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    long been traiomg up in the streets of Bristol , 01 driven to U fron * Loadon » and from Bath by Mr .. Peel * & police , and were ready tc < a % fail tbei » selv « s q £ such circumstances for the pur | 3 oses qf theft and pillage . The magistrates did what , on their $ ystem * it was perhaps wise t # < & : * they obtained from the Government some troops of horse * to be stationed

    near the city , so as to be ready to act if occasion required ; and this was * made known through the public priitfs , Bui that circumstance * ajid diSf . like to Sir Charles WetheueU ^ prevented their having the support x > £ at requisite number of volunteer peace-officers ; and those : who were sworn Uv as special constables consisted principally of persons accustomed to regard the people as the rabble , or of men hired for the ; occasion .

    It will probably be found on investigation , that the Mayor ., if not others , did all in their power to induce the Recorder to dispense with a public , entry 5 but he was not to be persuaded ; and his reception , both in comtogf into the city and in the Guildhall , and on his way thence to the Mansion ^ house in Queen Square , must have convinced him that he had misundeiK stood the temper of , at least , the populace of Bristol . He was , however ,

    safely lodged in the Mansion-house about noon . This was on Saturday the 29 tH of October ; but great excitement continued in front of it . Among the crowds whom political feeling had collected , there were many pf a desperate character ^ who were prepared for all kinds of evil whe n opportunity presented ; and , in particular ,, numbers of those worthless a # & abandoned lads and young men , with whom , as before stated , the streets , of

    Bristol have been so long , infested , and who have justly been regarded , b $ passengers and by residents , as a nuisance disgraceful to the city and its , magistracy ^—whom the inhabitants viewed as a lawless set , preparing fos the greater crimes ., by petty depredation , the tools of older villains , an < i continually leading others younger than themselves into the haunts and practice of vice .

    There is no doubt that between the crowd and the special constables there was , at this period , much mutual exasperation ; and that political feeling operated on both sides ; but I have not : yet seen ground to think that any serious blame attaches to the latter , except , perhaps , when , they wade their first main attack some time in the afternoon , when there appears , to have been too much of the show of power , and when some used express

    sions which roused the indignation of bystanders of a different party . Nevertheless , it ip probable that all which followed would have equally foln lowQd , if , as would have been rapre judicious ,, they had confined themselves to defence . Tqvvajcjs dusk , the symptoms of decided riot began * The mob had spm $ d themselves with cjuhs from the neighbouring quay ;* and they soon

    * In one of Hunt ' s mob-harangues in Bristol , in former days , he is reported to have said , < J There are plenty of sticks o . u the Welch Dock j , but , miud ! I do wot tell you to use them if the constables attack you /'

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    Onthe Ww fkl Biete * - ftlft

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1831, page 843, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2604/page/47/