of this widely country. Men of talents, education, and public stitution for relief. In understanding where to find
extended realm cannot assemble in one Hall.— • virtue, were thrown into hulks and dungeons among ' that Constitution, the Petitioners seem,—and no
Therefore, by the necessity of the case, this t felons, and afterwards transported to Botany Bay.— ' wonder,—to have been somewhat at a loss. Nay,
business of consenting to laws must be trans- i The lives of others were struck at by charges ! have we not reason to apprehend, that to most of
acted through Representatives, appointed to that sof High Treason, which the accusers, who had' them it was indeed an unknown Constitution. Yet
end. Representatives, as the word imports, do not ; copies of all their proceedings, knew to be false.— the earnestness of the call bespeaks a strong in-
make laws, and impose taxes, by any original hide. By two abominable Statutes, commonly called the i stinctive belief in its existence i. and that, if found,
pendent power of their own; but, in the name and j Gagging Bills, public meetings for promoting Reform it would prove their salvation: Herein the English
on the behalf of the People, by whose fiat, and for were prevented, and the blistering seal of terror of this day bear a striking resemblance to the
whose profit they have been created, whose autho- i clapped on the lips of its advocates. Even so late Athenians of old, who ereated an altar, and offered
rity they exercise, and whose gifts and grants- of- as June, 1813, thirty-seven men, who had assem- up their prayers, to 66 The unknown God." To
money to the Crown, they vicariously, as mere de. bled at Manchester, for reading over, and, if tie- those Athenians the great Apostle said, " That God
puties and attornies, declare and carry into effect.— " memory, amending a Petition for Parliamentary Re- whom ye ignorantly worship declare I unto you."—
A different pretension has, I know, through an Al. ; form, while so employed, were seized by a con- And to these English, then, shall not we, in like
gerine ignorance, beets set up; for ignorance is a stable, taking with him a strong body of soldiers, manner, say, " net Constitution to which ye
sery tyrannical brute; exceeded only in that respect handcuffed, cast into prison, and thence transferred ignorantly appeal declare we unto you." If these
by pretended ignorance. In support of my argu. to Lancaster Gaol, charged with treasonable prac- f Petitioners do, indeed, understand the Constitution
ment, that the consent of the People is essential to tires, which the committing Magistrate had abun- better than they have given us reason to imagine,
the validity of law, the authorities are as endless as dant reason to know was an infamous fabrication.— they will not, I trust, be °trended with this proof ot--,
they are uncontrovertible. Yet as such a truth i This atrocious case I mentions in order to show, our zeal : and when we join with them in praying for •
stands little in need of authorities, I shall cite very I that the system of terror, although for obvious rea. a discontinuance of the Property Tax, because it is
few. A wise Minister of the wise Queen Elizabeth, sons it hides at this moment its tiger's face, is by no j 66 unconstitutional," may we riot hope they will be
the learned Sir Thomas Smith, in the book he wrote means abandoned ; nor will ever cease to persecute, equally ready to join with us, in protesting against
on the " Commonwealth of England," observes, until the rod of its tyranny be broken on its own I all the other instances in which " unconstitutional"
that 66 every Englishman is intended to be present wicked head. Thinking this case of the Manchester taxation strikes to the vitals of all English Liberty
I
in Parliament, either in person or by procuration and men, if laid before the two Houses of Parliament, and Property ? I shall, therefore, Gentlemen, •
attorney, of what pre-eminence, state, dignity, or could not fail to excite there a flame of English in- l propose to you a suitable Declaration on this point.:
quality soerer lie be; from the Prince to the lowest - dignation, a Parliamentary enquiry into the fact, -A drowning man eagerly grasps a rope thrown him'
person of England ; and the consent of the Nadia- I and condign punishment of the guilty, I stated it in by a child. As, therefore, a little. child may thus
meat is taken to be every man's consent." Black. petitions to both Houses ; sod they were also peti. I save a sinking man, so by thfowing out a rope com-
