troubled state of certain parts of the.. United Kingdom, be used immediately before the Litany; and when the Litany shall not be read, before the prayer for all conditions of men; in all cathedral, collegiate, and parochial churches and chapels in England and Ireland, as soon as the ministers thereof shall receive the same. England, call them "stupid," call them A Form of Prayer, on account of the "brutal;" only let this people have their rights, and you may dance back again to your own delightful land of To burgoo and of bannocks of barley meal. The band of botheration reporthers may dance off too; for, down comes the monopolizing fraud on which they fatten, and which drenches them with gin and beer. All these hordes of vile vermin have been fed by the toil of the working people of England; and these people will feed them no longer, for "O God, our Heavenly Father, who which they would hang them all if they "art rich in mercy and grace towards could. So sure as this is paper that I" all who obey thy will, and hast proam writing on, so sure are the facts," mised forgiveness and remission of that it is the taxing system that has "sins to them that truly repent, and brought these lazy locusts into England" unfeignedly believe thy holy Gospel, to devour the produce of the people's we humbly beseech thee to look with labour; and that, if that system be" compassion on thy servants, and rechanged, these vermin must go to work"lieve their affliction. We have sinor decamp. This is the cause why they "ned, we have grievously sinned, and are, to a man, the enemies of a real transgressed thy holy laws: we conreform of the parliament; all of them," fess our iniquity, we lament our unwithout a single exception. And how worthiness, and meekly acknowledge, they hate the best part of the labourers; " that by our manifold offences, we and how they hate the Prestonians!" have justly provoked thy wrath: yet No accounts did they give of the glo- "deal not with us, O Lord, according rious election. Not a word of the" to the multitude of our transgresspeeches! But the term of the vaga- "sions, but in judgment remember bonds draws to a close. The English mercy. For thy dear Son's sake, O labourers will no longer live upon pota-"Lord, give ear to our prayer, and toes, and in that resolution the all-de-" withdraw thy chastening hand from vouring vermin hear their doom! THE PRAYER. "us. 66 To thee alone we look for de"liverance; without thy help and di"rection the power and wisdom of man "are of no avail. Restore, O Lord, to "thy people the quiet enjoyment of the many and great blessings which we have received from thy bounty: defeat and frustrate the malice of wick"ed and turbulent men, and turn their It is this day ordered by their Lordships, that his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Can- "hearts: have pity, O Lord, on the terbury do prepare forms of prayers to Al" simple and ignorant, who have been mighty God, on account of the troubled state" led astray, and recall them to a sense of certain parts of the United Kingdom : At the Council-chamber, Whitehall, the 24th December, 1830, present the Lords of" His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, "of their duty and to persons of all "ranks and conditions in this country, "vouchsafe such a measure of thy grace, that our hearts being filled with true faith and devotion, and cleansed from all evil affections, we may serve thee with one accord, in duty and loyalty to the king, in "obedience to the laws of the land, "and in brotherly love towards each "other; and that, pressing constantly" therein? I will turn your feasting "forward towards the high prize of our "into mourning, saith the Lord God, "heavenly calling, under the guidance" and your songs into lamentations." "of thy Holy Spirit, we may finally Here is nothing about potatoes, to be "attain to life everlasting, through the sure, cold or hot. The poor Israelites had "merits and mediation of our only not come down to this heel-swelling, "Redeemer and Advocate, Jesus Christ paunch-stuffing, soul-degrading root; "our Lord. Amen." they thought it bad enough to have been brought to the "refuse of the wheat;" but, if a curse was due (and if not due God would not have inflicted it); if a curse was due for this; if the land was to tremble for this, what must we expect, when not only the poor, but the labourers in a body, are reduced to live on beustly roots, in a land abounding with wheat and with meat? 66 "O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus "Christ, our only Saviour, the Prince "of Peace, give us grace seriously "to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. "Take away all hatred and prejudice, "and whatsoever else may hinder us "from godly union and concord: that, as there is but one body, and one spirit, and one hope of our