Great Northern Whig Club.
The Times, 1824-10-01T00:00:00

The annual meeting of the Whig Club of Cheshire aaa the adljoining coiunties will take place on Mondav weeks the 1lth of October. SirJ. T. Stanley, Bart., will ialk thea.-< chair, supported by Earl Grosvenor, Lord Crewe, and a& the -Whig Nobility of the narthern counties of England. It wgs proposed at the last meeting that a declaration of the principles on which they assoriate shoald be prepared against the next anuiversary; and we are notw entabled, by anticipation, tclay it before our readers. At the general meedng of the Whig Club of Cheshire and the ad- jacent counties, held in October, 1822, it was resolved unanimo0usl, that the Club should publish a declaration of itapoltdical principles; and a Committee was appointed to carry that resolutlon into effect. In obedience to the directions of the Club, a deelaretiou was accord- iugly submitted for its consideration at the last general meeting, when it vas agreed that td: paper should be printed ad crculated among the members, for their final dedsion at the general mecting next cesuing. The Committee, therefore, psesent the follawing as the result of their labonra:-- DECLARATION, &-. It can hardly be expected in a society of permona well qualificd to form their own political opinions, that each inidividual will find his particular views precisely delineated in any general declaration. The utmost success to which the Committee, in the ditc t asak thus imposed on them, can presume te aspire, is to obtain something like general concurrence, which, tbey trust may be accomplished by found- ing their Report upon inductions from the original prhiciphtt of the institution, as well as upon the dedared opinions of manny of itfs rnembers. Tbe Club was founded in 1820, a period when the disastrous con- dition of the country, and the inroads made upon the rights and pro- perty of the subject, hba convinced many of the wisert and best men that tome change in the system was necessary. and that some- thing more stable than the mere reputation or profestsio-t of indivi- dluals whom chance or intrigue might invest writh epi,imerai authority. was required to restore that prosperity and contentment at home, and that high character abroad, for which England had foz ages been distinguished. This association, therefore, was formed - to foster and maaitain the principles of the glorious revolutiin of 1638," and ras called 3 Wbig Club, with reference to the bold und enlightened men who, tried to remedy the political abuses of that daiy. It was thought that this yeriod of our l istory vould furnish the loves of well-regu. latedl liberty with the best gutide to those alteratons in the system. of which every day's experience served but to prove the increasing necessity. That the British Constiturlon has beun pervened fromn"Voriginal object, must be evident to tiU who compare, whether laternsaUy or externally, the present with the past condition of the country. Pre. vious to George 1. Parliaments were triennial, ? placrten were de. prived of the right of siltiDg in the HoLIse atf Commons; the taxes and mlilitary estabilihments formed not I .10th, and the Crown pa- tronage not 1.20th, of their present amount i the national debt was, comparatively speaking, unknowrn England was happy at home and respected abroal, the restorer of her own liberties, and thesuc- cessful asserter of the independence of othee states. Here, then, the most timtd have before thm a plan of reform, which may be eft&ted simply by reverting to past measures of tried utility, which formed the law and constitution of the lansid uring the best portion of its history. Nor can they be reproached ea vi- sionary theorists who would adopt tuch further improvements Eo the system, as the vast change in the habits, c-ndition, ai cteased in- telligence of the people may jastify and require. Thus the Com- imittee consider the doctrine of reform as necessarily emanating,both ia the letter and spirit, from the original principles of the Society,-an opinion supported by the sentiments often delivered, and the unani- mous feeling expressed, at its general meetings. The subject hss, hitherto, reinained contined in general ternms, from whicl it Is never likely to escape, unlems aided by the calm but conlfideat expression of the public voice. The present tranquil state of the country, wheu opinions ate least influenced by personal or party feelings, and whent the promulgation of them can no longer be taunted as exciting the dil- contents of disitressed mulritudes, is eminently suited to the declara- tion of sound principles, however reinote mai be our hopes of their practical iliustration. For whatever grounds for present gratulation or future hope be aflbrded by the late change in the persons, temnper, and policy of the (;overnment, it is quite evident thatthese changes- add not one iota of real security against the recurrence of tri- umphar.t misrule; and that so long as the Parliament remains unre. formed, so long are our rights and liberties at the merey of whoever may command its majoTities. Without, therefore, in the least presuming to lay down any dog. marical or exclusive doctrine, as to the means of obtaining the only legitimate end of all reform-an upright administration of atiirs, or pretending to define the precise limit to which -each parutcular measure should he e.rcnded, or to determnine whether the adoption ot some may not supersede rhe necessity of others, (a questirn to the solution of which actual expetin,ent ill perhaps be tie safest Puide), it appears that the cure ef the evils we compaint of will be found in the following measures .- 1. The repeal of the Seitehnial Bill, passed in 1715. 2. The exclusio n of the inefficient and subordinate placemen from the right of *:oting in the Horse of Commonrs, as they were fornerly excluded by that law whieh settled thc British crown apon the House of Brunswick. 3. A more expeditious and less ruinous mode of receiving votes at elections, thereby leaving the elected no excuse for subsequent ve- nality. 4. And a more equal representation of the people, and such am extension of the elective franchise as is calculated to give greater efliciency to that undoubted precept of ihe British constitutios, that those :iho pay direct taxes shoul(d possess some influence in the im_ position of titean. The Commnittee consider these measures to be in strict consistency with the Constitution of England, and to involve no ri-as, except to those abuses wl,fch every impartial man would wish corrected, and which even tb ir most zealous advocates are unable to defend. Finally, the mnain use of this and similzr associations is to keep alive tihe old free spirit of the country, and to collect the scattered friends of rational liberty under such a bond of social union as weill encourage h4dependent men to speak their minds freelv upon public occasions; ensuring the toleration, if not the propagaton, of liberal principles and, above all, to secure (whenever sufficient cause arises, ard in spite of the obstacles which faction and legislation have imposed on its exercise) a continuance of the inestimable right of meeting and petitioning the Legislature. ^ A bill for estRblishing trientilL Parliaments also pa&ed In Charles 1. (A. 1). 16i40.) Mr. Hume, speakingof ttis bill, srys, " Notbingeoauld be more neceSsary thati such a statute f.r completing a regutlr plan of lawv and liberty."-Vol. 6, p. 305. Strong commendation 'rom one to huse pen llbertg lies, generally speasing, underno great obliga- ttons. OPRAT AorR7Yt? WItVI rrrtg -