stone, while treating iu his Commentaries on cloned by the suffering persons themselves. But this i posed of Rights, Laws, and Liberties, well twisted
the manner iu which the English People exercise , criminal outrage on the law of the land fired no le- I together, a few men may save a sinking state. Such
their sovereignty; has these words, " In England, gislative bosom ; this daring wrong done to thirty- j a rope, for saving our sinking country, will, I trust,
where the People do not debate in a collective body, seven Englishmen, caused no more sensation Ibe found iu what I shall submit to you; and'we may
but by Representation, the exercise of this save- than if they had been so many dogs. The singlet the better confide in its sufficiency, as it is the•very
vereignty consists io the choice of Representatives." , presenter of the petition in each House is of course , same rope which saved our country from sinking m,
—Com. 1. 171. Here, then, the tree constitutional excepted. It is indeed true, that no Green Bag full der the despotism of the perjured John, and again
idea is, that when the Commons or People are in of the infernal conspiracy of the Borough Faction . under the tyranny of the oath-breakits,; Stuarts. It
Parliament assembled, it is they themselves who con- I for overturning the Constitution, of which conspi- j was this rope of • Rights, Laws, and Liberties, with
suit, who debate, who assent to, or dissent from, racy this foul attempt for destroying at one stroke, the People et the end of it, that-brought us the gto-
laws, although these things be done vicariously thirty-seven persons so employed in an effort for its j rious Meeting in Itunnimead with its Magna Charts.
through their attornies. And does not this t preservation, was an overt-act, had, by any Secret ;It was this rope, with the People again at the end of
agree with our constant practice in private life,l Committee of their own, been previously laid on the j it, that brought us the glorious Revolution, with its
when any one of us individually is either plain., table of either House. I merely state the fact of the 13111 of Rights ; and this rope, with the People once
tiff or defendant in a law-suit ? Every such in- / apathy ; the cause, I leave to the penetration of the more at the end of it, would soon bring us a radical,
divitlual is the actual party in the cause, and pre. I Meeting. Hating, Gentlemen, shown the cause of , practical, substantial Reform, worth twenty Magna
sent in the court, through his attorney, although ; the evil of unconstitutional taxation, as well as the Chartas and twenty Bills of Rights; as one perform.
personally distant. Blackstone again tells us, " that ; means employed by a pernicious faction to perpe- ance is worth twenty premises ; one possession worth
our Statutes are merely placed among our public re- tuate in their own hands a power of plundering the, twenty declarations. Gentlemen, the outline of my
cords, there needing no formal promulgation to give ! nation at Will ; let us see what might naturally have propositions is as follows : For my basis I take a
them the force of laws, because every Englishman been expected, had a Constitutional Reform in the fact as universally known as that darkness is not light,
is, in judgment of law, party to the making of BO Representation of the People been obtained in .the
.• namely, that the House of Commons does not fairly
Act of Parliament, being present thereat by his re- year 1790. From a comparison between our situ- represent the Nation, this fact stands-recorded even
presintetives."—Com. I. 185. And, according to ation in 1790, and our situation in 1/315, combined in its own Journals ; a reference to which makes the
the same author, it is a fundamental of our criminal with a knowledge of what it is that constitutes a : substance of my first proposition.—The second,
code, that " the lawfulness of punishing criminals- right of taxation, instruction the.most important third, fourth, and fifth in explaining the Con.
is founded upon this principle ; that the law by which may be drawn ; it will teach us, if any thing can, stitution, explain also the nature of uncon.
they suffer was made by their own consent."— how to retrieve the almost desperate state of our stitutioual taxation, the proper object of this day's
Corn. IV. 8. This principle of consent by represen. finances, how to save our country ; that is, how to consideration. My sixth proposition shows how
tatiou is therefore vital to ear Constitution ; with. transmit. its Laws and Liberties, arid the security of completely " unconstitutional" Taxation Is exem.
