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had been absent attending the funeral of a friend in the country, and requesting sir R. Wilson to call upon him, when he would give him the information he required.

Sir R. Wilson having waited on sir R. Birnie the same day, with Mr. Wm. Lambton, and renewed his demand for a copy of the information on oath, sir Richard informed sir Robert Wilson" that

no information in writing had been

taken that the information was a

verbal one, founded upon a report

at the Freemason's tavern of a

meeting having been held at Ham mersmith, at which an officer had been present; but that, on the examination of the tavern-keeper at Hammersmith, Mr. Youde, all the magistrates were satisfied sir R. Wilson had never been in the house."*

R. WILSON.

No. V. (Second Series-No I.) Sir Robert Wilson to lord viscount Sidmouth.

18, Regent-street, Oct. 22, 1821. My lord,-Having received information that a deposition upon oath exists in the home department of my having been seen, on Tuesday the 14th of August, on horseback, with a porter pot in my hand, encouraging the populace to pull up the pavement, and oppose impediments to the funeral procession of her late majesty, I have the honour to request your lordship will be pleased to direct a copy of such deposition to be delivered to me, that I may institute a prosecution for perjury against the person so swearing.

I have the honour to be, your
lordship's most obedient humble
servant,
R. WILSON..

To the lord viscount
Sidmouth.

No. VI.-(Second series-No. II.) The lord viscount Sidmouth to sir Robert Wilson.

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Whitehall, October 23, 1821.

Sir, I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday's date, in which you state that have received information you

that a deposition upon oath exists in the home office, of your having

been seen on horseback, on Tues

day the 14th of August, with a porter pot in your hand, encouraging the populace to pull up the pavement, and oppose impediments to the funeral procession of her late majesty; and you therefore request that I will direct a copy of such deposition to be delivered to you, that you may institute a prosecution against the person so swearing, for perjury; and I have the honour to acquaint you, in reply, that I should not think myself justified in giving the directions for which you have applied. I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient humble ser

vant,

SIDMOUTH.

To sir Robert Wilson.

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The above minute was shown to sir R. Birnie, and received his sanction.

Your

Your majesty having been pleased to refer to your privy Council the queen's memorial, claiming as of right to celebrate the ceremony of her coronation on the 19th day of July, being the day appointed for the celebration of your majesty's royal coronation, and lord viscount Sidmouth, one of your majesty's principal secretaries of state, having communicated to the queen the judgment pronounced against her majesty's claim; in order to preserve her just rights, and those of her successors, and to prevent the said minute being in after-times referred to as deriving validity from her majesty's supposed acquiescence in the determination therein expressed, the queen feels it to be her bounden duty to enter her most deliberate and solemn protest against the said determination; and to affirm and maintain, that by the laws, usages, and customs of this realm, from time immemorial, the queen consort ought of right to be crowned at the same time with the king's majesty.

In support of this claim of right her majesty's law officers have proved before the said council, from the most ancient and authentic records, that queens consort of this realm have, from time immemorial, participated in the ceremony of the coronation with their royal husbands. The few exceptions that occur demonstrate, from the peculiar circumstances in which they originated, that the right itself was never questioned, though the exercise of it was from necessity suspended, or from motives of policy declined.

Her majesty has been taught to believe that the most valuable

laws of this country depend upon, and derive their authority from, custom; that your majesty's royal prerogatives stand upon the same basis; the authority of ancient usage cannot therefore be rejected without shaking that foundation upon which the most important rights and institutions of the country depend. Your majesty's council, however, without controverting any of the facts or reasons upon which the claim made on the part of her majesty has been supported, have expressed a judgment in opposition to the existence of such right. But the queen can place no confidence in that judgment, when she recollects that the principal individuals by whom it has been pronounced were formerly her successful defenders; that their opinions have waved with their interest, and that they have since become the most active and powerful of her persecutors: still less

can she confide in it, when her majesty calls to mind that the leading members of that council, when in the service of your majesty's royal father, reported in the most solemn form, that documents reflecting upon her majesty were satisfactorily disproved as to the most important parts, and that the remainder was undeserving of credit. Under this declared conviction, they strongly recommended to your majesty's royal father to bestow his favour upon the queen, then princess of Wales, though in opposition to your majesty's declared wishes. But when your majesty had assumed the kingly power, these same advisers, in another minute of council, recanted their former judgment, and referred to, and adopted these very same documents

as

as a justification of one of your majesty's harshest measures towards the queen-the separation of her majesty from her affection ate and only child.

