Star.
London, England, 1819-12-01 00:00:00

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been forgotten was now pumpeted -about amongst
them, and appeared to UP' tl.t watch-word of the
party : he meant Thomas Paine, whose object, no
doubt, was the overturning of the Constitution, and
for the republication of whose works an unfortunate
individual had recently been doomed to suffer im-
prisonment. Observations had'been made on the in-
formation laid befote Parliament, and it was said all
had not been disclosed. Government never proposed
to lay all the information they possessed before the
Pablic ; the only question. now was, had sufficient
been disclosed? The Riot Act-did not da away with
the provisions of the Common Law, and.the Magis-
trates might properly avail themselves of it. No line
of distinction could be drawn between the events
prior and subsequent to the 16th of August. Before
the 16th, training had taken place to a great extent,
though without the use of arms. He must oppose
the Motion of the Noble Lord.
Sir M. W. RIDLEY.—Toe Country looked up to
Gentlemen on his side of the House, for protection
against the designs of Ministers. • -It was too much
to legislate for the whole kingdom, from what had
taken place in a few districts ; nor was the Statute
Book, on that account, to be loaded with new enact-
ments. Nothing could be more conciliating to the
mistaken men in the disturbed districts, than for the
House to express a sympathy with their wants, and
an intention to take into consideration the subject of
Parliamentary Reform. He should give his cordial
support to the motion.
Mr. LONG WELLESLEY.—The language that
was held on the present occasion respecting a
Committee a that House, did not exactly quadrate
with what had been stated on former occasions, as if
it had.only re-echoed the sentiments of the Minister.
The great question was, whether the Manchester
Meeting was illegal or not? but that question had
been wholly abandoned by the Gentlemen opposite;
As no inquiry on the partof that House would satisfy
the ppblic mind,itoughttobereferred to the ordinary
tribunals of the country. He should oppose the motion.
Mir. D. KINN AfilD i'as desirous of addressing the
Ilouse, while the country was yet in possession of a '
Constitution. The Noble Lord who had that night
moved for a Committee, had done the duty of the
Ministers of the Crown. He was incredulous as to
the charges of sedition and impiety against the Peo-
ple. There was much distress ; and it was nothing
extraordinary that distress should generate di*con.
tent. He should give his support to the motion.
Lord LASCELLES had strong reason to believe
that the prevailing discontents originated in real dis-
tress—distress unexampled : but what he complained
of, was, that mischievous and itinerant persons made a practice
of increasi:le that discontent by inflammatory language, going
the let gth to ~nnetimes representing that the Monarch ought to
be d-zitrontd. Could thtmoral and well-disposed part of so-
ciety be i:: safety, or regard itself as in security, unless some
new measures were proposed ? There was cause enough, he
apprehended, to excite national alarm, and to impose on Patna-
rient the necessity of interfering. It was in defence of the la-
l‘orious classes of society that he gave his support to the present
measures He did not consider them as adequately protected
till they were exempted from the existing means of delusion.—
Upon the whole view of the subject, and the best consideration
which he could give it, he was sincerely of opinion, that conci-
liation was advisable, but that some measures of a restrictive
natur- were absolutely necessary.
Mr. BENETT (of Wiltshire) said. the question for the C9ll-
- of the House was, if strong coercion should be adopted
on the bare representation of Ministers? He did not think that
hws which must affect the whole community, should be enacted
on the conduct of a few.
Lord M : LTQN said, that the statement of the Noble Lord
(Lascelles) might well be liable to the same objection as that
brought against the speech of his Hon. Friend, namely, that
the Noble Lord looked but at one side of the question.
Mr. S. WORTLEY, previously to the Meeting in Yorkshire,
had offend to his Noble Friend to vote for a Parliamentary in:
quiry, if be (Lord Milton) would join in a declaration against
the Radical Reformers ; but that proposal having been declined,
his offer consequently came to nothing,
• Mr. DEN se AN said, the only question regarding the Man-
chester Meeting was, had that *Meeting been lawfully dispersed?
If not, a fatal blow had been given to the Constitution. The

