The Sun.
London, England, 1818-02-10 00:00:00

CHIMNEY SWEEPERS' CLIMBING BOYS.

Mr. BENNET, in rising to bring in a Bill to
prevent the -further use of Climbing Boys, felt it
was unnecessary for him to go into details to show
the expediency of such a measure, as this had
been so ably done by the Committee last year, on
whose Report the Bill he wished to bring in was
founded. lc was indeed the same Bill (with some
alterations) which had been in the House last
year, and which had been withdrawn. The House
!night wish to know what had occurred since the
last Session of Pat liamenf, in.connexiou with this
subject, and he was happy to state, that in many
great towns public meetings had been called, ind
resolutions entered into against employing Climb-
ing Boys. Ile bud also to intorm them, that
since the last Session, no fewer than five fatal ac-
cidents had occurred, besides many others which
lout not re:lnitiated in the loss tt' life. Out of the
five cases of which he had spoken, one in Eng-
land, and one in Scotland, 'had been marked by
great cruelty on the part of the masters. In or-
der to diminish the consumption of fuel,.. in many.
Itouses the flues of the climates were made t;o small
that they could only be ascended by boys of a eery
tender age. He had seen boys not more than
tour, five, or six years old, who were so employ-
ed, and , who had been bound to their masters as
apprentices. Where the flees of chimnies were
rartienlarly 'Milli, girls had been used in prefer-
ence to boys, as on account of their limbs being
smaller, they could pass up thimnies which boys
even of the, ages he had mentioned could not
sweep. The object of this Bill was to prevent,
from a time to be named, the forthernse of Climb-
ing Boys. Those at present in the business he
did not propose to remove front their masterst.bot
he wished for the time to come that no, chimney
sweepers should be pet 'flitted to take boys as ap-
prentices under 14 years of ate. lie then tuoved

lot leave toblingin atilt to abulisil t>Je case of:
Climbing Boys.
Leave t%asgiven to bring in the Bill.
INFORMERS.

nitt'iPs presenied a PetitiOn front the
`Merchants, Manntiternrers, and others, of Man-
chester, and of the varions places in its vicinity,
praying that-inquiry might be made into**he put-
rages—aliegefl-to-have been---:--cOmmitted in that
neighbonfltood, On ivilieh the Suspension Act had
in part been founded. The lionourahle Menther
stated, the l'etitioners.from whom he brought this
Prtition declared thry had not heels diiposed to
any acts of insnhordinAtion; but,on the contrary,
they had endured severe privations With the most
exeinplary fortitude. The proceedings which had
actually taken place were most grossly exagge-
rated. 'fiat wisich had been familiarly called the
" lilanketeering F,xpedition " hail had nothing
illegal in it ; yet the Magistrates bad nor cOnfined
tht:mselves to oppose the parties engaged in it, in
the usual way, hot they had directed the dragoons
to fall in upon them without even reading the Riot
Act (which, however, tliey contended there was
no occasion to du), and thus 'attacked, they had
been compelled to seek for safety in flight. Three
hundred persons had been made prisoners, and
conveyed to a place of confinement which) pre-
viously contained three times the number it was
originally intended to hold. Many of these per-
sons, after remaining in prison for six mouths,
shot up with the most profligate and abandoned
characters, bad at last been discharged withOtit
being brought to trial. Though the Magistrates
bad put lorth a publicatinu on the 10th March,
which stated, a most treasonable conspiracy to
have been discovered, which had for its object
nothing -less than an open rebellion ; though Mr.
Hay, the Stipendiary Citrate, had, on the 23:1
April, described this con piracy to be one of the
'blackest enormity, yet the individuals taken np as
concerned in it, hail all been di'scharged without
bring brought to trial. The prtiti,»lClS were con-
vinced that violent proceedings had never been in
contemplation, or if such ideas had been at all,
entertained, they bad been excited by hited spies
and inforthers.

