important matters connected with our follow their example. I trust that we domestic policy. I rely with entire confidence on your willing co-operation in perfecting all such measures as may be calculated to remove just cause of complaint, and to promote the concord and happiness of my subjects. Irely also, with equal confidence in the caution and circumspection with which you will apply yourselves to the alteration of laws, which affect very extensive and complicated interests, and are interwoven with ancient usages, to which the habits and feelings of my people have conformed. I feel assured that it will be our common object in supplying that which may be defective, or in renovating that which may be impaired, to strengthen the foundations of those institutions in church and state, which are the inheritance and birth right of my people, and which amidst all the vicissitudes of public affairs have proved, under the blessing of Almighty God, the truest guarantees of their liberties, their rights, and their religion. The House then adjourned until five o'clock, when the debate on the address commenced. PETITIONS FROM LANCASHIRE. shall have similar petitions from the publicspirited towns in the north; so that we, who plead the cause, and assert the rights of those classes, may show that we have those classes at our backs. I beseech particular, not to throw away one single the people and my own constituents in moment in talking, or even thinking about Whig and Tory. Both factions neither will give them anything that it are the same with regard to the people; can possibly refuse with safety to itself. I do beseech the people to entertain no itself what it may. I do beseech them hopes from ANY PARTY whatever, call TO RELY UPON THEMSELVES ; and I do beseech them to scout any member whom they see attaching himself to any particular group of men in Parliament. This country rich by nature; always the most rich in the world; rendered verance, and integrity of its people, has so enviably great by the industry, persebeen brought into its present deplorable state only by suffering itself to be amused, cajoled, and defrauded by the detestable factions who have ridden it, and robbed it by turns, for more than a hundred years. It is time to be wise at last; and, if the rest of the nation follow the example of MANCHESTER, the fraudulent tyranny of party will soon be blowed into the air. The working-people of London are bestirring themselves, too, in a very sensible manner, as will be seen below, by the petitions that they are preparing and signing. The petition of the bastards is excellent; but the gentleman who drew it up forgot that Queen ELIZABETH was a real bond fide bastard; and that the mother of Queen ANNE was with child, LANCASHIRE, always more spirit, and with this queen, before the mother was more sense, than any other county; al- married, and that the father married her ways surpassing in this respect, every spot to "make her an honest woman," by the in the kingdom, PAISLEY only excepted; advice of his brother. But, above all the people of this county have long shown things, these petitioners should not have that they knew their rights well, and they forgotten, that WILLIAM THE CONare now showing that they are resolved QUEROR, from whom his present Mato have those rights. The people of MANCHESTER, and, I suppose, of OLDHAM, and all the rest of that famous county, are now signing the petitions, which I am here about to insert. Stupid, or base, or both is that city or town, that does not jesty traces his pedigree, and who actually was the founder of all the titles to all the landed estates in England, was a bastard; and yet our nobility and gentry are now got so squeamish, that they would punish the poor people for the crime of bastardy with something very nearly approaching think, that the mere choosing of a memto death. Ah! It is not morality: it is ber, and sending him here is enough for no consideration of this sort, by which them to do, they are egregiously de they are actuated. However, all this will ceived: rather than call that every thing, be discussed now: we shall soon get foot I should call it nothing; and this was to foot with the Poor-law Bill gentry; told to our constituents most plainly, by and, therefore, we need say nothing more myself and my honourable colleague. about it now. Our constituents saw the reasonableness I have only to add now, that there is of our representations; and they are now no objection whatever, to every petition zealously at work to prepare petitions to being in the SAME WORDS. We had send forward in our support. I do beabout seven hundred petitions, all in the seech the people every where to think same words, for Parliamentary reform, in well of this matter; and to follow the 1817; and it was that sameness which example of the public-spirited and sensifrightened the boroughmonger ruffians. In answer to their objection, that all the petitions were in the same words, we reminded the stupid tyrants that the law commanded us and the clergy taught us, all o pray to GOD, every Sunday, and alli n the same words, over and over again, for the whole of our lives; and that, if this uniformity was so proper and necessary for the salvation of ourselves, and when addressed to our Maker, it certainly could not be wrong, in a case where our temporal welfare was concerned, and where our prayers were addressed to those who professed to be our representa tives. ble people of Lancashire. Always bearing in mind, that the ruin of the people of England has been, their having been amused and deceived by factions and nick-names. WM. COBBETT. (From the Manchester Advertiser, 21. Feb.) At a public meeting of the inhabitants of Manchester and the neighbourhood, held in the Manor Court-room, Brownstreet, on Thursday evening, February 19, 1835, on the subject of the Poor-law Amendment Bill, and the national debt, Thomas Fielden, Esq., in the chair, it was resolved unanimously: Moved by Mr. W. G. Seed, seconded by Oh, no! Have no scruple on this score; waste no time in drawing up fresh petitions, if you like these. Draw them up, sign them numerously, send them forward, and let us show the factions that 1. That the act called the Poor-law we have the people at our backs; for, Amendment Act, which was passed by without that, we can do but very little. the last Parliament, is an Act in direct This advice I offer to all the industrious opposition to the law of God as explained classes, from the farmer and the manu-in scripture, and incorporated with the facturer, down to the ploughman