ments of approbation, which you have bestowed on the consummate skill and intrepidity displayed in the operations which led to the capture of the important fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, during the present campaign; and his Royal Highness confidently trusts, that the tried valour of the allied forces, under thedistinguished command of General the Earl of Wellington, combined with the unabated spirit and steady perseverance of the Spanish and Portuguese nations, will finally bring the contest in that quarter to an issue, by which the independence of the Peninsula will be effectually secured. "The renewal of the war in the north of Europe furnishes an additional proof of the little security which can be derived from any submission to the usurpations and tyranny of the French government. His Royal Highness is persuaded, that you will be sensible of the great importance of the struggle in which the Emperor of Russia has been compelled to engage, and that you will approve of his Royal Highness affording to those powers who may be united in this contest, every degree of co-operation and assistance, consistent with his other engagements, and with the interests of his Majesty's dominions. "His Royal Highness has commanded us to assure you, that he views with most sincere regret, the hostile measures, which have been recently adopted by the government of the United States of America towards this country. His Royal Highness is nevertheless willing to hope, that the accustomed relations of peace and amity be tween the two countries may yet be restored: but if his expectations in this respect should be disappointed, by the conduct of the government of the United States, or by their perseverance in any unwarrantable pretensions, he will most fully rely on the support of every class of his Majesty's subjects, in a contest in which the honour of his Majesty's crown, and the best interests of his dominions, must be involved. His "Gentlemen of the House of Commons,-We have it in command from his Royal Highness, to thank you for the liberal provision which you have made for the services of the present year. Royal Highness deeply regrets the burthens which you have found it necessary to impose upon his Majesty's people; but he applauds the wisdom which has induced you so largely to provide for the exigencies of the public service, as affording the best prospect of bringing the contest in which the country is engaged to a successful and honourable conclusion. "My Lords and Gentlemen, His Royal Highness has observed, with the utmost concern, the spirit of insubordination and outrage which has appeared in some parts of the country, and which has been manifested by acts, not only destructive of the property and personal safety of many of his Majesty's loyal subjects in those districts, but disgraceful to the British character. His Royal Highness feels it incumbent upon himto acknowledge your diligence in the investigation of the causes which have led to these outrages; and he has commanded us to thank you for the wise and salutary measures which you have adopted on this occasion. It will be a principal object of his Royal Highness's attention, to make an effectual and prudent use of the powers vested in him for the protection of his Majesty's people, and he confidently trusts, that on your return into your respective counties, he may rely on your exertions for the preservation of the public peace, and for bringing the disturbers of it to justice. His Royal Highness most earnestly recommends to you, the importance of inculcating, by every means in your power, a spirit of obedience to those laws, and of attachment to that Constitution, which provide equally for the happiness and welfare of all classes of his Majesty's subjects, and on which have hitherto depended the glory and prosperity of this kingdom." Then a commission for proroguing the parliament was read. After which, the Lord Chancellor said, My Lords and Gentlemen,By virtue of the commission under the great seal, to us and other lords directed, and now read, we do, in obedience to the commands of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in the name and on behalf of his Majesty, prorogue this parliament to Friday the 2nd day of October next, to be then here holden; and this parliament is accordingly prorogued to Friday, the 2nd day of October next." Report of the Secret Committee of the House of Lords on the Disturbed State of certain Counties. VOL. LIV. Your committee, in pursuing the inquiry referred to their consideration, have endeavoured to ascertain the origin of the disturbances which have arisen in the different parts of the country, with respect to which they have obtained information, the manner in which those disturbances have been carried on, the objects to which they have been apparently directed, the means used to suppress thein, the effects of those means, and the state of those parts of the country within which the disturbances have prevailed. The disposition to combined and disciplined riot and disturbance, which has attracted the attention of parliament, and excited appre hension of the most dangerous consequences, seems to have been first manifested in the neighbourhood of the town of Nottingham, in November last, by the destruction of a great number of newly invented stocking-frames, by small parties of men, principally stocking weavers, who assembled in various places round Nottingham, By degrees the rioters became more numerous and more formidable, many were armed and divided into different parties, disturbed the whole country between Nottingham and Mansfield, destroying frames almost without resistance. This spirit of discontent (amongst other causes to which it has been attributed) was supposed to have been excited or called into action by the use of a new machine, which enabled the manufacturers to employ women, in work in which men had been before em ployed, and by the refusal of the manufacturers to pay the wages at the rate which the weavers de2 C manded manded; and their discontent was probably heightened by the increased price of provisions, particularly of corn. The men engaged in these disturbances were at first principally those thrown out of employ by the use of the new machinery, or by their refusal to work at the rates offered by the manufacturers, and they particularly sought the destruction of frames owned or worked by those who were willing to work at the lower rates. In consequence of the resistance opposed to the outrages of the rioters, in the course of which one of them was killed, they became still more exasperated and more violent, till the magistrates thought it necessary to require the assistance of a considerable armed force, which was promptly assembled, consisting at first principally of local militia and volunteer yeomanry, to whom were added above 400 special constables; the rioters were then dispersed, and it was hoped that the disturb'ances had been by these means suppressed. Before the end of the month of November, however, the outrages were renewed, they became more serious, were more systematically conducted; and at length the rioters began in several villages, where they destroyed the frames, to levy, at the same time, contributions for their subsistence, which rapidly