In the meanwhile, the new king had received a cordial invitation to dine at the Guildhall on any day most convenient, and his majesty had graciously accepted the invitation, and had named the 9th November, lord mayor's day.[797] He chose that day for the reason probably that it was customary for a new sovereign to honour the citizens with his presence on the first lord mayor's day after his accession. Extensive preparations had already been made to give the king a befitting reception, when on the 7th November, Sir Robert Peel informed the outgoing mayor by letter, that his majesty had been advised to forego his visit to the city, for fear lest his presence might give occasion to riot and tumult, and endanger the property and lives of his subjects. The fact was, that the lord mayor elect (Sir John Key) had, on his own responsibility, written to the Duke of Wellington warning him of danger. A copy of his letter was read before the Common Council on the 8th, when exception was taken to it as being "indiscreet and unauthorised." After considerable debate, a resolution was at length drawn up to the effect that in the opinion of the court "neither riot nor commotion was to be apprehended had his majesty and his royal consort ... condescended to honour the city of London with their presence; and that had evil disposed and disaffected persons made attempts to excite commotion or disturbance on that occasion, the most perfect reliance might have been placed on the good feeling and spontaneous exertions of the great mass of the population of London to co-operate with the civil power in effectually suppressing such attempts and preserving the public tranquility."[798] This was all very well. Nevertheless, in spite of all precautions taken by the civic authorities, and although the king and his ministers, who had given so much offence by opposing the popular will, refrained from entering the city, an affray actually took place at Temple Bar, in which one of the city marshals was severely wounded in the head.[799]
Resolutions of Co. Co. re Reform. 15 Nov., 1830.
On the 15th November, the day that the Wellington ministry received its coup de grace, a Common Council was summoned to sit at the Mansion House, in order to consider Brougham's motion, which was to be made in parliament the following day. It then passed the following resolutions:—[800]
"Resolved that this court, as the representative body of the citizens of London, having at various times expressed its opinion of the propriety and necessity of a revision of the present state of the representation of the commons in parliament, is called upon in an especial manner at the present moment (after the declaration of the first minister of the crown, that the representation is satisfactory to the country), to make a renewed avowal of its conviction that the House of Commons as at present constituted is as far from being satisfactory to the country as it is from being a real representation of the people.
"Resolved that the power now exercised by various peers and other interested persons of returning a large portion of the members, is wholly incompatible with the true end and design of a House of Commons, which in principle and in practice, ought to be a representation not of a private, but of general interests, an effectual control upon taxation and the public expenditure, and the organ by which the commons of the realm may fully exercise that share in the legislature to which, by the constitution they are entitled.
"Resolved that petitions founded upon these resolutions, be forthwith presented to both Houses of Parliament, praying them to institute a full and faithful inquiry into the state of the representation with the view to the remedying of such defects therein as time and various encroachments have produced, so as to give real effect to the essential principles of the constitution, namely, that members of parliament shall be freely chosen, that peers shall not interfere in elections, and that in the House of Commons, the king may with truth, be said to meet his people in parliament." Before the petitions could be laid before parliament,[801] the ministry had resigned.
The Reform Bill introduced, 1 March, 1831.
The new prime minister was Lord Grey, who, as a young man, had urged the necessity of parliamentary reform as early as 1792. Among those who were content to accept office under the new ministry, although in an inferior capacity, was Lord John Russell, who had also done good service for the cause, and who was now to be entrusted with the task of introducing the long looked for Bill. On the 1st March (1831) the first Reform Bill, which for the last sixty years the City had been anxiously awaiting, and for which it had agitated with all the forces at its command, was at length brought in.
The Bill approved by Common Council and Livery.
As soon as the provisions of the Bill became known the Common Council, who had hitherto refrained from expressing any opinion upon the nature of the change that had taken place in the ministry, hastened to express their satisfaction to the king at the policy adopted by his new ministers;—"We beg to assure your Majesty that having long entertained a deep and increasing conviction of the necessity of a reform in the representation of the people in the Commons House of Parliament, we have looked forward with the greatest anxiety to the course which your Majesty's ministers would adopt in reference to that important subject; and we now feel ourselves imperatively called upon, humbly and dutifully, to express to your Majesty our entire satisfaction at the principles of the measure that has been introduced, under their sanction, to the Honorable House of Commons."[802] The livery, too, presented an address in much the same terms, although by the provisions of the Bill nonresident liverymen were threatened with exclusion from the franchise. The Bill, they said, afforded a clear proof of the sincerity and honesty of his majesty's ministers, and entitled them to the best thanks and lasting gratitude of the country. They further presented addresses in the same strain to both Houses of Parliament.[803] The Court of Aldermen, on the other hand, were as little enamoured of reform as the Lords, and thought it best to say nothing beyond what they were committed to in the address of the Common Council.