The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-03-01 00:00:00

lIIIKANG FUND.

Mr. BANKES gave notice of a motion on the anti-
ject of the Sinking Peed, at an early period, bet
from the low tooe of voice in which he spoke we could
not bear for when.
SCOW( suacus.
The LORD ADVOCATE, pursuant to Mkt,. moved
for leave to bring in a Bill for the regulation of the ac-
counts and of the expenditure of the Royal Burghs of
}Scotland. His Lordship said that the Bill be proposed
to introduce would be founded, in its provisioa, upon
the recommendation of the Committee which had sat
for three successive years to investigate the nature of
the abuses alleged to exist in the managerent of the
funds, and other grievances complained of in the mode
ttr Election in the 'loyal Burghs of Scotland. In obe-
diem* to these recommendations, contained as be bad
stated • few nights ago, in she Reports of the Com-
' osittees in question, the Bill would first provide that the
.eceoents of the Burghs should be public, so that those
who managed the funds well, would receive the IMF*.
„bation dne to their discretion and integrity, whilst it
would operate as a check upon any nods, administra-
tient of them. The Bill would also oblige the Magis-
trates to reside in the Burghs, and prevent all illegal
eontrarts relative to elections to offices in the boroughs.
Soch being the objects of the Bill, he felt persuaded
that the Noble Lord opposite (Lord Hamilton) would
not object to its introduction, and he therefore should
refrain from troubling the House at greater length on
thi subject, and move for leave to bring in the Bill.
,Lord A. HAMILTON said, that his objections on the
present occasion were not to what the Bill enacted, but
to whet it left untouched ; and be must express his stir-
priee that after they bad had three Reports from Coco-
mittees-on the subject, when there were so many Peti-
tions, and such a weight of grievances, the Lord Advo-
cate or, Scotland should stand op with such a•scantv
la, 'rod so short a speech. The Bill did not touch
Ore-twentieth part of the abuses requiring to be reme-
died. He appealed to the members of the Committee,
who had subicribed to the existence of these abuses, if
winds, stated was not correct. He was sorrr tie House
leases diet lit acquainted with the subject, on which ac-
cooed tflosi4 on whose behalf be stood op, would suffer.
Pet If it lied been the case of ...England instead of Scot--
D. 4, it would have been differently treated. Ile as
siertlikkillikved that the Learned Lord 'crewed tilt Bill
mft.s teller than he did that be could pay off
the Nation! Dal Aod it was for this reason he in-
troduced it to the attention of the House, as he would do
to the case of • Road Bill •
The LORD ADVOCATE said the Noble Lord was
mistaken as to the provisions of the Bill he moved for
can fo bring in, and had better defer his objection till
it wa before the House.—Leave was then given.
DISTURBANCE AT KNIGHTSBRIDGE.
. Nei /Weems WOOD called the attention of the
Howe to the notice of motion he had given relative to
the Petition of the City of London. In the motion he
had ha make he understood be was to expect the support
of an Honourable Colleague of hie, with whom, as he
did not often agree in that house, though he presumed
ttiette was actuated by different motives for desiring an
fOotry into the statement of the Petitioners, than those
by which be (Mr. Alderman Wood) was influenced.
