presented a Petition from Henry Hunt, esq. setting forth,

"That, at the late election of a citizen to represent the city of Bristol in parliament, in the room of the right hon. Charles Bragge Bathurst, who had vacated his seat by accepting the office of chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, the petitioner, together with Richard Hart Davis, esq., and William Cobbett, esq., were duly proposed as candidates to represent the said city; and that the military, consisting of the Oxfordshire, the Leitrim, and the West Middlesex militias, were quartered in, and were not removed from, the said city, till the very same day, and not till within four hours of the commencement of the election, nor did they then depart two miles from the said city, agreeably to the statute of the 8th of George the 2nd, ch. 30th, in that case made and provided; and that seven men, besides taylors and other artizans out of each company, received orders upon the parade, the evening before the election commenced, to remain, and they did remain in the said city during the whole of the election; and that several hundred ruffians, of the most abandoned characters, many of them bailed out of prison, taken from the press gang, and from the collieries in Kings-wood, outlaws and felons, were employed, under the denomination of bludgeon-men or pretended constables, who wore blue cockades in their hats, and had their bludgeons (which consisted of heavy prong staves sawn into three parts), painted blue, the colour worn by the said Richard Hart Davis; and that various sums of money were paid by the said Richard Hart Davis, or his agents, to influence the votes of such of these persons so employed as were freemen of Bristol, and to beat and intimidate other freemen from voting for either of the other candidates; and that the most violent assaults, outrages, and murder were committed by the persons so employed, in violation of the public peace, and to the total subversion of the freedom of election; and that a great part of the guildhall, consisting of two large galleries, where the election is held, was nailed up, and blockaded with deal planks, to prevent the freeholders and freemen of the said city from attending the election; and that a much greater portion of the guildhall was allotted to the friends of Richard Hart Davis than to those of the petitioner; and that, while the friends of Richard Hart Davis had free ingress and regress, not only through the open court, but also by private doors, into that part of the hall apportioned for the hustings, the friends of the petitioner had to run the gauntlet through a double rank of these hired bludgeon-men, who kept possession of the only public avenue to the hustings during the whole election; and that, in consequence of these partial and illegal acts, the friends of the petitioner, freemen and freeholders of Bristol, were frequently knocked down, and otherwise ill used and assaulted in their way to and from the hustings, and during the time they remained in the hall, many of whom were actually driven back and deterred from polling at all at this election, notwithstanding the petitioner never failed daily to expostulate with the sheriffs, and to protest against these violations of the law and the freedom of election; and, that, during the election, these bludgeon-men, under the plea of not having received the full wages for which they had hired themselves, did, in the most tumultuous and riotous manner, threaten to pull down, blow up, and destroy the magazine of powder adjoining the said city, and they did actually proceed in a body to effect the same; and that these outrages created the greatest alarm, and were made a pretext to introduce more military, horse and foot, into the said city during the election, contrary to the written law of the land, and the practice of all former elections; and that the guildhall of the said city, the very spot where the election is held, was taken possession of by military force, and a large body of the Middlesex militia quartered therein; and that, in consequence of these illegal proceedings, great disturbances were created, proclamations were issued, and posted upon the walls by order of the mayor, recommending to all persons to keep within their houses to avoid the danger apprehended; and that thereby many electors, who resided at a distance, were deterred from coming into the said city, and many others, who resided in the said city, were deterred from coming to the poll to give their votes; and that the Durham Act was not read previously to the commencement of the election, as the law directs; and that the oaths appointed by law to be taken by electors, previously to voting, were illegally administered, and by persons not duly sworn to administer the same, notwithstanding the demand of the petitioner that they should be legally administered; and that various acts of bribery were committed by the said Richard Hart Davis and his agents; and that the said Richard Hart Davis, by himself and his agents, was guilty of many corrupt and illegal practices, and the most violent aggressions, to procure himself to be returned a member to represent the said city; and that the poll was closed by the returning officers one day sooner than by law appointed, though the same was publicly protested against by the petitioner; and praying, that he may be permitted to prove the above at the bar, or before a committee of the House, thereby to obtain such relief as to the justice and wisdom of the House shall seem meet."

