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bled in common-hall, to consider the report of his majesty's answer as to the time of receiving their address voted on the 23d of last month.

The hall being opened with the usual formalities, the lord mayor informed the meeting that the report of the sheriffs would be read by the common sergeant.

Mr. Silvester (the common sergeant) read the report. It stated that the sheriffs had attended at St. James's on Friday, the 24th of March, to know when the address, carried in the common-hall which was held on the 23d, should be presented to his majesty; that the duke of Portland had informed the sheriffs that his majesty received addresses from the city of London as a corporate body only, and that he would receive the address of the livery in the common form at the levee on the Wednesday following, or upon any other levee day.

Mr. Hanson, after a speech of considerable length, moved, "That the sheriffs of London have at all times a right to an audience of the king, and when deputed by the livery of London, they are in duty bound to demand it."

Mr. Farmer seconded the motion. He said he had more respect for his majesty than to believe that the answer given to the sheriffs was the king's answer. Precedents had been sought for to support the present refusal to receive the city address, and it had been said that it was in some degree warranted by an act of parliament passed in the reign of Charles II. but that was surely an æra too inauspicious to liberty, to permit any of its regula tions or practices to be now held up as examples.

The question being put, the resolution was carried in the affirma

tive, as were all those which followed. On the shew of hands only two appeared against each resolution.

Mr. Waddington said the resolution he had to propose would have come with peculiar propriety from the alderman of the ward of Farringdon Without (Mr. Wilkes), who, he was sorry to observe, was not present on that day. He thought the sheriffs had acted very improperly in taking an answer from the duke of Portland, and returning without having an audience of the king.

The duke of Portland acted, in this instance, only as a servant, and it did not become the citizens of London, in common-hall assembled, to receive the answer of a ser vant of servants. He hoped the livery of London would not suffer the rights and liberties of the city to be so infringed. He concluded by moving, "That the lord mayor, attended by the sheriffs and the representatives of the city in parliament, be again requested to present to his majesty the address voted in the common-hall of the 23d of March, and that no answer be received through the medium of a secretary of state."

Mr. Waithman seconded the motion.

The following resolution, moved by Mr. Hanson and seconded by Mr. Waddington, was next carried

That the sheriffs of London, attended by the city remembrancer, do wait on his majesty, to know when he will be graciously pleased to receive the said address on the throne.

To the motion of Mr. Farmer it was resolved-That the sheriffs be instructed, if necessary, to inform his majesty, that the lord mayor, aldermen, and livery of London, cannot deliver their address in any other

manner

manner than to the king on his throne..

After this resolution was passed, Mr. sheriff Langston came forward and informed the livery, that they might depend upon the sheriffs of London doing their duty agreeably to their instructions.

Mr. Waithman stated, that the proceedings relative to the calling of the last common-hall had not been entered upon the journal. He therefore moved, "That the answer of the lord mayor to the requisition of the livery for holding the last common-hall, together with their remonstrance, be entered upon the journal of their proceedings."

Mr. Waithman said, that however he might have disapproved of the conduct of the chief magistrate with regard to the calling of the last common-hall, his lordship on the present occasion had acted in such a manner as could not fail to procure him the approbation of the livery. Impressed with this sentiment, he moved, "That the thanks of this meeting be given to the lord mayor for his impartial conduct this day."-Carried unanimously.

On the motion of Mr. Farmer, the resolutions were ordered to be correctly copied, signed by the town clerk, and published in all the morning and evening papers.

3. A meeting of the inhabitants of Westminster was held in Palaceyard, (Westminster-hall having been shut against them by order of the keeper) to consider of an address to his majesty, &c.

