Star.
London, England, 1821-05-17 00:00:00

I

sin. The question was then. put at rest, so far as
Parliament was concerned. After that decision, what
could be the feeling of the Honourable Baronet ? If
he was satisfied with the late Parliament, why was
this painful subject to be brought forward again?—
Why was the Honourable Baronet silent on the sub-
ject during the whole of 1820? When the Honour-
able Baronet gave notice in June, why did he suffer
it to drop? If his reason for not bringing it forward
was, that he waited for the trial of Mr. Hunt, that
was over in the Spring Assizes. Why was it that
the Honourable Baronet thought he could now bring
it on? Was it to revive those dormant feelings which,
happily for .the country, notwitharnding attempts
were made to arouse them, were dormant—(Hear,
heat).—The Honourable Baronet had not confined
this question to Manchester, although it was an iso-
lated question. They were to look at all the circum-
auroces. There was a deal of dissatisfaction among
Oe manufacturing classes, and the individual who
was to preside at Manchester in August, had previ-
ously presided at the Meeting in Smithfield, so that
the Manchester Meeting was to be considered a
branch of that systematic treason which led to open
rebellion, and brought under the lash of the law one
hundred persons, whose lives would have paid the
forfeit of their crime, but for the clemency of the
Monarch. He alluded to the persons convicted in
Scotland and at York. It was not an assembly of
moderate Reformers which took place at Manchester,
but a mob, who met for the purpose of producing a
revolution' in the country, which would have broken
out in a systematic form, had it not been prevented
by the Magistracy; and, instead of the blood of that
day, torrents would have been shed in various parts.
The Hon. Baronet had stated that he (Lord London-
derry) on a former day pledged himself for the truth
of all he advanced, he would, however, say, that

nothing had occurred to lead him to believe any
facts be stated were incorrect. They were only
stated to protect the characters of worthy men. The
Magistrates had to contemplate on a Meeting of
seventy or eighty thousand men, assembled in mili-
tary array ; they were called on as Englishmen to
suppress Print, and to be prepared with a military
force; their purpose was to watch the Meeting, and
it was not until it assumed a character of terror that
they issued their warrants. The House would feel
that the verdict of a Jury had pronounced it an illegal
Meeting, a circumstance which proved the Magis-
trates were right in issuing their warrants. That be-
ing the state.of the transaction, it would be a ques-
tion whether the proceedings of the Magistrates were
justified by the exigencies of the case, and whether
their conduct was marked with cruelty ? However,
upon the face of the evidence, it appeared that the
Magistrates did not employ military force until they
found their warrants could not be executed by the
civil power—(Hear, hear).—Gentlemen on the other
side of the House, who exclaimed " Hear !" perhaps
knew the fact better than the Officer on duty at the
time of the disturbance. The blood shed was not
occasioned by the Magistrates, but those who ex-
cited the People to tumult. Those who, under the
mask of *Reform, had no other object than Rebellion.
On such persons the charge of blood ought to fall,
and not on the Magistrates, who were performing a
painful and difficult duty, and who had the manli-
ness to do that duty with firmness—(Hear, hear).—
The Noble Marquis would not condescend to comment
on the assertion that justice could not be obtained.—
Did they mean to say that the Grand Jury of Man-
chester had failed to do their duty ? Did they mean
to say that it was a question of blood, and that if it
was, the misconduct of any Grand Jury could shut
up a case of murder from investigation and punish-
ment? It would have been better if the Honourable
Baronet had left the question of murder, supposing
it to be such, to the decision of a Jury, for which
upon other occasions he professed to have so much
respect, than to let it lie upon the Journals of Par-
liament until it suited his convenience to bring it
forward. Did the Honourable Baronet mean to say
that the House of Commons was a more competent
tribunal in such cases than a Jury of the country ?
Did he, after all his attacks upon that House, which
he did not even treat with ordinary respect, which
he took all opportunities to traduce and vilify in
other places—did he now come to that house as the
only place in the country where justice could be
obtained ?—(Hear, hear). It was an insult to their
understandings to assert that the Hon. Baronet had
.no other means of proceeding than by such an ap-
plication, or that those who suffered had no other op-
portunity of redress than by putting their case into
the hands of the Hon. Baronet, to be dealt with at
Lis convenience, and according to the new view he
had taken of the justice and competency of the
Ilouse of Commons. Would not the sufferers have
their civil action against the officers concerned, and
against the Yeomanry, in which the whole question
might be brought under the view of the Court ? But
it had been asked, why certain individuals were not
examined on the trial of Mr. Hunt? The reason was
obvious—the question before the Court was merely,
whether the Meeting was legally or illegally convened.
Why, he would ask, did they not bring their actions
against the Manchester Yeomanry, who had been
most unjustly vilified through the whole of those
transactions, as all men were sure to be who stood
forward boldly to discharge their duty to their coon-.
try? It was a proof that they had not a foot of
ground to stand upon, when they did not dare to ap-
pear before a Jury. But then it was urged, on the
other hand, that the poor people could not afford to
go to trial—that they had not the means. It op.:
peared, however, that their case had attracted the at-
tention of the onourable Baronet, whose name ap-
-I:7:at the head of a large collection for the suf-
amounting to £2,000. Was there a farthing
Of that money applied to the prosecution of those who
were charged with such atrocities against them ? He
knew it had been said, that some portion was ex-
pended at Oldham, but never was there a proceeding
more unjustly instituted than that, or more unlikely
to answer the ends of justice in any respect—it was a
mode of getting up a case to influence the public mind
and mislead the public opinion, and not to try the merits
of the question. But how was the money applied ? in
advertising for the persons who had been wounded !
It was impossible not to feel one's heart bleed for
these who suffered, whether through their own infa-
tuation, or innocently, as was often the case in tu-
mults, but he still would maintain, that those funds
had been better employed in a country like this, where
no sufferer, where no wounded nlan could be left to