The hon. baronet also presented a Petition from Thomas Docksey and Thomas Lang-well, freemen and electors of the city of Bristol, setting forth,

"That at the late election of a citizen to represent the said city in parliament, in the room of the right hon. Charles Bragge Bathurst, who had vacated his seat by accepting a place, Henry Hunt, esq., Richard Hart Davis, esq., and William Cobbet, esq., were duly proposed as candidates to represent the said city; and that the said Richard Hart Davis, by himself and his agents, was guilty of many corrupt and illegal practices to procure himself to be returned a member to represent the said city; and that various acts of bribery were committed by the said Richard Hart Davis and his agents; and that several hundred men were employed under the denomination of constables or bludgeon men, to whom various sums of money were paid by the said Richard Hart Davis or his agents, to influence the votes of such of the persons so employed as were freemen of Bristol, and to intimidate others from voting for either of the other candidates; and that the most violent outrages were committed by the persons so employed, in violation of the public peace, and to subvert the freedom of election; and that these outrages were made a pretext to introduce the military, horse and foot, into the said city, contrary to the law of the land, and the practice of all former elections; and that the military stationed in the said city were not ordered to depart twenty-four hours previous to the election, as the law directs, nor did they depart two miles from the said city, agreeably to the statute in that case made and provided; and that the guildhall of the said city was taken possession of by military force, and soldiers quartered in the same; and that, in consequence of these illegal proceedings, great disturbances were created, and murder was committed, and many electors were deterred from giving their votes; and that the oaths appointed by law to be taken by electors previously to voting were illegally administered, and by persons not duly sworn to administer the same; and that paupers from the work-houses, customhouse officers, and various other persons not qualified to vote, were permitted to poll for the said Richard Hart Davis; and that the Durham Act was not read previously to the commencement of the said election, as the law directs; and that the poll was closed by the returning officer one day sooner than by law appointed, though the same was protested against by one of the candidates; and that the said Richard Hart Davis was guilty of many other acts in violation of law and subversive of the freedom of election; and praying such relief as to the justice and wisdom of the House shall appear meet."

Ordered to be taken into consideration on the 18th of August.

, in consequence of his notice upon this subject, rose, and observed that since public grievances required public remedies, and since those grievances never prevailed to a greater extent than at the present moment, he felt it his duty, even at this late period of the session, to state his opinion, and to endeavour to persuade the Prince Regent to apply the only remedy that could afford permanent and effectual relief. Although the probability of success in the conflict on the peninsula might be greater than in the commencement of the campaign, he could not help thinking that the country was surrounded by more imminent dangers, foreign and domestic, than had threatened it at any former period. It would be utterly impossible for him to do more than to give a slight and imperfect sketch of the actual state of our affairs, which menaced extensive disaffection and the most aggravated calamities by which a nation could be afflicted. The dangers were of various kinds; but among the most alarming were the inroads that had of late years been made upon the constitution, and which had actually so incorporated themselves with it, that to a superficial observer the one appeared even to form a part of the other. The invasions of the common law had been frequent, and the most dangerous symptom was the hostile manner in which the judges construed that law to the detriment of the subject. The danger was peculiarly great where the liberty of the press was concerned; and it was increased by that usurpation of power by the Attorney General, by Ex Officio Informations, whereby an innocent man was placed in a situation of peril, unauthorized by the constitution. In matters of lesser importance, this assumption had been tolerated on the maxim 'De minimis 'non curat lex;' but it had been raised to a height even in the time of sir W. Blackstone, which alarmed that learned judge, who maintained that Ex Officio informations were not legal, excepting in cases where immediate interposition was necessary, to prevent further danger by delay. It had now been carried to an extent which disgusted every man of common understanding. Not contented with the authority already conferred, the legislature had recently passed an act, allowing the Attorney General the additional power of holding to bail. In prosecutions by the crown it now appeared that the Attorney General was entirely master of the court, and for the first time in any proceeding for an offence less than high treason, in the case of the unfortunate Bellingham, the crown had challenged no less than eight out of twelve jurors; by law the right of the prisoner to challenge was restricted, but the right of the Attorney-General was unlimited; this abuse was the corruption of justice at its very source, and, if not restrained, would in time destroy what had been of late years vainly called the palladium of British liberty. The intervention of the Master of the Crown-office further aggravated the evil.

