BRISTOL.—The Mayor of Bristol had sent to t h e Editor of

the Bristol Mercury, copies of two communications, one submitted to Lord Melbourne, another to Lord Hill, each containing a brief narrative of

the late riots—not differing essentially as to the particulars, but cer- tainly giving to the conduct of the municipal authorities on the occasion a very different colour from what it has yet borne. The object of both communications is to show, that the blame of the prolonged riot rested entirely with Colonel Brereton ; that he was repeatedly and urgently en-

treated and commanded by the Magistrates to charge the mob, and to clear the streets, but would not. There is an old saying, that " a man seemeth right in his own cause, but his neighbour cometh and tryeth him." When we see Colonel Brereton's answer to the magisterial charge, we may perhaps see reason to change our opinion of its value. At present, and while uncontradicted, it certainly puts Colonel Brere- ton in the wrong. The Magistrates, through their Mayor, say that they were fully aware of the public feeling against Sir Charles Wetherell, and wished, if possible, to postpone the gaol delivery ; that Sir Charles having determined on making his appearance in Bristol, they made a communication to the Home Secretary, requesting that a military force might be sent to support the civil authorities in preserving the public peace. Troops were accordingly placed at the disposal of the Magistrates, and the Magistrates, at the same time, took the necessary measures for increasing the constabulary force. They then go on to state that the Riot Act was read about five o'clock on the Saturday afternoon, and the troops were ordered to the Mansionhouse. On the appearance of the troops, the people withdrew from the attack, but did not disperse. Colonel Brereton came in from time to time to report to the Magistrates: he said the people.were in good humour—that their number was lessen- ing, and that he should disperse them by merely riding the troops about. He was asked if he had any instructions which prevented him from act- ing under the authority of the Magistrates ; and having answered that his orders were to be under their directions, the Magistrates required him to clear the streets. The people were then driven from the Square, but without any .cut or wound being inflicted. On Sunday morning, Colonel Brereton called at the Mansionhouse, and ordered home the few soldiers who remained there. This was the signal for a fresh attack. The troops were then recalled, and the people again withdrew. About half-past ten o'clock, the soldiers finally returned to their quarters, fol- lowed by the mob, which continued to pelt and insult them to their very quarters. The remainder of the statement contains a series of like inculpations ; the Magistrate.% declaring that whenever a fresh outrage .was committed or threatened, the troops were called on to punish the

- perpetrators or chase them away, and that . the Commander of the troops as regularly refused or at least delayed to do as he was requested. The only difficulty in the way at present in coming to a judg.oent

.any.part of the accusation, is the fact, if it be one, that 3 la

Brereton were guilty, they must know he would be punished—military fended from its attacks. The Magistrates were not entitled to make an courts are never slow to condemn. appeal to the people and to Lord Hill in the same breath. If Colonel tied up, by the etiquette of the service, from appealing to the press ; and therefore, on all points where an inquiry is necessary, he ought to be de- scold it out, and go to law after they are tired ; but a military man is against Colonel Brereton. When " Greek meets Greek," they can to judge on a subject on which we are so imperfectly informed, we may be yet allowed most strongly to deprecate the publication of statements or about to sit, on the conduct of Colonel Brereton. Without pretending and the other in galloping over the ground the enemy had quitted. of the two commanders—the one in retreating before an enemy in force, day. In this way there seems no contradiction in the different success was not in existence when Major Beckwith scoured the streets on Mon- which Colonel Brereton commanded on Saturday and Sunday. The with dispersed the rioters on Monday with a force no greater than that Bristol Mercury, however, it ought to be observed, declared that the mob Letters from Bristol state, that a court of military inquiry is sitting, The conduct of Sir Charles Wetherell remains, it will be seen, after the magisterial statement, precisely where it was—no court of inquiry will clear him. The only pity is, that no court can punish him. The ringleader, or one who isrepresented as such, has been captured ; he was taken at Liverpool. At the New Gaol, there are now confined 151 individuals, of whom 67 have been fully committed. The Bristol Mercury says, the damage effected by the rioters and incendiaries has been grossly exaggerated. It gives the following calculation, without altogether vouching for it ; the Mansionhouse and Customhouse are mot included.

