THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES . A SELECTION SPEECHES THE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE LATE QUEEN, of the PARLIAMENTARY REFORM; DELIVERED AT FOURTEEN COUNTY MEETINGS : INCLUDING THOSE OV THE DUKE OF BEDFORD, THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, THE DUKE OF PORTLAND, THE DUKE OF SOMERSET, THE MARQUESS OF LANSDO WNE, THE MARQ. OF TAVISTOCK, M.P. THE EARL OF CARNARVON, THE EARL OF DARNLEY, THE EARL FITZWILLIAM, THE EARL GREY, THE LARL OF JERSEY, THE EARL OF THANET, LORD DACRE, LORD ELLENBOROUGH, LORD VIS. FOLKSTONE, M.P. LORD HOLLAND, LORD KING, LORD JOHN RUSSELL, M.P. SIR F. BURDETT, BART. M.P. SIR CHAS. MONCK, BART.' ALEXANDER BARING, ESQ. M.P. J. BARRETT, ESQ. J. BENETT, ESQ. M.P. T. W. COKE, ESQ. M.P. R. GORDON, ESQ. M.P. J. C. HOBHOUSE, ESQ. M.P. W. P. HONYVVOOD, ESQ. M.P. H. H. JOY, ESQ. J. G. LAMBTON, ESQ. M.P. HON. H. T. LIDDELL, M.P. HENRY MARSH, ESQ. P. METHUEN, ESQ. D. RICARDO, ESQ. M.P. &c. c. &c. it outrun : POINTED FOR HUNT AND CLARKE, YORK STREET, COYENT ftARDEX. ADVERTISEMENT. >< IN several of these Speeches, now first collected, o= i the most important constitutional principles are OQ "* advocated in the very highest strain of eloquence. Among the Speakers are many of those most . distinguished in either House of Parliament. But I, the voluminous Reports of the Parliamentary ^ Debates may be searched in vain for more noble u 3 and striking proofs of their oratorical powers, than are to be found within the compass of the following pages. There are 'here also specimens of talent and = eloquence in men not Members of the Senate, and | in others who, though Members, are wholly unac- customed to address it, that cannot easily be sur- IV ADVERTISEMENT. passed by the happiest effusions of those most habituated to public speaking. The chief subject, which called forth these uncommon efforts, and which indeed was naturally calculated to excite the strongest sensation throughout the country, was the ill-judged and ill-fated persecution of the late Queen by his Majesty's Ministers. The other topics of the most deep and general interest, agitated at these Meetings, were the accu- mulating distresses of all classes of society, espe- cially in the Agricultural Districts ; and the strong necessity for Parliamentary Reform. Upon the latter point in particular this volume may be consulted with confidence, as exhibiting most solemn declarations in favour of that measure of paramount importance by many of the first public characters in the kingdom. No exertions have been spared to render the publication as accurate as possible. In the only instance in which a corrected Report of one of the Speeches has been separately published, that Report ADVERTISEMENT. V has been faithfully followed. For the others all the principal London and Provincial Papers have been most sedulously collated. In the latter were discovered one or two of the most powerful and masterly orations in the present collection, of which scarcely an outline was given in the former; and which, as their circulation has been hitherto confined within the limited range of their County Journals, will be entirely new to the general reader. The Speeches on either side are recorded with equal fidelity and care. If those in favour of the ministerial measures are so few, it is because those measures were almost universally condemned even by the stanchest friends of their authors; and because the greater part of those, who did lend them their approbation, preferred pri- vate to public Meetings for the expression of it. A summary statement of the Proceedings of each County is given, in order to enable the Reader more fully to comprehend the scope and effect of the Speeches. And he is left to put his own judg- ment upon them, unbiassed by such marks of the popular applause or disapprobation, as are not requisite for the purpose of elucidating the text. VI ADVERTISEMENT. Some Speeches are inserted chiefly on account of the valuable record they supply of the opinions and pledges of men of high station and influence upon subjects of great national moment. But the majority have been selected for their intrinsic merit, as some of the noblest exhibitions of genuine English feeling, judgment, and eloquence. THE EDITO R'S PREFACE. To the expediency of the present Publication the Editor is aware that two objections may perhaps be raised ; but as they may be easily and satisfactorily answered, he is willing to anticipate them. The first is that these Speeches must have lost much of their original interest, since the persecu- tion, which forms their principal topic, has ter- minated with the death of its victim. The second that of the discussions usually held at County Meetings it is not common to fur- nish any more permanent record, than is supplied by the journals of the day. To the first objection it may well be answered, that the oppression so generally deprecated in these Speeches is, although indeed ended, still VIM PREFACE. unreclressccl ; and that justice demands that our indignation against the oppressors should survive our late sympathy with the oppressed. In this, too, we have all a direct interest on out own account ; as we are yet governed by the men, who could so far forget their duty to the Throne and to the Nation. To the dispassionate and deliberate review of their conduct, therefore, in these pro- ceedings, both honour and policy alike invite us. Neither should it be forgotten that upon several other points of the most pressing and immediate moment, their measures, foreign and domestic, are here freely and fully canvassed. In reply to the second objection it may be urged that, whether from the extreme difficulty of such a compilation, or from whatever cause it hap- pens that the orations delivered at County Meet- ings are not commonly reprinted in a collected form, like those delivered in Parliament, the omis- sion can by no means be ascribed to the compara- tive inferiority of the former: at least if we may be allowed to form our estimate from these now offered to the Public. In a similar number of pages in the Parliamentary Debates, it would be difficult to discover a similar proportion of Speeches equally worthy to be preserved for their own intrinsic merit in point of eloquence, independently of any interest derivable from the nature of their PREFACE. IX subject. Upon this ground alone the present volume is calculated to retain a permanent value, even if many of its topics were not of the most universal and lasting importance. And this ground alone would abundantly justify, as it has mainly induced, its publication. But there are also two other considerations, that have not been without their weight in deter- mining the Editor to this undertaking. One is the desire to afford a faithful picture of that generous enthusiasm, which upon this memorable occasion pervaded all classes of the people; and which even the few, who thought it misdirected, could not abstain from applauding. The other is the hope of demonstrating, from a view of the general modera- tion and candour exhibited at some of the largest County Meetings ever witnessed in this country, - and that too under circumstances of such unparal- leled excitement, the weakness or wickedness of restricting upon frivolous pretences the exercise of one of the least dangerous and most salutary privileges of the Constitution. Upon both these points the Editor is desirous of vindicating his own views from any imputation of prejudice or party zeal by adducing in their sup- port testimony, which must be in this respect b X PREFACE. above all suspicion. And with this testimony he will conclude these few prefatory remarks. With regard to both of them he is enabled to cite the authority of Lord Ellenborough, whose strict impartiality no man can call in question, after his declaration at the Surry Meeting, that " during his short political career in the House of Commons and in the House of Lords, he had never belonged to one party or to the other." At that Meeting his Lordship stated that, " whatever his own opinions might be as to the case of her Majesty, he thought the generosity, with which Englishmen felt on this subject, did them the highest honour. No man could admire more than himself the manly spirit, the truly English feeling and generosity, upon which their opinions, how- ever erroneous, were founded." Having thus done justice to the feelings, by which the People were influenced, although he thought fit to pronounce their opinions, derived from so honorable a source, erroneous ; his Lord- ship vouchsafed to bestow upon their manner of conducting themselves while under such in- fluence his unqualified approbation. After thanking his audience for the attention, with which he had been heard, he assured them " that he would bear PREFACE. XI testimony in his place in the House of Lords to the respectability of the Meeting and to the propriety and fairness, which had so eminently characterized their proceedings. Whatever might be the case in other instances, they had proved that that County Meeting at least was no ' farce' : and, however dif- ferent their opinions might be from his own, he could not but respect the fairness, the manliness, and the moderation, with which they had expressed them." And again : as to the value of County Meet- ings in general as essential to the preservation of our liberties, his Lordship said that, " whatever might be the difference of opinion, it was a subject of the first importance, and a practice highly con- ducive to the well-being of the Constitution, that upon great public questions the Freeholders of every County should meet to express their senti- ments. The voice of the People, he knew, would always speak to the Legislature with authority; and he' believed that the expression of public opinion was never persevered in without producing a coincidence in the acts of Government." So likewise the Earl of Harewood, a Nobleman, whose moderation and fairness have constantly secured to him the respect of his opponents, except only in this instance, where he found himself Xll PREFACE. called upon to dissent from those, whom he habitually supports, while expressing that dis- sent in his place in the House of Lords, is reported to have said that " there was a vast mass of evi- dencej which had now been sent through the country. Let the country judge of that evidence, and he would take upon himself to say that its judgment would be correct. He never saw it fail in the course of the experience of his life ; and he hoped he should never live to see it fail." The only other citations that shall be offered, as confirmatory of the Editor's opinion of the character and value of these Meetings, are from the pen of a Foreigner; naturally beyond the influence of our party prejudices, but eminently entitled to the love and respect of all parties in this country for the zeal and ability, with which he has advocated its cordial union with his own. If it be sometimes allowable to be taught wisdom by our enemy, it is surely not unwise to derive from such a friend a corroboration of the justness of those principles of rational liberty, which have been handed down to us from our common ances- tors. From our common ancestors we may well say, when speaking of such a writer as Washington Irving with somewhat of that honorable pride in the relationship, which on his part he is ever so ready to avou*. PREFACE. Xlll The passages alluded to are from the last work of this delightful and judicious writer: Bracebridge Hall. With that happy union of good sense and good feeling, for which all his observations are conspicuous, he there remarks as follows: " Whatever may be said of English mobs and English demagogues, I have never met with a people more open to reason, more considerate in their tempers, more tractable by argument in the roughest times, than the English. They are remarkably quick at discerning and appreciating whatever is manly and honorable. They are by nature and habit methodical and orderly; and they feel the value of all that is regular and respectable. They may occasionally be deceived by sophistry, and excited into turbulence by public distresses and the misrepresentations of designing men ; but open their eyes, and they will eventually rally round the land-marks of steadv truth and delibe- * rate good sense. They are fond of established customs, they are fond of long established names ; and that love of order and quiet, which characterizes the nation, gives avast influence to the descendants of the old families, whose forefathers have been lords of the soil from time immemorial. " It is when the rich and well-educated and highly privileged classes neglect their duties, when they neglect to study the interests, and conciliate XIV PREFACE. the affections, and instruct the opinions, and champion the rights of the people, that the latter become discontented and turbulent, and fall into the hands of demagogues ; the demagogue always steps in where the patriot is wanting. There is a common high-handed cant among the high-feed- ing, and, as they fancy themselves, high-minded men, about putting down the mob; but all true physicians know that it is better to sweeten the blood than attack the tumor, to apply the emol- lient rather than the cautery. It is absurd in a country like England, where there is so much freedom, and such a jealousy of right, for any man to assume an aristocratical tone, and to talk super- ciliously of the common people. There is no rank that makes him independent of the opinions and affections of his fellow-men; there is no rank nor distinction that severs him from his fellow-subject ; and if, by any gradual neglect or assumption on the one side, and discontent and jealousy on the other, the orders of society should really separate, let those who stand on the eminence beware that the chasm is not mining at their feet. The orders of society in all well constituted governments are mutually bound together, and important to each other; there can be no such thing in a free government as a vacuum ; and whenever one is likely to take place, by the drawing off of the rich and intelligent from the poor, the bad passions of PREFACE. XV society will rush in to fill up the space, and rend the whole asunder." And again : " A free people feel that it is their right, their interest, and their duty to mingle in public concerns, and to watch over the general welfare." And again : " That the great majority of nobi- lity and gentry in England are endowed with high notions of honour and independence they have evi- denced it lately on very important questions ; and have given an example of adherence to principle, in preference to party and power, that must have astonished many of the venal and obsequious Courts of Europe. Such are the glorious effects of free- dom, when infused into a Constitution." W. H. CONTENTS. ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SPEAKERS. PACK Alexander Baring, Esq. M. P. - 125 Barrett, Esq. - 27 Duke of Bedford - - - 150 J. Benett, Esq. M. P. - 208 Hon. Grey Bennet, M. P. - - 338 Hon. Capt. Bouverie, R. N. - 204 Sir F. Burdett, Bart. M. P. - 62 Ditto - - 240 Earl of Carnarvon - - 1 39 T. W. Coke, Esq. M. P. - 3 Lord Dacre - - 179 Earl of Daraley - 275 Duke of Devonshire - 80 Lord Ellenborough - -331 Earl Fitzwilliam - * - - - 187 Lord Viscount Folkstone, M. P. - 52 R. Gordon, Esq. M. P. - - 213 Earl Grey - 33 Ditto - - 96 Sir W. Berkeley Guise, Bart. M. P. - - 43 J. C. Hobhouse, Esq. M. P. - - 248 Lord Holland - - 162 Ditto - - - - - - - 295 XVlil LIST OF SPEAKERS. PACK W. P. Honywood, Esq. M. P. - 269 Earl of Jersey - - 287 H. Hall Joy, Esq. - 218 Lord King - - 324 H. Gaily Knight, Esq. - - 312 J. G. Lambton, Esq. M. P. 9 Marquess of Lansdowne - - 231 Liddell, Esq. - 30 H. Marsh, Esq. - 70 P. Methuen, Esq. - - 192 Sir Charles Monck, Bart. - 88 Duke of Newcastle - - 316 - Orde, Esq. - 93 Sir Edw. Poore, Bart. - 206 Duke of Portland - - 315 D. Ricardo, Esq. M. P. 47 Lord John Russell, M. P. - - 170 Duke of Somerset - - , - 201 Marquess of Tavistock, M. P. - 175 Earl Thanet - - 254 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF COUNTIES. PAGE BEDFORDSHIRE - 150 BERKSHIRE - 51 CAMBRIDGESHIRE - - 177 DERBYSHIRE - N - - 79 DURHAM 9 GLOUCESTERSHIRE - 43 HAMPSHIRE - 125 KENT - - 252 NORFOLK - 1 NORTHUMBERLAND - 86 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE - 310 OXFORDSHIRE - - 280 SURRY - - 320 WILTSHIRE ----- 190 SPEECHES, ON Saturday, the 19th of August, 1820, a meeting of the Noblemen, Clergy, Gentlemen, and Freeholders of the county of Norfolk, was held in the Nisi Prius Court of the Castle at Norwich, in pursuance of a requisition transmitted to George Samuel Kett, Esq. the High Sheriff of the county, requiring him to convene a county meeting, for the purpose of considering the pro- priety of petitioning Parliament to stay the pending proceedings against the Queen. General WALPOLE moved, and the Rev. Mr. Archdeacon BATHURST seconded, the Re- solutions; which stated in substance that, al- though the meeting did not at that period presume to pronounce any opinion on the question of the guilt or .innocence of the Queen Consort, they deemed it their duty as Englishmen to protest against any mode of proceeding with respect to 2 COUNTY OF NORFOLK. an accused person, in any rank of life, in which power and undue influence were likely to affect the course of public justice : That acts of Parliament to inflict pains and penalties, beyond or contrary to the common law, to serve a special purpose, can never be warranted except by some imminent danger to the state, to be removed in no other way ; because they enable the government to create an offence where no legal offence existed before ; to regulate the proof, to decide upon the evidence, and to apportion the punishment; and thus plainly to confound the executive, legislative and judicial authorities, upon the separation of which the liberty and justice of the country depend : That the advisers of the Crown, having en- tered into a negotiation with the Queen Consort upon the subject of the present prosecution, have themselves thereby virtually admitted, that no such imminent danger to the state would accrue from not entering into an inquiry which, by their own acknowledgment, " must be derogatory from the dignity of the throne, and injurious to the best interests of the nation :" That the omission in the present Bill of Pains and Penalties of any specification of the time when, or the place where, the offence is alleged to have been committed ; and the refusal of any list of witnesses, whereby the accused may be prepared with the means of a fair defence, are at variance with justice: MR. COKE. 3 That a petition from the meeting against the said Bill be presented to the Commons House of Parliament by T. W. COKE, Esq. and E. WODE- HOUSE, Esq. the members for this county ; and that they be requested to support it; and to oppose the Bill of Pains and Penalties, should it unhappily pass on to the Commons House of Parliament. The Chairman then proceeded to put the resolutions seriatim. The only hands held up against the first reso- lution were those of Mr. WODEHOUSE, M. P. and Mr. Alderman HARVEY. The tumult excited by the silent opposition of these Gentlemen was considerable; when Mr. Archdeacon BATHURST interposed, and said, that every Gentleman had a right to act upon his own opinion, and he gave the Gentlemen alluded to full credit for their manliness. Thinking as they did, they had a right to hold up their hands against the resolution. With the exception of the two Gentlemen named, the whole of the resolutions passed unani- mously. After the resolution, that the petition be presented by the members for the county, the following speech was delivered by MR. COKE, M. P. : MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN, THE proud situation I have the honour to hold, as one of your representatives, has induced 4 COUNTY OF NORFOLK. me to attend this meeting: not, however, with any intention of giving my opinion upon the alleged conduct of the Queen ; for in truth I know just as little of it as any one of you, whom I now address. But I come here, in the first place, to return my thanks to your worthy High Sheriff for the ready manner, in which he has con- vened this meeting, and given you an opportunity of delivering your sentiments fully and fairly: an opportunity which has heen lately much cur- tailed. I am happy to have again the pleasure of addressing you ; the first time since the late acts became law. The great question, in which you feel so deep an interest, is now on trial before the House of Lords : a House, which long ago Lord Chatham styled, " the hospital for incurables." The Queen is now on trial before that house, which you will recollect refused her a list of witnesses. She is now on trial before the persons, who refused to tell her even the place where the act of adultery was alleged to have been committed. I have a right then to ask you whether she has any reason to expect British justice from that tribunal? Can I look to a better prospect for her in another place ? Can I look for it where I have daily witnessed that a tame and servile acquiescence to Ministers is the order of the day where a large part of the repre- sentative body betray the trust committed to them ? Can the Queen, I say, have justice there? I think not, as that place is at present constituted. MR. COKE. 5 This case of the Queen's ought not to be made a party question. I know many excellent and honourable men, with whom I differ upon general political topics, yet who entirely coincide with me upon this point; and I am sorry they are silent upon the present occasion. I love a little opposition : being long engaged in it myself, I can easily allow it to others. It is not of the fair and honourable differences of public men that I complain; but it is of that corrupt and servile part of the Tories, who live upon the produce of your industry. Is it likely that, after all you have seen of the plots of this party, of all their green bag schemes, that you can find virtue in such Ministers? No: in them you can see nothing but what is calculated to excite your contempt: a more weak and contemptible description of men does not exist than the present administration. This is not my present opinion of them, taken from their late conduct; it is only a repetition of that which I have long entertained respecting them ; though I think with you that their mode of pro- ceeding on this trial makes a most dangerous, un- just, and cruel precedent. These Ministers are men too, who would give your money awa} r without reluctance; and to whom would they give it? To a woman, whom they pronounce at the same moment- to be a prostitute! To them it does not signify, so that they can keep her away, and retain their own places. It is really most singular that a cabinet COUNTY OF NORFOLK. could act so ; and that one of the members should appear to concur in the measure, against a woman, described by himself to be " the grace, the life, the soul, and the ornament of polished society." And yet this cabinet member, with this knowledge of the lady, did not refrain from becoming one of her accusers! In short, it is impossible to speak with patience of such a set of men ; they go backwards and forwards, betray their country, and plunge it deeper and deeper in debt, cover it with spies, and send them all through the world, merely to retain their power. To such men, and to their system, 1 am a declared enemy. I have been so from the earliest period of my life. To such corrupt prac- tices I have been ever hostile to such I vow an eternal hatred, and will carry it to my grave. The practice of such men is subversive of the constitution, as established at the Revolution ; and its only capability is an active operation of mis- chief. If Ministers go on unheedingly in such a disastrous career, they will at length, I much fear, provoke the country to resistance. I am a man advanced in life, and who cannot now in the course of nature enjoy it much longer. It matters little how long I live; my life is of little value, but such as it is, it shall be devoted to the pre- servation of the liberties of my country ; and if ever so required, I shall be found ready to lay it down for the service of that country. This is the hazardous state, into which the present administra- tion have brought the country; and it is my firm MR. COKE. 7 conviction that, if such Ministers are suffered to keep their places, this country must eventually become the scene of civil convulsion. These are my sentiments, and I have faithfully represented them to you. So long as you desire my services in Parliament, so long shall they be devoted to your interests. God knows I have no personal inclination to remain in Parliament; my happiness is at home; and those, who know my inclinations, need not be told that they centre in other pursuits than those, which an attendance upon Parliament furnishes. There will be those, I have no doubt, who will attribute these sentiments to a man, who, they will say, is an advocate for revolution. Gracious God ! in the proud situation, in which I stand as your representative, with the possessions which Providence has bestowed upon me, (however unworthy,) am I likely to be the advocate of revo- lution ? What can I derive from civil convulsion ? What can the Noblemen and Gentlemen, who think with me, derive from commotion in society? We are not, Gentlemen, the advocates of revolu- tion, but they are such, whose wicked and designing measures distract the country, and leave the people no hope of calm deliverance. I have nothing more to trouble you with, except that I shall be happy to go up to London with your petition, and obey your orders. After repeated cries of " Wodehouse," 8 COUNTY OF NORFOLK. Mr. WODEHOUSE, M. P. came forward, and spoke against the object and proceedings of the meeting. He opposed the principle of the resolutions; and deplored the propagation of such sentiments as were implied in them; sentiments, in which he never would concur. He disclaimed any intention of shewing disrespect to the meeting by this opposition. The Rev. Mr. GLOVER supported the resolu- tions. Speaking of the omission of her Majesty's name in the Liturgy, he contended that the cabinet had no such power; for the Act of Conformity could never have intended that the cabinet should sit in judgment upon the private conduct or moral condition of princes before they ordered them to be prayed for. After several other Gentlemen had addressed the meeting: A petition, founded on the resolutions, was ordered to be presented to the House of Commons by the members for the county. MR. LAMBTON. 9 County of ON Wednesday, December 13, 1820, pursuant to requisition, a public meeting of the free- holders of this county was held in the county courts, Durham, " to take into consideration the measures that have been pursued for the degrada- tion of the Queen, and the propriety of presenting petitions to both Houses of Parliament, praying that they will take such steps as will effectually prevent the recurrence of proceedings alike uncon- stitutional in their nature, disgusting and per- nicious in their tendency," The High Sheriff having taken the chair; the Meeting was addressed as follows by MR. LAMBTON, M, P.: GENTLEMEN, ONE year has scarcely elapsed since I had the honour of meeting you assembled here to discuss matters connected with the situation of the country. I believe I then told you, that often as I had met you, I had never done so on a more c 10 COUNTY OF DURHAM. important occasion ; and that I could not imagine that any question could ever arrest your attention, or demand an expression of your feelings, more interesting in itself, or more pregnant with con- sequences dangerous to the liberty and tranquillity of the country, than the one then under our consi- deration I mean the Manchester outrage. Yet six months had barely passed, before the Ministers plunged headlong into a question of such a nature, that its vital importance was nearly able to efface from the minds of the people of England all recol- lection of those detestable proceedings; and it is indeed a most melancholy and alarming symptom of the times, and marks the character of the administration, which, for our sins, rules over us, that year after year we meet to complain of some grievance, to resist some act of oppression, always more dangerous and unconstitutional than the one, which preceded it. What may follow this last and monstrous act, I tremble to think : and it is that consequences so fatal, as must attend fresh acts of despotism on the part of the Ministers, may be averted ; it is that the principles of justice and the constitution may be vindicated, that the requisitionists have been conscientiously impelled to request this meeting. It has devolved on me to submit to your notice a series of Resolutions, and an Address to the King founded on the first part of the Requisition, and I feel happy to assure you that it will not be necessary for me to detain you at any length, or MR. LAMBTON. 1 1 minutely to analyze the evidence, by which the late Bill of Pains and Penalties was attempted to be supported. It has been so generally discussed so severely canvassed by the enlightened and in- dependent press and more especially has been so ably, so powerfully, so eloquently dissected and exposed by my noble relation,* whose presence this day fills me with the highest pride and satis- faction, that I need not in truth I dare not attempt to follow in the same course, but shall content myself with declaring, that, after the most serious consideration, I feel myself bound in honour to say, that nothing has been proved, which can taint the honour of the Queen, or authorize her degradation from the rights and privileges due to the Queen Consort of England. In thus declaring the Queen, in my estimation, Not Guilty, I must also add my conviction that the charges against her have originated in a base conspiracy matured by the operation of years of treachery fostered by hands, which ought to have spurned such odious and dirty work and con- nived at, nay, encouraged by the King's Ministers, and suffered by them to burst forth at a period when their wretched and defenceless victim was deprived of her only protector; who, although smitten by the hand of God, and powerless through his own personal agency, yet threw a shield over her, by the effect of his character, and * Earl Grev. 12 COUNTY OF DURHAM. the remembrance of his unshaken, yet often tried, confidence in her virtue and innocence. Suffer me now, Gentlemen, shortly to point out to you the situation of the Queen, when Princess of Wales, for some years before this fatal accusation was hazarded. Induced by treacherous advice to leave England, where alone she could hope for protection, she ventured into foreign, climes, in search of that repose, which was denied to her at home to avoid that persecution, which embittered every hour of her life, and denied her even the societv of her child. From the moment / she set her foot on the continent, she appears to have been surrounded by spies. We have seen, in the evidence, servants, couriers, chambermaids, waiters, boatmen, Hanoverian ministers, aye, and even English ambassadors; in short, all ranks, all classes of society, cordially co-operating, and ar- dently engaged in this work of tale-bearing and slander. Rumours of the most scandalous nature were circulated respecting her, which had the effect of driving her English attendants from her, and forcing her to be dependent on foreign respect and attention. Foreign courts were, if not in- structed, at least willingly permitted to insult her, by every species of marked contempt and neglect. No intelligence was ever conveyed to her of an event, in all points of view, the most interesting to her feelings the death of her affectionate daugh- ter the late lamented Princess Charlotte. Nay, to such an inhuman excess was the cruelty of her SIR. LAMBTON. 13 relentless persecutors carried, that not satisfied with having separated the parent from the child during life, they even forbade the union of their names upon the coffin which contained the re- mains of her last stay her only hope ! (cries of "shame!") Shame it was, indeed! shame it was that her enemies should ever have been permitted to carry their refined, their malignant, their per- secuting cruelty to such a pitch, and to offer this impious insult to the memory of the sainted daugh- ter, and to the affliction of the childless, forlorn, and unprotected mother. Again, when by the death of the late King, she attained the exalted station of Queen, she never was officially informed of that event. The same insults were lavished upon her; in which, it seems, one government in particular was most happy to join a government the most contemptible in the world the most inefficient for any purposes but those of hostility against a woman mouldering away under the influence of corruption and superstition the papal government : this decayed, paralytic state, assumed to itself a power, which even the mighty corrup- tionists of England have been unable to wield, and actually degraded her from the rank of Queen, by refusing to acknowledge her under any other title than that of Princess Caroline of Brunswick. Under these circumstances, subject to these dispiriting mortifications, but with an unbroken courage, she advanced to the shores of England ; spurned the proffered bribe, and threw herself on 14 COUNTY OF DURHAM. the protection of the people of England. Nor could she have found aid more efficient, hearts more zealous, or exertions more indefatigable on them she relied, and they deceived her not, insulted her not, forsook her not in the hour of peril, but carried her triumphant through opposing difficulties, and raised her to an eminence never before enjoyed by any sovereign in^any country. Never ought she to forget the debt of gratitude she has incurred to this generous people; never let them forget the proof which has been exhi- bited of the mightiness of their power; let then* always use it as firmly, as energetically, as peace- ably, and all our domestic grievances are at an end. It is with this view that I call on you, my friends and constituents, to join in the general cry of indignation, which has been raised and re-echoed from one end of England to the other, at the late infamous proceedings for the degradation of the Queen. As for their authors her cowardly per- secutors their conduct presents so many topics of complaint, that I know not where to commence ; I know not on what point to lay my hand, and say, this is the most unjust, the most oppressive. All equally bear the stamp of tyranny, all equally demand our resistance and reprobation. We have seen the very men, who refused to insert her name in the Liturgy, and declared her conduct to be so abandoned as to render her unfit to preside over the female society of England, offer her 50,000 a-year, to be wrung from the pockets of the people, MR. LAMBTON. 15 if she would only consent to re-enter that vicious course of life, which, they said, had made her unworthy of her sex, and retire to the continent to pursue once more those debaucheries, the alleged existence of which, three years ago, had forced them to institute proceedings against her, as the only mode jof vindicating the honour of the crown and the interests of morality! Was there ever such gross, such barefaced hypocrisy ? However, this premium for immorality, for I can call their offer by no other name, considering the known sentiments and declared reasons of those who ten- dered it, was indignantly rejected by the Queen she landed at Dover and then, and then only, the prosecution commenced. All matters of na- tional interest were suspended, and the country has been in a state of agitation the most un- paralleled. But the Ministers, finding the House of Com- mons not quite so tractable and convenient as they expected, made their grand effort in the House of Lords, and it is on their proceedings the people have to sit in judgment. I need not remind you of the nature of Bills of Pains and Penalties. How odious they are, how subservient to party views, and how surely the precedent set by them recoils on the heads of those, who have employed those dangerous weapons, is apparent in many cases recorded in our history. The attainder and execution of Strafford ultimately tended to sanction and promote the downfall of those, who 16 COUNTY OF DURHAM. had so cruelly effected his ruin. The injustice of the act the severity of the punishment threw a veil over his real faults and crimes; and rendered him a martyr, when he should have hcen accounted a criminal. That these consequences were not foreseen at the time, amidst the rage of party feuds, I admit; hut I think the lesson ought to have some weight with those, whoj like our- selves, have been enabled to view that event, and the records of that age, calmly and deliberately- The very nature of the proceedings by Bills of Pains and Penalties the power of condemnation without law the sitting of the accusers as judges the presence and controul of the prosecutors during trial, for the avowed purpose of denouncing guilt where the law has declared no crime all these marks of tyranny have at all times rendered the principles, on which Bills of Pains and Penalties are supported, odious and dangerous. Lord Straf- ford himself, when pleading for his life at the bar of the House of Peers, attacks them so forcibly and eloquently, that I trust you will excuse my referring you to his arguments. He says, " Hard it is that a punishment should precede the promul- gation of a law that men should suffer by a law subsequent to the deed. If this be admitted, who shall account himself secure in his innocence? or in what is law preferable to the will of an arbitrary master? If I sail on the Thames, and split my vessel on an anchor, should there be no buoy to give me warning, the owner shall pay me damages ; MR. LAMBTON. 17 but if it be marked out, then I pass it at my own peril. Where is the mark set on this crime? Where is the token, by which I should discern it? If it be hid, if it lie concealed under water, no human foresight or prudence could have prevented my sudden destruction. If we are thus to be beset, let us lay aside all human wisdom, let us rely solely on divine revelation, for surely nothing less than revelation can save us from these hidden snares." It is on these principles, Gentlemen, that I contend that laws ought not to be made against individuals, or for particular cases, and that they should be prospective in their operation. In addition to this fundamental injustice, arising out of the nature of Bills of Pains and Penalties, weighing her down, the Queen had to contend against all the vexatious obstacles, which could be thrown in her way : a refusal of the list of witnesses; a denial of the specification of the places where the alleged crime was said to have been committed : witnesses against her were forced to attend by the power of German despots; wit- nesses in her favour were detained either by force, or by hints, the efficacy of which is as apparent to real courtiers as force itself. As for the evidence itself, taken at the bar of the Lords, I hold to the pledge I gave you at the outset; I will not go into detail : but shortly I must declare, that I see in it nothing but the slanders of discarded ser- vants, whose mercenary motives, in every instance, have been completely exposed: and it is worthy D 18 COUNTY OF DURHAM. of remark, that the tales of adultery commence at the period of their entering into the Queen's service, and terminate at their dismissal. These abandoned wretches seem to have perverted every kind and affectionate action of the Queen's into a semblance of guilt. Her very good qualities; her condescension to her servants; her anxiety to see all around her cheerful and happy, have been made the chief instruments and founda- tion of their accusations. By the way, Gentlemen, we have heard much said of the indecency of the plays and games, in which the Queen participated when in Italy. In favour of one of these, blind man's buff, I have an authority of some weight. Perhaps it is not generally known to you, that the pious Mr. Nicholas Vansittart, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the patron of Bible Societies and Lot- teries who disseminates virtue and religion in India with one hand,and protects gambling and immorality in England with the other, has himself been guilty of the horrible indecency of playing at blind man's buff with the Queen, when Princess of Wales. I have heard also that the Lord Chancellor and a Lord Redesdale assisted at this merry-making. Whether Mr. Wilberforce (whom the people, it seems, have christened Dr. Cantwell) was present or not, I am not sure : but I know from good authority that the other worthies were; and I also know that if the Bill had come down to the House of Commons, it was intended to summon those frolicsome statesmen to bear testimony to the MR. LAMBTON. 19 innocent character of that much libelled amuse- ment. But to return to the evidence against the Queen. It was of such a nature that it was, to use an expression of their own, actually " thrown overboard" by Lord Lauderdale, and the other Lords, who supported the Ministers and their Bill, and the alleged prevarications and supposed admis- sions of the Queen's witnesses made the sole pretences for assuming that the charges had been proved. Gracious God ! what an appearance must. Eng- land have exhibited in the eyes of Europe during these odious transactions ! Whilst the people of Naples and Portugal were asserting their rights as freemen, and overthrowing the corruption of ages whilst Spain was steadily pursuing the same glori- ous object, and effecting more, by one measure alone, for the happiness and prosperity of her peo- ple, than ever had been before accomplished; when she annihilated the power of monkish debasement and ignorance, and wisely appropriated the enormous revenues of the church to national pur- poses ; whilst such were the pursuits of other nations, what were we about in England? Why, the supreme council of the empire, the highest court of judicature, the hereditary counsellors of the crown, the House of Peers, was busily engaged in an inquiry into the state of dirty linen, and tumbled beds; listening with avidity to the filthy tales of discarded and revengeful couriers and chambermaids ; and raking up and pouring into COUNTY OF DURHAM. with infinite care, all the mass of pollution, which could be scraped together by the Milan Com- mission. And here allow me to say a word respect- ing this Milan Commission a tribunal which will be remembered and detested as long as the words slander and conspiracy are to be found in the English language. It seems to have been long established acting like the inquisition of old in darkness and mystery wounding its victim unseen, and preparing the way for the most deadly accu- sations and proceedings, by blind rumours and calumnious reports. Its composition, its labours, its authors, and its auxiliaries, are well described by one of our most distinguished poets : Projectors, quacks and lawyers not a few, And priests and party zealots, numerous bands, With home-born lies, and tales from foreign lands; Each talk'd aloud or in some secret place, And wild impatience stared in every face. The flying rumours gathered as they roll'd, Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told : And all, who told it, added something new, And all, who heard, it made enlargements too : In every ear it spread, on every tongue it grew. The effects of this preliminary warfare were, as I before stated to you, such as to drive her English suite from her; and you all know from the Baron Ompteda's letters, (that Baron of pick-lock noto- riety,) how greedily they took advantage of her being surrounded by foreign servants. But into the origin of that Commission, its actions and its MR. JLAMBTON. 21 waste of public money we must inquire, and I trust before this day has closed, that you will call on the House of Commons effectually to do so. And yet with all the assistance of this Milan Com- mission, with all the power and influence of govern- ment, the Ministers were unable to pass the Bill through the House of Lords: at every division their majority decreased, until at length they were forced to abandon it altogether. Still, although defeated, they had not the manliness to desist from their cowardly persecution. They advised the King to prorogue the first Parliament of his reign, without speech or message from the throne, with- out even thanking the two Houses for the most liberal provision ever made for any Monarch. What must have been their feelings on that day of prorogation ? Hooted, reviled, disgraced, they slunk a\\ r ay from the House of Commons, to enjoy the noble triumph of having still further insulted their Queen, by refusing to hear her application to Parliament; and of having retained in their hands for two months longer the power of wounding her feelings and despising her remonstrances. Is there indeed no friend to remind their Royal Master that an example of insult to Royalty is but too readily followed ? that the impulse once given, the farther progress is not so easily checked? Does history afford no solemn and important warning ? Do those Ministers who have insulted, and would have de- graded a Queen do they not recollect that the bringing of Mary Queen of Scots to the scaffold by 22 COUNTY OF DURHAM. Elizabeth, established a precedent so fatal to the security of crowned heads, and so destructive of the received notion of their inviolability, that the lapse of but a few years saw it renewed in the per- son of Charles the First? Are they blind enough to imagine that an example of degradation from the throne for licentious conduct will not entail others, the consequence of which may endanger the very existence of monarchy in this country? These, and other considerations, which I have before sta- ted to you, impel me to declare that the King has been grossly betrayed by his Ministers men, careless of his honour and reputation, so that they but retain their offices and patronage men Whom no faith can fix, Of crooked councils and dark politics : Of these a gloomy tribe surround the throne. We have seen them plunge from one absurdity to another from contemptuous scoffings at the public voice, to open acts of tyranny : from secret but detected corruption to avowed jobbing: from the sanction of the massacre of unoffending men, to the slander of an unprotected woman, until the measure of their iniquity has become so full, that the whole land has risen up against them, and loudly demands their removal and punishment. An administration possessing neither the con- fidence of the crown or of the country ; notoriously purchasing a precarious existence by the meanest compliances, under circumstances the most de- grading instituting measures in Parliament, against MR. LAMBTON. 23 which they had remonstrated in council, and from the commencement of which one of their own body fled as from a pestilence, defeated in one branch of the legislature, but persevering in another until they had deluged the country with the filthiest obscenity. They then forced their pernicious Bill through three stages, in opposition to the warnings of their more scrupulous friends, regardless of the character of their supporters, calling even on their reverend bench of bishops to brave public odium and contempt in their behalf, and God knows how effectually they have incurred both until, at length, having accomplished their favourite and avowed purpose of clearing them- selves, of justifying themselves as they termed it although at the expence of the character of the House of Lords, and their adherents, they basely abandoned both from a mean fear of popular indig- nation. Such is the administration of the day, sus- pended, like Mahomet's coffin, between the crown and the people : despised by one, and detested by the other. If you look at their other measures, what do you see ? You find them joining England's power to a Holy Alliance, even now engaged in a most unholy crusade against the infant liberties of the South of Europe : and, believe me, if you do not hear of their being actively and openly engaged in insti- gating and supporting this monstrous act of aggres- sion, it will be owing to their fear of public opinion, 24 COUNTY OF DURHAM. now so much roused ; and not from any want of sym- pathy in the feelings and wishes of the confederate sovereigns at Troppau. In proof of this, I call on you to recollect the names of Norway, Genoa, Saxony, Parga ; all eternal blots on the fair reputa- tion of England. At home we find them maturing a system of military government, which meets us at every turn, on every occasion, however trifling. Persons can- not even, it appears, enjoy quietly and peaceably the sight of an illumination, without having troops kt loose upon them, at the bidding of every foolish, drunken magistrate, if such there be, who may fancy himself aware of the dangerous state of the public mind, and prophesy acts of disturbance and violence, existing alone amid the fumes of that liquor, which had u stolen away" what little brains the dispensations of Providence had allotted him. Think you that these acts could ever be perpetrated in any town in England, if the besotted alarmists of the day were not aware of a protecting, autho- rizing spirit in the administration? For our con- stitution sanctions them not our sovereign knows not of them we cannot suppose that he does : For, as the Bishop of London has said, he can do no wrong. And here I must observe that that reverend Prelate has been a little too hardly dealt with, for his courtly application of that constitu- tional maxim to the private life of the King. Let us recollect what a Bishop of " olden time" once said in answer to a question from James the First, MR. LAMBTON. 25 who demanded " whether he might not take his subjects'money, if he needed it, without the formality of an act of Parliament?" The pious and confiding Bishop replied, " God forbid that your Majesty should not, for you are the breath of our nostrils." Remembering this, Gentlemen, let us be thankful that the Bishop of our days, of penury and poverty, went no farther than he did. Agreeing however in the justice and truth of this episcopal maxim, as applied to the measures of Government, and not to the private life of the King, we must look to those who are responsible his Ministers : and unless parliamentary responsibility has become obsolete ; the people too supine, (of which there are no symp- toms ;) and their representatives too corrupt and subservient ; they must sooner or later receive the punishment due to their notorious misdeeds. Gentlemen, I ought to apologise to you for detaining you so long. But the question is so large, so full of interest, and so important in all its bearings and consequences, that I felt I ought to state my opinions to you as distinctly as I was able. I well know that in being instrumental in calling you together this day, I may again expose myself to the attacks and calumnies of libellers of all des- criptions, lay and clerical I care not I am amply recompensed by the knowledge that you have taken your station amongst the first counties in England, for spirit and intelligence that, risen from a state of bondage the most intolerable, a subserviency to clerical domination, you have at all 26 COUNTY OF DURHAM. times exerted your rights as freemen ; declared your opinions on every occurrence interesting to the country ; and on a late memorable occasion, by your noble exertions, raised such a spirit of freedom and independence in the north, as must, at no very distant day, I hope, shake to the very foundation the unwieldy edifice of ministerial influence and cor- ruption. In such a cause, and supported by such friends, where is the man who would shrink from doing his duty, or retire into the privacy of domes- tic life, when public principle called for his most active exertions? Such feelinsrs can never animate O my breast. I have devoted myself to your service, heart and soul, and you may rest assured that no considerations shall ever prevent my standing for- ward to give you an opportunity of expressing your sentiments, when, as in the present instance, the existence of liberty, the maintenance of tranquillity, the principles of justice, and the purity of the con- stitution, are imminently endangered. Gentlemen, I now submit to your considera- tion the following RESOLUTIONS : That the Bill, lately introduced into the House of Lords, for the degradation of her Majesty, calls for our strongest disappro- bation, as equally impolitic, unnecessary, and unjust; and that we feel the greatest satisfaction at the ultimate failure of a mea- sure, which threatened the most dangerous consequences to the peace and constitution of the country. That the prosecutors of her Majesty having been compelled to abandon the charges preferred against her, the Queen is MR. BARRETT. 27 entitled to the full exercise and enjoyment of all the rights and privileges vested in her by the Constitution; and it is with astonishment and regret that we have seen Parliament prorogued in a manner unprecedented in modern times, and at a moment when it was peculiarly necessary, by the recognition of her Majesty's just claims, to set at rest a question by which the public mind had been so long and so injuriously agitated. That the grant of a suitable provision to her Majesty, and the restoration of her name in the Liturgy, appear to us indis- pensible to the accomplishment of this desirable object. That the appointment and conduct of the Milan Commis- sion, and the character of the evidence produced against her Majesty, have excited in us the most unfavourable suspicions, and call for a full and rigorous inquiry in Parliament. That an address, founded on these resolutions, be presented to his Majesty the King. [An Address so founded was then read.] BARRETT. IN rising, Gentlemen, to second the Resolutions and Address, I find the task less difficult, than I had expected, in consequence of the very able and comprehensive view, which Mr. Lambton has taken of the circumstances, which have given rise to this Meeting. However opposite in politics, all men rejoice at the termination of the proceedings against the Queen. I trust, Gentlemen, that I am not totally unknown to you; for the period is fresh in my recollection, when, day after day, we rose in good 28 COUNTY OF DURHAM. fellowship together on an occasion, which will ever reflect the greatest honour on your independence, and the result of which has been the greatest reward, which could be conferred upon my honour- able friend, Mr. Lambton. As a freeholder of this county, and as an Englishman, I am anxious to record my opinion of the respect due to his Majesty, and to enter my protest against the con- duct of his advisers. If the laws have conceded to his Majesty that exemption from their influence, which they have refused to the people, they have thrown a double share of responsibility upon his Ministers, by making them amenable for his breach of them. If the King were answerable for the measures, which have been recently pursued by his Ministers, I know not how I could speak of him without compromising that loyalty and that re- spect, to which the monarch is constitutionally entitled. The happiness of the King and of the people are so blended, that it must ever be the wish of his Majesty, as well as his duty, to regulate his conduct agreeably to the wishes of his people. But a distinction between the King and his Minis- ters is proper. Whilst I must refrain from speaking disrespectfully of the former, I cannot but express my unmingled disgust and unqualified disapproba- tion of the conduct of the latter conduct marked by every thing mean in principle and monstrous in injustice without any plea to urge in their behalf but that of expediency; or any motive except their vile and mercenary attachment to 1MR. BARRETT. 29 their places, to which they hesitate not to sacrifice all law, all justice, and even all humanity. If con- duct like that of the Ministers be suffered to go un- punished, the people will make themselves parties to their guilt. Let the Meeting look to the long period, during which these men have possessed power, and point out to me one solitary act of theirs, which has conferred dignity upon the throne, or alleviated the distresses of the people. Look back to the Manchester massacre ; and to what was no slight feature of that transaction the letter of thanks conveyed to the magistrates, who ought to have been the preservers of the peace, but who kindly superintended the breach of it. Look to the passing of the five acts, by which the liberties of the people were curtailed, and their mouths gagged to prevent the expression of their feelings. Look to the present state of the country of its national debt, which hangs like a mill-stone on our necks. Look to the lavish expenditure of -the public money, as though it were obtained from an inex- , haustible source. Look at the immense standing army, which bespeaks a state of war, not of peace, in this country. Look at the distresses of the people, at the accumulation of paupers, and the increase of poor rates. Look at the distresses in the commercial, agricultural, and manufacturing districts. Look at the Bill of Pains and Penalties. Look at the origin of it, and at the conduct of those, who have deviated from all law and justice by convicting the Queen .before she was tried, 30 COUNTY OF DURHAM. and persecuting her after her acquittal. I trust the King was no party to these proceedings, and I hope he will soon open his eyes to the state of the country and the conduct of his Ministers. So long as they keep their places, they care not what befals the country. I trust that the House of Commons, if they are indeed the representatives of the people, will, upon this occasion, prove to the country that they have the inclination, as well as the power, to act and think like men impelled by a sense of justice; and actuated by the general feeling, that they will adopt measures to restore to the Queen all the rights and privileges, of which she has been wantonly deprived ; and prevent the recurrence of such proceedings, as are not only, as they themselves have described them, " dero- gatory from the dignity of the crown, and injurious to the best interests of the country ;" but utterly subversive of every principle of law and justice. MR. LIDDELL: IN rising to address the Meeting I consider no apology to be necessary, as I feel it to be a duty imposed on me to express my sentiments sincerely, fearlessly, and manfully. If, however, I consider no apology necessary in addressing you, still I stand in need of your double indulgence ; because, first, I rise under very great disadvantage, MK. LIDDELL. 