WILTS.—A desperate rencontre, between the country gentlemen, aided by the
Hindon troop of cavalry, and the peasantry, took, place at Pyt House, the seat. of Mr. Benett, the member of Parliament. Mr. Benett having learned that a mob of above five hundred men were ad- vancing against the mansionhouse, went out to meet them, and to en- treat them to disperse ; but was received with a shower of stones, by
some of which he was a good deal cut. At that moment, the Hindon troop accidentally came up, and the mob still persisting in throwing stones, the cavalry were ordered to fire a blank cartridge over their heads ; but the mob only laughed at them, and asked them why they did not do their duty. The cavalry then attempted to charge ; but the mob rushed into the plantations which surround the house, where they continued pelting the cavalry, who at last effected the charge ; when several were wounded slightly, and some mortally ; one man was shot dead on the spot. A great number were taken prisoners, twenty-five of whom were brought to Fisherton gaol the same night. Several were dreadfully wounded ; one man had a cut across the back of his hand which separated the muscles ; another three fingers off his left hand, and two off his right ; another, a piece of his skull cut off (it is thought this man will not sur- vive) ; another with a severe cut across one of his elbows ; another had his head cut open. Nine prisoners were sent to Salisbury the same evening, from Wilton, for rioting. A strong detachment of the 9th Lancers has also arrived there. The Hindon troop is gone to Hindon. Sa- lisbury gaol now contains seventy-eight prisoners for rioting, and the gaol of Winchester is so full that the soldiers are obliged to confine the prisoners in the barracks. A large farm, occupied by Mr. Harding, about three miles from Dorchester, has been burnt down.
On Monday, nearly two hundred labourers proceeded to the house of Sir E. Poore, but being met by the gardener, who remonstrated with them on the alarm it might occasion to Lady Poore and the children, they remained quietly in the lane till he had seen her ladyship, who sent them 5/., when they quietly dispersed. On Tuesday, a mob assembled at Manningford Abbots ; where Sir E. Poore met them. He rode in among them, and recommended them to disperse, assuring them, that if it was in his power to redress their grievances, he would do so. They agreed to disperse ; but instead of keeping their promise, they proceeded across the . country to Alton, where they broke two thrashing-machines belonging to Mr. Miller, and one belonging to Mr. Neate ; they aftewards pro- ceeded to demolish that of Mr. Robert Pile. Mr. Pile fired a pistol, and . afterwards a gun, loaded with large shot, in the midst of the mob, by which several of them were wounded. He would undoubtedly have been .murdered, but for a labourer named Bullock, one of the leaders of the mob, who took him in his arms and carried him into the house. In the evening, twenty-eight of the party were secured by Messrs. Scott and Warriner, assisted by the Devizes, Chippenham, and Melksleen troops of yeomanry cavalry, and committed to the Devizes Bridewell.
The Magistrates of the Devizes district have published a circular, de- claring their resolution not to grant any rise of wages while demanded by bodies of men, and in a threatening manner. They declare their in- tention of searching into and remedying, as far as they can, all grie- vances, as soon as the disturbances are at an end, and not till then. This is unreasonable ; real grievances ought to be immediately reme- died, if possible. There is not at present, in the most disturbed district, one man in ten in a state of riot. By the rule of the Wilts magistrates, the nine must continue to suffer so long as the one remains turbulent. They will sooner convert the quiet nine into rioters, than put &inn the one rioter by such a determination.
A letter from Devizes, dated Monday, says—" The disterbances in the neighbourhood of this town appearnow to be gradually subsiding, A'iroopi of yeornamy were despatched this day to Christian Milford, to conteol a. mob of threetundred or four hundred Men, who were asSemblegthe'rS;and addressed by Mr. Methuen, of CUirsham House, who assured then) that it was the intention to reduce his rents, and therefore their employers would be enabled to increase their wages; upon hearing which, the populace gave
three cheers, and quietly dispersed. On Saturday night last, a fire took place at Broughton, near Melksham, and two ricks of hay were de- stroyed ; they were the property of a man of the name of Dark, an over- seer of the village, and no one of the labourers would assist in extin- guishing them. A villager has been taken into custody, strongly suspected of being the incendiary. Our manufacturing districts are unaffected by the surrounding commotion, and the workpeople are in full employ at remunerating wages ; and so much confidence is there of their remaining steady to their work, that at Trowbridge, where the military, even in peaceable times, have been quartered, the troops are now marched off, and stationed at Marlborough and other adjacent places."
The rioters who were captured in the affray at Pyt House were ex- amined on the 1st instant ; Mr. Benett attending tot direct the prosecu- tion. Several were discharged, and a few. of the most violent committed. A number of the prisoners complained that they had been forced into the riots ; almost all of them received excellent characters.
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