calling, "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one “God and Father of us all, so we may " henceforth be all of one heart and of "one soul, united in one holy bond of "truth and peace, of faith and charity, "and may with one mind, and one "mouth, glorify thee, through Jesus "our Lord. Amen." TREVOR AND POTATOES. TREVOR is reported to have brought forward his motion on Thursday, the 23rd of December, the day on which the great "omnipotent" House adjourned. Owing to the scandalous unfairness of the reporthers, or their masA very proper prayer for those whom ters, almost the whole of Mr. BULWER'S it concerns. Now, men may say what SPEECH is omitted in the report. I they like about evils, but, will any-body shall, however, take the whole of the call that an evil which has produced debate as I find it in the newspapers. piety such as is evinced in this prayer? I look on it as a publication, and as Amongst the rest of us, the BOROUGH-Such I shall comment on it: and thus I MONGERS Will, I hope, have found their find it in the Bloody Old Times of the hearts softened; they who, ever since 24th of December: I can recollect, seem not to have been 66 66 “COBBETT'S REGISTER. afraid of hell-fire, do, one would hope, "Mr. TREVOR, pursuant to his nobegin to tremble now. The AncH-" tice of motion, rose for the purpose of BISHOP (to whom, however, I beg leave " submitting certain passages from a humbly to present my thanks for what" weekly paper, entitled Cobbett's Rehe has done) might aptly enough have "gister, to the consideration of the introduced the following passage from" House, conceiving that in so doing he the Prophet Amos, chap. viii. ver. 4 was only doing his duty to his counto 10: Hear this, O ye that swallow" try, which such a course, in his opin"up the needy, even to make the poor ion, was calculated to serve. At the "of the land to fail: saying, When" same time he could not help regretting "will the new moon be gone that we" that some older, or more efficient "may sell corn? And the Sabbath," Member had not undertaken what he, "that we may set forth wheat, making "however sincere in his good inten"the Ephah small and the Shekel great, "tions, was so inadequate to discharge. "and falsifying the balances by deceit; "The writer to whom he alluded had "that we may buy the poor for silver, put forth a series of inflammatory "and the needy for a pair of shoes;“ addresses, the purport of which was "yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?" unquestionable, whether they were “Shall not the land tremble for this;" defensible in law or liable to punish"and every one mourn that dwelleth"ment. A few extracts from the 66 66 66 "it was befitting a just minister to ex-* "number which he had particularly se- "stance, and concluded by asking whe"lected would, he trusted, sufficiently "ther he might not, exclaim in the lan"satisfy the House of the pernicious "guage of Cicero, Quousque tandem tendency of this publication, circulat-" abatere patientiá nostra? In the opin'ing, as it principally did, amongst the "ion of the illustrious Edmund Burke, "artisans and labouring class of the "and he might also add Lord Grenville, "community. A clergyman in Suf-"whose lamepted infirmities had so long "folk had most judiciously issued a "prevented him from participating in "circular amongst his parishioners," public affairs, it was to such publica"setting before the lower orders the "tions that the first French revolutim "inevitable ruin which they were bring-"might be mainly attributed. He was no "ing upon themselves by their viola-" enemy to the liberty of the press, for the "tion of the law, and was therefore" press was the most eligible vehicle of "vituperated in the most scandalous " public opinion, and exercised a whole66 language by this licentious pasqui- some control over the actions of men in "nader, who, in the same paragraph, power; but when unworthily directed, "traced the reduction of tithes to the" he might too truly say of it,-corruptio "resistance of the labourers and the in- "omnium pessima est. To the unfortunate "fluence of the fires. He (Mr. Trevor)" and infatuated violators of the law "ventured to appeal to the good sense "of the House whether such arguments "could be penned for any purpose but "that of exciting the population to "disturbance and discontent. In re"ference to Cambridge, this writer ance. As he had shown, there could "had further asserted that the magis- "be no mistake as to the libellous and "tracy and landed interest had never "seditious tendency of the paragraphs "thought of relieving the poor until the "to which he had called the attention "fires were kindled, and the labourers "of the house, and in thus bringing 66 rose. He admitted that the acts in" them substantively under its consider"which the labourers were engaged" ation, he felt that he had done his "must be