Mr. Peteetes said some of the mimes to this
• petition were well known to him. He entered at
large into all the circumstances connected with,
the proceedings referred to in the petition. He
(lid not mean to blame the Alegistrates for-
the part they had taken in them, as he be-
lieved they themselves had been imposed upon.
He, •however, di'elpproved . of the conduct
of some of them who hail become treasurers
of Orange 'Lodges', or distinguished themselves
in other ways as ,Members of associations formed
to spread harreti over the country, and to set'on
One portion of the people to persecute another.
:Previous to the 1011) of March, those who were
grilled. the BlanketeerS had met to petition for
a Reform of Parliament.. Nothing illegal had
passed at their meetings, , though words, bed
been used which the misrepresentations of the
•spies ot: Government .n)iglitTeasiiy Make_ it ap-
•pear were of a violent character. .One eperson•
opposing tlie.Blanketeerieg Expedi,idm said, " If
you' determine
,on, (his, you 'must ilo one of two
things—you must cut your way to‘Londow sword
in hand, for you will be opposed in the execution
of your plen, ote,yo.e real,se uji your mind to
go to the-New ,Bailey,h) Lanceshire." Another of
the meeting had said, ", You candler get to Lon-
. don without being joinett by persons of a different
description., who veil! endeavour to do mischief,
which will be charged upon yolk". The meeting
tit which these speeches were made consisted' of
17 persons, net more than two or three of whom
were found engaged in the foolish Blanket eering
Expedition. Out. of the Magistates, on diecharg-
ing one.ot these persons, had said, it bed been
cidedilated among them thee when they arrived at
Birmingham they would receive such assistance,
that efterwerde they need not be afraid of
opposition. from the civil power; or from the mi-
litary. He mentioned this to. show bow incor-
rect the information possessed by the•iqaeistrates
had beeii, since not one of those who had set out
on the 'expedition had taken the rout to Birming-
ham. All hail directed their steps towards Derby.
He then proceeded' to show the attempts which
had been made to stir up the. people to acts•of
'outrage by three persons, whom lie would desig-
nate spies, of the name of Lummocks, Deivhurst,
and Waddington,. who had been taken up with
those whom they had endeavoined to excite
to acts of outrage and insubordination, but li-
berated on the next day. Lummocks had met
with a titan of the name of Acres, in company
with his brother-in-law, at 'a' public-house.--s
Here the language held by Lummocks was so vio-
lent, that he had been opposed by Acres. They left
the public-house, and on passing the residence of
Lummocks, he prevailed upon them to go in with
them. He then got paper, and wrote as fol-
-lows :—" England expects every man will do his
dety—Arise .liritens ; free your brethren from pri-
son—God save the King." Acres advised Lem-
mocks to throw this paper into the fire ; but the
latter said. no, lie would get it printed. Subse-
quently, Acres went, on the invitation of this
Lummocks, to one or two meetings. At one of
these Lummocks said lie would go into the next
room, where the Secret Committee was thee sit-
ting. The attempt to attach mystery to that which
was perfectly innocent, excited suspicion in the
mind of Acres, and sifter smite time he followed
Lummocks into the room to which he had thought
proper to retire. Here he found the Committee to
be a very select one,' as there was nobody in the
room hut Lummocks himself. Thus detected, the
fellow stammered, end proposed that a subscription
should he entered into, in order to defray the ex-
*pence of sennieg persons round to ascertain what
the people were disposed to do. On another day
he invited two men, of the names of Irwin and
George Barton, to attend a meeting under an
aqueduct in Manchester, where he said a plan was
to be discussed for setting the manufactories on
tire. They refitted to attend, and thdeateued to
inform against him if he mentioned such a project
again. His answer was, " Why, we are already,
sere of being taken up--I am, at least, alit! there-
fore we may as era take our reveege before-hand."
Acres then told the men to whom this lan-
guage had heel: addressed that he seas sure Lun-
mocks was a spy. Lummocks afterwards went
to the house of John Hoene. Hogue was LICn

