than myself, however widely differing from my own; and I trust the time is not far distant when independent men, disregarding the watch-words of faction, will unite to put an end to peculation; to a borough-monger system, grinding the faces of the poor, and undermining the security of the rich; will unite to re-establish legal government, and to curb arbitrary power, whether exercised directly by the executive Magistrate, or indirectly by means of a corrupt House of Commons. Such, and such only, are in my mind honest men, and can, with truth, be said to love their King and Country. We want nothing but what the law ordains; no new schemes, no half measures; want no plan of Reform from any man, but the Constitution of England, as by law established. Why should the People of England receive lord Grey's plan? or lord Grenville's plan? or Mr. Brand's plan? or sir Francis Burdett's plan? or any other man's plan? The proposition made by me last year was not to adopt any plan of mine, but the law of England; this is all the public require, less than this they cannot take, more they do not demand; such, at least, is my conception of the matter, and such my opinion-hold to the law, for the new corn must come out of the old fields. we Gentlemen, I am truly sensible of the honour you have done me, and beg you to accept my best acknowledgments; and you, Mr. Sheriff Wood, for your handsome conduct." Immediately on the conclusion of this address, which excited a general feeling impossible to be described, the Livery crowding round Sir Francis Burdett, offered their individual congratulations, which he received with that dignified affability, by which his manners are at all times so conspicuously marked. In about ten minutes, the Sheriff taking his leave, the Procession moved back in the same order to the Wicket-Earl Moira saluting, as before, every individual Gentleman. As the carriages drew up at the barrier, his Lordship remained at the Gate, in conversation with different Gentlemen of the Livery, until the last carriage of the procession moved off. The dignified and respectful attention with which his Lordship conducted himself on this occasion, was precisely that which every gentleman would anticipate from a Nobleman of exalted rank and character-blending at once dignified demeanour with the highest polish and refinement of the high-bred Gentleman. The multitude was greater on the return than during the progress of the Procession, which now moved up Tower-hill, towards Crutched-friars. But long ere the Sheriff's carriage reached the square in front of the Trinity House, the horses were taken off, and the Sheriff was drawn by the united exertions of a number of his fellow-citizens. It was easy to foresee that Colonel Wardle would not be suffered to pass without a similar testimony of respect the horses were taken also from his carriage, which moved through the multitude, that rent the air with shouts of "Burdett" and "Wardle."-In Crutched Friars, the horses were taken from a third carriage, in which, as we understood, were Mr. Favell and Mr. Waithman. The procession did not return by Fenchurchstreet, but, passing up Billiter-lane, turned down Leadenhall-street, and thence proceeding through Cornhill, reached Guildhall about three o'clock. The crowd of citizens was so great at the entrance, that the Sheriff and the Livery had great difficulty in getting through the Hall into the Aldermen's Council Room. Notwithstanding the immense multitude with which the streets were lined, and particularly the narrow ones, in the neighbourhood of the Tower, we did not hear of the slightest accident-and it is with pleasure we record the conduct and demeanour of the People, which was marked by that peaceable disposition so strikingly manifested at the late Meeting of the Electors of Westminster, in Palaceyard. The enthusiasm with which, not only Mr. Sheriff Wood, Colonel Wardle, and other individuals in the procession, but the whole of the Livery were received by their Fellow Citizens, aflord, as we conceive, a most irrefragable proof of the general sentiments of the people of the Metropolis, who appear to be fully impressed with this great and important truth, that Sir Francis Burdett is now contending, and legally contending, against the Borough-Faction-in favour of the Rights-the Liberties, and the Constitution of England. A 1 MAJOR CARTWRIGHT'S PETITION TO THE To the Commons of the United King- 1. That certain doctrines, which have of late been maintained, and certain decisions, which have of late been come to, in your Honourable House, have at length placed the long-agitated question of a Reform in the Representation of the People in Parliament, in a point of view, in which it cannot be rightly contemplated, without affording a demonstration, that the sole alternative left our country is, Parliamentary Reform, or National Ruin. 2. How can your Petitioner speak the emotions of his heart-what language can