The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1820-11-16 00:00:00

Alderman WOOD in the Chair.

The worthy Alderman opened the business of
the day by stating, he had taken the earliest oppor-
t yof calling them together, slier receiving the
requisition, because he Mt it to he owing to himself,
and to the respectable Inhabitants of the Ward. that
they should Ise almost the first who addressed her
Majesty on this auspicious occasion. There was
one part of the country which claimed the prece-
dence, where it Meeting had taken place to address
the Queen, lx fore tiny IVard or any other body hail
assembled for that purpose; and therefore, perhaps,
it was justly entitled to that honour. He alluded to
the town of Dover, where she had first landed, after
an absence of several years from this country. lie
hail commynicated the feelings of the town of
Dover to her Majesty. and she had been pleased to
state that the Dover Address would he the very first
which she would receive on this occasion; lint lie
believed the Address of the %Vara of Cripplrbrate
would be the next, as the Inhabitants of that Ward
hail held the first Public Meeting. in the City of
London with respect to her Majesty's unparalleled
situation.

'rhe requisition having been read,
Mr. Illetts ES, after briefly adveiting to the machi-
nations to wlfich her Majesty had been exposed, and
the trionsphant manner in which her innocence had
ultimately been manifested, concluded by proposing
two Resolutions, poisilisig out the propriety of
presenting a loyal and dutiful Address to her Ma-
jesty, congratulating her on her miraculous escape
from the machinatioin of her enemies, who sought
to degrade her moral character in the eyes of the
world, and to deprive her of her rights and privi-
leges by a system of espionage and subornation,
which had been pursued with the utmost malignity.
Mr. STETEns, in rising to second the Resolu-
tions, observed that he would, at the proper time,
submit sit additional Resolution to the Meeting, a
matter, as lie conceived. of very great importance.
having been intuited w those now proposed. He had
that morning seen a curious observation. which was
mode by a Magistrate of Westminster, Mr. Birnie.
A person, it seemed, way brought before him the
other day, charged with letting off tire-works on
the occasion of her Majesty's triumph ; and, being
informed the cause, the worthy Magistrate expressed
his astonishment that any individual could rejoice,
because it was taut an lionourakle deliverance, her
Majesty hasn't; been found guilty on the second
reading of the Bill. This came from a Magistrate
who ought to know the laws of the country. and
the proper =timer of administering them. The
proceedings against her Majesty were, he contended,
altogether contrary to the spirit and design of the
constitution. She was charged with an offence, for
the putoislienent of which no law existed ; and he
had been always led to suppose, that when there
was no law. there' could he no transgression. Mr.
Stevens then proceeded to discuss at length the
merits of the case. The worthy gentleman se-
conded the tint and second Resolutions; and
proposed a third, expressing the wish of the inert.
mg that her 'Majesty would not be endowed, either
by threats or pr 1111 l ove", to 16.1'14 this loyal nation,
where the people were as toady to give her their pro-
tection as she was worthy to receive it. The Reims
lotions were obeli put and carried.
Mr. HAIN,* data moved an Address of Congra-
tulation, embodying the sentiments cositoined an the
Resul u 'ions.
Mr. HAINES) next moved. that as many of the
male and Erni de Inhabitants of the %Yard as should
choose to attend at the presentation of the Address
br at liberty to do an, and that a Committee of
• be appointed to arrange the manner of the
procession.
Alderman WooD was afraid that it would be hit-

