Star.
London, England, 1820-09-15 00:00:00

PADDINGTON MEETING.

Yesterday being the day appointed for a Meeting
of the Inhabitant Householders of the Parish of Pad-
dington, at an early hour S. C. WHITBREAD, Esq.
M.P. PETER MOORE, Esq. M.P. and Sir GERARD
NOEL, Bart. M.P. together wiih the Gentlemen of
the Committee appointed for the superintendence of
the Meeting, assembled at the house of THOMAS
THATCHER, Esq. of Manor-place, Paddington, from
whence, at about twelve o'clock, they proceeded to
the Church. There being no possibility of accom-
modating the numerous company which had already
ar rived within the walls of that edifice, it was agreed
to adjourn the Meeting to the Green, where a spa.•
cious and commodious booth and hustings had been
previously prepared. We -never remember to have
seen a greater display of female beauty than we wit-
nessed on this occasion, the temporary stage being
almost entirely filled with fashionable and well-
dressed females. The Green was thronged with
equipages and pedestrians in great numbers; and the
fineness of the Weather, added to the interesting na-
ture of tl:c occasion, had drawn an immense con-
course of spectators together : the respectability of
their appearance, the great order and attention to
the proceedings observed by them, and the universal
sympathy and feeling which they manifested, were
such as must have impressed the most indifferent
stranger with a high sense of the real state of public
feeling among the respectable classes of the community.
At about a quarter to one, Sir GERARD NOEL,.,
Mr. WHITBREAD, Mr. PETER MOORE, Mr. HAY-
DOE, and the Gentlemen of the Committee, arrived
upon the Hustings.
Mr. WurrauEno, having been immediately voted
into the Chair, came forward to address the Meet-
fug. He felt very happy at the choice which had'
thus been made of him to preside over the very re-
spectable Meeting he had the honour to address.—
lie might be allowed to say, that he had come thither
to attend them, at very considerable inconvenience
to himself; but he could assure them, that he felt so
iinperiously the debt of kindness and gratitude which
-they had imposed upon him, that it was his most
suudous wish to pay this tribute of respect to any por-

