The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-01-13 00:00:00

..
11

constitutional conduct in calling the meeting, and for
his dignified and impartial conduct in the chair.
The motion was unanimously agreed to, and the
Hiatt SHERIFF returned thanks. If, in the diseharee
of his duty, he had met their approbation, that was the
greatest reward to which he aspiretl.7-(Applause.)—At
the same time he took no political merit to himself on
the present occasion. He considered when he accepted
the °dice of High SheriS, that he shonld hold it inde.
pendently of all political opinions ; and with this tenth.
wilt he hoped he eLse his oLice. He could not
dissolve the present meeting without thanking the free-
holders fur the good order n hich they had maintained,
and for the itupartiality with which they had listened to
every one who had claimed their attendant ; and he eon.
gratulated them and himself on the able, temperate, and
constitutional speedies Which they had Leud.--(Great
and general applause.)
The meeting then quietly dispersed at 4 o'clock.

MEETING OF THE FREEHOIdDERS tre. OF
BEDFORDSHIRE.

In pnrsuance of a public requisition, directed to the
High Sheriff ofdlledfordshire, Charles Barnett, Rig.
calling on him to convene "an early meeting of thee.
Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, Freeholders, and other In-
habitants of tar county of Bedford, to take into con-
sideration the present distressed situation of the eo:ta_
try, and the propriety of addressing his Majesty, and
petitioning the two Houses of Parliament to take such
steps as may effectually tranquillize the pnblic mina
with respect to tier Majesty the Queen, and afford suf-
ficient security against the recurrence of measures
' derogatory front the honour of the Crown, and inju-
rious to the best interests of the country,'" the, High
Sheriff appointed yesterday for the purpose spitified
in the requisition. The meeting took place in the
Shire-hall, which was crowded to excess; and a more

respectable body of individuals we never saw assem-
bled in any county town, on any public occasion.
Soon after 12 o'clock the High Sherilf, the Duke
of Bedford, the Marquis of Tavistock, Lord Hidland,
Lord %V. Russell, Lord Russell, F. Pym, Esq.
M. P., W. H. Whitbread, Esq., M. P., S. C. Whit-
bread, Esq., NI. P., C. F. Palmer, Esq., N. I'l, and
many other gentlemen of property, appeared itu the
hustings.
The HIGH SHERIFF having taken the Chair, pro-
ceeded to open the business of the day.
The Duke of Benson then came forward o,midst
the unanimous plaudits of theasserobly. He mill, that
he hail not often had the honour to meet the inhabi-
tants and freeholders of that county, assembll-il on
any public occasion, lie could only recollect tiro in-
stances, in the course of his life, when he had t lie ho-
nour. The last time was to move an humble a ldress
of condolence to his Ila:esty on the demise of tli, e:r la.,
venerable and much lune, tel Sovereign. '1 ie in-
stance preceding that was to address his preset tt Ma-

jesty, then acting as Prince liegentionthe de. ttli of

the_ late Queen.

