1819] DUKE OF WELLINGTON AT MARESFIELD 67 mometer stood at 70°, and the young women wore their summer dresses.

As the carriage advanced the crowd broke away, and jumped over the iron railings, ran down the green lawn, and greeted the Duke on his arrival with three hearty British cheers!

I never could hear those sounds unmoved, and on this occasion I was so much affected that I very nearly fainted! But when the Duke entered the house, and I saw his smiling, familiar countenance, my courage came back; and when I expressed regret that we had none of his friends to meet him, and he replied, "So much the better-I come to see you," I felt completely at my ease. My nervous headache vanished, and I was alive only to the happiness and the honour of receiving under my own roof the great hero and the saviour of my country.

I was delighted when the Duke admired the library, as it gave me an opportunity to confirm his good opinion of Wyatt.1

2

Mr. and Mrs. Law, Major Dalbiac, and Major Synge came to dinner. The latter, who had been Sir D. Pack's aide-de-camp, was the only one known to the Duke, but he greeted them all with a kindness, which showed how much disposed he was to please and to be pleased.

I dreaded these introductions, as I had often seen him so reserved with strangers, and had felt that if he were so in a small party it would be dreadful. I never saw him so agreeable.

During dinner many military matters were discussed; among others, the battles of Toulouse and

1 Wyatt built the library at Maresfield, in 1816.

2

Major-General Sir Denis Pack was one of the heroes of Quatre Bras. He commanded a brigade of Picton's Division at Waterloo. He died in

68

THE MANCHESTER RIOTS

[CH. VII Orthes. A plan of the battlefield of Toulouse the Duke drew with a pencil on a bit of paper, which I have kept. He drew a plan of the battle of Orthes, on the knee of his breeches, with an eagerness and intentness which were quite delightful.

The Duke mentioned that owing to his having been struck by a spent ball at that battle his troops were prevented from carrying some heights that evening. It was owing to that accident that a day was lost in the advance. But this did not affect his battle of Toulouse, which could not have taken place earlier, as he was in any event obliged to wait the return of a detachment which he had sent to Bayonne.

After dinner I showed the Duke M. de Jouy's account of the battle in "L'Hermite en Provence." As he returned the book to me he said: "All a lie. The French were much superior to us in force."

I spoke to the Duke as to the conduct of the Manchester magistrates. He approves of their action, except in reading the Riot Act. This alone, he says, can injure their cause. I then playfully twitted the great man about his having (according to rumour) been the person who recommended the letter of thanks. The Duke neither denied nor avowed, but vindicated that letter, and added: "Unless the magistrates had been supported in this instance, other magistrates on future occasions would not act at all; and then what a state the country would be in!"

It would not perhaps be amiss if the Editor were here to break in upon Lady Shelley's diary, and to offer a few explanatory words by way of elucidating the text.

On August 9, 1819, some Manchester demagogues organised a public meeting to discuss the best means of obtaining a radical reform of the House of Commons, and urging the propriety of unrepresented inhabitants of Manchester electing some one to re

1819]

ORATOR HUNT

69

present them in Parliament. They also demanded the adoption of Major Cartwright's Bill. An assemblage of this kind was, in those days, an illegal proceeding, which amounted to an act of treason. The Manchester magistrates, in the exercise of their duty, forthwith issued a proclamation prohibiting the proposed meeting. This was bitterly resented by the demagogues, who determined to hold their meeting notwithstanding all orders to the contrary. The date of the meeting was postponed from August 9 to 16, so as to give the agitators more time to overawe authority. When the meeting took place about a hundred thousand persons assembled. They had come from all parts of the neighbourhood, and marched to St. Peter's Fields with military precision, bearing banners with the words "Equal Representation or Death," and in some cases this inscription was surmounted by the Cap of Liberty. Bands of music preceded the various detachments, and most of the people carried bludgeons. When they were assembled the mob hurled defiance both at the magistrates and the Yeomanry in the distance. It looked at first like a peaceful meeting, and the speeches of Orator Hunt and other leaders were both cautious and mild. Whatever they did in deeds they were determined not to offend in words. A contemporary has stated that the speeches amounted to this: "Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up to mutiny." According to Bamford's petition, the purpose of all this military array was "to confer cheerfulness and hilarity on the people." However that might be, the assemblage was not only illegal, but it caused terror to the people of Manchester, who could not regard the presence of a concourse of strangers in the heart of their wealthy city with

'Samuel Bamford (1788-1872), a weaver, was unjustly imprisoned for connection with this meeting, and petitioned Parliament for restoration to liberty. He was successful, and obtained the post of messenger at Somerset House.