STATE PAPERS. 



3$7 



ciliated, threatening to destroy the 

 machinery used in the manufactures 

 of that place, and in that and the 

 following months attempts were 

 made to set on fire two different 

 manufactories. The spirit of dis- 

 order then rapidly spread through 

 the neighbourhood, inflammatory 

 placards, inviting the people to a 

 general rising, were dispersed, 

 illegal oaths were administered, 

 riots were produced in various 

 places, houses were plundered by 

 persons in disguise, and a report 

 was industriously circulated, that 

 a general rising would take place 

 on the 1st of May, or early in that 

 month. 



The spirit of riot and disturbance 

 was extended to many other places, 

 and particularly to Ashton-under- 

 Line, Eccles, and Middleton ; at 

 the latter place the manufictory of 

 Mr. Burton was attacked on the 

 20th of April, and although the 

 rioters were then repulsed, and five 

 of their number were killed by the 

 military force assembled to protect 

 the works, a second attack was 

 made on the 22nd of April, and 

 Mr. Burton's dwelling house was 

 burnt before military assistance 

 could be brought to hie support ; 

 when troops arrived to protect the 

 works, they were fired upon by 

 the rioters, and before the rioters 

 could be dispersed, several of them 

 were killed and wounded ; accord- 

 ing to the accounts received, at 

 least three were killed, and about 

 twenty wounded. 



On the I4th of April riots again 

 prevailed at Stockport ; the house 

 of Mr. Goodwin was set on fire, 

 and his kteam-looms were destroy- 

 ed. In the following night a 

 meeting of rioters, on a heath 



about two miles from the town, 

 for the purpose, as supposed, of 

 being trained for military exercise, 

 was surprised and dispersed ; con- 

 tributions were also levied in the 

 neighbourhood, at the houses of 

 gentlemen and farmers. 



About the same time riots also 

 took place at Manchester, and in 

 the neighbourhood; of which the 

 general pretence was the high price 

 of provisions. On the 26th and 

 27th of April the people of Man- 

 chester were alarmed by the appear- 

 ance of some thousands of strangers 

 in their town, the greater part of 

 whom however disappeared on the 

 28th; part of the local militia had 

 been then called out, and a large 

 military force had arrived, which, 

 it was supposed, had over-awed 

 those who were disposed to dis- 

 turbance. An apprehension, how- 

 ever, prevailed, of a more general 

 rising in May, and in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the town many houses 

 were plundered. Nocturnal meet- 

 ings for the purpose of military ex- 

 ercise were frequent ; arms were 

 seized in various places by the dis- 

 affected ; the house of a farmer 

 near Manchester was plundered, 

 and alabourercominsi to his assist- 

 ance was shot. 



The maimer in which the dis- 

 affected have carried on their pro- 

 ceedings, is represented as demon- 

 strating an extraordinary degree of 

 concert, secrecy, and organization. 

 Their signals were well contrived 

 and well established, and any at- 

 tempt to detect and lay hold of the 

 offenders was jjenerallv defeated. 



The same spirit of riot and dis- 

 tu rhnnce appeared at Bolton-in-the- 

 Moors. So early as the Gth of 

 A))ril, intelligence was given, that 



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