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 <Iourr0trr< 
 
 ON Saturday, December 30, 1820, a Meeting 
 of the County of Gloucester was held at the Shire- 
 hall, Gloucester, for the purpose of taking into 
 consideration the propriety of petitioning his Ma^- 
 jesty to dismiss from his councils for ever his 
 present unworthy Ministers. This Meeting was 
 originally sought through a Requisition to the 
 High Sheriff, Sir E. B. Sandys, signed by several 
 Noblemen and Gentlemen ; but that officer having 
 refused to convene a County Meeting, the present 
 was called by eleven Magistrates of the first rank 
 and station. 
 
 Lord Ducie was prevented from attending by 
 severe indisposition. 
 
 Lord SHERBORNE took the chair. His Lord- 
 ship read the Requisition originally presented to the 
 High Sheriff, as well as that signed by the County 
 Magistrates, in pursuance of which the Meeting 
 was called. 
 
 The Meeting was then addressed as follows, by 
 
 SIR BERKELEY W. GUISE, BART. M. P. : 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 THOUGH very much unprepared to address a 
 public Meeting of the County, I yet think the 
 present a moment of sufficient consequence to
 
 44 GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 
 
 call for the avowal of every man's opinion, who 
 has the good of his country at heart. You are all, 
 unhappily, too much aware of the present crisis 
 of public affairs: you must have all seen, with the 
 deepest regret, the recent occurrence, which has 
 agitated the country: you must have witnessed, with 
 the most melancholy feelings, the improper and 
 uncalled-for introduction into Parliament of crimi- 
 natory evidence against the Queen, which would 
 not be admissible in any court of justice through- 
 out the kingdom. Equally repulsive to the feelings 
 of the nation has been the production of witnesses 
 from distant countries, under circumstances, and 
 connected with previous arrangements, of so sus- 
 picious a character, as to justify the opinion which 
 has prevailed, that these witnesses have been 
 suborned to give evidence. 
 
 These proceedings, so utterly at variance with 
 the habits and institutions of this country, have 
 created great uneasiness and general agitation. 
 There has been of late, and there still continues to 
 be, great distress throughout the country : it is 
 the duty of Ministers at such a time not to exas- 
 perate public feeling, but to endeavour, as far as 
 their means 'extend, to alleviate public distress, 
 and to allay public discontent. As, however, the 
 constitutional and responsible advisers of the 
 King have neglected this important part of their 
 office, it becomes the bounden duty of men of 
 weight in the country to assist the people in 
 making known their real situation to his Majesty,
 
 SIR BERKELEY W. GUISE. 45 
 
 in a moderate, a proper, and legal manner. If 
 the real opinions and distresses of the people once 
 reach the royal ear, I have the utmost confidence 
 in the disposition of his Majesty to relieve his 
 faithful subjects. 
 
 It is, therefore, of the first importance that 
 the Ceunty of Gloucester should come forward 
 thus openly and publicly to express its sentiments; 
 and with that view I will submit an Address to 
 this Meeting, which, I trust, will be found to com- 
 prehend the public sentiment. The Address is 
 properly couched in terms of duty, loyalty, and 
 attachment to the King, in the hope I trust 
 a well-grounded one that it will incline the 
 royal ear to listen to and redress our grievances, 
 and restore public confidence throughout the 
 country. I repeat my reliance on the benefi- 
 cent intentions of his Majesty, and trust that the 
 Address will produce the desired effect. 
 
 [He concluded by moving the Address, which 
 entreated the King to dismiss his present Ministers, 
 whose system of foreign and domestic politics had 
 entailed so many evils on the nation, and was 
 alike derogatory to the power and dignity of the 
 crown, and destructive of the rights and best 
 interests of the people. It also recommended that 
 with a change of Ministers there should be a 
 total change of measures.]
 
 46 GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 
 
 [Mr. COLCHESTER, on rising to second the 
 Address, said, that nothing could have induced 
 him to trespass on the attention of such an assem- 
 bly, but a sense of the deep necessity, which he 
 felt for the expression of the public sentiment at 
 a time when the dearest interests of the country 
 were at stake, and the most valuable principles of the 
 constitution in danger. He heartily concurred in the 
 proposed Address, which breathed a proper spirit of 
 loyalty and attachment to the throne, and to the 
 person and office of his Majesty ; while at the same 
 time it conveyed a just and merited censure upon 
 the King's constitutional advisers, who had en- 
 deavoured to disgrace his Majesty's royal consort, 
 and to bring the institutions of the land into 
 danger. He expressed a hope that the example 
 of this county would be followed by others 
 throughout the empire, until the unequivocal ex- 
 pression of public feeling should be completely 
 demonstrated : and also that his Majesty would 
 dismiss from his councils a set of men, who, rather 
 than quit the profits and emoluments of office, 
 scrupled not to endanger the peace of the country, 
 and the dignity and security of the throne.] 
 
