About fifty of the former supporters of Sir Francis Burdett
met on Tuesday evening, at the British Coffeehouse, Charing Cross, " for the purpose of deciding upon the question whether any and what Measures should be taken upon Sir Francis Burdett's letter to the members of Brookes's Club." Among the gentlemen present, were some of the most experienced, and hitherto most stanch supporters of Sir Francis in the Westminster elections. His old friend Mr. De Vear took the chair ; and Mr. Pouncey moved the first resolution, which he thought ought to be adopted as a preliminary one : it was to the effect that the Irish policy of the Government was deserving of approbation and support. Several persons objected to the resolution
as irrelevant to the business in hand ; and Mr. Pouncey did not press it. Mr. Prout then moved the following resolution-
s That it is the opinion of this meeting that the letter from Sir Francis Burdett to the members of Brookes's, recently 'published in the Times newspaper, was written with the intention of dividing the friends of Reform, now happily united fur the put, pose of remedying the melancholy effects of Tory misrule."
He said that it mattered little whether Sir Francis was the originator of the letter, or whether he was merely a tool in the hands of others his moral culpability was equally great, and equally a matter for the consideration of his constituents. He had himself been an ardent ad- mirer of Sir Francis Burdett ; and it made his heart bleed to see him desert his friends and his principles. Mr. Chariwood seconded the motion. Sir Francis had got in at the last election to keep out a Tory, but he would not be elected again on any terms.
Mr. Fearon characterized the letter of Sir Francis as mischievous and lamentable. It was no hasty outbreak of passion, but coolly and deliberately planned and composed ; and inserted in a Tory newspaper with a hostile purpose against the present Ministry. He wished the following resolution to be substituted for Mr. Prout's.
" That whilst we bear in grateful remembrance the past long and important services of Sir Francis Burdett, we feel called upon to declare our regret, astonishment, and utter disapproval of his recent letter to Brookes's Club in relation to Mr. O'Connell,— a publication, as it appears to us, alike uncalled for and disingenuous; and looking at the peculiar circumstances of it. and of the parties iu the State, we consider the letter as one of unmixed evil, from the aid which it is calculated to give to a faction which now is, and ever has been, arrayed in active and bitter hostility to the rights and liberties of the British people."
Mr. Pouncey said, it was with the greatest reluctance that be had consented to the nomination of Sir Francis Burdett at the last election. Ile especially disapproved of his applying the term " idolater " to Mr. O'Connell. He then withdrew his resolution.
Mr. Michie remarked upon an expression of Sir Francis, that his life had been "a life of indiscretion "- When Sir Francis Burdett said that his had been a life of indiscretion, did he mean to assert that the principles which he had advocated in the earlier part of his life were erroneous? Or did he mean to imply that he was not sincere in supporting them? If this was not the case, why did not Sir Francis Bur.. dett, the former champion and advocate of Annual Parliaments, Universal Suffrage, and the Ballot, now endeavour to carry those principles and plans into effect? Sir Francis, however, had been strangely sluggish since the Reform Bill, and particularly so during the last year. He had not given a single vote on the popular side; and would it not therefore be better at once to come to some understanding with Sir Francis Burdett as to whether he intended to continue to represent them ? Merely abstaining from voting for the Speaker was not sufficient the Electors of Westminster expected from their Repre- sentatives an efficient support of public liberty. Mr. Pouncey objected to the word "disingenuous " in the resolution : the great fault of Sir Francis was being too open, and not sufficiently circumspect. As to his having turned Tory, be had reason to believe that Sir Francis was at this time using great exertions in favour of the ...1form candidate in Northamptonshire.
e resolution was agreed to.
'Mr. Prout then moved-.
'That this meeting, almost all of whom supported Sir Francis Burdett at the last liiction, being fully persuaded that the said letter has entirely failed in its object, abstain from calling a. general meeting of the constituency on the subject: but they cannot contemplate his conduct without experiencing great pain and indignation; for if upon this occasion he has not suffered himself to become the dupe of a faction whose pernicious coutrit sores he so often has exposed to public scorn, it follows that he must have become an apostate to that cause which he taught us to revere ; so that in one case lie ',resents an imbecility of mind and purpose, or in the other a corrupt intention; either of which unfits him for a Representative of the city of Westminster.",
Mr. Kemp said, that be had been one of a deputation from the parish of St. James's to Sir Francis ; who had certainly not received them in the most civil manner. In answer to one observation, Sir Francis said, " he had been always a Tory ;" that he had been always opposed to the Ballot ; that he would not support the Municipal Bill ; and that the Reform Bill was a good " final measure." He had been told by a near connexion of Sir Francis, that the change in his con- duct was attributable to the influence obtained over him by Mr. George Sinclair, Member for Caithness !
The resolution was agreed to ; as was also another pledging the meeting to energetic measures to prevent the reelection of Sir Francis.
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