make their conduct known to the If it answer this purpose, my

King? Then, again, is it not greatly injurious to the King himself, to be thus cut off from his people? Must it not, necessarily, lessen him in the eyes of his people? It is, in fact, to take away one of his great powers and prerogatives. It is to take away

time and pains will not have been hrown away; though I shall continue to regret that I had not an opportunity of presenting the Petition to the King.

WM. COBBETT.

the right of hearing the complaints MR. COBBETT'S PETITION

of his people.

I do not know at this moment, that the King was at the Lodge in Windsor Park. I am not even certain that Lord CoNYNGHAM was there; so that, if I had left my Petition, all that I should have known was, that it was in the hands of Mr. DowSETT; and it would, in fact, have been a Peti

answer

tion to Mr. DowSETT and to no-
body else. As to an "answer,"
how was I to know that the
was given by order of the King?
In short, here is a complete bar to
the right of Petition, which is, in
reality, enjoyed by nobody, who

cannot, at suitable times, obtain
liberty to get into the presence of
the King. I shall now insert the
Petition, together with the other
papers that have already been
published in the Morning Chro-
nicle and Morning Herald.
am in hopes that the Petition will
serve to point out to others, the
grounds of Petition at this time.

ΤΟ

THE KING,

In favour of the Distressed
Manufacturers.

TO THE PUBLIC.

Kensington, 1st. August, 1826. BELG wholly unacquainted with the hours of rising, and so forth, at the King's Cottage, I went to Windsor, where I arrived at about eight o'clock on Saturday morning last. I knew there was a gentleman there who regularly attended in order to supply the "Court News;" and I thought he was a likely person to give me the information that I wanted. Having learnt from this gentle

Court News;

man, that the hour of twelve, or
thereabouts, was the
timè
proper
to attend, I proceeded from Wind-

sor to the cottage, so as to arrive
at that hour or thereabouts.

When I spoke to the Court news writer, whose name is Dowsett, I told him my business; I told him that I wished to present Ia petition to the King, and that my intention was to send a note to the Marquis Conyngham, in order that he might put me in the way of doing it in a proper man

Here, also, I found Mr. Dowsett, whom I had seen at Windsor. Now, when I mentioned my business to Mr. Dow sett, at Windsor, he asked me if he should apprize Lord Conyngham of it, as he, Mr. Dowsett, should be at the cottage before me. I said "no," because there could be nothing to justify me in sending such a message to Lord Conyngham; but I knew very well that Mr. Dowsett would tell his Lordship that I was coming; and the fact is, though I did not think it right for me to send a message, I thought it was right, and for my own credit, that his Lordship should be apprized beforehand, if I could, with propriety, cause it to be done; because, otherwise, it might have appeared that I was desirous of getting in slyly, and taking his Lordship by surprise.

ner. Towards the cottage I went, the gate.
then, in my chaise, with my note,
(No. I.,) for Lord Conyngham,
ready written. The cottage is in
the midst of a little wood, sur-
rounded, wood and all, with a
high paling, there being a gate,
and a porter's lodge, to keep a
passage open through this high
fence. This fence, or line of cir-
cumvallation, is an interior line;
there being another line of cir-
cumvallation drawn round this
interior line, and at a consider-
able distance from it. This exte-
rior line has a gate; and, indeed,
it has several gates to let people
in and out at. At this outer gate,
there is a park-keeper dressed in
green, and there is a sort of rural
sentry-box on the inside of the gate.
When I came to this outside
gate, the keeper asked me whom I
was going to see, or whom I had
business with at the cottage. 1
told him, with Lord Conyngham.
He hesitated a little before he
opened the gate, looking hard at
me, and observing that the usual
way was, to send in a message or
letter, or whatever it was. I,
without appearing to pay much
attention to what he said, bid him
open the gate, which he did; but
then I said to him, "I want to
have this note sent in to my Lord
Conyngham, while I wait for an
answer." Upon my asking him
to do it, he, with great civility,
took the note from me in order to
carry it in, or to cause it to be
delivered to Lord Conyngham.
He went on before, and I followed
with my chaise; but we now came
to what I was not aware of; name-
ly, the gate in the second line of
circumvallation. That gate was
not open, though the porter, in-
deed, was there and standing by

Mr. Dowsett did then tell Lord Conyngham that I was coming, and that I was coming with a Petition to the King; and, now, Mr. Dowsett I found at the gate, in the interior line of circumvallation, prepared to inform me, which he did, that Lord Conyngham was gone out; that it was impossible to say when he would return; and that Lord Conyngham had directed him, Mr. Dow sett, to inform me, when I should arrive, that if I would leave my petition with him, Mr. Dowsett, he, Lord Conyngham, would take care that it should go through the proper channel.

1, however, took the note from the Park-keeper, and gave it to Mr. Dowsett, requesting him to carry it to Lord Conyngham, and to bring me an answer of some sort or other, giving him clearly

to understand that I was resolved is, to get together the people of

not to go away without some answer or other to that note.

Mr. Dowsett took the note. The Cottage gate, at which I was, is situate at about four hundred yards from the Cottage itself; so that to go backward and forward could not be a work of more than ten minutes, that being at the rate of only three miles an hour, yet, Mr. Dowsett was absent about three quarters of an hour, though he found Lord Conyngham at the Cottage. However, he brought me a verbal answer from Lord Conyngham, which answer is stated in the Note No. 2. When I had written that Note, and given it to Mr. Dowsett to carry it to Lord Conyngham, I returned to

London.

Westminster or of the County of Middlesex, and to induce them, if I can, to join the people of the North, in praying for reform and for a total repeal and abolition of the Corn Laws.

WM. COBBETT.

(No. I.)

