"Attend, my Sons, and you, my friends, draw near,And on my last remain bestow a tear;Your dear, dearPunch, must yield his nect'rous breath,And ere to-morrow noon submit to death.No hopes of pardon, no reprieve is nigh,My death is sign'd: and must I, must I die?It is resolv'd.—Then rouse your noble souls,And crownthisnight with cheerful flowing bowls;Let none but you, my friends, support my pall,And bilk those fops who triumph in my fall[51:A]."Numberless evasions of the Act were practised; and even Apothecaries were tempted to retail Gin under the specious name of a medicine or cordial.The month of July 1736 afforded a singularpopular explosion, contrived in the following strange manner. A brown paper parcel, which had been placed unobserved near the side-bar of the Court of King's-bench, Westminster-hall, blew up during the solemn proceedings of the Courts of Justice assembled, and scattered a number of printed bills, giving notice, that on the last day of Term five Acts of Parliament would be publicly burnt in the hall, between the hours of twelve and one, at the Royal Exchange, and at St. Margaret's hill, which were the Gin Act, the Smuggling Act, the Mortmain Act, the Westminster Bridge Act, and the Act for borrowing 600,000l.on the Sinking fund.One of the bills was immediately carried to the Grand Jury then sitting, who found it an infamous libel, and recommended the offering of a reward to discover the author.The labourers and weavers of Spitalfields were infected with a contagiousmaniaat the same period, which led them to suppose that numbers of Irishmen had recently arrived in London, for the purpose of working at under-prices and starvingthem. Influenced by a species of despair they assembled in crowds, and proceeded to Brick-lane, Whitechapel, where they immediately attacked a house supposed to contain Irishmen, and completely destroyed it, bearing away the furniture in triumph; but they lost one man, and had several wounded, by a musket discharged amongst them from the house. The neighbouring Magistrates, alarmed at this outrage, immediately attended at the scene of action, and read the Riot Act, but without effect, although the Tower Hamlet association and a party of the Tower guard were summoned to their assistance; nor did they desist till a company of Regulars dispersed them by force.Several severe combats occurred between the English and Irish in other parts of the town, in which much mischief was done to each party. The cause appears to have originated chiefly through the parsimony of the person who contracted to erect the new church of St. Leonard Shoreditch, in employing no other than Irish labourers at five or six shillings a week, when the British demanded twelve shillings. These two affairs occurring nearly together led government to suspect the authors of the paper-plot, and the rioters, or at least their leaders, to have been connected in seditious if not treasonable designs.An estimate was made in July 1738 of the numbers convicted under the Act for preventing the excessive use of spirituous liquors. Claims were entered at the Excise-office by 4000 personsfor the 5l.allowed to the informer from the penalty of 100l., 4896 such convictions having taken place. 3000 persons paid 10l.each to avoid being sent to Bridewell; and it was computed that 12,000 informations had been laid within the bills of mortality only. It is therefore not to be wondered at that the newspapers frequently mentioned the quiet and decency observed in the streets subsequent to these convictions; but in effecting them several informers were killed, and others dreadfully hurt, by the mob.It sometimes happens that articles of information are so vaguely mentioned in the public papers, that, though they might be understood by their contemporaries, we are at a loss to comprehend them. An instance of this kind occurred in August 1757, when a number of riotous persons assembled before the Craven-arms, Southampton-street, with an intention to level it with the earth, and destroy the goods; but for what reason the papers are silent. The officers of the Police attended, but were beat off with stones; and it was two o'clock in the morning before two serjeants and twenty-four soldiers of the guards could disperse them; at which hour fourteen were apprehended, several wounded, and two were afterwards committed to prison. The following letter was sent on this occasion to Mr. Justice Fielding:Christ-church, Surrey, Aug. 13, 1757."Sir,"We beg leave to acquaint you, that the house known by the sign of the Craven-arms, in Southampton-street, belongs to a charity in our parish; and we therefore beg the favour of you to use what methods shall seem right to prevent the populace doing any farther damage to it: and as to any extraordinary expence which may happen on this account, the trustees will readily pay. A Committee of the Trustees of the Charity will be immediately called, and they will do themselves the pleasure of waiting on you. We are, Sir, &c.Jackson, Rector,Bartho. Payne, Churchwarden.Henry Bunn, Secretary to the Trust[54:A]."Nothing particular occurred for upwards of a year after the above outrage; but in October 1758, the brutality of the mob was excited by the interment of Mr. Wilson, an undertaker and pawnbroker, who had kept the Punch-bowl near Moorgate. The cause of their resentment proves that a British mob generally acts upon a noble principle; as the deceased was reported to have left a legacy of 200l.to be paid in groats to those persons who were then imprisoned at his suit, though he died rich. This malice from the grave justly exasperated all who knew of it; and their anger was properly inflamed by observing that a detachment of the Artillery company, to which Wilson had belonged, intended to pay him military honours on the way to Islington, where he was to be buried. Every mark of abhorrence and contempt consequently ensued from an astonishing number of persons, who severely hurt each other by collision; and it was with the utmost difficulty that the priest performed his office.I am sorry to add that at the same time some miscreants in the middle rank of life, inflamed by dissipation, were in the practice of pretending to fight every evening on Ludgate-hill, for the diabolical pleasure of dealing blows indiscriminately on peaceable passengers; and, to use their ownwords, "in order to see the claret run." These wretches who thus wantonly attacked the publick, broke the leg of a Constable, and bruised several watchmen, before they could secure two of them, who were committed till the Constable recovered.Five years passed without producing a single offence committed by numbers acting under temporary impulse; at length an affray happened between certain Irish chairmen and sailors, who were all inflamed by liquor, drank in honour of the election held in Covent-garden March 1763. After they had abused each other with the usual language of vulgar irritation, a challenge was offered by a chairman to fight the best sailor present: this ended in the defeat of the Irishman, who was instantly reinforced by his brethren, when a general attack with pokers, tongs, fenders, &c. &c. commenced on the sailors; those, supported by a party of unarmed soldiers, drove their antagonists from the field, and immediately proceeded to demolish every chair they could find. These outrages continued till evening, and by that time a general muster of chairmen had taken place, who, exasperated to madness, beat down men, women, and children, in their progress to the scene of action, where a dreadful conflict was prevented by a party of Soldiers from the Savoy, whose exertions accomplished the capture of some of the ringleaders, but not before a Soldier and a Sailor, and three other persons, had beendangerously wounded, and the King's-head ale-house almost demolished.The hardy seamen, defenders of our island, are excellent subjects when on-board their respective ships, but they are very apt to be turbulent on shore; another instance of which succeeded the Covent-garden riot almost immediately, though the cause was different. The conduct of the Sailor is generally exceedingly thoughtless: low drinking-houses and women are their favourite sources of amusement; and the keepers of the former, united with the latter, never fail to make them repent, as far as their insensible minds are susceptible. The Police of the Tower Hamlets, aware of this, frequently sent peace-officers to houses of ill-fame, in order to apprehend the most obnoxious inmates; and in pursuit of this laudable custom several women and a few sailors were sent to the Round-house in March 1763. On the following morning they were taken before the Magistrates then assembled at the Black-horse near the Victualling-office for examination; there numbers of Sailors collected, and demanded the release of their comrades, which the Justices complied with; but, still dissatisfied, they insisted on the enlargement of the women. This presumptuous request was, however, positively