The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-02-13 00:00:00

' BOROUGH REFORM IN•STOCKToN.

r • flow gloriower are the victories achieved by truth
and the extension of knowledge, over tyranny, super.
tuition, and ignorance! flow sublime the contem,
Ortion ! 'Already has a grand revolution been ef-
fected in the Borough System of Scotland, and the
example -is rapidly gaining ground in England.—
Klitwick, our Readers know, has thrown off the
yoke of oppression ; the Burgesses of Stockton have
now effected their emancipation in the following
manner :
The Bergeron having long had it in contempt...
tion-to have a day appointed for the elimination of
the Records belonging to the Corporation, to know
the real extent of their privileges, retpeared the
Mayor to call a Meeting for that purpose. Ile com-
piled, when the dreadful discovery ensued, which has
placed the property of these free-men at their own
disposal.
A Requisition to the Mayor, in conseqwenee,
signed by the majority of the Burgess*, that he
would immediately dismiss the tenant ithen iu the
occupation of the principal part of the property, and
convene an early Meeting for the looting of the same.
Some Gentleesea, in the midst of these unpleasant
proceedings, entreated his Worship to dissolve the
Meeting : but the worthy Recorder, vilioseTnioluct
merits oor esteem, submitted that the acts of.theCni-
poration could not be legal, unless the ilo.r,cesses, as
a body, concurred with the Mayor and Aldermen.
Mr. Alderman Dixon's feelings, indeod, seem to
have suffered greatly • from the ittegritiniacy of this
procedure, as he was clearly of opinion' that the
Mayor was "omnipotent." . -
Mr. CROW, in teply, said, he had frequently heard
of the divine right of Kings, but this was,the first
time in hie life he had heard of the divine right
Maiors I The Corporation is now entirely free ; and
the revenue, which was about 2001. per annom,
by the late regulations, amount to epwards of 3001.
per annum.

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BOROUGH REFORM IN ALNWICK.

On Monday, the Td h ell. a Common Guild of the
free Burgesses Mai held in the 'lnert
George Lindsey, Esq. senior and pres_r.ioy i__rlerstrate,
in the Chair. After some preparatory bOiness, a:
report of the proceedings of the Committee, for the
obtaining their ancient rights, and correcting the self-
election of the foor.ond-twenty, ries aside by. ,Mr.
Robert Tate, Clerk of the Guild ; this was locried-
.ed by an address him Mr. T.ll. Bel I, of Which the fol-
lowing is-An 'strict :
" •Gimiti.ssenn,r-r4th gratifling to observe, that ,
;notwithstanding the early 'impediments thrown in you.,
course to emancicartion, by the chicaniry..Of went
of independence in the -lawyers of Alnivki, you
are now. rapidly advancing to the goal of your
But to whom are you indebted-for the progress you
.hete. made ? To your owo unbending electiojea-..:
more especiall* to the 'exertions of 1111
now before yowl Mr. Tate.----It is tree, within
thee* few weeks a Committee of Non-freemen has
been volantarily formed to advoeste your proeyediogs;
and I can only say, had those Gentlemen lived in the
eget of Greece or Rome, they *mild Ws had statues

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raised to commemorate the iudeperiribnce theY hard
evinced. If 'you will permit hilw-10 dean,. to notittl
those. Gentlemen who were chi /our-and *tot);
consider their 'listens*, as "ai body of 34-.gi,tratesi
quite an anomaly in t country calling itself free ;
their tyranny is of AO moat gilerms. kind. being
despotism exercised by one neighbour urn another.
'The iuhabitants of the. Turkkh and Ito..slait domi-
nions, it. is true, are governed by absolute masters,
bat their eyes are not every day blasted by lA. sight of
ilittyrauts Obey lire at waistline/. from their slates;
twelve have the pain; thavalltery; if we step btlynod
our thresholds, of beholding, every tow hi the
day, men who would trample •as to dusk were not
their authority as puny as.theetselvtis are insighiGrant.
It is the opinion of Goansel; that.. you •have but to
persevere to prevail; rernaio united, and success k
certain ' • no People were ever contleeted iota they
becaoto divided or distracted in -their Councils._ Th.,
work that is 'well begun may be laid td be ended....z.
It is bail since wi began our resistance to oppres,ioo;
hat,he assured-, though the monster now writhes in the
contolsive agonies of dissolution, it will require our
unshaken elertlimis to strangle him rot ever. 1 but
we have but to persevere to prevail, may be said to
be desionstraVe ; for if. we patent our views GI to a
borough to a nation, from a nation-to a continent, tts
what nett of the. globe, in shist:age of the world,
has it ever been foetid that tyranny oout.l stand be.
fore the (roosts of tficanajeatic firs* of independence?
I trust:that the dame • ashieh-we,- boos lighted •up Will
nut be eitinguisheil in •thartiftoogh of: Alnwick
through the remotest ages of succeeding generations.l.l.

TILE GO VB R F:tiT ES M.

-
A writer, in en edtlre'so to•the Freeholderea West-
niorlend, make* the fullottiugjust enJ pertinent rf
mark,

" The ruinous and bloody wars which this country
has been almost perpetually engaged in for V° last
jffty years, are, I think,' another greet proof that
ii.e Representation of the People is radically bad;
for I cannot for very humanity's sake believe that the
People would of themselres have seut one army after
another into the wilds of America, to perish by
the hatchet of the Indian, or she mismanage-
ment of their Commanders
.4 or IsstoSpain, !francs.,
or Holland, when sin end could possibly be an-
swered by it but the aggrandizement of a few
individuals who had got good Army Contras's.,
or snug births in the Commissariat. Let us not re.
prowls Nalissleon elonsparte wills restless enshition
and a love of war. No, tier with repine or plunder!
either; hook at the uskerable provinces of India, at
the fallen greatness of her Kings and Princes, whose
wretched remains of independence are in de bends
of a few East Indis Directors, in l,earleishall.street,
and they themselves perhaps iw military custody.
'these are the acts of the British Cabinets which boisll
Of the Christiab perfection of its conduLt—loves
Bible Societios:---hatesiwee—and acilousiy promotes
a knowledge' of 'Bia New Testament among the
,
hea-
then. •
" I think if 'nis esfraiigialfsiertion I hat there'
are not ten individuals:lA..4i two gaieties of Cum.
berland and Westmorland,. who e„au,assbira-a
,rational
motive, or oven any sqpitia• vikpkVlos she 4iset wee,
which lasted upwards of '26 years, east toglald fire .
or sit hundeed (which are let espiid), end,
the lives of thousands of be Subjects. As fur the
invasion, that is en ahltifilt,"lSerit 'teas well played
off, and served the end of Ministry very well, for
there were twiny old wives of both sexes terribly
frightened. ‘Var,Tates, 'and Revenue were .utter
consequence, curd many a 'poor: sprig. of Nobility
made a Gentleman. This is war, of all customs the
most savage, which a nation, believing in Christiatti.•
ty, wagers with her
.neighboose (or the honour and
glory of Old England.
" Believe it, Freeholders, you have no interest
in all this, and I think the greatest part of you cm
tell also whether it was for the good of the Commu-
nity ; fur Ido not doubt but that many of you are as
good judges of these matters as those woo think
themselves much wiser. If the glory of Ellison) is
to be purchased with the slaughter of ber ions—or
the prosperity of the country ensured by debt and
tales, the puke is ton great, 'sod this generation *lll
not psss assay before the cup of retribution and se•
pentane be drunk off to the very dregs."