The National Register.
London, England, 1819-07-26 00:00:00

COMMON COUNCIL, GUILDHALL.

At one &chilli on Friday the Coma wet, and the Lord
biryor infringed them that be had on Thursday night lecrivrti
an iMportant communication from Lord Sidincluth, w loch
wit', their leave he would read —(Cries ml " Read'")
. .

His Lordship then read a letter from Lord Sidinotath,
thankieg him in the warmest terms, by order of the Prince
Regent, for his ad:iiirable add ellicient :irran4rlnPiltdll/ pre-
-61 rye the. peace of the City, during the Smithfield Sleeting
oat Wednesday la4.—(lllrai, hear.)
Tile Lord Mayor then detailed at some length the .eaten-
sive arronlements made by the Civil Power to preserve
nrder on the day sllutled to. and earned Ids cordial thanks
to persons °revery political party, for the aid they title, ded
him. He then described the a‘sotatice he had rep eived from
public le- lie,' the East India Company, in addition vo
placing their na, del./untwist in a stile of streusel', had
paced at his disposal 300 men. His Lordship then alluded
'to :t waited bill,of a must inflammatory k ind,t hat is as loran{
41110.11 the 11/'.VIIIIII Wednesda, inyi in; the people to action
on that clay—le made eivery enquiry resiaect Mg the alitilios
of tart seditious bill, and nailed his informal' would lead
to their ilmeetion en I 'punishment. Ile had perms ed Won
in Ilion upon oath, th .1 the disaffected hod mid very effort
to tall Into ar lion their moans of olirriwe on that day, and
had hoped io this great city to have found (that w inch was
fortunately and properly moat the fact) abettor:elm have ;as-
sisted in their project, which was of the wo.t diabolical Vida,
. fur it comprised a plot to :in estent no less nionstrout than
that of fiiiim this great city and inerderia; the iamb Minims
(Hear.)—This was their object, he repeated he had info -
nial ion of it upon oath hut the firinitoma suit ener,ty of hie
fellow citizens defeated tile diabolical atteutpts of the fedi-
tiiiiis.—( Hear. hear.)
On the motion of Mr. S. Hilton, Lord lidaiout lie letter xas
ordered to be entered on the down
Mr. Alderman Wood. M. P. teen came forward. and
begged to ask his Lordship, whether ne had directly or indi-
rectly nay iaformati it of the iddlao of the primed bill, or
anv possible means of discovering him ?
Me. gmood Minot rose to ailoress the Lord Mayor, but
the worthy Alderman interetipteal him, and insisted ul his
Z 1411111131/ answer, Sande the am toy Gentleinan is
not ailing to nn.wer fortte -Lord :Mayan."
The Lord Mayor said, the enquiry was perfectly regular,
and he could give an auswer. Ile had some idea that the
information which he received would 111111 to the di teetion
of the author, at least he hoped so ;; the oi I was sine of the
))))) st flagrant k:od, and its elm:eats come' r. d with the infor-
m anion which he had reeeieed upon oath, that the object of
the di:affected cue wet that day, •• to fire this great City,
and minter all its pezemetrie inhabitants;' but the loyalty of
lame people of Landau, watts their feeliogs natmely stern.• io
s..ettes of murder and riepioe, presented a nnrbioatiou which
appalled the coespirsture. The Court would ial-• learn with
miriwier, that wit isin a very few )arils of Ihr place ill which
they sat a seditim:- me. ling had hero held, where proceed-
in;. took place of the iniaa eerieu. imbue twainst th.• public
peace. •All-he &handl now say of that meeting was, that a
man might to he very cautious how he allowed petering to
frequent leitshaneee alto could use seditious rapt., MilUilb of such
a nature.

Mr. Alderman Wm.': M.P rose and said, that he most
trespass- still further upon his Lordship's patience for a
more satisfactory answer. His Lordship had staled that
lie had the best information to believe a■ attempt was
meditated to fire the city, and minder its inhabitants.
Sorely then it was of the first importance to know who
these conspirmurs were, and to bring them to justice. As
a Magistrate, he could only pledge himself to use the ut-
most earl lions to promote so important an inquiry. With
uspeet to the prints il bill, he could not help recollecting,
that during his own Mayoralty, one had been posted up
every whale, on the very morning of the Spefields Meet-
ing, headed in letters MI large that
locust, " Spatields Row' Go it, my lio,s4"—" Truth for a
penny!" 'the object of that bill was evidently to insti-
gate the people to acts of violence, soil he had probed it
to the bottom, as he hoped lie Lind Mayor would do in
this ease. He had ase,rlaiteril that it was printed by •
person connected with cue of the corporate bodies of she
city (the Bs idewell), and with the knowledge, if nut with
the approbation of persons understood to be connected
with Government —( Loud cries of Haar.)—The Corpora-
thin, he was confident, *unlit 'Assist his Lae de-hip in ever)
etfort, by reward or otherwise. to detect and punish who-
ever the persons were also had been engaged in such
practices. As far as Pt-garde d the people at the late
Smithfield Merlin;, not the, slightest attempt had been
made by any person 'moue them to riot or disorder; so
(Ant the author of the bill contemplated what the parties
themselves, judging 140111 their actioirs, evidently did not.
—(Hear, 'war.)
Mr. S. Dixon mild, it won:.l hotter become the worthy
Alderman to have missed thanks to the Lord Mayor, than
to have introduced this conversation.

Mr. Fayell-Minded to the Spcfi Ids Bill, and condemned
stock proteedings altogether, not being the most likely to
connterart the necessary measnre of a salutary Return m.
Mr. Alderman Witithonan ex (wowed his sarpo use that his
Lordship should have solo so little about the information hr
had receise.l respecting Clot bill, and so much about the au-
thors 'elite plot to the the Cat s. The last•r he thisu4kt,
toi;:ht have ki en spar. ii for prudent:ll reasons, until some of
the conspirators trete detected. After olladine to the Spa-
Hr.& Bill, and the notlior of it, the worthy Allertecti slid la•
sva. not prorpered to at. rich the utmost oeisht to halo of
such it do semicolon ; nod is hen he reroole: ted the machi Utlil4lll4
of Oliver and at saws, he tondo' not overlook 11w
that persons of a similar dusco iptioia might be at work
lit present—( lie ic, h-at :)—st ith a view of exciting s.:ch a
ferul.•ut n.s %%wild give room for the iptrotluction of force to
pot down nil fore divcu•,ion among the people. 11• r hoped
that on paw %mold be spaced to discover the authors (if
11:ere were any) ors° foul a coaspisacy us that of tiring the
City and murder iog its inhabitants. Even the information
of to; Oliver ooght to be num:dell to in such it With a
view of brotoginc the inquiry lissome issue. Loookiug. how.
ever, at thrtu. etiog, and at the henry grievances nod tOis-
'ewes of the people, he aid not think onsiosuatitie the possi-
Molly .of the.r taring part:rotators, by coiocauplati .... , in
bloodshed and rapine. o as the kindest way Vtreatioto. them.
)'or bus nun part, he exprossed h•i. ustonisitment that the
riveting, under:ell the cite ..... stancros went rptietty as it
did. Nothing could be more nosh or ill-advised, or urine
against the lola .. i .... opinion of Art. the Dicers sow,
shim the appearance of drigooota to the streets of the City
rri Wedilesilay t it was against the express understuotolaig
*oat a soldier should he seen. lii the fullest means is ere
1.1.et0 to have an adequate fume id lornd, in case of 'longer.
The worthy Alderman then reptelatudcd, la the s•.'armest