Peter Moore, Esq. one of the seven gentlemen who signed the notice for the meeting, was called to the chair. He stated the occasion of the meeting. He was glad to see so numerous an attendance. He was one of the house-keepers who had signed the advertisement to call

them together upon this important occasion; and as he was voted into the chair he would perform his duty as well as he was able; but as he was not in the habit of addressing audiences of such respectability and numbers, he hoped for the indul gence of the meeting, while he delivered to them the reasons for calling them together. They had seen by the advertisement which called them together, that it was intended by those who convened them, that they should be better accommodated than they were. The place (Westminster-hall) usually allotted to the citizens, parishioners, and inhabitants of Westminster, when they met to deliberate on public business, had been forcibly and rudely shut against them. So deprived of their usual accommodations, they were reduced to the necessity of proceeding, under the canopy of heaven, in very unfavourable weather, to do the best they could do in the cause of their expiring liberty. Under these circumstances, discouraging as they were, the inhabitants of Westminster would fight to the last gasp for the recovery of their rights; he did not mean that they should fight with weapons of destruction, but with arguments, that they would firmly assert the rights which had been so bravely sought for by their ancestors, and transmitted by them to us as a sacred deposit to be handed down unimpaired to our posterity. That they would, by petition to the throne, state their calamities and grievances, with that firmness which the consciousness of justice, integrity, and honour, could never fail to inspire. The question was, whether we were to have peace.or not? Peace! peace! resounded from all parts of the company. This was not a question of loyalty, for there was no doubt they were all

loyal;

loyal; it was not a question of the patronage of ministers; that was too insignificant to be considered now; it was a question which involved the salvation of this country, and with it, the happiness, and even the comfort of every individual whom he had the honour of addressing. It was a question which involved the interest of the inhabitants of the greatest part of the world in which we live.

There was a petition prepared, the substance of which was, to address his majesty on the calamitous condition of this country; and which related facts which, he believed, the company would think was descriptive of the last four years of the administration of this country; of the violent, outrageous conduct of his majesty's ministers towards the people of this country; as that conduct regarded the lives, the liberties, or the property of the people of this country: so that little would be necessary for him to say to satisfy the meeting of the propriety of the petition. If he were to proeeed to take notice of the conduct of ministers, from the commencement of their career to the present hour, the means by which they came into power, he was sure he might bring against these ministers charges to which they themselves must plead guilty. But he did not mean to detail the whole of their contradictory, delusive, daring and wicked conduct, by which they had exhibited 50 much corruption and iniquity, and in which they had been guilty of almost every act that could tend to debase the human character. Much of this their conduct he would pass by, and for the purposes of brevity be would consent to forgive ministers for the whole of their misdeeds for eight years of their administration. It was only for the

1797.

last four years that he should exhibit any complaint against them; and in this narrative he should be short.

He

In the year 1792, the minister brought forward a state of the na tion before our house of representatives. In the course of which he said, that the annual probable income of this country would exceed its expenditure by 900,000l.; he said that also 700,000l. more would be afterwards saved each year. also congratulated the country on the hopes that the national debt should be reduced, in consequence of which the burthens of the people would be so far eased, that 200,000l. a year should be taken off. annually of taxes which were felt, severely, and were extremely obnoxious. These were taxes which never ought to have been laid, for they were taxes on female industry. The minister, however, at this time, assured the public that he was not holding forth the language of delusion, that prosperity was within our view, for that we had a fair prospect of the long continuance of peace. This was in the year 1792. Four months after this, in the month of June, the parliament was prorogued; still countenance was given to the hope of the continuance of peace, and afterwards parliament was dissolved, still the people expecting much alleviation from taxes. Five months more elapsed, and there came out a proclamation under the royal authority: complaining of whom? Of the foreign enemy? No-of those whom ministers were pleased to call the domestic enemies of this country. On the 15th of December 1792, an address was voted to the throne by parliament, which, if true, there was not one man who heard him this moment who ought not to be hanged. It stated that a vast number of (E)

persons

upon the public? Why the rumour of a famine. A mere juggle. There never, never was any real foundation for the apprehension of a famine in this country, while the ministers pretended there was. He himself travelled at that time 1400 miles over this country; and he would undertake to declare, there was no deficiency in the harvest any where in this country. But what was the effect of this rumour of fa mine? A prodigious high price in corn and all the other necessaries of life. What was to become of the honest labourer, and the industrious mechanic,, and working manufac turer? They were induced to enlist in large numbers into military service to save themselves from starving. What was the situation of the people of this country, calling itself free, when men were compelled to undergo military slavery in order to procure bread? What was the minister's view in bringing the peo ple to this condition? To put them under military command in order to terrify the remaining part of the public, and to keep them from opposing the minister in his schemes. There was another complaint now to be considered, for there was now no money in the bank; this was also the fault of the minister, and by which a great evil was to be apprehended, for public credit was almost entirely destroyed; the public creditor was to be defrauded, in order that the soldier should be paid with the money of that public creditor; and now upon the point of being called upon to submit to any measure which the minister might think proper to dictate, however unjust it might be, or however insulting to humanity.

