100 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



Magistrates felt it a duty, wliich 

 they most cheerfully performed, 

 to attend to the just claims of the 

 very numerous inhabitants of 

 their own town, who were now 

 out of employ, it was equally 

 their duty to repress the illegal 

 proceedings of those men who 

 had an equal right to relief from 

 their own parishes : they were 

 desired to proceed through the 

 town without begging. 



Since the outrage at Lough- 

 borough, the greatest activity has 

 been used in tracing out the par- 

 ticulars, and in endeavouring to 

 discover the authors. After the 

 Luddites had completed the work 

 of frame-breaking, the chief of 

 them said, " Now, men, if you 

 can tell us of any machines that 

 are working imder price, if it be 

 one or two hundred miles off, we 

 will go and break them." Re- 

 ceiving a negative to this question, 

 they directly quitted the factory, 

 enjoining the men belonging to 

 it, with terrible threats, not to 

 stir for the space of ten minutes. 

 They not only destroyed the 

 macliines, but even the lace that 

 happened to be on the respective 

 rollers was mostly hacked to 

 pieces. It seemed a particular 

 maxim with them, to deter as 

 much as possible any one from 

 having a glimpse of tiieir pro- 

 ceedings. Independently of the 

 supposed number of nearly thirty, 

 who were activeh' concerned in 

 coumiitting these excesses in the 

 interior of the factory, it is con- 

 fidently believed that there were 

 not less then 50 or 60 others 

 stationeci on the outside in the 

 n)anner of sentinels or patroles, 

 in every direction, and even along 



e Mill-street, to within a very 



few yards of the market-place of 

 Loughborough. Some of these 

 patroles called aloud, warning 

 the inhabitants to keep in their 

 beds, and not to exhibit any 

 lights ; in disobedience of which, 

 one person who endeavoured to 

 go out amongst them, had eight 

 panes directly broken in one of 

 his windows, and was threatened 

 with death if he did not keep 

 within. About a dozen panes 

 were also broken in the windows 

 of the factory. The magistrates 

 of the division have since been 

 almost incessantly occupied in 

 investigating the affaii'. The 

 town crier even went round with 

 his bell on Sunday week, warn- 

 ing the innkeepers against keep- 

 ing their houses open later than 

 nine o'clock in the evening. Six 

 men liave at different intervals 

 been taken up on suspicion, one 

 of whom has since been set at 

 liberty ; three remain in custody 

 at Loughborough, and the other 

 two were sent under an escort from 

 that town to Leicester. Some 

 implements, supposed to have 

 been used in destroying the ma- 

 chines, have been seized, and are 

 in the possession of the constables 

 employed by the magistrates in 

 this business. The magistrates 

 and public officers in Nottingham 

 have also been very active, and 

 many houses in that town have 

 been searched on the occasion. 



10. The Royal Almanack of 

 Hayti, for 1816, has been pub- 

 lished. It contains 127 pages. 

 Its Court Lists may \ie with those 

 of any empire, of whatever stand- 

 ing or complexion. The King, 

 who has attained the 6th year of 

 his reign, will be 49 years of age 

 on the 6th October next. The 



Queen 



