The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1832-12-18 00:00:00

TRE,STON ELECTION-RIOT.

NOarran, we,believe,lookbag' at the 'character and condnet of
the mob-candidate, and the description of persons by whom he
was. supliorted; ever supposed the_ election at Preston would
pass. off without some exhihition,of violence and outrage. A
good deal of lighting seems'to have-taken-place,' and as was to
be expected, .rumour--was rife withoxaggeration of- the. horrors.
resulting -front the disturbance.. Amongst other things, itiwas
Currently'stated th,lt Hunt, during one of lis speeches, recog-
nized Mr,..J.iegar, the barrister, among the crowd, and said;-
"There Sheep,"- Wilell,the:.mob inStantly fell upon
ancltkiztleretl him. • The friends -of. Mr. Se.gar; in this town,
were. happity-relieved from. the-enxietywhiclr such a report was
na..tniallyealbnlated to d*cite for his safety. by...the, arrival of
letteit.'W Saturday morning, from the Learned Gentlemen
aginling thht linNkts alive and tvello Such, howevpr,.,
was, tine confidence with.w.hichthe-report in question was <Arai,
lated, ,hat it gained general credenee,,and waspnblished in the
7J7ititn'al with 'thil-iiddition, "A riot followed, in the. course of
llnnt'S rinse was•eut off.' We hope this is not true;,.
but it is.ceitaialliata cokoneesinquest has broughtin, -against
Hunt, a verdict of :41elarder, for which, he is now is custody."
folipwing account of the disturbances is abridged from
thePi.6tifn. 'Pittjt:`l-"On Tuesday the, business of beating up.
was keAt'd;geing with: great `-spirit by all porties,--Lthe.Blues
Ta-..-141in.g. with their ,excellent band and handsome streamers;
the Stanleyites with their usual "Stanley for ever and showy
Vo:oui's'"; and Ilielluittites,"with their leSs melodious, but more
"-effective little corpg'bf &thus and tifeg...- Of course, it was
possible. that this could-tentimie long• without a- ,collision,_ and
accordingly. we find Ahat•sometime„towards noon, a regular bat-
tle roYal Was fought in, the. tleighbeurhood of the Durham Ox,
public-imuse. It appears that the- Huntites and -Stanleyites
first enentinterddieach Other, and after a tough skirmish, the
latter were. entirely routed with the loss of all their colours.
Tlie flight is described to hav?..he.en courolate; but it so hap-.
.pened,-Fhat'at the very nick'o-f time up came the Blues. With
thi' body% kinetion was' formed with the flying host, ancla bold
rally being- made, the Huntites- were defeated in their turn;
and-flie cbtours, Were retaken, and, as it is said, the Huntites
lost `two of theiFS.. Ei-eviously the liuntites were considered
bteitteceis. gave ' fhb other two parties, who ap.,
peered to.-make.- conimon cause froin.that time,. confidence in
their own: prowess?:'

On Wednesday, nothing occurred in the way of collision, till
a out ofeWn;at sti luck litab,lllr. hunt and" Captain Forbes, as

