The Sun. — London, England, 1821-05-16 00:00:00

and after. Where then was the ground ftiiisn ptiting disloyalty t o th e peo pl e ? O n - the Con trary, had they not uniformly shown the greatest reverence for the laws ? He hardly knew a cir cumstance in all history, ancient or modern, more calamitous, and.more to be deplored; than the .fatal transaction of the 16th of August, at Manchester,—a day that would never be forgot in the history of this, country—' a day blackened with a deed which never would be effaced from the memory of Englishmen—i/lad fatale lethum et nemquam sanabila minus. He had a right to charge upon the Ministers the whole burden of the accusation, and passing by Magistrates and constables, he, on the part of the people of Eng land, demanded an investigation into the conduct of- the Administration itself. It was a remark able circumstance, too, that the number of vic tims On that fatal day was double the number of killed and wounded on • the glorious occasion of the victory by Admiral Jarvis, in consequence of which he received the title of Earl St. - V in cent. When that gallant l ea d er . o bt a i ne d th e victo r y of St. Vincent, with fifteen sail of the line over twenty-seven sail of the enemy, the return of killed and wounded did not exceed three or four hundred. At Manchester the num 7 ter of victims —men, women, and children, was computed at upwards of 600. Was it possible, then, that so fatal a daf should not be remem bered —and remembered, too, with a restless • anxiety for the Parliamentary inquiry, of which the unfortunate sufferers and their friends were debarred in any other place ? Because, as to Courts of Law, they knew very well that the s ubject was too vast in its nature to be made matter of investigation by them ; the Judges might Indeed inquire into and perhaps redress the wron gs of ,A, B, 'or C, but they could never remedy the injury which had been inflicted on the laws and constitution of the country. lie had almost forgot to notice a document, which Was a very short one ; consisting of five or six lines, but which-Was sufficiently long, according to that classical .Iliaxim, which said that nothing was long, from which nothing could be taken without detriinent • and nothing was short from which any thing could be abstracted with advantage. 4le referred to the letter of - Lord Sidmouth to the Manchester , Magistrates.—(Cheers.)—A let . ler which contained no feeling in which the King of Englanthcould participate. Wh a t did it s t ate '? I mmediately on the arrival of the dreadful news, before even a decent defence could be patched,. up for the occasion, the letter stated that " his Majesty returns his great satisfaction" __a Word, he could venture to assert, so objectionable, that bad th e Noble . Lord ransacked every dictionary 1 ' the English language, he could not have pulled ' out orie word which, as a rock, lie should have More avoided.—(Cheers)—His Majesty was re- Presented to have felt the highest satisfaction when the news of the miserable massacre reached him, and was pleased to bestow his highapproba- N' lion on th e M ag i strates f or their official conduct on 7i. that occasion. Ile - hardly knew a parallel in stance in all hist or y f or thi s event. The only occurrence which resembled it at all, was that Which was perpetrated by the debased Romans, iii the period of their fall, in the Asiatic pro \lures. When that .base -people had determined 4 0 11 the destruction of the Goths, the Master tig"Cral of th e - t roo p s , i n pursuance o f a discre cqu'rSorder, which he received from the Senate at C onstantinople, of acting as he should judge p - ""t expedient for the good of the republic, con certed measur e s f or th e ' execution of his bloody s iZn. He issued an order that the G o thi c d °ll h should be assembled in the capital cities Of their respective provinces, and upon an ap- P o inted d ay , t h e youth' being' collected i n th e squares, all the avenues carefully blocked up by t he Roman Soldiers, and at the same hour, the si gnal being given throughout. the provinces ; the Eoldiers fell upon the defenceless multitude, and .; s la ughtered' them indiscriminat e ly. He would .. s c 't do the 'King of England th e i n j us ti ce t o sup . ITse that he could approve Of 'the bloody act of the 16th of August.' • Ile held it to be an act Purely and exclusively ministerial. The atrociouS massacre -to which he alluded, umparialleled as it ~..w a s history, was yet app r o ve d of ; and- this was theqang:- uagein which that extraordinary up- Piohation was expressed :—Efficacia exercitus A, 4 _ l li vetax t Salataris. Whether or no t th e NObl e rson. who • indit c d thi s s i ngu l ar ep i st l e to t h e b an chesterMagistrates might hav e b een i n fl ue n ce d fl y his classical recollection s — or w h e th er , i n ap josr'virig of • bl o ody de e d s ,. some . devil prompt e d 1 1 e mind, an d gu id e d t h e • pen i nto the adop -110" of th e sam e ph r a ses i n a ll t i mes an d ages, lie w ould not now stop to i nqu i re , b ut h e ac , Id ever r e gard it -as s t range th a t men so far . t ,"'!ss as th e hi s t o ri ans o f th e Gothic war, and "e Noble Lord (Sidmouth), should have up ' 4tr e ved of two t ransact i ons equally. bloody and a ocious in th e i r n a t ure , an d r e cor d e d t h e i r 0 1 ,1 ) robatio n p rec i se l y i n t h e same phrases. That nO e deed was prompt, decisive, and - efficacious, man could doubt who remembered the suds " en ness of th e onset , the fury of the-att a ck, an d the number of victims who had fallen in conse ifluence. But th a t suc h an atrocious event should es v ,, of excited una ll oye d s a t i s f act i on in the heart .the King,nothing on earth could make him e lfeve. No man-in England, much less the King if even th e bl oo d t h at was spilt was a necessary f eelin g to the law—could be so devoid of or common sense as to use so disgusting Such eXpressimn on suc h an occa sion. —(Hear !) deeds reflected disgr ace an d s h ame on t h e ' w ithout .of Englishmen; an d if pass ed over a r i g i d inquiry, that Hous e wou ld s i n k so low that nothing hereafter could sink it lower. thLet them not turn a de a f ear to t h e compla i nts, e simple,- unexaggerated compl a i n t s o f th e un ato p sufferer s ;. an d let them remember, that up that. moment their wrongs were unredressed. t ' i s was the first time since England was Eng land that a -Coroner had taken upon him to dis charge a T then stated . • ' nr Y. — (Hear!)—Th e Hon. Baronet . the history of the conduct of the Co s dismissing the Jury, and the subsequent Prot , ' istin;Thalsoit_hat were taken upon that act, in- p to this moment, justice had been . • r u cud of At incho l t ueloyed, and denied to the people 11 " the ca s lie agai n repeated, - that it was e of individual suffering which he no* pressed npon the consideration of the House, but the violence done to the Laws and Constitu tion. He pressed it the more, because Ministers not only put forth gros . sly false statements with respect to this transaction to delude that House and turn them from inquiry, but made those statements the grounds for the enact ing of six Bills, whiCh constituted a greater in fringement on the Constitution than was at tempted since the Revolution—so great a change had been effected, indeed, that it might be styled the Revolution of 1819. as the former one was called the Revolution of 1688. When he considered the various points of view in which this great question might be regarded ; and when he considered that no one was made responsible for all the dreadful evils that took place, and that no inquiries were set on foot, he could not but deem it to be a piece of good fortune, though he • did not then regard as a misfortune, the unavoidable delay in bringing forward the subject. The time had now arrived when laying aside conjecture and uncertainty, the House could proceed upon a just estimate of the lying impostures by which it had been so long deluded. Time, which brought all things to light, had now rent, aside the veil which hypocrisy and cheat threw around this transaction, and when it was presented to the eyes of an astonished country, the event of the 16th of August, in all its native deformity, he might say of 'it nihil est scelestius--nihil perniciosus—nikil quod J hcec civilas Snag is plerar cpossct. If the Noble Lord and his Colleagues had not lost all regard for justice and for their own characters, they would consent to the inquiry which he now, on the part of the, people of England, demanded. They had now an opportunity of making good that ardent desire which some of them professed to entertain for inquiry. It was impossible that this subject could remain in its present state. It was impossible that an Administration stained with blood—for such he must consider it to be until it was relieved from the imputation—could remain without having their conduct investigated, or that that House, however indifferent it might be to the purses of the subjects, ought not to justify the imputation that they were indifferent to their persons, by resisting an inquiry. Ile therefore called on Ministers to ,afford an oppor tunity of inquiring into their conduct. He called on the Gentlemen who had deluded the House and the country by their mis-statements, to come