The National Register. — London, England, 1817-03-03 00:00:00

PCBLIC AMETINGS. COMMON cOUNCIL. Welnesl.ly a. very nuittenins Meeting , oP the Mem.' Lers of the L'ourt of Conintoii Council tut' heaut.Guild- Lill, in consequence of a Requisition prosented to• the Lord ;Mayor, requesting his Lordship to call an early Court, t 9 cot:rider the. propriety of petitioning went against the Suspension of the 1 - lalx.sas Corpus :Vet. After scque tett retnarkg by Mr. Waithimui, string of Resolutions were nioved,on which wus grouded tht: following Petition. To the !loons' able the eqounom of the Voitett Kingdom of .Great Wilmot awl Irehind. lo Mullane-1u a.semhlod. • The ;humble Petition of the I.or;1 Niuyor, Aldermen, ao.l G6111'11011% of the Gay of Loudon, iu Common Council ;iss. tuhled ; • Sheweth—That your Petitioners have learned, with deep al.trou end apprehension , that measure. are in progress in the -Legislature ter 1114' 1.11:ling the HA*l.ll4 C.41111i instly• deemed the great tiolwark of the English Constitution ; anti nlse for intibusitig uu.er restrictions upon. the liberty of the sobject. That pour Petitioners have at all times been forsvarri .ev ineing their loyalty to•their. Sovereign. mad their attacip . -mein to the true pi incipler of the Constitution. Tlsat whatever inroads they have W:toebtiell upon the Con, i .atitiition, or whatever grievances they have. felt, they in all ease. of national dnit., ,, er, ellen the safety of the min. try has been threatened, forborne to urge tlnnr comithriut..:, • in the ansioui expectation, that when they had subsided, the• attention of your Honourable House would have Len directed •towards a redress of their grievance.. That your Petitioners. out the Nation at large, have long •liceit, and still are; %inkling under imeNatioplvd ar.sing from a long course of improvident expehditure and 'enormous and hinder:4llc taxation. That hi common with their fellow.ssibjeets, they have matte .tintifot represeuttrtions of their grievances 'cull sufferings to the Throne and to.Parliuntont, praying for a redress of the same. That your Petitioners haveetererved, with peculiar satisfac tion, that whatever differences of 'opinion may hose prey ailed :in regar.l to the mosic.el relief, the greatest order and re .gularity have generally appeared in the proceedings (Write .different' Mhetings of Petitioners in veriono parts of the I.mgdoin, and that ttu.:ir grievances, in then:awe and extent of which they have been unat t i ttttttt s, have been stated in a Manner that could neither he distmted- nor denied.; and al though iu ensue instances acts of violence and num& have taken place, which. your ..Petitioners deeply deplore,. they believe them to have ariseu solely from the uuparalli•led ilis tress of the emintry; awl not to be at all connected with the great buly of Httitioners. That. your Pelitiussers, therefeee, feel the most serious re gret and alarm, Ux:l.4at motile/It of such t,seueral and mitt;. .ampler) distress, la hem the people are petitioning fora redress .of great unit aeknowledged grits auees, anti at a season el' i pmfoinati peace, any measures should lee proposed or adopted: 'which must necessarily deprive the timbal of tbe.great ban icr -of personal liberty—impede the- exercise of the undoubted sight ef .petitiouing—and metier the liberty of the sittileet exposed to the arbitrary will of the Nfinistors of the Crow is — stud that other-measures ate in aeitationstill further- to 41e . !wive the pecple,of the beoelit of the British (Joust it ntion. They are the mot ralarnied. that such es traorditiai vane:s atires shonld be plopused to be passed into a law with such .precipitation, that the people at large can scateeiy know they are in contemplation, meieh• less be, able to appeal toloor Jionourattle House aa4situit thee:.. That your P.;titioners do hot prectune to question the mo ,tives of Itse Conimittoe of your Honourable House, Intl they cannot bat lament that- a measure so deeply attleting Um constitntional , rights •of every sailtierd shad,' Ito proposed' .upon exparie evidence, sr documents selected by Ministers, several of taboos were theasselve • owns tile Committee. That it appears to w o n Petitioner:, that to adopt measures sti so 111111 h importance, founded on such evidence, %%admit .any owans havimF been afforded to examine or refute the vsould be, w the humble opinion of your•Peiitioncl.. inconsistent with the ordinary toles of jiedieo ; especially when they have been informed tharsonie 'Attie most iw portant liteu iipon which the report is founded, havarlieen offered to ,be disproved at the. bar of your HonouranitatOollse,..., That your Peti,ioners conceive, williont meaning to offend boor House, that they. are• warrawed iu pro - sliming that the said.toomilttee may have been deceived. or In.sistfurmt . .l. by st . itteineills in oilier instances equaily t.rronip at . oils , auilhieb, it evidence were allowed to