it would have recoiled with horror and detestation.

the time will come when they and their pestiferous doctrines will be properly esAnd now, whatever degree of guilt timated. The time will come when the may have been incurred, we rejoice to poor and private but industrious indivithink that the violated Constitution of dual will bless his absence from the noisy our country affords even to those who society of those who affected to be better violated it, the means, the opportunity, and wiser than their neighbours;-those and the advantage of a fair trial. - who to prove their superior goodness, No arbitrary power will sit in judg- cast off Morals, Religion, the regulations ment on a single life: no jury will be of life;-and to prove their superior suborned or tampered with; neither wisdom put their confidence in traitors will it be overawed, or fined, or even who abuse their credulity with promisréprimanded. No Military Commission es, which they know cannot be realized. sanctioned by the tri-coloured flag, Happily for our nation, by far the will be ordered to find culprit greater mass of the people hear of these guilty, and to pronounce his doom, doings with abhorrence; and this gives before he appears. The accused will be us occasion to congratulate the steadiheld in judgment by their coun-ness of our countrymen, at large, which try; and the verdict of that country will acquit or condemn them. If they have broken no existing law, no law will be pleaded against them; and to them, as to others, if they plead "Not Guilty," the charitable wish will be directed, "God send you a good deliverance.".

a

With reluctance we allude to proceedings inevitably consequent on the Reports before us. It is no small vexation the whole nation must undergo, in conséquence of the misconduct of a small portion of its members. Some-and those not trivial-of the defences of personal liberty must be set aside for a time, in order to render them permanent hereafter. The Constitution must suffer

amidst all the circumstances of the times-times, undoubtedly, of much anxiety and distress, does them infinite honour; and will, no doubt, ultimately contribute to their distinguished advantage and prosperity.

....

REPORT.

...

By the Lords Committees appointed a Secret Committee to inquire into certain Meetings and Combinations endangering the public tranquility, and to report to the House as they shall see occasion.

ORDERED TO REPORT,

That the Committee have met, and have proceeded in the examination of the papers referred to them.

Their attention was in the first instance directed to those which relate to the metropolis; and they have found therein such evidence as leaves no doubt in their minds that a traitorous conspiracy has been formed in the metropolis for the purpose of overthrowing, by means of a general insurrection, the established Government, laws, and constitution of this kingdom, and of effecting a general plunder and division of pro

a temporary breach; much to the mor-
tification of every genuine Briton.
Every man who loves his country must
exceedingly regret the repeated inter-
ruptions of the Constitutional order.
It were sacrilege to recur without im-
perious necessity, to such violations of
our rights and privileges. We contem-
plate them as we contemplate the cut-perty.
ting off of a limb; if it will save life-
if it will secure the Body Politic, the
operation must be submitted to. The
sufferings of the Patient are beneficial
on the whole; and it is, occasionally,
one of the conditions of life that remedi- |
able evils should be endured, by way of
avoiding irremediable destruction.

In the last autumn various consultations were held by persons in the metropolis engaged in this conspiracy. Different measures, of the most extensive and dangerous nature, were resolved upon; partial preparations were made for their execution, and various plans were discussed for collecting a force sufficient for that purpose. But at a subsequent consultation another plan was adopted, which was, to get a great number of men together to see what force could be raised; and it was agreed, that the best way to get them together would be to call

Let those bad subjects who have contributed to promote these evils rejoice, if they can rejoice, in the delusions they have disseminated ainong the people:- | a public meeting. Spafields was fixed upon as the place affording the greatest facilities for entering the town, and attacking the most important points in the city. city. In pursuance of this design, and in order to as semble in the neighbourhood of London a great number of the poorer classes of the community, and particularly of those in whose minds the pressure of the times might be supposed to have excited disaffection and discontent, advertisements were inserted in newspapers, and handbills were industriously distributed, inviting the distressed manufacturers, mariners, artisans, and others to assemble at that place on the 15th of November. A large body of people accordingly assembled at the time and place prescribed. The most inflammatory language was there held to the multitude, having a direct tendency to excite them to outrage and violence; and the meeting was in fact followed by some acts of plunder and riot. A petition to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent was agreed to at that meeting, and an adjournment to Palace-yard on the first day after the meeting of Parliament was proposed: but the 2d of December was subsequently fixed upon (on the proposition of one of the persons concerned in the plans already described) for another meeting in Spafields; and that day appears to have been determined upon for the execution of their design.

Various schemes were formed for this purpose; amongst them was a general and forcible liberation of all persons confined in the different prisons in the metropolis: into some of which, in order to facilitate its execution, an address to the prisoners was introduced, assuring them, that their liberty would be restored under a new Government; announcing the intended attack upon all the prisons, for that day; apprising the prisoners that arms would be ready for them; exhorting them to be prepared with the national tricolour cockade, and to cooperate by the most violent and sanguinary means to ensure success.

It was also proposed to set fire to various barracks, and steps were taken to ascertain and prepare the means of effecting this purpose. An attack upon the Tower and the Bank, and other points of importance, was, "after previous consultations, finally determined upon." Pikes and arms to a certain extent were actually provided, and leaders were named, among whom the points of attack were distributed. It further appears, that the interval between the two meetings was employed with unremitting assiduity by some of the most active agitators in taking regular circuits through different quarters of the town. In these they either resorted to the established

