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Untitled Article
riers of law on the part of the people , but as little can I agree , that the agents of the law should take into their own hands the gratification of private malice , under the pretext of putting the law in force . The latter is an evil of much greater extent than the former , for it tends to weaken the confidence of all men in the equality of the law , which can be the only true support of its influence , and leads them to regard it merely as an engine of oppression , for the use of those in power . The meeting might be illegal , but the suppression of it was performed in a mode quite as illegal , by the paid agents of the law . On scarcely any occasion of dispute between the people and the Government , has there been brought forward such a mass of evidence , all tending to set forth the disgraceful conduct of the latter . Whenever the friends of democracy shall in future be taunted with the Bristol riots , with which they had nothing to do , —they may reply to it by referring to the * National Convention . ' A body of thieves and uneducated men performed the Bristol atrocities ; a body of trained police , commanded by those who assume to be of the refined classes of the community , performed the atrocities of Spa Fields .
The conduct of the Coroner on the inquest upon the slain policeman , was anything but that of an upright judge . Throughout the whole business , he appeared to consider himself as a Government agent , pressing for a conviction for a political object , rather than an unbiassed seeker after truth . It would seem that he is an old , an ignorant , and a prejudiced man , thoroughly imbued with the antique Tory principle of taking the cue on all occasions from the
people in power , and acting upon it , without further consideration . All the evidence which was brought forward , was directly against the police ; yet he obstinately shut his ears , with a one-sided ness most remarkable ; took every opportunity to impress the jury with his feelings , in contradiction to the evidence , and repeatedly grossly insulted them by his remarks . Have the Whigs lost all
outward decency of conduct ? Are they driven so to despair , are they bent upon madly heaping obloquy upon their own . heads , that they can countenance such things ? A Coroner ' inquest may , to many , seem a trifling matter ; but in this case , it has been pregnant with consequences , whose ultimate result no man can foresee ; but either great good or great evil must come of it . It may be , that the verdict will induce thieves and vagabonds to murder policemen ; but it will , at all events , teach the police , and their employers , that Englishmen must not be wantonly degraded by blows , under the pretext of law . Be it as it may , the jury have done their duty nobly ; and have , by their excellent verdict , alike marked their disapprobation of all brutality , whether performed by the opponents of the law , or the agents of the law . They have done more : they have read a lesson to the Government , which , although it may have little weight with the imbecile or dishonest men composing it , will go forth amongst the community ,
Untitled Article
On the Conduct of the Police . 429
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1833, page 429, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2616/page/69/
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