The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-04-14 00:00:00

afforded by yotiiiitincturiblfiltitiaillitiltMly iniidequitiato
the necessities aohecountri.
"That whilst we are ground to the earth, by a weighS_Of
debt., unexampled -in the history of soy country, the bitter
fraitof ruinous wais, tarried on with the aid of a debased
carman, we unhappily find that the lavish waste of public,
nosey to which that war gave rise, has been little abated
by Its 'termination ; that our establishments both at home
and abroad are kept up on a scale and at qtsexpence,nneall-
- et for by any necieisity, and wholly disproportioned to the
peewit condition of thepeopte by whom they ere defrayed ;
that those Cofobies, which in the hands. of othsis States
Were a source of prosperity and wealth, as soon as they
camas Into ours, and indeed to the patronageof the Govern-
ment, but are a burden and an incemberance to the country,
and that we are, -after sevemears of peacw. oppressed with
en amount of military force no less dangerous to oar Riser-
Lea then ruinous to our finances.
"That those various infringements of the fundamental
rights end libertierof the people, which imee been increas-
log for a series of years, ha, ye a strong tendency to reduce
the English Government to a military despotism.
'•Tnet we trace all those evils to one primary cause—
namely. the illegal indseece in the construction of the repro-
sentative body.
'" 'That the return'of Peace has therefore failed of healing
the ealemitiei produced by the yaw, sad that the plenti
which has crowned the labours of the husblindotan has, ac=l
cording to the statements 'of the Ministim themselves; I
served only to aggravatehis distress.
"That the aspect of our foreign relationsis equally elev.
nue and alarming; since, after the base acqaleseence of our
Government in those various acts of spoliation anclviolenee
which • combination of despots. blaspheraciesly styling
themselves the Holy Alliance, have carried on against the
fr,edom teal happiness of mankind, the people of England
hay.- the pain and homilatien of seeing the very Sovereign,
who was supporttd by their charity in his exile, *ad castor-
ed-byr their arms to his throne, pow made the tool °Vilma
unprincipled combination, for the avowed purpise of ex*•
initiating by force of arms in Spain, tilose natural rights of
every Independent State, to the exercise of whitish% our owe
coontry. we owe every thing that is valuable in the history
of its constitution..
" That this meleneholy state of things (both at home and
abroad) hos been brought about, as we conceive, by the sub-
serviency of your Honourable Home for a long period of
years. to the will of arbitrary and extravagant Ministers.
by your want of sympathy end connection with the people
whom you ought to repiesent, and above all, by the direct
interest which so many of your Members have in supporting
a system of corrupt patronage, from which either In their
own persons or those of their near relations, they derive so
inch eaoluzcent.
" That cons..onestly reason and experience alike teeth
us how ruin it is to hope for any effectual shange ofthat sys-
tem in the present state of your Honourable House.
" That to repeating,' therefore, our prayers to your Hof'
ourshie House f. r the wise and economical administration
of our affairs which akine can enable us to meet our present
difficulties, we humbly, but earnestly, implore you 'to make
without delsysuch a Reform in your*own body, as by ren-
dering it a real and efficient Representation of the people,
may restore to it once more their lost confidence, and thus
•ford them the best hope of repairing the mischiefs of the
part. and of presenting their recurrence in future."
Dr. Tucxea said, that he had often addressed his fel-
low Fr• ebolders before, but never on a question so lin-
portant or so urgent as the present. It was a question
which came home to the bosom of every man who felt as
an Englishman ought to feel—when they saw the spirit
of tyranny sbrcati endeavouring to strangle the liberties
of independent States, they might depend upon it, that
the same spirit wmild strangle the liberties of England,
if the Despots of the Continent would dare make the at-
tempt—(Applause.)—But if En ,lislimen felt as their
forefather!' felt, though all the tyrants in the world should
be armed against them, they would still be free.—(Ap-
plaose.).-.A tew minutes before the Meeting, his worthy
friend, Mr. Northinore, handed to him a copy of the Ma-
nifesto of the Duke of Angoulerne. Such a Manifesto
teas never before exhibited to the world. It reminded
him of the fable of the woHand the lembl whether the
Web was above the stream or below ft, he was sere to foul
it, tor the wolf-was determined to devoorthe lamb. He
trusted, however, that the lamb of Spain would subdue the
Gallic cock. Spain has already subdued Napoleon—Na-
poleon, whose criminal ambition made him so many ene-
mies : but, ambitious as he was, there was something sub-
lime in the flight of the Imperial eerie compared to the
dunghill cock of ti.e Bourbons, (a laugh and applause).
