" MR. HULTON OF HULTON AND THE MANCHESTER MEETING. Ma.
HULTON, speaking of the unhappy affair of August 1819, says, in
his letter t3 Lord Althorp-- his letter t3 Lord Althorp--
Two peop13 were killed in St. Peter's Flea—one, a woman, who, having personated the Goddess of Reason, was trampled to death in the crowd; the other a special constas.
ble, who was cut down unintentionally by a private of a dragoon regiment. This was the frightful sacrifice of life which saved Manchester from a worse fate than Bristol has since undergone. Two other lives were. lost on the night of the 16th of August, when the provision-shops were assailed by the mob. On the succeeding day, an out pensioner was beaten to death with portions of his own loom, because he had expressed loyal at- tachment to his King; and subsequently a man died, whose case formed the celebrated Oldham inquest.
On this the Manthester Times remarks-.- It is not true that any woman personated the Got:tless of Reason on that occasion. It is not true that the female assumed to have persocated the Goddess of Reason was killed. Ills not true that a special constable was" cut down," even '' unintentionally," mistaking him for a Reformer. It is not true that "a private of a dragoon regiment" hail any part in the death of a special constable. It is not true that there was any attack upon the provision-shops. It is not true that "an old pensioner was beaten to death with portions of his own loom, because he had expressed loyal attachment to his King."
The same journal, after giving the names and other particulars of eleven persons killed, adds— The alxwe is from the report of the Metropolitan Committee, appointed for the relief of the sufferers; which report was published in February 18.2.0, and remains to this day uncontradictol by any evidence better than Mr. 11 nil on's assertion. But Sarah .i0111.A, of Silk Street, NS 110 was severely beat on the head with truncheons; John !flanks, of Pitts. Hopwood, who had a sabre-cut in the heal, and was dreadfully crushed iu the body ; and Richard Thurnberry, of lrlion's:o'th-Ileights, who was knocked down be the cavalry and 1silly bruised—all died in consequence of the injuries they received; making the numb,,r okilt..d fourteen, ii-ticd or the six whose death, according to Mr. Holton, was a cheap icice for the prcs-rvat iii or t hat peace which he, trembling with groundless anl cow:inlly liar, imagincil to be in dan,,er.
But these d,aths wcre lint the most :1111i..ting a the events of that day. Five hundred and sixty persons, many or tiwm women it cldldren, all or them much injured, and nearly one hundred having reeeiveddroadful sabre w■lands, lid trim that fatal field, to hide their wounds in their cottages, not daring to apply either for surgical aid or for parochial relief, lest they should be sent to prison.
The nonsense about the " Goddess of Reason" seems a revival of a hoaxing story played off upon the Coekneys with respect to a meeting and procession at Nottingham some forty years ago. It may be recol- lected that Sir Charles Wetherell, in one of his rigmarole speeches on the first Reform Bill, introduced this ten-times refuted tale, and told the House, by x1-fly of clenching it, that he had sat on the Goddess's chair. We suppose Mr. Hulton bad been dreaming about the late riots at Bris- tol and Nottingham, and Sir Charles Wetherell, and had mixed up the various acme:Its with his recollections of Manchester. We do not re- collect any allegation about a Goddess of Reason at Peterloo. There was a story of a young woman, who rode beside the driver of one of the hackney-coaches, being saved from the Yeomanry; not of her being slain by them.
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