TRIUMPIL OF WnsriarxsrEn.—About five-and-twenty years ago, a gen- tleman named
Paul, who afterwards cut his throat, fought a duel with
Sir Francis Burdett, in consequence of a dispute arising out of some po-
litical discussions. Sir Francis was wounded, and for some time his con- dition NVILS considered alarming. At. that time, a public-spirited indivi-
dual named Brookes occupied the coffeehouse now Offley's, in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. Whither the idea was his own or a borrowed one, certain it is that Sam Brookes was the first to suggest, while Sir Francis was still confined to his bed, that the electors of Westminster
should of themselves choose him for their member. Mr. Brookes men- tioned his plan to his friends, his friends to their friends, until it became a parish, and soon a city affair ; and Sir Francis was chosen accordingly. This was, we believe, the first instance in the modern history of repre- sentation, in which a body of electors had fairly, and uninfluenced by any consideration whatever but the public services of the candidate, chosen a representative not only without pay, hut without canvass, with out solicitation. Westminster did nobly, but it was perhaps too forward in the race. The rest of England was not in a fitting state to follow. For many years its conduct procured it more enemies than imitators. Had Sir Francis Burdett been returned for the first tune last year, the empire would have rung with the exploit ; but a quarter of a century having now intervened since that event, those who are now reaping the glorious harvest, like Crusoe when his first crop appeared, have wholly forgotten, if they ever knew, the happy accident which dropped the pre- cious seed. It is not the less true, however,—and it ought to be en- graven on tablets more durable than brass, for the encouragement of future patriots,—that WESTMINSTER RESCUED ITSELF FROM CORRUPTION nv rrs PERSEVERANCE, AND ENGLAND BY ITS EXAMPLE. Four-and-twenty years ago, it was an ungracious, if not a dangerous task, to attend at the annual celebration of the triumph of honest Sam Brookes's project. He who looked for the smiles of power would hardly appear among the Westminster electors on any occasion, but least of all on that. Since the peace, exsept on a few occasions of temporary excitement, what seemed a worser fate threatened the "purity of election" meeting— the neglect of the people. Many of the old men, who remembered the glory of the first assemblings, had died out, and no one came forward to supply their place. At the Crown and Anchor last year, scarcely above a hundred assembled. The night crept on chilly and dull. Every man was inclined to ask his neighbour" What do we here ?" Had it not been for O'Connell—an Irishman from the wilds of Kerry, with his brogue and his bravery—it seemed as though the audience would have gone to sleep. We attended the twenty-fourth anniversary on Monday, but a change had in the interval come o'er the spirits of men. Long before the hour of dinner, the tables were filled ; before the worthy Chairman and his supporters took their seats, additional accommodation became necessary. There were no listless looks, no weariness of the soul ; every eye was lighted up, every face was cheerful, every voice was hale—the cheers ! it would have done a foxhunter good to listen to their depth and melody. The Reform Bill had been there. The electors of Westminster were no longer like men groping in the dark ; the dayspring had visited them, and the glorious object of their toils and their wishes stood full in view and within their grasp. There were several little peculiarities in the meeting that
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took t out from all that had preceded it. The name of the Sovereign was received with four times four and one cheer more. This was not all the band struck up the national anthem, but was instantly silenced—the air was sung, and the whole company as one man pealed in chorus. A yet more remarkable incident was the toasting, amidst the most unequivocal and hearty applause, the health of his Majesty's Ministers—a toast, we be- lieve, never before drunk on any similar occasion. Old Mr. Sturch, in proposing the health of Sir Francis Burdett, read the handbill published by the Committee of which he was a trietnher on the occasion of Sir Francis's first election.* Four-and-le:et) t y ytettos conStititte a large pOtf; tiott of man's existence : matt)! or tl; ose tilat ri.j..ittetl with Sir Francis in, his early career have long been slumbering on that bed of rest where erei! boroughmongers do not trouble. Yet there were Reformers in the Crown and Anchor on Monday, whose patriotic course was half-way rum before " Westminster's glory ' had dawned. Among these was orel Hardy, a confessor in the cause of liberty with Tooke and Thelwath—a man who, forty years ago, was tried for his life as a traitor, beeause he honestly held by the principles which King William and his Cabinet nowt sanction by their approbation, and to which England has set her seal thae they are true. Before another anniversary arrive, those principles will be the law of England ; and the patriots of Westminster, having fought the good fight, may hang up their arms in the tomple of national' liberty, to the erection of which their labours have so essentially contri- buted.
