31st July 1816: A pseudonymous writer replies to the Courier about the Ely prisoners affair

The 31st July 1816 edition of the Bury & Norwich Post carried a letter from a pseudonymous writer 'Eliensis' (latin for 'Ely'), which tackled the Courier about their recent editorial about the Ely prisoners. 

TO THE EDITOR OF THE COURIER.

Ely, July 27th, 1816.

SIR,—Being one of the Inhabitants of Ely charged by you with a desire to excite a clamour against Government, I think it necessary to notice some of your observations. 

You deny that the unfortunate men just removed to the Hulks had any expectation held out to them by the Judges that their punishment would be limited to 12 months’ imprisonment.—Now, Sir, I beg to inform you, that a Calendar of the Prisoners, with their respective sentences, was signed by all the Judges, and left at the Gaol; and that it expressly states that they are reprieved for 12 months’ imprisonment:—the words are, "Reprieved, Goal 12 months." This, Sir, you are aware, is an official document for the Gaoler, and is open to the inspection the Public. For further satisfaction, I will refer you to a short statement of some of the proceedings during the Assizes, published here (as it is understood) by the Magistrates themselves; and which also states that these men were reprieved, on condition of being imprisoned 12 months. 

As to publicly having been given to the resolutions, it was done solely with a view to satisfy the lower classes here, and the public, that the suspicions which were entertained of the inhabitants of Ely having been instrumental in obtaining an extension of punishment, were wholly groundless. 

Your statement insinuates that these men have misconducted themselves in prison, and that it was necessary to have them removed; this, Sir, I flatly contradict, and I challenge enquiry into the facts. 

You ask, whether the Bishop has not a Palace at Ely?—Yes, Sir, he has, and he is sometimes a resident here; but without any disrespect to his Lordship, I may venture to state, that the Inhabitants present at the Meeting possess better information as to the temper and disposition of the lower classes that his Lordship. They are in the habits of employing the poor, and mixing with them; they know their sufferings, and they contribute to their necessities. Mr. Page himself employs upwards of 150 labourers daily in agriculture. 

The only Magistrates here (now that the Rev. Mr. Metcalfe has retired) are the Rev. Sir H.B. Dudley, Bart. and the Rev. Mr Jenyns, both of whom being Prebendaries of the Cathedral, are only occasionally resident. 

The proceedings of the Meeting, so far from occasioning any irritation, have had the effect of allaying the ferment which had arisen in the public mind in consequence of this unpleasant business.—The poor are now well satisfied that their neighbours take an interest in their welfare; many of them have waited upon the Inhabitants who attended the Meeting, and have expressed their gratitude with tears in their eyes.—There was no intention on the part of the Meeting to excited a clamour against Government.—His Majesty's Ministers were believed to have acted from the purest motives, and with the best intentions. 

Your observations lead me to conclude that they were advised this quarter—it was so suspected. 

ELIENSIS.

24th July 1816: Bury & Norwich Post editorial about the recent meeting in Ely

ELY, JULY 22, 1816.

We are much concerned to state, that an occurrence which has recently taken place here has occasioned a very considerable degree of ferment in the public mind in this neighbourhood.—It will be in the recollection of our readers that nine of the rioters who were condemned were considered deserving of the lenity of the Crown, and they were consequently reprieved, and an official notification was made to them that their sentences would be commuted for 12 months’ imprisonment.—They continued in Ely gaol until Thursday last, when, strange to tell, a dispatch arrived from the Secretary of State’s Office announcing their Pardon, upon Condition of being transported for 7 years!!! In the course of the day they were sent off for the Hulks, and in order to prevent any unpleasant consequences, the circumstances attending their removal were with great propriety concealed from the public until the following day.—The wives and families of the unfortunate men, as might be expected, are in a deplorable state of distress, and an universal gloom is spread over the inhabitants of the town.—The rich and poor are equally loud in their murmurings, as these men were deprived of the small consolation of being permitted to take leave of their nearest relatives, who indeed imagined that their place of confinement was only to be changed from Ely gaol to Newgate.

We are well assured that the severe examples recently made have produced the happiest effects. The lower classes seemed to have felt the necessity of them, and to be duly sensible of the lenity shewn to those men whose lives have been spared.—In the town of Littleport, we are told, that a reformation of manners is plainly discernible amongst those who were engaged in the late riots. It is, therefore, a matter of sincere regret, that it should be thought advisable to adopt so impolitic a measure, than which, as it appears to us, nothing could be more calculated to make an indelible impression upon the public mind, fatal to the good order and peaceable government of Ely and its neighbourhood.—The prisoners are principally young men of good character, who, it is supposed, had been induced to join in the late riots from the evil examples which were set them.

A very numerous and respectable meeting of the inhabitants took place on Monday at the Club Inn, (the Magistrates having refused to allow the use of the Shire-hall) when several Resolutions were come to upon the business, for which see advt. next page.