considered in themselves un- Iduty. It lay with the House to delawful; but added, that that body "termine the future course of proceedwere starving, and that it was no "ing, whether it should be referred to "crime to take by force wherewithal to the Government, or that the Attorneysupport nature, when the labourer" General should be ordered to pro"and his family were compelled to live" ceed with a prosecution, or any other on less than was held necessary for "remedy which in its wisdom it might "the sustenance of a common soldier." sanction. The hon. Member concluded "In proof of the gentle spirit exhibited" with moving a resolution to the effect, "by the people in all their distresses, he" that the publication entitled COB"instanced the case of two overseers in " BETT'S REGISTER, of the 11th of De"Sussex, whom they contented them-" cember, contained a malicious and "selves with trundling out of the pa- "scandalous libel on the authorities of "rish, when, had they been sanguinary," the state, incompatible with the pro"they might have murdered them in "ceedings of the Government, and a "their beds. He insisted, moreover, 66 gross and unicarrantable attack on the "that every one, except the infamous" Members of the church by law estastock-jobbers, acknowledged that the "blished, the tendency of which was perpetrators of the late outrages subversive of the laws, and conducive "were doing nothing but what they" to anarchy and delusion. 66 66 66 "ought to have done. The honourable "Mr. G. PRICE was understood to "Gentleman read from the Register" second the resolution. "a series of paragraphs, of which the "Mr. BULWER was opposed to the foregoing sentences are the sub-" hon. Member's motion. He thought 66 (hear), it would refer the matter to "their discretion, and accordingly with"hold its assent to the motion. (Hear.) "For himself individually, and for his 66 "there was no need, under the existing" of course adopt the hon. Member's "system of libel law to urge the law "resolution. But if, on the other hand, "officers of the Crown to prosecute for "it did place confidence in the present "political offences; and would rather" ministry (hear), and he trusted it did "see Attorney-Generals seeking to as "much as possible avoid such prosecutions than too zealous in instituting "them. Besides, in the present state " of the public mind, such a prosecution" colleagues, he hoped they should de"as the hon. Member's resolution point- "serve the support and confidence of "ed at would be as impolitic as ill-" Parliament, by not neglecting their "timed, apart from other considerations, duty, even when it led them to call "most weighty as they appeared to upon the law officers of the Crown to "him; for unless ministers succeeded" interfere in cases of libel. He hoped "in obtaining a verdict, the mischief" that they would get credit for not "would be aggravated; and it might" willingly having, as it were, called "not be a very easy matter just now to upon the Attorney-General to institute "obtain a verdict. The proper correc- "prosecutions for political offences, and "tive was an improved state of the pub- "that it would be left to their discretion “he mind, and that was to be only at-" to say what offences should, and what "tained by the diffusion of sound know-" should not, be thus prosecuted. (Hear.) "ledge, which again depended on an "As to the publication referred to by "impeded circulation of opinion. In the hon. Member for Romney, he "saying this, he was not the apologist" would not then offer an opinion. He "of the abuses of the press; all that he "would studiously abstain, and he "meant was, that prosecution was not thought it the duty of every hon. "the most efficient remedy, and that" Member also to abstain-from pre"the dissemination of useful instruc-"judging the question by an opinion on “tion was. "its merits. He would, he repeated, 66 The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER" offer no opinion whatever with refer"would not detain the House many mi-"ence to the tendency of the publication. "nutes on the present occasion. It was" Nor would he say whether it was or "not only his own opinion, but that of" was not one of those offences which "the best judges, that it was more expe- "the Attorney-General had been called "dient to leave the question of prosecu- upon to prosecute; but he would say, "tion in cases similar to that just sub-" that to adopt the hon. Member's mo"mitted to the House by the hon. Mem- tion would be to prejudge the ques"ber for Romney, to the discretion of" tion, and so far impede the adminis"the Government, than that they should" tration of justice and defeat the end "be thus entertained by the House." the hon. Member may have proposed "(Hear.) Undoubtedly occasions might" to himself. (Hear, hear.) Besides, there "present themselves in which the" was no precedent-at