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Gorging these sharp, envenomed hives,
Their stomach keener than their knives.
Oh! let YOUR chimney-smoke upfly
In crowded columns to the sky,
Emblems of hospitality!

Let dumplings into puddings rise,
And tarts be magnified to pies,
That each may feed and taste a part;
Let sirloins into barons start;
And where one jigget smoked before,
Now let there smoke a jigget more ;
Dandies may feed on macaroni,
And squeamish pick their titbits bony;
But, oh! to our intestine grief,
Bring ye a more assured relief,
In fat and fleshy rounds of beef!
Instead of sour, ansavoury swipes,
Racking abdomen with the gripes,
Let lusty ale, in frequent dose,
Gargle the throat, light up the nose,
And deeply drown the bowel's woes!
Then once again Contentment's smile
Shall beam upon our happy Isle ;
All bearts shall swell the note of praise,
That Gratitude will surely raise
To those, whose breasts have learnt to glow
With pity for their brethren's woe,
Sedition foiled shall trace again
Her gory footsteps to her den,

And flee, like clouds that rack the sky,
Before the sun of Loyalty!
Then let us pour the jocund strain,
(And may it not be pour'd in vain!)
May Concord kuit with Liberty,
Still make us happy, rich, and free;
May Peace and Plenty be restored,
And Faction sheath her hated sword-
And while defying foreign koaves,
England still proudly rules the waves,
Avenger of the world enslaved,

Of rights oppressed, of judgments braved-
Her trophies built in every clime,
Spurning the victories of Time!
While her right hand, should chains await
The fortunes of a feebler State,
Is ever raised those chains to burst
And quench the Tyrant's vulture thirst,
With Wellington's redeeming hand,
To cheer the subjugated land.
Oh! let not maddening Treason come,
To poison our best joys at home;
To tear our flag and mar our fame,
And stain Britannia's stainless name!
Rather should ALL, in danger's hour,
Fling round her their protecting power,
And rich and poor, and small and great,
Become the WATCHMEN of the State!

TREEN'S TREE.

AT last-and is it doom'd to thee,
And art thou fallen, old Treen's Tree!
And did not every virtue plead
To save thy consecrated shade,
Of all that have been nurs'd by thee,
Within thy classic arms, Treen's Tree.

When Avon'e banks, with hope and fear,
My blushing childhood ventur'd near,
Thou first didst bid its sorrows end,
And wert unto it as a friend,

And gav'st to Taste the simple glee

That cheer'd thy spreading shade, Treen's
Tree.

The rapture can I e'er rehearse
When first I felt the power of verse!
The visions then 'twas thine to pour !
Till soon, my boyish summers o'er,
Ye neighouring groves, bear witness ye,
I wept to leave Treen's hallow'd Tree!
Then on thy bark, together join'd,
My bosom friend our names entwin'd,
As wond'ring what the world might be,
We pledg'd to meet again by thee!
But now thy summit strews the plain,
And we say-shall we meet again!
Alas! where thou no more art seen,
How fare the groves of Academe !
How must their dewy tear-drops fall
For thee, the father of them all!
Each rude-grav'd seat must mourn for thee,
And islands' echoes sigh 'Treen's Tree !'
With thee were form'd-with thee are fed
Ties of the distant and the dead,
And many a former tale and token
Might cheer old hearts the world had broken!
Fond recollections join'd to thee!
Young loves and friendships, poor Treen's
Tree!
A RUGBEAN.

WINTER SCENES.
Written by JOHN MAYNE.
HOW keen and howling is the storm!

Stern Winter in its bitt'rest form !
Long, cheerless nights, and murky days!
No sun-beam gladdens Mis'ry's ways!
The frost has stopp'd yon village-mill,
And Labour, every where, stands still!
Ev'n birds, from leafless groves withdrawn,
Lie torpid on the frozen lawn-
Lorn, weary trav'lers, as they go,
Are wilder'd in the trackless snow,
And dread, at every step, that sleet
And snow may be their winding-sheet!
To town or city if we turn,
What numbers weep, what numbers mourn,
Unshelter'd sons of Toil and Care,
Cold, shiv'ring, comfortless, and bare!
Poor seamen, erst in battle brave,
Half-famish'd, sinking to the grave!
Sad groupes, who ne'er begg'd before,
Imploring aid from door to door!
While helpless Age, too frail to roam,
Is perishing, for want, at home!