refused, and the Magistrates, dreading the consequences, sent three different times for detachments of Soldiers to support their authority, and as an equipoise for the increasing numbers of theSailors, who assembled from all sides to the amount, it is said, of more than a thousand: the Riot Act was read no less than three times to no purpose, during which time the Sailors had obtained flags from the shipping, and having marshalled themselvesin a line of battle, they bore downon the Soldiers drawn up to receive them. At the instant the commanding officer of the latter was about to pronounce the dreadful wordFire!a naval officer made his appearance in front of the Sailors, and intreated the order might be reserved till he had endeavoured to convince his brethren of the impropriety of their conduct. He then addressed himself to the Sailors, and said they would forfeit the favour of the King, who had promised to take off their R's; to which he added other arguments, and at length prevailed upon two-thirds of them to follow him to Tower-hill, where he dismissed them.A Serjeant and twelve Soldiers were sent about four o'clock on the same afternoon to Clerkenwell Bridewell, as an escort to eight of the women who had occasioned the riot. Those were pursued by a party of Sailors, and overtaken at Chiswell-street. The instant release of the prisoners was demanded and refused, when one of the Soldiers fired, and wounded a Sailor and a Baker; but, as the assailants became more violent after this precipitation, the Serjeant wisely determined to resign his charge, rather than cause farther bloodshed.The Weavers resident in Spital-fields were the next disturbers of the public peace. Those useful members of Society had long disputed with their employers respecting their wages; and at length a compromise took place, when printed papers of the various prices of their work were distributed, in order to prevent future disputes. Some avaricious master-weavers, however, thought proper to reduce the weaving of certain articles one half-pennyperyard; and hence the riots, which commenced with the destruction of the looms belonging to one of the most active opponents of the journeymen, whose effigies they afterwards placed in a cart, hanged, and burnt. This conduct, though highly improper, was innocence compared with that now to be related, which originated in the strange folly and wickedness of Seamen almost at the same time. The narrative was compiled from the minutes of the Coroner's Inquest."On Thursday last an inquisition was taken in Holywell-street, Shoreditch, upon the bodies of Ralph Meadows and John Whitrow, two of the persons killed in the late riot before a public house, known by the sign of the Marquis of Granby's-head, in Holywell-street. The inquisition lasted six hours. It appeared in the evidence, that on Monday last, about one o'clock, a great mob assembled before and in the dwelling-house of Thomas Kelly the publican, committing outrages; that on application to two Magistrates,they wrote to the Lieutenant of the third regiment of foot-guards, then on duty, with an Ensign and 100 men under his command, in Spital-fields, on account of a late riot there, acquainting him, that there was a great mob assembled in Holywell-street, Shoreditch, who had broke open a house in a violent and outrageous manner, to the terror of his Majesty's quiet subjects, and in breach of the peace; and desiring him to attend with a proper force to disperse the mob and stop their proceedings."The Lieutenant assembled as many of his men as the short notice would permit, before the passage door leading to the said public house, where he found a great crowd of people; and on going into the house with the Justices' order in his hand, he found some very desperate fellows in it, some in sailors' habits, who were cursing and swearing that they would not leave the house, but do what they pleased; one of them behaving in a very affronting manner to the Lieutenant, some of the soldiers led him out. About three o'clock, the Lieutenant prevailed on them to depart, and they went away quietly, leaving only a crowd of people standing before the passage door, who had gathered there out of curiosity. The Lieutenant then withdrew himself, leaving only a Serjeant, Corporal, and twelve private soldiers, which he did at the solicitation of the publican, who was afraid of a second attack. The Lieutenant then went to dinner, and informed the Serjeant hewould return in an hour. For about half an hour all was quiet; and then a gentleman came up to the Serjeant, and bade him take care of himself, as there was a body of sailors coming up the street, d—ing their eyes, declaring, 'they would clear the soldiers, and pull the house down.' The Serjeant seeing them advance, looked round to the soldiers, and said, 'There they come;' and ordered his men to stand to their arms, and he would meet the rioters, but bade them fix their bayonets. He approached about twelve yards towards the rioters, and pulled off his hat, and said, 'Gentlemen, I hope you do not come with any intent to make a disturbance.' They d—ned their eyes, and informed him, that 'they had got one man, and would have the landlord of the house.' The Serjeant, telling them 'that he was placed there by an order from the civil power to take care of the house and preserve the peace,' returned to his command. The sailors then advanced, and some of them mounted the sign-post, and to prevent their getting up, some of the soldiers gently struck them with their pieces; but the Serjeant, finding them resolute to take down the sign, ordered the soldiers to let them, and informed the soldiers, that he was then in hopes to disperse them without mischief. As soon as the sign was down, they gave a huzza, and some of them called out, 'Now for the landlord,' and in a riotous manner advanced with their sticks towards the passage which the soldiers were guarding.The Serjeant informed them he could not admit them into the house upon any account: upon which they began to beat with their sticks, and press on the soldiers; and the serjeant ordered the soldiers to charge (which is fixing their musquets breast high) but it had no effect: they then assaulted the soldiers with pieces of brick, tile, and great quantities of mud, and forced two bayonets from the musquets, one of which was broke, and the other was taken up by one of the sailors, with which he made a full push at the Serjeant, but he happily warded it off with his halbert; and the sailors got between him and his men, and attacked them with such violence that they were forced into the passage which leads to the public-house, and thereupon a battle ensued, and the Serjeant used all his endeavours to come to his men, but he was prevented by the sailors, and received several blows. The men being thus pressed into the passage, were obliged to fire, and two pieces were discharged, which, from the faint report, and no mischief being done, and the sailors not giving way, the witnesses all declared, that they believed the pieces were loaded with gunpowder only. The sailors continuing to press violently upon the soldiers, and endeavouring to force the passage, the soldiers fired again, and two men, amongst the rioters, were seen to drop."The sailors now became very desperate, and most violently assaulted the soldiers with their sticks; and the soldiers were, through inevitablenecessity, in defence of their lives, and for the public peace, obliged to fire, and the firing continued till they cleared the passage and street before it, which was very soon done: upon which the Serjeant took the opportunity of running to his men, and cried out, 'For God's sake fire no more.' He then drew all his men out of the passage, and formed a square in the street, and ordered them to ease their arms, and on looking about him he saw three men lying dead in the street, two of which appeared to be sailors. Several of the soldiers' fingers were bloody from the blows they received from the rioters. In the riot two sailors jumped into a window belonging to a butcher's house, near the public-house, and one of them taking a chopper out of the shop, endeavoured to rush by the Corporal into the passage to the public-house, but was seized by the Corporal to prevent his going in, by which means the Corporal's hand was cut by the chopper to such a degree, that he was obliged to be sent to an hospital."The witnesses swore, that they verily believed the soldiers were obliged to fire in defence of their lives, as well as for the preservation of the public peace; and the Jury were well satisfied with the evidence before them."The Coroner, in summing up the evidence, distinguished between murder, manslaughter, and justifiable or excusable homicides, both voluntaryand involuntary; and chance-medley, or homicide by misadventure; under one of which classes, he informed the Jury, the present case must fall. He observed, that the soldiers did not come to that place wantonly to do an injury, but