He now entertained the passe ► true

and loyal and devoted feelings towards the t Krone
which lie cherished on those occasions to whi vii he
had alluded.—(l,auil cheers.)—And, though b a had
not to call on them to condole with the King e at the
doenese of a virtuosi; Queen who had passed fro p this
trandtOry life, yet he had tio•inernat the notsmi‘ hg to
address the King, to ask of him that he would r !store
the rights, and redress the wrongs, of a living I, Nan, '
whose character had been assailed by the foulest, 'eased.
and must malignant conspiracy that ever disgras Oed elm.
annals of this or of any ether country.—(Chei irs.)-Her honour, her fame, her character, which i were
dearer to a woman than life itself, bad been at 'leapt-
ei to be destroyed, by means the most detestabl t. He
would also call their attention to a series of stesoln-
tions, in which the address to his Majesty was embo-
died, and likewise, to two petitions, intended to I.e
presented to both Houses of Parliament, which r M Ho-
nourable and Lamed Friend of his bad widen: sken to
move. But before he touched on those poi its, he
would direct their attention to the deep distresses un-
der which the country was now labouring—iis tresses
that were accumulating from year to year, but which
were suffered to pass unnoticed by his 111 ojelity's .
Nliniste.s. The prayers and pi Ilium of th e peo-
ple bail been degraded by them ; and th. ). hal
*vets advised his Majesty not to atte sd to
the complaints of his subjects.—(Appla sse.)—
He 11-gged of the meeting to call to thi i r recol-
lection the address which had recantly be eta pre-
sented to his Majesty from a most loyal and r ospecta-
ble body, the Common Council of London ; and to
look to the advice which had produced the ar sower to
that address—an address in every respect to iiiperate,
loyal, and proper.—(Applause.)--The distress under
1 which the country laboured was no common of at. They
hail to contend with an enormous national deb t —with
an immense load of taxation. These, and o tiler cir-
cumstances, bore most heavily on the peopl t. The
increasing. pressure of the poor-rates, whit: b daily-
became more burdensome to that most resitectable
class of society, the Proprietors and occupiers sof law!,
was an evil of the most serious magnitude. But the
Isituation of the country was wit considered ; every
petition to the Throne was disregarded—every peti-
i' tits), to Parliament was neglected—and his Majesty's
31inisters turned a deaf ear to the enmplatnes of-us
1 tsitliful, brave, and suffering people.--(Cheers.)---
Unforunately, his Majesty's Minist.ws thought too
; much of ilvtinselven, and too little of the epontry.
1 They had showed an ardent, an overwlselining *site lo
I re'ain their places, but iner deemed the suffoHng of
the people to be unworthy of their notice. Where be
to detail the various burdens which pressed upon the
Icountry, it would consume. too great a portion of their
' time. When lie saw the immense amount iof the
' P"or ltates—when he looked to the enormotis load of
i National Deist, carrying with it such a load of cis-
' antion as rendered it impossible that this Country
could long exist under it, he would ea:, that
runless seine Reform took place, unless some us Weer'
we re adopted to redress public grievances, ink'
, something were done to remove the existing ev Us, the
!Country was in a situation almost of despair.--(t ;Wert)
During the last four or live months the at Waif*
of the King's nsinisters had unfortunately been takes •
np by that most lamentable transaction, the i 4004*
Ilugs again- etlectod
liageere

weit7tise
*as ell

raiost the Queen of England, which r tilectsi
e oa the Notary. soi more 14 to
istorbwho daml to twist thew beton the r'
Awl of their linsoess. sod said they wi ti
vessel, autroustird ass she wns by flan, wc. 11'
sostighlso moiled that disastrous pork kis Nr
•