out it there is neither liberty nor property ; and the Property to our posterity. By any other means plified in the Property Tax. We quarrel not e ith
'statute of Edward F., eneeted ny.the King, Lords, than those to which I allude, this were utterly im- the Tax, because it draws from the great laud-owner .‘
and 66 all the commoitally of the land," against any practicable, and the attempt could lead to nothing a fair contribution, much less because it compels the
new taxes or services, "except by the common as- but what every wise and good man must contemplate • wealthy miser, who lives like a beggar, to pay like a
sent of the realm, and for the common profit there- with horror. In 1790, the National Debt was under genthelann. Nay, these features we admire. Rut as
of," was, in the judgment of Sir Edward Coke, 250 millions : it is now nbout 900 millions, if not we would not submit tosa Tyrant, fur •having in his
merely declaratory of the Common Law, as in ear- more; on au average during the war, the debt of face a handsome feature; so we will not, for a like
tier time it had been unfolded by Bracton and others. 1790, increased at the rate of 32 millions a year.— reason, submit to this tyrannicalT ax. The seventh . .
--It would, indeed, be a monstrous doctrine that a Peace, with an annual application of about five mil- is -meant as a warning against unnecessary war, which
state consisting of a single small town, where the lions and a half a.year as a Sinking Fund, would by unless prevented by radical Reform, will as certainly
people should legislate in person, could alone be this time have cleared off the debt of 1790, without return, as the night succeeds the day ; because it is
free ; but that a >tate consisting of an extended no. our being now taxed on that account a single shilling. the harvest, the very food and aliment of a corrupt
illosemust necessarily be slaves. From the premises Throlsgh unnecessary war, we are now to be taxed Government, and its voracious harpies. And the. .
I have laid down, it clearly follows, that any tax as the interest of public debt alone, forty millions of eighth is intended to show, that we are not lgriorset.
which has not been given and granted by the people pounds sterling a•year ; exclusive of all charges for ly or factiously seeking to drive Ministers from their
themselves in Parliament assembled, being there pre- supporting the Goverment, a Navy or an Army. places; nor disloyally obstructing the Revenue its
eent according true legal intendment) nor having . Such, Gentlemen, are the consequences of the People its present improper channel to the Exchequer, with.

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out showing a better way, namely the proper way.
And her also, as well as in the Prayer of the
Petition, is pointed out our Constitutional remedy
for th grievance of which we complain. No,
men, we do not desire to shrink from any
burd of which a Commons House, really chosen
1 ruly and equally representing the nation, shall
dec ere the necessity. We cannot admit of the
,nonce of such a necessity, on the showing of men
iteerestecl in pretending it ; and who will do all they
can to create it. No; an assurance of such neces-
sity we can take from none but real representatives ;
end even that, after convincing proofs of their bite-
ity, by potting an end to all useless expellee, to all
ussmerlted stipends, and to all foreign connection,
intrigues, and projects, dangerous to the repose,
and, no way contributing to the good of England.—
Neither could we place confidence in any man, who
should not reduce to dimensions perfectly harmless,
a standing army, which in peace has no utility what-
e,ver, except in relation to our foreign possessions.
—0:1 so reduced a scale, indeed, I am at a loss to
conceive how, in the beggared state of our finances,
it is to he supported. But, with regard to a stand-
ing army, there are other most serious considera-
tions. Even David Hume, the apologist for Stuart
tvransly, pronounces this same standing army to be
" a moltal distemder iu the Constitution of which it
must inevitably perish."—Essays 11. 376. Shall
we. then, like the drunkard or the glutton, feed
this ili,,ernper to our certain destruction 2 The ca.
tastropl e can only be averted to the limitation I have
suggested, of a mere sufficiency for foreign services.
