246 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



the Srd dmj of February, by 

 command of his Royal Highness 

 the Prince Regent, xvere referred, 

 and tvho icere directed to exa- 

 mine the matters thereof, and 

 report the same, as they should 

 appear to them, to the House ; 

 ' — have agreed upon the follow- 

 ing Report : 



The first object of your com- 

 mittee, in examining the papers 

 which have been referred to their 

 consideration, has been, to form 

 a just estimate of the internal 

 state of the country, from the 

 period when the Second Report 

 of the Secret Committee, in the 

 last session of parliament, was 

 presented, to the present time. 



The insurrection, which broke 

 out in the night between the 9th 

 and 10th of June, on the borders 

 of Derbyshire and Nottingham- 

 shire, shortly before the close of 

 the sitting of that committee, 

 was, the last open attempt to 

 carry into effect the revolution, 

 which had so long been the 

 object of an extended conspi- 

 racy. The arrest of some of the 

 principal promoters -of these trea- 

 sonable designs, in different parts 

 of the country, had deranged the 

 plans, and distracted the councils, 

 of the disaffected ; occasioned 

 delays and hesitation in the ap- 

 pointment of the day for a si- 

 multaneous effort; and finally, 

 left none, but the most infatuated, 

 to hazard the experiment of 

 rebellion. 



The suppression of this insur- 

 rection (following, the dispersion 

 of the partial rising which had 

 taken place the night before in 

 the neighbourhood of Hudders- 

 field), the apprehension and 

 committal of tJie leaders for trial 



in the regular course of law, 

 under the charge of high treason, 

 and the detention of several 

 others of the most active dele- 

 gates and agitators, under the 

 authority of the act of the last 

 session, frustrated all further 

 attempts at open violence. But 

 the spirit of disaffection does not 

 appear to have been subdued ; 

 disappointment was frequently 

 expressed by the disaffected, at 

 the failure of an enterprise, from 

 the success of which a relief from 

 all distress and grievances had 

 been confidently predicted ; and 

 the projected revolution was 

 considered as not less certain, 

 for being somewhat longer de- 

 layed. 



In the course of the succeeding 

 month, bills of indictment for 

 high treason were found against 

 forty- six persons, at the assizes 

 at Derby; which must have 

 tended still farther to check the 

 progress of sedition, by apprising 

 the wavering of the danger to 

 which they were exposed, and 

 over-awing the remainder of the 

 more determined leaders. On 

 the trials which took place in 

 October, twenty-three were either 

 convicted by the verdict of the 

 jury, or pleaded guilty ; against 

 twelve, who were mostly young 

 men, and related to some of the 

 prisoners already convicted, the 

 law officers of the Crown declined 

 offering any evidence. The re- 

 maining eleven had succeeded 

 in absconding, and have not yet 

 been apprehended. The result 

 of these trials, and the examples 

 which followed, seem to have had 

 the effect which might be ex- 

 pected, of striking a terror into 

 Uie most violent of those engaged 



in 



