The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-05-08 00:00:00

• .141

Sheriffoolsould be accompanied by a peat betty of
the Citizetts of Leaden. This inteation was fruetrats
ed by au intimation from Lord Hertford,.,cemono-
nicated by letter to the Lord Mayor, that i 4 was
his Majesty's pleasure that no more shoehl attend
than the Ash of Parliament allowed. The conse-
quence wasythat in order to conform to the Act
of Parliament, a Committee of ten was deputed
to
attend the Lord Mayor aad Sheriffs; and this Ad-
dress was also received by his Majesty upon the
Throne. In 4773, another Address was received
on the Throne. In 177,5'tw0 Addresses had been
voted; one in April, which had been received by
hit Majesty on his Throne; another in June,
which never was presented. In this latter case the
Chamberlain was informed by letter f rom Ld.Hert-
ford, that it was his Majesty's pleasure not to receive
any address upon his throne from the city of Lon.
don but in its corporate character. This cienniunica...
tionsa as then submitted to a C oaimon.Hal I, at which%
• certain resolutithis were voted, declaratory of the
right. of thi City of London to present their pc-
titicins or addresses to' the• King on the throne,
and to hare an answer to than: Atfother resole.
Mod will dart pasied, containing an express in-
junction fo the Sheriffs not to preterit the Address
but to the-king on his Throne. The Sheriffs
haring waited uponliislqSjeitY,on a Levee day,
wereiisformed that.the,Addrps.would be received
at a; Levet ; but on stating Mir ifistrOCtioos, his
Majesty ihformed them that he stotild be at all
times ready to receive the petitions of his people,
and that Ire was the best' judge where. N.
Address was, therefore, presented on that
oceisioneo--The same fate attended an Ad-.
drill voted 1781, sad-n the next su
ISoobse.
quent Address )n'1797. -• li the year
another Address wag voted to be presented to the
"King on the Throne,' and in consequence of en in.
struction to that effect, the Sheriffs waited on his
Majesty at Weymouth, tO•know wttcn he would
be graciously pleased to receive it on his Throne.
The Sheriffs obtained his Majesty's permission for
the Chamberlain to read to him their instructions ;
• bet received the same answer as in-L77s—that his
Majesty, ever ready to receive the Addresses of his
subject., was the best judge where. Upon the re-
presentation of these circumstances by the Sheriffs
to Hell, certain Resolutions were
agreed t-i, which were communicated to the King
at Windsor by the Sheriff,. These were all the
cases that had occurred during the present reign
until the latter end of last year, *lieu the Citizens
of Loridonshad to compfain-of the calamities of
the times, and the Livery of London was assem-
bled to' address his Majesty on the grievances
with :which the nation was oppressed. This eras
done.at a time whets the public, and the Citizens
of Leaden in perticular, were borne down by the
burthen of tales, but mote especially one grinding
tax, rendered doubly oppressive by the measures
resorted to for renderin; it productive. It was
the more necessary for them to carry up their
complaints aid grievances to tile Throne, because
they saw the e.eeseres warted 16 in that House
for their redress unavailing. ..Disgisited, there..
fore, with the losses that had been sustained:,