increased their numbers, and early in December the outrages were in some degree extended into Derbyshire and Leicestershire, "where many frames were broken. In the mean time, a considerable force both of infantry and cavalry had been sent to Nottingham, and the commanding officer of the dis◄ trict was ordered to repair thither; and in January, two of the most experienced police magistrates were dispatched to Nottingham, for the purpose of assisting the local authorities in their endeavours to restore tranquillity in the disturbed districts. The systematic combination, however, with which the outrages were conducted, the terror which they inspired, and the disposition of many of the lower orders to favour rather than oppose them, made it very difficult to discover the offenders, to apprehend them, if discovered, or to obtain evidence to convict those who were apprehended, of the crimes with which they were charged. Some, however, were afterwards proceeded against at the spring assizes at Nottingham, and seven persons were convicted of different offences, and sentenced to transportation. In the mean time acts were passed for establishing a police in the disturbed districts, upon the ancient system of watch and ward, and for applying to the destruction of stocking frames the punishment before applied by law to the destruction of other machinery. The discontent which had thus first appeared about Nottingham, and had in some degree extended into Derbyshire and Leicestershire, had before this period been communicated to other parts of the country. Subscriptions for the persons taken into custody in Nottinghamshire were solicited in the month of February at Stockport, in Cheshire, where anonymous letters were at the same time cir culated, culated, threatening to destroy the machinery used in the manufactures of that place, and in that and the following months attempts were made to set on fire two different manufactories. The spirit of disorder then rapidly spread through the neighbourhood, inflammatory placards, inviting the people to a general rising, were dispersed, illegal oaths were administered, riots were produced in various places, houses were plundered by persons in disguise, and a report was industriously circulated, that a general rising would take place on the 1st of May, or early in that month. The spirit of riot and disturbance was extended to many other places, and particularly to Ashton-underLine, Eccles, and Middleton; at the latter place the manufactory of Mr. Burton was attacked on the 20th of April, and although the rioters were then repulsed, and five of their number were killed by the military force assembled to protect the works, a second attack was made on the 22nd of April, and Mr. Burton's dwelling house was burnt before military assistance could be brought to his support; when troops arrived to protect the works, they were fired upon by the rioters, and before the rioters could be dispersed, several of them were killed and wounded; according to the accounts received, at least three were killed, and about twenty wounded. On the 14th of April riots again prevailed at Stockport; the house of Mr. Goodwin was set on fire, and his steam-looms were destroyed. In the following night a meeting of rioters, on a heath about two miles from the town, for the purpose, as supposed, of being trained for military exercise, was surprised and dispersed; contributions were also levied in the neighbourhood, at the houses of gentlemen and farmers. About the same time riots also took place at Manchester, and in the neighbourhood; of which the general pretence was the high price of provisions. On the 26th and 27th of April the people of Manchester were alarmed by the appearance of some thousands of strangers in their town, the greater part of whom however disappeared on the 28th; part of the local militia had been then called out, and a large military force had arrived, which, it was supposed, had over-awed those who were disposed to disturbance. An apprehension, however, prevailed, of a more general rising in May, and in the neighbourhood of the town many houses were plundered. Nocturnal meetings for the purpose of military exercise were frequent; arms were seized in various places by the disaffected; the house of a farmer near Manchester was plundered, and a labourer coming to his assistance was shot. The manner in which the disaffected have carried on their proceedings, is represented as demonstrating an extraordinary degree of concert, secrecy, and organization. Their signals were well contrived and well established, and any attempt to detect and lay hold of the offenders was generally defeated. The same spirit of riot and disturbance appeared at Bolton-in-theMoors. So early as the 6th of April, intelligence was given, that 2 C 2 at at a meeting of delegates from several places it had been resolved, that the manufactory at West Houghton, in that neighbourhood, should be destroyed, but that at a subsequent meeting it had been determined, that the destruction of this manufactory should be postponed. On the 24th of April, however, the destruction of this manufactory was accomplished. Intelligence having been obtained of the intended attack, a military force was sent for its protection, and the assailants dispersed before the arrival of the military, who then returned to their quarters; the rioters taking advantage of their absence, assailed and forced the manufactory, set it on fire, and again dispersed before the military could be brought again to the spot. Symptoms of the same spirit appeared at Newcastle-under-Lyne, Wigan, Warrington, and other towns; and the contagion in the mean time had spread to Carlisle and into Yorkshire. In Huddersfield, in the west riding of Yorkshire, and in the neighbourhood, the destruction of dressing and shearing machines and shears began early in February; fire arms were seized during the course of March, and a constable was shot at in his own house. In March a great number of machines belonging to Mr. Vicarman were destroyed; and in April the destruction of Bradley mills, near Huddersfield, was threatened, and afterwards attempted, but the mills were protected by a guard, which defeated the attempt. About the same time the machinery of Mr. Rhodes's mill at Tentwistle, near to Stockport, was utterly destroyed, and Mr. Horsfall, a respectable merchant and mill-owner, in the neighbourhood of Huddersfield, was shot about six o'clock in the afternoon, in broad day-light, on the 28th of April, returning from market, and died on the 30th of the same month. A reward of 2,000l. was offered for the discovery of the murderers, but no discovery has yet been made, though it appears that he was shot by four persons, each of whom lodged a ball in his body; that when he fell, the populace surrounded and reviled him, instead of offering assistance, and no attempt was made to secure the assassins, who were seen to retire to an adjoining wood. Some time after a young woman was attacked in the streets of Leeds, and nearly murdered, her skull being fractured; and the supposed reason for this violence was an apprehension that she had been near the spot when Mr. Horsfall was murdered, and might therefore be able to give evidence which might lead to the detection of the murderers. |