ed in aid of the law as it at present stood, they should find themselves unable to meet the difficulty ;-that it was of more importance to look at the present aspect of the evil than at the causes which may have produced it ;-that a temporary failure of employment, and the high price of provisions, had, in the first instance, united the mechanics against their masters, but on discovering their strength in this state of union, they had ventured to carry their projects much farther than they originally intended;-that they had at last assumed a military character so marked by conduct and deliberation, that it became impossible any longer to postpone measures of severity ;That the oath administered, and the purposes for which it was taken, proved that the conspiracy was of a most diabolical nature; and that although the committee which had been appointed to enquire into the state of the disturbed counties, had not thought it necessary to enter into a minute detail of the crimes committed, enough had been disclosed by them to justify an immediate interferance. That as to the existence and extent of the riots, no doubt could be entertained either by those who read the report of the committee, or even by persons who had access only to the ordinary sources of information. That no addition should be sought to the power of the magistrates unless a case of necessity were made out; but that every man acquainted with the state of the disturbed counties, and the transactions which had lately taken place, agreed in opinion that the powers which the present laws gave the magistrates, were totally inadequate to the purpose of repressing the disturbances;-That a great military force had been sent down ;-that the magistrates had done every thing in their power, but that even the military and civil authorities united, were, as the law stood, unable to act with that

promptitude and vigour which the exigency required.- -Government had thus done every thing in its power; and, in addition to the direct aid which it had afforded the peaceable inhabitants, it had given every encouragement to voluntary associations among themselves for the protection of their lives and property. The law to be now proposed was to be limited to the disturbed counties; and in point of duration, was not to extend beyond the period at which it was probable parliament might be reassembled.That there were three points which the new law ought particularly to embrace :-First, a more effectual provision to keep the rioters from possessing themselves of fire-arms; secondly, a suitable provision to guard against the effects of tumultuary meetings; thirdly, a clause to give more effectual power and more extensive jurisdiction to the magistrates of disturbed districts. That as it seemed to be the great object of the rioters to get possession of arms, the bill should provide, that the magistrates be allowed to make a search in suspected places, without previously taking a deposition on the subject, as they were now bound to do. As many well-disposed persons would chearfully have given up the arms in their posses sion but for the fear which they entertained of being visited with the vengeance of the rioters, the act should also give the magistrates the power of calling on the inhabitants to surrender the arms in their possession, receipts being given for the same; an exception, however, being made of those persons who might require arms for the defence of their property.-The next object was to disperse the rioters who might assemble for the purposes of training and discipline;-and there could be no doubt that as these bodies of men assumed the appearance of an army not under the controul of the ci

vil power, it was the imperious duty of the legislature to provide for putting them down. But the magistrates, as the law stood, could only read the riot-act, and order them to disperse within an hour; and before that hour had expired, the rioters might probably have accomplished their purposes. It was of importance, therefore, that the bill should enable the magistrates instantly to disperse all dangerous assemblies held either by night or by day; to arrest those who might refuse to give obedience, and to bring them to trial at the next quarter sessions for a misdemeanour. The next point for consideration was, the limited jurisdiction of the magistrates; for, as the law stood, the insurgents could, by stepping from one county to another, defeat the ends of justice; it would be proper, therefore, to bestow on the magistrates of the adjacent counties, a concurrent jurisdiction.The proceedings of the rioters would thus be met in all the different shapes which they might assume, and the deluded persons who had engaged in this atrocious conspiracy, and who might otherwise be deterred from violating their unlawful engagements, might return to a sense of duty when they found themselves thus protected by the legislature.

Such was the exposition of the state of the country, and of the nature of the measures proposed, which was given by Lord Castlereagh. In the course of the debate, Mr Wilberforce spoke with contempt of the declamations which had been poured forth as to the causes of the riots, which, of course, in the opinion of some persons, were to be sought only in the conduct of the administration, and in the commercial distress which their measures had occasioned. Mr Wilberforce declared, that the disease was in his opinion of a political nature; and wished it were possible for him to believe that

the disorder was owing to temporary or accidental causes. It was true, said he, that the state of the country, from the high price of provisions, and the want of employment for labour, was such as to increase the discontents. Under such circumstances, popular disorders must always increase; they grow up and flourish in a rank soil; but the diseases, for which a remedy was now demanded, arose from causes of a more general nature. They might be ascribed to the efforts made in cer tain mischievous publications, calculated to alienate the affections of the people from the laws and government of the country, and to stir them up to measures injurious to the community, and ruinous to themselves.-Mr Canning, who had been a member of the committee, upon whose report the bill was founded, declared his concurrence in the sentiments of Mr Wilberforce; expressed his opinion, that the report rather underrated than exaggerated the extent of the disturbances, and intimated, that he would have proposed still stronger measures than those to which the government had thought fit to resort, had it not been for the pledge given by ministers, that if other measures should be found necessary, parliament should be reassembled without delay. Sir Francis Burdett treated with ridicule the opinion delivered by Mr Wilberforce respecting the abuses of the liberty of the press, and the dangerous nature of the publica tions which had been circulated in the country; and expatiated at great length on the perils to which the ruffians, who had already perpetrated every sort of crime, were to be exposed by the measure under consideration. Mr Canning madesome excellent observations on this subject. "The honourable baronet had said, that if the root of all those evils lay in the press and free discussion, there could be no remedy but stopping the press