perish, hi prosectiting the offenders, if there was a
case against them, than in advertising for wounds
and bruises, and for everything that could exaspe-
rate the feelings of-the people, already sufficiently
excited. The Honourahle Baronet came with the

worst possible grace before Parliament, after they
had already pronounced a solemn decision on the
subject.; not that they were indifferent to the suffer-
ings endured, but that they thought them better,
trusted to the ordinary tribunals of the country.—
There was no case laid before them now which would

justify them in changing that opinion, with regard to
transactions of so complicated a nature, and to indivi-
duals excited arid irritated by the transactions. An
Honourable and Learned Gentleman had said, on a

former night, that the question was of so lofty and
sublimated a kind, as to be unfit for the jurisdiction
of the King's Bench ; that the conduct imputed to
the Magistracy and Yeomanry of Manchester consti-
tuted an offence not known to the law, and, there-

fore, that a final judgment ought to be pronounced
upon it by a decision of that House—(Hear, hear).
The Hon. and Learned Gentleman, ,however, would

find it difficult to convince the country that it might
be better decided in that House without an oath, than

in other places where oaths were administered to the
witnesses. If he knew anything of a British House
of Commons—(Loud cheers from Me Opposition)—
they would discharge their duty to their Constituents
upon a better principle—(Hear, hear).— He was con-
fident that the good sense and manliness of Parlia-
ment would look at the question as an- attempt—a
pitiful attempt, thank GOD, to revive the inflamma-
tion which had subsided. To that manliness and in-

telligence, which was its natural characteristic, he
looked for the putting down of discord, and the dis-
countenancing of treason and rebellion. We were
delivered from the delusion of another great question,
and this was an attempt to renew the excitement of
the public mind. Whatever might be said to the dis-
advantage of Parliament, and whatever pains might
be taken to degrade and vilify the House of Com-
mons, and propagate an opinion that it was not re-
spected, he would say, that the voice of Parliament
had a magical influence on the public mind. The
.danger of treason had disappeared before the thunder
of Parliament, and he was still confident that the
confusion could never be revived by the Honourable
Baronet, if the manliness and wisdom of Parliament
continued to manifest itself as it had ever done.
Mr. SCARLETT said he had no doubt that the
Noble Lord's speech was well calculated for its pur-
pose—(Cheers),-and he had no doubt but it would
have its impression. It was a speech much more of
the nature of magic than. of reason—(Loud cheers).
If it had not reason in it, it had .something surer—
(Cheers).—And•the Noble Lord himself seemed to be
the greatest thunderer in the House—(Loud and re-
peated cheers).—This he (Mr. Scarlett) was sure of—
that if the Noble Lord were not better acquainted

with the House of Commons than with the nature of
fair debate, he would not have attempted to defend
the weakness of his own cause, by carrying war into
the territories of his opponents, and imputing motives
to all who stood in his way—(Hear, hear).—From
the real nature of the case on the Noble Lord's part,
one would have expected a candid and modest de-
fence—(.l. laugh, and Hear, hear)—he said candid
and modest, for if it was a defence which the Noble
Lord had made, it was not altogether remarkable
for the character of modesty. A great part of it
had been an attack on the motives of those who had
brought forward this motion. If the Noble Lord
could not think of the transaction without feeling' his
heart bleeding, could he not conceive any motive for
this motion but what was mean, base, and inconsistent
with humanity ?—( Hear, hear).—Might he (Mr.
Scarlett) not ask why those who brought it forward
might not be supposed to feel their hearts bleed too,
at the injuries and sufferings of that day, and feel
the tenderest humanity as their motive?—(Cheers).--.
The Noble Lord had said truly, that the verdict of a
Jury had proved the illegality of the Meeting, but
the question of the dispersion remained altogether
untouched. But it was new to him (Mr. Scarlett) to
hear that when the dispersion was of such a nature
as to make one's heart bleed, the only remedy was
specific actions for each case of injury—(Cheers).--
He thought that the circumstances which made the
heart bleed—an immense assemblage, who had com-
mitted no outrage, dispersed in a manner so cruel,
trampled on, wounded, and some destroyed—might
be brought before a British House of Commons from
a feeling concern for our fellow-subjects, and without,
any disposition to excite tumult—(Loud and repeated
cheers).—The Noble Lord's manner indicated the,
triumph he anticipated ; his confidence had arisen
from his knowledge of the result. The subject itself,
he (Mr. Scarlett) viewed differently from any view
that had hitherto been given of it. He was unwil-
ling to allude to matters in which he had taken part;
but, having been alluded to from both sides of the
House, he would offer a few observations on the trial
at York. It was perfectly fair to draw inferences
from his manner of conducting the trial, but not from
his silence in that House, respecting his motives. Why
Nadin and others had not been called, the House
would not at least know from him. The Public had
a right to draw their own inferences. He had en-
deavoured on that occasion to follow the same path
of duty as on every other, and to effect this object
by all the means consistent with a good conscience
(Hear,-hear).—lt had been said that he was well ac-
quainted with the Magistrate, Mr. Hulton. He was
not well acquainted with him ; he knew none of his
family; and all he knew of him or his family was-to
his credit. One of his objects in now addressing the
House, was to redeem his pledge to him (Mr. Hul-
ton). Mr. Hulton had- been examined ; his exami-
nation was before the Public ; it was not so correctly
reported as it ought; but nb intentional misrepre-
sentation could be imputed to any one—(Hear).--
The Meeting having thus begun to assemble, the'
mode of its assembly, and the increasing numbers of
those assembled, appeared to inspire the inhabitants
lof Manchester with considerable alarm. The Ma-1
gistrates, who at that time were assembled at Mr.
Buxton's house, did not contemplate .anything more
than the collecting of a military force in the• neigh-
bourhood to watch the Meeting, until they received
the depOsitions of thirty or forty respectable Gentle-
men, that the terrors of the inhabitants were still
further excited. It was not until they had received
those depositions that they entertained the design of
arresting the leaders of the multitude which was then
collecting before them. A warrant was then prepared