least for the last "House might inquire into the neces- "50 years-for such a motion: that is, "sity of a prosecution by the law-" for the House's anticipating, as it "officers of the Crown of writings of a" were, the functions of the Attorney"libellous or seditious tendency; but" General unless in cases affecting its own " even then he held that it would be the immediate privileges. In such cases, “better course not to inquire till after" but in such cases only, could the "the prosecution had been instituted" House be justified, on principle and "or wholly declined by the Govern-"precedent, to assume its right and "ment. If the House did not place" power of interference. But the pre"confidence in the present Government, sent was no such case, and therefore " and therefore felt that it should take" should not be entertained by it. (Hear, "upon itself the duties which properly" hear.) He begged to be understood as “devolved on the executive, it would not questioning the abstract right 66 66 "and power of the House's interfering "House, to withdraw his motion. "in cases like that then before it, if so "(Hear, hear.) thought fit and expedient; but as "Mr. G. PRICE also would suggest only deprecating the necessity and to his honourable Friend the expolicy of its then exercising that right" pediency of withdrawing his motion, "and power. (Hear.) If he was right" and leaving the matter in the hands of "that, as a general principle, it was" the Government. "better to leave it to the discretion of "Lord NORREYS said, one of the "ministers whether prosecutions should" most powerful engines by which the or should not be instituted for politi- promoters of sedition operated on the "cal offences in ordinary times, it was" minds and passions of their deluded "still more so in the existing state of "victims, was the distressed state of "the public mind. (Hear, hear.) Let" the country. He did hope his Ma"the House consider how-supposing "jesty's Ministers would during the "that a prosecution should be insti-" recess give the matter their most se"tuted the decision might be influ-"rious attention, that they would find "enced by the previous discussion of a some effectual and adequate measures "necessarily popular assembly. (Hear.)" for relieving the distressed state of "Would it not be impossible but that" agriculture, and that by placing some "the opinions which would be elicited" legislative check against the too free "in the course of the discussion in that" admission of foreign materials, they "House, on the present publication "would afford protection to trade and "for example-would interfere with agriculture, Let the House alleviate "the due administration of justice, sup- "(at least attempt to alleviate) the disposing it was afterwards to be refer- tress, so general in its consequences, "red to a jury? (Hear, hear.) Would" and so universal in its extent. Let not, in fact, such prejudging of the "them show that they were not unquestion be productive of the most" mindful of the difficulties of the mischievous consequences to the ends" country, and the promoters of sedition "of justice? (Hear, hear.) He trusted," would in vain circulate their poison"then, that the House would not open ous and inflammatory pamphlets. "the door to such mischievous conse- "Mr. A. TREVOR said, that in "quences by laying down the precedent" bringing this subject before the House "of the present motion. As, however," he had only been actuated by a sense "he was not disposed to offer a decided" of duty. Nothing could have been negative to the hon. Member's propo- "farther from his intention than to emsition, he would adopt the course "barrass the Government; and he usually followed under such circum-" could, perhaps, give no better proofstances, and pass on to the order of "of the sincerity with which he said "the day, by moving the previous" so, than by withdrawing his motion. "question. (Hear, hear.) "(Hear, hear.) 66 66 Mr. CROKER begged leave to sug- "The motion was accordingly with<< gest to his honourable Friend, after" drawn. "the declarations of the noble Lord A GENERAL FAST. "opposite, that the Attorney-General "Mr. PERCEVAL said I rise to "had been ordered to institute pro-"give notice, that immediately after "secutions for some political offences; "the recess I shall move that an ad"and as the interests of justice would "dress be presented to His Majesty, "be more promoted by leaving the in-" praying that His Majesty will be gra"stitution of such prosecutions to the "ciously pleased to appoint a day for a "discretion of Ministers, the responsi-"general fast"ble authorities; and above all, as in "Several hon. Members.-A general "the present excited state of the public" what? "mind there might be great danger "Mr. PERCEVAL continued. —A "from a hostile discussion in that" general fast throughout the kingdom. |