and the ancient law of England, and that it is hand-loom weaver. Let these classes contrary to the law of nature, and the thus act; let them remember, that no man can assist them, unless they be ready to help themselves; let them thus act, and scorn to put any trust in any party whatsoever; for this is the great error of the people of England; let them put no trust in any party: let them be assured, and never forget for a moment, that they will get nothing that does not come out of their own exertions. A" representa tive" is a very pretty word; and the theory of " representation" is a very pretty theory; but, if the people think that that is all that is wanted; if they laws and institutions of the country; and Britain and Ireland. The petition of the undersigned labourers of Manchester and the neighbourhood, Showeth,-That your petitioners are informed, and verily believe, that a legal provision for the poor has been at all times in English history one of the esta blished principles of the English Govern ment; that it is declared in the New | debt," which has been prodigiously inTestament to be one of the chief objects creased by the operation of the act known for which Jesus Christ came into the by the name of “Peel's Bill,” and of world that the doctrines he taught, and other legislative measures to enforce it, the example he set, were all designed by by which the people are compelled to pay Omnipotence to enforce upon mankind in gold the interest of a debt contracted the necessity of being patient and for- in depreciated paper; that thereby the bearing, and benevolent one towards value of money being raised, and its comanother; that this divine principle has mand over the products of industry being been transplanted into and incorporated vastly increased. the pressure of taxation with the plan of the good old English is rendered intolerably burdensome, and government, from the time in which the condition of the labourer unbearably Christianity identified itself with the depressed. That the effect, as respects government of the European states until the national creditor and the labourer, the clergy and aristocracy of England is flagrantly unjust, by giving to the seized upon the dedicated property of former more than he had any reason or the poor, in the tithes, and applied the right to expect; and that, too, to such whole of those tithes to their own pur- an extent, that, were an adjustment with poses; that the law of the universal him now made, on principles of equity, church, and the constitutional and the his claim, both for principal and interest, statute law of England all recognised this would appear to be discharged; and appropriation of one part of the tithe to therefore that the following petition, for the relief of the indigent or incapable an equitable adjustment with the public poor that, notwithstanding all these creditor, or for the relief of labour from solemn guarantees, older and more sacred the unjust burden of debt called "nationthan can be cited in favour of any human al," be forwarded to the Commons House possession whatsoever, the late Parlia of Parliament: ment and administration, from whose control it has been the will of our most To the Honourable the Commons of the gracious King to relieve us, passed a law to abrogate this most ancient right of the indigent and disabled poor, and against all sanction of laws divine and human. and against the clearly expressed intention and the approbation of all the wise and humane commentators upon those laws, have decreed against any such right of the poor as aforesaid. Now, therefore, we humbly pray your honourable House, with the least possible delay, to repeal the said act of the last Session of Parliament, and to restore the dominion of the British crown to the rule of the gospel of Christ, and the ancient constitution of England. And your petitioners will ever pray. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled.— The humble petition of the undersigned inhabitants of the borough of Manchester and its neighbourhood, Showeth,That your petitioners complain that out of every twenty-two pounds of the fruits of their industry and toil, about eleven pounds are taken in taxes on the necessaries of life; that they perceive that this great and cruel demand upon them is occasioned, in great part, by the payment of interest on what is commonly called the "national debt." That the annual charge for this debt, together with the annual charge for collecting the taxes, and for maintaining an army and police to enforce that collection do not amount to so little as the sum of thirty-six millions of pounds sterling in a year. 2. That it appears to this meeting, that nearly one-half of the fruits of the industry and toil of the labouring man is That your petitioners complain that taken away in taxes; that this is mainly this charge is flagrantly unjust, seeing occasioned by the pressure upon the that the nation is now compelled to pay country of what is called the "national in gold of full weight and fineness, the cradle, If, therefore, your honourable House reject the prayer of your petitioners for an equitable adjustment with regard to the interest of the debt, they pray that your honourable House will be pleased to pass a law to exonerate in future all persons possessing no other property than labour from paying, in any way whatsoever, any portion of the interest of that debt. interest of a debt which was contracted limbs of our children who are now in the in depreciated paper money; and that the lenders, after having for twenty years received at the least one-third in interest every year more than they ought to have received, are now actually receiving two fifths more than they ought to receive, or than they ought to have received, on the average, within the last fifty years; that this holds true, if measured by the prices of agricultural and mining produce; but if the prices of manufactures are adopted as the standard of value, the lenders have for many years been receiving three times the amount they ought to have received, and that your petitioners verily believe that if an equitable adjustment were now to take place, it would appear that these lenders have already received more than the whole amount of the sums lent by them, principal as well as interest. And your petitioners will ever pray. The following resolutions were passed seriatim: 3 That Mr. Cobbett be respectfully requested to present the petition for an equitable adjustment of the debt; and that Mr. John Fielden be requested to present the petition for