learnt to be just towards you. They to make their sufferings and their inju appear to have derived no profit from the ries known to those who possess the power past. And, though those dreadful cala- to see them righted, the rich and powermities, which you foretold in 1812, have ful may knock out the brains of the poor actually come upon us; though your with impunity. Suppose a rich man enemies acknowledge that they are come were to murder his labourer, and suppose upon us, so far are they from confessing that no officer of justice would do his their former errors, that they seem, more duty towards punishing such offender than ever, resolved to be the persecutors What redress is there for the widow and and slanderers of those who warned them children of the murdered man? Why, of the danger, and who called upon them a petition to king, or parliament, or to prevent it. both, makes the matter known to those who have the power to redress, and proceedings are adopted accordingly. My good friends of Bristol, the circumstances attending your recent Meeting on Brandon Hill, have excited a great deal Having endeavoured to prevent the of attention, as they exhibit a striking instance of the conduct of the Magistrates, as to public Meetings. You had, in very respectable number, signed a Requisition to your Mayor to be pleased to call a Meeting, in order to take into consideration the propriety of presenting a petition to parliament for the abolition of Sinecures and Unmerited Pensions, for a Reduction of the Standing Army, and for a Constitutional Reform of the Common's House of Parliament. To this Requisition the Mayor gave a refusal; and, instead of calling a meeting of peaceable citizens to deliberate on their rights and to send up their petitions in this time of dreadful distress, his worship thought proper to call a meeting of a very different sort; namely, of troops of all de-rable Statute, called the Bill of Rights, it scriptions, and from all parts of the coun try! Now, let us take a full view of this transaction. You will observe, that the right of petition is, in fact, our only safeguard against being as much slaves as the people's petittoning was one of the crimes, which drove the House of Stuart from the Throne of this kingdóm. For, as all the world knows, this present family is not the family who are entitled to the throne by regular hereditary right. They have a much better title to it; that is to say, an act of Parliament, which appointed them to reign instead of the Stuarts, who had behaved in so tyrannical a manner, that our forefathers very wisely set them aside for ever, and put up this family in their stead. The tyrant James the Second who was the last of the Stuarts, endeavoured to gag the people of England, in the same way that the sons of Corruption are now recommending that we should be gagged. And in that memo is expressly declared, that one of the crimes, for which he and his family were to forfeit the crown, was, the obstructing of petitions. The same Bill declares, that the right of presenting petitions to the king, or either House of Parliament, is an inherent right, a part of the birth-right of their chief magistrate to preside over, every Englishman. them while they agree upon a petition to the parliament; and their chief magistrate chooses rather to surround himself and fill the city with troops! Upon what ground were those troops called in? There had been no riot. There had been no indication of an intention to riot. In every part of the kingdom had numerous 1 stance, had there been any riot, either before or after the meeting; for, as to the contemptible thing in London, it arose out of the assemblage in the Old Bailey, which had been drawn together by the hanging of four men that same morning, and from which spot the rioters, chiefly starving sailors, went almost directly to the gunstuith's shop. The The Mayor of Bristol was not, that I know of, bound to call a meeting upon your requisition; but, I am very sure, that you had a right to meet, at any time or place or in any manner that you chose; and, I am very certain also, that all those persons acted unlawfully, who, by any means whatever, endeavoured to pre-meetings been held, and, in no one invent you from meeting, whether by an open display of force, or by written or verbal threats. The conduct of all those who published Bills threatening to panish, by turning off, &c. the men who attended the meeting, have been guilty of a conspiracy to obstruct petitioning; and, therefore, I would very urgently recommend to you to obtain proof, I mean legal proof, of their having pub-meeting of petitioners, in Spa-fields, had lished such hand bills. At any rate, get all the bills, and keep them safe; and, I would advise you, also, to to take minutes in writing, and to be ready with evidence to prove on oath the fact of the posting of troops round, or near, your place of meeting. With this evidence ready, a petition to parliament against these proceedings may be strenuously maintained; and, we shall see, then, what the right of petition really is; we shall see what this birth-right is really worth ;, we shall see, at once, what we have to trust to in future; we shall whether the right of praying be, at last, to be denied us. no more to do with the sailors' riot than you had. The meeting was not even interrupted by that riot. interrupted by that riot. It was perfectly tranquil, went through its business, and dispersed without a single breach of the peace. But, this sham plot has now been completely exposed. Mr. PRESTON, whom the base proprietors of the COURIER and the TIMES newspapers represented as having "confessed" himself concerned in an "insurrection conspiracy and plot,” is out upon bail, though they asserted, that he had confessed his guilt as a traitor! The elder Mr.W. see, VATSON, whom these same bloody men had asserted to have been proved to have participated in the robbery of the gunsmith's shop, is committed for trial; but, for what? Why, for endea But, in the meanwhile, what a sight did Bristol exhibit on that day; on the memorable 26th of December! The peo-vouring, it is alledged, to hurt or maim, ple, in the deepest state of misery, beg a patrole who seized hold of him in the B2 Thus, all is blown to air, as I said it petitioning. In short, meetings for petiwould in my No. 24 of the last volume. tioning have put an end to rioting. Aud, Thus, the charge against this unfortunate this is very natural; because, when meetgentleman also was wholly false. Andings are held, and the people's attention yet, it is the Courier and the Times who is drawn towards the real causes of their misery, they, at once see, that the remedy of their neighbours; and, they wait with patience and fortitude to hear what answer the parliament will give to their petitions. It seems to me, therefore, very won. cry out against the licentiousness of the press. We shall see whether the law- | is not a riotous attack upon the property officers of the Crown will stretch forth the arm of protection for Messrs. Preston and Watson, whose lives these bloody men have so directly and so audaciously aimed at. The columns of these papers will prove, that the proprietors have en-derful, that those who have property, and deavoured, by the means of falsehoods which they must have invented, to take away the lives of these gentlemen: and, is there no punishment for them? Are they to do these things with impunity? Thus, then, it has been proved, not only, that there was no rioting on the part of the Petitioners in London, but, that they, under the guidance of the very same gentleman, who took the lead at your meeting, remained quiet at their post while riot was going on in the City. What ground was there, therefore, for the military preparations on the part of the Mayor of Bristol? And, what ground was there for swearing in 2,000 special constables ? There have been held meetings at which petitions have been signed for a Reform of Parliament by more, I believe, than half a million of men! And, at no one of these meetings has any riot taken place. Nay, rioting has ceased as meetings for reform have increased. At DUNDEE and in the ISLE OF ELY and in SUFFOLK and at Birmingham, where there have been I am who do not share in the taxes, should not |