The House and the country had been lately threatened with some violent exertion to support the labouring finances. Such a measure was, after the experience of former extortions and exactions, indeed formidable. The hon. baronet would recommend, that the exertions made should not be to raise but to save money; exertions of economy, and not of taxation. He recollected three former great exertions of a similar kind to that lately alluded to; the first was the imposition of the Income tax; the second the increase of it to 10 per cent, and the third the levy of the war taxes. What fresh attempts were to be made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer it was not easy to imagine. An examination of the Report of the Committee of Finance for 1810, would satisfy every unprejudiced mind that the most vigorous exertions of economy were necessary, and would be effectual. He did not indulge the vain hope of convincing the holders of sinecures that they ought to be abolished, but he believed that he could astonish some of them when he told them that for Scotland and Ireland only they amounted to 392,361l. The Report alluded to likewise disclosed many other important particulars. Under the most comprehensive title of "Compensation for loss of office, on account of the Union, or any other causes before or since that event" was embraced no less a sum than 100,083l. including a charge that seemed most curiously forced in, of 2,000l. to the prince of Mecklenberg Strelitz. In England, the charges for sinecures on the Post- office, Excise, Consolidated Fund, &c. was no less than 459,510l. and all the salaries paid for the charge of no duties, ascended to the enormous sum of 952,684l. The pensions given to the American, Dutch, and French Loyalists, to the Prince Regent of Portugal, to the Prince of Orange, to the emperor of Austria, (the ally of our deadly enemy,) and to other foreigners, exclusive of their great military emoluments, formed a charge of 2,143,590l. not including the sum improperly granted to the duke of York in 1801, none of which had been returned, and for which no interest was paid. The expence of foreign corps was 968,000l. and the loans to Portugal, and to the East India Company were four millions. If the desirable object of an exchange of prisoners were effected, another million might be saved. The sum of 176,000l. annually granted for secret services, was to be watched with peculiar jealousy; how it was applied, none but ministers knew; perhaps to reward such agents as captain Henry, or to pay informers to entrap men into offences. No less than 100,000l. was annually allowed for the poor clergy of the Church of England: why could not the poor be supported by the rich clergy? In the hon. baronet's opinion, the starving manufacturers were much more deserving objects of charity. Besides these various charges, large salaries were paid to the commissioners of public accounts, who had not saved the public as much money as would pay their expences for a single twelvemonth. The next head included sums which might be much more fitly included under the title of jobs; among these were 80,000l. to the Board of Agriculture, 68,000l. for bridges and roads in Scotland (exceeding the entire amount of the land-tax of that country); besides other large charges for improvements near Palace-yard, that ought to have been borne by the dean and chapter of Westminster, and for the erection of a new mint, at a time when coin was out of circulation. The erection of barracks, which would have cost 500,000l. had been prudently resigned. The whole of these expences rose to the extravagant sum of nine millions, all, or the greater part of which, might, with due management, be saved to the nation, already sinking under burdens, which by new exertions, were to be augmented With respect to the million of money paid for the Civil List, the hon. baronet thought that the crown had made an improvident bargain, and as the lands belonging to the sovereign would let for much more, although only 50 or 60,000l. was produced from them, if the contract were abrogated, another million might be saved, and the king benefited.

