liberties, and lives of the people, by the Ministers of the Crown, it
demanded that they the said Ministers, of whom his Lordship was one,
should be surrendered up to justice, and brought to condign punishment.
It is, therefore, almost needless to say that my Lord Sidmouth not
only discovered very improper matter in the remonstrance, but that he
consequently declined to communicate it to his Royal Master.

The year 1818 commenced with a great public dinner at the City of London
Tavern, to celebrate the third centenary of the Reformation, at which
dinner one thousand five hundred persons attended. On the 27th of
January the Parliament was opened by commission, and the usual speech
was made, and its echo, the address, was voted without any opposition: a
bill was now brought into the House to restore the Habeas Corpus Act. A
great meeting took place at the City of London Tavern, Alderman Waithman
in the chair, where a subscription was opened for Mr. Hone, which
ultimately amounted to more than three thousand pounds. Than this
measure, nothing can more clearly show the character of the city
patriot, and those who took a lead in political matters in the
metropolis. While Mr. Hone was under persecution, and even up to the
day of his trial, he was totally neglected and deserted; neither Mr.
Waithman, nor any of those who afterwards came forwards to assist him in
such a liberal way, gave him then the slightest countenance or support;
nay, they even shunned and abandoned him, and he actually went into
court almost alone, and probably without the means of hiring counsel,
which was, in fact, a most fortunate circumstance for him, as, had he
placed his case in the hands of counsel, I will warrant that he would
have been found guilty upon each of the charges preferred against him;
however, as soon as Mr. Hone had obtained a verdict of _not guilty_,
these fair-weather patriots began to flock round him in order to share
the honour and popularity which they now saw he was likely to obtain.