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Wednesday 26 July 2017

26th July 1817: Leeds Mercury editorial reacts to accusations of collusion with Oliver

When an enormous evil exists in the State, supported by the strong arm of power, and seconded by a corrupt and servile press, the man that shall dare to expose, with a view to correct, that evil, ought to stand prepared to encounter some risk, much anxiety, and a large share of obloquy. With the truth of this observation we were fully impressed, when we ventured to exhibit to the nation the system of espionage, as prevailing in the manufacturing district of England, but more particularly as manifested in the West-Riding of the county of York. But with these terrors full in view, we could not submit to shrink from a duty prescribed alike by the safety of individuals and the good of the State. The exposure was made, and one of the first fruits of our labours was the liberation of a number of innocent men from prison. The discovery had an effect almost magical; the film dropped from the eyes of the public, and that terrific figure, which, wrapped in the veil of mystery, presented to an alarmed nation the appearance of a colossus of Rebellion, dwindled, when distinctly seen, to the stature of a pigmy. For this offence we have, as we expected, been subject to the censure of the Ministerial press in every part of the empire; and when all the other arts of deception have failed, we are, at length, accused, by an anonymous writer in the Courier Newspaper, with having ourselves been the associates of MR. OLIVER!

THE passage to which we refer, appears in the Courier of the 19th of July, in a letter dated from Leeds, and bearing the signature of Leodiensis; it runs thus:―
“He,” the Editor of the Leeds Mercury, “asserts that he never had the honour of a Call from MR. OLIVER; whereas I have reason to believe that some of the shopmen could prove that OLIVER not only did pay such a visit, but repeated it, and was received with great civility, and pressed to come again.”
SUCH is the charge made in the Courier, and, in answer to which, we thought proper to address a letter to the Editor of that Paper, requiring him to state, “That so far from having received repeated visits from MR. OLIVER, the Editor of the Leeds Mercury never, to the best of his knowledge and belief, saw that man in his life―he never even heard of his name till after the meeting at Thornhill-Lees, where OLIVER was apprehended, and he never held any communication with him, directly or indirectly, either at his own office, or at any other place.”

THE article in the Courier, on which we are animadverting, among a mass of other assertions, all probably as well founded as that we have just refuted, charges us with having suppressed some part of the facts within our knowledge, relative to the examinations taken before the Lord Lieutenant and the Magistrates at Wakefield, on Monday the 16th ultimo. But this charge we also positively deny. We have been guilty of no suppression. Every fact that has come within our knowledge, regarding that investigation, we have communicated with perfect impartiality. It is well known, that we have, week after week, called for the publication of the whole of the evidence, with a degree of perseverance amounting almost to pernacity; and in order to shew on which side the suppression lies, we now pledge ourselves, that if the correspondent of the Courier, who professes to be in possession of the evidence, will furnish us with a perfect copy of it, we will publish the whole document entire, without a single moment’s unnecessary delay. There is nothing that we more wish; and if the proposal be declined, the public will be at no loss to determine whether the suppression proceeds from the enemies or the friends of the Spy system.

Wednesday 12 July 2017

12th Juy 1817: 'Origin of the Late Conspiracies' in the Leeds Mercury

ORIGIN OF THE LATE CONSPIRACIES.

Several attempts have been made, both in and out of Parliament, to prove that Mr. Oliver was merely a passive agent in the late conspiracies, forming against Government in the North of England; and that he neither excited the popular discontent, nor gave vitality and organization to the conspiracies.—That this representation of the conduct of the "ministerial agent" is false and deceptive, we have already proved by a host of witnesses. But it is said that these witnesses have all acted under the influence of a disposition to traduce the character of Mr. Leigh Keck’s immaculate builder, and that therefore their evidence is not to be relied upon. This conclusion, we think, does not arise by any means out of the premises. There may, however, be those who are of a different opinion, and to such we beg leave to show, out of the mouth of a Government witness, that Mr. Oliver was the "Great Man;"—that under his directions the delegates, so called, were appointed—that he moved and controlled every thing, and that he was, in a word, "the foreman of the concern."