for their arrests and put into hands of Nadin, the
constable. Mr. Hulton stated that Nadin toll him

that it would be impossible to execute it without the ;
assistance of a military force. The consequence was,
that he • ordered a. military force to approach the
house where the Magistrates were sitting. The Man-
chester Yeomanry were the first troops that came, ,
and they drew up under Mr. Buxton's windows. Mr. i
Hulton stated that he never gave them orders to ri,ie
into-the Meeting and attack the multitude. He (Mr.;
Scarlett) was not able to give any satisfactory infor-
mation
to the House how it happened that the Yea-
manry did ride into that Meeting.' He had, how-
ever, been given to understand that they had done so
upon the representation of one of the constable=. Mr.
Hulton declared that he knew nothing at all of their
advance until he saw them engaged pell-mell with
the multitude. They must have advanced, as it ap-
peared to him (Mr. Scarlett), with considerable ala-
crity ; inasmuch as they rode over one of their own
constables in their course. When they arrived at the
hustings, Mr. Hulton thought, from their appearance,
the multitude had obtained an advantage over them.
At the very moment that Mr. Hulton was labouring
under this impression, Col Oriel L'Estrange came up
with a body of cavalry' to Mr. Buxton's, and formed
them in the same place in which the Manchester Yeo-
manry had been formed. Colonel L'Estrange then'
said to Mr. Hulton, who was standing at the window,
" What orders have you 'for us ?" Mr. Fiulton then
answered, " Good Goo! Sir, how can you ask such
a question ? Do you not see that they are defeating
the Yeomanry ?" Colonel L'Estrange took that an-
swer, as in point of fact it was, for an order that he
should advance to the rescue of the Yeomanry. That

statement, it was necessary fur him to premise, was
the statement of Mr. Hulton. He should now beg
leave to trouble the House with his own opinion of
what were the real facts of the case. if Gentlemen
would take the trouble of looking at the trial, they
would find that two Reporters were examined at it—
one of the name of Orton, the other of the name of
Tya,,, both young men of education and of consider-
able talent. The former was called in behalf of the

prosecution, and the latter in behalf of the defence ;
but the evidence of both he conceived to be important