Hard fate! when poverty and years
Assail us, in this vale of tears,
Till Death, the dismal scene to close,
In pity, terminates our woes!

O! ye, whom Providence hath blest,
With wealth to succour the distrest,
O! lend your help in time of need!
The naked clothe-the hungry feed,
And great, from Heav'n, shall be your meed!
Jan. 1820.
HISTO.

HISTORICAL CHRONICLE.

PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Dec. 20.

The Bill for regulating the labour of children in cotton manufactories, went through a Committee; the Bp. of Chester speaking in its support; and Lords Grosvenor, Lauderdale, and Holland, against it. The Seditious Meetings Prevention Bill likewise went through a Committee. Several amendments, after short discussions on each, were negatived, without a division.

In the Commons the same day, Mr. J. Smith presented a petition from a great number of the London booksellers and publishers against the Newspaper Stamp Duties Bill. The petitioners stated themselves to be engaged in publishing in numbers standard works, on history, astronomy, divinity, and all other subjects, with the exception of politics and the occurrences of the day, against the sale of which last mentioned books they took bonds from their agents. They had upwards of 1,000,0001. of capital embarked in this branch of trade, and it afforded the only means of support to several thousand persons-A petition was also presented against the same Bill from Henry Fisher, printer. The petitioner stated that he had upwards of 70,0001. embarked in various establishments at Birmingham, Liverpool, London, and other places, and that he ap. prehended total ruin to himself and the numerous persons in his employment, from the Bill in question, should it pass into a law. Mr. Birch presented a petition against the same Bill from the Liverpool printers and booksellers.

Mr. Dugdale presented a petition from the Birmingham booksellers; Mr. W. Smith one from the Bristol booksellers and printers; and Mr. Bernal one from those of London, against the Libel Bill.

The House in a Committee of Supply, voted 250,000. on account of the ordnance estimates.

Mr. Grenfell wished to know what reduction was to be made at the Royal Military College.

Lord Palmerston expected that a reduction might be made in the junior branches to the amount of 27,000l. a year.

Mr. Hume observed that the institution gave the army 25 officers a year, educated at the enormous expence of 10331. each. The Report was then gone through, and agreed to.

Lord Castlereagh moved the order of the day for the House going into a Committe on the Newspaper Stamp Duty Bill. On the question for the Speaker leaving the

chair, the Bill was opposed by Mr. Maedonald, Mr. J. R. S. Graham, Mr. Marryat, Mr. Denman, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. G. Bennel, and Alderman Waithman; and supported by Mr. Dickenson, Mr. Serjeant Onslow, Mr. Bankes, Mr. Wilmot, and Dr. Phillimore, on grounds urged pro and con. in the course of the previous discussions,

Mr. J. Wharton inquired, when there happened to be five or six booksellers in one firm, if, upon a second conviction for libel, banishment should be the punishment, was the whole firm to be banished (a laugh), or was the eldest partner, or the first man in the firm, to be banished, the rest being allowed to carry on the bus siness? To this question no answer was returned.

The question for the Speaker's leaving the chair was then carried, on a division, by 222 to 76.

The House having gone into the Committee, Mr. Marryat objected to the recognizance provision, as tending to the utter ruin of publishers in a small way of business, and moved an amendment to leave out the words "together with two or three sufficient sureties." Several Members observed, that the clause, as now worded, would apply to papers for charitable purposes, play-bills, shipping-lists, stock-lists, &c.

The Attorney General, Lord Castlereagh, and Solicitor General, opposed Mr. Marryat's amendment, which was supported by Mr. Alderman Waithman, Mr. Macdonald, Sir W. De Crespigny, and others. The amendment was then negatived, on a division, by 202 to 82.

An amendment to the clause, enabling justices to bind persons charged with libels to "good behaviour," was negatived, on a division, by 129 to 9.

Several other amendments, proposed from the Opposition side of the Mouse, were negatived without a division.