31 after the forcible, eloquent, and jocular addresses made to you by the two Gentlemen, who have pre- ceded me; and, secondly, because I totally differ from the Address to his Majesty, as well as the advice given him of restoring to the Queen all the rights and dignities belonging to her station. For, laying aside the charges, as well as all the evi- dence brought in support of them, still I consider, after the celebrated letter, which she has addressed to his Majesty, that she has forfeited her claim to those rights. The last resource of a notorious criminal, is to revile the court by which he or she is to be tried. ( Mr. L's voice was here completely drowned by cries of " shame!") I came prepared to meet with this opposition ; but if, because I differ in opinion from the generality of the Meeting, I am to be prevented from expressing my sentiments, then there will be an end to dis- cussion, and it cannot be said that public opinion has been expressed at this Meeting. I contend that her Majesty, in the letter alluded to, has reviled the highest court of judicature in the king- dom, and approached very nearly to high treason, in a great many respects. I am willing to incur the risk of displeasing you on the present occasion, in the hope of gaining your esteem, by at least pronouncing my opinions sincerely. The case of Ministers, with regard to the Queen, I take to be, this : if they had heard reports injurious to the character and dignity of her Majesty, they were justifiable in instituting inquiry. But they ought 32 COUNTY OF DURHAM. to have been well informed as to the nature of the evidence, having had an awful warning in the former accusations, in which her Majesty had justified herself. Ministers should have brought forward witnesses in support of the charges, of unimpeachable character, and respectable in their station, if they could find them, such as could have stood the test of that scrutiny, to which the witnesses in such cases are likely to be exposed. Most unfortunately for the Ministry, and most fortunately for her Majesty, the characters of the witnesses were not unimpeachable, and could not stand the test of severe scrutiny. Many measures, I think, might have had a better chance of success, and been adopted with more advantage by Ministers ; for, as it is, I confess I do not see how the business could have been managed much worse. In saying this, I do not admit that the innocence of the Queen has been established. The greatest charges of the indelicacy of her conduct, have not been disproved. Gentlemen, I am sorry to have trespassed upon your patience so long; the more so as you have heard me with such evident reluctance : but as long as I continue in the capacity of a private Gentleman, untrammelled by party, I shall deem it my duty to honour my Sovereign, and to sup- port every measure, of whatever administration he may adopt, that I conceive conducive to the good of my country; reserving to myself the privilege of censuring such as I may think have a contrary EARL GREY. 33 tendency. And I conceive that by such conduct I shall most effectually promote the welfare of the public, and consequently the interests and happi- ness of those immediately around me. EARL GREY: I ASSURE the Meeting that the manner, in which I have been received on presenting myself to your notice this day, really overpowers -me. I had wished to make a few observations : many are not necessary ; because the Resolutions and Address so fully and distinctly express all that is required, that even had they not been so ably and powerfully supported by my two honourable friends, it would be unnecessary, and perhaps presumptuous, in me to trespass on youv attention for more than a few moments. But I cannot help expressing the high satisfaction, which I have this day experienced; and adding a very few remarks (and few they shall be,) upon the occasion, and the circumstances con- nected with it, which have brought us together. In the Resolutions, which have been read, and almost unanimously adopted, (with the single ex- ception, I believe, of my friend Mr. Liddell,) the Bill of Pains and Penalties, which was so long under discussion in the House of Lords, has been properly described as impolitic, unnecessary, and unjust. Every word of that description of the w 34 COUNTY OF DURHAM. Bill of Pains and Penalties in the case of the Queen, and as a general description of Bills of Pains and Penalties, I subscribe to: but that Bills of Painsand Penalties have been known in the best and purest periods of the history of our Constitution, is a posi- tion, which I am not prepared to deny. All I con- tend for, as a lover of liberty and sincerely attached to the Constitution, is, that so extraordinary an ex- tension of power can never be justified except in cases when considerations for the public safety im- periously require that such proceedings should be adopted, and when no other measures would answer. Why, then, I ask, was that proceeding resorted to in the question of her Majesty? Was there such a necessity existing when the Bill of Pains and Penalties against the Queen was intro- duced into the House of Lords? My friend, Mr. Liddell, has told you that the Ministers were justi- fied in their conduct, because, forsooth, rumours had been circulated against her Majesty's reputation. There are two things to be considered with regard to that subject before that justification can appear complete. The first is the truth of the rumours. It was the duty of Ministers to have ascertained the truth of those reports in the first instance, to have satisfied themselves that they could prove them to be true, and not to have neglected any opportunity in their power ( f procuring 'unimpeachable evidence; instead of relying upon witnesses, who are considered by Mr. Liddell himself as unworthy of credit : EARL GREY. 35 whereas had justice been their object, they would have been first certain of the truth of that testi- mony, upon which they were about to advance such grave and important charges. I accuse Ministers, therefore, of a disregard for the principles of justice and for the honour of the Crown. But there is this also to be considered ; was there any public necessity requiring that such a measure should be brought forward? Could it be asserted that there was any danger to the succession? Could it be said that the conduct of the Queen on the Lake of Como affected the morals or the character of this country in a degree, which could render such proceedings against her necessary? Least of all could this be alleged by those, who had offered her 50,000 a year out of the public purse, to enable her to give full scope to those vicious pro- pensities, with which they have since charged her. Knowing all these circumstances, they yet offered her an additional inducement: namely, to use their influence in both Houses of Parliament (and it was well known that that influence was seldom exerted in vain,) to procure congratulatory Addresses to be presented to her from those Houses, as a sort of peace-offering, or testimonial of character, if she would only consent to go into a state of banishment. Can any unprejudiced man then say that the pro- ceedings against her were necessary? My friend, Mr. Liddell, has said that, although the witnesses against the Queen have failed to prove her guilt, yet he still does not think her innocent. The only 36 COUNTY OF DURHAM. direct proofs, that were produced on behalf of the prosecution, rested on the testimony of discarded servants ; and it was curious, as Mr. Lambton has remarked, that after they had quitted her service, not a single charge, not even a whisper was heard against her conduct. The character of those wit- nesses, independently of the inconsistency and prevarication in their evidence, was such as to render them unworthy of credit. So positively was the evidence in favour of the Bill over- thrown, that even its patrons acknowledged it ought not to pass upon the unsupported allegations of those witnesses; whose testimony, it was ad- mitted, could not be relied on. Then what was resorted to next? We were told that, though much of the evidence against her Majesty had been dis- proved, and though the witnesses were not to be credited, there was still so much of the evidence uncontradicted, and which might have been con- dieted, as to justify a presumption of guilt. And is this the principle of British law ? Are we to be told that the accuser shall not be -bound to prove his charges ; but that if the accused be unable to rebut every particular, that perjured witnesses may swear against her, this inability shall be ground for a presumption of guilt? No principle could be more repugnant to law and justice, and to all good practice, than this, which was never before attempted to be acted upon. But this was not all. Though direct proof failed, suspicion remained. We were told that, although the charges against her EARL GUET. 37 Majesty, if taken singly, did not lead to a conclu- sion of her guilt, yet when those individual charges were taken collectively, such a conclusion must be admitted: a principle well worthy of those, who have attempted to overthrow the liberties of the country by the doctrine of constructive treason, and who would now introduce a new law, in order to dethrone a Queen. I, therefore, taking this view of the question, arrive at a very different conclusion from that, which Mr. Liddell seems to have ap- proved : and as I said in the House of Lords, upon my honour as a Peer, had it been a judicial inquiry, I should equally have pronounced Not Guilty. If justice, therefore, required this decision, was it fair, was it right, was it prudent, was it con- sistent with the honour of the Crown, or calcu- lated to add to its stability, to endeavour to affix upon her Majesty a stigma, which the Bill of Pains and Penalties has failed to accomplish? But Mr. Liddell has stated a new ground, upon which he withholds his sanction from the applications of this Meeting to the Throne and Parliament. I allude to the letter addressed by the Queen some time since to his Majesty. I have before expressed my opinion respecting that letter. I certainly disapproved of it in the highest degree ; and I considered her Majesty's interests ill served by those, who advised her to that publication. But I thought, at the same time, that much allowance should be made for that act, on account of the singular situation, in which her Majesty was placed. ' f- " \ I 38 COUNTY OF DURHAM. And if she lias erred in writing and publishing that letter, I think it is a little too much to say, that on this account alone her Majesty should be deprived of those appendages, to which she is entitled as Queen. Thus much I have said, in order to shew that the reasons assigned by Mr. Lid- dell ought not to prevent us from acting in the manner we had intended. The House of Lords have been induced to carry the Bill through a third reading: hut the majority obtained was only a nominal one ; and composed, 'firstly, of the Queen's accusers; se- condly, of their numerous connexions and depen- dents; and, thirdly, of some persons, who had not heard a syllable of the evidence for the defence. Yet the majority was at last so much reduced, that it exceeded only by one the number of the Cabinet Ministers, who voted. Under these circumstances, with the strength of public opinion against the measure, it was impossible it could be carried. Accordingly, after the third reading, we saw the very Minister, who had brought forward the charges the frame r of the accusation a member of the secret committee come forward in his four-fold capacity of accuser, prosecutor, judge, and juror, (and he did not sink into the earth with shame at his wicked attempt to degrade the Queen!) we saw that very man propose to terminate the pro- ceedings on that Bill, which he had himself intro- duced. Here it might have been hoped that an end EARL GREY. 39 would have been put to all proceedings against her Majesty ; but the measure of injustice was not yet full. When, as the Resolutions stated, it was expected that the agitation, in which the country had been so long involved, would be suffered to subside, the Parliament, the first Parliament of a new reign, a Parliament, which, as has been observed by Mr. Lambton, had entitled itself by its liberal grants to the approbation of the monarch, this Parliament, at a moment, too, when alarm and apprehension prevailed, both in respect to our internal and our external situation, and when something ought to have been done to tranquillize those feelings, this Parliament was prorogued without one expression of grace or favour, and in a manner, which had no precedent in the history of this country, except in the unhappy time, in which an unfortunate Stuart by his evil policy brought himself to the scaffold. This being the case, are not the people called upon to take some steps with a view to repress the fears and compose the agitation of the public mind? I know not whether any further proceedings are meditated against her Majesty ; but when I advert to the language used, and the calumnies and insults directed toward her in those prints, which are devoted and subservient to the Ministry, I cannot but admit that there is strong ground for suspi- cion and apprehension. The act of striking her Majesty's name out of the Liturgy has not yet 40 COUNTY OF DURHAM. been atoned : and instead of a provision being made for her by Parliament, suitable to her rank and dignity, and which Parliament would no doubt have cheerfully granted, she has only an uncertain dependence on Ministers, who dole out to her that, which it was their duty to have applied to Parliament to bestow. Contrary to the opinion of Mr. Liddell, I think that this is a case, above all others, that calls upon the people of England to approach the throne in language that cannot be misunderstood : praying, as a means of calming the public agitation, that the Queen's name may be restored to the Liturgy, and that an establishment may be pro- vided for her suitable to her rank and station. I will briefly allude to topics of a more general nature. I think I can do so without infringing that recommendation so properly given by the High Sheriff, to confine the attention of the meeting to the object, for which it has been convened. I cannot, indeed, help very shortly adverting to some topics, which have been so ably and emphatically treated by Mr. Lambton. It is impossible to view, without feelings of great alarm and sorrow, the internal state of the country, particularly the distress of the manufacturing and commercial classes. Our external situation is equally fearful. The desire of liberty, which was encouraged by the Sovereigns of Europe, when they wished to combat and put down their EARL GREY. 4f common enemy, Napoleon, is now counteracted by a base conspiracy, under the false, hypocritical, and blasphemous title of the Holy Alliance. When / I look back at these circumstances, and regard them in conjunction with the past and with pro- bably yet contemplated proceedings against the Queen, Heaven seems to speak in signs and omens; and I cannot better describe the times than by quoting a passage from an inspired writer : " And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity ; the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." This is the true state of the anxiety felt / by the country; sorrow and shame for the past, ' fear and apprehension for the time to come. Under such circumstances, my only hope and the country's best resource is to be found in the principles of the constitution, and in the spirit of the people. That hope is confirmed by the conduct this day of the assembly I am addressing. Let all England follow the example you are setting; let them approach the throne like men, " who know their rights, and knowing dare maintain," against the threats of power, and the blandishments of corrup- / tion; sober though enthusiastic; prudent yet firm ; temperate but resolute and fearless ; and the country may yet be saved. The thanks of the Meeting were then voted to . G 42 COUNTY OF DURHAM. Earl Grey ; to the Earl of Darlington, from whom a letter was read, stating his entire approval of the Requisition and its object ; to the Members for the County; and to the High Sheriff: as were also an Address to the King, and Petitions to both Houses of Parliament, conformable to the Resolutions. I . GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 43 Count*? of Freeholders, and other Inhabitants of the County of Berks, was held at Reading, on Monday, Jan. 8, 1821, to " consider of the propriety of presenting an Address to the King on the subject of the treat- ment, which the Queen, his Consort, has expe- rienced, and is experiencing, on the part of his Majesty's Ministers, and of passing such Resolutions, as may then and there appear desirable, on the present state of the country." Mr. J. B. MONCK, M. P., having been called to the chair, opened the business by reading the original Requisition presented to the High Sheriff, with which that officer had refused to comply; whereupon the present Meeting was convened by a number of Magistrates, according to the pro- vision in one of the late acts. He then read to the Meeting the following letter, which he had received from C. Dundas, Esq. one of the Members for the County : Barton-court, near Newbury, Jan. 6. SIR, I regret that I am prevented by indisposition from being present at the Meeting of the County of Berks, at Reading, on Monday next, as I consider it a duty, which I owe to my constituents, to attend on every occasion when they publicly 52 . BERKSHIRE. express their sentiments on the proceedings in Parliament or the business of the country. On the subject of the present County Meeting, without interfering with the consideration of the conduct of her Majesty, or the treatment she has received, I beg to state that I am decidedly of opinion that the mode of prosecution by a Bill of Pains and Penalties was impolitic and unconstitutional ; and that a retrospective act of the legislature can never be jus- tified, even by the plea of necessity, when the necessity may probably exist only in the minds of those, who are influenced by the Ministers of the day. If such proceedings are to be sanctioned by former precedents, or established by the present, farewell to that protection, to which every British subject is entitled, while he acts in obedience to the just and established laws of his country. I have the honour to be, &c. CHARLES DUKDAS. To the Chairman of the Meeting of the County of Berks. The Meeting was then addressed as follows, by LORD VISCOUNT FOLKSTONE, M. P. : IT becomes my duty to offer to this large and respectable Meeting some observations upon the object of your assembling, and to propose to you certain Resolutions for your consideration, which, I trust, will be unanimously adopted. I will endeavour, as shortly as I can, to state my opinions upon the present crisis of public affairs : but from the extended nature of the topic, comprehending, as it does, so many points of momentous interest, I fear I shall have to trespass longer upon your LORD FOLKSTONE. 53 attention than, under any other circumstances, I should feel myself justified in doing. I confess that when I reflect upon the present agitated and calamitous state of the country when I consider, in particular, the late unjustifiable proceedings in Parliament of his Majesty's Minis- ters, so forcibly impressed as I am with the fatal tendency of those proceedings upon the peace and tranquillity of the country when, I repeat, I feel the weight of all these reflections and considera- tions, I approach the great business of our Meeting with fear and apprehension fear, that I am unable to do justice to the subject; and apprehension, that I may expose myself to misinterpretation upon so momentous an occasion. But the present crisis overpowers all feelings of personal forbear- ance, and calls upon every man, who has the good of his country at heart, to come forward and boldly state his opinions upon the prospective dangers and calamities, which impend over the country. It is incumbent upon the people" of the country to step forward, and endeavour, by the unequivocal declaration of their opinions, to ward off the evils which threaten them, and to make their best effort to produce an alteration in a system of mis- government, so fatal in its consequences, and which can only be ameliorated by the firm and general voice of the people at large. The terms of the Requisition are as general as the subject, to which they refer: they compre- hend the whole state of the country, and open a -54 BERKSHIRE. wide field of discussion into the minute details of which, however, it is not my intention to cany the Meeting on this occasion. The state of the country is, indeed, widely appalling. Turn to whatever quarter we will, we only meet distress and dissatisfaction. If we look at agriculture, we find it suffering in all its branches. Manufactures and commerce are alike weighed down with the heaviest disadvantages. The country is in that state, which calls for the serious attention of every honest man. Such is the universal pressure of distress and calamity, that the public have reason deeply to regret that the united attention of Parliament during its late sitting should have been withdrawn from the consideration of a state of things so alarming in every point of view, to any other consideration, whatever might have been its cha- racter. In the course of the last, and the preceding year, petitions have poured into Parliament from every interest and every quarter in the country, complaining of general distress and most pressing difficulties, and praying the attention of Parliament to a consideration of the several interests of the state: yet no attention was paid by Ministers to these pressing petitions ; no measure was originated by them, which had either inquiry or redress for its object. The evil was seen, but no attempt was made to investigate its cause, or the extent of its operation. It would be detaining this Meeting too long to enter at large into the numerous and compli- LORD FOLKSTONE. 5 5 cated details of the grievances affecting the coun- try. You all know the heavy distress, which has prevailed during the last five or six years: you have felt it, and are still feeling it in all its pro- gressive action. The war has ceased, without any adequate reduction of the public burdens. These evils have gone on progressively increasing, until they have now become almost insupportable. From such a series of facts the country has a right to infer that their distresses are not temporary, but more deeply rooted ; that they are not deducible from the change of a period of war to one of peace ; that they were not lightly caused, and are not to be remedied by self-action ; that they are not to be left as Ministers seem disposed to leave them that is, dependent upon accidental or casual recovery but that, on the contrary, they call for serious and immediate investigation, as evils, which are as deep-seated as they are general ; and respecting which not a moment's time should be lost by the administration of the country. At a period of so much public and general difficulty, it is impera- tively necessary that the administration of the country should be placed in the hands of persons willing to face the difficulty and avow their sense of its arduous nature, bold enough to grapple with it as becomes men, not only ready and prepared to encounter the difficulty in all its bearings, but also able to apply some prospective remedy. Such are the men now wanted by the country. Are the present Ministers of such a character? Are 56 BKRKSHIRE. they willing to meet the difficulty or, if willing, are they able? They have not even manifested a disposition to face the danger, much less to comhat the evils attendant upon it. It is true that a committee has been instituted into the poor laws, the souroe of much evil and of serious anxiety ; that committee has made an able report, setting forth both the cause and the extent of the grievance: but they had not the courage to meet the evil ; and they left the remedy to chance, contenting themselves with the useless expression of hope. Was that the course which either the administration or parliament ought to pursue? Was that what ought to be the conduct of states- men in times of great public emergency? Surely not. There is another subject into the consideration of which Parliament has entered, and it is one, I apprehend, not a little connected with the inte- rests of the public I allude to the resumption of cash payments by the Bank. That is a subject not well adapted for detailed consideration at a general political Meeting; but it is one, which has its operation upon the public distresses. Payment in specie, without lowering the standard of gold, is a great desideratum : but it is one, which must in its operation affect the interests of every class in society ; inasmuch as paper has been so long the medium for transacting every sort of general busi- ness; and the bill passed three years ago was one, which has a n:ore close connexion, according to LORD FOLK3TONE. my opinion, with the existing distresses, than was observable at first view by an ordinary observer. Under these circumstances, which press in every point of view upon the country, it is melancholy to have seen the attention of Parliament, of the Ministers, and the whole country, called from such weighty considerations, and at such a moment, to a matter totally needless in itself, and necessarily productive of the greatest agitation in the public mind. That the matter respecting the Queen was needless for discussion I think must be admitted. It could only be necessary in case of its having an inevitable operation upon the public interest. That ought to have been clear before the country was called upon to embark in the consideration. There were two circumstances which ought, how- ever, to have prevented Ministers from committing the country in such a question. In the first place, such a proceeding was very inconsistent with that respect for the monarchical form of government in this country, which ought always to be incul- cated in the minds of the people. It was utterly inconsistent with that feeling to open an inquisi- tion into the private life or domestic conduct of one so near the throne, unless the succession was in danger, or unless some other equally powerful public cause called for the proceeding. But in the case of her Majesty no such justificatory cause existed. There was no disputed succession: nothing of the kind could have possibly been contemplated ; there 58 BERKSHIRE. was nothing in the subject, as even Ministers themselves put it, which could call for parliamentary interposition, on the ground of affecting the rights and liberties of the country, which Parlia- ment are bound to protect and uphold. None of these public reasons called for the agitation of such a question ; while, on the contrary, every public interest of the country called for the serious and undivided attention of Parliament. The whole proceeding of Ministers was, therefore, unjustifiable in every way, in which it could be presented to the minds of statesmen. Ministers, indeed, have entirely failed, according even to their own shewing, in justifying the perilous step, which they have taken against the Queen. But they said that her con- duct abroad was calculated to bring disgrace upon this country. Well : how did they propose to abate that grievance? Why, by augmenting the means of her Majesty, (that is, supposing her to be guilty of the acts they imputed to her,) to com- mit all those moral offences, which administration thought were calculated to produce so baneful an example. Every act of Ministers stigmatized them still more with incapacity. Besides complaining of her Majesty's conduct abroad, they said her example at home could never be tolerated ; and yet by striking her Majesty's name out of the Liturgy, they compelled her to take the step, which they considered pregnant with dangerous example to the country, that is, to take up her residence here LORD FOLKSTONE. without delay. Nothing could equal the impolicy of their conduct towards the Queen, but the unfair extent to which they carried it. Having deter- mined upon proceeding against her Majesty, they took care that their judicial proceedings should correspond with their previous acts. They pro- ceeded by an ex post facto bill that is, a bill creating the offence and imposing the penalty. They then refused her Majesty a list of witnesses. They adapted all their details to their previous conduct, in defiance of the feelings of the people and the ordinary principles which regulate the administration of common justice. Much as the people had reason to complain of the con- duct of Ministers in the first instance, they had still more reason to complain of Ministers having embarked subsequently in charges against the Queen, which they had precluded themselves from making matter of judicial investigation by the steps they had taken to promote them, if they even had the tendency which they ascribed to them. Reverting first to the abandonment by Minis- ters of the considerations, which the state of the country required, and secondly to the needless and impolitic introduction of the Queen's case, I think the country is called upon to pronounce a sentence of condemnation upon them for their want of ability, and departure from that public duty, which they owe both to their Sovereign and Parliament. They are, therefore, utterly unworthy 60 BERKSHIRE. of confidence, and the country ought not to lose a moment in laying that opinion before the Sove- reign, whose dignity these Ministers have so unhap- pily compromised. It is not the duty of a Meeting like the present to recommend successors to such an administration; it is enough to shew that the present men are unworthy of the situations, which they fill, to authorise this Meeting to call for a change of Ministers as well as a change of system. Having said so much upon the incapacity of these Ministers, I will now advert to the state of the representation in Parliament : for unless the House of Commons be made to act in unison with the general feeling of the people, it were vain for the country to look for a redress of grievances by any change, which should merely embrace the substitution of one set of men for another in the affairs of the nation. A reform in the repre- sentation of the people is, therefore, indispensable. No good could be effected by any set of men, however well disposed, without it If this healing remedy be not applied, the country must go on from bad to worse. And even were it applied, the country must see that much of patience would still be required under any alteration of political sentiments in the Government. The people would still have to call in all their patience; for no change could work an immediate remedy. But if I know the people of England well, they would submit with patience, if they saw a chance in the ability or conduct of the Ministers of obtaining any LORD*FQLKSTONE. 61 eventual relief. They would, I have no doubt, place their fullest confidence in an administration, which they felt identified with themselves in pro- moting one common object namely, the general prosperity of the country. The topics, to which I have now alluded, are those comprised in the Resolutions I have to sub- mit to the Meeting. There is only one other matter, to which I feel it necessary now to allude, and that is the conduct of those persons, who designate themselves " loyal addressers." I fear that this Meeting is not likely to have the assistance of such men; but if they were here, I would call upon them to point out one word in either the Resolutions or the Addresses, which could bear any other construction than that of the most perfect duty and loyalty to all the constituted authorities. If there be in them any such word, I am willing to have it immediately altered. [The noble Lord concluded by moving a series of Resolutions condemning the whole conduct of Ministers; and by afterwards proposing an Address to the King for their dismissal ; and a Petition to the House of Commons for a reform of Parliament. There was also a congratulatory Address to the Queen upon her triumph over her enemies.] [Before the question was put upon these motions, Sir Francis Burdett, who had arrived at the Meeting just before the chair was taken, was loudly called for.] SIR FRANCIS BURDETT, BART. M. P.: I COULD have been well content to have joined my suffrage to the general suffrages of the Meeting, by holding out my hand in support of the Resolu- tions, Petitions, and Addresses, which have been read; but since you are desirous of hearing my opinions, I will not fail, more than on other occa- sions, to declare, when so called on, my sentiments and most decided opinions. I should not have intruded any observations of mine if I had not been particularly called on, because the able and eloquent speech of the noble Lord, so plain and easy, and so level to the understanding of all, has made any observation from me, if not intrusive, perfectly unnecessary. I entirely concur in all that the noble Lord has said, and I heartily agree with a Gentleman near me, that we are all under the greatest obligations to the noble Lord for calling the Meeting ; and I would add, that we are much indebted to the independent Magistrates, who sanctioned this County Meeting, in spite of the unconstitutional, and, I think, insulting conduct of the Sheriff, who attempted to set up a barrier against the consti- tutional expression of our sentiments, without any colour or pretence for such conduct. With respect to the Queen, there is no occa- sion for my saying any thing. Not only are my SIR FRANCIS BURDETT. sentiments on that subject well known, but all the circumstances have been so much discussed in various ways in Parliament and out of Parliament, that nothing now is left to be said. Earl Grey, the Marquis of Lansdown, Lords Holland, Erskine, and Carnarvon, who distinguished themselves so much by their opposition to the late prosecution, and who, as far as their abilities and integrity could contribute to that end, upheld the estimation of the House of Parliament, to which they be- long, not only exhausted the subject, but set every part of it in the clearest possible point of view. At the same time, I should not do justice to my own feelings, if I did not say, that never were such means used to traduce a female means, that were base, disreputable, and infamous means, which disgraced the country in the eyes of Europe and of the whole world. Yet these means, unex- ampled as they were, degraded not the Queen, but exposed her prosecutors themselves, and the power, by which alone those prosecutors were kept in office. The situation of the illustrious lady, and the misfortunes, which had overwhelmed her, might have softened the severest heart, even if she were guilty of all the crimes laid to her charge ; but when her innocence was established as clearly as possible, and when her enemies them- selves have withdrawn with shame and disgrace from the prosecution, it is too much to see her treated, and by those who call themselves the loyal, as if she had been proved guilty of worse 64 BERKSHIRE. offences than have ever been alleged against her. What have they in fact proved against the Queen? They have proved that she was in the constant and habitual practice of many virtues, which the coun- try had not known, and for which the Queen had never got any credit. Her virtuous habits have been made known, not by herself not by her friends they have been dragged into notoriety by the malignity of her enemies. Her humane atten- tion to those about her and below her was sin- gularly generous and magnanimous. It has been proved against her that she had visited a servant supposed to be infected with the plague. Greater humanity greater magnanimity greater philan- thropy could not be found in the history of any man or woman. I put it to the feelings and good sense of all present to suppose that this had hap- pened in the case of that individual, with respect to whom so many foul accusations had been brought forward : if that individual had been sup- posed to be infected with the plague, and if her Majesty, in the consciousness of innocence, and following the impulses of her own benevolence, had visited him as she had done another servant, with what force would that circumstance have been urged against her by the Attorney-General? Was it not enough to establish beyond all contro- versy the perfect innocence of the Queen, that, not- withstanding so many years were included in the charge notwithstanding that six years was the period stated at the commencement of the prose- SIR FRANCIS BURDETT. 65 cution not one act was mentioned within the last three years, to which even a suspicion could be attached? What would any person of' common sense say to that circumstance? No man alive would say that it was not enough to knock up any cause in any court in the world. Was it ever known that anv man or woman, after a loner V ' O course of vicious indulgence, all at once ceased from that course, and became perfectly innocent .in their subsequent conduct? The evidence, in short, was not evidence, on which any man in England would hang a dog. But still stronger and much more gratifying was the proof of inno- cence afforded by the Queen herself. Ministers who ought to be the best judges of the people of England had evidently entertained no idea that V the Queen would have been so strenuously sup- ported by the people. The Queen herself could not possibly have any other reason for expecting the support of the people of England but her own consciousness of innocence. The support, which the Queen had received, I will say, was not more extraordinary than it was unexpected. Yet the Queen, with all appearances against her, knowing that the whole power of the state was armed against her, seeing every possible danger opposed to her, relied upon the support of the people, because she was conscious of innocence. The very act of her coming over to this country brought a conviction to my mind, which a legion of Italians could not shake. K OO BERKSHIRE. The Petition to the King I think particularly proper. I will call it a loyal and constitutional Petition : it is a Petition worthy of Englishmen to present, and worthy of an English King to receive. To present such a Petition at a time when every trick and artifice is used to keep the King igno- rant of the sentiments of the people, is particularly necessary. Lord Sidmouth will not present it: it will not appear in the Gazette: the attentions of his Lordship, as well as the columns of the Gazette, are devoted to other purposes. They are appro- priated to imposture and deceit, to the paltry pretence to loyalty of the " hole-and-corner men." This practice of going to holes and corners is, I hope, a good omen : you know that a corner is a dog's dying hole. I should not have been at this Meeting but for the hope that some of the " hole-and-corner men" would have shown them- selves. I saw in the public prints some statements of facts, which seemed to me to be the prelusions to a battle; I, therefore, came in order to see this class of beings, and to hear what they had to say. Our Chairman seems to have been in a similar error, for he very prudently cautioned us against too much warmth in debate; but it is not likely that there will be any warmth on account of the opposition of hole-and-corner men, or that we shall fall into any error on that score. But the most important part of the subject embraced in the Petitions is the melancholy distress of this not long since happy and flourishing SIR FRANCIS BURDET1 4 . 67 country. That distress is universal: it therefore admits of no alleviation ; for all classes being distressed, no one can spare any thing to relieve another. This distress is felt after six years of peace. If the cause of it was a transition, as Lord Castlereagh alleged, it is a very long transition : it is pretty nearly as long as his Lordship's speeches ; and seems likely to have no termination but in his Lordship's transition from life to death. The causes of the distress are now known to be permanent: but, notwithstanding that the sufferings of the people are so great, I feel much more for the violations of law and of the constitu- tion. It is more than the half of the distress of every manly mind in the country, that he is not a free man. Deprived of liberty, I for one, care little for life. Liberty is a pearl above all price: but to find our liberty destroyed for having sub- verted the liberties of other nations to find our- selves enslaved for having enslaved other countries, adds great poignancy to the bitterness of our situa- tion. But all proceeds from one source and that source is the corrupt state of the House of Commons. It has been truly said, that unless the House of Commons were reformed, no Ministers, however honourable, could benefit their country : without that change, the greatest talents could be of no service. Nay, more; I will say, that without a change in the representation, no man could take office with an honpurable intention. Without BERKSHIRE. such a change, the greater the talents of Ministers, the worse. It is manifest, that in a system of roguery, the less talent the better. Independently of such a change, instead of desiring better Ministers, I cannot wish for any but the present. They have lost what I may call the best feather in their wing. The abstraction of Mr. Canning has rendered the administration infinitely better for the people, but I am not sure whether the cabinet is likely to lose that Gentleman. He is a very slippery sort of a Gentleman. When you have him, you have him not. He has acted in the most extraordinary manner. He made a speech in favour of the prosecution, and at the same time, in the simplicity of his conduct, declared that he had supported the prosecution because nothing was meant towards the Queen but candour, good feeling, regard, and esteem ! He then withdrew from the storm, expecting that it would be soon over, and that he could then again embark on the ocean with his colleagues; but on coming to the shore he heard the whistling of the tempest, and again retreated. It was said that he was going abroad, and that he had written to his independent constituents, to assure them that the treatment of the Queen was his only reason for retiring. This was saying in other words, that he would come back on the first opportunity. Moreover, the Canningites, the friends and adherents of Mr. Canning, no longer adhere to him. If he feels these romantic ideas of wandering, he may SIR FRANCIS BURDETT. Oy wander where he pleases: they keep their places. It is the play of puss in the corner. One, more adventurous than the rest, may leave the corner, but the rest remain. So the spirit and limbs of Mr. Canning still remain in office. This political polypus, I apprehend, will lose much of his in- fluence with his independent constituents, if he does not return to office. It was no wonder that the Right Honourable Gentleman quitted office with regret. To him might be applied the lines of the poet, with some alteration: " For who to shame reluctantly a prey, " His pleasing place and pension e'er resign'd ; " Left warm corruption and its flowery way, " Nor cast one longing lingering look behind ?" But whatever may be the feelings of the Right Honourable Gentleman in looking back, it is our business to look forward, and if we can see no further than our noses, we must be convinced that without a reform of Parliament we never can recover our freedom. I was going to say we never could remain free : but we are not free. The very circumstances, in which we meet, prove that our constitutional liberty is lost: for why should the sanction of Magistrates have been neces- sary for our meeting together to declare our sen- timents? There is no security for the Queen, for the King, or for the people, if the Parliament is not efficiently reformed. I think that the demand for restoring her Majesty's name to the Liturgy is a point of the 70 BERKSHIRE. utmost importance, because without it the Queen cannot be satisfied. In itself it may be unim- portant; but in this case it is the point of honour. Without the restoration of her Majesty's name to the Liturgy, I see no hope of peace or tranquillity to the country. But the great evil is the power of that base and corrupt faction, to whom I owe no allegiance who disloyally shackle their Sovereign, and make his authority subservient to their own unworthy and selfish purposes. I congratulate the County on so numerous and respectable a Meeting. MR. MARSH: I AGREE with the Honourable Baronet in- thinking that her Majesty owes much to those noble Lords, who have been mentioned : but I think that, next to her own magnanimity, she owes most to a certain person, who was formerly of some consequence, but for some time past has unfortunately fallen into great disrepute at Court, namely, John Bull. It is the voice of the people, that has paralyzed her prosecutors, and that will, if they relax not their efforts, conduct her safe and triumphant through a cruel and malicious pro- secution. The present situation of the country has been so fully stated by the noble Lord and Honourable Baronet, as to preclude the necessity of touching upon those points, which have been already so ably discussed ; but I cannot help MR. MARSH. 71 noticing the strange and anomalous appearance, which this country now presents to our view: our garners full; our storehouses glutted with all that can contribute to the comfort and convenience of man ; and at the same time the landholder em- barrassed ; the agriculturist in many instances ruined ; the tradesman and manufacturer distressed. In such a state of things we may justly exclaim, in the language of our immortal bard " There's something rotten in the state of Denmark." But the subject, to which I wish particularly to advert, is the conduct of the Ultra-loyalists. These are not a new breed. I hold in my hand an entertaining and somewhat curious book, styled, " The History of Addresses ;" written by one very near a-kin to the author of the " Tale of a Tub:" it was published in the reign of Queen Anne; and from this book it plainly appears that ultra-loyalism is above a hundred and fifty years old. You may, perhaps, be surprised to hear that ultra-loyal Addresses made their first appearance in the time of Oliver Cromwell, who used to say, that " an Address was worth nothing, unless it was full of lives and fortunes." Oliver had been called a " bold bad man;" and, therefore, some might think, that the Ultra-loyalists of that day had addressed him through fear; but it appeared that his son Richard, who cut so contemptible a figure in history, had also his share of life-and-for- tune Addresses. When Richard was about to BERKSHIRE. remove from his palace, and the household goods were packed up with some dispatch, the quondam, Protector ordered his servants to be particularly careful of two old trunks, which were deposited in his wardrobe; and, upon being asked what was in them, that made him value them so much, " why, no less," says Richard, " than the lives and fortunes of all the good people of England." The book I am quoting would be a great treasure to some I could name ; as teaching them the complete art of ultra-loyal phraseology. The clergy in the reign of Charles II. sent so many Addresses expressing their " abhorrence of wicked, malignant, and infamous petitioners," that they were called " the Abhorrers." By changing 1684 to 1821, those Addresses would be extremely suitable for the present Ultra-loyalists. There was an Address at the former epoch from the Univer- sity of Cambridge, that was called " The Cam- bridge Creed," from which the following is an extract : " It belongs not to subjects to create or censure, but to honour and obey their King, who comes by hereditary right of succession, which no religion, and no law, and no fault, and no for- feiture, can alter or diminish." In the same book it is remarked that " the King gave speech for speech." In his answer he said, " there is no church in the world, that teaches and preaches loyalty so conscientiously as the Church of Eng- land." The corporation of Reading sent an Address upon the Rye-house plot, (for in the reign of MR. MARSH. 73 Charles the Second there were all sorts of plots, except green-bag plots,) in which they said it was *' the most horrid and traitorous conspiracy, that had been hatched in any age; contrived and fomented by persons ^fanatic principles;" and they promised " to defend the government in the church, and the succession in the right line, against traitorous conspirators, factions, and secta- ries." But directly James the Second, to further his own views, thought it expedient to grant toleration to dissenters, even against the law as it then stood, the corporation immediately addressed his Majesty as follows: " We are more particularly engaged to render your Majesty our hearty and unfeigned thanks for your Majesty's late declara- tion of indulgence, wherein you are pleased to assure us, and all your loving subjects, of a free and entire liberty of conscience in the exercise of our religion." So much for ultra-loyal consistency. Blasphemy in a Radical was monstrous; but per- haps a little spice of it in an Ultra-loyalist, when addressing one of God's Vicegerents, is not quite so unpardonable; at least, it appeared not to be so considered at the period I am speaking of, for one of the corporations in their Address styled Charles the Second " An Angel of God." The commen- tator shrewdly remarks, " that their Graces of Cleveland and Portsmouth, Nell Gwynn, &c. &c. could give the best account whether the flesh had not an equal share with the spirit;" and he adds, " that it must certainly have been a corporeal L 74 BERKSHIRE. angel, and not one of the superior order of celestial essences." All the life-ancl-fortune men left James the Second, and declared their loyal obligations to William the Third, for coming over to protect their lives and fortunes from that King, to whom they had a little hefore sworn to devote them. The Ultra-loyalists are very modest : they only arrogate all the loyalty, most of the property, and all the respectability of the country. The liberty of the press is a dreadful evil in their estimation. After the death of Charles I. the word King had fallen into such disrepute with the Ultra-republicans, that in the Lord's prayer, the expression " thy kingdom come" was altered into " thy commonwealth come." I expect that the Ultra-loyalists of the present day will act in the same spirit, and will endeavour to turn " the re- public of letters" into " the kingdom of letters." When a censorship shall be established to make these necessary changes and improvements, I think that the author of the loyal Address, which I hold in my hand, will be fairly entitled to be appointed Censor. There is so much beauty, and so much of the lucidus ordo in this precious piece of compo- sition, that I cannot withhold it from the admira- tion of the Meeting. " We, the undersigned Noblemen, Magistrates, Gentlemen, Clergy, and other Freeholders of the County of Berks, wish to lay at your Majesty's feet our unbounded sentiments of loyalty to your person, and our unalterable attachment to the British Constitution. Under the auspices of the one, and the excellent laws MR. MARSH. 75 of the other, we consider ourselves belonging to a country most particularly blessed above all others, by the security of our property and equal administration of justice blessings, which we all feel ought to make the Monarch happy, and the subjects of that Monarch most particularly satisfied with their lot. We are sorry to see attempts made on every occasion to render the ignorant disaffected, by the designing and evil-minded, and this by that very part of our excellent constitution, (which ought to be the palladium of our liberty and the means of promoting knowledge and morality,) seized upon to be the channel of disseminating blasphemy, immorality, sedition, and private injury. We take this opportunity of assuring your Majesty we are determined to stand by the throne, and to support the constitution of this country by all lawful means in our power ; and we are satisfied that the crown will be most ably and cordially supported by the country at large as well as ourselves, against any aggression of those, who, for the sake of confusion, in which they may benefit themselves, are willing to raise the standard of discon- tent : and we feel it our duty to approach your Majesty in this ^vay, in order to assure the timid against the machinations of the evil-minded, and by these means to remove from their minds those seeds of terror impressed on them by those people, many of whom (thanks to the excellent laws and proper administration of them,) are now suffering that punishment they so justly deserve. (Signed) CRAVEN. L. AUSTWICK. N. DUKENFIELD. W. WlSE, D. D. M. XIMENES. HENRY MOISES. A. VANSITTART. E. WHITE. H. J. KIERNEY. THOMAS JESSE. J. SAWYER HEYWOOD. JOHN MANN. CHAS. SAWYER. Jos. LOWTHIAN, Vicar of SAM. YOUNG. Thatcham. P. J. NIJTD. J. Y. WILLATS, London-st. K. HANMER. J. S. BRUDON, jun. I. E. LIEBENROOD. JosH.WoLrB,Castle-street." WM. STONE. 76 BERKSHIRE. I will only give you one instance beyond this in the ultra-loyal style of Addresses. It is not from the old History of Addresses, from which I have formerly quoted, but from a very entertaining little book called the " Rejected Addresses," in which the ultra-loyal effusions of the venal press, particularly the Morning Post, (which paper had lately the audacity to propose that her Majesty should be made to suffer either as a martyr or a criminal!) are admirably parodied. " Bless every man possess'd of aught to give; Long may Long Tilney Wellesley Long Pole live ; God bless the army, bless their coats of scarlet ; God bless the navy ; bless the Princess Charlotte ; God bless the Guards, though worsted Gallia scoff; God bless their pig-tails, though they're now cut off; And oh, in Downing-street should old Nick revel England's prime minister, then bless the Devil !" I have been misrepresented and censured in the ultra-loyal papers for having remarked that two Archbishops were wrong-headed: considering the number I had to choose from, I think I shewed great forbearance in only selecting two; and to evince my impartiality, I selected one a Catholic, and the other a Protestant: but/notwith- stauding my moderation, I have been attacked by both, and seemingly have brought the whole church militant upon my back. If I have men- tioned the assassination of Becket with " wanton levity," I am sorry for it, and take this public MK. MARSH. 77 opportunity of saying so ; because I consider it as much more magnanimous to acknowledge an error, than to persevere in it. One Gentleman charges me with gross ignorance, and then, in order to pose me, quotes. Greek, by way of illustrating his charge. The meaning of that Greek is, that "Ju- piter nourished kings." I hope that that ancient deity will resume his functions in this respect, and that Lord Castlereagh has engaged him to provide the civil list, I imagine that it is in con- sequence of such an understanding with Jupiter that the noble Lord so unceremoniously dismissed the House of Commons. I see by the papers that the noble Lord's father has been walking in his sleep, and was awakened by running against a statue. I cannot tell whether or not this is a family failing, but, as near as I can judge, the noble Lord himself seems for some time past to have been walking in a political dream, and appa- rently has run foul of Britannia; but, to use an expression of his own, instead of " standing pros- trate" before him, she has turned round upon his Lordship, twirled her cap in his face, and set her lion at him. After Mr. FYSHE PALMER, M. P. and some other Gentlemen, had shortly addressed the Meeting : 78 BERKSHIRE. The several Resolutions, Petitions and Ad- dresses were carried without a dissentient voice. Mr. FULWAR CRAVEN then moved that the Meeting should declare that they viewed with abhorrence the conduct of the High Sheriff. This Motion was also carried unanimously. DERBYSHIRE. 79 Countg of A MEETING of the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, and Freeholders of the County of Derby, was held in the County Hall, on Monday, the 8th Jan. 1821, agreeably to the appointment of the Sheriff, Francis Mundy, Esq. in consequence of a Requisi- tion signed by a numerous body of Noblemen and Gentlemen. The object of this Meeting the Requisitionists stated to be " to address his Majesty at this important crisis, for the sole purpose of assuring him of their permanent attachment to the throne, and of their determination to support the constitution in all its branches." The High Sheriff having taken the Chair: Sir GEORGE CREWE rose to move the following Address : To THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. We, your Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy and Freeholders of the County of Derby, beg leave to offer to your Majesty the assurances of our inviolable fidelity to the throne, and of our firm determination to support our unrivalled constitution in all its branches, on which depend our security and happiness. It was seconded by Sir ROBERT WILMOT, of Chaddesden, .But this Address, and the attempts to recom- 80 DERBYSHIRE. mend it, having been received with the strongest marks of disapprobation ; an Amended Address was moved as follows by HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE: I AM ready, Gentlemen, at all times when occasion requires, to testify, both by my opinion and by my conduct, my loyalty to my King, and my unalterable attachment to the Constitution as by law established. But I should discharge a part only of my duty, if, while I conveyed those opinions to the throne, I did not accompany them by a statement of the causes, which, in my opinion, have led to the present agitation of the country. If the liberty of the press has been partially abused if designing men have been found, who have perverted it to the worst purposes by making it the vehicle of seditious and blasphemous opi- nions if persons have been found, who have taken advantage of a time of difficulty and pressure to alienate the minds of the ignorant from the established Government of the country ; yet by due vigour on the part of the Government, those evils might have been repressed; and they are wholly insufficient to account for the present disturbed and agitated state of the public mind. If not the whole, the chief part of all these evils is to be found in the unfortunate and disastrous counsels of those, who advised the prosecution to be instituted against the Queen. The public cannot DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE. tail to suspect the purity of those, who professed that the injury done to public morals by the con- duct of the Queen abroad was the motive of the prosecution, and who yet were willing to have encouraged and countenanced that evil by making her an allowance of 50,000 per annum, if she would continue to live abroad in the very place where her supposed offences were committed. The public cannot respect those, who attempted to establish their case by witnesses, whose character would not bear the test of inquiry; and who at the same time neglected to apply to those persons of respectability, who held situations near the person of the Queen, and who could have confirmed or contradicted the reports raised against her. Are we then to be surprised if a loyal, noble, and generous people adopt with ardour and with zeal the cause of their Queen, whom they consider injured and oppressed ? Are we to be surprised if, in their ardour and in their zeal, they occasionally exceed those bounds, which extreme prudence and sober wisdom would prescribe? The public had a right to expect that no Ministers would dare to institute a proceeding of such importance and solemnity without the clearest and strongest proof. Yet, in the result, they have been compelled, in obedience to the declared voice of the people, to abandon their own measure. But the evils of this disastrous proceeding have not ceased with the proceeding itself. They have sunk deep, and it is to be feared they have- M 82 DERBYSHIRE. done more to injure the morals of the country, and to shake the stability of the throne, than all that could have been done in a long series of years by those designing persons, whose efforts are sup- posed to have been so successful as to have imposed upon the country the necessity of making a public declaration of its loyalty. I wish to state, that in the vote I gave in the House of Lords, according to my conviction and according to my conscience, I felt that I was placed in the double character of a judge and legislator* and that I was bound to consider not only what was just towards the Queen, but what was most expedient for the country and the monarchy. I have, however, no hesitation in declaring that, in my opinion, the proceedings against the Queen have been the chief cause of the present agitation, and that the conduct of Ministers lias been most culpable. Thus feeling, thus convinced, I am willing io make the strongest avowal of loyalty to my Sove- reign; but I should act with injustice to him and to the people, if I did not urge the accompanying of that avowal with a plain exposition of the causes of those evils, which we all deplore. Attached as I have been from my infancy to the King, I feel the more pain that the conduct of his Ministers has been such as alone could lower him in the eyes of the people, and cast humiliation on the Royal Family. I am glad to have this opportunity of declaring in this County, which I consider as DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE. 83 iny home, my total disapprobation of the persecu- tion of the Queen. As a queen, as a woman, as the mother of her, whom we have lost, I congratu- late my c win try on the Queen's escape from the Bill of Pains and Penalties : and I trust that the time is not far distant when the eyes of the King's Ministers will be opened to the folly of their con- duct, and that the good heart and sounder feelings of the King will induce him, when uninfluenced by bad advisers, to restore her Majesty to that situa- tion and to those privileges, which are clue to her. I shall conclude by submitting for your approbation the following Amended Address : To THE KING'S MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY: We, the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, and Freeholders of the County of Derby, convened by the Sheriff, humbly desire at this important crisis to renew to your Majesty the assurance of our unshaken devotion to your Majesty's person and family, and our unalterable attachment to the constitution as by law estab- lished. We are so sensible of the manifold blessings which we have enjoyed under a free constitution, that we shall never give any countenance or support to those, who seek to encroach upon our liberties, or to diminish that respect, which is justly due to the Laws, the Parliament, and the Throne. Your Majesty may therefore now, and at all times, depend upon our most earnest and zealous efforts to maintain the autho- rity of the laws, to defend the rights of the people, and to uphold the dignity of the crown. Animated by these sentiments of attachment and devotion, we yet feel it to be incumbent upon us, as free and loyal sub- jects, dutifully but firmly to represent to your Majesty, that the late proceedings against her Majesty the Queen have in our opinion been undertaken without an adequate motive, conducted 84 DERBYSHIRE. without judgment, and, as was predicted by one branch of the legislature, have been proved to be " derogatory from the dignity of the Crown, and injurious to the best interests of the country." When we recollect that these proceedings were commenced after this solemn warning from the House of Com- mons, we are compelled to regard the advisers of such mea- sures as no longer entitled to the confidence of your Majesty, or the support of the country. From the late prorogation of Parliament, so unexpected at the time, and in its manner so ungracious, after the liberal provision made for the civil list, we are led to fear that there may still be some intention of further proceedings against her Majesty. We therefore humbly hope that your Majesty will yield to the ardent wishes of your people, and direct such mea- sures to be taken as may remove every obstacle to a speedy and fihal arrangement, and preclude the possibility of a renewal of discussions, which have agitated the country, encouraged the ill-disposed, and caused pain and sorrow to all, who are interested in the preservation of public morals and the security of the throne. We further presume to hope that your Majesty, from con- sideration for the heavy burdens imposed upon your subjects, will enforce a most rigid but necessary economy in every depart- ment of the public expenditure, and adopt a system of policy conciliatory towards your people at home, and liberal towards other nations, so as to secure internal tranquillity, and restore the character and prosperity of the nation. Mr. T. W. COKE, jun. M. P. for the Borough of Derby, seconded the Amended Address in a short speech. The Amended Address was tlfen carried by acclamation. Mr. HENRY THORNHILL said, that loyalty to- DERBYSHIRE. ^5 the King and attachment to the Constitution appeared to him to belong so naturally and so necessarily to every English Gentleman, that it would be nothing but an idle waste of their time, and insult to their understandings, were he to enter into any professions of that nature. Con- sistently with those feelings, he should not have objected to the Address, M'hich the Honourable Baronet had proposed, provided he had seen any occasion to call for it r and if he could consider it abstractedly; but he found that to be impossible: for he could not disconnect it from the recent acts of a weak and wicked administration, which had excited the disgust and condemnation of all moderate persons, of all descriptions, and of all political opinions; and he viewed it as an indirect expression of the approbation of this independent County of measures, which have been declared by a memorable vote of the House of Commons to be " derogatory from the dignity of the Crown, and injurious to the best interests of the country." With this opinion, he cordially approved of the Amended Address of the noble Duke, and moved that it be signed by the Sheriff on behalf of the Meeting, and presented to his Majesty by the Lord Lieutenant and the Members for the County. This Motion was immediately carried; as was also one for voting the thanks of the Meeting to those noble Lords, who had so effectually opposed the Bill of Pains and Penalties. 