It was further agreed verbally, that at the general meeting, proposed to be held in the metropolis, on Thursday, the 23d day of May next, it would not be advisable to move for any specific plan being recommended to parliament for reforming the representation. That the persons present at this meeting shall endeavour to add to their strength prior to calling a general meeting, by applying to persons of rank, property, and influence. That this select meeting adjourn to the 6th of April. At the adjourned meeting, held Hon. C. H. Strickland, H. Burdett, Sir F. Tracy, C. H. Fawkes, Walter White, T. Holt the The accession of new friends reported to this meeting was as fol. lows, namely: - Mr. BRAND reported G. Hale, Esq. of Hertfordshire. Sir F. BURDETT-W. Bosville, Esq. Leach, Esq. ditto: Gill, Esq. ditto; Gill, Esq. ditto. Mr. CARTWRIGHT-Joshua Grigby, Esq. Suffolk; W. Hallet, Esq. Hants; T. Jones, Esq. ditto; C. Lofft, Esq. Suffolk; Richard Reynolds, Esq. IIuntingdonshire; J. Rider, Esq. Kent; exclusive of three new members present at this meeting. Lord Cochrane; Sir W. Wolseley, Bart. Staffordshire; W. Wolseley, Esq. ditto; J. Birch, Esq. ditto; F. Castley, Esq. ditto; John Foster, Esq. ditto; Ralph Stephenson, Esq. Oates, Esq. Yorkshire. Additional since the meeting: E. B. Clive, Esq. Herefordshire; J. Disney, D. D. Essex; R. Knight, Esq. Warwickshire. Mr. FAWKES-Samuel Crompton, Esq. Yorkshire; Benjamin Dealtry, Esq. ditto; John Grimstone, Esq. ditto; Benjamin Heywood, Esq. ditto; Samuel Shore, Esq. ditto; J. Shore, Esq. ditto; Daniel Sykes, Esq. ditto; -Watts, Esq. High Sheriff, ditto; Richard Watts, Esq. ditto; John Wharton, Esq. M. P. ditto; ditto; Christopher Wilson, Esq. ditto; George Mr. HALSEY-J. L. Hodges, Esq. Kent. Sir G. HEATHCOTE-Col. Noel, Esq. Rutland. MEMORANDUM.-One of the gentlemen, who originally, gave his name conditionally, now drew the line at which he would consent it should stand; that line he drew at sixty country gentlemen of landed property appearing on the list of stewards, independent of persons otherwise respectable.-A principal magistrate of the city of London, made known to the meeting his opinion, that probably it would be easy to obtain the use of the Guildhall of that metropolitan city, for the proposed general meeting in so constitutional a cause. "SIR-Prior to the revolution, notwithstanding all the doctrines of liberty in Magna Charta, the want of a "free -parliament," exposed our country to incessant practices of tyranny. Ever since the revolution, notwithstanding the constitutional words and declarations in the bill of rights, the want of a "free parliament" has deluged the land with incessant acts and deeds of corruption and ruin. "A free parliament" was the demand of those who called hither the Prince of Orange. A " free parliament" was that for which, above all, the Prince professed to come over. A "free parliament" was, by the bill of rights, declared to be a sacred birth-right of the English people; but alas! the epoch of the revolution is now verging towards antiquity, while a "free parliament" remains yet to be obtained! "The violation of fundamental principles, although in its working it may be slow, yet in its fatal results is nevertheless sure: the complicated resuits of violation acting for ages on the constitution, are now upon the nation. To speak in the words of the present head of the Russels and inheritor of their virtues, "The source of our evils is an inadequate defective representation of the people in parliament; until that source be cut off, abuse and corruption will never cease t flow in a thousand different channe it being visionary to except, or to hope for parliamentary reform from parliamentary votes, until the voice of an injured and offended nation shall have the same effect on the borough faction in both houses of parliament as it had on King John, when he signed Magna Charta, and on King James II. whose fight gave us the Bill of Rights; so the best evidence of genuine and enlightened patriotism at the present juncture seems to be, in actively contributing towards a correct public opinion on the state of representation, and the destructive effects of that state on the liberty, prosperity, and well-being of our country; and in calling forth on the necessity of reform, a public voice that shall not be disregarded. "The barons of Runnemead, and the leaders of the revolution, were compelled to act; they acted energetically, they resisted with effect; whereas the virtuous now having more rapid means of circulating knowledge, have only to speak: when the nation shall have raised its voice, they will have spoken with effect. As soon as the nation shall speak, corruption will be dumb to the nation's will; the borough faction, sovereign as it now is, must be obedient. Magna Charta and the bill of rights, merely proved despotism, and for a while mitigated oppression. Parliamentary reform can alone restore the constitution. Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights tell us indeed what our rights and liberties were; by parliamentary reform, they can alone be recovered and established! "Those whose guide is truth, are the enlightened; whose appeal is to reason, are the temperate; and whose claim for their injured country is bare justice for the future, with oblivion for the past, are surely moderate. These are the ways of tranquillity and happiness. Falsehood, fraud, force, and oppression, lead to violence, convulsions, and misery! "As the beneficial effect of the present effort must greatly depend on those who, as stewards, shall sanction it with their names (to which end personal attendance of the infirm or distant is not necessary,) it is hoped the countenance it will receive will be correspondent to the vital importance of the object. "I therefore beg to be allowed to inscribe your name among the stewards to the said general meeting of friends to parliamentary reform, proposed to be held in the metropolis, on Thursday, the 23d of May next; and that you will recommend a like consent to any friend or friends of yours, whose names will add respectability to the list. "I have the honour to subscribe myself your most obedient humble servant, (Signed) "J. CARTWRIGHT." James's-street, West, April, 1811. At a select meeting of Friends to Parliamentary Reform at the house of George Byng, Esq, on the 4th. of May, Sir JOHN THROCMORTon, Bart. in the chair, the names of 123 gentlemen, amongst whom were several members of parliament were added to the list; and a committee of 26 of those present, were chosen for carrying into execution the object of those who have agreed to hold a future general meeting of friends to Parliamentary Reform. It was Resolved-" That the com"mittee should be open to all who "had already concurred in the object "stated in the foregoing resolutions, as well as to any one who shall be "introduced by a member now named, and who at the same time "shall give in his name in writing 66 to the chairman of the committee as concurring in the said object." That "Seven should be a Quorum;" and that "A meeting of "the Friends to Parliamentary Re"form, agreeably to the first resolu"tion be called."--The day of meeting has since been advertised for Monday, June 3d. LIVERY OF LONDON. and respectable meeting of the Livery On Friday, May 3d, a numerous of London, the Friends of Parliamentary Reform, was held at the City of London Tavern, at which were present Mr. Brand, Lord Ossulston, Mr. William Smith, and the Gentlemen of the Corporation of London, friendly to the design of the meeting. Mr. Waithman, who was in the chair, read the following That about the same period, similar declarations were made by numerous public meetings throughout the country, as well as by the most disinterested and enlightened statesmen of the time, who predicted a continuance and an increase of national grievances and calamities, unless a speedy reformation was effected in the representation of the people in parliament. That since that period the same hateful system has been pursued-the same pernicious influence exercised and widely extended—frequent and daring violations of the law and constitution committed the best blood and treasure of the nation profusely wasted--the public burdens enormously increased -a depreciated paper currency established, which has caused the current coin of the realm to disappear-an army of placemen, pensioners, contractors, jobbers, surveyors, inspectors, as sessors, tax-gatherers, their agents and emissaries, created and enriched, whilst the great body of the people have been pining under grievous and unequal taxation. We have also seen great public delinquents and violators of the constitution escape with impunity, whilst those who have dared to expose public abuses, and to resist innovations of the constitution, have been pursued with unrelenting rigour! That such has been the progress of corruption in the representation of the people, that we have seen it openly avowed in the house of Commons itself; and when Lord Castlereagh and the Right Hon. Spencer Perceval, both ministers of the crown, were charged with being concerned in corrupt traffic for seats in that honorable house, they were defended, and inquiry rejected, upon the alleged notoriety of such practices, which were there declared “ to be 66 as notorious as the sun at noon"day" practices, as the Speaker of the hon. house declared—“ at the "bare mention of which our ances"tors would have startled with indignation." That nothing can more