In all periods of our history, instances were to be found of the evils arising from tumultuous assemblies; and experience must show, from the frequency with which they were now held, the absolute necessity for their suppression.

Speech in the House of Lords introducing the Seditious Meetings Bill (9 December 1795), quoted in The Parliamentary History of England from the Earliest Period to the Year 1803, Vol. XXXII. Comprising the Period from the Twenty-Seventh Day of May 1795, to the Second Day of March 1797 (1818), column 529