lie hoped that both cocks and eagles would listen to the
rear of the British lion; if not, he hoped that the people
of England atould teach them a lessee which they would
not soon forget (applause). With respect to the imp',
(ant question which they met to discuss, it would be al-
lowed th at every Englishman had a right to be repre-
sent% in the House of Commons; and yet, taking it in
the most favourable point of view, not one Englishman
out of sixteen had a voice in the election of a Member of
Parliament ; in a more unfavourable view, it would, he
was convinced, turn out that not one in one hundred had
the right of voting (applause) —Upon this point, he
would remind the people, as well as their rulers, of a
saying of Edward I. Edward, holding the language
which a king of England ought to bola:, declared," that
what concerned all should be approved of by all (ap-
plause)." Passing over a long apace of time lie would
go from Edward I. to the time of passive obedience, and
of hereditary right, men ; and even in those times, an
Art passed in the first year of the reign of James 1.,
which expressly stated, that the whole body of the peo-
ple should, by the laws of the land, he represented in the
High Cotrt of Parliament. Such also was the doctrine
of Mr. Burke before be became a sinecurist, and of Mr.
Pitt before he became a renegade (applause). When Mr.
Pitt gave his sanction to the Duke of Richmond's Rill
fur Annual Parliaments, he stated that all the Commons
of Engl.. id ought to be represented, save idipts and per-
sons incapacitated by law. It was, however, a fact, to
the disgrace and injury of the English people, nothing
liad been done to correct the monstrous abuses of the
system.—After some further observations the Speaker
proceeded—He wool,' not hesitate to say, that lie (the
iligh Sheriff) acted in a manner ill-becoming a man—
less becoming a freman (hear l) —itisgracethl to himself
—and insetting to the people (applause). The High
Sheriff had dared to refuse a Meeting .6f the Contity, al-
though a requisition was pieseuted for .that purpose,
signed by no lisa than 626 independent freeholders (sp.
plauee) ; and lie teas pleased to assign as a reason the
slate of existing circumstances (tau filter and applause).
Ile would not stop to inquire wuat those curious reasons
were—they were best known to himself; but he would
repeat, that the High Sheriff acted most improperly,
when lie dared to refuse the call of such.• requisition.
He would now leave the Petition in the hands of the
Freeholders, reminding them of the good odd saying,
" a long pull—a strong pull—and a pull togethe?',
(applause).
Mr. NOIMINIMIE then said—My Excellent Brother
Freeholders-1f ever there was a time, if ever there were
oire.uneitances, which called with voice, almost more than
human, epon the people of England to demand an imme-
diate and effective reform of the representation, that
surely must be the time, and those surely must be the cir-
cumstances, when an officer appointed by the Crown has
refused to hear the complaints of the people; and when
a Minister appointed by the Crown has openly avowed
teat the Government of England has guaranteed the Des-
potism of the Continent :—Nay, tuore, the French writers
have asserted, in kind reciprocity, that we have not only
ettaranterd the throne of France to the Bourbons, but
that the Bourbons have guaranteed to us the throne of the
Duroughationgers. Of these lioroughmongers, there are
no less 'ban 267 who, nominate rear 500 membere to
what is celled the collective wisdom of the nation,, and
sills system is supported by Jews and Jails; by_ letters
anal tread-mills, by six Acts and bayonets. You are
now, Gentlemen, about to petition, once more, this col-
lective body, and I hope it will be the last time you will