express his sentiments-when he thinks of the astonishing decision, by which your Honourable House, in the night between the 11th and 12th days of May, 1809, absolutely refused, by a majority of 310 against 85, to enquire into the criminal accusation, brought by a member in his place, against Viscount Castlereagh and another member, one, of having sold for a sum of money, a seat in your Honourable House; and the other, of a connivance at such sale! 3. Your Petitioner was the more shocked at the said decision, as the said Viscount Castlereagh had, not long before, when under the examination of a Committee, confessed an attempt to obtain for another placeman a seat in your Honourable House, by what, to your Petitioner appears a double corruption, in bartering for it an East India Writership; which an Act of Parliament had forbidden to be so disposed of. 4. When seats in your Honourable House are bought and sold, the people, their laws and liberties, are bought and sold. 5. Although there be not in human speech words by which the thoughts of your Petitioner on this your decision can be conveyed, he cannot dismiss the subject without saying-but disclaiming any idea of being indecorous-that such treatment of the people is beyond endurance! 6. After such a decision, and after enquiry into the criminal charge in question. has been resisted on the ground of the 7. In order to this, your Honourable House is requested to contemplate the three several species of Sovereignty with which we are familiar; namely, first, the original, inherent, and proper Sovereignty, which necessarily resides in the entire mass of the Nation; secondly, the Legislative Sovereignty, which, by delegation, resides in a Parliament of King, Lords, and Commons, (being the most conspicuous and important feature of that Constitution, by which our Nation has consented to be governed ;) and, thirdly, that Executive Sovereignty, which, by a further delegation, resides in the sole person of the king. 8. If your Petitioner has correctly distinguished the literal from the figurative, significations of the word Sovereignty, it will be discovered, that a Commons House, after deducting only the Royal Family, the temporal Nobles, and a few Ecclesiastics, is intended exclusively to represent and to personify the National Majesty. 9. It will also be discovered that such a House of Parliament is peculiarly the depositary of the Nation's liberty, the guardian of its property, the organ of its will; and that in fact it is the vital part of the State; wherefore it ought, on every principle of reason and political wisdom, in an especial manner to be securely fenced around, fortified, and at all points defended, by the solemn sanctions, and the awful terrors, of appropriate laws against High Treason: for "Treason is a betraying of the State: and the first and the highest treason is that which is com. mitted against the Constitution.' 10. But, instead of the Majesty of the Nation being thus enthroned; instead of this palladium of its liberties being thus guarded, the Nation sees your Honourable House, which ought to be an object of universal confidence, respect, and veneration, exposed to every abuse that can undermine, to every violation that can degrade, to every vice that can pollute. and destroy it! 11. The People see it abandoned as a common prey to the factious borough pa tron and the trading adventurer; to the unprincipled sharper and the unfaithful Minister; to the Asiatic nabob, and even to the hostile European despot; who all know its seals to be vendible wares in which, through the agency of certain panders of corruption, they can place their agents!That the agent of a French king's mistress had once a seat in your Honourable House, is within the remembrance, as at the time it was within the knowledge of your Petitioner. And it is well known that at one time the Nabob of Arcot purchased for his agents seven or eight of those seats. " would the throne be for a moment vacant, But a murdered Constitution has no successor; when that perishes, there is national ruin; and the betrayed people drag on in chains, in misery, in vice and slavery, degraded existence! 15. Having, then, lived to see a distinct charge of selling a seat in your Honoura ble House met by a vote, and inquiry into that treason borne down by a majority, we have seen enough, had we seen nought else, to prove that the sole alternative left our injured and not respected country, is, a radical Reform in our Representation, or a final extinction of our Liberties. 