The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-01-23 00:00:00

STATE

Tait
as ro agfee to a Petition': whirih *out elfproggialtat*
useless and ridiculous. They weic c..lh:tl upon tit. loft
at th. Conduct of the high Slies4M—les dieusioolt at &Is
conduct tha: Jay—let them also ricollect that so early
as February !mit, a Requisition, signed by eighty molt
respectable inhatVitants of the County;tras presentel to
him, requesting him to call a public Meeting, and from
that day to the present he had. not even the courtesy to
return any amitver nhatever.
The Sit Baur said, that he had sent an answer shortly
after the Requisition bad beep presented.
Mr. BUNT then proceeded to read his Petition. It
was as follows :

"To THE HONOURABLE THE CONRONS OF THE UNIT►D
KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND IN PARLIA-
IIkNT AP.ESIRLED.
"The Petition of•tbe Nobility, Gentry, Clergy. Free-
holi!ers, and Inhabitants of the County of Somerset,
assembled in Public Meeting, couveued by the Sheriff,
in the City of Wells, In the said County, this 21st day
of January, 1823,

" Slieweth—That )our petitioners have cheerfully made
the greatest sacrifices at ail times for the defence of 11118
country, and to promote the bare!), and honour of the
Throne.

*• That to recile the !offerings of your petitioners would
be in rnin ; they are now well known, and are at length be-
come past embartince.
. . . . . .

" That their calamities have been brought upon your Pe-
titioners by excessive taxation, which has arisen solely
from the want of a fair and equal representation of the
people in the Commons House of Parliament.
•, Your petitioners therefore pray—First, for a errat re-
duction of the Standing Army, including Staff, Barracks,
and Colleges.
"2. A to!ril abolition of all sineenres and useless places,
and of all pensions, grants, and emoluments, not merited by
well known public, services.
3. A great reduetion in the Civil List, and of all the
salaries of the Royal Family, and especially of the German
Pike., of Saxe Coburg, which your petitioners humbly pray
nisy he reduced at least to 6,0000. a year, the sum paid to
the President of the United States of America.

" 4. A corresponding reduction of the salorl.^s of all the
Officers of State, the Judges, and every other person paid
out of the taxes.

•' S. An immediate repeal of the Tex on Salt, Halt, Hops,
LealLer, Soap and Candles, Farmers' Riding Horses, and
Trs,l. smelt's Draught horses.
" 6 A re:A.O of the odious and tyrannical Haase Laws,
and for a law t.) he pissed to authorize every farmer and
his friends to kill gßine on the land which he °emotes.
" 7. For a law to he passed to exclude all Clergymen
from holding Commissions of the. Peace. or acting as Com-
missioners of Tastes, Sewers, or Turnpikes.
" 8. A repent of the General Turnpike Act, passed dur-
ing the last Session of Parliament, which Act authorises the
Commissioners to levy a heavier toll on a poor s.au's cart
than on a gentleman's carriage.
l'our petitlonersfarthr- pray. that your Bon. House'
trill be pleased forthwith to pass on .4cl to ensure such an
immrdiate Reform in the Commons Must. of Parliament
as will yire to terry Enytishman a Vote jrO the Represea•
naives who are to sit there, so that such equitabfy and '
constitutionally chosen, Parliament may without loss of i
tinge adopt such measeres, with regard to Church and
State, as would ensure the freedom and hr:ppiness of the
people. the security of the 'throne, and the prosperity of
the country.
•• And your petitioners, as In duty, will ever pray."

[Tlie lines fn Italics were erased from the petition.]
The Reverend 51r. CRESSWEEL seconded the peti•
lion.

Mr. Dtentsson then tame forward. It became his duty,
he said, to reply, not to direct charges, but to insinua-
tions made by Mr. Hurt against him. In the first place
it was insinuated that large aunts had come into his
howls as Col. of the Yeonianry,and had not heen properly
applied by him. It had been always the rule of his life
where he acted in any way as trustee. to separate his
own money from the money that miglea, have come
into his hands as Trustee—lie had done so with respect
to the Yeomanry money, and he was now able to declare
upon his word and honour that be never did either di-
rectly or indirectly appropriate one farthing of that
money to any other than its intended purpose. He could
state that not only had the money been expended on the
corps, hut that himself and his officers had always incur-
red private expence when out on permanent duty. With
reepecb to the other insinuation it was equally ground.
less. The property in question consisted of two parts—
the landed property Was altogether unconnected with
thiverninent, will was derived from quite a" different
source. The lighthouse duties had been purchased for a
valuable consideration by his grandfather, from a Iverson
of the name of Crips; 4(1m: ended to him in the nature of
all o'lner private property—(hear, hear.)—and as an
Englishman, he would defend that property against
attack and invasion of every kind.—(l lear, hear.)—Wit
respect to the Petition of Mr. Henning. he was glad to
lind that it contained nothing; it asked fur nothing to
raise priers ; all classes deserved alike the consideration
of Parliament ; he felt very strongly the excessive pres-
sure of taxation, and he would do all in his power to
lighten the borthen ; but at the same time lie was free
to say that he would vote for no tax, the repeal of which
might injure the public credit of the country. He trust-
ed that the County of Somerset would not shew any
wish to break faith with time public creditor; if honour
and honesty were not observed in Kent, or in Norfolk,
he hoped that in Somerset they would be observed.
There was one other topic OR nide), be would nish to
say a word ; he meant the commutation of tithes. He
had deeply considered that subject, and the result of his
consideration was, that no fair commutation of tithes
could take ?dare—the property of the Church stood on
the aeons f ening as other property ;—(Disapprobation,)
—it ottzlit not to be invaded. Ile was not one of those
who would vote to degrade the Clergy; Clergymen
ought to he men of editeation, of respectability, with the
habits and feelings of Gentlemen. He would not sacri-
fice the rights of such men to the hope of reaiiing an
ideal advantage.—(Laud disapprobation.)
Sir T. LETHBRIDGE commenced by saying, that, after
all that theyhed heard, lie. would not fatigue the Meeting
or himself by making a long speech. Having put his
name to the Reqiiisition, he felt that he would have
been wanting to his Constituents, and to himself, had
he rot appeared before them. Of the conduct of the
Aleetieg he highly approved—nothing could Le more
orderly ; they hail met to consider the causes of time
present distress. It was not to be denied that that great
and industrious class (the Agriculturists) were consider-
ably oppressed by some means or other (a voice from
the crowd .• by you"). lie, for one, was glad to face his
Constitetents, to see them assembled at that most re
spectable Moteing, in order to ascertain their sentiments,
in order that he might with the grottier effect be able to
press some measures of relief on the Parliament. lie
was happy to see that the line of his duty was in unison
with their sentimente and opinions on this subject. He
(lid not feel it necessary to go into minute particulars
after what had already been sail, particularly by a
gentletrotn hunt). of the greater part of whose
speech he aparoved. That Gentleman was attended to
as he deserved (cheers), and he delivered himself with
good Linnanr, equal to the manner in wllidt he was
received (applalmee), Ile certainly would vote for the
Petition of Air. Manning; but at the same time he saw
nothing so sulking in the other Petition that'had been
proposeli to them that he would very strongly object to,
save the question of Reform ; that question was not
before the meeting, and he would leave the discussion
of it to another day. Oa the question which really was
befote them, it was satisfactory to him to feel that the
opinions which lie should declare in Parliament were
*hoer which were entertained by his constitntents. The
question of Reform would be open to them on aaotber
day (tries of WhatAity ?—name a der).