forward—let them show the sources of their false and delusive statements—let them declare from what polluted lips, from what spies they received their news--" let them drag the monsters into day"—and let them no longer be secured under the cover of all the letters of the alphabet. For himself he would only say, that he was satisfied that be was attempting the best in his power to do justice to the people, and to give Ministers an opportunity of doing justice to themselves. lie relied, therefore, on the concurrence of the Noble Lord in the following motion :—" That a Committee be appointed, by this House, to in quire into the transactions of the Magistrates and Yeomanry at Manchester, on the 16th of August, 1819."—(Loud cheering.) HopucusE—l beg leave to second the motion. Mr. BOOTLE WILBRAHAM said, that he felt as well the disadvantage of commencing his observa tions after the splendid speech of the Hon. Baro net as his own weakness as an advocate. As the Magistrates of Manchester had delegated to him the important duty of stating their case to the House, he would endeavour to doss°. He thought, however, that he had a right on their part to complain of the course adopted by the Hon. Baronet in having postponed the motion for the investigation for nearly two years. The Hon. Baronet had in April last year given not-:•e of his intention soon to call the attention of the House to that subject ; yet the Hon. Baronet had post poned that motion for a year. He was far from being desirous of causing any painful feelings to the Hon. Baronet. lie bcgged to call their at- tention to the depositions which had been placed in his hands, and of which he would give a short account. It commenced with a description of the state of Manchester in 1819, and the pro ceedings which the Magistrates around it had been compelled to adopt in consequence of the disturbed state of the people there, and continued to give a detail of their consequent proceedings. There had been but two meetings at Manchester from January to June, 1819, but from the 2d of June to the 16th of August there had been eleven. Itinerant orators had appeared, and after their harangues thanks had been voted to Cobbett, Wooler, Sherwin, and Carlile. A meeting had been advertised for the 9th of August, which the Magistrates had prohibited as illegal, after haying consulted an eminent counsel re specting it. The conduct of the Magistrates coirld be easily known from the evidence of Mr. Hutton at York. Mr. Hutton was a gentleman possessed of the two great qualities, a gentleman of true feeling and genuine ceurage, well tem pered together., He knew not one man more remarkable for each valuable quality. The meeting of the gth had been postponed to the 16th, and the avowed object of the latter had been similar to that of the former. During the intervening week every observation of the Ma gistrates tended to induce a belief of imminent danger. They saw the increasing symptoms of rebellion and they laboured to repress them. Special constables had been chosen and some sworn, but the number of men willing to be sworn had been small in various places. Bam ford had, in, the place where be resided, prevent ed many from being sworn ; so that not more than three or four persons had been sworn in there. Again the Magistrates saw the people training at night under arms—(Under arms ! echoed the Opposition)—he begged pardon, he meant training at midnight and before day in the morning, and at unfrequented places Those secret nocturnal assemblies, the drilling of the people, and the other preparations for war, gave cause for apprehension, which it had been impossible that the Magistrates could avoid taking careful note of.' Of those meetings of the people it had been difficult to obtain dire' t information, for they had always met by secret intelligence, and signs to each other. Two men, who by accident approached one of those nighty- assemblies, had been beaten almost to death. To the meeting of the 16th, a meeting at Which all the disaffected had prepared to assemble, when rebellion seemed ready to burst into open flame, it had behoved the Magistrates to look with re doubled caution. He then read the deposition of a person named Butterworth, which stated the assemblage of the people at White Moss on the 15th, and alsp to their proceeding to the meeting on the 16th of August. Lord MILTON wished to know whether the de positions had been taken before Magistrates or a Court of Justice, where, the deponents had been strictly examined ? Mr. B. 81;.‘,BRAIIAM.