22nd July 1816: Public Meeting in Ely expresses alarm about the fate of transported prisoners

AT a MEETING of the INHABITANTS of the TOWN of ELY, held at the Club Inn, in Ely, on Monday the 22d day of July, 1816, (the Magistrates having refused the use of the Shire-hall upon the occasion)

JONATHAN PAGE, Esq. in the Chair:

The following Resolutions were unanimously entered into:

That this meeting cannot but observe the sincerest emotions of sympathy and regret, that Nine Persons who were capitally convicted at the Special Assizes lately held here, and who were reprieved under an expectation regularly notified to them, that their Punishment would be limited to Twelve Months Imprisonment, have suddenly been removed from Ely, to the Hulks at the Nore, and that the terms of their Reprieve, contrary to general usage, have been extended to Seven Years’ Transportation.

That this Meeting being apprehensive that His Majesty's Government may have been induced to suppose that the disturbed state of this Neighbourhood required such an additional example of Severity to be made, entertain confident hopes, that upon a faithful Representation being made to them of the present tranquil State of the Country, and of the orderly and peaceable demeanour of the lower Classes of Society, the commuted Punishment recommended by the learned Judges may be adhered to.

That a Letter be immediately addressed the Secretary of State for the Home Department, and signed by the Persons present at this Meeting, earnestly imploring his Intercession with the Prince Regent in Behalf of the said Convicts.

That a similar Application be made to the learned Judges who presided at the Assizes, and who have thrown such distinguished lustre upon their characters by their judicious conduct upon that occasion.

That these Resolutions be signed by the Chairman, and advertised in The Times, Courier, Cambridge, and Bury papers.

JONATHAN PAGE.

Resolved,—That the Thanks of this Meeting be given to the Chairman for his conduct in the Chair, and for his constant readiness to support the Privileges, and promote the Interests and Welfare of the Inhabitants of the Town.

12th June 1816: A Brandon magistrates responds to John Moseley's letter to the press the previous week

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BURY POST.

SIR,

AS the resident Magistrate in Brandon, I feel myself called upon to express my concern, that reports are not only industriously spread, but accredited, to fix the origin and existence of all the riots in this neighbourhood, and even in the more distant parts of Suffolk and the Isle of Ely, upon the inhabitants of this town, because they impute a neglect of duty to the Magistrate residing here.

I believe the Assize Calendars will not shew more crimes to have been committed in the town of Brandon of late, than in any other parishes in the county.—But the strongest refutation of those reports, injurious to the Magistrate and the principal Inhabitants of the parish, is, that although charges are brought generally against the inhabitants of Brandon, for instigating and abetting the pre-existing and subsequent riots, and although I have used every means in my power to investigate and ascertain the truth of the reports, no proof has yet been substantiated before me, or information yet laid, against any individual of this town, which might on conviction of such offender, have led to the suppression of the riots in other places, and the prevention of them in the town of Brandon, by the immediate application and exercise of the Civil Authorities.

I am, Sir, your obedient humble Servant,

J. R. BURCH.

Brandon, June 7th, 1816.

5th June 1816: A Norfolk magistrate writes to the press about his role in suppressing disturbances at Brandon

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BURY POST.

SIR,

Tofts Hall, June 2d, 1816.

AS the conduct of the Magistrates at Brandon has been censured by some of the public Newspapers, you will much oblige me by inserting in your next paper my letter to the Lord Lieutenant of the County of Suffolk; wherein are narrated all the transactions at Brandon, so far as they implicate the conduct of your obedient servant,

J. MOSELEY.

MY LORD DUKE,

Mr. Borton yesterday shewed your Grace’s Letter to me; and, as it refers to the reported conduct of the Magistrates, acting for Brandon, where my assistance, as a Magistrate for the county of Suffolk, is occasionally required; I here state all that was done by me towards suppressing the riot there on Thursday the 16th instant, till five o'clock on the following morning.—On Thursday evening, between 8 and 9 o'clock, a constable of Brandon arrived in a chaise at Tofts, in order to convey Mr. Burch to the former place, to suppress a riot: which the constables were unable to subdue. I accompanied Mr. Burch to Brandon: on our arrival we swore in all the inhabitants, that we could collect, special constables; they (to the amount of about 25) reported themselves quite insufficient to quell the tumult, or to detain any rioter in custody. We went into the mob; read the King’s Proclamation, and explained the penalty; upon which the people dispersed.—At 10 o'clock we sent an express to Thetford for military aid; a Cornet and 11 men arrived about 5 or 6 hours afterwards. The town remained quiet; and between 5 and 6 o'clock of the morning I left it to return home, and to act for my own Hundred of Grimshoe, in which I am the only resident Magistrate; and where various disturbances have prevented my offering any further assistance to Mr. Burch; except by signing a letter, which Mr. Burch wrote on Saturday evening (18th inst.) at Tofts (by desire of the inhabitants of Brandon) to request that Lord Sidmouth would afford immediately a military force to support the Magistrates in Brandon and its vicinity. As the Hundred, which is peculiarly under my direction, is in Norfolk, it is unnecessary to trouble your Grace with the transactions therein; however it may be agreeable to you to learn, that with the assistance of the Yeomanry, tumult is for the present suppressed.

