Printed Letter of Protest, Citizens of Manchester February 1790

Printed copy of a notice of Protest by concerned citizens of Manchester concerning the way the meeting of 3 February was handled by the authorities, essentially disrupting and dismissing a legal and law-abiding  meeting. 

[Also included here is a printed copy of “A friendly Epistle to the B –  – -e [Boroughreeve] of Manchester, at this very important Crisis, with explanatory Notes.  By a good Friend to the Old Cause.” Signed “Timothy Highflyer” and dated 15 February 1790.  This is a satiric jab at the Manchester meeting, noting that all one has to do to end such a meeting or veto the repeal of the Acts is to shout “Innovation! Presbyterian!  Church and King!  Down with the Rump!  Huzza!  Here is Reason, Argument, Truth, Justice, Proposition, and Refutation.”]

In this “Protest,” printed by some citizens of Manchester, several resolutions concern the meeting at the Hotel in Exchange-street.  They argue that the Boroughreeve and Constables did not have a right to call a meeting unless it is a general one open to all the inhabitants, and to their understanding the meeting on 3 February was to be a general one, for a “partial” meeting would be clearly prejudicial to the views and interests of a large body of inhabitants who would have no voice in the matter under discussion.  Thus, a general meeting is open to Dissenters and Anglicans alike, without partiality, and this is an important principle to them.  Resolutions were read and seconded at that meeting, obviously in favor of Church and King, before any discussion could be brought to bear upon them by the opposing side, and the Boroughreeve refused to allow any further discussion on them.  Thus, to these individuals, they are protesting those proceedings “so informal in themselves, so opposite to the respectable Decision of former Meetings, so disgraceful to the Abettors of them, and so hostile to the Consistency and Reputation of the Town of Manchester.”

Text: Test Acts Papers, no. 73, Unitarian Collection, UCC 3/6/6, John Rylands University Library of Manchester.