plowable. at this season of the year. for her Majesty
to receive all the Addrevses of congratulation that
were likely on be poured in on her in the same
manlier that she had done in an earlier period.
Her not wishing to receive them. accompanied by
such large bodies. arose entirely from this circa's.
stance. As to the probability of her Majesty being
induced to leave the country by temptation or by
threat, he coal* assure the. Meeting that neither the 1
one nor the other would ever produce that effect,
—(Lmid applause.)—A report of this nature hod
hogiir
indeed been propagated; and, in a passage w ' •
he had that morning seen copied 'from the Ozfsv4
Journal, it was stated 44 that -a Gentleman cc-
tremely intimate with Alderman Wood, informed,.
them that the Queen was positively going out of the,i
country immediately ;" and it woo •sood dal
her Majesty's trunks, and boxes had been isetuirfr
packed up with that iotention‘—( Laughter )-o
Imo, so far from that being thiejape, au application
had been made to she highest authority to give
her Majesty a palace and a suitable establiohnsentt,
to enable her to live in this country with the
dignity becoming her rank.—(Lord cheers.)—
These were the words of the Queen heroelf. She
called upon the Government to afford her all that
was necessary to uphold the dignity of her rituat too.
This she had demanded : if it were refused, it was
not her Majesty'. fault ; but she harboured no in-
tention whatsoever of quitting the country.—(Ap-
plaarse. j—He did not wonder that sorts a report
should be put in circulation. No doubt every pos-
sible otrp would be taken to induce her to
leave England ; but he had not the smallest
idea nor the smallest fear that such efforts
would ever 'wove succesiful.—(Cheers.)—With
respect to the carrying up this Aildress in the incliner
proposed, be did not think the Queen could cooler.
niently receive Addresses in that monocrat present.
He merely threw this out, for he could make no po.
sitive statement on the subject. He had a conver-
sation with her Majesty on Monday night, before he
left Brandenburgholiouve, end lie feared, from the
numerous meetings that were shout to be held, it
would not he possible for her Majesty to receive
exteinive bodies of people. Letters had poured in
from every part of the country, stating that the in-
habitants would immediately address her Majesty,
although many of those persons could only have
heard of the second reading of the Bill, and must
at the time have been ignorant of its fate. Many
bodies in Cornwall, in the north, in the south. and
in the western parts of the country, who had not
met before, declared their intention, by letter, to
petition the House of Commons against the Bill,
when they heard of its having been read a second
time. Under all the circumstances, he thought it
only possible for a small deputation to take up the
Address from each Meeting.
Mr. STEVENS said, the Inhabitants of that Word
stood in a sitiodion very different from that of other
individuals. They knew that the worthy Alder-
man was in favour at the Queen's Court, and they
felt a little proud that he was Alderman of their
Ward. They, therefore, might urge a claim to
go up with the Address, which other individuals
could not advance.—(Cheers.)
Alderman WOOD thought it was better to leave
the meter open, and to say, that as many Ladies
and Gentlemen of the Ward as her Majesty might
please should go up with the Address.
The alteration iii the resolution suggested by the
worthy Alderman was then agreed to, sod it was
carried.

Mr. HAINES moved the thanks of the Meeting to
Mr. Akiernian Wnod.

Mr. BRooDEN seconded the motion from a strong
conviction that Aldermen Wood was the most coo-
sistent of any of the public men engaged iu this
momentous business. The worthy Alderman might
have conceived an erroneous op* * of the case, but
he never wavered from his duty in advising her Ma-
jesty to come to this country, although one of her
legal advisers had endeavoured to dissuade her from
taking that step, He euiirely agreed in the present
Address, although he had opposed a former one;
and he could assure the worthy gentleman that his
mind should never receive any Undue bias from
his observations, or those of any other pencils.—
He had encountered much invective because he sup-
ported the Government of his country. It was the
duty of an holiest man to do so; but he would
'sever shrink from telling them that they did wrong
when he conceived that their conduct called for cen-
sure. With respect to the Queen's case, he had long
since made up his mind ; but he could not have
done that if the investigation had not gone on.
Ile believed the Bill was withdrawn from no other
cause but the strong apprehension that, if it went
down to the House of Commons, the subornation
of evidence would be discovered. The smaller,' of
the majority was not the true reason which caused
the abandonment of the Bill. A majority of
one expelled the Stuarts from the throne of
England ; sua the casting voice of the Speaker of
the House of Commons decided the impeachment
of Lord Melville. It was clear that Zangla had been
bribed ; and the evidence of Restells, who was not
forthcoming when called for,
.had been disproved.
With respect to Rastehli, he believed in his con-
science, es firmly as lie believed in his creed, that
he was sent away to avoid farther investigation.
—Meer, hear./—This was not an after-thought.
Ile had stated his opinion three weeks ago to many
persons then present. It gave him great pain to
alter his opinion of Lord Liverpool; but he thought,
if his Lordship had retired from office six months
ago, his character would have descended to poste-
rity in a much brighter light thou it could now do.
—(
Applause.
Alderman WOOD briefly returned thanks. His
conduct during the whole of this proceeding had
been dictated by a knowledge of facts which must
have made an impression even on the most corrupt
mind. He had also to guide hint the meet solemn
and serious declaration of the chorea herself—sod
lie believed her iucapable of deceit—that she was
insiocent of the vile Charges alleg►►d against her.—
He himself had seen persons at Rome,. at Nils% at