,
at lame, but LuinntOcks told his family that -4..,,Yan-
cliester was to be buret that night, and that the
fire would blaze out in about rtvo hmtirs. Those
•to whom he told this supposed him to be
He Went away, ant! Met flo;fiee 'with setae friendS,
whoM he invited tO arm and go with him and
others, to fire the barracks and libt;rate their
friends. Hogue, upon ibis, said Lumniocks was
a rascal, and advised those who were with hiM to.
.come.away from him (Lmiimocks). He detailed
other-proceedings 'Of a similar character, to thew
the inNintotts industry of LattnnockS. Dewburst,
in the same way, had laboured to Stimulate va-
rious individuals- to acts of outrage. He had
been heard to say, that nothing would do bat an
appeal to physical force. He had farther said,
that he knew where there were a thousand gni--;
peas in Manchester, and they might take them
And get out of the country, if they could not get
with the boSiness' in hand. Ile also kneW
an olil Lady who lived in Ardwick- green, who had
it great deal of plate, which lie wished he had to
melt down, just to " set things a-going." Those
to whom he addrested this language expressed hor-
ror at what they heard, and the Spy then pretend-
ed it was said hut in joke. The coarse taken by
Waddington was nearly the same. In various
ways he bad exerted himself to produce discontent
and acts of insubordination, and had joined with
Dewtitirst to attach an , air of guilty Mystery to
meetings whiCh were of a perfectly innocent
saa-
lure. They had endeavoured to perSuatle per-
-5005 whom. they prevailed upon to meet theta.
at various places, that bodies of 60,000, of
70,000, and of 1.00,000 'Men, were advancing
from different parts of the country to carry
their plans into effect. In every instance they
were represented • to have failed of making
the impression they.desired to make, and those
whom it was theitobject to seduce into rebellion,
stedfastly retnied to attend to their pernicious
counsel, and seemed to see through the Cheat.
Fend) what had occurred, where they-,were con-
cerned, he contended no case had been made out
to justify the Suspension of the Ilaheas Corpus
Act ; for what was very extraordinary..was, that
all their efforts to procure a meeting of- the cha-
racter they wished, did not bring more than 10
or I I persons together. The pubfiCation set
forth by the Magistrates on the 10i h. Mate!), the
language held by Mr. Hay on the 23d April, and
the liberation of all the nelsons taken up as
parties to this conspiracy, he next proceeded
to animadvert trpon. From the conduct they
had pursued, he most suppose the Ministers of the
,Crown. lord found they themselves had been im-
posed upon, for if the persons.they had taken up
were gnilty, it was inconsistent with the public
safety that they should be seat back again to -do
more tnitchief. Tb Cy ought to have been brought
to trial. The whole, of these transactions ought
honked into, and if an. itoluiry took place, he
was confident the 'a'cts WhiCh he had stated would
turn out to he precisely what tlicy appeared to be
from the Papers before hint.

. .
The I etnion kVAS then read, ordered to lie on
the table, and to be ip-iittefl.

F.S ON FMR,WE:EFI;EP-Q4/VMAGES•
?Ir. Mwrnues a,ked if tiny notice hid been
tr.ll“tt by the Chancellor of the Exe;cyter of the
exiottionate sarcharge
o noide by the •Yttx,
n'small four-Mit!cied Whi.ose ydlne
dill not exceed 51.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, the
sin charges were justified by the lake as it at pre,-,1
sent stood, and there was ho!hinz partial or,un
lair in what had been done by the Tax-Office. Ile
was, however, •happy to say that the indulgence
granted last yeAr %%lilt respect to agricultural
horses, he was et Opinion, might be contioned
this ; and in tli:e Bill to b,: brought in for that
purpose, opinion some remedy for that
oti"w(:lstie which the wa
be; of
lion. Gentleman lead complained
might be int rodneed.