At the examination held at Wakefield on Monday, the 16th of June, before the Lord-Lieutenant, and a full bench of Magistrates, to inquire into the conduct of the ten prisoners apprehended at Thornhill-Lees on Friday, the 6th ult. on a charge of holding a treasonable meeting, a witness, whose name we are not at liberty to mention, was produced for the Crown, and against the prisoners. This witness, who was represented by the accusers to be of unimpeached character, and free from all suspicion, deposed, amongst other matter:—

"That he had seen Oliver twice. That he, Oliver, was considered by all the parties as the great man to communicate and direct things from London. That as he directed so they acted. that the appointment of the delegates was subject to Mr. Oliver's approval, and that on one occasion he objected to a delegates alleging that he was an improper person, because he thought he would tell tales. Mitchell preceded Oliver introduced him. This deponent was a delegate himself, and was appointed by a person who received his instructions from Mr. Oliver. He believes all the delegates were appointed as he was. The deponent stated, that ten men met at Thornhill Lees; Mr. Oliver was in the lane near the house. He knows that the delegates must have been approved by Oliver; he knows it for a certainty, because Oliver did actually reject one of them. The witness considered Oliver to be the foreman of the concern. This witness, who had turned an informer, was taken to Thornhill Lees to identify the delegates, and it was at his suggestion that Oliver was seized, but he, (Oliver), was almost immediately afterwards set at liberty by a person in authority is, who said—"he must be liberated, he is the Government spy, or agent, or words to that effect."

For the accuracy of this portion of the evidence, we appeal to the Magistrates present at the examination, and we beg again to press upon their consideration the propriety of laying the whole of the depositions taken on that occasion before the public. If our frequent calls for the details of the proceedings at Wakefield, on the 16th inst. and for the long-promised statement of Lord Sidmouth in justification of the system of espionage, has the appearance of pertinacity, we have no other apology to offer for our perseverance, than that which arises out of a deep anxiety for the establishment of truth, and a sincere wish to rescue our countrymen from the stigma which has been cast upon their character, in order to find a pretence for suspending their liberties.

Wednesday 5 July 2017

5th July 1817: 'Oliver The Spy' in the Leeds Mercury

OLIVER THE SPY.

A fact has come to our knowledge connected with the mission of this arch-traitor, which, though it can be communicated in a few words, speaks volumes to the mind of every British subject. On the first arrival of Mr. Oliver in the neighbourhood of Sheffield, where he spread terror among the peaceable and well-disposed part of the inhabitants, and by his flattering representations imparted joy and confidence to the disaffected and evil-minded, the vigilance of the magistrates at that place enabled them to trace out his proceedings, and to discover that he was disseminating the poison of his treasons in every direction. The first use made by the magistrates of this discovery was to apprise the conservators of the public peace in other parts of the riding of the arrival of this incendiary, and their next step was to address a letter to the Secretary of State for the home department, informing him that a London Delegate, a man apparently above the lower ranks, had arrived in the country, and was actively employed in organizing sedition and exciting the people to acts of treason. This letter was written by Hugh Parker, Esq. the senior magistrate of the district, who, by return of post, received an answer from Lord Sidmouth, informing him that the person he described as so dangerous a character was an Agent of Government!!! Indignant at this communication, Mr. Parker's first determination was to withdraw his name from the commission of the peace, but his repugnance to shrink from his duty at a time of public exigency overcame his detestation of the system which ministers had adopted, and he was prevailed upon to continue those services which have reflected so much honour on, his own character, and so much benefit on the country. When Lord Sidmouth’s long-promised statement regarding the employment given by government to a herd of spies and informers makes its appearance, we hope he will indulge the public with the correspondence which passed between his lordship and the Sheffield magistracy. We should be glad too if the Magistrates would publish the examinations taken before the Lord-Lieutenant at Wakefield, on Monday, the 16th ult. If we are rightly informed, those examinations confirm every material point of the statement regarding Mr. Oliver, made in this paper two days before; and it has been stated distinctly in the House of Commons, that the only material evidence called for the crown on that occasion, swore that Mr. Oliver got up, or prepared the whole plot. We beg to direct the attention of our readers to the speech of Mr. Bennett on the third reading of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, and we should be glad if some Member of the House would move, in his place, for the production of Bradley's evidence.

On this subject Lord Castlereagh has dauntlessly declared that government do employ spies, and has represented them as necessary to the safety of the state. Under an administration such as that formed by his lordship and his co-adjutors this may be the case, but good ministers, like good princes, require no spies, and the words of Montesquieu, whose skill in the science of politics would not suffer by a comparison with any of the present ministers individually, or with the whole of them collectively, has said:—"Should I be asked whether there is any necessity for spies in monarchies, my answer would be, that the usual practice of good princes is not to employ them. The trade of a spy might perhaps be tolerable were it practiced by honest man, but the necessary infamy of the person is sufficient to make us judge of the infamy of the thing."