A standing army at home is abhorrent to the very
nature of freedom. It is a novelty of very modern
introductiou. This introduction began in treachery,
and unless the treachery be effectually guarded
against, it can end iu nothing but slavery under a
military despotism. Every interference of the mill-
t-sry, in the pretended support of the Magistrate,
is nay act of treason against the law and consti-
tution of England ; which, as Blackstone justly re-
marks, " know no such state as that of a perpetual
standing soldier."—Com. I. 408. Agreeably to corn-
mon sense, the English Constitution entrusts. the de- '
fence of liberty to the arms of freemen alone; the
tranquillity of society to those most interested in its
preservation ; and the protection of property to those
who possess it. On the contrary, the advocates for
a standing army tell us, that slaves are the most
proper guardians of freedom: that men who have ex-
changed the social state, under the law and the Civil
Magistrate, for a military barrack, and discipline by
the cat-of-nine-tails, acre the fittest persons to pre- I
serve ". social order;" and that mercenary soldiers,
without property, are the most suitable defenders of ,
our estates. 1 repeat it, Gentlemen, that a standing
army, as a regular part of our Govetnment, began
in-treachery ; a proof of which will be found. in '
an admirable book, written by the present Prime
Minister's father; but before he was a placeman.
There it is shown, how the martial branch of our
Constitution,—the cheapest and best defence of a na-
tion, that human wisdom ever produced—was treas.
cherously and systematically undermined, and that
most expensive, as well as most fatal instrument of
despotism*, a standing army, introduced. I speak
that which I know: and if, Gentlemen, you desire
liberty, with an exemption from unnecessary tax-
ation, you must desire that the army shall not consist •
of one soldier more than sufficient for your foreign
services ; and that no Minister, nor Magistrate, shall
dare, at the peril of bis head, ever to employ a sol-
dier in keeping the peace, or in executing the law.—
But, with reference to this, or to any other object,
on account of which you are now exposed to an lin. I
constitutional Taxation, your Alpha and Omega,
your first thooesst and your last, ought to be,l
to obtain a radical Reform in our Representation. i
—Here let us take our stand ; if indeed we mean
net to be crouching camels—mere beasts of bur-
den—but freemen, here we must take our stand.
And I trust in God—in that God who created all
men equal ; who gave them liberty for their common
inheritance; and who endowed them with reason
and courage to assert that liberty ; that here the
whole People of England will also, take their stand.
That Creator, as a few words will prove to you, •
hatls indeed made the preservation of public liberty,
whic:s essential to a people's happiness on earth,
the express duty of every. man. Is not the whole of
our religion comprehended iu these two precepts :
" '('hon shalt love thy God with all thy mind ; thy
neighbour as thyself ?" Who is our neighbour, if
not every man who lives in the same land, and
ander the sat e laws with ourselves?—ls it not,
therefore, apparent, that true patriotism is a vital
part of true religion ? For what is patriotism,
but actively to promote the • good of our neigh-
bours on the widest scale, that of the whole nation ?
Alas, Gentlemen, when we reflect on the gross, the
brutish neglect of this duty ; which, in addition to
all its private follies and vices, bath so long ills-
-

your bane and, Its antidote; with you lease I will
move the itesolittions I hug to,effer.

Resolved, ist,, titrVithiell"U' *of the Common,,' far
the sth day of Idny, 1798; it stands recorded, Wit slat )(retie
&tit not represent the nation ns required by: the Constitution.
241, Thai, therefore, the Property 'fax, not baring had tits
peopte's consent, i.oncimainitional.
S.I, That unconstitutional taxation, is taxation by arbitrary
power.
lab, That arbitrary power being once established, the people
theneeroraiird hate no secure property at nil ; a• all the nth,
,taliCt• 15 hick till then they hail possessed, as well as all which,
by the sweat iif their brow, they can afterwards procure, those
Who exercise such arbitrary power can take from them, with.
out consent, In the form of taxes, wheresoever, as often,
and io what prsportions ftwy 611,111 he pleased so to do.
sth, That Representation is the vital ease we of English Liber-
ty, and the ground of this matins of our law, that every man
being present is Parlinineat, either in person or by tinware-
lion and attorney, the consent of the Parliament is taken to be
every maxis consent.
