Star. — London, England, 1820-09-15 00:00:00

therefore stripped of afl credit, by merely betraying their own character, and hence the Queen stood ac quitted in the estimation of the country. Every man of common sense now saw, and every man of com mon candour was ready to acknowledge, that her Majesty had been treated with as great cruelty and injustice as any human being had perhaps ever exile r fenced—(Applause).—Such an acknowledgment was, indeed, as often to be heard from some of the usual supporters of the Ministers as from other people. But no man, who desired to have a charactev himself, was found forward to impeach the character of the Queen. Yet he feared, as had before been said else- I where, that it would be too much to expect a just decision from such a Tribunal as that before which the Queen was at present under trial. Who could, indeed, entertain that expectation, when it was con sidered that all the Peers owed their titles to the Mo narch, that many were holding places at his will, and receiving pay during his pleasure—(Applause). How, then, was it to he supposed, that a Tribunal thus constituted, would determine against the wish of their benefactor, and in favour of here who was so mach the object of his prejudice ?—(Applause).—lt had been wisely and humanely said, that it were better one hundred guilty persons should escape, than . that one innocent person should suffer. But a directly contrary doctrine appeared to be in view with the persecutors of the Queen. If, then, her Majesty alone were concerned in such a case, he should feel himself bound to support her. But the cause of public jus tice and liberty was also involved on this occasion, and it therefore behoved all friends to liberty and iustice to stand by the Queen, in oppositibn to the eutaldishmeet of a most dangerous precedent. The accusers of the Queen pretended that the State was concerned in the prosecution of her Majesty. But the my crime she appeared to have committed,.was that of setting her foot on British scil. Yet, if she would only go back again, she might have fifty thousan.; rounds a year, with perfect impunity for her alleged offence against the State! But what was this offence? Py the State he understood the Public, and he called upon every one of the Public to give the lie to the Queen's enemies, by declaring that he did not desire her prosecution. But Ministers themselves gave the lie to this assertion, by collecting troops around London to prevent the Public from opposing the proceedings against the Queen. Nay, Ministers expressed an ap prehension before those proceedings commenced, that they would produce a ferment, or popular cla mour, as they call it, so that they had assembled an army round the Metropolis to suppress a ferment of their own creation—(Applause). The besotted Mi nisters had, indeed, done everything in their power to promote Revolution, and that, too, through a mi litary force. They seemed to have learned nothing from the recent examples in different parts of Europe. They saw soldiers employed to suppress disaffection, standing forward themselves to produce revolution. But those lessons were lost upon them, and not con tent with the distress and irritation suffered by the people through loss of trade and pressure of taxes, Ministers appeared resolute to irritate and afflict the country still more by the painful business about the Queen, by dispensing with the laws of the land, by making an es post facto law to answer a particular purpose, and by alarming all the friends of justice and liberty. He had said at another place, and gave offence by so saying, that Anne Boleyn was mur dered. But, he believed, that if the same public spirit was evinced in the reign of Henry VIII. that was at present in motion, that Princess, whom all historians had pronounced innocent, would not have been the victim of a tyrant's caprice. The public spirit of the country at present would, he hoped, save the Queen from ruin, and vindicate the character of the present generation in the eyes of the would and of posterity—(Load applause). Thanks were voted to the Mover and Seconder of the Address, as well as the Churchwarden, for the use of the Church, and each in return shortly ad dressed the Meeting. Mr. Alderman WAITHMAN promised to let the in habitants of the Ward know when the Queen could find leisure from her numerous engagements to re ceive the Address. The Meeting adjourned at half•past Three o'clock. PADDINGTON MEETING. Yesterday being the day appointed for a Meeting of the Inhabitant Householders of the Parish of Pad dington, at an early hour S. C. WHITBREAD, Esq. M.P. PETER MOORE, Esq. M.P. and Sir GERARD NOEL, Bart. M.P. together wiih the Gentlemen of the Committee appointed for the superintendence of the Meeting, assembled at the house of THOMAS THATCHER, Esq. of Manor-place, Paddington, from whence, at about twelve o'clock, they proceeded to the Church. There being no possibility of accom modating the numerous company which had already ar rived within the walls of that edifice, it was agreed to adjourn the Meeting to the Green, where a spa.