Star.
London, England, 1817-06-13 00:00:00

REPOR I OF THL SLCKET COMMIT

The Lad or HA RROWBY, AS Lrtrd President,
presemed the Report of their Lordships' Secret Cum-
appointed to take into consider ltion the utli-
ci.l information coti,municatrd to the House, by the
command of his Royal 1-IThiiess the Prince Re.L;ent.
The Report was read at the Table, and was to toe
fnliowinst effect ;

" The I.orL3' Cunimittees had proceeded to exa-
mine rind take into their immediate consideration the
papers and documents referred to them for that pur-
pier by the House. f hat the information so refer-
red, arpi-ared to contain many proofs 1:t the exist. i
ence of widely extended system of combination,
having fur its real object the overthrow of the esta-
blished laws, constitution, and government of the
realm, and to have already in its course disturbed and
eudan red the pudic tranquillity. That the Odor-
:nation so conirnunicated to them, appeared to have
horn co.rectea horn many and various sources ; and
a non); ors, irons the tenour or the con •spondence
trd commun'ca 111.• s of persons concerned in these
unlawful and danger i.is (within tions, and more or
less interested iii those criminal o • itir,!crefeiird
to by the Lords' Committees, and'commu 'cued to
divers Magistrates, or to the Secretary of State. ,
After carefully examining the whole information be.
fare them, the Lords' Committees have, to the best
of their judgment, from all the circumstances, formed
a Report, ,shich they trusted Would be found a cor.
rest atonement of the result s
That. such a spirit of combination, and for the
objects stated by the Lords' Committees, has actu.
ally Manifested itself in many parts of the country,
especially in the North of England, and also in Scot-
land.. That notwithstanding this alarming and es-
tensive spirit and system of combination. yet they
Weft persuaded that even in those very places, where
such a spirit so prevailed, there were numerous loyal,
good, aridwell-affected individuals, and among those
who suffered most from the unavoidable misfottunes
resulting from die distresses Of the times. That a
numerous portion of those Who were engaged in these
traitorous combinations, were not of that description
who suffered from such causes.' These persuasions
were strenigthened in their Lordship? minds by those
-considerations which were adverted to in their first
Report. That_the spirit which those persons endea-
vented generally to excite was that of disrespect and
hostility to the established Government and Constitu-
Eon of ..he Reain-, and an indifference to and disre-
spect for all law and religion—considerations, the ne-1
cessary results al which must eventually prove no lass
is jurious to the real interests of those whom they seek
to delude, than to those ot the unhappy and criminal
. agitators themselves. Among the principal and most
eti.tensive scenes of these practices and combinations
were the town of Manchester and other great towns
is that quarter. 'Chat they assembled repeatedly in
those places in numbers sufficiently to menace and
endanger the public - tranquillity. That particularly
on the Sd of March several thousands of persons so
d:sposed had collected together,
.and took steps to se-
cure the assemblage of another more numerous and
formidable meeting on the lOth of the same month
and at this subsequent mooting it was proposed they
Mould proceed to London under the pretence of intl.
Coning his Royal .Hishness the Prince Regent. On
many of these occasions, their deliberations, so far
as they respected such subjects, were not upon the
frequent pretexts of Parliamentary Reform, but
avowedly for the establishment of a Republican form
o! Government. Meetings of the same description
were also held at or near some of the large townk in
Yorkshire, and at these they were taught by the con-
spirators to believe that 100,000 men were on their
patch from Scotland to join them. Arrangements
Pad been made at some of these meetings for the pro-
jected march to London, and blankets and provisions
were furnished, and other preparations were mad.: for
the purpose, and intimations were given to those who
had not been so furnished, at that time, to provide
themselves with the means necessary foe undertaking
the'March. Bet this proceeding did..not appear to
have been fully acted upon. That upon the 10th, or
from the loth to the 12th of March; elarge number
of these deluded persons actually snitched off towards.
Loudon, and at the same time, aoother part of the
ILA), proceeded towards Scotlind4 but the zeal and
activity of the Magistrates prevented tae commission,
at the time, of any seriously extrOsive outrages, and
ft ustrated the execution of the moke immediate design.
• That this check did not appear ire discourage those,
ortho, though their measures were interrupted, still
ci.tatiuued to coiled lesser gicetingb, paniculaly