• 6th, That bad the people actually enjoyed this meted general
right, which includes in it the particular right of taxing them-
wives, they would not have experienced the merciless and oft-
ruinous exactions—nor the irritating mid bards.:ing wrongs and
vexations—nor the intolerable insults and degradations brought
on them by the Property Tax, which, fur its mockery of pa-
tio., its cruelty, and wickedness, bath bee., justly compared to
that most bitternl of altlyeamties—the
7th, That the. esi:tence of an arbitrary power, in consequence
of the people haying lost their presence and their voice in Par-
Bement, fully account for the stirring up ofunnecessary wars,
by those a horn war titres uphold, aggiaodise, and enrich,at the
rust of the people, who, being first so degraded as aforesaid,
are then with impuoity pillaged, impoverished, and oppressed.
' Bth, That w 'letterer the people shall have recovered their
rightful presence mid voice in Parlianeerit, so tharthey can
freely wheat to their own taxation, then reposing ourennfideuce
equally in the niidatu Red hi the integrity of real Representa-
tives, we shrill at all times cheerfully pay any tax, be the same
ever sn burdensome, which shrill be voted by such Representa-
tives ; but against any :tad all gates otherwise imposed, we do
now, and ever shall, protest.
9th, That the Petition of Rlgks, In swirl unison with the fore-
going Resolutions, which hum been now read, is adopted, and
that the same be signed by the Sheriff, and not kw than twelve
Freeholders on behalf of the County.
10th, That the said Petition 'be presented to the Common,
House by our Representatives, George ilyng and Wm. Alelliah,
Esqrs. and they arc hereby iirstructed to support the same.

•
The Resolutions from No. 1 to No. 8, inclusive, forms the
Petition, with the following Prayer.—
Wherefore your :Petitioners pray, that the present 1111C011641.
totional Property Tax may wholly erase on the sth day of
April nest; nod that your Hon. House will, without delay,
turn its serious thoughts to a full restoration of those sacred
Nights of the People, in the constant violation of which, Legis-
lation and Taxation are at 'anent unconstitutionally exercised ;
a none which bath already been prolific of countless calami-
ties ; and a courts.. which, as it appears to your Petitioners,
With hitherto directly led, and so long as persevered in. Mint
continue directly to lead, to the erecting of a settled tyranny on
the ruin. of Public Liberty ; no experiment of the most gloomy
and horrid aspect, and,pregnaut with nought but the direst evils
to our deeply injured and unhappy country.
Mr. BENTLEY seconded the Resolutions, enforcing,
in a peculiar manner, the shameful system of delusion
which had, from time to time, been practised by the
Ministers of this country upon the public, repre-
senting our finances as in a state of the utmost pros-
perity, while we were, in fact, precipitating into
that situation of ruin in which the termination of the

The thanks of the Meeting were thea unanimously
voted to the Sheriff, for their impartial ma polite con-
duct.

• The thanks of the Meeting were also unaeimonsly
voted to George Byng, Esq. one of the County Re-
presentatives, for his general *conduct in Perlin-
meta, and for his support to the Resolutions of this
day.
Major CARTRIIIGIII having suggested, Aat this
being a Meeting of a County Court, the Petition
there agreed to ought, us a necessary formality, to
be authenticated by the signatures of the Sheriff.
Mr. Sheriff REAs took occasion to declare, that
with all respect to the Meeting, he must be allowed
to decline the task now proposed to be imposed upon
him, finding it altogether inconsistent with his own
feelings ft( sanction, by his signature, the R^solutions
of that day, of which the Petition might be said to be
a literal copy.
On its being suggested to.bits, however, that this
was merely a Ministerial act, which, in his official
character, he was called on to perform, he engaged
to weigh the matter in his own mind, and if hdshould
be able to satisfy himself that the fact was so, that
he would then-authenticate the Petition.
The Meeting theoeadjaersted. •

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~~

LAM INTELLIGENCE.
