The National Register.
London, England, 1820-08-07 00:00:00

lc 0/WWII -11ELlIAG.

~i

At one o'clock on Wednetday, a Common Hall was
held at Norwich. for the purpose of considering the pro-
•priety of presenting an Address to the Queen, under the
circumstances in which her Msjesty is placed.—The
Mayor came upon the hustings and said,
l'i-How Citizens, in pursuance of a requisition
signed by a n bcr of respectable inhabitants. I have
convened this meeting. I hold the keys of this place
hut in trust for you, and having discharged my ditty thus
far, you will proceed to the choice of your Chairmen."
A general call followed for the Mayor to take the
Chair.
The MAYOR.—" Gentlemen, I regret that I am
really unable from indisposition to preside at this meet-
ing; 1 ant sure you trill conduct yourself with that pro;
priety which has always marked the public meetings of
Norwich, and I must reqnest your permission to retire."
Alderman Latta); was then called to the chair; alter
which
Mr. Sheriff 'I./ramie said, " Gentlemen, often as I
have addressed you from this place, it has never been
under feelings more difierent, and in some respeets more
painful than at present. The accession of a King or a
Queen ought to be a subject of unmixed gratulation,
but we are assembled, not merely to perform the deity of
congratulation to our Queen, but to mingle with this
feeling our sympathy for her sufferings, and our decided
protest against the ungenerous, and unprincipled attack
which has been made upon her. (Applause.) It has
been asserted these meetings are only convened -for the
purposes of faction. Gentlemen I deny the charge. I
Wish not to add to the dissentient or disunion which
exists among any of the branches of the Royal family.
The wish of all true hearted Englishmen is, tit see their
King and Queen living in the dignity and happiness and
union becoming their exalted situations; but we cannot
and we ought not to be silent when an attempt is made
to attack an unprotected woman, when the proceedings
adopted against her have the stamp of injustice, and
when, through her, the laws of the country are grossly
and shamefully violated. (Applause.) We should not
des-rve the character of men or Englishmen, if we did
nut mark in the strongest terms against such proceed-
ings, and prove to her Majesty that weak and friendless
as she may appear to be: though bereft of parents, bro-
ther and citi id, she is yet strong in the affections of the
people. (Applause.) Surely never was there a woman
against whom a more constant and unrelenting perse-
cution has been directed. You all remember the infa-
mous charge which was brought against her in 1807.
A charge much more substantial, supported by witnesses
of much greater apparent credit than the present, and
which, in the language of the exalted personages who
were appointed to inquire into it, was " considdely dig-
roved" and declared to be " undeserving of credil."—
During the public life of his late Majesty, her enemies
were silenced—his kind and gracious conduct was her
shield and support: but no sooner was that withdrawn.
than the machinations of her enemies were again com-
menced. She was driven from those scenes of splendour
and dignity, of which Mr. Canning truly said " she was
the grace and the ornament ;" she was debarred from
all intercourse with her daughter; the dearest and ten-
derest ties of nature were cruelly severed, and she was
compelled to seek repose in foreign lands. It might
have been supposed that here the malice of her enemies
-would have been satisfied, and that she might have been
suffered to enjoy that quiet and renege abroad which had
been denied her at home. Yet even this was too much
lot her to expect. During the former period of her re-
. stdence ahmad, she visited parts of Europe, Asia and
Africa, and here we find her the same kind hearted and
generous woman she hail always been in England. In
Sicily the poor partook of her bounty--at Tunis she
was the ransomer of the Christian captives—at Con-
stantinople and at Jerusalem the children of disttess
had reason to bless her. At length she took up her
• residence in.ltaly, and here it was that the efforts of
.her persecutors were renewed. She was speedily sur-
rounded by spies—every motion was watched, and a
,German Baton had even the unheard of atrocity to sub-
orn one of her own servants to pick the lock of her
writing desk, and steal her papers. (Shame! shame!)
During her residence there, the King died, and her
name was instantly erased front the Liturgy. This insult
• • was but the prelude to more attrocions attacks. As soon
as it was known that she was coming to England, a
messenger was dispatched to bribe or to threaten her
into a compromise of her honour and her rights. With
that sagacity and promptness which has marked her
conduct, she instantly saw through the base design, and
indignantly spurning this base attack upon her honour,
came boldly and instantly to England. Gentlemen, 1
• need not detail to you the reception she met with when
she set foot on our shores. 1 could not, were Ito at-
tempt it, describe the etithitsiasm with which she was
every where received, and the warm and heartfelt proofs
of devotion which every where marked her steps. What
followed immediately upon this? Why, the production
of a Green Bag. Gentlemen, I confess I have an in-
stinctive dislike to a Green Bag, having myself had the
honour or misfortune (call it which you will) to occupy
a a small corner in one. (Laughter.) Ott that occasion
I remember requesting the excellent and patriotic Mem-
ber for Norfolk, Mr. Coke, to defy his Majesty's Minis-
ters to substantiate one single word which they had
alledged.respecting Norwich—Mr. Coke did so. And
. what was the answer which he got from Mr. Brugge
Bathurst t Why, that what had been said about Nor-
%etch was an a mistake! (Laughter.) I mention this
nie;:ly to shew of what son of evidence Green Bags
. have been composed. But, gentlemen, we have a right
to ask 01 his Majesty's Ministers, why this Green Bag
was not produced before? If the Queen was that in-
fitivous wretch they would have us believe, how dared
they to negociate with her? How dared they to send
• over a messenger to make terms with her—to offer her
the means, wrung from your hard earnings, of revelling
ra !vao-y and profligacy? If tie,/ noel titese datnii.ng