-They are not certainly of the latter description ; they are the deposi, tions of persons of respectability, who volunta rily offered to make them, and with a perfect conviction that they spoke the truth. The lion. Member then proceeded to read the depositions of Edward Billing, James Richmond, and a great many others, in which the fullest evidence was contained of the previous assemblage of persons, who were drilled and exercised in military movements ; that threats of the most revolu tionary nature had been held out ; that the meeting at Manchester, on the 16th, was consi dered as the day of settling ; that in anticipation of radical ascendancy, persons had refused to pay their rents ; that they said it was well that the soldiers had risen that day (the 15th), per haps they would not after the morrow ; that they would pay off the constables on that day ; ' that day would settle all things. The affidavit of Captain Whitworth, of the 15th Hussars, was quite confirmatory of many of the before-stated particulars ; and that in the houses of some well known characters, muskets and ammunition were found ; and others had asserted, that_in a few days a pound note would not be worth twopence. The Hon. Gentleman shortly adverted to the meeting of the 16th, and remarked, that 'as the Magistrates had taken every precaution for pre serving tranquillity, by stationing 300 consta bles to form a line from the house where they were sitting to the hustings, the hustings were r..nnoved further off to prevent that communica tion, and that it was surrounded by men linked together sixteen deep. He also stated that the conduct of the various bodies, as they proceeded to the meeting, was accompanied with cheers, hisses, and groans, as they approached different places where persons were assembled who they supposed agreed with or opposed their measures. He had heard that the Riot Act was read from a window by Mr. Eddlestone, and that' some of the Magistrates, conceiving that it might not be sufficient, Mr. Silvester, another magistrate, went into the street, when be had no sooner commenced the proclamation than he was tripped up by the heels. Upon the arrival of Mr. Hunt and his party the warrant for his apprehension was signed. The Boroughreeve expressed his conviction that the civil power eould not execute it with safety ; the military therefore were called upon to protec t them. He then read numerous depositions to show that as they approached the hustings the military were attacked with stones and brick-bats; and that they did not, strike a blow. till they reached the hustings. These affidavits were bonafide made by persons of known respectability ;. others were , ready to prove"that Mr. Hulme had been knocked off his horse, and seriously wounded. Should it be asked why this evidence was not given during, the trial at York, lie would answer, because the Learned Judge had narrowed the inquiry into the simple question of the legality or illegality of the meeting. The professional Gentleman who conducted the prosecutions, addressed himself to a respectable inhabitant of the town; the Ma gistrates knew nothing of the trial at York be yond that of being subpoenaed to give their evi aence. If, therefore, there was any irregularity, it could not be iraputed to them. One Magis trate only was examined at York ; and why ? because the Jury were so satisfied of the nature of the proceedings, that they were prepared upon his evidence to decide upon a verdict of guilty against the defendants. The difference betwee the statements he had read, and those of tin Honourable Baronet, showed how impossible it would be to come to any satisfactory conclusion ; for if the Honourable Baronet's motion should be agreed to, and a very considerable number of witnesses should be called on that side, he would venture to say that 100 at least would be summoned on the other ; there would be no end to it, and, after all, the question would remain to be decided by various views and prejudices. The first objection against the Magistrates would be answered by the fact that if the Meeting of the oth was illegal, that of the lGth was illegal also. It was called for a professedly legal object, but the manner in which it was conducted, and the characters of the leaders, rendered it at least sus- ' picious. Its dispersion was not for a riot, but because it was an illegal assembly. The next objection which had been taken to the conduct of the Magistrates, was for not waiting longer than they did. In his mind he was satisfied that the Magistrates had best done their duty by waitity , only so Jong as to suffer the leaders to identify themselves, and then proceeding to lake them into custody, without waiting for any overt act that might have brought the lives of other parties into jeopardy. After the trial