Meeting might have been legally convened, and the Improper
conduct of a few would not affect the conduct of the whole.
Mr. MANSFIELD was decidedly against the Motion. The
disaffection, be said, was spreading from the Manufacturing to
the Agricultural Districts. There was now scarcely a town or
district in the North which had not its Deputies or its Delegates.
Mr. W. COURTNEY also opposed the Motion.
Mr. W. L A 'MB was in favour of Inquiry before a Commit-
tee, as the only mode of inquiry which could satisfy the Public.
Mr, LAWSON was astonished at the demand for Parlia-
mentary Inquiry, and still more at the quarter from which it
came.--Thellonourable Gentleman rallied the Radicals on their
politics and their vettiegrise excl.,. quer, as he termed the penny
subscription, and made a humouruus sally on the missepresenta-
dons of the sufferings of the Manchester folk.
Mr. MARTIN (of Galway) rose amidst loud cries of" ques-
tion !" to oppose the Motion.
Lord CASTLEREAGH begged to call the attention of the
House to the true bearing of the motion then before it. Its ob-
ject was two fold—first, to inquire into the events of the 16th
of August ; and next, to inquire into the condition of the Coun-
try generally. But he trusted that the House would not sus-
pend all remedial measures until the inquiry was concluded, nor
determine to rescind the vote of a former night. He believed
there was not one Member in the House who would deny the
necessity.of remedial measures. Every loyal man in the Coun-
try looked to the Government for protection, and the very Ra-
dicals themselves would look with contempt upon Parliament if
they did not stand forward and vindicate the safety of the CINII3.
try against the notorious dangers that exist, He should be dis-
posed to make any reasonable concession In the details to the
Gentlemen opposite ; but he was afraid, from the spirit mani-
fested by those Gentlemen, that it would not be in the power of
Government to act in concert with them. He should be, un-
willing to impute to the Right Honourable Gentleman opposite
(Mr. Tierney) an unworthy ambition, for he believed that the
Right Honourable Gentleman felt as he himself felt, that office
at the present moment imposed a very heavy responsibility upon
those who filled it. The Right Honourable Gentleman bad
said, that the Whigs only could save the Country. [Mr. Tier-
ney across the table denied that he had said so.] But the Right
honourable Gentleman had said as much, when he pointed cut
to the House what he represented to be the evil effects of the

administration of those now in power. Look, said he to the
National Debt—the state of the Expenditure, Btc.—:(Cheers
from the Opposition Benches.) But the Gentetnen opposite
would have acted morewisely by spewing a disposition to co-
operate with the Government of the Country. But it was too
apparent that they acted under the delusion that Government
WAS the enemy of the Country—(Cheers from the Opposition
Benches). was fully confident, however, that there was a
sense, a determination, and a manliness in the Country to second'
the disposition of the Government. He did not say, that the
Administration of the Country wodld go on in spite of the Whigs,
but he WAS sure it would go on without the Whigs.
Mr. TIERNEY assured the House that he was never more
surprised in his life, than by the necessity of dates to trouble
the House at that late period of the night, for it had been his
determination, up to the moment of the extraordinary rant of '
the Noble Lord, to have remained wholly siletit—(Cbeers from
the Opposition /leaches). He would put it 'to the candour of
any Honourable ember of that House, whether or not be bad
bean goaded to address them by the speech of the Noble Lord?
Just at the moment when the House was about to divide in
pens and good humour, down cams the Noble Lord with his
speech, calculated as it was, to revive and stimulate pasty spirit;
lest the Mete should separate arlth amity. Ills Lordship began
by a misrepresentation of Whig principles. The truth was, that