He folly concurred in the sentiments expressed by the
Committee upon which the Petition was founded, and
notwithstanding what had been said of the evidence on
which they were formed, on a late occasion, be would
contend that it was entitled to fall credit. The inquiry
hod not been confined amongst one particular class of
persons. On the Resolution of the Common Council
the matter was referred for investigation to a Committee
of three or four years standing, composed of Members
irho entertained very different politics amongst each
other. It was not to the statement of facts lie was about
to make, that the attention of the house alone was due;
bitt,he called 3n them to consider whether those who
Esti
iteen, or were hereafter to be, Sheriffs of Counties,
WV, called out intheir official capacity for the presort"-
itibit of the peace, were to be subject to violent attacks
en their persons. It appeared in the present sue, that
eite.Sbetiff of Middlesex to the discharge of his public
aoty, had been so attacked. The Hon. Alderman then
went on to relate. that ip. consequence of its appearing
That the funeral of the two men who had beep killed on
the 14th of August, was to boa public one, his Majesty's
rbernment took the precaution to write to the Lord
yor of the City of London, to adrift, him of a large
Meeting to be held in Smithfield, at which he was to
take steps to keep the peace. They had also sent a let-
ter to a Gentleman in his Ward, saying, that as it was
understood to be the iutcotion to take the funeral
through Hyde Park, *the writer gave notice that he
should not permit it to go through. Not one word of
all this, however, bad been communicated to the Sheri
the proper officer for the p ion of the peace of the
county, And as the procession was to assemble in the
neighbourhood of Red Lion-square there was as much
ground for apprehension for the peace of Middlesex ea
of the City of London. On hearing of this, however,
the Sheriff, considering the irritation existing in eons.-
(pence of the misunderstanding between the people end
the soldiers, and knowing that the procession was to pass
by the Horse Guards, was fearful that some disturbances,
might occur, and therefore took the precaution of sum-
moning all the officers, and constables of the Hundreds
of the County of Middlesex, and placed thefts in a sitaa-
tioa when they were most likely to be available for the
pnbl' service. On Mr. Sheriff Waithman übserviug
that ftie rid was to take place at Hammersmith, bp
trek 8i to prevent it. The letter which appeared
io the Sunday Newspapers of the day on which it toph
plied, shelved his anxious desire to p t it. Thee lion.
Alderman then read the letter in question, as fellows,i,
"Seeing a paragraph in your paper, that a.prgcession
to assemble to-morrow ie "tin field for the purpose of 44.
rompanving the funeral of the men who were shot cm the
14th August at Cumberland-gate ; as I was appoioit*

0,4141. petiessot
r
I:24irsecot
matter -*MP

earnestly hope
re!!6ii,

that? No one
derma with an ._
had dome. •The Sheriff's colleague was ...
town, but he had the assictaaat of Ma Bader (.._
with whom he arranged all the officers be had been
to get together In a proper place, and attended blef
in the ne.ghbourbood of Knightsbridge. He placed
himself oppositeSloeuedtrtet, where be saw the pre-
cession pees, but be never wart near it, further than le
station Ms officers. The proceision went qnietly pies
the barracks, and lathing occurred till a brick Nos
thrown from the barracks among the people. They thou
felt indignant, and began hissing at the Waifs. Bat
the moment Sheriff Waithman west op • the hissing
teased—he begged them to pass on quietly, and accord-
ing to the testimony of all, be was constantly employed
daring the whole day in endeavouring to keep the pee-
pie quiet. He went on in the rear of tbe procession. and
remained at some distance from the barracks, when he
beard that something demanded his attendance at tit
barracks. He went back, and at the gates be saw seM
diets contending with the people, some with swords, sad
others with sticks, in their full dress and undress. He
remonstrated with the soldiers on their condactl-bat
they were unwilling to listen to authority, but he at
kerb succeeded in making them shut the gates. At
another period of the day when be was near Hyde Perk
„Corner, be was informed that a breach of the peace Was
committed near the Barracks, and upon returning to
the spot. the first thing that be witnessed was, soldets
jwingieg over the wall, and the gates were shortly affier
thrown open, and fifty or sixty soldiers rushed out. As
he perceived the Right Hon. Secretaty (Mr. Peel)
tli.f
sot the evidence in his band, be would take up his *
by detailing what then took place. Mr. Sheriff Wait
man perceived that there was a great contention amongst
the people and the military— I were knocked
down, and the swords were flourishing about. The She-
riff rode up on the path-way, and endeavoured to per.