Naples. at Vieuius„ elm were ronsisliy aceiritsg t.lurrrl it carrytior sate execattue the rattly
large yams nt money, and sewed of whom sleeked id plot against her dlustrions .either ? Ti.. people
honorary distinctions—mob* knew for what... boood not to mum their 'few, hut to keep
except it am for malistsimg the Queen. Mee blis to full activity until they had succeeded in the ex-
jesty had a heart full of rOtltode; mid would never pulaion of those Ministers front office. He robjesi-
forget that she hod'heiat rived by the people of ed himself by such remarks to the obloquy of. reek -
this eon ittry.—if,Oppbease.) ion the dismission of Ministers for res•usis. He
The Wortieste then broke up. wait sot likely to prat by soy seek change. most be
*del himself sever to an any station or elm-
.
FREEMASONS' TAVESI . piagtneeit in the State without the ipso►•'ishw•tut of
'OMe plan of reform. He concluded Iry 811.1V.I•lf ' 4".
Yesterdity. pureuent to public notice pervion;ly first Resolution, the purport of whieii w: ee...
given. a meeting of the Chairmen who had ine• of the Address which had been read, bet irr de •:0
sided at the various meetings in end 'tout London, also that under the present circuandances :t wits eot
from which Addresses had been presented to the neceasery to tall for rioatoreo to it.
Queen, took place at thr above reveres. At one Sir G. Nos!, as a member of. the meeting.
o'clock Sir G. Noel. Sir R. Wilson, Mr. Hume, not as Cheirman, wished to second the Resolution.
Mr. Barber Beaumont. and Major Cartwright, He had essisted in calling tlw meeting. and tfieugli
eotvred.the room. Sir G. Noel took the Chair. • he bad not deemed it necessary to per.ist it' the
Mr. B. BIAVIIONT *tided the object of the migiayd object uf it, he soil the
meeting. At the tn.. when it we. tint content- firself Necessary. and UM their prover ilite:s outfit by
plated, and at the period when it we. resolved to no Illealii to be dependant no what would be dune
convene it. the day hiving been fixed upon. it had by Ministers against the Queen. They had hero
been anticipated that Ministers would pwa. auccesofnl in getting rid of the Bill—for surely the
the odious Bill of Pains and Per.alties through the public were a considerable party in brining shout
House of Lords at all hazard., and whatever might that erect. Bet they ought not to telex in that
be the probable event. Since then the Bill had march or meeting which had•thus been Opened to
happily been withdrswit. One of the purposes of the then,. He would not be couteuted without same
meeting,hadtheßill certainly massed, westoenlighten t public insnife.tn, not only by an Addresu u.
the House of Lords, some of its Members haring I the Queen, if that should be resolved on, but
declared that the people were wholly indifferent by a Petition to both Houses of Parliament,
to the result of the proceedings against her Majesty. calling on them to declare. in some Immure
It was thought necessary that the truth should he or other, that the proceeding by a Bill of Paics
made known to their Lordships as to the degree and and Penalties was unconstitutional, and to remove
character of feeling which the British people sew. the danger of soy subject of the realm ever benne
ally entertained in regard to the whole of the tura. vexed by the institution of such a proceeding
sures taken oguiriat her Majesty. Under these inn. future. Coupled with the protection and safety of
previsions. it had been determined to 'Prepare an the Queen, which was now nearly perfected, ought
Address, which, after being generally submitted to, to be the pro•eciiiin and aecuroy of every irubject
and adopted by the Chairmen of the various meet. of the Plate from a similar prosecution in coming •
ings, trial again submitted by them to the persons time. Ile remarked one effect which the Biil
who had subecribed the former Addresses, might had produced :it had raised the individual clef -
embody the united expression of the sentitnents of racier of every man in the stair no less than teat
the 'British people ; and thus would be recorded, of the class to which they severally belonged. The
under the sign manual of as ninny individual.. the " nation of shopkeepers;' as Bonaparte hid (-41
judgment of between eight and ten million'', who in the must now become a detigualloft of
all probability would put their names to such an couledereble dignity. The muse of the people
Address. These measures were rendered umieces. would in future he the mesh,, of saving the Peer-
vary in the judgment of several of his friends, by age from the effects of their own folly, and rescuing
the rejection of the Bill, It had been recommend. the poor from their miler/ratline.. He apprehended
ed, iu consequence. to pompone the meeting until that the conduct of the House of Lords was rather
other circumstance, should render the interfer. to be attributed to their wash of experience and real

