Whitehaven Gazette Oct. 18, 1819 Meeting At Bristol

Meeting At Bristol

Whitehaven Gazette - Oct. 18, 1819

MEETING AT BRISTOL.       The Mayor having refused to grant the use of the Guildhall, in compliance with the prayer of requisition, signed by upwards of 50 inhabitants, freeholders and freeman of Bristol, for the purpose of taking into consideration the late events at Manchester, &c. on Monday afternoon the 4th inst. an immense concourse of people repaired, agreeable to advertisements placarded in the streets, to Brandon-hill, where hustings has been erected.       Thomas STOCKING, Esq., barrister, was called to the chair; and, in a speech of some length, introduced the business of the meeting. He was followed by Mr. WALKER, who moved a series of Resolutions, setting forth the indisputable right of the people to convene public meetings for the discussion of grievances; that the Meeting at Manchester was a lawful one; that the Manchester Yeomanry, acting under the direction of the Magistrates "indiscriminately slaughtered the unoffending people without regard to age or sex; in doing which they "displayed a disposition disgraceful to a Christian age, and calculated to stamp an indelible stain upon our national character;" that the Meeting view with "astonishment and indignation" the conduct of Ministers in advising His Royal Highness the Prince REGENT to express his approbation of :those disgraceful and barbarous proceedings" on ex-parte evidence. The Resolutions then proceed -       That the addresses of some Judges on the late circuit, as well as the resolutions of certain Grand Juries, with reference to the late outrages at Manchester, as published in the Public Journals, appear to have echoed the thanks of the Regent through the land, and to have corresponding tendency.       That in the opinion of this Meeting both Judges and Grand Juries in their respective stations ought to keep their minds and judgments wholly uninfluenced by political feeling, and from extra-judicial reports regarding affairs liable to be brought before them; and that where they do not, their conduct must be much more calculated to outrage than to further the ends of justice.       That the approval of the conduct of the Manchester Magistrates and Yeomanry, issued by Royal authority under the pernicious advice of ministers within five days of the outrages complained of, ill accords with the reproof expressed in the answer of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent to the Address and Petition of the Lord Mayor, Alderman and Commons of the City of London, presented a full calendar month after the committal of those outrages.       "That it is the opinion of this meeting that all the evils of which it complains have arisen out of the corrupt state of the Commons House of Parliament: and that if the emphatic words of the late Lord CHATHAM, "unless that hope speedily reform itself from within it's walls, it would be redressed with a vengeance from without," should be verified, the consequences resulting from a convulsion so disastrous will be wholly attributed to the pertinacity of the Oligarchs, who domineer alike over the prerogatives of the Crown, and the rights, liberties, and privileges of the People.       The resolutions then notice the "striking contrast between the conduct of the 15th Hussars and the Manchester Yeomanry" - recommend the adoption of a Petition and Remonstrance to the Prince Regent, embodying the Resolutions, and praying the dismissal of Ministers; as also the opening of a subscription for the relief of the wounded sufferers, and for bringing the Manchester question before the proper tribunal.       They then expressed the thanks of the Meeting to Mr. HUNT and Sir Charles WOLESLEY; and state that they consider the conduct of Henry BROOKE, Es., the late Mayor in refusing them the use of the Guildhall, "as an instance of unbecoming concurrence in the premature approval which the proceedings of the Manchester Magistrates and Calvary, received from the servants of the Crown, in the name of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent.       Mr. WINTER seconded the Resolutions, which were carried unanimously. Mr. COSSENS, Mr. WILLIAMS and Mr. WITHERS, also took part in the proceedings. The meeting which lasted more than two hours, broke up in a peaceable manner; after three groans were given for the Manchester Magistrates; and three cheers for the cause of Constitutional Liberty.       At a meeting of Merchants, Traders and other inhabitants of Bristol, holden on Saturday at the Council House; Wm. TRIPP, jun. Esq. the mayor, in the chair; a "Patriotic Declaration" was unanimously adopted, expressive of the determination of the Meeting "to exert their utmost endeavours to counteract the machinations of those pestilent Enemies of the State, who are plotting the Subversion of all Civil Government."   ******

 

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