On the motion of the Attorney General, a clause was agreed to, giving to individuals who became bound as securities for publishers, a power of withdrawing their liability, on sending 20 days notice to a commissioner of stamps or to the stampoffice. Clauses were also agreed to, exempting from the operation of this Bill proclamations, acts of state, votes printed for either House of Parliament, Acts of Parliament, books commonly used in the schools of Great Britain, books of devotion, piety, or charity; daily accounts of goods imported or exported within the bills of mortality, provided they contained no

other

other matter; price currents, the state of the markets, and circumstances respecting the arrival and sailing of merchant vessels.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Dec. 21. On the third reading of the Seditious Meetings Bill, the Earl of Liverpool moved an amendment, fixing the time of meeting to twelve at noon; and another, qualifying the obstruction justifying a dispersion of the meeting by the word "forcible." Both these amendments were agreed to. One by Lord Ellenborough, compelling magistrates, in case of dispersion from casual obstructions, to re-assemble the meeting in forty-eight hours, was negatived.-Lord Liverpool then moved that the Bill do pass. Lords Erskine and Darnley repeated their objections both to the principles and the details of the measure.-Lord Ellenborough approved of the measure as a whole, though he had been anxious to soften some of its provisions.-Lord Grosvenor said he presented a petition from the city of Westminster against the Bill; but after some discussion, contented himself with generally expressing his hostility to the Bill.

Lord Blessinton condemned the extension of the measure to Ireland, and pre. dicted that, if put in force there, it would produce tumult and bloodshed. He accused the late Mr. Pitt of having violated his promise of Catholic emancipation, given at the time of the Union; and concluded with giving notice, that after the recess he should move for a Committee to

inquire into the state of Ireland.-Lord Liverpool reminded the Noble Lord that Mr. Pitt had distinctly disavowed having ever given any such pledge to the Catholics. The Noble Lord should recollect that

this country bad taken ou itself the burden of the Irish debt, and that the people of Ireland had paid nothing towards the property tax.

In the Commons the same day, Mr. Vansillart, with the leave of the House, brought in a Bill for the better securing of the money of suitors in the Court of Chancery. It provides for the appointment of an accountant-general and two masters, to be paid out of the fund called the dead money. The Bill was read a first time.

Mr. R. Wilbraham said much mischief had resulted in Lancashire and the neighbouring counties from a rumour that Government intended to apply the funds of saving and friendly societies to the payment of the national debt. He mentioned it, only for the purpose of its being contradicted from official authority.

Mr. Vansittart most willingly gave the contradiction required. The Government could not in any way touch the funds alluded to.

Mr. Brougham said a similar mischievous rumour had been spread as to the Committee on Education and Public Schools intending to appropriate charitable funds to the same purpose.

Mr. Calcraft was of opinion that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would find the redemption of the national debt; for there was no fund whatever applicable to as to the 5,000,000l. sinking fund of the last session, it had burst like an air-blown bubble.

Mr. Vansittart said he saw no reason for

thinking there would be any necessity for financial plan of the last session. varying in any material point from the

feared the expectation of the right hon. Mr. Calcraft and Sir W. De Crespigny gentleman would prove fallacious.

number of persons liable to be struck off Lord Nugent moved for a return of the from the list of Chelsea out-pensioners by reason of the proclamation of the 28th of October last.-Lord Palmerston opposed the motion-Lord Althorp, Mr. J. P. tion, which was opposed by Mr. C. Long, Grant, and Mr. Catcraft supported the mo

and negatived without a division.

Ou the question for agreeing to the Report of the Newspaper Stamp Duty Bill, Mr. Primrose opposed the measure, and Mr. Martin (of Galway) supported it. It adopted for the deposit of copies of works was then agreed to, and a new clause was affected by the Bill with the commissioners of stamps.

ing of the Libel Bill. Lord Castlereagh moved the second read

Lord Ebrington opposed the Bill; and moved that, instead of "now" it should be read a second time on "the 15th of Fe

bruary next." The amendment was supported by Colonel Davies, Mr. W. Smith, intosh, Lord Althorp, the Marquis of TaMr. J. P. Grant, Mr. Tierney, Sir J. Mackvistock, and Mr. Scarlett; and opposed by Mr. Money, Lord Castlereagh, the Attorney and Solicitor General, and Colonel Wood. On a division the amendment was negatived by 190 to 79, and the Bill was read a second time.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, December 22. Dr. Phillimore brought in a Bill to amend the Marriage Act.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in answer to questions from Mr. Grenfell and Mr. Brougham, repeated what he had the preceding evening said as to his expectations that the financial arrangements of last year would prove efficient.