16. Between Taxation and Representation there is in the English Constitution, and in the English mind, an inseparable union; and Parliament, as it is easy to demonstrate, cannot constitutionally have duration beyond one year. 12. The learned Blackstone hath said, that," with regard to the elections of "Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, we "may observe, that herein consists the "exercise of the democratic part of our "Constitution: for in a democracy there " can be no exercise of sovereignty but by suffrage, which is the declaration of 17. Wherefore, your Petitioner so"the People's will. In all democracies, lemnly protests, and appeals against all therefore, it is of the utmost importance treasons in the sale, or barter, or disposal "to regulate by whom, and in what man-of, parliamentary seats, and against vio"ner, the suffrages are to be given. And "the Athenians were so justly jealous of "this prerogative, that a stranger, who "interfered in the assemblies of the People, was punished by their laws with "death; because such a man was esteemed "guilty of High Treason, by usurping "those rights of Sovereignty to which he "had no title. In England, where the "People do not debate in a collective body, but by representation, the exer"cise of this Sovereignty consists in the choice of Representatives." 13. So your Petitioner contends, that when a Minister of the Crown, or a Peer, or other disloyal person, either by purchase or barter, by nomination or undue influence, seats a member in your Honourble House, he, by usurping a right of Sovereignty to which he has no title, is guilty of High Treason; and that every species of buying and selling of seats, and the interference of any person whatever for corrupting, or for violating the free dom of election, is consequently High Treason; and ought, as such, to be guarded against by express law. 14. Such treasons are far more deadly than that which even strikes at the life of the Executive Sovereign; as in law the King cannot die, so, were one King to be slain, another must instantly succeed: nor lating in any way the freedom of election: as well as against the present unconstitutional inequality of representation, and long parliaments, as the chief causes of all the calamities our country has at any time experienced since the incomplete reformation of our government, effected by the Revolution, in the year 1688; and the causes, more especially, of unnecessary war- a state of things most prolific of patronage, abuse, and taxation-to which such a derangement of our system holds out to corrupt ministers a perpetual, and, as it should seem, a resistless, temptation. 18. When it is said by any Member of your Honourable House that a Reform in Parliamentary Representation cannot lighten the burthens of the Nation, the People must have indeed a new feelingthey must feel their understandings insulted. They know that their burthens may be lightened: they know that the increase of them may be prevented: they know that such a Reform only twenty years ago might, and probably would, have averted a war, that has burthened the Nation with an additional debt of nearly 600 milions, and added 40 millions a year to its taxes. (To be continued.) Published by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent Garden :-Sold also by J. BUDD, Pall-Mall, LONDON:-Printed by T. C. Hansard, Peterborough Court, Fleet-Street. VOL. XVII. No. 21.] LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 26, 1810. [Price 19. "The defect of Representation is the national Disease; and, unless you apply a remedy directly to "that Disease, you must inevitably take the Consequences with which it is pregnant. Without a "PARLIAMENTARY REFORM the nation will be plunge into new wars; without a Parliamentary "Reform you cannot be safe from bad ministers, nor can good ministers be of any use to you. No honest man can, according to the present system, continue minister."- MR. PITT's Speech, in the House of Commons, 1782. 801] PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. -[802 enough to assert, that the people wished for all these; but, I believe, that it would On Monday, the 21st instant, MR. be difficult to find such a person. NeverBRAND made his motion, in the Honoura- theless, these measures were adopted; ble House, for a Committee to consider of and not a word did any of those, who measures proper to be adopted, relative to were for them, ever say about the wishes a Reform in the Representation of the People of the people. The minister, when he was in Parliament.- -I will not attempt here about to impose upon us the almost intoto give any account of the particular mea- lerable burden of the Income-tax, did not sures recommended by Mr. Brand; be- think it necessary to wait till we expressed cause the speech will, hereafter, be given our wishes to have the said burden immore fully than it can now have been posed upon us. Why, then, are we now given, and because I wish, of all things, to be told, that one objection to a reform to avoid any misstatement upon the subject. is, that the people do not wish it? It is. -It may, however, be useful just to curious enough, that, in this case only the state, that he recommended a great ex- Honourable House is to wait for an extension of the right of voting; that he also pression of the people's wishes. It can recommended the