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State of Public Affairs. 269
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Lit Various Period , Different Questions...
fear of losing their bread hang over the voters , nine out of ten would be in favour of Sir Francis Burdett , and the same proportion -would prevail throughout the kingdom .
At Canterbury and Liverpool , the mayors refused to call a meeting in the balls , which gave the opportunity of showing the sense of those places by a much larger meeting of the inhabitants than the halls could have accommodated .
At both places unanimity prevailed , and it is singular that at Canterbury , a place abounding with clergymen , not one signed the petition , though it contains a thousand and sixty-four signatures , among which are to be found the most respectable inhabitants of the city . But another petition was drawn up by the mayor and some of the aldermen and common council , which refer fed I the desired retrenchments and reform to the
wisdom of the House , and reprobated the supposed attempt to vilify the House of Commons . This was noticed in the answer of Sir F . Burdett to the citizens , who in expressing his thanks , took the opportunity of rejoicing , that they , who did not concur with the great body of the city in the honour bestowed upon him , still were sensible of the necessity both of retrenchments and reform .
It will be recollected , that Sir Francis Burddtt caLed the attention of the House to the case 0 f a poor sailor left on a desert island by an inhuman commander . By intelligence from America it appears , that the poor man survived the attempt , having been taken off by a vessel , and he is now living in the United States . We trust that the national character
will be redeemed by some compensation to the unhappy : ufFerer , who , whatever his crimes might have been , ought not to have been exposed to such a cruel and malipious punishment . In the House of Commons , many important debates have taken place . Those on the Middlesex and JLondon petitions
employed each two days . Mr . Percival was a strong opponent to them , and he was backed by several distinguished characters of the opposition . The chief arguments on the ministerial side , were , that the petitions were , and were intended as , an insult on the House , and that the House was not bound o receive
petitions , except they were presented in a respectful manner , and couched in becoming language . On the other hand it was contended * that men , who saw
Lit Various Period , Different Questions...
the abuses practised in the House , could not but liotc them with warmth ; and that when they complained of grievances , it was natural that they should speak of them in a manner not pleasing to the authors of those grievances '; that , if the approbation of the minister was to be
made the test of the language of the pemade the test of the language of the petition , the people would be deprived of the right they have in even the most despotical governments , of making their complaints known against theofficers who maltreat them , to the supreme authority .
That this was a very bad precedent , and gentlemen who rejected the petitions on account of the supposed insult , might hereafter find petitions excluded under that name , which they would have backed with all their influence and
authority . A very great majority concuired in the rejection of both petitions , and it then seemed , that that from Westminster would have been rejected , if there had been a two dry * debate upon it ; yet all the petitions contain equally strong language , equally quote thr speaker ' s language and equally condemn the proceeuin ^ s of the House in
its tate commitments . These petitions all called for reform , and the necessity of it has been made so apparent to the people , th ^ t in spite of the language in the House , there seems scarcely to be a difference of sentiment out of the House , on this subject . If the representative part of our government
is valuable , nothing can be more absurd than that stocks or stones in a park should Be invested with a right of send * - ing members , or that a peer by means of a dependant person , and three or four dependant tradesmen , should send two representatives to Parliament . Yet these things are notorious , and wtiat is the
more extraordinary , a representative of the largest county in England , who spent a large sum on his election , and went through great fatigue to obtain his seat , is-a supporter of this system . Is it not wonderful , that the representatives of counties and large cities should choose to see .-. eated with thum men , invested with
equal privileges , who have obtained their seats for a specific slim paid down , or have been sent each on an average by not twenty elector ? Mf , Brand , the member for Hertfordshire , took up the question , and the measure he proposed was the most moderate that could be conceived , and appeared to be almost unexceptionabl e * 1 t > wai simply to h * v «
State Of Public Affairs. 269
State of Public Affairs . 269
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1810, page 269, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02051810/page/53/
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