The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-08-30 00:00:00

THE ANTI-CORN-LAW LEAGUE RIOTS.

MANCHESTER-....MONDAY.—AII is perfectly tranquil,
though a great number of hands still remain out. The inter-
mediate sessions for the Salford Hundred were opened this
morning before T. F. Foster, Esq., the chairman, and a full
bench of magistrates. The calendar contains the names of
142 prisoners, charged with rioting, in addition to 17 charged
with other miscl6meanours, and 199 with felony. Of the
rioters, 85 are from Little Lever, near Bolton, 32 from Clif-
ton, 14 from Bolton, 2 from Rochdale, 2 from Tottington
Lower, 2 from Oldham, 1 from Manchester, 1 from Shar-
pies, 1 from Bury, and 1 from Droylsden. Nearly all the
Manchester prisoners have been committed to the assizes,
which accounts for the small number for trial at the sessions
from Manchester. It will be the middle of next week before
any of the rioters arc tried.

O'Neil, the Chartist preacher, was arrested at Dudley, on
Friday, and was examined on the following day, and was re-
manded. Several other rioters on the latter day were com-
mitted.
On Friday, Charles Turner and James Leach were brought
up at the New. Bailey, Manchester, before D. Maude, on a
charge of conspiracy and publishing a placard tending to ex-
cite a breach of the peace. They were ordered to find sure-
ties of £2OO each, and to enter into their own recognizances
of £4OO, to answer the charge at the next assizes. Alex-
ander Hutchinson and other prisoners were examined and
remanded. Two courts sat for the purpose of getting through
the business, the gaol being so crowded that the health of
some of the prisoners to a slight extent is suffering. 'Many
of them have for some time been obliged to sleep on the
forms for want of accommodation. Mr. Gregory, who has
been sent down by the government for the purpose of in-
quiring into the various cases connected with the disturb-
ances, said, in those cases which were bailable he should
press for its being fixed at a sufficient amount to insure at-
tendance to take their trials. The bail was fixed by the
bench in some cases at £25, in others at £3O, ane, as high as
£5O. No less than 35 prisoners were committed for trial on
the various charges of riot, assaulting the police, destroying
property, or obtaining food and other articles by means of
threats ; but about half the number were told bail would be
I taken for their appearance.

COLLIERS' STRIKE IN MID-LOTHIAN.
(From Saturday's Edinburgh paper.)
We understand that the colliers belonging to Sheriff-hall,
Whitehill, and Newbattle, have again struck work, and it is
rumoured that throughout the whole country there is not a
collier employed. This has arisen, we believe, front the
masters refusing to give the advance of wages asked for, and
partly through intimidation. It is well known that the col-
liers are much divided in opinion, some being inclined to
work for their present wages, while the more numerou ..r..
tion are determined to seek for an advance. The latter g
succeeded in intimidating the former, thus every coal ..the
around Edinburgh is at a stand still.
On Wednesday night, as district constable Simpson was
proceeding near the farm of Monckton, he saw three men
standing whom he knew to be colliers, On arriving at the
spot where they stood, he saw in an opposite field, a heap of
potatoes apparently newly lifted, and which the colliers evi-
dently intended to carry off. On Thursday night, constables
M`Pherson and Simpson saw between 20 and 30 colliers near
the same place, who whistled as if to give warning when they
approached. The constables are of opinion that it was in-
tended to plunder the same field, which no doubt would have
been the case but for their timely approach.
We understand the collier, Whiggins, who took an active
part in inducing the men to return to their employment has
been obliged to go to the west country in consequence of in-
timidation. Some unknown persons came to his house at
midnight and threatened him through the window ; and he
has also received threatening anonymous letters. There has
been. no meeting of the colliers for some days past, as far as
we know.

