27 JULY 1839, Page 7

There have been no fresh disturbances of any cone. quence

in Bir- mingham. The Military are on the alert, and a tel of

Police has been received front London. Every day. however. pro- duces alarming reports, with NV hi VII the Magistrate, are harassed and the inhabitants terrified. Very tittle business is don v, and many shops formerly transacting a large retail trade are almost deserted. The Chartists are profuse in their threats of further mischief. A fire broke

out in a timber-yard in Wahner Lane, on Monday ; \Ilia is

ascertained to have been the ace of an incendiary. ft use apprehension

reward of .50/. is offered. Several meeting.: have lteett attempted at I1olloway [lead; but they were dispersed by the Magistrates mid Police. The Magistrates are very active. ve. and many prisoners have Leon committed.

-Measures are in progress forming an ell*ective Police, and Beards- worth's Repository, so well known as the place where the Liberals were wont to congregate on public, occasions, is converted holt barracks for the Rifle Brigade. Some extensive stabling iu the same neighbourhood is fitted up eir a similar purpose. 'troops of' Yeomanry are stationed at llandsworth and Edgbaston ; and the town, in fact. may lac said to be in the safe-lseeping of a strong garrison. The amount of damage done by last week's burning and " et-lathes" is estimated at 40,0001.

Mr. Thomas Au wood has addressed a letter to the inhabitants of Birmingham, recommending obedience to the laws, but deploring the loss of his influence over his fellow townsmes -

" My dear friends and fellow townsmen—I out borne down under the diffi- culties tvLiell surround me. I have ']ways urged 1111011 the peOpie the doctrines of poren, Inn', order, loyalty, antl union ; and I have proved, open a hundred occasions, that hcre lies their strength and their victory. The General Con- VC1111011, in opposition, to me, have, in a great degree, relied upon and tirSgshari Arias' I have always urged the absolute necessity of harmony, friendship, and mutual coliperatiou and good-Will bet %seen toasters Mid and between the lower and middle classes of the community. The General Conventien have net supported this view of 111111e, hilt many of them have SUM' discord and hatred between these two most important classes of men. These differences of opinion 1 have borne with patience ; hot, after so many years of incessant labour, to find all my exertions thrown away, and my measures of relief rejected alike by the aristocracy on the one bawl, and Iry the delegates of the industrious classes on the other, is more than I can patiently endure. The two main weapons on which I have relied to give victory to the people, are first struck from my hands by the delegates of the people ; and now, those very delegates throw back in my flute the best fruits for the people which victory can give. " I thank you, my fricmids, from the bottom of my heart, for your long-con- tinued confidence and friendship towards me. You know that I have always promised to use every possible effort to keep open the gatv,, of reconciliation between the aristocracy and the people to the very last.' I have fulfilled my premise to the best of my humble power. I trust in Cod, that those sacred gates may not yet lie closed. For myself, I feel at present, dad my right arta is broken, lshall watch with anxiety the great events which are approaching. In the inscrutable decrees Providence, it is, perhaps, possible that I may yet be an Untidy instrument in assi stile, to reconcile the jarring passions and dis- cords which afflict this I try, and to restore to the people those great eonst it t ional rights and liberties which formerly gave to England pros- umsappy emu,

perity, peace, and contentment at home, and honour, glory, and dommion abroad.

" My friends, in final reply to your kind and gratifying invitation to me, to attend a great meeting in Birmingham, firr the purpose of restoring harmony and reconciliation amongst the different classes of' our townsmen, I have to say that 1 do not think it prudent to do so, in the present excited state of men's minds. The enemies ef the people, :11W:tyS On the Watell to injure the people's cause, with spies, traitors, enthusiasts, and finds. wanld undoubtedly be at work. Mischief of some libel would probably be pnelaveml and that mis- chief; whatever it might be, trout,/ most ci i tuinlq In, laid ut my ,I,nw."

Rumours of riots at Stourbridga, Wolverhamptum, Stafford, and in the Potteries, have been repeated (hiring the week ; but no actual dis- turbances have occurred. '1'lle disposition of large numbers to follow the example set them at. Birmingham, is, however, unquestionable ; and the peaceable inhabitants are in a state of constant apprehension. One of the reports was, that Sir Robert Peel's mansion at Drayton would be visited by the Chartists.