were called in, as the Lieutenant understood, and so called it (when he produced his authority) in his evidence, 'by an order from the civil power,' to suppress the rioters, and preserve the King's peace; and whether the civil power had taken the proper steps before applying to the military, or whether the notice sent to the Lieutenant was a legal warrant or order, or not, were not matters of their enquiry; for that, supposing a Justice of Peace should issue an illegal warrant, and an officer should be killed in the execution of it, in that case the party killing would be deemed a murderer; for the officer was obliged to execute his office: he is not supposed to be a judge of law; he is only a minister of Justice, and the party had a legal remedy, if he had been improperly arrested. The Coroner said, that the conduct of the military power upon that occasion was the immediate subject of their enquiry; that, if the Jury gave credit to the witnesses, the major part of whom were disinterested persons, the soldiers did not fire till they were pressed to it, by inevitable necessity, in defence of their own lives, and for the preservation of the public peace; and in killing any of the rioters, had done no morethan 'Justifiable Homicides' of inevitable necessity, for the preservation of the King's peace, and in defence of themselves; and added, that in such case, if any person was killed that was not concerned in the riot, but unfortunately hemmed in by the rioters, or was passing along at that time, in that case it would be chance-medley, or homicideper infortunium, that is, death by misadventure; and as it did not appear to the Jury that the persons upon whom they then sat were acting in the riot, the Jury found the special matter, and brought in their verdict Homicides by Misadventure."After the riot by the sailors was over, the people collected, and were so much enraged against the soldiers, that the Lieutenant was obliged to send to the Tower for a reinforcement to prevent mischief; and they continued under arms till near twelve at night, when he withdrew, leaving at the public-house a Serjeant, Corporal, and twenty private men, who, reporting the next morning that all was well, were ordered to their several quarters."A third scene of popular tumult occurred before the close of the year 1763, and was caused by the execution of the sentence of burning Mr. Wilkes's celebrated Number 45 of the North Briton.The 3d of December was appointed for this silly ceremony, which took place before theRoyal Exchange amidst the hisses and execrations of the mob, not directed at the obnoxious paper, but at Alderman Harley, the Sheriffs, and constables; the latter of whom were compelled to fight furiously through the whole business. The instant the hangman held the work to a lighted link it was beat to the ground; and the populace, seizing the faggots prepared to complete its destruction, fell upon the peace-officers, and fairly threshed them from the field; nor did the Alderman escape without a contusion on the head, inflicted by a billet thrown through the glass of his coach; and several other persons had reason to repent the attempt to burn that publicly which thesovereign peopledetermined to approve, who afterwards exhibited a largejack bootat Temple-bar, and burnt it in triumph, unmolested, as a species of retaliation.February in the following year produced another description of outrage; and, as the mob arranged themselves on the side of Liberty in the above instance, they determined in the following to adopt the cause of Justice, though, as it almost always happens, they listened only tooneside of the case; in short, they are generally a Jury who retire for a verdict when the evidencefor the prosecutionis closed. The Ambassador from the Emperor of Morocco resided in Panton-square, and had in his suite a female servant who was arrested for debt, and sent to a receiving orspunginghouse. When the Resident heard of this violation of diplomatic privilege, he immediately demanded that the woman should be restored to liberty; and the officer in whose custody she was, knowing of the illegality of the arrest, complied. So far all was right; but the plaintiff (a chairman) despising the law of Nations, watched at the Ambassador's door, and as soon as he obtained a glimpse of his debtor claimed heras his wife, and under that claim compelled her to attend him to a public-house in the neighbourhood. Though the good lady strained every faculty in denying his assumed rights, her clamour, of no avail with the chairman, reached the ears of her fellow servants, who, melted with her distress, sallied forth, and manfully released the captive from the fangs of a number of the captor's brethren, whom he had wisely stationed at the public-house to assist him in his views. Thus defeated, the creditor adopted a most certain method to carry his point. He therefore assembled hispossein front of the Ambassador's house, and began his operations by loud complaints, intended for the ears of those who passed, that the servants of his Excellency had forcibly seized on his wife, and conveyed her for some very dreadful purpose into his mansion, where she was detained to his inexpressible grief and terror. A hint of this description is sufficient in the streets of London; curiosity soon collects acrowd, and the idea of injustice or oppression flies like lightning from male to female, kindling in its progress the very essence of indignation, and an immediate resolve to execute summary justice. An hundred voices demanded the woman; an hundred arms were lifted at the same moment with hands grasping dirt and stones, which they hurled at the inoffensive windows without effect. At this moment a cry to burst the door was accompanied by a successful effort, and in rushed the mob; every thing that could be broken in the parlours was demolished, and used as weapons for forcing the besieged, now driven to the stairs head of the first floor, where they appeared, commanded by the Ambassador and a gentleman, armed with drawn sabres. Intimidated at the glances of the shining steel, the besiegers dared not ascend, but made a drawn battle of the affair. A cannonade of legs and arms of chairs, and other articles of broken furniture, succeeded, which no sooner reached the heads of those above than they were darted back with additional velocity. Captain Woolaston of the guards happened to pass through the square with a party of soldiers, on his way to protect the sufferers from a fire then raging in Eagle-street; and, attracted by the shouts of the contending forces, examined into the affair, and soon dispersed the rioters, several of whom were afterwards apprehended by Justice Welch, and committed to prison.In May 1764 several footmen who had attended their masters to Ranelagh thought proper to attack certain gentlemen there for refusing vails to their servants; and, not contented with hissing and abusingthem, proceeded to destroy the fences, break the lamps, and throw stones through the windows upon the company in the Rotunda. The ringleaders were as usual apprehended, and constables were afterwards placed at Ranelagh to preserve the peace; but the best part of the fact is that those worthy officers of Justice actually drank till they were intoxicated on a subsequent evening, andfought in the midst of the company.We have now arrived at a period when riot and outrage was, to use a modern phrase,organized; every real or imaginary evil led to extremities, and the quiet Citizen passed his days in constant apprehension. The year 1768 commenced with a fresh display of the turbulence of weavers, who went well armed to the houses of other journeymen in the same business, called single-handed Weavers, to revenge the injuries asserted to have been inflicted by them on the engine-loom Weavers, where they secured several, and conveyed them to a Magistrate; and it appeared on examination their complaints were well founded, as they proved the prisoners and their brethren had even fired into their windows. Others in April, armed with cutlasses, pistols, &c. and indisguise, went at 12 o'clock at night to the residences of several journeymen in Spital-fields; and cut to pieces 16 looms, with their contents, which belonged to Messrs. Everard and Phipps. On a subsequent nocturnal excursion those miscreants narrowly escaped from a party of soldiers who had nearly surrounded them unperceived.Influenced by the above pernicious examples, the Coal-heavers of the Metropolis entered into combinations before the end of April; and collecting in considerable numbers went through Wapping, and thence on board of colliers, where with weapons in hand they compelled their sable brethren to desist from working, and even dangerously wounded several. In this instance the military prevented greater outrages.In May a large body of Sailors with drums and flags proceeded in two divisions to St. James's Palace, and presented a petition to the King, praying for an increase of their pay