The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-04 00:00:00

THE BRISTOL RIOTS.

(Prom the Times Correspondent.)
ht:stl -•• .4 • BRISTOL, -THURSDAY MORNING, Nov. 3.
' In -the course of yesterday I continued to make
• careful inquiry among persons of different political
• • parties, especially among individuals who, neither
by position nor inclination, were at all likely to alter
facts to suit particular opinions, and I feel fully
-warranted in saying, that. not the slightest circum-
stance has transpired from which it can be inferred
that the late enormities originated in any question of
politics.. I shall therefore' take leave of this point,
until it comes to be fully elucidated in evidence be-
fore the tribunal appointed to try the rioters.
tr is, however, matter of very general convic-
tion, that but for the Recorder's untimely entrance
into the city, these black events would not have
occurred. -Sir Charles Wetherell's headlong oppo-
sition to the Reform Bill, and his gross misappre-
hensioa of public sentiment regarding it, had ren-
dered him in the last degree odious to the people
of Bristol. This feeling—known to every body--
afforded a pretext to the robbers and incen-
diaries, of which, brutish though they were,
they well knew how to avail themselves. The un-
called-tor concentration of the military in the neigh-
bourhood also served to create an irritation in the
winds of the citizens. A vacillating Magistracy,
and a constabulary force without strength, or pruS
deuce, or organization, completed the catalogue of
disastrous contingencies and ill-concocted plans
The inhabitants now seem as if they were awaking
from a hideous dream. They ask themselves, how
was it possible that such things could have occurred,
and shame and anger almost efface the impressions
of the dire calamity. No wonder that they should
give way to these emotions, when they reflect on
the fatuity which permitted a handful of ruffian
boys, drunken porters, and abandoned women to
perpetrate diabolical excesses, attended by a pro-
digal waste of life, and a destruction of property
amounting, at a minimum valuation, to 400,000/.,
—excesses, too, which might have extended much
farther, and which cast a shade on the moral dignity
that has long been the proudest attribute of the
English nation.

The ordinary police of the city, under competent
management, was amply sufficient to repress a much
more formidable tumult than that which produced
such terrible results. The rabble that went to attack
the county gaol did not exceed a hundred, and of
the number very few had attained the age of man-
hood. The that blow was given to the prison gate
by a boy who was hardly strong enough to raise the
hammer with which he struck. Even where the
ravages have been grea'est, the plunderers were in-
capable of meeting a determined show of resistance.
Three gentlemen armed with pokers, repelled the at-
tempt to burn a house in Queen's-square. Had the
constables at the Mansion-bou,e maintained a firm
and resolute front, instead of rushing upon the mob,
needlessly exciting exasperation, it is the general opi-
nion that nothing would have occurred to shake the
public tranquillity.
Individuals who speak very favourably of the
Mayor's personal worth, concur in censuring his
public conduct. They pronounce him deficient in
the nerve necessary to provide for perilous erner-
gencie;. I have heard various instances of remiss-
ness cited against the city Magistrates. At half-
past ten o'clock on Sunday morning they issued
band-bills, requestingthe attendance of the citi-
zens at the Guildhall to co-operate with them for
the restoration of order. My respectable informant
attended accordingly at twelve o'clock, but no Ma-
-s,tistrate made his appearance ; and, on inquiry, he
was told that the Mayor and Council were engaged
:n deliberation. He and others consequently with-
drew. A troop of yeomanry cavalry had been sum-
moned from Sodbury—a place about eleven miles
distant. They entered the city, but, finding no Ma-
gistrate to direct them, they took some refresh-
ment and rode back. A detachment of the 3d
dragoons, under similar circumstances, retired dur-
ing the assault on the New Prison. - Unable to act
for want of legal authorit3, the soldiers returned the
sheers of the rabble, in order to escape a shower of
missiles. The 14th dragoons were withdrawn on
Sunday, to be succeeded by this party of twenty
men, who were less offensive to the mob.

The Mayor and Corporation owe it to themselves
and their fellow-citizens to offer an early explana-
tion of their apparent supineness. The subject was
brought before a meeting held at the Commercial-
rooms yesterday. A resolution was passed calling
for inquiry, and regecting strongly on the Magi-
stracy. Mr. Samuel Waring proposed thiia re-
quisition should be drawn up, requesting the sub-
scribers to the rooms to meet for the purpose of
petitioning the Government to institute an invesd
gation into the conduct of the civic authorities dur
ing the late disturbances. The proposition was
adopted unanimously, and the meeting will be held
at twelve o'clock to-day.
A gentleman who has taken the trouble to ascer-
tain the fact states, that not one 101. householder
was to be found among the persons apprehended
yesterday for having in their possession property
plundered during the riots. These prisoners are
the very offal of the city—inmates of the stews of
Marsh-street, with some vagabonds from the country.
A great quantity of the plunder has been recovered,
and is deposited in the Exchange.
Correct particulars of the riots are contained in the
Bristol Mercury of Tuesday.

A General Officrr arrived from London on Tues-
day, and assumed the military command of the town.
Throughout the whole of this harassing service the
troops have acquitted themselves extremely well. lii
addition to the soldiers of the line there are four
troops of Somersetahire Yeomanry Cavalry on duty.
Trade, which was previously very dull at this port,
has been greatly paralysed by the alarm which has
prevailed.

(From tie Bristol Gazette of yesterday.)

. .
Upon inquiry of M.-. Richard Smith, who was
surgeon of the week at the Infirmary, we learn that
on Saturday evening four persons were received
with sword wounds, one shot through the lungs.—
In anticipation of the probable consequences, every
possible preparation was made during the night for
the accommodation of, and attention to, casualties,
which the house would afford. On Sunday, in the
forenoon, eight persons were brought in succesion,
with gun-shot wounds. With the exception of one
man, who was struck with a ball which had passed
over the river, all were under twenty years of age,
and one only twelve years old, chiefly from St.
Philip's. They had been fired upon by the rear-
guard of the cavalry, near St. Augustine's church,
in College-green, or in an attack upon the billets in
the Boar's Head-yard, to which the soldiers had
been ordered to retreat. On Monday the wounded
began to pour in, nearly all cut by the sword se-
verely, either in the face, neck, or head. In a great
many of the !atter cases the sabre had slashed en-
tirely through the hat into the skull, so that some
will probably terminate fatally. That these were
actually rioters there can be no doubt, as many were
athletic stout fellows, with plundered articles in
their possession, and in the highest state of excite•
ment from liquor. One lad was shot through the
body, and is since dead; as also a woman, who en-
tered the house in Queen-square, for the purpose of
theft, and being caught by the flames was burnt in
a dreadful manner. Mr. Smith's week ended at
twelve o'clock on Monday, by which tome there had
been sixty-four casualties, and Mr. lletling, who
succeeded him, had several more during the day. A
great many persons were brought to the house in the
most wretched state of intoxication, so that they ap-
peared almost lifeless. One actually died, but the
rust had the liquor removed from the stomach by the
pump, and were the next day taken away by their
friends. It was chiefly rum which they had drunk,
probably at the Custom-house.
'/-1,..(:( A tWa learn that the medical gentlemen, by making
c--.-1 '?:.•-...• • ' kts of all the convalescent and minor cases
-'
.. -k-4. ei?\care, and by the help of the new build-
. ju .!1414" , . e other arrangements, have been en-
- t 1 . this emergency in a s3tisfactor7 man-
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