The National Register. — London, England, 1819-09-20 00:00:00

br No. 2i3—Vot. XII.] Vollticat liettogspecr. THE conduct of the Nlanehester Magistrates, and their Satellites, continues to be so extrafirdinary and important, as to render it quite impossible for any public journal to turn the attention of its readers for a moment away front such a subject ; Investi gation of the masstn:res of the fatal 16th has now clearly established every fact which we stated in our col-azons respecting them. The Courier has, indeed, already retracted the millet-ate statement of tiuntbcrs killed and woanded, upon wh eh it so confidently insisted, pnsi we now call upon it to do the same justice to the public and tosutraelves, respocting the reading of the R of Act. It now clelrly appears 1y the case of their own *hewing, s od by the pros edin;.,rs held upon the con duct of the accused, that the utmost limit of time sharged o.:airist the meeting for havirg been tumul tuously assembled, is but one half hour, nor did these wise and humane Just ieJs of the Peace dare to offer it in evidence that the Riot Act had been pa/s -tet:, or audddy read at all. Tbia is no time fur party feellrgs, or fur the indulgence of party triumph; submission to the authority of law, respect fur our forms of j'istice, all that veneration for our established institutions, and that confidence in the righteousness of our judgements, which are the best, and indeed the only finindations of civil allegiance are now shook to their very centre. Till the presentaw mem we have felt uothing like the alarm which possesses us. Government cannot be unconcerned spectators; they cannot, they will not, surely sanc tion and approve what has been, and is yet doing, Air hunt s mob, and all his oratory, and ad his impudence, were objects which excited sensations of mingled pity, regret, disgust, and ridicule ; but nut of these has arisen a question too formidable in its aspect to be trifled with, too dangerous nut to La in lira .71e resisted. Upon what possible principle the bills which were presented against the Man chester Yeomanry at Lancaster, were thrown out, and every legal enquiry thus precluded, is what no man we have conversed with, has been able to tell us, no writer « 2 have perused has ever pretended to explain. But, however this may be, upon the proceedings since instituted at the New Bailey, there can be no room fur difference of opinion what ever. Mr. Harmer, as a Solicitor, employed on behalf of the individuals wounded and mangled on the memorable day above-mentioned, applied to these stipendiary administrators of prompt and active jus tice, for warrantztagainst those of the Yeomanry in the first instanee,kebuse bills had been ignored at the late assizes, and stated, that he did so upon fresh and clearer cvi,lence tbau had been before pro duced. The Chairman, however resolutely de termines to hear no evidence, to grant no warrant, and assigns as his reason that he will not entertain a question already decided at a superior tribunal. But adds he with an air of impartiality, which he little expected would so soon be put to the test," Had an application been made to us before the bills of indictments were rejected by the Grand Jury, we might with propriety have interfered, and I should not have refused to receive the depositions." Mr. Harmer does then immediately tender' fresh case, that had not been before the Grand Jury, and In ! he is then told that the whole Bench had come to a determination not to interfere in any inres- ational Our Mtn, Conititution anti ;1 aW. MONDAY, SEPTEMBEH siO, 1819. ti„qation on that subject. ~;Can such conduct un the part of those who are pail to do their duty, fail to make a proper itupressiun upon the public mind ! Can any Englishman calmly contemplate his fellow-subjects butcherci by a wanton soldiery, with or without, but we believe in this instance, certainly with the sanction of these very Magistrates, the la ks of his country nullified, and enquiry stifled, and not feu: that cause to he his own ! But we have not yet done with this long series of crying sins We have st ill to refer our Readers to an account which we have faithfully giyeo of the coroner's inquest held at Oidham upon the body of John Lees, who had died of the cuts and wounds received at the me morable meeting. We implore every man who reads that account, and wa hope and pray that every man in the United Kingdom may carefully read it, to lay his hand upon his heart, and say whether the spirit of them times be not truly awful, whether the steps which these rash and thoughtless auti.:.rities are now treading, be not the direct road to anarchy and re volution. Society cannot exist without laws, and law ceases to have its proper character the moment its powers are either withheld or perverted. Will nut the Ministers of the Crown yet interfere to save us? They have, it is true, already most fatally committed both the Crown and themselves by a most uncalled and unconstitutional letter of approval of heir doings. But would there not he honour in a recantation. The people of Etntlaed are naturally a loyal people, but they are jgalois of en croachment. and will either live free, or lay down their lives in the contest. The last Revolution is not so distant as to be forgotten; we can both remember the causes which led to it ; the evils from which it rescued us, and th,; blessings it brought with it. Surely, the sacrifice of the whole corps of Manchester Yeomanry and the whole Bench of Manchester Magistrates had better be made, than the consequences, the inevitab'e consevences, of the course now steering, be encountered. jut it not enough, (says the Editor of the Times, with equal beauty of language, and correctness of thought,) that an unjust aggression should be