to that proposed by Mr. Ponsonby in the House of Commous. (See p. 162.) Earl Grostenor, Lord St. John, and the Marquis Wellesley, supported the Amend ment. Viscount Sidmouth, in his reply, stated, that the estimates of the year were formed on the strictest principles of economy. The Amendment was negatived without a division. On the Commons assembling this day, they went, preceded by the Speaker, to Carlton House, to present the Address. At tive, the Members having returned, the House resumed. Lord Cochrane presented a Petition from Bristol, signed by 20,700 inhabitants, attributing the Nation's misery to the enor mous amount of taxation and debt, and praying for Parliamentary Reform. Messrs. Protheroe and Davis, the Members for Bristol, said they were certain the Petition did not speak the sentiments of their constituents, nor was the Meeting where it was agreed upon attended by one hundredth part of the population. Ordered to lie upon the table. Another Petition from Saddleworth, in Yorkshire, was presented by Lord Cockrane; it was worded in very strong terms. Considerable discussion took place whether this Petition should be rejected or not. Messrs. Brougham, Brand, W. Lamb, F. Douglas, and Sir W. Geary, spoke in favour of its being received, but disclaiming at the same time any knowledge or concurrence with the Reformers out of doors, whose conduct they conceived would be prejudicial to that cause. Messrs. Canning, C. Wynn, B. Bathurst, and C. Grant, spoke for its rejection, as a libel on the House. On a division, the Petition was rejected, by 135 to 48. A third Petition from the town-hip of Leeds, in the parish of Ashton-under-Line, was read, and ordered to lie on the table. A fourth, from the town of Ashton-underLine, was rejected, because the signatures were not written on the same sheet of paper which contained the Petition. The Adjourned Debate on the Address, was then resumed. Mr Curwen said, that the Speech from the Throne was calculated to mislead the Country, and that no faith could be reposed in the promise made by Ministers of economy and retrenchment, He then drew a gloomy picture of the situation of the Country. M. Bankes reprehended the Amendment, and conceived that the Committee of Inquiry which Ministers proposed to institute, would make a faithful report, and satisfy public expectation. Retrenchment in the expenditure was not an unmixed good, as many persons were there by reduced to distress. Seventeen millions of taxes had been taken off last year, but our state was not at all improved. It was highly satisfactory to learn, that no fresh taxes would be imposed. Mr. Brougham went into a long and ar gumentative reply. He observed, in conclusion, that during the American War the whole amount of taxes did not exceed four millions, while during the last War the permanent taxes were more than 35 millions annually, and war taxes were besides imposed to the amount of not less than 26 millions a year. Was not this a frightful contrast? and was not any man guilty of a gross, of a wicked delusion, who told the groaning people that they were not burdened; that the national debt was nothing; that taxation was nothing; that the pressure was merely temporary, and that relief would be more speedy than even the most sanguine dared to hope? Were not these insults almost as difficult to be endured as the miseries to which they were exposed?- (Henr.) Mr. Canning, for himself and his colleagues, put in his claim not to be deemed less alive to the distresses and perils of the Country than the gentlemen on the opposite side of the House. None could be more alive to the hardships of the times, or more anxious to relieve them, than the Ministry, but some of the causes were be yond human controul or remedy. The Hon. Member denied that the Royal Speech accused the people with want of loyaly; on the contrary, the people at large were praised for their patience and fortitude. It could not be denied that endeavours had been made to inoculate upon their dispositions a spirit of violence and insurrection. He had heard of a meeting in Spa-fields, called for the purpose of petitioning; but he had also heard of a waggon loaded with ammunition that was there also, and to him this appeared no necessary appendage to a Petition for Parliamentary Reform.-There was not in the history of this Country any practice or any theory which could give a sanction to the doctrines of Universal Suffrage and Annual Parliaments. Whenever the question of Reform, therefore, was agitated, he was prepared to meet it--not with any objec tion founded upon inconvenience, not with any suggestion of partial or temporary modifications, but should be prepared to oppose it by a direct denial of the griev ance. The present system was good for every practical object, unless it was intended not to exercise the deliberative faculty, but to represent the express volition of the people. Whenever its character should be so changed, and, instead of the deliberative guardian of popular rights, it should be transformed into the mere agent of popular will, there might be R <! be some kind of constitution, some un- "Think you yon sanguine cloud, January 31. Sir F. Burdett, in presenting a Petition from Halifax and its neighbourhood on the subject of Parliamentary Reform, pros tested against the recent doctrine, that Members must read the whole of the Pe titions before they presented them to the House. He did not consider himself at all answerable for the opinions and doctrines they contained. The Speaker said, there were two clear points on this subject. The first was, that it was the duty of a Member to state the substance of the Petition he wished to present. The House could then judge as to the propriety of receiving it; secondly, Rais'd by your breath, has quench'd the it was the Member's duty to know if it orb of day; To-morrow he repairs