it will be seen, that the hope I expressed | was not groundless, namely, that the conduct of the Lord Mayor would not be forgotten. I shall take the Resolutions, just as they stand, published by authority, in the news-papers; because this is a very memorable transaction, and will hereafter be a matter of frequent reference, for which reason I shall number the Resolutions. FLOWER, MAYOR. In a Meeting or Assembly of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Liverymen, of the several Companies of the City of London, in Common Hall Assembled, at the Guildhall of the said City, on Saturday, the 1st day of April, 1809, RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY, measure calculated to remove abuses and root out corruption. -- 5. Resolved Unanimously-That these Abuses form only a part of a wicked and corrupt System, which has been long acted upon, and no permanent good can arise from the late investigation, unless followed up by a general reformation of Public Abuses in every department of the State. 6. Resolved Unanimously That the Corporation of London did, in Petitions unanimously agreed to, and presented to both Houses of Parliament, during the last Sessions, state, "That their burthens had been considerably augmented by gross abuses in the management and expendi ture of the Public Money, by a profusion of Sinecure Places and Pensions, which 1. THAT it has long been matter of have not only added to the sufferings of notoriety, and has lately been proved, be- the people, but created a pernicious inyond the possibility of doubt, that Abuses fluence, corrupting and undermining the of a most corrupt nature and ruinous ten- free principles of the British Constitution." dency have existed and still exist in vari- 7. Resolved Unanimously-That no ous branches of the Administration of measures calculated to remove these opPublic Affairs. pressive and alarming evils have yet been 2. Resolved Unanimously-That to de-adopted, nor can any rational expectation tect such Abuses, and expose to detestation those men who have wickedly connived at or participated in them, requires no small degree of virtue, independence and patriotism, all which have been eminently displayed by Gwyllym Lloyd Wardle, Esq. in instituting and conducting the late Inquiry into the conduct of his Royal Highness the Duke of York. 3. Resolved Unanimously That the said Gwyllym Lloyd Wardle, Esq. is therefore entitled to the Thanks and Gratitude of this Common Hall, for his persevering and independent efforts, which have already produced beneficial effects, and are likely to lead to still more advantageous results; and they express their confidence that having so manfully and ably commenced this arduous task, no difficulty or danger will damp his ardour or impede his progress in a cause so honourable to himself and so essential to the best interests of his country. 4. Resolved Unanimously- That upon the same principles, and for the same reasons, they do highly approve of the conduct of Sir Francis Burdett, Bart. (the Seconder) Lord Viscount Folkestone, Samuel Whitbread, Esq. Sir Samuel Romilly, Knight, General Fergusson, and the rest of the 125 honest and independent Members, who supported Mr. Wardle's proposition on the 15th of March, 1809, and trust that, uninfluenced by party or feelings of interest, they will support every be formed that such measures will be adopted, while the management of the Public Affairs is in the hands of persons who are themselves the greatest Pensioners and Reversionists in the kingdom. 8. Resolved Unanimously-That it has since appeared, by the Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, that 78 Members of that House are in the receipt of £.178,994 per annum, out of the Public Money, who, with their relations, and the Naval and Military Officers in that House, must give a most preponderating and dangerous influence to a Ministers of the Crown. 9. Resolved Unanimously-That if any doubt could remain as to the baneful effect of such influence, it has been sufficiently exemplified by the rejection of Mr. War dle's late Proposition in Parliament, against the most conclusive evidence, and unequivocal sense of the country; and where it appeared that all his Majesty's Ministers→→→ all the Placemen-and all the Pensioners, then present (stated to be 82 in number) voted against the said Proposition; while, of course, in the Minority of 125, not one of the Ministers-not one Placeman-not one Pensioner-and only one Naval and one Military Commander was to be found. 10. Resolved Unanimously-That other Governments have crumbled into ruinother States have been subverted, and their ancient and venerable Institutions overthrown, by the folly, profligacy, and vices of their Rulers; and, in the opinion of this "universal hiss echoed through the hall. Common Hall, unless this overwhelming "Sir William addressed them in dumb tide of corruption is resisted by temperate "shew, he bowed, put his hand upon his and timely reformation, it must inevitably "heart, all in vain. The Lord Mayor lead to the ruin and subjugation of this thought to conciliate, but he was obliged Country. "to retire amid universal groanings, his11. Resolved Unanimously-That it" sings, &c. Sir Wm. at length gained a will be highly expedient for the Livery of" partial hearing; he said the resolutions London, some tinle during the present Session, to meet for the purpose of laying a faithful statement of their Grievances before Parliament, and pray for redress of the same. 12. Resolved Unanimously-That the Thanks of this Common Hall be given to Alderman Combe, one of the Representatives of this City in Parliament, for the support he gave to Mr. Wardle's Motion, and for his uniform independence and incorruptibility in Parliament. 