Ise ploihn:ed, ntialst be disproved. That yutir Petitioners have seer., with the deepest concern, that attempts have been made to confound' the !omicrons bodies ef l M Maiesty'sloyat subjects, who have peaceably and constitaitioutilly petitioned fur Radium mad Retrenchment, with some ob.setwe and Unwinds:ler:Ole Yucieties alto have I vanecil theoretical junkets with regard to property and did, with %%hick the body of the frit-orb:of Reform never had auy colniection %%loiterer ; of which the greater trail of the people, your Petitiosieis beituve, never heard the name pre vious to the Reports of the Secret Committee of your Ho nourable Haase, Milt with whirl, they do not appear to have :111 , 1 any feeling. o iall, or principle in common. That lee the present difficultly• and ilkappointments of the country, there should exist great disquietude and irrita- Aiint in the public mind, as %cell as great anxiety as to the• me:buses that may he adopttd far the retire.% of grievances,' your Petitioners conceive to bean unavoidable consequence; and that wire it otherwise the national character must have; been degraded beyond any fusilier example, and every sense of liberty exthignishi il, if the British nation could, tinder 1.1101 eirconstances, have ceased to feet, and with freedom e ores* their grievances. ' fliat they humbly beg lenws to impress npnn yoor Honfitir ' able House, that any measnres indicative olyour 'determina tion to searek .into and redress the national grievances —to abolish uselesa and iiiii nicessary places. pensions, and esta-, blishments—to reduce the national expenditure—and to take into consideration the t.tate of the Film esentation, with a view of reiolering it what, in Cod, it might to lie, a real or;:an of the people, anti a multi... Mora power over tor ,11ohilitertt id . the Crown—would tend 11101 e (4/ appease the pithlic traliquillize the feelings Of the people—and i spire the eon fi of the Ha1i1111... 1 11111 ally laWll that can be ileviseil fo, esti lin the people to the exercise of their einislitti. fin . rights. At§ i'etit;nners, th-tefore, pray vim:, ilonoorable Hon‘r. Ith prrviou•iy to gm) lay, CO btivendiu 4 ; the grv4l Ch trtel of j►traoaal illivrt;, the Habeas Corpus Act, :out TILE NATIONAL REGISTEIC • tlvrehy planing the lives, liberty. and property of the people at the mercy of his Majestv's Ministers, or adopting any other 'measure% calculated to. triminisit the right> of the sulkier% linnounthle Whose will proceed to a further investiga iiim; %Olen an arettsed' people sway by allowed to millrace :other evidence, and to vindicate their empanel and their eon ,tautiortal rights at the hair of your Honourable House. COSIMON HALL. A Common Hall was convenes), ou Friday, for the pnrpose of taking into consialcrotion the propriety of petitioning Por i's:uncut on thee:hive, of the suspension of the liabeas l'orpus Act, and the other Ilills, the tendency of which is the abridg mesit of slue liberties it the subject. Titc , i.orsl Mayor having opened the proceedings of the day, Mr. Faye) proposed the rmoltstions. Hr said, theLi% ery now appeared as defend:sots of that palladium of Minsk liberty, the Habeas Corpus .%et, which, to stispi•tal, would be to milieu(' the constitution. Ile trusted, however, they wools, be wilting to die in defence of their rights, and Amor them • selves wet thy of being the descendants of a Hampden, a Syd ' ney,, or a Ittliiikil. He concluded with moving a series of I esolutions. 1111. Witithinan hail been thrust into the situation in which "he then stood. It was nut (-home that induced him If/ come 'forward. lie was coovineiti that no conspiracy existed. 1 lie rid ulerl the idea very t ouch, and fipolo• with great plea -1 gantry abut a grcra•liag phd, atr.! a greets-coot plot; about iStir W. Cuitis's horror at the sight of 'dlr. Harper's placard lariveetisement of 1114 tract entitled e"Truth for a Penny," and after speaking with considerable acrimony against Ali- Inisters, who, he said, " lived upon plunder," he concluded by , secondine the motion. 'llse resolutions, which were similar to many others on this subject; were passed inianimoiedy ; and a petition founded of them was proposed by Mr. Waillinum. Mr. Hitching, the gl.llllellllll ss ho %sa.s so 'unhandsomely treated by limit and the " gentlemen" at the last Spa fields meeting, Remolded the motion. Mr. Hunt talked less than on former occasion's., though lie largely indulged its egotism, and said that the lion-Hart. (Sir W. Curtis] knew when the Suspension Art passed Ministers world have orient to drag hint [Mr. li.] to a dungeon. They might torture his hesh, Lut they could not destroy a noble mind !I [Laughing.] The petition , waa agreed to, and Mr. Wisithman moved that Sir JUMP, Shaw be requested to present itra the House. Sir W. Curtis said he mould pre:.eht it Wilsey required him. The worthy Wlronet was prt-% en ted from speakisig, or at least from bring heard, by the liberates before the hustings, and vans tioally driven front the exercise of his right as a liveryman, by those very lives poen who %%ere tact to petition agaiust the infringement of their rights. A similar petition was agreed to be pi e , esitcii to the lords. Thanks having been votesito the Lord Mayor, his Lordship returned thanks, and said he was convinced no conspiracy against (iiiverianteut exi tied. and that the Report of the So cret Committee contained allegations not founded in truth. The merting then dissolved. Wr.s.rwistsrim Mer.rtNo.