AYRSHIRE.—We regret to state that manifestations of that
spirit of disaffection which has terminated in direct and open
violation of the law in various places throughout the country,
have begun to develope themselves among the colliers of
' Ayrshire ; and from what we have learned, there is good
reason to believe that some secret agency has been at work.
On Monday last a meeting was held near Kilwinning. It
appeared that over-weight was the principal hardship com-
plained of. It was consequently resolved, that, in order
effectually to check the continuance of such conduct, a
meeting of the coal masters and proprietors throughout the
county should be convened in Irvine, on the following
Wednesday. Only some half-dozen of the masters having
obeyed the summons on Wednesday, nothing satisfactory
was concluded. We believe the colliers were allowed to
state their grievances ; and a promise was obtained that if
the other masters and proprietors were willing to acquiesce,
they would not stand in the way of a satisfactory adjustment.
Next day a great meeting was held in Shewalton Moor,
about a mile and a half from Irvine. The colliers in our
vicinity turned out to a man ; and before going to their
rendezvous they assembled in a common near Prestwick,
where, it is said, they were addressed, amongst others, by a
party from Airdrie. The conclusion they came to is not
known. The gathering at Shewalton Moor was very nu-
merous. We should think there would not be fewer than
two thousand individuals present—of these six hundred, at
least, were from Ayr. The proceedings were conducted in a
very orderly and becoming manner. The speeches, in the
main, recommended pacific measures; but at the same time,
expressed a determination not to relinquish what they had
commenced, until they were successful in securing a redress
of all the grievances under which they at present laboured.
It was agreed that another circular should be drawn up and
transmitted to all the coalmasters in the county, warning
them to attend in Irvine on Wednesday next; and that a
delegate should be sent from each pit as a deputation to state
their condition, and seek relief. It was also resolved that
nothing definite should be resorted to until after that meeting.
In our own locality the result has been anticipated—the men
struck work on Saturday. They have since issued a placard
explanatory of the causes that induced them to adopt this
alternative. They profess a repugnance to extreme and
violent measures ; and as yet have conducted themselves in
a peaceable manner. We understand Sheriff Bell has adopted
every precaution which prudence can suggest, to guard against
the consequences of an outbreak occurring.—Ayr Observer.

THE RIOTS AND THE MANCHESTER BOROUGH

MAGISTRATES.

The followinc, correspondenCe:iiikars, in the Manchester
papers of Saturday'

Manchester, 24th August, 1842.

Dear Mr. Mayor,—ln compliance with your request that
I would furnish you with some account of what matters came
under my observation on the morning of Tuesday, the 9th
instant, and of the reasons which influenced me, I beg to give
the following statement.
About a quarter past nine o'clock on that morning I re-
ceived a letter from Sir Charles Shaw, of which the follow-
ing is a copy :
" Dear Maude,—lt is necessary on receipt of this you put
yourself in communication with Colonel Wemyss, who you
will find at the Town Hall. If Colonel Wemyss is gone you
had better follow him and the troops, and you will find him
on the Ashton Road, at the bridge over the canal. Take the
riot act with you.—Yours truly,
" Town Hall, 9 o'clock."

" CHARLES SHAW

This was the first intimation I had that there was the
slightest cause for apprehending any interruption to the tran-
quillity in which we bad long been.
I immediately repaired to the Town Hall with all speed,
where I found Colonel Wemyss ; and, understanding that
you were in London, we lost no time in proceeding towards
one of the Ashton roads, to which point troops had been or-
dered forwards, and these we overtook and carried with us.
On arriving at the junction of Pollard-street and Great An-
coats-street, we found the head of the procession just
reaching the latter street. It was led by a large party of
young women, very neatly dresaed ; both they and the men
who followed were arranged in regular fire, and nothing
could be apparently more respectful and peaceable than their
demeanour. _