to the prosecution. Mr. Tyas, upon his examination,
proved on oath all that he had previously written ;
and it was only fair to state, that his account was
corroborated in al its leading facts by the evidence
of bath parties. It appeared, then, from Mr. Tyas's
statement, that the Manchester Yeomanry had rode
into the multitude, for the purpose of arresting the
individuals who were the leaders of it. When they
had ridden up to the Hustings, they formed around
them, and the Officer of the Cavalry then went up
to Mr. Hunt, and said to him—" Sir, I have a war-
rant against you, and arrest you as my prisoner ;'
or, in other words, called upon him to surrender.—
Mr. Hunt then said that he would surrender himself
to any civil officer who would shew him his warrant.
After that, Nadin came up and said that he would
arrest him, as he had got information upon oath
against him ; upon which Mr. Hunt surrendered. A
person of the name of Saxton was standing in the
cart. Two of the Yeomanry rode up to him. "There,
said one of them, " is that rogue Saxton—do you run
him through the body." " No," replied the other, " I
had rather not—l leave it to you." The man imme-
diately made a blow at Saxton, and it was only by
his slipping aside that the blow missed him. After
that had happened, Mr. Tyas said that something like
a cry of "Look at their flags—have at their banners,"
was raised by the Yeomanry, and that then they
dashed at the flags which were on the hustings. That
was the moment at which Mr. Hulton observed them
riding into the crowd, and conceived them to be in
danger! Had the Yeomanry stopped after they had
taken the flags, he was disposed to think that no
great mischief would have been done; but instead of
doing so, they then began to attack the multitude.
This he. believed to be the real state of the facts ; and
it was only due to candour and justice to say, that
according to this account of the transaction no cen-
sure could justly attach to the Magistrates—(Cheers).
If they had acted under a sense of duty created by an
impression of alarm, their error was venial. The
House ought to judge of the conduct of the Magis-
trates, not by the considetations which suggested
themselves after the event, but by the considerations
which suggested themselves to their minds at the
moment. They ought to judge of them by the
feelings which must have been foremost on the
minds of the Magistrates at the instant, and by the
apprehensions which they had reason to suppose ex-
isted in the minds of the inhabitants of Manchester.
A Meeting so numerous as that was, naturally ex-
' cited fears in their minds; and they might naturally
think that the best mode of getting rid of those fears
would be by arresting the leaders of The multitude,
before the multitude had become warned by their
seditious harangues.. If the act were to do over again,
he should certainly advise the Magistrates, under all
the circumstances of the case, not to du it; but it
would be hard to say that they ought now to be cen-
sured for having done it—(C/seers).—The Learned
Gentleman then proceeded to state his opinion, that
the most unfit body to disperse that Meeting was that
respectable body, (for so he must still call them) the
Yeomanry of Manchester—(Hear,icar).—That town,
in point of population, was the second in England,
and was as much attached to the Government as any
town in the kingdom. The lower classes in that town
and the neighbourhood did not agree in political opi-
nion with the great mass of the richer inhabitants
indeed, a bitter spirit of hostility existed between
them. The Yeomanry of Manchester, who did not
consist of farmers, as in other parts of the country,
but of individuals engaged in various branches of
trade, felt considerable resentment and indignation
against those who advocated the principles of Re-
form, which they themselves conceived to be de-
struitive of, instead of necessary to, the Constitutioo.i
On that fatal day, the 16th of August, their feelings
were embittered by the circumstances which had at-
tended a former Meeting, and received still further
aggravation from the resentment which they felt at
the attempt made, as they conceived, to dictate to
the town, through the means of an immense multi-
tude, by a person totally unconnected with it. The
multitude, however, ought not to have been dispersed
;it all in the manner it was dispersed. The Yeon,ianry
had no right to act at all without the authority of the
Magistracy. They might think it to be their duty to
ride into the multitude without orders ; but, in his
opinion, it was clearly a misconception of duty. The

