Star.
London, England, 1820-12-01 00:00:00

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greater decision dof graleF courage than what was
evinced by tie Q nAksopiVss trying and memara•l
ble occasion. 11-0 Very well what sort of per-
sons, h tea ell Ititlk—she knew their art, their.
• itiu an eel—she knew right well of the
'Comm'mm' iall;•and of an its dirty and dastardly
agents—she knew that, though Douglas and Ompteda
were dead, there were enough of base and unprin-
cipled wretches still living ready to conspire against
her, and do everything that was possible to be done
for the ruin of her honour, and the destruction of her
happiness ; but, in despite of all these circumstances,
and in despite of the unmanly threats that were le-
velled against her, she resolved upon facing her ene-
mies, and daring the worst. Never was a finer or a
nobler compliment paid to the English people than
by the Queen upon this occasion. fln England,'
said stie, in England alone will I treat with the
King ; for there, surrounded as I shall be by the hu-
mane, just, and generous people, I shall have nothing
to fear. They know how I have been treated—they
know the history of any persecutions and sufferings:
they have hearts to sympathize with me; they are
just, and will not see me wronged; they are brave,
and will defend me; they are generous, and will
stand by me. This, Sir, was the appeal of the
Queen to the People of England ; and nobly and glo-
riously, as you know and as she has felt, was that
appeal answered by the universal voice of the,pa-
tion. In England, then, she soon arrived, amidst
the cheers and blessings of hundreds of thousands of
warm and devoted hearts. And then the unmanly
threat was acted upon ; green bags, containing the,
filth that had been scraped together by German des-
pots, Hanoverian Ministers, and British Ambassa-
dors, were laid upon the tables of the House of
Commons and the House of Lords. It was too
foul to be opened in the former ; but the noses of
the Noble Lords were not so delicate; and before
them, therefore, the green bag was emptied of its con-
tents, and the charges against the Queen detailed.—
Now, Sir, I do say that this conduct of the Queen—
the decision and the promptitude with which she
acted, and the contempt and indignation with which
she spurned the offer of the splendid bribe, did from
the first, and still continues to, carry the most per-
fect conviction to my mind of her complete and en-
tire innocence of the crime with which she has been
charged. How else will you be able to account for
her conduct ? Such being the strong general pre-
sumption in favour of the innocence of the Queen,
it is natural for us to ask, bow this presumption is
borne out by the evidence, as given before the House
of Lords? Upon this I must observe, that if I were
accused of any crime, and were brought into a Court
of Justice to answer to the accusation—and if I
could then prove that the most scandalous and infa-
mous means had been resorted to for the purpose of
obtaining witnesses against me, and that the wit-
nesses so obtained were guilty of prevarication and
perjury—what would become of the case of my pro-
secutors? Why, it would ise driven out of the Court
with indignation and contempt. Now exactly of this
kind is the case against the Queen." After ably corn-
meming on the proofs in favour of her Majesty, the
Rev. Gentleman concluded by saying—" He who will
not be convinced by these facts, in conjunction with
the other numerous and strong proofs of her Ma-
jesty's innocence, will not be persuaded though one
rose from the dead."
I. Pit 6STON. Esq. then offered himself to the Meet-
ing, to address to them some remarks, which, al-
though they might differ from the general opinion
of the Meeting, as every one in this kingdom had a
right to state any opinions which he believed to be
for the welfare of his country, he hoped would be
patiently heard. The Learned Gentleman then went
on for a few minutes to niake some remarks upon
the Rev. T. Madge's address ; but the cries of dis-
approbation, mingled with those of approbation,
were so vehement as to entirely prevent any per-
son hearing what he said, when Mr. Preston, per-
ceiving that it was the wish of the Meeting, retired.
The MAYOR then put the Resolutions, which were
carried unanimously, with the exception of two hands
held up against them.
N. BOLINGBROKE) Esq. (Deputy Mayor) observed,
that in the late proceedings there were thirty or forty
Peers who usually voted with Ministers, but who all
voted against the Bill, because they were of opinion
that bringing forward the proceedings shewed great
lack of wisdom ; another was, that the other branch
of the Legislature would not harbour the green bag,
but threw it out immediately ; and a third import-
ant fact he thought was, that not a single tittle of
evidence was offered against her Majesty during the
last three years. The Deputy Mayor then concluded
by moving an Address, in the spirit of the Resolu-
tions, which was read by Mr. E. Taylor.
Mr. EDWARD TAYLOR said, that it was with feel-
ings of sincere and ardent joy that he again met his
fellow-citizens in that Hall. Their former congratu-
lations to her Majesty had been mingled with painful
feelings at seeing her, while all England welcomed
her return to her home, again about to become the
object of accusation and perseCution : but now their
joy was unmingled with regret. She had triumph-
antly passed the fiery ordeal, and, in spite of all the
machinations of her enemies, had preserved her rights
as a Queen, and vindicated her honour as a woman-1
Those very persons who had brought in the Bill to
divorce and degrade her, were compelled to become
• the instruments of their own degradation, and to
bend before the weight of that public opinion which
they at first had affected to despise. When the fear-
ful words " that this Bill do pass !" trembled on their
lips, their coward hearts sank within them, and they
were compelled to give way to the voice of the people,
and abandon their own measure. Ministers had said
that the profligacy of the Queen had been so notori-
ous abroad, that they were compelled to send out the
Milan Commission to investigate it. Had truth been
their object, of whom would they have sought intel-
ligence ? Unquestionably, of those honourlble and
respectable Noblemen and Gentlemen who had been
about her Majesty's person, who had been constantly
in attendance upon her, and witnessed every action
of her life. But, no : these were not the men to an-
swer their black and malignant purpose: the wit-
nesses against the Queen must be sought for in the
very dregs of Italy ; discarded servants must be tam-
pered with, confidence must be violated, locks must
be picked, bribes must be offered ; in short, every
species of villainy must be resorted to, in order to
make out the shadow of a case. This, therefore, was