1817.] 



State of Public Affairs in December. 



Carlton-housc, wliere, haying obtained 

 admittance to Colonel M'Malion, he 

 inquired if he conld have an audience 

 of his Royal Highness the Prince Re- 

 {fcnt, for the pxirpose of presenting their 

 Petition to him. He received for aii- 

 sv(fer, that there was no way of presen- 

 ting the Petition, unless hy giving it 

 into the Princes hand at the levee, or 

 by transmitting it through the office of 

 the Secretary of State for the Home 

 Department. He then asked Colonel 

 M'Mahon, if there would be a levee 

 goon, and when it wonld occur ? And 

 was told, it was very uncertain, at lea.st 

 there would be none for some time. Con- 

 sidering himself as empowered liy the pe- 

 titioners to use his own discretion, pro- 

 vided he acted from regard to their inte- 

 rests, he went to Lord Sid mouth's, and 

 was introduced to his lordship, who pro- 

 mised he would deliver it without loss of 

 time, and send an answer immediately. 

 This promise his lordship jjerformed in 

 the following curious letter : — 



IVhitehall, Nov.W, 1816. 



Sir— T have laid before tiie Prince Re- 

 gent the petition agreed to at the meeting 

 lield in Spa-fields on the 15tli instant, whirh 

 you delivered to me yesterday at tliis of- 

 fice, accompanied by a letter to me from 

 yourself, by which letter you appear to 

 have been correctly iRfornied liy Colonel 

 M'Mahon, that, according to an invariable 

 rule, the petition in question could not be 

 received by !iis Royal Highness, except at 

 a levee, or through the Secretary of State 

 for the Home Department. 



I am, sir, your obedient, hnmble servant, 

 H. Hunt, esq. Sidmouth. 



Mr. Hunt concluded an eloquent 

 speech by reading the following re- 

 solutions, which were carried unani- 

 moH-sly : — 



1. That it is always a proof of the bad- 

 ness of any cause, or any argument, when 

 its ad.vocates resort to acts of violence; 

 and therefore we condemn, Tiot only all 

 breaches of the peace, but all demonstra- 

 tions of a wisli to commit acts of violence 

 against any of our opponents ; and we shall 

 regard as the worst enemies of ourselves 

 and of our coini«y all those (if any such 

 there should be) who may be base enough 

 to commit any such acts upon this oc- 

 casion. 



2. That, for many years there have been 

 used, on the part of the piess, devoted 

 to corruption, very sirenuous endeavours 

 to persuarle us, that the government of 

 Napoleon was a military despotism, which, 

 for aught we know, it might be; but we 

 cannot refrain from observing, that, in 

 cons/'qiiciice of onr announced intention 

 to hold this meeting for the purpose of 



fi59 



peaceably petitioning, this same press haa 

 menaced us with the drawing forth, to 

 overawe us, resiular soldiers, foot, horse, 

 and artillery ; and, if this measure has ac- 

 tually been adopted, we shall leave tiie 

 world to judge, whether we do, or do not^ 

 live under a military de.spotism. 



3. That the distresses of the country 

 being now universally acknowledged, it 

 would he superfluous to assert the fact ; 

 and, when tlie Gazette is teemius with 

 Bankrupts, the jails with insolvents, the 

 poor-houses with paupers, the streets and 

 highways with beggars, and when the cries 

 of hunger have supplanted the busy hum of 

 industry, it would be inexcusable atfecta- 

 tion to attempt to heighten the picture of 

 present misery and of approaching de- 

 spair. 



4. That, in such a state of things, to pre* 

 tend to relieve the people by giving penny- 

 worths in the shape of alms, while one-half 

 of every man's wages is taken from him in 

 the shape of taxes, is to offer a gross insult 

 to their nnderstandin5;s; and that rational 

 men will not waste their time in the con- 

 triving of pitiful, temporary, and decep- 

 tive expedients, but will, at once, look into 

 the causes of these terrible evils, and will 

 betake themselves to the seeking for an 

 adeqinte remedy. 



5. That the causes of the nation's de» 

 dine and misery have evidently been— 

 first, an enormous load of taxes, raised for 

 the purpose of enriching sinecure place- 

 men, pensioners, grantees, for the payment 

 of an insatiable Civil List, for the carrying 

 on of a war against the people of France 

 for the restoration of the hated Bourbons, 

 and for the support of a standing army of 

 150,0,10 men in time of profound peace ; 

 and, secondly, a sy.item of paper-money, 

 by the niar.agement of which property has 

 been made to change hands in such a way 

 as to plunge the farmer, the nianufaftnrer, 

 the tradesman, into ruin, and the journey- 

 man and labourer into a state nearly ap- 

 proaching to actual starvation. 



6. That no man of sincerity will affect to 

 believe, and that no n.an of sense can really 

 believe, that such a squandering of the re. 

 souices of the country for such purposes, 

 and that such a destructive power in the 

 managers of paper-money would ever have 

 existed, if the niemhcis of the House of 

 Commons iiad been the teal representatives 

 of the people, instead of being, as they no- 

 toriously are, the mere tools of an ever, 

 grasping and tyrannical oligarchy of Bo. 

 rou^linionirers. 



7. That it is in vain to hope for any real 

 remedy, for any solid and substantial re- 

 lief, except tliroiii:h the means of such a 

 reform in the Commons, or People's House 

 of Parliament, as shall iusine to the peo- 

 ple the !;peaking of their will thronnli the 

 means of representatives annually chosen 

 by all men who have attained the age of «t 



years, 