Learned Gentleman then remarked, that in the course
of the trial it had become important to discover whe.
ther any attempt had been made to serve the warrant
without the assistance of the Military. The Learned
Judge asked again and again, whether any,applica-
tion, either personal or by proclamation, was made
to the crowd to get out of the way in order that a
warrant might be served by the Civil Power? and
the answer which he invariably received was ." No."
—(Lond cheers from the Oppositioni.—When the Con-
stables advanced, they w eie met, some said, by cheers
of welcome ; others, by cheers of defiance. The
cheers, perhaps, were a mixture of both. " Why
should they not cheer ?" said the Learned Judge.:—
" Is any Counsel bold enough to say that they had
not a tight to resist, if a pared of soldiers rode in
opon them without a warrant ?"—(Loud cheering).—
He must confess that lie was not the Counsel bold
enough to say so; on the contrary, he said that they
had a tight to resist-. if they were rode ih upon with-
out a warrant—( Cheers./ ram the Opposition).—Until
the moment that hunt asked for the warrant and
Nadin produced it, they had no right to disperse the
Meeting. The reasons which he had stated he con-
ceived to be such as called upon the House to insti-
tute an inquiry ; but, besides them, there was another
reason not less cogent, namely, the necessity of pre-
venting the ,recurrence of a similar scene upon any
future occasion—(Hear).—The Learned Gentleman •
then said, in referring to Lord Sidmouth's famous
letter of thanks to the Magistrates, that it shewed
unfit precipitation on the part of Government, and
frankly confessed that, viewing it as he did, .totally
divested of all party feeling, he conceived it calcu-
lated to produce the most universal irritation in the
country—Weary—His Hon. Friend, the Member
for Westminster, had been prosecuted for the letter
which he wrote regarding it, on the ground that his
letter was calculated to prejudice the trial then pend-
ing. Might not the letter of Lord Sidmouth have
been prosecuted upon exactly the same grounds, re-
turning, as it did, most unqualified thanks to the
Magistrates within two days after intelligence had
been received of a transaction, of which, accord-
ing to the Noble Marquis, the very recital made
the heart bleed !—(Loud and repeated cheering).—
lie thought that every Magistrate in the county of
Lancaster, and that even the Gentlemen of the Grand
Jury itself, must have been influenced by that letter,
as the thanks which it contained rendered the question
completely a Ministerial one--(Cheers).—Mr. Scar-
lett, after some further observations on the same sub- •
ject, in order to shew tne political hostility which
existed at Manchester about the 16th of August, al-
luded to a fact which occurred on the cross-examina-
tion of Murray, one of the witnesses examined at
York. The witness was asked whether he had ever
said, that " rather than see Reformers triumph,
he would prefer to walk up to his knees in their
blood?"
,fle refused giving a direct answer to the
question; but he said upon oath that he would not
believe any Reformer upon his oath—(Hear, hear).—
A similar feeling might have existed in the breasts of
some Members of the Grand Jury, and might have
led them to reject Bills which were presented to them
upon di:: oaths of Reformers—(Hear, hear, and cries
of " No"). It was said by Gentlemen on the other
side, that no attempt had been made to bring this
question to trial before the usual tribunals of the
country. Surely those Gentlemen had forgotten
*that Bills of Indictment had been offered to Grand
Juries, but rejected, and Informations asked for
against Magistrates, but refused—(Hear, hear).—
But then it was said that no action had been brought
to recover damages for the injuries which had been
sustained ; and that that was one way of trying this
great constitutional question. If it was, it was in-
formation toilim ; for he did not see how a question
of that importance could be settled by a civil action
--(Cheers). How could an old woman of 82, for in-
stance, bring an action of damages for a wound which
she had received from a Yeoman whose person she
could not recognise?—(Cheers). On a former occa-
sion when this question had been discussed in the
House, it had been said—" Whilst a prosecution is
depending the House must not interfere." On that
occasion he had said, that he knew of no question
then before the Courts, which would bring to, trial
the conduct of the military and the magistracy to the
people. The trial at York had proved that lie was
correct. That argument, therefore, such as it was,
could now no longer be used. The question then
was reduced to this point—was the time too late for
the House to interfere? Did the Noble Lord mean
to say that if the Constitution were violated, time
should make the people of England sleep over the
injury which they had received ? He should, indeed,
think ill of the people of England—he should, in-
deed, consider them unworthy of the liberty which
they enjoyed, if a short year and a half could make
them forget those wrongs which, according to the
Noble Lord, made the heart of those who had only
read them bleed to the inmost core! —(Loud cheers).
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said that the speech
of his Honourable Friend, made as it was in the ut-
most spirit of candour, would-have proved to him, if
other proof had been wanting, the necessity of giv-
ing a negative to the present Motion. It released
two parties, the Magistrates and the Ministers, from
the blame which the Honourable Member for West-
minster had so lavishly cast upon them—(" No, no,!"
from Sir Francis Burdett).—l lis Honourable Friend,
the Member for Nottingham (Mr. Denman), who had
attributed to the Government the instigation of what
he called these atrocities, had received from his Ho•
nourable and Learned Friend a complete contradic-
tion on that' point, and, independently of the letter of
Mr. Norris on the evening before the Meeting, and
the declaration of Mr. Holton on the trial, his Learned
Friend (Mr. Scarlett) had proved that the Magistrates
were not entitled to take any share of the blame im-
puted to them—(Cheers).—The question then became
reduced to this point, whether they should institute
an inquiry at the bar of the Ilouse into the conduct
of the Yeomanry ? Ile was of opinion that they ought
not, as the question might be discussed before the
ordinary Tribunals. the was quite surprised to hear
his Learned Friend state that great constitutional
questions could not be tried by action. Did his
Learned Friend recollect how the questions of Ship-
money and General Warrants were decided? They
were decided by actions at law—( Loud cheering).—
He was likewise surprised at another position of his
Learned Friend, who had almost asserted that, to
have bills thrown out by Grand Juries, and Coroner's
Inquests not bringing in a verdict of murder, were

