and obtained a glorious triumph: they have by their recent proceedings afforded a warning to those who shall dare to oppose the free exercise of those rights in future, and an encouragement to the virtuous friends to reform, in all their future efforts to serve their country, never to be weary of well doing, but, in spite of every discouragement, to persevere; thus illustrating the remark of one of the departed friends of his country, the late Dr. JEBB,— "That no effort to promote the welfare of mankind is finally una"vailing."

The principal objects of the recent public meetings appear to be the three following:-First. To thank Mr. WARDLE, who, in spite of difficulties and menaces so terrifying, as would have appalled almost every other man both in the House of Commons, and out of it, has by his fortitude, courage, and perseverance, brought to light abuses the most flagrant, existing in the highest state-departments, which few people believed could possibly have existed, and which those who were acquainted with them, dared not venture to expose publicly. Attempts are now making in the most unprincipled and profligate print that ever degraded the British press, (The Morning Post,) the writers in which have been in the employ of almost every party and faction that have disgraced this country, who as they were paid, have alternately represented PITT and his party as angels or devils:-attempts are making by certain writers in this abandoned print, to ruin the cause of reform, by misrepresenting and falsifying the details of a law suit, in which Mr. WARDLE has 'been engaged with the upholsterer of Mrs. CLARKE, and in consequence of which they, with their usual unblushing impudence, have vented every species of abuse, not only against Mr. WARDLE and the friends of reform in general, but against persons, whose characters, public and private, even the foul breath of calumny and malignity united has not heretofore dared to asperse; we mean Sir F. BURDETT, and Mr. WHITBREAD. Respecting the lawsuits in which Mr. WARDLE is engaged, no impartial man will venture to pronounce a decided opinion, until they are finally terminated : but whatever may be the result, they cannot alter the nature of facts; the most material of which have not depended on the parole evidence of Mrs. CLARKE. No-the "undenied, the unblushing "letters," have presented the most convincing evidence to substantiate these facts; and the extravagant sum of ten thousand pounds, paid to the royal duke's late mistress, besides several annuities settled upon her children, and fifteen hundred pounds paid to the printer, as the price of various written documents, now committed to the flames;-these circumstances united, have made an impression on the public mind never to be obliterated, Mr. WARDLE, by the exposure he has made of iniquitious transactions

in high places, has well deserved the only reward he has met with -the gratitude of his country.

The Second object our countrymen have had in view in their public meetings is" The expression of their sentiments on the "corrupt practices which have been brought to light by evidence "given in the house of Commons." And so various, so complicated, and of such long standing, have been those practices, one might have thought it impossible that there should be a different opinion on the subject of their reformation, except amongst those who profiting by them, have their understandings darkened, or their hearts polluted. The major part of the past session has been fully employed, by day and by night, in the examination of these abuses; voluminous reports of committees have presented particulars innumerable: whichever way we turn our eyes, east or west, to the court or to the city, the metropolis or the country, such a mass of evidence has been presented, as to overwhelm the mind; and we fear, lest in such a multitude of abuses, many of the most enormous should be soon forgotten. The tardiness of the House of Commons in adopting even the most trifling remedies for a few of the practices complained of; the express vindication of some of the most prominent; the absolute resusal to inquire into the conduct of certain state culprits; and to pronounce censure on the conduct of others who stood self-convicted; the fixed abhorrence which the leaders of different parties appear to entertain of a radical remedy, however, constitutional, for such abuses; -all those melancholy circumstances which have marked the late session, must surely carry conviction to the minds of our countrymen, to adopt the language of the highly respected chairman at the late Essex meeting-" That reform would not begin in the "House of Commons, but must originate with the people." The opinion of the people in general, as expressed at their late meetings, on the subject of abuses, and on the conduct of the House of Commons, may be considered as summed up in one of the Resolutions of the Essex Freeholders :-" That this meeting has witnessed with "the deepest regret, various decisions in the House of Commons, upon corrupt practices, which have been exposed, or in proof "of which evidence has been offered to be adduced at the "bar, but refused to be heard; and do declare their decided "conviction, if measures are not adopted in the next session effec"tually to prevent their recurrence, the honour and character of "parliament will be extinct, and the safety of the country endan"gered !"**

"

The Third object of our popular meetings, has been that grand object which has interested at different periods some of the greatest

⚫ Resolutions passed at Chelmsford, Pol. Reg. Vol. V. p. 479.

A

statesmen and best friends of the country-A PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. This measure after all that has been said and written on the subject of public abuses, is the only safe and radical remedy; and as we enjoy the forms of a free constitution, it might, were our legislators honestly and heartily to set about the business, be easily adopted; and so far from endangering the constitution, or producing a revolution, it would most assuredly restore that constitution to its purity, and most effectually guard us against a revolu tion. It seems scarcely possible for an honest man of common sense to be of opinion, that annihilating the traffic in boroughs, of all kinds, prohibiting the purchase of seats by any contract express or implied, withdrawing the temptation by which a man is induced to pay for a seat for seven years;-restoring to the respectable classes of the people, those in the middle ranks, their right, the right as BLACKSTONE observes" of every freeman, that of choosing " his own representative :-it is surely impossible that such equitable, such just measures, can without the greatest abuse of words, be termed revolutionary, unless indeed a change from darkness to light, from slavery to freedom, from corruption to purity, can be thus termed; and in which sense all the great men in all ages, whose abilities have been exerted for the public good, may be termed revolutionists. On this subject Lord CHATHAM, and his son WILLIAM PITT, CHARLES Fox, Judge BLACKSTONE, with many others who have been distinguished by their abilities, have united in opinion. It is true, one of the above named, shamefully apostatized from the sentiments he once so forcibly inculcated on this important subject, and the system on which he acted during the major part of his life, afforded his countrymen a melancholy illustration of the truth and importance of his own remarks:-" 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 parlia"mentary Reform the nation will be plunged into new wars; "without a parliamentary Reform you cannot be safe against "bad ministers, nor can even good ministers be of use to you. "No honest man can, according to the present system, continue "minister."