in consideration of the high price of provisions. On the 10th of the same month, and at four o'clock in the morning, many boats, manned by Sailors and Coal-heavers, entered upon a survey of the wharfs above Blackfriars-bridge, and compelled all they found at work to join them; others patroled the streets, and collected those who were at home and in public-houses; when they began their operations by forcing the drivers of carts and waggons loaded with coals, flour, and wood, to return whencethey came. After this operation had been completely accomplished, they marched in a body, increasing as they went, to Stepney-fields, whence parties of them proceeded to unrig such vessels as they chose to prevent from sailing. The fraternity of Sawyers, equally refractory, destroyed an excellent saw-mill then recently erected by Charles Dingley, Esq. almost at the same instant.Government acted on this trying occasion with great lenity, or was under the influence of fear; and it plainly appears that the safety of the publick in their lives and property originated rather from thetemperedmadness of the rioters, than in any dread of resistance from the Police or the Military. We are told of the marching of troops, and of orders issued to Magistrates to be vigilant; yet the populace, inflamed by politicks, even ventured to chalk No. 45 on the coaches of the nobility as they passed through the streets. The cause of this irritation I hardly need inform my readers was Mr. Wilkes, whose conduct in attacking the Ministry had excited ministerial anger to a degree that alarmed all ranks of people lest arbitrary proceedings should be substituted for constitutional, to gratify that resentment; and some of the decisions of the Courts proved their fears to be well-founded. Thus far I have thought it necessary to state the cause, but by no means intend to enter into the merits of the case, which I shall conclude with Mr. Wilkes's address to theGentlemen, Clergy, and Freeholders of the county of Middlesex, in order to explain the origin of the subsequent bloodshed."Gentlemen,"In support of the liberties of this country against the arbitrary rule of Ministers, I was before committed to the Tower, and am now sentenced to this prison. Steadiness with, I hope, strength of mind, do not however leave me; for the same consolation follows me here, the consciousness of innocence, of having done my duty, and exerted all my poor abilities, not unsuccessfully, for this nation. I can submit even to far greater sufferings with cheerfulness, because that I see that my countrymen reap the happy fruits of my labours and cruel persecutions, by the repeated decisions of our sovereign Courts of Justice in favour of liberty. I therefore bear up with fortitude, and even glory that I am called to suffer in this cause, because I continue to find the noblest reward—the applause of my native country, of this great, free, and spirited people."I chiefly regret, gentlemen, that this confinement deprives me of the honour of thanking you in person according to my promise, and at present takes from me in a great degree the power of being useful to you. The will, however, to do every service to my constituents remains in its full force; and when my sufferingshave a period, the first day I regain my liberty shall restore a life of zeal in the cause and interests of the county of Middlesex."In this prison, in any other, in every place, my ruling passion will be the love of England and our free Constitution. To those objects I will make every sacrifice. Under all the oppressions which ministerial rage and revenge can invent, my steady purpose is to concert with you, and other true friends of this country, the most probable means of rooting out the remains of arbitrary power and Star-chamber inquisition, and of improving as well as securing the generous plans of freedom, which were the boast of our ancestors, and I trust will remain the noblest inheritance of our posterity, the only genuine characteristic of Englishmen. I have, &c. &c.John Wilkes."King's-bench Prison, May 5, 1768."Some circumstances had induced the populace to suppose it was the intention of Government to remove Mr. Wilkes from the King's-bench to the House of Commons on Tuesday, May 10. Many idle and curious persons probably assembled near the gates tokillan hour by gazing at a man who had excited their attention, and many others doubtlessly attended for riotous and unjustifiable purposes, which Mr. Wilkes or any real patriot must have disapproved, though in the usualblindness of zeal those purposes are generally disregarded as unworthy notice in the cause of liberty, when violent men choose to espouse her interest. A detestable incendiary, a successful villain, to whom I attribute the innocent deaths of those that fell on this fatal day, pasted certain doggrel lines on the prison walls which were read with avidity by the mob, and contributed to inflame their minds; they demanded the appearance of the prisoner with shouts, and at length several Magistrates and the military arrived, the paper was taken down, the riot commenced, the soldiers fired, and a young man named Allen fell under such circumstances as occasioned the following trial."Summary of the Trial of Donald Maclane, on Tuesday last, at Guildford Assizes, for the Murder of William Allen, jun. on the 10th of May last in St. George's Fields."Mr. Serjeant Leigh, Counsel for the prosecution, having opened the trial with a speech suitable to the purpose, proceeded to an examination of witnesses, and produced two, one Skidmore a discharged marine, and one Twaites a country lad, who had been about a fortnight in Mr. Allen's service as an ostler. These evidences swore positively to the identity of the prisoner, and were the only people on the part of the prosecution, who declared any knowledge of hisperson. The latter, however, differed in his own accounts of the transaction; and the testimony which he gave before the Coroner was contradicted by the deposition which he gave into Court."The next witnesses, Okins and Brawn, swear that they were in the cow-house with Mr. Allen at the time he was shot; and the latter particularly says, that he was going to strike down the soldier's musquet, which was levelled at the deceased, but that another soldier seeming ready to present at himself, the care which he had for his own life, together with his terror at the situation of Mr. Allen, obliged him to retire. Okins says, that when he heard the soldier threaten Mr. Allen, he (Okins) fell down with an excess of apprehension; neither, however, though so near to the soldier, could swear to his identity; and what is the more remarkable, each was unseen by the other, Okins never once recollecting Brawn's being present, and Brawn being equally ignorant of Okins. Several other witnesses appeared for the prosecution, but as they prove nothing so material as the evidences already mentioned, and chiefly tend to clear up what is universally admitted, namely, Mr. Allen's being wholly unconcerned in the riots of the day, it is not necessary to take any particular notice of them."The evidence for the prosecution being ended, the prisoner's Counsel produced their witnesses; the first of whom, Samuel Gillam, Esq. declared, that on the 10th of May, having been previously applied to by the Marshal of the King's Bench prison for a guard, he came into St. George's Fields, where a detachment of one hundred men, properly officered, had been ordered. Here the mob were exceedingly riotous; and Mr. Gillam tells us, that he himself was several times struck with a variety of missile articles. A paper had been stuck up against the prison, which seemed the raving of somepatrioticbedlamite, and in six lines, as stupid as they were seditious, talked about Liberty being confined with Mr. Wilkes, and desiring all good Englishmen to pay their daily homage, at the place where those invaluable blessings were lodged. This paper had been taken down by the Constables, a circumstance which gave thegenerousassertors of Freedom incredible offence, and they roared out, 'the paper, the paper, give us the paper.' Mr. Gillam answered, that if any person there would claim the property of the paper, it should be immediately restored, and gave it into Mr. Ponton's hands, before the rioters, to keep till somebody should be bold enough to make so particular a demand. This enraged the populace still farther, and a Patriot in two dirty red waistcoats, but withoutany coat, distinguished himself in throwing stones at the Magistrates, and the Constables received orders to apprehend him; in this service they were assisted by Mr. Murray, the Ensign on duty, and five or six grenadiers. The fellow fled, and was pursued by the grenadiers; he escaped into a Cow-house, and shut the door after him, but the soldiers continued their pursuit, and in a little time the report of a musquet was heard; in a few minutes after they returned, and Peter Mac Cloughlan, with an air of great concern, and a tone of much distress, informed Mr. Murray that his piece had gone off accidentally, and that a man was killed—'Damn you,' replied Mr. Murray, 'Who gave you orders to fire?' 