The National Register. — London, England, 1819-09-19 00:00:00

bt, No. 213—VoL. XII.] Volittcat netrosipect. THE conduct of the Manchester Magistrates, and their Satellites, continues to be so extraordinary and important, as to render it quite impossible for any public journal to turn the attention of its readers fur a moment away from such a subject ; Investi gation of the massacres of the fatal itith has now clearly established every, fart which we stated in our columns respecting them. The Courier has, indeed, already retracted the moderate xtutement of numbers killed and wounded, upon wh'eli it so confidently insisted, and we now call upon it to do the same j-astice to the public and to ourselves, respecting the reading of the R W Act. It now clearly appears by the case of their own showing, and by the lunge:a-dings held upon the con duct of the accused, that the utmost limit of time c'iarged against the meeting for haviog been tumul tuously assembled, is but tune half hoer, our did these wise and humane Justices of the Peace dare to (Her it in evidence that the 'Mot Act had been pub licly or audibly read at all. This is no time fin party feelings, or for the indulgence of party triumph ; submission to the authority of law, respect for our ams of justice, all flint veneratitm for cur established institutions,and that confidence in the righteousness of our judgements, tvhielt are the best, and indeed the only foundations of civil allegiance are now shook to their very centre. Till the present mo ment we have felt nothing like the alarm which passesses us. Government cannot be unconcerned spectators; they cannot, they will not, surely sane tn and approve what has been, and is yet doing . Mr. Hunt's mob, awl all his oratory, and all 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 trilled with, too dangerous not to be in unaine resisted. Upon what possible principle the bills which were presented against the Mttn 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 tts, no writer we 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 for difference of opinion what ( ver. Mr. Harmer, as a Solicitor, employed on behalf of the individuals wounded and mangled on the memorable day above-mentioned, applied to these stipendiary athainistratora of prompt and active jus- Aico, fur warrants ag tinsL those of the Yeomanry in the first instance, whose hills had been ignored at the late assizes, and stated, that he did so upon fresh teal clearer evidence than bad been bethre pro duced. The thairman, however resolutely de termines to heir no evidence, to grant no warrant, and assigns as his reason that he will not entertain a question already de t-iled at a superior tribunal. 13ut adds lie with an air of impartiality, which le little expected would so soon be put to the test," [lad an application been made to us before the bills of indictments were rejected 'by the Grand Jury, we might wbh propriety have interfered, and I should not have rcfusct to receive the depositions." Mr. Harmer does Oleo itnateliately tenth:l-If/nth eases I. l tal had not brsn before the Grand Jury, and lo ! he is theta told that the whole Bench had come to a dekrrn:uatiun not to interfere in any iuvcs- ationaf UtaiLttr+ Our• Bing, Congtitution ant it Mud. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19. 1819. tigation on that subject. Can such conduct on the part of those who are paid to do their duty, foil to make a proper impression upon the public mind ! Can any Englishman calmly contemplate his fallow-subjects butchered by a wanton soldiery, with or without, but we believe in this instance, certainly with the sanction of these very Magistrates, *hc hies of his country nullified, and enquiry stifled, and not feel that cause to be his own ! But we have not yet done with this long series of crying sins We have still to refer our Readers to an account %%Nell we have iiiithfully given of the enroner's inquest held at Oldham upon the body of John Lees, who had died of the cuts and wounds received ut the me morable meeting. ‘Ve implore every man 'who reads that account, and we hope and pray that every man in the United Kingdcm may carefully read it, to lay his hand upon his heart, and say whether the spirit of these times be not truly awfal, whether the steps which these rash and thoughtless autharities 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 not the Ministers of the Crown yet interfere to save us? They have, it is true, already most fatally co:emitted both the Crown and themselves by a most unealled and unconstitutional letter• of •arrprovul of heir doings. But would there not be honour iu u recantation. The people oaf England are naturally a loyal people, but they are jealoas of en croachment and will either live free, or lay down their lives in the contest. The last Revolution is not so distaat as to be forgotten; we can both remember the causes which led to it ; the evils from which it rescued tta, ,and the blessing's it brought with it. Surely, the sacrifice of the whole corps of Manchester Yetimaury and the whole Bench of I Manchester Magistrates had better be made, than . the consequences, the inevitab'e consequences, of . the course now steering, be encountered. Is it not enough, (says the Editor of the Times, with equal beauty of language, and • correctness of thought,) that an unjust aggression s 7 iould be committed, and dreadfid cruelties perpetrated upou a number ofale fenceless people, but