the repeal of the Poor Law Amendment Bill. That your petitioners therefore pray that an equitable adjustment with regard 4. That the following gentlemen be to this debt may take place, in order that appointed a committee for carrying the justice may be done to all parties and foregoing resolutions into effect:-Messrs. that your suffering petitioners may be Condy, Wroe, Dixon, Seed, Willis, Brodie, relieved from this burden, now so un-Hodgetts, and Clegg, with power to add justly and cruelly imposed upon them to their number. THOMAS FIELDEN, Chairman. That, however, if your honourable 5. That the petitions do lie at the House, proceeding upon the principles of following places for signature:- Adverthe Reform Bill and of the Poor law iser Office; Mr. Wroe's, Ancoats-street; Amendment Bill, reject the idea that any Mr. Candelet's, Millgate; Mr. Whyatt's, but those of his Majesty's subjects who Bridge-street; Mr. Heywood's, Oldhampossess what is called property, have a street; Mr. Stringer's, London road; Mr. right to be heard in this matter, your pe- Middleton's, Hulme; and such other titioners are confident that your honour-places as the committee may deem necesable House will have the justice to cease to sary. compel those of them whose only property is in their labour, to pay any part of the interest of this debt; seeing that. according to the principles of the aforementioned bills, you allow those of your petitioners who possess no other property to have no rights beyond those of mere life and limb; and seeing that no ParTHE following petition to Parliament, liament that ever existed could have a praying that the landholders may be comright to borrow on and to mortgage their pelled to fulfil the conditions upon which lives or their limbs, or the labour pro- they hold their lands, by defraying the ceeding from those lives and limbs; expenses of the state, is in extensive cirseeing further, that the money must have culation : been borrowed for the defence of property of some sort other than labour that stood in need of defence, and that the lives and limbs of your petitioners never stood in such need, much less did the lives and From the True Sun, 21. Feb.) The petition of the undersigned inhabitants of London, Westminster, and places adjacent, Humbly showeth, That your petitioners, for the most part, are of the wealth-producing classes, gards buman beings in this particular, if who from their youth up have experienced the strong had an advantage over the great privations and difficulties, resulting weak, or the wise over the ignorant, the from the present anomalous state of so- very objects of society, of laws, and of ciety from their situation in life they obligations, were intended to equalize have had ample means of judging of the these disproportions of nature. wide and desolating effects of poverty and wretchedness to which their brethren are subject; feeling, therefore, and sympa thizing with them, your petitioners have been induced to inquire into the causes of so much misery in the midst of plenty. The result of this inquiry they beg to submit to the attention of your honour able House. That amid the numerous evils to which your petitioners are exposed, they believe that the chief evil in importance, if not the greatest in magnitude, is, that the lands of this country, which a bountiful Creator bestowed upon all his children, have been engrossed, and are held in possession, by comparatively a few persons; who have arrogated to themselves an al most exclusive power in legislation, and, by virtue of that power, have enacted the most sanguinary and oppressive laws, to protect what they denominate their property. That, as might can never justly confer right, consequently no one man had a right which another had not, to plant, or to build, or to convert any of the rude materials of nature to his own use, without consulting or agreeing with his fellowmen; which consultation or agreement, your petitioners believe, can only and alone confer civil rights, and that claims which spring from any other source are not binding upon those who have not been so consulted. That your petitioners further believe, with reference to the application or dispo-al of the lands of the Kingdom, that unless the principle of consulting the opinion of every individual who comes into existence be preserved, by each adult member of society having a vote or voice in the making of the laws, allegiance cannot be justly exacted from those who are excluded. That no agreement entered into by the people of a country, which gives an absolate right, in land or in things which are common to all, to any man or set of men, can be binding on those who may subThe peo That those persons have used, and still continue to use, the great bulk of the people as mere tools and instruments to contribute to their luxuries and excesses; at the same time that they have made sequently come into existence. laws, which, by their effects, have ground ple of a country may delegate power to down the people to a state of poverty and an individual or body of men, to use or degradation, equalled in no age or coun-convert those natural productions to their try blessed with the same means of hap- purposes, conditionally and for the benefit piness. of all; but the land itself cannot be given. exclusively to any. " That your petitioners, struck with the monstrous injustice of those few persons That your petitioners have found upon possessing the power to inflict such inquiry, that all the lands of this kingdom misery on the multitude, have examined are held conditionally of the king, as the into the right and justice of those claims, executive of the people; as appears from agreeably to the dictates of common Mr Justice Blackstone's "Commentaries" sense, and in accordance with the laws (book 2, chap. 7), wherein it is laid down and usages of these realms: that com- that no subject in England has allodial mon sense and reason have taught your property, it being a received and undepetitioners, that men in a state of nature niable principle in the law, that all the must all have been placed in a condition lands in England are holden, mediately that they might freely participate in the or immediately, of the king." Your bounties of the Creator, or in the mate- petitioners have further ascertained that rials of wealth, according to the physical the conditions upon which the lands of and mental capacities of each individual; this country are held, are, that the holders and that, if any equality existed as re-do defray all expenses of the army and |