'Nobody,' answered Mac Cloughlan; 'it went off entirely by accident.' This circumstance Mr. Gillam deposed he took particular notice of, because the man testified every natural sign of concern and humanity."The Cow-house has three doors or gates, one at each side, and another at one of the ends. The fellow in the red waistcoat got in at a side door, and is supposed to have escaped the opposite way; just at this unfortunate crisis young Mr. Allen, who was also in a red waistcoat, entered at the door out of which the rioter had fled, so that when the soldiers opened the door nearest to them, they found a person in a red waistcoat, and this person was shot by Mac Cloughlan, as he himselfconfessed; but whether by accident, or design is not at all necessary to the present object of enquiry; the enquiry now is, whether Mr. Allen was shot by Maclane, or whether he was not."Mr. Gillam swears peremptorily that Maclane is not the man who made the confession alluded to; and Corporal Neale, with Serjeant Earle, Serjeant Steuart, and several private men, who were that day in St. George's-fields, and some of whom were likewise at the Cow-house, in pursuit of the rioter, either declare, that they heard Mac Cloughlan's own acknowledgment of the fact, or swear that Maclane did not enter the Cow-house at all. One of the private men particularly, James Hide, says he was in the Cow-house when Mac Cloughlan's piece went off, and adds, that there was at that time nobody in it but the deceased, Mac Cloughlan, and himself."Many of the military witnesses swear that they can easily tell, by looking at a musquet, if it has been newly discharged; and they express themselves with certainty, that Maclane's was not discharged at all on the 10th of May. To this they add, that Mac Cloughlan, from an apprehension of consequences, has deserted."The evidence for the prosecution, however, took notice, that Maclane's musquet was particularly examined, and that he was even ordered from the ranks, upon a presumption, as they imagine, that the officers themselves were satisfiedhe was the person by whom Mr. Allen had been killed. But this circumstance is very well accounted for on the other side; where several of the witnesses prove, that after theaccidentaldischarge which Mac Cloughlan mentions of his piece, and the unhappy consequence, Mr. Murray, the Ensign, observing Maclane's musquet on a full cock, reproached him with negligence, and took the piece out of his hand to look at; Maclane mentioned in his excuse, that his flint was too large, and that if he kept it upon a half cock, he should lose all the priming from his pan."Some persons seeing the transaction, and hearing Maclane reproached, concluded he was the person who had shot Mr. Allen; and they pointed him out as a murderer; the officer, therefore, thought it necessary, for the man's security, to remove him from the ranks; but, finding him more liable to danger then than when he was with the corps, he ordered him to his former station.—However, as he was positively sworn to, the military were forced to give him up, notwithstanding their consciousness of his innocence; and Mr. Gillam, as a Magistrate, was obliged to receive the charge, notwithstanding he was so perfectly acquainted with Mac Cloughlan's declaration."Such was the general scope of the evidence on this trial; after which the Judge summed up the evidence, declined saying much fromhimself, as the question did not turn upon any difficult points; the Jury withdrew, and in about an hour returned with a verdict ofNot Guilty. Mr. Wilkes, who was all the time at the Red Lion Inn, opposite the Court, was taken to town the moment the prisoner was acquitted. He was only examined a few minutes by the Grand Jury. He was brought back on Tuesday night to the King's-bench Prison."The Grand Jury dismissed the bills against the officer and the other soldiers."The above trial began about half an hour after seven in the morning, and lasted near nine hours. The counsel for the prosecution were, Mr. Serjeant Leigh, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Lade, and Mr. Baker; those for the prisoner were, Mr. Hervey, Mr. Cox, Mr. Bishop, and Mr. Robinson."The lines alluded to in the trial were:"Let * * * * * Judges, Ministers combine,And here great Wilkes andLiberty confine;Yet in each English heart secure their fame is,In spite of crowded levies at St. J—s's.Then, while in prison Envy doomstheirstay,Here grateful Britons daily homage pay."It is by no means necessary to trace the effects of the several balls fired upon this occasion; it will be quite enough to add that the innocent alone suffered.To conclude the eventful story of poor Allen; his remains were deposited in the church-yard of St. Mary Newington, Surrey, wherepoliticalfriends honoured his memory with a handsome, if not a superb monument, thus inscribed:North side:"Sacred to the memory ofWilliam Allen,An Englishman of unspotted life and amiabledisposition,Who was inhumanly murdered near St. George's-fields, the 10th day of May, 1768, by the Scottish detachment from the army. His disconsolate parents, inhabitants of this parish, caused this tomb to be erected to an only son, lost to them and to the world, in his 20th year, as a monument of his virtues and their affection!"South side:"O disembody'd Soul! most rudely drivenFrom this low orb (our sinful seat) to Heaven;While filial piety can please the ear,Thy name will still occur, for ever dear:This very spot, now humaniz'd, shall craveFrom all a tear of pity on thy grave.}O flow'r of flow'rs! which we shall see no more,No kind returning Spring can thee restore:Thy loss thy hapless countrymen deplore."East side:"O earth! cover not thou my blood. Job xvi. 18."West side:"Take away the wicked from before the King, and his throne shall be established in righteousness. Prov. xxiii. 5."The unwarrantable inferences of the above inscription, and the spirit which dictated the exposure of it, removes the compassion that posterity would otherwise have felt for the parents of the innocent youth, whose situation was certainly not more pitiable than that of the relatives of the other persons killed on the same day. If we had a single doubt that the senior Allen became a tool of party after perusing the epitaph, the petition which he put into the King's own hands on the 5th of October will prove it beyond dispute. His cries for vengeance proceeded not from a broken spirit; such would have forgiven mankind long beforea year and three monthshad elapsed.
"Attend, my Sons, and you, my friends, draw near,And on my last remain bestow a tear;Your dear, dearPunch, must yield his nect'rous breath,And ere to-morrow noon submit to death.No hopes of pardon, no reprieve is nigh,My death is sign'd: and must I, must I die?It is resolv'd.—Then rouse your noble souls,And crownthisnight with cheerful flowing bowls;Let none but you, my friends, support my pall,And bilk those fops who triumph in my fall[51:A]."
"Attend, my Sons, and you, my friends, draw near,And on my last remain bestow a tear;Your dear, dearPunch, must yield his nect'rous breath,And ere to-morrow noon submit to death.No hopes of pardon, no reprieve is nigh,My death is sign'd: and must I, must I die?It is resolv'd.—Then rouse your noble souls,And crownthisnight with cheerful flowing bowls;Let none but you, my friends, support my pall,And bilk those fops who triumph in my fall[51:A]."
"Attend, my Sons, and you, my friends, draw near,
And on my last remain bestow a tear;
Your dear, dearPunch, must yield his nect'rous breath,
And ere to-morrow noon submit to death.
No hopes of pardon, no reprieve is nigh,
My death is sign'd: and must I, must I die?
It is resolv'd.—Then rouse your noble souls,
And crownthisnight with cheerful flowing bowls;
Let none but you, my friends, support my pall,
And bilk those fops who triumph in my fall[51:A]."
Numberless evasions of the Act were practised; and even Apothecaries were tempted to retail Gin under the specious name of a medicine or cordial.
The month of July 1736 afforded a singularpopular explosion, contrived in the following strange manner. A brown paper parcel, which had been placed unobserved near the side-bar of the Court of King's-bench, Westminster-hall, blew up during the solemn proceedings of the Courts of Justice assembled, and scattered a number of printed bills, giving notice, that on the last day of Term five Acts of Parliament would be publicly burnt in the hall, between the hours of twelve and one, at the Royal Exchange, and at St. Margaret's hill, which were the Gin Act, the Smuggling Act, the Mortmain Act, the Westminster Bridge Act, and the Act for borrowing 600,000l.on the Sinking fund.
One of the bills was immediately carried to the Grand Jury then sitting, who found it an infamous libel, and recommended the offering of a reward to discover the author.