Royal-Lodge-Gate, Windsor-Park, July 29. My Lord, I have a petition now with me, which I think it, my bounden duty to present in person to His Majesty the King. The law tells me that I have "a right I think it right to add, that the to petition the King:" my own presenting of this petition, thongh judgment tells me that the subject an object, in my estimate of the of my petition is of the greatest matter, fully justifying my request and most pressing importance to ing an audience with the King, the well-being of the King's subwas not the only object that I had jects, and to the tranquillity of in view. My intention was, and, his kingdom. I therefore request indeed, my resolution was, to tell your Lordship to have the goodHis Majesty many things, of ness to apply in that manner of which I am pretty sure he never which you are the best judge, for yet heard one word. It was my permission, that I may, with all resolution to tell him the naked the humility that becomes me, truth, with regard to the measures discharge towards His Majesty which I deem absolutely neces- and my country that sacred duty, sary to be adopted to save the a deep sense of which alone could country from a terrific convulsion. have induced me to give your It was my resolution to tell him Lordship this trouble. upon this subject that which I would have told the Parliament, if I had not been kept out of that Parliament. Now, then, I have done, up to this moment, every thing that it has been in my power to do. There remains but one thing more, at any rate; and that The Most Noble the Marquis one thing I shall endeavour to do in the course of a few weeks; it

I am,
With the greatest respect,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's most obedient
and most humble Servant,
WM. COBBETT.

Conyngham.

(No. II.)

Royal-Cottage-Gate, Windsor-Park,
July 29, (afternoon.),

3832

To His Most Gracious Majesty,
George the Fourth, King of the
United Kingdom of Great Bri-
tain and Ireland.

The Petition of His Ma-
jesty's dutiful subject, Wil-
liam Cobbett, of Kensing-
ton, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, dated this 25th of
July, 1826.

Most humbly shows,

My Lord,-Mr. Dowsett has just informed me that your Lordship, upon receiving the note, which I had the honour this day at noon to address to your Lordship, directed him to tell me, from your Lordship, that you had my note, had my note, and that you were ready to receive any paper that I wished to have 1. That, though your Petitioner delivered to His Majesty; and has, in common with the rest of the that you would, upon being in- people of this kingdom, an unformed of my address in town, doubted right to petition your Macause to be sent to me an answer to any paper that I might leave.

jesty, his profound veneration for I lament exceedingly, my Lord, your Majesty's person and office, his that there should be any obstruc- great fear of being deemed presumption to the presenting of my pe- tuous, together with that diffidence tition to His Majesty. The law, The law, which conscious inability bids him my Lord, the rights of Englishmen, know of no obstruction to feel, would, under circumstances less petitioning the King. However, imperious, have effectually restrainI have done all that I am able to ed him from entertaining the thought do towards the due discharge of of thus approaching your Majesty: my duty, as a faithful subject of His Majesty. I would fain do but that, having recently witnessed more-but I cannot, without an the cruel sufferings, and heard the abandonment of my own rights, bitter complaints of your Majesty's consent to deliver my petition into ingenious, industrious, enterprising, the hands of any person, however respectable, who is the bearer public-spirited, loyal, and every-way of a mere verbal message from your Lordship.

I am,

With the greatest respect,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's most obedient
and most humble Servant,

WM. COBBETT.

The Most Noble the Marquis
Conyngham.

excellent, subjects in the Northern manufacturing counties; having had ample opportunities of ascertaining the causes of those sufferings; having contemplated the imminent public dangers that may arise from the want of relief from sufferings, so acute and irritating in their nature, and pervading such immense numbers of people; having maturely considered of the means of alleviat

ing, the sufferings, and of, at least, | people, it may be truly said, that all lessening the danger; having, for many months, anxiously waited in the vain expectation, that your Majesty's Ministers would adopt some measure of real relief; and, having, at last, reluctantly come, in common with his fellow subjects in general, to the firm persuasion, that those Ministers, either from want of sufficient knowledge in such matters, or from another more easily divined than safely defined cause, have not duly informed your Majesty of the above-mentioned sufferings and dangers, and that they have not in contemplation any remedy commensurate with the magnitude of the evil: knowing these facts, and entertaining these opinions, your humble petitioner could not, without a cowardly abandonment of his duty, refrain from making, though at the risk of incurring the displeasure of your Ministers, this appeal to the wisdom, the justice, the patient attention, the humane and paternal feelings of your Majesty.

those who do not share, directly or indirectly, in the taxes, are, in a greater or a less degree either suf fering, or on the point of suffering; that a great part of the merchants and traders have already been ruined, and that a similar fate is reasonably anticipated by the rest; that, as undeniable proofs of the deplorable state of trade, commerce, and manufactures, there have been, in the last six months, 1641 Bankrupts, being more than in any one former whole year; that the last six months have seen 3392 Inselvent Debtors enter the prison doors, a number more than double that of any former whole year; and that the month of June alone saw 1153 Insolvent Debtors sent to prison, being, in one month a number exceeding that of any whole year until within the four years now last past. That property has long had, and now has, nothing like a fixed and permanent value: that, for a long while past, no man has been able to say whether he had property or not; that mer chandise to an immense amount, imported before last January, has fallen in value one half, after having paid a heavy duty; that a large part

2. That, thus urged on by a sense of duty towards your Majesty and his country, your petitioner will now, with all deference and humility, proceed, FIRST, to endeavour to describe the situation of your unhappy people, of these imported articles have been and especially of those in manufac-sold to foreigners at half the import turing counties; NEXT, to state the causes of their sufferings, and, LASTLY, to point out the means of an immediate mitigation, at least, of these sufferings.

prices; that, having first paid one foreign nation for the raw material, our merchants were compelled to sell the raw material for half the cost, to another foreign nation, thus enabling

3. That, as to the situation of the the latter to manufacture, at our ex