Mr. W. Parnell postponed, until after the holidays, his motion for leave to bring in a Bill to enable Catholic dissenters in Ireland to provide residences for their Clergy. Mr. C. Grant bore testimony to

the

the excellent character and conduct of the Catholic clergy, to which was owing, in a very great degree, the good order and tranquillity which generally prevailed in Ireland.

Mr. Maberley moved for several financial accounts, all of which, with some qualifications by Mr. Vansittart, were ordered, but three; the first being an account, showing how the sum of five millions, voted for the purpose of paying off the debt due to the Bank of England on the 5th of July, 1819, had been applied, distinguishing the dates of the different payments; the second, an account of all Exchequer bills received in payment of duties between the 1st of July and the 21st of December, 1819; the third, an account of all monies now in the Exchequer, appropriated or unappropriated, and distinguishing the one from the other. In resisting these motions, the Chancellor of the Exchequer urged the inconvenience which would arise from an inquiry into pecuniary transactions in progress, and the encouragement to stock-jobbing by partial and premature disclosures. With regard to the debt due to the Bank, a large part had been already paid, and funds were provided for the discharge of the whole within the stipulated period. He then stated the principal items in the revenue accounts to the 10th Oct. last, and maintained that, though there had been a falling off in the Customs, owing to the diminution in the exports and imports, the increased con somption of all articles under the Excise, whatever local distress existed, afforded a very favourable picture as to the general prosperity of the country. It appeared that the produce for the current quarter would be nearly equal to, or as large as that of any year he remembered, though there was the sum of 150,000/. short ou the general account up to Saturday last. Looking to the state of the exchange, he was convinced that the sums of money sent to France for investment in the funds of that country, had been very inconsiderable; and the law of France, which made all property divisible in equal shares among children, notwithstanding any testamentary disposition to the contrary, would operate against any permanent investment of British capital in those funds.

Mr. Ellice contended, that there had been a considerable falling off of in the duties on teas. It had been rumoured, that the sum paid to the Bank in the last month had been 1,200,0001. and many siugular stories had been circulated as to the way in which that sum had been raised. It had been asserted that the money had been raised abroad, and that securities had been pledged for it which the British Government had in the French funds. The

whole sum raised by the new taxes was 250,0001.

After some further conversation, in which Mr. Lushington, Mr. Grenfell, Mr. Ricardo, Mr. Tierney, and others, took part, the motion relative to the repayments to the Bank was negatived without a division.

On the motion respecting Exchequer Bills, a suggestion by Mr. Vansittart to limit the account to the 10th of October not being acceded to, a division took place, when it was negatived by 90 to 30. The motion respecting the monies in the Exchequer was withdrawn.

Lord Castlereagh moved the third reading of the Newspaper Stamp Duty Bill. Mr. Bernal and Mr. G. Lamb argued generally against the measure, and especially against the provision that publishers should enter into recognizances. The latter intimated that he should propose a rider, limiting the duration of the Bill. Mr. Pryce, Mr. J. Smith, and Mr. Calcraft also opposed the Bill, and Mr. Cooper supported it. The motion was then carried, without a division, and the Bill having been read the third time, Mr. Bernal, in the absence of Mr. G. Lamb, proposed a clause, by way of rider, limiting the duration of the Bill to one year. The motion was opposed by Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Canning, Mr. Plunket, and the Attorney General; and supported by Sir J. Mackintosh, Mr. Brougham, Mr. Denman, Mr. Tierney, and Lord A. Hamilton. On a division it was negatived by 182 to 47. On a motion of the Attorney General, a clause was adopted, providing "that any thing in the present Bill should not extend, or be construed to extend, in the publication of any work in parts or numbers, provided that more than two years had elapsed since the original publication of the work, and provided also that such work had not originally been published in parts or numbers." This clause was carried without opposition. The Bill was then passed.

Dec. 23.

Mr. Lyttleton brought in a Bill to prevent improper persons practising as conveyancers.

Lord Castlereagh moved the order of the day for the House going into a Committee on the Libel Bill.

