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Untitled Article
Macerone's books upon foot lances , a kind of weapon which seems to have thrown many of the gentlemen soldiers into sad alarm , and he was anxious to prove that the banner staves of the ' National Convention' were synonymous with the aforesaid lances . But his eagerness defeated itself , and he proved too much for the satisfaction of the jury . The cross-examination by the hard ^ headed tradesmen forced the insolent soldier to break down in his
evidence , and to acknowledge that he only saw * a part of a lance . The remark of the juror when the Major wished to make out that (* a staff without a head was nevertheless a lance , ' bore rather hard upon him . You might as well say that a man without a head was still a man . ' Anxious as he was to make out a case a gainst the people , he was obliged to acknowledge that * he did not see a
single hand raised , and only some twenty stones thrown . ** It is not possible to avoid expression * of disgust at the conduct of this man , whose evidence would seem to have been given with a desire to gain promotion by it . There seems to have been a total absence of all feelings of justice or humanity in him ; he spoke like a coarse and callous soldier , reckless of every thing except the gaining his ends by accomplishing a triumph over the people .
The jury saw through his design , and put him upon the rack by their questions . The insolent aristocrat of the Hardinge school writhed under the punishment inflicted by men incomparably beyond himself in the attributes of mind , and upon whom he had been accustomed to vent his patrician scorn , on account of their humble though useful occupations He will scarcely again attempt a like task .
After him , came one of the officers of the 1 st regiment of Life Guards , serving under his command especially , and present with him in the building from whence he surveyed the scene , —Thomas Middleton Biddulph . That officer positively sworej 'I did not see the crowd do any thing that was illegal , unless their
assembling there was unlawful . I did not see the people make any resistance to the police . ' Doubtless Major De Roos calls himself , and is considered by his clique as a ' person of honour ; ' but , perhaps it is held no dishonour to misrepresent plebeians , though I scarce see how he can avoid calling out Captain Biddulph for thus giving him the lie direct by his evidence .
William Henry Goore , a solicitor of Worcestershire , may be supposed to be a respectable and unprejudiced man , the latter more especially , as he was a stranger , and he testified as follows — ' I do , upon my oath , say that if the police had not interfered , there would have been no disturbance . I never saw a more
brutal or more ferocious attack than was made by the police upon the people . Had 1 possessed a weapon , I should have felt myself justified in using it , and when I saw how those fellows behaved , I would , if 1 could , have cut their heads off / Lawyers are not generally men much disposed to meddle with other weapons than
Untitled Article
On the Conduct tfthe Police . 431
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1833, page 431, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2616/page/71/
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