and free discussion altogether. Now he had imagined that there was no principle upon which people were more perfectly agreed, than that it was often necessary to compromise among evils, in order to produce the greatest good. The liberty of the press and of free discussion should certainly be fostered and encouraged by every wise government, as the sources from which the greatest benefits to mankind flow. But, at the same time, if they were pushed to an extreme by bad men, from wicked motives, the law had power to correct the evils which might be derived from this perversion of a principle from which the greatest good ought to be expected. As to the sympathy which might be felt by some for the individuals who suffered for their conduct in the recent disturbances—if the attention were exclusively directed to the individual at the moment he was expiating his crime, and not at the time of his committing it, hard indeed must be the materials of his heart who would not allow the contemplation of such a wretch's sufferings to efface for a moment the recollection of his guilt; but the measures proposed were not for the purpose of punishing, but for the purpose of saving. It was to save the great mass of the community from the evils produced by those disturbances; it was to save even the great mass of the poor deluded people themselves, that those measures were proposed. The evidence proved, that arms had been stolen, and that men were seen drilling at nights. Now, although it was not proved that the men so drilled were armed with the arms so stolen, yet there could be very little doubt, that in time those arms would come into their hands. It could hardly be supposed, that two such operations should be going on in precisely the same part of the country, and yet that

VOL. V. PART I.

it was never intended the arms and the rioters should meet together. Upon the whole, he was prepared to approve of the measures which were proposed; and he expressed his hope that they would be found sufficient for the purpose."

-That

The arguments which were urged against the bill may; be understood from the following summary :-' the supporters of the bill had looked merely to the surface of the evil—that they wished to explain to the House only the present state of the disturbed counties, without affording any information as to the causes of so unexampled a conspiracy that there was no occasion for the precipitation with which it was intended to carry through the present measure, since it was known that for some time past the riots had neither increased in extent nor violence

that the report which had been laid before the House was, from the want of parole evidence, quite unsatisfactory, and by no means such as to warrant the serious innovations on the law and constitution which were contemplated-that no such thing existed as a disciplined army in the disturbed counties-that not a regiment, not even a company, such as the ministers described, could be found in and part of the country-that the whole of the distress in Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire, originated in the impolicy of government, which had annihilated the commerce of the country-that no appear. ance of combination existed among the rioters--that, on the contrary, they were all disunited, and without any appearance of a settled purpose→→ that no projects were entertained against the constituted authorities or the government-that the controversy existed entirely betwixt the workmen. and their masters-that at Nottingham, by the ordinary operation of the

law, the riots had been entirely quel led, and, by the same means, order and tranquillity might easily be restored in the other districts-that the most guilty had already expiated their of. fences on the scaffold, and that the combination being thus dissolved by the death of their leaders, no serious apprehension could be entertained That no attempt had been made to execute the existing laws that evidence had been produced before the committee, to shew that the watch and ward act had not been complied with, and that there was no proof of that accumulation of arms, which the rioters were supposed to have accomplished by violence and robbery-That a great deal had been said of a meeting on Dane-moor on the night of the 19th of April, immediately before the burning of the mills; but of the forty persons who were present on the moor, it appeared that ten were local militia. men disguised, who had thus been employed by government in a most de testable system of espionage-That the misguided insurgents had been frequently induced to go greater lengths than they would otherwise have gone, by men who were employed as spies, to incite the multitude to daring and desperate acts of violence-That the measures now proposed to parliament resembled very much those which had been some years ago adopted in Ireland; in that country, in which such dreadful scenes had been exhibited, that the recollection of them agonized the minds of Englishmen That under pretence of searching for arms, government wished to disarm the country-that the persons whose arms were demanded might very well say, "We will not give up our arms, for if we do the rioters will mark us out, and we shall be unable to defend ourselves"—that when the minds of men were so much distracted with ter

ror and apprehension, as in the present instance, and all the powers of a despotic government were demanded, it was impossible to say what consequences might be produced. That there was no evidence to prove the rioters were in possession of any considerable funds

that, on the contrary, they seemed to be absolutely destitute of money, and felt the utmost difficulty in collecting the most trifling sums-that the revocation of the orders in council alone would ensure the restoration of tranquillity, and, added to the blessings of a good harvest, would speedily relieve the distresses of the country.

Mr Whitbread made an elaborate harangue on this occasion, and concluded by proposing his usual remedy. "There is but one remedy," said he, "for all these evils, which must unavoidably be borne so long as peace shall not be obtained. But peace ought by all means to be obtained if possible, for the country is going progressively into a state of things from which much is to be feared. The ministers must be aware of the truth of what he was stating, as he had predicted, that if peace was not made in time, we should be compelled to make it whether we would or not. Peace is the only remedy," said he, "for our internal grievances, and the only remedy for our external grievances also; and, in his opinion, a more favourable occasion for a general peace never existed than at this time." Mr Whitbread was unconsciously palliating, in some measure, atrocities which filled the country with horror he was helping to turn the indignation of the people, which was naturally directed against the enemies of their country, towards that government which protected them while it upheld the honour of the English name; and indirectly encouraging in

their nefarious proceedings the deluded men who were endeavouring to reduce the country to an extremity, which might have compelled it to accept the ungenerous advice which he was always ready to offer. But, happily for the honour and prosperity of

England, his advice was rejected; the measures proposed by government for restoring the tranquillity of the country were sanctioned by the legislature, and were instantly attended with the most beneficial consequences.