Sept.] 



CHRONICLE. 



120 



very properly interfered, and 

 took the beliman into custody, 

 as the active agent of the com- 

 . bination. This his employers, in 

 great numbers, resented ; and by 

 the help of iron crows, pickaxes, 

 &c. they forced open the prison- 

 door, and liberated the prisoner. 

 Their success in this instance 

 made them still more irregular, 

 and their numbers on Wednesday 

 became so great, and their me- 

 naces so violent, that the Ma- 

 gistrates did not deem it prudent 

 to persist in the exercise of their 

 duty, till they had more military 

 assistance than six dragoons (all 

 that could be spared from other 

 duty within a day's march of 

 Burnley) could afford. 



" Informed of this circum- 

 stance, the Manchester and Sal- 

 ford Yeomanry Cavalry, in the 

 handsomest manner, volunteered 

 their services ; and about twelve 

 o'clock on Thursday, whilst the 

 rain poured down in torrents, 

 they marched under the command 

 of Captain Hindley. The rain 

 continued during the whole of 

 the march, which was accom- 

 plished in six hours. The influ- 

 ence of their presence at Burnley 

 was immediately felt, without 

 their being reduced to the dis- 

 agreeable alternative of applying 

 force in order to disperse their 

 fellow- countrymen. 



" During the whole of the day, 

 a great number of most turbulent 

 characters had possession of the 

 streets, in which all business was 

 suspended. Placards, referring 

 to the outrage of Tuesday, had 

 been prepared by the proper 

 authorities, but no one had dared 

 to venture amongst the ill- 

 directed populace in order to 

 Vol. LX. 



post them, till the cavalry were 

 descried approaching the town, 

 when they were immediately 

 made public ; and on tiie arrival 

 of the yeomanry, with a promp- 

 titude and vigour which did 

 honour to the gentlemen who 

 composed it, the civil power 

 began to act, and in little more 

 than an hour seven of the most 

 violently active of the insurgents 

 were taken into custody, without 

 any resistance on the part of the 

 crowd, which dispersed immedi- 

 ately on the approach of the 

 patriotic corps ; and at a very 

 early hour that evening the town 

 was perfectly at peace, and the 

 prisoners conducted (through 

 Padihara) to Blackburn prison, 

 under the escort of the six dra- 

 goons alreadj'^ mentioned. 



",^The next day the yeomanry 

 accompanied the Magistrates to 

 Padiham, where a meeting had 

 been announced ; but the presence 

 of the force broke the spirits of 

 the refractory; and, instead of 

 attending an unlawful meeting, 

 the quiet, peaceable, and indus- 

 trious weavers, who had been 

 forcibly driven from their looms 

 by threats of vengeance by the 

 leaders, had resumed their daily 

 labours, and the click of the fly- 

 shuttle was heard in every loom- 

 house. After a stay of two 

 hours at Padiham, the cavalry 

 returned to their hospitable quar- 

 ters at Burnley, which on invita- 

 tions so hearty that it was im- 

 possible to evade them, were in 

 the private houses of the prin- 

 cipal inhabitants, where they and 

 their horses were treated in a 

 manner which did honour both 

 to the town and the individuals 

 who so very handsomely per- 

 K formed 