at York, it would not be contended at this day that the meeting was a quiet or a peaceable meeting, or else why had that numerous mob armed themselves with sticks and stones ? In fact this mob had acted, no doubt, in the full convic tion that the day was their own ; in fact, some of their leaders had said they were satisfied nothing could oppose them. The Honourable Member here alluded to the meeting called the Planket-meeting, which a Gallant Ge neral, well known for his attachment to the popular opinions, had been called on to quell. Sir John Byng on that occasion had been com pelled to place in the rear of each peace officer a horse soldier to support them in dispersing the crowds collected. As to the terror which the proposed meeting of the 16th had created in th e minds of the loyal and peaceable persons in the neighbourhood of Manchester, it would be best attested by the numerous representation , i and letters sent to the Magistrates, stating their ap prehensions for their property and persons, should . , the town be suffered to remain thronged with these persons until night came on. - In justification of, the Yeomanry; he, could not suffer this op• portunity to escape without mentioning that they arrived at the hustings - simultaneously, with the milittik-y, and that it was agreed on . all hands that had they not come up to aid the civil power they,never would have succeeded in dis. persinri. the crowd. In fact, as it was, the appearance of both the yeomanry and the military did not prevent the mob bating - recourse to violence. The 15th Hussars suffered severely, having 2 officers and 21 non-commissioned 'Officers and privates wounded or beaten with stones. The Man chester Yeomanry had 1 officer and 40 privates wounded or hurt with stones, and 1 private stab bed dangerously, and an officer's horse stabbed in the belly and another in the neck. The num ber of horses injured or, wounded by stones . or otherwise, amounted t o 20. H ere he ,should observe, that the mischief or injury done to the people had not been done alone by the Yeo wanry of Manchester, but was equally the result of the operations of the Cheshire Yeomanry and the Hussars.—Here the Hon. Member reviewed the return of persons reported by the Co. rimers or the county, from which it ap peared that Hannah Parkinson had been crushed to death before ever the Yeomanry appeared ; that the infant said to have been killed died through fright which occasioned convulsions ; that Joseph Whitmore was shot near the New-cross after wards on the evening of that day ; and that Ed ward Dawson alone was killed by a Sa,bre wound. One William Dawson, who had been said to be skill, was pronounced by the Coroner's Jury to have been choked in consequence of a piece of mutton sticking in his throat.—(A the infirmary the amount of in-patients, from wounds received, were 22, out-patients 35. One person who, it had been said, had been most in hilmauly treated by being turned out of his bed in the hospital, had been found to have received only- a cut in the scalp, without injury to the cranium ; and after being shaved and his wound dressed, he was told it was not necessary he should remain a within-door patient. Of another person, a boy, whose father had deposed to hay ing found the clothes of this young man con cealed behind a door in the Infirmary, and thence cein-eiuded his death was certain, in consequence of military •violelice at Peterloo, it, was most ex traordinary, he held .a deposition in his hand, signed by the boy himself, and stating that he never had been at Peterloo or in the In firmary in his life.—(Laughing.)—John Rus sel, stated, to have been killed in this affair, with many humane comments on the loss sustained to society, and particularly to his wife and four children, was however discovered in the body of the New Bailey, on a charge of stealing 8 pounds of tobacco from the Turk's Head Public-house.— (Laughing.)—He felt he was justified in alluding to those cases, when he considered the persons he had to deal with, who, regardless of the truth of the statements made or their consequences, took as it was termed the chance of the assertion on all occasions. —(Hear !)—Many came and en rolled themselves as sufferers, who never saw the field of Peterloo, in hopes of getting some of the reward out of the pockets of those who humanely subscribed for the Manchester sufferers. An in dividual, it had been proved, obtained 4/. 16s. as a sufferer, and boasted afterwards that the only hurt he bad received was from a nail sticking in his foot at Bolton,. some miles distant,—(Latigh ing.)