While I was abroad, my wife was frightened out of ray farm, in Wilt-
shire, without compensation, aad <£lO,000 has been lost by that concern
alone. I was, after two honourable acquittals from false charge^j iu
Upper Canada, cruelly imprisoned and banislied. A provision for my
children was withheld upwards of four years by litigation, and is so^
stilly by a conspiracy of lawyers, though my right is confirmed by a
decision of the House of Lords. On a second arrest, for the same
alleged offence, which could answer no purpose but revenge, I was
committed to this house, and kept on felon's fare. FinalVy, I am denied
a hearing from the King, by the same minister who thrust me into
prison.
While all this has happened, with misery^ unspeakable till hardened
with endurance, I challenge the severest scrutiny into mj conduct and
principles. For twenty-four years my tfaoDghtsi have been devoted to
the study of the po^r-law system, and. Tor the* last eight, to that of
emigration, in connexion therewith. To recover my property, to re-
join my children, from whom I have been separated eight years, or to
set about any regular pursuit in life, is impossible, without parlia^^
mentary inquiry, prayed for in vain during ^ve sessions. With this I
cannot only obtain TeJief in my private affairs but submit simple and
practicable plans for the reform of the poor-law system and emigration,
objects of the weightiest import at the present moment. I never was,
and never will be, connected with party: am neither tory, whig, nor
radical; but, should the public and the press afford aid, I shall either
prove myself an useful, honest man, or quietly sit down for ever, as a
vain, troublesome, and empty fool.