his golden flood, Mr. Tierney observed, that the whole of After some desultory conversation, Mr. was respectfully couched; if not, he departed from the line of his duty in offer ing it. This was the established practice of the House. After considerable discussion, Sir F Burdett said, he meant to steer a moderate rational course, and to endea Your to unite all classes in an understanding of the wishes of the great body of the petitioners, ou the subject of Reform. He would be sorry to bring the House into contest with the Country on a mere point of form, or personal convenience; and he had made the stand that he did against the rule laid down, not from any pertinacity, but because he thought the right of petitioning involved in the question. Some of the Petitions which be held in his hand he had read since he came into the House, and would move that they be brought up (hear, hear!) Agreed to. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF SECRECY, That it appears to your Committee, That this system of general spoliation chiefly proceeded from the doctrines maintained by a number of societies distinguished by the title of "Spencean," whose tenets were principally drawn from the works of a visionary writer, published above twenty years ago. That at meetings of some of these societies it was urged, that Parliamentary Reform must be held out as the ostensible object of their efforts, and with a view to mislead their enemies; but that it was in fact only a half mea. sure; and that the people ought to look to the possession of the land, and nothing short of that; and that as to the constitution, of which so much had been said, this country had no constitution, for it was not to be found in any book, nor could any man tell what it was. In o her societies, founded on the Spencean principles, it had been maintained, that the only remedy for the grievances of the people, was to hunt down the land. owners, owners, and to deprive those still greater wretches, the fundholders, of their pretended rights. It appeared also, that these, and other societies of a similar character, had been guilty of the most blasphemous and impious proceedings; and that, as they assumed to be of a convivial nature, their political discussions were followed by songs of the most inflammatory and seditious description, and by the recitation of profane parodies of the liturgy, and of various parts of the Holy Scriptures. That in order to extend the principles of these societies over the whole kingdom, the most active efforts were made by their various members; and in consequence those principles were disseminated in speeches at public meetings to the discharged soldiers and sailors, and to the distressed labourers and manufacturers of the country; and that, in aid of this object, incredible activity had been used to disperse cheap, and in many instances gratuitous publications, unfolding the doctrines of the societies. That it had been proved to the entire satisfaction of your Committee, that a number of the members of these various societies, acting in a body as delegates, conceived and declared, that in their opinion the objects which they had in view might be and ought to be insured by an effort of the physical strength of the people to overpower the constitutional authorities. That they considered the first step which should be taken by them for this purpose, was by their individual exertions to discover and foment the discontents of the metropolis and its vicinity: and that returns of their proceedings were made by the individual delegates to the general body. That it appears to your Committee, that a plap was formed, by a sudden rising in the dead of night, to surprise the soldiers, and in the terror which would be thereby occasioned, to set fire to the town in various places, and to take possession of the Barracks, the Tower, and the Bank. That to assist in the execution of this project, a formidable machine was invented with which the streets could be cleared of all opposing force. This plan was, how ever, relinquished as premature; and it was resolved that it would be more proper to ascertain the strength of the popular party, by convening meetings under the pretext of taking into consideration the legal mode of redressing grievances; and a map of Loudon having been examined, Spa-fields was selected as the place whence au attack on the Bank and the Tower could with the greatest facility be made. That the first meeting at Spa-fields was accordingly advertised for the 15th of November, and that printed and written placards were exhibited in all parts of the town, of one of which the following is a copy : "Britons to arms! The whole country only waits the signal from London. Break open the gunsmiths'. with all sorts of instruments. No rise in Arm yourselves tlereagh. the price of bread. No Regent. No Cas. Off with their heads! No lumber. taxes. No bishops: they are only useless "N.B. 5,000 of these bills are posted up in the town and in the principal parts of the neighbourhood." : That the intended insurrection assumed all the symbols of the French Revolution. That a committee of public safety was formed, consisting of 24 members. That flags and cockades were prepared for the occasion but that on the 15th of November, when the first meeting took place, there was no violence (although there was some plunder in the evening of the day), and that the meeting adjourned to the 2d of December, by which time it was hoped accomplishment of the projected undermeans might be found to accelerate the taking. That your Committee find that not a moment was lost in the interval between the first and second meeting, to take advantage of every circumstance which could further the attainment of the objects in view. Additional publicatious of an inflammatory nature were circulated every where. Endeavours were made to raise a general