The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-03-25 00:00:00

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ST4TESMAN.

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Westminster has long set an example
.to the rest.
of the nation of intrepid watchfulness over the Iteit''
lie rights, of a Hared •regard • far the CrOthetitetion.tH
the:bind and foe itoiorthieat defenders. • That en,
11ftilttliol*.iilffit' *hick. ing'.l.:ely testate llte:Utitp.
,rloset 041,1 bes again been mosthenottrably
1-
hibited ; and 'if is for the. People of,the empire at
large, equallyinteceested'in the preservation of Con-
stitutional Liberty and the rights ofproperty, to fol-
io! op Ale eXample with corresponding )tiacrity.—
:The
.modenchoiy and terrific reign of arbitrary pe-
alsiametf 'which continued its salon with iticreised,
. i
rigour ender the Suspension of the chief
geoid .of personal freedom has been eiseclW
OA power that so rashly mad injudiciously tried'
elk silents the complaints of. the People by la!
liming corporeal agonies- opoo them, by aportni
'with their mirertis, and spurning their Petitions, hors
shrunk ipto itself; • and the men who. were lately so
daring in 'their • attempts to 'strike. terror into the
nation, have been glad to seek shelter under a Bill
of Indemnity, and to acknowledge the authority of
the lifts they have violated. But it is in lain they
sa .
hope to estingoish the memory of their transactions
by dropping the curtain ,of a legislative enactment---
by hypocritical cant about religion, or their
gained manoeuvres to increase the power of the
Church. The ration can no longer be hOod-Winked
by such expedients. The memory of what has been
'ransomed can never be extinguished. There is no
Bill of Indemnity that. can preserve the authors and
the agents of such deliberate crimes foggiest the Peo.
pie, and the principles of humanity, from the contempt
and indignation which they have excited in the general
mind. Unhappy was the state of the country,
and wretched were the means resorted to by
the Government to remove its calamities.—
Thoutilnds of peaceable, though starting, men met
-to Petition the Legislature for the only means of
relief, and in strict conformance to the regulations
of the Constitution. The sole relief• afforded was
to disperse them by armed power, and to imprison
and fetter numbers of innocent persons, who prayed
but for !erre to toll and •('he iontterin right, of Eng.
tishmen. The Petitioner demanded to Pti ezemined
and ofered proofs Of their veracity: their. prayers.
served only to accumulate their insults and their vet•
ations they were denied enquiry, and- nevertheless
irtrnded Pith the appellation of liars. Thercoin...
plained of the most erne! imprisonment : they had
been chained together—they bad been torn at dead
.of night, from their wives and families—the only
sounds I Wiled reached some of them amid the horror,
of e toolbar, 'confinement were the tidings of the death
'of a wife.—Of 6 child—of the disease, the.beggary, the
absolute ruin of all that had been dear to them : in their
dungeons they had suffered with cruel diseases, and Ind
been obliged to undergo painful and dangerous sorgi•
cal operation!, without the consoling presence of any
whom they loved : when they demanded, proofs of
their guilt, and appealed to the laws of their coot*.
try, they were thrown back upon a society which.
had been taught to mistrust them, and among which,
they no longer retained the ties of mutual confidence:l
when they made known their sufferings to the Leeds.
tureieselcihey were not merely treated with contempt,
hot their severest sufferings were Windbag ridicule.,
One of the Members of the Rouse, of Commons,_
notorious for the jocular freedom with which he babi•
lastly tents the most serione subjects, whether re.
•lating to religion or to the bonds of human
connections, whenever he has a political point to
gain, had tin audacity to mince sport to, the House
of the corporal pangs. Of, one of these . satrer.,
who had writhed- under the anguish of an usotte
Mayer, ne_i,well as the anguish of • oppreeilna`4—,
This watt tae conduct of men composing ibe Gown.
meat of '.England towards .the. People who boast. of.
their Constitution ! And under ,this Minirry the.
British nation yet suffers. the'deptivaliwn-of many
of its • chartered righia,.; a I
..1 q ale iitteietfo
weight nlElebt and tailerthfever oppressed the
most neforteuete couseek, What "mild ..our
io-
cestors hive said to::araeli 'proceedings...4o sub
unlicensed tyrionlegiitsr Secret Committees end
Green Bags, aetT is a 'bertha) of tam: as Oils
enmity, view bears?' aid whit wield those who
:with Ilium* " the mighty tyrant of their fields
withstood;' have said to the manner of imposing these
tam ? • Would- they •have • .sorffored • their Mallet
Chartaiad their Bill of Rights to yield to e'Sespent7
sign Act, sad a Bill Of Indemnity ? Tltesivinciplet
of the English Constitution have beep made to give
way•Alre Revolottos the most lesetting..to
natosi.. Ie against this Revolution, in favoer.oti
tt fittitibildellle, many lift op their woke ; and the*,
they deprecate, the meads encoded to by their
.pressers to eitablish arefc Revolution and -conee all
free sentiment, the spirit of Liberty nano! but hope
that a day- will yet-come 'when the enemies of the
public bapplausie like Op Eliseo if old, (Linking

