Star.
London, England, 1820-11-28 00:00:00

ST. PAUL, COVENT-GARDEN.

A numerous and respectable Meeting of the Pa-
rishioners of St. Paul, Covent-Garden, took place
yesterday evening at Fisher's Rooms, King-street, for
the purpose of considering the propriety of an Ad-
dress of Congratulation to the Queen upon the com-
plete defeat of her persecutors, and also of a Petition
to the King, for the dismissal of his Ministers. Six
o'clock was the time appointed for the commencement
of the proceedings, but long before that hour the
room was crowded to excess.

Lord WILLIAM Rossem. having been unanimously
called to the Chair, addressed the Meeting to the fol-
lowing effect ;—Gentlemen, Inhabitants of the Pa-
rish of St. Paul's, I have always made a rule not to
attend a Meeting in any district with which I had not
some local connection. But that rule must be set
aside in the present instance, from the interest which
my family naturally feel in this Parish, and there-
fore I promptly acceded to the wish expressed by i
the Gentlemen who did me the honour of soli-
citing my attendance. I was anxious, too, to join
with you in exulting upon the failure of that odious
Bill of Pains and Penalties, which is now no more,
and to witness the sympathy which you so generously
manifest in the sufferings of the Queen. Such ex-
pression of good sense and good feeling is, I am
happy to understand, the fist object of the Resolu-
tions which are to be submitted to your judgment.
The second Resolution relates, I learn, to the resto-
ration of her Majesty's name to the Liturgy; and the
third, to the dismissal of his Majesty's present Minis-
ters. As to the last object, I really do not care any
thing about it, feeling, as I do, most sensibly, that
unless the grievances of the people be redressed, the
present Ministers would answer as well. if not better,
than any other—(Applause). Therefore, the removal
of Ministers, unless accompanied by a redress of
grievances, is, in my view, of no moment. But yet
the conduct of thole Ministers has been such, espe-
cially towards the Queen, that I should be glad to
see the people universally express their disapproba-
tion of that conduct. With a view to that expres-
sion, indeed, I hope the Meeting of this Parish will
be followed up by the Meeting of every Parish in
London ; nay, by every. County, Town, and Borough,
throughout the United Kingdom (Loud applause):
for the present, Ministers have most mischievously
contributed to degrade the Monarchy, by injuring
the character of the Monarch, and to endanger the
safety of the country, as well as the stability of the
Constitution, by undermining the morality of the
Public. But the principles of these Ministers were
sufficiently illustrated by their late mode of pro.
roguing the Parliament, without deigning to give any
explanation of their conduct, without making any
communication from his Majesty to Parliament or to
the country, according to general usage (Applause).
The Noble Lord concluded with observing, tliat un-
derstanding the Meeting would take place at twelve
o'clock, he had made arrangements which it was now
impossible to dispense with, and therefore he hoped
the Ladies and Gentlemen whom he had the honour
to address would excuse him in leaving the Chair
scr soon.
At nearly seven o'clock the Noble Lord withdrew,
amidst universal testimonies of respect and regard.
Mr. Honuousa was then voted into the Chair,-and
his appointment, was hailed with unequivocal proofs
of attachment.

Mr. Nottrintousa, after a long and eloquent
speech, moved, That an humble Petition be pre-
sented to the King, praying that his Majesty would
dismiss his Ministers, and that no further proceedings.
may be instituted against the Queen.-"
The Resolution was seconded by Mr. CLARKE, and
carried unanimously.
Mr. Putman moved au Address to the, Queen,

congratulating her Majesty on the signal victory she
has obtained over her enemies.

This Resolution was seconded by Mr. Juoclrts,
and also weed to unanimously.
A Petition to the King, and an Address to the
Queen, in terms of the two preceding Resolutions,
were then read to the Meeting; and approved of.
It was resolved unanimously, that the Petition
should be presented to the King by the Duke of Bed-
ford, and that the Address should be preeoted to the
Queen by Lord William Russell, and the two Repre-
sentatives of Westminster, accompanied by a Depu-

