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deed, he that spoke now could only pick the gleanings which remained, after the rich harvest of eloquence and argument which adorned and illustrated the debate. If we put ourselves in the situation of the persons in question, we should be inclined to parody the lines of the poet, and say, "The realm is not my friend, nor the realm's

law:

"The realm affords no law to make me rich "My poverty and not my will offends."

As to the flags and their devices, an hon. baronet had given that part of the imputation a most decisive and satisfactory answer. By one right hon. and by one learned gentleman, it was contended that numbers constituted illegality. Against that doctrine he solemnly protested. The principle was unknown to the law-it was falsified by the usage of that House. Did he not speak within the knowledge of that House, when he reminded it, that when, on important occasions, petitions were presented by members from public assemblies, the members who presented them uniformly took credit for the numerous attendance of those from whence the petition emanated. He protested against its recognition as law, on the conviction, that, if such a principle were reduced to practice, the right of petition would be destroyed, and what were called the public meetings of the people of England would degenerate into close vestries. But if there was no proof of the illegality of the meeting at Manchester, there was ample evidence that the great body of the people who assembled there had no intention to commit any breach of the peace. They gave that guarantee by the presence of their wives and children; unless, indeed, it was to be argued, that, like the people of an ancient nation, they took with them to the scene of contest those pledges of nature, to animate their ardour, and to invigorate their despair. But there was, in the very disposition of the local circumstances, a proof undeniable that they assembled there with no intention of riot. Was it to be supposed, that if riot or rebellion was contemplated, those persons would have put themselves into a situation where escape was impossible? As they stood on the ground, with detachments of military on every side to hem them in, they were literally in a cul de sac-in a mouse-trap, as it were. Was that the position rioters would have seected for resistance? Escape was im

possible, and they were obliged to place themselves at the mercy of the yeomanry. Admitting that the people were acting illegally, that was no reason why they should be cut and trampled down; and all would have been peaceable but for the orders of the magistrates. Nadin himself, the most obnoxious man in the town, admitted that he had received no insult. He did not mean to say, that the magistrates might not have acted on the act of George 1st, in the dispersion of that meeting; but they were bound, if they so acted, to abide by the provisions of the law. The law was tender of the subject's life; it was only in the last extremity that it enforced its penalty.-If the military, as had been stated by the noble lord opposite, acted upon their own discretion, without the orders of the magistracy, they incurred a great responsibility. There was not a more estimable officer in the British army than colonel L'Estrange, whom he knew well, but if he acted on his own discretion in ordering a body of cavalry to advance on men, women, and children which he did not believe, he incurred a great responsibility. His honour required that the subject should be investigated. The yeomanry might have been provoked beyond patience; but that fact, and many others, did not yet appear, though it might if proper evidence were adduced. At present they remained under heavy imputations, and he held in his hand a letter from an individual, on whose veracity he could safely rely, who had himself examined and relieved 121 cases of wounds and injuries, and yet had not seen half the whole number. In a few days he expected to be in possession of a perfect list of the wounded and maimed; and he should be happy to communicate it to ministers, that they might ascertain whether any imposition was contained in it. As to the stress laid upon the rejection of the bills by the grand jury of Lancashire, he believed that they threw out the bills from a misconstruction of their powers, and not from any decision on the merits of the case. The most lamentable part of the whole proceeding, was the precipitate approval of his majesty's ministers. The moment government identified itself with the magistrates by the vote of thanks, the nation did conclude, and had a right to do so, that it identified itself also with the system. In the answer of the Prince Regent to the city of London not one expression even of regret

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and general Byng contained sincere lamentations over the unfortunate occurrences. Every thing showed that ministers intended to pursue system not of conciliation, but of coercion ; founded upon the fatal mistake, that the king of France might have preserved his life and his throne had he adopted measures of greater vigour and firmness. He differed from that opinion; and he had the authority of those who had the best information on the events of that day, that a system of greater severity would have aggravated the horrors of the French Revolution. Coercion had lost Holland to Spain, and St. Domingo to France. If disaffection existed, it arose from misery; and ministers, who acted in so unchristian a spirit as to refuse political liberty to the Catholics on account of religious tenets, ought to be the last to complain that irreligion prevailed in the country. Under all its afflictions and inflictions, the people had evinced unparalleled forbearance. They felt as men and as Englishmen, but they had mastered their resentments, and conquered some of their most inveterate habits. In time of peace they were now called upon to support additional forces; all would be ineffectual, for they dreaded much more the evils they felt than the arms that menaced them. A system of conciliation must be adopted sooner or later, connected with that reform which an enlightened judge on the bench had declared would extirpate corruption from the House, and restore confidence be tween the people and their representatives. Then might it be said of Great Britain"Nemo enim illic vitia ridet; nec corrumpere et corrumpi sæculum vocatur."

