The Fleet: Its Rivers, Prison, and MarriagesAshton, John
History
The Fleet: Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages
Ashton, John
Fleet Prison (London, England); Fleet, River (England)
The _Times_ then gives in detail a report of the meeting, commencing
from the arrival of "Orator" Hunt, who read the correspondence between
himself and Lord Sidmouth, and said: "The statement of Lord Sidmouth
to him was, that neither any King of the House of Brunswick, nor the
Prince Regent, since he had attained sovereign power, ever gave any
answer to petitions except they came from the Corporation of the City
of London, or from the two Universities which had the privilege of
being heard, and answered from the throne. 'If I were to carry your
present petition to the levée (added his lordship) I should deliver it
into his Royal Highness's hand, make my bow, and walk on; and if you,
yourself, Mr. Hunt, were to appear, you would do just the same thing;
you would deliver your petition, make your bow, and pass on.' This,
Gentlemen, is a little more about Court matters than I was aware of
before. (Loud laughter and applause.) The meeting had the consolation
to think, that, if their petition was not answered by the Prince
Regent, it had met with no worse fate than other petitions presented to
the House of Hanover since the accession of this family to the throne.
(Applause.)
"He expected to have seen this day a deputation from the Soup
Committee, for the purpose of returning thanks to this meeting for
obtaining the £5,000 which the Prince Regent had granted. (Great
applause.) He was convinced that it was owing to the exertions and
patriotism of the last assembly in those fields that his Royal Highness
was induced to give this pittance: but his Royal Highness had not gone
the full length of the requests which had then been made. It was
required that he should bestow on the inhabitants of the metropolis £2
or 300,000 out of the Civil List; but, instead of this, what had been
done? Some enemy to his country, some corrupt minister had persuaded
his Royal Highness to send £5000 out of the Droits of the Admiralty,
which properly belonged to the sailors: those droits, the piratical
seizing of which had caused so much bloodshed, and the loss of so many
British lives."
* * * * *
This was the sort of fustian that was talked then, as now, and probably
always will be, to an ignorant mob; and, as a natural sequence, words
begot actions. Blind--foolishly blind--the idiotic mob marched towards
the City, not knowing why, or what advantage they were to gain by so
doing. Naturally, there were thieves about, and they plundered the shop
of Mr. Beckwith, a gunmaker, in Skinner Street, Snow Hill, shooting a
gentleman, named Platt, who happened to be in the shop, at the time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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