Humphry Davy and Dr. Wollaston; but Dr. Wollaston, whose modesty is only equalled by his profound knowledge and extraordinary sagacity, declined being a candidate after his friend had been nominated, and received from the council of the society the unanimous compliment of being placed in the chair of the Royal Society, till the election by the body in November. A trifling opposition was made to Sir Humphry Davy's election, by some unknown persons, who proposed Lord Colchester; but Eir Humphry was placed in the chair by a majority of nearly 200 to 13. For this honour no man could be more completely qualified. Sir Humphry is perfectly independent, and in circumstances, which enable him to support his office with dignity. He is acquainted with foreign languages, and extensively connected with foreign men of science. He possesses that general knowledge necessary for justly estimating all the different branches of science, and his reputation, in his own particular pursuits, is such as to place him above all jealousy. The first president of the Royal Society, Lord Brownlow, was a professed mathematician; Sir Christopher Wren was a mathematician, a natural philosopher, and an architect of Newton, the glory of his country and human nature, it would be difficult to say what he was not; but the strength of his genius was applied to natural philosophy. Sir Hans Sloane and Sir Joseph Banks were general benefactors to science, but their own pursuits were in natural history. Chemistry may be considered as the science of this age, and it is but fair that it should have a representative among the presidents of the Royal Society; nor can it be doubted that the dignity thus conferred on the science, in the person of its ablest professor, will have a beneficial effect in stimulating the researches of other philosophers in this most important branch of knowledge. There is ample scope for the most extensive genius and the most indefatigable labours, which will never fail of obtaining their reward, though they may not succeed so entirely or so rapidly as the exertions of Sir Humphry Davy. Few of those whose fame and fortune are their own creation, enjoy like him, in the meridian of life, the enviable consciousness of general esteem and respect, and the certainty of a distinguished place in history, among the illustrious names of their country. THE NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. HISTORICAL REGISTER. POLITICAL EVENTS.-JAN. 1, 1821. GREAT BRITAIN. THE great object of general attention, the "Bill of Pains and Penalties," being thrown out of the House of Lords, the high excitement of public feeling which prevailed during the uncertain state of that measure, naturally began to subside. It has been followed by few circumstances of interest under the head of domestic events. The unexpected prorogation of parliament, and the refusal of his Majesty, through the Earl of Liverpool, to assign one of the royal palaces as a place of residence for the Queen, were the last acts of Government in the drama which had so long engaged the public attention. Lord Liverpool, in conveying to her Majesty the King's refusal, stated also that until parliament should meet for the dispatch of business, the allowance which she had till then enjoyed, would be continued to her, and that when parliament met, it would determine the amount of the provision to be made for her in future. After this communication from the noble lord, the following letter from the Hon. Keppel Craven was forwarded as her Majesty's reply; the receipt of which Lord Liverpool acknowledged, but he also stated at the same time, that he had not received his Majesty's commands upon it. VOL. III. NO. I. "Brandenburgh House, Nov. 18. "My Lord, I have been honoured by her Majesty's commands to acknowledge the receipt of your lordship's letter of yesterday, and to state that her Majesty cannot for a moment misunderstand its real purport. "The Queen perceives that the King's ministers have resolved to prevent parliament from assembling for the dispatch of business at the time to which both Houses had adjourned. The justice and wisdom of the legislature would at that period, beyond all doubt, have restored her to the full enjoyment of those rights which the constitution has vested in the Queen-Consort. The ministers plainly shew that such is their belief, and they are determined, for some purposes of their own, to delay the redress to which she is entitled. "In a measure thus alike contemptuous towards parliament and the nation, the Queen perceives a still deeper design. It is impossible to doubt that the authors of the late Bill have formed the project of trying in some other shape their baffled scheme of degrading, her Majesty, and ruining the best interests of the august family to which she belongs. Defeated in their first attempt-disgraced in the eyes of the people-consigned B to the contempt of all Europedeserted by the most rational and respected of their own adherentsthey meditate a new attack on the honour of the Queen. Their speculation must be founded on the hope that the public sentiment, so loudly and universally expressed, will at length be wearied and exhausted, and that the Queen herself will no longer have patience to resist such cruel and endless persecutions. But her Majesty owes it to the British nation to declare, that she has the firmest reliance upon their support as long as she is the victim of oppression; and to herself she deems it due to add, that no harassing treatment on the part of the King's ministers will ever shake the duty she owes to this generous people. She has also the strongest conviction that the King's highest interests are at the present moment as much betrayed as those of the State, by the evil counsellors who are now once more plotting her destruction. "To the offer of money with which Lord Liverpool has thought proper to accompany his notice of the intended prorogation of parliament, her Majesty has no answer to give but a direct refusal. Nearly ten months have elapsed since his late Majesty's death, and no parliamentary provision has been yet proposed for her. As long as the Bill was pending, the Queen saw the propriety of accepting the advances made for her accommodation; but she will not accept as a favour from the ministers, what a due regard for the honour of the Crown would induce parliament to grant as a right; and she is still more averse to impose upon the people the unnecessary burden of finding a palace for her, when the national munificence has already provided royal residences for all the Princesses who fill her exalted station. "The Queen expressly commands me to add, that her Majesty, as well as the King and the country, have reason deeply to regret that the persons who have involved all those parties in their present unhappy difficulties, should still have influence to prevent that adjustment of differences which the Queen regards as essential to their common interests. Her Majesty has never entertained a doubt that the King, if left to the guidance of his own sound judgment and honourable feelings, would at once