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State of Public Affairs in DecemUr. [Jan. 1, 



and commons of the city of London, in 



common council assembled, humbly ap« 



proacli your Royal Highness to represent 



onr national siiffeiin;;s and grievancrs, and 



years, seeing that all men pay taxes, and 

 that all men have lives and liberties to 

 protect. 



8. That, in order that such reform may 

 not be illusory, and that fear of the rich 

 and powertiil may not iiiHurnce the poor 

 and feeble, the voting by ballot will make 

 an essential part of such reform ; and that 

 to a reform, thus foimded and guarded, the 

 nation may look with conlidence as the 

 certain means of restoring the country to 

 a slate of happiness, and of preserving its 

 freedom at home, and its character abroad, 

 to the days of a distant posterity. 



9. That a petition be presented to the 

 House of Connnons, praying for a reform 

 thereof, npon the aforesaid just and equi- 

 table principles. 



Previous to llie arrival of Mr. Hunt, 

 and to the coinineiiccinunt of the proper 

 business of the inectins, a party of 

 enthusiasts having .stimulated each other 

 fay some violent speeches, left Spa-fiehls, 

 and, under tiie guidance of a youth of 

 the name of Watson, ])roecedcd to the 

 shop of a gun-smith on Snow-hill, which 

 they plundered of its arms, and \*au- 

 tonly wounded agentlcniau of the name 

 of Platt. Hence they advanced to 

 the jNIansion house, where being op- 

 posed by the Lord-JMajor and Police, 

 they passed on to tlic Minories and 

 plundered the shops of two otiier gun- 

 makers. They now proposed to return 

 to Spa-fields, but being; met in Aid- 

 gate by a body of ca\alry they were 

 promptly dispersed, and compelled to 

 throw away tiieir newly acquired wea- 

 pons. Three or four of them were 

 taken into custody, and among others, 

 Preston, the secretary of the committee, 

 tfho called the meeting, and the Fatiier 

 of the youth who led the rioters from 

 Spa-fielils to Snow-hill. For the 

 jouth himself, rewards amounting to 

 800/. have been offered for his apprehen- 

 sion, but hitherto without success. 

 This ebullition of the populace has, as 

 might be expected, been treated by the 

 ministerial papers as a deep-laid plot 

 and formidable insurrection. But, in 

 truth, the parlies seemed to liavc been 

 stimulated only by the madness of the 

 moment, and by tlieir convictions in 

 fovour of a plan )]ublishcd by one 

 Spence, for the more equal oeciipation 

 of land, and to introduce ^vhich plan, so- 

 cieties seem to have been formed through- 

 out the metropolis. 



On Monday, Dec. 9, the following 

 Address and Petition of the City of Lon- 

 don were presented to the Regent : — 

 May it please your Royal Hii;hness, 



We, his Majesty's most dutiful and 

 h)jal »«bject3, the lord mayor, alderraen 



respectfully to suggest the adoption of 

 measures which we conceive to be indis»r 

 peu«ably necessary for the safety, the quiet, 

 and prosperity of the realm. 



We forbear to enter into details of the 

 afflicting scenes of privations and sufferings 

 that every where exist; the distress and' 

 misery wliich for so many years have been , 

 progressively accumulating, have at length 

 become insupportable — they are no longer 

 partially felt nor limited to one portion of 

 the empire — the commercial, the manufac- 

 turing, and tlie agricultural interests are 

 equally sinking under its irresistible pres- 

 sure ; and it has become impossible to find 

 employment for a large mass of the popiu: 

 lation, much less to bear up against our pre-* 

 sent enormous burthens. 



We beg to impress npon your Royal 

 Highness, that onr present complicated 

 evils have not arisen from a mere transition 

 from war to peace, nor from any sudden or. 

 accidental causes — neither can they be re. 

 moved by any partial or temporary expe- 

 dients. 



Our grievances are the natural effect of 

 rash and ruinous wars, unjustly com* 

 nieiiced and pertinaciously persisted in, 

 when no rational object was to be obtained 

 — of immense subsidies to foreign powers 

 to defend 'titir own territories, or to com- 

 mit aggressions on those of their neigh- 

 bours — of a delusive paper currency — of 

 an unconstitutional and unprecedented 

 military force in time of peare — of the 

 unexampled and increasing magnitude of 

 the civil list — of the enormous sums paid 

 for unmerited pensions and sinccmes — 

 and of a long course of the most lavish and 

 improvident expenditure of the public 

 money, througliont every branch of the 

 government, all arising from the corrupt 

 and madequate state of the representation- 

 of the people in Parliament, whereby ail 

 constitutional controul over the servants of 

 the crown has been lost, and parliaments 

 have become subservient to the will of 

 Ministers. 



We cannot foil)ear expressing our grief 

 and <iisappo;ntmenl, that, notwithstanding 

 your Uoyal Hiiihness's gracioug recommen- 

 dation of economy at »:e opening of the 

 last sessions of parliament, your ministers 

 should have, heen found opposing every 

 proposition for lessening the national ex- 

 penditure, and that they should have been 

 able to obtain majorities to support and 

 .sanction their conduct, in defiance of your 

 Royal Hi;;hness's reconinien iation and the 

 declared sense of the nation — afl'urUiHg 

 another melancholy proof of the corrupt 

 state of the rcpre.sentation, in addition to 

 those facts so often stated and offered to 

 be proved .at the bar of the House of Com- 

 mons, in a petition presented in i79o by 



tit« 



