78] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



levying contributions on the coun- 

 try 5 of disarming the soldiers by 

 night, in their quarters, or se- 

 ducing them from their duty ; and 

 of providing arms for themselves, 

 partly by these seizures, and partly 

 by an easy method of forming- 

 pike heads out of common tools 

 and utensils. 



It appears to your committee, 

 that the utmost confidence pre- 

 vailed among the delegates, as to 

 the ultimate attainment of their 

 object ; that the successive arrests 

 of several of the principal leaders, 

 thougli they occasioned momen- 

 tary disappointment, did not ex- 

 tinguish the spirit of insiu'rection, 

 or the hopes of success, in tiie 

 parts of tlie country above men- 

 tioned ; and the utmost impati- 

 ence was manifested at the delays 

 which had tal-;en place in fixing 

 the day for the general rising. 

 This, after several postponements, 

 was appointed fur the INInnday in 

 Whitsun week, and was after- 

 wards again postponed to tlie l)th 

 of June, which was thought more 

 favourable for a midnight insur- 

 rection, as the moon would then 

 be in the wane. Notice of this 

 last appointment had been so 

 widely circidatcd, that it became 

 almost of pubHc notoriety ; which, 

 while it awakened the attention of 

 those whose duty it was to pic- 

 Scrvo. the public peace, did not 

 appear to derange the preparations 

 of those wlio were diyposcd to 

 disturb it. Even where the plan- 

 ners of the insurrection suggested 

 a farther delay, they found it im- 

 possible to restrain the iuipatience 

 wiiich they had excited among 

 their followers, who had forsaken 

 their ordinary habits of industry, 

 and who must either proceed to 



the immediate attainment of their 

 object, or far the present relin- 

 quish it, and return to their ac- 

 customed occupations. On the 

 28th of May a meeting of dele- 

 gates in the neighbomhood of 

 Sheffield was dispersed, and some 

 of the parties wei'e apprehended ; 

 and on the 6th of June, several 

 persons described to be delegates, 

 (and believed by your committee 

 to be such), who were assembled 

 at another place in the same neigh- 

 bourhood, were apprehended by 

 the magistrates of the riding, as- 

 sisted by the military ; and the 

 final arrangement of the plan, 

 which was there to be settled, 

 was thus happily frustrated. It 

 ^vas confidently expected, that 

 these ariests woidd disconcert 

 whatever measiu'cs were in pre- 

 paration, and they appear to have 

 had that effect in the immediate 

 vicinity of Siieffield ; but the spirit 

 which had been excited could not 

 be wholly suj)|)rcssed. In the 

 neigldjom-hood of Huddersfield, 

 in the niglit of the 8th instant, 

 several liouscs were forcibly enter- 

 ed and iilimdercd of arms. A con- 

 siderable body of armed men were 

 aj)i;roacliing the town, when a 

 small patrol of yeomanry cavalry, 

 attended by a peace officer, fell in 

 with them, and w;i;3 received with 

 the discharge of several shot, by 

 which one of their troop horses 

 w;is wounded. The patrol having 

 ascertained, that they were too 

 few to opjiose such numl>ers, 

 thought it prudent to retreat, 

 when several shots were fired after 

 them without effect. On return- 

 ing with an additional force to the 

 spot, they found that the whole 

 of the insurgents had disappeared ; 

 but guns fired as signals, in differ- 

 ent 