provoked by the eZpODOet ineurrixl, whilst au„
meaos were taken to bring public defaulter's,
to justice; mortified at the rebuke which hie,.
Mari,:), had been advised unseaseitsbly to give;
to the City of London ; disgusted atsall these cir.,,
cuinstances of national calamity and disgrace, the'
Livery of Luistion, required the LorsliMayor. to,
stall a Common Hall. That Hall was called,, auto,
a moire numerous and respectable 'Meeting onier,
assembled hi London. An Address was -voted tor'
his Majesty, and ;-he Lord Ma) or and Sheriffs di.
rected to present it to his Majesty, at a Levee,
/raving their right to have it presented. on the
throne, in coasequenett of the state of
.his
jesty's health.' On the 14th, of Lleettuber,
ttpplied to the Secretary of S:ate, sod 'sere ie.!
firoitsl.br hint that they %soul( not be allowed
present it at a levee, and on the 20th of the mom
' inotith,• when waiting on hie Majesty with another
Address; they were refusetl: permission to present
this Address at• th- saute tune. The coast:quests*
was, that the Isivio'y had conic to resotations.si.
last to those voted in 177 b. What •he. coos.
of was, not that the Address of the Livery
Wad At been received on the Throne, because, as•
itlh ft-Moo-citizens had waved their right on that
Itead; he wfresiot bound there to insist loom till a
Vor thefts whichohcy slid notinstru.t Min to con.
"tend for ; what lie had •truceniplaiii of was, the
'obstruction -given -to presenting the Petition to hie
SlajeitY at his Levee. • Haring stated the case, he
Itt,',uld tont-Nile, by moviek—
" That the elistinetioa Inside hy his Matesty's Wokters to I
the Ach4espitonf the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Common Conn-'
,oil, unit Livery of London, ad the ldth of Oecentber lost, is an
liffeingetheat of the rig ill eit hesobject to petition the Sovereign
.:cia all lawful occasions. '
Sir MIL CURTIS rose to second the Re.
solution ,of his Hon. Colleague. Whatever he
Might taie thought of the terms in which the Ad.
estl been couched, as it had been passed at
• t Common. Hall, it ought to have been presented,
lie.shduld ever st•ind up for ihe rights of the City.
The obstruction to the Address was, in his mind,
• enjast; bnpuliticasci unwise, and therefore he felt
plektu.i.kiit seconding the motion.
Sid t:, PRICE, feelingit his duly•on every cm.
.-Ittsitittilitsliiaintain the eightiosf the city of ',op.-
- ilonOiliobld support the Resolutioa of his Hon,
Colleaktie. At the tame tiate he must phseritti
- theft Ills sentieseuts were well known as to the
•Ibtion fuel.. He agreed with his Hon-Ciilleage
41
istbat the obstructions made to, it wee a rearictiiiii
• kir4he right or the subject to• petition. , Bus be
observe, .shat he„ibffered. from
.bis Hots.
esCelkague as to life dpiition respectiog hitt/140-
tr. Milusterse.twiso, he thought, were desurrias
• • AitsZbe fair the eimitter in whichstbey bed
,kons
midi a( alledf4 to
-..thaseiittaarl anti a iavica . MIA
• Siliadirtiag of
.praise e 4 of y,
St:lisidedirthily had 'premised the peameosi
•ari 11,. ..troveil.4 4 recent cases, Ale,e,
• Iptimf should novet,witstes's iq this otifyitrid"
.;11111to 'lo,li;h3dt: hiooetted ill the year 174.4, e
*Amsted tales Isiestett.4l4l6tra ,ixoulsl,
Alf to aoy.444ll'scems d tr:i
•issalidatiL4'.l4lll4l4lll44.tca.ll9l)l44: P3A
Vottau. - • ' ' '