suede the soldiers to go away. Whilst thus engaged his
horse was seised hold of, and I attempts were made
to strike him. In the violence which was used towards
him,heand bis horse were shoved off the path. During
ISM lime a soldier was observed presenting klacarbine,not
Immediately at the Sheriff, but in that direction. SI-ve-
nt persons who gave evidence before tho Committee,
pee their opinions that if the people had not been in
dm way, from the position of the carbine, it might have
shot Mr. Sheriff Weithman, Hit bad beerrlfred off. Bich
was the state in which the Sheriff was placed according
to the evidence; and, during the whole of that time the
Sheriff was represented ascendectiog himself in a most
conciliatory and proper mallow. This wee stated by all
the witnesses but one, sadden one was• Reporter ea The
Morning Post Newspaper. (Mr. Derbishire) arid NM be
stated, at the close of bis examination, that he waegrot
quite sure that the words be attributed to the 'Sheriff
were used by him. No one but-that Gentlomea eof
his conducting himself in a defenses way. The'. riff
eS
tried his utmost to get to speak toss Officer, sad rig
the whole time. according to •filn Derbishire's sseireont,
the conduct of the military was mutt vielewt, • in an-
swer to a message from the Shesiff, on. of the
said. "The Sheriff may be 4—d I" Ids liaetr:::
mark to make. The penes. eximaluod so Meneter
were not the same as had he
eaaneleellin Se
proceeding.. He believed It would-be fonnittbatte
WNW them sU bid given eviieece ballesdtalaefkabliser:
Most of them were persons ph* had hespeleMitill
the spot attending to their beelines. The deal he
should caentioo wag a most reepecgable who
rr bill iikarelice-40 eritiolsoehms .
Mortimer h been in atteadeate, S-
I
n duriag the whole oLthe day,. bad gmelle ,
ich, if it could not be shaken, and ae-yet it bed not
made very strongly in flavour of the Sheriff. Seve-
ral ens,
officers who were likewise on the spot bad
concurred io representing the cooduct of Mr. Waithman
to have been most proper. Those perms, were all re-
spectable men, men who were obliged te.give security
to the amount of some thousands when erntatiag on the
situatious which they held, and these, were not at all
likely to be ander the influeoce of the late Sheriff. Then
with respect to the persons connected with the poblic press
what interest could they be supposed to have in dis-
guising the truth ? Is conkl not be contended that they
were at all under the influence of the individuel to whose
conduct they had spoken, yet of these Mr. Wood. and
Ur. 'fres bad given very strong evidence in favour of
the Sheriff. These individuals bad come forward
merely because they happened to be on the spot; they
had not been. selected for the occasion, and there was
nothing in their situation to make it probable that they
Were under any improper bias. After the inquiry was
known to be going on letters had been received from
ladividuala who offend to come forward with much
stronger evictence than'any that appeared on those minutes
which had been printed, but the evidence squally ap-
pended to the report, was in his judgment, strong
enough to justify the House in acceding to the present
motion, which would be for the appointment of a Select
Committee. He expected to hear it itated that the
Sheriff had no business at Knightibridge. His Hon.
Colleague (Sir William Curtis) would probably get up
and state this to he his opinion. He, however, would
contend that it was his duty to go there, and had lie
not done so, • he doubted not the Hon. Baronet would
have been sufficiently ready to say, " 0, Mr. Sheriff
Waithman could be busy enough attending the Coroner's
latinest, but here, where the public peace was broken,
he was not to be pond." Even Lord Bathurst went
almost as far. . lit i letter, not of a very cositpli wentsry
character, whirl'he had written to Mr. Sheriff Waith-
man, he half made a sort of complaint, that he had nut
remained at Knightsbridge till after eight o'clock when
'the Riot Act ties read. HP cdnid state', that It had lone
been the practice for the Sheriffs of London to attend on
All extraonfluary cells when the peace of the (-minty was
endangered.; In IMO, when an lion. Baronet was corn-
'Witted by that House to the To% er, his Colleague, at
that time (Mr. Ald. Atkins), though differing widely
from bin) in the view which be took of the proceeding
he had alluded to, had attended with hint, where
the public peace was thought to be endangered; from
seven in the morning until eleven at night.. He wished
to ask, from the views %bid, seemed to be taken of Mr.
Sheriff Waitlinsan's conduct by Ministers, how it hip-
pened that be had received no communication from Go-
vernment un the ouraoiJo. From them be had received
. no instructions, but when a communication was. made
lord him to :ord Bathurst, it was answered bv tioit
' which amounted almost to a reprimand. to thatletter
however, it was promised that an enquiry should tabs
place. Having heard nothing of the promised inquiry,
the Corporation of the City of London had judged it
right to call on the House to institute one, with a view
of doing them justice, and of affording them some sepa-
ration fur the outrage which had offered to them, by al-
lowing the military to assault their Sheriff.--(llear.)
