of a house, should be excluded altogether from any share in electing
those who make the laws, by which EVERY ONE'S liberty, life, and
property is to be disposed of.

Up to this time, the Baronet had stood so high in the public estimation,
and was so much looked up to and respected, not only by me, but by all
those who took a lead in the general cause of public liberty, that his
word had hitherto been A LAW in these matters; in fact, he had not only
gone with us, but he had run before us, and all our difficulty was, to
keep up to his mark, for he was always complaining of the apathy of the
people, and declaring that they did not deserve liberty, unless they
would exert themselves, and join him in demanding it; and he was
everlastingly urging us, who laboured under him for the cause (Major
Cartwright, Mr. Cobbett, myself, and others), to excite and rouse the
people into action, to support his exertions in the House. But when, in
1816, Mr. Cobbett and Major Cartwright had, by their writings, and I and
others had by our speeches and resolutions, passed at public meetings,
roused the people into a sense of their public duty, to petition the
Parliament for their individual, collective, and _universal_ rights,
behold the Baronet stopped short, and turning sharp round, declared that
he would not go with us; and that he would only support the right of
liberty for householders, leaving all the rest of the community in a
state of abject slavery and bondage! Up to this period--till this
fatal decision, with the exception of one or two little obliquities of
conduct, Sir F. Burdett had enjoyed the confidence, and received the
support of every wise, good, and disinterested man in the nation;
because every one believed that he was sincere in his protestations for
the universal freedom of mankind. But, now, for the first time,
his supporters dwindled into a faction of _shopkeepers_ and
_housekeepers_--a little selfish crew, who were anxious to enjoy liberty