And yet, it was a crime in you, and the sanguinary sons of corruption
called for your instant execution, because you obeyed the call of the
_distressed_ to hold a meeting of them in Spafields! Not to have obeyed
that call would indeed have been a crime; but, it was a crime of which
your nature was incapable.

"I now come to the _City Petition_ and the _answer of the Prince
Regent._ This is a very important matter, and, therefore, I shall insert
the documents themselves previous to making any remarks on them.


"'ADDRESS AND PETITION.

"'May it please your Royal Highness,

"'We, his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lord Mayor,
Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council
assembled, humbly approach your Royal Highness, to represent our
national sufferings and grievances, and respectfully to suggest the
adoption of measures which we conceive to be indispensably 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 which for so many years has been progressively accumulating, has
at length become insupportable--it is no longer partially felt, nor
limited to one portion of the empire--the commercial, the manufacturing,
and the agricultural interests are equally sinking under its
irresistible pressure; and it has become impossible to find employment
for a large mass of the population, much less to bear up against our