—He trusted the House, if it were not per fectly satisfied with thedefence that ke had made for the Magistracy and. Yeomanry of Manchester, Would believe it was rather owing to the deficiency of their Advocate than to the' want of exculpatory facts. The House would recollect too the diffe rent situation in which the House was placed by the intervention of one year and a half, which must naturally tend to throw much light on the' subject of the alarm which then pervaded all persons of property in that part of the country. To elucidate their opinion of theseins urrec ti onary and tumultuous proceedings, he should only here refer to. an address signed by eight thousand per sons of the highest :respectability in that part of the country, which expressed their deepest ack nowledgements to the vigilance and activity of the Magistracy at that period. Notwithstanding all the complaints made by the lion. Baronet opposite, no prosecutions had taken place, al though several had been threatened by Mr. Hunt and others, and notwithstanding the agents in this business,were not destitute of funds to carry them on with effect., He.concluded by quoting, as peculiarly applicable to the subject,'the cau tion given by Lord Grenville (on occasion of a similar motion by the Marquis of Lansdowne) to their Lordships, not to sanction a.motion like. the present, which must tend to render sus pected the 'conduct of those charged with the, important and delicate duties of the Magistracy. Lord MILTON coMinenced by complimenting the ability, temper, and integrity of the Hon.. Advocate of the cause of the Manchester Magis tracy. He proceeded to examine the evidence in justification of-the conduct of the Magistracy. One of those witnesses, John Barlow, had stated on his deposition before the Magistrates, that there were not more than -10 persons present on the Exchange on that day, and deposed to throw ing stones, yet on the trial at York he . had said nothing in relation to these . most important facts. What was the reason he had ,so ab stained from stating that on oath at York which he had deposed to at Manchester ? Most probably because ,he was afraid of the test of cross-examination. •He felt with the Honoura ble Baronet ,that this was a question of too grave, serious, and wide a nature to be 'de termined to the satisfaction of the Public inn any lesser Court than the tribunal of Parliament. He trusted the House would separate the ques tion now before theM from any question relative to the conduct of Mr. Huntovho had, by a peti tion presented this evening-, attempted to vilify ail the' most respected and Venerated authorities in the land. The question was now between the Magistracy of Manchester and the people of Eng land. When it was proved that 57 persons were added to the hospital inmates in consequence of the proceedings of that day, he Would contend it was the duty of the great inquest of the natif n war. to take up the question and determine it impar tially and deliberately. He doubted much whe: ther in these transactions the Magistrates were the partieS most to blanie lie doubted Whether the military had waited for the order of the Ma . - gistraCy to advance. Why was it not proved on the trial at York that the Riot Act 1114 been read ? What . trouble would this. have saved? And how, under such circumstances, would the five who were indicted for being present and contriving this illegal meeting by possibility.have been acquitted ? He had a decided opinion that the meeing was feasible, and that opinion he drew from the evidence brought against Mr. Hunt.-- The circumstance of coining with their wives and daughterS was enough to chew that they .had: not the possibility of contest in contemplation. It was said the peaceable inhabitants were alarmed. He knew that was stated on o n e s id e, b ut th e di rect contrary was stated by evidence equally re spectable on the other. The Judge stated over and over again that the conduct of the meeting Was to be examined into. Mr. Justice Bayley, in reference to the obstruction to the execution of the Warrant, said that there was no evidence of it from Nadia. Why was he not called ?—(Bear !)