call of Thistlewood, were hastily putting out the lights. Thus prepared for the mortal combat, they rushed to meet the officers; and Thistlewood thrust his sword into the body of one, (Smithers) who instantly expired. The troops now rushed in, and a des. perate conflict ensued in the dark; during which, Captain F. had nearly received the pistol-shot of one of the assassins. Thistlewood made his way down the stair, and escaped; but nine were seized; among whom were Ings, Tidd, and Davidson, three ringleaders; the rest leaped out of the window behind, and escaped over walls, and through obscure passages.

The most active exertions of the police were now directed to the apprehension of Thistlewood; and on the following morning he was traced by Lavender and Bishop to an obscure house in White-street, Little Moorfields. There, having lulled himself into a belief of his own safety, he was found lying securely in bed, and was obliged to surrender without resistance.

On the same morning, Brunt, another of the most active agents, was arrested at his own house. It was satisfactory to observe, that as the conspirators were carried along the streets, sympathy in their favour seemed scarcely in any instance excited; and, in general, unequivocal horror was expressed of the crime which they had meditated.

The leading conspirators being thus secured, no time was lost in bringing them to trial. The great technical difficulties, which by the legitimate jealousy of the English law attend the proof of treason, obliged the lawofficers to secure conviction, by calling in the murder of Smithers; and even to avail themselves of the act against cutting and maiming. Notwithstanding, however, the ingenious

defences of their counsel, the Jury, in a case of such manifest and atrocious guilt, made no hesitation in finding a verdict against them to the full extent of the charge.

What connexion, or whether any, this daring attempt had with the discontents fermenting in the provinces, does not seem very well ascertained. Certain it is, that at this time, the malcontents entered very extensively into the determination to throw off all appearances, and to raise the standard of open insurrection. For some months, preparations for this issue had been almost publicly makingmidnight drillings took place throughout all the disturbed districts-popular meetings were entered and quitted in the military step-pikes were manufactured-and supplies of fire-arms procured from every quarter.

The centre of disturbance, as to England, lay among the woollen manufacturers in the Western Riding of Yorkshire; particularly about Leeds, Wakefield, and Huddersfield. From the 31st March to the 3d April, the inhabitants were disturbed by small armed detachments traversing the country, and even approaching the towns, though they did not venture to face the military. At length, it became generally understood, that on the night of Tuesday the 3d, a general union was to take place, and a desperate attempt made to possess themselves of Huddersfield. A meeting was held of the principal inhabitants of that town-the armed association was called out-the entrances barricaded—and Huddersfield exhibited all the appearances of a besieged place. During the night, patroles employed to scour the country brought intelligence that armed parties were moving from all points in the direction of Grangemoor, a large plain about six miles from Hudders

field, and half way on the road to Wakefield. Thither, accordingly, was dispatched a small body of troops, consisting partly of Irish dragoon guards, and partly of yeomanry.Meantime, the insurgents, to the number of two or three hundred, had actually collected in Grangemoor, with arms and standards. This force, however, was so much smaller than they had been taught to expect, as plainly to prove the delusion practised upon them. Their situation besides, when, inflamed by the harangues of their popular orators, they formed a tumultuary resolution to hazard all in the cause of liberty, was very different from the present, when they found themselves standing on the battle field, to abide the issues of life and death. Under the influence of these feelings, long before the appearance of the cavalry, the whole party threw down their arms, and fled in every direction which appeared to afford the best promise of safety. The soldiers, on arriving, saw nothing but the field bestrewn with a hundred pikes and a green standard, which they collected. No further attempts were made in this quarter to disturb the public tranquillity.

In the course of these transactions, twenty-two persons were arrested; and in September following, the Jury found true bills against them for High Treason. On their consenting, how ever, to plead Guilty, the lives of all were spared, and milder punishments allotted, according to the degrees of their guilt.

It was in Scotland, after all, that rebellion stalked with the most open front. No part of that division of that country contains such a concentrated mass of population as Glasgow and its vicinity, including Paisley, and numerous large villages, all employed in the cotton manufacture. For several

months it had been understood, that union societies, connected with those in England, had been very activethat secret drillings were carried on and threats of actual insurrection had been repeatedly thrown out. Arrests of suspected persons had taken place at different times, but without being able to strike at the root of the evil. A general rising, it appears, was now determined on, in concert, doubtless, with their brethren in England; but the means taken to effect their purpose displayed an excess of audacity, which the latter could in no degree match. On the night of Saturday the 1st April, there was posted up in the streets of Glasgow, an" Address to the Inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland." It was composed in name of the provisional government, and might be considered as an open declaration of war against the existing government. It enjoined, that all labourers, of every description, should desist from work, and should not resume it, till they had obtained equality of rights; it denounced, as traitors to their King, all who should resist the measures about to be taken to attain that object; finally, it warned all who should neglect to comply with these injunctions, that the provisional government would not indemnify them for any loss which they might sustain during the approaching conflict. The same placard was posted up in Paisley, and in all the towns and villages for twenty miles round. The power of those from whom this mandate had emanated, was fully displayed next week by the multitudes who quitted their em ployments, and wandered through the streets in a state of portentous idle

Emissaries were then sent to

all the works that were still carried on; and by the joint influence of persuasion and threats, most of them

were emptied. The great mass of the population being thus loosened from all their regular habits, and withdrawn even from their means of subsistence, would not, it was hoped, remain long without being impelled into that extremity which it was their object to precipitate.