In the North of England, the saute spirit of it:I-Went discontent prevails. Meetings have been held in -Manchester, Bery, Bolton, Sun- derland, and Bradibrd; and in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. tin Saturday night, a serious disturbance occurred. It does not appear that it had a political origin; but, from the billowing account in the Tyne ..liereuess, it seems pretty evident that it took a political direction— "Notwithstanding a placard issued by time Council of the Northern Politi- cal Union, calling upon the Chartists to respect the lives and property of the

inhabitants, in consequence of their nightly meetings not having been interfered with, a rather serious outrage, which has crmxtted some alarm itt Newcastle, has been committed upon both public and private property. It is stated that the mob was first collected together by a drunken fight, het ern twelve and one o'clock this (Sunday) morning; but they proceeded. toe pile of bricks lying near the new Corn Exchange ; and having loaded themselves, they im- mediately commenced breaking the windows of the Foitm Bank. The next house that suffered was Messrs. Renwick's, drapers, Mosey Street, where some glass and part of the window-frame were broken. They then proceeded down the street, breaking the whole of the public lamps, and panes in almost every i

house. In Dean Street they conducted themselves in a similar manlier, until they got opposite the Tyne Mercury office, where they demolished almost every window. The Police, who were in the greets, acted with the most determined courage; but they were unable to cope with the rioters. The Mayor and some of the Magistrates were very active ; and the Mice having been collected to{ ether, they went out armed, and on their appearance the crowd fled in all directions. They succeeded in capturing several prisoners, some of whom were armed with pikes. Crowds of persons have been in the streets during the whole of the day ; but every thing is now quiet, although many of the inhabitants are in a state of great alarm.'

Another account says-

" Public tranquillity was seriously disturbed at the midnight hour, by a riotous assemblage of some 300 or 400 men, chiefly Irishmen, some of whom were intoxicated, who commenced a row by breaking lamps and fastening upon two Police-officers, who were very roughly handled. Intelligence of what was going on quickly reached the Dead Police-office; where Mr. Stephens, the in- defatigable Superintendent, luckily was at the moment. Ile immediately mus- tered a strong force of about 60 of his men, and accompanied them to St. Nicholas Square, the scene of action of the rioters. The two officers that were in peril were rescued from further maletreatment. The mob, however, were very violent, and seemed bent on mischief. They attacked the bank of Messrs. Chapman, in St. Nicholas's Square, and smashed the glass of all the windows. They did the same thing at the Tyne Mercury printing-office ; the editor of which paper, by his marked denunciation of the Chartist doctrines, no doubt drew down upon him the vengeance of the rioters. The Mayor, John Fife, Esq., having been sent for, promptly made his appearance : as did also another Magistrate, Dr. Ileadlain. Still the riotous proceedings continued; and the public streets in the neighbourhood of St. Nicholas Square presented a scene of the greatest tumult and uproar. In this minacious state of things, notice was sent to the Barracks for the soldiers to be in readiness : the whole garrison was under arms with the greatest celerity, and continued so for two hours; but the active and unremitting exertions of the Police, and the caption of several of the ringleaders, (fourteen in number,) at the same time that the morning began to dawn, dispirited the cowardly ruffians ; who sounded a re- treat at about half-past two o'clock this morning ; and thus the appearance of the Military was rendered unnecessary. Some very threatening language was made use of by the rioters. One fellow said, Let us fire the Courant print- ing-office,' one of the most valuable establishments of the kind in Newcastle ; and another miscreant, on seeing the Chief Magistrate, exclaimed,' That's the Mayor ; Fll smash him," attempting at the same time to throw a half-brick at him ; hut, luckily, one of the Police arrested not only his arm, causing re infeeta, but arrested his body also, and took him into custody. On the per- son of a pitman, who was also arrested, a pike-bead was found concealed."

The Magistrates lost no time in committing the prisoners for trial.

It is said that the Chartistsin Sunderland, are very much exasperated and very active. They hold frequent meetings at night. On the state of feeling generally among the pitmen, 'we find the following remarks in the Durham Chronicle- " We hare taken some pains to make ourselves acquainted with the real state of things in the collieries; and as far as they are concerned, we feel warranted in asserting that there is no just ground for indulging in those violent fears which certain correspondents of the London journals have expressed of a rupture of the public peace. It affords us great pleasure to learn that Chartist principles have made no progress amongst the pitmen beyond those traders in mischief and bloodsuckers of industrious and honest men who are only too numerous hr all communities. At the commencement of the recent ' demon- strations,' as our readers will remember, we stated that the Chartists had en- deavoured to swell their consequence by compelling tire attendance of all whom they could drive or drag to their meetings. And in our last publication we adverted to the danger there was of well-disposed men being coerced by evil- minded neighbours to join the latter in their unprincipled and lawless courses. We are satisfied, from all we can learn, that the much-paraded ascendancy of Chartist doctrines in the collieries is the result, not of love for such doctrines themselves, but of dread of violence from those by whom they are promulgated and enforced. We say literally enforced ; because there is plenty of evidence to show that the great majority of the pitmen have acted under the impressions of fear—produced by threats of personal chastisement, of the infliction of Lynch-law, the revival of the old process of stripping, tarring, and feathering, and by what is understood by the phrase private injuries.' * * * God knows, we have no desire—not even the most secret or distant longing—to substitute Government by the bayonet for the rule of law in this country. But as we have, in more than one instance, vindicated

the interposition of military power for the protection of the rights of masters against what we conceive to be the unjust demands of workmen, so do we not scruple now to appeal to the same protection for both, against principle and practices which aim at the subjugation of both, by impeding the course of what may be termed their lives'-blood—the commerce of the district."