clubs or societies, or laboured in conver sations, apparently casual, at public-houses to work up the minds of those with whom they conversed into such a state of ferment and irritation as to render them, when collected in sufficient numbers, for. whatever ostensible purpose, the fit and ready instruments for the execution of any project, however rash and desperate. In the course of these circuits one of their chief objects appears to have been to take every opportunity of attempting to seduce from their allegiance the soldiers of the different guards, and at the barracks. The principal persons concerned in this plan actually proceeded to Spafields on the 2d of December, some of them with concealed arms, and with ammunition previously prepared : they had also provided themselves with tri-colour flags, and with a standard bearing the following inscription :-"The brave soldiers are our brothers; treat them kindly." And also with tri-colour cockades, evidently adopted as the signal of revolution. After much inflammatory language, a direct invitation was by one of these persous addressed to the multitude to proceed immediately to actual insurrection: and it appears quite certain, that the acts of plunder which were perpetrated for the purpose of procuring arms, and the other measures of open insurrection which followed, were not accidental or unpremeditated, but had been deliberately preconcerted, as parts of a general plan of rebellion and revolution. There appears also strong reason to believe that the execution of those projects at that particular time was expected by some of the associations in distant parts of the country. The conspirators seem to have had the fullest confideuce of success; and a persuasion has subsequently been expressed amongst them, that their plans could have been defeated only by casual and unexpected circumstances. Even after the failure of this attempt, the same plans appear not to have been abandoned.

Your committee are deeply concerned to be compelled, in further execution of their duty, to report their full conviction that designs of this nature have not been confined to the capital, but have been extended, and are still extending, widely in many other parts of Great Britain, particularly in some of the most populous and manufacturing districts.

At the meeting of the 2d of December in Spa-fields, that part of the assembly which had not engaged in the acts of plunder and insurrection before mentioned, came to a resolution to adjourn the meet. ing to the second Monday after the meetnity, and particularly of those whose situas unworthy of their attention. Their oblage. In addition to all the arts of seduc-same purposes; and the meetings are fre

tion, resort is also had to a system of intimidation, and threats are held out to those who refuse to join. Their combinations are artfully contrived to secure secrecy in their proceedings, and to give to the leading members undisputed authority over the rest. Oaths of secrecy have been frequently administered, some of which are of the most atrocious and dreadful import. They do not, however, trust to this security alone to prevent discovery; their proceedings are seldom reduced to writing; they pass and are communicated by word of mouth. The more numerous meetings delegate all authority to a managing committee; and by that committee, and by meetings of delegates from the committees of different societies, every thing of importance is transacted.

The committees themselves are also cautious of reducing any of their proceedings to writing, communicating with each other only by delegates and missionaries.

It appears that, in some parts of the country, arms have been lately procured by individual members of these societies in considerable quantities, which can only have been done with a view to the use of force. Subscriptions are also generally required, which although the amount paid by each individual may be very small, may produce, from the large numbers of the contributors, no inconsiderable fund.

The destructive objects which the leading members of these societies have in view are demonstrated by their publications and by their proceedings, all equally calculated to inflame the minds of the members, and in general of the poorer classes of the community. At the ordinary meetings of the societies, which are often continued to a late hour, their time is principally employed in listening to speeches tending to the destruction of social order, recommend ing a general equalization of property, and at the same time endeavouring to corrupt the morals of the hearers, and to destroy all reverence for religion. The landholder has been represented as a monster which must be huuted down, and the fundholder as a still greater evil; and both have been described as rapacious creatures, who take from the people 15d. out of every quartern loaf. They have been told that Parliamentary reform is no more than a half measure, changing only one set of thieves for another, and that they must go to the Jand, as nothing short of that would avail them. Another principal employment of their time is to listen to publications of the same description as the speeches, containing the same doctrines, and leading to the

quently terminated, particularly in London, by profane and seditious songs and parodies of parts of the liturgy, in which the responses are chaunted by the whole company. By such means, and by the profession of open infidelity in which some of the members indulge in their speeches, the minds of those who attend their meetings are tainted and depraved; they are taught contempt for all decency, all law, all religion and morality, and are thus prepared for the most atrocious scenes of outrage and violence.

Amongst the most effectual means of furthering these dangerous designs, the Committee think it their duty particularly to call the attention of the house to the unremitting activity which has been employed throughout the kingdom in circulating, to an unprecedented extent, at the lowest prices or gratuitously, publications of the most seditious and inflammatory nature, marked with a peculiar character of irreligion and blasphemy, and tending not only to overturn the existing form of Government and order of society, but to root out those principles upon which alone any government or any society can be supported.

The Committee cannot but consider the late attack upon his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, on his way from opening the present Session of Parliament, as an additional and melancholy proof of the efficacy of this system, to destroy all reverence for authority, and all sense of duty, and to expose to insult, indignity, and hazard the person of the immediate representative of the Sovereign, even in the exercise of one of the most important parts of his royal functions.

It appears to be an essential part of the system to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by public meetings, convoked either by the leaders of these societies, or by others, in the metropolis, and in populous places and districts, to address the multitude in terms of unprecedented license and violence, amounting even in some instances to an open declaration that, in case of non-compliance with their petitions, the Sovereign will have forfeited his claim to their allegiance. These proceedings are subsequently printed and circulated, and thus become a fresh vehicle for sedition and treason.

By the frequency of these meetings, and by the new practice of continuing them (under various pretexts) by frequent adjournments, the minds of his Majesty's well-disposed and peaceable subjects are held in a state of perpetual agitation and alarm. The appointment of such public meetings in a variety of different places on | A Remedy for the late Bad Harvest. the same day appears to be considered as the most effectual means of accomplishing the designs of the disaffected, and must evidently, in a high degree, embarrass and impede the exertions of all civil powers, applicable to the suppression of disturbances, distract the attention of Government, and oblige them so to subdivide and harass the military force which it may be

On the Supply of Employment and Subsistence, for the Labouring Classes, with Remarks on the Operation of the Salt Duties. By Sir Thomas Bernard. 8vo. pp. 72. Murray, London. 1817. Cursory Hints on the Application of Public Subscriptions, in providing Employment and Relief for the Labouring Classes. Murray.