The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-08-24 00:00:00

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lions will an be commenced %H. making that past su the mean time the Prisoner. ....
capable toceithig large vessels. I.The Ministerial Vespers hey@ gras d with avidity
pe _
We team that the works are carrying on w;th at thus intelligence, as if this slone afforded n suf.
double actsrity to streagthen the fit/trews on nor
.ficieht justification of the conduct pursued by
southern frontiers. The workmen are very mune-
the Magistrates for the dispersion of a peace-
rous ; the materials all retitle iii Cie places where
w üble and legal assembly of the people, and we
they ore to be employed. The fund. for all the
extraordinary expenses are assigned. and the pay- find the wordy Mau TREASON primed in large
mews are made with the greatest pinion/Dbl. in capital letters, as if the size of the type were
the beginniug of twat veer the works will be coin- I calculated to iffereiore the malignity of such an
silenced for the erection of forts along the Scheldt,
(offence. But we would inquire of any of these
.between Outlenarde, Ghent. and Terononde. The
militery mad between c
oil and Grammoot +. party writer* whether they were not as mach sure
already far advanced, cud will make au important prised us gratified when they first received this his
toonmniticatiosi between our provinces sod the Two teilfgenee ? Did they believe that Mr. IlueT, or
Flanders. f any of hi* lranians in adversity, had you iiiii tted
Fault THE LOWER RHINE. MINUET 17. the heinous crime of which he and they now eland
In an esteemed German Journal we read that
No intituatton
has been as yet vouch-
Fritter Korrt-fiberg sonic time sitter delivered to accused ?
the King of Pr11%11.1• the outliite of u Cimstitutioto for l sided, even to the prisoners, of the particular *lets of
the Prussian Monarchy, drawn up by himself, and 1 the last three years of their lives (for we do not sup-
that this great states'asa abides by his opinion pose that they or any of 'hem will be accused of
that it is necessary to give way to the spiritof the hieing iitieityted to assas.ostate the Kieg) which it
times, which demands at Comti!ution, though
is intended to torture into treason. We use the
other persons think that the ',resew moment is not
adapted f„r she iopod„,,, of a new c„„,,,;,„6,,,, words torture into treason, because it is pretty esi-
It is asserted, nu the ether but, that the Prince dent, from the doubt* eiotertatued upon the subject
its this stew Constitution imposes to maintain by the that the trees' •., if the charge
and conifi•ni the relating rights of the privdeged be made at all, will br constructive and forced.
cl ,au l that forewent the rigoiraus
etrriurrs Is the absence of all authentic into/motions
lately tarn by the Prussian Goverionieur, will by
no means Itilveile or dri:iv the introduction of n conjecture is busy in public. and some of the
Clinsiiiiitiott. It is added, that Prince Harden. Newspapers have supposed that the ',mon must
berg is as adverse to the Ultra-Liberal as to have been commitord by the CfIIWIVAS
remaronig
those or the AlitirLiberal party, which last see* no upon the ground daring Me space of 071, hour
salvation eurept in the titiaticial and military
sysstein of Frederick 11. and for thus reason has after the reading of the Riot Act. Ott the reed-
a
au uversion to all cooatitutienal forms of Govern- leg of the Riot , Act we shall presently say
oient• lit one point hoth parties, the Ultra-Demo- few words, but its the mean time it is necessary to
craticiii, 'not the Ulira.Nlointrelitral are agreed, remove the impression that it is high treason for a
namely, in their tiered of Fussier: the first 011 ac- I crowd to
count of its peloicul power. the last Oil account of c" remain "'lb" during the 'lmre of
une hour after the reading of the Riot Aft by
the rrpresrioatiee form of aivernintist, with equal
political rights. a Magistrate. The Act of Geo. I. declare+, that
if any riotous assembly, consieting of twelve or
more persons, shall continue together during the
space of one hour after a Magistrate shall have read
the Act, the persons so remaiiiiug shall be guilty
of felony without bettelit of clergy. Tu give
effect, however, to this Act, it is necessary that the
assembly shall have been ectually riotous: t Isst is,
that it shall have actually proceeded to commit sets
of violence; for it is this circumstance alone that
renders a meeting in technical l e ge riotous.
and not the opinion of any silly Magistrate, forti-
fied even though it be by the iiiformotion of ally
individual on oath, however timid, or however re-
spectable. Now all writers present at the Man-
chester Meeting, eves those who communicated
the occurrences to the Ministerial Papers, concur
in stating, that the assembly disulryed the insist
exemplary good order and decorum—and although
in consequence of the lesson which has since beets
given, some of the writers for the Mitustesial Pa-
pers now assert that the people flung stones at
the cavalry tic fore these redoubled heroes plyed
their swords (having until this attack on the part
of the people been satisfied with the execution
done by their horses' feet), it cautiot be contradict-
ed that the first breach of the peace, and conse-
quently the first act of riot, was committed by the
Nlencliester yeuinuory cavalry.
From this statement of the facts, as they may
be collected loom every account of that meleicholy
transaction hitherto published, it is ett defttly of no
consequence whether Me Riot Act was read or riot ;
because the mere reading of that Act could not of
itself change u peaceable and legal ineetiog into
tiotoua assembly ; and as we know that every penal
statute must he construed strictly, it follows the,
if the assembly was lint flOitli" the perro/ conse-
quences of the st.itate cannot be brought into opera-
tion. lint the contradictory and inconsistetit ac-
counts published upon this paint iii the Jimrtiala
devoted to the Alagistratts, convict those whom it
is iioeittled to defend. At first we heard nothing
shout the motile: of the Rest Act from the hfli-
oirierisl Papers, instil the omission of thir prelimi-
nary required by law to the dispersion of a riotous
assembly was noticed by those who titiotoght souse
explanatiou of so rush and cruel a measure necessary.
loistructions were then transmitted to ." Ciares•
pondents" its Misitche.ter, requtrieg them to renew
their memories; sad these. gentlemen most cern-
plaisoutly determined. ill roll cry, that the Riot
Act bad been read. This, however, was slot suf.
ficient ; for the lapse of an hour was known to be
necessary he wren the reeding of the Act and the
application of force; and eitifertimately not above
twenty minutes elapsed between the arrival of
Mr. HUNT sud the actual charge of the cavalry.—
To remedy this daculty, it was nest determined
that the Riot Act bad hem reed at least forty mi-
nutes before HOOT'S appearance, to which if the
twee/ minutes'. it have noticed be added, we have
the fall hour required by the Act. But here, ue-
fortunately, soother digest/ ateorred, in the
shape of a plassp cootredietioss &decade from
another part of their own story ; for we were assured
that HUNT and his empaitiona were married, not
for any offence comiuitted lit the MtetillZ, hut by
virtue of warrants previously mode out against
them—und it was nailed, wilt all the force soul
vigour of italics. that the military power advasiceil
in the first instance solely for the purpose of eel.
aiding the civil potcer to erectile a civil process.—
Nor, if this he the truth, there was no necevaity of
reading the Riot Act, because the military acted
not against the Meeting, but itgaitost Dusty, and
the dispersion of the Meeting was but a collateral
eircuinstauce. The Editor of Wheeler's Man-
chester Chronicle, endeavouring, we presume, to

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