Star.
London, England, 1819-09-10 00:00:00

of the subject would be his excuse for the few obser-
vations, which,. at that late hoar, he offer to
the attention of the Court. He was glad, hoWever,
that his opposers had the courage and the fortitude to
state their objections. It she Wed how
do
miserably they
felt the weakness of their cause; for he would them
y
the justice to believe, that these Gentlemen would ra-
ther have the deficiency attributed to the cause they
ventured to support than to any failure in their own
talents. He would reverse the course of the debate,
arid advert, first, to what had fallen frOm an Hon.
Baronet (Curtis). That Hon. Baronet would, for-
sooth, give his assent to the first Resolution, that it
was the undoubted right of the People to assemble
for the expression of public grievances. But of what
value was that right, if it was not exercised, when
those grievances were notorious? Were not, 'then,
the notoriety of these outrages at Manchester a pro-
per opportunity for exercising it? He, for his part,
could say, that the first account he had read of that
massacre at Manchester was in a Paper
avowedly
subservient to Ministeri, and the very recital, even
in that Government Paper, without any further dis-
closure, made his blood run cold with horror—( Hear,
hear). if, then, no other information had reached
him, but what was contained in that very Paper,
it would be sufficient to ground the Resolutions for a
full and impartial inquiry. It was a Paper, which, nd
doubt, his Lordship, the Lord Mayor, perused every,
morning at his breakfast; and he would, indeed, be
astonished, if even he did not feel horror when he
read the melancholy effects of that wanton attack.
But then, said the Honourable Baronet (Curtis), the
Magistrates of Manchester were men of honour—
their names were well known—from their characters,
even if they exceeded their duty, and committed
faults, that Court were bound to give them cre-
dit for good intentions. But let the Court observe
how the Honourable Baronet answered himself when
he descanted on the conduct of the people against
whom they misconducted themselves. They, from
their objects, must be rebels, plunderers, traitors.—
He could look into their breasts, and because they
meant ill, though they acted legally, could justify a
wanton assault on them by the sabres of a military
force. His sympathy was, indeed, at one side ; he
Could justify the atrocities of those who ought to have
known the law; whose situation and rank in life should
'have taught them their duties—who had no claims to
commiseration, from ignorance, distress, or delusion,
at the very moment that he justified cruelty and vio-
lence on a multitude peaceably and constitutionally
convened. .Who told him that they were rebels and
plunderers ? Did the Constitution of this country
presume such a character in any part of its pallia-
tion peaceably convened ? The Constitution, if he
understood it or valued it, conveyed another lesson.
It taught the doctrine of jealousy towards the acts of
men in authority—it looked with suspicion towards
public men, who, armed with high powers, might be
supposed to misapply those powers to their own
party and factious purposes—( Hear, hear). It was
one of its most essential and valuable principles to
watch with a steadfast eye every, extraordinary act
of public men, most particularly when' directed to
the object of stifling the expression of the public
feeling— ( Hear, hear, hear). But it was said these
men were Magistrates,. and the Judges cf the land
were Magistrates also, and ,:was their conduct to
be thus criticised? The Judges of the land were
not removable at the pleasure of the Crown.—
They acted Under the ample and controuling power
of public opinion, and beldOes, they were strictly
checked by Juries in die exercise of their influence.
But did that character apply to Magistrates, selected
too generally for a jealous adherence to political at-
tachments.—too frequently selected for their subser-
viency, and ever ready to do the dirty, work of any
Administration ?—(Hear, hear, hear)—Was it not
then a curious mode of defence for the atrocities Of
such men, to shelter them behind their good inten-
tions ? Their names Were known indeed, said the
Hon. Baronet, and so- were the objects of the assem-
bled. people. Butthe latter meant plunder and re-
bellion, This to in the very breath that it was ad-
witted, that at
.the Meeting alluded to, they did no
harm. But then, 2 week before that, they were to
have met for an illegal purpose. And thus,because
some undefined mischievous object was put into their
heads a week before, and which the people them-
selves, on a calmer and more, deliberate considera-
tion, felt averse to, a 'wanton outrage on them was to
be justified, when their Meeting was legal, peaceable,
and unoffending—Wear, hear}—This charge of
sabres was the answer which the Hon. Baronet (Cur-
tis) would give to the returning good sense and soun-
der discretion of a British assembly—(Hear, hear).—
If ever there was a case stronger than any one in our
history for that Court to call for inquiry, it was the
present outrageous and unjustifiable ;riassacre--(Hear,
Hear!}—The Constitution of this country, amongst
its other beneficial attributes, was stated to be no re-
specter of persons ; and surely, if ever there was an
imperative call for the commiseration of those in au-
thority, it was when they contemplated the misery,
the sufferings, the hausger—(did any man who heard
him ever feel its cravings ?)--of the unfortunate
people in those agitated 3-Nstricts—(Hear, Hear I)
And yet these were the creatures selected as victims
for the assault of an infuriated Yeomanry ! And not
for what they did, but as an Hon. Baronet (Curtis)
has told you, for what they did not do. Inquiry was
not asked for to screen the excesses of either party.
Who knows, but if .granted, that at length that Come
would be able to obtain the proofs of that Conspiracy
which, given arson gob, had for its object the plunder
and conflagration of London, and the murder of its
respectable citizens. alpw came 'it that the conspi-
rators who were privy to that dreadful 'plot, were
still suffered to walk abroad unvisited by the powers
of the law a...(1/ms, Isar with continua Moats from
Me auditory below tAe bar.) Were they allowed to
prowl abroad fur the purpose of ensnaring innocent
' Mei) ?a—(Veaa,./sear.) The worthy
•Alderman pro-
ceeded te ra4vert ro the observations of other speakers,
and conelOad his able reply, by. advising them to
rebollect.that abstract principles of Reform were best
answered by sound argument and conciliatory term-
per. The butter 111(Xiu of correcting the popular de-
lusion on such systenit, was to correct those abuses
which were irotorloas, and whiCh none were hardy
enough to jusia-fe—Weer, hear.)
The LOUD NAVA having put the • nestion, de-.
el: red the .ahoy of hods to be dec.. ...in favour
Resolution.
of the ln conseatteace data, several
Members who held up their hands in the affirmative: