The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-01-14 00:00:00

lie rejoiced with hie Noble Friend (Albemarle)
repot wee an Agrienltoriat in the tawny of
wit* near entertained the stupid idea, that

..-. .
, higb,rices would And relief is the Kneel Mit Pi
Weir. -Suppose tiler were to get a high price fowl
theiefeuiro, what then? Why, his friends is the Northl
(for he had Meade Ls
.Larreashire) would be tumble
to. live. , When the high prices esisteJ, what 'was the
"ijoiegunee? Did sot the people of Lascashire ore
If redeem for relief, and did they not - get their
An& not for so meeting ?—(Criti of " they did.")
tliaae 2ifference between the Meetings of the two i
Counties was shirr : in Lancashire the populating was i
great; here it was unalL It was easy in Norfolk, on I
application to a High•SherifE possessing the "hit and
independence of the Worthy Chairman, to call a pub-
lic meeting. But how were the thousands and tens
of thousands in L hire to act? Besides, the per-
sons who composed-that meeting wore ewe enlighten-
ed. and better Wormed than the population of Lan-
cashire. He hoped the meeting would excuse this di-
gression in favour of his friends in the North—(bear,
hear!)—Now, having pointed oat the distresses under
which they labonred, what was to be theft relief? It
was a removal of taxation ; that wits. the only re-
medy. Why the Wog wean palpable, diet be won-
dered there could be say question about it. ' They
must be relieved, not in' small degraes,bst by whole-
sale. There must be a redaction of five millions of
taxes per year, or else they would do mithing.—Taxa-
Goo was oppressive, and burdensome in itself, bat it
was ten-fold more mischievous, from the command and
Whims which it gave Ministers over the wink ma-
chinery of Government—(blw, hear. hear!) —This
was to-be corrected in no other way than bra Reform
in Parliament—pond cheers].—We were approaching.
• crisis when public meetings would cease to be
called farcical. as some individuals of high rank have
called them—[applause]. And if that meeting omit-
ed Pa liausentery Reform in its Address to Parlia-
ment, he cou.d ware them it wo•uld not be omitted
long—it would soon be inserted in other Addresses.
The work of Reform-was already begun. It origia-
sled with the distresses of the country ; and. though
he deeply lamented those di (they all felt them.
and suffering was a good r. aeon fur sympathy), yet it
was a consolation to reflect that the suffering to which
they were reduced would remove the film from their eyes.
After noticing the effect of Mr. Peel's Bill. he said he
should at first bays- stated. that unless they introduced
Parliamentary Reform into their proceedings they
would do nothing.—(Hear, bear.) He -was aware
that the question would meet with considerable oppo-
sition from some persons present.—(Cries of " No,
so !" " Mole. move •." mixed with some disapproba-
tion.) He was sure that no man wished for Reform
more than he did; but while he thought it would be
oppoied be would out propose it. He abstained from
doing so the more readily, as be knew that the work
of reform was going on ; even those who now opposed
it would turn round and join in the cry for it by and
by. The Hon. Gentleman who moved the edgiest
Resolutions stated, that be did not wish to eat down
the public expenditure to what it was in 1792. He
should like to hear the Hoc Gentleman's reasons for
saying so. He (Lord Suffield) saw no objection
