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30-523: In December 1816, A mass meeting took place at Spa Fields near London . The Coercion Act of 1817 was an act of Parliament that suspended habeas corpus and extended existing laws against seditious gatherings in Britain. The Coercion Act was the result of this mass meeting. The total number of "Coercion Acts" relating to Ireland is a matter of definition, including whether to count separately an act which continues an expiring act. Michael Farrell in 1986 put

60-706: A government spy who had infiltrated the Spenceans. Castle's evidence was discredited by defence counsel and Watson was acquitted, at which point the prosecution presented no evidence against the other defendants and all four were released. The ending of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 led to a sharp downturn in the British economy, bringing mass unemployment and distress. Radical leaders in London had organised petitions calling for parliament to relieve distress, but without success, and

90-607: A gunsmith's shop in Snow Hill, during which shots were fired, the gunsmith wounded and a passer-by killed. At the Royal Exchange troops closed the gates and exchanged shots with the rioters. Further skirmishes took place at Fleet Market , Snow Hill and the Minories, which the rioters took under control for some hours. From there, Thistlewood led an armed band to the Tower of London, climbed

120-904: A permanent part of the law and did not have to be renewed annually by parliament, but Pope Leo XIII issued the bull Saepe Nos in 1888 which was uncritical of the Acts. Trial by jury was abolished. An influential analysis of the pros and cons of the Act was published in 1888 by William Henry Hurlbert , a Catholic Irish-American author. Many hundreds were imprisoned at times under the Acts, including many prominent politicians and agrarian agitators, Joseph Biggar , Alexander Blane , Michael Davitt , John Dillon , James Gilhooly , Patrick Guiney , Matthew Harris , John Hayden , John Hooper , J. E. Kenny , Andrew Kettle , Denis Kilbride , Pat O'Brien , William O'Brien , James O'Kelly , Charles Stewart Parnell , Douglas Pyne , Willie Redmond , and Timothy Sullivan . The act

150-545: A result of the ongoing famine there . The bill was blocked, and this led, in part, to Peel's resignation as Prime Minister. From 1874, attempts to introduce other Irish coercion acts were blocked by the filibustering of Joseph Biggar . The Protection of Persons and Property (Ireland) Act 1881 allowed for internment without trial of those suspected of involvement in the Land War in Ireland. A total of 953 people were detained under

180-629: A result, the Westmeath Examiner was subjected to a clerically organized boycott , and only survived commercially through a pact between Unionists and Parnellites on the Mullingar Board of Guardians , dividing advertising between pro-Parnellite and Unionist papers and excluding the clericalist Westmeath Independent . On Luke's unexpected death in 1897, John Hayden was adopted as the Parnellite candidate to succeed him at South Roscommon. He

210-540: A wall and invited the soldiers to surrender. They refused and the most serious public disturbance in London since the Gordon Riots of 1780 gradually petered out. Watson was arrested on the evening of 2 December, but his son and Thistlewood escaped. Young Watson fled to the United States but Thistlewood was arrested as he tried to escape on a boat at Gravesend. Hooper and John Cashman, a sailor, had been arrested during

240-618: The Westmeath Examiner , published in Mullingar , County Westmeath , and a member of the Irish Board of Agriculture. He was imprisoned four times by the British administration under different Coercion Acts . He was the seventh son of Luke and Mary Hayden of County Roscommon , and was educated at St Comans, Roscommon. In 1912 he married Henrietta Hill, daughter of Thomas Scott of Hannaville, Greenisland , County Antrim . Hayden founded

270-507: The Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act 1887 or "Perpetual Crimes Act", a Coercion Act aimed at the prevention of boycotting , intimidation , unlawful assembly and the organisation of conspiracies against the payment of agreed rents. The Act resulted in the imprisonment of hundreds of people including over twenty MPs. The act was condemned by the Catholic hierarchy since it was to become

300-573: The Local Disturbances, etc. (Ireland) Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4 . c. 4), the Protection of Life and Property in Certain Parts of Ireland Act 1871 ( 34 & 35 Vict. c. 25), and the Protection of Person and Property Act 1881 ( 44 & 45 Vict. c. 4). An Irish Coercion Bill was proposed by Sir Robert Peel on 15 May 1846 in order to calm the increasingly difficult situation in Ireland as

330-694: The Radical War in Scotland later that year. John Patrick Hayden John Patrick Hayden (25 April 1863 – 3 July 1954) was an Irish nationalist politician. As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party , he served in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1897 to 1918 as Member of Parliament (MP) for South Roscommon . He was also editor and proprietor of

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360-459: The Royal Exchange . Other incidents took place at Snow Hill and Minories , but after soldiers refused to hand over the Tower of London the rioters dispersed. In the aftermath of the riots, four leading Spenceans, John Hooper, Thomas Preston, Arthur Thistlewood and James Watson , were arrested and charged with high treason . Watson was tried first and the chief prosecution witness was John Castle,

390-552: The Westmeath Examiner in 1882, when he was not yet 20. In his early days he also made valuable contributions to Irish literature. He was an active campaigner during the Land War and Plan of Campaign of the 1880s. Like his older brother Luke Hayden , MP for South Leitrim and later for South Roscommon, John Hayden supported Charles Stewart Parnell during the split in the Irish nationalist movement from 1890 over Parnell's leadership. As

420-655: The British House of Commons in August 1914 committing Irish Volunteer support for Britain and her Allies and in the First World War . He was also one of the committee of six who drafted the Irish Parliamentary Party manifesto for the 1918 general election . After his Parliamentary defeat, Hayden continued to take an active part in the editorship of the Westmeath Examiner until a fortnight before his death. By

