The National Register. — London, England, 1819-11-14 00:00:00

P. 7 - / ;4._ i." 4. A ° 7 ' T • ■ U weft 'bt AP No. 219 .—VoL. XII.] Volitirat la etrofspect. Tun late County Meetings, from the high im portance of their object, from the character of their attendance, unequalled in numbers, in reek, ie talent, and in respectability by any former preec. dents, constitute an ere too memorable to l e sufkred to pass• hastily into o'Aivion, and especially whilst not only the causes from which they arose are in full operation, but also whilst the engines intended to counteract their benefits are in full play, whilst corruption is at work with all its arts and etsereics, and influence is commanding obedience where n cannot enforce conviction, in order to trump up more of those notable documents called Loyal Declarations. Yes, the loyal good people are invited to declare that acts of at least the most questionable, if we may not be allowed to call them the most atrocious kind, ought not to be either in vestigated or punished ; and above all to declare in tit! face of truth, a direct, palpable, and unblushing falsehood, viz. " That the'concluet of theMancliester Magistrates and Military of Manchester are about to undergo an investigation before the legal tribu nals of the land," an assertion as yet perfectly woundless, though we hope the voice of the people of England will yet make it true hereafter. In fact the shameless character of these modern instru ments of declaration constitutes one of the worst features of the times we live in. In our better days, a plain, open, and manly conflict of honest opinion, alike suited to the maintenance of freedom and honour, was the grand feature of political dif ferences and discussion, and the party which found itself outnumbered in support, and outreasoned by argument, retired from the contest with a conviction of the propriety of submitting to the majority and weight ofopinion arrayed against them, even though their individual sentiments might remain unchanged. But now, with equal disregard both of de,•ency and thhe ancient rules of honour, every corner, every hamlet of the country is ransacked to get names and signature', " per Jas nique 11i:fits," to proclaim against decisions fairly and publicly tried and made, and even those whom any honourable man would formerly have thought scarcely f t for society under such an imputation until honourably met and Jeered, we mean the my persons implicated, are moving earth and heaven, and thctnse•lves signing declarations against all enquiry. For instance, the I.7uke of Wellington and Lord Palmerston have both had the assurance to attach their names to those extraonlinary pr, .auctions, though the former of t:+ese two gentlemen is not only as a member of the catinet, nemesia-4 an of whose conduct a par liamentary enquiry would most materially concern, but reported and believed to be the very individual at whose pressing instigam ion the letter of thanks to the citizen soldiers af Nlancliester fur their butche ries was addressed, with the name of the Prince Regent attached to it. A brother of that notorious stipendiary• magistrate, Mr. flay, whose name ranks foremost in the list of that anomalous corps of time New Bayley , at Manchester, whose summary method of quelling tumult befiire it has been begun, is the direct object of investigation, stands also pruinimait amidst the wise and honourable names of one of the declarations. W him often ;mended the cp.. • ationaT Anitittr• Our Mita, Comititution anb ab3o. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1819• of that boly we state it, never we recollect an instance where the individual whose character or conduct was thus at stake, did not either feel it his Lounden duty to withdraw, or at least forbear to vote upon such all occasion. There is a fine and diivalrous spirit is Lis , which we hope never will lw lost, fur it is the pride of seciet7,whilst the oppo site conduct, however it may be greeted as the re solute attachment to.party us one, and an amiable tribute to fraternal affection in the other, yet, in the old and honest language of Englishmen, would be denominated nothing less than a gross and indecent violation both of public and private liouour. Inno- cence never 'eels concealment, to evade a charge instead of meeting it is the attribute of guilt and shame. The plainest understanding can compre ' hend this. that the man who runs away, furnishes by the very act of doing so a reason why we should pursue him. The people of England can read no stronger argument of the propriety and necessity of that investigation which we seek and pray fur, than the means, the dishonourable and disgraceful mean resorted to, to evade:it. It is, we are aware pretended, that an enquiry will necessarily be held, whenever Mr. Hunt and his associates are brought to trial. But it requires no small share of effrontery in those, who yet talk so loudly of the theory of justice, to propose that in a case wherein the minis tens of the Crown are in the first place, upon the strongest grounds of presumptive evidence, suspected of unconstitutional, not to say criminal conduct, where the Magistrates of Manchester are in the next place liable to the same charge, and lastly the Yeo manry, as illegally obeying illegal orders—that in a case like this, Mr. Hera shall not only be tried for his own offence, but be made also the vicarious victim of the whole fraternity. Mr. Hunt may be a fool and rogue, and vagabond, and his followers as silly and absurd as you please, but the trial of Mr. Hunt can never in any degree whatever settle the question of 500 