The abandonment of the Bill of Pains and Penalties against her Majesty has greatly excited the popular feeling, and demonstrations of joy have been general throughout the kingdom.
…
The news of acquittal of the Queen was received at Petersfield early on Saturday morning. A white flag was immediately hoisted on the tower, and the bells began ringing a merry peal about half past five o’clock, and continual discharges of guns were heard from the tower and other parts of the town throughout the day. On Monday evening a splendid illumination took place, and numerous transparencies were displayed. In the High street, a well executed painting of a male and female suspended from a gallows, over which was written “Conspiracy—False Witnesses;” underneath “Non mi Ricordo.” Over the entrance of the house of J. E. Shackleford, Esq. were the letters “C. R.” with a star in the centre, of variegated lamps; underneath, “Vivat Regina.” Miss Parr’s academy attracted a vast number of spectators; a transparent painting, with the words “If God be for us, who can be against us.—He has pleaded the cause of the innocent;” had a very beautiful effect, and conveyed to the mind of the beholder the words of the Poet,—
“If Powers divine
“Behold our human actions, as they do,
“False accusation blush, and Tyranny,
“Tremble at Patience.”
At another part of the town, was exhibited in transparent letters, the following curious text of Scripture: “If a Ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.” It would be tedious to describe the numerous devices and tasteful decorations of the various houses. About eight o’clock the martial sound of the trumpet was heard from a herald, who proclaimed through the different streets, that the destruction of the green bag, with its contents, was about to take place in the Market-square, when a vast concourse of spectators assembled to witness so novel a scene; the bag exploded, and threw out an immense number of serpents and other combustibles, amidst shouts which rent the air.