42 houses at 3001 £33100

Deduct value of site in fee

20,000

£13,600

Furniture in 42 houses, average 8001. each 33,600 Tollhouses

400 New Prison

3,000 The Palace, &c

6,000 Bridewell

1,000

Merchandise, exclusive of duty, whichl the parties

under bond cannot properly be required to pay

10,600

67,600

Government have not determined on any inquiry into the conduct of the Magistrates, nor, it would appear, into any thing else except Colonel Brereton's conduct. The grand fault of the Bristol Magistrates seems to be, that having stirred up the people, they would not quiet them again by rational means, and could not by force. Our worthy Ministers are in a somewhat similar predicament, and may have a fellow feeling with Mr. Pinney and his colleagues.

BIRMINGHAM UNION.—This great and respectable body has published a report of their Committee on the most effectual means of organization. The principal points of the report are the division of the town into dis- tricts, and of the members into decades, centuries, and subdivisions of five hundred, to be directed by tithingmen, constables, and marshalmen, with an alderman to regulate each district. The duties of these officers are minutely laid down. Mr. Attwood, at the meeting to which the re- port was presented, distinctly denied that any intention was ever enter- tained of arming the Union ; it was never even mentioned. We had no space last week for any part of the speech of Mr. Attwood, and we see it stated that it was incorrectly reported ; we therefore subjoin that part where he speaks of the possible conduct of Parliament and the peo- ple respecting Reform. "He had stated at Warwick that he feared the Bill might be again rejected by the House of Lords. This could only happen through the executive authority neglecting to make the neces- sary increase of the peerage. He could not possibly believe that Earl Grey would neglect this great duty. It would be madness in him to do so. He had brought the country, as it were, to the brink of a preci- pice, from whence there was no retreat : and was it possible that he should now say to them, Leap the precipice unguided and unassisted, for the Government will desert you ?' If Earl Grey should possibly act in this way, his own fall would indeed be great. Instead of leaving the greatest name in English history behind him, as he trusted Earl Grey was destined to do, he would leave a stained and contaminated name— he would be deemed the Necker of England, instead of its saviour. But he would not believe that the executive authority would be guilty of such a gross and dangerous neglect ; but even if they should be so, the road of the People was still quite clear, legal, and safe. If the Government should neglect its duty, the House of Commons would coerce it—the House of Commons would refuse the supplies, and thus compel the House of Lords to do its duty. By a step of this kind every soldier would remain unpaid—the dividends of the National Debt would cease

civil list of the King himself would no longer be discharged ; and thus the Government would either be dissolved, or it must instantly discharge its duty. So, again, if the Mutiny Act was rejected by the House of Commons—no improbable alternative—that magnificent army, which was now so powerful to protect the country and to crush its foreign enemies, would be instantly struck from the hand of Government, and its power as a weapon against the liberties of the people be suddenly shivered in the dust. Even if the House of Commons should refuse to do its duty upon such an emergency, still the people would possess within their own hands the peaceful and legal means of insuring their own re- dress. They had only to adopt the advice of Mr. Edmonds, which was strictly legal and constitutional, although it had been misrepresented, viz.—to act upon the system of the Quakers, and to submit to a distraint upon their goods for the payment of taxes, and the House of Commons -would be instantly brought to see the position in which it stands. In this way the people would legally act upon the House of Commons—the House of Commons would compel the Government—and the Government would compel the House of Lords, and every thing would be right." '

CUMBERLAND MEETING. This meeting, which was called by one of the most numerously-signed requisitions ever known in the county, was held on Tuesday, at Wigton. The address to the King was moved by Sir Wilfrid Lawson, and seconded by Mr. Henry Howard. Mr. James, member for Carlisle, moved a vote of thanks to Earl Grey ; which was seconded by the Reverend E. Stanley, and carried by acclamation. Sir James Graham was necessarily absent, in consequence of his duties in town. Mr. Blarnire was at the meeting ; which he addressed with much.