On the question for the Speaker's leaving the chair, Mr. Bernal, Mr. Denman, Mr. J. P. Grant, and Mr. Birch, opposed the measure, both in its principle and details. It was supported by Mr. R. Martin, Mr. Bankes, and Lord Binning. The motion was then carried without a division; and the House having gone into a Committee, Sir J. Mackintosh proposed that the part of the first clause which set forth, "That from and after the passing of this Act,

Act, in every case in which any verdict or judgment by default shall be had against any person for composing, printing, or publishing, &c." should be amended, by inserting the words "maliciously and advisedly" before the word "composing." These words formed part of the Act of the 36th Geo. III. which in all other parts of the present Bill were minutely followed. He objected to that part of the clause following the words blasphemous and sedi tious libel, viz. "tending to bring into hatred or contempt the person of his Majesty, his heirs or successors, or the Regent, or the government and constitution of the United Kingdom, as by law established, or either House of Parliament, or to excite his Majesty's subjects to attempt the alteration of any matter in church or state, as by law established, otherwise than by lawful means," &c. as being vague and confused surplusage, if intended merely as a definition of seditious libel, and as not being sufficiently clear and comprehensive, if intended as a description of an additional class of libels. This passage he proposed to amend by substituting the words "or any seditious libel, tending to excite his Majesty's subjects to do any act which, if done, would, by the existing law be treason or felony; or any libel in which it shall be affirmed or maintained, that his Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in Parliament assembled, has not, or ought not to have full power and authority to make laws binding on his Majesty's subjects in all cases whatsoever." By this definition instigations to murder, assassination, and other atrocious offences not touched in the original clause, would be brought under the operation of the Bill. But its great advantage would be, that it would distinguish between the casual errors, resulting from the warmth of political feeling, in the conductors of the regular daily press, and that class of writers, the outcasts of the human race, who applied themselves exclusively to preaching up irreligion, murder, rapine, the proscription of whole bodies of men, and the perpetration of atrocities never known in this country before, and scarcely even beard in the time of Marat, in the worst period of the reign of terror in France. He then panegyrized the conduct of the daily press in general, and particularly that of the Editor of a Morning Paper, who, though on the side of opposition for 37 years, had never been prosecuted for private slander, nor convicted of a political libel. The conductors of the daily press had been the most effi cient supporters of the nation's interest during the late common contest in which we had been engaged; and none had exerted themselves with greater energy and

effect against the individuals whose inflammatory productions it was the object of the Bill to suppress. Why then were they to be levelled with a set of ruffians, whom they had been the first to combat and defeat. He would not on this occasion appeal either to the mercy or the justice of the House: he would appeal to its prudence, and would ask them whether it was expedient to irritate the feelings of those respectable men against the institutions of their country for in the present state of society-against which it was as useless to repine as against the planets in their course, since neither could be altered-it was impossible that the power of the press could be wrested from them. The House might alienate or conciliate them; but he must again repeat, that it could not destroy them. The Hon. and Learned Member concluded by proposing his first amend

ment.

Mr. Canning objected to any alteration in the clause, except by such an amendment as might include instigations to assassination. In much of what had been said on the daily press he concurred, but he would not consent to surrender the freedom of Parliament to the freedom, or rather the despotism, of the press-a power which, from the description given of it, acted with all the secrecy of a Venetian tribunal, and at the same time struck with all the certainty of the Holy Inquisition.

Lord Folkestone spoke generally against the provisions of the Bill.

Sir J. Mackintosh and Mr. Canning explained.

Mr. Brougham, in supporting the amendment, condemned the appointment of Mr. Manners, the Editor of that most slanderous publication the Satirist, to a consulship in New England.

Lord Castlereagh said, when the appointment took place, he (Lord C.) was not aware that Mr. Manners had ever been connected with the publication alluded

to.

Mr. Scarlett supported the amendment.

The Attorney General opposed it, and contended, that in the 36th Geo. III. the words "maliciously and advisedly" referred to words spoken.

Sir J. Mackintosh maintained that it ap-plied to printing and writing, as well as speaking.

After some further discussion, the amendment was negatived without a divi sion, and the cause was agreed to.

On the motion of the Allorney General, the clause relative to the punishment of a second offence was verbally amended, so as to prevent the bill from having an er post facto operation.

The Attorney General then proposed to amend the clause, by authorizing the court to banish for "a term of years,"

thus

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