§ Lord Miltonsaid, that he had a petition to present to the House, which, though it was neither so long as the last nor the result of so numerous a meeting, was yet of very considerable importance. It came from the father, or rather from the family (as it was signed by the father and three brothers, of one who had lost his life on the fatal 16th of August. The petitioner stated, that the deceased went in company with several others, to the meeting held on that day at Manchester, that on endeavouring to escape from the hustings, Bear which he was standing, he received two strokes on the head from a sword; and that in consequence of the wounds he soon afterwards died. This statement, he found, was confirmed by the returns of the Manchester infirmary, and by a verdict of a coroner's inquest, which stated, that the deceased had died in consequence of the cuts which he had received with some sharp instrument, but that it was unknown by whom those cuts were inflicted. The petitioners then proceeded to state, that they had always been taught to believe that in this country there was no wrong, without a remedy; but, un- 888 fortunately, in this case it was impossible to discover the individual by whom the fatal blows were given. They therefore prayed the House, before it passed any new restrictive laws, to take into their most serious consideration those events which during the last few months had divided one class of people from another. That this petition was not got up to serve any party purposes was evident from the fact, that the whole of the petition was in the hand-writing of one of the brothers of the deceased. Besides, the coarse and homely expressions in which it was couched proved that it was the result of genuine and unrepressed feeling. He knew, after what had passed within the walls of that House, that it was not possible for the prayer of the petition to be complied with he hoped, however, that the House would never have cause to repent of the line of conduct which it had recently adopted.
The petition was brought up and read. It purported to be the petition of David Dawson, yeoman of Strines Dale, in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, and John Dawson, Samuel Dawson, and James Dawson, brothers to the there-under-written Edmund Dawson, and sat forth,
"That Edmund Dawson, son to the said David Dawson, yeoman, went to Manchester on the 16th of August last, in good health, in order to attend a legal meeting for parliamentary reform; the petitioners believe that the said Edmund Dawson conducted himself as a good subject, in a peaceable and lawful manner; that he received two strokes on the head, with the edge of a sword, by one of the cavalry, near the hustings, whilst endeavouring to make his escape; that he was taken to the infirmary, Manchester, but was not conscious of any event after receiving the latter stroke, till the morning following, which same information he delivered to the said Samuel Dawson, in the presence of the governess of the said hospital; the petitioners beg leave to state, that the said Edmund Dawson died on the Tuesday but two following; that the jury who sat on his body, gave in their verdict, that he died with a cut from a sharp instrument, but could not tell by whom, although several who were seen cutting on St. Peter's field are known; the petitioners had been taught to believe that there was a constitutional doctrine, that every wrong had its remedy; and seeing that the jury had found no such 889 remedy, and the courts of law having not interfered, in the most impressive manner beg the House immediately (prior to the adopting bills calculated to widen the unhappy differences), to institute a full and impartial inquiry into the above outrage by the military and civil power, by which some were slaughtered, and hundreds wounded (as they conceived under the protection of the law and constitution), by so doing, justice may be awarded to the guilty, and the land cleared from the foul stain of blood."
§ Ordered to lie on the table, and to be printed.