110 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



of a seat in that House, with the 

 committal of sir Francis Burdett 

 to prison, enforced by military 

 power. The petition and remon- 

 strance being read, lord Cochrane 

 moved, that it should lie on the 

 table. This motion was opposed 

 by several members, on account 

 of the great indecency and impu- 

 dence of the language. — The 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer en- 

 tered fully into the feelings of 

 these gentlemen. Yet, in a case 

 of petition, he would rather err 

 on the side of indulgence than of 

 severity, if the question could at 

 all admit of a doubt. If the 

 House should think, that -the pe- 

 tition was intended merely as a 

 vehicle of abuse, it ought, un- 

 doubtedly, to reject it. If not, 

 then the petition ought in his 

 opinion, to lie on the table: 

 which, after some further consi- 

 deration, was ordered. 



A petition from Middlesex, was 

 presented, on the 2nd of May, by 

 Mr. Byng, who iwoved that the pe- 

 tition do lie on the table.— The 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer ap- 

 pealed to the House whether 

 there was any member who heard 

 that petition read, that did not 

 conceive it to be rather an expe- 

 riment to try how far the forbear- 

 ance of the House would go, in 

 the sufferance of language such 

 as it contained ; or whether it 

 could have any other object than 

 to insult, when it went to the 

 length of a direct and declaratory 

 censure of that House i A de- 

 bate ensued, which was con- 

 tinued, by adjournment, on the 

 next day. 



On a division of the House, 

 there appeared. 



For receiving the petition, 58. 

 Against it, 139. 



A petition from the Livery of 

 London, for the release, not only 

 of sir Francis Burdett, but Mr. 

 Jones, after a debate, continued, 

 by adjournment, from the 8th to 

 the 9th of May, was rejected by 

 128 against 36. 



A second petition, from the 

 same party, in which they de- 

 clared that in their former one 

 they meant nothing disrespectful 

 to the House of Commons, was 

 received. 



A petition from the borough of 

 Heading, more respectful to the 

 House of Commons, for the dis- 

 charge of John Gale Jones and sir 

 F. Burdett, was ordered to lie on 

 ttie table. So also were petitions 

 from Berkshire, Nottingham, 

 Kingston-upon-Hull, Rochester, 

 and the borough of South wark. 

 A petition from Sheffield was re- 

 jected. 



For some days before the pro- 

 rogation of parliament, when pri- 

 soners committed by either Houses 

 are always liberated, a number of 

 sir Francis Burdett's most zealous 

 partizans, having formed them- 

 selves into what they called a 

 committee of his friends, an- 

 nounced, in the newspapers, the 

 ceremonial to be observed on his 

 going out of prison, as if it had 

 been not a matter of course but a 

 triumph ! There was to have been 

 a procession, for numbers and pa- 

 geantry, beyond any thing of the 

 kind recorded in English history, 

 to accompany the martyr of liberty 

 from Tower-hill to his house io 

 Piccadilly. The quarters, in which 

 different parties were to assemble, 

 were pointed out ; and the order in 

 which they were to march de- 

 scribed with great exactness. Ban- 

 ners were prepared, and it was 

 evea intended, by some of the 



