tranquillity, and do away all cause of alarm. I am strengthened in this hope, by recollecting, that upon various occasions of considerable public difficulty, perhaps not much differing from the present, similar commissions have been productive of the happiest effects, and I am the more encouraged in my expectation, when I consider the strong provisions which the law has made for protecting the public from outrages committed by tumultuous assemblies; and the great powers with which the magistracy of the county is vested, in order to prevent or detect them. And although I cannot doubt the zeal and activity of the magistrates of this county, and though I am persuaded that it is altogether unnecessary to remind them of those provisions, and of the powers they possess, yet it may not be altogether useless, that some of the principal provisions of the law, relative to offences of the nature to which I allude, should be shortly and publicly adverted to now.

Gentlemen, the experience of every man must satisfy him, that it is not difficult for artful and designing men to hold out to a deluded populace, flattering hopes of a change of their situation, incapable of being realized, and often not desirable if they could be realized, and under pretences seducing in their nature, to cover designs the most atrocious, and which are often concealed from those who by their numbers are intended to be made the instruments of effecting objects, from which if openly stated to them, they would often shrink with horror. Some are thus seduced, and many, as their numbers in crease, are compelled by terror, to enter into associations and tumultuous assemblies, often under the control of persons, of whom most of them are as ignorant, as they are of the real views with which they act. This deplorable mischief, the source of every thing that is miserable, the law endeavours to prevent, or suppress by strong provisions: the mere assembling in such numbers as to create terror; wearing any disguise or dress not usually worn upon their lawful occasions; assuming any parti. cular name or denomination used for the purpose of distinguishing such association, and appearing in numbers, so distinguished; any one of these acts is, of itself, a very high offence, severely punishable; and that, although no act of violence be committed by any member of the association: and there is scarcely any act of violence, that persons of the description I have mentioned can do, when so assembled, that the law does not punish with death. Any injury done by such persons so assembled by night, to the persons or property of any the king's subjects, becomes punishable with death; so the procuring others to join them in their offences, either by threats or promises is a capital offence; and as these associations have been found to bind themselves by oaths and engagements to the perpetration of their objects,

the law punishes with death the person administering any oath or engagement, purporting to bind the person taking it, to be of any association, or confederacy formed for seditious purposes, or to disturb the public peace, or to obey the orders of any commander or leader, or to conceal the fact of such oath being administered, or any illegal act committed, all these offences the law punishes with death; and the person, who without compulsion, shall take any such oath or engagement, is liable to be transported for life; and even if compelled, unless he shall disclose the whole of what he knows touching the compelling him to take such oath or engagement, and of the person and persons by whom it was administered to a magistrate, he is liable to the same punishment. And as the law has thus held out its utmost terrors against those, who are guilty of the crimes I have mentioned, so does it arm the magistrate with strong powers for detecting them. The magistrates are empowered, in order to suppress such assemblies, to call upon all his majesty's subjects of whatever description for their assistance, to disperse, apprehend, resist, and oppose all persons concerned in such unlawful acts as I have mentioned; and if, in resisting and dispersing such offenders, any of those offenders should be wounded or killed, the law has authorized that act, and has indemnified the magistrate and those who assist him. Thus then, the magistrates are empowered to suppress such unlawful meetings, of which they may have previous information, and an opportunity of actually resisting them. But the law does not rest satisfied with that provision; it has furnished them with great powers of detecting such combinations, and of discovering the acts they have committed, in order to bring the perpetrators of such acts to justice. If any two justices have reasonable cause to suspect any person to be guilty of any such unlawful assembly as I have alluded to, they have power to summon such person, to compel him to give security to keep the peace, and to commit him if he refuses; and any single justice of the peace who has cause to suspect any person to be capable of giving material evidence concerning these offences to which I have adverted, and which are enumerated in the act called the Whiteboy Act, is empowered to summon and to examine him upon oath, as to the guilt of others, and to bind him to appear and prosecute; and if the person so summoned shall refuse to submit to be examined, or to enter into recognizance, it is lawful for the magistrate to commit him. But if any discovery shall be obtained, it shall not be made use of against the party giving it.

Gentlemen, these are the principal provisions of the law, to which I have thought it right at present to advert; not that you can receive any information from the communication of them, but that the lower classes of the people may be fully aware of the dangers