and no pressure to which she would not willingly and cheerfully submit, to enable her to maintain, pure and unimpaired, that which has never yet been shaken or sullied,-her public credit, and her national good faith.

"Thus, Sir, I have endeavoured shortly, and I am aware how imperfectly, to notice the various duties which have devolved upon us, in one of the longest and most arduous sessions in the re cords of parliament. The bill, Sir, which it is my duty to present to your Royal Highness, is intituled, "An act for applying certain monies therein mentioned for the service of the year 1819, and for further appropriating the supplies granted in this sessions of parliament. To which, with all humility, we pray his majesty's royal assent.

The royal assent was immediately given to the said bill.

The Prince Regent's Speech at the Close of the Session.-The Prince Regent then delivered the following Speech:

66

My Lords and Gentlemen; "It is with great regret that I am again obliged to announce to you the continuance of his Majesty's lamented indisposition.

"I cannot close this session of parliament without expressing the satisfaction that I have derived from the zeal and assiduity with which you have applied yourselves to the several important objects which have come under your consideration. Your patient and laborious investigation of the state of the circulation and currency of the king

dom, demands my warmest acknowledgments; and I entertain a confident expectation that the measures adopted as the result of this inquiry, will be productive of the most beneficial consequences. "Gentlemen of the House of Commons;

"I thank you for the supplies which you have granted for the service of the present year.

"I sincerely regret that the necessity should have existed of making any addition to the burthens of the people; but I anticipate the most important permanent advantages from the effort which you have thus made for meeting at once all the financial difficulties of the country; and I derive much satisfaction from the belief, that the means which you have devised for this purpose are calculated to press as lightly on all classes of the community as could be expected, when so great an effort was to be made.

"My Lords and Gentlemen; "I continue to receive from foreign powers the strongest assurances of their friendly dispositions towards this country.

"I have observed with great concern, the attempts which have recently been made in some of the manufacturing districts, to take advantage of circumstances of local distress, to excite a spirit of disaffection to the institutions and government of the country. No object can be nearer my heart, than to promote the welfare and prosperity of all classes of his Majesty's subjects; but this cannot be effected without the maintenance of public order and tranquillity.

"You

"You may rely therefore upon my firm determination to employ for this purpose the powers intrusted to me by the law; and I have no doubt that on your return to your several counties, you will use your utmost endea vours, in co-operation with the magistracy, to defeat the machinations of those whose projects, if successful, could only aggravate the evils it is proposed to remedy; and who, under the pretence of reform, have really no other object but the subver

sion of our happy constitution." Then the Lord Chancellor, by the Prince Regent's command, said;

"My Lords and Gentlemen;

"It is the will and pleasure of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, acting in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, that this parliament be prorogued to Tuesday the 24th of August next, to be then here holden, and this parliament is accordingly prorogued to Tuesday the 24th of August next."

CHAPTER

TH

HE principal domestic events of the present year are intimately connected with the movements of a set of men, who have received the name of Radical Reformers; of which we shall lay a detailed account before our readers. Early in the year, application was made to the borough-reeve and constables of Manchester, to summon a public meeting in that town for the purpose of petitioning parliament for the repeal of the corn bill; and on their refusal, an anonymous advertisement fixed the meeting for January 18th. Mr. Hunt was invited to preside, and was met by a great multitude, and conducted into the town in a kind of triumph. Several flags were displayed before him, bearing the mottoes" Hunt and Liberty;"

Rights of Man;""Universal Suffrage" "No Corn Laws." In his harangue at the meeting, the orator treated with contempt the idea of petitioning that House of

Commons which, when last assembled, had "kicked their prayers and petitions out of doors;" and he asked his audience, whether they would " come forward, as men and Englishmen, and claim their rights?" A remonstrance to the Prince Regent was then adopted, in lieu of a petition to parliament; and after listening to the speeches of some Manchester reformers, the meeting peaceably dispersed.

