76 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



of their trade, and for persuading 

 another weaver to leave liis em- 

 ployment without his master's 

 consent. A numerous and illegal 

 assemblage of weavers in the 

 clothing trade took place on the 

 3d inst. at Bradford, Wilts, who 

 combined to prevent the use of a 

 particular kind of loom ; and on 

 Saturday se'nnight six of the 

 principal ringleaders were com- 

 mitted to Devizes Bridewell, to 

 be kept to hard laliour for two 

 calendar months, Ijy a bench of 

 magistrates of the Bradford and 

 adjoining districts. 



6. Chelmsford. — A riot com- 

 menced at Halsted, in Essex, in 

 the evening of the 28th ult. by 

 the mob liberating four prisoners, 

 who were about l)eing lodged in 

 Halsted house of correction, for 

 destroying some macliinery at 

 Sible-iledingham. One of the 

 constables ^vho was conducting 

 them to prison, having taken 

 shelter in the house of a trades- 

 man, it was furiously attacked, 

 and the windows of the shop, &g. 

 broken, and otherwise damaged. 

 Tlie mob then continued tlieir 

 outrages during the remainder of 

 the evening, by an almost indis- 

 criminate attack upon the win- 

 dows of the principal inliabi- 

 tants. Tire next evening they 

 collected in greater numbers, 

 many parties having been ob- 

 served to join them from the 

 neighbouring villages, armed with 

 bludgeons, &c. In order to pre- 

 vent a recurrence of the excesses 

 of the preceding evening, the 

 Halsted cavalry were under arms ; 

 wlio, after the riot act had been 

 read, made several cliarges on tiie 

 mob, but without effect, as the 

 insurgents reti'cated into the 



church-yard, which rendered 

 tlieir efforts to disperse them 

 fruitless ; and having been vio- 

 lently assailed by stones, &c. they 

 found it necessary to retreat ; 

 upon which the same scene of 

 bi'eakxng windows ensued, to the 

 great annoyance of the inhabi- 

 tants. Early the next day a party 

 of the 20th dragoons arrived 

 from Colchester. The respectable 

 tradesmen and inhabitants, to the 

 amount of 60 or 70, came for- 

 ward, and offered themselves in 

 aid of tlie civil ]jower, by being 

 sworn in as additional constables; 

 and in the evening divided them- 

 selves into companies, in order to 

 guard the avenues of the town, 

 and prevent any suspicious per- 

 sons from entering it ; by whiclv 

 judicious measure no assemblage 

 took place — all was quiet and 

 tranquil, and from that time 

 there has not been the slightest 

 appearance of tumult or disorder. 

 In justice to the inhabitants of 

 Halsted, says the Clielmsford 

 l)aper, it ought to be observed, 

 that very few of them, and those 

 of the very lowest order, and con- 

 sisting chiefly of women and chil- 

 dren, were at all concerned in 

 these disgraceful excesses, the 

 mischief having principally arisen 

 from soiue misguided jjersons col- 

 lected from the neighbourhood. 



9. Spalatro. — There has just 

 been discovered in the environs of 

 this place (the ancient Salona), a 

 magnificent bas-relief, represent- 

 ing Dioclesian at the moment 

 when he receives in his garden 

 the Military Tribune, who came 

 to acquaint him with the virtue 

 of the army, and invite him 

 to resume the Imperial dignity. 

 The head of the Emperor has a 



fine 



