The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-04-18 00:00:00

PETITION AND REMONSTRANCE.

" TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OF
THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN
AND IRELAND, IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLKD.
" The Petition and Remonstrance of the Inhabitant
Householders, Electors of the City and Liberties of
Wesainicster, tbsembled in New Palace-yard, the Fith
day of April, 1810, by the appointment of Arthur
Morris, Esq. the High Bailiff; in pursuance of a Re-
qnisitiou for that purpnse.
" We, the lshabitnnt Householders, Electors of the City
and Liberties of Westminster, feel most sensibly the indignity
offered to this City in the pet so of our beloved Representa-
tive, whose Letter to us has fallen under the censure of your
Ilmasurable House, but which, so far, from deserving that
censure, ought, in our opinion, to have led your Honourable
Moose to re-consider the subject, which he had so ably, le-
gally, and constitutionally discussed.
" We are convinced that no one ought to be Prosecutor
and Juror, Judge or Executioner, in his own cause, much
lees to assume, accumulate, and exercise all those offices is his,
own per3ou.
" We are An convinced, that the refusal of your Honour-
able House to inquire into the conduct of Lord Castlereagh
and Mr. flerceval (then two of his Majesty's Ministers),
when distinctly charged with the sale of a seat in your Um.. '
eouroble House, evidence of which was offered at the Barr
by a Member of ',Our Honourable florae, and the avowal io
your, flotiourable House, that such practices were as noto-
rious as the sun at man-days' practices, st the bare mention
of which the Speaker of your Honourable House declared,
that our ancestors would have startled. with indigontione
and the committal of Sir Francis Burdett to prima. endorsed
by military power ;—are circumstances which ruder evident
the imperious newes.ity of an immediate Refores«ht the Re-
presentation of the People,
" We therefore most earnestly Jcall sPitra your Ho.
;mumble house to restore to wont Representatives.
"us! nccording to the notice has given, to take the.
state of the Representation of the People into your
wines consideration, a Reform in which is, in our
opinion, the only means of preserving the country
from military despotism."
Upen the motion of Thanks to Lord CtIC/t:
KANE, being adopted, the Noble Lord stood
forward, and after the acclamations with which he
was received had concluded, the Tobin Lord ad.
dressed the Meeting as follows :
Electors of Westminster, I offer myself to your.
notice at this most important moment, although
not embarrassed in sentiment, yet struggling with'
feelings, in the expression of which I almost find
mysel4 overpowered. I can, and do most freely
sympathite with you in reflecting upon the serious
stihject which has this day convened us together.
in reflecting how, by the iron hand of power,
stretched to its utmost bound, a fellow subject
has been dragged from the bosom of his family,
and subjected to undefined imprisonment, In the
absence not alone of the substantial process of
that which constitutes a fair trial, but even with.
out the ordinary forms of the law of the land.
[hear, hear!] Such a hardship inflicted upon any,
subject, must under any circiimstrsces be a ques-
tion for serious alarm, but how much more aggro..
vated in its consequences—how much more to be'
regretted by the. people of this great City, when
we consider it has been inflicted udon him who so*
deservedly stands high in our estimation ? Upon
that man, of shots it may be truly spoken, that
he dares to be honest is the worst of times....
pear,. hear, hear , have to hope that the
constitutional protest of the people of this em-
pire
against such a stretch of power, will present
its being tonsidered as a precedent for future ap-
plication by any succeeding Parliament.• I trust
it will not be deemed Unreasonable in me to advert
to a circumstance, upon which I wartiniritention.
ally misrepresented. It did appear from the re- !
port of some observations of Mine upon the letter
and argtimeats of Sir Francis Burdett, that I ven-
tured to condemn some of them u irrelevant andj
oniteeesssry, tool I of course was concluded t!'
have reprobated it, so far as such terms applie4go
a partirelar part of these documents. What 1,
dia say, I now repeat. I did think that some
of these expressions would be not only unappli.
cable, but ill deserved, if they were directed to
the proceedings of a house of Commons, wheel"
had more consulted the conscientious discharget
its duties, than the idle affectation of supporting,
sligoity by the exercise of a severe ountroul
against the •people. But how was it possible,
that I couli thuds there existed,in.the present in.
stance the regard which.suottsau assembly should!!
feel fur its character ? Was it possible for any un-
prejudiced maw to think tints ofthat House, which
upon the decision of the lute Inquiry into the Ex.
peditiun to Walchereni could plaint itself to tote