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'Mail the apples of our tree of freedom, shall ieti
pilldr Mouths filled with druid with ashes. It
, hth *VW Melt acts of tha sates,: sod kbrio ~
toeht of ih
e obstructty fe kat he,
ect ef
tight
of. a P
Sltrultsthene4
filgaliThe et‘sifiledoretbinas
rete; rendering it necessary that when five miWona
of men have to complain of a common wronither
shall only de it by tintstiein slat veal esimadve
upon at the Meeting, but it isa still more grievous no. •
Went tion that though flee orfillowsof *preened lobjeeise,
shall by this manner clearly !minis the satire et 'A
their wrong and the redrese.le
.itaid? all these
titian sheirld be scooted, eve' 411,10eavtivaileaal '
mends of the People be rejatellad-Witit ettitenopt...6.: •
:Much has been justly said,: in reprobation of A.
arbitrary measures-of the STUARTS, and the spluggin
they entailed upon the counlry. Bet if OM
Acts remain its force, and ate acted spun against 'ha
free, exercise of the prisiieges-of the People, it yid
.be dilficalt to discover whertylint benefits rn.publit
liberty-are to be found, that bon resulted few* dig
expulsion of the tyrannic Legitimates. We Caroni )
bet remember too that though the STUARTS. weft
tyrants in esery sense of Its .word, and we corsikr,,
wish to, see every remnant of ibeic•political code es. 4
ploded or reviled, it is only, sine, they-left the me.
Lionel stage clear to their SateßSSaft, that we ban
esperienced the benefit of a National Debt, whia,;-`64
in its progress through each succeeding reign, to its
present slate of perfection, that of vine hundred mil•
lions, hie "Grown with their growth, and
strengtheeed with their strength."
The British People must now more then ever per-
ceive the necessity of exerting the remains left theta '
of their Constitutional privileges to effect the re.
formation so desirable in the State. The very essence
of the Constitution has been set aside, and a way •
opened to occasional despotism, which is entirely
dependent upon the incliostion of Ministers. Thc2.
corrupt Parliaments of PITT and his successors have • •
left bar valued Constitution completely at the dis. •
pool of the Ministry. A return to pore prin.
ciplei in the Representation can alone save-us
from the consequences of this great evil.— • '
It war formerly boast enough to rouse the blood of
our ancestors e hen it was asserted, that " the fiber.
bertha of the People were derived from the bounty ,
of the Grotto." Our ancestors answered such a
"boast by proving, on various occasions, and particu• •
larly in 16118, that the Crown had itself no rights—k*:
no prerogatives—but what it derived from the
People; BaaCron, one of the greatest of ear i
old !stayers, has said, " let Kings temper their
power by the bridle of -the law." And he add+,
64 For soy Prince or Potentate •on earth, of
*bat kind sorter, to exercise 4oterninent, and
eithei by 'sprees consasisOn?.pamedinfalg,,
:Ivo' person' ally received from too, or else by•
the authority derioet . al first from As con, •
sent of the People, epos whom he-imposes laws, Is
no beuer than mere tYranny ; for laws they are not,' •
whicii pblitical approbation hath4latinadirsiti•ited
'political ipprobation they
.can only gin, trim:per
somilly .declare their consent, or by others in theta '
names, by tight originally derived from them, as in
.I
Parliaments." These were the sentiments of our'
forefathers. -• But how. widely and wapiti' have we
departed 'horn their steps, when we ban selfend
persons who do, not derive their right to sit italter •
Pavliament from a seventh part of us, trideolareby
their acquiescence in Reports of Secret. Committees,
the !Maunal concerti to measures that have invaded and
.
destroyed its Rights and Libertiesond when the People
who have these Coe rtered Rights to plead against the
power of the Crown, and the despotism of the Minis.
try, may address one another in the galling language oft
the Tragedy from the times
.of Tug/loss aad !sr
with too much truth,— „
" Every Mini•ering Spy ' •
That will lifelibe Mid swear, is lord of yea,
(If .e, of all our fotlonft nesd our live' I
Our lOM's are cancan) ;Midas; nod our words*
How ineoreht •oever, ate matte crimes
We shall not shortly dare. in fell oar drafts,
Or think, but 't will be Ire spon."

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French Papers to the 224 'have :been received..
They inform os of the destruction, by fire, of the
beautiful Theatre L'Ofieors, in St. Germain. l'he fire •
broke out shortly after three o'clock on Friday of.o.se.
tertiosin,ind such was the-fury of the flames, that its
the course of a few hours the ttiferitteOf the building
was entirely levelled with the groctod. L'olleon wee. -01.
allowed to be one of the beet constructed and most
elegant Theatres in Enrope. • •
The Journals make no mention of the arrest of
Gonfalon, the Man secured of the attempt upon the •
life of th. Duke of WELLINGTON. But this silence
may bedeemed necessary by thentNitice to favour chi
discovery of his accomplices.' .The Chamber el D.-
pities contioees occupied iu hearing and disposing of
8 great Dumber of Petitions presented boas indivi.
duals in different parts of Fie*: The disces.ions
'on the Dories of Customs lerndoeted ea Thursday,
end Monday nest is filled for receiving the Report.
The Chamber adjoernedrto Saturday,- when the Re•
port on the Budget was to presented. - •
An article from Vienna retertigesthe roped- of
intended Congress of Savereivas, at Frankfort; or
Duseelderff, by stating, that. the •Emparaw will
tern from Dalmatia, in limo* he prepentat
The Freud Stocks are mill4/1414--01$ lit. .90t» •
•
• The-Doke of Wetwevo;r„iaospectisel ie KnOsil
in the coarse of a few days. The sfavpsylkl•
amnions which • be has.- had of late. etivh the
French Ministers on the sebieet:of the ,liquidstionv,
seed of the removal of the Allied..troopa, afe Pill 10 •
be se .important, .and ,the situation of trifalrasit. this
atemerit, so•critical. • dist it fathom,* fOr,tilligliar
his Grace to come ovef (0.1411340-06 celifieo •'I
meet on Vie natter. . •
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