GENERAL HISTORY. 



[17 



religion U disavowed, as well as 

 loyalty, by the assertion, in answer 

 to the question, " would you live 

 without gods or kings," — " we 

 abjure tyranny of every kind." 



Jt seems, indeed, to be a part 

 of the system adopted by these so- 

 cieties, to prepare the minds of 

 the people for the destruction of 

 the present fiame of society, by 

 undermining- not only their habits 

 of decent and regular subordina- 

 tion, but all the principles of mo- 

 rality and religion. Your Com- 

 mittee find, that there is scarcely 

 any very numerous society, in the 

 parts aliDve referred to, of whose 

 proceedings they have obtained an 

 account, in which some of the 

 leading speaken do not openly 

 avow the most seditious opinions, 

 and do not excite their hearers to 

 be prepared for actual insurrec- 

 tion. Topics for discussion are 

 selected with this view : amongst 

 others, the question, whether the 

 jacobin or the loyalist was the best 

 friend to his country ? Even where 

 petitioning is recommended, it is 

 proposed to be conducted in such 

 a manner, by an immense number 

 of delegates attending in London 

 at the same time, in several par- 

 ties, attached to each petition, as 

 migiit induce an effoit to obtain 

 by fiirce whatever they demanded. 

 A general idea seems prevalent 

 among those who compose these 

 societies, that some fixed day, at 

 no very great distance, is to be 

 appointed for a general rising. 

 They have been taught to look to 

 the meetings in London as the 

 signal for their operations, and 

 have been in the habit of adjourn- 

 ing their own assemblies simulta- 

 neously to the same day; and it is 

 a lamentable instance of the com- 



VoL. LIX. 



mon interest which they feel, if 

 not of the connexion which is 

 formed with the most implicated 

 in the outrages committed in the 

 metropolis, that about Manchester 

 and some other places, the great- 

 est exultation was manifested pre- 

 Tious to the meeting in Spa-Fields 

 on the 2nd of December: and the 

 taking of the Tower, and the ruin 

 of the Bank, were publicly and 

 confidently predicted. The news 

 of the result was impatiently ex- 

 pected, the roads were crowded 

 duiing the night with a rmmber 

 of persons, many of them dele- 

 gates fiom the different societies 

 in the country, waiting for the 

 arrival of the mail coach, and the 

 disappointment was not concealed, 

 when it was ascertained that the 

 riot had been quelled without 

 much serious or extensive mis- 

 chief. 



It appears, that the confidence 

 of the disaffected is such, that they 

 represent the numbers enrolled 

 as amounting to several hundred 

 thousand, and that their societies 

 are daily increasing ; that in their 

 lists they distinguish by particular 

 marks those among their sub- 

 scribers who are uble bodied men, 

 and ready to act when required ; 

 and that they also keep a list of 

 those who refuse to join them in 

 what they call a " black book," 

 and threaten vengeance against 

 these persons when the general in- 

 s u rrection shall take place . I n some 

 parts of one populous country, 

 where nearly every village has al- 

 leady its Hampden club, the mem- 

 bers make it no secret that they 

 consider themselves as of no othei 

 use than as being ready to act 

 whenever they are called upon ; 

 on their admission they are said 



[C] to 