16 66 6 "went to charge Government with cor- 13. Resolved-That Sir William Curtis, Bart. Sir Charles Price, Bart. and James Shaw, Esq. three of the Representatives" for this City in Parliament have, by their recent conduct therein, shewn a contempt and disregard for the opinions and interests of their Constituents, and a base subserviency to the will of Ministers; and are, therefore, unworthy the confidence of their Fellow-Citizens. 14. Resolved-That the Lord Mayor has, by refusing to convene a Common Hall upon the three different requisitions, by presuming to dictate the terms and object of the present requisition, by the reluctance he even afterwards evinced, and the trouble and delay he has created, shewn a contempt and disregard for the Rights and Privileges of the Livery, and is unworthy the confidence of his FellowCitizens. 15. Resolved-That the Thanks of this Common Hall be given to Robert Waithman, Esq. for his manly conduct in the present instance, and his unremitting zeal upon all occasions where the Interests of his Fellow-Citizens are in Question. 16. Resolved Unanimously That the foregoing Resolutions be signed by the Town Clerk, and inserted in all the Morning and Evening Papers. WOODTHORPE. York, as I should have done of any other "Englishman, upon the same evidence," when, as the reporter states, a certain monosyllable, accompanied by off! off! proceeded from numerous voices.Now came the close, the excellent close of this novel and heart-cheering scene. The resolution of censure against Messrs. PRICE, SHAW and CURTIS having been carried with about only a dozen dissenting voices, MR. WAITHMAN came forward and proposed the resolution of censure with respect to the conduct of the Lord Mayor, who was himself in the chair, and whose duty it was, of course, to put the resolution. "The Noble "Lord," as the news-papers call him, appears to have boggled a good deal; he expostulated; and, amidst hisses and hooting and laughing, expressed his resolution not to put the resolution. Mr. Waithman One insisted, that he could not refuse. MR. I would fain give all the speeches, delivered upon this occasion, and especially the two speeches of Mr. Waithman; but my space will not allow of it. One speech, however, I cannot refrain from giving; and that is the speech of Mr. Alderman CURTIS, who is also a member of parliament. "Sir William Curtis next appeared. "Immediately a tumult, which we would vainly attempt to describe, arose. " soon. such an age, &c. that he was born thus and thus; and, that the father or mother, or child himself, if an orphan, has not the means of paying himself for the education of the child. Now, it appears, that the REV. DAWSON WARREN (let us have his name as we can read it), Vicar of Edmonton, in Middlesex, whose son was got into the school, admits that his income is £.850 a year, and that his life is insured for £.3,000.- -Can there be a more crying abuse than this? Nay, and when a motion was made for the expulsion of the boy, it was urged, as a reason against the adoption of the motion, “that it might "establish a dangerous precedent, which ROWCROFT stepped forward in favour of "the Noble Lord;" but, when his object became apparent, he was assailed by cries of" You are his partner and adviser, "and ought to justify your own acts. You "are his brother contractor. You have in"volved him in the hobble, and may try "to release him. We understand you "both, and the public will know you ."--After some further altercation; but not until MR. ALDERMAN COMBE had expressed his determination to take the chair and put the resolution, if the Lord Mayor would not, the Noble Lord came forward, and said, that, not from his own conviction, but for the sake of the peace of the City, he would put the resolution" might lead to the expulsion of half the himself, which he actually did, and, with his own lips, proclaimed, that the Resolution of censure of his own conduct had been carried!--The thanks of the Livery were then given to MR. WAITHMAN, and if ever man living, or dead, deserved such a mark of approbation, Mr. Waithman deserved it. Twenty years has he been labouring to unglue the eyes of the Citizens of London. No difficulties; no discouragements; no calumnies have slackened his efforts. He has always said: "they are "blinded; they are misled; they are "deceived, cheated by cunning knaves; "but, still there is good in their hearts, "and one day or other, it will appear." I remember his saying this to me, about thirteen or fourteen months ago. The beauty of it is, too, that he is a man of excellent character, in every respect; that he is a plain unambitious man; that he is perfectly disinterested in all he does; that he is a real patriot, and as faithful and zealous a subject as any the King has in his whole dominions. Oh! the loads of abuse that most worthy man has had to sustain! The public have recently witnessed the effects of his zeal and activity, with regard to Christs' Hospital. Having brought forward a shocking instance of abuse there, the Reverend person accused does not, for he cannot, deny the charge; but he fails not to accuse Mr. Waithman of being an enemy to the civil and religious establishments of the country! This school was endowed for the purpose of affording the poor men of England an opportunity of elevating their families by the education of their children. It is required, that the father, or other guardian of the child, should make and sign a declaration, I believe, on oath (though I will not be quite sure of that) that the child, proposed to be put