СНАР.

y.

1817.

Trial of the Derby rioters.

These successive failures induced the ministry to redouble their exertions against the rioters of Derby. Brandreth, the leader of the unfortunate riot which had broken out on the 9th of June, was a very extraordinary personage. He was popularly known as the 'Nottinghamshire Captain,' and he seems to have possessed many of the qualities which fit men for leading their fellow-creatures. Utterly uneducated, a pauper in receipt of parish relief, his great courage,' his uncommon decision,' his 'unrelenting firmness,' gave him that sort of instinctive influence which even in his humble station there is no resisting.' He had an eye,' said his counsel, 'like no eye that I ever beheld before, a countenance and a figure formed for active enterprise and command.' During the course of the trial Byron's magnificent description of the Corsair was applied to him :

With these he mingles not but to command;

Few are his words, but keen his eye and hand;

Whose name appals the fiercest of his crew,
And tints each swarthy cheek with sallower hue:
Still sways their souls with that commanding art
That dazzles, leads, yet chills the vulgar heart.
What is that spell that thus his lawless train
Confess and envy, yet oppose in vain?

What should it be that thus their faith can bind?
The power of Thought-the magic of the Mind!

'I need not care whether I live or die,' were Brandreth's
words in prison, 'for there are no Derbyshire ribs now.'1
A change of fashion, which had deprived him of his
humble livelihood, had, in other words, made Brandreth
utterly reckless. His acts were indisputably criminal. On
the evening of Monday, the 9th of June, he assembled some
500 men, to whom he had previously communicated the

Derbyshire ribs' were, of course, the ribbed hosiery which was made in Derbyshire. An interesting

account of the introduction of ribbed hosiery will be found in Baines History of the Cotton Manufacture.

outline of his plans, and addressed them in some rugged CHAP.

doggrel :

Every man his skill must try :
He must turn out and not deny ;
No bloody soldier must he dread,
He must turn out and fight for bread.
The time is come, you plainly see,

The Government oppos'd must be.1

Arms were obtained by threats and violence from several householders too terrified to resist the rioters. A man, who ventured to oppose them, was shot dead by Brandreth himself.2 This act of violence increased the terror with which the rioters were already regarded. Arms were everywhere given to them; and the men, thus strengthened, marched through the night towards Nottingham. News of the disturbance had, in the meanwhile, reached the authorities. The Yeomanry as

sembled; and the rioters, when morning dawned, 'saw themselves confronted with a force which made resistance hopeless. They dispersed rapidly, without risking an encounter, strewing the ground with the weapons which they had so lawlessly obtained.'

There was no doubt whatever that Brandreth and his associates had committed a very serious crime. Brandreth had been guilty of a cold-blooded murder, and deserved to suffer the extreme penalty which the law has always permitted to be inflicted on offenders of this character. The Government, however, instead of indicting Brandreth and his associates for murder, charged them with levying war against the king.' The presiding judge told the jury that armed insurrection for the purpose of effecting a change of government amounted in construction of law to a levying war against the king.' The jury found Brandreth and two of his principal associates, Ludlam and Turner, guilty of high treason; and the three 2 Ibid., p. 790.

1 State Trials, vol. xxxii. P. 804.

V.

1817.

СНАР.

V.

1817.

Return of

and sub

sidence of

disturb

ance.

wretched men shortly afterwards forfeited their lives for the grave offence which they had committed against their country.1

The execution of Brandreth and his associates marked prosperity the conclusion of the so-called insurrection which had commenced with the riot in Spa Fields. The cause to which the disturbances had really been due was gradually disappearing; and with the disappearance of the cause the disturbance itself subsided. During the first seven months of 1817 wheat was never quoted at a lower price than 57. a quarter; but, as the summer wore on, hot weather and the appearance of a better harvest led to a rapid fall of prices. Wheat fell in August to an average of 86s. 2d., and through the rest of the year its price stood at about 47. a quarter. In Devonshire every article of life is falling,' wrote Lord Exmouth to Lord Sidmouth in the middle of September; the panic among the farmers wearing off; and, above all, that hitherto marketable article, discontent, is everywhere disappearing:'2 Consols, which stood at 62 in January, rose to 81 in August. During the whole of 1816, and during the first half of 1817, there had on an average been 170 bankruptcies a month in England alone. During the last six months of 1817 there were only 555 bankruptcies, or about 92 a month. The trade of the country was at the same time steadily improving. Trade of every kind is recovering, and not a loom is idle in Glasgow,' wrote Scott to the Duke of Buccleuch. The official value of the imports rose from 26,374,9217. in 1816 to 29,910,5027. in 1817; the official value of the exports of home produce from 34,774,5217. to 39,233,4677.4 Everything, therefore, tended to show that trade was im

