Part 80

During a considerable period antecedent to the preparation and presentation of this petition, the agitation which prevailed at Birmingham and throughout the neighbouring manufacturing districts was of a highly dangerous and mischievous character. Excited by the inflammatory harangues of their leaders, the people had not been averse to follow the advice which was given them, and to provide arms, ready to meet and repel any attack which might be made upon them, or to secure and maintain those privileges to which they deemed themselves to be entitled. Of the Chartists there were two classes; one, the more violent, whose hopes or designs were based upon "physical force," in preference to the quiet consideration and discussion of the question at issue; the other, who viewed "moral force" as presenting the more favourable means of procuring a determination of the existing evils. Pikes and other arms, as may be supposed, were the weapons of the former, while arguments of a more peaceable character, aided by the employment of such means as abstinence from labour, and the maintaining of a period "sacred" to the Charter, were the measures by which the latter sought to obtain their end.

The cause of violence had been too strenuously urged upon the minds of the people of Birmingham, to permit of their viewing with much satisfaction any arguments of a very peaceable character. The general violence of their tone produced apprehensions among the authorities that mischief might be anticipated; and unhappily their fears were realised in a manner as dangerous as it was destructive.

The undisguised and inflammatory language used by many of the Chartist leaders, rendered it necessary that the magistrates should take steps to prevent the increase of the popular irritation, by removing from the power of doing mischief some of those who were its chief exciters. A body of persons had assembled in London, who were styled "The Convention," and who were delegates from various parts of the country, charged to exert themselves to procure the adoption of their favourite Charter by the legislature; and when the sittings of this mock parliament--for it assumed the character and method of business of the House of Commons--ceased, its members dispersed themselves through the country, haranguing their "constituents" upon the subject of their labours, and engaging them to new exertions to secure the object which they all had in view.

Some arrests were made of persons, the violence of whose language had marked them as objects of public notice, and this served for a time to check the violence of the proceedings of the supporters of the principles of the Charter; but during the ensuing month it appeared as if the flame of sedition was smouldering only to burst forth with renewed vigour. In July new excitement was created. Meetings were frequently held, both at the Bull-ring and at Holloway-head, by the Chartists; and on the 4th of that month, a serious disturbance occurred at the former place.

For the better security of the town, a body of about ninety of the metropolitan police force had been despatched to Birmingham, under the orders of Superintendant May. On the day in question an unusually large meeting was held at the spot pointed out, when banners and flags, bearing mottoes and other insignia, were displayed. Speeches were made, in which the most inflammatory language was employed; but, in the midst of the meeting, the London police, who had marched direct from the railway-train to the Bull-ring, presented themselves, and required the dispersion of the crowd. The order was peremptorily given, but no effort was made to obey it, and force was resorted to, to clear the spot of its present occupants. The mob resisted with success, for although the police were a well organised body, and most determined in their efforts, the number of Chartists to whom they were opposed, and their evident preparation to meet any attack which might be made, led to their temporary defeat. For about ten minutes the conflict was dreadful, and individuals on both sides sustained severe and dangerous injuries. The police were driven back into Moor-street, and, for a time, an attack on the prison by the mob was apprehended. Fortunately, however, the 4th Royal Irish Dragoons, commanded by Colonel Chatterton, and accompanied by Mr. Scholefield, the mayor, arrived in time to afford assistance to the civil authorities, and to prevent the riot proceeding to any more dangerous lengths. The dragoons were soon aided by the Rifle Brigade, and their formidable appearance quickly inspired alarm where confidence the moment before had been displayed. The mob quickly took to flight, but to proceed only to Holloway-head, where a new meeting was held. Here Dr. Taylor and others addressed them, exhorting them to abstain from violence; but, in spite of the exertions of these persons, they committed some acts of serious mischief. During this riot no fewer than seventeen persons were taken into custody, and many of these were proved to have been implicated in the disgraceful proceedings of the evening.

The events of this day were not calculated to produce tranquillity, and during the remainder of the week Birmingham was in a state of high excitement. On the following Monday a crowd again assembled in the Bull-ring, rather from curiosity, however, than any other cause; but upon the police attempting to disperse them, they obstinately and pertinaciously refused to retire. The resistance to authority appeared to be mainly attributable to their dislike for the police, and the members of that body adopted a course of violence in order to procure obedience to their directions, that the mob should move on, not likely to increase their popularity. Blows were resorted to, and, in some instances, considerable injuries were inflicted upon individuals, and threats of violence in return were not unfrequently heard; but, by dint of perseverance, the officers succeeded in the course of the evening in pushing their way as far as John-street on one hand, and Holloway-head on the other, and thus procuring the observance of peace; but in the course of their exertions much violence, though perhaps it was not unnecessary, appeared to be done to the feelings as well as the persons of the people.