• cious and commodious booth and hustings had been previously prepared. We -never remember to have seen a greater display of female beauty than we wit nessed on this occasion, the temporary stage being almost entirely filled with fashionable and well dressed females. The Green was thronged with equipages and pedestrians in great numbers; and the fineness of the Weather, added to the interesting na ture of tl:c occasion, had drawn an immense con course of spectators together : the respectability of their appearance, the great order and attention to the proceedings observed by them, and the universal sympathy and feeling which they manifested, were such as must have impressed the most indifferent stranger with a high sense of the real state of public feeling among the respectable classes of the community. At about a quarter to one, Sir GERARD NOEL,., Mr. WHITBREAD, Mr. PETER MOORE, Mr. HAY DOE, and the Gentlemen of the Committee, arrived upon the Hustings. Mr. WurrauEno, having been immediately voted into the Chair, came forward to address the Meet fug. He felt very happy at the choice which had' thus been made of him to preside over the very re spectable Meeting he had the honour to address.— lie might be allowed to say, that he had come thither to attend them, at very considerable inconvenience to himself; but he could assure them, that he felt so iinperiously the debt of kindness and gratitude which - they had imposed upon him, that it was his most suudous wish to pay this tribute of respect to any por tion of them who might call upon him to take a part in their Public Meeting—( Hear, hear).--He was ready now, as he should at all times be, to sacrifice his own convenience to their wishes. This was not the first time he had been present at a similar Meet ing ; but he was truly happy to find that the good sense of the inhabitants of Paddington had mani fested to them the iniquity of the measures at present pursued against the Queen—(Great applanse).—ln his opinion, meetings of this kind ought always to , bear in mind that they were not assembled to pro nounce any opinion as to the merits or demerits of the Queen, but to express in the strongest terms their abhorrence of such measures as those which were now upheld by his Majesty's Ministers. He thought that it had long ceased to be a question as to the crimes laid to the charge of the Queen of England. He conceived it was rather a question whether the King of England should get rid of his wife or not— ( Immense applause).—lf the same unhappy disputes and differences had originated in the lower circles of society, they would all say that here the husband was pursuing the wife with the greatest malevolence, for it was quite evident he was tired of her—(Hear, hear).—He knew he was speaking boldly ; but this was a time at which it behoved Englishmen to call things by their right names ; and sure he was, that a measure like that of which they complained, sanc tioned as it was by high influence and support of every sort, demanded the boldest opposition upon 'the part of the people. ' He need only refer the Meet ing to one part of the proceedings, to prove to their entire satisfaction, that there was one set of persons determined to find the Queen guilty of her crimes, or her pretended crimes, or her indelicacies, or inde corum, be they what they might. Only two days before the adjournment of the proceedings in the House of Lords, a Noble Lord asked one of his Ma jesty's Ministers at the head of the Government, what was his determination respecting the article of divorce attached - to the Bill ? This was, in fact, saying to the Noble Earl, " Yi,a, the Minister, are the Judge here; and we shall follow j•ou, now, as on all other occasions; we merely wish to satisfy our own curiosity whether or no the divorce is intended to be given up." The Noble Earl at the head of the. G overnment replied, "he should not press the clause of Divorce." This, then, was in fact giving up all public grounds for further proceeding in the measure--(Hear). It shewed that even they had no State necessity to prove for persevering in this measure against the, Queen. The