We have new paper money, and railway tracks
We paid for the war with our new income tax
But too many soldiers are home from the war
Looking for work with us miserable poor
Me and all the family put on our Sunday best
We walked down to Saint Peter's Field to hear Hunt and the rest
Thousands were gathered, in perfect peace and calm
There for to listen, intending no harm
But before Mister Hunt or the others could talk
Many armed constables among us did walk
We quietly linked arms, the speakers to protect
But the magistrates grew fearful, and trouble did suspect
Concerned for the city, they called the yeomanry
And Hussars who'd fought at Waterloo, they say, for you and me
They crushed us with their horses, all swaggering and proud!
And tried to reach the constables, lost among the crowd
The brutal yeoman cavalry attacked the people first
Farmers and their loaners, by far they were the worst
Drawing out their sabers, they slashed through the crowd
Men woman and children, all screaming out loud
Farmers and their loaners, oh yes they wore the worst
Why was this country England with violence so cursed?
We paid for the war with our new income tax
But too many soldiers are home from the war
Looking for work with us miserable poor
Me and all the family put on our Sunday best
We walked down to Saint Peter's Field to hear Hunt and the rest
Thousands were gathered, in perfect peace and calm
There for to listen, intending no harm
But before Mister Hunt or the others could talk
Many armed constables among us did walk
We quietly linked arms, the speakers to protect
But the magistrates grew fearful, and trouble did suspect
Concerned for the city, they called the yeomanry
And Hussars who'd fought at Waterloo, they say, for you and me
They crushed us with their horses, all swaggering and proud!
And tried to reach the constables, lost among the crowd
The brutal yeoman cavalry attacked the people first
Farmers and their loaners, by far they were the worst
Drawing out their sabers, they slashed through the crowd
Men woman and children, all screaming out loud
Farmers and their loaners, oh yes they wore the worst
Why was this country England with violence so cursed?
Contributed by Dq82 - 2019/3/22 - 12:07
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Bloody men
Il 16 agosto 1819, a Manchester, in località St. Peter's Field (da cui il nome Peterloo, ricalcato ironicamente su quello di Waterloo, data anche la presenza, tra i soldati che spararono, di alcuni veterani che avevano partecipato alla celebre battaglia) la cavalleria represse nel sangue una rivolta popolare. Durante un comizio pacifico convocato per chiedere al parlamento britannico la riforma elettorale, la folla di circa 80.000 persone fu dispersa con la forza dalla cavalleria che provocò undici morti e diverse centinaia di feriti.
La fine delle guerre napoleoniche nel 1815 aveva portato a periodi di carestia e disoccupazione, e questa situazione fu esacerbata dall'introduzione di dazi sull'importazione di derrate agricole, le Corn Laws. All'inizio del 1819, la pressione generata dalla povertà, accompagnata dalla mancanza di suffragio nell'Inghilterra settentrionale, aveva rafforzato l'avvento dei radicali. In risposta, l'Unione patriottica di Manchester, un gruppo che muoveva contro la riforma parlamentare, organizzò una manifestazione con il noto oratore radicale Henry Hunt.
Poco dopo la riunione, i magistrati locali ordinarono alle autorità militari di disperdere la folla e arrestare Hunt e altri candidati del suo gruppo. La cavalleria caricò la folla con sciabole sguainate, e nella confusione che ne seguì 15 persone furono uccise e 400-700 furono ferite.