The labourers and weavers of Spitalfields were infected with a contagiousmaniaat the same period, which led them to suppose that numbers of Irishmen had recently arrived in London, for the purpose of working at under-prices and starvingthem. Influenced by a species of despair they assembled in crowds, and proceeded to Brick-lane, Whitechapel, where they immediately attacked a house supposed to contain Irishmen, and completely destroyed it, bearing away the furniture in triumph; but they lost one man, and had several wounded, by a musket discharged amongst them from the house. The neighbouring Magistrates, alarmed at this outrage, immediately attended at the scene of action, and read the Riot Act, but without effect, although the Tower Hamlet association and a party of the Tower guard were summoned to their assistance; nor did they desist till a company of Regulars dispersed them by force.
Several severe combats occurred between the English and Irish in other parts of the town, in which much mischief was done to each party. The cause appears to have originated chiefly through the parsimony of the person who contracted to erect the new church of St. Leonard Shoreditch, in employing no other than Irish labourers at five or six shillings a week, when the British demanded twelve shillings. These two affairs occurring nearly together led government to suspect the authors of the paper-plot, and the rioters, or at least their leaders, to have been connected in seditious if not treasonable designs.
An estimate was made in July 1738 of the numbers convicted under the Act for preventing the excessive use of spirituous liquors. Claims were entered at the Excise-office by 4000 personsfor the 5l.allowed to the informer from the penalty of 100l., 4896 such convictions having taken place. 3000 persons paid 10l.each to avoid being sent to Bridewell; and it was computed that 12,000 informations had been laid within the bills of mortality only. It is therefore not to be wondered at that the newspapers frequently mentioned the quiet and decency observed in the streets subsequent to these convictions; but in effecting them several informers were killed, and others dreadfully hurt, by the mob.
It sometimes happens that articles of information are so vaguely mentioned in the public papers, that, though they might be understood by their contemporaries, we are at a loss to comprehend them. An instance of this kind occurred in August 1757, when a number of riotous persons assembled before the Craven-arms, Southampton-street, with an intention to level it with the earth, and destroy the goods; but for what reason the papers are silent. The officers of the Police attended, but were beat off with stones; and it was two o'clock in the morning before two serjeants and twenty-four soldiers of the guards could disperse them; at which hour fourteen were apprehended, several wounded, and two were afterwards committed to prison. The following letter was sent on this occasion to Mr. Justice Fielding:
Christ-church, Surrey, Aug. 13, 1757."Sir,"We beg leave to acquaint you, that the house known by the sign of the Craven-arms, in Southampton-street, belongs to a charity in our parish; and we therefore beg the favour of you to use what methods shall seem right to prevent the populace doing any farther damage to it: and as to any extraordinary expence which may happen on this account, the trustees will readily pay. A Committee of the Trustees of the Charity will be immediately called, and they will do themselves the pleasure of waiting on you. We are, Sir, &c.Jackson, Rector,Bartho. Payne, Churchwarden.Henry Bunn, Secretary to the Trust[54:A]."
Christ-church, Surrey, Aug. 13, 1757.
"Sir,
"We beg leave to acquaint you, that the house known by the sign of the Craven-arms, in Southampton-street, belongs to a charity in our parish; and we therefore beg the favour of you to use what methods shall seem right to prevent the populace doing any farther damage to it: and as to any extraordinary expence which may happen on this account, the trustees will readily pay. A Committee of the Trustees of the Charity will be immediately called, and they will do themselves the pleasure of waiting on you. We are, Sir, &c.
Jackson, Rector,Bartho. Payne, Churchwarden.Henry Bunn, Secretary to the Trust[54:A]."
Jackson, Rector,
Bartho. Payne, Churchwarden.
Henry Bunn, Secretary to the Trust[54:A]."
Nothing particular occurred for upwards of a year after the above outrage; but in October 1758, the brutality of the mob was excited by the interment of Mr. Wilson, an undertaker and pawnbroker, who had kept the Punch-bowl near Moorgate. The cause of their resentment proves that a British mob generally acts upon a noble principle; as the deceased was reported to have left a legacy of 200l.to be paid in groats to those persons who were then imprisoned at his suit, though he died rich. This malice from the grave justly exasperated all who knew of it; and their anger was properly inflamed by observing that a detachment of the Artillery company, to which Wilson had belonged, intended to pay him military honours on the way to Islington, where he was to be buried. Every mark of abhorrence and contempt consequently ensued from an astonishing number of persons, who severely hurt each other by collision; and it was with the utmost difficulty that the priest performed his office.
I am sorry to add that at the same time some miscreants in the middle rank of life, inflamed by dissipation, were in the practice of pretending to fight every evening on Ludgate-hill, for the diabolical pleasure of dealing blows indiscriminately on peaceable passengers; and, to use their ownwords, "in order to see the claret run." These wretches who thus wantonly attacked the publick, broke the leg of a Constable, and bruised several watchmen, before they could secure two of them, who were committed till the Constable recovered.
Five years passed without producing a single offence committed by numbers acting under temporary impulse; at length an affray happened between certain Irish chairmen and sailors, who were all inflamed by liquor, drank in honour of the election held in Covent-garden March 1763. After they had abused each other with the usual language of vulgar irritation, a challenge was offered by a chairman to fight the best sailor present: this ended in the defeat of the Irishman, who was instantly reinforced by his brethren, when a general attack with pokers, tongs, fenders, &c. &c. commenced on the sailors; those, supported by a party of unarmed soldiers, drove their antagonists from the field, and immediately proceeded to demolish every chair they could find. These outrages continued till evening, and by that time a general muster of chairmen had taken place, who, exasperated to madness, beat down men, women, and children, in their progress to the scene of action, where a dreadful conflict was prevented by a party of Soldiers from the Savoy, whose exertions accomplished the capture of some of the ringleaders, but not before a Soldier and a Sailor, and three other persons, had beendangerously wounded, and the King's-head ale-house almost demolished.
The hardy seamen, defenders of our island, are excellent subjects when on-board their respective ships, but they are very apt to be turbulent on shore; another instance of which succeeded the Covent-garden riot almost immediately, though the cause was different. The conduct of the Sailor is generally exceedingly thoughtless: low drinking-houses and women are their favourite sources of amusement; and the keepers of the former, united with the latter, never fail to make them repent, as far as their insensible minds are susceptible. The Police of the Tower Hamlets, aware of this, frequently sent peace-officers to houses of ill-fame, in order to apprehend the most obnoxious inmates; and in pursuit of this laudable custom several women and a few sailors were sent to the Round-house in March 1763. On the following morning they were taken before the Magistrates then assembled at the Black-horse near the Victualling-office for examination; there numbers of Sailors collected, and demanded the release of their comrades, which the Justices complied with; but, still dissatisfied, they insisted on the enlargement of the women. This presumptuous request was, however, positively refused, and the Magistrates, dreading the consequences, sent three different times for detachments of Soldiers to support their authority, and as an equipoise for the increasing numbers of theSailors, who assembled from all sides to the amount, it is said, of more than a thousand: the Riot Act was read no less than three times to no purpose, during which time the Sailors had obtained flags from the shipping, and having marshalled themselvesin a line of battle, they bore downon the Soldiers drawn up to receive them. At the instant the commanding officer of the latter was about to pronounce the dreadful wordFire!a naval officer made his appearance in front of the Sailors, and intreated the order might be reserved till he had endeavoured to convince his brethren of the impropriety of their conduct. He then addressed himself to the Sailors, and said they would forfeit the favour of the King, who had promised to take off their R's; to which he added other arguments, and at length prevailed upon two-thirds of them to follow him to Tower-hill, where he dismissed them.