well as Mr. Stanley, were at. the Corn. Exchange booth. The
popular candidates were, as usual, attended by a considerable
crowd of persons, so that there was a zonsiderable influx within.
the booth,.and around the door the crowd of one kind or ano-
ther was rather dense. 'We only observed one or two of the
Huntite colours in waiting. About eleven, along came the
Blues from the direction of Friargate, and they had no sooner
mingled with the mass than a regular battle took place. The.
Blues' were, of course,' inferior in numbers, but they were all
more or less armed with staves, bludgeons, pieces of iron, and
other formidable` weapons of various kinds, and after a sharp
conflict the Huntites were completely beaten off. Some broken
heads was the result, but nothinc, serious. This second victory
achieved, the'Blues continued their course, with vociferations of
triumph, .up Lune-street, down Fishergate, and around the
town again by the back streets. A t noon, or thereabouts, they
reached the neighbourhood of the Corn Exchange again, but
they met with no opposition. Whilst here the Stanleyites came
up with their party; the two united their forces and.kept toge-
ther afterwards--the Blues, however, invariably taking the lead.
,Thus combined, the two parties became irresistible. They heat
up in all directions carrying every thing before them. Soon
after noon ,they reached the Court-house booth, where it ap-
pears that the Huntites had gained possession, and by one means
or another—all perfectly fair at elections—kept their adversa-
ries back. However, when the combined forces came up, the
tables were promptly.turned. The assailants rushed on with
their bludgeons, and soon cleared a passage, but not without a
sharp resistance from the Huntites, who, it is right to say, had
not the advantage of hard weapons like the others. In this af-
fray, one man received a dreadful cut across the head, and the
poor fellow was taken to the County Arms adjacent, in what his
medical attendant for some time considered a dying state, but
we are most happy to say that the wound proved to be superfi-
cial, and that the man is now, well again.. A good deal of skir-
mishing took place in front of the. Court-house, and desperate
blows were exchanged, but, unaccountably as it always appears
to us on such occasions, without material "Injury to any body.
The polling went' on pretty smoothly, and at four, according to
the provisions. of the reform act, closed. The, only effort of,
violence that we heard of, was an; attempt made to steal the
'poll-book from one of the booths. It is said the book. was po-
sitively taken away, but we are not aware that such is the fact.
As might have been expected, the' Huntites were exceedingly
exasperated at the result of the day's polling, and it was natu-
rally believed that they would take early vengeance, not only
on that account, but for the untoward-events of the day. The
belief was correctly. founded ; for about half-past four, and just
as the day was disappearing, a heavy crowd rushed into Church-
street from the direction_ of Chadwick's Orchard, and sweeping
)round the. Bull,.discharged into the windows of that inn a tre-
mendous volley of stones, which demolished every pane of glass
on the second floor, and on the left of_ the door : that being the
part of the house where Mr. Stanley had hitherto appeared.
Thence the mass proceeded down through Church street, and
Inv into Water-stmet, where the rioters utterly destroyed the
windows of the Black Swan, a Stanley house, and did consider-
able damage to the windows of Mr. Swainson's factory adjoin-
ing. In due time, the party returned with increased numbers,
yelling terrifically as they. went, and, in fact, completely sweep-
mg the streets. All peaceable people fled interror, and as the
pitchy. darkness had set in, the most fearful consequences were
apprehended.. Returning past the Bull, a second volley of
stones finished what had been left undone.; but it was for another
place the rioters seemed to have reserved their strength... Rush-
ing on from the Bull, they turned round by the Guildhall into
Cheapside, and the next moment were in full force before the
Castle Inn; 'Mr. Fleetwood's head quarters. Greatly as the
Black Swan and Bull suffered, it was nothing compared with
the ruin effected at the Castle. Above, on the first floor,,every
.pane was dashed in, and in some of the windows the frames went
also. The shutters on the ground floor. were closed, but a.des-
perate effort was made to force an.entrance.into the. house, and
the shutters.were partly destroyed in the attempt. Mr. Fleet-
:wood's friends were taking some refreshment when the first
,crash was made, and it was fully. expected that the house would.
be entered and sacked, 'but the undaunted demeanor and pow-
erful exertions of the body guard within happily prevented that.
By some means amessenger was despatched to the mayor, and
depositions were, taken.. Meanwhile, the Huntites, repulsed,
)fell into order of procession, and continued their march down
Friargate, smashing a little here and there as they went, but to
a trifling extent. Nothing more was seen of them, and p,erfect.
stillness prevailed. About six, the mayor, accompanied by the
bailiffs, proceeded to the Market-place and there read the riot
act, after which a messenger was dispatched to Chorley for the
military. Heavy detachments of special constables kept pa-
trolling the town, and every thing continued perfectly quiet.,
It was imagined, however, that a second attack upon the win-
dows of the' obnoxious would be made before the military could
arrive; but that did not happen. About eleven o'clock a troop
,of the Ist Dragoon-Guards, under .Captain Martin, and two
'companies ofthe 18th.(Royal Irish) Foot, the whole under the
command. of Captain.Moore,of the IBth, arrived from Chorley,
which place they, left about half-past eight. The mayor and re-
corder were in attendance at the Red. Lion to receive the mili-
tary, and billets were provided. __Before retiring for tip night,
however, the dragoons made a tour through the. town in. order'
to apprise the inhabitants of their arrival. A serjeants' guard,
was stationed at the lock-up, and by midnight all was still.
The polling was resumed on' Thursday morning at eight
&clock, but rt , was soon fonnd, that the Huntites had no hope.
whatever of.makiug, up the. lost way, and every thing went on
without interruption in the booths for the remainder of the day.
There was, however, a considerable influx of country people,
and towards afternoon a great deal. of agitation prevailed.
;Somewhere about two o'clock a., serious row took place at the.
George, a Huntite public-house, in Friargate. As well as we,
can get at the truth, it seems that one of the Blue party got
into a broil in this house,, and was roughly treated by a party
of fellows from Padiham.. This reached the cars of his friends
at the Castle, the result was, that the George was attacked,
tooth and nail; they smashed all the windows, entered the
house, and belaboured their adversaries with right good will.
News was despatched to-the,authorities, and a detachment of
the 18th being called out, p,eace was. restored. In. a short
.stime,_ however,, a .very 4argp, assemblage took place in Chad-
"wick's Orchard, which became rather tumultuous, and we be-
lieve Mr. Hunt, (who was at his inn, the Blackamoor's-head,)
"the man of the mob," felt himself so much alarmed,, that he
despatched a, messenger for the Mayor, who -immediately at-
tended, and read the riot act. A. very short time, after the mob
'dispersed. These occurrences brought on dusk, about which,
time there appeared strong symptoms of a general row, and that:
.dragoons were ordered to-hold themselves in readiness; but
after the Blues. (followed by the. Stanley men as, before, for
although the latter were permitted to go in company, it was
made a point of honour by the former to keep them always in
the rear;) had made the: final tour of the town, all excitement
died- away,. and the. day passed- off in peace.. Capt. Forbes,
early in the afternoon, announced his intention, of retiring from
the contest, and took his departure in a post chaise. Mr.
Hunt remained. The state of the poll, as- issued from.. Mr..
Fleetwood's committee-room, was as follows :

