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    commenced that attack upon the Mansion-house , which led to the reading of the Riot Act , and , after a great deal of mischief had been done , to the introduction of the troops of the 14 th Light Dragoons , The humanity , and , it is understood , the religious scruples , of the Mayor , aided , perhaps , by the indecision or the fearlessness of his counsellors , delayed too long that measure , which , if the military were , in any result , to be employed ,

    should have been quite arranged against the time of need . If the soldiers had , as the tumuliuous excitement increased , been brought near the spot , promptly to follow the reading of the Riot Act with the dispersion of the mob on their continuing their attack , it is probable that the subsequent evils would have been prevented . If , however , any lives had been then lost , the Mayor would , no doubt , have been exposed to severe censure ; for no one

    could have supposed it possible that those evils would occur : but considering what had taken place at Derby and Nottingham , I think he would have been quite justified , even on the Saturday , in quelling the riot by military aid . Some young orphan ladies , one long confined to her couch , lived the next door but one to the Mansion-house ; and I went down to see them at seven , on Saturday evening , when I first heard the serious character which the riot had assumed . I found the soldiers in tolerable numbers near the Mansion-house , the special constables in some force , and every thing appa ~ rently quiet ; and though I heard that the mob had prepared to fire the

    Mansion-house , I thought , that with such protection , there would be no danger . My young friends were as collected and fearless as I could desire . It was obviously undesirable to remove them , unless there was some real necessity ; and I left them a little before eight , stating that I would return at ten , and pass the night at their house if they felt it would be any relief to their minds . On leaving the house , I saw symptoms of excitement among the -people , who . seemed in great force and restless : but when I

    came down at ten , ( accompanied by my son , that he might , on his return , inform my family I was safe , *) I found a much greater number of persons assembled , especially in the small courts in front of the houses , and saw the soldiers ( as they often did afterwards ) galloping singly about the Square , driving the people away , but obviously doing no injury to them . We had scarcely entered the house , however , when the soldiers began resolutely to clear the courts and the road , in the line of the Mansion-house ; still without any fierceness of manner , and I believe with sabres sheathed . At the first interval I accompanied my son out of the Square ; and on returning found the same process repeating , but got back safely . Such was the state of things till midnight ; not a single person injured , as far as I could see , and the lamps were burning in the part of the Square where we were , if

    ? I mention these personal circumstances , as among your readers I have many personal friends .

    Untitled Article

    644 On the Bristol Riots .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1831, page 844, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2604/page/48/