prestimptiont:of guilt against the parties accused ?
When his Learned Friend accused Lord Sidmooth of
precipitation and prejudgi:tg, he must have forgotten
hoe- much the question ad been prejudge.l on the
other side, at the Yorkshire and simil ir County Meet-
ings—(No, no, from Lord Milton). Ile must main.
taro that it had been prejudged, in spite of the denial
of the Noble Lord. The Resolutions passed at York
conveyed a meaning that, in the opinion of that Meet-
ing, the Meeting at Manchester was•a legal assembly
—(Cries of " Read, rend," from Lard
would oblige the Noble Lord ; he would read them.
The second Resolution stated, " That it is a direct
violation of law, and an alarming invasion of the
rights of the l eople, to disperse by violence"—(Loud
cheering front Me Opposition)-11 Gentlemen would
defer their cheers until they heard the whole of the
Lesolution, the) would do better—" to disperse by
violence, and still more by the employment of a mi-
litary force, a Meeting legally assembled and peace-
ably held for such purposes"—(Cheers front the Mi-
nisterial side).—Did not this Resolution distinctly
state, that the Meeting at Manchester was legally
ar,embled and peaceably held ?—(Repeated cheers).
• !lot what said the third Resolution ? It was still more
explicit. It was to the following effect :—" 'That we
Lave learned with unfeigned concern that a Meeting
held at Manchester on the 16th August last, avowedly
for such I:urposes, at which it has not hitherto ap-
peared that any. illegal act had been committed, or
that previous proclamation to disperse had been made
according to law, was suddenly attacked and dis-
persed b' a military force, whereby the lives of a
great number of his Majesty's subjects were endan-
gered, many of them wounded, and some killed."—
(Loud cheers front legit sides ofthe liouse).—This Re-
solution, connected with the former one, clearly made
out his assertion—" Was assembled for such per-
.poses !" For what purposes ? Tins could mean no-
thing else than that the Meeting at Manchester was
legal. A Jury, however, in that very comity where
these 11.1 solutions were passed, after a full investiga-
tion of the c.v.; came to a very different conclusion;
and after that conclusion, he thought that he had a
tight to state, that the Magistrates had a right to
issue their warrant to arrest the Leaders of that
Assembly. He would ask the Honourable Ba-
ronet, what useful result his .inquiry would lead
to, supposing the Ilouse to be of opinion that
•the -conduct of the Yeomanry was improper ?
The inquiry must still end in the ordinary Courts of
Justice, for all that the House could do would be to •
order whatever Gentleman held his situation to insti-
tute proceedings against the Yeomanry---((fear, hear).
One word as to the exaggerations which had been
complained of. The Hon. Baronet had said that the
• facts-on which his (the Ministerial) side of the House
relied had been chsprcved by the evidence at York.
He maintained that they had not; but even supposing
that they had, was it fair to characterize the pro-
ceedings of the'l6th of August as a murder and a
massacre? As far as any investigation had been
made into the subject, they had been found not to I
be murder ; and he would ask, where war .':at can-
dour on which Hon. Gentlemen so much prided them-
selves,when they stigmatized with such epithets the ac-
tions of those men whom they wished to put upon their
trial ?---(Loud cheer., front the Ministerial side).
Mr. S. WORTLEY said,• he must acquit the sup-
porters of the Resolutions at the York County Meet-
ing of any disposition to prejudge the question then
pending by declaring the legality of the Manchester
Meeting. He peoceeded to argue against the motion,
contending that if there was any ground for corn-
plaint, it was a proper subject for the consideration
of a legal tribunal. That no such suit had been in-
stituted was a clear proof to him that a case could
not be made out.
Lord MILTON observed, that the explanation of
his Hon. Colleague, as to the York County Meeting,
rendered any observations from him on the subject
unnecessary.

Sir FRANCIS BURDETT was now generally
called upon to reply. The Honourable Baronet then
observed, that the case remained precisely where it
was; for the Noble Marquis and the Honourable and
Learned Gentlemen opposite, and all their adherents,
seemed determined to shot their eyes to the real and
great question, and to endeavour to turn the atten-
tion of the House to minute parts of it. They talked
of it as a (1 uestioti between certain persons who had
been aggrieved and those by whom they had been
agrieved, instead of a question between the People
of England and his Majesty's Government. That
the people assembled at a Public Meeting were to
have the military let loose upon them, and that it
was to be held that no one was amenable for that act,
surely afforded the strongest ground for parliamen-
tary inquiry. The House ought to be informed by
an inquiry at the Bar, if the troops had committed
military execution without the authority of the Ma-
gistrates, and had of their own head perpetrated the
violences which had occurred. They ought to he in-
formed whether Ministers stood clear on the subject?'
Seeing the correspondence that existed between the
Magistrates and his Majesty's Ministers—seeing that
the latter bad published the letters of the Magistrates,
but had not ventured to lay before the House their
answers—seeing the ungracious answer to the She-
riffs of London, put into the mouth of his Majesty,
who was made to say that the Citizens of London
could not know the previous transactions and circum-
stances at Manchester—seeing all this, it was difficult
to believe that what had taken place was not in a
great measure the result of directions from his Ma-
jesty's Government. As to its being too late for the
investigation, that he denied. The time that had
elapsed had .only served to divest the subject of all
false appearances, and to exhibit its true shape and
colours. The Noble Marquis (Londonderry) had
made his statements lightly, and without any shadow
of proof. The attacks of the military upon the people
were distinctly proved—indeed, so distinctly, that
the Learned Judge who presided at the trials at York
stated to the Jury, that there appeared no justifica-
tion for the employment of the military in the execu-
EICO of the warrant. Though the parties tried at
York were charged with a conspiracy, yet the legality
of the question did not appear to be decided by the
trial. It was said on that occasion, that the parties
had been guilty of stirring up the minds of the peo-
ple to a hatred and contempt of the Government..—
But it was hardly possible to touch upon public
grievances—to point out even the corruption of that,