* As this handbill has now become a curious historical document, we shall place' it on the file of the SPECTATOR pages. " To the Independent Electors of Westminster—G entlemen, a glorious occasion presents itself of serving the cause of freedom and our country ; of rescuing this an- cient city from disgrace ; and, at the same time, of dolug ourselves honour. Lee us recollect for a moment the mode by which the Members of the House of Com- mons were returned in purer times ; before corruption bad made it the interest of individuals to obtain a seat in that assembly. The honest electors of those days did not suffer themselves to be coaxed, and wheedled, or bribed, to give their votes to unprincipled candidates, who, with fair promises in their months, had nothing at heart but to serve their own selfish purposes. No—they assembled as became freemen, and sent to Parliament the men of their choice, to be their real represen- tatives. Gentlemen, let us do likewise. Let us embrace the opportunity we now have of freely electing a man, who, beyond all other men now living, has proved himself worthy of our confidence as the determined foe of corruption, and the firm friend of freedom and humanity ; who solicits no vote for himself, and who is unsupported by, and unconnected with, any powerful party. Which of us, Gentlemen, upon such an occasion, can be so base, so false to himself, as to wait to be canvassed ? Let the glorious act be our own ! het us draw the eyes of the whole kingdom upon us; let us set a noble example to mankind I Let us, as one man, proceed immediately to the hustings, and secure the return of Sir Francis .Burdett. Let us convince the world that his great and disinterested exertions, in and out of Parliament, are recollected with gratitude—that his meritorious sacrifices of time, and health, and property, for our sakes, are not forgotten; and that we are determined to have, at least, one man in the House of Commons who will he the fearless advocate of justice, and through whom the voice of the people may be heard?'
DISTRESS IN IoEsaxn.—A meeting took place on Thursday, in the great room at Exeter Hall, for the purpose of adopting measures for the relief of the sufferers in Mayo and the West coast of Ireland. Lord Lorton was in the chair. 'We give a few extracts from the letters and
documents read on the occasion.
" When I recollect," says a letter from Sligo, " that to-morrow is
only the 1st of April, I look forward with horror to the state of this country in two or three months, judging from what I witnessed yester- day. The beach between Inniscrone and Pulocherry was quite covered with women, picking the common black sea-weed off the rocks, which, I am told, they carry home to the mountains and boil for food, to eke out their few remaining potatoes. What is to become of them in June or July, I know not. I think when the tide was out, there could not have• been less than three thousand persons employed as I have stated.'" Another letter from an eye-witness has the following remarks—" You will see by my letter to * * * * the sad state of poor flosses at this mos- ment ; and I am sorry to say, the famine is very general over the king:. dom. I could tell you tales of suffering which would harrow up your soul; but suffice it to say, the family (named Noonan) that you found ill in the cellar in Sr. Giles's were in comparative comfort to many that I know of here ; they are lying all swelled from hunger, as if ill of dropsy, unable to leave their wretched homes, with all their children cry. ing for hunger round them. Both description and imagination fall far short of the dreadful reality." The petition from the island of Arramnore states —" The petitioners, consisting of about three hundred families, and not less than one thousand persons, are at this moment in a state of desola- tion and starvation, from the visitation of two succeeding bad seasons, being totally destitute of any sort of provisions to subsist on, their children staring them in the face with hunger., ;it'd not having the means to relieve their wants ; and which has been the case for a con- siderable time, with the exception of a small portion of barley-meal mixed with sea-weed, which is now consumed. That the seed which they intended to have sown in their ground was also had recourse to, to keep them from starvation. That they slow humbly lay before a feeling and generous public their total impossibility to crop their lands in this year without aid and relief; the consequence of which will be misery, starvation, and death, to all those who may survive the present visita- tion, and live to encounter the difficulties of the ensuing year."