against our doing so. Indeed it had been recommend-
ed by i Committee of the House of Commons. By
`Arkpurents which had been produced, it appeared that
slate 1792 the expenditure had increased from seven
millions eight hundred thousand pounds to twenty-six
millions. He should be glad to know bow that hap-
rued. Ministers retained their place by the extrava-
gance of the public expenditure. The influence which
this extravagance gave them, was worse than the
royal prerogative. The royal prerogative would do no
hum. Any violeat exercise of it would create alarm,
and would, perhaps, meet with resistance. But the
influence of Ministers worked in the dark ; it ran
through every fibre of the State, and was likely to
produce effects from which may God defend as.—
(Hear, hear.) He for one was anxious to stop this
oserse of things by Constitutional means is his
I power. No man was more attached to the King and
Constitution than he was. and any one who should re.
result hire otherwise, would do hint a serious injury.
—(Hear.) The best hinds to the constitution were
those who wished to clear away its abuses. He
loved the theory of the Constitution, nor its
practice. The practice was in fact a satire upon
the theory. What would a foreigner, who heard the
theory of our Co • ttion, say ? He would call it a
glorious Constitution. he would say that our Ministers
were responsible for their acts. Now he would se-
riously ask, was there any man who conceived tbeprm
sent Ministers were so responsible?—(No. no.)—Be-
fore what tribunal were they to be tried ? What is.
dividnal would care to be put upon his trial, if be had
himself the appointment of two-thirds of iris jollies?
The next thing which a foreigner would say, was that
our's was a representative form of Government, and
that the people elected their own representatives. Now
be would leave it to the meeting to decide. whether
this was the fact when they learned that the majority
of the House of Commons is returned by 8,000 per-
mits out of a population of B,ooo,ooo.—(Hear.)--A
foreigner would say too, that our representatives were
chosen by the unbiassed voice of the peiple. Now he
would ask, whether any English voter was ever less
his own master than during an election? The greatest
men that ever 'Wee in this country had at one period
.rhe other of their liver advocated the cause of
telona. Bat unfortunately, the moment they
pt into power, they, by some unaccountable fatality,
got a sort of film over the eyes; a sort of political
epthainsia, without the pain attending that disease.
As to the revenue, it became necessary to inform the
.fileeting. that the collection alone cost the country
more than one half of the total expenditure of 1792
I —(shame.) They bad seen the Agriculturists in Fhr
fillment. complaining of the distresses of the landed
lament, and yet voting with Ministers for the fullest
establishments; they found them opposing Grams of
Supply, and afterwards opposing that foe to all extra-
vagance. Mr. Hunts; and then, at the close of the
Susie*, thankiag him for his exertions. There was
an inconsistency In all this well worthy of public no-
lice. Even the Noble Marquess of Londonderry—that
manager of the House of Commons—(cheers)—that
great Leviathan, had owned that the country was
much indebted to Mr. Hume; and be trusted that the
resent meeting would for ones credit the Noble Mar-
lton, awl give to Mr. Hank that approbation which
a the Minister of the CM,n bad not withheld.—