House, without involving one's self within the scope of
such a charge. The whole of the facis stated deter-
mined one point, namely, that Mr. Hunt and the
other parties had not attended the Meeting with the
motives imputed to them. An Hon. Gentleman who
had just sat down bad,. as Gentlemen under the in-
fluence of pasion were generally in the habit of
doing, recommended calmness and coolness to him—
(Hear, hear). Ile knew not how to reply to this ad-
vice, as he did not feel the want of those qualities ;
perhaps indeed lie might, in the heat of argument,
have been betrayed into hasty expressions ; and there
never was a question more calculated to excite, and
at the same time to excuse, the warmth of a man's
feelings than this—(Hear, hear). The Hon. Member
for Dover (Mr. B. Wilbraham) had attempted to
throw discredit upon the investigation which bad
taken place, as well as urn that now proposed, by
stating that he bad had the good fortune of meeting
persons who Well; said to have been killed at Man-
chester, alive and unhurt ; that he had known that a
child reported to have been killed by the Yeomanry
had died of convulsions ; that a man ieported to hive
been killed by the con:aables, had been actually
choaked by eating mutton ; and that a father, after
having in the hospital identified the clothes of his son,
whom he understood to base been murdered, had
afterwards met that- son alive and well. The Hon.
Member for Newcastle (Mi. Wilmot) had gone fur-
ther than the Noble Lord (Londonderry) had the face
to do. The Noble Lord had confined the guilt to the
Manchester Yeomanry; but the Hon. Member con•
tended that no guilt could be imputed, but that it
was an act.of extended justice—
Mr. WILMOT rose to Order. He appealed to the
House whether any Hon. Member had a right to put
a forced construction upon his worth? What he stated
was, thatif the military had
,been called in by the
Magistrates, in the exercise of their sound discretion,
then the Magistrates were not responsible for the acts
subsequently committed by that military.
Sir F. BURDETT continued.—lt was not his in-
tention to attribute anything to the Hon. Gentleman
which he had not said. The Noble Lord (London-
derry) had used one expression that was not a little
remarkable; he had said that lie could rely upon the
present construction of the House of Commons—
, ( Hear, hear).—No man would dispute his Lordship's
i intimate acquaintance with the tiirmation of the
House; he was a witness, onmi exceptione major, on
that subject ; • for he had, no doubt, studied its coa-
struction with the painful skill of an anatomist : he
was, besides, well qualified to judge of the construe-
tion of the House of Commons of England, by his
knowledge of that of Ireland—(Hear, hear, hear).-1
He was well aware of the value of its present con-
struction for his own purposes ; and that the House
was worthy of his Lord hip,, and his Lordship of the
House, he (Sir Francis Bin Jett) would be the last
man in the world to deny—(Much cheering and laugh-
ter)—they enjoyed a mutual good opinion of each
other, and though they might be congratulated upon
their resemblance and tAeti union, it could be no sub-
' jest of congratulation with the people—(Hear, hear).
But, convinced as he (Sir F. Burdett) was of the per-
nicious influence of the House of Commons, as at pre-
sent constructed, upon the rights and liberties of Eng-.
land, he- did not wonder that the people—(7he Ho-
nourable Baronet was here interrupted by loud cries of
" Order, order ! Chair!")
The SPEAKER, as soon as silence could be ob-
tained, said, that he was confident that the Hon. Ba-
ronet would be sensible of the impropriety of the
words he had just used in the warmth of his sentence.

Sir FRANCIS BURDETT professed himself ready
to submit to whatever the Speaker might judge cor-
rect in the course of debrte—(Hear, hear).—He was
about to add, that the real question at issue was, whe-
ther, in future, the People of England should be al-
lowed to exercise their undoubted and unalienable'
right of meeting in any manner and in any numbers,
for any lawful purpose ; or whether the intestine war,
which the Noble Secretary at War had said had been
carried on against them for the last five years, was
still to be continued ? He was convinced that the
People were in no way hostile to their Institutions;
but they thought themselves entitled to the Constitu-
tion, and to all those 'rights which the Constitution
gave them ; above all, to that great right of free
election of their Representatives for the protection of
their interests and property. This was the whole
object of the Meeting at Manchester ; yet it was there
that more than six hundred men, women, and chil-
dren, had been killed, wounded, or maimed ; and
yet it was into this horrible transaction that Mi-
nisters refused inquiry !—(Hear, hear, hear).—
As to the proceedings of the Grand Jury at Lancas-
ter, he intended to cast no imputations; but he must
say, that it was utterly incomprehensible to him upon
what ground the Bills were rejected by them, recol-
lecting that all the facts were beyond the possibility
of dispute. Then they came before the Coroner,
where last, not least, it seemed, according to the as-
sertion of the Noble Lord opposite, some tricks were
played. What were those tricks? The number of
witnesses who prcssed forward to give evidence—of
that the Coroner should have judged. It was, how-
ever, known that the inquiry before 'the Coroner had
gone so far, that the Jury had made up their minds
upon the• verdict which they meant to give; but
their intentions were defeated by the conduct of
the Coroner himself=-(Hear, hear, hear).—
He would ask the House how it could, after this, be
said that the people had not made every accessible
application in the usual course of justice? In each
attempt the people had failed—their successive appli-
cations had been refused. His reason, therefore, for
pressing this question was, that the public mind was
not satisfied, nor would it be satisfied until an inquiry
had taken place into these transactions. While he'
had a seat in the House he would• press for this in-
quiry. If the King's Ministers would now say that'
they would take up the inquiry, and report to the
House upon it, then he would rest satisfied ; but if
that were not done, then he had only to add, that
the People would never rest satisfied until some
satisfaction were had for, or inquiry made into, these
calamitous transactions—(Hear, hear, hear).

Strangers were then ordered ..o withdraw, and the House
divided, when the numbers %vete—

For the Motion - 1 it
Against it - - - - '235
Majority apinst it - —124.
The other Orders of the D.l were then csati, and the House
adjourned at Half-pax Two,

THE EVENING STAR.

LONDON.

THURSDAY, MAY 17. 1821.
lira MAssarea Bta-a-Dar.—Holiday at the Bank.

