never will. But, I also am well aequainted with your modesty and your personal complaisance; and I may be permitted to fear, that these may induce you to defer the doing of some things, which you yourself think ought to be done, and, especially, if in the doing of these things, there can possi so many occasions, so admirably exposed the folly, or the fraud, of this pretended moderation, that I will not dwell upon it here; and, all that I shal take the liberty to suggest on the subject of hopes of bringing over men, is that we ought no1, by that hope. to be induced to delay doing any thingbly be room for your supposing that which is naturally calculated to confirm the opinions and increase the energy of those who are now with us. I know well, that it is out of the power of all the fair promises, of all the coaxing, all the wheedling, which frightened fraud has at its command, to induce you to abandon one single fraction of principle. You have been tried, in this respect, in all sorts of ways. There is no art, which has not been put in practice to make you yield a something. When in the witness- box, on the trials of Messrs. TooKE and HARDY, you were asked by the Attorney General, "whether you, an 66 English Gentleman of ancient and most respectable family, could possi"bly agree in opinion about Reform "with Mr. Tooke."-" No : for Mr.Prevent the publication of your Bill. "Tooke does not go so far as Uni"versal Suffrage, and I do."-This has been your course. Neither coaxing nor bullying has ever made you budge an inch from principle. And, it is this course pursued by you, at all times, in all seasons, and under all circumstances, which has kept the cause from perishing. You have al ways kept your standard hoisted; and this has been the principal cause of the exertion of all that talent and energy which have recently appeared. even the enemies of our liberty may ascribe your actions to motives of se'f gratification. The purity of your patriotism; your unparalleled disinterestedness; these have been of great weight. They have done great good to the cause, not only by the lustre which it has thus received from the just reputation of its Leader, but by the example thus given to others. Yet, these qualities, excellent and rare as they are, may, in some cases, prove injurious to the cause itself. Indeed, such has been their effect by the keep ing of you out of that House, where you could have rendered the cause so much service; but, I hope and trust, that no feelings of the kind, of which have just spoken, will operate to 66 I am, therefore, not at all afraid of your being induced to give up one particle of principle. I know you That this may be done with as much good effect as possible, the publication should be in a form to reach the eye of the whole of the people, and, hated" Cheap Publications.” therefore, it should be made in the Others, I dare say, will be glad to avail them selves of such an opportunity of enhancing the value of their works; but, if this should not be the case, Í hereby request the Publisher of the Register to receive from you the Manuscript, to cause the contents to be published in the Register, and to * The Bill has already been published, by WILSON, Royal Exchange: ut an Abstract of it, or the whole, if it can be comprized in one Number, shall be inserted in the Register, in case MAJOR CARTWRIGHT desires it. W. J. afford you every necessary means of even desperate defence; now, when correcting the Press. As the thing even credulity itself can no longer must be a whole, and must, on no look with hope to that quarter, suffer account, be separated; as the whole me, Sir, in the name of the calummust be contined in one single niated and insulted Reformers, to Register as the whole of a Bill call upon you to prove to the world, (necessarily long) cannot be con- that that which we wished to be protained in one single Register; and, posed to the House, had in it nothing as the repetitions and redundancies, that was "mad," wild," "sedirequired in an Act of Parliament," tious" or blasphemous." will not be necessary to a clear understanding of the matter, it will be best to insert an Abstract of the Bill, framed, as to its length, to suit the space which it is to occupy. I hope you will agree with me in opinion upon this subject. Even last winter, it was the earnest wish of many very able as well as very zealous men, that this step should then be taken, even before they knew that Sir Francis Burdett would not move for leave to bring in the Bill. They were impatient to see our case truly, fully, and distinctly stated. They well knew what was intended; but, daily experience taught them, that the nation at large had but an imperfect knowledge as to the application, or the mode of applying, our principles, though every one, except he were a born-ideot, must know what were the principles themselves. These gentlemen were certainly right. They saw how important it was to make our case fully known; and, they were restrained from making open complaints on the subject only by their reliance on seeing the Bill moved for in the House in the space of a few weeks. Now, however, when that reliance has been proved to have been groundless; now, when we have been abandoned where we had a right to look for a gallant and 66 As to the Bill being, at any future time, proposed to the House, that will depend upon who shall be in the House; and, indeed, if all sense, or all spirit, has not departed from the country, we shall see you in that House to propose your own Bill. That is what I want to see. I would gladly see others there to support and assist you; but, it is you, first of all, that I want to see in that place; and not Colonel MAINE, Mr. BROUGHAM, or "the descendant of the last kings 66 of Ireland." If this trio should fail the Nominators for Westminster, I wonder whither those profound and