The National Register.
London, England, 1819-10-11 00:00:00

No. 218—VoL. XII.]

Valitical iletrospect.

THE great mass of evidence, furnished by a host
of witnesses, on the Coroner's Inquest still sitting
on the body of John Leo', we sincerely hope has
been attentively read by every man in England;
and it' there be any man who has read it, and can
still approve the foul deeds of blood with which it is
connected, that man deserves no more the name
either of Briton or of Christian, but ought to be
doomed to wear the chains he loves, and if he mur.
mur at the ignominy or weight of such a burden, to
be instantly etastised by the sabre of some Loyal
Yeoman. The Foreman of the Jury has already
expressly declared his satisfaction, and that of his
brethren, unless the evidence already brought for-
ward shall be refitted, that " the Riot Act had not
been publicly read, and that the Meeting was quiet
and peaceable until the Cavalry charged." Day by
day thus goes on confirming their enormity, as it
also does adding fresh details of horror and cruelty
to these transactions, till pity and indignation
scarcely find any • limits in the breast of every re-
flecting and impartial person. Yes truth and justice
are mighty in strength, and we hope will still pre-
vail. lint whilst we thus go on more and mere
eacouragod by that sense of wrong, wrong of the
blackest and most atrocious character, having been
committed, becoming every hour stronger and more
Universal, we turn round with a melancholy
pang of reflection to see part of the County, not
we trust careless and indifferent upon such a sub-
ject, but yet sliming none of those open and avowed
manifestations of abhorrence which are so loudly
called for. No question has arisen of so notch im-
portance since the days of the Revolution, no attack
so shameless and daring upon the most sacred rights of
a free people has been made for more than 100 years
past, and yet, on a point, and at a moment,
which threatens to level at once the proudest barrier
of the Constitution, and to place the life of every
man at the disposal of a relentless military despo-
tism, we sit as if all were peace and harmony and
joy. The battle is not yet at our doors, Manches-
ter is two or three hundred miles from us, and
the whirlwind and the storm we seem to think can
never reach us. But beware, we yet implore you,
how you leave others to suffer unpitied and unre-
vengcd. The cause we plead is yours. Can
rLlnks‘a.e cruelty and iniquity stalking with gigantic
strides, their laws trampled under foot, and the
very semblance of their Constitution no longer left
them, and yet lift up no voice against these mon.
strous doings! ! ! If so, then farewell freedom and
fir( wc:l hope, farewell every blessing which sweet..
ens the cup of life. The lethilrgy of death is indeed
upon us, ail we hasten on the crisis by our own
::q.inettess. Is anarchy and revolution your dread?
if the perpetrators of foul murders arc to go un-
punished, if a lawless banditti are to attack a
peaceable and unofFentling people, anarchy and re-
volution are begun already, and we call on you not
to join in but to stop its madness. If a spirit of
delicacy towards your Rulers, and a blind confidence
io their integrity be your feelings, remember they
have shewn no delicacy towards you. Remember
with what breathless haste they ran to approve the
s:aughter cf your fellow-sotjects, and to sanction
by st..eh approval any similar attack which may be