C H R O N I C L E. 



253 



honourabletheHouseof Commons, 

 for supposed libels, appears to this 

 ward meetingan unreasonable and 

 illegal assumption in their own 

 cause, of the accumulated offices 

 and power of accuser, juror, judge, 

 and executioner. 



III. Resolved, That the late as- 

 sumption of undefined privilege by 

 the honourable the House of Com- 

 mons will, in effect, abolish that 

 bulwark of our liberties, trial by 

 jury, will supersede the habeas 

 corpus act, will annul the bill of 

 rights, and the wiiolesome provi- 

 sions of Magna Charta. 



IV. Resolved, That the exer- 

 cise of illegal power naturally en- 

 genders violence, riot, commotion, 

 and ultimately revolution; that the 

 introduction of the standing army 

 to enforce the arbitrary warrant of 

 the speaker of the House of Com- 

 mons, has already produced the 

 most deplorable calamities ; our 

 sacred charters havebeen violated, 

 the blood of peaceable passengers 

 have been spilled, and our fellow- 

 citizens have been murdered in our 

 streets ; and this ward-meeting en- 

 tertain a fervent hope, that any fu- 

 tureattempts to introduce arbitrary 

 power, to excite violence and riot, 

 and to goad the people into resist- 

 ance and commotion, may, by the 

 steady, firm, and wise conduct of 

 our countrymen, be foiled. 



V. Resolved, That this ward- 

 meeting trembles for the conse- 

 quences probable upon this conflict 

 between the people and the privi- 

 leges of the House of Commons ; 

 and they aver it tobe their opinion, 

 that this unnatural struggle is a 

 certain evidence of the little influ- 

 ence they possessinthat honourable 

 House. That they believe the re- 

 presentation of the people in par- 

 liurnent is unequal, deficient, and 



now manifestly inadequate to the 

 security of the subject ; that it ap- 

 pears uncontradicted upon their 

 journals, that seats in the honour- 

 able the House of Commons are 

 notoriously sold and bartered; that 

 a majority in that honourable house 

 may be at all times, with perfect 

 facility, procured and purchased, 

 by any set of ministers, with the 

 ready means of places, pensions, 

 sinecures, patronage, and jobs; as 

 only 151? powerful individuals, 

 peers, and others, return 307 mem- 

 bers for England and Wales ; and 

 the representation of Scotland and 

 Ireland is equally corrupt : that by 

 means of the majorities thus ob- 

 tained, public defaulters have not 

 only been exculpated, but suffered 

 to enjoy the fruits of their nefari- 

 ous conduct, and retain their 

 seats in that honourable House. 



VI. Resolved, That this ward- 

 meeting declares its entire appro- 

 bation of the conduct, resolutions, 

 and petition, of the livery of Lon- 

 don, in their last common hall ; 

 that this meeting avails itselfofthis 

 first opportunity to express its ab- 

 horrence of the seditious attempts 

 of a band of contractors and venal 

 jobbers, to decry all public spirit; 

 and to induce the timid and the 

 weak to join in the libellous decla- 

 rations against their fellow-citi- 

 zens, and the venerable magis- 

 tracy of our city. 



VII. Resolved, that for those 

 accumulated evils and calamities, 

 one only remedy offers itself ; 

 namely, a full, fair, and free repre- 

 sentation of the people in parlia- 

 ment. 



VIII. Resolved, That this ward- 

 meeting do hereby instruct their 

 representatives in common council 

 to promote and support in that 

 court all legal measures whatever, 