The greatest grievance of which the country had to complain was, the assumption by the House of Commons of the whole of the powers of the state, by which the crown, instead of being supported, was overawed by the people. He (sir F. Burdett) had been constantly held up as the enemy to the constituted authorities—to the authorities legally constituted he was a sincere friend, and he would at all times support the just power and dignity of the throne. The House of Commons, a boroughmonger faction, erected itself into an odious oligarchy, and usurped all the powers of the three branches of the constitution.—In this cause most of our evils originated. The annual sum of nearly 23 millions was paid as the army expenditure, but on calculating the pay of the whole military force at the highest rate, it did not exceed six millions. To what purpose then was the remainder applied? It was divided among the officers, and was swallowed by jobs in the barrack and other departments. The same remarks applied to the navy, and lord St. Vincent had declared, that the marine affairs of the nation might be conducted at one-third of their present expence. What then, it would be inquired, was the remedy? But he was sure that those who put the question, could themselves answer it without prompting—Parliamentary Reform. On the many occasions when this question had been discussed, some gentlemen had professed themselves friendly to reform, but they did not see the benefit that would result from it. If, as it could be proved, the present corrupt state of the representation was the real cause of all the corruption in the various branches of government, the benefit that would result from reform, must be obvious to all. The ministers themselves, although in the present state of things, they were supported by corruption, were compelled to be responsible for many acts which originated in the defects of the House of Commons. Whether war or peace would be the issue of our differences with America was a question compared with parliamentary reform, of little consequence, and without it, the Regent might, with any ministers, in vain attempt to satisfy his subjects.

The hon. baronet wished to state his opinion with respect to the late overtures by France for peace, because on a former night he had failed in catching the eye of the Speaker. The refusal was made by this government on the ground of a subsisting treaty between George the third and Ferdinand the seventh. It was an absurdity to imagine that such a contract could, under the present circumstances, exist. Ferdinand was not in a situation to make or execute it; he was not king of Spain, in the usual acceptation of the words, and had resigned his hereditary right of succession to the crown. The ground of refusal turned out to be a mere flimsy pretence; or supposing such a treaty did or, could exist, one administration was not bound to fulfil the engagements of another; each was responsible for its own acts; and it was, however, of little importance whether Ferdinand or Joseph were the king of Spain. If, however, situated as this nation was previous to the breaking out of the new war, which Russia had been rash enough to commence, the offer made by France had been repeated to any impartial man, the hon. baronet was convinced that he would have thought that we could not have done better than close with the proposal, as it would be a fortunate opportunity of getting out of our difficulties and embarrassments. The truth was, not that we were fighting in the peninsula for Ferdinand, but for ourselves, and the real question was, whether we were to lay claim to the crown of Spain? The most sanguine hopes were indulged as to the issue of the war just commenced in the north. For his own part, the hon. baronet could not concur in the belief held out in newspapers, that Buonaparté, from a want of provisions, would be compelled to withdraw. Knowing himself nothing of military tactics, the hon. baronet could not help believing that the emperor of the French, after all his experience, would be as well aware of the dangers he was exposed to as the writers of newspapers, or even as his Majesty's ministers. Seeing who was at the head of foreign affairs, and that the two noble lords opposite (Castlereagh and Palmerston) were to have the planning of our expeditions, he entertained as little hope of their success against Buonaparté as he should of the success of a child engaged at chess with the celebrated Phillidore.

It was with the hope, continued the hon. baronet, of at least awakening in the mind of his royal highness the Prince Regent a sense of the necessity of something being substantially done; something that might unite the minds and hearts of the people, and that might obtain the redress of grievances which now bore them to the earth, that he had ventured to trouble the House with his sentiments. Measures of economy ought to be adopted. The nation would bear the taxes, if necessary, without repining, when they saw that they were as prudently applied to their legitimate purposes, as they were lavishly granted by that House. He could not expect that his sentiments would meet with the concurrence of many who heard him. He knew he was represented as one who was disaffected to the constituted authorities, as they were called: he denied that he was so however: he was ready to support the crown in all its constitutional powers; but he owned he was disaffected to the vile oligarchy that now governed both the crown and the country. To them he owed no allegiance; but on the contrary, would rather swear eternal enmity to them on the altar of his country. He had been accused, also, of being the protector of those who were the disturbers of the peace. He was no such person; and neither was he the protector of those who violated the constitution, by calling in the military to kill and destroy the people. He would contend there was no necessity for such proceedings. The constitution, if duly administered, was not so feeble as to require them; it had no such inherent debility; it was not such a gaudy, unsubstantial thing as that, to be hung up merely on a fine day, as it were, to be gazed upon with curiosity, but not to be touched. It had vigour enough in itself, if that vigour was properly employed; and his disaffection was to the men who did not properly employ it. While such measures were pursued, he cared net who were ministers; he cared not what oligarchs were in, or what oligarchs were out, the country was equally a loser.

