The National Register.
London, England, 1819-11-07 00:00:00

TILE NATIONAL REGISTER.

recoinnienelettou of the High :Sheriff, and should abstain
I noshing easy thing that appealed to him irrelevant,
or calcaleted to intlame the public mind in the lightest
dottier. buoy indeed ehould lie be to tomb upon any
thing that Should have a tendency to totlanse the public
; bill even if los were so town/icily dispueed, he
knew et nothing ell t could be said or done %loch could
'Mow the public mind into a greater foment than that
into which it had been thrown by the simple statemeeur ton
the question which had led to tbe present meeting. That
question was simply this—whether the people of .imgland
were to contmue to enjoy their liberties, under the safe
gnat d and security tot the written law of the land: or
seemlier, alien last ally assembled, %Orland riot cr tumult,
to exert:tie their nano% iedged arsd inalienable right of
petitioning, us of reilinUalioting out their gi set alleys, real
or rupposed, they were to be subject to the will and a •
pace ul usagiestruiv., alto, acting nude' the iothience of
their owls inissublett jusiginint, os in hose sub.ersieucy
the Alititstets ul the S.:rooms, shall put.aside the forms of
lass, sand at their pleasme tot der the niiiitary to sabre, cut,
and ride through a crowd ut unarmed and defeueeless
siren, woolen, and clititireu. (Applause, and tries of
He could assure them, that what lie was saying
was 'milting mare than a Wt statement of facts, and that
he could louse the teat' el* every syllable which he had
as-a, tied. indeed. he was too sensibly :slanted at the state
of the country to Glib to inflame or ii mutate the public, mind.
Disi lug The ;:ti eerie. of his political life, and no one would
drily ant they had been full of great and important events)
he never line seen their rights and liberties exposed to daugess
like twee n Lich menaced them at the present moment; ne.
ver bud he seen loweriog over the nation a storm so dark
and ler census, to hoist; never did lie see (for he mast say
the word,) never did lie see revolution so near before.
When he looked around him, .and saw molls* but geuetal
o brute and nth onduct on the .part of the Government;
(appiause and hisses;) when he saw such a man as Lord
filen illsans„ st tuaii veuerahle for h.s age and for his viitues
dismissed from the Liewtenancy of the vs eat Riding of York•
shirt, for no tither reason ataigueti, or pietended to be
signed, but that he had thought iuquiry ut cesoary into nu
spearelit bie.am of the commutes!' ; whet he saw an at-
tempt made lu degrade such a nom us Lord Vitas+ illiam—an
attempt, us ha-ls ai the smite tune It'll it honoured him, re.
Coiled toil the beads of his enemies from a bum it proceeded ;
a lieu lies this illusir.liu, individual, the commis ince of
y hose es lime lute had been one continued proof of loyalty
and fidelity to his King, degraded, (loud cries el " Nu; hu-
moured"); he be,,,ged pa. tion,attempted to b.: degraded, for
proinutii.l; hen, non, than tbis he saw an ad-
dition of 10,000 sueu about to be made to the standing army,
foe the almost opeely avowed he 'eight say, for the impudeut
ly avow ed pas, pose of keepiug Joy ii the people; wheo he saw
a determiusition on the pail of .111:.tsicrs to combat public
opium'', not by argument, Out by moderation, not by couci-
has ion mist good government, hut to put It down with the
sword and bayonet; %Altus he saw al. tins, (aud lie cuuld as
sure them that all Sins Was fact), it required but little petit.-
tuition on Ms pint in say, that such -late sit things could
ashi last 'slug, and that dwelt a cuuree were persevere cl in,
revoluaitio dant be at hautl. (Hear,. hear, mire:Jed with
loud cites of "shame," which occasioned louder hunt of
applause trout the multitude iii the hail.) He had said
nothing sit which .he either was or ou,:lit to he ashamed.
(Loud cheers.) Revolution, he repeated it, Was nem at
