Newport Chartists Vol.5, p.20

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put him into possession of the further information that I had received &
concurred with him on the arrangements that were necessary on his part we
requested he would accompany me to confer with the Lord Lieutenant of the
County who was waiting for us at the Kings Head Inn - On my way I
called upon the Superintendent of Police and directed him to summon the
Special Constables for nine o'clock that evening instead of Tuesday - I then
called upon the Lord Lieutenant and with Captain Stack discussed the
arrangements which had been made and it having transpired during our
conversation that Pontypool was without any troops - Captain Stack said that
if a Corporal with four or five men could be made available they could be
spared without weakening his position - Mr Leigh at first hesitated to allow
this force to be sent but I suggested that the arrival of Soldiers would be soon known
& would shew the Chartists that their plans had been discovered & that preparations
had been made to resist them & as they would be ignorant of the number of the troops it
was desirable the small detachment sho-d be sent up & they were accordingly dispatched to
Pontypool in a Post Chaise - In the course of the evening I conferred with the other Borough
Magistrates Mr Brewer & Mr Edwards & it was arranged that all the Special Constables
who were above 500 in number sho-d be summoned part to assemble at the Kings Head
part at the Westgate and part at the Parrot; that Mr Edwards should remain with
the Troops at the Barracks and that Mr Brewer & myself should be in attendance
with the Special Constables and be prepared to give such directions as might be
necessary during the night - About 7 o'clock a person of the name of Ricketts was
brought to my house & informed me that on his way that evening from Bassalleg to
Newport he had been overtaken by two men who would not give him their names
but who informed him that there would be sad work in Newport during the night
& requested him to call on Mr Lewis Edwards and on me and inform us we
ought to remove from our houses with our families - Soon afterwards Mr Stephen
Iggulden the Landlord of the the Carpenters Arms at Newport called on me to say that
a person had come to his house during the previous night and had been sent on
in a carriage to Monmouth who he believed was a Messenger sent by the Chartists
on the Hills to Birmingham and that on his arrival at Monmouth he had taken
another Carriage to proceed towards Worcester - Before 9 o'clock I received distinct information
from three persons who had come to Newport from the Collieries that the Chartists were
actually assembling before they left their homes - I left my house & proceeded to
the Westgate Hotel where I found about 20 Special Constables assembled & having put them
into possess-n of the information I had received I proceeded to the Kings Head where I found

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