§ Dr. Bowringsaid, before the motion was put for going into committee of supply, he desired, for his own justification, to set himself right with the House and the public generally, with respect to some statement which he made during the debate on the Ordnance estimates. In the discussion on the Bolton Barracks it was stated, that the measure had received the approbation of all parties, and that the Government had, in fact, been requested to station troops and erect barracks in that locality. When the question was entertained, in November, 1841, the right hon. Baronet, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, wrote to the mayor of Bolton a most temperate and appropriate letter upon the subject. The magistrates of Bolton, however, on receiving this communication, called together the principal rate-payers of the town, and resolutions were adopted, which showed that they were decidedly opposed to the erection of barracks. The hot. Member then read the resolutions. The resolutions stated, that the conduct of the inhabitants, under their unexampled privations, had been such as to show, that no military force was necessary; that the rate-payers viewed in the movement an alarming indication of the intention of Government to bring the country under a system of military despotism, having for its object the maintenance of an abuse; and that they were of opinion, that it was not desirable to assist in any arrangements having for their object the making Bolton a military station. He would not intrude any longer upon the House, as he thought he had said enough to show that he was justified in stating what he had done, that public opinion in Bolton was unfriendly to the erection of the barracks.
§ Mr. Ainsworthwished to make a few remarks in reference to what had fallen from his hon. Friend and Colleague. The meeting to which his hon. Colleague alluded had certainly taken place, but there were only nineteen individuals present, and many of these held extreme opinions. From what took place immediately after the meeting, the House would judge how far it was the opinion of the inhabitants of Bolton that the military should be withdrawn. The mayor of Bolton wrote a letter to Colonel Wells, transmitting him a copy of the resolutions agreed to at the meeting, but stating that he (the mayor), and his brother magistrates, were of opinion, that there was a necessity for the military to remain in Bolton. The mayor and those magistrates were not Tories, but had been appointed by the late Government, and held, many of them, Liberal opinions. The hon. Gentleman read a letter of similar import, addressed to the Secretary of State and Captain Woodward, stating that the shambles had been hired for the use of the military. There was also a subscription among the inhabitants of the borough to provide the expense of that temporary accommodation to the military; and he could acquaint his hon. Colleague, that men of all parties in the borough contributed their mite, and that a sum of 128l; was received for that accommodation. Last year the borough of Bolton was visited by a lawless mob, who took possession of the town for a whole day, ransacked the provision shops, and turned out the quiet workmen. The mayor exercised a wise discretion in sending for the military, for it would have been impossible to have driven out these disturbers of the public peace without their assistance. A very extraordinary circumstance connected with the meeting to which his hon. Colleague had alluded, was, that one of the individuals who attended that meeting, was one of the first to send for the military when his house was attacked. The communication to which he now alluded, he had received that morning from the town clerk of Bolton, and it fully confirmed what he had stated on Monday last.
§ Dr. Bowringhad understood his hon. Colleague to say, that he was authorised to express to the Government the concurrence of the borough in the erection of the barracks. He had received a communication from the town clerk, in which he 750 stated, that he had never sent any such letter.
§ Mr. Ainsworthsaid he had also received a communication from the town clerk on the same subject, so that that Gentleman must have forgotten the circumstance. The facts were, that an application was made to the Home Secretary, to allow new bar racks to be built, instead of repairing the old ones. This he refused; but in consequence of the feeling in the borough about retaining the troops, he had no objection to their remaining, provided the authorities would appropriate some money to the repairs of the old barracks.