into the school, is of "school." Yet, by exposing this shocking abuse; this wrong shamefully done to our poorer countrymen, and that, too, by one of the most richly beneficed clergymen; by exposing this abuse, and by persevering, as he does in every thing he undertakes, Mr. Waithman called down upon his head the charge of being an enemy to the civil and religious establishments of the kingdom.It has been uniformly thus: reason upon abuses, and you are answered by a charge of jacobinism: state facts, and you are a traitor. If there be no construction of law that will reach you, recourse is had to calumny; meet that and defeat it, and recourse is had to cowardly insinuation. All the vices, all the weaknesses, all that is defective in the people is armed against you. Prejudices are created and nourished, with a degree of care and of malignant perseverance hardly to be conceived; and thus the triumph of falshood over truth is insured. For twenty years has Mr. Waithman been struggling against this torrent of overwhelming corruption and falshood. Truth, however, has, at last, forced her way, thanks to Mr. Wardle, through all the obstacles that existed, and on Saturday last, Mr. Waithman received ample compensation for half a life of anxiety and of labour- -Now, then, will Mr. Yorke and Mr. Perceval say, that this is mere "popular clamour ?" That it is not the voice, the sober sense, of the people? True, the Livery of London did hiss, and cry of! off! But, this was an expression of their indignation at conduct, upon which they had all the means of forming a cool and correct opinion. If, indeed, it had been now that the subject had been first discussed, the case would be different; we should then say, that they ought to have listened patiently to both sides; but, the whole of the evidence, in extremely rare; are almost the singular exception, instead of being the general told the Livery, that, if this reform, so necessary to the stability of the throne, as well as to the happiness of the people, is to be brought about, it must be in consequence of the exertions of the people, made in a manner at once legal, constitutional, respectful, and determined. There is no occasion for Clubs or Associations of any sort. The law, even as it now stands, gives us full scope for our exertions in this way, and, if we do not avail ourselves of it, all that we now complain of is infinitely too good for us. minute detail, had been before them for a nionth; each man of them had had ample time and opportunity to form his judg-rule.It is evident, as Mr. Waithman ment; the conviction had been produced, and all that remained to be done was to pass sentence. That sentence they have passed; and, I trust, the whole nation is ready to follow their example.It was one of those cases, upon which it was impossible; quite and completely impossible, for any man, in his right.enses, to form a wrong opinion. It was a matter which admitted not of dispute, or of difference of opinion, any more than does the existence of man. There required, therefore, no discussion. It was a mere dry question of degree of indignation; and, all the use of a speech, even from Mr. Waithman, was to settle that question of degree. I find, therefore, nothing to complain of in the impatience of the Livery, nor in the manner of expressing their resentment. I think they have shewn themselves to be animated by a spirit, such as the times require, and such as, I hope and trust, will, be communicated to the kingdom at large. I rejoice to see, that they despise the idea of hoping for any salutary effects from what has been done, unless it be followed by a general reform, and especially a reform of the Commons House of Parliament. Why have we now all these meetings? Why do we feel ourselves called upon to thank Mr. Wardle? Because we see, that it is necessary to give him support. Support against whom? Against whom does he want support? Why, against those, who voted against him. Against those, who are pointed out in the City Resolutions. This it is, and this alone, which has thrown the nation into such a ferment, which, one would think, would be quite sufficient to convince even the most blinded and the most interested of the absolute necessity of a legal, constitutional, and temperate reform. There is no innovation wanted. Lay the books of the constitution of England open, and give us what they describe, and no more, and we shall be perfectly satisfied. Here is the whole nation in movement to give thanks, to present pieces of plate, to erect monuments, to a member of parliament. And, for what? Why, for doing no more than what it is the bounden duty of every member of the House of Commons to do. What must be the conclusion from this? That no one but him would have done what he has done; or, at least, that the fidelity to public trust, and zeal in the public service, which he has shewn, are SPAIN and SWEDEN.