tation of the Parishioners.
Thanks were then voted to Lord William Russell
and Mr. Hobhouse.
Mr. Hosuouse rose to return thanks.—He recol-
lected that when the six Acts, of which so much had
been said, and under which the People were now
suffering, were debated, it was said, by the Minister
of the Clown, that in large meetings the sense of the
People could not be collected, in consequence of the
intrusion cf itinerant demagogues, but that small
parish meetings would always convey the real senti-
ments of the People of England. Happily the peo-
ple of this country had made good Lord Liverpool's
pledge; and had proved that that Nobleman knew
perfectly the temper and character of Englishmen,
and that he was right in his opinion of small meet-
ings, however wrong he might be in his inferences
AS to large ones. Restricted as they were in the
right of assembling, the People had resolved, that if
one hand was tied down, they would make the best
tight possible with the other—( Applause ).—Fortd
nately that other hand had been too much for the
Government; oppressed and crippled as they weie,
their means had still been sufficient to intimidate the
King's Ministers, for without that intimidation they
would certainly have effected the destruction of the
Queen. It had been confessed by Ministers, it had
been confessed by Lord Liverpool, Lord Ellen-
borough, the Marquis of Stafford, he believed, and
many other Noble Lords, that the loud and unani-
mous expression of the public displeasure rendered
it impossible to attempt carrying ' the Bill of Pains
and Penaltiis without risking the Crown itself.—
After this, said Mr. Hobhouse, let us never more
hear of popular clamour—let us never more be told
that the voice of the people is so much empty breath
—it is the breath that fills the sails, and will, I trust,
finally carry the people into the safe harbour of their
Constitutional rights. He confessed that he was one
of those who thought that the Bill of Pains and Pe-
nalties would pass both Houses; not because he
thought well of the Bill, but because he thought ill
of the Parliament. When he entertained that opi-
nion, it was impossible to foresee the miserable shifts
to which Ministers had been reduced. The witnesses
against the Queen had told so many lies, that they
might aptly enough address Ministers in the lan-
guage of Fag, in The Rivals—" If we must lie,
have the goodness at least to let us lie a little con-
sistently"—(Laughter).—They had not lied consist-
ently, for the lie of one witness had contradicted the
lie of the other ; the consequence of which was, that be-
fore the Bill came to a close, it was impossible for any
Iman living to come down to the House of Lords, and
say conscientiously that he thought the Queen guilty.
It should not be forgotten, that 123 persons had been
found in the House of Lords, who thought, or rather
declared by their votes, that the rotten, patched up
evidence was sufficient to convict—not one of the
rabble—not one of the vilified People of England—
but the Queen of England, the Consort and Cousin
of the King, the sister of a Prince who had also fallen
in battle, beloved by the late Sovereign, and whose
wrongs, even if she had been guilty, ought to have
shielded her from persecution. He firmly believed
that in no other assembly in the world could there
have been found, not one hundred and twenty-three
men, but twenty-three men, who would bare con-
victed her upon such evidence. Many analyses had
been made of the majority, as it was called, but he
had heard one to-day, which placed the character of
that majority in a point of view sufficiently striking.
Out of the 123 Peers who voted against her Majesty,
81 had either been created, or raised steps in the
Peerage, since the year 1784. This numerical cal-
culation was of great importance, because it shewed
that the majority of the men who voted the Queen
guilty, merely said content to that system of which
they were, in fact, the mushrooms. They merely
said content to that system out of which they sprung,
and upon which they flourished—a system which had
been designated after the man who left it, as a fatal in-
heritance to his country (it was unnecessary, in speak-
ing of the calamities of the country, to name Mr.
Pitt as the author of them)—a systeln which had
grown with their growth, and been strengthened
with their strength—a system, of which many who
now heard him had been victims from their very
birth, which had already struck at the vitals of the
Constitution, and which, if continued, would be at
once the cause and witness of its dissolution. In
looking at the Protests of some of these Neble Peers,
it was ludicrous to observe, that one of them was ac-
tually signed by the last created Peer, who had ob-
tained that distinction for shooting a certain number of
tawney, naked fellows on the other side of the tropic.
That Protest was also signed by a Royal Duke.
How all this light, which had failed to illuminate
Lord Liverpool and Lord Eldon, the framers of the
Bill, had struck only upon this-Noble Lord, and the
Royal Duke who had signed this, and he believed
every other Protest, no matter how inconsistent their
contents, it was difficult to conceive. He (Mr. Hob-
house) entirely concurred in the sentiments expressed
in the Petition to the King. He detested and ab-
horred the present Ministers from the bottom of his
soul ; and if he did not detest them, lie should think
himself wanting in those honest and patriotic feel-
ings, which ought to animate the breast of every
man who wished well to his country—(Continued ap-
plause). To them the country was indebted for the
burthen of 600 millions of debt—to them they were'
indebted for two millions of paupers—to them they,
owed a standing army of 92,000 men, a greater army
.than that with which the Duke of Marlborough was
enabled to 'nimble the power of France, and almost to
carry hig victorious standards to the gates of Paris—
to them they were indebted for the invasion of their
best rights and privileges, for the destruction of all
those domestic comforts for which Englishmen were
once distinguished, and for the introduction of an or-
zanized band of spies, paid by secret service money
to uproot the comforts of the people, fur it was a
fact that the people paid au lesi than reo,ooo

ear to be themselves- betrayed—(Load
Before concluding, he would mate one or t,,:0
vations with reference to his worthy colle:y.tie
Francis, Buniett), the verdict against whom, th,,,
who administered justice in this comm.) had thott2;:t
fit that day to coutirm—( Cries of " .Shame!")___
He would only say, that in the better days of Eng.
lisp jurisprudence, the case set up against his .At;,;
colleague would have been scouted from thinCe,:7l-,
in which it now found willing reception.
that distinguished individual first heard of the vertii:t
against him, his obseivation was—" All I can say
that I;hope it will tend to the public good r
had no doubt that he would have received the see.
teuce of the King's Bench with the 'ame feelinpr,
and, for the sake of the People of England, be..t.
whatever persecution might be heaped upon his hest
with the same undaunted spirit which he had ev
manifested in their cause!—(Loud applau.se).
The Meeting adjourned about eight o'clock.