76] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



dispersed by the military, acting 

 under tlie orders of the magis- 

 trates, and the principal leadeis 

 were apprehended, iinder war- 

 rants from the secretary of state, 

 a considerable number actually 

 iirarched off on their way to Lon- 

 don ; many were intercepted be- 

 fore they leached Stockport, but 

 several found their way as far as 

 Ashbourne. 



The act for enabling his ma- 

 jesty to detain suspected persons 

 had now passed ; most of those, 

 who had rendered themselves most 

 conspicuous in exciting disaffec- 

 tion in this part of the country, 

 had either been apprehended, or 

 had secreted themselves ; and all 

 hopes wei'e ])iecluded of any im- 

 mediate result from the assem- 

 blage which had been so long 

 concerted ; yet it appears to your 

 committee, from a variety of con- 

 current testimony, on which they 

 rely, that the previous organiza- 

 tion had been extended so widely, 

 and the expectation of ultimate 

 success had been so confidently 

 entertained, that these circum- 

 stances jjroduced no other effect 

 on the great body of the discon- 

 tented, than to delay the explo- 

 sion, which had so long been me- 

 ditated; to occasion the discon- 

 tinuance of the more open meet- 

 ings of tiie association ; and to 

 call forth the exeitions of new 

 leaders, who were determined (in 

 tlieir own phrase) to " re- orga- 

 nize the party." Meetings were 

 accordingly helil in several of the 

 townships in the neighbourhood 

 of Manchester, between the 10th 

 and 'i.')lh of March, with moie 

 privacy, but under the cstablislicd 

 system of delegation, at which 

 only the (!c|)u(,ies froirj th^ disaf- 



fected places were present ; and 

 at which it was resolved to pro- 

 mote a general rising at Manches- 

 ter, on Sunday the 30th of March, 

 or the following day. A meeting 

 was appointed for the leaders at 

 Ardwick bridge, close to ]Man- 

 chester, on the Friday before that 

 day ; where they expected to le- 

 ceive information from IVirming- 

 ham, Sheffield, and other i)laces, 

 with which they were in connnu- 

 nication ; having previously leat iit 

 fiom an emissary, who had visited 

 Iluddersfiehl and Leeds, that the 

 disaffected in that j)art of the 

 country were all ready to begin 

 at any time, and were preparing 

 arms for the purpose. The de- 

 sign w;is, to assemble as many as 

 could be collected, in the night, 

 at Manchester ; to attack the 

 bariacks, the police office, the 

 prison, the liouses of magistrates 

 and constables, and the banks, in 

 separate parties; and to set tiie 

 to the factories in the town. It 

 was even declared by one of the 

 conspirators, that this last atrocity 

 was intended for the purpose of 

 increasing the prevalent distress, 

 in the hope of theieby adding to 

 the numbers of the discontented, 

 by throwing the workmen out of 

 employment. It was calculated 

 that two or three thousand men 

 would be enough to connuence 

 these operations, as they reckoned 

 ujjon being joined by 50,000 at 

 the dawn of day. A proclama- 

 tion was sakl to be prepared, in 

 order to be produced on this oc- 

 casion, justifying the revolt, and 

 absolving the insurgents from 

 their allegiance. Expectations 

 were held out, that a general in- 

 surrection would take place, at 

 the same time, in different parts of 



the 