subscription for the support of occupations, to enable them to devote those who had relinquished their ordinary themselves to these purposes, which persons had hitherto chiefly been paid by a principal member of one of the societies. A plan was formed for the seduction of the soldiers, by raising hopes of promotion in the event of their joining in the approaching attempt, and exciting discontent among them by a story of the landing It was again recommended, that the barof a large foreign force in the country. racks should be the object of particular observation. Those quarters of the town visited by individuals appointed to inflame where distress was most prevalent were the people. Those warehouses along the river, and those shops in various parts of carefully noted. A plan was also formed the town where arms were deposited, were for the seduction of the sailors, by offering them additional pay under the new Government which was about to be established. That immediately before the meeting of the 2d of December many persons connected with these proceedings procured thought that sufficient means had thus arms of various descriptions. It was been obtained to carry on the intended · « opera મા pers e operations for at least two hours, by which time it was supposed enough would be got from the gunsmiths and other depots to arm a considerable number of individuals. The manufacture of tri-colour riband was encouraged, with a view of rendering it familiar to the eyes of the public. Cas Your Committee have further received undoubted information, that a large quantity of pike-heads had been ordered of one individual, and 250 actually made by him, and delivered and paid for. It was also undoubtedly intended to liberate the prisoners in the principal gaols in or about the metropolis, in the hope of their coucurrence and assistance in the intended insurrection. Addresses were introduced into some of those prisons, and recommended to be communicated to others, in which the persons coufined were invited, in the name of the tri-coloured committee, to rally round the tri-coloured standard, which would be erected on Monday, Desember the 2d, and to wear tri-coloured cockades themselves. It was promised that the prisoners should be liberated by force, and arms were stated to be provided for them, and they were directed to be ready to assist in overpowering the turokeys. A waggon was hired for the business of the day, in which the flags, and banner, or standard, which had been previously prepared, together with some ammunition, were secretly conveyed to the place of meeting. From this waggon, before the ostensible business of the day commenced, in the other part of the field, the most inflammatory speeches were delivered, tending directly to excite insurrection, concluded by an appeal to the multitude assembled, whether they were prepared to redress their own grievances. A tri-colour cockade was then exhibited, and the tri-colour flag was displayed, and a number of persons followed it out of the field. The direction which they took was towards that part of the town previously designed; gunsmiths' shops were broken open, addresses and offers were made to the soldiers at the Tower to induce them to open the gates; but from the failure of the numbers expected to join the insur gents, no attempt was made to force the gates. An attack was, however, made upon the City Magistrates assembled in the Royal Exchange, a shot fired, and a tri-coloured flag and cockade openly displayed and seized on the offender. In reviewing the whole of the transactions of the 2d of December, your Committee are firmly persuaded, that, however improbable the success of such a plan may ap pear, it yet was deliberately premeditated by desperate men, who calculated without reasonable ground upon defection in their opposers, and upon active support from those multitudes whose distress they had witnessed, and whom they had vainly instigated to revolt. That consequently it was not merely the sudden ebullition of the moment, or the unauthorized attempt of any unconnected individual. Your Committee are further convinced that, notwithstanding the failure on the 24 of December, the same designs still continue to be prosecuted with sanguine hopes of success. Your Committee having thus stated the general result of the evidence which has been laid before them, respecting the state of the metropolis, have now the no less painful duty of calling the attention of the House to what has been passing during the same period in different parts of the country, a subject of equally momentous consideration. The first thing which has here forced itself upon their observation is the widely diffused ramification of a system of clubs associated professedly for the purpose of Parliamentary Reform, upon the most extended principle of universal suffrage and annual Parliaments. These clubs in general designate themselves by the same name of Hampden Clubs. On the professed object of their institution, they appear to be in communication and connexion with the club of that name in London. It appears to be part of the system of these clubs to promote an extension of clubs of the same name and nature, so widely as, if possible, to include every village in the kingdom. The leading members are active in the circulation of publications likely to promote their object. Petitions, ready prepared, have been sent down from the metropolis to all societies in the country disposed to receive them. The communication between these clubs takes place by the mission of delegates; delegates from these clubs in the country have assembled in London, and are expected to assemble again early in March. Whatever may be the real object of these clubs in general, your Committee have no hesitation in stating, from information on which they place full reliance, that in far the greater number of them, and