244 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



report, to receive which the hall 

 had been called. 



The following resolutions were 

 then passed : 



SMITH, Mayor. 

 In a meeting or assembly of the 

 mayor, aldermen, and livery- 

 men of the several compaiiies of 

 the city of London, in common- 

 hall assembled, at the Guildhall 

 of the said city, on Tuesday 

 the 9th of January, 1810. 

 Resolved unanimously, 



I. That it is the undoubted right 

 of the lord mayor, aldermen, and 

 livery ofihe city of London, to pre- 

 sent their petitions to the king sit- 

 ting upon the throne; that out of 

 personal feelings towards their so- 

 vereign theydid at the last common- 

 hall wave the exercise of this right. 



II. Resolved unanimously, That 

 it appears, that the secretary of 

 state informed the sheriffs, that the 

 petition of the livery could be re- 

 ceived only through his office, that 

 they have been denied not only the 

 usual access to his majesty, by a 

 personal audience, but the un- 

 doubted right of presenting the 

 same when they had actual access 

 to his majesty at the levee, where 

 they attended to present, and did 

 present, a petition from the court 

 of common council. 



III. Resolved unanimously. That 

 such denial is not only subversive 

 of the rights of the livery, but a 

 flagrant violation of the right of 

 petitioning, claimed, demanded, 

 and insisted upon, and confirmed 

 to them by the bill of rights. 



IV. Resolvedunanimousiy,That 

 all complaints of the misconduct 

 and incapacity of nis majesty's ser- 

 vants are most likely to be nuga- 

 tory, if such complaints must pass 



through the hands of those very 

 servants, and the people can have 

 no security that their complaints 

 are heard. 



V. Resolved, That whoever ad- 

 vised his majesty not to receive 

 the petition of the livery in the 

 accustomed and established mode, 

 have committed a scandalous 

 breach of their duty, violated one 

 of the first principles of the con- 

 stitution, and abused the confi- 

 dence of their sovereign. 



VI. Resolved unanimously, That 

 this common-hall, disregarding all 

 attempts and designs of interested 

 and corrupt hirelings, who derive 

 emoluments from the national bur- 

 thens, to impute unworthy and dis- 

 loyal motives to those who resist 

 unprincipled and dangerous en- 

 croachments upon their establish- 

 ed rights, are determined, to the 

 utmost of their power, to maintain 

 them againsttiioseevil counsellors, 

 who have thus raised a barrier be- 

 tween the king and the people, and 

 thereby prevented their just com- 

 plaints reaching the royal ear. 



VII. Resolved, That the following 

 instructions be given to our repre- 

 sentatives in parliament: — Gentle- 

 men, You are hereby instructed to 

 move in the House of Commons 

 (or support such motion if moved) 

 for an humble address to his ma- 

 jesty, prayingforan imraediateand 

 rigid inquiry into the course of the 

 unexampled failures and disasters 

 which have attended our late ex- 

 peditions to Spain, Portugal, and 

 Holland, whereby the blood and 

 treasure of the country have been 

 shamefully sacrificed, without ren- 

 dering any effectual assistance to 

 our allies, checking the progress of 

 the enemy, or tending to the glory 

 or security of his majesty's crown 



