96 



ANNUAL REGISTER, im6 



greatest propriety. The waggon, 

 which was 2 ton, 6 cwt- and 

 121b., was drawn by 41 men j 

 and a leader or overseer rode on 

 horseback, and directed the whole. 

 As soon as it was understood by 

 the magistrates that the ])arty 

 wished to act in the way most 

 agreeable to the lawful authori- 

 ties, a negotiation was entered 

 into, and the coals wese permitted 

 to be brought in here by four of 

 the party and their leader, and 

 were deposited with Wm. Pyne, 

 Esq. who will distribute them 

 amongst the poor of jNlaidcnhead. 

 The coals were drawn to this 

 place by horses sent out on pur- 

 pose : the men refused to sell the 

 coals, but gave them up, as re- 

 quested, to Mr. I'yne, and re- 

 ceived a very handsome present 

 instead. Mr. Birnie, Sir Wm. 

 Hearn, Mr. Pyne, &c. went out 

 and negotiated. The poor fellows 

 were perfectly satisfied, but re- 

 fused to go imtil the magistrates 

 signed a paper that they had con- 

 ducted themselves properly. At 

 Henley, the day before yesterday, 

 they behaved so well that tlie 

 Mayor permitted them to go 

 wherever they pleased in the 

 town, and they had upwards of 

 40l. given to tlieni at that place. 

 They left Bilston with three w^ag- 

 gons in company, and parted at 

 Oxford. One waggon was to be 

 at Beaconsfield last night, and the 

 other at St. Alban's, where they 

 would, it is sujjposed, be met in 

 the same way those were met 

 with here, at about one mile 

 from this place, for it appears 

 they came this side Maideidiead- 

 thicket. They were twenty mi- 

 nutes in drawing the waggon up 

 Henley-hill. 



It is supposed that Mr. Birnie 

 was empowered to satisfy them. 

 The extraordinary nature of these 

 occurrences occasioned much 

 bustle here yesterday, but no dis- 

 turbance. 



Further information from an 

 evening paper : — It Avas stated in 

 our yesteiday's paper, that one 

 body of the colliers, with the 

 waggon of coals from Statfoid- 

 shire, had reached Nettlebed, 

 near Henley. Report had men- 

 tioned two other bodies, each 

 with a waggon : one of them 

 proceeded by the road that leads 

 to London through St. Alban's. 

 They reached that place on Tues- 

 day evening. The home depart- 

 ment had sent down magistrates 

 to each of the three joads by 

 which the colliers might approach 

 the capital. Sir N. Conant was 

 dispatched to the St. Alban's 

 road. The men were found re- 

 posing on and about their wag- 

 gon. The magistrate stated to 

 them the impropriety of the step 

 they had either taken of their own 

 accoid or by the advice of otheis 

 — that this was not the mode to 

 obtain relief — that it rather tend- 

 ed to prevent the accomplishment 

 of their object, because it might 

 lead to a bieach of the peace. 

 The colliers listened, it is said, 

 with much interest and attention 

 to the remonstrances of the ma- 

 gistrate. It had not struck them 

 in the light in which he had placed 

 it. They confessed that they had 

 been ill advised, and evinced a 

 readiness to retuin innuediately 

 to their homes. In consequence 

 of this declaration, the magis- 

 trate purchased the coals of them, 

 which were left to be distri- 

 buted to the poor, and gave each 



man 