particularly in those which are established in the great manufacturing districts of Lancashire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, and which are composed of the lower order of artizans, nothing short of a revolution is the object expected and avowed. Your Committee find, from equally undoubted information, that the doctrines of the Spencean Clubs have been widely diffused through the country, either by the extension of similar societies, or more frequently by the intervention of missionaries or delegates, whose business it is to propagate those doctrines throughout every society society to which they have access. It is the universal practice of these societies, to require from the members a small weekly subscription, which provides a fund for the expences of these missionaries, and also for the purchase of seditipus tracts, which are read and commented on at their meetings. Some of these tracts, now before your Committee, inculcate, in the most artful manner, the necessity of overturning what they call "The Privileged Class," as distinguished from the people, who are described as consisting of labourers, artizans, tradesmen, and every profession nɛeful to society. new order is declared to be the will of the people; rebellion is justified by the as sertion, that a uation cannot be a rebel: and all region is disavowed, as well as loyalty, by the assertion, in answer to the question, "Would you live wnhout Gods or Kings?""we abjure tyranny of every kind." A It seems, indeed, to be a part of the system adopted by these societies, to prepare the minds of the people for the destruction of the present frame of society, by undermining not only their habits of decent and regular subordination, but all the principles of morality and religion, Your Committee find, that there is scarcely any very numerous society in the parts above referred to, of whose proceedings they have obtained an account, in which some of the leading speakers do not openly avow the most seditious opinions, and do not excite their hearers to be prepared for actual insurrection. Topics for discussion are selected with this view; amongst others, the question, "Whether the jacobin or the loyalist was the best friend to his country?" Even when petitioning is recommended, it is proposed to be conducted in such a manner, by an immense number of delegates attending in London at the same time, in several parties, attached to each petition, as might induce an effort to obtain by force whatever they demanded. A general idea seems prevalent among those who compose these societies, that some fixed day, at no very great distance, is to be appointed for a general rising. They have been taught to look to the meetings in London as the signal for their operations, and have been in the habit of adjourning their own assemblies simultaneously to the same day : and it is a lamentable instance of the common interest which they feel, if not of the connexion which is formed with those most implicated in the outrages committed in the metropolis, that about Manchester and some other places, the greatest exultation was manifested previous to the meeting in Spa-fields on the 2d of December; and the taking of the Tower and the rain of the Bank were publicly and confidently predicted. The news of the result was impatiently expected, the roads were crowded during the night with a number of persons, many of them delegates from the different societies in the country, waiting for the arrival of the mail-coach; and the diappointment was not concealed, when it was ascertained that the riot had been quelled without much serious or extensive mischief. It appears, that the confidence of the disaffected is such, that they represent the numbers enrolled as amounting to several hundred thousand, and that their societies are daily increasing; that in their lists they distinguish by particular marks those among their subscribers who are able-bodied men, and ready to act when required; and that they also keep a list of those who refuse to join them in what they call a "Black Book," and threaten vengeance against those per sons when the general insurrection shall take place. In some parts of one populous county, where nearly every village has already its Hampden Club, the members make it no secret that they consider themselves as of no other use than as being ready to act whenever they are called upon on their admission they are said to be listed, and receive a secret card with the words "Be ready, be steady." The habits and manners of these persons seem entirely changed; they already calculate upon the share of laud which each is to possess, and point out the destruction of the churches, as the necessary consequence of their success. It appears that preparations are in progress, in several places, for providing arms: the demand upon gunsmiths for every species of fire-arms has been beyond all former example: the intention is professed of having recourse for a still larger supply to those towns where arms are manufactured, and where they are to be obtained at a very low rate, from the general cheapness of labour at this time; or in case of necessity, they are to be seized by force. The facility of converting implements of husbandry into offensive weapons has been suggested, and persons have been sent to observe the state of particular places, where depots of arms for the public service were supposed to have been formed. Your Committee find, that a system of secret association has been extended to the manufacturing population of Glasgow, and some other populous towns of Scotland; and although these societies have availed themselves of the same pretext, Parliamentary Reform, on the broadest basis, your Committee are firmly persuaded, from the information which has been laid before them, that their ultimate object is the overthrow by force of the existing |