[List-Cumbria] Carlisle Patriot, 14 Dec 1816 - Local News (1)

[Petra Mitchinson]

Saturday 14 Dec 1816   (p. 3, col 1-4)

 

The Committee for the Relief of the Labouring Poor have been very active in carrying into effect the Resolutions of the General
Meeting. Agreeable to the Public Notice published in our last, they met at the Town Hall on Monday, when one hundred and forty
labourers in want of work, applied and enrolled their names; which number has since increased to upwards of 200; and the whole have
been set to work in various parts of the city and neighbourhood; a portion of these is employed by the Corporation and County, and
the remainder by the Public Subscription. One party have begun the new road from the bridge-end to Finkle-street; another is filling
up the old course of the river which divides the two cattle markets; and many are employed on the east and west walls, and various
other places. The men at work are contented and thankful; their wages are one shilling and sixpence per diem. 

 

It is a truly gratifying sight to see so many industrious men rescued from idleness and consequent want, and this consideration
alone should induce every one to come forward in aid of the fund on which they depend for support. It will be seen by the list of
subscriptions that many persons have answered the call upon their generosity in the most handsome manner, and if any yet remain
behind who have the means, we are sure that the good example there set will have due effect. It cannot be too often repeated that
the smallest sums will be acceptable. But the employment and support of so many well-disposed men, though of the utmost importance,
is not the only benefit resulting from this public spirit. The works which are entered on will be a lasting ornament to the City,
and contribute not a little to the convenience of the inhabitants. 

 

On Tuesday last, the Mayor, Dr. HEYSHAM, and Mr. FORSTER, agreeable to one of the Resolutions agreed to at the Meeting held at the
Coffee-house on the 2nd inst. visited every Public House in Botchergate, Rickergate, and Caldewgate, and informed the proprietors
thereof, they would not, in future, be allowed to sell liquor after ten o'clock at night; and on Thursday, the Mayor, accompanied by
the other City Magistrates, likewise visited all the Public Houses within the liberties of the City. 

 

The Escape from Gaol.-In our last we gave the particulars of the escape of seven felons from the gaol in this City, and the
recapture of two of them. On Tuesday last, O'NEILL, another of the prisoners, was taken at Blackwood, near Dumfries, and brought
back again to his old quarters. A bundle was found in his possession, containing five fine shirts, and two shifts, which been [sic]
had stolen since his escape, at Dumfries; he also stole a pair of blankets, which he sold for 3s. When the prisoners got out of
gaol, O'NEILL and GREEN ran into Collyer's Lane and got into a pig-stye there; GREEN buried himself in the straw, and O'NEILL took
off his coat and hung it across the stye, so that if any one looked in, they could not be seen. An old man, a shoemaker in
Botchergate, went in twice while they were there, without seeing them; the old man went in a third time and O'NEILL spoke to him.
Being alarmed they left this retreat; O'NEILL went through Edward IRWIN's lane, with his coat off and his hat under his arm as
though something were in it, and GREEN ran through the gardens. They went over the Broad-meadows till they came to the river Eden,
when they stripped off their clothes, tied them in a bundle across their breasts, and swam the river; they then took shelter in a
plantation till dark, and under cover of the night returned towards Carlisle, having appointed to meet two women on the road, who
were in the secret; O'NEILL afterwards met these women, and one of them gave him a grey cloak and a black bonnet, which he put on.
They afterwards met M'HANNAH, who said he was going for Ireland. GREEN, his wife, and O'NEILL, went on to Dumfries where the former
changed his dress and made a very smart appearance. Here they separated, and O'NEILL went to the house of a person named HAMILTON,
where he was apprehended in bed, on Tuesday morning about 6 o'clock by GLENDINING, the smith to the gaol. GREEN went on for the
purpose of taking shipping for America. This escape was meditated some time, and several persons are implicated in it. The wives of
HAMILTON and M'HANNAH have both been committed; the latter carried chissels into the gaol; one in the middle of a pudding; the
former has assisted in various ways. Two chissels have been found concealed in the felons' cell; also a saw and a file were
discovered by Dr. HEYSHAM and Mr. J. LOWRY; the saw was hid in a crevice, and the file was most ingeniously concealed in a hole
which had been stopped up with a piece of potatoe cut to fit it, and greased over with a candle. 

 

Yesterday an account was brought by the Guard of the Liverpool Mail, that another of the convicts, LITTLE, who escaped from our Gaol
on the 5th inst. has been retaken, and is now in Lancaster Castle. 

 

------------------------------ 

 

It seems that the Meeting at the Coffee-house, on the second instant, by which so much good will be done, was not to the taste of a
certain class of politicians in this City and neighbourhood, and therefore it is determined to have another, where the absence of
practical charity will be supplied by theoretical speculation.-To speak plainer, the Board of Reform in London, in their labours to
regenerate the whole Empire, have been industriously employed for some time past in preparing the minds of the operative
manufacturers to receive their nostrums, and desert their work to set up for politicians,-to the no small grief of many of their
wives and families, who see those sums spent in the pursuit of folly (to say the least of it) which more properly belong to them.
Having received instructions how to proceed, the weavers after various meetings sent a circular to the different master
manufacturers, of which the following is a copy:- 

 

"Sir 

       "We the Operative          in your Employ Considering the Necessity of a Reform in Parliament to be the only Means of
Reliving the Present existing Distress of the Country, Call upon you to come forward along with your Brother Manufacturers of other
Treads in calling a Genl Public meeting to express the greavances which the people ly under & the necessity of Redress. 

 

"Sir, 

       "It is the full intention of the People to Petition the King, likewise the Legislature-& if you Absolutely Refuse to Act in a
Public Capasity in the business we will be under the Disagreeable Necessity of taking the cause in hand ourselves-But we fondly hope
you will Accede to our Resonable Request & come forward to use every lafull means in your Power to Redress your own grievances & the
grievances of your SERVANTS. 

                                                                                                          "& Your Petitioners 

                                                                                                                will ever Pray" 

 

"N. B. It is probal that a Meeting of Manufacturers will take place on the above Subject in order to come to a Determination, we
Request that you will be so condecending as to meet a Deputation of the various machanacs On the 12 Decr. at the house of Mrs.
ELEOTs Green Dragon at 7 o Clock to come to a proper understanding of the Business." 

 

The manufacturers wishing to show their workmen all possible respect, held a meeting on Tuesday night, when it was determined that a
deputation of three should wait upon them on Thursday evening, in compliance with their request, to hear what they had to say, and
also to explain their opinions on the subject. Accordingly, on that evening, the deputation had an interview at the Green Dragon
with a Member of the Weavers' Committee, and through him, advised his Brethren to avoid holding a Public Meeting, as no benefit
could be expected to result from it.-Here the matter dwells for the present. Further proceedings depend entirely upon the discretion
of the Weavers and their advisers. 

 

We are informed that we misunderstood the expression of some of the Gentlemen at the Coffee-house Meeting on the 2nd inst. In
speaking of the weavers it was observed that undoubtedly, there were many cases of individual distress, which could only be
mitigated by parochial aid, as any subscription which could be raised in Carlisle would prove insufficient to afford relief during a
long winter. 

 

 

[to be continued] 

 

 

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