86 COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. A MEETING of the Freeholders of the County of Northumberland took place at Morpeth on Wednesday, January 10, 1821, for the purpose of taking into consideration the conduct of the High Sheriff in refusing to call a Meeting, and for addressing his Majesty and both Houses of Par- liament upon the late proceedings against the Queen. Sir JOHN SWINBURNE, Bart., having been called to the Chair, observed that a Requisition more temperately worded, or more constitutionally drawn up, was never presented to a High Sheriff. With respect to the signatures, they must be familiar to them all; they were respectable from their character, respectable from their talents and ability ; and he could safely say, that the Gentle- men, who had signed that Requisition, held landed property in the County to the amount of 200,000 per annum. It had struck him with utter astonish- ment that such a Requisition should have been flatly refused by the Sheriff. His Honourable Friend, Sir C. Monk, in writing to the Sheriff to inquire his reasons for that refusal, had afforded him a fair opportunity to correct his judgment; but what did he do? He not only confirmed that COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 87 refusal, but refused to give any reason for it. Such conduct was unprecedented and unwarrant- able; one would have thought that the Sheriff owed it to the Requisitionists, that he owed it to a great proportion of the population of the County, to assign some motive for his conduct; but he had not thought proper to do so, and was there- fore deserving of the severest reprehension ; and he trusted they would not separate without passing a vote of censure upon the conduct of the Sheriff. With regard to the more important object of the Meeting, he should merely observe, that he con- sidered the proceedings against the Queen had been most disgraceful and disgusting; had covered with infamy those, who had instituted them ; and, in a great degree owing to the exertions of his Noble Friend near him, had ended in their shame and discomfiture. He felt confident that they would agree to the measures which would be pro- posed to them by his Honourable Friends ; indeed they were such as they must approve of, if they had any regard for their own character as men and as Englishmen. He then requested them to give every person a fair and impartial hearing; theirs was a cause, that would not suffer by dis- cussion ; and he hoped they would, by their good conduct that day, convince the world, that the friends of liberty and the defenders of the con- stitutional rights of the people, were equally the friends of order, loyalty, and good government. The Meeting was then addressed as follows, by 88 COUNTV or XOKTHUMBUILAND. SIR CHARLES MONCK, BART.: IN the present perilous conjuncture of affairs, it behoves us all to conduct ourselves with the greatest circumspection both in speech and action, because the purpose, for which we are met, is to maintain the dominion of law, and to com- plain of the inroads of arbitrary and despotic power. We must not, therefore, furnish to our enemies any just grounds of complaint against us in this respect, nor imitate the conduct of those, who have liberty in their mouths, but licentious- ness in their conduct. The Chairman has correctly explained what happened with respect to the first Requisition ; and as all that passed has been published, you are competent to judge upon the subject. I hope my conduct has met with the approbation of the public. (Cries of " It has, it has.") When we received the refusal of the Sheriff, a few of the Requisitionists met to consider what was most expedient to be done ; the result was, a determina- tion to issue a notice ourselves, and I trust that decision has met with the approbation of the other Requisitionists. I shall proceed, therefore, in the first place, to explain my reasons for thinking that a vote of censure on the High Sheriff is founded in reason and in right. I confess, the refusal of the Sheriff SIR CHARLES MONCK. 89 to grant a Meeting, upon a Requisition, so nume- rously and respectably signed, worded too with such great circumspection, and framed according to the spirit of the constitution in all its points, was a matter both of surprise and disappointment to me. I know that the general rule for the exer- cise of the civil authorities harmonizes admirably with the spirit of our free constitution. The civil authorities are not conferred for the gratification of those, who are invested with them ; but for the benefit of those, over whom they are exer- cised. This rule shews at first sight, that every civil officer is bound to exercise the authority of his office for the benefit of any, who duly demand it of him. This rule is fully maintained in the words of the Great Charter, that *' they would not defer to any justice or right." It is the practice of the House of Commons not to listen to any proposition founded on the mere pleasure of the King; and it is in unison with the practice of all our Courts of Law, from the King's Bench to the lowest Courts in the kingdom; where if a Judge be required to interfere, if the law empowers him to do so, he has no choice left, but is obliged to interfere. I by no means mean to deny that there is a discretion vested in every officer, but it is not an arbitrary discretion; it is a discretion marked out by law, and by analogy to the principles of the constitution, and the authority, by which the officer is appointed. I should be glad to know what reason could be given for the Sheriff's refusal. N. 90 COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. When I received the refusal, I thought some inac- curacy might have crept into the Requisition itself, and I accordingly wrote to the Sheriff, requesting him to point such out, if it existed, or to give some constitutional reason, that might clear up his conduct; but he repeated his denial, and accom- panied it by a flat refusal to give any reason for such denial. In all Courts of Law, when a Judge refused an application, he invariably assigned the reasons, which under the constitution and the law would justify him in not acceding to the applica- tion. I trust I have said sufficient to shew that the refusal of a Sheriff is a culpable disregard and contempt for the freedom of his fellow-subjects, and a most unwarrantable attempt to obstruct them in the exercise of a right, which they enjoy unjder the constitution, as established at the Revo- lution. If my construction of the law be correct, there can be no doubt that the conduct of the Sheriff is unlawful. The Right of Petition is established by law, and it is a maxim of the constitution, that whatever is lawful in itself makes every thing necessary to it lawful. The Parliament, it is true, has not put any restraints upon the conduct of the Sheriff; because it never contemplated that he would attempt to obstruct the people's right of petitioning, much less be guilty of a direct infringement and violation of the law. In considering the conduct of the Sheriff, I really feel unable to refrain from stating that at this time such conduct calls for some SIR CHARLES MONCK. 91 particular expression of indignation. It is little- more than a year since it was pretended that there were bodies of men holding Meetings with Reform in their mouths, but meditating nothing less than the destruction of the constitution; and Parlia- ment, upon such representations being laid before it, passed certain statutes, by which they pre- tended the Right of Petition would be better enjoyed, by being confined in narrow bounds. And when the liberty of meeting, if not curtailed, is at least confined, is that the season for the regular officer to refuse his sanction to a Requisi- tion of the County? Is this the proof given to us of the sincerity of the professions of Ministers, that the late Acts were meant the better to secure the Right of Petition, that when we wish to exer- cise that Right, we are thus to be obstructed and pre- vented? The Sheriff is an officer appointed by the Crown, and holds his office at the pleasure of the Minister of the day, and if the Minister does not animadvert upon his conduct, if he does not in- stantly dismiss him, he sanctions and adopts his acts. It is not yet twelve months since we met in this Hall to congratulate his Majesty on his accession to the throne: our fidelity to the crown was then extolled, and credit was given us for our good intentions. Is this refusal the earnest we are to receive of the feelings of the Government towards us? that in the same year, when we wish to meet to address his Majesty, the Sheriff should refuse his assent that the doors are to be closed, which COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. had before been so gladly thrown open to receive u$i Under these circumstances, I feel it will be merely necessary to read the Resolution conveying a cen- sure upon the High Sheriff to insure its adoption. [The Honourable Baronet then read a Reso- lution to that effect; and concluded by expressing his decided disapprobation of all the late proceed- ings against the Queen.] [Mr. BIGOE seconded the Resolution moved by Sir C. Monck. In doing which, he begged to congratulate the Meeting that they were assembled in that Hall, in spite of all the obstacles, that had heen thrown in their way. Whatever respect he might entertain for the private character of the Sheriff) he was bound in duty to himself to de- clare, that his conduct in this instance had been most erroneous and unjustifiable. He could not but observe that the feeling, which had spread so generally through the country, had not arisen altogether from a sentiment in favour of the Queen, but that it might be attributed in no small degree to that love of liberty and hatred of oppression, which formed the distinguishing characteristic of every Englishman.] [Earl GREY here presented himself to the Meet- ing, and was proceeding to address them; but he had only uttered a very few words, expressing as his reason for rising so early, that he did not see a disposition in any person present to oppose the Resolutions, which had been proposed, when MR. ORDE. y-> Mr. Orde said that he meant to oppose them ; on which his Lordship instantly sat down, and said he would wait till Mr. Orde had addressed them. Mr. Orcle immediately rose, and was received with the strongest marks of disapprobation : nor was it until both the Chairman and Earl Grey had begged of the Meeting to give Mr. Orde a patient hearing, that silence could be obtained.] M R . ORDE: I AM sorry it should be considered a favour for me to be heard for a few minutes. I have often given you my opinion, as a plain country Gentle- man, and I will never hesitate to state my senti- ments fairly and impartially. I am too proud to affect an opinion for the purpose of gaining popular applause, and too high-minded to borrow the sentiments of another. As to the conduct of the High Sheriff, if he had complied with the Requisition, I should not have blamed him ; but as he has not done so, I contend that he has only exercised that discretion, which he was bound to use in the discharge of the duties of his office; and he was not bound to give the reasons, which influenced him in that decision. And I consider that the Requisitionists would better have discharged their duty to their country, if they had suffered that already too much agitated question to sink to rest, without unneces- sarily re-agitating it here this day. COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. The worthy Baronet has quoted Magna Charta, to prove the improper conduct of the Sheriff, but Magna Charta has nothing to do with it, any more than it has with Parga, Ionia, or Norway. I contend that Ministers were bound to institute the inquiry into the conduct of the Queen. It was notorious that the Queen was living abroad in a manner, that called down upon her the notice of the continent, and that reports were in circulation most injurious to the character and honour of her Majesty. Was it not necessary to inquire into the truth of those reports? and how could that be better done than by the appointment of a com- mission for that purpose? And when that commis- sion had examined witnesses, and reported to Ministers thereon, they were bound to proceed upon them. It was, perhaps, their wish that the Queen should continue abroad, even if she had an additional salary, and continued with her paramour Bergami. But when the Queen, contrary to all good advice, and in opposition to her own legal adviser, Mr. Brougham, had determined to come into this country, they must either have granted her all her rights as Queen, or have brought her to public trial. And what mode was there of doing so but by a Bill of Pains and Penalties? They could not proceed by Impeachment, for a Bill would still have been necessary to degradj and ultimately to divorce her. I would ask the Gen- tlemen opposite, if any thing could be more degrading to her Majesty, than to have a man MR. ORDE. waiting upon her in a livery to-day, and his arms about her to-morrow? I would ask them if it was for that, that they would have her name inserted in the Liturgy? If it was for that, that they would lavish the money of the people of England upon her to purchase estates for her paramour? And was it for his services in the polacre, the tent, the bath, or the boat, that he was thus to be rewarded ? Was it for his services as chamberlain or chamber- maid? I will tell you, as was lately said by Mr. Gooch, that the guilt of the Queen is as plain as the sun at noon-day. I believe her to have been proved guilty, and I am supported in that belief by a majority of the House of Lords. There was but one opinion upon the acts of the Queen, but many as to the punishment and the mode of the proceedings. [Loud disapprobation.] I am sorry you are so Unwilling to hear me : you will listen, I am sure, with more attention to the Noble Earl, who will soon address you. I know he will be heard at my expence ; but I would scorn to be heard at the expence of Government, as many are, for the purposes of declamation. [Cries of " Name, name."] I also object to the Resolutions, because they presume that Parliament will not do justice to the Queen, and I do not see how you can reconcile your demand for inquiry into the Milan Commis- sion with the hope that all further proceedings will be put an end to. There is only one further observation, with ,VO COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. which I will trouble you. Dear as liberty is to me, I hope that some measures will be adopted to fetter, not the liberty, but the licentiousness of the Press, which has deluged the country with a torrent of impiety, and loudly calls for some special interposition. The Liberty of the Press, like the Habeas Corpus Act, might be .sus- pended for a moment, to preserve it in greater purity and force. I shall conclude by giving my honest, zealous and hearty opposition to the Resolutions. EARL GREY: BEFORE I proceed to animadvert upon the observations, which have fallen from the Honour- able Gentleman, who has just sat down, I consider it but proper to pay a tribute of approbation to the courage and manliness of spirit, which have induced him to come forward in so public a manner, to state his opinion face to face with those, from whom he differs. He disdains to skulk into any corners to fabricate calumnies against his oppo- nents, and to manufacture Addresses, which are intended to have an effect different from that, which they profess to have. Such, however, has not been his conduct, and therefore I think great credit is due to him. I regret much that any interruption has been given to him, though some EARL GREY. 97 sentiments and opinions certainly dropt from him, not much calculated to harmonize with the feel- ings, or excite the sympathy of the Meeting. I will now proceed to offer some remarks upon the objects of the Requisition. The first subject then which claims our atten- tion, is the conduct of the High Sheriff. Before I proceed to offer my own opinion on this point, I beg to read to you a letter, which I have just received from Lord Ossulston, because I conceive it expresses, in a few words, a true and unanswer- able argument against the conduct of the Sheriff. London, January 6, 1821. MY LORD, I fear it is too probable that the distance, the weather, and other reasons less easy to overcome, may prevent my being personally present at Morpeth, on the 10th; I am therefore extremely anxious to express through you my decided con- currence in all the proposed objects of the Meeting, and in none more than in that of taking into consideration the conduct of the High Sheriff, in refusing to call a Meeting of the County upon the Requisition sent to him. It is, perhaps, owing to my not being much resident in the County, that I have not the honour of knowing the Gentleman, who it appears fills the office of High Sheriff; but whoever he may be, I think there will be few, but those who are ready to do any thing to serve a present purpose, who will not be of opinion that he has strangely mistaken, or very unwarrantably misused the authority of Sheriff, in respect to the matter referred to him. Previous to the late Acts, I conceive the sanction of the Sheriff was only necessary to give an authentic character to the Meeting, as a Meeting of the County ; and since the passing of those Acts, except they were meant to place the Right of Peti- o 98 COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. tioning at the pleasure of an officer appointed by the Crown, I cannot imagine that on a Requisition tendered to him, a Sheriff has any legitimate objects to consider but two, viz. whether the Requisitionists are of sufficient weight and respectability to justify the calling the County together; and whether such a Meeting, under circumstances possible, no doubt, but it is to be presumed, rare, may be calculated to produce direct and manifest danger to the public peace. His own private opinion on the matters proposed for con- sideration, I apprehend, ought to form no part of the question, and in this respect 1 think Mr. Clark would not have done amiss to have taken the example of the Sheriff of our neighbouring County ; who, as a gentleman and a man of education, felt that, whatever might be his private opinion upon the topics contained in the Requisition, it would not be proper to interpose that opinion as a reason for preventing others from expressing theirs, in the regular constitutional way appointed by law. These being my sentiments, which I should have expressed if-present, I shall be glad if you will give them any publicity which you may deem expedient. I remain, dear Lord Grey, Yours, most sincerely, OSSITLSTOX. I conceive this letter contains a sound opinion on the subject. I perfectly concur with my friend Sir Charles Monck, that the Sheriff has a discre- tion, but that discretion is connected with respon- sibility; it is not enough to use it and to give no reason for its exercise, as Mr. Orde contends. The power of the Sheriff to call and preside at public Meetings, was given him to be soundly and properly used, and not in a wanton, capricious manner. It was given him to protect, regulate, EARL GREY, 99 and enhance the popular Right of Petition, and not to counteract or impede it. In refusing to comply with the Requisition, no pretences were stated of any danger likely to arise to the public peace from the intended Meeting, and I therefore think that the Sheriff has been guilty of a great and violent breach of his public duty; greatly aggra- vated, as Sir C. Monck has truly stated, by the circumstances of the times; when owing to the restrictions lately imposed upon the Right of Petition, it was more than ever necessary that the modes of approaching the Throne, which are stilt left to us, should be preserved open, and allowed to be exercised without obstruction or hindrance. The Right of Petition is a most invaluable right ; recognized and established by Magna Charta, and the other bulwarks of the Constitution. But Mr. Orde, it seems, thinks that Magna Charta has nothing to clo with it; that when a great popular right is under discussion, Magna Charta has no more connexion with it than Parga! Was there ever any thing more monstrous ? Are we to be told that that Act, which is the great foundation of our liberties, of which the Right of Petition forms so essential a part, is not an Act fit to be quoted, in support of that right? The Right of Petition is no less essential to the liberties of the people, than to the security and welfare of the Government itself; and this right, together with the Liberty of the Press, (with the restrictions upon which Mr. Orde professes himself not satis- JOG COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. fied, but ready to make further inroads and inva- sions,) has, by a trite, but no less happy, comparison with the preserving and regulating power of that great and wonderful mechanical combination, which has been productive of such great advantage to our arts and manufactures, been denominated the safety-valve of the Constitution. Close that valve, and an explosion terrific in its effects, and fatal in its consequence, will ensue. So take away the Right of Petition, suppress the expression of the people's grievances, and one of two things must take place. Either the public discontent, which, if, like the elasticity of the vapour, it had been allowed to find a vent through properly regu- lated channels, might have occasioned no evil consequences, would break into commotion, and be productive of open violence and bloodshed ; or the country must, for a time, be kept in a state of fictitious tranquillity, by the strong arm of power, and the establishment of a system of terror: in the one case leading to anarchy, that greatest of all evils, except despotism ; or in the other to despotism itself, which would become the estab- lished system of the Government, till the people, driven to desperation, would break through all restraint, overturning every institution of society, and producing a recurrence to anarchy: thus inevitably leading in either case to the very evils, against which the remedies proposed and advocated by Mr. Orde are stated to be necessary. I there- fore contend, that it is for the safety of Government EARL GREY. 101 itself that the Right of Petition should be pre- served inviolate to the subject: it is necessary to Government, in order to furnish it with the means of becoming acquainted with the grievances of the people, and applying those remedies, which the nature of the case may be found to require. Pre- serve, therefore, as you would the most valuable of your possessions, defend as you would the most sacred institutions, that right, upon which the security of the constitution, the rights of property, and the safety of the throne itself, most essentially depend. Against this most invaluable right a wanton and most unjustifiable attempt has been made by the Sheriff of this County. Coupling his conduct with the proceedings in other coun- ties, adverting to what has taken place in other parts, particularly in the County of Dublin, in which we may view the consequences of that indifference and supineness, which the Parliament last year evinced to listen to the complaints of the people, respecting the melancholy disturbance at Man- chester, I say, combining these together, can we be far wrong in suspecting that a disposition is entertained in certain quarters most alarming to the liberties of the people. Under these circumstances, this refusal of the Sheriff assumes a consequence greatly superior to the character and importance of the individual, by whom this refusal is made. We are told by this great man, in the plenitude of his power, that such is his will and pleasure, and that we, forsooth, 102 COUNTY OF NORTHUMBEHLAND. are quietly to submit to it. And according to Mr. Orde's doctrine, we have not even the right of protesting against it, and, he having a discre- tionary power, we cannot insist upon his reason for the exercise of that power. In thus declining to give a reason, he acted very prudently : for when a man has no good reason to give, the con- duct, which prudence dictates, is that of silence. But though he would give us no reasons, the free- dom of speech and thought being still left to us, we will canvass amongst ourselves the propriety of his conduct, and form conjectures respecting the probable reasons of such conduct. Will it be said that the form of the Requisition was im- proper? If any inaccuracy had been pointed out, every disposition was manifested to correct it, and remove all reasonable objections. Will it be stated, that the signatures were not sufficiently respectable? That I think will hardly be advanced, even by those, who most differ with us in sentiment. Will it be maintained that the subject was improper for discussion and consideration? That might be the Sheriff's opinion, but it was not ours. At any rate, all we asked for was discussion ; and it does not necessarily follow, (indeed, why should it?) that the decision of the Meeting would be adverse to the opinion of the Sheriff. The only reason he could have for anticipating such a result, must have arisen from the knowledge of the general unanimity of the nation on the proposed subject of discussion; but that strong and general feeling EA11L GlitV. 105 was surely a sufficient legal reason for calling the Meeting, Will it be stated, t;hat any danger threatened the country? The country was never more quiet and peaceable ; though I lament to state, that there does exist in the country a feeling of general and increasing discontent, occasioned in no slight degree by the inattention, which has been paid to their grievances,' and the disregard with which their complaints have been received ; but the people are most peaceable, and have borne their insults and sufferings with a forbearance and a patience, which were never equalled. But if the Sheriff did really entertain any fears of the public tranquillity being likely to be endangered by the proposed Meeting, it might naturally have been supposed that such fears would have been dis- pelled by the result of the Meeting lately held in a neighbouring County, under a Sheriff who knew his duty, a Meeting the most numerous and respectable I ever beheld. If the conduct of the Sheriff had regarded himself only, it might have been treated with silent contempt; but the dan- ger of the precedent, the insult offered to the County, the preservation of the sacred Right of Petition, already too inch invaded, call upon you to give all the support in your power to the Reso- lution proposed by the worthy Baronet, and to mark the conduct of the Sheriff with the sentence of your severest reprehension. Having disposed of this subject, I shall now proceed to the more immediate object of this 104 COUNTY Of NORTHUMBERLAND. Meeting the proceedings against her Majesty the Queen. It was not my intention to have delivered my sentiments at any length on this subject; the whole case is so fully before the public, their opinion has been so generally and universally ex- pressed, and my conduct during the whole of the transaction has been so open to your observation, that it would not have been necessary for me to enter into any particular examination of this ques- tion, which can never be adequately discussed in a Meeting of this nature, had it not been for some observations which have fallen from Mr. Orde. And here I must complain of the monstrous injus- tice committed by that Gentleman that he, upon a partial investigation and incomplete legislative proceeding, should take upon him to conclude the Queen guilty. Upon the nature of the proceed- ings and the detail of the evidence against her Majesty, I have elsewhere delivered my senti- ments; and having given the subject the fullest consideration in my capacities as a Legislator and a Judge, I arrived at so different an opinion from that Gentleman, that I declared then, as I declare now, that were I called upon to pronounce on the guilt or innocence of her Majesty, the only verdict, which conscience and honour would alike compel me to give, would be one of Not Guilty. But it seems to Mr. Orde that this much agitated question had better be set at rest, and the public mind not inflamed by a discussion of this nature. For my part, I should desire nothing EARL GREY. better; God knows it has been productive to me of nothing but pain and disquietude since it was first brought forward. But who is it that forces this discussion upon us? Who is it that will not suffer this question to be set at rest? The pro- ceedings against her Majesty are still continued ; open slanders and calumnies are still circulated against her person ; and though the legislative pro- ceedings against her have been suffered to termi- nate, we are left in doubt whether the Queen is to be entitled to the benefit of her acquittal, or is still to suffer all the severest inflictions of that odious and unjust Bill of Pains and Penalties, as if she had been really found guilty. Mr. Orde says he considers her to have been found guilty by a majority of the House of Lords. I deny the fact. She stands now as fully absolved from all .guilt as if the accusations had never been insti- tuted against her. He also says that there was no other mode of proceeding than by a Bill of Pains and Penalties that Impeachment. was improper. I deny it again. If the Honourable Gentleman would revert to those works, which formed the professional study of his early life, he would find it laid down as an unassailable position, that there is no offence that can be committed against the State, which may not properly become the subject of Impeachment. He would find this principle particularly laid clown by Mr. Justice Blackstone, and other writers on the Constitution. Impeachment was the legal mode; I strongly J06 COUNTY OF 'NORTHUMBERLAND. urged Impeachment; but the advocates of the measure told us that the Bill, which was objected to, was a most advantageous proceeding to hor Majesty ; as she would thereby have the advantage of a double defence, and the concurrence of both Houses of Parliament on the sentence of condem- nation upon her would be necessary. Now mark what followed. With shame and sorrow I say it, the House proceeded to the second reading of the Bill with an unsatisfactory majority of twenty- eight. To the third reading with the still less majority of nine the exact number of the Cabinet Ministers, who brought it forward. And then, when a Peer was on his legs to present a Petition from her Majesty protesting against the next motion, which it would be necessary to make, namely, that the Bill do now pass, that Minister, who introduced the Bill, stopped all further pro- ceedings by postponing the passing of the Bill ibr six months, thereby abandoning it for ever. I ask in what state is she now ? Is she, or is she not, to have the advantage of this abandonment? If the Bill had been incomplete in any one of its stages, she would have stood discharged from all accusation ; and now, when the Bill is not complete in any stage, but is withdrawn before it had passed -even one House, she has the same right as any accused person, against whom the record has been .withdrawn, of being considered fully absolved of the crimes, which were alleged against her. But this right is now denied her; when no adjudication EAftL GRBY. 107 has been come to upon the Bill, it is attempted to visit her with its severest penalties, in the same manner as if she had really been found guilty, and the Bill had passed to final adjudication. Thus is she deprived of the advantages of this mode of proceeding, which had been vainly promised to her, and especially of this important one impor- tant not only to her Majesty, but to every one who hears me, that the person discharged from all accusation should no longer be considered as guilty. When such attempts are making to pervert the result of the proceedings against her, and when fur- ther proceedings are meditated, will you sanction such a mockery of justice, and consent that the severest enactments of the odious Bill of Pains and Penalties should still be inflicted on her Majesty? It is true, that the Bill not having passed into a law, she cannot be denuded of her rank and style of Queen* nor can she be deprived of the minor consideration of exercising the patronage and privileges attached to her station ; but her name is still excluded from the Liturgy, that act of original injury and insult; a royal residence is still denied her; she is still dependent on Ministers for that support which she ought to have derived from the liberality of Parliament; she is still exposed to suffer all these acts of injustice. What, though the Bill has failed, according to Mr. Orde, she is to continue to be treated as guilty. But this injustice no Britou 108 COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. can ever bear ; for to suffer any penalties to attach to her Majesty, when the Bill is abandoned, is- contrary to that love of justice and hatred of oppression, which, whilst England is England, I trust, will ever characterize all who inhabit it. Mr. Orde says, that we are forcing this act of justice upon Ministers, without knowing that they are intending to neglect it ; but, when we con- sider the late extraordinary prorogation of Par- liament, and witness the gross calumnies, which are daily heaped upon her Majesty, we cannot but feel the greatest apprehension that justice will not be done. But, says Mr. Orde, it was incumbent upon Ministers to institute the inquiry, on account of the reports in circulation injurious to her Majesty. But I should like to knowby whom those reports were circulated; I verily believe, by those very persons, who afterwards took advantage of them, and made them the foundation of that com- mission, which, it was pretended, was necessary to vindicate the honour of the King and the dignity of the Crown. It was surely an invidious obser- vation of the Honourable Gentleman, to charge us with wishing to furnish her Majesty with money to purchase estates for her . alleged para- mour. His argument on this point, is not a little curious. He, first of all, contends, that her Majesty's life abroad was most scandalous, and disgraceful to the country ; not the worst feature of which conduct was that the money of the people of this country was squandered in the EARL GREY. 109 purchase of an estate for her favourite. So utterly discreditable, indeed, was her conduct, that it became necessary that an inquiry should be instituted into it. And yet, this inquiry, which, it is alleged, was requisite to vindicate the honour of the King and the character of the country, after satisfactorily proving, as he says, her Majesty's guilt, was to terminate by furnishing her with additional sums of money to enable her to purchase other estates for her favourite ; a result which Mr. Orde thinks perfectly satisfactory and justifiable. Such arguments, I confess, do great credit to his ingenuity, but they would never have occurred to me. If the honour of the King, and the character of the country, were so affected by her Majesty's dissolute life, and if such proof of her guilt had been obtained, by the inquiry into her conduct, as to make Ministers feel justified in bringing the late accusations against her, it does appear a most singular mode of supporting the honour of the King and the character of the country, to offer to supply her with increased means of continuing such dissolute life, provided she would continue to reside abroad. If such was to be the result of the inquiry, why saddle the country with the expence of it? Why not give her the monev at once without institutino- anv in- v O */ quiry at all? Such are the absurdities, which have marked the whole of the proceedings against her Majesty, and into which men are betrayed, who depart from the principles of justice. You wilI,Tio doubt, feel the propriety of agree- no COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. ing in the Resolution for an inquiry into tke Milan Commission, the conduct of which is liable to great suspicion, and demands a severe inquiry, and also to those Resolutions for putting an end to this question, for inserting her Majesty's name in the Liturgy, and for establishing her in all those rights and privileges, which belong to her, and which the Minister himself admitted she would be justly entitled to, when freed from the prosecu- tion against her. It was in answer to a remark from me that he made this admission; he said the late prosecution must either end in the degradation of her Majesty, by fully convicting her of ther crbnes alleged against her, or,, if it failed of that,, in allowing her all the rank, pre-eminence, and. dignity, to which she was by law entitled. Whea the Minister withdrew that Bill, therefore, why did he not at once restore her to all her rights,, and abandon all proceedings against the Queen? Having hesitated to do so, it becomes us, the independent Freeholders of this great County, to press this act of justice upon him, and to urge him to admit the just claims of her Majesty. Mr- Orde argues as if there was some inconsistency in deprecating the further agitation of this ques- tion, and in demanding inquiry into the Milan Commission. Why, good God ! all we desire is to see justice done to the Queen, and an inquiry to be instituted into the conduct of the Milan Commission, the transactions of which are so liable to suspicion, and apparently so much involve the character of the Government of this country. CAUL GREY. 1 1 1 So far from irritating the minds of the people, and keeping alive all unpleasant feelings on this subject, could any thing be more calculated to produce a contrary eifect, than an inquiry to shew that these suspicions were unfounded, and that no improper steps had been taken to procure evidence against her Majesty. My friend, Mr. Bigge, has spoken of the Loyal Addresses, which have lately been prepared in various parts of the country. To such Addresses in themselves, when simply confined to expres- sions of loyalty, and on proper occasions, there can be no objection ; but, when proposed on occa- sions, which do not render them necessary, they give rise to a strong suspicion that they are in- tended to cover a purpose, wihich is not avowed ; and more especially when we see them emanating from holes and corners, and filled with the grossest calumny and abuse of those, whom these Addressers dare not meet to the face. What is it that these animals mean? Is it their intention to justify the proceedings against her Majesty ? Let them come forward and see how many of their countrymen will be found of their way of thinking. Is it their object to support the Ministers, who advised those proceedings? Let them try how many of the people of England are anxious for their support. If it is not for these objects, what circumstances in the present state of the country render them necessary? Are the institutions of the country now threatened with destruction? Are there now 1 i 2 COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. any nightly trainings to arms? any nightly meet- ings on the Tyne and Wear? any fabrication of pikes? any collections of I kno\v r not what quan- tity of arms? in short, any of those alleged alarming circumstances, which last year frightened all our old women and so many of our Magistrates almost out of their senses, but which the event has proved had no existence, except in the con- venient imaginations of some, and the wonderful and surprising credulity of others? The generality of such Addresses, however, if not applied to a different use from that, which they profess, are perfectly innocent in themselves; but there are Addresses of a different description, containing most unjust and unfounded charges against the people, and upon these charges advocating and inviting further invasions on their rights and liber- ties. Against such Addresses I most decidedly protest, and will do every thing in my power to expose and resist them ; but of all such Addresses, I have yet seen none so deserving of reprehension as that, which has just emanated from the reverend body, assembled in secret conclave " at my house in the College at Durham." The Reverend Gen- tlemen, who concurred in that Address, did not think proper to attend the public Meeting lately held in that County, and the Resolutions of which were passed, as I trust those of this day will be, with the opposition of only one single voice; but as the Resolutions appear in the usual form of those passed at County Meetings, as being the EARL GREY. 113 Resolutions of the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, and Freeholders, they seem to fear that they might be suspected of concurring in the decision of that Meeting. But the history of this Address is not a little remarkable. On a former occasion, when on a Requisition a Meeting had been summoned of the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, and Freeholders of the County, these Gentlemen complained that they were in a certain degree implicated by the wording of the Requisition, &c. and accordingly published a Declaration, disclaiming all participa- tion in the sentiments of that Meeting, and pro- testing against such use of their names. To obviate similar objections, the Requisition which was presented on this occasion, was so worded as to request merely a Meeting of the Freeholders of the County, but was altered by the Sheriff himself to a Meeting of the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, and Freeholders. There is no 'pleasing these people. If a Requisition is presented for a Meeting in the usual form, they object to it, and complain ; if a Requisition is presented so as to obviate their objection, it is not satisfactory to them ; it is then altered by the Sheriff to the usual form, and still they are not content. Their conduct reminds me strongly of the story, which is related of a victim of that system of corporal punishment, which is now happily nearly entirely banished from our .army; he first complained that the drummer struck too high, then when he altered his blow, he struck too low, and when he struck him in the Q H4- COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. intermediate space, the man still complained, which so displeased the drummer, that he ex- claimed, " what an unreasonable fellow, there is no pleasing him, - strike where I will." These Reve- rend Gentlemen say that it is necessary to publish a disclaimer in order to rescue the " body of the Clergy from the disgrace of concurring" in the sentiments of .that Meeting. These Gentlemen have a different idea of disgrace from what I entertain. I should consider it a disgrace to shrink from maintaining my opinions in public, and then sneaking into a corner, give utterance to calumnies against, and cast imputations and aspersions upon, those whom I was afraid to meet; this, indeed, I should have consi- dered a great disgrace. These persons wished to imply, that the Meeting assumed the right of speaking for others; it assumed no such right; a Meeting can express the opinion of none but those, who attend it; and if those, who differ in senti- ment do not attend, it is a fair inference that they feel that the general sense of the country is against them. But what occasion was there for this declaration of the Reverend conclave? Did any one ever suspect them of joining in the senti- ments of that Meeting? Did any one ever sus- pect them of an inclination to differ in opinion from the Minister of the day? No such imputa- tion could ever fall from any quarter. So little indeed can I suspect them of any such disposition, that should I by any accident be called to power, EARL Gil EY. ' (a circumstance by no means likely to happen,) even I, reprobate Whig as I am, should not despair of receiving the support of these men. They complain' that matters had been introduced not relevant to the subject of the Meeting; but why not relevant? Was the Meeting to be confined to the fact of the Queen's treatment, and we not be allowed to show, that the general discontent had been greatly aggravated by the proceedings on the Bill against her Majesty the Queen? Will they deny the truth of this? We complain that the country suffers a great and ruinous depression in all branches of its industry, both agricultural and commercial will they deny this fact? Will these Reverend Gentlemen deny the general distress that great discontent has been excited in the country by the harsh and severe rebukes given to the people on the expression of their grievances ? Will they justify all the inroads on the liberties of the people, which have been made, and all, which appear to be still contemplated ? Will they justify the abettors of the Holy Alliance, the true cha- racter of which is so plainly illustrated by the pre- sent proceedings against the kingdom of Naples proceedings so completely contrary to the charac- ter and spirit of the British people ? Flying from all these things, on which they cannot say a word, they attribute, in this most con- temptible and abusive Address, and as foolish as it is virulent, all the existing discontent to the licentious- 116* COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. iicss of the Press, regardless of the manner in which the advancement of such an argument must operate upon the character of the Government. They would wish us to helieve, that after so long an enjoyment of the hlessings of good government after the glorious termination of the war, and the attainment of an advantageous peace; and not- withstanding all the laws which have heen en- acted, the people are still kept in a state of dis- content and excitement against the Government, merely by the licentiousness of the Press. Popu- lar delusion may prevail for a time, but mankind are great lovers of truth and justice, and it is not possible to keep them long in a state of delusion. The present discontent, they say, has continued through five long turbulent years, and yet it is pretended that this discontent is to be attributed entirely to the evil disposition of the people. But it is not true; it never was true, that the people are easily induced to entertain sentiments hostile to the Government ; they are naturally disposed to regard all institutions with respect and rever- ence a feeling which was never more forcibly exemplified than by the patience with which they have borne all their recent sufferings, and the in- sults offered them by such Meetings as that " at my house in the College at Durham." When discontent has ever prevailed, it may be assumed as the surest sign of mis-government, abuse, and oppression. I repel the calumnies of these Ad- KARL GftLEY. 1 1 7 dressers against my countrymen, and will resist, to the utmost of my power, the encroachments advo- cated by them upon the liberties of my country. But it would be well if it stopped here; for these persons, not content with following the ex- ample of the attempts made in the reign of Charles II. to govern without a Parliament, through which, if they had succeeded, we should now have been living under the tyranny of the Stuarts not content with this, they think it right to make personal accusations, and to hold up to public odium some individuals, whom they do not name. I will here read the paragraph, to which I allude. " Cut it is not the populace alone, in whom the evil spirit of the times has wrought its baneful work. We have seen with feelings, which we forbear to express, men of exalted rank and dis- tinguished talents, fostering and stimulating the discontents of the multitude availing themselves of delusions, which they despise, and of vices, which they reprobate, to forward the miserable objects of party ambition." [Cries of " Shame! Shame!"] When these Gentlemen assemble in their secret conclave, it is evident, to use the words of the Psalmist, that " their communing is not for peace, but they imagine deceitful words against those, who are quiet in the [land." I ask, against whom is this paragraph directed? Can any thing be more inconsistent with their duty, as followers of the meek and holy Jesus, than thus to fabricate accusations in secret, and assail other 1 18 COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. persons with the venom their malice has engen- dered ? Forgetful of the conduct, which become? them as Ministers of our holy religion, they pre- pare their poisoned arrows, and shoot them at random into the world, to be pointed against any one, to whom chance may direct them. Stand forth, ye reverend slanderers ! and tell us who he is, that thus perverts his rank and talents; that if guilty, the odium may justly fall upon his head, or, if the accusation be false, may revert upon the heads of those who make the charge. Who has given them the power to dive into the hearts of other men, and know the motives of their actions ? They pretend to see the mote, which is in their brother's eye, but cannot perceive the beam, which is in their own ; and when they accuse others of being influenced by unworthy ambition, are they so sure that these workings of their holy zeal may not proceed from a desire to please their patrons, and thus promote their own preferment? But if we examine it more closely, we shall find that their malignancy has a more particular allusion. And' though I have not the vanity to think that I am deserving of the character of possessing distin- guished talents, yet I know that persons like these are always ready to allow me the possession of them, when they wish to fix on me the stigma of perverted talents. But it so happens that I was the only person above the rank of commoner, who attended the County Meeting of Durham, and I may therefore presume that I am the person, to-- EARL GREY. J '9 whom they allude. I, therefore, call upon them to stand forward in some place where I may be allowed the opportunity of defending myself from their accusations; and if I do not stand acquitted in the eyes of my countrymen, I shall be content to submit to any degradation, which they may think proper to inflict. They accuse me of being ambitious of power; but if power is my object, why have I been so long excluded? How does it happen that in the course of a long life, with the exception of one year, I have never held office; whilst, from a comparison with those, whom in that time I have witnessed possessing power, I may, I think, without any vanity assert, that I might also have possessed it, had I chosen to profess similar principles with them? Are these Addressers so foolish as to suppose that I do not know that the principles, which I have advocated through life, were such as must exclude me from power? It has happened to me more than once, twice, or thrice, to refuse even the highest offices of the State, when offered upon terms inconsistent with my principles: can any of these reverend calumniators produce an instance of a similar sacri- fice? From a firm adherence to my principles I have remained excluded from power, and it per- haps may be satisfactory to them to know, that I shall remain true to the principles, which I de- clared in that hall when I first set out in life. And were the Government offered to me to-mor- row, (a circumstance which I consider by no means COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. likely to happen,) I would not accept it unless I could do it on terms satisfactory to my own con- science and honour, and could be enabled to effect a complete change in the present system or' Go- vernment. This declaration I make without fear. There is one subject materially connected with such a change I mean the necessity of a Reform in Parliament upon which I have been much misrepresented. My opinions of the most proper mode of effecting such a Reform have undergone some modification ; I think that, from fear of evil consequences, Reform should be effected in a more gradual manner than I thought necessary when life was young, and hope more sanguine, and my dread of danger less acute. To the principles of Reform, as detailed in the speech I made in 1810, on the State of the Nation, I still adhere. A change in the system of government is absolutely necessary, to preserve the constitution from de- struction ; and though a Reform in Parliament would be a most powerful means of effecting that change, yet, whether that Reform should be pressed in the first instance, is a question which, like every other public question, must be influenced by considerations of state expediency; lest by a too hasty attempt to carry it into execu- tion, the probable success of that Reform itself be endangered. If, in repelling the accusations, which have been brought against me, I have animadverted severely upon part of the Clergy, and expressed my indignation at their conduct in strong terms, I request that my remarks may not be applied to any but those, whose conduct has excited them. Born of parents professing the doctrines of the Established Church, educated in its tenets, and attached to its interests, I feel most anxious to see the holy Ministers of my religion enveloped in that respect, which must ever be felt for the Clergyman, the Parish Priest, who performs his duty to his parishioners in a conscientious manner ; who consoles them in their misfortunes, admonishes them in error, maintains them in right; their guide in health, their aid in sickness and in trouble, their supporter amidst the terrors of approaching death ; mild, meek, generous, charitable, and hu- mane; such characters are entitled to the greatest respect, and were they more frequent, we should hear less of these attempts to disturb the peace of society in the name of religion and pretended loyalty. But if we contemplate the reverse o-* this character a busy meddling Priest, hardly known in his parish except by the vexatious col- lection of his tithes seldom heard in his church, a virulent writer of party pamphlets, so far devoid of charity as to visit all persons who differ from him in sentiment with the severest condemnation, denouncing them as traitors to their King and apostates to their God, setting one part of the community against the other I will tell them, that one such Priest, not to mention a whole conclave 122 COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. of them, does more harm to religion than twenty libellers of the most inveterate description. I cannot conclude without expressing my thanks for the patient hearing, which you have afforded me, and assuring you that on this, as all other occasions, I feel most anxious to meet my former constituents, to whom I feel bound by every tie of gratitude; and you may always command my best assistance and endeavours to support and promote that genuine spirit of liberty, which is so essential to the welfare of the country, that if it be once suffered to fall into decay, the country itself must soon fall into ruin. The Resolutions were then put from the Chair, and agreed to unanimously, with the exception of Mr. Orde and two or three other persons. Mr. BEAUMONT, M. P. for the County, in a short Speech, proposed the Address to his Majesty, which was seconded by Mr. SELBY. Mr. LAMBTON, ]\1. P. animadverted with seve- rity on the conduct of the Sheriff, who he thought should be treated with utter contempt, as he had acted not from himself, but from persons of higher authority; for he had no doubt that his instruc- tions travelled to him from the North through Morpeth. He also defended the press from the charge of liceritiousness, brought against it by Mr. Orde, and maintained that nothing could exceed the COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 123 licentiousness and gross calumny of the ministerial press. The Address was then carried by a nearly unanimous vote. The Petition to the House of Lords, and that to the Commons, were then carried in a similar manner. Mr. BIGGE then proposed the thanks of the Meeting to Earl Grey. Mr. SILVERTOP seconded the Resolution ; and observed that among the most enlightened men of the Continent, no statesman of the day was so greatly or so universally esteemed as the noble Earl. Mr. ORDE said, that highly estimating the character of Earl Grey, a character, which justly endeared him to his friends, both public and private, and that being convinced he was actuated by good intentions, he should not oppose the motion ; but would decline voting, lest, by agreeing to it, he might be considered as approving of his political principles. Mr. BOWES WRIGHT then said, he rose with pleasure to confirm the sta tenant of his H<>!> able Friend, Mr. Silvertop, respecting the exalteu opinion entertained upon the Continent of the ta- lents and character of the noble Earl. (He took that opportunity of expressing his regret that in their Address to the King the Meeting had not gone one step further, and prayed that his Majesty would be graciously pleased to dismiss 124 COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. immediately and for ever, from his presence and councils, his present selfish and unconstitutional advisers.) Sir JOHN SWINBURNE said, from the long in- timacy, which had subsisted between them, and the knowledge he had of Lord Grey's worth, he felt particular pleasure in putting the question. The motion was carried by an universal show of hands; when the Chairman added, he would not insult the Meeting by putting the negative upon the motion. Earl GREY shortly returned thanks. Mr. BEAUMONT moved the thanks of the Meeting to the Chairman. Sir JOHN SWINBURNE returned thanks, and the Meeting was dissolved. HAMPSHIRE. 125 County of ON Friday, January 12, 1821, a Meeting of the Noblemen, Gentlemen, Clergy, and Free- holders of the County of Hants, was held at Win- chester, for the purpose of considering the expe- diency of presenting Petitions to both Houses of Parliament, on the subject of the late impolitic and disgraceful proceedings against the Queen; praying them to take such steps as to them might appear wisest and most effectual to remove every obstacle to a final and satisfactorv arrangement, as v C? well as to prevent the renewal of any measure whatever against her Majesty. The Requisition, in pursuance of which the Meeting was convened by the High Sheriff, having been read ; the Freeholders were addressed as fol- lows by MR. ALEXANDER BARING, M. P. : AT the present momentous crisis, and under the circumstances, in which the County has been placed, I feel it impossible to refrain from thus publicly coming forward and delivering my senti- ments, although I do so with much personal incon- venience. 126 HAMPSHIRE. Before I propose the Address, which it is my intention to submit to the present Meeting, I cannot refrain from returning my acknowledg- ments, in unison with those, I am persuaded, of the County at large, to our worthy and impartial High Sheriff, for affording us the present opportu- nity of publicly and constitutionally avowing our sentiments upon the existing state of public affairs, in conjunction with the great mass of the people of this country. The High Sheriff is more par- ticularly entitled, at our hands, to this mark of respect, when we consider the attempt, which has been made in the most unconstitutional manner, (an attempt, which reflected little credit, on those who made it,) to induce him to disobey the Requi- sition, which was presented to him. The manly and independent spirit of the High Sheriff has defeated this attempt; and when the County con- siders the state, in which the Right of Petition was left by the late Acts of Parliament ; when we consider that such a Meeting cannot be held (except with great difficulty) unless it has the sanction of the High Sheriff, who is himself an officer appointed by the Crown, it is impossible for us too highly to appreciate the conduct of our High Sheriff. Under these circumstances, and with the Right of Petition so restricted, to endea- vour to influence the public officer, is to offer a gross outrage to the feelings of the people, and to violate the most sacred principles of the constitu- tion itself. I want words to express the feelings MR. BARING. 127 I entertain of the conduct of men, who could so interfere to prevent a public Meeting-. But how much more strongly is my indignation aroused, when I find that unjustifiable interference carried on and promoted by some of the Ministers of the Crown themselves, who happen to reside in the County, and who after, by their public acts, having violated all the best feelings of the country after having sacrificed its best interests, and outraged its decency and character, have had the meanness to interpose their endeavours to prevent a Meeting of the County from being legally assembled. I need not expatiate upon the grossness of the at- tempt I need not develop the whole of the acts, which attended it and particularly their act of disseminating what they term their Loyal Ad- dress throughout the County, by making the Cler- gyman of every parish their political agent; not, as his sacred functions require, to heal and sooth the jarrings of private life, and promote the concord of his parishioners, but to sow political dissensions among them ; to get their signatures to particular Addresses to promote the views of political party. My indignation is roused to the highest pitch at seeing conduct so disgraceful resorted to by such men. With respect to the Loyal Address, of which so much has been said, I am one of those, who field to no man in a sentiment of loyalty to the throne, though I cannot, as these men do, presume to arrogate to myself the exclusive loyalty of the HAMPSHIRE. country, and promulgate in a public document that all, who refrain from affixing their signatures to its adulatory declaration, are public agitators and disturbers of the public peace. Those, who concur in such a description of the character of the County, will go forth and sign what is called the Loyal Address ; but they, who dissent from a proceeding fabricated under influence in holes and corners, will come forward, and by an Address of their own express their sentiments at the present crisis. It might be asked, what objection could there be to an Address merely conveying an expression of duty and loyalty ? Certainly none in the abstract. But why is an Address necessary at this time ? Who has called, the loyalty of the County in question ? But why equivocate ? Does not every man of candour know, that these Addresses are not intended so much as a declaration of loyalty as an indirect tender of support to the system and conduct of his Majesty's Ministers ? We addressed the King upon his accession to the throne : I con- curred in that Address, because I thought the time was appropriate for its production. Why did not the Gentlemen, who promoted the Loyal Address, take the sense of the County upon their proceed- ing in the first instance, instead of going into holes and corners? Then their course would at least have been direct and open; instead of which, however, they had taken a course most objection- able in its nature. They had circulated a private MR. BARING. Address as being that of the County ; and for aught I know, the Under Sheriff, whose conduct upon this occasion I must reprobate, has trans- mitted it as such to Lord Sidmouth; and I am much mistaken if the Address has not got into the Gazette under this designation. When such an act has been committed, the County, however averse to express any opinion upon a subject, which must be very delicate for the Sovereign to have brought under his notice, has no other alter- native, than either to concur in the Address so framed, or, dissenting from it, to express that dis- sent at a public Meeting called under the auspices of the High Sheriff. The proceedings of these exclusive Loyal Addressers, I repeat, leave the County no other alternative. There never was a time so ill chosen for such an Address to the Crown, as the time for that, which has been transmitted to Lord Sidmouth. Why did these men come forward to tender their lives and fortunes to his Majesty ? Who were the agitators, that alarmed them ? Who were the authors of the sedition and blasphemy, at which they expressed so natural an abhorrence ? But this alarm is a bugbear ; their apprehension is visionary ; the cry of jacobinism is ridiculous; the whole thing is intended to prop up Ministers, and for nothing else. The Minis- ters of the Crown having got themselves and the country into the deepest mire of disgrace, hope by sending forth a cry of alarm, to overpower the voice of the people; indiscriminately branding 130 HAMPSHIRE. every man as an abettor of sedition and blasphemy, who sees through their acts, and the meanness, which dictates them. The whole of the Loyal Addresses are intended to prop up these Minis- ters, and to attempt to justify their late dis- graceful measures : that, and nothing else, is the drift and tendency of this Loyal Address. If, then, the County of Hants is of opinion that Ministers deserve the confidence of the people if you think their late proceedings against her Majesty were dictated by wisdom and good policy then, and then only, can you sign the Loyal Address then, and then only, can you hold up your hands against that, which I have to propose. If, however, you think with me, that Ministers have betrayed their duty to the King, have com- promised the public honour of the country, and grossly violated the best principles of the constitu- tion, then you must see that you have no other course, after the Loyal Address which has been clandestinely sent up in your name, than to come forward and publicly speak out your sentiments. I shall on the present occasion rather propose a Petition to Parliament than an Address to the Crown. The question is one unfortunately of great delicacy to the Crown, and I, who have been always reared up in the plain and blunt expression of my sentiments, cannot concur in idle adulation ; although, at the same time, I am as willing as any man can be to pay proper deference to the throne, with all that loyal duty and respect which he- MR. BARING. 