-Fleetwood
Stanley
Hunt 2057
Forbes
Crompton_

It was expected that tha. return would be.made'on Friday;
but, in consequence of the voters -being interrupted at one Of
the poll-booths, the:poll was closed on the first day, and conse-
quently there was some lost time. to be made up. To effect
this; it was 'necessary to open the bbOth,again to-day, and as
'the act requires that the rotes should not be counted till the
:day after the final cl,ose, the announcement of the.return
postpenetl. In anticipation of the ,`;-riding," Mr. Fleetwood's
friends' were seen about the streets in great numbers decorated
witli blue- favours;-,and the •committee were desirous that the
:ceremony or something.in—lien. of it should taka.place ;. but,
notwithstanding the most prussing,eutreaties, the..May9r per-
sisted in requesting that nothing, of .the... kind ,mi (44, happen.
Negotiations were on foot pretty nearly, all the forenoon on
this snit tt; and during 'all the time the public were kept in a
state of suspense. About half-past eleven o'clock a notice.freiri
Mr. Fleetwood appeared;tstatingthat.he had received a coin:
munication from the Mayor, J olitvAddisoa, Esq.- informing
him. of the cause of the _delay in making the;officialstateruent
of the number of the.votes, and suggesting to him, as it was so
notorious that he had been elected, to adopt the course which.
was-followed hr-Londou of making his speech of thanks to the'
electors,..without waiting.for what is a.moromatter of form, and
particularly, begging that the ceremony of: chairing may be
omitted, as had been, done in Lancaster.; this seeming. to los
'Worship the most likely means of allaying the excitement
Which- -prevai:ed.4n the town, and avoiding the necessity of.
either again reading .the Riot Act,..as:hs.. was compelled-to do_
on the day before, or having to call out -the military force.
`Mr. Fleetwood "felt it his duty to .comply with that. recom-
'Men-dation ;" and a very large body' of his friends having
4s.sernbled in and about the, Castle Inns about-half-past twelve
o'clock; he. proceeded to address them. in a brief but:warm ex,.
pression of his thanks, and then refired. His friends,.
0,. and -the. band playing—
.
how-
ever, ,kept together and. fell into ranks, and paraded the tow n,
with. colours
-flying,.
.pfaCCSsion; •
Huirra, for the bonnets. o' blue! fox about three laffirs, with-
out the slightest tumult or disorder occurring.
• Mr. Stanley's friends did not go in procession at all. Abnut
three -the Hon. 'Gentleman made • a short speech hi:nil:the Bull
.window. Ile thanked theelectors for returning him; repeated