There was another subject to which he wished to call the attention of the House, and which had been already touched upon by the member for Bedford on a former evening. It had pleased Providence within the last few years to permit events which had, in effect, suspended the constitution: and that House had most unconstitutionally taken upon itself powers to which it was not competent. As, however, he did not wish to see similar proceedings, and as it was possible, every one would allow, that the Prince Regent might be taken from us while his father was yet living, he could wish that some legislative measure should be adopted in anticipation of such a possibility, to prevent the recurrence of the same exercise of unconstitutional power by that House, as had already taken place. The question was pregnant with great difficulties, and difficulties which that House ought to provide against. When, in the early part of the present reign, his Majesty was afflicted with that malady which they all now had to deplore, an Act of Regency was passed, securing, in the person of the Prince of Wales, the exercise of the royal functions, and he could see no reason why a similar precaution should not now be taken, especially when it was considered that the princess Charlotte of Wales had now arrived at those years when a Regency might be formed in her person, and ought to be so formed. It was a matter of wonder and surprise to him, and he could not account for it, but by supposing that the House meant to keep the whole government in its hands. The hon. baronet concuded by moving the following humble Address to the Prince Regent:—

"We, his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in parliament assembled, return our humble thanks to your Royal Highness, for having graciously attended to the wishes of this House, expressed in its vote, intimating the necessity there was of forming a strong and efficient administration. We, however, deeply lament, that any privy counsellors of this realm could accept of commissions to that end, without explicitly laying before your Royal Highness the necessary means of accomplishing the object in view, which could only have been effected by restoring the people to their rights, and so placing your Royal Highness's government on the virtues and affections of the nation. We lament, that your Royal Highness's beneficent intentions and ready endeavours, produced no effect advantageous to the country, and only gave occasion to intrigues and cabals not less odious in their too obvious motive, than injurious to the character of the government, it being made manifest to all men, that the persons who possess, and those who aspire to the offices of the state, no longer regard themselves as chosen by the sovereign, but as the nominees of the borough oligarchy, who equally invade the province of the crown and the rights of the people; interfering with one in the choice of its ministers, depriving the other of the election of its representatives.

"If it were, at this day, necessary to point out the mischievous and disgraceful effects of this unconstitutional and disloyal invasion of the rights of both king and people; if, after all the votes by which the worst sort of tyranny and corruption have been sanctioned, by which ministers have been screened against a charge of trafficing in seats in this House, and an attorney general against a charge of oppression and partiality: if, after all that we have witnessed in the course of the last twenty years, of outrage upon the rights and liberties of Englishmen, there still wanted proof of the pernicious and degrading influence of the borough faction, that proof we must now regard as complete, when we recollect, that at the end of several weeks, during which the business in parliament was suspended for the professed purpose of affording time to your Royal Highness to form a new ministry; that same House of Commons who had by one vote declared the ministers to be incompetent, recognized by another vote the competence of those same ministers, leaving scarcely a possible doubt as to the means by which the conversion had been effected.

"While we are convinced that posterity will never believe that a king and people of England were thus made the sport and prey of a borough faction, sustained solely by a fraudulent pretence of being the representatives of the people, we, of the present day, feel too sorely the reality of the fact, which has been manifested in a long train of useless wars and expeditions, which, while attended with a dreadful waste of treasure and of life, have almost uniformly failed in their professed object, and have only answered the purpose of enriching the borough faction and their dependants, as a reward for political corruption.