only guard that was ever left alieni was, that the King was, in truth, wishing for a divorce. Now, however, that that was taken away, no public ground whatever, even upon tlpeir own sheaving, remained for the proceeding. The fact was, that taking away that part of the bill concern ing the divorce, was the must unjust, and he did not hesitate to say, the most cowardly part of the whole business. He could not help again comparing these occurrences to similar ones arising between husband and wife among the lower classes. If the same things had happened in that station, they would all be ready to exclaim, that the husband, no doubt for very good reasons, was afraid of his own conduct being brought to light—afraid, upon certain accounts best known to himself—(Great applause) ;—that he would wish, however, to persuade his judges, at all events, to got his wife out of the way—(Hear, hear),—for what reasons it did not appear, and which, perhaps, it was wished should be kept in the dark—(Great applause). Everything in the present proceeding was iniquitous; he need only refer them to the Attorney-General's speech at the opening. He was asked, very pro perly, by her Majesty's Counsel, whom he appeared for? he answered, he did not know: he was then asked who gave him his instruction ? he replied he did not know—(A laugh).—Why, lie must have for gotten the situation he held ; and quite sure was he (Mr. Whitbread) that the Attorney-General had in deed forgotten his own dignity, and that of his Royal Master too, when he undertook to carry on such a prosecution—(Continued appluuse).—He must now animadvert to that Learned lientleman's worthy colleague, the Solicitor-General's speech in summing up; that monopoliser, as had been well said of him, of law and knowledge. He admitted, after a most laboured review of the evidence, that there was not any direct fact .f adultery proved; and (for he, Mr. Whitbread, thought he was most anxious to bring in everything he could) he had referred to the evi dence of two English Captains, persons of honour and reputation, and the only ones whom, out of all the mass of witnesses for this prosecution, the nation could trust to. What did they say? Why, that they had seen nothing incorrect in her Majesty's con duct. But the Solicitor-General and his proofs— oh I he never pretended to say that the adultery was proved to have been committed ; but, as there was a possibility of its having been committed on board ship, therefore, on board ship it had been committed ! —( A laugh).—For his part, he knew that his opi nion was not one which was commonly held, but he could assure them that he did, in his heart, believe these measures would be got rid of in some sherking way or other ere long ; because, Ministers would be sorry to be reduced to acknowledge themselves beaten. Seeing so many Ladies present, he must now propose one expedient, which he had before had the honour of proposing, on the occasion of voting the Mary la-bonne Address—that, as all public grounds for the present proceeding were now taken away by the intimation which had been given of an intention to abandon the point of divorce, it was now become a matter of female delicacy and honour alone whether the Queen should rule over them or not; and that, therefore, in common justice, the matter ought to be referred to a Jury of Ladies. The Hon. Gentleman concluded by observing, he should hand the first ,Resolution (see Resolutions) to Sir Gerard Noel, who would have the pleasure of propounding it to them . —( Immense cheering). Sir GERARD NOEL stepped forward amidst gene ral applause. In recurring to the preliminary steps' which had been taken previously to the present pro• ceeding, he could not help being particularly struck, with one remarkable circumstance, vir.—the omis sioo of her Majesty's name from the Liturgy imme diately upon the lamented death of George 111. This was a striking matter, even in a Protestant country, in point of time; because, at the very time that the Queen, then Princess Regent, was charged with the abominable acts imputed to her, her name was al lowed to remain in the Liturgy ; and it did remain while breath was permitted to remain in the body of the late King—( Hear, hear !).