tion of them who might call upon him to take a part
in their Public Meeting—( Hear, hear).--He was
ready now, as he should at all times be, to sacrifice
his own convenience to their wishes. This was not
the first time he had been present at a similar Meet-
ing ; but he was truly happy to find that the good
sense of the inhabitants of Paddington had mani-
fested to them the iniquity of the measures at present
pursued against the Queen—(Great applanse).—ln
his opinion, meetings of this kind ought always to
, bear in mind that they were not assembled to pro-
nounce any opinion as to the merits or demerits of
the Queen, but to express in the strongest terms their
abhorrence of such measures as those which were
now upheld by his Majesty's Ministers. He thought
that it had long ceased to be a question as to the
crimes laid to the charge of the Queen of England.
He conceived it was rather a question whether the
King of England should get rid of his wife or not—
( Immense applause).—lf the same unhappy disputes
and differences had originated in the lower circles of
society, they would all say that here the husband
was pursuing the wife with the greatest malevolence,
for it was quite evident he was tired of her—(Hear,
hear).—He knew he was speaking boldly ; but this
was a time at which it behoved Englishmen to call
things by their right names ; and sure he was, that
a measure like that of which they complained, sanc-
tioned as it was by high influence and support of
every sort, demanded the boldest opposition upon
'the part of the people. ' He need only refer the Meet-
ing to one part of the proceedings, to prove to their
entire satisfaction, that there was one set of persons
determined to find the Queen guilty of her crimes, or
her pretended crimes, or her indelicacies, or inde-
corum, be they what they might. Only two days
before the adjournment of the proceedings in the
House of Lords, a Noble Lord asked one of his Ma-
jesty's Ministers at the head of the Government,
what was his determination respecting the article of
divorce attached-to the Bill ? This was, in fact,
saying to the Noble Earl, " Yi,a, the Minister, are
the Judge here; and we shall follow j•ou, now, as
on all other occasions; we merely wish to satisfy our
own curiosity whether or no the divorce is intended to
be given up." The Noble Earl at the head of the. G-
overnment replied, "he should not press the clause of
Divorce." This, then, was in fact giving up all public
grounds for further proceeding in the measure--(Hear).
It shewed that even they had no State necessity to
prove for persevering in this measure against the,
Queen. The only guard that was ever left alieni
was, that the King was, in truth, wishing for a
divorce. Now, however, that that was taken away,
no public ground whatever, even upon tlpeir own
sheaving, remained for the proceeding. The fact
was, that taking away that part of the bill concern-
ing the divorce, was the must unjust, and he did not
hesitate to say, the most cowardly part of the whole
business. He could not help again comparing these
occurrences to similar ones arising between husband
and wife among the lower classes. If the same things
had happened in that station, they would all be ready
to exclaim, that the husband, no doubt for very good
reasons, was afraid of his own conduct being brought
to light—afraid, upon certain accounts best known
to himself—(Great applause) ;—that he would wish,
however, to persuade his judges, at all events, to
got his wife out of the way—(Hear, hear),—for what
reasons it did not appear, and which, perhaps, it was
wished should be kept in the dark—(Great applause).
Everything in the present proceeding was iniquitous;
he need only refer them to the Attorney-General's
speech at the opening. He was asked, very pro-
perly, by her Majesty's Counsel, whom he appeared
for? he answered, he did not know: he was then
asked who gave him his instruction ? he replied he
did not know—(A laugh).—Why, lie must have for-
gotten the situation he held ; and quite sure was he
(Mr. Whitbread) that the Attorney-General had in-
deed forgotten his own dignity, and that of his
Royal Master too, when he undertook to carry on
such a prosecution—(Continued appluuse).—He must
now animadvert to that Learned lientleman's worthy
colleague, the Solicitor-General's speech in summing
up; that monopoliser, as had been well said of him,
of law and knowledge. He admitted, after a most
laboured review of the evidence, that there was not
any direct fact .f adultery proved; and (for he, Mr.
Whitbread, thought he was most anxious to bring in
everything he could) he had referred to the evi-
dence of two English Captains, persons of honour
and reputation, and the only ones whom, out of all
the mass of witnesses for this prosecution, the nation
could trust to. What did they say? Why, that
they had seen nothing incorrect in her Majesty's con-
duct. But the Solicitor-General and his proofs—
oh I he never pretended to say that the adultery was
proved to have been committed ; but, as there was a
possibility of its having been committed on board
ship, therefore, on board ship it had been committed !
—( A laugh).—For his part, he knew that his opi-
nion was not one which was commonly held, but he
could assure them that he did, in his heart, believe
these measures would be got rid of in some sherking
way or other ere long ; because, Ministers would be
sorry to be reduced to acknowledge themselves beaten.
Seeing so many Ladies present, he must now propose
one expedient, which he had before had the honour
of proposing, on the occasion of voting the Mary-
la-bonne Address—that, as all public grounds for
the present proceeding were now taken away by the
intimation which had been given of an intention to
abandon the point of divorce, it was now become a
matter of female delicacy and honour alone whether
the Queen should rule over them or not; and that,
therefore, in common justice, the matter ought to be
referred to a Jury of Ladies. The Hon. Gentleman
concluded by observing, he should hand the first
,Resolution (see Resolutions) to Sir Gerard Noel, who
would have the pleasure of propounding it to them
. —( Immense cheering).
Sir GERARD NOEL stepped forward amidst gene-
ral applause. In recurring to the preliminary steps'
which had been taken previously to the present pro•
ceeding, he could not help being particularly struck,
with one remarkable circumstance, vir.—the omis-
sioo of her Majesty's name from the Liturgy imme-
diately upon the lamented death of George 111. This
was a striking matter, even in a Protestant country,
in point of time; because, at the very time that the
Queen, then Princess Regent, was charged with the
abominable acts imputed to her, her name was al-
lowed to remain in the Liturgy ; and it did remain
while breath was permitted to remain in the body of
the late King—( Hear, hear !).—lt was fortunate for

