GENERAL HISTORY. 



[21 



It appears that there is a London 

 Union Society, and branch Unions 

 corresponding with it, and affi- 

 liated to it. Others of these so- 

 cieties have adopted (he name of 

 Spencean Philanthropists ; and it 

 was l)y members of a club of this 

 description that the plans of the 

 conspirators in London were dis- 

 cussed and prepared for execu- 

 tion." ' 



" Your petitioner presumes not 

 to oppose his opinions against 

 those of a committee of your right 

 honourable House ; but he hopes, 

 that ho may be humbly permitted 

 to state, that when a bill was 

 brought before your right honour 

 able House by the late duke of 

 Riciuuond, la\ing it down as a 

 matter of principle, that annual 

 pai liaments and univeisal sufiiage 

 were the inherent and unalienable 

 rights of Englishmen, the noble 

 (^uke was not accused <>f a desire 

 to produce '■ a total subversion of 

 the British constitution." 



" It is not, however, on mat- 

 ters of opinion, but on matters of 

 most important fact, that your pe- 

 titioner humbly appeals to the can- 

 dour, the wisdom, and the justice 

 of your right honourable flouse, 

 and on matters of fact, too, with 

 regard to which your petitioner is 

 able to submit to your right ho- 

 nourable House the clearest and 

 most iniiubitable testimony. 



" Your petitioner's entire igno- 

 rance of the views of the secret 

 committee of your ii^ht honour- 

 able House, as well as his pro- 

 found lespectand extreme defer- 

 ence for eveiy thing done within 

 the walls of jour right honoiuable 

 House, are more than sufficient to 

 re'*train your petitioner from at- 

 tempting even to guess at the rea- 

 sons for your committee's having 



so closely connected the ' London 

 Union Society with the societies 

 of ' Spencean Philanthrop'Sts ;' 

 but your petitioner humbly begs 

 leave to assure your lordships, tiiat 

 he is ready and able to prove at 

 the bar of your lordships, that 

 there never has existed, between 

 these societies, the smallest con- 

 nexion of any sort, either in per- 

 son or design, the object of the 

 former being to obtain " a pailia- 

 mentary reform, according to the 

 constitution," while that of the 

 latter, as appears fiom the report 

 of your lordships committee, has 

 been to obtain a common part- 

 nership in the land ; and that, 

 thei efore, any evidence which n)ay 

 have been laid before the secret 

 committee of your lordships to 

 establish this connexion, is, as 

 your petitioner is ready to prove 

 at the l)ar of your lordships, wholly 

 destitute of truth. 



" Hut the facts to which your 

 petitioner is most anxious humbly 

 to endeavour to obtain the patient 

 attention of your right honourable 

 House, relate to that affiliation 

 and coirespondence, which your 

 lordships secret committee have 

 been pleased to impute to the 

 London Union Society, by observ- 

 ing that " it appears that there is 

 a London Union Society, and 

 Branch Unions, corresponding 

 with it, and affiliated to it ;" a 

 description which seems, in the 

 humble conception of your peti- 

 tioner, to resemble that which was 

 giv^n of the London Correspond- 

 ing Society, in 1795, and which, 

 as vour petitioner humbly con- 

 ceives, point to measures of a 

 nature similar to those which were 

 then adopted : and your petitioner, 

 though with all humility, ventures 

 to express his confidence, that the 



6Tidenc« 