—lt was fortunate for those whom he addressed that they lived wider a Csonstitution—that they were guarded by laws gained by our forefathers out of the arbitrary excesses of James 11. and confirmed by their. valour and their wisdoin, upon the completion of that glorious Revo lution which seated William 111. upon his Throne. — The Illustrious woman whose cause they were met to consider and to vindicate had been living, from the cruel nature of her situation, not under such laws and such a Constitution, but in a Popish country abroad, where we had, indeed, Ambassadors. They must recollect, that Ambassadors were for the protec tion of individuals of their respective nations ; whom they were supposed so completely to shadow and de fend by their authority, that sometimes even wars were declared if those individuals were insulted, in violation of the privileges of such Ambassadors.— But the Queen of .England, while there, was no longer under the protection of this country ; she was' liable to the attacks of every assassin—( Hear, hear). Her's was the same situation almost as Thomas-a- Becket's with regard to Henry H. when that King was'abroad. Henry complained of the man whose existence gave him constant disturbance, and ex claimed kin the hearing of his followers, " Will no body rid me of this person, who gives me endless disquiet ?" The words were heard by his servants, and, putting their own construction upon them, they came over to England and assassinated a Prelate, the approach to whose shrine was still to be seen, worn by the steps of those pilgrims who had come from every quarter to behold it. The very same thing might have happened to our Queen, by reason of the abominable treatment she had received. • It was owing—and he would Maintain it—it was owing solely to the love and affection which everybody bore to that excellent and injured woman—their Queen— ( Cheers )—it-was owing to their powerful and spon taneous protection that she had not been immediately, and long before this period, immolated by the sti letto of the assassin ! fortunate it was for that No ble Lady that she journeyed through those countries before the assassin was yet ready to strike the blow.. Favoured, as she had been, by the guardian and watchful care of PROVIDENCE, it was well that they had now a living Queen to address, instead of a dead one to deplore ! Loud cheering).—When the Queen was offered by the Government £50,000 a-year as the price of her shame and her security, he was well convinced that the offer argued no extravagance in his Majesty's Ministers, because, had she accepted the offer, they well knew that her life would soon be snatched away from her in a Popish country,-and that their splendid bribe would not be paid to her for more than six weeks at furthest !—(Hear, hear !). — The worthy Baronet concluded by moving the first Resolution, which was seconded by Mr. Collins, and carried unanimously. Mr. Perita MOORE moved the second Resolution, which warmly praised her Majesty's refusal of the bribe offered to her, and her heroism in disregarding the threats. He began by reading the Resolution, as Clergymen, he said, read their texts before preaching their sermons. He agreed with the worthy Chairman and Baronet who had preceded him, in the observa- 1 tiont they had made. Indeed, every one could be eloquent upon those lamentable proceedings which had been since the great Meeting at Mary-la-bonne, the sister parish to Paddington, propped up and sup ported by additional perjury and corruption. But what was really the case? The prosecutors, who ever they were, durst not avow it. The meas ire is introduced under various names: it was sometimes called legislative, sometimes judicial, and sometimes it was engrafted upon the rules of the Courts below; but it should be engrafted upon other rules before it was concluded. Who was it that directed all this ? The Chancellor sat quietly upon his woolsack, wait ing for the signal from Ministers ; and one Noble Lord said, do this, and another do that, and all re ceived the character of Judges. This was nothing but a profound mockery. But there was, thank GOD, an appeal to the People, who would scout this odious proceeding. The trial was, in fact, not the trial of the Queen, but . of the Ministers—(Applause)—who had themselves declared, through the mediain of Mr. Wilberforce, that scape-goat of Ministerial impo sition upon the People, that the proceeding was de rogatory to the dignity of the Crown, and injurious to the best interests of the country. This was the doctrine of the Ministers ; and if so, how came it that they had adopted a course fraught with such dread ful consequences ?—(Lord applause).—As to the. D ivorce part of the Bill, he had a few words to say.