—On Tuesaay a Meeting was held in Palace-yard, in vonsequence of a acquisi tion presented to the High Balid; requesting him to call a Meeting, fair the pmpose of considesint: the pro priety of petitioning rarliatuent against for the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act; Mier several speeches from Mr. Starch, Mr Walker, Mr. Hunt, awl Sir F. 'Burdett, a Petitioit v.ll* voted accordingly. It was presented to the House in the.-eourse of the even ing. NEW BILLS. -4.- The skeleton of the Iftll fir more .effeetnally preventing seditious meetings has been published. It differs, as tar as we see, iu no respect from die tinnier act, except that a clause is added for the suppression of :•pectecan, or Spencean Philanthropist Societies, which ar c to be deelated uulaoful cmiebniations against the lioserimient and the conemen good. • We sobjitirrthe new clause:— " And whereas, divers societies or combs have been insti tint 41 in tbe seen opotiet. aced iu various parts of this kingdom. welairzerous nature and tendency, inconsistent with the public tranquillity anti the.rxistenee of the established go vernvuent; Taws. and constitution, of the kingdom, and some of which societie: profess for their object the confiscation alit division of , the ijOtl, and the extinction of the funded pro pen 1' of the kingdom, particularly certain societies or clubs' tailing theinsels Cs gpeueraln, or Seiraccon PhilqnthrupLisr aua the nu in bet sof neatly of such societies or chiles have tat e onlass ful oaths and engagements of fidelity and seerc ey, anti lots. taken or sobsciiheil, or assented to. illegal t••sts and iiedaratious, and many of the said societies or clubs elect opoint, or. employ committees, delegates, reweseutatives or mi-• binaries of ..rueit sociefit s or clubs, to meet, confer, coin. ninnicate or correspond with oilier societies or clubs, or with delegate'. represtiitahresur missiona ies of such othorsocieti.ni or clubs, and to induce and persuade oilier persons to be come inventor's thereof, and by sucli.means maintain an in fluence over large bodies vi men,-and delude many ignorant and nuwary persunsin the commission of acts highly end win real .it expedient and iteeessary that all such see cieties or Olin as aforesaid, 11111 i all societies or dolts of the like Hating., stench{ be utterly soppres-ed and prohibited as unlawful combinations acid confederacies, highly dangerous to the peace and trmiquillity of the-e kjOgolOto.t. Oita to the eonstitation of the tiovernmetit thereof, as by law establish ed: Be it enacted, 'that titan and alter the all the said societies or elutes calling theinselit s Spencearts, or Spencean Pliitanthprn;ilir, and all or tither sands Ancietir , or t two, by whatever name or clescripe tire same are rolled or known, shall be, and the :lathe' We hereby utterly suppress ed air I prohibited, as teeing unlawful combinations and con federal-4es again." the Govermaent of our Sovereign Lord the Klieg, and against the peace anti security ut his Alajesty's subjects:' followitig tare other heads of the Bill : " No oceetiag of inure Bean persons (exnept county meetings, tee. )to be 44 td w ithou t milles being given in some urwspaper by lionseholeers. Notice to lee given to the clink of the peace, who shall semi ropy to Justices. " Meetings without notice to be deemed unlawtil, anti may he Jesperst cl. Places for lectures or debates to Ise Li - Ceti. lA, and unless previously I.:mused, to be deemed thsor deiiy !daces. " against conk and tests. Licenses of public. houses to be ivrietteti, tf huvibpei nicetinp shall Le held in thew." MARCH 3: THE DRAMA. •-•4o— 0 %Itors. Mn. BOOTIL—In our last we stilted, that this o,entle. man disappointed the Public on Saturday teed:, at Drury-Lane Theatre, by his non-appsarance in the Chanteter of Ingo, which had been advertised for that night. Late on the same evening, he addressed a la. der to Mr. Rae, declaring as follows: " an unottaidell moment I quitted Covent Carden Thea tre (wliete the most situation fin the esertitm of nay professional talents was open to me) to co over to ary•lane Theatre, si here I have since found, and felt to ,n loss. that every ell tracto . which I was either de.irom or ealiable of playing, was already in p056M , i011, and that there was no chance of my appealing in the same. What occasion, there fore, could you 11:11/0 ter