purchasing of the bo- pass laws for making bank-notes, in effect, roughs; and the mode of voting in dis- a legal tender; it can pass laws for imtricts.It appears, that there were 349 posing such a tax which takes away about members present at the discussion, and the tenth part of every legacy; it can 234 of them voted against the motion and pass laws for making every man yield up 115 for it; so that, there was a majority one tenth part of his income, whether of more than half; there were more than proceeding from, freehold estates or from two to one, against even going into a com- the sweat of his brow; it can pass laws mittee upon the subject.It would be use- for a compulsory calling of the people out less to make any remarks on the measures into military service, and subjecting them proposed by Mr. Brand, the Honourable to military punishments. All this it can House having rejected his proposition for do without waiting for the people to ask going into a committee, not because bis them to do it, or any part of it; but, when particular measures are not to their liking, reform is proposed, it is objected, that the but because they object to any and to all people do not wish for reform!But, the measures whatever for altering the state of the fact is notoriously otherwise. It is perrepresentation.What we have to do, fectly notorious, that the general, and altherefore, is to examine what was said, in most universal, wish is for reform. Indeed, this debate, in support of this objection. that every one, who does not thrive by FIRST, it was alledged, that the people do the present system, anxiously wishes for not wish for a reform.Before we in- reform.- Mr. TIERNEY, in speaking to quire into the fact here, let us see a little this point, said "it was his wish to give how this sort of objection would be re- "satisfaction to the sober, thinking part lished, if urged in other cases. I do not" of the public, whose praise, although suppose, that any one will be so shame-" not so noisy, he must be naturally amless as to say, that the people wished for "bitious to deserve. Among such peothe Walcheren Expedition; that they wished "ple he found the call for Reform univers for the Income-tax; that they wished for "sal. Indeed, it was impossible to mix the pension, for three generations, to Baron" in any society without hearing that call Douro and Viscount Talavera. I do not repeated; without hearing the evils say, that no one will be found impudent arising out of the system of our repre "ple have not petitioned for it. But they sentation dilated upon; without, in fact, hearing the House of Commons spoken "of with marked contempt. (Some murmurs) Gentlemen might murmur; but he stated his decided opinion of what « he knew. He would, indeed, call upon" "any member of the House, whatever "walk of society he entered, to state what he heard upon this subject. He "did not say that that House deserved " contempt, although many arguments "might be drawn from its conduct, parti"cularly with regard to the Convention "of Cintra and the Walcheren Expedi"tion, which appeared to account for the "sentiment of the public. But the very "circumstance of the right honourable gentle- | "man opposite being the minister of the coun"try, and supported by that House, was "enough to deprive it of the public confidence. That support such a minister could not "have if the House were properly constructed. "In fact, if it were not for the Scotch "members, who could not be called Repre"sentatives of the people, the right honour"able gentleman must have fallen in consequence of the Walcheren Expe"dition."- This is an answer, as far as assertion can go, to what was said, by the opponents of the motion, respecting the wishes of the people.But, then, say the other side, we have something like proof in the absence of petitions. There are no petitions upon the table praying for a reform. This reason, to be sure, does come a little awkwardly from those, who have just refused to suffer to lie upon the table the petitions of the County of Middlesex and the City of London, both praying for a reform. One very effectual way of being able to say, that there are no petitions upon the table, undoubtedly Is, not to suffer any petitions to be put upon the table. When the petition of Middlesex, praying for a reform of parliament, was under discussion, it was urged by those who have now opposed Mr. Brand's motion, that, if that petition was received, the table would soon be covered with such petitions. This was one of the reasons openly avowed for the rejection of that petition; and, yet, do these same persons now urge the absence of petitions as a reason for concluding that the people do not wish for reform.But, this argument drawn from the absence of petitions is altogether fallacious. MR. WHITBREAD said, in answer to it: "The "pposers of Reform endeavour to deny "that it is the wish of the country. They "ground the assertion on this, that the peo |