— He believed Ministers would be very happy of an opportunity of divorcing themselves from the Bill altogether. A great writer had said,•that upon great public occasions the voice of the People was always right. This was a case of that kind. Those distress ing and calamitous proceedings had roused the Peo ple, and Ministers would willingly give up all their influence and patronage upon condition of being di vorced from that Bill. Their Lordships pretended to be regulated by the Courts below, and they had applied to the Judges to give their assistance ; but • there was another Court, that of Doctors Commons, which must be engrafted on the Bill. Their Lord ships must be regulated by. the proceedings in that Court, and how then would they •be obliged to act? Why, a host of witnesses must be examined. The husband must be examined as well as the wife—(A laugh).—What would Ministers say upon hearing that they must summon their Sovereign to the Bar of their House, and the Archbishop of Canterbury— (A laugh )—and other learned Prelates, upon this case, which, after all, resembled the proceeding of 1.806, when it appeared that there was a child, but no fa ther !—(Loud laughter and applause).—those wit nesses, consisting of the first men of the nation, must be examined as to the reason the Queen's name was left out of the Liturgy. He would, if no other Mem ber of the House of Commons would do so; insist upon this mode of conducting the prosecution—(Ap plause).—He would call upon those to assign reasons for separating the parent from the child—(Loud ap plause).—What was to be the further process among their Lordships? When the evidence was closed, they would go into a Committee, and endeavour to leave out the Divorce Clause. But that should not be done until the evidence of his Majesty, and of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and of the twenty-one Divines who had signed the paper, which had been drawn up years-ago to discomfit the Queen, should be regularly ex am i ned—(Laughter).—lt was a maxim with him, that no barrister should adopt any proceed ing& without having what appeared to him to be com- I 'petent proof; and how, he begged to know, hi.l Attorney-General's statement been borne out by ev ,. dence? Could there now exist a doubt of the Tot less innocence o. this injured Lady ? (Loud appltni.e). Those proceedings were said, by the Attorney-G ere , ral, to have been going on six years, and yet there i / no individual charge, and three of those years w en , 'never alluded to iwevidence!—Besides, what period had been chosen for fixing the imputation? Wllr, the period of her travels, when the nation must ne cessarily have been in ignorance as to her mov e . mentF. Her enemies thus attacked her in the dark,' thinking that they could never be confounded; bit they were grievously mistaken. The Public woulJ, he assured the Meeting upon the hest authority, l e smut convinced by evidence, I,f the groundlessness rf all the charges against !let Ti - :e cry Iv:A her Majesty's enemies nal, Why do you disturb •.':e country ? and threats were held oot to oop the ter. position of her friends. But the Pablic, who we re her friend's, wanted no escape; a defence should be made, and that upon the first authorities, and other divorces might be made, but not a divorce fra in that Bill; for if Ministers were allowed to divorce themselves from that Bill, the Ccnstitution inevitably be lost. The Honourable Gentleman then made some comments upon the evidence cif Louisa De Mont, and upon the general character of Italian witnesses, and their readiness to nucleic:lke any vile office for money. Ile declared that the Lei cestershire Militia bad addressed her Majesty; bur the power and inclination of their Commandant to subject them to privations, prevented them from ac knowledging it; they, however, had not denied it._ After some observations upon the vast number Fif Addresses that were pouring in from all quarters to her Majesty, the Honourable Gentleman concluded by expressing his opinion, that the efforts of the P. ple would frustrate all the desperate efforts of tLe enemies of the Queen and the Constitution. Mr. OLLIER proposed the third Resolution. his request the next Gentleman who presented hi:::- self to the Meeting was his fiiend Captain JENKINS, ho excited much interest by a few manly and spirited obsers ations. This Gentie man is the owner of several vessels, and is otherwise * person of respectable property and connexions. Wen that mixture of timidity and manliness, which are sa characteristic of a Briti.h seaman, upon an occasiu) like the present, he spoke to the following effect : .. Gentlemen, 1 arrived here only yesterday evenir,:-. I had not, I assure you, the smallest knowledge ss ha:- ever of the projected assemblage of this most resrec:. able Meeting; nor the slightest idea whatever th::: my name would ever be mentioned. It has