enee of the public voice again necessary—as that was
a powerful engine, and one which ought not lightly
to be put in motion. He would reed the Address
which had been prepared for the occasion in case of
the parsing of the Bill : and although that mea-
sure was now considered as unnecessary, it would
still be necessary for the public to retain the same
vigilant sod efficient position in case of say other
oppressive steps which might be taken against her
Majesty ; because the ministerial scribes, who were
generally the avant couriers of an}• disagreeable
measure■ about to be adopted, stul continued to
spirt their unprincipled venom against her Ma-
jesty. He then read the Address which had been

knowledge. than to any peculiar vice in their cola•
position ur inclinations. He concluded by recoil!).
mending that the public should temper their
triumph with clemency and forbearance to those
whom they had defeated, and not use greater seve-
rity at present towards them thou the use of a few
hard words, especially as the re akin. was always
available if occasion should require it.
Mr. GAST, as Chairman of the Operative Me-
chanics, congratulated himself on having caused
the example to he set which had become the rule of
conduct to the whole kingdom. lie was the first
working niechsuic who had kissed the Queen's
hand. at which time he took up an Address signed

p►epared.
Sir R. W t Leo* said, that he was one of the in-
dividuals who had signcd the requisition for calling
the meeting, in expectation that the Bill would cer-
tainly pass the House of Lords, in which case he
thought that there would be nothing so effectual
in preventing its farther progress as to call forth
the combined and simultaneous action of all the
Committees from which Addresses to the Queen
had proceeded, an as to bring forth an unequivocal
declaration of the opinions of the whole population.
As the Bill had been withdrawn, he conceived that
measure need not be adopted, though it would still
be their duty to watch their baffled though not
wholly defeated enemy. He was ready to support
any resolutions to which the meeting might think
it fit to agree tinder the altered circumstances of
the case. It would be wasting time to make and•
remarks on the nature of the late prosecution ■nd
4he character of its proceedings. Every body now
was convinced of the iniquitous character of
those measures ;nor would the public be at

by 30,000 isedividnala. He though: a necessary for
all parties to keep on the alert. The parts of the
snake which had been cot asunder might unite
again with redoubled strength and increased venom.
It was his intention. as Chairman of the Mech mks'
Committee. to propose an Address to the ()nevus
on her acquittal, and another Address or Petition
to die House of Commons, calling on thesis 11.
inflict the whole of the expense of the proceed;ngs
on the Ministers of the Crown, and to cause their
estates to'be confiscated if they were unable to pay
it from their other property. The King also, if
he were to believe the assertions of many of
she Peers, was a chief prosecutor. Indeed, he
must have been so, or he would not have taken up
his pen to erase the Queen's name from the Liturgy.
The House of Commons should be directed to ewe
the King and his Ministers for the costs of those
proceedings, to be paid oat of their private means.
Ile intended to propagate the measure, and hr
doubted not himself to acquire one hundred thou•
sand signatures to the petition. Her Majesty had
. .

