Mr. Hobhouserose to present a petition from certain inhabitants of Oldham, the contents of which they prayed the House to take into their serious consideration. It appeared from the petition, that a series of military outrages, as the petitioners denominated them, had I recently been committed in the neighbourhood of Oldham. In the first place, he wished to state, that whether these were, or were not, exaggerated accounts of transactions which did not deserve the designation given to them, it was not possible for him to say; but, as far as he could collect information on the subject, he believed that every thing stated I in the petition was perfectly correct; and he would farther add, that there was nothing in the petition that was at all disrespectful to the House. It appeared, according to the petition, that the inhabitants of Oldham had, on two or three occasions, been subjected to the excesses of the military, who, immediately subsequent; to those excesses, had been removed, and replaced by others; in consequence of which, the inhabitants did not know who the soldiers were by whom they had been molested; and therefore they had not the means of procuring justice by a legal process. He understood that, most unfortunately, such a suspicion was entertained of the possibility of receiving justice at the hands of the magistrates, that the inhabitants would much rather go before the commanding officer than apply 335 to a justice of the peace, or complain to the magistrates at the New Bailey. Of course, they were still more willing to come to this tribunal; but they particularly stated, that they would not have applied to this tribunal, as their last resource, if any other means presented themselves for procuring redress. The petition was signed by 3,000 individuals; and what they prayed for was, that an investigation into the matter of complaint should be instituted. They also prayed that there should be some diminution, of the standing army. This part of their prayer was not confined to Oldham, but was meant generally. The hon. gentleman then moved that this petition be brought up.
§ Mr. H. Clivewished to offer a few words on the subject of the petition, which, he believed, was drawn up by a person of some notoriety, who came from London, and was now connected with the Manchester Observer. That individual had, he understood, felt a strong inclination to charge the military with riotous behaviour. On the 25th of April, a sort of rejoicing took place at Oldham, and at one of the public-houses, where a number of the town people were assembled, there happened also to be a few of the military. A most improper toast was given by one of the former, on which the soldiers wished to withdraw, and they were grossly insulted. On the following day, the same toast was repeated at another alehouse. The obnoxious toast was, "May the skin of every loyal man be torn from his back, in order to make a drum for the reformers to beat to arms!" Was it possible, he would ask, for any person serving the king to hear such a toast without resenting it? There were only five or six soldiers in the room, and there were twenty of the inhabitants present, who attacked the military when they remonstrated on the impropriety of their conduct. One of the soldiers went out, in consequence, and called on his comrades to come and protect their companions from being murdered. In the mean time, the House was filled with townspeople, and about ten or fifteen soldiers procured admission, by breaking the pannels of the door, for they had been barricadoed out. They met with resistance, and they gave and received blows. There the business ended; but individuals in the town made the matter of more importance than it really was, and 336 the commanding officer was induced to inquire into it. In consequence, he ordered the detachment of men to be removed from the town, and at the same time gave every publicity to the circumstance which the case required. He also believed that the magistrates directed an inquiry to be made into the affair; and therefore he conceived the House would think it hardly necessary to institute any further proceeding.
Sir F. Burdettsaid, that all that had been observed by the hon. gentleman was so very little to the purpose, in the present stage of the proceeding, that he certainly would not have risen, if it were not for the disposition which the hon. gentleman evinced to reject the petition. It appeared to him to be of very little importance who might or might not be the drawer up of that petition. And it would be most extraordinary, if, on a mere statement of the kind which the hon. gentleman had made to the House—a statement which he doubtless had received from some persons connected with the transaction—it should be decided, as a matter of course, that there was no ground for this complaint, which described an outrage affecting all the inhabitants of the town, and testified by 3,000 of them. It was of a more serious and important nature than the hon. gentleman seemed to suppose. It was indeed so important, that he hoped the House would not only receive the petition now, but would not let it remain long on their table, without instituting some inquiry into the facts. It appeared to him to be a subject of such magnitude, that he thought he should be hardly doing his duty to the country, if he did not call for an inquiry into the matters which that petition disclosed. He thought it was impossible for them to reject this petition, without any reason of any kind being given for such a proceeding—without even knowing the matter which it contained—merely from the statement of an hon. gentleman. When they were informed that the most weak and defenceless part of the community had attacked men who always had the power to overbear those whom they disliked, and who always, more particularly under the existing circumstances of the country, felt a strong inclination to use that power, they should listen to the assertion cautiously, and abstain from rejecting the petition on such a statement.
The Chancellor of the Exchequerhad 337 no doubt of the truth of the statement made by his hon. friend, but still he thought it would be wrong to reject the petition in the first instance. The petition ought, in his opinion, to be received; but whether any further proceeding should be adopted respecting it, was a matter for future consideration.
§ Mr. Bootle Wilbrahamhoped that the motion of the hon. presenter would be agreed to; but in so desiring his object was different from that of the hon. baronet. He viewed the subject in a light very different from that in which the hon. baronet saw it. He wished the allegations of the petition should be known and canvassed, because he believed that the more they were known and canvassed, the less ground would there appear for the complaint. He believed the hon. gentleman (Mr. Clive) had stated the facts as they really were, and he trusted that the whole matter would go fairly before the public. They would be enabled to judge, from the reading of the petition, whether there was any good cause of complaint on the part of those individuals; and therefore he hoped the petition would be received.
§ Mr. H. Clivesaid, he did not think there was any good ground for the complaint, and he had, under that impression, opposed the petition in the first instance.
§ Lord Miltonsaid, that the statement of the hon. gentleman opposite, and the sort of opposition the petition had met with, were, he conceived, most unfortunate. He could not help thinking, that those who made such statements, and offered such opposition, were consulting their feelings and passions, rather than their justice and discretion. Whether the statement of the hon. gentleman behind him, or that of the hon. secretary opposite, were the true one, mattered nothing. The complaint was of too grave and serious a nature not to call for the consideration of the House. He was surprised to hear the hon. member declare that he wished the petition to be received, with a view different from that of the hon. baronet, because it was a complaint which, when it had undergone investigation, would appear to be groundless. Investigation was all that was demanded; and he trusted it would be pursued further than a mere debate in that House. It was not the statement of one gentleman or of another—it was not what much oc- 338 cur in conversation, or in debate, that could satisfy the justice of the case, which could only be met by that sort of investigation and inquiry which would bring the country to a real understanding of its merits.
§ The petition was brought up and read. On the motion that it should lie on the table,
Mr. B. Wilbrahamsaid, that having expressed his anxiety that the subject should be thoroughly investigated, in consequence of the various matters that had come to his knowledge with respect to it, he wished, in order to guard himself from the charge of inconsistency, to state, that now, having heard the petition read, he was of opinion that the allegations which it contained were not a fit subject for parliamentary inquiry.
§ Lord Miltonwas unequivocally of opinion, that if a portion of the people had suffered any grievance for which the House could afford a remedy, it was then-duty to investigate its nature.
§ Ordered to be printed.