Following the Peterloo Massacre on 16 August 1819, the government of the United Kingdom acted to prevent any future disturbances by the introduction of new legislation, the so-called Six Acts aimed at suppressing any meetings for the purpose of radical reform. Élie Halévy considered them a panic-stricken extension of "the counter-revolutionary terror ... under the direct patronage of Lord Sidmouth and his colleagues";^[1] some later historians have treated them as relatively mild gestures towards law and order, only tentatively enforced.^[2]

The setting, and the passing of the acts

Following the Yeomanry killing of unarmed men and women in St Peter's Field (Peterloo),^[3] a wave of protest meetings swept the North of England, spilling over into the Midlands and the Lowlands, and involving in all some seventeen counties.^[4] Local magistrates appealed in the face of the protests for central support; and in response the Parliament of the United Kingdom was reconvened on 23 November and the new acts were introduced by the Home Secretary, Henry Addington. By 30 December the legislation was passed, despite the opposition of the Whigs to both their principles and many of their details.

The acts were aimed at gagging radical newspapers, preventing large meetings, and reducing what the government saw as the possibility of armed insurrection. During the Commons debates, each of the parties appealed to the example of the French Revolution to make their case. The Tories pointed to the weakness of the French forces of law and order; the Whigs, conversely, to the need for the safety valve of free speech and a free press.

Strengthened by their success at the 1818 elections, the Whigs were able to make three significant amendments to the bills as originally proposed: public meetings were to be allowed behind closed doors, and the ban on outside meetings was to be limited in time; transportation of Press offenders was made more difficult; and the curtailment of legal delays was extended to include prosecution as well as defendant.^[5] Nevertheless, the Six Acts were eventually passed by prime minister Lord Liverpool and his colleagues, as part of their repressive approach focused on preventing a British revolution.

Details of the acts

Unlawful Drilling Act 1819
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to prevent the training of Persons to the Use of Arms, and to the Practice of Military Evolutions and Exercise.
Citation	60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4. c. 1
Territorial extent	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Dates
Royal assent	11 December 1819
Commencement	11 December 1819
Other legislation
Amended by	Statute Law Revision Act 1873 Public Authorities Protection Act 1893 Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1989
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1983 (Republic of Ireland) Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2008
Status: Partially repealed
Status
Northern Ireland	Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted

Seizure of Arms Act 1819
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to authorise Justices of the Peace in certain disturbed Counties to seize and detain Arms collected or kept for purposes dangerous to the Public Peace to continue in force until the Twenty fifth Day of March One thousand eight hundred and twenty two.
Citation	60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4. c. 2
Dates
Royal assent	18 December 1819
Expired	25 March 1822
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1873
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Misdemeanours Act 1819
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to prevent Delay in the Administration of Justice in Cases of Misdemeanor.
Citation	60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4. c. 4
Dates
Royal assent	23 December 1819
Text of statute as originally enacted

Seditious Meetings Act 1819
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for more effectually preventing Seditious Meetings and Assemblies; to continue in force until the End of the Session of Parliament next after five Years from the passing of the Act.
Citation	60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4. c. 6
Introduced by	Lord Castlereagh (Lords)
Territorial extent	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Dates
Royal assent	24 December 1819
Expired	6 July 1825
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1873
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Criminal Libel Act 1819
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for the more effectual Prevention and Punishment of blasphemous and seditious Libels.
Citation	60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4. c. 8
Dates
Royal assent	30 December 1819
Status: Partially repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

Newspaper and Stamp Duties Act 1819
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to subject certain Publications to the Duties of Stamps upon Newspapers and to make other Regulations for restraining the Abuses arising from the Publication of blasphemous and seditious Libels.
Citation	60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4. c. 9
Dates
Royal assent	30 December 1819
Other legislation
Repealed by	Newspapers, Printers, and Reading Rooms Repeal Act 1869
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The six acts were:

• The Training Prevention Act, now known as the Unlawful Drilling Act 1819 (60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4. c. 1), made any person attending a meeting for the purpose of receiving training or drill in weapons liable to arrest and transportation. More simply stated, military training of any sort was to be conducted only by municipal bodies and above.
• The Seizure of Arms Act (60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4. c. 2) gave local magistrates the powers, within the disturbed counties, to search any private property for weapons and seize them and arrest the owners.^[6]
• The Misdemeanours Act (60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4. c. 4) attempted to increase the speed of the administration of justice by reducing the opportunities for bail and allowing for speedier court processing.
• The Seditious Meetings Act (60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4. c. 6) required the permission of a sheriff or magistrate in order to convene any public meeting of more than 50 people if the subject of that meeting was concerned with "church or state" matters. Additional people could not attend such meetings unless they were inhabitants of the parish.
• The Blasphemous and Seditious Libels Act (or Criminal Libel Act) (60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4. c. 8),^[7] toughened the existing laws to provide for more punitive sentences for the authors of such writings. The maximum sentence was increased to fourteen years' transportation.
• The Newspaper and Stamp Duties Act (60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4. c. 9) extended and increased taxes to cover those publications which had escaped duty by publishing opinion and not news. Publishers were also required to post a bond for their behaviour.

Repeal of the acts, and their influence

Different time-scales applied to the different acts.

• The prohibition of drilling was maintained into the twentieth century,^[8] and only repealed in 2008.^[9]
• By contrast, the seizure of arms was set up to elapse after 27 months;^[10] while the Seditious Meetings Prevention Act had a five-year time limit built in, and was repealed in 1824.
• G. M. Trevelyan considered that "The most lasting injury to the community was done by the Act imposing a four-penny stamp on all periodical publications"—a charge reduced (to a penny) in 1836, before such taxes on knowledge finally vanished mid-century.^[11]

The Six Acts went down in folk history, alongside Peterloo, as symbols of the repressive nature of the Pittite regime.^[12]