hand; hat twitter it was to proceed (ruin the encroach-
ments or a deep,' .c Governmem, or from the uuiuly dispo-
all • ;flee peopie,olle.eiww not. Rath were to be equally
el-preestted ; i n.l sore lie .w as, that if lute firs. ebou7d coati-
uu«, the wood you d assuredly follow—that despotism ens
the part of 11. e M teistrn mould nut fail to produce tin bu
e on the part of the people, (Cheers.) 1 his, it has
to tie, _vs as but the opinion of a single individual, in which
there was no inure valve than there was rvoliOii its whet he
said : .stah, however, at it was, it was most sincerely his,
,and be now stood .forivaid assaiouv to impress it on list.
public mind, testi seas his firm eonvietiop, that nothing could
yard lei th; impeuding danger, nothing could save the
country final resolution, anarchy, and bloodshed, but the
Whiou of fewer tobilny and character throughout the noun-
to y -of Intss, such as bad signed the present requisition—of
men, who terse ready to put themselves before the people,
and to say to them, s• Here use are, your friends, ready to
stand in the gap netw et n the misrule of tioverinuent on the
our side, and toe wild current of popular licentiousness mos
the otber"—of men, who were determined to prevent, byall
the coustitutishisal means in their power, any infringemeut
on the rights and privileges of the subject—and of mess,
ea,er at all times to atticit to late distresses and even the
wishes of the poor, us tar as that could he done consistently
with the well-tieing of the state. (Loud m beers.) VS he-
tiler he was or was not acting under a mistaken opinion,
the meeting would be best able to judge;
.use thing at least
he knew—that he was acting with a sincerity which no
man living could impeach. (Cheer,.) Acting. thee, with
that sincerity which he proleitied, he now came fore/aid tip •
on those true Whig press:hides, wnich of late yenta bad
been out of favour a ith the Crown, mad Misunderstood by
the people, but from which neither the from a of the Court
n.hr the orgies t of the country could ever induce hint and
his is imeL to saner. Standing forward nu those pain, spies,
he should always hr as ready to observe treat wan due to the
just prerogative of the Crown as he should he to defeud what
was due to the fair rights of the people, since it was equally
the duty of every homiest Enalisintran to defend the Croilli
front the IllaillNss of the peaple, es it was the people crow
the microacluumits of the Cron u, or any other pone, what-
soever. (I,:heers ) to dem% the duty which hail been im-
posed on unto, he had a complaint to make of a mpst vitro-
ordilarim nature : it was, tout OM he had out sutticient to
make list a „case. but that his case was too busing fur him.
Hr should always wish, if postage, to ovoid Whining the.
Maids of the people; but here the bare recital 01 the facts
could lute but in souse slog,-ee produce such all etlrcl aa it Iwo
any comumat or statemeut from him. Atiel her thing wee-
thy of their attention was, that, state the case us he might,
nothing could equal the impression which the naked facts
Isere calculated to create. Against, then, all situ weight
of reasoning. mailing for inquiry, he could not lied any thing
like one solid argument. Failing in this completely at
Lune, he bad looked abroad fur as nadOln j and w here could
Ise loon n. it better than in the notable tied:teat ion of that
c.s •iiire sad looked wilt some care into the document so
coded, but .ve n there he found no /Melillot at def.:flee. No
aileniot was there made to any the meeting was illegal; no
:attempt to say, that any tweak Was committed by rise
people. Nu, those n ler sent forth the declaration could
slot tell such a story; neither could they attempt to say ally
thing to justify or excuse the conduct of the alagietrates
nil the Yeomanry. Surely, then, that must Ise a had cause
delLuce of whi. h net a single syllable could be advauced.