committed, and dreadful cruelties perpetrated upon a number of de fenceless people, but that unjust means should be resorted to, fir the preventing the attainment of redress! A legal remedy for wrongs inflicted, was the pride of Englishmen in their prosperous days, and their sanctuary and consolation in the worst of times. What can be meant by these measures, even more stupid than reprehensible, but to make the King's Government an object ~f dislike and fear, and to shew the bleeding nation that " the lot of the vanquished is to suffer." Yes, the fruits of such a policy ate fast ripening, the time of harvest cannot be remote. Already has society in all the manufacturing districts, and it will soon spread itself to others also, assumed a tone much and fearfully altered tbr the worse. The most thorough and implacable alienation of the upper and lower classes generally prevails. The natural ties of protection on one hand, and gratitude on the other, exist no more. " Every man," says a respectable correspondent, " now appears to sit like a malignant spy upon his neighbour. Trade has become a perfect conspiracy in favour of particular persons, and ei the prejudice of others." Till lately all was fair and open, even in the most extravagant of their absurdities there was nothing to fear. There was nothing dark, nothing resolute, no mani fest intention of violence from any quarter. But the spirit of violence is now roused, and it will LPIICZ Vid. require all the care of a wise Government to deal with it. Hunt has every where, on his return from Lancaster, been greeted with undiminished wel come, and his cause is becoming triumphant by the indiscrctiuu of his opponents. What was before the ebullition of a crew of thoughtless and misguided wretches, whom the stagnation of trade bad left without employment, and want of employment had left without bread, has now assumed the charmer of a solid, firm, and fixed determination of public feel ing which demands, and can only be satisfied by a strict and severe scrutiny into what they insist to be their wrongs, and by a conduct of unquestionable impartiality in prosecuting it. We would willingly rally round the throne, and the Constitution, as now established, will never find us its enemies; but if it become an option only of law or no law, those wit. love either their King, their country, or the este blislitnents under which they have been born and live, can only shew their attachment by siding resa lutely with the first, in opposition to those who have in fact cast the first stone by their violence, and thus made war upon the whole. Faction, and even rebel lion, may just as easily begin with bad Jlagistrates as with the madness of the people. What is the general feeling of the kingdom to ty be judged by the numerous meetings. ‘Ve elo not despair of seeing an equal zeal 1 . or public good, manifested on a more extended scale on the part of the whole kingdom. and we do conscieatious.y believe that if ever there was a cause, Weyer there was a period in which party should be fiirgotten, and ail, in remem bering justice should forget jealousies, it is this cause, it is this moment in which we are now writ ing Lo.tdon, Saithwark, Liverpool, and liming. ham, are all setting e•:amples which it becomes every 1 1 corner attic United Kingdom to foLow. The torch , not of discord and contusion, but of sound and zee. tioual patriotism, should be handed from town to town, from city to city, from comity to county, till it has informed. enlightened, and roused every inch of Britain to a firm, theu e ;h peaceable, a manly, though respectful, assertion of our rights, and of the blessings of equal law, tir which oar furefathers bled So often, and whose example will, if necessity should compel it, never fail to be honourably fidlowed by their children. I \ X 4 ~ y \ ft , )4*,:J‘ 1 1 111114 IN SCOTLAND. GLASGOW, SEPT. 14—last night a considerable number of melt who had collected on the green wittt a view of joining those in Paisley, returned to this city about set-en o'clock, after having been three miles out of town, and were joined at the New Bridge by a crowd of others, perhaps in all, abut 3000, who paraded the streets for some time. Tw troops of the 7th hussars, the 80th rei;itnent, and the horse artillery, were ordered out. About nine o'clock. by order of the Lord Provo,t, the itiot Act was read by Bailie Alston When nothing else could be done, the cavalry were ordered to clear the streets, which they did with the greatest pninpti tude. and very few instances occurred %%litre an hurt was sustained, and these were front obstinacy or accidents from the darkness occasioned by tl.c lamps being broken. About 100 persons were ap prehended and sent to the Police 60 rf whom were afterwards discharged; and this morning tl.e Magistrates and official persons, are engaged in far ther investigation. PAISLKY, are r. I I.—We are :lorry to state that the llo4he Mectiog at 1'361,..y, which aloud atijourto.tl S..iturtiav las:, has oat hJsard olcr WllllllOl llolb II t a 11111),t tarts. 'rite (Itte WJS filar, end the were art:at—pen) tin Irmo ten to tw, lac thou...in hostoisp wife hang with black C;Olil, SpelltrfS were &cool 4I itiourolog. A Mr. T 4 uttaitottoto!y called to the I.ltair. GLogoo ott their return from the: were seized by the Stwei,ilColistrirks when ita. Coos ( Rosie), after some totercitaitze or ulow• INJS 111 et)ieitirioLc of 111.5 ctruu, .1.1 not knots, out %% intim% b of thr losttt broked, and the Iwo, werr not thverst.l as h.k it night. hr Samna-and the Co,ist,ble. %%el in assailed with stunts, wliiic stieets. A cot , .Adtrliic nuaoet into custutty. lie very fe- e .LI all tile hit hot wis . 1 1 e resin • a :•••Suffli if ip NS, %% / wer vie t i •••• 11.111 wr • I err 4.1 . 0 , 1! ▪ the •4. I A,