It has been insinuated, that in making the exposure we have exhibited to the public, we have been influenced by factious motives, and that our object has been merely to annoy the servants of the Crown, and to advance the interests of a party. Supposing this to be the case, the motives would not disprove the facts. But we claim the merit of higher influence. That we have our party predilections we are free to confess, but we have a much more regard for our country than for our party. It has been stated that we are ultra-reformers, or as the phrase in the Sun Newspaper is, "reformers of the modern school." This assertion we deny, and we appeal to facts for the veracity of our disclaimer. It is known by everyone who has read our sentiments on Parliamentary Reform, as published in this paper, that without presuming to condemn the advocates of universal suffrage and annual parliaments, we have never been the supporters of those measures. It is known too, that at the meeting held in this town for the purpose of voting a Petition to the Legislature on the subject of Parliamentary Reform, we steadfastly and successfully opposed the introduction of a motion for assembling adjourned meetings, maintaining that they had the appearance of holding out a menace to government. It is also known, that when the practice prevailed last year of sending out political missionaries, for the  purpose of inculcating the principles of Parliamentary Reform, we openly and perseveringly condemned the policy, and exposed the impropriety of such a proceeding, and it was probably owing to this cause that we never had the honour of a call from MR. OLIVER. It is further known, that we supported to the best of our power the benevolent views of those who, during the past year of general distress, exerted themselves to relieve the labouring classes by providing them food at a reasonable price; and that we pointedly condemned the censure cast upon institutions established for that purpose; but it is not known, perhaps, though it is nevertheless true, that we never were connected at any time with any political society whatever. In making these statements, we must repeat that we are not to be understood as conveying any censure towards those who have pursued a different course on any or all of the points we have mentioned; we merely state the facts to show that we are neither ultra-reformers nor the slaves of any party. On every subject we act on the decision of our own unbiased opinion, honestly formed, and we claim therefore the credit of having made the exposure of MR. OLIVER, and the spy system, purely on public and patriotic grounds.

We have the satisfaction to conclude this article, by stating a fact, that will be hailed with pleasure by every real friend to social order: Since Mr. Oliver left Yorkshire, perfect tranquillity has been restored. The County was never more peaceable. The 13th light dragoons, who had been brought into the West Riding, under an apprehension of an insurrectionary rising, have returned to their quarters at York, and the nightly military patrole has been discontinued. In a word, we are as tranquil now the spies have disappeared, as we were before they came amongst us. The exciting cause has been withdrawn, and the effect has ceased.

Saturday 1 July 2017

1st July 1817: George Cruikshank's satirical print - 'Conspirators: or, Delegates in Council'

A larger version of this cartoon can be viewed here
On Tuesday 1st July 187, the caricaturist George Cruikshank published a cartoon about Oliver, among other spies. The description below is from the catalogue entry in the British Museum.

Three Ministers sit at a council table on which is a large green bag, from which docketed papers project; the bag has folds making it resemble a grotesquely sly face. With them are three ruffianly looking agents or spies. On the extreme left sits Sidmouth in profile to the right; thin, elderly, and angular, his hands resting on a tall cane; his queue terminates in a clyster-pipe instead of a bag. Opposite him sits Thomas Reynolds, indicated by a paper beside him: 'Reynolds Ireland'. He shows Sidmouth a paper: 'List of Victims in Ireland'. Beside him is a bag inscribed 'Blood Money'. At the opposite end of the table sits Castlereagh, also very thin but elegant and fashionable; he sits forward his hands on his crossed knees, holding a paper 'To Mr Reynolds', the name scored through but just legible. On his right hand is Canning, who covertly points to two ruffians, one on each side of the table, saying, "Don't you think my Lord that our friends, Castle & Oliver should be sent to Lisbon or somewhere as Consul Generals, or Envoys?" Castlereagh answers: "Can't you negotiate for some boroughs—" The two men, who grin expectantly, are indicated by papers addressed respectively to 'Oliver Leeds' and 'Castle Spafields'; in the latter's hat is a bundle of 'Forged notes'. Papers in the green bag are docketed: 'An Oath to be Proposed to the distressed'; 'Plan for the Attack on the Regents Carraige'; 'Treasonable papers to be sliped into the pockets of some duped artisans'; 'Plans for a General Row'. On the table: 'Toast to be given in the Company of moderate men & then Swear they drank them' [Castle's evidence]; 'Every means to be taken to implicate Sr F. Burdett Ld Cochrane & —'. On the floor beside Sidmouth: 'Instructions for Entrapg the poor & needy', and 'under santion [sic] of Government'. Beside Castlereagh lie flags and favours labelled 'Tricolord Flags &c &c for Spa Fields', with a stuffed stocking labelled: 'A Waggon Load of Ammunition!!! Vide Mr Cannings Speech in ye House of Coms'. Through a window on the extreme right, and just behind Castlereagh, John Bull, registering horror, gazes into the room; he exclaims: "Oh! Oh I have found out the Conspirators at last, poor Starving John is to be enslaved into Criminal acts & then the Projectors & perpetrators are brought forward as principal evidences! This is another Vaughan, Brock & Pelham business, and I suppose they are to be made Consuls too, the high road to Ld Castlereigh's particular favor—Canning travelled it."