The Scottish administration, meanwhile, were providing, in a very active and judicious manner, against the threatened danger. They sought to assemble such a force as might not only deprive rebellion of every chance of success, but might even deter its votaries from the fatal attempt. In the course of a few days, the military force, including the yeomanry cavalry, from all the neighbouring counties, was concentrated at Glasgow. On the morning of Wednesday the 5th, which had been almost announced as the opening of the grand campaign, the streets of that city pre sented an imposing mass of nearly 5000 troops, of all arms, drawn up in regular array. Rebellion was appalled, and hid her face. In the extremities of the city only, some faint and convulsive efforts were made to effect her purpose. At six in the evening a drum was beat through Calton and Bridgeton; several banners were exhibited; and muskets fired at intervals, as signals. At the same time small parties entered sequestered houses, searching for arms, and, by violent threats, urging the inhabitants to take the field. These movements issued in the assemblage of two or three hundred men, partially armed with pikes and muskets. A party of cavalry, however, having rushed in and seized eleven of the most active, the rest hastily skulked off, and appeared no more. In Tradestown, a bugle summoned sixty pikes; but on seeing the smallness of their force, and no prospect of co-operation, they instantly dispersed. The day, whose

sun had risen with so lowering an aspect, closed in tranquillity; and but for a partial and almost accidental sally, the soil of Scotland would have been unstained with a drop of civil blood.

Glasgow seems evidently to have been viewed by the malcontents as the destined theatre on which hostilities were to commence; and parties from the neighbourhood were even invited to flock to it, as their common rallying point. Yet, on the morning of the 5th, a small armed band issued forth from that city, with purposes which were never exactly defined, but, from the course followed, could not possibly be other than of the most desperate character. They proceeded to Kilsyth, where they had some refreshment, in paying for which they took a receipt, in terms which evidently proved their expectation of being officially reimbursed. They then proceeded along the bank of the canal, till they arrived at a large common called Bonnymuir, where they expected, it is supposed, to have been joined by a considerable force. On their way, they had met an orderly with dispatches, whom they at first detained, but on his pretending to favour their enterprize, allowed him to depart, after presenting him with a copy of their seditious placard. This man immediately hastened to Kilsyth, where he found Lieutenants Hodgson and Davidson, commanding small parties, one of the 10th hussars, and the other of the Stirlingshire yeomanry. These active young officers lost not a moment in setting out in chase of the enemies of public peace. After a rapid ride of nine miles, they reached Bonnymuir, where the radical guerilla had halted. That body, on seeing itself about to be confronted with this band of disciplined assailants, did not lose all courage. They drew up behind a

wall, which stretched across the common, and which they hoped would protect them against the approach of the cavalry. Lieutenant Hodgson, however, finding a breach at one end, dashed through it, followed by his troops, and instantly charged. A momentary somewhat brisk conflict ensued. A pike was violently thrust against Mr Hodgson, which pierced his hand, and mortally wounded the horse on which he rode. Several other pushes were made with some effect; but in a few moments, the insurgent array was entirely discomfited; and, throwing away their arms, they sought safety in every direction. Nineteen were secured, and carried to Stirling; the rest escaped.

Such was the beginning and end of this faint shew of civil war; for the disastrous bloodshed which took place at Greenock, in a manner so strange and unmeaning, had scarcely enough of political motive or character to belong to history; and we refer to the Chronicle for a full detail of it. Even this, in a country which for more than seventy years had been a stranger to intestine warfare, and knew it

only by dim and distant tradition, caused an extraordinary alarm and emotion. Yet it formed, in fact, one of those crises which, in the civil as in the natural body, expel the elements of disease, and prepare the frame for returning to a healthful state. The authors of the commotion, sensible how ridiculously inadequate were the means with which they had hoped to effect the overthrow of a great empire, threw up the cause in despair; while the misled multitude saw the full depth of the abyss from whose brink they had barely time to shrink back. This violent explosion was followed, almost instantaneously, by a universal tranquillity; the citizens resumed their pacific and industrious occupations, and earnestly besought readmission to those employments which they had so wantonly deserted; the yeomanry returned to their homes ; and nothing remained, but to proceed according to the regular course of law, against those who had rendered themselves obnoxious to it during these violent proceedings.