450-565: The Country!!! On 2 December another large crowd assembled in Spa Fields to hear Hunt. Before he arrived, however, both Watsons harangued the crowd and Watson junior picked up a tricolour flag, symbol of the French Revolution , and led off a section in the direction of the Tower. Most of the crowd stayed behind to listen to Hunt and the meeting passed off without incident. The rioters robbed

480-469: The Royal Exchange skirmish. Cashman was found guilty of theft of firearms and hanged on 12 March 1817. Hooper was acquitted but subsequently re-arrested and charged with high treason , along with Watson senior, Thistlewood and Preston. Young Watson's name was included on the charge sheet. Watson was tried first and the hearing took over a week. The chief prosecution witness was Castle, who had been on

510-629: The Spenceans advertised the second meeting with a number of inflammatory handbills, including one which quoted Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805: ENGLAND Expects every Man to do his Duty ___________________________ The Meeting in Spa Fields Takes Place at 12 o'clock On Monday, December 2nd. 1816 To receive the answer of the PETITION to the PRINCE REGENT, determined upon at

540-483: The Spenceans thought that more extreme action was needed. They called a mass public meeting at Spa Fields for 15 November 1816, with the object of marching to the Prince Regent's house to deliver their demands, which included universal (male) suffrage, annual parliaments, secret ballots and redistribution of land. They invited several leading radical speakers to attend, but Hunt was the only one to agree, and when he met

570-470: The act. Spa Fields riots The Spa Fields riots were incidents of public disorder arising out of the second of two mass meetings at Spa Fields , Islington , England on 15 November and 2 December 1816. The meetings had been planned by a small group of revolutionary Spenceans , who invited the popular radical speaker Henry Hunt to address the crowd. They hoped that the meetings would be followed by rioting, during which they would seize control of

600-662: The act. Many of them were active in the Irish National Land League ; this was sufficient for the "reasonable suspicion" required by the act. On 13 October 1881, IPP leader Charles Stewart Parnell was arrested under the act after his newspaper, the United Ireland , had attacked the Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 . As a response to the Plan of Campaign of the mid-1880s the new Chief Secretary for Ireland Arthur Balfour secured

630-493: The early 1900s Hayden was himself the target for hostile agitation headed by Laurence Ginnell , who saw him as symbolising the Irish Party's hypocritical tolerance of ‘grazing’, the operation of large tracts of land for cattle-rearing rather than as smaller holdings for poorer farmers. Hayden was a close associate of the leader of the Irish Party, John Redmond . He was consulted by Redmond before he made his historic statement in

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660-535: The government by taking the Tower of London and the Bank of England . The first meeting ended peacefully, with Hunt being elected to deliver a petition to the Prince Regent , requesting electoral reform and relief from hardship and distress. At the second meeting some of the Spenceans harangued the crowd before Hunt arrived and led away a section of it. The rioters raided a gunsmith's shop and exchanged gunfire with troops at

690-505: The last meeting held in the same place, and for other important Considerations THE PRESENT STATE OF GREAT BRITAIN Four Millions in Distress ;!!! Four Millions Embarrassed !!! One Million-and-half fear Distress !!! Half-a-million live in splendid Luxury !!! Death would now be a relief to Millions – Arrogance, Folly, and Crimes – have brought affairs to this dread Crisis. Firmness and Integrity can only save

720-486: The meeting be adjourned until parliament next sat, Watson's son, also called James Watson , persuaded the crowd to support the earlier date of 2 December. Young Watson, Thistlewood and some of the other Spenceans had only reluctantly agreed to Hunt's terms for the first meeting and wanted the second to end in riots. Hunt made two attempts to present the petition to the Prince Regent (without Burdett, who had declined to participate) but had been refused admittance. Meanwhile,

750-418: The organisers prior to the meeting he persuaded them not to march to the house and to moderate their demands by dropping land reform. Hunt was a very popular speaker and the meeting was attended by around 10,000 people. He prevented any departure from the agreed plan and the meeting passed off peacefully, with Hunt and Sir Francis Burdett being elected to deliver the petition. However, when Hunt proposed that

780-406: The organising committee for both meetings. Hunt appeared as a defence witness and accused Castle of trying to make him commit treasonable acts on at least two occasions. Defence counsel exposed previous instances where Castle had entrapped others into committing crimes and, without naming him as a spy, presented him to the jury as an agent provocateur. The jury accepted the defence's case and Watson

810-534: The total from 1801 to 1921 at 105. John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer said in the House of Lords that 87 such acts had been passed between the Acts of Union 1801 and 1887, a rate of one per year. The figure was repeated by John Redmond , whereas a writer in a Union Defence League pamphlet put the figure at 76 between 1801 and 1908, plus 22 during Grattan's Parliament (1782–1800). Some of the more notable Irish Coercion Acts were

840-664: Was found not guilty. No further evidence was presented against the other defendants and they were also acquitted. The riots marked the start of a period of mass anti-government meetings, marches and riots, including the subsequent march of the Blanketeers (March 1817), the Pentrich rising (June 1817) and the Peterloo Massacre (August 1819) and ending only after the failure of the Cato Street Conspiracy (February 1820) and

870-402: Was returned unopposed at the ensuing by-election and remained unopposed in the same seat at each succeeding general election until 1918, when he was defeated by the prominent Sinn Féiner Harry Boland by 10,685 votes to 4,233. Fitzpatrick (2003, pp. 109–12) gives a vivid account of the turbulent election campaign at South Roscommon in 1918. In spite of his role as a land campaigner, in

900-521: Was the first of over a hundred such Acts applied to Ireland under the Union . It was strongly opposed by the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), which filibustered the second reading for 41 hours. Eventually, the Speaker of the House of Commons , Henry Brand , resorted to ignoring IPP members of Parliament who requested the right of speech and put the question, a controversial move that allowed Gladstone to pass

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