The motion fdr an inquiry into the circumstances
of " the Manchester Massacre! was last night re-
jected by the House of Commons, there being 111
for it, and 235, against it. It is not by any Ministe-
rial majority that the cry of blood to HEAVEN IS to
be stifled. It will rise till the crime is avenged. Our
sentiments respecting the guilty transactions of the
16th of August, 1819, are too well known to neeJ
repetition at this time ; and we have only to deplore
that the Government should have so identifie.l itself
with the transactions of that day, as still to extend
over them the shield of its influence.

The, foreign arrivals to-day consist of the Paris
Papers of Sunday and Monday, and Madrid to the
6th instant. Their contents are.not without interest;
but the length of our Parliamentary Report on the
interesting question* of the Manchester Tragedy, li
mite us to a mere statement of their substance.—
Anarchy and disorder continue to make frightful
strides in Spain : there have been several new skir-
-1
mishes between the Constitutionalists and rebels; more
personal arrests and proscriptions ; and if a letter from
Bayonne may be credited, on the same night that the
Canon Viinuesit was massacred, the populace of
Madrid demanded from the Authorities the heads of
twenty-five persons, all belonging to the first families
of Spain. It is evident to us that there is a party at
work in this unhappy country, who, though fully
sensible that they are warring against the great
majority of their fellow-countrymen, entertain the
hope that they shall be at least able to -keep alive
! such a degree of civil commotion as may fur-
-1 nish a pretext for the presence of a foreign force,
who, under the pretext of restoring tranquillity, may
restore the old system of despotism and misrule; and,
from what we shave lately seen, we :ball not be at all
surprised should such be the issue of their patricidal
designs. Of the Greek Insurrection the accounts are
extremely desponding, and fully confirm the view
which we took of it some days back. The inhabi-
tants of Moldavia and NVallachia .have not been
long in evincing that there is nothing cf that
Greek feeling about them which animates YP.iILANTI
and a few others of the leaders in the Insurrection.
Finding that they are to have no active'support from
Russia, or at least deceived by the assurances to that
effect, and seeing that the struggle, if persisted in,
must be a severe one, they have abandoned the stand-
ard of liberty as fast as they resorted to it ; and the
whole force of the Insurgents appears now from good
accounts not to exceed 5000 men. Jassy they have
been obliged wholly to evacuate, by a re-action on
the part of the Boyars, who have sent to the Porte
to declare the readiness of Moldavia to return to its
duty. YPSILANTI and THEODORE have their stations
in the vicinity of Bucharest, and seem quite at a stand.

By late accounts from St. Helena, intelligence has
been received in town of the EX-EMPEROR being se-
riously indisposed, indeed so much so that he had
kept his bed for a fortnight or three weeks. A pas-
senger, who is arrived in town from the vessel which
brought the information, on the authority of one of
BONAPARTE'S attendants, confirms the intelligence,
and adds, that BONAPARTE was so extremely unwell
that his dissolution was thought likely. He was not
able to retain anything on his stomach.

Yesterday the Duke of YORK, the Duchess of
GLOUCESTER, the Princess AUGUSTA, and the Prin-
cess SOPHIA, visited the KING.

The Duke of YORK and the Princess AUGUSTA,
and a numerous party, dined with the Duke and Dut
chess of CLARENCE yesterday.
Yesterday Prince LEOPOLD dined with Earl DARN-
LEY to Meet the Noble Directors of the Concert of
Ancient Music ; afterwards his Royal Highness ac-
companied their Lordships to the performance of the
Concert, at the Hanover-square Rooms.
The Earl of TALBOT, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,
is arrived, via Liverpool, at his seat in Staffordshire.
The PRIMATE, the LORD CHANCELLOR, and Sir
DAVID BAIRD, have been.sworn into the administra-
tion of the Viceregal powers, as Lords Justices, during
the absence of his Excellency from Ireland.
Last night, Mons. ALMANDRI4 the inimitable iretariktquist,
again astonished and delighted a numerous and genteel audience;
at the European Saloon, in King-street, St. James's-square.
Tuesday, the' Anniversary of the St. Patrick's
Charity Schools, and Asylum for Female Orphans,
was celebrated at the Freemasons Tavern, his Royal
Highness the Duke of SUSSEX in the Chair. After
dinner the health of the ‘k King" was drank with three
times three, and great applause. The CHAIRMAN
then proposed "the Queen and the rest of the Royal
Family," which was drank with great enthusiasm.—
Lord TRIMBLESTONE, after a warm eulogium upon
that member of the Royal Family, whose liberality
of sentiment, and graciousness of manners, induced
every Catholic to look to him with peculiar attention,
proposed the health of the Duke of Sussex. His Row.
HIGHNESS returned thanks in a speech particularly ex-
' pressive of his solicitude for Catholic Emancipation.
IThe Meeting was afterwards addressed, in the same
strain, by Lord NUGENT, Ml'. HODHOUSE, Mr. BLAKE,
and Mr. J. HtrrcurNsotr (son of the Honourable Mr.
C. Hurctittisorr' of the House of Commons), who ex-
hibited the most flattering pronlite of eloquent powers.
The children who are supported by the Institution
appeared in the room.. They comprehended about
350 boys and 150 females. The spc.c.tule was most
interesting.