APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 143 



■well founded as I believe it to be, 

 the necessity of the protection I re- 

 commend cannot be disputed : and 

 I am persuaded your grace will ad- 

 init and feel the occasion to be wor- 

 thy the exertion of the influence I 

 solicit. The people will be made 

 sensible that their own interest, as 

 well as the law, requires that the 

 markets should be free and open, 

 and that every man should dispose 

 of what he brings there at his own 

 price, or be at liberty to withhold 

 it, unless he is satisfied with what 

 is offered him for it ; and the per- 

 son who brings his commodities to 

 tnarket, will go there with that 

 confidence which can alone secure 

 his attendance at it. I cannot but 

 be fearful that I have trespassed 

 very unreasonably upon your grace's 

 time; but the situation in which I 

 have the honour of standing, hav- 

 ing brought before me the details of 

 all the disturbances and outrages 

 occasioned by the pressure of the 

 times, and the opinions against 

 which I have remonstrated, it may 

 be possible that I may be more alive 

 to the tendency of their effects than 

 those who contemplate them at a 

 greater distance, and more at their 

 ease; but when I find reasons to 

 infer that your grace entertained 

 apprehensions not much inferior to 

 those which I have described, I 

 may, I think, refer myself to your 

 candour, to excuse the liberty I 

 have taken in opening my mind so 

 fully upon a subject, iu my conclu- 

 sions on whicli I shall feel myself 

 as fully justified by your concur- 

 rence, as by the use you will make 

 of your influence and power in re- 

 storing and securing the tranquillity 

 and good order of the countiy, and 

 that confidence wliich is as essential 



to the transactions of individuals, 

 as to those of a public nature. 

 I have the honour to be. 



My lord. 

 Your grace's most obedient 

 humble servant, 



Portland. 



Copy of a Letter from the Duke of 

 Portland to tlie Town-clerk of 

 Nottingham. 



Sir, Whitehall, Sept. 10. 



I have received yourletter of 6th 

 instant, together with the several 

 enclosures to which it refers, on the 

 subject of the riotous proceedings 

 which have disturbed the peace of 

 the town of Nottingham and its 

 neighbourhood. I learn with great 

 satisfaction, that the populace is be- 

 ginning to testify a disposition to pay 

 due obedience to the laws, and I 

 trust I shall soon be able to congra- 

 tulate the corporation and the re- 

 spectable part of the inhabitants of 

 Nottingham, upon the restoration 

 of tranquillity and good order. It 

 cannot have escaped their observa- 

 tion that wherever any reduction 

 in the price of a commodity has 

 been effected by intimidation, it 

 has never been of any duration; 

 and, besides, by throwing things 

 out of their natural and orderly 

 course, it almost necessarily happens 

 that the evil, instead of being re- 

 medied, returns with increased vio- 

 lence. According to the best in- 

 formation I have been able to pro- 

 cure, and as far as my experience 

 extends, I am satisfied, that when- 

 ever a scarcity of provisions exists, 

 oris seriously to be apprehended, 

 the only means which can tend ef- 

 fectually to obviate it, and to pre- 