strongly demonstrate the corruption and degeneracy of parliaments, than that during the whole course of our late` wars, notwithstanding the waste of blood and treasure, the many unfortunate and destructive expeditions -the numerous failures and disasters we have experienced--no want of confidence has appeared symptom of distrust manifested-no effectual inquiry instituted but that, on the contrary, a determination has appeared to stifle or evade every attempt to promote investigation, or to reform abuse, and we have seen the same unlimited confidence alike extended to all administrations. no That by the predominating influence of a borough faction, every constitutional check and controul upon ministers appears to be completely lost: and we cannot but apply the expression of Lord Bathurst to Dr. Swift, "That were his Majesty, to "appoint his body-coachman prime "minister, the wheels of govern"ment would move just as easily as "with the sagacious driver who now "sits upon the box." That nothing short of a full, fair, and free representation of the people in parliament, can afford a remedy for public grievances, restore our constitutional rights, and effectually secure his Majesty's crown and dominions! That we will use every constitutional means to obtain this essential end; and we do hereby pledge ourselves, and invite our brethren of the livery, as well as the clectors of the united kingdom, to vote for such candidates only as will engage to support every measure which bas for its object a reform in the representation of the people in parliament. PUBLIC MEETINGS OF THE FRIENDS At a Meeting of the Deputies appointed WM. SMITH, Esq. M. P. in the Chair. Resolved. That liberty of conscience comprehending the freedom of public assemblies for religious worship and instruction, in such forms and under such teachers as men shall for themselves approve, is the unalienable right of all, in the peaceable exercise of which they are not justly controulable by the civil magistrate. Resolved. That this liberty has been generally recognised in the practice of the British government since the æra of the Revolution, under the construction of the statute, commonly called the Toleration Act; thus, whatever may have been the letter of the law, the spirit of toleration has been extended, and a large portion of religious liberty actually enjoye Resolved. That we have beheld with great concern a bill lately brought into parliament, designed, as appears to us, to abridge such religious liberty, and having a tendency to deprive the lower classes of the community of those opportunities which they have so long enjoyed, to attend public worship and religious instruction under teachers of their own choice. Resolved. That as deputies of large and respectable bodies of Protestant Dissenters to attend to their civil rights, it becomes our bounden duty immediately to protest against the principles of such measure, and to point out the un just and vexatious operation of the afore said bill, as now brought into parliament. Resolved. That a petition against the said bill, grounded on the principles of the foregoing resolutions, be signed by the members of this meeting, and presented to the legislature. Resolved. That the foregoing resolutions be signed by the Chairman, and inserted in all the public papers. W.SMITH, Chairman. AT A NUMEROUS AND RESPECTABLE Of various Denominations, and other It was unanimously resolved, That I. That this meeting believe that there are at least, two millions of Protestant Dissenters in the kingdom of England and Wales, including persons of opulent fortunes, high literary attainments, and active benevolence: that their exertions have contributed to promote industry, knowledge, good morals, social order, and public prosperity. they are not inferior to any of their fellow subjects in fervent love to their country, nor in ardent loyalty to their venerable Sovereign, whose early promise " TO PRESERVE THE TOLERATION INVIOLATE," has made an unobliterable impression on their hearts--and that any measures which might excite their discontent and enfeeble their attachment, would therefore, at any time, and especially at this period, be inconsistent with the national interest, and with wise and liberal policy. II. That although this meeting consider the right to worship God accord, ing to individual judgment as an inalienable right superior to all social regula tions; and, although they have long anticipated a period when all penal laws for worshipping God according to their consciences would be abolished, they have been unwilling to agitate the public mind for the attainment of their hopes, and presuming that no persons would, in this age, venture to assail the Act of Toleration, after the ever-memorable