A Serjeant and twelve Soldiers were sent about four o'clock on the same afternoon to Clerkenwell Bridewell, as an escort to eight of the women who had occasioned the riot. Those were pursued by a party of Sailors, and overtaken at Chiswell-street. The instant release of the prisoners was demanded and refused, when one of the Soldiers fired, and wounded a Sailor and a Baker; but, as the assailants became more violent after this precipitation, the Serjeant wisely determined to resign his charge, rather than cause farther bloodshed.
The Weavers resident in Spital-fields were the next disturbers of the public peace. Those useful members of Society had long disputed with their employers respecting their wages; and at length a compromise took place, when printed papers of the various prices of their work were distributed, in order to prevent future disputes. Some avaricious master-weavers, however, thought proper to reduce the weaving of certain articles one half-pennyperyard; and hence the riots, which commenced with the destruction of the looms belonging to one of the most active opponents of the journeymen, whose effigies they afterwards placed in a cart, hanged, and burnt. This conduct, though highly improper, was innocence compared with that now to be related, which originated in the strange folly and wickedness of Seamen almost at the same time. The narrative was compiled from the minutes of the Coroner's Inquest.
"On Thursday last an inquisition was taken in Holywell-street, Shoreditch, upon the bodies of Ralph Meadows and John Whitrow, two of the persons killed in the late riot before a public house, known by the sign of the Marquis of Granby's-head, in Holywell-street. The inquisition lasted six hours. It appeared in the evidence, that on Monday last, about one o'clock, a great mob assembled before and in the dwelling-house of Thomas Kelly the publican, committing outrages; that on application to two Magistrates,they wrote to the Lieutenant of the third regiment of foot-guards, then on duty, with an Ensign and 100 men under his command, in Spital-fields, on account of a late riot there, acquainting him, that there was a great mob assembled in Holywell-street, Shoreditch, who had broke open a house in a violent and outrageous manner, to the terror of his Majesty's quiet subjects, and in breach of the peace; and desiring him to attend with a proper force to disperse the mob and stop their proceedings.
"The Lieutenant assembled as many of his men as the short notice would permit, before the passage door leading to the said public house, where he found a great crowd of people; and on going into the house with the Justices' order in his hand, he found some very desperate fellows in it, some in sailors' habits, who were cursing and swearing that they would not leave the house, but do what they pleased; one of them behaving in a very affronting manner to the Lieutenant, some of the soldiers led him out. About three o'clock, the Lieutenant prevailed on them to depart, and they went away quietly, leaving only a crowd of people standing before the passage door, who had gathered there out of curiosity. The Lieutenant then withdrew himself, leaving only a Serjeant, Corporal, and twelve private soldiers, which he did at the solicitation of the publican, who was afraid of a second attack. The Lieutenant then went to dinner, and informed the Serjeant hewould return in an hour. For about half an hour all was quiet; and then a gentleman came up to the Serjeant, and bade him take care of himself, as there was a body of sailors coming up the street, d—ing their eyes, declaring, 'they would clear the soldiers, and pull the house down.' The Serjeant seeing them advance, looked round to the soldiers, and said, 'There they come;' and ordered his men to stand to their arms, and he would meet the rioters, but bade them fix their bayonets. He approached about twelve yards towards the rioters, and pulled off his hat, and said, 'Gentlemen, I hope you do not come with any intent to make a disturbance.' They d—ned their eyes, and informed him, that 'they had got one man, and would have the landlord of the house.' The Serjeant, telling them 'that he was placed there by an order from the civil power to take care of the house and preserve the peace,' returned to his command. The sailors then advanced, and some of them mounted the sign-post, and to prevent their getting up, some of the soldiers gently struck them with their pieces; but the Serjeant, finding them resolute to take down the sign, ordered the soldiers to let them, and informed the soldiers, that he was then in hopes to disperse them without mischief. As soon as the sign was down, they gave a huzza, and some of them called out, 'Now for the landlord,' and in a riotous manner advanced with their sticks towards the passage which the soldiers were guarding.The Serjeant informed them he could not admit them into the house upon any account: upon which they began to beat with their sticks, and press on the soldiers; and the serjeant ordered the soldiers to charge (which is fixing their musquets breast high) but it had no effect: they then assaulted the soldiers with pieces of brick, tile, and great quantities of mud, and forced two bayonets from the musquets, one of which was broke, and the other was taken up by one of the sailors, with which he made a full push at the Serjeant, but he happily warded it off with his halbert; and the sailors got between him and his men, and attacked them with such violence that they were forced into the passage which leads to the public-house, and thereupon a battle ensued, and the Serjeant used all his endeavours to come to his men, but he was prevented by the sailors, and received several blows. The men being thus pressed into the passage, were obliged to fire, and two pieces were discharged, which, from the faint report, and no mischief being done, and the sailors not giving way, the witnesses all declared, that they believed the pieces were loaded with gunpowder only. The sailors continuing to press violently upon the soldiers, and endeavouring to force the passage, the soldiers fired again, and two men, amongst the rioters, were seen to drop.
"The sailors now became very desperate, and most violently assaulted the soldiers with their sticks; and the soldiers were, through inevitablenecessity, in defence of their lives, and for the public peace, obliged to fire, and the firing continued till they cleared the passage and street before it, which was very soon done: upon which the Serjeant took the opportunity of running to his men, and cried out, 'For God's sake fire no more.' He then drew all his men out of the passage, and formed a square in the street, and ordered them to ease their arms, and on looking about him he saw three men lying dead in the street, two of which appeared to be sailors. Several of the soldiers' fingers were bloody from the blows they received from the rioters. In the riot two sailors jumped into a window belonging to a butcher's house, near the public-house, and one of them taking a chopper out of the shop, endeavoured to rush by the Corporal into the passage to the public-house, but was seized by the Corporal to prevent his going in, by which means the Corporal's hand was cut by the chopper to such a degree, that he was obliged to be sent to an hospital.
"The witnesses swore, that they verily believed the soldiers were obliged to fire in defence of their lives, as well as for the preservation of the public peace; and the Jury were well satisfied with the evidence before them.
"The Coroner, in summing up the evidence, distinguished between murder, manslaughter, and justifiable or excusable homicides, both voluntaryand involuntary; and chance-medley, or homicide by misadventure; under one of which classes, he informed the Jury, the present case must fall. He observed, that the soldiers did not come to that place wantonly to do an injury, but were called in, as the Lieutenant understood, and so called it (when he produced his authority) in his evidence, 'by an order from the civil power,' to suppress the rioters, and preserve the King's peace; and whether the civil power had taken the proper steps before applying to the military, or whether the notice sent to the Lieutenant was a legal warrant or order, or not, were not matters of their enquiry; for that, supposing a Justice of Peace should issue an illegal warrant, and an officer should be killed in the execution of it, in that case the party killing would be deemed a murderer; for the officer was obliged to execute his office: he is not supposed to be a judge of law; he is only a minister of Justice, and the party had a legal remedy, if he had been improperly arrested. The Coroner said, that the conduct of the military power upon that occasion was the immediate subject of their enquiry; that, if the Jury gave credit to the witnesses, the major part of whom were disinterested persons, the soldiers did not fire till they were pressed to it, by inevitable necessity, in defence of their own lives, and for the preservation of the public peace; and in killing any of the rioters, had done no morethan 'Justifiable Homicides' of inevitable necessity, for the preservation of the King's peace, and in defence of themselves; and added, that in such case, if any person was killed that was not concerned in the riot, but unfortunately hemmed in by the rioters, or was passing along at that time, in that case it would be chance-medley, or homicideper infortunium, that is, death by misadventure; and as it did not appear to the Jury that the persons upon whom they then sat were acting in the riot, the Jury found the special matter, and brought in their verdict Homicides by Misadventure.