131 comes an Englishman. Under all the circum- stances, however, I think it more befitting- the occasion that the County should address Parlia- ment. Parliament, which was constituted to be the will and organ of the public sentiment, should also be the depository of the people's complaints. I am not an advocate for any violent or sudden Re- form ; but, on the contrary, am rather what is called a moderate Reformer. When I say this, it is also right for me to add, that when the House of Commons meets for the despatch of business, if they do not stigmatize, as the people have done, these horrible and disgusting proceedings, of which his Majesty's Ministers are the authors, I will be the first to say that the House of Commons, by not participating in the public feeling, will have done more to incur disgrace and disrespect, than has been done by any House of Commons in the annals of British History. I call on the people to watch the conduct of the House of Commons at its meeting, as the test of its character and claim to public support. Let that be the true test for ascertaining whether Parliament sympathizes with the people at large, without which sympathy it is impossible there can be any representation. What I therefore propose is a Petition to the House of Commons, expressing the sentiments of the County upon the nature of the late proceedings of his Majesty's Ministers, which were by that House itself proclaimed "to be derogatory from the honour and dignity of the Crown, and injurious HAMPSHIR*. to the best interests of the people." In supporting- the propriety of this Petition, it is not my inten- tion to trouble the Meeting with any details re- specting her Majesty's case. I throw out of my consideration what was the effect of the evidence adduced against the Queen, or how much or how little it was calculated to sustain the charge against her, and I confine myself to what I think is the real and only question, namely, whether his Majesty's Ministers, by instituting the proceed- ings at all, acted as became public men having the honour and character of the country at heart, or with a view only to the retention of their places, submitting to the vilest and basest ser- vility and sycophancy. My own feelings suggest to me that Ministers, in the late prosecution, consulted only their places, and therefore I think they ought to be dismissed for violating a re- sponsibility, which they have, in my opinion, disgracefully betrayed. These are my feelings ; but, perhaps, it may be better for the country not to designate any particular set of men to be the successors of these Ministers, or to throw their weight into the scale one way or the other. I am one of those, who generally act in opposition to these Ministers, yet I do so from feelings purely disinterested. I neither seek nor expect private or personal honour or emolument by their dismissal* Neither myself, nor the Gentleman, from whom the Requisition to call this Meeting emanated, have any other object at heart but the public MR. BARING. 133 good. And in proclaiming that Ministers have sacrificed the public interests, by keeping their places, and yielding to the prejudices and private feelings of the Court, we have^ no object but the peace and prosperity of the country. Never have a set of men, placed in the administration of the country, so completely abandoned all their re- sponsible duties for the basest of all possible mo- tives : I repeat, that to keep their places is their only aim, and for that they care not how great is the public sacrifice. On the question of the Queen I have no de- sire to enter into details. It is enough for my present purpose to say that Ministers, by lifting up the veil of such a question, have let loose upon the community a mass of obscenity, which was obviously calculated to do a greater injury to the morals of the people, than had ever been unhappily inflicted upon them by all the ribaldry and obsce- nity, which had assailed them since the creation of the world. These disgusting details were sent into every family in the kingdom under the sanc- tion and authority of his Majesty's Ministers. It was from them that those filthy details were sent forth, which shook and disturbed the social order and religious feelings of the people, and outraged all the sentiments which were the best comforters of the community. Without touching, then, upon these nauseous details, there are some facts which are plain and palpable, and upon which the conduct of his Majesty's Ministers can be tried. 134 HAMPSHIRE. There was the striking the Queen's name out of the Liturgy, before she was tried, nay, before the accusation was framed against her. To have left the Queen's name where it stood could have done no possible injury to any human being ; and to have struck it out must have led to the most pub- lic and irritable consequences, unless her Majesty was the most spiritless and debased of her sex : otherwise there was no possibility of her submit- ting to such treatment. There was that fact against Ministers ; and then there was the other, the offer of 50,000 a year to her at St. Omer's: again there was the offer of Ministers of the same sum, with the congratulations of both Houses of Parliament that is, the Ministers believing, or affecting to believe, the charges against her Majesty, showed the utmost willingness to com- pliment the Queen, to lavish the public money with profusion upon her, to drag both Houses of Parliament with them through the mire to make any sacrifice, in fact, but the emoluments of their own places. I verily believe that no set of Minis- ters in the history of the country could be found to have acted from more base and unworthy mo- tives. They did not hesitate to prejudge the Queen's case by striking her name out of the Liturgy. Every sacrifice, but that of the places they so unworthily held, they were ready to make. What conduct, then, could be more base and con- temptible ? [He concluded by repeating that the County was reduced to the alternative of either HAMPSHIRE. 135 subscribing to the Loyal Address, or to that, which he now submitted as a Petition to the House of Commons.] [The Honourable Member read a Petition to the House of Commons, which embodied the principal sentiments of his speech.] [Sir CHARLES MILL seconded the motion for adopting this Petition, in every sentiment of which he declared his full concurrence.] [Sir W. C. DE CRESPIGNY, M. P. declared his hearty approval of the Petition. He condemned in the strongest terms the " hole-and-corner" pro- ceeding of the Loyal Addressers, who ought to have called a County Meeting before they ven- tured to promulgate their private opinions as being those of the County at large. The present Requi- sitors had acted in a more becoming manner; they had come forward openly and constitutionally, unlike the interested party, who looked to pre- ferment, not to principle, and who fabricated their documents in secret corporations and attorneys' closets. The Honourable Baronet then commented with great severity upon the conduct of those Ultra-Loyalists, and defended the character of the County from the imputations which they had cast upon it. He had throughout opposed the conduct of Ministers in their prosecution of the Queen. Their Bill of Pains and Penalties had met the unqualified condemnation of the country, HAMPSHIRE. as a most odious and unconstitutional measure. The Ministers, by such a course of proceeding, had shown themselves utterly unworthy the con- fidence of their Sovereign. The people had alto- gether disowned them. He thanked God that although they must still be called the Ministers of the King, no man could call them the Ministers of the people. How fortunate it would be for the country if the royal ear could be opened to a sense of the iniquity of such Ministers if some patriot could approach the King and say, " Sire, your con- fidence has been abused, your country has been betrayed, by the vile and odious acts of your Ministers; listen to the voice of a loyal and affec- tionate people, who will in the end be your best strength, whose hearts are a safer protection for your throne and character than the bayonets of millions of armed men under unconstitutional Ministers."] [Mr. MARSH expressed the great pleasure he felt at seeing so numerous and respectable a Meeting assembled on this occasion, under the auspices of the constitutional officer of the County. The presence of such a Meeting gave the lie to the base and mischievous misstatements of a venal and corrupt press, which published that Meetings like the present could not safely be convened, because sedition and blasphemy were abroad, and a contempt for the laws but too prevalent. The people, however, showed that they respected both the laws and the constitutional authorities, by HAMPSHIRE. 1 37 whom they were administered. They showed it there this day in the reception they gave a con- stitutional Sheriff, who presented a fine contrast to the Sheriff of Dublin, who mt his fellow- subjects at the point of the bayonet, when they were assembled at a regularly convened Meeting under his own auspices. The conduct of the Ultra- Loyalists of Hants was very ludicrous ; they proclaimed that there ought to be no County Meeting, because nine peers and a hundred and thirty freeholders thought it inexpedient. He had often heard, but whether true or not he could not say, that it took nine tailors to make a man ; and it now appeared that it took nine peers to make a County Meeting. But where were they this day ? The Requisition, by which the present Meeting was convened, could only boast of the signatures of one peer and seventy freeholders. Why did not the nine lords and the hundred and thirty freeholders come before the public, and crush them with their superior weight? Two to one formed great odds, but nine to one would have been tremendous. Besides, the Ultras had a terrible weight of metal for the fight. They could muster all the great guns from Portsmouth; and if these did not do execution enough, they had at hand the small canons of Winchester. The Honourable Gentleman proceeded in a strain of humour to ridicule the pretensions of the Ultra- Loyalists, and to expose the secret machinations, by which they endeavoured to prop a falling Ministry. HAMPSHIRK. Another point which he wished to press on their minds was the system which had long been pur- sued, of attempting to injure persons in their trade or profession, because they had the honesty to express publicly their political opinions. Was that illiberal prejudice to be tolerated at the pre- sent day, that would persecute an Englishman for coming forward to express his sentiments? Tle Meeting were about to petition Parliament for the restoration of her Majesty's name to the Liturgy; and this naturally led hini to inquire how the House of Commons and his Majesty's Ministers might stand affected to each other? How the conduct of the House would please the Ministers, he would not venture to anticipate; but he should certainly not be surprised if the late unceremonious conduct of the Ministers towards the House should induce its Members to address them in the lan- guage said to have been used by a rejected lover, in remonstrating with his mistress : " Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love, " But why did you kick me down stairs ?" Whether, however, Parliament did its duty or not, he was sure that the Freeholders of Hamp- shire would do theirs. Mr. Marsh, after some further remarks, concluded by giving his hearty assent to the Petitions, which had been moved.] KARL OF CARNARVON. THE EARL OF CARNARVON: I HAVE waited thus long before I addressed the Meeting, in the expectation that, after the able, manly, and constitutional speeches, which you have heard, some one among the thousands who, ac- cording to the Counter-Requisition, are hostile to the Meeting, might even by accident have found his way among us, and have said something rational before the assembled County, in defence of the principles, on which the present Meeting has been attempted to be suppressed. My regret at not hearing any thing rational stated on the present occasion in defence of those principles, is increased by the consideration, that not one word of sense have I been able to find in the Counter- Requisition itself. It is indeed strange, after we have been told that we form a paltry minority of the County, that our opponents have not sent a detachment of their forces to overwhelm us, if not by arguments, at least by numbers. But it is worth while to inquire what are the motives of these persons for deserting their duty in not at- tending this Meeting. In my opinion, they can absent themselves only on one of two grounds: either they despise the County so much, that they will not condescend to mix themselves with such obscure Radicals as are now assembled, or they dread to appear before the Freeholders when they 140 HAMPSHIRE. find themselves unable any longer to treat the County as a close borough. That they do despise the County, and hate its independence, is suffi- ciently apparent from their having desired the High Sheriff to abstain from calling the Meeting, before they knew what the object of it was, They said it was unnecessary to assemble the Freeholders, because a few of them (the Counter- Requisitionists) had saved the County the trouble, by convening in some obscure corner. They arro- gated to themselves the right of deciding for the whole County; and having made that audacious assumption, they represented to the High Sheriff that it was not right to call a Meeting of the Freeholders. It was decided by their pens for mouths they had none that there should be a Meeting, and yet they forbade the Sheriff to assemble the County. If they did not despise the Freeholders too much to deign to trust their noble persons at the Meeting, their absence must pro- ceed from the other cause, to which I have adverted their fear to meet the indignant people, whom they are no longer able to hold in political thraldom. The last election has shown that the people of this County will no longer be the slaves of Ministers : and if these secret Addressers hope again, when they emerge from their lurking places, to reduce it to subjection, another election will show the spirit of Hampshire. These persons had the modesty to tell the High Sheriff, that because they had decided on an EARL OF CARNARVON. 141 Address, it was not necessary for him to call a Meeting; that because they had thought fit to address the King on one subject, the County should not be allowed to meet for the purpose of addressing his Majesty on another ! The senti- ments of those individuals are known from what they call their Loyal Address; and a pretty milk- and-water composition it is. If I were called upon to take a draught of this tasteless and insipid beverage, I would only object to it on the ground that it was not necessary. What necessity is there for calling on the Freeholders of the County to say that they are loyal to the King and the constitution, when that loyalty has never been rendered doubtful ? But because we are all at- tached to our King and constitution, does it follow that there should be no County Meetings on public measures? Those, who had expressed such a preposterous opinion, had not only insulted the people of the County, but had shown how little credit was due to their mock Address, in which they professed their readiness to defend the con- stitution with the last drop of their blood: for I have no hesitation in saying, that County Meetings, called as the present has been, are as old, as essen- tial, and as vital a part of the constitution, as either of the Houses of Parliament. I shall next say a word or two about this weighty Counter-Requisition, under which the whole County is to sink. At the head of the list of noble names, I find the Marquis of Buckingham 142 HAMPSHIRE. and the Bishop of Winchester. Whether the Bishop of Winchester lias ever visited this County, I know not, [Cries of" No, never ;"] but this I will venture to say, that, whatever benefit the Right Reverend Prelate may himself have derived from his new see, he has had no opportunity of knowing the senti- ments of the County of Hants, and, therefore, it would have been just as decorous and surely de* corum was to be expected in the conduct of a Cler- gyman if he had not placed his name at the head of such a list. Those noble Counter- Requisitionists seem afraid of being soiled by the dust of the present Meeting; they are, no doubt, afraid lest their new stars and ribbands should be dirtied by coming into contact with the free and independent Freeholders of the County. I avow myself a Whig, whatever the Meeting may think of the Whigs ; and my reason for uniting myself to that political body was a firm conviction that by acting with them I took the best, indeed the only way of remedying the evils, in which the country has been involved. Without delivering any opinion on the ques- tion of her Majesty's guilt or innocence, which has nothing whatever to do with the conduct of Ministers, it is enough for me to say that justice could never be administered bv the course, which tt has been pursued that to pass a law three or four years after the alleged commission of a crime, was not becoming a generous people, nay, it was not becoming a just people. Yet such was the cha- EARL OF CARNARVON. 143 racter of the late proceeding, which had roused the indignation of every generous mind in the country. I will say nothing at present of the evi- dence, that has been produced, or of the wit- nesses, who furnished it; for it is sufficient that I have been obliged to sit and listen to such nauseous details, as made me blush for the House, of which I am a member, and for the country, of which I am a subject. At the end, however, I feel proud of belonging to that nation, which has unanimously expressed its abhorrence of the proceeding, and caused its failure. On the subject of the Loyal Address, I am anxious to say a few words before I retire: that Address, which is said to be so numerously signed, and that by persons so much more respectable than the other Freeholders of Hampshire. I should be very glad to know how this snug Address got into circulation. [Cries of " Ask the Under Sheriff."} I hold in my hand a letter, addressed v*/ J */ by the Under Sheriff, to a Clergyman, requesting him to procure signatures to the Address among his parishioners ; and it is to be hoped that Mr. Hollis will explain his conduct in this matter. In the progress of the late bill, we were told that there was a Public Accuser, but no person had ever been able to find him out ; and so, also, there is a County Address, it seems, though the County has never heard of it but through the papers. This letter is addressed to a Clergyman, for such secrets could only be whispered into the ears of the HAMPSHIRE. clergy. I will take this opportunity of stating that I venerate the established church, and am disposed to respect its clergy ; but in proportion to that veneration and respect is my indignation at seeing it attempted to drill the Clergymen of the church into the tools of a vile and wicked admi- nistration, and to degrade them into the trumpet- ers of the praise of Ministers. The letter, to which I have referred, commences with the follow- ing words: " Reverend Sir, I am directed to send you a copy of the County Address ;" but I have the authority of the High Sheriff for saying that that Gentleman never gave the Under Sheriff directions to send the Address in question. I hope, therefore, that Mr. Hollis will state to the Meeting who it was that directed him to set the clergy on the task of procuring signatures, and also explain how he presumed to call this the Address of the County. I can only state my con- viction that if County Meetings are to be put down, the Constitution of England would not sur- vive them one twelvemonth. It is the privilege and the duty of every man to express his senti- ments, and I hope I shall never, like the Counter- Requisition is ts, be afraid to show my face before the assembled County. [His Lordship added, that he understood Mr. Hollis wished to address the Meeting on the subject of the letter, which had been mentioned, and it would be but justice to hear with patience what he had to say in explana- tion.] HAMPSHIRE. 145 Mr. HOLLIS then came forveard, and met with no very gracious reception. He denied that tht Loyal Address professed to speak the sentiments of the County, for it began with the words " We the un- dersigned Noblemen, Gentry, and Clergy of the County of Hants, &c." and, therefore, could only be fairly considered the Address of those, that signed it. He also denied that the clergy had been impro- perly applied to on this occasion, for no Clergyman or any other person had been asked to procure signatures. He then read a copy of the letter alluded to by Lord Carnarvon, which was as fol- lows: Winchester, December 13, 1821. Reverend Sir, / am directed to send you a copy of the County Address, with the view of affording such of your parish- ioners as approve it, an opportunity of signing it in their own .parish, should it be more convenient for them to do so than to sign one of the parchment copies, which are left for signature at the several market-towns in the County. Should there be any names signed on the paper, you will have the goodness to send them to me by the post on Thursday, the 21st instant, and I will add them to the parchment. I have the honour to be, Rev. Sir, Your very humble Servant, GEORGE HOLLIS. P. S. The letter is printed in this place, that it may be cut off to leave room for signatures if necessary. The persons signing are requested to add their titles or professions. Now the obvious meaning of sending the Address to the minister of the parish was,.that he was the u 146 HAMPSHIRE. only person sure to be resident. [Cries of " JVhy not the churchwardens?} Had he meant to send this letter officially, he would have added " Under Sheriff" to his address : but, though he held that office, he did not consider himself precluded from exercising the rights of a private man. A voice in the crowd exclaimed " You say you were desired to send this letter ; who desired Mr. HOLLIS then stated that he sent it out in his character of Secretary to the Hampshire Pitt Club. [Violent hissing.] He was proud of holding an office in a club instituted in memory of a man to whom his country owed much. A Voice." Don't let us talk of the debt now." Mr. FLEMING, one of the County Members, stated, that having seen the Requisition for the purpose of petitioning Parliament, he had come forward to receive the instructions of his consti- tuents: but was sorry to say, that though he should feel it his duty to present the Petition, he could not conscientiously promise to support its prayer in his place, because he conceived its object was to procure the dismissal of the present Ministers for their conduct with respect to the Queen. No man could lament more than he did that proceedings had ever been instituted against her Majesty, or feel more deeply the stigma, which they had fixed on the country. At the same time Minis- ters could not justly be blamed for the conse- HAMPSHIRE. 147 quences of that investigation, which was forced upon them by the arrival of the Queen. The rumours, which preceded her, obliged them to in- stitute the inquiry, in duty to the King and coun- try, and in justice to the Queen herself. [Violent hisses.} But, however the Meeting might differ from him as to the necessity of that inquiry, there could be but one opinion as to the leniency of the mode of trial, [hisses] and the fairness and impartia- lity of her judges. [Violent hootings} They must all admire the temper and candour evinced by the noble Lords of the Cabinet. [Very violent hootings.] In comparing the conduct of Ministers aoad their opponents, he was compelled to say that the charge of acting unconstitutionally came with a bad grace from those who, in 1 06, created a secret tribunal, and tried and condemned the Queen without hear- ing her defence. [Cries of ** No, wo."] We most heartily concurred, however, in the wish expressed in this Petition, that some method might be found of putting the question about the Queen to rest, and of preventing all further discussion and agita- tion of it. [General applause} The Honourable Member concluded with some observations on the subject of the Loyal Address, which he said he was proud to have signed. Mr. JERVOISE, the other Member for the County, then rose. He said he heard the Petition with great satisfaction, and should only beg them to believe his honest declaration that he was ready to receive their instructions to present and sup- 148 HAMPSHIRE. port this or any other Petition that might be agreed to at a County Meeting. Mr. MARSH, in allusion to what had dropped from Mr. Fleming as to putting a stop to all pro- ceedings against the Queen, asked if he would sup- port a motion for the restoration of her Majesty's name to the Liturgy. The HIGH SHERIFF thought the question not relevant, and it was not pressed. Mr. BARING replied. He insisted that, not- withstanding the explanation of Mr. Hollis, it was evident that the Address had been issued as the Address of the County, though, in fact, it was only the Address of the Pitt Club : and it was impor- tant to consider whether that Club should repre- sent the County. He complimented Mr. Fleming for manfully coming forward ; but considered him as perfectly unique in his admiration of the conduct of Ministers in their proceedings against the Queen: all the other friends of Ministers, even the warmest, with whom he (Mr. B.) had communi- cated, had expressed their regret that such an inquiry had ever been commenced. The HIGH SHERIFF then put the question on the Petition to the House of Commons, which was carried unanimously : it was directed to be presented by the County Members. A similar Petition to the House of Lords was also unanimously carried, and directed to be pre- sented by Lord Carnarvon. Thanks were then, at the motion of Mr. HAMPSHIRE. 149 Marsh, voted to Lord Carnarvon for bis exertions, in resisting the attempts of a party to dictate to the Freeholders of the County. His Lordship shortly returned thanks, and moved a vote of thanks to the High Sheriff, for his upright and constitutional conduct in calling the Meeting, and for his dignified and impartial conduct in the chair. The Motion was unanimously agreed to, and the HIGH SHERIFF returned thanks. If, in the discharge of his duty, he had met their approbation, that was the greatest reward to which he aspired. At the same time he took no merit to himself on the present occasion. He considered when he accepted the office of High Sheriff, that he ought to hold it independently of all political opinions: and with this sentiment he hoped he should close his office. He could not dissolve the present Meeting without thanking the Freeholders for the good order, which they had maintained, and for the impartiality with which they had listened to every one, who had claimed their attention : and he congratulated them on the able, temperate, and constitutional speeches, which they had heard. 150- BEDFORDSHIRE. fi?otwt of Urfcfmtr* IN pursuance of a public Requisition, directed to the High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, Charles Barnett, Esq. a Meeting of the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, Freeholders, and other inhabitants of the County of Bedford, was held in the Shire-hall, on Friday, January 12, 1 82 1 , for the purpose of taking into consideration the distressed state of the coun- try, and the propriety of addressing the King, and petitioning the two Houses of Parliament, against the adoption of any further measures injurious to her Majesty the Queen. The High Sheriff having taken the Chair, the Meeting was addressed as fol- lows by HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEDFORD: LABOURING as I do under bodily indisposition^ it is with no inconsiderable degree of pain that I feel myself obliged to state my inability to address the Meeting in the manner I could wish on the present occasion ; but the crisis, in which we are placed, is an awful one, and I will not shrink from a duty, which I conceive to be bounden and im- perative. I will, therefore, endeavour to explain DUKE OF BEDFORD. 1.51 as shortly, but at the same time as perspicuously as possible, the reasons which induced me to sign the Requisition, and which urge me to approve of the Resolutions, which I shall propose to the Meeting, as well as an Address to his Majesty on the present state of public affairs. I have not often had the honour to meet the inhabitants and Freeholders of this County assem- bled on any public occasion. I can only recollect two instances, in the course of my life, when I have had that honour. The last time was to move an humble Address of condolence to his Majesty on the demise of our late venerable and much lamented Sovereign. The instance preceding that was to address his present Majesty, then acting as Prince Regent, on the death of the late Queen. I now entertain the same true and loyal and de- voted feelings towards the Throne which I che- rished on those occasions. And, though I have not now to call on you to condole with the King on the decease of a virtuous Queen, who has passed from this transitory life, yet I have to entreat the Meeting to address the King, to ask of him that he would restore the rights, and redress the wrongs of a living Queen, whose character has been assailed by the foulest, basest, and most malignant conspiracy that ever disgraced the annals of this or of any other country. Her honour, her fame, her character, which are clearer to a woman than life itself, it has been attempted to destroy, by means the most detestable. I will also 152 BEDFORDSHIRE. call your attention to a series of Resolutions, in which the Address to his Majesty is embodied, and likewise to two Petitions, intended to be presented to both Houses of Parliament, which an Honourable Friend of mine has undertaken to move. But before I touch on those points, I will direct your attention to the deep distresses, under which the country is now labouring distresses, that are accumulating from year to year, but which are suffered to pass unnoticed by his Majesty's Ministers. The prayers and petitions of the peo- ple have been disregarded by them ; and they have even advised his Majesty not to attend to the complaints of his subjects. I beg of the Meeting to call to their recollection the Address, which was recently presented to his Majesty from a most loyal and respectable body, the Common Council of London ; and to look to the advice, which pro- duced the answer to that Address an Address in every respect temperate, loyal, and proper. The distress, under which the country labours, is no common one. It has to contend with an enormous national debt, with an immense load of taxation. These, and other circumstances, bear most heavily on the people. The increasing pressure of the poor-rates, which daily become more burdensome to that most respectable class of society, the pro- prietors and occupiers of land, is an evil of the most serious magnitude. But the situation of the country is not considered ; every Petition to the Throne is disregarded every Petition to Parlia- DUKE OF BEDFORD. mentis neglected and his Majesty's Ministers turn a deaf ear to the complaints of a faithful, brave, and suffering people. Unfortunately, his Majesty's Ministers think too much of themselves, and too little of the country. They have showed an ar- dent, an overweening desire to retain their places, but they deem the suffering of the people to be unworthy of their notice. Were I to detail the various burdens, which press upon the country, it would consume too great a portion of your time. When I see the immense amount of the poor- rates when I look to the enormous load of na- tional- debt, carrying with it such a weight of taxation, as renders it impossible that this country <;an long exist under it, I must say that, unless some Reform takes place, unless some mea- sure be adopted to redress public grievances, unless something be done to remove the exist- ing evils, the country is in a situation almost of despair. During the last four or five months, the attention of the King's Ministers has unfortu- nately been taken up by that most lamentable transaction, the Proceedings against the Queen of ^*^**MB^paMI England, which reflect disgrace on the Country, on the Legislature, and, more particularly, on the Ministers, who have dared to bring them before the people. Let us now look a little to the manner, in which the proceedings against the ,ueen were brought forward. In doing this I ill imitate her Majesty, who, in her magnanimity of soul, when she was brought before the Tribunal 154 BEDFORDSHIRE. of the House of Lords, by that odious Bill of Pains and Penalties, declared that she would not go into a detail of the persecutions and sufferings she had undergone from the time when she came to this country until the period at which she left it. I will pursue the same course, and come at once to the period when her Majesty left England for the Continent when a system of spies and in- formers was acted on when a conspiracy was formed to destroy her honour, her fame, her cha- racter, and to leave her poor and miserable indeed, by depriving her of every blessing, and denying her every virtue, which does honour to the cha- racter of a woman. The whole of this proceeding was carried on in darkness it was to be perfected by the agency of spies. Every part of her Ma- jesty's conduct, during six years, which she passed abroad, was to be scrutinized ; and, for that office, spies of the lowest and vilest description were em- ployed. Her Majesty was then to be brought before the tribunals of this country to be tried : / in what manner ? By a Bill of Pains and Penal- ties! That Bill J, as a Member of the House of Lords, opposed in the first instance, because I am an enemy to Bills of Pains and Penalties. I mean not to say, that such Bills do not form a part of the Constitution of this country ; but I contend that they never should be resorted to, except in a case of extremity, nay, of dire neces- sity. Therefore I originally opposed the Bill. But, when it was determined that that pernicious DUKE OF BEDFORD. 155 measure should proceed, I went into the inquiry, anxious to examine the evidence in all its bear- ings ; and having considered the manner, in which the subject was brought before Parliament hav- ing considered the mode, in which the proceedings against her Majesty Were conducted I did feel, when the evidence, such as it was, had been gone through, that not the slightest shadow of guilt attached to her Majesty. I declare it, on my honour and on my conscience, as a Peer and as a man. I will presently look a little at the description of witnesses that were brought against her Ma- jesty. But, before I do so, it will be proper to observe, that when the House of Lords determined on entertaining the Bill of Pains and Penalties, her Majesty, by her Counsel, asked for a list of the witnesses against her, which Ministers thought fit to refuse. That refusal I heard with surprise and indignation ; but my surprise ceased when I saw the set of witnesses, who were brought forward witnesses of the basest description the scum and filth of Italy. When I saw such witnesses, I was not surprised their employers were ashamed of them. Let not those, whom I address, imagine that I mean to assert, that a man, because he is an Italian, must therefore be a base and perjured villain. No ! I believe that there are many, very many just and honourable, and truly high-minded Italians. An Italian author has recently written a treatise in support of the character of his coun- trymen. He complains of various publications 156" BEDFORDSHIRE. which condemn, in one undistinguished mass, the great body of his countrymen. How does he defend them? After defending his country with great energy and eloquence, he proceeds to say " Is it a matter of surprise that twenty-five wretches, loaded with ignominy and poverty, and born in a country stained with twenty centuries of slavery, should he found capable of perpetrating the basest acts r" This is the defence set up by an Italian, when speaking of the character of his coun- trymen in general ; and I agree with that indivi- dual in considering it not at all surprising that twenty-five wretches, of such character as he has described, could be bought for a few guineas ta say or to do any thing. But it was indeed a matter of surprise and of concern to me that Englishmen that British Ministers, who should have the feelings and principles of Englishmen deeply im- printed on their hearts it did surprise me that they should employ British guineas to import those wretches to destroy the honour of the Queen of England. Let us now consider the manner, in which the proceeding was carried on in the House of Peers. We were told that it was pressed forward bv the State ; but we could never find out what V that State was. We searched every hole and corner to find out that State ; but we could find it nowhere : it was invisible and unknown. Was it the King, in his individual capacity ? Unquestion- ably it was not. He would repel the foul calumny ; DUKE OF BEDFORD. 157 for it was impossible that he could become the persecutor of his Queen, the enemy of his lawful wife ! Was it the two Houses of Parliament? No : for the House of Commons said, that, to proceed with the question would be " derogatory from the honour of the Crown, and injurious to the best interests of the country." Was it, then, the House of Lords? Surely the Meeting couid not suppose such an anomaly as that they would at once exer- cise the dissimilar functions of prosecutors, jurors, and judges. Was it his Majesty's Ministers? No: that could not be, for they also were judges. Sir W. Jones, in some very beautiful lines, tending to show " What constitutes a State;" went into a moral, philosophical, and political view of the question; and, after pointing out many things that did not constitute a State, in the course of which he observes, " It is not stars, nor spangled courts, Where low-bred meanness wafts perfume to pride ;" he goes on to say " Tis men- High-minded men men, who their duties know But know their rights and, knowing, dare maintain !" Such was that great man's definition of the mate- rials of a State ; and I would ask, was that the sort of State, which acted as prosecutor on this occasion? Was it a body of high-minded men, who stood forward to persecute the Queen? God 158 BEDFORDSHIRE. forbid ! I have ransacked my imagination, and all I can suppose is that this State consisted of the Earl of Liverpool, first Lord of the Treasury ; and that the ends of justice he sought to obtain were his own place, power, and patronage. I am aware it may be said, as it has often been said, that it is the object of the body of men, with whom I act, to drive out Ministers, for the purpose of procuring their places. This imputa- tion has been cast on the lovers of liberty at vari- ous times. But is there any thing peculiarly en- ticing in the present state of the country sur- rounded as it is by difficulties and dangers which can induce any honest individual to seek for the places of Ministers? This, however, is a matter of speculation, and I will appeal to the fact. How, then, stands the case ? Why, for thirty-two years, during which I have been in Parliament, the Whigs have been in power but for one short year. It has been said, and doubtless would be said again, that this was a mere party question a question between the Ministers and their opponents. I solemnly deny the assertion. When I proceeded to consider the case of the Queen, I allowed no feelings to operate on my mind but those of justice ; I allowed no principle to guide my conduct, but the love of my country. I do -not, however, mean to disclaim party con* nexion altogether. On the contrary, I acknowledge that I am a party man. I have seen in the course of my life, and I have learned from history, that DUKE OF BEDFORD. 1.59 party has often been of use to states ; and, in a Constitution like that of England, composed of King, Lords and Commons, to prevent the en- croachment of one branch on the other, party may be employed for the general benefit of the coun- try. For many years of my life I had the pride and satisfaction of acting under that great politi- cal leader, Mr. Fox. I acted with that great and illustrious man, who, though he was not permitted to serve his country in power, did essentially serve it out of power. By the energies of his mind, by the force of his genius, by the power of his elo- quence, I have often seen that great man stem the tide of corruption, and stop the mad career of that ambition, which would have plunged the country into anarchy and confusion. I had the satisfac- tion of entering the Hall with that illustrious per- son, who bears the name, the virtues and the talents of the great man, whose praises I have feebly pro- nounced I mean his nephew, Lord Holland. That Noble Lord is also a party man, and during the time he has sat in Parliament, his voice has never been raised but in the cause of his country, of liberty, and of humanity. I have always considered him to be the perfect counterpart of the fine character drawn by the poet " No stroke, No keenest, deadliest shaft of adverse fate, Can make his generous bosom quite despair, But that alone by which his country falls ! BEDFORDSHIRE. Grief may to grief in endless round succeed, And nature suffer when his children bleed ; But still superior must that hero prove, Whose first, last passion, is his country's love '." The first and last object of my Noble Friend, whether he be doomed to pass the remainder of his life in or out of power, will be to support the happiness, the honour, and the glory of England that will be the sole aim and object of his political life. His Majesty's Ministers, I have no doubt, will adhere to place and power as long as they possibly can. They will stick to it as long as a plank remains in the ship, as long as they can get any thing by continuing with the wreck. They talk of their firmness, and say they will not quit the vessel, surrounded as she is by dangers. I am old enough to recollect that disastrous period of our history, the end of the American war; and I remember that Lord North talked a great deal about his firmness. When he was taunted by the able statesmen, who were opposed to him, he said, " I took the helm in a storm, and I will not quit the vessel while she is in distress." Mr. Burke, with that powerful eloquence, which distinguished all he said, and, I may add, with that bitter sar- casm, which was entirely his own, replied, "True, it was a storm, and a storm so great that it bent the stately oak to the ground ; and then comes the little paltry willow, that writhes and twists DUKE OF BEDFORD. l6l itself with every blast of wind, and calls its pliabi- lity firmness." So with the Ministers of the present day they shift with every varying wind, and denominate their pliability firmness. These Ministers will endeavour to support themselves in power by the Addressers ; I know not how to term them, they call themselves the Loyal Men. They declare themselves to be exclusively loyal. I know not whether there are any of them in the room ; if there are, I will particularly address myself to : them. What does their loyalty consist in? Why, in getting up Addresses in " holes and corners." The Addresses serve to swell the columns of the Court Gazette ; and the courtly readers take those specious compositions as speaking the sense of the country, I dare say. Of what description are these secretly loyal Gentlemen? They are very well described by a celebrated Irish barrister, as " men, who trade in loyalty, and live upon the taxes." They never lose their stock in trade: they carry it to a good market. If you ask one of them, " Are you a loyal man ?" he would indignantly exclaim, " I am a loyal man, devoted to my King and country how dare you question it?" But if you pursue the inquiry, and say, "Are you loyal for nothing?" the true answer would be, "Oh, no! my loyalty is a marketable commodity." And sure I am, that if such a loyal man could not make more of his professions, than the farmers do of their barley, he would give up his loyalty alto- JO'2 BEDFORDSHIRE. gether, and sigh out, " Farewell, a long farewell to all my loyalty !" I cannot, I think, close my address better than by expressing my sentiments on the question of Parliamentary Reform. From my first entering into public life, I have felt the necessityof a Reform in the Commons House of Parliament ; and every succeeding year that opinion has become more firmly rooted in my mind. It is a question, which has occupied the attention of many eminent Statesmen, during the long reign of George III. A writer, speaking of this subject some years ago, observed, that " Parliamentary Reform was the dying legacy of Lord Chatham, and the virgin effort of Mr. Pitt." I will only say, that the legacy of Lord Chatham has never been paid, and the virgin effort of his son was purely abortive r leaving behind it 110 traces of fecundity. [His Grace concluded by proposing a series of Resolu- tions, embracing the different topics comprised in his speech ; and an Address to his Majesty, founded on them. In proposing' the Address, he adverted to the exclusion of the Queen's name from the Liturgy, a circumstance on which he animadverted with great severity. LOUD HOLLAND. [Mr. W. H. WHITBREAP, in a short speech, seconded the Resolutions and Address.] LORP HOLLAND: 1 CAN T NOT, Gentlemen, enter upon the ge- neral business of the Meeting without first ex- pressing my gratitude to the High Sheriff, for his independent and public spirited conduct, rendered peculiarly remarkable as it is by the very dissimilar course, which more pliant individuals in other Counties have thought proper to pursue. I signed the Requisition, because I conceived that the country could alone be saved by a bold expres- sion of the voice of the people, emanating from great public Meetings. The proceedings against the Queen have been for a long period the great bar to the consideration of subjects intimately connected with the first interests of the country. In order that those interests should be considered, it is necessary, in the first instance, to put an ex- tinguisher altogether on those odious proceedings. How is that to be done? By the voice of the people. It is for them to command it. I always thought that the proceedings against the Queen were not only unnecessary, but would prove use- less and injurious to the best interests of the country. I thought so once ; now I know it. By those proceedings the Crown has suffered; by thorn the people have suffered. During many weeks previous to their commencement, the dis- .cussion of the subject occupied the attention of 1 64 BEDFORDSHIRE. Parliament, and none of the sufferings of the people could obtain the least moment's consider- ation. The business of the country was laid aside, and nothing was attended to but this business a business which I always thought unnecessary; for if all the charges had been true, there could have been no danger to the country from passing them by unprosecuted ; and so far was the prosecution from saving the honour of the Crown, that the -charges, if true, applied only to a period three years before the Illustrious Lady came to the Throne. Let me here advert to the flagrant injustice of those, who maintain, that the decision of the House of Lords not to pass the Bill is no acquittal. I am prepared in the proper place, on every parlia- mentary principle, to maintain that it is. Indeed it must be, for there is not, in the eye of the law of England, any half acquittal. An English sub- ject under no sentence, and under no charge, is innocent ; and to call him guilty is to pronounce a libel. First readings, second readings, or com- mittal of a Bill inflicting penalties, are no more than the private communications between Jurymen before pronouncing a verdict ; and if there could be any analogy between regular judicial proceed- ings and such anomalous things as Bills of Pains and Penalties, the loss or rejection of such Bills is, and must be, tantamount to an acquittal. What would any of the honest sensible yeoman I am addressing, who had pronounced in Court the LORD HOLLAND. IfiS verdict of " Not Guilty" on a prisoner, say, if any person should venture to quote their opinion in the room with their fellow-jurymen, as proof of the acquitted man's guilt ? They would say, and say truly, " The tales you are retailing are slanderous, the opinion you are giving is libellous and punish- able, the man is relieved from the charge on which he was arraigned ; he is, like every other subject, presumed to be innocent." But the con- duct of some persons reminds me of a story said to have passed in that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland ; I do not vouch for the truth of the story, nor for the place where the scene is laid, for I know that we are all guilty of a little illiberality in giving to our Irish brethren a mono- poly of blunders, to which they are, perhaps, no more entitled than the Addressers are to exclusive loyalty. It was said, however, that an Irish Jury had to try a man upon a charge of murder. The prisoner, for some difference in his religious or political opinions, was obnoxious to the neighbour- hood, and both Bench and Jury were supposed to be somewhat prejudiced against 'him; but the evidence was incomplete, in some parts short of the fact, in others manifestly false and suborned ; so that the Jury, who, though prejudiced, were conscientious men, felt themselves bound to acquit. They had too, as well as some conscience, some little experience in courts of justice ; they had, for instance, heard Jurymen say, on finding men guilty, " rny Lord, we are compelled to discharge a 166 BEDFORDSHIRE. painful duty, and pronounce a verdict of Guilty on this unfortunate man ; but we venture, from a consideration of the circumstances of the case, to recommend him as a fit object for mercy." Now, this good Irish Jury, applying, what they had wit- nessed in such cases to their own feelings at the moment, imagined they might act in a similar man- ner, and by a sort of parody, adapt their application to the Judge to their wishes on the subject. " My Lord," said they, " we are under the painful neces- sity of pronouncing the prisoner Not Guilty ; but we venture, with due submission, to recom- mend him nevertheless as a fit object for punish- ment." Such it seems are the notions of those, who would persuade you that the Lords, in reject- ing the Bill against the Queen, did not mean to acquit ; and that she, the first subject in the king- dom, not only not under any charge or before any Tribunal, but relieved from a charge, which has been preferred and heard against her, has not the same right that every other subject of the realm has, to enjoy all the benefits of complete and unquestionable innocence. I beg now to call your attention to the rea- sons for which I, as well as many others, have signed the Requisition. We are in the first place, to declare our opinion as to the country being in a distressed state. We are to consider, in order to form a correct opinion, the domestic and foreign prospects of the country. There is too much rea- son to believe, that while we were engaged in LORD HOLLAND. }67 inquiring into the conduct of a lady fifty years old, and five years since, the honour of the country abroad has been committed, I could almost say, to a cabal or conspiracy of Monarchs, who interfere with the rights and wishes of independent nations, My Noble Relation has said of the Italians, that there are among them men of as high honour as in any nation in the world. This I believe. In Naples I know there are men of the highest honour. There I have seen men assert their rights, and endeavour to improve their own Government. Could you fail to feel the utmost indignation if one shilling were taken out of your pockets to bring back this unfortunate people to slavery? I will say, that I believe Ministers do not wish for such an attempt. I believe that they would rather endeavour to prevent it. But they have delegated their powers to a cabal, where, as the Address well expresses, the will of the tyrant is every thing, and the will of the people no- thing. It is therefore necessary that we should agree in an Address, which deprecates a bloody war against the liberty of any other nation. Another topic mentioned in the Resolutions is a topic of so much importance, that I cannot be expected to go into much detail respecting it. On the extensive subject of Reform, I will not deny that I have some little embarrassment in speaking, because much time would be requisite to explain and develope my ideas upon it correctly, and some caution would be desirable to guard myself in the T68 BEDFORDSHIRE. heat of speaking, against saying more or less than I really think. I have always been a friend of Reform; but I have been thought a lukewarm friend. Perhaps, in some senses, I am a lukewarm friend to it, though it h not much my nature to be lukewarm about any thing. Any Reform I could approve must have for its object the extension of the liberties and the improvement of the happi- ness of the people. I doubt whether any uniform or general alteration of the basis of our Represen- tation would even tend to, much less secure, either of those objects. Nor have I ever looked, as some do, to Reform, as a perfect cure for all political maladies; as what by a Greek word is called a panacea, a remedy to remove every ailment or grievance. On the other hand, the great increase of knowledge and intelligence in England (a benefit the people owe to their own excellent genius and natures, and not to Kings or Ministers) makes it safe and reasonable that larger numbers of them should be admitted to a share in the con- duct of their own concerns. Some districts, too, have increased prodigiously in population, opulence and importance, and they are, in policy, at least, if not in absolute equity and justice, entitled to a larger proportion than they enjoy of political power. Such reforms I have always thought ex- pedient, and have supported. When, then, I look to the conduct of the House of Commons, and more than all to the obvious and natural impres- sion, which that conduct has made on the public ' r LORD HOLLAND. 169 to the distrust, discontent and suspicion it has produced in the community at large, I feel that what has long been desirable has now become neces- sary. It is necessary that classes of people and districts imperfectly represented, or not repre- sented at all, should have a larger proportion than they now have in the representation of the country : without this, Parliament can hardly maintain its authority, and cannot at all recover the con- fidence it ought to enjoy and deserve. To such Reforms, by voting for the Resolutions, I mean to give my support. I am not, I acknowledge, an unqualified friend of Reform I cannot say I approve of Reform, till I know what Reform it is. There have been schemes suggested, (honestly suggested I believe,) which, if accomplished, would in my judgment defeat the ends they pro- pose; abridge, not extend the influence of the people ; injure, not improve the interests of liberty : but such Reforms as I have alluded to are always expedient and desirable, and .are now, in my con- science, I think, necessary. I have now only to thank you for the attention you have shown. In the course of my public life, I have seldom seen a public day, that has given me more satisfaction. If any thing could have added to the pleasure I derive from the appearance and conduct of this Meeting, it is the manner, in which you have received my Noble Friend and Relative. Him I have known, and that great and good man, his brother, I have known from z 170 BEDFORDSHIRE. infancy. I will not attempt to turn phrases upon the character of my Noble Friend [the Duke of Bedford ;] but I will say, that a better man, a worthier or more honest man in public or private life, never adorned any County or Country in the world. [The HIGH SHERIFF put the Resolutions seria- tim. An elderly man in the humbler walks of life, but of most respectable aspect, and his son, who stood immediately below the Hustings to the left of the Chair, regularly held up their hands against each Resolution. The High Sheriff successively declared that only two hands tfere raised against the sense of the Meeting. They were named Biggs. Mr. WILSHIRE then moved, and Mr. PAYNE seconded the Petitions to" both Houses of Par- liament, founded on the Resolutions. The Petitions were likewise carried dissentien- tibus only the two Biggs. Mr. FOSTER moved that the Address be signed by the HIGH SHERIFF, and by him presented.] LORD JOHN RUSSELL . I RISE, Gentlemen, to second this motion. It would be not only superfluous but imperti- LORD JOHN RUSSELL. 171 nent in me, when you are all exhausted, to en- deavour to call your attention to topics so ably discussed. I mean particularly to advert to the absence of the speeches and persons of those, who call themselves " The Loyal." There are but two of those persons, who are so good as to give us their presence, and who do the Meeting the honour of giving the no doubt honest opposition of their votes. These two must feel surprised to find themselves in so small a minority* I met a Reverend Gentleman making a very hasty and not a very good-humoured retreat, and he is now probably in some hole or corner with those, whom I will not call disloyal, but who I will say are mis-loyal. If we are to believe the mis-loyal Addresses, the view of the state of the monarchy is painful indeed. Those Addresses express no- thing but love of the King and Constitution, and hatred of sedition and blasphemy ; and to express such love and hatred, they are obliged to run into corners. Nay, the Monarch is driven to ask support from the Scotch Counties. Could any thing be more alarming to the King, than to find, notwithstanding, only sixty loyal men in Renfrew, and only thirty-three to represent the loyalty of the extensive County of Inverness ? If there had not been more loyalty in the County when the Pretender appeared in Invernesshire, the House of Hanover would soon have gone back again to Hanover. But the real object is to support Minis- ters without saying any thing about them. The 172 BEDFORDSHIRE. reason is this : if the Addresses maintain the Bill of Pains and Penalties, they must contend that it ought to have heen carried through both Houses, and that would reflect upon Ministers ; hut if they do not approve of the Bill, they cannot but dis- approve of Ministers; therefore they are silent upon that subject. The Press has always been said to be seditious and blasphemous for the last 125 years ; yet during all that time the Government has been growing stronger. This is proof that a free Press is not incompatible with a strong Government. Let it be granted that the Press is seditious and blas- phemous, (I see no instance of it, but I will give credit to the Loyal Addressers on this subject,) still, if the Government be good, it can sustain no injury. A Government worth preserving will always be preserved. Some years ago one of the ablest, certainly one of the most popular writers in the country, wrote against potatoes. Did any one say that if he were not put down, the interests of the potatoe were in danger ? No, not even the Irish took any alarm for their favourite, and pota- toes still continued to be cultivated in our gardens, and presented on our tables. It is the same with a good Government. But the charges of sedition and blasphemy mean only that the Press is hostile to the deceptions and bad acts of the Administra- tion. Therefore restraints have been imposed on the Press, and I fear further attacks will be made. But if that should unfortunately prove true, I trust LORD JOHN RUSSELL. 173 that the people of England will from gratitude come forward, and save the Press from the hands of unhallowed and despicable men. The Marquess of Buckingham sent a Counter- requisition to the Sheriff of Hampshire, because he thought the subject an unpleasant one for discus- sion. He who had, in a Committee, recommended inquiry and a Bill of Pains and Penalties, now deprecated inquiry, and said it was a very un- pleasant discussion. As well might Guy Fawkes, when detected, after having laid his train of gun- powder, have turned round and said, " Gentlemen, this is a very unpleasant business ; and it is much better that all discussion on the subject be given up." But the people will not so easily give up the discussion. It is necessary to have it fully dis- cussed and set at rest, if for no other reason, in order to obtain due attention to the state of the country. The difficulties of our present situation, unencumbered with the monstrous proceedings against the Queen, require the utmost attention and skill of the ablest Ministers ; " But fools rush in where angels fear to tread." I will not now discuss the difficult question of Reform. I agree that the representation is not sufficient or effectual. I readily agree to the Resolution on this subject. But while the repre- sentation remains so defective, it is necessary for the people to speak so distinctly and so loudly as not to be misunderstood by King, Lords, and 174 BEDFORDSHIRE. Commons, that the separation, which will other- wise become a divorce, may be forgotten. [The younger BIGGS here requested to be heard in reply to the Noble Lord. He was much encouraged by those on the hus tings, and patiently listened to by all present. He said that whatever might be the propriety or impropriety of his con- duct or of his father's, it could not be imputed to any instruction or influence. [Applause.] He thought it much more honest to raise his hand against votes, of which he disapproved, than to seem to acquiesce in them. [Applause.] Was it not more conscientious and manly to declare their opinions, unseduced,un terrified, however large the majority against them? The elder BIGGS said that was all he had to say. The Resolution was then carried with the same two dissentients. It was then moved that the Petition to the Lords be presented by the Duke of Bedford, to the Commons by the County Members.] THE MARQUESS OF TAVISTOCK. 