On Tuesday the town resumed its wonted appearance, and but for the presence of the London police, and the business-like manner of the magistrates, who were observed to be actively engaged in the execution of their duty, there would have been observed but slight evidence of the late commotions; and the peace of the town being on Wednesday and Thursday (as it was supposed) firmly re-established, fifty of the police on the latter day returned to London.

On Thursday evening an address was posted on the walls of the town from Mr. T. Attwood, M.P., which enjoined the maintenance of "Peace, law, and order," and in which the honourable gentleman announced, among other things, that he had fixed Friday the 12th of July instant, for bringing the national petition under the notice of Parliament.

To the consideration of this question all eyes seemed now to be turned; but on the appointed night, the motion of Mr. Attwood that the petition should be considered by a committee of the whole house was negatived, by a majority of two hundred and thirty-five to forty-six.

The following Monday witnessed the renewal of the excitement at Birmingham, and the enactment of the most disgraceful scenes of riot and plunder in that town. In the morning a meeting was held at Holloway-head, but it proved a failure; and a second meeting was called for the evening. This was most numerously attended, but at its breaking up, a very large number of persons proceeded to the Bull-ring, while others branched off on the road towards Warwick, by which it was expected that Messrs. Lovett and Collins, who had been sent to Warwick jail, in default of bail, on a charge of publishing a seditious libel, on the 6th of July, in the shape of resolutions condemnatory of the conduct of the police on the 4th of that month, and who were expected to be set at liberty on that night, would arrive at Birmingham. Between seven and eight o'clock the mob in the Bull-ring increased very considerably, and the police, limited in number as they were, received orders to procure its dispersion. Having met with some resistance, they were compelled to resort to violence, and they wounded three men somewhat severely; but now in order to avoid all further cause for irritation, they were recalled into the yard of the police-office, out of the sight of the mob, in the hope that the people would ere long separate. This most desirable effect, however, was not produced, but the crowd soon exhibited symptoms of tumult, and commenced breaking the windows of the police-office, and throwing stones into the yard where the police were drawn up.

At half-past eight the riot may be said to have actually commenced. The mob at that hour began an attack upon all the lamps in High-street, and Spiceall-street, and this was immediately followed by a furious assault upon the windows of the houses there, and then upon the houses themselves. An entrance was attempted to be forced into many of them; but the infuriated crowd finding the weapons which they possessed (clubs and sticks) insufficient to enable them to effect this object, turned to procure others of a more formidable character. These were speedily afforded by the palisades surrounding the Nelson Monument, in the midst of the Bull-ring, which were speedily wrenched from their mortices, and thus armed they proceeded to the work of destruction. In an incredibly short space of time they had forced their way into the house of Messrs. Bourne, tea-dealers, whose premises were situated at the corner of the Bull-ring, and Moor-street, and extended to a frontage of twenty feet in the former, and sixty feet in the latter. The shutters and doors having yielded to their attack, they were immediately torn down,--the warehouses were entered and pillaged, and their contents thrown into the street. At five minutes past nine, so rapidly did they complete their dreadful designs, they turned to the premises of Mr. Leggett, an upholsterer, which in like manner they sacked, carrying from it, among other things, large rolls of bed-ticking, which was speedily spread, like a carpet, over the whole area of the space on which they were assembled. At a quarter-past nine, a shout was raised that they should extinguish the lamps, and speedily the mob ascended every lamp-post, and turned off the gas, and darkness added her powers to increase the horrors of the night.

[Illustration: _Birmingham Riots._

_P. 505._]

At this period the inhabitants of the vicinity were engaged in removing their families, and such of their property as they could conveniently carry; for the fury of the mob would evidently call for still further mischief, before it was satiated. The houses of Mr. Murcott, a cheesemonger; Mr. Dakin, a tea-dealer; Mr. Horton, a silversmith; and Mr. Parkes, a tobacconist, were in succession assailed, and the windows of the shop of the last-named individual were actually battered in with silver candlesticks, removed from the shelves of Mr. Horton. The bed-ticking which had been spread over the Bull-ring, was now collected in a heap, and, as if to afford light to the diabolical marauders, was set on fire.

