THE NATIONAL REGISTER. 222 Jso trifling a douccur ? Alessrs. Barber and Sons, of Cowper's .Court, in Cornhilh cleared (poly " Ask me no questions," exclaim the children, 4- and tell Sou eo stories." Ito can blame poor Mr. Devaynes, as one of the East-India Directors,•for declining to give in any written account of his. patronising presentations ? It is the boast of our laws; and the right of those who claim them. that no man is forced to criminate hiinseif. We demand no j'ao-de 7 se evidence. Why therefore arr..ign even Sir Frauds Baring, merely because be did not like the test of calling for certain Declarations by affidavit? What signifies it if,Mr.Jackson, with an antiquated -perverseness of mind, exploded integrity, is "tilled with horror t the nunal depravity exhibited throughout the whole of" the Report of the Select Committee ! Complain he may, but it is of no use, if the majority a ho, in the year ISO°, overruled, " not by the fairest means," the propositions then submitted for " the suppression of patronage." 0, these invincible majorities! Mr. Baselei, become so notorious by the evidence of Mrs. Clarke, is not, it should seem, tire only clerical trafficker. Here is no less than the Rev. Thomas Lloyd, Chaplain to his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, who obtains one nomination through the interest of his- Royal Highness, and another from Sir Lionel Dove!), both of. which he contrives to sell. Well ! 60 it is, as the poet singeth, that When natintisare to perish in their sins, 'Tis in the church the leprosy begins. Lloyd, indeed, entirely transcends Basely. Basely wanted to purchase some little ecclesiastical distinction for himself; but Lloyd appears as vender of more•than one secular promotion to others. ' There are still parts of this Report of the Select Committee, which eminently solicit attention. How came it, Gentlemen, as the Report states it to have been, and as Mr: Randall Jackson now deplores, that, in June 1500, an Amendmeut subversive of .all inquiry into abuses, and especially calculated to counteract the result of inquisitions previously instituted—how came it, let me ask, that this measure, when the votes were equal on both sides, was, nevertheless, directly, or indirectly, carried by bal lot? Is it from this memorable transaction, that we are to col lect our opinion of 'the wonted honour and consummate integrity of the Councils of Leaden Hall ? Facts are stubborn things; and, when coupled with dates, they are sometimes irresistable. After the abuses which this Report of the Select Committee discloses, can we read without some feeling of horror, as Mr. Jackson felt on hearing it, the following Form of Certificate usually signed by the Nearest of ti in to each Cadet ?—" Ido further declare that I received ae said appointment for my son, gratnitons4, and that no money or oater valuable consideration has been or is to be paid, either directly or indirectly, for the same ; and that .1 mil: not pay, or CaUNC to be paid, either by my self, by my son, or by the hands of any other person, any pecu niary or valuable consideration whatsoever, to any person or per sons who have interested themselves in procuring such nomination for my son from the Director above-mentiontd." I f it be only from compassion to their present private convictions, I shall lAN bear citing the names of those respectable individuals, •` good men," who seem to have thought nothing of falsifying their own consciences, by dishonestly signing such Certificates to the East- India Company ! Excellently is it remarked, by the Select Committee, that, " where solemn declarations have been habi tnally disregarded, little reliance can .be placed upon the sanc tion of any other species of asseveration. Instances," they add, 44 occur, but too frequently, where an oath comes to he considered merely as part of the official form by which an ap pointment is conferred ; and the human mind, fertile in self-de ception, accomodate.; itself with onderful facility to.overcoming all scruples, or app:ies a perverse ingenuity to evading restric tiow, which stand ill the way of present Intetest." Perhaps, how ever, these good soul . ; really concluded with the pious liadibras, that Ile Oita Daposes an oath makes it Not he that, for convenience, tak 'Knowing therefore sotnething of fallible hum; much, I am not, Gentlemen, , disposed to be unf rious as to the particular dilemma to which , eems now reduced. Some insight into =akin purchased, does not, let me proudly say, mutt to the imperfections of my fellow-creatures. . still do I feel, and ever do I hope to feel, with • Tis vain to seek in man for more Om I an yet induced to hope, Gentlemen, from you to severity of any kind, that you will not Ivti' mendation, though made •to you even by the tending to deprive those of your servants of sue purchased, under your patronage itself, by .the tions.—Would this uwasare he really fair ? if, res•4lve on vacating al! purchased appointment take care that• something is done with our Lady Leighs, with -a IteV. Mr, Lloyd, or 4orii and Sons, or our " first cousin" Woodford, or a Mr. Palm wr din, or Mr. Donovan, or a Mr. Garrat; or a Mr. Shoe, with their (S.e. &c. Justice, though blind, dined still he even handed. While you, Gentlemen, are throwing patronage into one of her scales, do Lot forget to load the other w ith corrup tion, There seems reason to suspect, Gentlemen, that some of you will not highly approve what is said. by the Select Committee,. towards the close of their Report, about its " not.bcing unrea sonable to curtail the patronage of those rim have not been styli-, ciently watchful in the disposal of it." What say you.,'{ientle .men, to this proposed docking of patronage? Oh the prancing horse patronage, how ditrPrent will be his air when they shall have deprived him of the length of his tail, and the flow iugncss of his mane ! April Ist, 1809. hove. What does Mr. Lowndes mean, when he talked some thing about what he calls " surplus patronage" ; and this, " after the Directors had provided for their own .Families?" Well indeed, if such be the fact, might Mr. Lowndes impute " the late corruptions to excess and repletion of the article !" How just is also the recommendation of the Select 'Committee, severe as to some few men it will appear, " to curtail this pa- .ronage" altogether! What true claim have the Directors of the East-India Company, excepting as to connection, to pro vide At all for their own Ninnies, if such practice tends, in any case ) to the et:elusion of in9re meritorious applicants ? WESTMINSTER MEETING. At 12 o'clock on Wednesday a vast concourse began to assem-. ble in Westminster Hall, in consequence of the notice given by advertisement for the inhabitant-householders of 1S estininsier to meet to consider of the recent investigation into the conduct of the late Commander in Chief. At one o'clock, Arthur Morris, Esq. the High Bailitf of Westminster, took the Chair, attended by Sir Francis Burdett, Mr. Whitbread, and a numerous loviv of Electors. The requisition for convening the Meeting having been read from the ('hair, Mr. Swell said it was impossible for the inhabitants of West minster not to come forward on such an occasion. The eves of the whole kingdom were upon them. Their local situation gave them an opportunity, beyond others, of knowing, that the abuses which Mr. Wardle had so successfully exposed had existed for a series of years; and knowing as they did that such abuses pre vailed, they could not b s yt feel additional gratitude to that Gen tleman who had now laid them open to the indignation of the vOmle united empire —Owl applause). Ile was persuaded, that there was not a single town in the United Kingdom which was not convinced of the improper conduct of the late c oul _ mander in Chief, and witich would not adopt the 'sentiments with which he was conlident that Meeting was impressed. if Par liament had not expressed what, he was sure, were the sruti , inents of the people at large, how could that he accouffied for, but that the House of Cumulous were mot the actual Itepte:eil- t; Yes it ! •• nanity, by far too forgivingly censo. II your patronage ud, 'pretty ckarly tier me inexorable Lung have I felt, - Dr.. Iroting, that an man. ur kno%rn aversion ily adopt a recom- ielect Committee, eh . places -us e re it friends and rela- , nevertheless, you ti under you, pray Lady Lumens, and ire Messrs. Barber ......•••••••••••••1121 I ; . ;