listen to the Queen's claims upon his justice, and to the united prayers of his loyal people. "I have, &c. &c. R. KEPPEL CRAVEN." Soon after the foregoing event, the Queen gave notice to the Lord Mayor, that she wished to attend divine service at St. Paul's, on Wednesday the 29th of November, to return thanks to God for her escape from the charges brought against her during the late proceedings. The Lord Mayor communicated her Majesty's wish to the Common Council, which was assembled to consider the propriety of voting to her an address of congratulation, in consequence of the rejection of the Bill. Notwithstanding an amendment expressive of regret at her Majesty's determination, moved by an Alderman present, it was decided by a majority of 119 out of 153 members, that it was the duty of the City to pay her due honour. The motion for an address of congratulation was then put and carried. On the day appointed, her Majesty left Brandenburgh-house for St. Paul's, escorted by a numerous cavalcade The of gentlemen on horseback. streets were crowded with people, and her carriage passed through them, at a slow pace, which indeed was only practicable without trampling on the multitude,towards Temple bar; there the city gates were thrown open, and the Lord Mayor,, Aldermen, and City Officers, joined in her suite. The whole procession then passed on to St. Paul's Cathedral, where prayers were read; after which her Majesty returned to Brandenburgh-house in the same order as she had set out. On the following Friday, the City address was read to her Majesty by the Recorder; and numerous other addresses on the same subject were then, and have since been, presented to her from various parts of the kingdom. At a Court of Common Council, held on the 1st ult. for the purpose of addressing his Majesty on the present state of public affairs, it was resolved, "That a dutiful and loyal address and petition be presented to his Majesty, expressing our attachment to his person and family; representing the manifold evils which have resulted to the country from the pernicious measures of the present ministers, and especially from the unjust, oppressive, and unconstitutional proceedings adopted by them relative to her Majesty the Queen; humbly praying his Majesty to dismiss from his presence, for ever, those advisers, whose conduct has been productive only of calamity to the nation, and excited the general indignation of the people :" and an address to the above effect was accordingly drawn up. On its being presented by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, his Majesty was pleased to return the following reply. "It has been with the most painful feelings that I have heard the sentiments contained in the address and petition now presented to me by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the City of London. Whatever may be the motives of those by whom it is brought forward, its evident tendency is to inflame the passions and mislead the judgment of the unwary and less enlightened part of my subjects, and thus to aggravate all the difficulties with which we have to contend." On the 5th ult. this address to his Majesty from the Court of Aldermen was agreed to: 66 Impressed as we are with veneration for your Majesty's crown and dignity, we view with horror and detestation the unprincipled efforts of the disaffected, in every direction which infatuated malice can devise, and a licentious press promote, to withdraw the unwary and timid from their allegiance to their Sovereign, and, in the result, to overwhelm this free and happy land with anarchy and confusion. "For this base purpose, calumnies of the most mischievous tendency have been circulated against all the constituted authorities of the realm, with restless and unabated rancour: the parliament, the courts of judicature, the altar, and the throne, as established by our envied and glorious constitution, have become the objects of the most profligate abuse and insulting derision. "We feel, Sire, that, in order to avert the devastation threatened by such a torrent of impiety and sedition, it becomes the bounden duty of all the liege subjects of the realm to stand forward without delay, and avow their determination to support the principles of the British Constitution in the true spirit of British loyalty to rally round the throne, and guard the religion and laws of the country from outrage and insult. "The Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London are therefore most anxious, Sire, to testify to the country at large, in this evil hour, their resolution to defend the Monarchy, as well as the other branches of the constitution, against the attempts openly and industriously made by the instigators and abettors of sedition and infidelity; and to their utmost endeavour in their respective stations, as Magistrates, under the sanction of the laws, to transmit to their children's children the blessings they have derived from the wisdom and bravery of their ancestors, and which they enjoy under your Majesty's paternal sway. "We beg to add our most fervent prayers to the Almighty Disposer of all events, that your Majesty's reign may be long, prosperous, and happy, in the affections of a faithful, grateful, and loyal people. Signed, by order of the Court, HENRY WOODTHORPE." On the presentation of the above, his Majesty returned the following answer: "I return you my warmest thanks for this loyal and dutiful address. It is peculiarly gratify ing to me to receive, at this time, such an assurance of your unshaken attachment to my person and government, and of the feelings with which you regard the attempts so unceasingly made to extirpate all that has hitherto been held sacred amongst us, and to destroy all the sources of British freedom, prosperity, and power. A spirit similar to that by which you are actuated, happily predominates throughout the kingdom; and I well know the implicit confidence which is due to the virtue and loyalty of the great body of the nation, who are manifesting their just sense of the blessings they enjoy by the most decisive proofs of their zealous determination to defend and preserve them. You may rely on my constant support in the discharge of the duties which arise out of the present extraordinary conjuncture. We are engaged in a common cause; and I feel most deeply that the honour of my crown, and the happiness of my reign, are inseparably interwoven with the maintenance of our established constitution, and with the true interests and welfare of my people." The infant Princess, daughter of the Duke of Clarence, (see London Births,) is named Elizabeth, at the express desire of the King. Should she ever ascend the throne of this realm, we pray most sincerely, in common with every well-wisher to our country, that she may emulate, the glory of the queen from whom she is named, and be as much beloved at home, and respected abroad. Nay, that she may as much excel her great namesake, as the present age will afford her better experience, and more extensive and liberal views regarding the welfare of nations and the art of governing. |