In the month of June many meetings were held by the distressed manufacturers, especially at Glasgow, at Leeds, and at Ashton-under-line. These assemblages were extremely numerous, that on Hunslet-moor, near Leeds, being estimated (but probably with great exaggeration) at 35,000. Not the slightest breach of the peace occurred on any of these occasions, for the leaders were strenuous in their exhortations to the people to preserve an inoffensive demeanor

and

and it was well known, that active measures had been taken by the magistrates to resist any tendency to riot. The harangues of the leaders, however, were sufficiently inflammatory; from statements of the distresses of the manufacturing poor, these speakers proceeded to an explanation of their causes, which were stated to be, excessive taxation, places, pensions, and generally the usurpations of the rich upon the poor. The remedies suggested were, annual parliaments and universal suffrage, the present representation being declared a mere mockery. At Ashton-under-line an approaching meeting at Stockport was announced; and it was resolved, that means should be taken for establishing a regular communication from one extremity of the kingdom to the other. A spirit of hostility to the clergy was manifested in some instances, and religion itself was treated, by one of the speakers at Leeds, with a tone of irony and contempt which offended many of the auditors. The persons who summoned the Stockport meeting, on the refusal of the magistrate, declared one object of it to be, to decide whether or not the people possess the power of destroying the Bank. An entirely novel and truly portentous circumstance was, the formation of a Female Reform Society at Blackburn, near Manchester, from which circular letters were issued, inviting the wives and daughters of workmen in different branches of manufacture, to form sister societies, for the purpose of co-operating with the men, and of instilling into the minds of their children,

"a deep-rooted hatred of our tyrannical rulers." A deputation from this society attended the Blackburn reform meeting, and, mounting the scaffold, presented a cap of liberty and an address to the assembly. The example of these females was successfully recommended to imitation by the orators at other meetings.

These political assemblies proved so attractive to the manufacturing classes, under the irritation produced by low wages and a deficiency of employment, that the spirit rapidly diffused itself through the counties of York, Lancaster, Chester, Nottingham, and Leicester; and gaining at length the important town of Birmingham, where a great mass of distress and consequent discontent was existing, ready to be operated upon, the leaders of the faction were emboldened to propose a measure of a more decisive character than any yet attempted. At a public meeting holden on July 12, on an open space adjoining to this town, at which not less than 15,000 persons were supposed to be present, the managers, after reading a letter from Sir Charles Wolseley, bart. of Staffordshire, excusing his necessary absence on this occasion, proposed that the same Sir Charles should be sent up to parliament as "legislatorial attorney and representative of Birmingham." The movers stated, that the issuing of a writ being compulsory, they had not awaited the form of the mandate, but anticipated the right. The privilege constitutionally belonged to them, and they were fulfilling the duty of good subjects in proceeding to advise the sovereign

sovereign by their representatives. The baronet was then elected, according to regular form, by an immense show of hands, and amid the thundering acclamations of the concurring multitude. A remonstrance was read, which the new elected member was to present to parliament, and a deputation was appointed to carry to him the instructions of his constituents. Sir Charles Wolseley in return pledged himself to claim his seat in the House of Commons.

The people of Leeds animated by the example, or actuated by the same councils, resolved, at a meeting holden a few days subsequently, that as soon as an elegible person could be found to accept their representation an election should take place. About the same time, Mr. Hunt and his associates announced a meeting in Smithfield, which passed off without the least disturbance. The attention of government was now thoroughly awakened to the character of these proceedings, and it was determined that a check should in the first instance be given to the unbounded license of speech in which the popular orators believed themselves authorized to indulge. Sir Charles Wolseley was arrested at his own residence, carried to Knutsford, and compelled to give bail for his appearance to answer for seditious words spoken by him at a public meeting at Stockport; on a similar charge, one Harrison, was seized on the hustings during the meeting at Smithfield, and conveyed back into Cheshire. True bills for sedition were found against others

of the same stamp. Circular letters were also forwarded on July 7th, by the secretary for the home department to the lordlieutenants of the disturbed counties, as they began to be entitled, recommending prompt and effec tual means for the preservation of the public tranquillity; especially vigilance and activity on the part of magistrates, and, as a measure of precaution, directions to be given to the yeomanry of the county to hold themselves in readiness.

An atrocious attempt on the life of Birch, the police officer, by whom both Sir Charles Wolseley and Harrison had been taken into custody, was met by a proclamation with a high reward for the discovery of the offender, dated July 26th, and on the 30th of the same month a proclamation was issued against seditious meetings (See Public Papers). Undeterred by these symptoms of activity on the part of government, the Manchester reformists ventured to placard a notice of a meeting to be holden for the purpose of choosing a parliamen tary representative for that town; but being informed that the magistrates would not permit an assemblage of the people for a purpose clearly illegal, they relinquished this design, but soon after advertised a meeting for an object, the legality of which was fully acknowledged, that of petitioning for a reform of parlia