ale, unless to crush any talent I mcy possess in its infancy ? I have now seen through my ems., and Its.lts.v theielore renewed the negotiation ttl icn v..s sa unfortunately interrupted with the Proprietors of Ca vent tiordeti Theatre, and have at last signed% regular article a :t them for three ears; cuaseimently I have no longer ttc power or appvating sgmin at Dfury-L.bo Mews. ." On Sunday plaeards announced that Mr. Booth would re-appear at Covent-Garden Tuesday evening. iu the character of Richard; and as his vacillating con duct, antrinstat to the public, in disappointing them at Drury-Lane Saturday, had greatly incensed a number of persons, a violent opposition was naturally exreited. The Theatre was crowded to the very utmost, and long before the curtain rose, strong.symptoms of n- spirit of discontetat manifested themselves,--the thunder which towered at a distance previous to the.eurtain drawing up, burst into tremendous tumults on Mr. Booth's com ing fbrward to addries them. After numerous at tempts, all inefiiy:toal, he was obliged to retire, wit' . out soaking himself heard. Mr. Fawcett then came f.noverd, and attempted to act ornitlish that is whi h Mr. Booth bad previously failed, but with no better suc cess. Several notes were thrown to him on the stage, and at length Mr. Fawcett retir. d, anti the p'av com menced. Aing Henoyand hisaturtdants ouch their .partsin dumb show, till Richard appeared when the uproar again became overwhelming. Mr. Fawcett 4agitia stopped forward and led. Mr. Booth to the front oldie stage. Still, however, he could obtain no hear ing. A. placard was then displayed, containing the following words:—" Grant silence for an explana tion !"—Thishadnor better effect than former attempts, amid the play promelled in the midst of the chaotic con fusion until the conimeneetneut of the 'third act, when another placard, to the following, alba, was displayed: " Mr. Booth wishes to snake au aptdogy. - -Thoy wtrald not, however, hear hiampology. Another placard was then presented. to the audience, " An Englishman . is then condemned unheard." This to the uproar to its highast -pitch, and the ronaindar of the piece pissed on_ till the death of Richard, and thelall of the curtain, in mere dumb show ; a comparative calm beino- cause'. at. intervals by the attention of the omoncnts t /the unfor tunate Richard being drawn to some dist eeate pogilis- Htie contests which took plate in the pit between his Ifriends and opponents. At the conc!nsion of the phr-, jltdr. Fawcett again led Mr. Booth to the flout of the I .B:age. This was signal for the renewal of the ttt mutt, and aThough he addros.:od the audience, not a sentence of what he said coal,' be collected, and he re tired amidst mingled : , Ittets of c,cetie. , anti applause. At the close of the eetertainment, w'! ich proceeded without ine.rr.lption, a number of the au knee remain ed behind, who ealliag for the Matia.;er, . Mr. Fawcett appeared, and s.ated, Oat Mr. Booth had left the The atre, and lie welled to be excused saying any thing in his aLsonee. On this the audit ace departed. Saturday Mr. Booth made another attentpt at Ri chard; but it was, as be only as offrmig ; for be tween th,: bravos and offs not a word could be heard. Placards were exhibited, expressive of Mr. Booth's de sire to make an apology ; but, alas ! John Bull, or a number of persons taking upon themselves to enact that honourable character, lost all sense of mercy in his edhereece to what ho tor.eeived to be rigid justice, and the unfoetunate ",prisoner at the bar," was net per mitted either to be heard or seen in his own defence. Nay, not even to plead guilty to the indictment, end throw himself' upon the mercy of the court. The 3lorning_ Chronicle has gravely told us, that all this is a trick of Ministers to divert the pt.blic attention from the Habeas Corpus Saspensiou Bill Possibly this may Ise the case : for we remember having hetud it asserted, that there never was such a person as Johann I South cote ; but it was all a " trick of Ministers" to divert the public attention from the Corn Bill. Me. Booth is announced for Monday. It would be dangerous to ha ;:arti an opinion ; but it' the waving of weite hatelker chieti. is any criterion, " the ayes have it ;" anti if so, Rieleard will be " himself again." It is gent rally thought that nine Joys will complete this wonder. On Monday last, the sub-Committer of Deny-lane Theatre filed a Bill in Chancery apitiot Mr. Jun;as Booth and the pruprietors of Covent Garden Theatre for tm utittnetion to restrain Mr. Booth front a ling at any other Theatre than at the Theatre Royal Drury- Janie : but on the day following, on the petit:oa of the plaintiff'', their bill was dismissed on their payity: tine. whole of the costs. • At new musical entertainment was proloced litre on Thursday night, under the title of 'lke Heir if Firvni• It .haaftsw faults but that. 01.1:ing mama dull, Fer-