The Noble Lord after some observations upon the sm.
jag which Mr. Hume had effected by his immtv
into theemolements of the Receiver-General and whil
he stand to amount to 73,6501. out tit' 117,900,
concluded bit speech by heartily seconding the resole.
tinns which the Earl of Albemarle had proposed to

to thh meeting.—(Loud OlKripg•)
Mr. TIBUITILL, is explanation, said, be had no
objection to reducing our expenditure to the staodArd
or 1712;1f each a mestere were practicable. bat he

doubted the fact of its being so.
Mr. Illowano Tanen after adverting to the various
topics is the previous discussion. same, he said, as
saes to the real cense of all our salesitie—the eye.
rapt sad defective state of the Representation of the
people. If the people bad been redly represented,
they would have taken care that their Members should
have listened is Mr. Hese. sad have acted with a re.
gsrd to the Janssens of the people. Bat the fact we.,
that the House of Commons was sot responsible to the
people. bat to the Beronvegh Proprietors. This was
the great and crying e►il, and until this was remedied,
it was in vain to respect security fur oar liberties, or
one property. Under this conviction, and quite un-
connected with any of the Gentlemen who had alley
the present Meeting, be should submit the following
Revolts tient :

"That it apparel is the coarse of the last Setsien
from documents prodscod by the meritorious 'about of
Mr. Horne, that there is sot a branch of the public et.
penditure, foreign or domestic, in which tetreschatents
to a large amount might net be effected, but that all the
r prepositions made by him to attain such desirable (tads,
were negatived by a large majority of the House of
Commons. Therefore. it is our deeided conviction, that
the corrupt snd defective state of our Representation is
the true mom of onr present distress. and that astil the
people are fully and fairly represented in their Hoses of
Parliament, no permanent or adequate relief is to be no
petted."
After a short conversation Mr. Thurtell withdrew
his mood. mid Loa Albemarle's second Resolution
was put and carried ananinownly, as was also leis
Lordship's third Retolstion.
The Earl of :tumulus said, that, with respect to
the Malt Doty, he would willingly go for the repeal at
the whole duty, were it not that he feared, by askinc
fur too mach. they would get nothing.—(Sove:al
voices—" repeal it all at once.")
The Earl of Ser/IRLD recommended the Meeting to
ask a repeal of a part only of the duty. lly doing to
they would make it more difficult for Minister. to refuse
them, and they would also render such a refusal more
obnoxious to the public. Resides. they would have
many supporters if their demands were reasonable.
who would certainly oppose them if they asked we
much.
Mr. Coes spoke to the same effect. The whole Malt
Duty was seven maltose. Now they ought to be cau-
tious in their applications to Parliament, how far they
were likely to trench on the ateeessary revenue of the
coantry.—(Hear, hear.)—Heeides, he had seen a letter
from Mr. Hume (than whoa there had not hem' is kis
time a mere industrious or more efficient Member in
Parliament), in which that Headman pointed nest the
articles mentioned in the Resolutions as those, in the
duties on which a reduction coign he made with tilt
greatest safety to the nation. The Hon. Getriesnen
complimented Lord Suffield on the great attatotioa
which he paid to his Parliamentary duties trims da the
House of Commons. Hie Noble Friend bad frequently
divided 12 or 13 times of a sight wit's Mr. Hume upon
his different motions for a reduction of expels/item.—
(Loud Applause.)
The Earl of Autzwastm's fourth and filth Resole.
Lions were put sad carried snasiusonsly.
Mr. TASLOIIeII Reoalutioa respecting Parliamentary
Reform was then put and carried with the opposition
of ten or twelve hands only.—(Load cheers.)
A Petition. embracing the foregoing Resolutions.
was then read and agreed to unanimously, and wa,
ordered to be signed by the High Sheriff ua behalf of
the dleetisg.
Mr. Coes then came forward and was received with
loud and repeated cheering. After taking a briri
y of the couJuct of ti mend since they fir.t
I sent him to Parliament, be said there were, however.
those who wished to turn the attention of the people
from that object, and to stifle the public voice. "his
was evident from the pains whiell had been ukea in
Suffolk to prevent a County hireling, and from the
name of faeces. which had been givee in Hampshire
to large and respectable Meetings like the present.
What could be the iseanisg of such conduct? Was
it sot to intimidate the people from having soy opi
nions at all, and to beat and trample these into cone
plate subjection ? This was evident, too, from the
occurrences in the county of Kent? They load all
read the letter of Lord Stanhope, calling upon clue
gentlemen and yeomanry to meet in their County 1131).
Who had prevented it? The higher el , the life
and property gentlemen. who wished the people to
put themselves ander their guidance and direction.—
Now, if the country was to be saved, those gentlemen
must come over to the principles of the people, whom
they affected to despise. and must act in direct °pr•
sition to that system they had hitherto uppotted. To
that system he had always been opposed, since. as one
of twelve Members in the Hoene of Commons, be had
opposed the commencement of the American war. That
system is taxation without representation; and Lot
Chatham had taught him to pushier it as both unwise
and unjust. It had, indeed, been the cause of all on,
calamities for the last :on years, and the only mode of
curing them was that pointed out by the Noble Lord;
full, fair, and free repmestation of the people is P.lflid•
meat. Hari ogagai u adverted to the conduct of Hover.•
meat in recent instances he proceeded to say a word or 10
'respecting Lord Londonderry, and the causes his Lori-
ship bad fossil out for their dist r . First, lie
called it a trusition from war to peace ; then he called
it an ignorant impatience of taxation ; then he
milted it was from want of employment to the poor,
for which he recommended that they should dig bolo v
one day. and MI them up the next; and last of all 11,
was obliged to say that time and patience would n.
meJy every thing. Now he (Mr. Colo') to-disguise Cer-
tain that the farmers of Norfolk bad she:: n very great
patience. and be must own that he expected that they
would have to show it for a very long time twfdrr Lord
Londonderty's promised remedy would contr. In the
last Session of Parliament petitions had come from all
quarters. stating the distress of the cultivators of the
.seils and is consequence a Committee was appointed
to examine them. as a little acconuentolvtion to the rein.
plainants. The majority of that Committee were.