From the whole mass of evidence it appeared. that in no
instance had the slightest offence been offered on the
part of the Sheriff towards the military, but wherever'
lie went he was found constantly addressing the crowd
on the necessity of their conducting themselves
ably towards the soldiers. If the Sheriff might re" at-
tacked as Le had lino on this artesian, wbil scotching'
• a Wirral procession, which had been ire._ itsame4
• of rupee' to certain individuals who hhe ail die Is
tb
I. on a former melancholy occaaion—if t est officer

thus try tepee delta by th r
of all 'civil Oirveynnvest.
If with snaking Ms motion,
I not beepposed by the
r considered that be had so
He should -rather impeet.
e would be happy to go into
ror the purse of repelling the
ehaiges:4lronghi against the soldiers. He concluded
by moving.for the appointment of a Select Committee
to enquire into the facts stated in a petition presented to
the house on the Bth inst., from the Corporation of the
city of Leaden, complaining of an outrage offered to
them is the person of Mr. Sheriff Waltham, on the
filth of August. 1821, while engaged in the execution of
,his oMcial duty for the preservation of the public peace.
Sir W. CURTIS rose to second the motion, bat on a
principle very different from that of Iris Hon. Colleague.
lie contended that the Sheriff had no right to attend at
the funeral. There were two Sheriffs, and one of them
shad no authority or power to act without the other. Mr.
'Sheriff Waithman well knew that he had no 'authority
to attend. But he wished the present motion to be car-
ried, that the whole of the circumstances of the case
might be seen in a proper light, and he thought it would
set be wrong to give the Common Council a hint, that
la this instance they bad over-sated their part. To
stew what sort of evidence bad been procured, as well
as in what way it had been °Maimed, he would read the
statement of one of the witnesses, that it might be seen
what description of information was thought worthy of
being received by that enlightened and ble body
'the Court of Common Council. The evidence of Mr. T.
Oliff ran as follows :
Where do you live ?—At No. 90, Fore-street.
That are you loaf ipspecintemi the basin". for Mr.
404. a Corn-chind ler.
You were at Knightsbridge at the time the affray hap-
pened with the soldiers and the populace?—\o, .1 was
not there.—(.A langh.)
Then what do you know about it ? I got a note
abut it. All that 1 know was, that I was in company
with a friend of mine on the Monday or Tuesday even-
ing, and he said, that he had been into the shop of &per-
son of the name of Crabb—(A laugh)—and beard a man
of the name of Properjohn—(A langt)—or his man—
(excessive laughter)—tell Mr. Crablis that he heard • Cor
pond of the Life Guards say--(increased laughter)—
*D—n Alderman Waithman; we are prepared for biro,
and have got a ball ready for him."—(Lond lenghter.)
He stated this, hut to show of what folly the Court of
Common Council were capable, *lid would now leave
the House to determine for themselves hew far they
would be justified in acting on the tern of that Cow-
mittee.
Colonel LYGON begged the indulgence of the House
while be was saying • few words on the motion before
them, as he was an. eye-vritoess to the g p r r of
what happened on that day at the barracks. He we Id
confine himself to that part of the petition which re-
garded the Commanding Officer. It stated that a brick-
bat had been thrown by the soldiers from the parapet
wall. That was very doubtful, and he believed iseor-
rect, and those who lived in the neighbourhood tinted
that they saw any thing of the kind thrown. He de-
nied that be received any communication from Mr.
Sheriff Waithman. He was at the barracks all that day,
sad never left it from the 25th-811 the 17th. He saw
groups of people about the gates, which bad bees shot
at first. There was • way through the barracks from
the road into the park, where the people were in the
habit of passing. He declared apes his honour .that
the gates were opened for the accommodation of the
people. There was no disturbance until after tee
k. After tbat he thought the eoldigrat so far hem
the aggremors, showed the pewee bohemia.,
ere were not less than 282 wisdoms broken in the
barracks, although it was stated that covetable' were
stationed in front with orders to apprehend any persoas
who were rotted committing any. breach of the. peace.
