Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

The flags were elegant, and very expressive of the feelings and wishes of the Reformers, on the subject of Reform, and of their abhorrence of the Manchester outrage. Numerous white wands were elevated, with bunches of crape at the top, and many of the flags were surrounded with an edging of crape, to signify the deep mourning into which reigned in the hearts of the Reformers, for the dreadful events which occurred at Manchester. The fasces, and a branch of oak, were elevated on a pole, and carried in front: a crescent also appeared, on which were inscribed the words, “Justice” and “Liberty.” The following flags appeared in succession, with their very appropriate inscriptions:—One, surmounted by a bundle of rods tied together by a riband, with the words,

The more the cruel tyrants bind us,
The more united they shall find us.

A black flag bore the inscription, “We mourn for our murdered friends at Manchester.” A white flag, edged with gold, was inscribed “Hunt, Champion of Liberty.” Another, “Taxation without Representation is contrary to the spirit of English Constitution.” On another, “Hold to the Laws.” Another, “Peace and Good Will towards Men.” Another, “To the Immortal Memory of the Reformers massacred at Manchester.” – On one flag was depicted a woman clothed in black; beneath a cypress tree mourning over an urn and a tomb; the inscription “Though shalt do no Murder.” On a large board were written the words “Magna Charta.” On two smaller boards, the word “Patience.” A beautiful green flag, with the figure of a harp, was inscribed “Universal, Civil, and Religious Liberty.” — On one flag were emblazoned a golden fleece (the Leeds Arms) and the words “No Corn Laws.” “No Wool Bill.” On one “Liberty,” with the figure of Justice painted upon it. Two caps of Liberty next passed, one of which which was profusely adorned with various-coloured ribands, and round the other the word the word “Liberty” was printed. A flag with the figure of Justice bore the words, “Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you.” On one flag were the following scripture passages: “You have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist;” also “Now he that hath a purse, let him take it; also his scrip; and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” “Hunt and Liberty.” On another flag was inscribed “We demand our rights as Men.” “Liberty, Justice, and Humanity.” One of the most remarkable and appropriate flags bore the device of a man in irons, with a padlock on his mouth, and his pockets turned inside out, bending under two immense burdens of “National Debt” and “Taxation.” At the top was written “A Freeborn Englishman;” and at the bottom, “Britons shall never be Slaves.” Another flag bore the inscription, “Hunt and Liberty.” “No Corn Laws.” Another expressed the grand wish of the Radical Reformers in the words “ANNUAL PARLIAMENTS, UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE, and VOTE BY BALLOT.”

Comment

Comment

Edward Baines Senior, as well as a shameless plagiarist, was Cobbett’s “Great Liar of the North,” and I wonder how selective and/or inventive this excerpt is – for example, was there really no voice in favour of factory reform, to which Baines was vehemently opposed?

Sydney Smith to Edward Davenport, 3 January 1820:

My opinion is the same as yours upon the Peterloo business. I have no doubt everything would have ended at Manchester as it did at Leeds, had there been the same forbearance on the part of the magistrates. Either they lost (no great loss) their heads, or the devils of local spite and malice had entered into them, or the nostrils of the clerical magistrates smelt preferment and Court favour ; but let it have been what it will, the effects have been most deplorable (Holland 1855).

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Original

The flags were elegant, and very expressive of the feelings and wishes of the Reformers, on the subject of Reform, and of their abhorrence of the Manchester outrage. Numerous white wands were elevated, with bunches of crape at the top, and many of the flags were surrounded with an edging of crape, to signify the deep mourning into which reigned in the hearts of the Reformers, for the dreadful events which occurred at Manchester. The fasces, and a branch of oak, were elevated on a pole, and carried in front: a crescent also appeared, on which were inscribed the words, “Justice” and “Liberty.” The following flags appeared in succession, with their very appropriate inscriptions:—One, surmounted by a bundle of rods tied together by a riband, with the words,

The more the cruel tyrants bind us,
The more united they shall find us.