those whom he addressed that they lived wider a
Csonstitution—that they were guarded by laws gained
by our forefathers out of the arbitrary excesses of
James 11. and confirmed by their. valour and their
wisdoin, upon the completion of that glorious Revo-
lution which seated William 111. upon his Throne.—
The Illustrious woman whose cause they were met
to consider and to vindicate had been living, from
the cruel nature of her situation, not under such laws
and such a Constitution, but in a Popish country
abroad, where we had, indeed, Ambassadors. They
must recollect, that Ambassadors were for the protec-
tion of individuals of their respective nations ; whom
they were supposed so completely to shadow and de-
fend by their authority, that sometimes even wars
were declared if those individuals were insulted, in
violation of the privileges of such Ambassadors.—
But the Queen of .England, while there, was no
longer under the protection of this country ; she was'
liable to the attacks of every assassin—( Hear, hear).
Her's was the same situation almost as Thomas-a-
Becket's with regard to Henry H. when that King
was'abroad. Henry complained of the man whose
existence gave him constant disturbance, and ex-
claimed kin the hearing of his followers, " Will no-
body rid me of this person, who gives me endless
disquiet ?" The words were heard by his servants,
and, putting their own construction upon them, they
came over to England and assassinated a Prelate, the
approach to whose shrine was still to be seen, worn
by the steps of those pilgrims who had come from
every quarter to behold it. The very same thing
might have happened to our Queen, by reason of the
abominable treatment she had received. • It was
owing—and he would Maintain it—it was owing
solely to the love and affection which everybody bore
to that excellent and injured woman—their Queen—
( Cheers )—it-was owing to their powerful and spon-
taneous protection that she had not been immediately,
and long before this period, immolated by the sti-
letto of the assassin ! fortunate it was for that No-
ble Lady that she journeyed through those countries
before the assassin was yet ready to strike the blow..
Favoured, as she had been, by the guardian and
watchful care of PROVIDENCE, it was well that they
had now a living Queen to address, instead of a dead
one to deplore ! Loud cheering).—When the Queen
was offered by the Government £50,000 a-year as
the price of her shame and her security, he was well
convinced that the offer argued no extravagance in
his Majesty's Ministers, because, had she accepted
the offer, they well knew that her life would soon be
snatched away from her in a Popish country,-and
that their splendid bribe would not be paid to her for
more than six weeks at furthest !—(Hear, hear!).—
The worthy Baronet concluded by moving the first
Resolution, which was seconded by Mr. Collins, and
carried unanimously.
Mr. Perita MOORE moved the second Resolution,
which warmly praised her Majesty's refusal of the
bribe offered to her, and her heroism in disregarding
the threats. He began by reading the Resolution, as
Clergymen, he said, read their texts before preaching
their sermons. He agreed with the worthy Chairman
and Baronet who had preceded him, in the observa-1
tiont they had made. Indeed, every one could be
eloquent upon those lamentable proceedings which
had been since the great Meeting at Mary-la-bonne,
the sister parish to Paddington, propped up and sup-
ported by additional perjury and corruption. But
what was really the case? The prosecutors, who-
ever they were, durst not avow it. The meas ire is
introduced under various names: it was sometimes
called legislative, sometimes judicial, and sometimes
it was engrafted upon the rules of the Courts below;
but it should be engrafted upon other rules before it
was concluded. Who was it that directed all this ?
The Chancellor sat quietly upon his woolsack, wait-
ing for the signal from Ministers ; and one Noble
Lord said, do this, and another do that, and all re-
ceived the character of Judges. This was nothing
but a profound mockery. But there was, thank GOD,
an appeal to the People, who would scout this odious
proceeding. The trial was, in fact, not the trial of
the Queen, but .of the Ministers—(Applause)—who
had themselves declared, through the mediain of Mr.
Wilberforce, that scape-goat of Ministerial impo-
sition upon the People, that the proceeding was de-
rogatory to the dignity of the Crown, and injurious
to the best interests of the country. This was the
doctrine of the Ministers ; and if so, how came it that
they had adopted a course fraught with such dread-
ful consequences?—(Lord applause).—As to the. D-
ivorce part of the Bill, he had a few words to say.—
He believed Ministers would be very happy of an
opportunity of divorcing themselves from the Bill
altogether. A great writer had said,•that upon great
public occasions the voice of the People was always
right. This was a case of that kind. Those distress-
ing and calamitous proceedings had roused the Peo-
ple, and Ministers would willingly give up all their
influence and patronage upon condition of being di-
vorced from that Bill. Their Lordships pretended
to be regulated by the Courts below, and they had
applied to the Judges to give their assistance ; but•
there was another Court, that of Doctors Commons,
which must be engrafted on the Bill. Their Lord-
ships must be regulated by. the proceedings in that
Court, and how then would they •be obliged to act?
Why, a host of witnesses must be examined. The
husband must be examined as well as the wife—(A
laugh).—What would Ministers say upon hearing
that they must summon their Sovereign to the Bar
of their House, and the Archbishop of Canterbury—
(A laugh )—and other learned Prelates, upon this case,
which, after all, resembled the proceeding of 1.806,
when it appeared that there was a child, but no fa-
ther !—(Loud laughter and applause).—those wit-
nesses, consisting of the first men of the nation, must
be examined as to the reason the Queen's name was
left out of the Liturgy. He would, if no other Mem-
ber of the House of Commons would do so; insist
upon this mode of conducting the prosecution—(Ap-
plause).—He would call upon those to assign reasons
for separating the parent from the child—(Loud ap-
plause).—What was to be the further process among
their Lordships? When the evidence was closed,
they would go into a Committee, and endeavour to
leave out the Divorce Clause. But that should not
be done until the evidence of his Majesty, and of the
Archbishop of Canterbury, and of the twenty-one
Divines who had signed the paper, which had been
drawn up years-ago to discomfit the Queen, should
be regularly ex am i ned—(Laughter).—lt was a maxim
with him, that no barrister should adopt any proceed-
ing& without having what appeared to him to be com-