175 THE MARQUESS OF TAVISTOCK: I NEVER felt greater pleasure in obeying the instructions of my constituents. Never has a task been assigned to me so agreeable to my own feelings. It has always been my fortune to be in opposition to the Ministers, who have brought so much distress and discontent upon this once flourishing and happy country. Nothing but Meetings like the present can bring about any change in a system so long and so fatally pursued. I agree that the restora- tion of the rights of the Queen is absolutely neces- sary for the peace and tranquillity of this distracted country. The Ministers have so far disregarded the people, as to have introduced the proceedings against the Queen, mindless of the discord and disunion they were calculated to excite ; nay more, in direct violation of their own feelings, and for no other object but their places. For the sake of their office they were content to sacrifice their Queen. They have now goaded the people almost to des- pair, and risked a Revolution itself. It has long been my persuasion that no good could arise from a mere change of men, without a temperate but effectual Reform of Parliament. I would not support any set of men who would not adopt the principle of Reform on entering into 176 BEDFORDSHIRE, office. Who are in office is a matter of perfect indifference to me, but as it affects the peace, the happiness, and freedom of England. Mr. PYM expressed the satisfaction he felt in receiving such instructions. Lord HOLLAND proposed thanks to the High Sheriff, in which he anticipated the concurrence of that honest and independent man, who had done honour to them and to himself, by holding out his hand conscientiously against what he could not concur in. His Lordship then drew an elo- quent contrast between this man and those, who only held goose quills in corners, and called their sentiments those of the people of England. The motion was unanimously agreed to. Lord HOLLAND- said, with emphasis " Let libellers and slanderers go now and say, they would not have been heard if they had appeared here." The HIGH SHERIFF, in returning thanks, ex- pressed his admiration of the conduct of the Meet- ing, which he hoped would be an example to the kingdom. CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 177 Cfowttg ON January 16, 1821, pursuant to public Requisition, presented to the High Sheriff, Thomas Burgess, Esq., a Meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of this County was held on the Market- hill, to consider the propriety of addressing his Majesty to dismiss his present Ministers from his presence and councils for ever. The Shire-hall was the place originally fixed for the Meeting, but as it was found not sufficiently large to contain even one-fourth of those who wished to be present, an adjournment to the Market-hill was proposed, and immediately agreed to. The Under Sheriff, Mr. WELLS, (the High Sheriff being unable to attend,) then opened the business of the day by reading the Requisition, which had been directed to his Principal, calling on him "to convene a Meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of Cambridge, far the purpose of considering of the propriety of presenting an Address to his Majesty, praying him to remove his present Ministers, who had, by various acts, and more especially by their late con- duct in the proceedings against the Queen, which were contrary to every principle of justice, lost all claim to the confidence of the people." Gentle- 178 t AMBRIBGESHIRE. men (continued the Under Sheriff), you are, in compliance with this Requisition, now assembled together. When the High Sheriff took upon him the authority which he has thus exercised that of calling you together he stated that it gave him great pleasure at all times to comply with the wishes of the County. It is not the duty of the presiding officer to deliver to you any sentiments of his own. It is his duty to do that which I, as the representative of the High Sheriff, am deter- mined to do to observe the strictest impartiality, and to hear every person, who may think proper to address you on this occasion. You are met here to attain the truth, and you all know the truth can alone be found by free and impartial discussion. I look to your co-operation for the preservation of good order during the day; and it is by listening attentively to every person that we can best go through the business which we are assembled to consider. Before we proceed to the business of the day if is my duty to read to you a letter which has been received from your Noble Representative, Lord Francis Godolphin Osborne, apologizing for his absence. [In his letter the Noble Lord expressed the extreme re- luctance, with which he had given up all hopes of being able to attend the Meeting; but severe illness rendered him totally incapable of appearing. He hoped, however, that the Address, which, had he been present, he would have proposed, would be ably supported by others. He was of opinion LORD DACRE. 179 that it was by a legal and constitutional expression of popular feeling and sentiment at great public Meetings, that the country could alone be saved.] Since this letter was received (continued the Under-Sheriff) the Earl of Hardwicke has notified that illness alone has prevented his attendance. The Meeting was then addressed as fol- lows by LORD DACRE : I RISE to address you under circumstances of considerable embarrassment. I am aware that, not being a resident at present in this County, I may be accused of presumption in venturing to address the Freeholders and Inhabitants on the present occasion. But, as I appear as the substi- tute, if you will allow me to say so, of your Noble Representative, whose presence is denied you in consequence of severe iHness, I trust you will hear me with patience, however inadequate I may be to the task, while I express those principles and opinions, which I am confident would have been expressed with more vigour, energy, and ability, if the health of my noble friend had suffered him to attend. Perhaps I shall be heard with more favour by the Meeting, if I remind you of a sort of claim I have on your indulgence, for having, >me years ago, appeared before you for the pur- pose of recommending to your support that Repre- 180 CAMBRIDGESHIRE. scntative, whose manly, independent, and patriotic spirit, has led him, consistently, invariably, steadily,- and zealously, to watch over and protect the best interests of the people of England. I have marked his conduct in parliament, and I have seen him invariably opposed to those unhappy measures, which have driven this country to its present distressed and disastrous condition. My noble friend has opposed, invariably, those mischievous measures, which, instead of leading to economy and retrenchment, have supported a system of ex- travagance and profusion, and which have neces- sarily led, as he and his friends anticipated, to the present situation of the country, which all good men so deeply deplore. If I were, on the present occasion, to go through all the various instances, which I am in a situation to adduce, in which the Ministers of the Crown have rejected the advice of their constituents, have disregarded the petitions, and neglected the interests of the people, I should weary your patience and exhaust your time. Ministers were but little aware of the situation in which they stood, when, in a spirit of extravagant ^profusion, they were indulging in an excessive expenditure, the ultimate result of which they could not anticipate. When they voted, and brought the House of Commons to agree in the decision that deteriorated paper was equivalent to sterling gold ; and when they did not hesitate to bring forward a bill, enacting that that paper LORD DACRE. 181 should circulate in its deteriorated state, they little imagined that they were working mischief, the end and termination of which it was impossi- ble to calculate. Perhaps that may be one of the most important engines now at work, by which the distress and misery, under which all ranks and orders throughout the country are now suffering, have been produced. The agricultural interest is distressed : it is suffering beyond calculation. The manufacturing interest also is distressed : it is cramped and impoverished throughout the coun- try. All this is the effect of the pernicious system, that has been so long pursued ; and . I should, I am sure, exhaust your patience, if I entered into a detail of the various measures prejudicial to the happiness and interest of the empire, for which Ministers are wholly responsible. Nature is boun- tiful the country is rich in produce, but the population of the country, on the contrary, is poor and miserable. The people, the suffering and goaded people of England, who have gallantly and patiently endured all privations, who have submitted to a long series of evils, in the hope of a better and more peaceful time, are wholly neglected and despised. They have honestly, temperately, and loyally stated their grievances to Parliament and Ministers. The Ministers have indeed received their petitions and heard their complaints ; but they have disregarded them, they have rejected them, they have despised them; for they have never deigned to notice them. This J82 CAMBRIDGESHIRE. total disregard of the petitions of the people has led the people to discontent to, I will say, justi- fiable discontent That discontent Ministers are unable or unwilling to controul by conciliatory methods, and they meet it with the iron hand of power, with the instrument of tyranny I mean an increased military establishment. I am not one, who think that the government of the coun- try can exist without a strong controlling power ; but every object of controlling power could be effected by gaining the hearts of a free and willing people. When their affections are gained, there is no need of harsh measures there is no need of incurring a heavy expence in order to support a military power to controul a friendly and willing people. This is one of the great causes of the present distress, aggravated and increased, instead of decreasing expenditure. That expenditure may perhaps have been rendered necessary by the measures of Ministers ; but it would be totally unnecessary and nugatory, if they attended to the fair, manly, and honest demand of the people of England. With respect to Ministers, they appear not to have been unmindful of their own interests, how- ever careless they may be of those of the people. Whenever the question of Reform in Parliament (to which I have ever been attached) is mentioned in Parliament, they have rejected it with disdain. Whenever they have been detected in practices subversive of freedom of election, they have . LORD DACRE. 183 sheltered themselves under the notoriety of such practices ; and their friends and adherents, if they could not save them from all censure, at all events shielded them from the punishment which they deserved. As I have stated, Ministers are never regard- less of their own interests. They know whence they derive their power they know that it emanates from the Crown ; and, therefore, they have shewn that they are constantly ready to lend themselves to the will of the Crown, particularly on a late occasion, which has excited the indignation of the people, and drawn forth the strongest expression of national sentiment and feeling from every part of England. They well knew that the Queen was not a favourite at Court ; and, knowing this, they conceived that the best way of gaining favour in the eyes of his Majesty, was, to receive information furnished by Planoverian agents, by Italian spies, and unknown traducers. They adopted the com- munications of those persons as their own, and acted on them as theirs. I do not think it proper or necessary to give any distinct opinion on the matter they have brought before Parliament ; but this I will say, that a Bill of Pains and Penalties is contrary to the principles of justice, contrary to all legal analogies, and contrary to the fundamen- tal principles of the British constitution. I know of no instance in history where a Bill of Pains and Penalties has been resorted to, which ought not to be held out rather as a light to enable others to 184 CAMBRIDGESHIRE. avoid clanger in future, than as an example which ought to be looked up to and followed. These were, however, the precedents on which Minis- ters relied those very precedents which they ought most sedulously to have avoided. There- fore I contend that the proceedings of the Minis- ters, founded on such base evidence, their lending themselves to German diplomatists, their lending themselves on such an occasion, with so much promptitude, to the will of a Sovereign, who had separated from his consort, renders them wholly unfit to continue in the situations, which they at present hold. They ought not to be permitted henceforth to move in the same path of danger and of mischief, in which they have been travelling for so many years. Ministers, who feel themselves under the necessity of resorting to the agency of Italian accusers and German diplomatists, are unfit to guide the affairs of this country. You have heard, to your utter astonishment, how far Ministers are .now under not the will of the people of England but how far they are under the controul and despotism of foreign govern- ments. You must have heard of combinations of sovereigns against the liberties of the people of Europe. Now, though it is not mentioned in the Address, which has been placed in my hand, (for, as I have before stated, I am onty the substitute for your Noble Representative,) and which I am about to move ; still I regret that the foreign relations of this country have not been alluded to. LORD DACRE. 185 I regret it on account of the doctrine maintained by the Holy Alliance. It is true the British Ministers have not placed their signatures to that alliance; but you know how intimately connected, how nearly blended they are, with all the bad actions of that alliance. If I enter into a detail, it would be painful for me to express the disgust and abhorrence I feel towards many of the measures of the present administration especially their lending themselves to the prosecution, I might more properly say, the persecution, of her Majesty. After doing that, I think they have no right to hold a public and responsible situation in the government of the country. On these grounds, added to the private affection I entertain for your Noble Representative, I stand forward to propose an Address to his Majesty; and if there be any individual in this Meeting who will boldly, manfully, and energeti- cally state opposite opinions, and prore that mine are wrong, I will most cheerfully confess my error. But I entertain a confident hope that the Meeting, witti the exception of but a few indivi- duals, will carry with acclamation the Address, which I now have the honour to propose. [His Lordship concluded by moving the following Address to the King's Most Excellent Majesty.] We, your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the Nobi- lity, Gentry, Clergy, Freeholders, and other Inhabitants of the County of Cambridge and Isle of Ely, beg leave to offer to your Majesty the asiurance of our zealous attachment to your Royal 2 B ]86 CAMBRIDGESHIRE. Person and Family, and to the Throne and free Constitution under which we have the happiness to live. When we reflect that the same Revolution seated your Majesty's Family on the Throne of these Realms and confirmed our liberties, we feel our- selves united in interest to your Majesty by more than the com- mon ties between Sovereign and People. It is a peculiar and pre-eminent feature of our Constitution to look to the Throne with gratitude, in times of national prosperity, and for protection and assistance in those periods of distress, to which all nations are subject, while the responsibility of Ministers affords us a secu- rity against those acts of misgovernment, which lead other com- munities to unavoidable ruin. It would be presumptuous and unnecessary for us to submit the distressed state of the nation to your Majesty's consideration as matter of information. The difficulties, under which your people labour, are so notorious, that, on that subject at least, opi- nions are uniform. In this Agricultural County their effects are naturally felt, in the depressed state of all those who are connected with the cultivation of land ; and we should be wanting in feeling towards those of our fellow-subjects engaged in commerce and manufac- tures, were we to deny, that at the least their sufferings are equal to our own. The existence of so much national distress in a period of profound peace, and that of considerable duration, has naturally excited our surprise, and has driven us frequently to express our feelings and distresses in Petitions to both Houses of Parliament, for inquiry and redress ; these our Petitions have been presented in vain, and despairing of any relief, either from the adoption of measures of public economy, or from the reduction of taxation, under the influence of your Majesty's present advisers, we na- turally recur to a practice adopted in the best periods of our history, and beg leave respectfully to submit our opinion to your Majesty, that your present Ministers have lost the confidence of the people, and can no longer be useful or effective advisers of the Crown. We feel an unwillingness unnecessarily to enter into the con- EARL FITZ WILLIAM. 187 sideration of subjects connected with any domestic arrangement in your Majesty's Illustrious Family ; but when, in the person of the Queen of England, an attack has been made, under the sanction of your Ministers, upon all those principles of justice to which the meanest of your Majesty's subjects look up for sup- port and defence, it adds force to our opinion of the necessity of a changein your Majesty's Councils. We, therefore, intreatyour Majesty to remove from your con- fidence those whose advice can be no longer serviceable to your Majesty, or beneficial to your people. EARL FITZWILLIAM: I FEEL, Gentlemen, great pleasure in second- ing the Address, which contains no sentiment that does not appear to me to be perfectly correct. The conduct of Ministers is wholly unjustifiable in many instances, and in none more so than in the manner, in which they treat the complaints of the people. Their misconduct has produced consi- derable discontent throughout the country; but, instead of endeavouring to allay it, by alleviat- ing the burdens of the people, they have re- course to a great additional military force, by which the public expenditure is increased, when it ought to be diminished. The charge of dis- loyalty and sedition, which has been so confi- dently made against the people, is founded on calumny, and calumny alone. The people of England have repeatedly petitioned their peti- 188 CAMBRIDGESHIRE. tions have been neglected, and that this might generate discontent, I admit ; but I maintain it to be completely proved that there never was such discontent in existence as could justify their unconstitutional addition of 10,000 to the standing army in time of peace. These are my senti- ments ; I speak them fairly to my friends and fel- low-countrymen, and feeling them to be well- founded, I shall, acting under their influence, sup- port the proposition of my noble friend. Mr. FORDHAM, after pointing out the ne- cessity of Parliamentary Reform, proceeded to read a Resolution on that subject, which he meant to move. The UNDER SHERIFF said the Meeting was convened under a particular Act of Parliament, and he could not put a Resolution, the subject of which was not mentioned in the Requisi- tion. Mr. MEREST, and the Rev. Mr. MABERLY supported the Address. Mr. LITTLE opposed the Address. He de- fended the conduct of Ministers, who, he affirmed, had never done any thing since they came into power prejudicial to the interests of the King or of the people. They had terminated the late war most gloriously they had raised the British name all over the world they had given freedom to Europe, and had transported to a rock in the CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 189 Atlantic, the despot, who would have enslaved her for ever. The question was then put, and carried affir- matively by an immense majority, not more than a dozen hands being held up against it. F. PYM, Esq., after a short speech, moved that the Address be presented by the Lord Lieutenant of the County and the two Colinty Members ; which was agreed to. 150 WILTSHIRE. County of ON Wednesday, January 17, one of the most numerous and respectable Meetings ever witnessed in this County was held at the Market-cross in the Town of Devizes, where spacious Hustings had been previously erected. The Meeting was called by the High Sheriff, pursuant to a Requisi- tion presented to him, signed by the Duke of Somerset, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Carnarvon, Lord Holland, and the principal Nobi- lity and Gentry of the County, to consider the propriety of declaring their unabated and unalter- able attachment to the Constitution and the Throne; of expressing their regret at the late unconstitutional proceedings against the Queen; and of petitioning both Houses of Parliament to take die most effectual measures for the removal of every obstacle to a satisfactory and final ar- rangement, and to prevent a recurrence to mea- sures of a similar tendency, and the revival of dis- cussions equally mischievous to the public morals and dangerous to the peace of the country. The Duke of Somerset moved that the High Sheriff do take the Chair. The motion, seconded by the Marquis of Lansdowne, was carried unani- mously. MR. METHUEN. 191 The TIiGH SHERIFF accordingly took the Chair, and commenced the business of the day by reading the Requisition. He next stated, that he had that morning received a letter from Lord Holland, which, with the permission of the Meet- ing, he would read to them. The High Sheriff then read the letter, which was as follows : Mr. HIGH SHERIFF After having signed the Requisi- tion, which was presented to you, I regret that I am prevented, by indisposition, from attending the County Meeting, which, in compliance with that Requisition, in virtue of the office you hold, and in the spirit of our free and popular Constitution you, Sir, have so readily and so properly convened. I was in hopes of having it in my power to explain to the Freeholders of my native County of Wilts, the motives which induced me to solicit you to call them together at this time. If it be not irregular, I shall now feel obliged to you, Sir, or to any brother Freeholder, to read the following short statement to them : I was persuaded, first, that there never was a period in which the conduct of public affairs required more deliberation and wisdom. Secondly, that until the Queen was in full pos- session, not only of her strict legal rights and dignities, but of all those outward marks of respect, and other advantages which the liberal and loyal people of England have been in the habit of conferring on the consorts of their Sovereigns, the Councils of the nation neither would nor could pay due attention to the va- rious important matters, upon their decisions on which the cha- racter of the country abroad, and the liberty, property, peace, and happiness of its inhabitants at home, seem to me essentially to depend. And thirdly, I was convinced, from many obser- vations too minute to be detailed in a letter, that nothing but the sense of the community, conveyed through such channels as the late restraints on public discussion have left uninterrupted, could extinguish all further proceedings on the subject of the 192 WILTSHIRE. Queen. It was with such views that I signed a Requisition, calling on you to convene the Freeholders of the County ; and I now write to you, in the firm hope, that, regularly convened by your compliance therewith, they may do all that in them lies, to prevent the revival of discussions, which, according to the just apprehensions of one Legislature, have been found on experience, to be derogatory from the honour of the Crown, and injurious to the best interests of the country. I have the honour to be, with great respect, Sir, Your obedient humble servant, VASSALL HOLLAND. Old Burlington Street, London, Jan. 16, 1821. The HIGH SHERIFF then said, that having convened the Meeting, he had only to hope that every Gentleman who should address them, would receive a full and patient hearing ; and further, he had to request that Gentlemen would confine themselves to the immediate subject for which the Meeting had been called. The Meeting was then addressed as follows by MR. PAUL METHUEN : GENTLEMEN, IN rising to move the Resolutions, I lament my inability to do justice to the subject, which, on this occasion, has called the Freeholders of the County together a subject, which, I will venture to say,without the fear of contradiction, has occupied the attention of every man in this conn- MR. METMUEN. try ; and, I am sorry to add, of every woman and child also. I lament the more sincerely my want of ability, when I see before me a Meeting, in every way so imposing so numerous ; supported as it is by men of the first character for honour and integrity in private life, and for a steady re- gard for public principle ; by men of enlightened views and of transcendent eloquence eloquence which is always exerted in the cause of public liberty : when I see standing near me two Noble Lords, [the Duke of Somerset and the Marquis of Lansdowri] to whom the country was greatly indebted on a late occasion, when it was disgusted with those proceedings, which were a mockery of justice : I can call them by no other name. No doubt the Meeting is anxious to hear those Noble Lords, as well as the other distinguished men, who are present; I shall therefore be as brief as the nature of the task, which has devolved upon me, will permit. Whilst I feel anxious not to detain the Freeholders, I cannot yet help thinking, that if there ever were a moment, which called upon every honest and independent man in the kingdom to come forward every man who is not tagged to the tail of government the present is the moment for him to state his opinions, and to record those opinions against the enemies of his country. I seize with pleasure this opportunity of re- turning thanks to the High Sheriff of the County, not only for calling the Meeting, but for the very li)4 WILTSHIRE. handsome and liberal manner, in which he has done so. The conduct of that Gentleman is the more honourable the more deserving of public praise, when contrasted with the conduct of certain Sheriffs in other Counties : and I trust that after an example so creditable to this County, there will never be found any Wiltshire Gentleman so lost to all sense of delicacy and of duty, as to refuse to his brother Freeholders an opportunity of openly avowing their sentiments; that no Wilt- shire Gentleman will be mean enough to avail himself of the accident of place, in order to interrupt the expression of that public opinion, which it is impossible to subdue. With respect to the immediate business of the clay, I would ask, can any one doubt that her Majesty has suffered under a foul persecution? I believe that she is the intended victim of a foul conspiracy, begot in malice, engendered in dark- ness, and supported by perjury. The Ministers throughout seem to have but one object fair or foul, foul or fair, we will, said the Ministers, find her guilty. A popular poet has said " Slaves cannot breathe in England; when their lungs Receive our air, that moment they are free ; They touch our country, and their shackles fall. That's noble, and bespeaks a nation proud And jealous of the blessing." Such was the character, which Englishmen once had will they allow that character to be MR. METHUEN. 19S stained, or reversed by an infatuated Administra- tion ; by men, who do not value the virtues of the nation, because they feel not their influence? Those men commenced what might be called a war of extermination against whom ? against one lonely, defenceless woman. Will the people of England allow that illustrious woman, the wife of their Sovereign the first subject in the land a woman who has a double claim on their support the daughter of a hero the mother of their lamented and beloved Princess Charlotte will they allow such a woman to be tried without jus- tice, and crushed Mdthout mercy? To use the language of the Honourable and patriotic Baronet near me [Sir JF. Burdett,~] " forbid it every drop of blood that does not proclaim its owner bastard." It becomes the duty of every honest man to speak out, and to mark with reprobation the odious system pursued by Ministers against her Majesty. It is also the duty of every man to support the King, as the head of the State; but whilst we express our determination to support his Majesty, we are bound also to declare, that to support him or any other Sovereign, we will never desert the Consti- tution which we love. Of the King we are bound to speak respectfully; but of the conduct of his Ministers it is impossible to speak in language other than that of abhorrence. Their first duty was honestly to advise his Majesty, and fearlessly to act; but they neither advised with candour, nor acted with independence : their object, their main '196 WILTSHIRE. object, was to keep their places to preserve the loaves and fishes; and, therefore, they trifled with the dignity of their Master, and trampled upon the feelings of the country. If it were allowable, for the sake of argument, to suppose a case, however impossible at the present period, in M'hich a Monarch, born and bred in this country, cradled in this land of liberty, should yet judge so errone- ously of the spirit of a people, who have made so many exertions to limit the power of the Monarch, and to extend the freedom of the Constitution, as to imagine that they would submit to all his ca- prices ; if any Monarch were so blind, his Minis- ters surely would be bound to direct him, and tell him that certain measures would not receive the public sanction ; and not, instead of doing so, to betray their King, and lead him, step by step, to an extremity which could not be contemplated without horror. But what is the extent of decep- tion which the present Ministers practise towards his Majesty? See the public journals in the pay of the Government was ever Monarch so meanly and so grossly flattered ? Were ever a people so much insulted ? Was ever woman, even the lowest the most profligate and licentious even the female felon assailed with such foul abuse such filthy, unmanly, cruel attacks, as her Majesty is daily exposed to from the demi-official papers of the Treasury? But the abuse is not confined to her ; the people are honoured by the invectives of that vile press; not a single man can come for- MR. METHUEN. 197 ward at any public Meeting, that is not exposed to the insults of those exclusive pretenders to loyalty those declaimers against the licentiousness of the press. I admit that some occasional ex- cess may be traced to the doors of the enemies as well as of the friends of administration ; I lament it I lament that popular animosities should be catried to such an extent, but I cannot help thinking that there is a strain of generosity even in the excess of feeling in the cause of a woman, whose fate is interwoven with the character of the country and the rights of the Constitution. That feeling appears the more generous when put in contrast with the meanness and selfishness of the Government and their abettors. I will give one instance of the manner, in which the King is flattered and deceived. The Bishop of London on a late occasion solemnly declared that the Sove- reign could do no wrong could do no wrong, not merely as a King, but morally could do no wrong as an individual. In the opinion of that Learned Bishop, the King could do no wrong towards his wife : he was exempted from the common frail- ties of our common nature : in the opinion of the Bishop he could do no wrong and he could com- mit no folly. Such was the declaration of a Pre- late of the Church of England one of God's Ministers. Such was the opinion of the Lord Bishop of London, that a human being is not morally responsible for any act of his to his country to the laws to his conscience or his 198 WILTSHIRE. Creator. The Bishop of London should not do things by halves. Holding the opinion he pro- nounced, he might, in consistency with it, have gone to the King, and said, " Sire, you wish to get rid of your wife your Majesty can do no wrong, and therefore your Majesty has the power, if you choose to exercise it, of taking up a poker, and knocking out her hrains." That would be an easy way to get rid of her, and not criminal, as morally the King could do no wrong. But to speak seriously, it is lamentable it is disgusting, to see how Ministers treat the country. What ! is it to be endured, that the property the liberty the very morals of the people, are to be put in jeopardy, because domestic broils exist between the King and the Queen ; or, to speak in plainer language, because two elderly persons hate each other, is all that is dear to the Country, to be put in danger ? Is England to be covered with blood, or degraded by immorality, merely to enable the King to try his luck a second time in the Lottery of Wedlock, and possibly to draw a blank 4< Scilicet ut Turno contingat regia conjux, Nos animse viles, inhumata infletaque turba, Sternaraur campis." No, I hope the people of England will do their duty : doing so, they will prevail over evil advisers : they will not cease in their eiforts until they see ample justice done to her Majesty until they see her name restored to the Liturgy, and until she is put in possession of her rights and dig- AIR. METHUKN. 199 nities. The people will not desert the Queen : guilty or innocent, her Majesty has been treated infamously ; and the country has been treated worse. If the Queen were guilty, her husband may in a great measure thank himself for it. His letter was a letter of license ; he said, you'may do what you please, and go where you please, so that you do not come to trouble me. The Bishop of London, if his Lordship were acquainted with the Scriptures, might find written in that sacred vo- lume, " He that turneth away his wife, except for fornication, causeth her to commit adultery." It is, however, but an act of justice towards her Majesty an act which, in my opinion, every honourable and manly mind will perform to de- clare that the whole of her Majesty's conduct bears the appearance of innocence. Was ever magnanimity like her's accompanied by guilt r No. By the way, she was the only Member of the Royal Family, who ever had the magnanimity to restore one farthing of the large sums, which were annually taken out of the pockets of a distressed people. Never did any one of the Royal Family restore one shilling to the people, except her Majesty ; but she generously restored a sum of 15,000 a year. He would say to those Royal Dukes, who on the late trial sat not only as Judges, but as Jurors not only as Jurors, but Accusers not only as Accusers, but as Counsel against her he would say to them, and particu- larly to the Duke of York, who took ten thousand 200 WILTSHIRE. a year from the people, for what ? for going from London to Windsor in a one-horse chaise, once a month, to see his poor old father; to him, and to another Royal Duke, who distinguished himself on the late trial, he would point out the generous conduct of her Majesty, and say, " Go, and do thou likewise." The people of England are bound to con- demn the proceedings against her Majesty, not only on her account, but on their own. She is to be the victim of to-day, but it is impossible to say who may be marked out as the victim of to-mor- row. Her case is the case of the country the thing comes home to the feelings of Englishmen : if the flames of persecution be once raised, it will be impossible to say what they may not consume, or how they can be extinguished. The Palace of the Sovereign would not be more secure than the cottage of the meanest subject. Before I sit down, I would animadvert on an Address got up at the Borough of Trowbridge, which was called a Loyal Address. That Address conveys an indirect insult on the County of Wilts; and I cannot but express an indignant regret, that two Magistrates could be found in the County to put their names to that Address. Vain and indecent is it to impute disloyalty to the people. I should expect from a Noble Lord [Sidmouth,] who annually treats the Corporation with lively turtle and dull speeches, that he at least will bear testimony to the loyalty of the DUKE OF SOMERSET. 201 County. The County had met of late years, on two different occasions: the one to express its abhorrence of the insult offered to the Prince Re- gent on his proceeding to open the Parliament; the other was to vote an Address of Condolence to his present Majesty, on the death of the late King. I hope that the Noble Lord [Sidmouth] will bear testimony to the loyalty of the County on those two occasions ; and further, that he will inform his Majesty, as in truth he may, that the Freeholders of the County of Wilts, who attended the two former Meetings, are assembled on the present occasion to avow sentiments of loyalty which they sincerely cherish, and to deprecate the recurrence to a proceeding, which, on every ground of public morals and of public liberty, they have so much reason to condemn. [The Honour- able Gentleman concluded by expressing an ex- pectation that the Resolutions would be unani- mously agreed to.] HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF SOMERSET: I RISE with pleasure to second the Resolu- tions. I think they are peculiarly necessary at the present time. Never was it more necessary for the truly loyal, the disinterested, and the free to express their sentiments than at a moment when the Throne itself is put in a state of dif- ficulty by the evil counsellors, who surround it. 2 D 202 WILTSHIRE. The people will not support those evil counsellors, though they will gladly support the Throne itself. With regard to her Majesty the Queen, she has for years past been little talked of: in conse- quence of a long absence from England, she has almost relapsed into what she originally was a foreign Princess: but the first measure of the Ministers, after the accession of his Majesty to the Throne, was one, which necessarily forced her back on the country. Degraded by the very first act of power, her Majesty arrived in England in a state of alarm and of hostility. Before she touched the shores of England, the Ministers attempted to dissuade her from coming over. They had but one way of prevailing, but it was OBC, which on many occasions they found successful. It was . not eloquence it was not manliness. No bribery was their common mode of doing business, and they thought it would never fail. They found, however, that with her Majesty it did fail: the offer not only failed, but produced a quite con- trary effect from what they had expected. Re- pulsed by her Majesty, they next went to tlte House of Lords. The House of Lords stands in a peculiar situation. Generally speaking, the Peers of England find themselves so placed, that their interests concur with the feelings of the country. In ordinary cases, it is the interest as well as the duty of a Peer, acting in his legislative capacity, to support the constitution. In ordinary judicial cases, the interest of the Peer is to support the DUKE OF SOMERSET. 203 dignity of the first Court of Judicature in the country, to exalt it, to keep it high in the public estimation; but the Ministers, as if they were anxious to place the House of Peers in a difficulty, as if they wished to strip it of that respect, which it was so necessary it should retain, called on the Peers to decide a question between the King and the Queen, which perhaps it was impossible for them to decide impartially, which certainly they could not decide without in one way or the other injur- ing their own dignity, and weakening the Throne. It was no wonder that the country became alarmed, when it saw the scales of justice so suspended. It is no wonder that it becomes indignant, when Ministers threaten a recurrence to those proceed- ings, which were so universally deplored; when those desperate men, uninstructed by the past, threaten to force upon the country the danger from which it has so recently and so happily escaped. It becomes absolutely necessary that the peo- ple should raise their voices against those dis- graceful measures that the voice of the country should echo from the north to the south from all the remotest points of the country. [The Noble Duke concluded by expressing a hope that the re- sult of the Meeting would be beneficial to the whole country, as it would be honourable to the public spirit and independence of Wiltshire. He iielt great satisfaction in seconding the Resolutions.] 204 WILTSHIRE. [The Resolutions were then put, and carried with a single dissentient voice. The Gentleman, who stood alone in his opposition, was Sir Alexander Mallet. He appeared to be very young. Several Gentlemen expressed a wish to provide a place for him on the platform, so that he might state to the Meeting the grounds of his opposition. He did not, however, avail himself of the invitation. He remained in the middle of the crowd, unmo- lested by a single individual.] THE HON. CAPTAIN BOUVERIE, R. N.: I HAVE been requested, Gentlemen, to pro- pose to you a Petition to Parliament founded upon the Resolutions. In doing so, I must say I cor- dially agree in the condemnation they pass on the impolicy and injustice of the late proceedings against her Majesty, in which Ministers have so fatally embarked. Nothing could, I think, have justified them but the clearest and most unde- niable proof of guilt. Have Ministers tendered such proof ? [Cries of " No."] They have not, but quite the reverse : and yet, notwithstanding such a failure, it has become necessary for large bodies of the people of the country to entreat that there may be no repetition of such an odious measure. It is said to be contemplated by Ministers ; but most undoubtedly the sense of the country is hostile to their taking any such step. The question is not the guilt or innocence of the Queen ; but even if it were, her innocence has CAPTAIN BOUVERIE. 205 been established beyond any fair and reasonable dispute by the result of the proceedings, which have just been abated. And here I must be allowed to observe, that the most material parts which had a tendency to criminate the case most relied on, of the tent scene on board the polacre entirely fell to the ground. The most was made of the presumption arising from that circumstance; but its slight nature was ably exposed by the noble Marquess [Lansdowne] in the House of Lords. It was the greatest injustice to the Queen to call that covering in the polacre a tent ; for such a de- scription of it must have conveyed to the minds of hundreds the idea of a place affording more comforts and greater privacy and secrecy than could possibly exist in this particular instance. I speak as a sailor, knowing much of the texture of such coverings. They are awnings, which I have seen in all ships ; and in the best of King's ships even, they are usually made of old and worn canvass. What then must they have been in so paltry a vessel as the polacre ? And when it is recollected that the voyage lasted thirty-five days, was it possible that such scenes as those described, could have been transacted without exciting the prying curiosity of the cre\v, and a consequent ex- posure ? If the facts were as stated, it was morally impossible but this curiosity must have been satis- fied, and of course they would have been capable in a variety of instances of being proved by the most irrefragable evidence at the bar of the 206 WILTSHIRE. House of Lords. [The lion, and gallant officer concluded by expressing a hope that the Petition, which he was about to propose, would receive unanimous concurrence.] SIR EDWARD POORE, BART. : I RISE, Gentlemen, to second this Motion, as it has for its object to put an end to those detest- able discussions, which have agitated the coun- try during the last four months. I lament the evil effect necessarily attendant upon the wide circulation throughout the country of a mass of evidence of so disgusting a nature as that, which was lately produced before the House of Lords : and against the possible recurrence of such an exposure, so productive of unparalleled injury to the public morals, the people are bound to raise their voice. When I look at the conduct of Ministers as connected with these unfortunate proceedings, I am compelled to arrive at one of two conclusions either that Ministers have acted up to the best of their ability, and then they have shown in the result a lamentable deficiency in their counsels ; or that they have acted against their better judgment, and thereby shown the basest pliability and meanness, in order to retain their places. In a proper sense of loyalty to the King and Constitution, as by law established, I will yield to SIR EDWARD POORE. 207 no man. At the same time I feel it my duty to expose an attempted enactment, alike hostile to the morals and interests and liberties of the people. When I say this, I have also the very painful duty of expressing" an opinion not, I apprehend, in unison with that of the great majority of those, who hear me: it is this that few, I think, can carefully wade through the mass of evidence against her Majesty, without coming at a conclu- sion fatal to her reputation. [Loud cries of '* No, no! we arrive at no such conclusion."} It is my opinion ; and entertaining it, I feel it my duty to express it. [" Hear, hear T intermixed with cries of " No!"] I feel it nevertheless my duty to con- demn the conduct of Ministers for their impolicy in pressing the subject into unnecessary notice: their conduct in that respect is, I think, hostile to the interests of the people, and the best principles of the constitution. Much fermentation unhappily pervades the country : how far an abandonment of the measures against the Queen would allay that fermentation, I am not prepared to say ; that is a very different question. I believe much of that fermentation arises from causes, which have no connexion with her Majesty, and which preceded her prosecution. It may be traced, perhaps, to the general distresses of the country, which are the unprecedented effects produced by the policy of a wicked or mistaken Administration. An amicable termina- tion of this unfortunate case might do something 208 WILTSHIRE. to allay the public agitation, but still the people will, I fear, have to endure much of distress and difficulty under the wretched system, which has inflicted such general suffering and embarrassment upon all orders of society. I beg to second the Motion. [On the motion of the Rev. R. GODDARD, seconded by Mr. LEWIS PHIPPS, it was resolved that the Petition be presented to the House of Peers by the Duke of Somerset and the Marquess of Lansdowne. Mr. GALLEY having moved that the Members for the County be requested to present the Petition to the House of Commons; and Mr. JOY having seconded the Motion :} M*. BENETT, M. P. : I RISE under very strong emotions on the present occasion, because I feel it my duty to utter sentiments, which are at variance with those of many of my friends, for whom I enter- tain the highest regard, and to whom I am under obligations, which I shall continue to acknowledge to the latest hour of my life. But when an imperative sense of duty calls upon me to speak out, I should be unworthy of those friends if I did not set aside all personal considerations, and, instigated by a desire to promote, according MR. BENfcTT. 209 to the dictates of my own conscience, tire good of my country, speak plainly my sentiments upon public affairs. If I did not stand forward, on such an occasion as the present, and express my opinions, boldly and unequivocally, to the large body of the Freeholders, who are now assembled, I might justly be regarded as a man of dark and ambiguous character, and unworthy of that confi- dence, which they have reposed in me. From the very commencement of the late unfortunate pro- ceedings, no man has felt more hostility to them than myself, or looked forward with more dread to their inevitable consequences. I agree with every syllable of the Petition, as I think the late proceedings in the highest degree unconstitutional, unjust, and cruel. I should, indeed, occupy your time to very little purpose, if I were to urge any arguments against them, and I shall advert, there- fore, to another topic, upon which I am anxious to express my opinion. There is a party of Ultra-Royalists in this country, who are desirous of arrogating to them- selves all the loyalty of the country, and who stigmatize with the name of Radicals all who presume to differ from them on a. subject of vital importance to the country. The term Radical, in its just and natural -sense, is not only innocent but honourable ; for every good man would be a Radi- cal Reformer, both with reference to his own faults and those of others ; but as these Gentlemen apply the term Radical, it signifies a miscreant, 2 I -WILTSHIRE. who, having nothing of his own, and having no regard for religion or morality, or for the existing institutions of the country, endeavours to pull down what he cannot build up again, and to destroy every thing, in the vile hope of obtaining some- thing for himself out of the ruins. Such is their definition of a Radical. For my own part, I despise the idea of rebutting any charge of dis- loyalty : I do not believe in the existence of Radicalism, in their sense of the term, and I am so far from doubting the loyalty of the people of England, that I believe a more loyal people do not exist on the face of the earth. I do not mean to say that there may not be some disaffected and seditious persons in the country : there are also some housebreakers, highwaymen, and pick- pockets in the country ; and I firmly believe that there are as many of the one description as of the other. At the same time, I think the civil power is in both cases fully adequate to coerce, detect, and punish them. Disloyalty, I repeat, is not an English crime; nor does it exist, as has been improperly insinuated. But if discontent prevails, there is an obvious reason for it: it has been induced by the acts of Ministers. Let them change their system, and the discontent will be removed with the cause. Let them turn their attention to the distresses of the country, let them not merely investigate the causes of those distresses, but apply the best remedy to them, a retrenchment of the public expenditure, and MR. BENETT. 21 F the people would soon shew their attachment to- the Government. The King might then disband his army, and find himself safer in the affections of a happy and contented people, than if he were surrounded by all the armies of the Holy Alliance. As to the various Addresses, which I scarcely know how to designate, but which I will call the fulsome Addresses, it is evident that they mean more than they express; for they are intended to bolster up a weak and tottering Administration. The Addresses profess Loyalty, but they mean nothing but attachment to the King's Ministers. They declaim against the licentiousness of the Press, and the immorality of the present age. I deny that the present age is immoral, and that the Press is more licentious now than at any former period. But whether the Press be occasionally licentious or not, God forbid that any additional fetters should be imposed upon it. The moment the Press is shackled, England will be in danger of that worst of all tyrannies the tyranny of a mob; for the further restraint of the Press would naturally lead to secret combinations, of which the probable consequence would be the establishment of a democratic tyranny in the country. In speaking of the Press, I cannot help regretting that the names of the King and Queen have been so much bandied about. But who are to be blamed for this ? Not the Press, but the Ministers, who have done all they could to lower the dignity of Royalty in the estimation of the people, forgetting WILTSHIRE. that they could not attempt to degrade the daugh- ter and sister of a hero, and the cousin and wife of the King, without degrading the King himself. I trust th voice of the people will he so raised throughout the country, as to compel Ministers to put a stop to the odious inquiry into the conduct of the Queen, that the names of King and Queen, may once more become respectable and respected in the country, and such unconstitutional pro- ceedings, as Bills of Pains and Penalties, be no more heard of. Having said thus much, I have only to thank you, Gentlemen, for this patient hearing, and to assure you, that I shall have the greatest pleasure in presenting your Petition to the House of Com- mons, and in giving it there> from the strong feelings of my own inclination, as well as a sense of duty to my constituents, all the support in my power. [Major ASTLEY, M. P. said, that after the long and eloquent speech they had just heard, he felt it unnecessary to occupy any portion of their time. In declaring his readiness to present the Petition in concert with his Colleague, he hoped he should be excused for not passing any opinion upon it. He could assure them, that upon that and all other occasions, his conduct would be strictly regulated by the adoption of those mea- sures, which he conceived to be most beneficial to the country at large.] AIR. GORDON. 213 M*. GORDON, M. P. : GENTLEMEN, IN a just abhorrence of the late disgraceful and disgusting proceedings in Parliament, and of the foul and atrocious conspiracy to work the destruction of a defenceless woman, by bribery and subornation of perjury, and by every means hateful to the laws and constitution of the country, I will yield to no man. Ministers have erroneously calculated upon their own strength, and upon the weakness of her Majesty. They knew, that all the courtiers and pensioned sycophants were on their side; they knew, I am sorry to say, that they might rely upon the support of the fathers of the church and the sages of the law ; they knew that such persons were ready to c< Assist them to accomplish all their ends, " And sanctify whatever means they use " To gain them:" but they forgot what could be effected by the resolution, the generosity, and the courage of the British- people. The people of England have saved the Queen : they have done more, they have saved themselves: in fighting her battles, they have fought their own; and, in maintaining the rights of the first subject in the land, they have maintained the rights of the humblest and 214 WILTSHIRE. the poorest among themselves. The law is the same for the cottage and the palace and well might the poorest man tremble for his life, his liberty, and his property, if Ministers might, at their own will and pleasure, hurl Majesty itself from the Throne. Nothing can prevent a recur- rence of all the evils, which have resulted from' the late proceedings, but the dismissal of his' Majesty's Ministers. I am now going to tread upon tender ground ; but I cannot help observing, that if you rely with any confidence upon the measures, which are likely to be adopted by Parliament, as it is con- stituted at present, you are much deceived. I have been some time in Parliament myself, and I know the way, in which majorities are secured in that House. Some of the persons I am address- ing may not be aware that there is a peculiar Officer in the House, known by the name of the Manager of the House of Commons, who is now one of the Secretaries of the Treasury. In other words, this Officer is the Whipper-in of the House; and when any great question comes on for discussion, it is the business of this Whipper-in to summon all his adherents, and write to all parts of the country North, East, South, and West. If any good measures have ever been carried in the course of the present Administration, you may rely upon it they are to be attributed to mere accident, such as a Newmarket Meeting, or fine hunting weather, when the Whipper-in found MR. GORDON. 215 it impossible to assemble his friends in sufficient numbers. The conduct of those Gentlemen, who decide upon great public questions by the silent eloquence of votes, reminds me of a passage in an old play, relating to hawks " And hear the hawker whisper curiously." Thus Members of Parliament sit most timidly in their places, while they hear the whispers of the Secretary; who has the talent of bringing the oddest people in the world together. The lame, the blind, and the halt, are assembled under his banners; nay, some persons have gone the length of asserting that the Whipper-in had the power of resuscitating dead Members of Parliament, bring- ing them to life for a particular purpose, and then reconsigning them to the tomb. I believe, Gen- tlemen, that Parliamentary Reform is the only means of re-establishing the security and pros- perity of the country. This was the opinion de- clared by the Noble Head of the House of Russell, .at a late Meeting. Lord Holland also coincided in this opinion, and has declared, that though he was at one period considered but a lukewarm Reformer, he is now decidedly of opinion that the country can only be rescued from the dangers, which await it, by a change of Ministers, and that a change of Ministers would be nugatory without a Reform in Parliament. I will venture to quote one more speech, which deserves to be 216' WILTSHIRE. Written in letters of gold, and carried from one end of the country to the other : I allude to the admirable speech of Earl Grey, who, in his digni- fied reply to the pitiful calumnies, which had been thrown out by some of the Clergy in the County of Durham, has alluded to the circum- stance of his having twice or thrice refused to take office, because he would not make the slightest compromise of his principles. " Nor would I now take power," (said that Nobleman, at the late Meeting in Northumberland,) " unless I could make a complete change in the system of the Govern- ment. To the principles of Reform, as detailed in the speech I made in 1810, on the state of the nation, I still adhere. A change in the system of Government is absolutely necessary to preserve the constitution from destruction ; and though a Reform in Parliament would be a most powerful means of effecting that change, yet, whether that Reform should be pressed in the first instance, is a consideration which, like every other public ques- tion, must be influenced by considerations of state expediency, lest by a too hasty attempt to carry it into execution, the probable success of that Reform itself be endangered." To such a declaration, from such a man, I attach great importance : it is a light in the present darkened state of the political horizon, from which I hope the people will derive a cheering comfort. I like it the more, because of late I have grown a little jealous of my Whig friends. I am, therefore, glad to Mft. GORDON. 