The Sun.
London, England, 1819-11-30 00:00:00

PETITION FROM MANCHESTER.

Mr. BENNET held in his hand a petition from
the inhabitauts of Manchester. Salford, and their
praying the (louse to institute an inquiry
in'o the events of the 16th of August. The House
nod the country knew so well the character of
those events, that he would not enlarge or, them
at that time, but he would remark, that notwith-
standing the mariner in which they had been
treated by the Noble Lord opposite, who con-
sidered what had been said to the prejudice of the
parties concerned, to be wholly calumny, he world
pledge himself that great excesses had been corer
milted. This would be proved whenever the sidiject
was fairly gone into ; it ‘vould be shown, that what
hal beau advanced against the persons accused
was not 'yvithritit foundation. lie knew of eight
or ten individuals, merchants and manufactorers
of undoubted character and respectability, whose
testimony could not be impeached, that lied sworn
to the principal facts, and thong!) lie could not
be bold enough to say that their affidavits would
establish the truth of those facts, yet this he was
bonnd to say, lie felt satisfied that they had
sworn but to the truth. lie thought that if it
would be necessary to sum up all the evidence,
that all that had appeared contradictory could be
so explained and connected, as to make it clear
that the military employed on the I 60) of August
had been erne] in the extreme. The individuals
to whom he had alluded had, in common with
others, appealed to the Grand Jury, with a view of
bringing the offenders to justice. it would be un-
becominr in him to throw any reflection on that
Grand Jury (and he would be the last mats
to nit it.) lie could not suppose that twenty-
four Gentlemen had forgotten the oath they
bad taken, and with some of those who sat
on that Jury he had been connected by (tient:-
ship all through Iris life, and'knew them incapa-
ble of any thing that was dishonourable or unjust.
His lion. Friend near him, who he believed haul
been the Foreman of that Grand Jury, possessed
a clear head and an honest heart, and he was sure
that he could nor act other than conscientiously.
On that Grand Jury then he would cast no re-
flection, but the Bills which had been submitted
to them by the persons of whom he had spoken,
had been thrown our. The Petitioners then ap-
plied to the Magistrates of Manchester, but were
told by them that they could not be judges in their
own cause. They then applied-to .a Magistrate
at Warrington, and he, though he said he disap-
proved of the conduct of the Magistrates at Man-
chester, could not comply with their reqoest—
coultialford them no redress. Under these circuit).
atances,they now turned their eyes to the Grand In-
quest of the Country—to that :louse, and called
'upon them to inquire into the whole of the proceed-
jugs. They were not wild enough to suppose that

Zhe notese could ate an if: ti:`' AS to whether
A or 'el of the Yeomanry committed this or Mit
outrage; but they though' it the ditty of the
House to inquire into the general character of the
transactions which had taken placeto determine
whether the Magistrates had exercised a sound
or a mischievous discretion ; and-, ebtrve all,
whether Ministers, in giving them the thanks
of the Prince Regent, had not made an nnwar-
rantable use of their Royal Master's name, by
connecting it with that which, throughout the
country, was the theme of almost universal re-
probation. lie believed that there was at pre-
sent a general feeling, that in this instance jus-
tice had been withheld. It was a part of the
English character to love impartial justice. This
feeling, growing with their growth, had strength-
ened with their strength. It now called upon
them to look with pecnlior anxiey to the decision
of their Representatives on this guest ion. Should
the House set itself in opposition to the will of
the people, it would widen that breech between
the Parliament and the Commons of England,
whieh at pteaent existed, and every man who
knew Ilia own dety, and the tree interests of his
cow-toy, would desire to sue closed rather than
eidarged.
Sir It. VC-teams/ most cordially concurred with
the prayer of the Petition. After reading all the
evidence given before the Coroner at Oldham, and
all the papers which had been laid on- the table of
that Mouse, he was of opinion that the course
pntsued by the Magistrates of Manchester was a
most unauthorized proceeding. From the pre-
vious conduct of Mr. hunt, there wal every reason
to b, lieve, that had it been made known that the ci-
vil power wi-lied to arrest him, he himself would
have directed the ropie to open a passage-that
the officers might advance to perform their ditty.
This wss the more probable from the conduct of
that person when he was •actually arrested, for
the first words that he used on that occasion
were, " Where is your warrant ? It you hale one
against me, I will yield to any civil officer, but I
will not surrender myself to a military person."
—He then condemned the conduct of the Yeo-
manly, whom he described to have cut down the
people indiscriminately, sparing neither sex nor
age, hut deliberately cutting down women, and
one old man upon crutches. He next contended,
from the evidence given by Daniel Kennedy, the
cutler, that the swords of the Yeomanry had
been sharpened for the occasion. After this—
after the denial of justice that had taken place
—after they had seen the Coronet's Deputy
postponing an inquest because he was engaged to
sup in a neighbouring village—after an indecency
had been committed in open Court, which
he (Sir R. Wilson) could not mention there—
after there had been 27 persons confined for
seven Weeks, and at last discharged by proclama-
tion, no charge being preferred against them ;
after all these (hinge, lie felt himself bound to
support the Petition presented by the nonosir-
able Gentleman, though connected with him by
no party ties, and to join with him and with the
Petitioners in calling on the House to uphold the
laws and constitutionef the country, by deciding
•for a full, prompt, and impartial inquiry into the
Mate proceedings of Manchester.

