Volume I Part 105 (2/2)
In Lancas.h.i.+re a disposition to resume work has been partially evinced; and at Preston, where the most vigorous measures were taken in the first instance, there has hardly been a cessation of employment.
Sir James Graham encloses a letter from the Chief Constable of the County of Lancas.h.i.+re detailing a successful resistance to a fresh attempt on the part of a mob to enter Preston; and he sends also a report from the Mayor of Manchester and from Mr Forster, the Stipendiary Magistrate. Decisive measures will be adopted for the immediate apprehension of the Delegates, not only at Manchester, but in every other quarter where legal evidence can be obtained which will justify their arrest. The law, which clearly sanctions resistance to the entry of these mobs into cities, is now understood by the local authorities. A bolder and firmer spirit is rising among all cla.s.ses possessing property in defence of their rights against these bands of plunderers, who are the enemies both of law and of property.
The prisoners taken in the commission of treasonable felonies are numerous; warrants are issued against others whose persons are known: the supremacy of the law will be promptly vindicated, and Sir James Graham entertains the confident hope that order will be soon restored.
In the Potteries a signal example was made by a handful of your Majesty's troops opposed to a riotous mult.i.tude which had burnt houses and spread devastation, and Sir James Graham encloses a letter from Captain Powys giving a description of the occurrence. The effect of this example has been that yesterday throughout this district no rioting took place.
[Pageheading: DISTURBANCES IN LONDON]
_Sir James Graham to Queen Victoria._
WHITEHALL, _19th August 1842._
Sir James Graham, with humble duty, begs to announce to your Majesty that the accounts from the North, on the whole, may be considered satisfactory....
Five of the princ.i.p.al Delegates at Manchester have been apprehended.
Warrants are out against four others. A very important seizure of papers has been made which discloses a conspiracy, extensive in its ramifications, going back as far as July 1841. It is hoped that these papers, which are still at Manchester, may lead to fresh discoveries.
Sir James Graham will send to Manchester to-night an experienced law officer, for the purpose of pursuing the investigation on the spot.
There was a meeting last night in the neighbourhood of London, of a violent character. Sir James Graham had given positive orders to the police not to allow any mob, as night approached, to enter London.
Notwithstanding these directions, a mob a.s.sembled in Lincoln's Inn Fields about eleven o'clock, and moved through the city to Bethnal Green. Sir James Graham had the troops on the alert, but the mult.i.tude dispersed without any serious disturbance.
_Sir James Graham to Queen Victoria._
_20th August 1842._
... An attempt to hold a meeting at dusk in the suburbs of London was resisted by the police yesterday evening in pursuance of orders issued by the Government in conjunction with the Lord Major, and the peace of the metropolis was preserved.
The above is humbly submitted by your Majesty's dutiful Subject and Servant,
J. R. G. GRAHAM.
[Pageheading: TROUBLE AT THE CAPE]
_Lord Stanley to Queen Victoria._
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