It might have been supposed, that with these most afflicting details of human suffering before them, and met for the benevolent purpose of in in some degree removing a calamity which addresses itself equally to the sympathies of all men,—that, so meeting, even the clergymen that at- - tended might for a time have laid aside their party zeal ; but it seems the peculiar privilege of Ireland never to come into a room, or to be sub- mitted to a company, directly or indirectly, without the exhibition of • some notable folly. The meeting was proceeding pretty smoothly in the path of charity,until a Reverend Mr. Armstrong rose, and after enume- rating some dreadful scenes of distress, went on to propound his nos- trums, not for aiding the famishing peasantry, but for the regeneration of Ireland ; of which the crowning one was, of course, the conversion of the Catholics,—as if there was no such a thing as ph ysicAuffering where Protestanisin was the dominant faith. The effect of this introduction of the eternal bone of contention, may be easily imagined. A gentleman from the midst of the Hall rose to address the Chair, amidst great tumult and confusion ; but the Chair would not interrupt the regular order of proceeding, and he was compelled to sit down. Another rose on the hustings; but neither would theChair hearhim. The resolution moved by Mr. Armstrong having been put, the speaker in the body of the Hall again rose ; but Lord Lorton would not hear him until the business was over. He said he had an amendment to move ; but his Lordship was inexor- able. A Reverend Mr. Dalton rose next, to tell the company that the souls of Roman Catholics were in very great danger. Sir John Burke rose to order ; but the Chairman refused to hear any thing about order, until the business was over. The Marquis of Clanricarde interposed ; but in vain. A dozen of persons rose ; but Lord Lorton would listen to none of them until the business was over. Sir R. O'Donnel was at lengt& beard, it being his turn. He deprecated the introduction of controver- sial subjects. After Sir Richard, Sir John Burke's turn came ; and then the Reverend Mr. Dalton took a second turn. He was proceeding So enforce thetopics of his first, when he was sharply called to order by the Honourable G. Noel. Mr. Armstrong rose to reply ; but his turn bad not come. The pious Eneas, as his countrymen call him, then ad- dressed the Chair. After he sat down, a company of orators, headed by a respectable old lady, rose to speak. The lady declared herself ashamed of her sex ; what the gentlemen were ashamed of, or if they were ashamed of tiny thing, did not appear. The confusion and noise rose at length beyond lordly sufferance ; and the noble chairman walked away. At the commencement of the meeting, a third donation of 50/. from the Dudiess of Kent, and one of 1001. from the Duke of Devonshire, were announced. Are there not half a dozen of men of common sense and humanity in all London, that the strong case of the Mayo sufferers should be abandoned to the mismanagement of such a pack of imbeciles ?
Tse RAJAH RAM MOUUN.—This celebrated foreigner was introduced So the members of the Unitarian Association at their meeting on Wed- y; when he briefly addressed them. The Chronicle gives the fol- lowing report of his speech. He said "he had been too unwell and too winch exhausted, to take an active part in the business of the day. He was ranch indebted to Dr. Curtland, to his friend Dr. Bowring, and to the Society, for the honour they had done him in calling him a fellow- labourer, and in admitting him to their Association as a brother. But be was not aware of what he had done for the cause of truth, which shoukt give him a claim to their thanks. Whatever he had done was far his own salvation. He believed in almost all the doctrines of Christianity ; but he was not conscious of having done any thing to merit the gratitude and praise of that meeting. If he had done any it must be very trifling. The Hindoos and Brahmins, to whom he was related, were all opposed to the doctrines which he advocated. But Christians in India were more hostile to his principles and those of the Society, even than Hindoos and Brahmins; and he found still greater hostility amongst Christians in this country. They abhor Unitarianism and simple truth, because they loved mystery, and were pleased with mystical forms of religious worship. If, however, the sys- tem of the Unitarians were true, it would infallibly prevail ; for truth always prevails notwithstanding the opposition which it met with. The Unitarians' system seemed to him to be simple, and to have common sense on its side. They had reason, Scripture, and common sense in their favour ; but wealth, power, and prejudice were struggling with those other three. He believed, however, that the success of their cause with the advancement of knowledge was certain." The Rajah speaks English with ease and fluency ; ' he was loudly cheered at his entrance, and at the close of his address. He is a good-looking man, and wore the Oriental costume. He was apparently suffering under indisposition; his tones were feeble and low in consequence.
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