I

'petent proof; and how, he begged to know, hi.l
Attorney-General's statement been borne out by ev,.
dence? Could there now exist a doubt of the Tot-
less innocence o. this injured Lady ? (Loud appltni.e).
Those proceedings were said, by the Attorney-Gere,
ral, to have been going on six years, and yet there i/
no individual charge, and three of those years wen,
'never alluded to iwevidence!—Besides, what period
had been chosen for fixing the imputation? Wllr,
the period of her travels, when the nation must ne-
cessarily have been in ignorance as to her move.
mentF. Her enemies thus attacked her in the dark,'
thinking that they could never be confounded; bit
they were grievously mistaken. The Public woulJ,
he assured the Meeting upon the hest authority, le
smut convinced by evidence, I,f the groundlessness rf
all the charges against !let Ti-:e cry Iv:A
her Majesty's enemies nal, Why do you disturb •.':e
country ? and threats were held oot to oop the ter.
position of her friends. But the Pablic, who were
her friend's, wanted no escape; a defence should be
made, and that upon the first authorities, and other
divorces might be made, but not a divorce frain
that Bill; for if Ministers were allowed to divorce
themselves from that Bill, the Ccnstitution
inevitably be lost. The Honourable Gentleman
then made some comments upon the evidence cif
Louisa De Mont, and upon the general character of
Italian witnesses, and their readiness to nucleic:lke
any vile office for money. Ile declared that the Lei-
cestershire Militia bad addressed her Majesty; bur
the power and inclination of their Commandant to
subject them to privations, prevented them from ac-
knowledging it; they, however, had not denied it._
After some observations upon the vast number Fif
Addresses that were pouring in from all quarters to
her Majesty, the Honourable Gentleman concluded
by expressing his opinion, that the efforts of the P.
ple would frustrate all the desperate efforts of tLe
enemies of the Queen and the Constitution.