persons were ready for insurrection in this country; if that proclamation had been true, every man in the present meeting ought to be suspected, and almost every person who was not there ought to be suspected, for that proclamation stated, in substance, that every man who was not a minister, or an advocate for ministers, was ready for an insurrection in this country. The military power was called out; for what purpose? To quell an insurrection? No. There was no insurrection. It was to support ministers in their plan to enslave the people. Had ministers really thought there was any disposition to insurrection in the people, why did they not call out the military power sooner? All the great armament of the country was raised against what ministers called the internal enemies of this country; but by which they really meant the people of this country. Ministers saw that truth was about to pervade the land. Truth was their enemy, and therefore they resolved that truth should be suppressed. We now saw too plainly the whole of the ministerial system. The immense military preparations here were not intended to protect us against the attempts of an invading enemy, for ministers remained perfectly neutral with regard to affairs on the continent for a great length of time; we now saw most clearly that this armament was intended to carry on a certain system at home against the people of this country, against every man in the present meeting; and he, as one of it, would take his share of the inconvenience. This system of falsehood continued to be carried on under the idea of an alarm for the safety of our constitution, until that alarm was exhausted. What was the next deception which ministers played off

we were

[Here he said the petition should be read, which was done accord

ingly, and for which see the Public Papers]

Such, he said, was the petition which was offered to the meeting, which, if it met their approbation, was to be presented to his majesty. They would perceive it was a summary of the conduct of his majesty's ministers for the last four years. By it they were reminded that ministers had sown the seeds of distrust in every family throughout the kingdom. They had set the father against the son, and the son against the father, in order to extinguish our love of liberty, if that were possible. If any man who heard him doubted this, he would desire him to attend to the three following sentences, as descriptive of the conduct of his majesty's present ministers: They have increased the number of our poorhouses, which are not yet humerous enough to contain our poor : they have enlarged our jails; and they have erected and established barracks all over this kingdom.

The question, that the petition be adopted by the company as their petition to the king, was then put and carried without so much as one dissent.

It was then moved, "That the thanks of the meeting be given to Mr. Fox, for the firm and faithful discharge of his public duty, and particularly for opposing that fatal system of measures, of which he prophetically foresaw the ruinous consequences."

Mr. Fox said, that, before he returned his heartfelt thanks for the honour now conferred upon him, he begged leave to congratulate the meeting upon the numerous and respectable attendance which he observed on the present occasion. It had been the object of ministers to throw every obstacle they could

devise in the way of petitioning. Last parliament they had introduced laws by which this right of the subject was encumbered with vexatious difficulties. Legal means, however, were yet left, by which the people could assemble to express their sentiments; and of these they had now availed themselves. But ministers were not contented with the encroachments they had already made upon the right of petitioning, but endeavoured to defeat the exercise of what yet was left. They had prevented the livery of the city of London from presenting that address which they had voted to his majesty. Even on the present occasion they had practised every pitiful artifice which their malice could devise to create embarrassment, and had given direction to some of their creatures to shut the hall in which the present meeting was meant to be held. For tune at first seemed to favour the wishes of ministers, and they hoped that by the inclemency of the weather the meeting would be disconcerted. The result, however, would furnish additional proof of their steadiness and sincerity. They had shown that they were not to be deterred by considerations of personal inconvenience from performing their duty. The state of the weather in which they had assembled, added to the glory of standing for ward upon an emergency so criti cal, and evinced a deliberate conviction of the danger in which the country was placed, and the necessity of abandoning the system of measures by which it had been occasioned. He was glad that his conduct had been thought worthy of their approbation. The conduct which had gained this mark of their esteem, was a decided and uniform opposition to the present war, and (E 2)

his

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