that unjztst means should Le .resorted to, tier the preventing the attainment . of redress ! A legal remedy fur wrongs inflicted, was the pride of Englishmen in their prosperous days, and their sanctuary and cumulation in time worst of times. What can be meant by these measures, even more stupid then reprehensible, but ..to make the King's Government an object of dislike and fear, and to chew the bleeding nation that "the lot of the vanquished is to suffar," Yes, the fruits of such a policy are fast ripening, the time of harvest cannot be remote. Already .has society in all the manufacturing districts, and it will soon spread itsel!' to others also, assumed a tone much :nod learrilly altered for the worse. The most thoronah and implacable alienation of the upper and lower classes generally prevails. The natund 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. Truk has become a perfeet conspiracy in theortr of particular persons, ands a the prejudice of others." Till lately nil was fair and open, even in the most extravagant of their abaitalities theta! was nothiog to fear. Illicre was walling dark, nothing resolute, no mani fest intention of violetice him any quarter. But the spirit of violence is now roused, .and it ivi!' InticE 914. require all the care of a Wise Government to deal with it. Hunt has every where, on kis return from Lancaster, been greeted with undiminished well come, and his cause is becoming triumphant by the indiscretion of his opponents. What was before the ebullition of a crew of thoughtless and misguided wretches, whom the stagnation of trade had left, without employment, and want of employment had left without bretul, has now assumed the charmer of a solid, firm, and fixed determination of public feel ing which demands, and can only be satisfied by 11 stria and Revere 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 it' it become an option only of law or nu hew, those who love either their King, their country, or the esta blishments under which they have been burn and live, can only chew their attachment by siding reso lutely with the first, in opposition to those who have in fret cast the first stone by their violence, and thus made war upon then hole. Faction, and even rebel ; lion, may just us easily begin with bad illagistrates as with the madness el , the people. liihat is the I general feeling of the kingdom may be judged be' the numerous meetings. We do not despair of secing an oral zeal for public good, manifested on I a more extended scale on the part of the whole I -kingdom, and we du conscientiously believe that if ever there was a cause, it' ever there was a period in which party should be forgotten, and all, in rewew- I justice should forget jealousies, it is this cause, it is this moment in which we are now win ing. Loadon, Southwark, Liverpool, and 131emiai, , .. ham, are all setting examples which it becomes every corner attic United Kingdom to thliow. The torch nit of dits , :orii and confusion, but of sound and sae tional patriotism, should he handed from town to town, from city to city, from county to county, till it-has intnrmed. enlightened, and roused every iach . of - Britain to u firm, though peaceable, a manly, though respectful, assertion (dour rights, and of the bl-.2ssings of equal law, tin which our forelnthers bled so often, and whose example will, it' necessity should compel it, never fail to be honourably followed by their children. 10 14 . I.v SCOI L.LN D. GLASUOIIe, SEPT:-:14 1 -:Lrist . night n conalder:lWe number of 11100 who had collected on the.green with a view of joining th4,h in, Paisley, returned to this city about seven. *o'clock, after having Leen three miles out of tots n, and were joined at the New by a crowd of others, pi:drips in ell, about 3000, %%x, paraded the streets fur some time. Two troops of the 7th hussars, the 80th regitliont, and the horse artillery, were ordered out. About nine o' c lock. by order of the Lard Provost, the Iriot Art was read by Bailie Alston Whea nothing else could be done, tile cavalry were ordered to clear dna streets, which they did with the greatest pronipti. tilde. and very few instances ()cent - red where lin hurt was sustained, and these were from obstinacy or accidents from tile darkness occasioned by the lamps being broken. Ahout to() persons were ap prehended and sent to the Police Otfice, tio of whoa were afterwards discharged; and this morning the NLigistrates and official persons, are engaged in fur ther investigation. , I I.—We :ITC lcury to st.:te that the At I'J:sky, Ivtuch stool a:ijotirtird till 'WS :I , :t itasy.r.loter wt:hott: 3ott.e%ery se t loos d isturba 'lnc di: was full, and the intibers Here greet —Frlt tits time ten to tw; h c titottsittd. Ihe uus ins were hunt frith 111Jek cloth, ati•l all th e s l icaktrs we re .ire .I 111 ilinv • , !iiig. A Mr. 11l Ifir was Uii.calinotisi, celled to ;:it• rue (Th.grin l;@ ;a, cut tlltor rctilris rro7l the Mectinst. AV, re bC.RC•t Speciat Cons' arks n hen Ica,enl r ; 1h (c 10 . V.112,1V% arter borne Itn,rellllll...e illth• ‘l . heft r 11 t . %.+3 111 rtitt,..triencc ill i.).s e (NI nut k ;I M% nut the %%111,111W1i ul die Itcit I 101 l %%Al.: broken, and lice inn!) WC7C nut siltyerS, at ILO el 1ie . , .;111. the Cunst.rldr• nere grossly insnhurl, 111.1 A.atdycl pith 'tones. tthlle plaaduty the auras. A couvidcrablu nusulscr of siutcrs svcrc 'Alan lulu custody. ^' ~~ g ~ r ~~, r ( .„ 4 , . 3 .....:, 4c , .... . V ~~ ' .