all better reconciled to theta by the tears and
distressed conscience of the Lord Chancellor,
the judicial equity and noble sense of honour
of the Duke of Newcastle, or the pious con-
sistency and • constitutional theology of my
Lords the Bishops. Hod the Bill passed into a
law, he, for one, would hive preferred living under
the despotism of Algiers; because such an act of
oppression effected in a free State, was more humi-
liating than in a State to the inhabitants of winch
the dignified sense of freedom had never been
known. According to the order of Providence,
some good had been produced out of the evil of
that Bill. It had advanced the cause of freedom
just as the invention of the vessel had advanced
colonitition and civilization in America; it had
called into life and embodied the decaying sense of
public spirit; it had enabled the friends of freedom
to assume those stations from which they would in
future be able, in a great measure, to control
events; it had awakened the torpid and compara-
tively morbid principles of freedom into active
existence. But though they had scotched the snake,
they had not killed it ; the victory was yet to be
completed. The Ministers who had injured and ex-
asperated the country ought not to be allowed lodger
to exercise their misrule, even if the King were dispos-
ed longer to trust his lasers to the guidance of their
pernicious councils. It was impossible that the
people would longer submit to the government of .
such an Administration. Were nut these the same
Ministers to whom the country owed their °pores-
arms, their burdensome taxation' ; who had refused
to inquire into the Manchester massacre, who hod
thanked and,reararded the perpetrators of it ; who
were parsiug to judgment, sod would in a few days
perhaps incarcerate the Member for Westminster
fir doing that which had celled on him the bene-
dictions of the whole country besides • and who.
while etteaditei ii ooletiter,prOr/ funeral Of
the lhieeeee Ghtektial semi eleKr teem busily
4.j :1 7 sw neva -lamest so,..ter: •

- -
been called Queen of the Radicals, by a vile hire-
ling writer (Lewis Goldsmith), who had acted as
Vicar of Bray to olmost every despot iu Europe.
Well was it for her Majesty that she had such sub-
jects. Had it not been for the Radicals, who bad •
stock to her like her back bone. her polite aristo-
cratic subjects would have sacrificed her how ago.
lie expressed his concurrence with the general sofs.
jects of the meeting, and gave notice of his inten-
tion to propose an Address to her Majesty, and a
Petition to the Hume of COllllllOll% for the pot-
poses before stalest, at the Two Brewers, London-
wall, at a very early period.
Mr. Husto (M.P. for Montrose) said, that no one
could be more willing than he was to agree to oily
resolution no support of the cause of the Queen ;
but it was necessary that they should consider web
what they were about to do. He thought the adop-
tiou of the resolution which had beau proposed t:
them would tend to damp the public spirit which
had been entkiudled, and would expose that me-st-
ing to the imputation of 'WOW. its I !try ltd.! at-
scribrd the Peers, root over-gifted vont, 1N,•11,13ti-
He doubted the expediency of ei!.y
resolutions as the acts of that meetusg,
whet, he considered the minuet iu which they had
assembled, uuder the doubt espy meeting takine.
place, which probably had prevented many peranua
from attending. He remembered that Lord Ca.-
' ttereagh, two or three years ago, had said iu die
House of Commoos, that whenever it should appear
-allot the people met in their respective pariatie., •••,.1
oopreased their opinions on any subject, t.,14,
he should believe on the expressioo of public opt..
won. He, therefore, recommended those Per.W44
oho were now present, to promote such meetings
iu their respective porisbes. He would reconitneo..l
that this tasseling should not adopt any resolulioi...
es to any specific hue of conduct, further then a
retommersdatiots of meetiooo, the deseriptirw
*hick he had mentioned ; fasillophosht it wu siii.t
. Jli 111171a7 elf •