11 NOVEMBER 1837, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

LONDON was not balked of its holydav on this ninth of No- vember. Half a million metropolitans have been blessed with

the sight of majesty. The Queen and her Court. all as grand and fine as the popular imagination could paint them, went on Thursday to dine with the loyal citizens at the Guildhall. Never, indeed, was there such a ninth of November before ; and long

may we wait for another first visit of the Sovereign to the City ! No doubt there must have been some accidents and disappoint-

ments, for such things are inevitable on such occasions ; and the ;seedier was not very favourable during the latter part of the day: but, on the whole, the proceedings were admirably con- ducted. and little occurred to mar the general expectation and de- light. The Lord Mayor has got his baronetcy, and the two new SheriM a knighthood apiece. Aldermen and Common-Council- men displayed their " fair proportions " on warlike chargers, and Olen dined with their Sovereign and drank with Dukes. What more could be desired by civic ambition ?

The behaviour of the immense multitude on Thursday—the ease with which they were kept in order—the reliance which must have been universal on their good disposition—prove how little we are indebted in this country to persons ill authority for the peace of society and the security of property. It was not the military and police force which preserved order and prevented outraue. Had a tenth part of the mighty assemblage been dis- posed to riot—alas, for the carriages and coronets! But the con- fitlettee in the self-restraining and just principle which holds so- ciety teeether, was well-founded. On the good sense and honesty of the bulk of the people there is a safe reliance. If the Queen reflects seriously, and has the benefit of judicious advisers, she may learn from what she witnessed on Thursday, the usefe i lesson of not mistrusting the English people. She was in the midst it them as free from danger as in her own chamber ; and she was ilet more secure from intentional harm than any other indivi- dual lii the crowd. It ought to be difficult, after this exhibition of popular self-control, to persuade her Majesty that persons paying a certain amount of rent should alone be trusted with the privi- leges of citizenship, or that it is either wise or just to treat the vast majo: ty of Englishmen as if they would use the political franchise Yur ILL: injury of themselves and others. They have the physical mean; of overturning the aristocracy and the throne, and of pinn • &tin.: the wealthy; and if their disposition is so violently vicious, or tlie:r ignorance so extreme, why do they not apply their thews and sinews to the work of destruction?

Tda celebration ofThursday Was not a party triumph. N..body thought of the Ministers or their policy, and the cheers given to Ws; 1.;.leoraer the warrior were not intended as a tribute to the Tory eeen.y of Reform. The fond hope and belief that the Queen would be tee Queen of the nation, not the royal slave of a faction, may have influenced some, who took the trouble to consider why they were excited. But as respects the multitude, they were merely eiljo iv:4 a magnificent spectacle, and that too rare occurrence to ti.eni—a holyday. The Americans celebrate the anniver- sary ef the Declaration of Independence, with feelings if a more exalted character : they call ti mind the fierce and protracted struggle for liberty ; they view its glorious re- sults; and deep is their gratitude to the heroes of their Re- volutkot, the founders of their freedom. Our young Queen has bad no opportunity to establish such claims on a nation's lore and respect. At present site is, and for some time to !onto roust be, the mere instrument of good or evil in the motels of her responsible advisers—incompetent, from inexpe- rience, to give a direction to their policy herself. But the period is in t very distant, %%hen, it' health of body and mental vigour be spoil(' to her, she will nocessarily take a more influential tart in the c:m:itta of the goveritithlit ; at.d then, it is to be Li: red that, inmeagl f blind biyally, she may acquire atul deserve the rational ottindunent of the most enlightened of her subjects.