history, the end of the American war; and he remem- '
bered that Lord North talked a great deal about his
firmness. When he was taunted by the able statesmen
who were oppose,' to him, he said—l took the helm in a
storm, and I will not quit the vessel while she is in dis-
tress. Mr. Burke, with that powerful eloquence which
distinguished all hesaid, and, he *might add, with that
bitter sarcasm whieh was entirely his own, replied—
True, it was a storm, and a storm so great, that it
bent the stately oak to the ground ; and then comes the
Paltry willow that writhes and twists itself with every
blast of wind, and calls its pliability firmness." So
with the ministers of the present day—they shifted with
every varying wind, and denominated their pliability
tirioness.—(Loud and repeated cheering.)—Those mi-
nisters would endeavour to support themselves in power
by the addressers; he knew not how to tuna them : they
called themselves the loyal men.:—(Laughter.)—They
declared themselves to be exclusively loyal. He knew
not whether there were any of them in the room, if
there were, he would particularly address himself to
them.—(Applanse.)—What did their loyalty consist in?
Why in getting up addresses in " holes and corners."—
(Laughter.) —Those addresses served to swell the co-
lumns of the Court Gazette ; and the courtly readers
took those specious compositions as speaking the sense
of the country, he dared to say.—(Laughter.)—Of what
itioicription were those secretly loyal gentlemen ? They
were very well described by a celebrated Irish bar-
rister as •" men who trade in loyalty, and live upon
thrtaxee."—(Mach laughter.)—They never lost their
stoek in trade, they carried it to a good market.
if you asked one of them " Are you a loyal man ?" be
would indignantly exclaim, " lam a loyal man, de-
voted to my King and Country—how dare you question
it ? But if you pursued the i • luiry. and said, " Are
you loyal for nothing?" The answer would be " llh,
no! my loyalty is a marketable commodity."—(Nuch
laughter.) And sure he was, that if such a loyal man
could not make more of his professions than the farmers
did of their barley, he would give up his loyalty alto-
gether (applause,) ,and sigh out—" Farewell, a long
farewell to one loyaltv.-(Laughter.) lie could not, he
thought, close his adairess better, than by expressing his
sentiments on the question of Parliamentary Reform.
From his first entering into public life, he Mt the neces-
sity of a reform in the Commons House of Parliament,
and every rear since that opinion had become more
firmly rowed in his mind.—(Cheers.) It was a question
which bad occupied the attention of many eminent
statesmen, (hiring the long reign of George 111. A
writer, spe liking of this subject some years ago, observed
that" Parliamentary reform was the dying legacy of
Lord Chatham, and the virgin effort of Mr. Pitt." Ile
would emOy say, that the legacy of Lord Chatham had
never been paid, and the virgin effort of his son was a
were abortion, leaving behind it no traces of fecundity.
(Laughter.) His Lordship concluded by proposing a
series of resolutions, embracing the different topics
comprised in his speech ; and an address to his Majesty,
founded on them. In proposing the address, his tirace
adverted to the exclusion of the Queen's name from the
Liturgy, a m•ireninstance on which he animadverted with
great severity.
Mr. %V. Wilmer tit, in a short speech, seconded
the resohitious and address.
Lord Ilot.t..txu then came forward, and addressed
the assembly in a speech equally remarkable for elo.
qitence, argument, 81111 feeling. Ile had, lie observed,
signed the requisition, because he conceived that the
country could alone be saved by a bold expression of
the voice of the people emanating from great public
meetings. The procmoolings against the Queen had
been for a lang period the great bar to the considera-
tion of subjects
.intimately cosoesoed with the first I
'interests of the country. in order that those interests
should be considered, it was necessary, in the first
instance, to put an extinguisher altogether on those
odious proceedings. How was that to be done ? By the
voice of the people. It was for them to command it.
lie always thought that the proceedings against
the Queen were not only unnecessary, bat would prove
useless and injurious to the best interests of the country.
Ile thought so mire now he knew it. (Great applause.)
By those procycilings the crown had suffered ; by them
the people had suffered. During the many weeks
previously to their commencement, the discussion of
the subject had occupied the attention of Parliament,
and none of the sufferings of the people could obtain
the least moment's consieleration.---(Applause.)--The
business of time country had been laid aside, and no-
thing was attended to but this business, and that a
business which he had always thought unnecessary;
for if the charges had been trite, there could have
been no danger to time country from the passing of
them by Iwpm:rented; and so far was the prosecution
front saving the honor of the Crown that the charges,
if trite, applied only to a period three years before ,
the illustrious lady came to the Throne.—(Applause.)
Ile begged now to call their attention to the reasons
for which he as well as many others hail signed the re-
quisition. They were in the first place to declare
their opinion as to the country being in a distressed
state. They were to consider, in order to forum a cor-
rect opinion, the domestic and foreign prospects of
the country. There was too notch reason to believe, I
that while we were engaged in inquiring into th- con-
duet of a lady 50 years old, and 5 years since, the
honer of the country abroad had been committed, he
could almost say, to a cabal or conspiracy of osuaerha.i
who interfered with the tights and wishes of indepen-
dent nailons. It was therefore necessary that they should
agree in an address which deprecated a bloody war
against the liberty of any other nation. Another
topic maentioned in the resolutions was a topic of so
much importance that he could nut be expected to go
into notch detail respecting it. The subject he al-
laded to was Reform in Parliament.—(Applause.)---
To the principle of Parliamentary Reform lie had al-
ways been a friend, though its more eager friends
might perhaps call him a lukewarm friend. But he
was not likely to be lukewarm on any subject that in-
terested the people.--(lmmense applause).—As he had
always thought it desirable, he now thought it neces-
ww7.---(l1e had never considered it what was called a
passers. tie slow did think it necessary, in order to
obtain and secure a fair administration of the Govern-
tuent.---(Loud and continued cheers.)--He trusted,
therefore, he should be considered a friend, and no
lukewarm friend, to such a reform as he thought be-
seacial. He had now only to thank them for the at-
tention they had sliewn. IA the coarse of his public
life he had seldom seen a public day that bad given
'him twee satisfaction. If any thiugsould have added
to the pleasure he derived from the appearance aid
conduct of that westing, it was the swat in wbkb
they had reaeived his Noble Friend and relative. His •
he had known, pad that grist geed was—(Clenewk)—
W brother, he bad known from Lauer t--(Applesse)
"41161 he world say of his N.4k Friajd she DIA., that