"

Our readers will perceive many excellent resolutions on the subject of Parliamentary Reform, adopted at the late meetings, in which the reasons for that measure are ably, although concisely stated, and which it will be difficult for any one to confute. We repeat the challenge offered in our last to the enemies of this great, this essential object; we urge them to point out any one resolution

Mr. Pitt's Speech in the House of Commons, 1782.

of an unconstitutional tendency, or that breathes the language of disaffection to the government of king, lords, and commons, or disloyalty to the sovereign ou the throne: those persons, therefore, who charge the authors and approvers of these resolutions with a design to overturn the constitution, and to introduce anarchy and confusion, are, the best of them, whatever rank they may hold in society, men of weak heads, and it is much to be apprehended that they are in general men of depraved hearts. As to the prostituted hirelings who disgrace the press by their slanders and falsehoods repeated, and heaped upon the friends of reform, there is this apology to be made for them; they write for hire, and for hire only; and were they paid better than at present, they would as willingly change sides as the most worthless of them have already done.

SUCH are the GRAND NATIONAL OBJECTS which have excited the attention of a considerable portion of the people of Britain; and which we most sincerely hope will excite still more general attention. Although the popular spirit has not been displayed in a similar manner for many years past, it is absolutely necessary, in order, to the attainment of the desired result, that, the people throughout the kingdom should, with one voice, firmly demand redress of those grievances under which they have so long laboured, and a reform of that system which, if persevered in, will most as suredly end in the annihilation of the British constitution, and the extinction of that portion of freedom and prosperity, which has so long distinguished this country from the various countries on the continent that have unhappily groaned under the dominion of despots, who, after plundering them of all the rights of men, political, civil, and religious, have for ages locked them in fetters, and chained them in their prison house.

An objection has indeed been started against some of the later meetings, which however futile in itself, may perhaps influence some of our countrymen. They have been told-" It is now too late to "pass resolutions on subjects which have been long since discussed "—the proper time is gone by." Such language was lately held in the county of Essex, but which happily had little, if any effect, as a more numerous and respectable county meeting, has not ' been recollected. Every friend to his country would indeed be inexpressibly happy if this objection were valid; for if the proper season for the discussion of public abuses is “ gone by," the abuses themselves must be "gone by;" but so long as they, as at present, remain in their full force, so long as sinecures and reversions are held sacred, so long as the House of Commons continues in its present corrupt and unreformed state, so long as bo roughs are sold by the treasury in the same manner as " cattle at

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VOL. V.

"a fair;" so long as " a system continues according to which no "honest man can continue minister;"-so long will the season remain in which it is the imperious duty of the people to assemble, and to express their opinions. If meetings in some parts of the kingdom are held much later than in others, "better late than "never." No time can be improper for the people to exercise their constitutional rights, to demand a change of system, and, although they cannot obtain" indemnity for the past," it is an in dispensible duty they owe to themselves, and to posterity, to use their continued, their utmost exertions to obtain "security for the * future.”

We would particularly impress it on the minds of our countrymen, at all their public meetings to consider their proceedings as incomplete, unless they, in the most decided manner, express their opinion on the subject of parliamentary reform. The proceedings at the Essex county meeting afford an important lesson on this point. Some of the timid friends of reform deprecated the introduction of any resolution on the subject; but when, by the firmness of one or two individuals, the resolution was fairly offered to the consideration of the meetmg, and received with general appro bation and applause, the very gentleman who had informed the meeting, that " he had assured several persons the question of parliamentary reform would not be introduced;" and recommended "that the resolution should be withdrawn, at least for the present," afterwards became a convert to the measure, spoke in its favour, and the resolution was carried unanimously!

Our countrymen should constantly bear in remembrance, that whilst on the one hand, they cannot obtain the desired result without perseverance, so on the other, that perseverance must, in the end, be crowned with success. One great and glorious object has been gained during the present reign by the powerful, united, and persevering exertions of the people, the ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE; but the enemies of the abolition struggled for twenty years before they were subdued; but the unyielding efforts of the friends of justice and humanity, were at length crowned with complete victory.

The respect which has been paid to public opinion by the resignation of the late commander in chief, although his acquittal was pronounced by a considerable majority of the House of Commons, affords additional evidence that if the people universally declare their opinion, no ministers however daring, no station however exalted, but must pay it a proper deference. If the public therefore do not obtain the objects they profess to have at heart, much of the blame will justly rest on themselves.

It is not however by popular meetings, only, that the desired objects can be finally obtained. It requires very little sacrifice, if any,