persons who were prominent in the agitation; but, cowardly as they were cruel, they incarcerated only those whom they supposed to be friendless, and with whom, as they thought, the middle classes would have no sympathy. Regardless of the odium which their neighbours attached to everyone who showed any commisseration for the sufferings of the distressed multitudes, the Messrs. Potters, at a time when probably not more than twenty men, of the class of merchants and manufacturers, could be found to act with them, stood forward and raised the means to obtain for the incarcerated a fair trial, and to support their families during their imprisonment.
In 1819 a deep tragedy was enacted in Manchester, to which we can now only allude, but which cannot be, and ought never to be forgotten. The Messrs. Potters zealously assisted in raising a large subscription, not only for the relief of the sufferers, but to secure that which every British subject claims as his right, but which, at that time, was of difficult attainment, a fair trial. We well remember, at one of the numerous meetings then held, not to sanction the proceedings of the 'radicals,' as they were then called, but to obtain justice for the falsely accused, Mr. Thomas Potter saying: 'Gentlemen, I have not the talent for public business possessed by my brother Richard, but I promise you that I will work in our business, that he may devote himself freely to the protection of the oppressed.'
"In 1826, a meeting, mainly promoted by the Messrs. Potters, was held in the Manor Court Room, to petition for a reduction of taxes and the repeal of the Corn Law, at which Mr. Mark Philips appeared for the first time before the public. That assemblage is memorable, as about the first movement amongst the middle classes for free trade in the food of the people, now advocated by the highest intellect of the country, and the agitation of which has contributed, more than anything else, to throw distrust on all party contests, and to direct men's attention, regardless of the old names and claims of whig and tory, to the only true object of legislation, the benefit of the whole community.
"In 1828, the then ruling party in the management of the municipal affairs of the town, applied for an act of parliament, by which it was proposed that no person should be eligible as a police commissioner, unless he was assessed at a rental of £40 a year, and that no person should vote in the election of a commissioner who was not assessed in a rental of £25 a-year. The Messrs. Potters entered, with their usual earnestness, into the opposition, and after a hard contest for extending the right of voting to all ratepayers, and then to all who were assessed on a £10 rental, the respective qualifications were fixed, by parliament, at £16 and £28. Public dissatisfaction with the act ultimately led to the demand for that liberal charter of incorporation, for which the