CHRONICLE. 



259 



have led your honourable House 

 to reconsider the subject, which 

 he had so ably, legally, and consti- 

 tutionally discussed. We are con- 

 vinced that no one ought to be 

 prosecutor and juror, judge and 

 executioner in hisown cause; much 

 less to assume, accumulate, and 

 exercise all those offices in his 

 own person. We are also con- 

 vinced that the refusal of your hon- 

 ourable house to inquire into the 

 conduct of lord Castlereagh and 

 Mr. Perceval, then two of his 

 majesty's ministers, when distinct- 

 ly charged with the sale of a seat 

 in your honourable house,evidence 

 of which was offered at the bar 

 by a member of your honourable 

 house; and the avowal in your 

 honourable house, " That such 

 practices were as notorious as the 

 sun at noon-day" — practices, at 

 the bare mention of which, the 

 speaker declared, that our ances- 

 tors would have startled with in- 

 dignation ; and the committal of 

 sir Francis Burdett to prison, en- 

 forced by military power, are cir- 

 cumstances which render evident 

 the imperious necessity of an im- 

 mediate reform in the representa- 

 tion of the people. We therefore 

 most earnestly call upon your ho- 

 nourable house to restore to us our 

 representative; and, according to 

 the notice he has given, to take 

 the state of the representation of 

 the people into your serious consi- 

 deration ; a reform in which is, in 

 our opinion, the only meansof pre- 

 serving the people from military 

 despotism. 



This petition was reject- 

 ed by the House. — See History 

 of Europe. 



19. Dinner of a part of the li- 

 very, at the city of London Tavern, 

 to commemorate the triumph of 



colonel Wardle, in the case of the 

 duke of York. 



The Old Bailey sessions closed, 

 when nine prisoners received sen- 

 tence of death, two were ordered 

 to be transported for fourteen 

 years, several for seven years, two 

 to be imprisoned two years, and 

 others to minor punishments. 



23. All the Turkish vessels in 

 the porte of Trieste placed under 

 sequestration. 



26. A meeting of the freehold- 

 ers of Middlesex, at Hackney, to 

 complain of the conduct of the 

 House of Commons, respecting 

 the committal of sir F. Burdett 

 and Mr. Gale Jones. 



Copy of the petition agreed to. 

 To the Honourable the Commons of 

 the United Kingdom of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, in Parlia- 

 ment assembled. 



The petition of the freeholders 

 of Middlesex, agreed to in full 

 county, this 26th day of April, 

 1810: Sheweth, that we have 

 observed witli concern, that in 

 the cases of Mr. Gale Jones, and 

 sir Francis Burdett, bart. youi" 

 House assumed and exercised a 

 power unknown to the law, and 

 unwarranted by the constitution. 

 Your speaker's warrant has been 

 executed by military force ; an 

 Englishman'sho use, his sanctuary, 

 has been violated ; and the blood 

 of unoffending citizens has been 

 shed in the streets. Against the 

 existence as well as the exercise 

 of this power, we solemnly protest 

 — a protest the more necessary, 

 because your votes in its support 

 are entered on your journals— 

 not so the letter of sir F. Burdett 

 to your speaker, denying you such 

 jurisdiction. In the early part 

 of tliis reign, in the case of Mr. 

 Wilkes, the rights of this county, 

 S 2 