effect. " He had," he said, " been selected from humble life, and sent to Parliament for an express purpose, and to perform a specific duty—a duty which he trusted he had not lost sight of ; for although he had not been able to do much as regarded the provisions of the Bill, yet he had not been absent from one single division upon the Reform questions. True, he had not said much upon it; but he thought he had acted a more judicious part, because he saw that they only were the best friends of the people who said least and voted most. However, the thanks which he had received from them that day would serve to relieve those harassing and fatiguing hours which he must have to pass before he heard that wished-for sound, That this Bill do now pass.' But, if he was sent to Parliament to assist in carrying Reform, he had returned ten times more convinced of the necessity of it. lie could see no good that would accrue to the country until Reform had been gained. He had seen, and even voted, for grants of public money, which his conscience told him he ought not to have done ; he did it for the sake of expe- diency, under the hope that, when this Bill is carried, a different course would be persevered in. But while he said this, he did not blame the present Ministers for it. Many grants which bad been passed had been for sums expended by the late Ministers. He had the greatest confidence in the present Ministry, for he believed that their professions of economy and retrenchment would be carried into effect in a Reformed Parliament. He called upon the people not to despair, even if the Bill should again be rejected by the Lords—(" T1 a will !"—" They dare not !"—" Let them do it if they dare! ")—because he believed that Parliament would then be dissolved, and the King would suspend the writs for the rotten bo- roughs, and issue new ones for those places enumerated under the new Bill." This would do the business without new Lords, and in suite of the old ones. Mr. Blamire's speech was greatly applauded.

YORKSHIRE ArantEss.—The address and petition from this great county are the weightiest, in more senses than one, ever presented. The number of names attached to each is 140,273 TILE MARQUIS OF LANK:lows:E.—A grand dinner was given to the noble Marquis at Devizes, on the 16th. The Sheriff of the county, Mr. Paul C. Methuen, was in the chair. The Marquis, in returning thanks when his health was drunk, strongly deprecated the carrying of the Bill by any other means than reason and conviction. What are we to under- stand by this deprecation ? We nowhere hear of force being meditated ; but if we are not to have Reform until the majority of the House of Lords are converted, we rather think Reform will not be soon gained. Mr. Moore, the author of Lidla Rookh, was present at the dinner. POLITICAL FRIENDS.—A number of people of Manchester and Salford have resolved to resist the payment of taxes in money. Their reason for this step is the passing of the Bill in the House of Commons, which solemnly pronounces a large portion of the members not to be elected by the people. They pledge themselves not to purchase the- goods seized in execution for taxes, so long as the House remains unreformed. PETERL00.-31r. Hulton, of Hutton, the magistrate who commanded the Yeomanry at the celebrated meeting at Manchester, on the 16th of August 1819, has resigned his commission as a magistrate of Lancashire. We hope the Ministry will not dissolve in consequence. REACTION AN CUPAR Frra.—Daring the last four weeks the County Militia has been on permanent duty here. Its commanders, the Earl of Rosslyn, and Mr. Hope, M.P., who both gave their suffrages against the Reform Bill, have had proofs of no equivocal kind, that the sentiments of the public on that all-important question remain unaltered. When these Anti-Reforming legislators return to the exercise of their duty in Parliament, it may lie expected that if they do not vote for the new Bill, they will at least testify, that while resident in the county town, the fol- lowing significant occurrences came under their personal notice. A Poli- tical Union was organized; an address to the King, recommending the immediate creation of new Peers, was got up, and signed not only by the townspeople, but by many of ;heir i egiment; an effigy of the Lord Lieutenant, after being paraded over th.: town by a large multitude, was burnt in the market-place; finally, on the regiment being disembodied, cries of "Reform for ever !" accompanied with shouts, were heard to burst from the soldiers. Passing over these signs of the times, it may be asked, why are men, hostile alike to the Ministry, and disagreeable to the people, allowed to hold the posts of Lord Lieutenants ?—Scotsman. LORD PANMURE.—The Forfar folks greeted the return of their late excellent Member, by taking out the horses, and dragging the stage- coach in which he was travelling.