. !. •

that policy of such Expedition was
and that the Mend& of it a'fier the;dd

of so many thousands of gallant muff,
alone wholly free from 'blame, but was acteelly
justifiable [hear! hear !]? When I reviewed
such a decision, and was .engaged in considering
its exercise of privilege in the ',resent case did I
not think instlys when I statedjhat the Ha:use of
.Chmeslens would !lest coat& Its dignity by •eon.
seientinusly discharging its detiesete the country,
rather than by au ettempt to sustain by strung
acts or assumed privilege the popular communica-
tion upon its actions. 'there are privi!eges which
that House most secessarilyought ty possess, fee
the full and tree performance of its trust ; amongst
these the power of commitment oug4t in some
cases to be allowed, het such power should of all
others be limited and defined. I. do think it right
' that that House should be vested with in' autho. !
rity of committing fur off ices affecting its pri. I
vileges, where such offences arc not punishable!
by the law of the land. lint where the law can
take cognizance of such offences, I du hold it as
uneonstitutiossal that the trial and punishment of
them should be taken from those courts of com.
petent jurisdiction, where the Rrocess is calcu-
lated be correct guilt and to protect inaocence—,
[hear, hear,] by the mere stretch of arbitrary
power.. I 'hold it thistle is impossible Ter ally
!tribunal to decide justly upon the presumed cri-
' sninality of the accused, where the Party who
accuses has a power to pronounce judgment,
where there is no oath admihistered either to the
court or witnesses, end where to the individual
arraigned, the power and oppoetthilty of being
heard in his defence is denied. [loud cries of hear,
hear!] Such a stretch of power was not only its
defiance of the positive enactments of our law, but
was hostile to those fundamental principles which
are ibe basis of all contracts by which comtnu.
nides arc bound. But ill time present case there
was a most unconstitutional aggravation. I allude
to the calling out a military 'force to support the
Serjeant at Arms in breaking into the house of Sir
Francis Burdett. Why were the military so un-
necessarily paraded through the streets ? %Vhy was
the house of my Hon. Colleague so beset ? It
could be for no other purpose, hot intimidation.
As for any violence that could justify such a pro.
ceeding, I having been an eye witness, can pets',
tieely state that therewas not any improper con.
duct, more than must be expected from a crowd of
people upon any ordinary occasion [licar!
hear!] But I most particularly object to the man.
ter in which that warrant was executed. Such
execution in my belief was a violation of the rights
of the individual, and of the dignity of the House
of Commons. it forced the house of the lion.
Baronet lu. a snauneetlte most extraordinary, and
called to the exercise of its own authority the as.
sistance of a military force. It hail been stated
by the systematic opposeri of Ministers in Parka.
ment, that they were entatibleist not calling iy the
military force for the execution of that warrant at
a muds earlier period. That remissness Constitutes,
in my opinion, as far as it goes, the claim•of Mi-
nisters to our thanks. Be it then their praise, that
for two days they reseected the constitutional
rights of the people, while it must twits the recol-
lection of the country far ever, that their oppo.
sers, the champions of public freedomoveuld.ttet,
if they had power, have respected them even for
an hour. [ikar,hear, hear,!] The cundemnatiou
of Ministers upon this point is, that they had not
persevered in their original resolutions, that open
the third day they resorted to that
.which was
' most truly illegal. After some other observations
upon the duty which the People owed themselves,
the Noble Lord proceeded to state the pews-
liar State of danger to which the country, by the
progress of the undue and unconstitutional system,
' was so likely to be reduced. It had to struggle
with asystetn of taxation,, whites, in its pressure,
weighed down upon the very necessary wants
of the people—a taxation carried to this almost
insupportable extreme by the continuance of an
unnecessary War Expenditure. Such taxation
must have its limits, and the misfortune was, that
the security of the country in place of being ad.
Hvanced, was rendered much more precarious not-
withstanding all the public exactions. lin my
conscience (said the Noble Lord) believe; thist
this country cannot rely for its security upon the
Navy, from the circumstances in which that branch
of our defence is
.uow from many causes placed.
The fact was, the country now was without the
means of repairing—that, at this moment, there
were not for the repairs of our present shipping
six eecks materials in Plymouth-Dock, ; that near
half the artificers had been discharged; end that
we were abwlntcly without the means of building
the one half of a 74-gun ship. The Meeting was
aware that these difficulties were likely to continue.
We: were cut off from all eviritmnoleadoe with the
Continent, unless by a contraband trade, at least
all beneficial intercourse with the Continent was
interrupted. Besides, by the last Returns muse
to the House of Commosste it was evident that
whilst the number of British sailers engaged Info.
reign trade amoustted to MOOG, that'ef foellitnene
engaged in the same pursuit exceeded 19,000,.. The
same comparative decrease was observable in our,
shipping ; the .n amber of British ships engaged thbs
• was 2000, while that of foreigners amoneted
to 4000. It was true, that this comas,' secei‘ed
naval materials from Canada and Nova Seidl's, but
the Meeting must see that the esstitineanctiair
a supply depended upon the precarious tebatildf
the wisdom of our public couneeflurs. The Noble
Lord concluded with expressing his most ardent
hopes•that the friends to that ParliateentarY Re
form. whit( must be attained at last,' antrseitheut
which there was neither security or .114034W0u1kl
sett the necessity of preserving that 'ordeletieside::
conies which would illustrate the purityldlt th
motives, and give the best refill-addict° tblell
nies of their esseniites. He hell oody lie that' thatil
foe she-grateful manner is whichlitilly Sttlid4
their !honks. . .
~•14 v4li -9V.! vote
The loudest approbation thellowed this 1
and'cries of `4 Burdett and thoehrane," retiitZ
• ,
through the whole assembly. ata
Mr. %YAKIM' nest presented hissed?
Meeting, and watt received with hand ontstekiati'd
acclamalioge. lie begat' tr ionuto4B6. thectt
,r • .r• t •t>a
LI *(. h4t lftit trissi
6 ,10