Mr. George Lamb said, that his wish was, according to the ordinary courtesy of the House, to have given precedence, after the speech of his hon. and gallant friend, to any gentleman on the opposite side who was anxious to address the House; but having in vain waited for the two previous nights of the discussion for an opportunity to present himself to his notice, he seized the present moment of doing so. One advantage at least had arisen from the adjournment of the debate, that the people would see that notwithstanding the discussion of a former night on what he supposed he must now call the fancied outrage of Manchester, their complaints were at least not dismissed without full discussion. It was (VOL. XLI.)

with protestations of loyalty and attachment, an indisposition was manifest to advert to those admitted distresses to which, even in the papers before the House, the discontents of the manufacturing districts were to be attributed. Those distresses were merely glanced at in the address, with the expression of hope that they were temporary-a hope which rested on no avowed, no reasonable grounds. He wished to avoid entering at large into the subject of the proceedings at Manchester, which had so long and so painfully occupied the attention of the House; but there were two circumstances to which he was desirous of alluding (having some means of procuring accurate information), and on which he was distinctly at issue with the noble lord opposite. It happened that he (Mr. Lamb) was near the spot soon after the memorable 16th of August, and from all the information he was able to collect, he decidedly disbelieved the two circumstances stated by the noble lord. He was convinced, first, that no interruption was given to any magistrate in reading the Riot act; secondly, that no attack or resistance was made to the yeomanry, until the latter had raised the cry of "Have at the flags." This, however, was the time when bold assertion was substituted for inquiry. What one party asserted the other might contradict; and thus they were not likely to come to any conclusion on solid grounds. He hoped that the truth would be elicited, and, when it was, he would cheerfully retract his opinion, if it were an erroneous one; a course equally candid he should expect from the noble lord. A retraction on the part of the noble lord he should be sorry for, because it would go to the crimination of the Manchester magistrates; but he should be glad if circumstances were adduced which would justify a retraction of the opinion he had imbibed, since it would operate as an exculpation of those individuals. He was desirous to call the serious attention of the House to the appalling circumstances in which the whole country, but more especially the town of Manchester, was placed, in consequence of the refusal to inquire into the late proceedings. They were not now to be told, that great irritation existed on the part of those whose friends or relatives had been killed or wounded on that occasion; but even the individuals who had lost their (X)

dearest connexions, even the parents who had now to support the maimed offspring, from whom they formerly derived subsistence, even those persons, he believed, notwithstanding the efforts of the turbulent and seditious demagogues, who endeavoured to inflame the minds of the people at public meetings, had looked forward with some degree of confidence to the meeting of that House. They had indulged themselves in the hope, that parliament would meet and inquire into the whole of these proceedings for the purpose of affording them redress; but now they were to learn that that hope was fallacious, that they were to be disappointed in their honest expectation. What, then, would they first have recourse to? They would look to the debates of that House, and there they would expect to find some decided reason promulgated, some important circumstance stated, which would prove that inquiry was unnecessary, or mischievous. But what had the noble lord said? what had he, the polar star, by which the majorities of that House guided their course, thought proper to declare? He had told the House, in an after-statement, that the magistrates ordered the military to disperse the people; but he had not ventured to say, that they directed violence and cruelty to be exercised. Many observations were made with respect to the policy of employing that species of force denominated yeomen; but there were other considerations connected with this part of the subject, which had been but lightly touched on, and which he would briefly notice. The regular soldiery had no home but where they were ordered; in the event of any conflict with the populace, their removal put an end to all vindictive feeling. But a yeomanry force were connected by local circumstances with the place-they could not withdraw themselves there they were doomed to live, held up to the abhorrence of the lower orders, for the act in which they had been engaged. These were sad reflections, and he would on that point say no more. The people of Manchester were told, that although inquiry was refused in that House, yet an indictment was preferred against Hunt; they were informed that they might look to that proceeding; they might attend to the progress of that trial, and there they would find a full justification of all that had been done. The people would naturally