NOV 7

(Cheers.) Then however, as if to help it out, eame I:Or-
ward some person with a most lively imaginatime a 'met
happy ingenuity, and hit upon the word " prejudgitig." It
was a good word : it was a clap-Trap which pet haps might
take I if it did not, they had iii. other, and theiefore Thee
were obliged to use it, and work it hi the bite was they
possibly could: null worked it they had to the very hest of
th it power and ability. Proceedings lies the pressed were
rdiainatitied as prejudging a question about to be tries :
"'lacy were hareh, (Fey were premature, tlity were hostile
to the trial by Jury. and were aii indecorous infringement
on the impartial admitsistration of jostler." If they had
been co, he could assure them that he would bare been as
ready to disapprove of them us any of the dechirationists,
and was as ready to sign a declaration' to that effect as the
drum-major of the Norfolk Militia could he, or as the young.
est (hummer aAu ever put his mark to the same sort of
isti unmet ; but though the deciarutiuts of such tontine ads as
ithstrate truths were good, a here its this ease was the appli-
cation of them ? In the name of cominnti seise, or, if son
will, iu the name of double-relined sophistry, how could a
mere proposition for inquiry be tortured into prejudging of
the case to be inquired into/ (Loud cheers.) The noel-
Lord then pruceeeed to bay, that having made these Meier.
tedious on the Norwich des hit-aeon, it became his duty in
intioduce to the notice of the meeting a paper a hich had
been suboequently published, and a hic h wasentitled "Ob-
servations on the Nuns ice 1/velaratiou e' and so perfect no
mailer, Si, complete it refutation did it coition, Of that pro-
duction, that he would not lessen the strength of the aram
meats by any ob creations of his own.
The noble Eat! then read the following document to the
meeting:—
" It is not a little extraordinary that the Norwich Declaration,
on the subject of the proceedings at Manchester, should have
been so largely signed; and signed by men of judgment, sense.
and reflection. One past of it is. indeed, unexceptionable; for
every thinking person must agree in the opinion, that vast we
senitolies of uneducated people are very ill adapted for effectual
deliberation on questions connected with law, morals, or pole
fiat ; that such assemblies are. in odaer• respects, greatly to be
deprecatul ; and that the attempts which certain individuals
appear to be making, to instil into the minds of the lower order,
seditieus aad blasphemous notions, are, in the highest deenete
worthy of reprobation.
" But let me inquire of my fellow-citizens, whether thee
truths aflord any real justiflcatten of the violence which, on the
16th of August, took place at Manchester, under the sanction of
the magistrates; or of the manner in which that violence has
issec been countenanced by still higher authority.
" It is acknowledged, that some of the facts, connected with'
that mournful day, are not, at present certainly known. The
statements contained in the public prints have varied (according
to the political bias if the journalists) as to some of the minor
particulars of the awe. But, alas! how flinch is ascertained !
It is ascertained that an armed body of Cavalry attacked
the assembled multitude. It is tocertained that these merciless
citizen soldiers ninde a free me of their sabre. It is ascertained
that men and women were alike the victims of their indiscrine.
nate cruelty. It is ascertained that several individuals lust their
lives, and that a large number of persons were severely wounded.
It is ascertained that Englishmen imbrued their hands in the
blood of Englishmen. is ascertained that the Secretary of
State for the Dome Department, in the mane and on behalf of
the Prince Regent, addressed a public letter of thanks to the
officers and privates of the Manchester Yeomanry, by whom
this sleughter had been so ably effected !
" It is in dispute, whether the Riot Act hail or bad not been
read. It is in dispute, whether some of the multitude were et
were not armed with sticks and others with stones. It ii in
dispute, whether any movocetion had es/ had not been rectittNl
by the Yeomanry, before they commenced their butchery. But
will any one be bold enough to assert that the reading of the
Riot Act is reading wholly inaudible to the people, aad nut
called for by the circumstantr4 of the case)—that insulting lee
gouge—that even sticks and stones—afforded a reasonable et-
cuse for bloodshed and massacre ? _

" It is possible that taare may have existed some circumstan-
ces of a palliating nature. It is right thet these eircutristaccts
should be known; it is right also to withhold the language rt
final condenination, until they have been inquired into. The
demand of the people ought undoubtedly be for inquiry—A);
investigation—fur trial. Notwitlmanding. the many dreadful
facts which had been ascertained; I am of opinion that this should
have been the leading, perhaps the only object of the mcctir.g
lately held in St. Andrew's.hall. But the charge of prejedg-
ment, which forms the principal point in the Declaration, a.
nevertheless extremely absurd; and for a plain reason, namely,
that there is no trial of the case pending.
" An outrage, which appears to be of the most atrocious kind.
has been committed. Nobody denies the fact. Ministers base
nut only approved but applauded that outrage. The people en'
plain of it. They do not linally condemn, but they arraign. aid
loudly arraign, the Magistrates of Manchester, and the :%lint,-
ters of the Crown. he declaration wisely informs us, ties
" The case, which involves the characters and conduct of mese
gentlemen. may be considered as in a 'course of trial." This a
entirely false. The case, I repeat, is not in a course of trial.
The question, whether Hunt and his Runtimes be guilty or not
guilty of sedition, has absolutely no connection with the main
question. The conduct of the Magistrates, and of the Ministers,
is under laa tribunal whatever, but the tributuilof public opinion.
Let these gentlemen, then, be arraigned they ought to be
arraigned—undisputed facts require it; let them, by smite metes
or other, be brought to . a trial before dui: country. list
A. inquiry" and " investigation" be the demand of every En''-
likhnual, until inquiry and investigation shall have .rou:.ily
taken place ; and when that great object shall have been effceteu,
it will then be the time foe both Whigs and for Tories to acquit,
if they are not compelled to condemn.
The Noble Lord then resumed.--Nothing could le^ more
complete than this SWIM er. Not au arument could, for
moment, he opposed to it, for the best of all possible tea-
sons—the asl ,lions could sit be controverted. The tact
ant, that thee." was sin cause pending: justice had been
asked for, but justice had been denied ? the tribmial. had
been appealed to, but the tribunals had beefy shut aga,ind
the injured. It might be said of justice iu this case, in Me
words of the poet—
" The Spanish fleet thou canst not see,
" For 'tis not yet its sight !"
(Loud laughter). But then, say seine of the advocates ea
the other side, "There is a case of a Coroner's Inquest at
Oldham." Ile begged pardon of those gentlemen, their
was each 31 ease; but the person presiding. over that imp.;
had, some how or ntlier, Conte into contact with the
times itt 111,torMster, and therefore wished to have v
little snug law of his own : for after a long invesiigaiMs,
what hail lie thought fit us Ju i Why, he aMourned Cie
inquest for sly weeks. He was not mach ~f a law) er I lull he
knew that •urn ilditbur iiiii ent was, if not , nut nary to the
at least coatrai y to u.e practice of it ; for if the Coroi,er
had the power in adjourn 'turn( t; eeks, he had Ilse miner to
adjouru for sic mouths Laid for eves 4 told Blur 111011 ;1' a"Y
time defeat the lan, m iibedience to those whom he t Aid
his superiors. But even in doing this be latul hero unfoilu-
nate : whey there teas but one argument on w high the sup-
porters of lee Mauciiestcy luuLifiliate'i noted tb6r c""ces