Simultaneously with these proceedings another party of rioters had been engaged in like acts of determined violence. By these the houses of Mr. Allen, a biscuit-baker, Mr. Perkins, brushmaker, who was the headborough of Birmingham; Mr. Arnold, pork-butcher; Mr. Pounteney, grocer; Mr. Heath, cheesemonger; Mr. Walton, butcher; Mr. Fincher, leather-seller; Mr. Bliss, (the Spread Eagle,) a person who had never rendered himself obnoxious; Mrs. Martyns, cutler; Mr. Banks, druggist; and Mr. Gooden, (the Nelson Inn,) were successively attacked, and more or less injured and pillaged. The mob were about to visit the house of Mr. Wainwright, liquor-merchant, with the same species of violence, when, however, their respect for his articles of traffic seemed to overcome their determination, and a cry of "No! no!" was instantly raised, and obeyed.

The shout of "Fire!" was now heard, and scarcely had the idea been expressed when numbers of the rioters were seen carrying heaps of the burning materials from the streets into the houses of Messrs. Leggett and Bourne. Within a quarter of an hour the flames burst forth with awful violence amidst the hellish yells of the rabble. The police nor the soldiery had appeared, and the astonishment of the peaceful witnesses to these dreadful scenes at the apparent supineness of the magistracy, may be easily appreciated. The alarm of fire was speedily conveyed through the town, and an engine now drove into the Bull-ring, but the threats of violence of the crowd compelled the firemen to lash their horses and escape from the dreadful scene of confusion into which they had intruded themselves. New efforts were then made by the mob to carry the fire to other houses, but by good fortune they were unavailing, and before they could secure their object the whole body of metropolitan police in the town, under the orders of Mr. Superintendant May, rushed upon them armed with sabres. This was at a quarter before ten, and thus for nearly an hour and a half had the town been left to the unchecked violence of a furious mob. The abject fear with which they instantly fled upon the appearance now of resistance to their further mischievous designs, showed the ease with which their previous proceedings might have been stayed. They were pursued by the police only to a short distance, and then this body returned to the late scene of

## action, in order to procure the extinguishment of the flames which were

still reigning with unabated violence in the houses which had been the objects of the fury of the mob. The appearance of bodies of dragoons marching towards the Bull-ring through Moor-street and High-street served to complete the rout; and the immediate advance of three hundred of the Rifle Brigade, at once dispelled all apprehension of future danger.

While a portion of the troops remained in the Bull-ring to aid the firemen who had now again arrived with several engines, in preventing the further spread of the conflagration, the rest proceeded to scour the neighbouring streets, and to clear them of the crowds of people by which they were still occupied. This they did in excellent style, and by a few minutes after ten o'clock there were few of the people to be seen in the vicinity of the Bull-ring. The flames at this time were bursting from every part of the burning houses, presenting a spectacle of awful grandeur. At about eleven o'clock the roof of Mr. Bourne's house fell in, and by midnight that of Messrs. Leggett had shared the same fate. The engines continued playing upon the ruins until a late hour, so as to avoid the possibility of a renewal of the danger.

During the night the police made many prisoners who were charged with having been parties to the riot.

Throughout the whole of Tuesday the Bull-ring presented an appearance of desolation which was much increased by the stillness which prevailed. The whole town was pervaded by a similar gloom; and few shops, except those in the outskirts, were open. As night approached, the streets began to exhibit their usual feverish aspect; and, according to an announcement which had been made, between seven and eight o'clock a meeting was held at Holloway-head, which was attended by considerable numbers. Loud complaints were to be heard escaping from many of the persons present as to the treatment which they had experienced on the previous night from the police, and threats of vengeance were held out. Others pointed out the means of revenge by suggesting the seizure of the cannon in the barrack-yard; but at about eight o'clock the whole party was suddenly put to flight by the appearance of a troop of dragoons and yeomanry advancing towards the spot where the meeting was held. At first a few hisses and groans escaped them, but presently the advance of the soldiers induced them to give way, and then they were finally entirely put to rout by the riflemen, who scoured all the neighbouring streets, many of the more refractory of the malcontents receiving some slight wounds in the violence of their opposition to the authority of the law. The soldiers soon afterwards returned to the town, and charge of the streets was then given up to the special constables, who had been sworn in in great numbers during the day, and the police. Parties of the military, however, were posted at Holloway-head and the Bull-ring, at each of which places a cannon was placed with a view to awe the people, and to show the determination of the authorities that any new act of aggression should be received with becoming firmness.

On Wednesday, the town seemed to be again restored to quietude, but the military and constabulary were still on the alert.

During the week many persons were committed to Warwick jail to stand their trial for having been parties to the riots, and for having committed depredations in the houses which they had ransacked: but we shall hereafter refer to the particular cases of these individuals.