' the Whigs bore the entire brunt of the- Radisal hostility. Ills 1
Lordship attributed to him (Mr. Tierney) a declaration that the 1
Whigs only could save the Country. The fact was,- that a
Right Honourable Gentleman then absent (Mr. Canning) had
boasted on a former night, that the Whigs wefe kept out of
office for the last fifty years. In reply to that boast, he (Mr.
Tierney) begged the House to look at the consequence. He de-
sired the House to look at the effect of Tories being in Mice—
(Cheers from the Opposition). Ile had at the time said, " Look
to the expenses of the State increased in the course *1 thirty
years, from fifteen millions to sixty millions--look to the dis-
tress of the Country—look to the prepure of the-Poor Rates—
, these are the blessings of Tory government !" And after all this,
those very Ministers had the impudence to come and ask the
Whigs for confidence. The Noble Lord called on them to give
Government their support. The Whigs did support Govern-
, ~ment, and now truly their services were -acknowletlged by the
imputation of joining the Radicals. But what support did they
look for? Give them every thing.-but it was impossible they
could have authority., Give than troops—money--and what-
' ever assistance they might ask, but they never would possess
Statesmen-Ate authority with the Country—(Cheers from the
, (ptsitition). He was warm, but he could not help it—(Laugh-
ter). He was quite taken by surprise. He eould not have
imagined that he should have met with a turbulent Gentleman
in the course; at least, of that evening—(Hear, and much laugh-
ter). Instead of conducting himself as a quiet, well-behaved
Member, the Noble Lord did every thing in his power to pre-
vent the House from separating in good humour. What was
the conduct of Ministers throughout the whole of this proceed-
ing? Why they had taken, as they usually did, a miserable,
shifting, temporising course, If they had built their measures
upon the notoriety merely of disaffection, why their propositions
would, at least, have been intelligible. Me denied the
that the House had pledged itself to refuse inquiry.
-amendment, which he had the honour to propose, was rejected
bon the ground of its being an unseemly appendage at the par-
ticular time. He begged the House so consider the grounds
upon which the new measures were proposed. It was not only
that there was no adequate reason for bringing forward tem-
porary measures, but that there was net the slightest ground for
permanent laws which wept to alter and change the Constitu-
tion of the Country--(Cheers). Were the whole People of the
Empire to be mulcted for the sins of two Counties ? The Bight
Honourable Gentleman, after having contended that there was
not any reason for suspecting that disaffection existed in any
other County in the Kingdom, said, that the attempt which the
new measures avowed, of altering tbe Constitudon so materi-
ally, could only come from the Noble Lord himself. He next
adverted to the proposition for raising the additional Military
force, and stated, that there was not a single proof brought to
shew that such an addition was necessary. With respect to.the
law aimed at the itinerant Orators, he should say, there appeared
no justification for such a measure, save the evidence that there
were six persons of this description at present in the Country,
one of whom happened, however, to be an Orator of the Noble,
Lord himself. But he begged it to be. remembered, that, al-
though the People might be prevented from actually listening to
the Orators, yet that the reading of his speech would be quite as
effectual for the promotion of his views. It was quite possible
that all the warmth of the speaker could be conveyed to the
reader by a faithful report of what he had said. -For instance.
if it were possible that the Noble Lord's rant could be reported
and read out of doors, that it would set all his friends capering
through the Country !—(Laughter.) He had now a question to
put to the Noble Lord-' He wished to know from him if the
letter of Mr. Hay, contained in the documentsbefore the House,
was the foundation of the thanks which Ministers bestowed on
the Manchester Magistrates? If so, he had no hesitation in
dliciaring there never was a set of men more branded with guilt
before the Country, than those who advised the Prince Regent
to bestow those thanks—(Hear, bear). If the thanks Were
founded upon the subsequent information of Mr. Hay, why, he
begged to ask, should not the House be put in possession of that
information 1 The Right Honourable Gentleman then pro-
ceeded to shew that the Resolutions entered into by the Gentle-
men of York, in opposition to those agreed to at the Public
Meeting in that City, pledged those who supported them to a
Parliamentary inquiry upon the subjectof the Manchester events,
and for this purpose he read the whole of their e•unterAitate.
meat. He would ask those Gentlemen, then, one question, if
the terms they proposed to those with whom they were first un-
willing to act, had been agreed to, would they not have toted in
Parliament for inquiry? He could not possibly see how the
euevion couMbe angweroit otherwise than in the affirmative. The
Right Honourable Gentleman concluded, by thanking the
House for the patience with which they had heard Ms speech,
which had been most unexpectedly wrung from him, hi theptrty
speech of the Noble Lord.—(Hear, Hear, Hear.)
The House then divided on the Motion, when the numbers
were—Ayes 130—Noes 383—Majority against the Mothan, 173,
Adjourned at Half-past One o'clock.

HEADS OF THE BILL
FOR THE MORE EFFECTUALLY PREVENTING SE-
DITIOUS MEETINGS AND ASSEMBLIES.
Paxamm.a.--No {Meeting of more than persons (ex,
cepting always County Meetings, called by the Lord Lieutenant
or Sheriff, or, if is Scotland, by the Convener, and called by
or more acting Justices of the Peace, or
by the major part of the Grand Jury of a County; as also all
Meetings of any City, Borough, or Town Corporate, called
by the s,ayor or other Had Officer thereof; or of any Ward,
or Division of a City, called by the Alderman or Head Of-
ficer ; and excepting finally all Meetings of any Corporate Body),
shall be holden for the purpose or on the pretext of deliberating
upon any public grievance, or any matter in Church or State;
or of considering, proposing, or agreeing to any Petition, Com-
plaint, Remonstrance, Declaration, Resolution or Address, upon
the subject thereof, unless in the Parish, or when any Parish
shall be divided into Townships, having separate and distinct
Overseers of the Poor, then in the Township within which the '
persons calling any such Meeting shall usually inhabit or dwell,
nor unless notice in writing of the intention to hold such Meet-
ing, and of the time and place when and where, and of the pur-
pose for which the same shall be proposed to be holden, shall be
delivered personally to some Justice of the Peace residing near
to such Parish or Township, and usually acting for the District
or Division within which such Parish or Township 'ball be
situate, nor unless such notice shall be subscribed
by persons at the least, being householders, usually
resident within the Parish or Township (as may be) where such
Meeting shall be proposed to be holden.
Justices to have the power of altering time and place of
Meeting.
Adjourned Meetings to be held as unlawful assemblies.
No persons to attend any Meeting whatever exceeding the num-
ber of unless freeholders, or householders, or inha-
bitants of the county, city, parish, &c. where the Meeting is held.
Persons attending Meetings contrary to the provisions of this
Act, to be liable to be punished by
not exceeding years, at the discretion V the Cowl us
which the conviction shall be had.