"In the rash rejection of the late overture to treat for peace, made on the part of the emperor of the French, on the flimsy pretext of a treaty of alliance between his Majesty and Ferdinand the seventh, where in truth no such treaty is in existence, we cannot but deeply lament not only the loss of an opportunity to treat for peace, more fa- vourable than in all probability will again occur, but also to see in that rejection the determination of the oligarchy to engage the nation in interminable war; and this, too, at a moment when not only by rejection of all offers, Russia was exposed to danger, but this country itself was on the eve of a war with America, which not only threatens to leave your manufacturers out of employment, but also to deprive this country of its only resource of relief, in case of an unfavourable harvest, and at a time when the augmentation of taxes in the space of the last twenty years only, has swelled a burthen of fifteen to a burthen of seventy millions a year; and during the same period has so added to the public debt and the paper money, as to leave not the smallest hope of redeeming the one, or of restoring the credit of the other. Sinecure offices, pensions and grants of public money, have been given to an enormous amount, without the sanction of any public service—money voted out of the pockets of the people by those who did not represent them. The galling effects of the system are seen in the harshness, the insolence, the partiality and tyranny of tax commissioners, commissioners of excise, and their inferior agents, whose almost diurnal visitations place the purse of every man in a constant state of requisition, unhinging property, dissipating the resources, and exhausting the patience of a loyal and suffering nation.

"As a melancholy accompaniment of these evils, we behold a rapid increase of paupers, of misery, and of crimes; and in addition, we have the pain of observing a systematic practice in the Court of King's-bench, of construing law in a manner hostile to the freedom of the subject; an evident decline in the independence of the bar, and an unconstitutional use of that succedaneum for the hateful court of Star-chamber, Ex-Officio Informations with special juries; and, finally, as the means of securing non-resistance from an oppressed people.

"We are shocked at the establishment of inland fortresses throughout the land, under the name of barracks, and in the introduction and progressive increase of foreign mercenary troops, by the employment of foreigners in offices of trust, civil, and military, in defiance of the Act of Settlement, the rights of Englishmen, and the common law of the land.

"In all these things, and in many others which we forbear to name, we see mani- fested the influence of that rapacious and insolent oligarchy; who, while they scruple not to enrich themselves with the spoils of the people, invariably speak of them with contempt and opprobrium.

"We beg leave, therefore, humbly to represent to your Royal Highness our firm conviction, that it is only by promoting a constitutional Reform in the Commons House of Parliament, and thereby obtaining the cordial support of the nation against those who are now usurping the prerogatives of the crown, by means of the power which they have purloined from the people, that your Royal Highness will be able to form a strong and efficient government, equal to the perilous state of affairs, or to adopt and put in force such measures as can effectually secure internal tranquillity, national in ependence, and finally obtain a safe and permanent peace.

"Amongst the many misfortunes, both from within and without, which the nation has experienced, we account it not amongst the least, that after the odious borough oligarchy had for three months actually suspended the kingly part of the constitution, and then imposed on your Royal Highness restrictions on the royal prerogatives, as insulting as unconstitutional and unnecessary, they took care to leave the nation exposed to similar danger, to the same unsettled hazardous condition, in the event of the demise of your Royal Highness (whom God long preserve,) that so in such event they might have a pretence for renewing their factious usurpations, for fabricating new restrictions, and keeping the crown in a state of pupilage, which ought to be independent. This we esteem peculiarly offensive, when in the person of the Princess Charlotte, your Royal Highness's daughter and only child, being now of legal age, a Regency might, according to former precedent, with evident propriety, be established, so as to ensure the nation against the uncertainties and dangers to which it is otherwise exposed.

"We beg leave humbly to represent to your Royal Highness, that those only deceive you who pretend that this country can be restored to safety and content, except by redressing the grievances of the people, by strictly applying the public money to public services alone, by extending the benefits of the constitution to persons of all religious persuasions, without distinction; above all by restoring to the people their undoubted rights, 'claimed, demanded, and insisted on,' but unfortunately, not established at the Revolution, amongst which the chief and paramount is, the free choice of their representatives in the Commons House of Parliament—on the restoration of which, we are firmly persuaded, mainly depends the stability of the throne, the independence of the country, and the liberty of the people."

The motion not being seconded, was lost of course.