declaration of the King, they have been content to regard it with grateful emotions, and to esteem it as an effec tual protection from the recurrence of former persecutions. III. That the persons assembled at this meeting, have received, with great anxiety, the communications frequently made by the Right Hon. Viscount Sidmouth, of his intention to propose legislative enactments, interfering with the laws relating to protestant dissenters; that they did hope the applications he has received, and the information communicated, would have prevented his perseverance. But they have learned the disappointment of their hopes, and have ascertained the provisions of the bill which he has at length introduced into parliament with extreme regret, and with painful apprehension. IV. That this bill declares that all the provisions relating to dissenting ministers, contained in the Toleration act, and in the subsequent act for their further relief, were intended to be limited only to ministers of separate congregations; and enacts, 1. That such ministers, upon being admitted to the peaceable possession and enjoyment of the place of minister of a separate congregation, may, on a certificate in writing, under the hands of several "substantial and reputable householders belonging to such congregation, signed in the presence of some credible witness, who is to make proof of their signatures upon oath at a general sessions of the peace, be permitted to take the oaths, and to sign the declarations previously required, and shall then, and then only during their continuance to be ministers of such separate congregation, be intitled to all the privileges and exemptions which the former acts had conferred. 2. That any other person who may desire to qualify himself to preach as a dissenting minister, must procure several substantial and reputable housebolders, being dissenters of the same sect, and of the same congregation, to certify on their consciences, in writing, to his being a protestant dissenting minister of their sect, and of the same congregation, and to their individual and long knowledge to his sobriety of conversation, and to his ability and fitness to preach, and that such certificate must be proved as before stated, before he be permitted to take the oath and subscribe the declaration, before he be exempt from the pains, penalties, and punishments to which he would otherwise be liable as a dissenting minister. And 3. That any person of a sober life and conversation, admitted to preach on probation to any separate congregation, must produce a certificate from several dissenting ministers (who have taken the oath, to be also proved on oath at a general session) of his life and conversation, and to their long previous knowledge, before he can be permitted to take the oaths and subscribe the declaration; and that he may then, during a limited period, to be specified in the certificate, officiate as a probationer to any dissenting congregation, and be, during a limited period, exempt from prosecution and punishment. But neither of the two last mentioned classes of persons will be intitled to any privileges, or to the exemptions from offices conferred on dissenting ministers by the toleration act. V. That the principle assumed as the foundation of the bill is incorrect :That the toleration act authorised any persons to become dissenting ministers, who conceived themselves to be called and qualified to preach, upon giving security to the state for their loyalty and christian principles, by taking certain oaths, and subscribing certain declarations, and not only prevented their persecution under laws made in times less favourable to civil and religious liberty, but conceiving their labours to be of public utility, granted to them exemptions from all parochial offices and other duties which might interfere with their more important exertions-That such construction of the act of toleration has been sanctioned by the general practice of a century, and has never been impugned by any decision in a superior court of law-and that even if such construction be incorrect and legislative exposition be required, such declaratory bill ought to follow the intention of the only act which has subsequently passed, and should extend and not contract, protect and not impair, the relief afforded by the former ancient and venerable statute. VI. That the bill introduced into parliament is not justified by any necessity, and will be highly injurious-that it is unnecessary, because the evils presumed to result from the abuses of the existing laws, by a few persons who may have improperly taken the oaths required from dissenting preachers and teachers, do not exist but to a most inconsiderable extent; and because the extension of |
