military authorities. Sir Charles Shaw led on a very large body of police and special constables, and a strong body of dragoons and rifle soldiers accompanied them. This force halted near Carpenters' Hall, close to the assemblage, and immediately afterwards, Major General Sir William Warre, Commander of the Northern District, came up with a detachment of the royal artillery and two field pieces. The Mayor, D. Maude, Esq. (police magistrate), Jas. Kershaw, Esq., a Borough and County Magistrate, who had accompanied this force, took up a position in front, on horseback, and the mayor read the riot act. Previously, however, to this reading, the mayor, humanely desiring to avoid as much as possible any resort to force, rode up to the hustings, and stated that the authorities had come to the determination, after what had occurred, to allow no such meetings as that; that they were not averse to the liberties of the subject being enjoyed to the fullest extent, consonant with the preservation of the peace; but they thought meetings of that description were calculated to excite and disturb the public mind. Entertaining this opinion, they held such meetings to be illegal, and were determined to disperse them. This announcement was received with manifestations of great displeasure by the meeting; but the riot act was read, as a further warning, in the face of this expression of feeling, and the magistrates withdrawing, and the two field pieces having been pointed in a direction to command the centre of the field, Major General Sir William Warre put himself at the head of the dragoons, and rode into the middle of the meeting. This had the effect of instantly dispersing it, and the dispersion was effected without the use of the sabre, and without any one being hurt.
Effective as this step had been in dispersing this alarming assemblage it was far from restoring the town to a state of quietude. The idle, the mischievous, and the dishonest were out, looking for their opportunity of plun-
