The Sun.
London, England, 1819-09-10 00:00:00

tion of power. Tt certainly give+ a power to Mai.
r...,,istrates which it is unsafe to lodge in such hands
—a power so liable to abuse, that, however ne-
cessary it might have been when it was enacted,
or however necessary at a subsequent perioi—it
was treated by many of tile best and wisest thvit
in the country as a roost dangerous instrumeot.
I hOpe I shall not be considered as trespassiug on
the time of the Court, if I refer them to the direc-
tions laid down in this Act, because theirjodgments
will he More properly guided by an appeal to the
Act itself than by any representations or mine.
For the intortnation of the Magistrates, this Act
is printed et large amongst those statutes which
are intended for the direction of the Corpora-
tion.—(The worthy Alderman here proceeded to
read extracts from the Riot Act, which, in substance
declared, that, where an illegal, riotous, and tu-
multuous assembly, consisting, of twelve or more
persons, met together, the Magistrates were to
go amongst the rioters, or as near to them as pos-
sible, and proclaim silence, in a loud voice, until
proclamation was made to them to disperse—
with ‘vhich, it they did not comply within an boor,
they were to be taken into custody, and subject
to punishment for a capital felony,)--Ile proceed-.
ed to argue, that it was evident that the intention
,of this Act was not to interrupt individuals in the
exercise of any known.or constitutional right, but
applied to meetings of a certain description, viz.
meetings illegally convened ,or, whencalled together,
acting riotously and tumultuously. In this Act
there was no mention made of the military.—
However necessary it might be, in some cases,
where the lives of the Magistrates were in danger,
to have recourse to the military power, there was
not throughout the Act the slightest notice of
them. it was the Civil Authority, and that alone,
that must act, lie went On to animadvert on the
charge made by the Yeomanly Cavalry, at the
very mot»ent that the hustings were sot routoled,
and the persons on them had surrendered. The
dash of the cavalry was extolled by the creatures
of the Minister as a great military achievement,
and it was tauntingly observed,
_that the people
were dispersed, because happily there. was no Al-
derman Waithnian present to inspire the people
with contempt for the Magistracy.—This was
saying, in other words, that there was no per-
son present who could restrain the impetuosity of
the Yeomanry. The Won thy Alderman then aO-
ver ed to the Meetings at Smithfield, which were
suffered to assemble and to separate without mo-
lestation. If these were legal (and they had beets
declared so by by the first law authorities in the
country, and by the Secretary of State himself,)
that which assembled at Manchester, he contehd-
ed, was equally so. Wherever the people had
met, they had conducted themsrlves peaceably,
though in general without the e!!endeece and stip-
port of those who formerlyattended their meetings.
So delicate were some persons of allowing the peo-
ple to judge for themselves, that on a subject triton
which they ought to he peculiarly able to jodge,
namely, the mode in which a items, tax would at-
feet them, they were not thought by their Chief
Magistrate to have sense or discretion enough to
consider such a subject, or even competent to give
instructions to their, own representatives. if„
said he, even mischief on any occasion did anise;
from popular meetings, on whom, nosy I ask,
ought the responsibility of such mischief to fall ?
On whom but those who threw the people Olt
their own resources for the expression of their
grievances ? On the il.l.igistrates, who will not,
as the ought, icS,llly convene the people together,
and
.on the Goverement, who seem to encourage
those.Magistates to throw every difficulty in the
way of the people in the expression of their
grievances. Ili the Res.lotions which I brava
prepared for this occasion, 1 have taken :he most
studious pain, the utmost care, no avoid every
thing which could be considered 101 l y.
It grievances do exist among the people, and if
the people, in their mode of seeking iedress, mis-
take the proper means, 1 do submit to the sense
and candour of any honest man, whether it would
not be much better to allay those grievances by
the operation of time, and the intervention ut
conciliatory conduct, and by !be efforts of persons
of rack and fortune, and of rise Goverumenr, to
-
ameliorate the condition of the sufferers. It the
opinion of those alluded to should be, that many of
those grievances were imagivary, and that for such
as were real, the people had mistaken the remedy,
nevertheless, 1 drink it would better become those
in power to be kind to people whom they thought
were deluded to alter their opinions by mildness
and considerate forbearance, that) to exasperate
their passions and outrage-their feelings, by mee• ing
them with open avowed hostility, and dispersing
them by violence and bloodshed.• That can never
have the effect of briuging about the won I; of

peace ; it must create evil—it never can eticcE

good.

Tbe Worthy Alderman concluded his speech by
moving a string of Resolutions, declaratory of the
right of the People to meet to petition for .the re-
dress of public grievances, and describing the,
Meeting at Manchester to have been peaceable,
and the conduct of the Magistrates reprehensible
and illegal, -and prorosi!!l.: !!at an Address should
be presented to the Prince Regent, calling on his
Royal Flightless to institute an ioquiry into the
proceedings, with a view of bringing the guilty
perpetrators of the acts there .committed to coA-
tlign punishment.—( Vide the Resoluti,ms• at the
conclusion of the proceedings.)
After the Worthy Alderman had read his Re-
solutions, he added, that he had neglected to al-
lude to the period when the Riot Act hail been
read at Manchester ; he thought that of very little
comparative importance at this moment ; kr the
meeting, so tar as it had gone, appeared by every
account to have been conducted peaceably, so that
there appeared no justification at all for'reading
that Act. It, however, the Riot Act was read at
all, it must have ;been read by the Magistrate at
or near his own door ; so that, at:con:nig to every_
account, a man standing by could not bear what
the Ma,,zistrate was reading from his paper. But
even it it had hero read as it ought, to as to have
matte the meeting sensible of what was going tilt,
still there could he no justification for the. H.Ei.
tary execution that was subsequently done upon
an unarmed and defenceless muhUnde. If the
Riot Act had been read in the most open manner,
and an hour after its trading scEred to elkspe,
these IltrOcitiel would nut chaoge their charac-