public-spirited gentlemen will next cast their eyes! What will they do? I should not at all wonder, if they were to propose the German who is Lieutenant Colonel of the 10th Light Dragoons. Let us hope, however, that before an election shall come on in Westminster, the good and enlightened men of that city will see the necessity of picking out a man for themselves; and, in that case, I am very certain, that their choice will fall upon you. With regard to one thing, however, I am resolved; and that is, if I am at home, when the next election for Westminster takes place (as it is probable I shall), Sir Francis never shall be re-elected without my publicly demanding his reasons for not moving for the Bill, and also his hyperbolical to find a place in a prose reasons for not seconding the Amend-composition. The pamphlet may be in ment of Lord Cochrane, or, for not verse, perhaps; and then, I can, of making a similar motion himself. course, have no right to demand reasons for any of its assertions. I am commenting on this pamphlet without having seen it, and, of course, I may wholly mistake its contents. But, I shall take the heads, and proceed upon the supposition that the contents are such and such. It is said, then, that Sir Francis on the day of opening the session, "arrived at his "house from Leicestershire, and "Commons." I had said, that he came in a post-chaise from Leicester, shire to the door of the House with It is quite useless, my dear Sir, for us to place any dependence here any longer, unless we come to something specific, something positive, something public, which cannot be retracted. We put tests to every body else, and we see the want of it here. We do not ask a man what he thinks of our cause, but what he will do for that cause. From an advertisement, which I see in the MORNING CHRONICLE of" afterwards went to the House of the 27th September, I am led to suppose, that Sir FRANCIS looked upon it as being made a PUPPET to be called upon to do certain things in Parlia-out going to his own house. Well, ment. The advertisement is that of a and what then? Supposing him to Letter to the Baronet, of which the have gone into his own house, what contents, or heads, are given in the does that make? How does that alter advertisement, amongst which heads the case? There are plenty of witare these: "Sir Francis, on the first nesses to prove, that he was not at home, 66 day of the Ses io, arrives at his or, at least, that he was not at home own house from Leicestershire. to the Reformers with rolls of peti"Afterwards goes to the House of tions, so late as three o'clock of that "Commons. He himself states that day. His stepping out of the chaise "the motion of Lord Cochrane was into his own house for a moment, does "submitted to him -Explains why he not alter the case, except for the (6 was absent on the Motion, and pro-worse; for, if he did alight at his own "tests against being used as a PUP-house, why did he not call on you on "PET.-Lord Cochrane absent on "Sir Francis's motion. Why Sir "Francis is England's hope." Aye! I should like very much to be treated to this why! And I am not in charity with those who ought to have sent it me. Because, 66 England's hope," seriously used, are words of most interesting import. It was a very pretty toast at dinner; but, uttered in sober seriousness, uttered in a pamphlet, and uttered now, the words do indeed require a "why" and a pretty satisfactory why too. The author of this pamphlet may have come to the knowledge of something which Sir Francis intends to do, in order to justify the use of this appellation; but, if I may judge from what he has done, during the last twelve months, I can, I must confess, see very little ground for an eulogium too the way to the House of Commons, agreeably to the terms of a letter from him, which you read to a number of the bearers of petitions? Indeed, his not calling upon you was excused upon the ground of his not having had time, he having, as we were told, been too late, and having been forced to hurry down to the House in his post-chaise. Perhaps the Pamphlet, as it promises to tell me why Sir Francis is England's hope, may also tell me why Sir Francis was so late in coming from Leicestershire; and, I wish it may tell me this; for, I have never been able to discover any but one reason for it; in which respect I was of opinion with every one of the Reformers, whom I conversed with. Our excellent friend, Mr. HULME, whom I saw the other day, and who has brought hither his family and fortune, (resolved that neither should remain under the grasp | away. The author of the Pamphlet says, in his list of heads: "Sir Francis himself states, that Lord Cochrane's motion was submitted to him." Well then, no other person needs state the fact; but, this is the first that I have heard of his having stated it. But, we are told, that Sir Francis explains WHY he was absent on the motion, and protests against being used as a PUPPET." Let us keep things a little distinct here: for the matter is very important. 