1 Brandreth's trial will be found in State Trials, vol. xxxii. p. 755; Turner's on page 957; Ludlam's on page 1135.

Sidmouth, vol. iii. p. 198.

3 Lockhart's Scott, p. 355.

Ann. Reg., 1817, Hist., pp. 238,

239, 240. McCulloch's Commerc. Dictionary, ad verb. Imports and Exports.

proving, and with the restoration of prosperity confidence returned. Brandreth might have lived to die a natural death if the demand for Derbyshire ribs had been maintained; and thousands of Brandreths, in every part of the country, were prepared to continue quietly at work, if work were only forthcoming for them. A good harvest and a brisker trade had concluded the disturbance which a bad harvest and a dull trade had been mainly instrumental in fomenting.

V.

1817.

of re

ment.

During the continuance of the session, however, the Measures symptoms of the coming change were hardly visible. The trenchappearance of the country was gloomy in the extreme; and the year was not sufficiently advanced to justify any reliance on the coming harvest. A failing revenue and an impoverished people suggested the propriety of economy; and the Regent had consequently been advised, in the speech in which he opened Parliament, to commend 'the state of the public income and expenditure' to the 'early and serious attention' of the House of Commons. The session was hardly a week old before Lord Castlereagh, as the leader of the Government, explained the steps which the ministry were prepared to take to carry out the Regent's advice. Large reductions of expenditure were freely promised in every branch of the public service. But the ministry did not rely on these reduc- Appointtions alone. The entire expenditure of the state was re- Finance ferred to a select committee, with power 'to consider what Commitfurther measures may be adopted for the relief of the country without detriment to the public interest.' In the meanwhile Lord Castlereagh announced that the Regent resigned to the public one-fifth of his whole receipts, or 50,000l. a year; and that the public servants of the Crown were also anxious to offer their assistance, by contributing what the property-tax, had it been continued, would have taken from them.'1

1 Hansard, vol. xxxv. pp. 252, 307; Ann. Reg., 1819, Hist., p. 39. VOL. I. G G

ment of

tee.

СНАР.

V.

1817.

These proposals were generous; but the feeling of the House was so strong that the ministry were blamed by their opponents for their want of generosity. Ponsonby, the leader of the Opposition, who was in the enjoyment of a considerable pension, offered 'to give up in the same proportion as the Regent;' in other words, to surrender onefifth instead of one-tenth of his pension. The Opposition, with some show of reason, endeavoured to exclude placemen from a committee which was intended to propose the reduction of superfluous places. The ministers succeeded in resisting the attempt; but the temper which animated the House was unmistakable. The committee met; and its attention was, at once, directed to the numerous sinecure offices, which existed in almost every department of the Government. There were the Chief Justices in Eyre, north and south of the Trent, with no duties to perform, and 4,000l. a year for performing them. There was the clerk of the Pells, with 3,000l. a year; and the four tellers of the Exchequer, with 2,7007. each. There was the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, with 3,000l. a year, and the Governor of the Isle of Wight, with 600l.; there was the office of clerk of the Parliaments, worth 5,000l. a year to the gentleman who was so fortunate as to possess it.1 There were the four clerks of the Signet, and the four clerks of the Privy Seal. The sinecures in Scotland and Ireland were in comparison even more numerous and more costly than those in England. The committee saw no reason to doubt that the annual income now derived from the offices which are thus brought under the observation of the House, as being at the disposal of the Crown, and fit to be abolished or regulated, may be estimated at from 90,000l. to 100,000l.' The committee did not include in their re3,000l. a year.

1 Ann. Reg., 1817, Chron., p. 306. Colchester, vol. ii. p. 602, where the salary of the Lord Warden is given as 5,000l. instead of

2 Ann. Reg., 1817, Chron., pp. 308-315.