NOV. 7.

it,. I, at taavii ii (anti tams), au 1 he had thus given to their
oppouents o•ie which VOW 1601 •• • answered t fur had hr lint
h, his ass. as.. 'titres shown tile iece:sny —the undelitatite
nee, -say a hies eta-led for iliftilintaa a full mid tree lier ry
lathe I'•tliamrnt of the nation? such tin bawls, wont
not matte. was II likely that this Coroner would ever :wet
with Ilits pnaislimeist a Inch seemed hen? Ile thitueht
it W.O unto ro, they could hardly suppose hal, if the
iaquiry was left to they would direct the Atioreey
tie.ierol to prosecute tine of Clete awn creotures. (Cli-ers.)
Ilia then 11 r. Hunt was under trial. Ibis, however, dui
out affect the case of the magistr aria fur whether he was
guilty, or %%briber he nut not, was 3 ear instance ..at at all
eitimactial with the present question. It anglit be possible
that he might be esaivictsd ? yet would that justify the
sabring of helpless women and unarmed children P To him
it appeared Out a and f every view alai hhe butt been
able to take of the mares. it seemed as if lii line of conduct
',armed on that memorial c °maim' hod been the remit of
previous deliberatiun. Ile would tell them his I commit for
~,haaag so. Mr. Hunt had got wind of the 'mended meg-
wro, avid had odared to surrender hativlf to the magistrates
—but what was their contact ? a it arrant against
lain, 'and they refused to exit ute it ? The reason anis, it
did tint suit their purposes. The intention was tip britste the
people by arrestma ham before their faces; stud perhaps. I no,
Me) had been ordered to do so by the higher powers. This
ought particularly to he imposed into (Applause.) The
uoble Lord then proceeded nice more to continent on the
011 prejudgiag," and asked from what (iaster the ex-
pression had emanated. Why, with a very modest grace
nen itaurauce, it came from the supporters of that Minis-
try oho hod prejudged the Meeting with a vengeance.—
who, thought it took place on the 16th, did not hesitate to
give their approbation t s the Magistrates on the 21st. It.
OAS wilt til while 10 look at the relative sitiantiuns of the
parties. The proceedings tool: place, at ,:tliinchester, the
Ministers were ill Lomita, ; hnJ the Prince Regent was at
sea. It was just possible that, with flaa horses, active
vers, and favouriog wind and tide, the use of the sacred name
of Majesty had been authorized by the Prince Regent him-
self. lie, however, did not believe that sueh wits the case,
and this affair, ought, in his opinion, to he sifted to the hot-
tom. If it should turn out to be true that his Royal High-
ness had authorized his name to be used, it wan hit opinion
that it had been in: nropei ly placid in the hands of Ministers,
and ha them fatally turned against the Jibe/tics of the peo-
ple. *All those he was then untiressitig.were aware. that io
the course of the last Summer many meetings had been held
on the subject of Parliumentary 'afore', at .most of which
Mr. Hunt had presided. The quessiun of reform was not
us %itch he thought of great important e, which ought to he
discussed at a proper (lint . read such ilitrrosion he would hold
himself ready to attend : but be thought that it ought to he
kept distinct front the buoiciess of this day. Where it was
met, it °gala to he met with moderation, by conciliation,
and by good guver iiiii rut, and ant to be put down by the
sword and the bayonet. He begged pardon for this iligi es-
sion, and was again proceeding to cuttinie••t on the 1111T11111$
inert hugs held oil the subject ut reform ilitriiie the test Sum-
mer, a hen he again, asked leave of the meetieg to make alms
digression, lie thought it requisite, that those ..who enter-
tained sentiments similar to hia own ought to stand upon the
strength of their owe character, and ought to declare that
their cause was not the cause of Mr. Hunt. Their cause was
the cause of the people—was the cause of the constitution;