 [The Address was then unanimously adopted 
 by the Meeting.]
 
 MR. RICARDO. 47 
 
 RICARDO, M. P. : 
 
 / 
 I AM sure this Meeting feels as I do respecting 
 
 the conduct pursued on a late occasion in the 
 House of Peers, by our noble Chairman and by 
 Lord Ducie. The County can have but one 
 sentiment upon that conduct : it is entitled to 
 our fullest and most unqualified approbation. 
 These noble Lords have in an independent and 
 manly manner opposed his Majesty's Ministers 
 during the prosecution of the Queen. It becomes 
 the County to express its opinion of the conduct of 
 the noble Lords, who have so acted; and my 
 object at present is to propose to them a vote of 
 thanks. 
 
 I will take this opportunity of declaring my 
 hearty approbation of the terms of the Address, 
 as well as those used by the Gentlemen, who 
 have spoken upon it. Indeed, if I have any 
 thing in the way of complaint to urge or cavil 
 with, it is that the Address has not gone as far 
 as it ought to have gone; for it appears to me 
 that many of the evils, of which we complain, are 
 to be traced to the present constitution of the 
 House of Commons. If that House fairly and 
 fully represented, as it ought, the people at large, 
 the country would not now have to deplore such 
 an accumulation of wrongs. It would have been 
 quite impossible for Ministers to have pursued a
 
 48 ' GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 
 
 career so diametrically opposite to the general 
 opinion of the country : nor would a House of 
 Commons, representing the general voice of the 
 community, have suffered such a departure from 
 the public wishes and interests. Entertaining, as 
 I unequivocally do, such an opinion, I must say 
 that I should have still more approved of the 
 Address, if it promptly and plainly recommended 
 that no time should be lost in making the House 
 of Commons what it ought to be, and what its 
 name imports it to be, a representative of the 
 public voice an organ acting in sympathy with 
 the tone of popular feeling, and constitution- 
 ally embodying and expressing the voice of the 
 country at large in a full and unquestionable 
 manner. 
 
 [The Honourable Gentleman concluded by 
 proposing a vote of thanks to Lords Sherborne and 
 Ducie, which was unanimously agreed to.] 
 
 Colonel BERKELEY, and some other Gentle- 
 men, shortly addressed the Meeting. 
 
 Mr. WINTOUR HARRIS congratulated the 
 very large assembly present on their unanimity; 
 and on their having conducted themselves with 
 that sense of dignity and character, which became 
 men exercising one of the proudest and dearest
 
 GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 49 
 
 privileges yet reserved to Englishmen. He had 
 now to propose that their most cordial thanks 
 should be given to the eleven Magistrates, who 
 had convened the Meeting after the High Sheriff's 
 refusal to obey the Requisition, presented to him 
 from some of the principal personages of the 
 County. They were more particularly called upon 
 to thank those Magistrates for coming forward in 
 support of their rights and privileges, when 
 the High Sheriff had interposed his authority to 
 obstruct the exercise of both, as far as he had the 
 power to act in hostility to the avowed wish of 
 the County. He regretted that the High Sheriff had 
 so far forgotten his duty. He should have thought, 
 that an Englishman, exercising a highly important 
 and constitutional office r would have been ashamed 
 to have recorded a refusal to a Requisition, signed 
 as that was, which their High_SherirF had dis- 
 regarded. When men of office did wrong, those, 
 who were likely to be injured by their misdeeds, 
 ought to express their opinions, in the hope of 
 deterring other official personages from pursuing 
 a similar course. It was quite impossible for 
 them, without, utterly abandoning their duty, to 
 overlook the misconduct of Sir E. B. Sandys at 
 such a period. He trusted, therefore, that, for 
 conduct such as he had praised in the Magis- 
 trates, the Meeting would record their grateful 
 thanks ; and that then they would not be deterred 
 from passing a vote of censure upon the High 
 
 H
 
 50 GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 
 
 Sheriff for his conduct on so important an oc- 
 casion. 
 
 The vote of thanks to the Magistrates, and 
 the vote of censure upon the High Sheriff, were 
 then passed unanimously.
 
 BERKSHIRE. 
 
 County of 
 
 A MEETING of the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy > 
 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:<G!lA>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