362 X O N 
Addrefs: “May it pleafe your royal highnefs; We, his 
majefty’s loyal fubjeCts, the lord-mayor, aldermen, and li¬ 
very, of the city of London, in common hall afiembled, 
bearing in mind thofe fentiments of profound veneration 
and ardent affeflion with which we hailed the arrival of 
your royal highnefs in this country, humbly befeech your 
royal highnefs to receive our affurances, that in the hearts 
of the citizens of London thofe fentiments have never ex¬ 
perienced diminution or change. Deeply interefled in 
every event connected with the liability of the throne of 
this kingdom, under the fway of the houfe of Brunf- 
wick ; tenderly alive to every circumflance affefting the 
perfonal welfare of every branch of that illuftrious houfe; 
we have felt indignation and abhorrence ir.exprelTible, 
upon the difclofureof that foul and detellable confpiracy, 
which, by perjured and fuborned traducers, has been car¬ 
ried on againft your royal highnefs’s honour and life. 
The veneration for the laws ; the moderation, the forbear¬ 
ance, the franknefs, the magnanimity, which your royal 
highnefs has fo eminently difplayed under circumllances 
fo trying, and during a perfecution of lo long a duration ; 
thefe, while they demand an expreffion of our unbounded 
applaufe, cannot fail to excite in us a confident hope, that, 
under the fivay of your illuftrious and beloved daughter, 
our children will enjoy all the benefits of fo bright an ex¬ 
ample. And we humbly beg permifiiou moft unfeignedly 
to affure your royal highnefs, that, as well for the fake of 
our country as from a fenfe of jullice and of duty, we 
fhall always feel, and be ready to give proof of, the moft 
anxious folicitude for your royal highnefs’s health, prof- 
perity, and happinefs.” 
To which her royal highnefs returned the following moft 
gracious anfwer: “ I thank you for your loyal and affec¬ 
tionate addrefs.—It is to me the greateft confolation to 
learn, that, during fo many years of unmerited perfecu¬ 
tion, notwithftanding the aftive and perfevering difiemi- 
nation of the moft deliberate calumnies againft me, the 
kind and favourable fentiments with which they did me 
the honour to approach me, on my arrival in this coun¬ 
try, have undergone neither diminution nor change in the 
hearts of the citizens of London. The fenfe of indigna¬ 
tion and abhorrence you exprefs againft the foul and de- 
teftable confpiracy, which, by perjured and fuborned tra¬ 
ducers, has been carried on againft my life and honour, 
is worthy of you, and mod gratifying to me. It muft be 
duly appreciated by every branch of that illuftrious houfe 
with which I am fo clofely connected by blood and mar¬ 
riage, the perfonal welfare of every one of whom muft 
have been affefled by the l'uccefs of fuch atrocious ma¬ 
chinations. The confcioufnels of my innocence has fup- 
ported me through my long, fevere, and unmerited, trials ; 
your approbation of my conduct under them, is a reward 
for all my fufferings.—I fhall not lofe any opportunity I 
may be permitted to enjoy, of encouraging the talents and 
virtues of my dear daughter, the princels Charlotte; and 
I fnall imprefs upon her mind my full fenfe of the obliga¬ 
tion conferred upon me by the fpontaneous act of your 
juftice and generolity. She will therein clearly perceive 
this value of that free conftitution, which, in the natural 
courfe of events, it will be her high deltiny to prefide 
over, and her facred duty to maintain, which allows no 
one to fink under opprefiion ; and file will ever be bound 
to the city of London, in ties proportioned to the ftrength 
of that filial attachment I have had the happinefs uniformly 
to experience from her.—Be allured that the cordial and 
convincing proof you have thus given of your folicitude 
for my profperity and happinefs, will be cherifhed in grate¬ 
ful remembrance by me, to the latelt moment of my life ; 
and the diftinguifhed proceeding adopted by the firft city- 
in this great empire will he confidered by pofterity as a 
proud memorial of my vindicated honour.” 
The addrefs of the corporation of London was prefented 
to the princefs of Wales at Kenfington Palace on the 28th. 
The lord-mayor, recorder, chamberlain, aldermen, fhe- 
-riffs, and common council, afiembled, and left Guildhall 
»»bout twelve o’clock 5 and the proceflion arrived at K,en- 
D O N. 
fington Palace about two. The addrefs was read by Me. 