-In the midst of our Inquiries at home, we have, and very wisely too, laid aside all discussion about the affairs of Spain, though our ministers have recently made a Treaty of Alliance with king FERDINAND VII, whom Napoleon has living upon a pension, or at board wages, in France! They may make treaties of alliance; they may make new ambassadors, and they may fasten those new am bassadors on us for life, though the list is already quite long enough; but, they will do nothing for the restoration of the Bourbons in Spain. I told them what the consequence of royalizing the cause of Spain would be. They did royalize it, and that consequence has followed.The public will bear in mind, that I was outrageously abused for saying, that the people of Spain would not fight for Ferdinand; for saying, that they would stand by, speciators without interest in the event; that nothing that we could do would induce them to make sacrifices for the re-establishment of the old corrupt system, the old system of corruption. For having said this, for beseeching my readers not to believe any thing they heard about the enthusiasm of the Spaniards, I was called a jacobin; was charged with wishing to overturn the government of England; and was, by the base hirelings of the day, represented as being the immediate agent of the devil. Well, now, what says SIR JOHN MOORE, who was in Spain, at the very time that I was thus reviled? What says he, in his dispatches to the government? Why, he says, that so far from meeting with a people enthusiastic in the cause of king Ferdinand; so far from this, that he found, at the best, an indifference towards that cause; that he could obtain no aid from the people of any sort; no co-operation, no concurrence, no sympathy; and that he could not even get intelligence of events recourse to compulsory measures; that "the universal Spanish nation," as far as our army had an opportunity of viewing its conduct, was, however, perfectly impartial in this respect, treating the poor wretches, who returned from BLAKE's army, in exactly the same manner;that, when our troops entered LUGO, some horse-men going into a stable, in the dark, trod upon dead bodies, which they afterwards found to be some of the poor creatures before-mentioned, who had been driven from the doors of the inhabi, tants, and left to perish with pain and hunger;-that many of these men, actually died, and laid dead, in the streets, for want of warmth and sustenance, while, at the same time, the merciless priests, with their tribes of chanters and torch bearers, were, along those same streets, marching in solemn procession, the people, this part of the universal Spanish na"tion," being, all the while, prostrate in the dirt or snow, in sign of adoration and piety, in sign of attachment to those "al"tars," for which Mr. Alderman Birch told us it was a virtue to fight and to die; at fifty miles distance from him, so completely were the people wanting in all friendly feeling towards him, his army, and his cause. He says, and it should be well remembered, that the difficulty of his situation is greatly increased in consequence of the unfounded expectations raised at home by representing the Spanish people as unanimously enthusiastic in the cause. He states this embarrassment most distinctly. He expresses, in a most feeling manner, his fear of disappointing those sanguine, though groundless expectations; and, indeed, the tenor of his dispatches clearly shows, that his delay to retreat; and that all his and the army's misfortunes, arose primarily from this false expecta ion, excited at home. This was the fruit of all the silly bragging in our public prints; of the still more silly toasts of the Turtle patriots; and of that expression, which I need not attempt to qualify," the Univer"sal Spanish nation," the like of which was never before found in any writing above the level of a romance. "The uni"versal Spanish nation!" Where was it when our army got there? Where was it when the French entered Madrid? Go ask; Mr. Canning, go ask the graves of the thousands of Englishmen, who perished in that ill-fated expedition; go seek, in the history of slaughtered horses and of money chests emptied into wells and from. the tops of mountains; go ask the dispersed, the shattered, the emaciated, the beggar-looking remains of the army: this is where you are to ask, what had become of "the universal Spanish nation," fired, as it was, with enthusiasm in the cause of FERDINAND VII. The remains of that army will tell you, that, as an earnest of this enthusiasm, our transports, upon arriving at Corunna, were delayed for some time for want of pilots, who, at last, were obtained only in consequence of more than double the usual pay;-that, upon landing, every thing necessary for the accommodation or the movement of the army was obliged to be purchased at an enormous price, and that it became, even from the first, necessary to collect forage with the dollars in one hand and the sword in the other, so reluctant were the "universal "Spanish nation" even to sell comfort to their "deliverers;"that, as the army proceeded up the country, they found this disinclination towards them increase ;that, in order to obtain, even at very ex-posit the body in a coffin, with the lid off, orbitant prices, what was absolutely neces sary to the existence of the horses, they were, almost constantly, obliged to have -that, as to the state of the people, instead of seeing that bustle, that industry, and that chearfulness, to be witnessed in an English town, you saw all the doors close shut and fast bolted, the windows scarcely open, nothing having the appearance of business, and the people either kneeling down in the streets at the tinkling or ringing of a bell, or shrugged up, their heads buried in their cloaks, leaning against the walls;that, amongst this part, at least, of "the universal Spanish "nation," there is nothing answering to that term, in which all manner of happiness is conveyed, namely, a fire-side, there being not even any fire-places, except one for culinary purposes, and even there the smoke is generally left to find its way out of the doors, or through the roof;that, to such a pitch are priest-craft and popular credulity supported, that it is the custom, when a poor person dies, to de to cover the body with thin crape, leaving the arms and head bare, to deposit it, in this state, in a capacious niche, by the |