217 observe these manly and decisive declarations ori their part. I am, above all, glad to observe them, because the hopes of the people are not likely to be frustrated by any such unfortunate coalition as that with the Grenville party in 1 806. The Whigs have now been long out of power; they have been long nailed to the north wall of Opposition, as was observed by a celebrated Statesman. I trust, how- ever, that their long exposure to so cold a climate has only tended to invigorate them, and that they will come into power with their nerves so braced, that they will never be relaxed by the dangerous atmosphere of a Court. As to the charge, Gentlemen, -which has been brought by the Ultra-loyalists, against the public press, of sedition and blasphemy, I must say for myself, that the only blasphemy and treason of which I know is in the impious title of the Holy Alliance, and their treason against the people ; for I am one of those, who think that a Sovereign can commit an act of treason against a people, as well as a people against a Sovereign. But as to the famous Addresses, in which this charge is to be found the life-and-fortune, or hole-and-corner Addresses there is one thing observable, that they all originate from a source, which throws dis- credit upon the pretended motives of the Ad- dressers. The persons most actively engaged in getting them up are uniformly found to be men, who have their hands in the peoples' pockets : some Exciseman. Receiver, or Custom-house Offi- 2 F 18 WILTSHIRE. cer is sure to be at the bottom of them. In fact, they can be regarded in no other light than as Addresses ordered for, and paid by the Treasury. But I trust that the genuine expression of the public feeling, at this and other Meetings, will have the effect of removing from his Majesty's Councils the men, who have gone so far towards accom- plishing the ruin of the country, and who, if they continue at the head of the Government, will soon leave nothing of England but the name. HALL JOY: AGAINST the Motion, which it has now de- volved upon me, Gentlemen, to submit to you, I trust there will not be raised even that solitary hand, which has been held up against most of the Resolutions that have preceded it : for what true Englishman can withhold his gratitude from those noble Lords, who have done their country so much service, and themselves so much honour, by their opposition in Parliament to the late infamous Bill of Pains and Penalties? On rising to move that our most cordial thanks be given to such of those noble Lords as are connected with this County, I should perhaps best consult my own credit and your gratification, were I to abstain entirely from any comment upon the general question, which has produced a MH. HALL JOY. 219 Meeting graced by the presence of so many dis- tinguished public characters: and I should cer- tainly adopt such a course, did I not strongly feel that the deep and stirring interest of that question is by no means confined to public characters, but comes home to the business and bosom of every member of the community, who is capable of a real regard for the Constitution, and an honest indignation on beholding it thus shamelessly out- raged. To such a feeling must be imputed the promp- titude, with which (as you cannot fail to have observed) at all the late Meetings, several indi- viduals of the most retired and unobtrusive habits have felt imperiously called upon to step forward, and proclaim aloud, in the presence of their neigh- bours and the country, their abhorrence of that disastrous course, which his Majesty's Ministers have been so recklessly running. Under the influence of this feeling, Gentlemen, I also am emboldened to offer myself, for the first time, to the notice of such a Meeting as the present; and to request your most indulgent construction of what an honest zeal may dictate upon a matter of such moment to us all. To us all, Gentlemen to the humblest as well as to the most exalted this matter is indeed of infinite moment. This is no party question : or if it be so, the parties consist of the Ministers and their most servile adherents on the one hand ; and on the other, of all the genuine independence 'J20 WILTSHIRE. and public spirit of the kingdom. From one end of the kingdom to the other, the universal voice of the public has been raised to reprobate their iniquitous proceedings in a manner not to be mis- understood ; although some few wretched retainers of Government have had the hardihood to pro- nounce such reprobation incompatible with a pro- per attachment to the Constitution and the King. Incompatible, forsooth ! why they are absolutely inseparable; for what man who has a proper at- tachment to the Constitution and the King, can fail to reprobate proceedings subversive of all the first principles of our laws, and derogatory from the honour and dignity of the Crown? And who, Gentlemen, are they, who have had the audacity thus to libel the great body of the people; and to ascribe to disaffection that spon- taneous burst of indignation, so honourable at once to the feelings and to the judgment of English- men? The authors of this libel are the miserable hole-and-corner men, who slink into the obscure back-parlour of a tavern, to do a deed that \vould not bear the light of open day, as here, under the cope of heaven ; nor even such a portion of that light as can make its way through the windows of a Town-hall. They are the hollow pretenders to exclusive loyalty, who think to render an ac- ceptable service to their Sovereign, by assuring him of the disaffection of the great mass of his subjects ; hoping, no doubt, to enhance thereby the value of their own private stock of affection. MR. HALL JOY. 22 1 which they think just as marketable a commodity as as as a rotten borough or the Parliamentary vote of its purchaser. But not content with this lucra- tive monopoly of loyalty, these worthies have the further modesty to assume to themselves a mono- poly of piety. They won't hear of the existence of any thing like true religion or allegiance be- yond the pale of their own high-toryism. They utter the most lamentable lamentations on the disloyalty and irreligion of the country at large : and are much distressed and indeed shocked (good souls !) to discover that they themselves are the only supporters, which the Throne and the Altar have left. And most noble supporters truly they have of late proved, in thus lending themselves to prop an administration, than whose last act, (I trust it will remain their last) no measure could possibly have been devised more directly calculated to degrade at once the Throne and Altar in the pub- lic estimation the only basis, upon which they can at all times securely rest. But, Gentlemen, the evil of this monstrous act of weakness and wickedness, is by no means confined to the Throne and the Altar: its wide-spreading mischief has reached also the domestic hearth ; and that sanc- tuary of private life has been every where profaned by the disgusting detail of whatever the profli- gacy of the most profligate of wretches could invent! while the unavoidable discussion of the general question thus forced upon society, has, I fear, been but ill-calculated to preserve, in all its WILTSHIRE. native freshness, that genuine unaffected delicacy of mind, which constitutes the most valuable and attractive charm of our lovely countrywomen ; and by which, yet more than by all their other charms, they are so proudly and pre-eminently dis- tinguished above the women of all other nations. Yet have the remorseless authors of all these demoralizing discussions, had the impudence to declare they were chiefly actuated by a tender regard for the public morals ! They have not scrupled to add this insult to that injury ! And they have thought so meanly of the understanding and spirit of the country, as to imagine it would tamely submit to all this ! But I trust such Meet- ings as the present in every part of the kingdom, will at length force upon them the unwilling con- viction, that they have much misunderstood the gallant and high-minded people, whom they have so long depressed by their mis-rule that they have supposed them fully prepared to bow their necks to any yoke, however galling and degrading. These Ministers will at length be taught that although their victims have hitherto borne the manifold oppressions inflicted upon themselves with an all-enduring patience, it is yet quite consonant to the generous character of such a people, to rise up as one man, against the base attempt to perse- cute to destruction a defenceless woman. These Ministers must now learn, to their mor- tification, that by this unheard-of atrocity, they have at last roused in every British bosom that MR. HALL JOY. 223 too long dormant hatred of injustice and oppres- sion, which they fondly trusted they had put to rest for ever. They will learn that it has survived all their repeated and systematic efforts to stifle it : their suspensions of the Habeas-corpus, their restrictions on the Right of Petition, and on the Liberty of the Press, the barbarous dispersion of an unarmed Meeting by the sword, which they seemed so eager to make their own by instant adoption, and even their much beloved and much belauded plan of governing by means of spies and informers. They will now find, how- ever, that they have done their dirty work imper- fectly, and in vain: and that by this last and worst specimen of it, they have only dug a grave for their own power, into which that power will be precipitated, together with their reputation, by the just vengeance of their indignant country. But to effect so desirable an end, there is need of all our vigilance and activity. Our enemies will struggle to the last, and cling to their places with the convulsive grasp of despair. In either house of Parliament, all their train-bands will be mustered to oppose our Petitions ; and if they can but there out-number with these mercenaries the real friends and representatives of the people, they will utterly disregard all the claims of truth and justice, even though advocated by the eloquence, the high and commanding eloquence of a Grey and a Lansdowne. The splendid and unanswerable arguments delivered by those Noble Lords in 224 WILTSHIRE. Parliament upon the second reading of the Bill, I happened to have the good fortune to hear: it is certainly not for me to pretend adequately to describe them to you; but I maybe allowed to say that they were calculated beyond any efforts of the kind I ever witnessed to convince every mind that was open to conviction. Earl Grey (as you have heard from my friend, Mr. Gordon,) has^ at a recent Meeting of the County of Northumber- land, illustrated yet further his well-earned fame by another splendid display of his magnificent powers. Of the Noble Marquis, whose name I have united with that of Lord Grey, on this great occasion, I will not say more, because he is pre- sent; and I need not, because he is well known to you all. I am, however, persuaded, Gentlemen, that not all the past or future exertions of these Noble Lords, supported by their spirited coadju- tors, will be able to attain our common object, unless they are firmly and fearlessly seconded by the people. Unless you continue to give them your most zealous assistance in the good cause, it will not even now prevail. Their most eloquent appeals to the justice of its adversaries, will be met by an appeal to the majority of mutes ; or peradventure by an appeal of the Lord Chancellor to his own conscience. {General laughter^ I perceive, Gentlemen, that you treat this last appeal with no small ridicule; but I assure you, I esteem it no laughing matter: so far from it, that I implicitly believe that high personage to be really possessed of a conscience of MR. HALL JOY. 225 so very sensitive a nature, that be could not lie down in peace upon his pillow at night, under the reflection of having committed any one act at all calculated to prevent his sitting down in peace upon the wool-sack next morning. Neither, Gentlemen, will the appeals of your representatives in the other house of Parliament, share a much better fate. They will there be en- countered by the appeals of my Lord Castlereagh ; not indeed to his own conscience : I am not aware that his Lordship was ever accused of making any such appeal either in point of fact or as mere matter of cant or as a rhetorical flourish. Neither will he appeal to the consciences of his late thick-and-thin followers he knows them much too well : but he will appeal to the. m by what they deem their highest interests ; toy all the} 7 hold most clear by their possession of places, pensions, and sinecures for the present, and by their hope of reversions hereafter: and he will implore them in his own emphatic and striking phraseology, not to " turn their backs upon them- selves," nor " stand prostrate" at the feet of their opponents. He will then proceed in the same peculiar strain to assure them that all the late proofs of the general indignation of the whole country are nothing more than the " hinges of that feature of discontent, into which the mere rabble have embarked ;" and which must therefore be "met by the hand of separation." And all this " skimble-skamble stuff" will be cheered by 226 WILTSHIRE. bis allies behind the treasury-bench ; and he will be permitted with impunity to persevere in thus murdering the King's English and slandering his subjects, unless you, Gentlemen, are resolved to teach him better: unless you inform him, in that legal and proper manner which you are now pur- suing, that you are determined not to be any longer misgoverned by one, who bears such an antipathy to every thing English, that he cannot even bring himself to speak the language ; and who is so ignorant of the true spirit of our Con- stitution, as to deem it becoming in a Minister- of the Crown to vilify the industrious classes by abusive epithets, obviously calculated to widen any unfortunate breach between them and their more wealthy neighbours : and unless you further inform him that you are not inclined to be at his good pleasure either legislated or dragooned into slavery and silence after the most approved fashion of his autocratic friends, the despots of the Conti- nent. If he and his colleagues will not, or cannot read the signs of the times ; let them turn to the recorded opinions of former days, and thence learn the only correct manner of governing a people, well described by Lord Bolingbroke as being " at all times more easily led than driven ; and capable of being attached to their Prince and their country by a more generous principle than any of those which prevail in our days by affection." Let these ill-informed Ministers further learn, from the same writer, that " popularity must be always in MR. HALL JOY. mixed governments, the sole true foundation of that sufficient authority and influence which other constitutions give the Prince gratis, and indepen- dently of the people, but which a King of this nation must acquire." It is indeed, Gentlemen, by no means of difficult acquirement; little more than mere negative merit will suffice. And when acquired, it is as easily retained ; for it can only be destroyed by some such perverse and systematic course of unconstitutional and un-English measures, as have been long inflicted upon us by his Majes- ty's present Advisers. But if they will not condescend to derive juster notions of the principles, upon which this country ought to be governed, from the more enlightened men whom it has produced, either in our days or in those of our ancestors; they will perhaps lend a more willing ear to the wisdom of a foreigner of former times, upon the very subject of one of the most odious systems of foreign policy, which they have of late adopted and defended as a material improvement upon the old-fashioned British Constitution : the system "of governing through the medium of spies and informers. The foreigner to whom I allude, Gentlemen, was Sully, the great Minister of a great Monarch, Henry the IV th of France ; a Monarch, who entertained some sentiments and feelings, that would not wholly misbecome a Sovereign of these realms; but who was sometimes a little too apt to listen to certain sycophants and alarmists, who suggested that divers WILTIIIIKK: treasonous plots and conspiracies were formed for the purpose of overturning his throne. The king, after repeating to his sagacious minister one of the most formidably got-up and best- told of these tales, appealed to him with a confidence that there was no longer room for his usual disbelief, con- cluding with " and what can you think now?" " Think," replied the experienced statesman, " why, I think, Sire, that somebody has a mind to- cajole your Majesty out of a hundred crotfns." But if, Gentlemen, our present Ministers are, as I much fear, above receiving wholesome lessons of wisdom from any quarter whatever: if they are obstinately bent on carrying into all their measures this detestable system of espionage (so abhorrent to the true principles of our Constitution, that we have not any one word to express it by) this system of ruling by the agency of spies and in- formers : if, emboldened by the impunity, with which they have been hitherto permitted to have re- course to this system upon every no-occasion, they still persist in presuming to apply it to the vile purpose of destroying their Queen ; they must be made to feel that they are at last proceeding one step too far ; and that they are not only endangering the safety of their country, for which they seem to care nothing ; but also the safety of their own place and poM-er, to which they seem perfectly disposed to sacrifice every thing. Neither is this by any means the first time that they have manifested such a disposition ; fot MR. HALL JOY- '229 which of us cannot remember many a measure stoutly maintained by them for a while as being of vital necessity to the public weal, and yet abruptly abandoned when found to interfere with the still more vital necessity of keeping their seats? Nay, to give them their due, I confess I believe that they had just virtue enough to hesitate as to the adoption of the late monstrous proceedings against her Majesty, until they had fully ascertained that any further hesitation would prove fatal to their own power. It has been much rumoured, and I really do believe, that in a matter so probably dan- gerous to the State, and so palpably injurious to the honour of the Crown and to the morals of the people, the Ministers did actually push their re- sistance this length ! But be assured, Gentlemen, they will not carry it one jot further; and unless you convince them that there is now still more of hazard to their own petty interests in continuing, than in abandoning, their unmanly and illegal hostility to the Queen, they will not cease to persecute, although they have failed to convict her For the whole of their ministerial career has been throughout such a course of gross inconsis- tencies as to have most abundantly confirmed their own previous declaration, that they were utterly incompetent to the management of the affairs of this great nation ; the only instance (by the way) which they have hitherto afforded us of their po- litical foresight and statesmanlike sagacity. While, however, we thus justly agree with WILTSHIRE. them upon this one point of their incompetency to govern ; and find a signal illustration of it in their late odious Bill of Pains and Penalties ; let us not omit to express our warmest gratitude to those noble Lords, who have opposed the measure in Parliament. Without their timely and powerful opposition, we should not now have been assembled to deprecate all further proceedings against her Majesty, or rather we should not have been assem- bled under such favourable auspices. The authors of the Bill would have supported it in the House of Commons by a new edition, auctior et mendacior fuller and falser of all those obscenities, with which they have already disgusted us; and would have persisted in their remorseless resolution to force it through all its stages, in utter defiance of common decency, common justice, and the unani- mous voice of the country. [Mr. LOCKE having seconded this Motion ; The thanks of the Meeting were instantly voted amidst general acclamations to the Lord Lieutenant of the County, to the Marquesses of Lansdowne and Bath, to the Earls of Suffolk and Carnarvon, to Lords Bolingbroke and Holland, and the other Noble Lords connected with the County of Wilts, who had opposed the late Bill of Pains and Penalties.] THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE. 231 THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE: I FEEL it would ill become me to remain silent after the Motion, which has been just made, and which has been so kindly received by the Meet- ingit would ill become me to stand still without returning my sincere thanks, as well for myself as an individual, as on behalf of my fellow Peers alluded to in the Resolution, with some of whom I am connected by the nearest ties of friendship, and for all of whom I entertain the most sincere respect. I cannot therefore but express the deep sense I feel of the approbation of the Meeting : I value it highly : the kindness and respect of my country is the best and dearest reward of my pub- lic conduct. There are persons near me, who know that I came to the Meeting more desirous to hear the sentiments of others than to state my own. Yet, perhaps, the Meeting, as I am before them, will allow me to state the motives which induced me to sign the Requisition. Whatever doubt or hesitation I might have had, whether arising from indolence or from other and better motives, with respect to signing the Requisition for bringing the County together, all doubts vanished, and all indisposition was subdued, when I perceived the unworthy use, which was attempted to be made of what are called Loyal Addresses. I believe that the motives of many 232 WILTSHIRE. persons who sign those Addresses, are pure and honest; but it is not to be concealed that the use, which Ministers intend to make of those Loyaf Addresses, is to infer, before Parliament and else- where, that the very small proportion of the Peo- ple of England, who sign them, approve of the Proceedings against the Queen, approve of the Bill of Pains and Penalties, approve of the conduct of an Administration, who have wantonly aimed a blow at the liberties and the morals of the people. The friends of Ministers may have succeeded, by influence and imposition, to get some names to those Addresses, but never will the people of Eng- land be brought to sanction such measures, until they shall lose all respect for the Constitution all veneration for the virtues, which their ancestors cherished. It is impossible that a delusion so gross should exist: and therefore it is, that I feel it essential to the honour and character of the County of Wilts, that the Freeholders should come forward, in the open day, to speak out their senti- ments, their genuine sentiments, free from all influence and from all fear. Much as I respect loyalty, I respect it most in open day. I know that good men may, from the very best motives, occasionally come forward to address the Sovereign ; but though I have often heard merit ascribed to those, who preserve secrecy in council, secrecy in the conduct and direction of fleets and armies, yet I never heard until lately of the merit of secret loyalty. I wish to hear the opinions of men THE MARQUESS OF LA^SDOWNE. 233 openly declared, and manfully avowed. The honest expression of public opinion I shall always wish to witness ; and shall always feel happy to give my assistance to the County on such occa- sions. I could have wished that, if there are persons in the County of Wilts, who do not concur in the present proceedings, they had come man- fully forward to state their opinions. Only one or two hands have been held up against any of the Resolutions. However I may differ with those Gentlemen, I respect the manliness which induces them to stand forward. I am sure I need not say that I respect the manliness of an Honourable Baronet, who has this day supported the Petitions with so much ability, though he stated a difference of opinion with the Meeting on one single point. Having said so much with respect to those, who are present, I feel bound to do justice to those, who are absent. I am persuaded that those Gentlemen, though they do not come forward, would yet scorn to imitate the disgraceful example set by some neighbouring counties: I allude particularly to the County of Hants. In that County some persons, amongst whom might be found some of the King's Ministers themselves, had the audacity to send a Requisition to the Sheriff, calling upon him not to allow any persons in the County to express their opinions except themselves; and why? because, forsooth, they having expressed their opinions, that alone was a sufficient manifestation of the opinion of the SB 234 WILTSHIRE. County at large. They would express their views they would forward the designs of their party, but they would at the same time call upon the Sheriff to seal the lips of the freeholders to prevent those, who did not think with them, from publicly expressing their sentiments. Such con- duct, I hope, is confined to the County of Hants. It is but an act of justice to the Gentlemen of Wiltshire to say that they are incapable of such mean and unjustifiable such dark and mysterious proceedings, I trust that the present Meeting will manifest to the country, to the King, and to the Parliament, what the real sentiments of the County are respect- ing the Bill of Pains and Penalties. I cannot, however, indulge the flattering hope that, if we adopt a Loyal Address, though it may be honour- able to the Throne, it will ever find its way into the London Court Gazette. It is not necessary, perhaps, to inform the Meeting that, amongst the other acts of just and impartial conduct, which have distinguished Ministers throughout the pro- ceedings against the Queen, they only insert in the Court Gazette such addresses as favour them- selves and their opinions. The object of the Ministers is to shut out the light from the country and from the King, and even from themselves. They wish to conceal the truth, and by keeping the really independent Addresses out of The Gazette, they vainly hope that they can be read no where else. Their conduct in this respect is TUB MARQUESS OF tANSDOWNE. 235 curious and characteristic ; it reminds me of what naturalists relate of a certain animal, the ostrich, which, it would seem, though the largest, is not exactly the wisest of birds. When the ostrich is pursued he runs his head into the sand, and then he thinks that, because he can see nothing, nothing can see him. The Ministers seem to act on the same principle : while they keep the Independent Addresses out of the Court Gazette, they seem to imagine that they can be read no where else ; and while they ostentatiously put forward all the Ad- dresses got up by their adherents in secret, that they are to be taken as the echo of the public voice as the testimony of general confidence of the applause and approbation of the whole country. But this is delusion gross and hopeless. The Peti- tions of the present Meeting will convey to the Parliament and to the Throne, the sentiments of the County of Wilts in language, which cannot be misunderstood. On the immediate question before the Meeting it will not be necessary for me to say ,much : but, whatever may be your opinions respecting her Majesty; whether she be guilty or innocent; I will defy any man to say, that her Majesty has been treated with any thing like even the appearance of justice. Her Majesty has suffered under a perse- cution, too, which was inconsistent with itself. They persecuted her Majesty abroad until she found it impossible, at least it became intolerable for her, to live there. She then approached the 236 WILTSHIRE. shores of England, and then they discovered that they could not allow her to live in England. They then offered her out of the public money a sum of 50,000 a year, if she would but consent to go back. This offer, it should never be forgotten by the people, her Majesty declined to accept, because she could not accept it without dishonour. Finding that the Queen would not accept of the public money on these terms, the Ministers went another step, and they offered an Address to her Majesty from the two Houses of Parliament they offered to take up the two Houses of Parliament, like sheep, with an Address to her Majesty, if she would only acquiesce in their views, renounce her rights, and go abroad again. But the Queen rejected their Addresses and refused their money ; and then they turned round upon her and said they would try her that they would try her, not by any known law not by any constitutional pro- ceeding, but by an Act of Parliament, by means of which she was at once to be prosecuted and tried, convicted and punished. Such was the constitu- tional, legal, equitable course, which Ministers pursued with regard to her Majesty. Whatever, therefore, may be the opinion of the Meeting with respect to the disgusting evi- dence, which has been brought forward; there can be but one opinion, one feeling with respect to the manner, in which her Majesty has been treated ; and, through her, the country. It is one of the fortunate circumstances of the Constitution, that THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE. 237 no individual, high or low neither his Majesty on the Throne, nor the meanest inhabitant of the cottage, can be ill treated, without injuring that Constitution. It is one of the virtues of the British Constitution, that it makes resistance to oppression the first duty of the subject, and makes the cause of one the cause of the whole. The people of England have already acted a noble part; but their labours are not at an end : their virtuous efforts must only cease with the acts of injustice, which first called them forth. If they persevere, they will stand forward with honour and with success. Whatever may be the causes of the public discontent whatever may be the necessity of Reform, I do not think that the House of Commons, or any other public body in England, is beyond the reach of public opinion: public opinion, wisely declared and firmly declared, will prevail : it will ultimately make itself heard, to the downfal of those, who vainly labour to resist its influence or subdue its force. I am unwilling at this late hour to trespass longer upon your attention, but I wish to say a few words upon the alleged danger to the country, as represented to be impending from the preva- lence of sedition and blasphemy. I yield to no man in a hatred of sedition and blasphemy : but I think the way to put them down is not by secret meetings, but by a public and unequivocal mani- festation of sentiment. The cause of truth only needs public elucidation and the collision of manly 238 WILTSHIRE. sentiment. So long as the people exercise their undoubted right of deliberating sensibly, firmly, and decorously upon public affairs, so long I have little apprehension from the machinations of any enemies of the state ; and I am ready publicly to declare, that if the day ever arrives, (of which I deny the signs to be manifest, and to which the present Meeting gives the most efficient contra- diction,) when an unsound state of public feeling is disseminated; the gentlemen of the country will not do their duty, if they do not come forward, and use their natural weight and authority to stem the tide of violence, and bring back the popular feel- ing to a proper tone of wholesome sentiment. But if no loyalty or firmness are to be relied upon, but that which can be congregated in private, and which only sees the light when it maligns the general feeling of the country, then indeed I should be compelled to despair of the nation. Better fortunes I think, however, await the country. There is one safeguard, upon which I rely for the support of the Constitution against every species of danger, foreign and domestic ; and that is the safeguard I now see arrayed, in the open and honest, co-operation of all orders of the subjects of the realm, for the common good and preservation of the whole. The gentlemen, who promote private meetings for public purposes, greatly mistake the genius of the British Constitu- tion, which they affect to support. That genius is in its essence not private; it is essentially public. THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE. 239 If not ; for what purpose docs the Constitution require that elections shall be open, and such as to expose the representative to the task of being confronted with his constituents? Such a public collision was ordained for the most salutary pur- poses: if it were not so intended, why the trouble, and often tumult, of popular elections ? Unless they worked beneficially, better would it be to cast the votes at once into a ballotting box, in a dark corner, unobserved by human eye, and uncon- trolled, except by that favourable monitor, self- opinion of self-interest. But from such Meetings the people derive the greatest benefit; they go away more attached to each other, and conse- quently more attached to the Government and Constitution, under which they live. If publicity were not the genius of the Constitution, elections might as well have been conducted in the same secret manner as these loyal Addresses ; but by bringing representatives before their constituents, a spirit of mutual communication is kept up ; and out of that collision arise that public feeling and public opinion, which contribute no less to the domestic glory of the country, than our fleets and armies contribute to her glory abroad. That national spirit can only be maintained by public discussion on all such subjects as require it. I am sure you are all satisfied that the subject we are this day to consider requires that public discussion; and you may rely upon it, that by persevering in maintaining your rights, you will at all times 240 WILTSHIRE. carry your just, honourable, and patriotic views into effect. I thank you for the honour you have clone me, and I can assure you, on the part of my Noble Friends, and particularly my most intimate friend and relative Lord Holland, that we are all most sensible of the approbation bestowed upon our public conduct. [Mr. JOY moved the Thanks of the Meeting to the High Sheriff for his readiness in complying with the Requisition, and his impartial and honour- able conduct in the Chair. Mr. PHIPPS seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. The HIGH SHERIFF, in acknowledging this honour, observed, that no private political opinions should ever dictate to him, while intrusted with a responsible public office, any line of conduct, which could infringe upon the undoubted right of the County to meet in a legal manner to express its opinion upon public measures. Sir FRANCIS BURDETT, being loudly called for, advanced to the front of the hustings :] SIR FRANCIS BURDETT, BART. M.P.: I REALLY feel ashamed to be called upon at this late hour, and after the admirable speeches, SIR FRANCIS BURDETT. 241 which have hcen delivered in the course of the day, speeches, which have exhausted every topic that belongs to the subject in debate to make any observations upon the object, to promote which we have been called together. I cordially concur with the noble Marquess in the sentiments he has expressed upon the value and utility of Public Meetings like the present. I hope the example, when found so salutary, so practicable, and parti- cularly so conducted with propriety and decorum, will be often followed. The Country Gentlemen now see that their apprehensions of such Meetings were ill founded, and that it is possible for honest men of different ranks in life to meet together for one common object, that common object being the good of their country, without inviting mischief or opposing the law. After the powerful, the persuasive, and elo- quent speeches of this day, little remains for me to add in support of your proceedings. Many of those, who have addressed you, in performing the respective duties imposed upon them, have dis- played an eloquence and an ability that do honour to the County; and some of them,, who do not move in public life, have presented a most striking example of the talents, of which the country might avail itself, if a different and more popular mode of election prevailed to qualify men to .sit in that assembly, of which the rotten boroughs are now the most striking deformity. I need not repeat the sentiments I have so 2 i 242 WILTSHIRE. often expressed upon the Queen's case ; the result of the prosecution of which every disinterested man, who has eyes to see a church in open day, foretold with unerring certainty. To foresee that agitation, which was the necessary result, required no spirit of prophesy : the palpable connection of cause and effect was clear and ohvious. In the whole of these lamentable transactions, extraordi- nary as" were the details, into which they branched, not the least extraordinary fact was the boundless nature of the reflections, which they suggested, and which, even after the powerful eloquence that has been this day shed upon them, leave some- thing new for me to introduce. The novelty that at the moment strikes me is this : we have often historically heard of the bribery and corruption of judges, of the profligacy of packed juries, and of the conspiracies of hired and perjured witnesses; but this is the first time that we have been struck with the extraordinary spectacle of a bribed criminal. If the Queen, instead of displaying the magnanimity she has throughout evinced, had been contented like a guilty person to stamp her name with infamy, she might have plastered up her wounded reputation with the ministerial bribe of 50,000 a year out of the pockets of the people, backed by ministerial addresses from both Houses of Parliament. If she, like the Ministers, had compromised her reputation by mean fears and base compliance, she might have pocketed the money and addresses of Parliament, and laughed SIR FRANCIS BURDETT. 243 at the dupe she had made of the country. In this base and unworthy conspiracy Ministers were ready to go the full length, into which they affected to believe the Queen had fallen : they were ready to incur all the stigma of blasted cha- racter, so that they could retain their places and uphold their influence. But the Queen's magna- nimity defeated their low schemes, and showed the high contrast of a proud spirit and conscious inno- cence with that of meanness, equivocation and deception. Such has been the noble conduct of the Queen. But what has been her fate? Why, that although acquitted, although the prosecution has been abandoned by the institutors of it, she is still not to be considered innocent ! I heard with regret such an opinion insinuated by an honourable Baronet (Sir E. Poore.) I can never object to the manliness of any gentleman's honest declaration of opinion, however it may clash with that of those, in whose presence it is declared. But, neverthe- less, I think it a little too hard, after a prosecution conducted with so much pre-arrangement has utterly failed, and been abandoned by those, who had committed every thing to promote it after that, I think it hard indeed that any gentleman should permit himself to express an opinion that the accused was not innocent, though the whole charge has fallen under the attempt to prove it. Good God! in what situation should we all stand what is to become of our characters, if, after a false accusation has been withdrawn for want of being 244 WILTSHIRE. supported, some part of the scandal, which it was found impossible to substantiate by evidence, must still be presumed to adhere to us? I know only of one case, which is at all similar to the conduct of Ministers in this respect. The conduct of that great company of merchants, the Bank of Eng- land, does in some degree furnish a parallel, for they do bribe men to plead guilty to the charges which are brought against them they bribe them with their lives to plead guilty to a part at least of the charge. This, however, is one of the anomalies arising out of the strange circumstances, in which the country is placed it is one, and not the least, of the evils arising out of the ministerial abuses of that trading company. The Member for Cricklade (Mr. Gordon) has dwelt upon a topic, by no means disconnected with the subject before the present Meeting : a topic so interwoven with every important political consideration, that no man who applies his mind to the state of the country can omit it I mean, the mode, in which Members are sent to the House of Commons. Could that topic be any where more properly introduced than in this place, where we all know how the Members are returned? Those who inhabit this rotten borough, are, of course, well aware that the Members are sent at the beck and nod of a Noble Lord, whom I respect in every view, except in that of a borough pro- prietor: but in that character I consider him one of the most mischievous men in the country; as SIR FRANCIS BURDKTT. he contributes to support a system, by which the Constitution of England is destroyed. Even Mr. Pitt, in the earlier days of his political life, felt so strongly the necessity of a Reform in Par- liament, that he declared the evils, under which the country laboured, could never be redressed without it. Without a Reform in Parliament, said he, you must look for fresh and accumulated giievances: without it there can be no security for your liberties, or your property ; nor can any honest man become a Minister of this country. We have heard much of professions of loyalty; now what I understand loyalty to mean is devotion to the laws and liberties of the coun- try, and devotion to the King as a branch of our Constitution, intended to uphold those liberties. In that sense of the word I will yield in loyalty to no man : and if any man dare to impute to me or any other man disloyalty, he deserves no other answer than a blow. What is the practical effect of this monopoly of loyalty in holes and corners? What but to degrade the Royal Family, to destroy the sanctity of the laws themselves, and to pervert every principle of justice, which is but another word for every principle of the British Constitution? They have misdirected the whole mind and energies of the country from the difficul- ties it has to encounter. Do they think that this is the way, in which the character of the family of Brunswick is to be upheld? Do they think that by degrading the Queen, and giving provoca- 246 WILTSHIRE. tion for every kind of recrimination, the character of King or Queen is likely to be maintained in the estimation of the country? If there exists any disaffection in the country towards the Royal Family, the persons, who have created that disaf- fection, and who are answerable for the con- sequences, are the Ministers of the Crown. I have declared my attachment to the Consti- tution as by law established ; but when I said that, I meant the old, free Constitution of England. I am not to be considered as advocating the cause of the new Constitution, which has of late been imposed on the country. I am not advocating the Peace Alien Bill, by which our shores have been rendered inhospitable ; and the nation, which once merited the high eulogium of giving freedom to the slave that once set his foot upon its soil, can now only be pointed out as the country in which the foreigner, flying from the chains of despotism, will find more galling chains and more intolerable oppression. When I spoke of the law of the land, I did not mean the law as it is now fettered by restrictions on the Liberty of the Press, which subjects a man, convicted a second time of publishing a libel, to transportation. This is a part of the new Constitution, in which I am somewhat interested; for I have myself been once convicted of publishing a libel, and am therefore liable to transportation for what may be deemed a second: but no consideration shall induce me to desist from writing whatever I think SIR FRANCIS BURDETT. . 247 calculated to promote the liberties of my country. I am no advocate for this innovation, but for that ancient Constitution, and that inalienable right of Englishmen, of which neither Kings nor hired Parliaments can deprive them the right to meet and declare their feelings and sentiments to the Parliament and the Throne, upon the general state of the country. This is a, right not held, nor to be defeated by an Act of Parliament: yet, on this very occasion, the new Constitution would have deprived us of the means of exercising that right, had it not been for the honourable conduct of the High Sheriff, who has given us an opportunity of meeting, which has been denied to a most respect- able body of Requisitionists in the County of Berks. I am, consequently, no friend to the new system of things, but I am a friend to that old, free Constitution, which made public rights and public liberty the basis of its government. Some beneficial effects will, I trust, result from this Meeting. You have, at all events, shewn, that you are capable of observing the strictest impartiality and propriety. A radical change of system is absolutely necessary to save the country. Some fastidiousness has been shewn with regard to the term Radical; but for my part I declare I have always been a Radical : I wish to cut up corruption by the roots. I wish for an honest Government, and an honest House of Commons, which may protect the people from the sycophancy of Cabinet Ministers, and 248 WILTSHIRE. become a healthy organ for the expression of public feelings and opinions. Had such been the state of the House of Commons, Ministers them- selves would have been the better for it, for then they would never have been suffered to enter upon that mad and wicked career, which I believe will now cost them their places. If no such prosecution had been commenced if they had told the King that they were unable to manage the House of Commons, they might have kept their places, and the country might have been spared the agitation, into which it has been thrown. I shall now take my leave, not with that utter hopelessness, which I should have felt had not this Meeting taken place ; for I part from you with the hope of seeing you on future occasions, when you may again exhibit the same conduct, which you have exhibited to-day; and shew your enemies that there was no necessity to sneak into holes and corners, since they might have expressed their opinions here with perfect safety. [Mr. HOBHOUSE having been also called upon :] MR. HOBHOUSE, M. P. : I ATTENDED the Meeting merely to offer my feeble assistance, in case any opposition were made to the proceedings of the day. I have heard a great deal of what are called Loyal Addresses; but true loyalty is as easily dis- MR. HOBHOUSE. 249 tinguished from mock loyalty, as blind obedience from the rational obedience of freemen. The people of England ought not, in my opinion, to rest satisfied with the half work, which they have already performed. The people see that, in spite or the general opposition to the odious measure against the Queen, in spite of the pronounced opinion of almost the whole people of England, Ministers still resolve to persevere : though once detected and defeated in their iniquity, they intend to make one expiring effort to destroy her Majesty, and to depress the people. Nothing can be more unfair or more undignified than the con- duct of Ministers: they would even turn their defeat into triumph: though her Majesty has been acquitted by the Parliament, still it seems, that in their opinion, according to their notions of justice, she is to undergo some species of punishment: she is to undergo degradation as if she were pro- nounced guilty. Such being the notions of Minis- ters ; they having, from the commencement, deter- mined to degrade and punish her Majesty, whether innocent or guilty; it appears to me, that they might as well have avoided the trouble of going through the form of a trial ; they might as well have saved the country the expence of the prose- cution, and the misery and shame of reading their infamous evidence. It is true that the House of Lords have given up the prosecution; but it is also true, that the condition of her Majesty is little better than if she were found guilty. The spirit of 2 K 250 WILTSHIRE. persecution follows her. Acquitted by the Peers, applauded by the people, she yet has no name in the Liturgy ; she has no palace in the land ; the creatures of the Court and the hirelings of the press attack her with impunity and without shame. Acknowledged as the Queen of England, she has no rank she has no provision no consolation, save the consolation of a woman conscious of inno- cenceno protection, but the regard and good opinion of the people. That, I acknowledge, is a great protection it is one, which her oppressors never possessed which corruption can never purchase. I hope that something may be done in Par- liament; though I cannot flatter myself that it is certain that any thing will be done. The noble Marquess (Lansdowne) has said that Ministers pro- posed to send the two Houses of Parliament up to her Majesty like so many sheep. The two Houses are generally treated like sheep by Ministers. The Ministers generally make them appear dis- graceful in the eyes of the country. In the higher house some noble Lords, true to the dignity as well as to the interests of the country, honourably resisted the attacks of Ministers. Ministers were defeated; and they flew for protection to those, who deal in mock loyalty. Those worthy persons appear to me, anxious to monopolize, not merely the good things of the world, but the good words also; they modestly represent themselves as the only good husbands the only affectionate MR. HOBHOUSE. 351 fathers in the country ; the only men, in short, who pay adoration to God, or service to the King. The people will despise these usurpers of the loyal dictionary. They will convince them, to use the language of a book I have lately read, that the Deity is not always on the Government side of the question. I hope that the country will shew those desperate men that there are people left in England, who are not like stocks or stones, but men worthy of attention, whose interests must be consulted, whose feelings must be respected, and whose liberties must not be violated by any set of men who pretend to govern England. The Meeting was then dissolved by the Sheriff. 252 KENT. County of l&cut A REQUISITION having been presented to the High Sheriff of the County of Kent, to convene a Meeting of the County, to take into consideration the propriety of an Address to the Queen, upon the Bill of Pains and Penalties being withdrawn ; to consider of a Petition to Parliament, that effec- tual steps may be taken to prevent the recurrence of proceedings of a similar nature; and also to consider of a Petition to Parliament upon the unexampled distress of the country, praying that due inquiry may be made into the same, in order that such remedies may be applied as the case may seem to require; the High Sheriff replied as follows ; I My Lords and Gentlemen, The Requisition, which I had the honour to receive from you on the evening of the 22d instant, has occupied my most serious attention ; and with great truth I can add, that it is not without much pain that I feel compelled to withhold my com- pliance to the wishes therein contained a determination, to which I am led from the thorough conviction, that in so doing I am acting (under all circumstances) in unison witli the senti- ments and feelings of (by far) the major part of this most KENT. 253 respectable and independent County, and thereby best fulfilling the duties of the office, in which I have the honour to be placed. I remain, my Lords and Gentlemen, Your most obedient and faithful humble servant, THOS. DYKE, Sheriff. Lullingstone Castle, Dec. 25, 1820. This reply led to the publication of the fol- lowing Requisition : In consequence of the unexpected refusal of the Sheriff under his authority to convene a Meeting of the County in con- formity with the Requisition lately presented to him, we feel it to be our duty to request the Independent Freeholders and Inhabitants of this County, to attend a Meeting to be held within the Town-hall, at Maidstone, on Thursday, January 18th, at twelve o'clock, to consider of the steps necessary to be taken, in consequence of the extraordinary conduct of the Sheriff, and for the other purposes specified in the Requisition. We regret extremely that the distance of many of those, who signed the late Requisition, has obliged us, in order to avoid any unnecessary delay, to take this measure without waiting for their formal concurrence. (Signed) THANET, EDWARD DARELL, JERSEY, G. F. BATES, Clerk, COWPER, J. GAMBIER, Clerk, SONDES, T. RYDER, FOLKESTONE, J. D. BROCKMAN, Jun. W. P. HONYWOOD, JAMES HULKES. L. TAYLOR, January 8th, 1821. The original Requisition to the Sheriff was signed by several Noblemen, and a number of the most respectable Freeholders in the County, who, 254 KENT. with a vast crowd, attended, on Thursday, January the 18th, 1821, at Maidstone, for the purposes mentioned in the Requisition. The assemblage was indeed so numerous, that the County Hall was obviously inadequate to their accommodation; but, as there were not five " acting Magistrates" among the Requisitionists, as the late Act for restraining Public Meetings prescribes, it was found that the people could not legally meet upon this occasion in the open air ; hence, the Noble- men and Gentlemen present were under the necessity of submitting to the incommodation of the County Hall; as was the very considerable body of Freeholders, whose zeal urged them to press into that most inconvenient room. About a quarter after twelve o'clock, Earls Thanet and Darnley, with Messrs. Honywood, Ryder, Brockman, and several other persons of distinction, were able to find their way into the hall, and Earl DARNLET proposed that Mr. Polhill should be appointed to the Chair; which proposi- tion having been seconded by Mr. BROCKMAN, was carried unanimously : and, Mr. POLHILL having taken the Chair, the Meeting was addressed as follows by EARL THANET : I UNDERTAKE the part assigned to me upon this occasion with considerable diffidence. This EARL THANET. 255 diffidence does not, however, proceed from any doubt of experiencing the indulgence of those, whom I have the honour to address, unaccustomed, as I am known to be, to public speaking; still less does it arise from an apprehension that I have any thing to propose, which it would be un- becoming in me to offer, or in this Meeting to adopt. But I feel some reluctance to animadvert, in appropriate terms, upon the extraordinary con- duct of the High Sheriff, in refusing to convene a County Meeting, although requested to do so by so many respectable Freeholders. That refusal I deem the more extraordinary from a consideration of the peculiar circumstances, in which the coun- try is placed, and of the important topics referred to in the Requisition. What a striking, and, I must say, what an honourable contrast does the recent conduct of the Sheriff of Hampshire present to that of Sir Thomas Dyke. The former received a Requisition to convene a County Meeting, which was signed by one Peer and seventy Freeholders ; and immediately those, to whom any expression of popular sentiment, or exhibition of public feeling, is disagreeable at all times, but particularly at present, set about endeavouring to counteract the wish of the public-spirited Requisitionists. They therefore presented a Counter-Requisition, signed by nine Peers, two of whom were Ministers, (and most of whom, no doubt, wished to be Ministers,) with about one hundred and forty Freeholders. This Counter-Requisition had, however, no effect. 256 KENT. The Sheriff was not to be withdrawn by any per- suasion or power from the performance of his duty; and his manner of discharging that duty has obtained for him what it deserved the uni- versal approbation of his public-spirited country- men. How then must the public reputation of the Sheriff of Kent suffer from a comparison with that of the Sheriff of Hants ? The conduct of the former has indeed been such as can find no prece- dent in this County. I have myself been pretty constantly resident in Kent for the last thirty years, in the course of which I have signed many Requisitions for public Meetings; some of which indeed originated with those, from whom I usually differ in political opinion ; but I never remember an instance, in which the Sheriff thought proper to refuse his compliance with the wish of the Requi- sitionists. It remained for Sir Thomas Dyke to establish a precedent, founded, in my judgment, upon an egregious misconception of duty ; and this precedent, too, it is to be observed, applies to a case, in which the Requisition was subscribed by a greater number of respectable names, than I ever recollect in any former instance. But even respectably as this Requisition was signed, I will venture to say, that above five hundred more names of great respectability among the Free- holders of the County might have been annexed to it, if it had not been so soon forwarded to the Sheriff, by whom it was so completely disregarded. In reply to this Requisition, the Sheriff has stated, EARL THANET. 3.57 that he would not comply with it, because, accord- ing to his opinion, truly, the object of it was in opposition to the opinion of the major part of the independent Freeholders of the County. I presume that no one acquainted with the politics and con- nections of Sir Thomas Dyke, can be mistaken as to the class or sort of independent persons, to whom the letter alludes. But in considering the conduct of a Sheriff upon a Requisition to call a Public Meeting, the first question to be put, is whether the state of the country is such as to require any public decla- ration of the sentiments of its inhabitants? It is, unfortunately, unnecessary to adduce any argu- ment to decide that question on the present occa- sion, as the melancholy facts, which call for such a declaration, are so numerous and palpable. It is notorious, that of late there have been more public Meetings than at any period of our history within the same space that indeed there never has been a greater intensity of public feeling. It is impos- sible to take up a newspaper without seeing some public Meeting upon some national question; or some account of Addresses presented, or preparing for presentation to the Queen. The friends of Ministers themselves have shewn that there is something in the state of the country, which requires some declaration of the opinion of the people; else why press for those Loyal Addresses, of which the country has heard so much? But in addition to all the public Meetings which have 2 L 258 KENT. already taken place, I understand that thirteen or fourteen Counties in England are about to meet, or have actually met, in order to make some declara- tion of their sentiments upon public affairs. All these circumstances prove that the Sheriff of Kent has not been called upon to convene the County on light grounds. Yet the Sheriff would not agree to the application for a popular Meeting; influenced, no doubt, in his refusal, in some degree, by those very persons, who are themselves meeting in holes and corners to declare opinions upon those very subjects, from the discussion of which they would altogether exclude the unbiassed, independent people of the County. [Here the noble Lord read a Declaration which had been lately left at two houses in Maidstone, for the purpose of being signed as a Loyal Address to the King, and ridiculed the diction and character of that Declaration, which was published in The Maidstone Gazette, without any signatures. After the usual phrases of " the sapping of religion" and " the devotion of life and fortune," it con- cluded with the magnanimous " resolution of, God for their guide, defeating all their enemies."] Thus a sort of terrific raw-head and bloody- bones, as to blasphemy, sedition, anarchy, and confusion, was circulated through the County, without any distinct authority or known signature. But to be serious : if the people have no evils to dread or to afflict them, except those recounted in this notable Declaration, I might well congra- EARL THANET. 259 tulate my countrymen upon their condition; for such evils might be easily grappled with, and overcome by the steady administration of the laws of the country. There are, however, much more serious evils hanging over the liberty, the property, and safety of the country than these Loyal Addressers feel it politic to notice, but against which it behoves the people to be on their guard. They should be on their guard, indeed, principally against the object of such Addressers as I have quoted. But having observed upon the Loyal Address from West Kent, and which no doubt emanated from some of those, whom Sir Thomas Dyke regards as the majority of the independent and respectable inhabitants of the County, I shall now advert to an ebullition from the Loyalists of East Kent. In a Declaration from the Magistrates of that district, lately published, I find the follow- ing sentence: " We view with extreme regret the systematic circulation of blasphemous and seditious publications and addresses, calculated to mislead the ignorant and unwary to alienate the minds of the people from a true obedience to the laws and bring into contempt the constituted authorities and the established religion of the country." I would beg to know where, in this County, those Magistrates have seen any of those blasphe- mous or seditious publications, by which they affect to be so very much alarmed ? What proof have they whatever of any such publication in the 260 KENT. County? It has been suggested to me, that no case whatever of blasphemous or seditious publica- tion has been brought under the notice of any of the Magistrates of this County. From this fact, then, does it not appear that the Declaration of the Magistrates, to whom I have referred, came to them to be signed from another quarter? and that, indeed, they were called upon to give their corroborative testimony to the statement, although they themselves had no knowledge of the business? But whatever may be the real opinion of those Magistrates, or of the other Loyal Addressers in the County, their public Declaration of such opinions serves to justify those, who have called for a County Meeting. But it is clear that Ministers and their agents are adverse to County Meetings, although such Meetings form a part of the Con- stitution of the country, as well as the two Houses of Parliament. The Church and the King are parts of the Constitution, but not the only parts: it should be recollected, that popular Meetings form not the least valuable, nor the least important part of that system. I believe, indeed, that to such Meetings the liberty of Englishmen owes its origin; and that without such Meetings that liberty can never be maintained. I therefore call upon the Gentlemen of England to stand by that liberty; and beg to remind them, in the words with which Blackstone has concluded his beautiful and immortal work, that " the protection of the liberty of Britain is a duty, which they owe to EARL THANET. 26l themselves, who enjoy it ; to their ancestors, who transmitted it down ; and to their posterity, who will claim at their hands this, the best birthright, and noblest inheritance of mankind." He, who despises or fears the people, renders himself incapable of performing the duties, which, on such high authority, belong to him. The High Sheriff, (I speak of him in his public capacity,) has shewn that he undervalues the popular part of our Constitution, and does not feel, as he ought to feel, the sacred duty of protecting " the best birthright and the noblest inheritance of mankind." I must, therefore, say, that the High Sheriff of the County has herein acted in a manner ill becoming an English Gentleman. If the personages, who arrogate to themselves the title of being the most respectable of this most respectable County, instead of sending forth their libels on their fellow-subjects from " holes and corners," would fairly meet them in public, they would find that there was no reason for complain- ing of " a blasphemous and seditious press, licen- tious beyond example," nor of " the specious pre- texts and dangerous talents of men, who are seeking the ruin of the altar and the throne." Gentlemen, it was riot by such sentiments that the liberties of England were won it is not by such sentiments that the liberties of England can be maintained. The High Sheriff has lost what I hope he will still regret the approbation of those, who are 262 KENT. politically, but fairly and candidly opposed to him; and I hope he will feel the vote jof censure, which, if* no other Gentleman proposes, I shall feel it my duty to propose. On a fit and proper occasion I would be as ready as any man to join in a Loyal Address to his Majesty. It is not many months since I had the honour of seconding an Address to his Majesty in this place. If you retain any memory of any exertions of mine, you will remember that I have not been backward in the professions due to our Sovereign. Sorry indeed I am to see so inauspi- cious a beginning of his Majesty's reign. If called on to express my opinions in an Address to his Majesty, I would not conceal. the indignation and abhorrence, which the conduct of his Majesty's public servants has created throughout the country. Such an Address might be proper ; but any allu- sion to the late proceedings of Ministers involves considerations of a peculiarly delicate nature respecting the Sovereign; and I therefore hope that the same effect, which might he expected from an Address to the King, will be produced by a public declaration of their sentiments in a different form. I propose an Address to her Majesty the Queen. I am aware that persons have asked, " Why address the Queen? The Queen is nobody in the State. What right can the Queen have to receive addresses?" Here I turn again to my friend Blackstone, and I find that " the first and most considerable branch of the EARL THANET. 