•

~~ r_ )_, ,

t:: . •.-.• •

"11='-'77T-7—c-`
Sir JAMES *SII#,W had'bef lain ri./fe. 'Or Ora'
ito trOuble the ROl4llO with. Afittlhe 'very able
i manlier in which his Hon. eiilleague'filtd• open
the questitin, it would be a proof Of Slid tastein '
him to atte,mpt to go over the same ground. He
agreed with his goo. Colleague in all hebad said
as to the gvucral right. of the Subject As petition,
The Common, flail was legilly convened'; it was
presided over by the Lord Mayor, • the essembly
was most numerous and respectable, and he c
tended the Livery had a right to present their re.
titions to the King on the Throne, On this ii.
'count he conceived it to have been the duty of
.his Majesty's Ministers to have advised his hla.
jetty to receive it on the Throne, and upon these
grounds• he should, vote for the Resolation.
Mr. Secretary RYDER eonsidered the worth,' Aldermen
as led astray by their sympathy for the right of the Cit
riet
y.—
If be ittidefstimil the motion, it was intended as a di
chr.rge ageinst his Mejesty's Ministers, for having infritsed
the right of
tn
the subject to petition. Buteif that wee the ob-
tof the Hon. Alderman, motion did not go far eaumtiol
bebcause, if his Majesty's Ministers had actually violated Ike 1
Orin of the sehlect to petition, they ought to meet not an iw-
plied censure, hut adirect animadversion. lie eras convinced,
however, that in a Very few words he could satisfy the House,
that there was nog round for the motion. The first question was,
w lather the Livery of Loudon had superior rights of petit ion•
trig over every other class of subjects, and it was not even im-
puted to hint that he wished to place theta I. any other state
than that of any ether class of sabiects. Ile admitted the euu-
nieratiou of the modes of petitioning the Sovereign as stared
by the lion. Alderman to be correct; bet that the right of
presenting a Petition to the Throne was confined to the Uni-
versities and the Corperatinn of London. Petitions resented
to his Alajestv at the Levee were immediately haulded over to
i in Waiting. • At to what had beets said of the case
1 of 1775, he wriald noise.% c.. saes, teat even the per-
sons WOO then claimed the right could not have Molten they
pos,e,sed The times were then semewhat similar to . the
present; there was touch popular ferment abroad.- Mr. Wilkes
was 'then in the Iwight of his aopularity, nod not what he
afterwards
bla described himself a Volcano extinct, but a
in the full se of explosion and- eraption. What bad Volcano beep
the conduct of Wilkes on thatoceasson ? . Lord Hertftird's
letter was dated the 11th of April • and one would suppose,
that, if Mr. Wilkes was continted Of -the right, he would
have applied to Parliament, as the Honourable Alderman
now did, or have called a Coalmen flail to vote resolutions
respecting it. But no—be did not answer Lord Hertford's
letter till the 2d of May. He did nut take any notice of the
subject in Parliament, though the prorogatioo did ant take 1
place till the thtli of May ; and it was not till the 44th of
June that the Onnmon Hall was called. and passed resoluti-
ons nearly similar to those'vmed I. the first week of Jana-
ary in the present year. And was this precedent to be relied
on, when not one of Bente feu's of that day, bald after
iithe lapse of so long a period,' ever thought of any step to be:
taken /sir the subject. A Reinlutino pad esosn.bnen inosed,
to Parliament by Mr. Saw brislo. which einikted all allusions
to the case of the petition. His Majesty's' Mt.isterS in ttfe
advice they gave his Majesty, had no idea •of disrespect to
the City of London; all they desired was, Str alace • the.
Livery in the same silualion with other dale, of
hp Mat
jEsty's subjects. In -this they
had doi,e no root, than th 'I
Joule usually did. Parliament would not suffer any classtal
petition against etas bill, with the exceptiou of. the Copts-e
non of LOWIIIb. Because the Cortaoratimi to Lona m tia..ttite
privilege of presenting its petitions hy itflheritrs,at the Oars tbn 1
House receivect Memos abt kart Iv iag tueir cootents, het roe pe-,
eitleHlS from all other descriptious of subjects were revired to
be opened by some himuner whis
_place. (T ne Itig'4 HMV
