HJ 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



purpose of procuring arms, and 

 the other measures of open insur- 

 rection which followed, were not 

 accidental or unpremeditated, but 

 had been deliberately pre-con- 

 certed, as parts of a general plan 

 of rebellion and revolution. There 

 appears also strong reason to be- 

 lieve that the execution of those 

 projects at that particular time 

 was expected by some of the 

 associations in distant parts of the 

 country. The consj)iiators seem 

 to have had the fullest confidence 

 of success ; and a persuasion has 

 subsequently been expressed a- 

 niongst them, that their plans 

 could have been defeated only by 

 casual and imexpccted circum- 

 stances. Even after the failure of 

 this attempt, the same plans ap- 

 pear not to have been abandoned. 



Your committee are deeply con- 

 cerned to be compelled, in further 

 execution of their duty, to report 

 their full conviction that designs 

 of this nature have not been con- 

 fined to the capital, but have been 

 extended and are still extending 

 widely in many other parts of 

 Great Britain, particularly in some 

 of t]\e most populous and manu- 

 facturing distiicts. 



At tlie meeting of the second 

 of December in Spa-Fields, tiiat 

 part of the assembly which had 

 not engaged in the acts of plunder 

 and insurrection before men- 

 tinned, came to a resolution to 

 adjoiu-n the meeting to ihe second 

 Monday after the meeting of Par- 

 liament, namely, the tenth of 

 February ; and it appears by the 

 ptipers referred to the connnittee, 

 that meetings in vn'ious parts of 

 the country, conformably to a 

 plan settled by the leading per- 

 sons in London at an early poiod. 



were intended to be held on the 

 same day. 



It appears manifest that the 

 persons engaged in various parts, 

 both of England and Scotland, in 

 forwarding the plans of revolu- 

 tion, have constantly waited for 

 the example of the metropolis. 

 Intelligence of the event of the 

 meeting there on the second of 

 December was anxiously expect- 

 ed ; and as the first repoi t of the 

 beginning of the disturbance ex- 

 cited in a high degree the spirits 

 of the disaffected, so its speedy 

 suppression produced the expres- 

 sion of strong feelings of disap- 

 pointment. Had it even partially 

 succeeded, there seems much rea- 

 son to believe that it would have 

 been the signal for a more general 

 rising in other parts of the king- 

 dom. Since that time it appears 

 to be the prevailing impression 

 amongst the leading malcontents 

 in the country, that it is expe- 

 dient for them to wait till the 

 whole kingdom shall, according 

 to their expression, be more com- 

 pletely organized, and more ripe 

 for action. 



\Miat is meant by completely 

 organizing the country is but too 

 evident from the papers before 

 the committee. It appears clearly 

 tliat the object is, by means of 

 societies or clubs, established, or 

 to be established, in all parts of 

 Great Britain, under pretence of 

 parliamentary leform, to infect 

 the minds of all classes of the 

 community, and particularly of 

 those whose situation most ex- 

 poses tlicm to such impressions, 

 with a spirit of discontent and dis- 

 affection, of insubordination, and 

 contem])t of all law, religion, and 

 morality, and to hold out to them 



the 