they, the requisitionists, were oat the supporters of revolu-
tionary principles who approved the attempt to dverade and
level the aucieut hereditary. nobility of the land; those acre
the supporters of revolutionary pH's( ittiesas who a ere for put-
ting (loan all opinion by the force of arms. Ilui to come
mice more t othe point; at one of the various meetings fir
reform, he alluded to that in Smithfield, where Hunt was in
the sham /garrison bad been arrested by his side. This was
a circumstance necessary to be recollected, as it was the
contour *cement of the prrsent systian. liarrisou, he wished
to impress it oat their minds, was arrested and take', by the
.police from the side of Heat, in the presence of tie people,
at a time when their passions mint naturally be in a coral-
derable state of ferment. Why, he would ask, was he
arrested there? Why aid he not arrested before? Why
was he not arrested after ? Was he arrested then order to
dare the meeting to tumult, in older to furnish Government
with grounds for introducing new gagging bills, and again
suspending the Habeas Corpus Am In thireinstance he
could not thick that the Lord Mayor of London acted from
himself? his tan mace-hearer would give him better advice.
Nu; the act proceeded from the collective wickedness of his
Alajesty*ii Ministers; he said so, because. it bore the stamp
of their iiiefficacy. Well, as Honiara, watt-arrested without
any riot, or tumult, nn opportunity was carefully souahlafter,
in which they might be entitled to act with greater vigour;
and this opportunity was not lone wanted. In a very short
interval after the Smithfield meeting, a meeting was called at
Manchester, to consider of electieg a Legislatorial Amalie'',
or some such nonsense. This meeting was prohibited by
the Magistrates; and. in consiquence, it wars given up.—
Another meetitig wits called for a different object, and this
not being prohibited by the Maistrates. Wafts to be assumed
that they tacitly sanctioned it. Great ;timbers of persons
met, to exercise the Englishman'.- inalienable right of peti-
tioning for a redress of grievances. Mr. Hunt appear•
ed among them, and hait eso sooner rec iiiii weaned
them to be orderly sod quiet, than the Yearn:airy were let
loose against them, and fill on them with their minis, and
ith Such mistaken zeal, t bat their first victim was a con-
stable, who *as kil'ed. in the discharge of Ids duty. Hut
here he cautiously stopped, for lie would not go into the de-
tail of the dreadful proceedings of that tinfortusiate day.—
When the nand of man is d twisted by tiny act of dark and
dais • g crueller, it naturally turns fantod in quest of some
circumstance, of alleviation or justification. The minds of
the people of England had looked around for such alleeia. ion
Biel such justifit mien; but alleviation and justification (icy
found noise, Nothing hos been e%en said in pollutant' of it.
Ten weeks had passed. and yet no pretext had been got up
,sore of illegality and tanstet. It had, indeed, been said, tout
the people came in military array, herniae they marched
two and two. This the drum-boys of Norfolk hud doneas hen
• they Went lit rian the Wald declaration. It was mid, the
petitioners had marched witis a military step: so he 11 ith
SUM the tiruinsboy* did. (A laugh.) 'lsm litany melt were
how, as might tie expected, aceustomea. to a military App,
after a 26 yea's' oar, and 1110 Many miiiatry witious were
sinful tunati•ly preeateat its the cou.ary. But the Riot Art
was read t line pelatiti ,4,t,19 at is as read, Lind 150,Cre '.t it
wail not mai at MI) rate the hoot ahit•lt the lan
humanity i elapse it meeting ti he d •
perwa by violeoce, had toil clopsi u w hill ills d.,,

was made up llte mullitti o. rat CN ell b.
there r%.is a tumult, that 'lie !tint .Irt waol

hour hail chime.' etti r it, reading by a
clock lu ft:tact:Mater, and that the ottel'iv;

ttel VI 0