With regard to the precise and immediate cause of these distressing riots, many suggestions were thrown out, without, however, doing more than showing them to have arisen from a general and undefinable feeling of discontent, increased perhaps by the supposed harshness of the conduct of the police-force. The correspondent of a morning newspaper, who appears to have made assiduous inquiries upon the spot upon the subject, thus sensibly describes the result of the information which he was able to obtain. He says,--'The more opportunities that I have of conversation with different parties, and different classes of persons in this town, the more thoroughly am I convinced that the social condition of the people is disorganised, and that the worst feelings, consistent with the stability and safety of property, prevail. There is a bitter and almost universal feeling of hatred amongst the operative classes against employers, or those who are apparently raised above the pressing wants and necessities of life. This is the feeling which has been conveyed to me, not only by bankers and the richest merchants with whom I have conversed, but it is confirmed to the letter even by employers whose means are so humble that they toil as hard as the very workmen to whom they pay wages. One of the latter class of employers said to me, that what the operatives want is, 'to make every one as poor as themselves,' to drag all down to their own level, in order that all may feel how great are the evils of poverty. The general spread of such a feeling was ascribed by this person to the speeches of the Chartist leaders, to the doctrines of political economy (if they can be called so) which they now preach, and to the incitements which they have held out for the working classes to arm themselves. In this respect it is plain that great pains have been taken to accustom the minds of the populace to consider the best means of fighting with the regular soldiers, and the most suitable means of destroying them.

"Having stated what is the description given to me of the feeling and condition of the operatives, I next endeavoured to ascertain what were the notions of the operatives themselves; and I may say that to my questions, I received but one answer, namely--that it was a shame to bring the London police amongst them; that the police had acted very badly; that they attacked them without telling them to disperse; that many innocent men, some bringing home their work to their employers, were struck down by the police; and that in short the town would never be quiet again until the London police were sent away."

With reference to the number of persons engaged in the riot, the same writer declared his impression, that no more than two hundred individuals were actually employed in those scenes of disorder which we have described. Hundreds looked on without attempting to check the progress of the events which they were witnessing, exhibiting perhaps feelings of satisfaction rather than regret, at seeing, as they supposed, the wealthy shopkeepers reduced to the level of poverty of themselves; but the persons who were actively engaged did not exceed the number mentioned. The checking of the riot, according to the same authority, would have been of easy accomplishment, for the greater proportion of the mischief was commenced by parties of two and three, who were not joined by any others until it was perceived that the attack was successful. Had the inhabitants joined to repel these assaults upon their property, much of the mischief might have been prevented, and still more so if the military and police forces had been brought into operation at the commencement of the proceedings.

The conduct of the magistrates almost immediately became the object of attack and animadversion; and memorials were presented to the government that it might be made the subject of investigation. Mr. Dundas, a barrister, was subsequently appointed to undertake the task of inquiring into the grounds of complaint made, and we subjoin extracts of the report which he presented upon the subject to the Marquis of Normanby, Secretary of State for the Home Department. Having stated the nature of the memorial presented to the government, in which it was alleged, that "on the evening of the 15th of July, from half-past eight to a quarter before ten o'clock, the mayor and magistrates failed in their duty, by leaving the property and lives of the citizens unprotected to the violence of an organised mob, although full and authenticated information had been early given to the mayor and magistrates of the borough of the intentions and plans of the rioters," he proceeded to detail the mode in which he had carried on the investigation, and then he said,--

"I have now the honour to transmit to your lordship the short-hand writer's notes of the evidence, together with my opinion on the points submitted to me.

"It appeared on the inquiry, that for several weeks before the day in question, that is to say, before Monday, the 15th of July last, Chartist meetings, at times consisting of many hundred persons, were frequently held in Birmingham and the immediate neighbourhood. These meetings, although calculated to alarm the peaceable inhabitants of the place, for the most part passed off quietly; but some of them, and especially a meeting held on the 4th of July, it was necessary to put down by the military in aid of the civil power. To preserve the peace thus disturbed, the Birmingham police was altogether inadequate, a few constables and street-keepers being the whole force of the borough; but between the 10th of May and the day in question, upwards of two thousand special constables were sworn in, ward and section leaders appointed, and instructions furnished them from the public-office for organising and effectually employing the men in time of need. For additional security, two detachments of the metropolitan police were sent from London on the 4th and 5th of July; and though forty had returned in a few days after, the rest (about fifty) remained at Birmingham, and on the day in question were stationed at the public-office under Mr. May, an active superintendant of the force.