Other communications to a similar effect were made to the Ministers; and in the evening of the 7th the following letter was received by the Lord Mayor, from Sir Robert Peel:—
"My Lord,
"I am commanded by the King to inform your Lordship, that his Majesty's confidential servants have felt it to be their duty to advise the King to postpone the visit which their Majesties intended to pay the City of London on Tuesday next. From information which has been recently received, there is reason to apprehend that, notwithstanding the devoted loyalty and affection borne to his Majesty by the citizens of London, advantage would be taken of an occasion which must necessarily assemble a vast number of persons by night, to create tumult and confusion, and thereby to endanger the properties and the lives of his subjects. It would be a source of deep and lasting concern to their Majesties were any calamity to occur on the occasion of their visit to the City of London, and their Majesties have therefore resolved, though not without the greatest reluctance and regret, to forego, for the present, the satisfaction which that visit would have afforded to their Majesties.
"I have the honour to be, my Lord,
"Your obedient servant,
"Robert Peel."
A deputation from the committee appointed to superintend the entertainment waited upon his Majesty's ministers three times on Tuesday; and the Duke of Wellington plainly told them that there was but one of two courses to be adopted—the postponement of the visit, or the alternative of bringing a large body of military into the City.
The effect of Sir Robert Peel's letter upon the minds of the citizens was beyond description. Men hastened to purchase arms, and to secure the fastenings of their houses, as if there was going to be an armed rebellion. On the 8th, consols fell three per cent. in about an hour and a half, whilst the streets were choked with busy crowds, listening to and spreading all sorts of alarming rumours. The prevailing one was that it was intended to allow the procession to return to the Guildhall unmolested, but that, in the evening, the passage of Temple Bar and the bridges should have been barricaded, the gas-pipes cut off, and, under the cloud of darkness, an indiscriminate plunder of the City take place.
The new Lord Mayor proclaimed that neither the usual procession, nor the banquet would take place, and, accordingly, there were neither this year. And well it was that it was so, for there would assuredly have been a riot; as it was, it was bad enough, as we see from the following account taken from the Annual Register:—
"Both on Monday and on Tuesday (8th and 9th November) the streets of the Metropolis were unusually crowded, and a considerable degree of excitement prevailed. On Monday night a meeting was held at the Rotunda, in Blackfriars Road, at which Mr. Hunt presided as Chairman. It did not terminate till half-past eleven o'clock, when Hunt retired. The instant he left the meeting, an individual exposed a tri-coloured flag, with 'Reform' painted upon it; and a cry of 'Now for the West End,' was instantly raised. This seemed to act as a signal, evidently preconcerted, as the individuals composing the meeting, one and all, assented, and sallied forth in a body, the individual unfurling the tri-coloured flag.