On the 3rd of January, 1817, an unusually numerous radical reform meeting was again held on Bent green, when a large banner, bearing radical mottoes, and a band of music, imparted peculiar animation to the events of the day. A third radical reform meeting, taking place on Bent green, February l0, 1817, the authorities became alarmed, and a number of special constables were appointed on the 8th of the same month. In addition to the civil power, a body of soldiery of the 54th Regiment of Foot, 104 in number, were stationed in a temporary barracks in Fog lane, which they first occupied on the 3rd of March. At an early hour on the morning of the 10th of that month, a party of the radical reformers again assembled, some of them furnished with blankets slung round their shoulders, with the intention of marching to Manchester, and thence to London, to lay their grievances before the Prince Regent and parliament. The special constables and foot soldiery, with a party of the 13th Light Horse, which had arrived from Huddersfield, were on duty; but as the crowd proceeded to Manchester, the civil and military powers abstained from interference. It is recorded by a writer of no slight graphic power, and a participator in the events of the day, Mr. Samuel Bamford, that, "at this time the writings of William Cobbett suddenly became of great authority; they were read on nearly every cottage hearth in the manufacturing districts, and their influence was speedily visible. Riots soon became scarce, and from that time they have never obtained their ancient vogue with the labourers of this country. The Sunday schools of the preceding thirty years had produced many working men of sufficient talent to become readers, writers, and speakers in the village meetings for parliamentary reform." Immediately after the meeting of the 10th of March, "the country was distracted by rumours of treasonable discoveries, and the apprehension of alleged traitors. Open meetings being suspended, secret ones assembled under various pretexts, ensued. The pro-

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