persons being killed, wounded and trampled by the sabres and horses of the Man chester cavalry. A gentleman signing himself Edmund Newton, no doubt a descendant of Sir Isaac, has indeed, in a strain of admirable nonsense, assured us that the whole question must hang upon the trial of Mr. Hunt. This absurd reasoning, was most *mishit:44)6ly summed up at the Nortia meeting in a few words by Mr. flarbord, viz, that " whether Mr. Hunt was acquitted or condemned, the record of such acquittal or conviction could not even be received as evidence upon any trial of the question, which we insist ought to be the subject of enquiry." But it may give some specimen of the shifts to which the degraded partizans of these horrid trans actions are reduced to observe this great master of reason, this secead Newton, gravely availing his readers that if a parliamentary enquiry be institu tuted and the tneetiag should be round riotous, that it may prejudice the public mied against Mr. Hunt, and that therefore this sprig of patriotism thinks it premature and improper to hold any meeting or any enquiry upon the subject. And yet this amiable man, so deprecating all prejudication, has,iust before salensnly given to the public his wise and grave e tlechtioa, to which he boldly cia.;:snees contradiction, that the " military were first assailed by the people, before any eflbr t et' self-preservation was made on their part,.and th.A.tlic said ani;itsre . . ~ • [Pam E 91d. hearing evidence directly in the teeth of such a statement, and that the Jury themselves declared their unanimous conviction that the meeting was " peaceable and tranquil until the military attacked it." We beg pardon of our readers fur noticing this miserable trash, but it may show the state of contro versy, and throw some light upon the signatures of the Norfolk Declaration, of which Mr. E. Newton is one. Our greatest subject of sorrow and unfeigned regret is to see the number of Clergymen whose names are appended to these infamous and inhuman documents. In times like these, when the interest and prosperity of that establishment to which we belong, and in which is mitered our hope and our greatest glory, are so deeply staked, it grieves us, sincerely grieves us, to see the very ministers of her gentle and peaceful altars, the advocates of bloodshed and the enemies of impartial justice. " They that tale the sword shall perish by the sword," is a test we would gravely recommend to their sober consi deration. We would implore them to consider the occasion and the circumstances on which these words were uttered. To the magistrates also who have • signed that document, we beg to propose the ques tion whether the rule and principle of justice they have thus sanctioned is that by which in their own sphere and jurisdiction they mean themselves to act in fame? if it be, there is a crisis, an eventful crisis indeed, arrived. There is resolazion already raging in all the paroxysms of fury and the Lasted blessing of Englishmen, equal law, vanished. But we tviil still hope and believe better things. We have talked and conversed with many of them, awl we feel sincere satisfaction in believing that though they have been led from party motives or from the various ramifications of worldly views and worldly interest to attach, in an evil hour, their hands to such a declaration, yet that their consciences neither approve the massacres, nor the struggle to evade enquiry, and that they are quite as sensible as we are to the total absew.eof all adequate justificatint of those proceedings. Oh ! that men's own reason and the pure dictates of conscience were but the ruling couipa,s of th‘.ir cenduct, how Ivo:1M the wurld be chang;:d 1! ! TEVEII IN SPAIN: The arrivals o. Monday from the South of `pain repeat, with tiny variations, thesame melancholy ac counts we have latterly been accustomed to receive from that quvrter. It has been stated that the fever had appeared 'on board the Spanish Patriots one of the transports, when lying in the harbour of Cadiz, and that two of her seamen had died of it. That vessel is arrived in the Downs, and advices have been received from on hoard which state, that the master, Captain Durell, fidl a victim to the ma lady on the tburth day after leaving Cadiz. The number of sick perions in Cadiz, according to the official returns made on the 19th ult., the date of the letters from thence, is 13,000. The deaths on the 16th -were 98 ;on the 17th, 88 ;on the 18th, 96 ; :` • • 1.; and on the 19th, 10ti• The setting in of the rainy ; ..i* — _,b, xt.) woos: was most anxiously baked our, as the only ...•_... • Ar r i:. effiectual cheek to the disorder. The letter" font S r. ...1r, V ir. ' Seville are dated on the 20th ; and though they d ' 9 ` .. , ,„11Ck,,f 4 f,',. not present the same picture of devastation as th .4.1,,f7r , . Cadiz accounts, are sufficiently alarming. Th 4 &-.. ~• ~. t ea population ofSelvilie is nearly double that of Callao ' . ;.,..4 t tiii:'') and is crowded into a space eotnparatively small k ~ "..i,,,,,e,vit; , the fever, therefore, Vence diffused throughout the 4` ma..s, would prove still more fatal. Seville, forte- „ I „ , nately, has hitherto suffered only from the minor e vil s o f a suspension of trad:, the deseeh;on of the upper eltuises, and the terrors inspired by the . e vil hanging over theni and laying waste their vicinity ; to their comparative security the rigorous precausi. ons adopted seem .$q have chiefly couduced. Cases of fever had occurrdd in 'great numbers, but they had c latterly been watched with so much care,. and :the remedies so rouvaly uplied, that very few wean. si