COURT. OE CHANCERY, FEB. 16
An interesting cause, heretofore long discussed,
on en original bill and information, came on thi►
dey,•owan amended bill, opened by Mr.Wurircnact,
and strongly stated by Sir SAMUEL Romm.Y, on be.
half of the Plaintiffs, who charged repeated abuses
and perversions of a charitable bequest of a lease-
hold interest of 500 years, made in 1699, for the
erection and support of a Chapel for Dissenters, al
the town of Dudley, in Staffordshire, subject to ►
mortgage debt of 3001. which by meane assignment►
under bankrupt sales, came to be purchased by the
Noble Defendant for a sum of 50001. instead of thr
Brit price of 3001. The Learned Counsel argued,
that ail the sales of this trust, properly, were illegal
and voidable in equity.
After all the evidence and deeds were given in on
the part of both parties,
Mr. FONSLANQUE, for the Defendant, as leading
Counsel, made an able statement against the charges •
when, at half past four o'clock,
His Ramona desired Sir S. Romilly to defer la
reply on this important cause. The reply and judg•
ment were postponed.
This cause occupied most part of the day.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Fin. 16.
BOND V. VAUGHAN.

The Plaintiff, a wine merchant, brought his action
against the Defendant, a tailor, to recover 1491. fen
a pipe of wine. The Defendant was introduced to
the Plaintiff by a Mr. Beeby, with whom he went to
the Plaintiff's cellars, where he tasted and selected a
pipe of wine, which was sent home to the Defendant.
At the expiration of the usual credit, the Plaintiff
sent in his bill, of which no notice was taken, and
therefore, some time after, he sent a second bill to
which the Defendant answered, he did not owe the
Plaintiff any thing, for he bad bought the wine of
Mr. Beeby, who was i►debted to him the sum of 701,
which he meant to set off in part of payment. Th•
Plaintiff finding thus a difficulty in getting his money,
brought the present action, and a number of witnesses,
were examined on both sides. From the Plaintiff's,
books it appeared, that the credit had been given to.
the Defendant from the commencement of the trims,
action; and under the circumstances of the case
the Jury returned a verdict for the Plaintiff.—Da..
magas 1491.
There were only two other uninteresting and un-
defended causes in the course of the day, as the
Lord Chief Justice rose early to attend the Council
at Carlton-(louse, to receive the Recorder's Report
of the Convicts under sentence of death in Newgate.,

late war had left • us. Nothing bit Parliamentary —.nor—
Reform, he was satisfied, could now save us. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, Era. 16.
The Motion to aoree with the Resolutions being put— nzvcunuav V. GOLDSMITH.
Mr. MELLlSUr.declared his dissent from them, not This %risen action het weeo two inhabi tantsef Graves.
on account of any partiality to the PrOperty Tax, end, upon a wager laid by the Defendant, who was
which he was happy to think was to be repealed ; a preacher of the doctrines of the late Joanna South-
but on account of the Resolutions being mixed up' cottv of '2OOl. to 1091. that.she would be_delivered of
with a declaration as to the necessity of Perlis.: a male child on or before theist of November last.
memory 11.40 rm, of which he, for one, could not ap. I Before Mr. Serjeant Best could state the Plain-
prove ; and also an implied declaration, that till such eunt ONSLOW, for the Defendant,
Reform did take place, no taxes which might NO objected, on the grounds of indecency and ludicrous-
intsved by the Legislature could be legally imposed. 1 neasi.that this action ought not to be tried, and cited
Mi. Ilvxn declared himself friendly to every Perri Da Costa v. Jones (Cowp. 720),• which was a wager
of the present &Resolutions, Ind, in particular, to be i "Pon the sea of Chevalier D'Een, in which Lord
a zealous supporter, as he always had been; of, Par. I Mansfield held roe% wagers veld ss woaki " affect
liatnentary Reform. . .. -.. the interest or the feelings of a third person; for in-.