1 the neighbourhood of the great manufacturing towns
' in Deroyshire and Yorkshire. Reports were made at
' such meetings as to the quantities of fire-arms. pikes,
:yid other weapons whir4l had been prov dad ; these
rerirts were made by the leading conspirators in the
several towns. At these assemblies, the usual pre-
, text of Parliamentary Reform and petitioning, appear
I to have been abandoned, and that nothing short of
Revolution would satisty the parties. That in va-
rious punlie meetings the question of taking off those
persona who were most obnoxious to the conspira-
tors, was openly stated and discusssd, and the most
sedAnus endeavours resolved on to corrupt and se-
' duce to their purposes, individuals who were out of
employment. On the SOth of the same month, a
general insurrection was intended to have been at-
tempted by the assassination of the Magistrates, and
other persons in authority ; the destruction of the sol-
diery, by firing the barracks; and that specific sig
ails for the commencement of these proceedings
were to be the firing of particular buildings.
,' At this period a Proclamation was issued gene-
rally to the King's subjects, with reference to these
alarming and destructive projects ; and the atrocious
conspiracy was detected and frustrated by the vigi-
lance and activity of the Magistrates, supported by
the exertions of divers loyal and well-affected sub-
jects of his Majesty, and by the timely apprehension
of s'inie of the ringleaders of the conspiracy.
ts During part of the month of April many meet.
inge were held, more or less numerous, and also of
Select Societies established for the common object,
were held at difierent public houses. Among
most of these a correspuudence appeared to have I
been established, :Ind select meetings of delegates
hum vatious plac,s were also held. Towards the
end of A pill, and during the month of May, this
correspundence has been more active. On the lith
of May a meeting was held in a town in the West.'
Riding of Voiksliite, which was attended by dele-
gates Iron) other principal towns io that district, and
twin Leicester, liirmiligliam, add Nottingham. At
this meeting repotts e tie made by the delegates of
the numbers which could be collected Irons the
different dis.ricts-..they were sated to he very large;
Igut the Committee states itself to be aware t.I the
exaggeration probable in such a matter. About this 1
: time it 0 as proposed that there should he another
Igeneral niettiig, 1,,t as early a day as pos.ible after
the discussion . f the tiwstion of Retcrm in the House
I
of Commons. flie insurgents were first to mai ch to
Nottingham, where du y were expected t... be j.)int'cl
by other b .dies ; and on their way to London by
still more, all armed eithir betctre, or to be armed by I
the robbery i,f private houses pr of different barracks
and depots, wi.ich were to be attack.A. At several
subsequent meetings it was reported that the increase
of members was so great, that it was said at one of
them, that it Was necessary to extend their divi-
sions daily. and enlarge their committee. Sim-'
lar information from many quarters whence the d:-
legates were deputed, confirms the expectation of a'
general rising about the time that has been men-
tioned ; and states, that a postponement took place
to the 9th or 10th of Jane, for various reasons. 13y
the latest intelligence from these quarters it appears,
that these tesigus were frustrated by the same causes
that formerly come :, namely—the vigilance of Go-
vernment, the activity and intelligence of the Magis-
trates, and the assistance lent them in the exercise of
their functions by the r. gular troops and yeomanry
acting under their direction, the efficient arrange-
ments c the officers intrusted with the service, the
knowledge obtained of the plans of the disaffected,
together with the arrest and imprisonment of the
leading agitators; and that by these causes a still
farther postponement of their atrocious plea, would
be occasioned. Subsequent intelligence leaves nu
doubt that the plan, in its fell extent, has been frus-
trated ; but the correctness of former information has
been confirmed by the late appearance of bodies of
armed men at the petiodpreviously fixed, and par-
ticolarly in one Of the districts which had been de-
scribed as determined to rise, without waiting for a
general co-operating. The Committee think it im-
portant to state, that many of tl:e most active Ma-
gistrates and persons whose civil and military situ*.
lions enabled them, upon the most extensive infor-
mation, to form the most accurate opiiiioo, concur,
in attributing the disappointment of the attempts'
~
already made, and of the hopes of continued wan.
quillity, to the exercise of the new powers which Par-
liameat intrusted to the ezecuiive Government, and
to the inluence produced by the knowledge that these
powers would be called into action as soon as neces-
sity should justify their employment. They concur
likewise in a representation of the danger with which
the expiry of these powers, at the present moment,
would threaten the country—and the Committee feel,
that they should ill discharge the high trust reposed in
theist if they did not declare their assent to this opinion.
They, therefore, with the fullest confidence in the
loyalty and good dispositions, not only of those classes.
of the community and those portions of the kingdom
which have generally hitherto remained free from dis-
affection, but of the greatest part of those very dis-!
tsicts which are the chief scenes of discontent and o(
threatened disturbance, einnot-refraftifrontodeelarnsg•
it as the result of all the information which they have
collected, that the time is not yet arrived when the
maintenance of public tranquillity, and the protec-
tion of the lives and property of his Majesty's sub-'
jects, can be allowed to depend upon the ordinary
.
powers of the law." I
The Report was, on the motion of the Earl of
Lwaarooo, ordered to be printed.
The Earl of LIVERPOOL, stated, that as the
prints of the Report were likely to be on the tablets,-
morrow, a Noble Friend of tis would then present a
Bill for the renewal or continuation of the Act for
i authorising his Majesty to secure and detain persons,
whom he shall suspect of conspiring against his per-
son and Government, for a time longer ; and in case
such Bill should be brought in, its second reading
would be moved on Monday next.
Lord HOLLAND presented a Petition from the
County of *As, against a renewal of the Suspension
of the Habeas Corpus Act :
Earl GREY presented one from a Gentleman of the
name of O'Hanloo, late a Magistrate of the County of
Doan, in Ireland, complaining of his being removed
from the Coramiation of the Peace in that county,
without sulkiest cause or reason.• The Petition 1
being read at length, contained a circumstantial de-
tail of his ease, and an allegation, that be was sold
i that his being favourable to Catholic 'Emancipation I

Was a cause of his rem.val ; that -be was protu;sett,
but without effect, to be restored. by one of the high-
est Au horities in Ireland and finally, • that he now
only hoped. from their Lordships' protection and
pstice, that relief to which he considered himself to
be entitled.—These Petitions were seven:Ey laid upon
the table.

The Officers' Compensation Bill was bronvill up
from the Commohs by Mr. GILLIKIIT. The Mid ny,
and the Last India and Mediterranean Trade, at.d a
few Bills of tnittor itnpottance, were brought tip by
Mr. B:tOC;DEN and others, and severally read F7b:
time; and these Bills on the table being respee:ively
forwarded, their Lordships adjourned till to morrow.