Star.
London, England, 1817-02-14 00:00:00

ADDRESS TO THE PRINCE aitaxam.

• A letter to Lord Simmons from thecoe rt of Di.
rectors, and his Lordship's reply, was read. stating,
that there were only two modes of presenting the
Address : the first was through the Secretary of
State, the nst to the Panics Rcoasyr at the Levee,
and recommending the former mode, as the holding
a Levee at any early period was very uncertain.
Alter a few words Irmo Messrs. Lowsinae, It.
..!AcKsou, and Hosts, the Court decided to wait the
@lit of a Lene,.bowever distant the period.

THE EVENING STAR.

LONDON.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1817.
PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT TWELVE IVOLOCK
' Reduced 870—Cons. ma. 644—Cons. toi ace. 4161.
per Cent. a4{-5 per Cent. Nan
Esebequer BYIe, 6s. De. pr.—lndia Lot, Win. 4is. pre.

The Westminster Meeting of yesterday. of which

we have detailed the proceedings in our columns of

this day, was as quiet and orderly as we ever wit-
nessed. We have not been able to learn who pre-
pared the Address to the Plums Rzattur, which was
adopted, but it is certainly an ingenious composition,
and well deserving a serious attention on more ac-
counts than one. It is, we believe, a general con-
viction now, tliat his Royal .Highness was not shot
at with an air gun, or any guns but if we agree with
this part of the Address we are sure that no person'
acquainted with' the History of England, during the
reign of “ Good Queen Bass," referred to in this do-
cument, and itr the speeches delivered on this occa-
sion, will assert that any_ thing can be found in the
conduct of the PRINCZ REGENT that, in any way, can

justify his being. placed on the same base level with
that haughty Queen.-
In fast—and why should the fact be disguised ?

—England was never ruled by a more imperious,
haughty, arrogant, lawless tyrant than Queen Eta-
eariesii. England was never cursed with so many
pensioned placemen,. sinecuriats, and hOlders of pa.
tents for exaction, as in the days of Queen ELIZA-
%
arra. Not even in the days of bloody MART was
there less religious liberty than in the days of Ea-
ZABETII t,f binned memory ! Was civil liberty, or
the privileges of Parliament (base and corrupt as it
is now called) in any better plight in that reign " so
fruitful of happiness and glory r' By no means.
When Queen ELIZABITH called the Houses toge-
ther in 1593, the Speaker; Sir EDWARD Coxr, made
the three usual requests, of freedom from arrests, of
access to the person,, and of liberty of srech, She'
replied to him by the mouth of Pvcitzetuo,, Lord
Keeper, that liberty of speech was granted to tbe
Commons, but they must know what liberty they
were entitled to; not a liberty for every man to speak
what he listeth, or what cometh in his brain to utter:
their privileges extended no farther than a liberty of
" Aye or No." She enjoined the SPTARIR. 44 if he
perceived any idle heads so negligent of their own
safety as to attempt refired,: the Church, or innova-
ting in the Commonwealth, that he should refuse the
Bills exhibited for that purpose, till they were exa-
mined by such as were fitted to consider of these
things, and could better judge of them."
So numerous were the patents of exclusive along-.
poly in that reign, that hardly an article of common
use can be named of which the sale was not confined
to some Court favourite or the agents to whom he
chowto grant licences.—We have not the Catalogue
at hand, but if our memory serves us right, among
the articles of Court monopoly were wine, spirits,
linen, leather, iron, salt, candles, soap, silk.—ln short
they were so • many, that on one occasion, when a
long Catalogue of them was read in the House, one
Member ventured to ask, drily, whether the Reader
had not omitted one important article, as it was wee
only necessary of life which he found not in the can.
meration—namely, bread I"
This was counted very bold, and it was thought
the Menthes would be punished, for epposieiws to the ,
will• of the Sovereign was then rather dangerous. On
the least symptom of dissent in these " halcyon days
of freedom," a general alarm was spread around, and
is every side was spread a whisper of " The Coun-
cil will be offended"—" The Quest, will be exces-
sively displeased"—and such a 'hint was sufficient to
quiet every murmur.
Again—it is uncandid to talk of the liberty of the
people in the- days of Queen Euzaarru. Alas, alas!
they were any thing but tree—They were literally
(except in the principal towns) a part of the property
attached to the soil. In our days the representation
of the great mass of the people is very defective,—
In those days they were not represented at all. The
word Causerie had not then the same meaning
that it has now : It never meant the people in our
sense of this word It meant the Lords of the Soil
-the privileged orders who were not Peers, and the
Representatives of the privileged Cities. In the days
of Queen ELIWIZTH the people (in the modern sense
of the word) had neither the privilege nor power
to Meet in Spafields nor Old Palace-yard, nor any
where else—except at church to bear the panel!, or
when summoned to the field, not to deliberate or to
make speeches—but to arm themselves for war.—ln

one word. the great mass of the people bad no polo
dui privileges in the days of Queen Etaxasusit ; but
were absolute gages.

Do we mean then to say, that, because the real
complexion of Ilistory has been disguised, therefore
the Petition of the Ciiisens of Westminster is un-
worthy of regard ? Far otherwise. There is -in it
much good sense, and it is worthy of the attention
of the PAIWCI itecurr. The desires, the wants, the
remonstrances of the people of the 19th century, muse
not be measorerand balanced by those of the I6th
century. It is here the folly lies—here the
cation of history. Whether some men may like it or
not, the state of general information, the march of
human intellect most not be dibregarded by those to
whom Paovineecz has given the superintendence of

the affairs of Empire. But, it is eqoally indispen•
Bible that Reformers act rationally, and avoid all
Utopian folly—for every attempt of -.this kind only
tends to retard improvement, by alarming the sober-
minded, and thus strengthening the opposition of
those who ever deal in old see-saws, and wish to an-
swer every argument by—s. Let sod! alone I"