The Act not to affect M of persons in trade, who shall
meet in any number not exceeding for the purpose of
considering any matters relating to such trade.
All Justices of the Peace empowered to resort to any Assemblies
held within their jurisdiction. and there to do, or cause to be
done, all matters or things which the case may require. •
If Notice shall purport that any thing by Law established
may be altered, except by authority of King, Lords, and Com-
mons, dic. the Meeting shall be deemed an unlawful Assembly.
Persons attending Meetings contrary to tha limitations of this
Act (i. e. strangers), to be required by Proclamation to depart, and
if they do not depart within a quarter of an hour, to be adjudged
on conviction to be guilty of
FORM OF THE PROCLAMATION, • •
Persons assembled at any Meeting, sot lawfully convened,
may be commanded to be di:versed by Proclamation, and if
they shall, to the number of or more, notwithstanding
such Proclamation made, continue together for the space of
thereafter, every person so continuing, to be adjudged
guilty of
FORM OF PROCLAMATION IN THE PRECEDING
CASE.
Justices, at Meetings held in pursuance of legal notice given,
may order persons propounding or maintaining any proposition
for altering any thing by law established, otherwise than by the
authority of King, Lords, and Oimmons, &c. to be taken into
custody, and in case of resistance, may cause Proclamation to be
made, for the dispersion of the Meeting, and if or MOM
shall continue together for the space of thereafter
they shall be adjudged guilty of , Persons obetssitilini
Justices, to be adjudged guilty of • • If die person, as-
sembled at nay Meeting or Assembly held contrary to the pro-
vinces of this Act, or which shall belles* and be ne unlawful
Assembly, under the provisions of this Act, or any of tbs.. atollkoppost is be kilted, otAimed, or kart, ta the disperses, as en-

sleafauring to disperse, or, arresting, or apprehending, or detals-
Lig them, or any of them ,or in the endeavouring so to do, by
reason of theit resisting the persons so dispersing, seining, or err-.
prehending, or endeavouring to disperse, seine, or a
them, that every such Justice of the Peace, Sheriff, Cortiliffilled-
riff, Mayor, Head Officer, Magistrate, High or Petty Constable.
or other Peace Officer, and all and singular persons being aiding
and assisting to them, or any of theta, shall be free, discharged,
and indemnified, as well against the King's Majesty, his Hoke,
and Successors, as against all and every other person or peeves*
of, for, or concerning the killing, maiming, or hurting, of any
such person or persons so tontinuing together as aforesaid, that
shall happen to be so killed, maimed, or hurt, as aforesaid !!!
Persons not to attend Meetings with any gnu, pistol: sward.
dagger, pike, bludgeon, or other gremitts weapon, no pain of
being convic;ed of • , excepting Justices of the Peace,
Peace Officers, or any persons actyig in their aid or assistsace.
Nor to attend Meetings with gags, banners, or ensigns d'
playing any device, badge, or emblem, or with any drum,
military or other music, or in military array or order, on pain of
Sheriffs-Depute in Scotland to have the same power as Magi-
strates in England.
Justices at Sessions may sub-divide large Parishes and Town.
for all the purposes of this Act. -
Meetlegs may be held under this Act ha certain Parishes .
Westminster' within of Westminster-Hall, notwitia-,
Waft the Act of 57 Geo. 111. e. 19.
Puma indicted under this Act, not to be allowed so traverse
to a raise gnent Anises or. Sessions.
Plasm kr Lectures or Debates, unless previously honied, •
therewith provided, to be deemed disorderly places, and '
persons opening or using the same, to forfeit the sum of
for every day or time the same shall be so used ;•and every per-
son managing or conducting the proceedings, or paying or -
eeiving money en account thereof, to forfeit the sum of
Magistrates may demand admission to unlicensed places.
itties Justices may license laces for Lectures, &c.
Justices may inspect set places.
Lectures at the Calve Inns of Court, Gresham Col-
lege, College of the nut Itiffii Company, of under the autho-
rity of any Society incorporated by Royal Chatty or Act '
Parliament excepted.
License to be forfeited in ease of Lectures of a seditious or
immoral tendency being delivered.
Limitation of Actions against Justices, &c. for exceeding their
powers under this Act, to calendar months.
Prosecutions for offences under this Act to be commenced
within months thereafter.

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