Recorder; and her R. H. returned the following anfwer: 
“ I receive with the greateft latisfa&ion the congratula¬ 
tions of the city of London. No branch of the houfe of 
Brunfwick can ever forget to whofe exertions chiefly is 
owing the throne of thefe realms ; and I have now pecu¬ 
liar reafon to know the value of the conftitution which 
thofe exertions purchafed, becaufe I have found it a fure 
protection when I had no other defence. The extraordi¬ 
nary fituation in which I was placed compelled me to 
come forward in behalf of my honour and my life. I have 
been rewarded, not only by theuniverfal acknowledgment 
of my innocence, but by teftimonies of afteClion from a 
loyal and high-fpirited people; which I fhall gratefully 
remember as long as I live. At the prefent moment, I 
am rather difpofed to dwell upon this pleafing circunw 
fiance than upon any recolleflion of a lefs agreeable kind. 
The trials, however, which I have undergone, will, I am 
confident, produce one good eft'eCl: they will confirm in 
my daughter’s mind that attachment to the conftitution 
which fhe already cherifhed, and imprefs her more and. 
more with the conviction, that no llation can be fecure 
except in a free country; it is both the intereft and the 
moft facred duty of an Englifh monarch to watch over 
the liberties of the people.”—The princefs delivered her 
anfwer with great dignity and feeling. The lord-mayor, 
recorder, and aldermen, were received gracioufly, and 
killed hands. Her R.H. when the corporation had quit¬ 
ted the palace, went to the window, and fhowed herf'elf 
to the people afiembled on the grafs-plat. 
To the addreffes which have alfo been prefented from 
Weft min fter, Middlefex, Southwark, Briflol, Moninouth- 
fhire, and many other parts of the kingdom, the anfwers 
of the princefs have been marked with ftriCt propriety, 
much good fenfe, and great moderation. This is particu¬ 
larly obfervable in the reply to the Weftminfter-addrefs, 
which fpoke of the “ cold-blooded apathy of a corrupt ma¬ 
jority of the houfe of commons on receiving her appeal. 1 * 
—After thanking the addreffers, her R. H. concludes by 
faying, “ Permit me to add, that there can be no doubt, 
that the refufal of parliament to entertain the queftion. 
originated only in a conviClion that my innocence Hood 
above all fufpicion, and in appreh'enfion that parliamentary 
interference might delay the reftoration to my daughter's 
lociety, fo univerfally defired.” 
On Sunday the 4th Of April, about five o’clock in the 
morning, that (lately building which reared its proud roof 
to the clouds from the centre of Skinner-ftreet, and ap¬ 
peared from Blackfriars’ bridge like the Parthenon on the 
Acropolis of Athens, or the temple of Jove on the Tar- 
peian rock at Rome; the Commercial Hall, which was, in 
the city-lottery, the 25,000k prize, was difeovered to be 
on fire in the fifth ftory. The flames fpread with fo much 
rapidity, that in two hours the building was entirely con- 
fumed, the hinder wall falling into the ruins, and a pare 
of the outer into the ftreet. No lives were loft. 
The duke of Cumberland, accompanied by captain 
Portier, his equerry, left town on the 28th for Yarmouth, 
where he embarked for Pruffia. His royal highnefs haft 
ordered his ltud of horfes and his cellar of wines to be dif¬ 
pofed of. Sixteen of his horfes were fold for 1303 guineas. 
The changes which have taken place on the continent have 
enabled his R. H. to fettle himfelf at Hanover, where he 
will probably remain, as he is not expefled to return to 
England. See p. 241. It is laid that he is to marry the 
divorced princefs of Salm-Salm, a relative of the king of 
Prufiia. 
It may not be amifs to notice here, as fupplementary to 
our article Knighthood, vol. xi. p. 827. that the king of 
Prufiia iffued from Breflau, under date of March 17, an 
order for inftituting a diltinblion for merit, to be called 
the Order of the Iron Crofs, as fignificatory of the con- 
ftancy which has been difplayed in the great conteft for 
liberty and independence. The order is to confift of two 
clafl’es, with one grand crofs. Both claffes are to bear the 
fame black crofs of ^aft-iron let in fiver; the fore fide 
,3 without 
