These preliminary arrangements being completed, the soldiery had instructions to be ready. The result was as before stated; and Mr. Bell and his accomplices returned to London as soon as their object was attained. The Duke of York acted a prominent part in this plot, from his military facilities; but the besotted prince was persuaded to get out of the way until the affair should be concluded.

Mr. Bell proved very useful in the office of the secretary, and as he had once forfeited his own good opinion, by lending himself to the diabolical plot just mentioned, he made no further scruple, but became a passive engine, directed in his actions by the command of ministers and state empirics. Lord Sidmouth was dissatisfied with the Manchester business; he had hoped that many more might have been brought to suffer the extreme penalty of the law, thereby affording an awful example to deter others from daring to question the excellency of the government under which they lived, and the generous disposition of the governors. We are aware that some people attributed this affair to the magistracy; but they would not have dared to interfere in such a manner as they did, unless sanctioned and supported by the higher powers. The cause of a selfish, cruel, and despotic ministry, required the assistance of corresponding heartless servants, and they obtained it. Lord Castlereagh, however, threw out many insinuations

[[326]]that the Manchester plot was a very bold and desperate undertaking; but the pious doctor "laid the flattering unction to his soul of its expediency," believing some such infamous procedure needful to rivet the iron sceptre of despotism. How well does the repentant language of a certain wicked king apply here!

"My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder!—
That cannot be, since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder!
* * * * *
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice;
And oft 'tis seen, the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law!"

This has proved but too true, as well in the Manchester affair as in many other diabolical state proceedings. The little value, indeed, which the ministers of this period entertained for human life ought never to be pardoned. Property, if seized or lost, may be restored; or if not, man may enjoy a thousand delightful pleasures of existence without riches. The sun shines as warmly on the poor as on the rich; the gale of health breathes its balsam into the cottage casement on the heath no less sweetly and salubriously than in the portals of the palace. But can the lords of this world, who think so little of the lives of their inferiors in wealth, with all their boasted power, relume the light of the eye once dimmed by the shades of death? "Accursed despots!" as a talented author well observes, "shew the world your

[[327]]authority for taking away that which ye never gave, and cannot give; for undoing the work of God, and extinguishing the lamp of life which was illuminated with a ray from heaven! Where is your CHARTER TO PRIVILEGE MURDER?" All the gold of Ophir, all the gems of Golconda, cannot buy a single life, nor pay for its loss,—it is above all price. Yet when we take a view of the proceedings of Lord Sidmouth's junto, we are led to believe any thing of more value than human life. Crimes which had very little moral evil, if any, and which, therefore, could not incur the vengeance of a just and merciful God, were unceremoniously punished with death by this minister. Men, for instance, were liable to be shot for meeting peaceably together and making speeches, though proceeding from the purest and most virtuous principles, from the most enlarged benevolence, from wisdom and unaffected patriotism; or for such speeches as might proceed from mere warmth of temper, neither intending nor accomplishing any mischief. Was not such the case in that horrible affair which we have just related? But despots are ever frightened at their own shadows; they tremble and become offended at the least alarm, and nothing but the blood of the accused can expiate the offence. It is, however, from such savage acts of barbarity that the Goddess of Liberty is aroused; it is from the tyranny of her jailors that she eventually makes a progress irresistible, and carries with her fires destined to consume the throne of every despot that cannot bear the light! Various motions have been made

[[328]]since that accursed day to bring the surviving actors in the Manchester tragedy to condign punishment. Amongst the foremost in this laudable endeavour stands Mr. Hunt; but his efforts have hitherto proved unavailing. Although we disapprove of the general conduct of the member for Preston, the meed of praise ought not to be withheld from him for the admirable speech he delivered, relative to this subject, in March, 1832, as follows:

"Mr. Hunt said the grossest misrepresentations had been made in parliament respecting that occurrence; and he felt that it was a matter deeply to be regretted, that there was not in the House of Commons, at the time, some person who had witnessed the transaction, and who could put the House in possession of the real facts. There was a hope, however, that the present government would grant an inquiry for which he was about to apply, in conformity with the prayer of the petitions which he had just presented, and with the desire of his constituents. He proceeded to detail the circumstances under which the meeting of the Manchester reformers, at which he presided, took place. He described the horrible scene which ensued upon the dispersion of the meeting by an unprovoked and unresisted charge of the yeomanry cavalry. The House would have some notion of the violence and cruelty of the military from this fact, that when a number of men, women, and children had crowded into a small court, from which there was no thoroughfare, one of the yeomanry drove them out, whilst another struck at each of them with his sabre, as they came out. The number of persons killed on that day amounted to fifteen, while the maimed and wounded were no fewer than four hundred and twenty-four. It was true that it might be said that some of these did not suffer from the sabres of the yeomanry, but a very large proportion, he would take on himself to say, were wounded in that manner; and, at all events, it was quite certain, that no accident whatever would have occurred but for the outrageous attack that had been made on the peaceable multitude. Nor was it men alone that suffered. Women were cut down also. And were these men to be called soldiers? Was this their way of showing their high courage and their honour by cutting down