Gentleman here read a passage from Mr. Haisetl's,bookee
Aewiag that on 4me wades the Petitteti of the Casrporatiois,
had been received °. a particular oecusloa, when Sir Watkia
Lowe- was required to Kate the matter of the Petition.frowl
l
the Livery oe the same subject). As to the observation Ail
the Hon. Aldermen, that Petiiioas gieeo in to the Secretatr.y
of State oeter acre sent.4ajnetY, ,he Oak 0114 1414'
sure the Reuse that Mare Itelleid beta is
ham, he had to.
ceived Ile Petition which had sat ranched his Inairur- Tbf .1
Right Hon. Gemiectua then ctver,m4 to the coatents of Itial
unit letter to the Lard Mayor, to thew that he bad no rib*,
to treat the City with contempt, Sod eeeeletted by wing
' that be should oppose the mulatto.. . • .
Lord' „FOLKESTONE nit!, 'that the Roomer. j
able Alderman had not 'eohlended for the right of
patiiioning uu'the Throne, eo *MCA the whole of
the Secretaire ribieevations applied, but .conic::
plained that the litery hid been denied that as.
eess to 'hisi Majesty's ptrsotq '~hick the law held I
to be the inbereat right of linglisb'subjects. This,'
he contended, 'Was a general subject of complaiaa,
and lie 'adverted to a Meeting of the emusty of
'Becks, where this obstruition Was seriously. eats.
pititied of, Any subjeet had Nen at the coatis
mencement 6f; fliefireillist reign the right to giro;
a PC:illitati IMO bis Majeley's hand. In consequence
of the. liitlitittotire ease of Margaret Nicholson, a
• •
.Iqg tili'etdr r* iiir led 4(4 that Petitions should only,
be A
preteirftieti A the M4%4'. Notts this was done away,
, .
at t nollit g etivtodued 'bet tratnsmisslon through the
011icd of the'Sieretary of State. - This was rather
unigtisfactofy, eonshierint that the grievance
most se,riottsly'eotnplaitted!nf would often be the
rctaiiiinitiethe -person In eiltra who was tolrana,
mit the Petitidli. The Honourable Secretary.
said, he believed -that the Petitions sent to' his
Office had been transmlttett This belief of FOS
was a comfortable atisnrance to those whose rights
to Petition his Majesty in perton were considered
p inherent. This mode altueded them au 'admire.
bre.aceisiikl far the transiaission of theiticrierauces
!re the'Rerarear i 'There were, however, Monet
ilioat about petitions having been found in thi pi.
geon„helcs of the Secretary of State's Office,- an.
opened and enpresented.' Another suspicious cis.{
cumstante was, that all' petitions td the King were
not published in-the Gazette, though the comp&
tnentery- addresses, in praise of Ministers, &c. were
sure to bethere,'with a comment, that they had beep
most 'graciously received. Bet who saw there aay•
petitiqns complaining of fruitless and r ' '
---
peditiona,:ite.? ,He had Seeh a tor from OW,
Right Honourable Secretary himself (Ity:Matjtsr
Cartwright probably), denying that he Was under
any obligation to read such Petitions to his Majoa.
ty ; and thus were the'People debarred .freevtlest
access to the Sovereign which the law caltettrileir
inherent r light.. The Honourable Secretary had
compared 'the present times with theaCof 1775.--
-He (Lord Folteitone) had no doubtithat posterity
I would i'efard" die claims of the pretest day af;aiest
Plelsercise'of
„fondue power by the Howe,- tw)dle
'uite liglit as the claMia of those 'dyer werer;ie.
liirded 1)J the people Of the present. day. ; ClO
resistance
then made to the undue ezerilieWtelf
libeler has been sinefloaed by the apprOlistilildh of
Jibe preseutday; inst•Ch *mild J the postwitlitaiit.
1.
knee be sanctioned by the apProbiktilkella fa*
le
'-r o .
rity. ~. . • ii,i.., !Jo,.
L:
Atr. geelytery DUNDAS said, that the bisjee.
1 Hon to the mode of traniteittlng petirlua through
le Secretirto'oll Statesmen,/ lo be
021 e o ib-,ie , of" th •
1 tit tht Se6etary wits tinder no oilip_epos to-
,
read Oft to theiieing. Bet eupposinclW were
preselliteil it the Levee, whet grdaterldeitielartould
rthelhl ei Am they would be read, They were-in
• J '-
' both cete4_ givetrto his *jest,' !Whether public
. ,
lmfl '0 be_ Perutud et the liiiiii most ottoveatent fur
filth. The/IWO to' Which'the Noble Jadeillothed Was
'Rtitiiti4 tio.Miaor Cartwrigirt;stebtilted requested
in kullitlicVirf Ms' Mijesiy, kaltgkebil iipliiwes:or'

•

"• '

.

i

..