The Resolutions were than put and agreed to • es *tante, that such woman has committed adultery, or
was also a draft of a Petition to Parliament, founded 1 that en unmarried woman has. had a bastard." In
on the Resolutions. that case the Defendant's Counsel objected at the

trial, that the Plaintiff ought not to recover, because
it was a wager upon a question tending to introduce
indecent evidence: to this it was answered, that the

objection was upon the record, and Lord Mansfield
being of that opinion, overruled 'the objection; but
afterwards, when the ease came before the whole
Court in arrest of judgment, his Lordship said he
eas •sorry that the answer given .to the objection
made at the trial " that it appeared upon the re-
cord" had been so hastily given way to by, him; for
though the indecency of evidence is no objection to
its being received where it is necessary to the deci-
sion of a civil or criminal right, yet the witnesses
should have been told that they might refuse to give
evidence in a case, where two men, by laying a wager
concerning a third person, would compel his physi-
cians, relations, and servants, to disclose what they •
knew relative to the subject of the wager. The
Learned Serjeant added, that the subject of the pre-
sent wager, Joanna Southcott, was a single woman.
Mr. Serjeant BEST answered that Lord Mansfield,
in the very case cited, said 46 a 'wager whether the!
next child shall be a boy Ana gial hurt, no time:'
and he should be able to prote;' thee the Defendant
had, in one of his public lectotwe, declared that Jo-
anna Sotithcott was to be married by prosy, that the'
child might not be born a bastard.
-The Lord- Chief:Justice (Gifts) said, his difli-
colty was not whether the present action .was. main-
taitiable, bat whether any Judge had on that account
refused tetry a cause.
Mr. Serjeant Denote and Mr. COSIYA,* for the
Defendant, instanced Lord Loughborough, who in
an action upon a wager " whether there are more
ways than sit of nicking seven on the dice, allowing
seven to be the main and eleven a nick to seven,"
ordered the cause to be struck out of the Paper ;
and the whole Court of Common Pleas afterwards
refused leave to restore it (I IL 8.43); and Lord
Ellenbolough, who .refused to try an option• on a-
wager op a point of law is which theparties have
no interest, and the whole Court of ,King's Bench
afterwards agreed in the propriety of such refusal
CZ Campb. 408).
The Lord Chief Justice Gimes stopped further ar.
gement by-saying, that he woeld suffer the cause to
proceed witha view of making an end of such cases,
oat of mercy to the partie..
• Mr. Serjeset awe then stated his case, and
proved by Wm. Gordon that the bet was made at
Gravesend on the sth of September last, and by Dr.
Reece, that Joanna 3otitheuts MILS never afterwards
delivered of any chifst.. .I.= • •e-
Upon cross-enaminetitinlay Mr. Serjeaet Ottruvw,,l
the Doctor said, Shag he bad never heard of her ba►..
!a husband, antliithet she passed •fur a single wo.
vast 1 •'t •
Led thief Justice ditiees.--New 'that the wager
Qittnsl M! ituesiioiv Ore van& we into- laying Wolfe
r 1 *eV pectieWrigicibi oasse. . .

ii J

MS. 11.71 ~n. aIC IV! 'IVO 1111 U I MCI., Weill au wails Mb. P •-i
1
meld-9w nation.; must we not discens the ostice It aso ma illustrious Personage has • appointed
[frerewhtej
..ertneasies kayo rushed. a tike.fielid the Esti of GRANA/11) to the Office
10, I telt
of Provideacei sindertbramepingpeereetniientgor in,-...:,,,.,...-, ••
A . .... . .t. .914ttegi.t.. . . meet had .
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•'.e - „." '' ' • ";ishi .'
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years' was ? and were not these chistailhitesliasetw . i . . r. ,
I reit
I
effects, linked toms" neglect of &sty; cembin ' lth •' • 'A-, . • '--4 - - .mv.— st ' ' perform rt.,
' '`, Rinwer I cot
etiboruin• wa • :', tame.. ts_ eral and i '''`'
our follies and vices, es their causes, by the esternaV - wet
tputy Adjsehetal, 4
.: rter‘. ' sters-Ge- I
law of nature? Adverting, however, to the awaken,' .
Oral and Depotmitt!,c.
... .
