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Untitled Article
can scarcely fail to find himself hampered and checked in any endeavour to carry them into effect : who must be one among many ; with power of short duration , and not trained to the services of that routine into which he must therefore fall , with the helplessness of a stranger , but without a stranger ' s indifference to the good opinion of men among whom he has to act in the daily business , and in other social intercourses , of life .
Our present Mayor , Mr . Pinney , is a man of religious character , of liberal view 3 , and of known humanity . I , for one , was glad that he was appointed to fill the office . I thought that if he could not do much good in reference to the immediate objects of the magistracy , he might contribute to the welfare of the people , if it were only by not falling in with measures which opposed the general spirit of the times , and by preventing those which rendered the magistracy and the inhabitants two distinct bodies ,.
On all questions calculated to oppose popular feeling , Bristol has usually manifested much turbulence of . disposition . Till the last election , there was , usually , not only disgraceful drunkenness ,, but outrage and violence , rarely , however , carried to any great degree of personal injury . At the commencement of the memorable 1 S 29 , our senior Alderman , Mr . Daniel , a man of undoubted talent and official ability , took the chair in Queen
Square ; and all the parishes sent their processions , with clergy at their head , to unite in opposing the claims of the Catholics . From fifteen to twenty thousand persons were present , and the advocates for liberal mea- » sures were not listened to , notwithstanding the efforts of the chairman . The issue was , the breaking of the windows of the Catholic Chapel , and
the destruction of the pro-Catholic petition , placed in the public Exchange , and under the protection of the Mayor ' s officers . Indeed , at that period the liberal Mayor was the object of popular insult ; and Sir Charles WetherelFs bitterness against the Relief Bill , made him the idol of the populace , and enabled him to be the protector of the chief Magistrate .
Since that time , the sentiments of men have much changed ; and the mere mob has been kept in check by the people . For the honour of Bristol I must say , that I know nothing more noble in the history of the last General Election , than the calm , determined , and self-controlled spirit of the reformers . I was only a looker-on ; for my assistance was not needed * Within a week from the dissolution of Parliament , the anti-reform member
had retired ; and on the Saturday following that when the news of the dissolution arrived , the two Reform Members were returned . The whole expenses of the preceding election were estimated at not short of £ 30 , 000 : this time , on the part of Mr . Protheroe , up to the day of election , they had not amounted to £ 200 , There was no open house ; no drunkenness or disorder in the street . On the day of chairing , I saw a crowd of not fewer than 10 , 000 persons , awaiting , for an hour , the completion of the arrangements for the procession , without a single peace-officer among them , without
Untitled Article
On the Bristol Riots . 84 *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1831, page 841, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2604/page/45/
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