It will be seen that I had not the opportunity of prevent-
ing their entering into the town. I might have attempted to
drive them back or disperse them, but I was convinced that
the inevitable consequence of such a step would have been,
that large numbers would have detached themselves from the
main body, and penetrated by the side streets into the other
parts of the town. I believed that feelings of irritation would
be excited, which might lead to great destruction of property
at a time when the authorities of the town were not prepared
foriany unusual outbreak ; and I could not lose sight of the
great risk of personal injury to those who appeared to be
peaceable and quite unarmed. I had little time for deliber-
ation, and had to form the best judgment I could at the mo-
ment from the experience I had previously had, particularly
in the attempts made three years ago to turn out the hands
which almost entirely failed.
Judging from the past, and from my recent observation of
the general quiet state of our population, F did not believe
that anything like a general outbreak was contemplated, still
less that it was likely to ensue on the present occasion.
Viewing the difficulties on both sides, I came to the conclu-
sion that it was the safer and better course to allow the pro-
cession to pass forward, having previously assigned the
streets through which it should pass. To this arrangement
the leading parties composing it seemed to give willing con-
sent, and the route marked out was Great Ancoats-street,
Lever-street, Piccadilly, to the other Ashton-road, and so
back to Ashton; I had been informed that another body was
expected by the latter road, and I was in hopes of effecting
a junction between the two, and the police and military
might not have to be divided. As the procession was mov-
ing forward I rode through several of the side streets, to as-
certain if any parties had detached themselves. I found that
this was the case, or else that others had come into the
town ; and that the object of these various small bodies was
to turn out the hands from the mills. On again rejoining
the procession, I found, to my great mortification, that it
had divided from the assigned entirge: and had very nearly
Le.ww.i toe vacant ground near Granby Row. The sawe
motive for keeping this large body together prevented me
from taking steps to disperse it ; and, after waiting for some
time, it proceeded quietly homewards. In the mean time,
hoWever, slumbers of mills were turned out with such expe-
dition, and by such insignificant bodies, as showed that the
hands in (I believe) the majority of instances were ready to
go out at the first invitation, and rendered it generally im-
possible for any force to be brought to the required point in
in time to prevent such a result.
Subsequent consideration and events have satisfied me
that any other course which I could have adopted would have
failed to prevent the effects which followed, and might have
added to them other very serious consequences.—l am, dear
Mr. Mayor, yours very faithfully,
(Signed)
To the Mayor of Manchester.

D. MAUDE

(cory.)
Town Hall, Manchester, Aug. 25th, 1842,

Sir,—ln order that no misapprehension may exis as to the
commencement of the disturbances in this town, and the
power of the magistrates to have prevented the same, I deem
it to be my duty to explain to you the position in which the
magistrates were placed. It has been stated that it was well
known in Manchester early on Monday, the Bth instant, that
resolutions had been passed at a large meeting held on Mot-
tram Moor on the perceding day (Sunday,) to the effect
that there should be a general and compulsory cessation of
labour in Ashton-under-Lyne on the following day (Mon-
day ;) and that, on the following day (Tuesday,) the opera-
tives should march to Manchester for the purpose of there,
also, compelling the cessation of labour ;—that on the Mon-
day, in pursuance of those resolutions, the mills and works
in Ashton-under-Lyne, and the neighbourhood were actually
stopped ; and that, notwithstanding the borough magistrates
were in possession of this information, they neglected to take
any precautionary measures for preventing the entrance of
the operatives into Manchester on Tuesday. This statement,
so far as concerns the magistrates, is utterly and entirely
without foundation. The first intimation, by any one of the
borough justices, of the intention of the Ashton operatives
to visit Manchester, was given verbally by Sir Charles Shaw
(when on his way to the Town Hall) to one of the magis-
trates, whom he accidentally met in the street, on the Tues-
day morning, at too late an hour for him to adopt any mea-
sures for preventing the entrance of the procession into the
borough. On his arrival at- the Town Hall, Sir Charles
Shaw, in my absence from town, addressed a note to
Mr. Maude, requesting :him to proceed: forthwith to
the Town Hall, and to put himself in communication
with Colonel Wemyss, which note was received by Mr.
Maude about a quarter past nine o'clock on Tuesday
morning. With this request Mr. Maude instantly com-
plied, and in the course of as short a time as possible
was with Colonel Wemyss and the military, and they,
together, immediately proceeded to Pollard-street, where