ask " who are the prosecutors of the indictment ?" The answer was, the magistrates,-the very persons who were parties in the transaction complained of. In what he was going to observe, he was sure the attorney-general would not suppose that he had any intention of throwing a shade of doubt on the purity and propriety by which his conduct would be guided. But he would suppose this indictment to be preferred against a number of persons, A. B. and C., by a common prosecutor. If that prosecutor could not make out the case, without stating facts that must criminate himself, he would ask whether it was not very likely that he would let those persons escape, rather than disclose such facts? That was the point of view in which he could not help considering those prosecutions. The legal gentlemen on the other side of the House ought to have stated on what particular ground this transaction was to be brought before a legal tribunal, instead of being subjected to a general inquiry in that House. One thing was most certain, namely, that with respect to his majesty's ministers, no inquiry here or elsewhere could justify the part they had taken. Between the conduct of the magistrates and the yeomanry there might be a very great difference one of those bodies only might have acted improperly, and the evidence of the one might exculpate the other. But ministers had embraced the whole case, they had identified themselves with it, and which ever party was guilty, they could not be innocent. One passage in the papers before the House, showed that the people could not procure redress by any proceeding at law. It was there stated, that the distress and pressure of the times occasioned those meetings. If it were so, and no man could doubt it, how could those distressed impoverished people go into a court of law to seek redress for the injuries that had been inflicted on them? The answer was, that a subscription was set on foot in the metropolis for that purpose. It was most extraordinary, that this subscription, which had been spoken of by the ministerial press as the off-scouring of the Jacobin purse, should at length be recognized as the only means by which the people had a chance of procuring legal redress! Under the sanction of the gentlemen on the other side, who had disclosed this fact, guided and directed by them, he should now, most certainly, contribute his mite to that sub

§

scription; and, in his opinion, those gentlemen were bound in justice to contribute also. They stated, that a court of law was the only place in which redress could be obtained, and he thought they ought to afford the means of attaining it. In those who censured the late proceedings, to subscribe was an act of humanity and kindness; but with respect to the individuals who approved of them, it was nothing more than an act of justice and consistency. Gentlemen opposite might laugh, but he was perfectly serious. If they disliked the subscription which was now in progress, and would not give any thing in aid of it, they might set up a subscription of their own, and he would assist it most willingly. He thought it would be very well worth the while of the majority of that House to show, by a liberal contribution, by a free use of their purses, that they entertained a degree of feeling and sympathy for the sufferings of the people, which their vote seemed to imply they did not possess. He should not be doing his duty if he did not point out to ministers some means by which the ferment in the public mind might be allayed. He was opposed to violent measures, and besought ministers to have recourse to kindness and conciliation. With respect to the Manchester magistrates, it had happened to him to have lived for years in connexion with that body. He was acquainted with some of them, who, he would say, were most respectable men. Of one of them, his learned friend Mr. Norris, the resident stipendiary magistrate, he could declare that, in his opinion, a more kind-hearted man did not walk the earth. If the proceedings of the 16th of August were authorized by him-if his judgment were not overruled by the opinion of those with whom he acted-then must Mr. Norris have changed his nature on that day. The House had heard complaints of the seditious press; but it was not surprising that strong language should be used by the press when circumstances of a most unprecedented nature had taken place. They had seen proceedings before the coroner carried on in a manner perfectly novel. Those proceedings had terminated for the present, and certainly demanded investigation. They had also witnessed another very extraordinary circumstance; they had seen a magistrate taking on himself the two distinct offices of judge and jury. A person complained that he had been wounded by a shot from a pistol:

the magistrate heard both sides, and declared the accused party to be innocent. He should be surprised, indeed, if any legal gentleman, in or out of that House, would venture to say, that the case of Meagher, the trumpeter, whatever defence that individual might have made on his trial, was an unfit one to be submitted to a jury for their decision. He implored ministers to exert every means by which the irritated feelings of the people might be soothed-to restore that even balance of justice which once distinguished this country; or, at least, not to suffer it to be wanting in appearance, if it did not exist in reality. Next came the consideration of the measures that were to be adopted. The House was, it seems, to be called on in a time of peace, to increase the military forces, and to agree to coercive bills of various descriptions. It would be wonderful if, in the course of the debate, they had not heard any observations on the glories of the late war. It was now time, he conceived, that they should have something to say about the blessings of peace. Barren, naked glory, however showey and attractive, never could be considered a sufficient exchange for the welfare of a great nation. What had the late glorious war produced? It had procured for England an abundance of barren glory, and all those gagging-bills, which, having originated when this country was engaged in hostilities, were now, in a time of profound peace to be renewed. In the latter years of the war-he meant, during that period when our armies were under the conduct of that great general, of whom every Englishman boasted, and who, as he had fought for the independence of other countries would, he hoped, always be found the defender of the rights and liberties of his own-in those years all that could be done was, to repair the disasters previously incurred. But the war commenced with another object. It commenced for the purpose of destroying republican principles, and suppressing doctrines which were said to be subversive of all legitimate authority. Could the country boast of having achieved that object? He would not himself answer the question; he would borrow the answer from the address that had been recently read, in which it was stated, that republican principles, that even the doctrine of atheism itself, teemed in every street, and in every

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shop more plentifully than they did before their object being plunder, he did not the war was entered into. He thought mean to use the word in its ordinary that the House had in a great degree sense. His meaning was precisely exlost the confidence of the country; and pressed in the address of the chairman that confidence could only be restored and grand jury at Chester, about a fortby giving a share in the representative night after the occurrence took place, system to all those who assisted in sup. The statement, which was unanimously porting the state. There was another agreed to by every person present, set evil of still greater magnitude-the loss forth that "whatever may be the real of confidence in all public men. This, object of those who have obtained inhe thought, arose entirely from the con- fluence over the minds of the misguided, duct of his majesty's ministers, and their it appears that the object of the lower adherents. When they entered on their classes is no other than to destroy the career, they found themselves not per- orders of society so long established, to hops quite bankrupts, but exceedingly wrest, by force, from its present possesdeficient in popularity. What was their sors, and to divide among them, the conduct? He would not say that they landed property of the country." On used any base acts to procure popularity. another point he also wished to set himNo; of them it could not be observed, self right. The hon. member had obgaudent nimium popularibus auris." jected to the correctness of the account But he would assert, that for several he had produced relative to the persons years their speeches had been all directed to one object, that of reducing every public man to a level with themselves. They had unfortunately succeeded in their efforts, and were, indeed, the worst of levellers. One prayer he earnestly made to them. It was stated in the address to the throne, and it was the only consolatory passage which that address contained, that the great bulk of the population did not appear to be infected with the dangerous doctrines in question. He conjured ministers to pause before they insulted that loyal majority by proposing any measures calculated to throw suspicion on them; he conjured them to pause before they deprived the well-disposed of the proofs and arguments which the constitution, while it was preserved inviolate, would always afford to combat sedition and disaffection.

Mr. Bootle Wilbraham felt that some apology was necessary for again addressing the House on the subject of the proceedings at Manchester, on which he had already declared his opinion; but an hon. member had on a former evening made several observations on the speech he had delivered, which he conceived himself bound to answer. He would not say what were the motives of that large body of men (at the smallest computation 30,000), in assembling together; the idea of their leaders was, perhaps, only to review their army, and to excite that degree of intimidation in the public mind, which such congregated numbers were calculated to produce, When he spoke of

wounded. That statement was taken from an official paper sent to him from Manchester. In that account the number of out-patients was not included, which, he believed, amounted to 38, or thereabouts. He now had an official report dated the 20th of October, which contained an account of 26 in-patients, admitted to the infirmary in consequence of the proceedings of the 16th of August. In consequence of a riot which took place on the night of the 16th, some other persons were brought in. Amongst others who were hurt on that evening, was an unfortunate man, a Greenwich pensioner; who, having acted as a special constable, was pursued into a house by a number of persons, and so severely ill-treated, that he died in a few days. As to the statement, that an attack was made on the yeomanry before they molested the people, he believed it to be perfectly correct, He had examined all the evidence, and he was borne out in saying, that an attack was made on the yeomanry before they assailed the populace. In order that they might not injure the people, the yeomanry advanced in single files, and were immediately closed upon and surrounded. After taking an impartial view of the subject, all the circumstances proved to him the extreme impropriety of this case being taken up by the House. It was alone in a court of law that the evidence could be fairly adduced, and properly examined. Some gentlemen had expressed a wish that the magistrates should be dismissed. Such a dismissal would cast a slur on their character, and would

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