The queen, like your majesty, descended from a long race of kings, was the daughter of a sovereign house connected by the ties of blood with the most illustrious families in Europe, and her not unequal alliance with your majesty was formed in full confidence that the faith of the king and the people was equally pledged to secure to her all those honours and rights which had been enjoyed by her royal prede

cessors.

cision, if it is to furnish a precedent for future times, can have no other effect than to fortify oppression with the forms of law, and to give to injustice the sanction of authority. The protection of the subject, from the highest to the lowest, it is not only the true but the only legitimate object of all power; and no act of power can be legitimate which is not founded on those principles of eternal justice, without which law is but the mask of tyranny, and power the instru ment of despotism.

Queen's Louse, July 17.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSION,
ERS APPOINTED BY HIS MA
JESTY ΤΟ CONSIDER THE
SUBJECT OF WEIGHTS AND
MEASURES.

May it please your Majesty,
We, the commissioners ap-

purpose of considering the sub-
ject of weights and measures,
have now completed the examina-
tion of the standards which we
have thought it necessary to com,
pare. The measurements which
we have lately performed upon
the apparatus employed by the
late sir George Shuckburgh
Evelyn, have enabled us to deter
mine with sufficient precision the
weight of a given bulk of water,
with a view to the fixing the mag-
nitude of the standard of weight;
that of length being already de-

In that alliance her majesty believed that she exchanged the protection of her family for that of a royal husband and that of a free and noble-minded nation. From your majesty, the queen has experienced only the bitter disappointed by your majesty for the pointment of every hope she had indulged. In the attachment of the people she has found that powerful and decided protection which has ever been her steady support and her unfailing consola tion. Submission; from a subject, to injuries of a private nature may be matter of expedience from a wife it may be matter of necessity-but it never can be the duty of a queen to acquiesce in the infringement of those rights which belong to her constitutional character. The queen does therefore re-termined by the experiments res peat her most solemn and deliberate protest against the decision of the said council, considering it only as the sequel of that course of persecution under which her majesty has so long and so severely suffered, and which de

lated in our former reports: and we have found by the computations, which will be detailed in the appendix, that the weight of a cubic inch of distilled water, at 62 deg. of Fahrenheit, is 252,72 grains of the parliamentary stand

ard

ard pound of 1758, supposing it to be weighed in a vacuum.

We beg leave therefore finally to recommend, with all humility, to your majesty, the adoption of the regulations and modifications suggested in our former reports, which are principally these: 1: 1. That the parliamentary standard yard, made by Bird in 1760, be henceforward considered as the authentic legal standard of the British empire; and that it be identified by declaring that 39,1393 inches of this standard, at the temperature of 62° of Fahrenheit, have been found equal to the length of a pendulum supposed to vibrate seconds in London, on the level of the sea, and

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in a vacuum.

2. That the parliamentary standard Troy pound, according to the two-pound weight made in 1758, remain unaltered; and that 7000 Troy grains be declared to constitute an Avoirdupois pound; the cubic inch of distilled water being found to weigh at 62 deg. in a vacuum, 252.72 parliamentary grains.

1 3. That the ale and corn gallon be restored to their original equality, by taking, for the statutable common gallon of the British empire, a mean value, such that a gallon of common water may weigh 10 pounds avoirdupois in ordinary circumstances, its content being nearly 277.3 cubic inches; and that correct standards of this imperial gallon, and of the bushel, peck, quart, and

for the exchequer, and for such other offices in your majesty's dominions as may be judged most convenient for the ready use of your majesty's subjects.

4. Whether any further legislative enactments are required, for enforcing a uniformity of practice throughout the British empire, we do not feel ourselves competent to determine: but it appears to us that nothing would be more conducive to the attainment of this end, than to increase, as far as possible, the facility of a ready recurrence to the legal standards, which we apprehend to be in a great measure attainable by the means that we have recommended. It would also, in all probability, be of advantage to give a greater degree of. publicity to the appendix of our last report, containing a comparison of the customary measures employed throughout the country.

5. We are not aware that any
further services remain for us to
perform, in the execution of the
commands laid upon us by your
majesty's commission: but if any
superintendence of the regulations
to be adopted, were thought ne.
cessary, we should still be ready
to undertake such inspections
and examinations as might be re-
quired for the complete attain-
ment of the objects in question.
(Signed) GEORGE CLERK.

DAVIES GILBERT.
W. H. WOLLASTON.
THOMAS YOUNG.

HENRY KATER.

pint, derived from it, and of their London, March 31, 1821. parts, be procured without delay

LITERARY RETROSPECT

AND

SELECTIONS.

1821.

A

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