A black flag bore the inscription, “We mourn for our murdered friends at Manchester.” A white flag, edged with gold, was inscribed “Hunt, Champion of Liberty.” Another, “Taxation without Representation is contrary to the spirit of English Constitution.” On another, “Hold to the Laws.” Another, “Peace and Good Will towards Men.” Another, “To the Immortal Memory of the Reformers massacred at Manchester.” – On one flag was depicted a woman clothed in black; beneath a cypress tree mourning over an urn and a tomb; the inscription “Though shalt do no Murder.” On a large board were written the words “Magna Charta.” On two smaller boards, the word “Patience.” A beautiful green flag, with the figure of a harp, was inscribed “Universal, Civil, and Religious Liberty.” — On one flag were emblazoned a golden fleece (the Leeds Arms) and the words “No Corn Laws.” “No Wool Bill.” On one “Liberty,” with the figure of Justice painted upon it. Two caps of Liberty next passed, one of which which was profusely adorned with various-coloured ribands, and round the other the word the word “Liberty” was printed. A flag with the figure of Justice bore the words, “Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you.” On one flag were the following scripture passages: “You have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist;” also “Now he that hath a purse, let him take it; also his scrip; and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” “Hunt and Liberty.” On another flag was inscribed “We demand our rights as Men.” “Liberty, Justice, and Humanity.” One of the most remarkable and appropriate flags bore the device of a man in irons, with a padlock on his mouth, and his pockets turned inside out, bending under two immense burdens of “National Debt” and “Taxation.” At the top was written “A Freeborn Englishman;” and at the bottom, “Britons shall never be Slaves.” Another flag bore the inscription, “Hunt and Liberty.” “No Corn Laws.” Another expressed the grand wish of the Radical Reformers in the words “ANNUAL PARLIAMENTS, UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE, and VOTE BY BALLOT.”

507 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Baines, Edward (1774–1848) (7), Nonconformist editor and proprietor of the Leeds Mercury, politician, author of historical and geographic reference works ·
• Bible (15) ·
• Catholic Church (57) ·
• Catholic emancipation (5) ·
• Child labour (8) ·
• Classical radicalism (9) ·
• Cobbett, William (1763-1835) (6), populist pamphleteer, journalist, politician and farmer ·
• Corn Laws (1815-46) (7), mercantilist tariffs and other restrictions on imported wheat, oats and barley, which, by keeping prices artificially high, favoured (Tory) landowners but made the poor hungry, the middle classes poor, and (Whig) manufacturers less able to develop their businesses ·
• Fasces (1) ·
• Flag (2) ·
• France (31) ·
• French Revolution (7) ·
• Hunslet (11) ·
• Hunt, Henry (1773-1835) (4), radical speaker, pioneer of working-class radicalism, important influence on the later Chartist movement; advocated parliamentary reform and the repeal of the Corn Laws, first MP to call for female suffrage ·
• Ireland (24) ·
• Irish Catholics (10) ·
• Justice (1) ·
• Lancashire (34) ·
• Leeds Mercury (18), leading Whig newspaper founded by John Hirst in 1718, bought by Nonconformist-Liberal Edward Baines in 1801 and used to advocate some types of social and political reform, remained in the family for two more generations ·
• 📌Leeds (235) ·
• Liberty (1) ·
• Magna Carta (1) ·
• Manchester (18) ·
• Peterloo Massacre (5) ·
• Phrygian cap (1) ·
• Radicals (UK) (4) ·
• Reform Act 1832 (11) ·
• Religious intolerance (6) ·
• Textile manufacturing (59) ·
• Universal manhood suffrage (4) ·
• Unreformed House of Commons (7), name given to the House of Commons before the Reform Acts of 1832 ·
• West Riding of Yorkshire (147) ·
• Whigs (1678-1859) (21), political faction and, later, party, supported parliamentarism, various forms of elite liberalism, manufacturing interests, opposed Catholic emancipation, succeeded by the Liberal Party ·
• Wool (28) ·

All tags.

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