.. ~ , at home
.e„;
lag state of the-piddle Mind, as well las to dust's ro.l
and abroad, under.A-, , :'4lll , . I will be, • 1
vidintial,occurreaces by which, in twitsignaLisvatinicea ' 1
contrary to Lltit forme theitgee , ' imy, and °F`
we havrheehhltased with peace, 'when erpectect h; f I and
tirreconcilahleti with auy arrange
.n ;professing ,
no mac t let ns hope, net only that the marcifuljnstice Tett
economy figlis,sotect. , ,
of /haven, satisfied with "the.melsove of punishmenti'll
already inflicted ; bat tintt our aoraciainf.by kleakaa. ill
already ' Recorder 2...
resorted to the. Prince Regent the. *lei Capital 17:1
ing reflection, have ptepared us for a great and hippy"
Conviots fa Nesvgate, viz. ... ,
change. Let as hope that the Latham fors of nOOl Henry ream,. john Tisley, sepb Ki • Plunabork orti
and unmanly despondince,—ihet the foul vapours ttf. „Iltunieb' Kr.nore, James lio- !I'M.; 'TV ' 'Ntwitra, alias. (t 4
selfishness andfaction,-Lthat the dense mists-origno- Pava': Juba Angler, Thom* Tainel,4 '•• *lime, mins 1
rtnet, frivolity, 'and piejudioz, by titeiginteffba Of 1,1:11„4.11:::41,,°,11,41, jeFl:4l,lll:lll;2.,'",n'ttiNviamalatT ""r, . artYagliner" gun
all which the political atmosphere bath been rendered bl-ertr4 Illiintheth ' Denham, ( ' erge TO' ,-. it . privnti rly - pro
bur-
a9 nu Wtholettunst' al! a Walcheren, mar, bt -4‘.;d 's , •Istev"icZe4o.l:eJam" Kell. 4"4_,PrOle-',.4.
es, for 'bur" oat
Pru/ideuceS iniddeltlY "ell and "Dibkilted ollr CAM' iiiiiih-T,* nlior Fire f.;',7„tie.ttlrli. '%1417.' ' - muse,: 'Lt., . t
What *beat forth %felt- Wee
.. • tettill 'ledger. PIO/Allah Phillips,' Timms* Jamear • levy Co.dev„ pro
$,
. .•._ •--5. -.... Charlotte bitinley, alms M , ler, mid Ala Luseamb. lids 1.7
all , is, iheeriteg, sty .i. .„,,g .-,„,. Klass, Mat,iktt Whitit!ter, ft like (Arena. Mary It it, fin,
Th - Gentlemen bet not at • . , 7 lift .. Ike. 'ter uttering base man -, ',James Se rim instlit rd Bee
hinted Joess {rola their tofer •• teit.i „.• ;Air. robbefi in a be•
.-Itabot ..' hefts; tof lie- deli'
ontosisfe reptiles, .monatees - ..- l4. geeikfc - •*, 44-4,;' ."7"abert .4 'L fo „1,! ' ... a l
7 , , . • tlrd 3 oats. n a • ...,,A0 • ;
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correption, whose imagei,.fille the phignet 0.4104 105:_ttltMiels ma sh'lP.- •.• • A - . the
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now:every w Ire re Must oar fight'; whose pandemonfew !11l 'heal, 31.11ue(1.14'u1P51 •', ' - •* . „0„ ' I - Inc
ea lug la saups.—ltabert . , .
tOsiptes are seen in every rotten Borough ; and *twit Wiirfry; foeiden. stoarlie. '"' • ':, ' :' ,- • ' 'lair
tortforing cathedral, once a Christian dent!, stands When Seagrtn, OM: oefe von( 'Ts, elm- I.
near Ittelleasury.yhts.Getittemett, havingttObblei cutien 'en WediiHdey nett. . The' sistwill 'Were N. titre(
yon.with My soutitnewesi.betysineevil entl4o retnetli; ' spitestduring-pletserei •' •; • ' •' . " --: - t : 'l. /1 NI