[[329]]inoffensive females? He would ask any man of humanity in that House, whether such disgraceful acts ought to be passed by unnoticed and unpunished, merely because it could be said that twelve years had elapsed since the transaction had taken place? But another excuse that perhaps might be made was, that the meeting was an illegal one. In answer to that, however, he would take on himself to say, that in his opinion, and in the opinion of those who constituted the meeting, they were as legally, aye, and as meritoriously assembled, as that House was assembled; and for as useful a purpose. No one was insulted—no tumult took place—no symptoms of riot were evinced; and yet was it for a moment to be said, that in such a country as this, where there was a continual boast of the omnipotence of justice, such things were to be passed over without notice and without censure? He could assure the House, that if this inquiry was not granted, there would be thousands of hearts rankling dissatisfied and discontented, and which could never be set at ease till justice was awarded. The petitioners, in whose name he was speaking, recollected that Earl Grey, and many of his colleagues, expressed, at the time of this outrage, a desire for an investigation into the matter. And how was that inquiry then resisted? First, by the production of official documents, emanating from the guilty party themselves; and next, by allusion to the trial at York; and the cry that the courts of justice were open to those who had any complaint to make. But the courts of justice were not open; for the relations of those that were killed had gone to those courts of justice, and even there all retribution had been denied them in the most cruel and indifferent manner! Nor was this all. All sorts of calumnious statements were allowed to be made in the House of Commons as to the conduct of the mob, by paid spies of the government. The general presumption was, that it was the intention of the Manchester meeting, had it not been interrupted, to pass resolutions similar to those passed at Smithfield, declaratory that without a reform in parliament, taxes ought not to be paid; and he believed that that presumption was the main reason why he had been found guilty. But now, what an alteration had taken place! It was only the other day that 150,000 persons had met at Birmingham, and actually made a declaration to the same effect; and yet they were not cut down—the yeomanry had not been called out to act against them. This motion for a select committee had, in a manner, become absolutely necessary; for when he had moved for the correspondence that had taken place between Lord Sidmouth (then the secretary of state) and the lord lieutenant of the county, that correspondence had been

[[330]]refused; and, therefore, he had no other course to pursue than to ask for a committee for general inquiry into the whole question. Some part of Lord Sidmouth's correspondence, however, was before the public; for he had in his hand that letter of his lordship's in which he, in the name of the prince regent, thanked the magistracy for the way in which they had acted—yes, actually thanked them for having directed the execution of these COLD-BLOODED MURDERS,—by which name he must call those deeds, and by which name they were ever designated in that part of the country where they had been committed. The consequence of this letter was, that the parties, so far from shrinking abashed as they ought, actually gloried in the share they had taken in the transaction; and, in particular, he might mention that an Irishman of the name of Meagher, who was the trumpeter on that occasion, had boasted, when he returned to Ireland, that he had in one day spilled more Saxon blood than had ever been spilled by any one of his countrymen before! The real truth of the matter was, in spite of the false colouring that interested parties had endeavoured to put on it, that the meeting at Manchester was neither more nor less than a reform meeting, that every thing was going on peaceably, that not even so much as a pane of glass was broken, and though the government took the trouble to send Messrs. Oliver and Castles among the people to corrupt them, they were not able to succeed in their virtuous endeavours. As to his own personal feeling on the subject, he was quite willing to remember that twelve years had elapsed, and in that recollection to drown the memory of all he had himself suffered in consequence of the transactions of that day. It was enough for him, when he recollected the object of that meeting, to see the noble lord introduce such a measure of reform as he had never expected to see any government in this country introduce; and which, though it did not go the length that he could have desired, fully admitted the allegation, that the present House of Commons was not chosen by the people,—the allegation on which he had all along built his own proposition of reform. This, he repeated, was quite enough to wipe away any personal resentment that he might ever have felt. But if not—if he still were vindictive—what revenge might he not find in the events that had since taken place! Who was the prime minister of that day? The Earl of Liverpool! And where was the Earl of Liverpool? Who were the principal officers of state of that day? Lord Sidmouth, Mr. Canning, and Lord Castlereagh! Of these, Lord Sidmouth alone remained; and where was Mr. Canning? Where Lord Castlereagh, and how did he go out of the world? A remarkable