CHAP. II.

TOUR OF INSPECTION TO NORTHERN DISTRICT.-RECOMMENCEMENT OF DIARY.-CONVERSATION WITH LORD SIDMOUTH.-EXPECTED RIOTS. MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.-PRINCE REGENT INSULTED. -APATHY OF ENGLISH PEOPLE-TOO GREAT RELIANCE ON THE EXERTIONS OF THEIR GOVERNMENT.

In the year 1819, while the movements of the Radicals (as the Chartists of those days were called) were exciting considerable uneasiness in the Government, Mr. Ward was again sent on a tour of inspection to the northern parts of England. His duties were, of course, not to report upon them in a military point of view, but to inquire into the state of their stores, the additional votes that might be necessary for those that had been neglected, and the money that might be saved upon others. It was soon after his return from this tour, that he called at the Home Office, and held the interesting dialogue with Lord Sidmouth, with which the Diary is again resumed.

/Oct. 27th, 1819.-Called upon Ld. Sidmouth. He admitted me directly, though up to the eyes in papers, thinking I had business, I told him I had none, and would leave him as he was so occupied; but he desired me to stay, and we immediately fell upon affairs. The designs of the Radicals of course. I told him I had just been through their country, as well as all over the north; which for the most part I found very

peaceable, and even civil, and very anti-Radical. He shook his head, and pointing to volumes of papers, said, if I knew their contents I would not say so, for the pictures were frightful. I told him what I had done at Carlisle Castle, and what I meant to propose for Hull and Chester. He said they were most important points; and from all I told him of the depôts in general, my tour must have been very useful as well as interesting. I said the spirit was good, except among the lowest mob; but that as to the measures for which Parliament was called, I thought there was a feeling against the Habeas Corpus suspension; not because, if necessary, it ought not to be carried, but because (though it would equally irritate) it would not accomplish the object which would require something stronger. He quickly replied, I was right, and that he was glad to tell me the measure was not in contemplation. I said I hoped the Seditious Meeting Bill of Mr. Pitt in 1795, was equally out of the question, for that it was mere milk and water. He said that was very true; and that such meetings, and the power to call them, must absolutely be put down. What was doubtful must be put out of doubt; and what was not law, be made law. As to Mr. Pitt's Bill, having been Speaker at the time, he remembered all the violence of the debates upon it; and said we must expect something very wicked from the Whig opposition, who would so far join the Radicals as to make their resistance an instrument of party. This made

The bill introduced required a requisition from seven householders, and forbade the attendance of persons not actually inhabiting the place. VOL. II.

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me observe upon Ld. Fitzwilliam's dismissal, which I told him seemed to me to have given great satisfaction to our own friends, as indicating proper vigour on the part of Government. He seemed interested, and with some solemnity of manner asked if he could have done otherwise? I said I thought not; and that, not because the measure was one of punishment or intimidation, as is foolishly argued, but from the mere natural course of things, because in a situation where confidence was necessary, all confidence was destroyed. It was obvious, I added, that Ld. F. had a right to maintain what opinions he pleased; but if they militated against those measures of police, which he was bound to support, not destroy, the natural course was to resign or be dismissed. The head of the police in a county had in a perilous time done what all must agree might have endangered the peace of that county in an eminent degree. Ld. S. said, that was the true way of putting it, and was glad to think that Ld. F. had received the dismissal in a handsome manner-he had asked no reasons, and entered into no explanations, but said he received the intimation with proper submission. This brought us to the Manchester transaction; on which he said, I should be glad to hear that the Chancellor, and all the law-officers without exception, had, from the very first, been of the clearest opinion that all was legal, and that the assembly itself was unlawful. I asked if I was right in my understanding of the facts stated by the magistrates to Government, that the police could not execute the warrant, had called in the

military, who had made no attack till they themselves were assailed? He said, yes; that Nadin, the HeadConstable, who was one of the most resolute men alive, had been ordered to serve the warrant, confessed he could not venture it without assistance; upon which the magistrates ordered Col. L'Estrange, who commanded that day, to furnish help; I forget whether Ld. S. said distinctly from the regulars; but Col. L'Estrange, after deliberating which description of force to supply himself, and without communications with the magistrates, made choice of the yeomanry as the most eligible. These advanced first in single file, which the D. of Wellington had pointed out to the Cabinet proved they had no intention then to attack; but they were themselves assailed, not only with stones and brickbats, but by four shots fired; upon which, and not before, they formed, and began the attack. This was the case upon which he, as the proper Minister, went to the Prince with a report, and requested him to sanction a communication of his approbation to the magistrates. From this it should seem, that these thanks were not originally a measure of Cabinet. He went on to say, that the information as to the assembly showed it to be of a treasonable nature in the opinion of the Chancellor, whose authority no one disputes; and that he had had the pleasure of learning that many of the most determined Whigs thought the Government case was better than people were aware of, and that it had so been stated at a dinner some days ago. I asked if it was fair to inquire who was to succeed Ld. Fitzwilliam. He said it was not quite settled;

1819

but he had no scruple to tell me, the compliment would be paid Ld. Harewood, who, from his age, would probably decline it, in which case it would be given to I observed I had feared it, for I was sorry for it. He looked a little surprised; upon which I said it was not because any one would doubt Ld. * * * *'s attachment to the Constitution, and as little his personal courage or determination to check these rascals, but we all knew that he was politically timid; and that he saw every thing in the worst light. Ld. S. immediately agreed; and said it was true he viewed every thing in the gloomiest colours his apprehension could supply, and shrunk from responsibility, as many excellent and high couraged people, friends. of his, had done before, such as Charles Yorke and the first Ld. Gardener. Charles Yorke's personal courage, he said, was remarkable; that he believed no one would sooner, if ordered, march to the mouth of a cannon, but that give him responsibility and he shrank that he remembered in his (Ld. S.'s) Administration, he took him from the War Office and made him Home Secretary, he said, there you have spoiled a good Secretary-at-War, and made a damned bad Secretary of State; and that as to Ld. Gardener, one year more of the Channel Fleet would have killed him outright, and just so it was with *** ; but that, from property and consequence, he was the fittest man.

(Nov. 15th, 1819.-As I was about to leave the office at half past five, the Duke sent for me. He said he had been applied to by Ld. Buckingham to order car