—He wa's : at York. So was Mr. Hay and Mr.Eccleston. Why were they not called ? Why was not .Nadia called to proKe that he could not execute the warr rant ? Mr. Hutton only spoke from report, and was interrupted by the Judge, who said that he must speak only. to what he had :seen. Mr. Stanley was present at . the Meeting. He saw what was going on . ; he was a Clergyman, and a most respectable character, He said, that when the military began to force their way to the hustings, swords were up and swords were down. This was as good evidence of violence as any given on the other side. As long as the suspicion of such violence remained, it was incumbent on the House to institute some inquiry. If they, wished to preserve the Constitution, to preserve the higher classes in their respectability,. and the lower classes in their duty, it was incumbent on them to shew that the humblest had an interest in the laws and Constitution. This could not be done without instituting an' inquiry before that .ouse. Mr. WlrmoT said, the motives which induced aim to address the House, were both public and private. With respect to one gentleman_ ;who was inculpated by _the /Jon. Baronet (Sir Francis Burdett) Mr. Hutton, he must say, that from his knowledge of his character, it was impossible for him to believe that he acted from any consi deration but a feeling of duty. He should be the last person to follow the example of the Hon. Baronet (Sir F. Burdett) -in imputing motives, when he said that these disturbances were fo. mented by the Government for ulterior-ohjects. It was matter .of surprise that the Honourable Baronet could . so far allOw his political feelings to blind his common sense. . He could not admit the necessity of inquiry at that bar. There were ethermodes of investigation which were most Mys' r teriously neglected.---(Hear!)—Many meetings were held previous- to that at.. Manchester- at which the people were excited to an overthrow of the, Government, and . told that nothing else was necessary to better their situation.—(hear!) —What said Mr. Hunt when the meeting of -the 9th was put off? That that of the 16th would be only an adjournment of it. On that day there were 18 *Bags and live ,caps of liberty. Ile could not allowsuchmeetings to be legal. It was reu ported to him by, persons whomche, believed, that the warrant could not be .executed without mi r litary aid. The . Magistrates could not have co.{.. templated the consequences that. followed. The meeting, as the Noble Lord said, might at first be feasible.. It might have appeared peaceable, but' it was the peace of. the thunder -storm, which: were it not, for. the measures taken, might have'. burst 'on that town in all the horrors .of civil The Hon. Baronet reminded them of that., .ext in scripture--" whoso sheddeth man's bloodt by .man shall his.blood he shed." How could the Hon. Baronet apply. this to that ,shedding blood which •justice and public safety required'? —(Hear! from the .Opposition.)—Though tin- willing, to follow the example of the Honourable Baronet,. in imputing motives, be 'could not but believe him sincere, when he supported :those very individuals who charged him with having nothing in contemplation but hi s own personal importance, and the gratification of private views in .the whole of his public conduct.—(Hear!)--, If it was true that voluntas •etpropoNi tam distin guant maleficium ; if the. :Magistrates of Man chester were tried on that principle,.he was sure they must stand acquitted. From intimate know ledge of many of them, he felt. Convinced that a more honourable body of men did not exist. He thought it would be highly inexpedient to agree to the motion of the,Hon. Baronet, and call wit nesses to the bar upon this subject; he must therefore Oppose the motion.' DEN ATAN . expressed surprise at the silence of Ministers. He should regret much if the de bate were. adjourned; they saw the effects of • adjourned dehates. lie would admit, that if this; was a question of indulgence, much might be allowed .to the. Magistrates,. consid er i ng t h e fir cumstances under which tiny were placed ; but this, was a question not of blame but of praise. The Magistrates had his compassion, hat hp would not hold them up as examples to.be foI lowed .hy the Gentlemen of England. The cog, duct of the meeting was, , he would allow, th o question at issue at York ; but it was the duty of the Magistrates to come forward, and give evi dence as to the nature of that meeting.. Instead - of this, they heard that night the depositions- of persons not liable 0 prosecution for perjury, .or subject to cross-examination. He could eater fain oo doubt of the Magistrates having 'acted • with the concurrence, and in consequence of the inspocions of Government. There was sufligient . proof of this, in the prais e s o prematurely giv en , when nothing was known, but that the blood of his Majesty's subjects had been shed. lie could not but call the attention of the House to the answer riven to the Address from the City of Lou don by the 'Prince Regent. It was there said. they could not be acquainted with what occurred. Why not ? He should wish to know why they could not be as w(11 acquainted with the circum stances .as his Majesty's Ministers ? The tribe-