263 King's Royal Family, regarded by the laws of England, is the Queen." She is on the same foot- ing with the King in point of security of her life and person. " It is equally treason (by the statute 25 Edw. III.) to compass or imagine the death of our Lady the King's Companion, as of the King himself." Such being the legal constitutional character, which her Majesty enjoys by the law of England, are we not to feel joy or sorrow in her fortunes? Are there too no precedents? Did not the House of Commons, who ought to be the repre- tatives of the people, address her Majesty? The next question is what has befallen our Queen, which ought to excite our sympathy? Twenty-five years ago her Majesty was married. It was not wonderful that a Royal marriage should prove unfortunate : but none was ever so unfortu- nate as her Majesty's. A few days after the birth of her only child, she was separated from her hus- band. It soon appeared that there were persons, who promoted their private interests by calumnia- ting their Queen, A system of calumny was adopted, which made every street in London ring with insinuations that her Majesty was a person of the most determined and professed gallantry. At length it was charged against her that she had given birth to a child without intercourse with her husband. A commission was issued under the sanction of his late Majesty, and the event was the entire acquittal of our present Queen. It is necessary to aljude to those events, to shew that 264 KENT. similar charges may be equally unfounded. After that acquittal the Queen was received at Court. Unfortunately, the late King became unable to attend to public affairs; and, as soon as the Regency commenced, reports against the Regent's Consort were revived. Harassed and tortured by such reports, and other annoyances, the subject of them felt compelled to seek an asylum in another country. She did so, however, contrary to the advice of her best friends. They urged that simi- lar means would be exerted against her; that fresh conspiracies might threaten her; and added, that there would not be the like facilities of exposing and defeating them. Events justified these fears. When the Queen was abroad, the most abominable reports against her soon began to be circulated in almost every town in Italy. Her Majesty was advertised of them, and she ulti- mately became so alarmed for a considerable time, that she apprehended her life to be in danger. But she remained determined to meet any charges, that might be preferred against her; and in the mean time the Milan Commission was appointed. Her Majesty was aware of what was going on, and was informed of the proceedings in this country; particularly of the omission of her name in the Church Service. Her Majesty thought if she acquiesced in this indignity, it would be giving a colour to the charges circulated against her, and she then determined to come "to England. This resolution, especially when it was seen she was EARL THANET. 26.5 carrying it into effect, astounded the Ministers. They despatched ambassadors to her; but neither bribes nor threats could divert her determination. Although her degradation and possibly her death might be the result of her appearance in England, her determination she carried into effect: alike scorning every bribe, and every menace. Such conduct only made her hasten to meet her accusers. Having failed to keep her Majesty out of the country, the Ministers were induced to persevere ; and she had hardly crossed Westminster Bridge, when the green bag was laid before Parliament. That House, to which I have the honour to belong, appointed a Committee : but the Commons acted otherwise. They voted that it would be derogatory to the honour of the Crown, and inju- rious to the best interests of the people, to open the bag; and in consequence of such determina- tion, the Ministers required a negotiation to be opened, to ascertain whether matters could not be arranged without inquiry. That negotiation was unsuccessful, as it was found that the Ministers still adhered to their refusal to insert her Majesty's name in the Liturgy, and her Majesty would not concede that point. The Queen was then ad- dressed to concede that point, the Commons adding that they would consider such concession as leaving no stain on her character. Her Majesty, having heard the horrid charges, determined not 2 M 26*6* KENT. to give way ; she determined to stand or fall by the assertion of her innocence. The character of the English people strength- ened her in this determination ; for she knew they would not countenance injustice. Theti came the Bill. The result is fresh in your recollections. The first question that may be asked is whether, circumstanced as the King and Queen were, it was just that such a proceeding should have been adopted at all ? (Cries of " No") I was sure of the answer that would be given. I expected no other. I was sure that your sense of justice would not suffer you to give any other answer. No : it was contrary to those principles of justice, which God has engraven on the heart of every human being. Having resolved on a measure, that was essentially unjust, an unjust mode of urging it forward was next determined on. An Impeach- ment could not be expected after the vote of the Commons; and the Bill of Pains and Penalties was therefore introduced. Unfortunately there were precedents for such bills; but there were none that I would not have opposed, had I lived in those times. Under such a mode of prosecu- tion, it was with the most perfect consistency that a list of the witnesses, and any specification of times and places, or of the nature of the charges, were refused. If perjury had not been practised, it would have been inconsistent with the whole EARL THANET. $67 proceedings. I heard every word that the infa- mous witnesses uttered ; I attended every hour : I now declare to God, that if I were one of twelve men to give a solemn verdict on my oath, and were assured that the uttering of the verdict were to be the last act of my life, I would, while about to go into the presence of God, lay my hand upon my heart and say, " Not Guilty." Recollect the forms of proceeding; and the falsehoods, by which the charges were sustained ; and examine the conduct of her Majesty ; and then I would ask you, where you find the con- duct of a guilty person r On the side of the pro- secution all was shuffling, and prevarication, and anxiety to bring her Majesty to disgrace and punishment. Let any man contrast the peculiari- ties of each side, and then impeach this verdict if he can. I know that some of the minority of ninety-nine have declared that they deemed her Majesty guilty : of two or three such declarations much has been made : but out of the one hundred and eight I think some might also be struck off by the same rule. Were they all convinced of her Majesty's guilt? May not some of them have voted from expediency? May they not have thought the Queen a very inconvenient and dis- agreeable personage to the Administration ? They might possibly wish to get rid of her. Indeed you have seen this sentiment in one of the ministerial papers, (the Morning Post, I believe,) in which it has been declared that she ought to be got rid of, 268 KENT. " either as a criminal, or as a martyr" The Minis- ters saw the opinion of two hundred lords; and remembered that in another place they had to consult six hundred and fifty-eight judges; and that those judges, backed by the public opinion, which had been comparatively little felt in the Lords, might come to a very different decision from that of the Upper House. But there was a still greater injustice done than was even meditated by the Bill. For there was this peculiar injustice ; that, although the Bill was abandoned, the Queen did not experience the benefit of an acquittal. Lord Liverpool withdrew the Bill because public opinion was not favourable to its principles ; but ought his Lordship to have stopped there? Being declared an innocent per- son, why was not her Majesty restored to the advantages of such an acquittal? Any other determination will, in my opinion, leave a stain on all English jurisprudence. I therefore complain of this result, for we are all concerned in seeing that no act of injustice is done. If the Ministers of the country can thus overleap all the fences of the law, if the law be thus set at defiance, for whom can there be safety ? I will now shortly allude to two points not mentioned in the Requisition. As to a change of Ministers, I do trust that the proceedings here this day may tend to turn out Ministers. I say so the more readily, because I am not qualified myself for public business, and as to higher title and emo- MR. HONYWOOD. 269 lument, you know I have no taste for them. I am connected with the most considerable men in the country for talents, for love of the Consti- tution, by which I mean love of liberty; and I hope they will soon have the conduct of the affairs of the country. The other subject is Parliamentary Reform. I have no views of ambition, nor desire of popular applause, though I am proud to be a party-man ; but when the question of Reform comes forward, backed by the general and public voice, I will most cordially support it. I do not qualify this declaration by this or that observation; I am a sincere Parliamentary Reformer. [The noble Earl concluded by reading an Address to the Queen, which he moved as the sentiments of the County of Kent. Mr. HONYWOOD, M. P. having seconded it; The CHAIRMAN put the question and declared that it was carried unanimously, with the excep- tion of one hand, (Captain Purvis's.)] MR. HONYWOOD, M.P.: ON rising to move a Petition to the House of Commons, praying that her Majesty may be restored to the enjoyment of her full rights and privileges, I cannot avoid expressing my sense of the ability and eloquence, which have been dis- played by my noble Friend near me, in opening 270 KENT. the subject of the Meeting, and in expatiating upon the principle of the Address. I was not aware of the nature of the Petition, which J have to support, until it was just now put into my hands; but I am aware of my own inability to advocate its merits in the manner they deserve. I wish it had fallen into abler hands; but trust that I shall now, as on all similar occasions, receive that indulgence, which those, whom I have the honour to address, are always so ready to give. I am now in the presence of a part of my con- stituents, and am prevented from seeing them all face to face, because the High Sheriff, in his discretionary wisdom, did not think fit to allow them an opportunity of appearing in such numbers as must have been expected, had he sanctioned their assembling according to the purport of the Requisition. This is the reason, and the only one, which prevents me from seeing, on this occa- sion, the whole body of my constituents; of whom, although this hall is now crowded beyond prece- dent, it is capable of containing but a small part. But are times come to this ; that the High Sheriff shall designate as a seditious Meeting the free unfettered assemblage of the " Men of Kent" to express their honest opinions upon public affairs, at this most important crisis of the country? For my own part, I shall never shrink from any opportunity of expressing my opinion upon the late vicious and scandalous proceedings in the House of Lords ; which, the more they are ana- MR. HONYWOOD. 271 lysed, the more they excite a just indignation. I considered the Bill of Pains and Penalties at first sight both unnecessary and odious ; but the further consideration of it raises that feeling to abhorrence. The Ministers have said that it was a matter of State necessity ; but it was owing to the conduct of the virtuous minority, of which my noble Friends near me formed so conspicuous a part, that the pernicious measure was prevented from consummating the calamities of the country. But this virtuous minority was supported by the irresistible voice of public opinion; and the ex- pression of that public opinion has caused the Bill of Pains and Penalties to cease to exist. May the end of all Bills of that nature be the same. If you look back to the earlier history of the Queen, you will find that, from the time in which she first set her foot in this country, she has been an injured and persecuted/ woman. Insult and defamation drove her from the shores of England ; and no sooner had she set her foot in a foreign country, than persecution followed her, and every vexation was practised that could tend to vilify and degrade. But although every engine of undue influence has been employed against her, the verdict of the country has pronounced her inno- cent. It is the proud principle of British justice, that when any man is brought to the bar, the laws of his country presume him innocent, and, when once acquitted, he is declared innocent for ever: he could then walk out of Court as free and as un- 272 KENT. blemished as any, who now hear me. Is this a principle, the advantage of which Britons would give a man and deny to a woman? It never was their character, and never could be their character, so to do. And especially among the men of Kent, where the love of woman is so predominant, inno- cence must ever be doubly sure of protection when it appears in the shape of a persecuted woman. It is true, that the Ministers of the Crown have said that the proceedings, which you and all honest men reprobate, were necessary for the maintenance and support of the morals of the country : but I cannot see what advantage could be derivable, either to the Crown or the commu- nity, from the offer, which Ministers made her Majesty; if their vindication of the interests of either was any thing but a pretext, Was it neces- sary, I would ask, for the honour of the Crown, or the morals of the people, that the Queen, if really such a woman as Ministers represented her to be, should receive an annual sum of 50,000 from this country, with a plenary indulgence to live, if she pleased, in a state of unbridled licen- tiousness? Neither can I see how the community was to be benefited by the opening of that flood- gate of scandal, filth and obscenity, which deluged the nation to its remotest extremities during the progress of the foul and abominable investigation. That trial, I am bold to say, has done more towards the demoralization of the MR. HONYVvOOD. 273 people than all the seditious, blasphemous and anti-monarchical publications, which have issued from the Press since it first became free. I must next advert to the conduct of Minis- ters in proroguing Parliament without the ob- servance of the accustomed and decent formality of thanking the House of Commons for the supplies. There was nothing to shew that the Crown was really informed of the bounty of Par- liament. The Country was ignorant whether it had really received the supplies voted. The Ministers of Queen Anne had not acted so. They had not advised the Crown to prorogue Parliament without acknowledging the receipt of the supplies; nor had it been attempted by the Ministers of George the First, Second, or Third. It was reserved for the Ministers of George the Fourth, to outrage propriety and decorum in dismissing Parliament without condescending to take the slightest notice of its munificence to the Crown. In the speech addressed to the Parliament in the first year of the reign of Queen Anne, tliat Sove- reign stated that she returned her hearty thanks to the House of Commons for continuing the pro- vision settled on the Crown in the preceding reign ; and that while her subjects laboured under a great burden of taxes, she would straiten her own expences to meet the necessities of the times, as far as was consistent with maintaining the character and dignity of the Crown. At that time, however, the National Debt was not greater 2 N 274 KENT. than the present expence of collecting it. It is worth while to contrast the conduct of Ministers then and at present: nothing could be more dis- similar. The Ministers of that day acknowledged the Crown dependent upon Parliament, but now they wish to make it paramount and independent. I cannot conclude without saying one word about a set of men, some of whom are to be found at present in this and every other County. These men think, or pretend, that they are more loyal than others ; but the fact is, that they arro- gate to themselves an exclusive title to loyalty, which they neither understand nor practise. I believe my own loyalty to be the better of the two; who, while I give to my King all the rights and the deference due to him, defend the rights and interests of myself and fellow-subjects from destruction or encroachment I believe that true loyalty does not mean subservience to Ministers, but a faithful attachment to the honour and inte- grity of the Crown and Constitution. . I beg to assure this Assembly, that I will not only present their Petition to the House of Com- mons, but will, in my place, support it; and I hope I shall have the aid of my honourable Colleague. [The Petition to the House of Commons, and a similar Petition to the House of Lords, were then carried unanimously, with the exception of the dissentient voice of Captain PURVIS, who said, he EARL DARNLEY. 275 did not consider this to be a Meeting of the County of Kent. Mr. RYDER made several remarks on the dis- tressed state of the country. If approbation of Ministers, who had brought the country into this state of distress, was loyalty, he begged leave to avow himself one of the disaffected. He con- cluded by moving the Agricultural Petition to both Houses of Parliament. Mr. FOOT seconded the Petition ; and rejoiced that Ministers must look for other tools to pro- vide them with Addresses, than the sturdy and independent Freeholders of the County of Kent. The Petition was then moved and carried, with only the opposition of the individual, who had before singly opposed the sense of the Meeting. Lord THANET then proposed the following Resolution, which was carried unanimously, except as before excepted : That in the opinion of this Meeting, the High Sheriff, in refusing to convene the County in conformity with a Requisition most numerously and respectably signed, has neither acted with the respect he owes to the County, nor consistently with the duty which -his situation imposes ou him, which we conceive by no means authorizes his arrogating to himself the power of judging of the sense of the County at large, which can only be fairly and constitutionally collected by those very means of a Public and General Meeting, which he hat taken upon himself arbitrarily to withhold.] THE EARL OF DARNLEY : THE business of the Meeting has been con- ducted with so much ability by my noble Friend 276 KENT. and by the worthy Representative of the County, that it would he improper in me to occupy much of your time at this late hour. I did not sign the first Requisition not from any disinclination to the object stated in it not from any desire to throw an obstacle in the way of a public declara- tion of feeling against Ministers, who have abused the trust reposed in them by their Sovereign and their Country, but because the Bill against the Queen had been rejected, and I feared that the convening of the County might rather help Mi- nisters out of a scrape, out of which I hoped they would never get. The Bill, that abominable and detestable proceeding, has been triumphantly rejected ; and I was proud to have stood on that occasion, side by side with my noble Friend now near me. At the time I declined to sign the Requisition, I was not aware of an} 7 Loyal Address in this County; nor of the Sheriff's having dared to refuse compliance with a Requisition signed by my Noble Friend and other Freeholders. I speak strongly upon the subject, because I feel that a greater act of arrogance and insult has never been committed by any Sheriff of a County. I speak not of Sir Thomas Dyke, but of the High Sheriff of Kent. I do not deny that he might on occasions exercise a discretion, if he had any apprehension of a breach of the peace; but in this case he had no excuse; we cannot, therefore, express our disapprobation too strongly. Good God ! Will you, the men of Kent men pro- EARL DARN LEY. 277 verbially more jealous of your rights than others, will you submit to be dictated to by a despotic deputy? I feel strongly upon this subject. Does the High Sheriff arrogate omniscience? Can he look into the heart? How does he know tbe sentiments of the major part of the Freeholders? Why does he not bring his friends with him to a public Meeting, and by their numbers overwhelm his opponents? But he and his friends, in this crisis of danger and tribulation, think only of sup- porting the Administration. They dare not show their faces at a public Meeting like the manly Captain on my right hand. But the Captain says this is not a Meeting of the County of Kent. No, it is not: the High Sheriff is not here: and I believe there are few of his friends. Those men claim to themselves exclusive loyalty. Do not those, whom I now address, recollect with how much ability and fervour of loyalty my noble Friend (Thanet) seconded the Address of the Lord Lieutenant of the County to his Majesty on his accession to the throne? Would any man alive dare to doubt my noble Friend's loyalty ? Would any man dare to doubt my loyalty ? Who in this County encourages seditious and blasphemous pub- lications? I have not met with any. Where are they? The people in general are now, indeed^ discontented, and with reason because Ministers have misconducted the affairs of the country. The loyal addressers propose as a remedy for the discontent, to continue Ministers in office. In 278 KENT. order to do away with the effect, they pro- pose to perpetuate the cause. These men are as good logicians as they are politicians; but I believe they are now unmasked to the whole country. On the subject of the Queen so much has been said that I can only refer to the part, which I have been obliged to take in the disgusting pro- ceedings in Parliament. I am much afraid that Ministers have not done yet with this question : for they have pledged their existence as an Administration on the continuance of the prosecu- tion against the Queen. I have always considered the exclusion of her Majesty's name from the Liturgy as gross injustice and inconceivable folly. I have no doubt that the Queen would have remained abroad, but for that insult. Had that insult been removed, the negotiation in the Commons had not failed. It is my intention to take the first opportunity of calling the attention of the House of Lords to that point With respect to the Agricultural Petition, I must say that no effectual relief can be obtained till the root of the evil is removed. Taxation I consider to be so enormous that, unless it be reduced, neither agriculture nor trade can prosper. Protecting duties are mere temporary expedients, not to be justified on permanent principles. As to a change of Administration, I perfectly agree that the present Ministers have totally dis- EARL DARNLEY. 279 qualified themselves for managing the affairs of the country. I am a party-man : I am connected with men, whose talents, integrity, and power to serve the country are unequalled. The charges against them are as absurd as they are unjust. Can Lord Grey be said to court office, who has repeatedly refused it when offered on terms incon- sistent with his principles? Are the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of Devonshire Radicals? Do such men desire revolution? I will say, that if the country can be saved, it must be by the Whig aristocracy, who utterly disclaim all subser- viency to the Court or to the mob. [His Lordship concluded by moving thanks to the Mayor for his politeness in lending the hall. Carried unanimously. Mr. LARKIN moved thanks to Lords Grey, Erskine, Thanet, and Darnley, for their able and manly conduct during the late proceedings in the House of Peers. Lord DARNLEY returned thanks for himself and his Noble Friends. His Lordship then moved thanks to the Chairman. Carried unanimously. Mr. POLHILL returned thanks, and compli- mented the very orderly conduct of the Meeting, which then dispersed quietly. 280 OXFORDSHIRE. otttrtg of ON Monday, January 21, 1821, a Meeting of the Freeholders of the County of Oxford was held at the Town Hall in the City of Oxford, in pur- suance of a Requisition transmitted to the High Sheriff, which was in the following terms : " To consider the propriety of expressing our loyalty to the King, our attachment to the Constitution, and our utter abhorrence of those blasphemous and seditious doctrines, which have lately been dis- seminated with so much industry and perse- verance." This Requisition was signed by the Earl of Macclesfield, Lords Abingdon and Churchill, and several other Freeholders. The High Sheriff, accompanied by a number of Gentlemen, entered the Town Hall at half-past twelve o'clock. The rush through the doors was very great, and the confusion, which ensued, was tremendous. At the table, at the head of the hall, sat the Earls of Macclesfield, Jersey, and Harcourt ; Lords Holland and Churchill ; Mr. Fane and Mr. Ashhurst, the County Members; Mr. Lockhart, M. P. for the City ; and a number of other personages of rank in the County. The crowd in the hall was so excessive, that the people OXFORDSHIRE. 281 broke the large windows to admit air, and half an hour elapsed before silence could be obtained. The SHERIFF, having taken the Chair, read the Requisition, in pursuance of which he had called the Meeting. He hoped that every Gentleman, who should address the Meeting, whatever might be his political sentiments, would be heard with patience and impartiality. Mr. READ (of Ipsden) came forward to pro- pose the Address to the King. He commenced by entreating the attention of the Meeting to his observations, which were, he trusted, applicable to the subject of the present Meeting. The times, he said, called upon every man, who had the good of his country at heart, to leave the contemplative and go into the active world, for the purpose of expressing that he feared God and, therefore, honoured the King, and all who were in authority under him. Here the speaker encountered very consider- able interruption from the audience, many of whom called for Lord Holland ; upon which Lord HOLLAND rose and said " Brother Freeholders, I have no right to address to you one syllable until you have heard the Gentleman, who is in possession of the Meeting. I am flattered by your desire to hear me; but it is impossible that I can address you unless you hear this Gentleman, and give him an opportunity of saying something which may call upon me for a reply." Mr. READ said, that it was written in the 2 o 282 OXFORDSHIRE. sacred volume, that every soul should be entirely suhject to the higher powers, (renewed interrup- tion.} Lord HOLLAND again came forward and said " I again entreat you to hear the Gentleman: he is one of those, who have invited us here this day ; but before you express your opinion of the dish, which they mean to serve up for our feast, pray let us see the cover taken off; and then, if we do not like it, we may try and make it more palatable by supplying a little constitutional sauce of our own. But we must see what they mean to give us, surely, before we know whether we can relish it or not." He concluded, amid loud cheers, by a warm appeal to the Meeting, in behalf of the country, in behalf of their own character as British freeholders, as lovers of free, and fair, and impartial discussion, to hear with patience every Gentleman, who thought proper to address them during the proceedings of the day. The Earl of JERSEY repeated the appeal with similar earnestness ; and Mr. READ resumed and said that he, as a Christian, found in Holy Writ, that it was the duty of every soul to be subject to the higher powers ; for there was no power but from above. " Whosoever," saith Scripture, " resisteth the powers that be, resisteth the order of the Most High." The people of this country ought to bear in mind this apostolic injunction, at a moment when cruel, bloody, and monstrous tyrants, like OXFORDSHIRE. 283 the Nero of Rome, sought a revolution of all that was good. There was a revolutionary spirit abroad which sought the subversion of social order, of religion and toleration. Having the benefit of associating with men, who valued the blessings afforded by the constitution of England, he was an enemy to this spirit of change, and would resist it to the utmost of his power. He was averse to all dangerous changes, when he found himself under a government of religion, order, and law. He knew there were others in society, who cared as little for broken heads as for broken windows. It was because such a malevolent spirit prevailed that a loyal and dutiful Address was called for, to show the King that the great bulk of his liege subjects were sound. He called on every good subject to rally round the altar and the throne. He saw with horror the publication of seditious and blasphemous publications ; he detested doc- trines which would rob the people of their com- forts in this world, and deprive them of salvation in the next. He would say no more than that the times seemed " big with the fate of Cato and of Rome." He concluded with moving the Address. It stated the attachment of the County to the per- son and family of his Majesty ; and that although the loyalty of Oxford was sufficiently known, yet at the present period, when sedition and disloyalty were so openly avowed and so industriously circu- lated, the Freeholders felt it their duty, as good subjects, openly to declare their detestation of 284 OXFORDSHIRE. doctrines so subversive of every loyal and religious principle, and which, if continued to be propagated, would promote public calamity. Sensible of the blessings they enjoyed, they ventured to approach the Throne to express their veneration for the Constitution in Church and State, and their deter- mination to defend it. Major STRATTON, in seconding the Address, said that, concurring as he did in the terms in which it was drawn up, he rose to propose its adoption to the County. (A cry " Yes, it was drawn up by Lord Sidmouth") He denied that Lord Sidmouth had any hand whatever in the pro- posed Address. (Disapprobation.} He entreated them to bear in mind the appropriate recommenda- tion of the Noble Lord near him, to wait until they saw the dish served up for the feast, before they complained that it was unsavoury to their palate. Now he hoped that, after hearing the Address read, they would feel that it accorded with their taste ; in fact, it was good old English roast beef he wished them to eat, and not French Jacobinical frog sauce. He stood before them as an independent man, above any undue influence : he was above improper censure, or undeserved praise. On that ground he called upon them for a patient hearing. It was said that the country was universally loyal. Now, although he admitted that loyalty prevailed very generally, yet he was sorry to say he could not concur in opinion with those, who OXFORDSHIRE. 285 did not believe in the prevalence, to no small degree, of disloyalty and blasphemy. (Cries of " No.") He was of a different opinion, and therefore he thought a Loyal Address was called for; indeed, he was one of those who thought such a thing could not be too often proposed : one every week would do no harm. He lamented to say that there were at this moment persons about the country reviling all religion and contemning all authority. (Cries of 11 Name.") These he con- sider^! not; aa n,ngiish, but as base French princi- ples, which were abhorrent from his heart. Such men were always found to press into their service every calamity, and delude the good sense and feeling of Englishmen by their flimsy sophistry. The history of the last thirty years illustrated this opinion. The French revolution involved every state of Europe in war for the preservation of liberty. Under the sacred name of liberty all good institutions were assailed; but England, after a glorious struggle, preserved her religion and laws. Ireland was unhappily driven into rebellion by the machinations of those traitors. He then animadverted at great length upon the doctrines of the French school of philosophers, which he denounced as impious and atheistical. The true loyalty of a Briton consisted in his attachment to his religion and constitution, which was the glory and envy of the world. He would not go at length into the arts that were made use of to dis- turb the country, but it was known that popular 286 OXFORDSHIRE. assemblies were taken advantage of by known traitors. (Hisses, and cries of " Name, name !") Mr. READ, the Mover, requested Mr. S. to abandon that part of the subject. Mr. S. vehemently declared that he would not. (This contest between the "friends of social order" afforded much entertainment to the Meeting.) The loyalty of such persons was not loyalty to the Constitution, but it was directed to that woman. (Loud and indignant exclamations from every part of the hall, cries of '" shame /" and vehement cries of " the Queen /" " her Majesty the Queen" interrupted the speaker.) Mr. READ again interfered, and entreated, in a low tone, Mr. S. to change the subject, but in vain ; the confusion still continuing, Lord HOLLAND again rose, and requested that the speaker might be heard. If they did not hear every man, and the Address should be rejected, it would be said by their adversaries, that they were defeated by clamour. ( This admonition produced instant silence.) Mr. STRATTON proceeded The noble Lord had talked of adversaries. He (Mr. S.) knew of no adversaries he wished to hold good fellowship with all Englishmen. Lord HOLLAND The Gentleman says he knows of no adversaries he wishes to hold terms of good fellowship with his countrymen ; yet what has he been doing but libelling the people of Eng- land for the last quarter of an hour ? THE EARL OF JERSEY. 287 Mr. STRATTON said, that he did not wish to libel the people; but many who were naturally loyal, were seduced to become traitors to their country. (Cries of " No, no") If he wanted a proof of the fact of disloyalty towards God and the King, he might point to the doubly convicted Atheists. It was the duty of the County to address the Sovereign. The distresses of the country was another and a distinct question, which at any other time he would gladly discuss. After again repeating his belief that disloyalty and blasphemy were too generally disseminated, he enforced the adoption of the Address, which he concluded by seconding. THE EARL OF JERSEY: I SHALL not follow the Gentleman who has just sat down, through all the stages of the French Revolution, the opinions of Voltaire, or the calamities of Ireland ; but will come immediately to the question before the Meeting, which is, the propriety of this Loyal Address. I give the Honourable Gentleman credit for his sincerity : I know him to be eager in his sentiments, but believe that, although perhaps impassioned and hasty, he bears ill-will to no man. We are met here this day to consider an Ad- dress to the King, expressive of our loyalty to his person, our attachment to the Constitution, and our utter abhorrence of all blasphemy and sedition. 288 OXFORDSHIRE. If this Address were really called for, it does not contain one word which I should wish to omit : but who questions our loyalty? The Freeholders of Oxford, loyal, moral, and religious as they are, feel that their character is above suspicion. They do not cannot feel it necessary to disclaim doc- trines, which no man can with truth impute to them. On the part of the Freeholders of Oxford, I would repel such an imputation with scorn. I will say more I would repel it on the part of the People of England. I would fearlessly say that it would be a gross and scandalous libel on the people of England, generally speaking, to assert that they are not loyal that they are not attached to the Constitution that they are not abhorrers of blasphemy. Nay, of this I am convinced, that if any man were desirous to gain power in England by the force of any peculiar doctrines, he would be more likely to attain his point by adopting the hypocrisy of Cromwell than by avowing the infide- lity of Paine. I do not deny that wretched men may be found in the country, who are anxious to disseminate blasphemous doctrines, but the laws are strong enough to punish them. Every candid man would acknowledge, with respect to those who were lately tried, who, in the language of the last speaker, were twice convicted, that they were not only punished by the law, but that what they had done created nothing but universal disgust. (Applause, and cries of" true, true.") I admit that the times are difficult : that there are dissatisfied EARL OF JERSEY. 289 and discontented men, but I believe that their dis- content and dissatisfaction are chiefly engendered by the misconduct of the Government. It is for this reason that I cannot separate this Address from interested motives, from objects which are not avowed. Affecting only to express attach- ment to the Sovereign, and detestation of blas- phemy, it goes indirectly to approve of the conduct of Ministers. (Cries of " No," from the supporters of the Address.) -The intention is perhaps not so, but the effect can be nothing else. Have not these Ministers disentitled themselves to the sup- port of every well-wisher to his country? Of their conduct no friend to England can approve. What has been their conduct? They have not consulted the interests of the people they have neglected to attend to their Petitions they have taken every occasion to increase the public discon- tent. Have they not forced on the country a sub- ject, which has engrossed the attention not merely of England but of all the world a subject, which has made the most unthinking to reflect, which has roused the most passive, and alarmed men, who were hitherto the most fearless justly alarmed them for the liberty and morals of their country ? They have, most improperly, agitated the country from one end of it to the other. I need scarcely mention what I mean the conduct of the Govern- ment to the Queen of England. I would ask upon what principle of justice was it that her Majesty's 2 P 290 OXFORDSHIRE. name was not inserted in the Liturgy? And after having degraded her Majesty, why did these men offer her a sum of 50,000 a year? [The Earl of MACCLESFIELD spoke to order, and submitted whether the suhject of the Queen could be discussed under the present Requisition. The HIGH SHERIFF read the Requisition, and addressing himself to the Noblemen immediately about him, referred the question of order to their decision. Lord HOLLAND said he must speak to order: he understood the Lord Lieutenant of the County (the Earl of Macclesfield) had taken an objection to something which had dropped from his Noble Friend, and which was not considered relevant to the terms of the Requisition. He should not stop to notice the candour of those Gentlemen, who have now become so captious about the terms of the Requisition, after hearing with patience such a history of Voltaire, after hearing, without re- monstrance, a narrative of the French revolution, of the Irish rebellion, and hearing, what was strangest of all, the genealogy and conduct of some supposed principles and people, who stead- fastly adhered to irreligion, and blasphemy, and French principles, and God knows what! but he would contend that, without dwelling upon the latitude which had already been allowed, the subject alluded to by his Noble Friend came within the terms legally comprehended in the EAttL OF JERSET. 291 Requisition; and he would clearly shew that the irritation, produced hy the proceedings against the Queen, had every thing to do with the objects of the Meeting. His Lordship was proceeding, when the Hisjh Sheriff intimated that he would not \j entertain the objection made by Lord Macclesfield; and The Earl of JERSEY now resumed:] With what propriety could an Address be carried, approving of the conduct of Ministers towards the Queen : for that must be the effect of an Address of this kind. They struck her Majesty's name out of the Liturgy; they next offered her money ; and lastly, a Bill of Pains and Penalties ; so that, in the first instance, they punished her Majesty ; in the next, they offered her a reward ; and then returned again to punishment. Though not a lawyer, I am yet sufficiently acquainted with the Constitution to know that Bills of Pains and Penalties, though generally odious, are some- times proper ; but I would contend that their pro- priety must be grounded upon state necessity. In this case, neither state necessity nor even expe- diency called for such a bill. There was no analogy between a proceeding by this bill, and a trial by jury : there was nothing invariable in the way in which this bill had been conducted but its absolute injustice. At a former period, overlooking the cases of Sir John Fenwick and Bishop Atter- bury, the Duchess of Norfolk, when addressing 292 OXFORDSHIRE. the Peers, expressed a hope that justice might be done her: but she implored their lordships' court to recollect that her prosecutor was sitting among them as a judge. The palpable injustice of even one prosecutor sitting among judges was then sensibly felt; but the Queen, in her court, had many prosecutors. It is true that it was held out to her as an advantage, which she could not have had by any other mode of trial, that she might have a second cross-examination. A second cross- examination of whom ? Of the perjured Majocchi ? the ungrateful Dumont? the camelion Sacchi? and the renegado Rastelli, if he could have been caught? In referring to such advantages, we may exclaim " O mild and merciful accusers ! impar- tial prosecutors, and unbiassed jurors ! How mildly have you not dealt with this unfortunate lady !" The Ministers, so far as they could go, were ready to have carried the disgusting proceedings against the Queen, without any shame, into the House of Commons. There they meant to bring fresh fuel to the flame, in order to consume their half- destroyed victim. A growing sense of honour and feeling in the House of Lords defeated the cruel and ungenerous intention. As all England rejoiced in the termination of those proceedings, I propose to insert an expression to that effect in the Address to the King ; and to state our hope that his Majesty will give directions that a plan of conciliation should be adopted, in order to tranquillize the public mind. EARL OF JERSEY. 293 I would add, too, a word on another subject the distress of the country the depression of its agriculture and its commerce. We have seen years of peace and seasons of plenty yet they were also years of sorrow and suffering. There must have been mismanagement : I will not at this moment pretend to say what ought to have been done, but I will say what ought not: there should not have been a lavish and profligate expenditure the petitions of the people ought not to have been treated with contempt there ought not to be an enormous standing army. That great man, Mr. Fox, once said, that he should be sorry to see the day when Englishmen would be allowed to meet to praise the acts of power, but not to assert their rights, to deplore their misfor- tunes, and to suggest a remedy. That day I hope has not yet arrived, and I hope that the voice of the people of England, loudly expressed, will triumph over every opposition, and preserve the liberties of the country. I shall therefore propose an Amendment to the Address, omitting the libellous imputation of sedition and blasphemy, and substituting in the place of that paragraph the following words, leaving the whole of the expressions of loyalty and duty to the King as they stand in the original Address. That Amendment is as follows : But while we thus declare, as a consequence, our unshaken loyalty tp your Majesty's royal person and family ; our attach- '294i OXFORDSHIRE. nicnt to the Constitution, of which we here offer your Majesty an assurance ; and our utter abhorrence of blasphemous and sedi- tious publications ; we trust we may be permitted humbly to represent that we cannot but observe with the deepest regret the irritation, which has been excited, amongst all classes of your Majesty's faithful subjects, by the late extraordinary proceedings instituted against her Majesty the Queen, and we feel it to be our duty, humbly and earnestly to express our hopes, that such measures of conciliation may be adopted a may tranquillize the public mind upon this most painful subject. We cannot, at the same time, refrain from humbly praying that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to direct, that im- mediate attention be paid to the severe distresses, by which the Agricultural as well as the Commercial interests of the country are so generally and alarmingly oppressed. The Rev. Mr. FILMER, (Rector of Lower Hey ford,) in seconding the Amendment, condemned the whole of the recent proceedings of Ministers against the Queen, and lamented that they had found so many supporters among the gentlemen of his profession. He preferred the Amendment, because he thought it more conformable to the real feelings of the people of England than the original Address. As a Christian pastor he yielded to no man in a deep sense of loyalty and religion, and he believed . that the imputation of blasphemy and sedition, cast on the great body of the people, was as unfounded as it was unchristian. Mr. PEERS, of Chiselden, opposed the Amend- LORD HOLLAND. 295 ment: and in supporting the Address disclaimed the slightest intention to insult his Queen, or to support the measures of his Majesty's Ministers. He signed the Requisition because it committed the Requisitors to no opinion upon the measures of Administration against the Queen. The Requi- sition was carefully and sedulously framed to avoid all mention of that distressing topic. He disclaimed any hostility to the Queen, or any wish to postpone the consideration of the public distress. No person could wish that the prosecution against the Queen should be pursued; but with that question the Meeting had nothing to do. He then enlarged upon the dissemination of blasphemy and irreligion, which he believed existed ; and earnestly besought the Noblemen of high rank and talents, who were near him, and one of whom appeared amongst them for the first time, not to press an Amendment, but to agree to some common Address of loyalty and affection to the King. LORD HOLLAND: IT is true, as was remarked by the Gentleman who has just sat down, and whose speech, though I cannot agree with him on all points, exhibits the picture of an amiable mind, that I appear amongst you for the first time. It has not been my good fortune to have lived much in this County, save only when I resided in your fine City for the purposes of education; now, unfortunately for me, many years ago. I feel, therefore, that I owe 296 OXFORDSHIRE. you an apology for my presence. I have not heretofore taken a part in the business of the County; but I appear this day before you, my Brother Freeholders, because I have received an invitation to attend. I may have been an unex- pected I fear, to some, an unwelcome but I certainly am not an unbidden guest. I came by invitation from the High Sheriff, who fills his office with so much honor and impartiality. With most of the Requisitors I have the pleasure of being acquainted, and all of them I sincerely respect. There are also sundry Freeholders in the County, with whom I am not acquainted, but who, differing entirely from the Requisitors, were anx- ious for my humble aid in promoting the expres- sion of sentiments, which I feel in common with them. I was bound, therefore, to attend and give any weight which might attach to my opinion, when I found it in unison with that of a consider- able body of Freeholders on a great public occa- sion. I feel it my duty to oppose the Address, because it is an endeavour to impose on the Free- holders; it does not call on them to express opinions, which they do not hold ; but it suppresses opinions, which they do hold. It goes to suppress what, perhaps, they feel most strongly; and it goes indirectly to convey an impression, which they neither hold nor feel. I hope that, though neither an inhabitant nor a public officer, I may have the satisfaction of expressing, as a Freeholder, my opinions on the state of the country. It is LORD HOLLAND. 297 the duty of every man, if he thinks he can do good, and that his opinions are of any weight, to assert those opinions opinions which, perhaps, I hold in common with some of the highest as well as the most humble of the Freeholders. Though accustomed to public speaking, I cannot say that I have an entire command of my- self, and as I shall have occasion to observe on what has fallen from some Gentlemen, as well as on the conduct of those, who signed the Requisi- tion, I hope they will not suppose that I would intentionally say any thing either invidious or uncivil. And here they must allow me sincerely to thank them for the open and manly part they have acted in calling a Public Meeting. If the Lord Lieutenant of the County, and the other respectable Noblemen and Gentlemen, thought that the situation of the country required the expression of the three propositions contained in the Address, he and the Requisitionists were right in calling the Freeholders together. In doing so, they acted openly, fairly, and like Englishmen. They have given the Freeholders an opportunity of publicly recording their opinions. Their conduct forms a striking and honourable contrast with that of those, who have in other parts of the country meanly sculked and lurked in corners, for the pur- pose of deceiving the Sovereign, and of calum- niating and libelling their neighbours. These vain men wish to convey to the Throne, from the sinks and sewers of their own houses, a stream of what 2Q 298 OXFORDSHIRE. they call Loyalty, as the strong current of the public opinion of the country ; but which is as like that opinion as a stagnant pool is like the noble current of the Thames. I am happy to find in the conduct of the promoters of this Meeting, the same reprehension, which I feel at such clan- destine proceedings. I know that in some places, particularly in one County of which I am an inhabitant, persons applied to ascertain whether the Petition or Address thus got up was such as they could sign, but that they were refused even a sight of it. The Noble Lord and his Friends have acted in a fair and open manner. I will now say a word on the Address, which I wish to treat in a fair manner. It contains three propositions an expression of loyalty to the King of affection for the Constitution of abhorrence of blasphemous publications. With all those pro- positions I believe the Freeholders concur. I concur with every word of the Address, save the allegation of a fact, which I do not believe to be true; which, at all events, I do not know to be true : and I will never be a party in carrying up to the Throne assertions which I cannot prove. I believe the people to be religious and loyal : and I certainly cannot concur in opinion that they are disloyal because they do not go the length of the Mover of the Address. I do not like these warm professions of great virtues. I hope I am a loyal man I hope I am attached to the Constitution of my country I LORD HOLLAND. 299 certainly abhor publications of a seditious and blasphemous nature, though I riiay differ with Gentlemen as to what is seditious. I feel it necessary to calm my mind, to seek the aid of my judgment on subjects where difference of opinion exists. I hope I shall never be too forward to charge my opponents with treason, disloyalty, or sedition. I see in the conduct of one Gentleman (Mr. Read) cause fur acting with coolness; for certainly that Gentleman has used language, which, by Act of Parliament, by the united concurrence of the King, Lords, and Commons, for more than a century, has been considered highly treasonable and seditious. The Gentleman affected too to quote from the Holy Scriptures. His scriptural quotations certainly astonished me not a little: I know where to find the injunction to fear God and honour the King; but where am I to look for the addition made to it by that Gentleman, of being bound to fear all that are put in authority under him ? We always pray for the King, I know; and we used to pray for the Queen; but never, that I know, for all in autho- rity. God never ordained that all authorities should be held sacred : it would be a strange inver- sion of the beneficent order of God, to enjoin that under no circumstances should resistance be tole- rated against created man. But is there any man, I will not say with the love of liberty, a word, which has been snesred at this day; but with the freeborn feelings o .'a man, who will declare that he was ordered by hir God, to su'bmit to every person 300 OXFORDSHIRE. placed in authority under the Crown ? that what- ever such men should do, was to be submitted to, even without complaint? If such are the doctrines of the Honourable Gentleman, then, I confess, I begin to suspect his loyalty : he might, indeed, be a very loyal man to James II. and his descendants, but not to the House of Hanover: for he must think that the House of Stuart was treated with injustice that the Revolution was an act of impiety and then must he, from necessity, be an enemy to the House of Hanover. If it were the order of God not to resist man, even though unjust and cruel if it were the order of God that the conduct of created man is not to be canvassed that his oppressive acts are not to be resisted, I would say to the person holding such doctrines, " you must believe that James and his descendants have been injured, and that the House of Hanover does not deserve support." When I heard another Gentleman talk of French principles, I thought that the Mover was about to turn round on his friend and give him a good drubbing for his seditious opinions. His are the rash opinions which were held by Louis XIV., and which the tyrants at Troppau are now attempting to force back upon the world ; tyrants, who are about to go to war with a people because they have thrown off their chains, and asserted their rights as men ; but their cause will not pros- per ; God will not allow so great an impiety. That is blasphemy, that is irreligion, which LORD HOLLAND. 301 makes it a crime to resist created man put in authority over his fellows. Respecting the Address to the King, I concur in all its expressions of loyalty, but I do not think it decent that it should imply a charge that is not true; and I will tell you historically why you ought, for your own sakes, to speak out, in these Addresses to the King. Your silence on public grievances will be taken as evidence of your acquiescence. When James the Second ascended the throne, he was reckoned, in some respects, of an amiable temper. It was said then, though it could not afterwards, that he was a man, who never broke his word. He was popular among a large class of dissenters, but more especially among the Church of England men. The latter had still some little suspicion that the King was a Roman Catholic. On his accession, a number of Addresses were presented ; and this was a point of no small interest. I will now suppose that it was stated by many who felt that apprehension " We will express our attach- ment to the Throne, but we will also put in a word as to our uneasiness about our religion." " No," said the very loyal men of those days ; " no ; let us express our loyalty loyalty consists in saying nothing that is disagreeable, though it may be true. Use words of adulation, but suppress every thing that is true and disagreeable. Let the Address be confined to expressions of loyalty." Suppose, then, it was in vain attempted to steal 302 OXFORDSHIRE. into the Address some apprehensions of his Majes- ty's religion ; that the preponderance was in favour of the loyal part of the Address, to the exclusion of the other hint; that the " sugar'd words" of flattery were preserved; that nothing but what was true was kept in, hut every thing disagreeable suppressed : then the Address so carefully pleasing to the King was carried up to the throne. So it was to James II., and what did he do? " Lord," said he, " I had heard so much of the excessive attachment of these people to the Protestant reli- gion, and their unceasing hostility to the Catholic, that I should have expected some trace of it in their Addresses; but it surely can't be so: they all know I am a Papist, and yet they don't say one word about it: they are extremely easy about religion." James seeing that they had so easily surrendered their religion, grasped at their liber- ties, and I verily believe that it was the servility of the Addresses of that time that induced James to contemplate the establishment of Popery. Let not the freemen of Oxford deceive their Sovereign and by their silence convey an approbation of measures, which they abhor. The Ministers might then well say, '* Here is not a word respect- ing the public distress not a word about the Queen mobs only talk of her they cry out in the streets ' Queen, Queen,' but the respectable freeholders of the country don't care twopence about her, and therefore we will follow our own devices." I wish, as a matter of taste, that the LORD HOLLAND. 303 people should have the benefit of their own autho- rity even the Gentleman attached to the House of Stuart, will not, I hope, go to dispute a princi- ple so plain. I wish the people would consider the value of their opinions, and manfully state them : otherwise they will do all they can to deprive themselves of their own just weight On the subject of the Queen I believe there are not three men in the kingdom who, if con- sulted by the King, would not say, " Sire, it may be a painful subject, but we advise your Majesty to replace the Queen in all her rights and digni- ties ; because we believe it is most advisable for you and for the country." If such would be the honest opinion of private men, in God's name, what is there to prevent the Freeholders of Oxford from openly expressing the same opinion, when they sincerely entertain it?' I warn the Addressers of the present time not to conceal the truth from the Sovereign, lest they should mislead him into a belief that his people are blasphemers, and hostile to the throne. I am inclined to believe that many sign these Addresses without reflecting on the importance of their bearings. As a proof of this, I hope you will excuse me while I relate a London story, which, cockney like, I have just brought down with me. There are two Loyal Declarations now circulating in the metropolis. (Here the Noble Lord drew copies of them from his pocket, and commented on them.) The 304 OXFORDSHIRE. first is " from the undersigned inhabitants of Hackney," and complains of " the prevalence .of blasphemy and sedition, as tending to subvert the faith of Christ." In looking into the column of signatures, the second name I find is " Zachariah Levi, Stamford-hill." It first struck me that this Gentleman might have been one of the worthy persons, who go about converted from the errors of Judaism to Christianity ; but no ; that is not the case. The next name, however, is that of a Jew beyond all question, for it is that of M. N. Roths- child, the great Jew contractor, who comes forth in this time of peril to express his excessive dread of the prevalence of any opinion calculated to impair the stability of the pure Christian faith. Mr. Rothschild's dread appears most alarming; for in another Loyal Declaration, privately concocted among some merchants of London, there is this paragraph : " We declare it to be our firm and unalterable purpose to maintain our holy religion in all its purity." To this declaration among the uncircumcised I again find Mr. Rothschild's name attached. I beg not to be understood as lamenting that Jews mix themselves up with Christians in asserting their opinions; for I, on the contrary, rather wish the Jews had more rights than they have, than that any they reasonably wish should be withheld from them. I merely state this fact to show the inconsiderate manner in which these Addresses are got up and signed; and it is this that induces me to think, that when the Jews and LORD HOLLAND. 305 the Gentiles are all mixed up together, there is some little profit in the rear of all this expression of Loyalty and Christian piety. The Jewish Gentlemen could not have read these Addresses when they signed them: that is my opinion in charity; for I cannot wantonly accuse any man of hypocrisy. In the language therefore to be found in that fine play of my late friend, Mr. Sheridan, I would say with Moses in the School for Scandal, " The principal is Christian." I urge, then, the propriety of adopting the proposed Amendment, and speaking truth to the Throne for the sake of the Throne itself; for fatal must the situation of the Crown he when its fair and open channel of communication with the people is impeded and polluted. I dislike the incessant play upon the term hlasphemy : it is too generally and inconsiderately levelled at persons, who are never guilty of impiety. There is bad taste as well as bad feeling in scattering this impu- tation without reserve. It is extraordinary that the readers of these works appear to be the gentle- men who are loudest in their denunciations of them. The laws are adequate to their punishment, and they have in their aid a richly endowed Clergy to confute by the word of God the assertions of infidels, whose opinions can easily be confounded, because they are untrue. I trust to the good sense of mankind and the unbidden honesty of English- men for the defeat of impiety, rather than to any severity of the law, however powerfully adminis- 2 R 306 OXFORDSHIRE. tered. With such bulwarks as a free press and a free pulpit, the cause of religion must triumph. To these, and not to the slandering of the people at large, do I look for any moral amelioration. With reference to the alleged increase of irre- ligious works, I will say that, upon comparing the present catalogues of hooks with those published fifty years ago, though such profane writings have apparently increased in the proportion of ten to one since that period, yet the number of reli- gious books will be found to have accumulated at least two hundred to one; and unless good men do not read as well as bad, the evil must be amply counteracted. [A Gentleman near his Lordship observed that Mrs. Carlile had been two or three times convicted, and yet still continued to publish these works.] Yes, [resumed the Noble Lord,] but does the perverse conduct of one individual justify the general stigma cast by these Addresses? It is very strange, however, that those, who so strongly condemn blasphemous writings, should be those who mostly read them : I read a good deal, but never meet any of these books. [Here some interruption took place, and an observation was made, " You have said nothing of the guilt or innocence of the Queen."] The guilt or innocence of the Queen, [said the Noble Lord, addressing himself to Major Stratton,] has nothing to do with the present dis- cussion : but you, as a Gentleman, should recollect, that to apply an opprobrious epithet to the Queen LORD HOLLAND. 307 is as much a libel as to apply it to any other indi- vidual in the land: and no matter what may he your opinion of her Majesty, the House of Lords must be said to have expressed theirs in favour of her innocence, when they threw out the indict- ment. Is it, then, becoming in any Gentleman, when speaking of his Queen, to use the phrase " that woman?" If I said, speaking of the King, " that man," would not the phrase be considered unbecoming and indecent? I must revert to the circumstance, that none seem to see the blasphemous publications but those who are shocked at them. This reminds me of a story of an English lady of the highest quality and virtue, who, while travelling in Italy, visited Sir William Hamilton, and went out with him in a pleasure-boat in the Bay of Naples. A number of naked boys played round the boat, enjoying the salubrity of that beautiful climate. The lady, being very virtuous, put up her fan, and Sir William, being a bit of a wag, archly said, " I am really shocked at seeing naked girls in this manner." " Girls, Sir William !" said the lady, " why they are all boys." " Ay," said Sir William, " what, your Grace has then seen them I" Now thus it was with the profane writings : the only persons who see them are those who profess to be shocked at them. I pledge my honour I never meet them ; and when I hear of their existence, so far from being calculated to excite alarm, they only elicit contempt. It is curious that those, 308 OXFORDSHIRE. \vho affect so much to condemn blasphemous pub- lications, are most intimately acquainted with those publications. They seem to make them their exclusive study from morning till night. The law is sufficient to put down blasphemy. But it is known to the trade, that blasphemous publica- tions have declined, and bear no proportion to the publications on the other side. I rely upon the law; but still more upon the unwritten love, which every English heart cherishes for the liberties and religion of the country. I rely upon a free Pulpit and a free Press. In this country the cause of God and the cause of truth cannot suffer. Mr. W. E. TAUNTON, the Recorder of Oxford, spoke at great length in favour of the original Address. After some discussion as to the mode of putting the question, during which Lord HOLLAND conjured the persons at the Meeting, for their own honour's sake, not to hold up their hands unless they were Freeholders, the question on the origi- nal Address was put ; and the show of hands taken first on the Address, then on the Amendment; when there appeared in this immense assemblage a majority (on the most moderate computation) of 20 to 1 for the Amendment. The greatest pains had been taken not to admit any but Freeholders. OXFORDSHIRE. 