been, though ; and when I am called on as a Briton, give me leave to say, I feel an English heart within me. I am a seafaring man ; and have been, for several years past, accustomed to visit different ports, and towns and cities, in the Mediterranean. I may ven ture to add, that I ant.acquainted with most of the British Consuls in the Mediterranean, and those Gen tlemen we must consider as the servants of the British Nation. From n' one of them, on my honour, have I ever heard one word of disrespect to our beloved Queen. On the contrary, they were anxious to greet her wherever she went. Gentlemen, I should be sorry to bring forward any foibles or any faults of any na tion ; but the levity of the customs and practices of foreign countries generally might disgust you, how ever free from any offensive intention. If there be any Italian present, 1 would call upon him to face me.—(Continued laughter. Here the gallant Captain took off his hat, and held it forward with an empha tic gesture).—l would venture to say, that I would get him, easily, to declare that 'this hat, which you see is quite black, is a green one !—(Langhter).—But let me tell you, where our Queen is said to have been, there are a great many English Gentlemen—men of honour. Let them be called on, in GOD'S name, and we may know what we have to trust to; but mean time, no more of this Italian nonsense—(Load cheer ing).—l have been at Genoa, at Malta, Smyrna, Mar seilles, Naples, Constantinople, Ephesus—what is now called Alexandria ; I have been in other places where her Majesty has been; I have mixed wi.h high and low ; and never did I hear one persoa in those parts speak except in terms of the highest praise and admi ration of the British Queen." Captain Jawarsrs then retired. It would be difficult to express the general sympathy and favour excited by his gallant and honest appearance. Mr. PETER MOORE came forward, and, before he could well pro pose them, three times three lusty cheers were given with true heart, in honour of this British seaman. Mr. Mies, Mr. KERRY, Sir GERARD NOEL, II e Rev. M. MA Revs (who read the two Addresses), Mr. BUTLER, J.'HEPPELL, Esq. S. C. WHITBREAD, Esq. M.P. and P. Moorte, Esq. M.P. successively addressed the Meeting, which then peaceably dispersed, after agreeing unanimously, to the following Resolution. We must repeat, that we never beheld a more truly respectable assemblage, or one more enlivened by the presence of a vast accession of female beauty. The Gentlemen of the Committee, Sir GERARD NOEL, Bart. and M.P. Mr. WHITBREAD, M.P.. Mr. Puree MooRE, M.P. and others, then retired to the hospitable house 'of S. FLETCHER, Esq. where they partook of refreshments. It is almost unnecessary to add, that the deportment of the Meeting was in the highest degree decorous and becoming. SUBSTANCE OF THE RESOLUTIONS. 1. That this Meeting views with disgust and indignation the unremitting and bitter prosecution with which her Majesty Queen Caroline has been pursued, and the base endeavours to inflict on her the punishment of a tainted reputation, contrail to that noble element of British jurisprudence which declares every one to be innocent till proved to be guilty. 2. That this Meeting considers that her Majesty merits out warmest thanks for that honourable exercise of her mind, In scornfully refusing a base bribe offered her, upon the one hand, and a still baser threat upon the other. 3. That this Meeting does hereby express its abhorrence of the principle of the present proceeding by 3 13111 of Pairs and Penalties against her Majesty, and of the partial manner and in" solent way in which its framers have dared to conduct it. 4. (In favour of the minority of the 65 Peers.) 6. I'hat Addresses to her Majesty, one from the Inhabitant Householders, and another from the Married Females resident in this Parish, founded upon the foregoing Resolutions, be draws up, and left for signature throughout the Parish ; and that the Chairman of this Meeting be requested to present the formei, attended by the Members of the Committee, and such other bi habitant Householders as shall be pleased to join him; and tiut some Lady, re3ident in the I'arich, be requested by the Com mittee to present the latter, accompanied by such Ladies , oho may have signed it as may be pleased to attend. 9. That this Meeting considers with admiration the intrep . M and judicious conduct of her Majesty's Counsel—taken front tile examples derived from the Consritutior.al Lawyers amongst oil' Aucestori—adurning our own times by this integrity, takat. . 0 fr d it ti ad it st a+ Ii V fi Ci O C b Ii 21 C ti a ti b I C b el 1 I I a