Air. Massrmo said, that having no means
of judging of the facts which had occurred at
Manchester, bat from a perusal of the evi-
dence given before the Coroner at Oldham, and
the Papers communicated to that House, had,
from teading these, come to a conclusion very
.different from that of the Honourable General.
That the swords of the cavalry had been shar-
pened he did not deny. They were sharpen-
ed, and it would have been very improper not
to sharpen them, as it appeared from various.
affidavits, that pikes and pistols were prepared
for the use of those who were to attend Re-
form Meetings. IVas it to be supposed that
these were for any peaceable purpose ? Were these
necessary to the discussion of Parliamentary- Re-
form ? IVhat would have been said of the mili:ary,
it, with a knowledge of these facts, their arms
had not been kept fit for use ? The Honourable
General had much depended on the evidence given
before the Inquest at Oldham. For his part he was
much disposed to disbelieve the evidence of many
of the persons there examined, even though it
were given on oath. Those who gave evidence
there were concerned in those practices, which it
was the duty of the Magistrates to suppress. They
had drank largely of the stream of sedition and
blasphemy. They had been taught to believe
that our religion, the Bible and the history of our
Saviour, were all false, and what to these was the
obligation of an oath ? These persons wished to
overthrow the existing system, wished to put an
ens! to all social order, and to subvert the
Constitution, and had therefore an interest in
stating what they did. An Honourable Member,
whom he could not hut respect for his philan-
thropic exertions, in the course of a debate last
Sessions respecting the treatment of certain con-
victs, had quoted an expression of Dr. Johnson's,
the purport of which was, that " in some in-
stances he would not believe positive evidence in
opposition to strong probability." He would
say this in the present case. He did not believe,
notwithstanding the positive evidence that had
been given, that the Yeomanry of Manchester,
had deliberately cut clown women and aged men
in the manner described. He did not believe this
of them, nor could he believe that any man in
England would do so, not even the infamous Car-
life himself. With this conviction on his mind
he trusted there was nothing improper orampar-
liamentary in the assertion that he did not be-
lieve scone of the witnesses of the Oldham Inquest,
even on their oath.

Mr. B. \Vtt.aaA►lAM Could not allow this Peti-
tion to be laid on 'be table without expressing
his firm conviction that the case, when inquired
into, was not at all likely to be made out. When-
ever the inquiry took place, he was satisfied that
the charges now brought forward would be re-
hired. With respect to the shaupening of the
swords, he had to remark, that this took place in,
the middle of July. ThOie that were subsequently
sharpened were merely those which by accident
had not previously been sent, In point of fact,
no second order wss
Mr. BirsseT thought it rather harsh on the
Ho!). Member who haul just sat down to speak a►s
he had done of those wht gisse evidence before

Cormier at Oidhatr. i±e thou,}l,l be
well to pause before he Ino!,ounced a!I who had
there given ev;dence to he on the side of infi-
delity, blasphethy, and Mr. Paine." For one
he thought that these sweeping censures did
mach mischief, as -they had the effect of dis-
gusting moderate m,n, and inclining- them to
favour and unite with those to whom tinder
circumstances they would never give their counte-
nance. He would entreat Gentlemen not to cast
such general censures on large bodies of men, Of
whom they knew nothing. He could say that
among those who had given evidence before the
loquest were men of a sober, calm, religions turn
of mind. One of them bad come to town with
a friend of his (Mr. Bennet's) On a journey of
Philanthropy, to contribute to the relief of the
poor children in the mannfactoties, by assisting
to frame those Bills which had been brought in
last Session, and which had passed through that
House.

MANsrIELD, in explanation, said, he had
not means lo make so sweeping an assertion as was
attributed to him. He Id!, however, that he had
a tight to make a strong assertion, becaose one of
those persons who gave evidence against the Ma-
gistrates, admitted that he had himself marched
d loge party from-Leeds to that Mceting.—(Hear,
hear, from both sides of the House.)

The petition was then ordered to be printed.
MR. HUNT'S PETITION.

Mr. Alderman Wool) said, he rose to present a
petition, which was couched in very respectful
terms, complaining of the condoct of the Magis--
(rates at Manchester, of the Grand Juries, and
more particularly and strongly of his Majesty's
Minkters,—(Laughter.)—There were attached to
this petition five affidavits, which the petitioner
stated lie intended to have presented to the Court
of King's Bench, hot not being a prOft.ssional
man, he was not suffered to do so. As the forms
of the house did not allow those affidavits to be
iorrod,iced,'he (Ald. Wood) had taken them away.
h e House would not he surprised when he named
the petitioner, who was \lr. Henry Hunt.—(A
laugh.)—He alleged chat the statements of the
magistratett, and the evidence laic) before the Honse,
were altogether false, and lie prayed " that he
might be called to the bar of the House to prove
all and every allegation contained in his petition,
by his own evidence., and by the testimony of nu-
merous and respectable net sons, of fortune and
character, who were totally unconnected with
the reformers in any way whatever."
The Petition was then read, and ordered to lie
on the table.

Mr. Alderman Woos then moved, that it he
printed.

On the SPEAKEIO2 putting the question to that
effect, a number of voices cried out " No, no ;"
he the►efore put it a second time, when the op-
position was withdrawn, and the Petition ac-
cording!y ordered to be printed.