309 The HIGH SHERIFF pronounced that the majority was decidedly for the Amendment. The applause was immense, when Lord HOL- LAND addressed the Meeting, and implored them to enjoy their great triumph with the moderation of Englishmen, who loved candour and open dealing. He hoped, therefore, that they would join with him in a vote of thanks to the Noblemen and Gentlemen who had called the Meeting in so manly a manner: and also to the High Sheriff, for his excellent and impartial conduct in the Chair. Both Motions were carried unanimously, and the Meeting, the largest ever known in Oxford, was dissolved, after giving three cheers, at half- past five o'clock. Sit) NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. County of IN consequence of a Requisition addressed to the High Sheriff, signed by a number of the Nobility, Gentry, and Clergy of the County of Nottingham, a Meeting was held on Wednesday, January 24, 1821, at the Moot Hall, Mansfield, for the purpose of voting a Loyal Address. Sir ROBERT CLIFTON, Bart, the High Sheriff, stated the object of the Meeting, which was, as he understood, solely to express their attachment to the Throne, in an Address to his Majesty. LANCELOT ROLLBSTON, Esq. remarked, that in coming forward to propose the Address on the present occasion, he regretted exceedingly, that surrounded as he was by individuals of the highest character, talents, and station, the task should have devolved on one so little qualified for the undertaking. Neither should he have consented, had he not felt convinced, that the sentiments of reverence for the august person of his Majesty, which they must all feel, must far overbalance his (Mr. R.'s) insignificance; and the natural love they all bore to the Constitution must irresistibly draw forth a just tribute to its excellence. Under such circumstances, he did not feel it necessary to NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 311 make many observations. The Address, which he would take the liberty of proposing for their adoption, was nothing further than a manly, sin- cere, and conscientious- declaration of their deter- mination to support the Throne; and under the sanction of the Sheriff he would read it to them. Here Mr. Rolleston began to read the Address ; he had hitherto been heard with the utmost patience and attention, but when he came to that passage expressive of regret and indignation at the aliena- tion of the minds of his Majesty's subjects, he was assailed by a storm of hisses. Colonel Cooper called upon the people to hear before they judged, and to hear the whole. Mr. Rolleston then began to read the Address over again, and was heard with general silence, though there were some trifling interruptions. Mr. Rolleston added, such was the Address he offered for their adoption, and he felt assured that the sentiments it contained were such as no man, who honoured his King, who revered the Constitution, or who loved his country, would oppose. He concluded by moving its adop- tion, and JOHK NEED, Esq. seconded the motion. Here loud cries of " The Queen, the Queen, the Queen !" sounded through the hall. JOHN M. CHAWORTH, Esq. said this Meeting was convened for the purpose of voting an Address to his Majesty; if that were agreed to, and the Meeting thought proper afterwards to address the Queen, he dared say there would be no objection. 312 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. [Loud cries of " No, Sir; no, Sir;" from some of the Gentlemen who stood round the Sheriff.] The Rev. F. M. SUTTON declared this Meet- ing was held for the sole purpose of addressing the King, and it was most absurd and extraneous to introduce any other topic. The Meeting was then addressed as follows by MR. GALLY KNIGHT. I RISE, Gentlemen, to move an Amendment. It gives me the greatest pain that I cannot entirely coincide in the Address, which has been proposed by oneof the highly respectableGentlemen,whohave preceded me. Indeed it has been my most anxious wish that the County of Nottingham should have remained silent at the present time, and that no Meeting should have been held, which would pro- duce discord in the County, and add to the agita- tion of the country at large. Though the literal interpretation of the Requi- sition, I admit, points only to an Address to the Throne, which any man might sign, yet it is noto- rious that these Addresses mean nothing but the support of the Administration. That, Gentlemen, is the fact. [Loud cries of " No, no, no," mixed with " You are out of order."] I contend that I am in order, and strictly so. [The Duke of NEWCASTLE interrupted Mr. GALLY KNJGHT, protesting against the introduction of any thing about Ministers, as MR. QALLY KNIGHT. 313 altogether irrelevant to the business of the day.] I insist that it is not irrelevant. These Addresses are nothing but traps to catch well-meaning men ; and while the well-meaning man thinks he is only showing his loyalty to his King, Ministers are in fact laughing in their sleeves at the support they are receiving. [The speaker was again interrupted, the Requisitionists declaring that they had nothing to do with Ministers one way or the other, and this Address was not intended either to support or oppose them.] I will for a moment suppose that there is no ulterior object in view that the only purpose of this Address is to assure the Sovereign of our loyalty, where, I would ask, is the necessity for these professions and for this parade? What man living is there, who would dare to attack the loyalty of the Gentlemen assembled r The County might as well be convened to address the King, and tell him they were not guilty of theft. For my own part, I will yield to no man in attachment to the King, or love to the Constitution of my country ; but it is this very attachment that makes me feel it my imperative duty not to deceive the King, by only telling him half the truth. You approach the Throne to assure the King that your respect for his person is undiminished : you do well: but it is also necessary to cause the King to understand that the present agitation of the country arises from the prosecution of the proceedings against the Queen. This is a subject, on which I know you feel strongly. [The Duke of NEWCASTLE 2 s 314 NOTTI: ' ins. said, the introduction of this topic was quite foreign to the p-.irpos." : they were met to propose an Address to ti:e Kiiy;. The shouts of the multi- tude drowned ' '.) voice, and Mr. GALLY KNIGHT proceeded.] This is a suhject, on which you feel strongly ; and ou which you have a right to feel ; and I should accuse myself of disloyalty, were I to suffer this Meeting to pass over without attempting to remove ,$he delusion, which surrounds the Throne on this momentous subject. [The Duke of NEWCASTLE again protested against the intro- duction of this subject, and declared he would continue to protest.] If I left any thing undone that would tend to prevent a renewal of those dis- cussions, which have so agitated the country, I should not think that I had done my duty ; and therefore, retaining the first paragraph of the pro- posed Address, expressive of loyalty to the King, I shall propose as an Amendment an addition to it, expressive of our regret that the late proceedings against the Queen should have been instituted : o and of our hope that his Majesty will be graciously pleased to order that they be prosecuted no further in any shape, but that, on the contrary, her Majesty be forthwith restored to all her rights and privileges. [Mr. GALLY KNIGHT having read an Amend- ment to this effect: Lieutenant-Colonel COOPER said, if they would be kind enough to listen to him, he would DUKE OF FOKTLAND. 315 not detain them more than a few minutes; and he would strive not to use an}' expressions, which could justly irritate either party. He came forward to second the Amendment of his Honourable Friend; and he lamented sincerely, as he (Mr. Knight) did, that the Meeting should have been called toge- ther, because he thought there was no necessity for it. The loyalty of the great mass of the County stood unimpeached and unimpeachable. He firmly believed that there was not in his Majesty's domi- nions, a more loyal population than the people of Nottinghamshire; and, though he had had many opportunities of so doing, he had declined signing the Requisition, from an unwillingness to agitate the public mind. He should consider it a libel upon himself, if he thought it necessary to say, that he yielded to no man in attachment to the person and authority of his Sovereign ; but he would not consent to be brought, by a kind of side wind, to approve all the measures of his Majesty's Ministers. [The speaker was here interrupted ; the Duke of NEW- CASTLE declared this was quite irrelevant; the Rev. Dr. WYLDE said it was extraneous; and many Gentlemen seemed to concur in the same opinion.] He was not inclined to prolong the dis- cussion, but he felt that the proposed Address was virtually a support of the late measures of Minis- ters, and on that account he could not agree to it. He begged to second Mr. Knight's Amendment.] THE DUKE OF PORTLAND: I SHALL not occupy much of your time, but I 316 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. feel it incumbent upon me to say, that with regard to the original Address, it has my unqualified approbation. I signed the Requisition, believing that every man might feel it right to propose an Address to his Sovereign ; but I by no means con- sider myself bound to express or imply any appro- bation of his Majesty's Ministers. If I had sup- posed that any such approbation was implied, I would not have signed the Requisition ; because I do, and have always considered, that no subject, which has ever been discussed in these realms, has done so much harm as the late proceedings against the Queen. For the same reason it is impossible for me not to agree to the Amendment moved by my friend, Mr. Knight. I cannot think that there is any person, what- ever his opinion may have been originally of the abstract justice and propriety of this proceeding (and I am aware there are many, whose opinions I respect, who at first thought it necessary that the subject should be inquired into) but I cannot believe that there are any individuals, who, after having seen the agitation, which has been pro- duced, and that is yet likely to be produced, do not now think that it would have been far better to have preserved silence upon the subject. I therefore cannot conceive any objection to sup- porting the Amendment. THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE: I WAS in hopes that I should have been able to have left this Meeting without opening my DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. 317 mouth, disinclined as I feel on all public occasions to do so. I profess myself to be as independent a man as any among you. It is not to address the Ministers that we are here met, for I disdain to be the tool of any Ministers. What is it we are met to do? We are met to address the King, and to express our loyalty to him, and him alone ; and this is for the purpose of opposing those sentiments, which are now so sedulously propagated by others, and which are so dangerous to the country. I hardly wish to consider this as a conflict; it is no ordinary conflict, like that of Whig and Tory; it is a conflict between Virtue and Vice. It is an opposition of all that is bad against all that is good. I am happy that at present those odious principles are confined to a few ; and I pray God to grant that such detestable principles may not spread amongst you. Let those, who are loyally inclined, rally round the Throne. I am sure we have always plenty of good materials to work upon; there are thousands and thousands of loyal subjects amongst us, and I call upon them to rally as they ought round the Royal Standard. I trust you will display your loyalty by voting for the Address; for by giving your support to it, you will do honour to your County, and the country at large. Earl MANVERB thought it most manly to ex- press his decided disapprobation of the Amend- ment, and his unqualified approbation of the 318 >TTi:ifcHIRE. Address; and he could not conclude without noticing the conduct of a noble Duke, who ap- peared in a predicament unlike that of any other person in the hall; for he had expressed his appro- bation both of the Address and the Amendment. He should, however, support the original Address. The Duke of PORTLAND explained. He assured the Meeting that he meant neither friend- ship nor hostility to Ministers in supporting the Amendment; he was only actuated by that, which he thought most for the good of the country. It was impossible he should not support the Amend- ment when he entertained an opinion that the agitation of the Queen's case had shaken the foundation of principles, which ought to be held most sacred. The Duke of NEWCASTLE begged leave to say that the original Address was without party purpose, whilst the Amendment was as determi- nately the opposite as could be ; party politics were mixed up with the one, and not with the other. The Rev. J. T. BEECHER, after several re- marks, moved that the Amendment be not incor- porated into the Address already proposed. Lieut.-Colonel COOPER thought it necessary publicly to disclaim any wish to make this a party question ; neither had he ever said that the Requi- sitionists meant to make it so. All, that he and his friends contended for, was that the support of the Ministry was the necessary and implied conse- quence of voting the original Address. The Rev. NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. *1$ Gentleman, who last addressed them, had said, and said truly, tint the King couid not enter the doors of the Commons' House; but they all knew that the King's Ministers could and did enter it; and it was the right of the country, whenever they saw it necessary, in an Address to the King, to represent their view of what was best for the interests of the kingdom. He should continue to support the Amendment. The Rev. F. M. SUTTON and J. WRIGHT, Esq. protested against the amended Address. The Address was then proposed; and after- wards the Amendment; and the High Sheriff declared his opinion that the Amendment was clearly carried. There appeared at least five to one in the room for the Amendment ; and when it was officially declared, thunders of applause con- veyed the gratifying tidings to the waiting multi- tude at the door, who again, by their shouts repeated o'er and o'er again, made the town of Mansfield resound with the accents of victory. It was ordered, on the motion of W. B. MAR- TIN, Esq. of Colston Basset, that the Address should be presented by the two County Members, and thanks were unanimously voted to the Chair- man for his manly and impartial conduct. The Meeting was then declared to be dissolved. 320 COUNTY OF SURRY. of ON Tuesday, February 2, 1821, one of the greatest Meetings of the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, and Freeholders of the County of Surry ever wit- nessed, took place in the town of Epsom, pursuant to- Requisition, to petition Parliament to adopt such measures as would prevent any further pro- ceedings against the Queen, and to press upon the attention of the Legislature the existing distresses of the country. The High Sheriff, Hutches Trower, Esq. accompanied by the Under Sheriff, arrived about twelve o'clock. Soon after the doors were thrown open, and the Assembly-room, which had been intended for the accommodation of the Meeting, was filled in a moment. Among the company were Lord King, the Hon. Grey Bennet, M. P., Lord Stanley, Lord Ellenborough, Sir W. de Cres- pigny, M. P. Mr. Barclay, Mr. Denison, M. P., Mr. Macdonald, M. P., Mr. Holme Sumner, M. P. Lord Duncannon, Lord Althorp, Sir Thomas Tur- ton, Mr. Sharp, Mr. Maberly, M. P., the Hon. Mr. Bouverie, with many other persons of consideration. COUNTY OF SURRY. 321 It was soon found that the room, although large, could contain but a small proportion of the persons assembled ; and cries of "Adjourn, adjourn ; the room is unsafe," arose from all quarters. The High Sheriff immediately said, as soon as silence could be obtained, that he had but one duty to discharge, which was, as far as could be consis- tent with the support of his office, to comply with the general wishes of the Meeting. If, after the question was fairly put, it appeared to be the opi- nion of the majority of the Freeholders that the room was not sufficient for their accommodation, he had no objection to adjourn. He then put the question, whether the Meeting should adjourn, and on the shew of hands it appeared that the sense of the Meeting was unanimously in the affirmative. An adjournment having accordingly been made, and the Requisition having been read, The HIGH SHERIFF came forward and stated, that in consequence of the Requisition, which had just been read, he had felt it his duty to donvene the Meeting. There were certain propositions, which some of the Gentlemen, who signed that Requisition, would lay before them. It would ill become him to take up their time by stating any opinion of his own ; he was aware that it was his duty rather to preside and listen, than express his own sentiments; but perhaps, he might be allowed to observe, that whatever his own private opinions might be on the subject, which they were assembled 2 T 368 to discuss, he still felt it his duty to comply with the wishes expressed by so numerous and respect- able a body of Freeholders. He was too fully , sensible of the value of those Constitutional Meet- ings, when constitutionally conducted, to abuse the authority with which he was invested, by en- deavouring to prevent them. He trusted, that a Meeting so numerous, would be as distinguished for conducting its proceedings in an orderly, peaceable, and quiet manner. He called on every Gentleman present to second his views in this respect, (" We mil! ice zcillf) and entreated every one, who intended to address the Meeting, to express himself with that moderation and good temper, which would be most effectual in disarming the hostility of his antagonists. He also called upon the Meeting to listen patiently to every man's expression of his sentiments, and besought them not to violate decorum on account of any difference of opinion, but to give that liberty of speech to others, which every man, in his own case, always claimed for himself. Having made these few observations, before he concluded, he had another duty to perform. He then held in his hand a letter, which he had received from a Noble Lord, who was one of the Requisitionists by whom the Meeting had been convened, and he (the High Sheriff) was convinced that he expressed the general sense of the Meeting when he declared his regret, that bodily infirmities should have pre- vented that Noble Lord from attending, whose COUNTY OF SURRY. 39$ talents and temper would not only have enlightened but enlivened their proceedings. The letter, which was from Lord Onsloxv to the High Sheriff, was then read, as follows: Clandon, Jan. 31, 1821. My DEAR SIR, An asthma of many years' standing, and particularly distressing to me at this season of the year, precludes the possibi- lity of my attending a public Meeting, or encountering any thing in the shape of a crowd. Under the pressure of this malady, I have never been once at a debate in the House of Lords since I have been a Member of that Assembly. This is the first topic of political controversy, that has roused me into sufficient energy to be desirous of emerging from that retirement, to which my indisposition has subjected me. At the present juncture I severely regret my incapacity to state in person to my brother Freeholders my views (which I trust will be found to coincide with those of a large majority of the Meeting) of the great question, which has solely absorbed the attention of the public, and con- vulsed the whole empire from one extremity to the other. The unhappy proceedings, to which I allude, have called for simul- taneous Declarations in various districts of the kingdom, and I am glad to be resident in one which has thought fit to take these matters into consideration. I truly lament my inability to lend my feeble assistance in promoting the objects stated in the Requisition ; entertaining at the same time a confident expecta- tion that the cause will not suffer by my absence, and that there are many, who will ably state their opinions on the great ques- tions, which so deeply interest the country in this crisis of ita affairs. I am, dear Sir, faithfully yours, ONSLOW. To the High Sheriff of the County of Surry. The High Sheriff begged leave further to 324 COUNTY OF SURRV. observe, that he wished them to recollect that, in consequence of the Meeting having adjourned to the open air, they were placed under the provisions of a late Act of Parliament, of which the penalties were not light; but he confidently hoped that nobody, who heard him, would render himself liable to their infliction. LORD KING: I AM one of the persons, who have signed the Requisition, and have come here, in company with other Freeholders, to discharge a great public duty, by expressing my opinion on the questions, upon which the County is convened. Such an expression of opinion upon great occasions is always useful; but particularly so when the coun- try is beset by great difficulties, like those under which it labours at present. There are, by the terms of the Requisition, two questions for our consideration : one, the un- precedented distresses of the country; the other, the injuries done to our unjustly-treated Queen. In times of great difficulty, when great sacri- fices are. required of the people, it is only fair that the Government should make some sacrifices also. Now we all know too well what sacrifices the peo- ple have made ; but what those sacrifices are that Government has made on their part, we have yet to learn. Instead of bearing their portion of the inconvenience, Government demands every thing LORD KING. 325 from the people, while they themselves will not part with any thing. Yes, the Administration have refused every attempt made since the war to abolish one useless place. Every attempt to get rid of a useless officer, whether it were a young Lord of the Admiralty doing duty in the House of Commons; or a Scotch Baron doing no duty at all ; or a War Secretary taking a salary in time of peace; every such attempt has been resisted by Ministers; and resisted for this plain reason that reduction of expenditure is reduction of their patronage. All propositions, in fact, of economical reform, have been refused, because tending to diminish their influence and lessen their majorities. But not only have these things been refused to the entreaties of a suffering people, but an excessive Civil List has been voted ; one, which is three times the amount of that voted to George the Second. Such things prove the conduct of Government. It is our misfortune to live in times of excessive difficulties such difficulties as require to be fully, fairly and boldly met, that they may be removed by Government. But have Govern- ment so met them? They have not: they have fled from they have evaded them they have done all they could to avoid the duty of relieving the country against them; because the perform- ance of that duty must lead to one result, which they could not think of but with pain, namely, retrenchment. That those difficulties exist, all are agreed; there may be some difference of opinion 326 COUNTY OF BUHRY. with regard to the proper mode of treating them, but none whatever as to retrenchment being the chief remedy that holds out a real prospect of relief; and next after that, the returning to the good old system of the Constitution, to a Govern- ment of conciliation and kindness, instead of one of harshness and restraint. I would wish to see such policy acted upon that, if discontent should prevail in any part of the empire on account of the pres- sure of distress, that discontent should not be visited with coercion alone, but removed by mea- sures, that would produce an alleviation of the dis- tress, by which it was occasioned ; which measures must be founded in the removal of the abuses of Government. If those abuses had been corrected, you would not have seen what has taken place with respect to the Borough of Grampound; where, although the most manifest corruption has been proved, there is little chance that the Bill, which has been introduced to disfranchise the Borough, will pass. There is one thing evident, that the country is suffering evils greater than any, with which it had ever before been afflicted ; but what the Government has done to relieve it, it would be difficult to point out. Our foreign com- merce has suffered dreadfully from unwise and impolitic restrictions. It is true there is a Com- mittee of Parliament to take the subject into con- sideration ; but it was not appointed at the instance of Government ; it has been done by the efforts of private individuals ; but, to be effective, Govern- LORD KING. 327 ment must take it in hand. Then there is the system of Poor Laws, so mischievous in its nature, so fruitful in abuse; there is, indeed, a Committee upon that subject too; but Government has not taken the matter up. These, and other grievances, under which the country is afflicted, almost to the utmost limits of endurance, cannot excite the attention of Government. The attempts, which have been made to correct them, have not been made their measures ; and until Government adopts them as their own, they cannot lead to any good result, or indeed to any result. But if I were asked on what Government was employed, when it should have directed all its energies to the amelioration of the state of the country,! should say they have been employed in col- lecting that mass of evidence, with which they have disgraced the character of the country in attempt- ing to destroy the Queen ; while they sacrificed for I will do them the justice to think so M'hile they sacrificed their better judgment in endeavour- ing to keep their places. If we look from the domestic affairs of the country to its foreign rela- tions, we shall see the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, not employing for the general interests of Europe and this country the secret service money, which, contrary to his oath of office, by his own confession, he has converted to other purposes; but beseeching Italian witnesses to condescend to accept the reward of their un- biassed testimony. COUNTY OF SURRY. I should have been glad to have seen the services of the Secretary of State given to the protection of our foreign interests, and to the sup- port of principles favourable to the general quiet and prosperity. I should have liked to have seen him acting the part of a Mediator between Naples and the Powers that were preparing to destroy her independence. There was a time in the history of this country, when it could not look on with apathy and indifference, while foreign powers endeavoured to pour their armies over those States, which had dared to make improvements in their Government. You all have heard of the Holy Alliance. I do not know whether this country has been made a party to that Alliance; it is not cer- tainly an avowed one, but it is so in effect. Their pretended object is to establish a league for the preservation of religion and order. This is a hypocritical pretence. Their object is to put down every thing, which tends to better the con- dition of Europe: that is their real object. That principle is now in full activity against Naples, because that country is exposed to their arms. They would have acted in the same way against Spain, if they could have so readily reached her; and they will employ the argument of force in the same manner against any people in Europe, who may dare to make an effort for the attainment of civil liberty. There is another subject, on which I would say a few words I mean the Queen. After what LORD KING. 3 go, has passed in Parliament within these few days, it now is more necessary than ever for all men to express their opinions on that matter. No doubt you will be told by your Honourable Member, whom I see near me (Mr. Holme Sumner), that it is not the intention of Ministers to institute any fur- ther proceedings against her Majesty. No, there are no further inquiries to be gone into, doubtless; but, as has been well said, all proceedings by way of punishment are to continue, and the exclusion of her name from the Liturgy is a great punish- ment. This makes it necessary that you should come forward and boldly express your opinion. A distinction has been made elsewhere by a Noble Lord (Castlereagh), between a technical and moral acquittal. That distinction is new to the law it belongs to the expedient vocabulary of modern Statesmen. If I understand it right, I suppose that, when that Noble Person spoke of the Queen being technically innocent, he meant she was really guilty. I always understood, however, that the spirit of the Law of England declared, that when any person was acquitted by law, that per- son was to be accounted innocent. That is the language of the Law, but it is not the language of the Court. It has been said also, that the Bill having been read a third time, the Queen has been found guilty, but not brought up for judgment. It has been much the practice to assimilate Bills of Pains and Penalties to proceedings in Courts of Justice. If there is any similarity, then, according 2 u 330 COUNTY OF SURRY. to this view of the case, the Queen must be like a person convicted, but who is not brought up fbr juclgment on account of the mercy of the prose- cutor ; but from the mercy of such prosecutors, that could prosecute upon Green Bag evidence, and support it by witnesses such as had appeared at the Bar of the House of Lords from the mercy of such prosecutors I hope Heaven will protect the Queen. It is true the House of Commons the other night voted her a sum of money ; but she disclaimed, and refused to accept 50,000 a year, unless the Government would restore the honours that belonged to her station. She declined the favour in the same temper and feeling, with which she had refused the bribe of 50,000 at St. Omer's, and for this she deserves the support of the coun- try. Until that fair and just claim of her Majesty is acknowledged, the agitation of the country will continue. You have seen the great Councils of the nation miserably diverted from the considera- tion of all the great interests of the country by the exclusive attention, which Ministers have given to this subject, by which they have irritated the country to the last degree a subject, which they rashly entered upon, and the consequences of which they now wish as fearfully to evade. If they had abandoned the prosecution altogether when they found its grounds to be untenable, their conduct would have been comparatively manly; but the manner, in which they now endeavour to escape, LORD ELLENBO ROUGH. 331 shews neither spirit nor contrition. I must repeat, that the agitation, which the Bill of Pains and Penalties has excited, cannot subside until her Majesty's name is restored to the Liturgy. But I have no doubt that the voice of the people, con- stitutionally expressed, must be listened to, and will be in the end successful. Before I conclude, let me express a hope that you will hear every person, whatever may be his opinion, with patience and good temper; and not give the slightest pretext to the enemies of popu- lar rights to designate the Meeting of the Free- holders of the County of Surry as " a farce." [The Noble Lord then moved several Resolu- tions, conformable to the Requisition. Mr. EVELYN seconded the Resolutions. Mr. TROTTER moved as an Amendment, that the Meeting, instead of taking the Resolutions into consideration, should forthwith adjourn. The proposition was received with expressions of con- temptuous merriment.] LORD ELLENBOROUGH : I AM an absolute stranger to the Meeting; and likely, I fear, to differ from most of the per- sons who compose it. I, however, feel it my duty to come here anjd openly express my dissent from the Resolutions, instead of contenting myself with remaining at a distance, and in secrecy signing a 332 COUNTY OF SURRY. \ Protest against them. I am glad to see so nume- rous and respectable a Meeting of the Freeholders of Surry; and if the opinions which I have to express before you do not meet your approbation, I hope you will at least hear them in silence. Be- fore I say a word about them, however, I cannot avoid giving the testimony of my hearty approba- tion to the conduct of the High Sheriff in calling the Meeting : it is a deep reflection on the conduct of other High Sheriffs, who have refused to call simi- lar Meetings. Whatever may be the difference of opinion, it is a subject of the first importance, and a practice highly conducive to the well-being of the Constitution, that upon great public questions the Freeholders of every County should meet to express their sentiments. The voice of the people, I know, will always speak to the Legislature with authority; and I believe that the expression of public opinion is never persevered in without pro- ducing a coincidence in the acts of Government. I will now proceed to observe upon the Reso- lutions. The great object of the Requisition seems to be the calling the attention of Parliament to the existing distresses of the country. It prays that Parliament would give to those distresses, and to the means of relieving them, a full, free, and undi- vided attention. But I put it fairly to the Meet- ing, whether they can hope, by the Resolutions that are proposed, to direct the attention of Par- liament to that most desirable object. [" Yes."} The Requisition speaks of Resolutions to be passed, LORD ELLEN BOKOUGH. -333 advising certain measures in the matter of the Queen, in order to get rid definitively of that matter, which forms an obstacle to the considera- tion of the national distresses. As it seems to me, the Resolutions go to create an obstacle to such consideration, instead of removing one. Why should not the national distress be at once attended to, without wasting more time upon that painful subject, which has too long diverted the minds of the people from matters of the highest importance to their interests? I am of opinion that it is not the best way to effectuate that object to mix it up with the question of the Queen. I ask why you do not confine yourselves to the one object, with- out entangling yourselves with the question, which has already diverted the sense of the country and Parliament from the proper objects of inquiry, and divided and distracted the nation ? [" Ask the Mi- nisters!"] Many indeed have been the causes as- signed for the national distress, and many the re- medies proposed for its alleviation ; but I have never before heard that the Queen's name being out of the Liturgy has produced that distress ; nor that the replacing of her name there would be a probable means of removing it. If there are any farmers here, I would ask them if praying for the Queen would enable them to pay their rent? If there are manufacturers present, I would ask them if such an act of Government would replace trade in its former prosperity ? [Here some interruption took place, and many cried out, " If would quiet the 334 COUNTY OF SURRY. minds of' the people" The Sheriff interposed, and order was restored.] I hope my opinions, if they do not concur with your own, will be heard in si- lence. The removal of her Majesty's name from the Liturgy was either legal or illegal : if illegal, the opinion of this Meeting can have no weight on a dry point of law ; and if it was legal, the in- sertion of her name could only be a matter of grace and favour: and I beg the Freeholders of Surry to treat the King as they would treat any com- mon private Gentleman, whom I am sure they \vould not ask to do a matter of grace and favour to a wife, who had published such language as the Queen has addressed to her husband. I am con- vinced, that when you calmly consider the whole of this question, at some distant period, you will at length do justice to the motives of those, who diifer from you ; and especially of those, who do not hesitate to avow their opinions, however different from your own. If there was any doubt as to the object of the Resolutions, that doubt has been en- tirely removed by the speech of the Noble Lord, M'ho first addressed you. You all know that his Majesty's Ministers, having advised the King to ex- clude the Queen's name from the Liturgy, have solemnly and publicly declared, that they would not advise his Majesty to restore it. A proposition, therefore, of which the object is to restore her Majesty's name to the Liturgy, is, in fact, a pro- position to remove the King's Ministers. [A per- son in the crowd, " That' scorning to the point."} A LORD ELLEN BOROUGH. 335 Gentleman has said that is coming to the point. I believe it is coming to the point : it is a point which would be most desirable to many who hear me, and I think that nothing would conduce more to the gratification of numbers in the Meeting than a change of Ministers, without any regard what- ever to the interests of the Queen. [A Gentleman called out " Truth /"] You call for truth : you shall have it, Sir, and in strong terms too. I really believe that the main object of the Resolutions is neither more nor less than a simple change of Mi- nisters ; and that the advantage of the Queen is not in the smallest degree consulted by them. The Noble Lord, who first addressed you, has spoken, as every man of feeling must speak, of the distresses of the country. He has said that nothing has been done, and that much ought to have been done to alleviate those distresses. On this subject I perfectly agree with the Noble Lord ; and I have never, for a moment, hesitated to avow similar opinions in the House of Lords. The Gentleman below me talks of coming to the point, as if it were a matter of any importance to me who is Minister. During my short political career in the House of Commons and in the House of Lords, I have never belonged to one party or to the other. I have at all times endeavoured to promote what appeared to me to be the most beneficial to the country ; and my public conduct has been influenced only by those views in the discussion of the late painful and unfortunate subject. That subject has, un- 336 COUNTY OF SURRY. fortunately, engrossed too much of the public at- tention, and has diverted the Legislature from the consideration of the real causes of the distresses of the country. You all know what has occupied the attention of the Legislature since Parliament met. You all know how little has heen done for you, and I intreat you to attend to the language of the Noble Lord who has just addressed you, and compare it with the conduct of his Friends in the House of Commons. Have they proposed any re- medy for the distresses of the country ? Have they taken any measures, in short, unconnected with that lamentable subject, which occupies the public mind without the slightest advantage to the people? The only motion, which has been made, so far from having a tendency to restore the national prosperity, has created an obstacle to the consideration of the distresses of the country. Whatever my own opinions may be as to the case of her Majesty, I think the generosity, with which Englishmen feel on this subject, does them the highest honour. I respect the motives, by which they are influenced, while I feel con- vinced, that their opinions are founded upon the grossest delusion. No man can admire more than myself the manly spirit, the truly English feeling and generosity, upon which those opinions, how- ever erroneous, are founded. I am persuaded, that the object of the Resolu- tions is to create an obstacle to the consideration of the national distresses; and I think so, because that LORD BLLENBOROUGH. 337 must necessarily be their effect. I know that the Gentlemen, who have proposed them, have too much sense, and too correct a judgment to have proposed them, unless they had calculated upon that effect. The object of the Resolutions is to procure from you an expression of your feelings upon a subject, in which the nation feels great interest, but which, in niy opinion, is of no national importance, in order to effect the removal of the present Ministers, and replace them by a set of men, who, whatever may be their talents, abilities, and public services, are certainly not possessed of much popularity, or of the confidence of the people. If such was the real object of the Resolutions, I think it would have been much better to come forward in a manly man- ner, and propose at once the impeachment of his Majesty's Ministers, and a change in the system of Government. There could have been no objection to this course, for I have no doubt, from the impartial manner in which the High Sheriff has acted, that a Requisition to that effect would have been as readily acceded to, as the present Requisition. If the only object were a change of Ministers, that question ought to have been brought before you in a precise and simple shape ; and not, as it now is, by a side-wind. I thank you for the attention with which you have heard me ; and if you should still be of opinion, that the Resolutions, consolidated into a Petition, ought to be presented to Par- liament, I assure you, that I will bear testimony, 2 x 338 COUNTY OF SURRY. in my place in the House of Lords, to the respectability of the Meeting, and to the propriety and fairness which have so eminently characterised the proceedings. Whatever way he the case in other instances, you have proved that this County Meeting, at least, is no farce ; and however diffe- rent your opinions may he from my own, I can- not hut respect the fairness, the manliness, and the moderation, with which you have expressed them. THE HONORABLE GREY BENNET: I HAVE great satisfaction in meeting so large an assembly of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of Surry. I should have felt ashamed of the Freeholders of this County if they had stood aloof, while all England is agitated from one end of the kingdom to the other ; but I am con- vinced, that in no part of the kingdom does there exist a more honest, sound-hearted, independent body of men than in the County of Surry. I am glad to follow the Noble Lord, who has just ad- dressed you, and I thank him for the manliness, with which he has come forward on the present occasion. I entirely concur with him in all the approbation which he has expressed of the conduct of the Sheriff; but here my concurrence with the Noble Lord must cease. I am sorry to say that the Noble Lord has been only re-acting here the part, which he acted in another place; he has HON. GREY BENNET. dressed up for the second time nearly the same ar- guments, which he brought forward in the House of Lords. He has attempted to justify the part which he there took; hut I must say, that I do not envy the Noble Lord those feelings, how- ever sincere, which have dictated his conduct; and that I could not lay my head upon my pillow con- tentedly, if I were conscious of having used such language against the Queen, as that which the Noble Lord has permitted himself to use. The Noble Lord has said, that the voice of the people would speak with authority to the Legislature, and I have no doubt that in the long run it will do so. Though the House of Commons may now treat with contempt the Petitions of the people though it deride their intreaties, and scout their supplications, I believe that the voice of the people will at length prevail ; because I am persunded, that that system of profligacy and corruption, by which the country Jias been so long plundered and oppressed, must at last come to an end. The Noble Lord has asked what is the use of these Resolutions ? what advan- tage are they calculated to bring to the people of this country? I will tell the Noble Lord what advantage they are likely to bring : if the prayers of this Petition are heard, they are likely to bring content. If they are refused, the discontent of the country will continue, and it is upon this ground that I support the Resolutions, and oppose the Amendment. The noble Lord has asked, whether praying for the Queen in the Liturgy would ap- 340 COUNTY OF SURRY. pease the discontents of the people ? I reply, that it would be a step towards appeasing them ; it would be a step towards that most desirable end, because the present Ministry have pledged themselves not to hold office, if her Majesty's name should be re- stored, and if the nuisance of the present Adminis- tration were abated, the people would look forward to a better system of Government. Instead of an Administration, which regards with indifference the distresses of the country, which answers the Peti- tions of the People by reproaching them with ignorant impatience, and charging them (in the language of Lord Castlereagh) with turning their" backs upon themselves; instead of an Administration which is careless as to the reduction of the public expenditure, and things of nothing but augmenting a military force, unparalleled even in time of war in the earlier and better periods of our history, the country might look forward with renewed hopes to an Administration founded upon Consti- tutional principles, and supported by public opi- nion. Such an Administration would possess the confidence of the people. That would be their main support and stay, and they could only pre- serve that confidence by adopting a system diame- trically opposite to that of the present Ministers. The Noble Lord has asked, whether they would not. treat the Sovereign in the same way as they would treat any common Gentleman placed in similar circumstances? I answer, that the peo- ple would do so; but for my own part, I know HON. GREY BENNET. 341 nothing of the personal character of the Sovereign, and as the Sovereign is the only irresponsible per- son in the country, as he is the only man who can not avenge an insult, men should be silent upon his personal character. But I do say that the King's Ministers are responsible, and I would ask the Noble Lord in my turn, whether they ought not to treat the Queen as they would treat any other Lady in the country ? The Noble Lord said, you all know what the House of Commons has done since the Meeting of Parliament; and I am glad you do know it. After the House had been occupied day after day in reading and discussing the Petitions of the People, what was the fruit of all this discussion? Why, on the very first division they shewed a sovereign contempt for the Petitions of the People ; and a majority of 100 Members of the House of Com- mons declared, in substance, that the exclusion of the Queen's name from the Liturgy was neither ill-advised nor inexpedient. Ministers did not venture to come to a direct vote on this subject; I believe even my Honourable Friend, the Member for the County, would not have ventured to sup- port them in such a proposition ; but by a species of manoeuvre, well known in Parliamentary tactics, they contrived to blink the question, by moving for an adjournment of the House ; and God knows it was high time to adjourn, for the House did not separate till seven o'clock in the morning. 342 COUNTY OF SURRY. The Noble Lord, who moved the Resolutions, observed, and observed most truly, that it is absolutely necessary for the House to take mea- sures for diminishing the expenditure of the coun- try. Some of the Gentlemen, whom I am ad- dressing, may not be aware of the way, in which the public money is expended: they may not be aware that there are seventy-two or seventy-three Members of the House of Commons, who are kind enough to hold offices under the Crown, to take a certain portion of the public money, and apply it to their own use. These praiseworthy, laborious, industrious Gentlemen pocket 170,000 annually of the public money ; and the consequence is that there are always upon all occasions above 70 dead votes in favour of the Government. If a Malt Tax, for instance, be desired, and the Table of the House of Commons be loaded with Peti- tions against it, these 70 Gentlemen are ready in their places to support it. Such is the enormous and preponderating influence of the Crown in the House of Commons, that, unless a most uncommon degree of popular feeling be expressed, there is no chance of the wishes of the people being attended to. You may not all be aware that the bare col- lection of the revenue costs nearly as much as the whole revenue amounted to in the beginning of the late King's reign. The collection of the revenue costs between 3 and 4,000,000; and by HON. GREY BENNET. 343 whom are the collectors appointed? They are appointed by the House of Commons. Every Member, who supports the Government, has a claim, which he considers as sacred as his freehold, to appoint collectors in the county, with which he is connected. The right of patronage on the part of the adherents of Government, and the claim of Government to their support, are of course reci- procal ; and upon one occasion Mr. Canning re- proached Mr. Wilberforce for not supporting Minis- ters, although he was as regular in his applications at the Treasury, as Gentlemen who never ventured to exercise a discretion of their own. These 70 Members are always to be found at their post; they form a small battalion of regular troops, upon whose services the Minister can always count : and I must say, that, what with their applications for wages at the Treasury in the morning, and the constant duty they have to perform at night, these Gentlemen work hard enough for their hire. I would appeal to my Honourable Friend, the Mem- ber for the County, whether I have overstated these facts; and I would just mention, by way of illustration, a circumstance, which came within my own knowledge. A situation under the Post Of- fice became vacant, and a person, who had done the duty, and who was connected with my colleague, who happened to be abroad at the time, begged me to make an application to Government for his ap- pointment. I told him that I had no interest with the Government; but upon the request being re- 344 COUNTY OF SUKRY. newcd in a more pressing manner, and backed by many respectable persons in the town of Shrews- bury, I applied to Government ministerially, with- out asking the appointment as a favour. And what was the result? Do you suppose that my appli- cation was successful? No. The place was shortly afterwards given away by a Gentleman of the County, who had a quiet little pocket borough, and who had consequently interest enough to pro- cure the appointment of a person to distribute letters among the respectable inhabitants of Shrewsbury. I mention this circumstance, be- cause it shews the way, in which the system works. It has been said that the system works well, however liable it may be to those evils in- separable from all human institutions; but for whom does it work well? Does it work well for the people? It works well only for those, who live upon the spoils of a plundered and im- poverished people. It is high time to call for a change in the system of Government, that Par- liament may become what it ought to be a check upon the Crown and a support to the peo- ple. The Noble Lord has said, that since the Meeting of Parliament, it had employed itself only on one subject. This is not strictly true, as I shall afterwards shew ; but undoubtedly that question clings round the hearts, and is upper- most in the thoughts of a generous nation, who feel for the sufferings of an injured Queen. They HON. GREY BENNET. 345 felt that it was their first duty, as they valued their own interests, and the interests of their posterity, to do an act of justice to the Queen, which was calculated to restore content, where there was nothing but discontent, and ease, where there was nothing but heart-burning to restore peace and tranquillity to the fire-side of every man, in the kingdom. It would be an act of policy as well as justice, because I think no policy so sound and true, as that which would protect the oppressed against the oppressor, and afford succour to one, who has been the victim of persecution from the very hour that she first came to this country. I am old enough to recollect when she arrived in this country full of life, and beauty, and gaiety. I was present at her marriage, an event which raised to the highest pitch the hopes and expec- tations of the country. In one short year those hopes were all blasted, and the Queen was turned out from her home, and from the protection of her husband, with a child at her breast. The people of England have never forgotten it, and while they possess the hearts of men they never will forget it. In the year 1806*, she was assailed by the same base and malignant arts which have lately been employed to destroy her. The very men, who now accuse her, for purposes of political intrigue, care- less of her interests, heartless, and regardless of her wrongs, then took up her cause as a stepping- stone to their ambition. Years rolled on, 'and when the late Sovereign, her firm and virtuous 2 Y 346 COUNTY OF SUKKY. protector, whom we all remember with regret, was succeeded by the King, her husband, the very men, who had formerly supported her, turned round, and were ready to sacrifice her for the pur- pose of keeping their places. Though in 1806 they declared that the charges brought against her were founded in foul and monstrous calumnies, in 18 IS they referred to a Committee of their own those identical charges, and culled a Report out of the evidence, which they admitted to be blown upon by perjury and blasted with infamy in 1806. After such treatment, can it be matter of surprise that the language adopted by the Queen has been sometimes strong in her Answers to Addresses ; or in that celebrated letter to the King, in which, though I regret it was ever written, it is difficult to say that there is any thing which is not true. Assailed, as she was, by a Bill of Pains and Penal- ties, which first created the offence, and then en- acted the punishment ; a measure which amounted to much the same thing as putting a pistol to her breast; who is prepared to say, that her Majesty was not justifiable in using every means of resist- ance which God and nature had put into her hands? There was one other topic adverted to by the Noble Lord, on which I wish to make a single ob- servation. The Noble Lord lias said, that the restoration of her Majesty's name to the Liturgy must have the effect of turning out the present Ministers, and that this was the only object of the Resolutions. I cannot agree with the Noble Lord. COUNTY OF SURRY. 347 Meanness and ambition are perfectly compatible; and it has been well observed, that climbing is performed in the attitude of crawling. The pre- sent Ministers belong to that class of sycophants, who, if they are turned out at the door, will con- trive to get in at the window. I am firmly per- suaded, that as soon as Lord Liverpool and his Colleagues find it no longer possible to resist the public demand for the restoration of her Majesty's name to the Liturgy, they will readily sign an Order in Council for that purpose, and keep their places. Mr. MABEBLY supported the Resolutions ; and congratulated the Meeting upon the pledge given by the Noble Lord (Ellenborough), that he would bear testimony to their respectability and exem- plary conduct, and assure the House of Lords that at least this County Meeting was not a farce. Sir WM. DE CRESPIGNY supported the Resolu- tions, and contended at length that the present Ministers had by their conduct justly forfeited the confidence of the people. He warmly reprobated the term "farce" being applied to a Meeting, at which he recently attended, and which he maintained was as respectable as any held in England. Lord ELLENBOROUGH explained. The expres- sion used in the House of Lords by a Noble Duke, 348 COUNTY OF SUREY. who must ever be dear to his country, had heen applied not to what the Hampshire Meeting was, but to what it was expected to be. [Loud laughter^ Sir W. DE CRESPIGNY said that the words were used some time after the Meeting had taken place. Sir THOMAS TURTQN addressed the Meeting under severe indisposition. Although the Honour- able Baronet deeply lamented that her Majesty's name had ever been excluded from the Liturgy, yet he doubted whether mischief would not be done by pressing the question of its restoration. Mr. COURTENAY wished to know whether as a Magistrate, not being a Freeholder of the County, he was entitled -to vote. The HIGH SHERIFF replied in the negative. Mr. DEN i SON commenced his address by com- menting upon the peculiar advantages of the sys- tem of County Meetings. The Honourable Gen- tleman then entered into a review of the Queen's trial, and contended, that the fact of the same party being grand jury, petty jury, prosecutors, and judges, in the same cause, was most iniquitous, and deserved the reprobation of the country. He added, that it was the duty of Ministers when they failed to carry their point, even by such a mode of trial, to have immediately advised the re-insertion of her Majesty's name in the Liturgy, and also that she should be restored to all her high privi- leges and dignities : instead of this, however, they COUNTY OF SURRY. 349 prorogued Parliament, without even recommend- ing t<3 his Majesty to thank the House of Commons for the very liberal grant of the civil list, which they had made. The Honourable Gentleman pro- ceeded to comment on other parts of the conduct of Ministers, with respect, to their negotiations abroad and their management at home, at con- siderable length, contending that in no one point had they consulted the true interests of the na- tion. Mr. HOLME SUMNER congratulated the Meet- ing upon the order, with which its proceedings had been conducted. It was matter of extreme gra- tification to him, that with a single exception, his public conduct had uniformly met with the appro- bation of his Constituents. It had been said, that the opinion of Parliament did not, upon a late occasion, coincide with the opinion of the People, but he (Mr. H. Sumner) conscientiously believed that it did. He adverted to the distressed state of the country, and compared the situation of the people, after a long and protracted war, to that of a man who had resorted to a Court of Law to prevent the loss of his estate, and had spent nine- teen shillings out of twenty shillings in the con- test. He then proceeded to explain his conduct with respect to his observations on the Queen. He acknowledged that he did, in the House of Commons the other night, express his belief, that the Queen had been found guilty [laud groaiu.] He proceeded to speak of the 123 Lords who had 350 COUNTY OF SURRY. voted for the second reading of the Bill, and asked, if the witnesses against her Majesty had heen per- jured, why Majocchi and the rest had not been detained in the country and prosecuted for per- jury? He said, that when he moved 50,0001. as an Amendment to the 50,000/. proposed to the Queen, he did so under the conviction that a great part of her income was diverted, by those who surrounded her, to the support of clamour and sedition [Cries of " shame, shame!"] He said, he thought it his duty to state so, though he knew he should stand there condemned [Cries of " you prejudged the Queen," " you shall never again be our County Member"] He concluded by saying, that he was sure a year would not pass over their heads before they would say, as in the case of the Property Tax, Mr. Sumner is right [Cries of "never, never."] A Freeholder of the name of WILD, addressed the Meeting from the middle of the crowd, with much energy and considerable humour. He ar- raigned the conduct of Mr. Holme Sumner through the whole course of his public career. His attack upon the Queen, he said, was founded only upon hearsay: and were he, Mr. Wild, to resort to hear- say evidence, he assured the Meeting that he had heard a great deal to the disadvantage of the Ho- nourable Gentleman. The HIGH SHERIFF then put the Amendment, which was negatived by a great majority, there being only five or six hands held up in its favour. COUNTY OF SURRY. 55 \ The Resolutions were then put and carried by a similar majority. Mr. WEBB WESTERN proposed the Petition founded upon the Resolutions, which was seconded by Mr. Hare Townsend, and declared by the'High Sheriff to be carried unanimously ; but it being remarked that a single hand was held up by a per- son seated in a chaise, the High Sheriff formally announced the minority of one, observing, that in declaring the unanimity of the Meeting, he meant no injustice to the individual in the chaise. After the Resolutions and Petition had been put and carried ; Mr. MACDONALD rose to move that the Meeting ought not to separate without expressing an opinion upon the conduct of each of their Representatives. The HIGH SHERIFF was of opinion that such a proceeding was entirely foreign to the purposes of the Meeting. Mr. MACDONALD bowed to the decision of the Sheriff; and after a speech of considerable length, in which he replied to the arguments of Mr. Holme Sumner, and touched generally upon all points which had been adverted to in the course of the previous discussion, concluded by observing, that if the Meeting could not express directly their opinion of one of their Representa- tives, they would intimate it by their silence respecting him ; and he therefore moved that the 352 COUNTY OF SURRY. Petition be entrusted to the care of Mr. Denison alone. Mr. HOLME SUMMER remonstrated at some length, that the opinion of one, comparatively unknown to the Freeholders, should he taken in preference to their own opinion of his conduct, which was proved by having twice chosen him as their Representative. The Motion was, however, carried by acclamation* So also* was a second Motion, that the petition to the House of Lords should be presented by Lord King. Thanks were then voted to the High Sheriff, for his impartial conduct in the chair; and the Meeting broke up at about half-past five in the evening. FINIS. 11UGHI.S, Printer, Maiden Lane, Covcut Garden. * a * M M - o o o o o o o o nnn DDnnnn II I" I tlli nnnnn n n ^ dNVJ.s 1SHU