Mr. OLLIER proposed the third Resolution.
his request the next Gentleman who presented hi:::-
self to the Meeting was his fiiend
Captain JENKINS, ho excited much interest by a
few manly and spirited obsers ations. This Gentie-
man is the owner of several vessels, and is otherwise *
person of respectable property and connexions. Wen
that mixture of timidity and manliness, which are sa
characteristic of a Briti.h seaman, upon an occasiu)
like the present, he spoke to the following effect :
.. Gentlemen, 1 arrived here only yesterday evenir,:-.
I had not, I assure you, the smallest knowledge ss ha:-
ever of the projected assemblage of this most resrec:.
able Meeting; nor the slightest idea whatever th:::
my name would ever be mentioned. It has been,
though ; and when I am called on as a Briton, give
me leave to say, I feel an English heart within me.
I am a seafaring man ; and have been, for several
years past, accustomed to visit different ports, and
towns and cities, in the Mediterranean. I may ven-
ture to add, that I ant.acquainted with most of the
British Consuls in the Mediterranean, and those Gen-
tlemen we must consider as the servants of the British
Nation. From n' one of them, on my honour, have
I ever heard one word of disrespect to our beloved
Queen. On the contrary, they were anxious to greet
her wherever she went. Gentlemen, I should be sorry
to bring forward any foibles or any faults of any na-
tion ; but the levity of the customs and practices of
foreign countries generally might disgust you, how-
ever free from any offensive intention. If there be
any Italian present, 1 would call upon him to face
me.—(Continued laughter. Here the gallant Captain
took off his hat, and held it forward with an empha-
tic gesture).—l would venture to say, that I would
get him, easily, to declare that 'this hat, which you
see is quite black, is a green one !—(Langhter).—But
let me tell you, where our Queen is said to have been,
there are a great many English Gentlemen—men of
honour. Let them be called on, in GOD'S name, and
we may know what we have to trust to; but mean-
time, no more of this Italian nonsense—(Load cheer-
ing).—l have been at Genoa, at Malta, Smyrna, Mar-
seilles, Naples, Constantinople, Ephesus—what is now
called Alexandria ; I have been in other places where
her Majesty has been; I have mixed wi.h high and
low ; and never did I hear one persoa in those parts
speak except in terms of the highest praise and admi-
ration of the British Queen."
Captain Jawarsrs then retired. It would be difficult
to express the general sympathy and favour excited
by his gallant and honest appearance. Mr. PETER
MOORE came forward, and, before he could well pro-
pose them, three times three lusty cheers were given
with true heart, in honour of this British seaman.
Mr. Mies, Mr. KERRY, Sir GERARD NOEL, II e
Rev. M. MA Revs (who read the two Addresses), Mr.
BUTLER, J.'HEPPELL, Esq. S. C. WHITBREAD, Esq.
M.P. and P. Moorte, Esq. M.P. successively addressed
the Meeting, which then peaceably dispersed, after
agreeing unanimously, to the following Resolution.
We must repeat, that we never beheld a more truly
respectable assemblage, or one more enlivened by the
presence of a vast accession of female beauty.
The Gentlemen of the Committee, Sir GERARD
NOEL, Bart. and M.P. Mr. WHITBREAD, M.P.. Mr.
Puree MooRE, M.P. and others, then retired to the
hospitable house 'of S. FLETCHER, Esq. where they
partook of refreshments. It is almost unnecessary to
add, that the deportment of the Meeting was in the
highest degree decorous and becoming.

SUBSTANCE OF THE RESOLUTIONS.

1. That this Meeting views with disgust and indignation the
unremitting and bitter prosecution with which her Majesty
Queen Caroline has been pursued, and the base endeavours to
inflict on her the punishment of a tainted reputation, contrail to
that noble element of British jurisprudence which declares every
one to be innocent till proved to be guilty.
2. That this Meeting considers that her Majesty merits out
warmest thanks for that honourable exercise of her mind, In
scornfully refusing a base bribe offered her, upon the one hand,
and a still baser threat upon the other.
3. That this Meeting does hereby express its abhorrence of
the principle of the present proceeding by 3 13111 of Pairs and
Penalties against her Majesty, and of the partial manner and in"
solent way in which its framers have dared to conduct it.
4. (In favour of the minority of the 65 Peers.)
6. I'hat Addresses to her Majesty, one from the Inhabitant
Householders, and another from the Married Females resident
in this Parish, founded upon the foregoing Resolutions, be draws
up, and left for signature throughout the Parish ; and that the
Chairman of this Meeting be requested to present the formei,
attended by the Members of the Committee, and such other bi-
habitant Householders as shall be pleased to join him; and tiut
some Lady, re3ident in the I'arich, be requested by the Com-
mittee to present the latter, accompanied by such Ladies ,oho
may have signed it as may be pleased to attend.
9. That this Meeting considers with admiration the intrep.M
and judicious conduct of her Majesty's Counsel—taken front tile
examples derived from the Consritutior.al Lawyers amongst oil'
Aucestori—adurning our own times by this integrity, takat.