Soon after six o'clock he beard cruse of murder," sad
en going oat he found the trumpeter knocked
(hear, bear,) by the people who were assaulting the sol-
diers. The conduct of the soldiers was most forbear-
ing. At his orders they returned within their barrack,
which was a proof of their forbearance (hear, hear)
and good order,—(Hear, bear.) He shortly after sent
for a Magistrate (Sir N. Conant), who read the Riot
Act, and dispersed the populace. He wished as much
as any one for an impory, because then it would
appear that the soldiers conducted themselves is the
most forbearing and orderly manner.—(Hear, bear.)
Mr. HOBHGUSE wished to offer some few observe-
dons to the house after the sensible address of the Han.
Gentleman. That address seemed tomakean impression
On the house, and be would bathe Unperson that would
endeavour to remove that impression. He wands* more
anxious to offer his opinions, as the occurrence hap-
pened in that part of the city in which he himself resided.
lie would be therefore most unworthy if be did not go
along with the Worthy Alderman and the Honourable
Gentleman in calling for an inquiry into the facts. On
other occasions that house was not backward in institut-
ing inquiries. lie meant the case of Manchester, where
!nquiries were made by the evidence of A, B. and C, sod
laws passed founded on those inquiries. When, there-
fore, an inquiry was demanded by the Corporatiou of
Loudon, it was unjustifiable to refuse it. The Hon. Gen-
tleman said that 282 windows were broken in the bar-
racks. HP (Mr. H.) entertained no iloaht of what the
Hon. Gentleman said. But, was it because those windows
in the b •Iss were broken that an inquiry was not to
be made into the circumstances of the assault on the
people by the soldiers? And here he would observe
that it was not right to have those soldiers dhow in
tire *middle of the metropolis. He conceived thiMord
Bathurst bad pledged himself to institute an inquiry,
od he (Mr. now asked why was not the pledge re-
deemed? lie must say, that it did not appear to him to
hr quite so langliable a matter as the Hon. Alderman
(Sir W. Curtis) thought it. TheComsuon Council sure-
ly (lid nothing wrong when they permitted a witness to
proceed who had declared that he was not present. Was
there any thing unfair in that? lie did not rely upon
the evidence of those who might be supposed to have
any bias in the matter, because the Reporter of the
Morning Post acknowledged that the soldiery behaved
in the most cowardly manner. Het whatever truth might
be in that statement, it was certain that the soldiers
ought tohave conducted themselves with more discipline.
Ile was astonished to hear it said that Mr. Sheriff
Waithisisn bad no business there, because the other She-
riff shonld have been there in order to enahl, him to
art. The Honourable Member then read an extract from
131..clestone's Commentaries, in which it *as stated that
the Sheriff was the first man is the county, and superior
to a Nobleman during his other: he was to preserve
the pithily peace, and to apprehend all persons violating
the same. The Sheriff, he maintaisel, bad a right to
command the soldiers to keep the peace; nay, he had a
right even to go into the barracks with the posse comi-
Wise and apprehend the persons whims he saw violating
Use peace. He was not surprised at the observation* of
the Worthy Alderman respecting the Common CoutatiL
But the Common Council was once, a very ioportiot,
body, and would be so yet.. Isms Off ming mob Meek,
ben amongst them as the Worthy h'hefie le Aunties
gaial the Hon. Alderman below him. At ewe. (he most
ligepeetant periods of our history-4c 'Moral sloa Ra.
. • LL. ' ,

SVAT N.
om 6 atliterht ilithareallratleit Of •London was film
of their bib. i laltmemilf called . dimmest be ao end
uehs prioxidloetjaka Oul!Cuildi 4 • mow content himeell
nyder a counts of judicial inquiry, world
m
e the public will refrain from atikmf Hon. "'Te1::70747
Now what weld be dose
vir bei
a after that could char antes& 00 eels
' the cam. that he WI
: •
intehtiod to ergot. itnitorbance as the for the p