I have the honour to subscribe myself,
Your Grace’s most obedient and very humble servant,
JOHN MOSELEY.

To His Grace the Duke of Grafton, Lord
Lieutenant of the county of Suffolk, &c.

29th May 1816: Letter to the Bury & Norwich Post laments the automation of the Wool-spinning industry in the County

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BURY POST.

Sir,—Through the channel of your useful Paper, I beg leave to make a few observations on the state of the Wool-trade in this County, and to suggest some hints whereby that which is at present nearly lost, may, in the course of a few months be probably recovered. The great disadvantage to the extensive Spinning-trade appears to have arisen from the use of Machinery; to meet this, therefore, I should wish to recommend it to every parish throughout the County to have certain quantity of Wool combed, proportioned to the population of the Parish; that each should supply its own Poor with Spinning, and to pay such wages as will encourage them to keep from the weekly pay-table. Let them not say, “We have no employment;” it is good to keep them employed, and to have their minds as well as their hands occupied. By such measures, and at the same time selling the Yarn made under the price of Machine Yarn, a stop may be put to the use of Machinery; the Trade of the County may return to its own channel; and the Poor be enabled to live by their labour. Embrace, therefore, the present opportunity, or the Trade will be lost past recovery, and thus the landed, as well as every other interest, will be greatly and inevitably injured. I am happy to say, that several Parishes have already adopted the plan now proposed, and that the Poor are well satisfied; and I entertain a hope that it will be immediately attended to in every Parish throughout the County, as I feel no doubt, that at a moderate calculation, it will be the means of employing 1000 combers.

I am, Sir, your obedient Servant.

A Friend to the County of Suffolk.

7th March 1816: Suffolk Yarn makers lament the automation of their trade to local MPs

The letter below was published in the Bury & Norwich Post of 27th March 1816:

Yarn-makers.—A Copy of the following letter was last week transmitted to the Members of Parliament for this county —

"GENTLEMEN.—While the Freeholders of the county are petitioning against Income and Property Tax, permit the Suffolk Yarn-makers to lay before you the state of spinning of fine worsted yarn, and the bad consequence of encouraging machines for spinning of wool, which has been in part the cause of parish rates getting up to their present height, and now threatens a total annihilation of all hand spinning. The coarse spinning by hand has already been done away, to the injury of many thousands of women and children, and about 800 journeymen combers in the said county; and there are about 400 more likely to share the same fate, if a stop is not put to mill-spinning, principally manufactured in Yorkshire. The number of spinners in this county amounts to about 40,000, and their earnings on an average 3d. each per day, amounting to the sum of 156,000l. per annum; this sum must, of course, fall principally on the occupiers of land, and if a stop is not put to so growing an evil, it must in the end be the ruin of the Agricultural interest, as well as the Yarn-makers of this county. Although the ingenuity of man is patronised and encouraged, still when it becomes a national grievance, surely it then behoves the Legislature to stop, or remedy, the evil. It must be allowed the Wool-growers in some counties find a readier and higher market, owing to a less sum being required to manufacture the raw material; yet if it is considered the large sum it takes for the maintenance of the labouring poor, still increasing, how is the landed interest to support the expences, or find employment for so greater a number of women and children? Besides, all selfish considerations must be extinguished, or give way to a public good. It has been observed, that the machine spinning enables our manufacturers to undersell the Foreign Markets; the contrary will be proved to a demonstration in times of Peace, from the raw materials having advanced triple during the War, the consequence of which will be, the manufacturers will have a quantity of goods on hand, their journeymen unemployed, thousands of females and children out of employment, pauperism rapidly increasing, and a  general distress among the lower orders of the people; nor will the Farming Interest be able to live with moderate rents, even if Wheat should get up to 40s. per coomb, from the enormous sums they will have to pay rates. If it be asked, are the goods equal to hand spinning? the answer is, they are made to sell; perhaps some will say, 'Can no other employment be substituted?' I answer, I know of none that will give labour to two millions of people in this kingdom. Must they not be brought up in idleness and vice? and will it not be the ruin of the morals of the people? That you, Gentlemen, will take this into your serious consideration, is the wish of the Yarn-makers of the County of Suffolk.

7th March, 1816.

"R.S."

21st February 1816: More remarks about the severity of the Winter

The Bury & Norwich Post of Wednesday 21st February 1816 carried a report about the weather in the 'year without summer':

A Correspondent remarks, that to those who recollect the moderate weather commonly felt during the month of October, the severity of the present season will appear somewhat extraordinary, as the days are of the same length, and the sun above the horizon as long between the 11th and 21st of February, as between the 21st and 31st of October: but this difference of the seasons is readily accounted for from the large tracts of snow and ice passed over by the North and East winds in their passage across the Frozen Ocean and Continent in February. The extreme degree of cold which has lately been felt with a Southerly wind, seems rather more extraordinary; and we should be happy to hear an explanation of that circumstance.