1st. He acknowledges that the Amendment was submitted to him. 2ad. He explains why he was absent when it was put. 3rd. He protests against being used as a PUPPET. fence, or why he was absent from such seconding; but, such man will ask, whether Sir Francis was stricken dumb, or dead, when he hears, that he suffered the long, long debate, to go off without opening his lips! To be sure, when the Amendment was presented to him, his going away without waiting to second it tended to make his conduct the more decidedly bad; but, it was quite bad enough without this circumstance. Besides, he advised Lord COCHRANE not to move the amendment ! And yet he did nothing himself! If Lord Cochrane had not made this attempt, we should have been manacled without one single soul breathing an accent in our defence. Sir Francis did not ex pect that Lord Cochrane would move the amendment. And what of that? We complain of his not having expected it; we complain of his not being at hand to be ready for it; we complain of his not having thought it a matter of much greater importance than his Tower business, or than any thing he ever had had a hand in, we complain, in short, that he did nothing himself; that he endeavoured to prevail on his colleague to do nothing; and, that the latter having persevered, he left him to shift for himself, and thus contrived that the Reformers, including the very Deputies called together by himself, should be blackened by scores of foul tongues without having one word recorded on the Journals in their defence. This I take to be the only defence that will be set up: and a most sorry defence it is. Flying into a passion, and saying you don't care, is a sure sign of a consciousness of having no reason to rest upon. Let any man of public spirit look at the Speech at the "He protests against being used opening of the session; let him there as a PUPPET". I lay great stress see the grossest calumnies on the Re- on this, because this is all that can or formers; let him there see clearly will be said in defence of Sir Francis's pointed out dungeon and gagging conduct. Defence it is none, any bills; let him then read the speeches more than Perceval's cry of Jacobin of both factions, heaping all sorts of against Mr. Maddox was a defence of false-charges and of foul aspersions on his conduct in partaking in the sale of the Reformers; let him hear this dea seat. Defence it is none; but, upon bate, these tirades of infamous falsehoods and base and cowardly abuse continue for two successive nights let any honourable man witness this, "A PUPPET"! Very well. Let and he will not ask, whether Sirus see, whether there could be any Francis seconded a motion in our de- ground for his supposing, or affecting the supposition, that Sir Francis has made such a protest, I deem it worthy of particular notice. ther, here is a curious source of the Bourbon System! At this rate we to suppose, that there had, in the case, they have not drawn, but which, nine of the Amendment, been any attempt times out of ten, they have not even to make use of him as a puppet. Let read. Liverpool and Sidmouth and us see, whether there was any ground the rest of them were, then, the pupfor such a supposition, Sir Francis pets of Garrow and Shepherd, in the Burdett was elected for Westminster affair of the dungeon and gagging by the aid of a subscription. He was bills. Nay, Garrow and shepherd - so elected because he was regarded as were the puppets of their Clerks; and, an undaunted advocate in the cause of as the Clerks could not have written Reform. During more than 12 years, without being kept alive by food and he has been calling upon the people to lodging and fire, they were puppets, come forward to demand a Reform, to be sure, in the hands of some and, during the same space, he hasn ke-dried sybil in, or about, Chanfrequently reproached the people, and cy Lane. Not to descend any furwith great harshness too, because they were so tardy, and discovered so little alacrity in obeying his call. At last e all puppets. You, Sir. are a pupthe people came forward with about a et in my hands; I am a puppet in million and a half of names signed your hands; and so on. In short, it to petitions. Corruption is alarmed, is a paltry pretended ground of comShe is preparing to murder the per-plaint, that never had any foundation sons who have come forward at Sir otr than that of a consciousness of Francis's call. He moves neither not having acted the manly and the tongue nor pen in their defence. He faith Cal part. sits out two day's debate, sees the Perhaps, however, "to be used as chains forging, and holds his tongue. a puppet" means this: being induced At last Lord Cochrane submits a to do that which we ourselves do not written Amendment to him, the object think ought to be done. This, indeed, of which is to defend the Reformers. has something more of reason and sense He advises Lord Cochrane not.even in it; but, even this will not answer to make the attempt. Lord Coch- the purpose. Where men have to act rane does it, however, and his col-in concert, they must, unless they league is not present to second the cease to act at all, sometimes give motion. Charged with all this, what way to the opinions of others; or does he say? That he protests against else, what could be the use of delibeing used as a puppet! What, Sir! beration? If there be any man, who is a man a puppet when he remains firm has the presumption to say, that the ' to his engagements, and when he de- opinions of all other men shall yield fends boldly those whom he has ear- to his opinions, such a man cannot be nestly besought to do what they have borne with. To act with such a man done? Is such a man, a puppet! But, we must be slaves. Sif Francis has alit is being used as a puppet, perhaps, ways professed to hold the opinion, if he carry to the House and move a that the people have a clear right not Bill or a resolution or an address, or only to elect their Representatives, any thing else, which has been drawn but to instruct them from time to time, up by another man? Perhaps it is What a puppet such a Representative this which would make a, man, a pup-must be, who may be called upon to pet? Oh, no! Let us not banter on act in direct opposition to his own. such a subject. Sir Francis Burdert opinion! But, Sir Francis has not is not a fool; and he must be a down-ye told us, that the motion of Lord right fool before he will venture to say any such thing as this. At this rate the Ministers would all be puppets, for they not only move for Bills, which Cchrane was contrary to his opinion. If I had plainly and honestly told us this, we should have understood him, and, at once, demanded his reasons. |