"After the riot by the sailors was over, the people collected, and were so much enraged against the soldiers, that the Lieutenant was obliged to send to the Tower for a reinforcement to prevent mischief; and they continued under arms till near twelve at night, when he withdrew, leaving at the public-house a Serjeant, Corporal, and twenty private men, who, reporting the next morning that all was well, were ordered to their several quarters."
A third scene of popular tumult occurred before the close of the year 1763, and was caused by the execution of the sentence of burning Mr. Wilkes's celebrated Number 45 of the North Briton.
The 3d of December was appointed for this silly ceremony, which took place before theRoyal Exchange amidst the hisses and execrations of the mob, not directed at the obnoxious paper, but at Alderman Harley, the Sheriffs, and constables; the latter of whom were compelled to fight furiously through the whole business. The instant the hangman held the work to a lighted link it was beat to the ground; and the populace, seizing the faggots prepared to complete its destruction, fell upon the peace-officers, and fairly threshed them from the field; nor did the Alderman escape without a contusion on the head, inflicted by a billet thrown through the glass of his coach; and several other persons had reason to repent the attempt to burn that publicly which thesovereign peopledetermined to approve, who afterwards exhibited a largejack bootat Temple-bar, and burnt it in triumph, unmolested, as a species of retaliation.
February in the following year produced another description of outrage; and, as the mob arranged themselves on the side of Liberty in the above instance, they determined in the following to adopt the cause of Justice, though, as it almost always happens, they listened only tooneside of the case; in short, they are generally a Jury who retire for a verdict when the evidencefor the prosecutionis closed. The Ambassador from the Emperor of Morocco resided in Panton-square, and had in his suite a female servant who was arrested for debt, and sent to a receiving orspunginghouse. When the Resident heard of this violation of diplomatic privilege, he immediately demanded that the woman should be restored to liberty; and the officer in whose custody she was, knowing of the illegality of the arrest, complied. So far all was right; but the plaintiff (a chairman) despising the law of Nations, watched at the Ambassador's door, and as soon as he obtained a glimpse of his debtor claimed heras his wife, and under that claim compelled her to attend him to a public-house in the neighbourhood. Though the good lady strained every faculty in denying his assumed rights, her clamour, of no avail with the chairman, reached the ears of her fellow servants, who, melted with her distress, sallied forth, and manfully released the captive from the fangs of a number of the captor's brethren, whom he had wisely stationed at the public-house to assist him in his views. Thus defeated, the creditor adopted a most certain method to carry his point. He therefore assembled hispossein front of the Ambassador's house, and began his operations by loud complaints, intended for the ears of those who passed, that the servants of his Excellency had forcibly seized on his wife, and conveyed her for some very dreadful purpose into his mansion, where she was detained to his inexpressible grief and terror. A hint of this description is sufficient in the streets of London; curiosity soon collects acrowd, and the idea of injustice or oppression flies like lightning from male to female, kindling in its progress the very essence of indignation, and an immediate resolve to execute summary justice. An hundred voices demanded the woman; an hundred arms were lifted at the same moment with hands grasping dirt and stones, which they hurled at the inoffensive windows without effect. At this moment a cry to burst the door was accompanied by a successful effort, and in rushed the mob; every thing that could be broken in the parlours was demolished, and used as weapons for forcing the besieged, now driven to the stairs head of the first floor, where they appeared, commanded by the Ambassador and a gentleman, armed with drawn sabres. Intimidated at the glances of the shining steel, the besiegers dared not ascend, but made a drawn battle of the affair. A cannonade of legs and arms of chairs, and other articles of broken furniture, succeeded, which no sooner reached the heads of those above than they were darted back with additional velocity. Captain Woolaston of the guards happened to pass through the square with a party of soldiers, on his way to protect the sufferers from a fire then raging in Eagle-street; and, attracted by the shouts of the contending forces, examined into the affair, and soon dispersed the rioters, several of whom were afterwards apprehended by Justice Welch, and committed to prison.
In May 1764 several footmen who had attended their masters to Ranelagh thought proper to attack certain gentlemen there for refusing vails to their servants; and, not contented with hissing and abusingthem, proceeded to destroy the fences, break the lamps, and throw stones through the windows upon the company in the Rotunda. The ringleaders were as usual apprehended, and constables were afterwards placed at Ranelagh to preserve the peace; but the best part of the fact is that those worthy officers of Justice actually drank till they were intoxicated on a subsequent evening, andfought in the midst of the company.
We have now arrived at a period when riot and outrage was, to use a modern phrase,organized; every real or imaginary evil led to extremities, and the quiet Citizen passed his days in constant apprehension. The year 1768 commenced with a fresh display of the turbulence of weavers, who went well armed to the houses of other journeymen in the same business, called single-handed Weavers, to revenge the injuries asserted to have been inflicted by them on the engine-loom Weavers, where they secured several, and conveyed them to a Magistrate; and it appeared on examination their complaints were well founded, as they proved the prisoners and their brethren had even fired into their windows. Others in April, armed with cutlasses, pistols, &c. and indisguise, went at 12 o'clock at night to the residences of several journeymen in Spital-fields; and cut to pieces 16 looms, with their contents, which belonged to Messrs. Everard and Phipps. On a subsequent nocturnal excursion those miscreants narrowly escaped from a party of soldiers who had nearly surrounded them unperceived.
Influenced by the above pernicious examples, the Coal-heavers of the Metropolis entered into combinations before the end of April; and collecting in considerable numbers went through Wapping, and thence on board of colliers, where with weapons in hand they compelled their sable brethren to desist from working, and even dangerously wounded several. In this instance the military prevented greater outrages.
In May a large body of Sailors with drums and flags proceeded in two divisions to St. James's Palace, and presented a petition to the King, praying for an increase of their pay in consideration of the high price of provisions. On the 10th of the same month, and at four o'clock in the morning, many boats, manned by Sailors and Coal-heavers, entered upon a survey of the wharfs above Blackfriars-bridge, and compelled all they found at work to join them; others patroled the streets, and collected those who were at home and in public-houses; when they began their operations by forcing the drivers of carts and waggons loaded with coals, flour, and wood, to return whencethey came. After this operation had been completely accomplished, they marched in a body, increasing as they went, to Stepney-fields, whence parties of them proceeded to unrig such vessels as they chose to prevent from sailing. The fraternity of Sawyers, equally refractory, destroyed an excellent saw-mill then recently erected by Charles Dingley, Esq. almost at the same instant.
Government acted on this trying occasion with great lenity, or was under the influence of fear; and it plainly appears that the safety of the publick in their lives and property originated rather from thetemperedmadness of the rioters, than in any dread of resistance from the Police or the Military. We are told of the marching of troops, and of orders issued to Magistrates to be vigilant; yet the populace, inflamed by politicks, even ventured to chalk No. 45 on the coaches of the nobility as they passed through the streets. The cause of this irritation I hardly need inform my readers was Mr. Wilkes, whose conduct in attacking the Ministry had excited ministerial anger to a degree that alarmed all ranks of people lest arbitrary proceedings should be substituted for constitutional, to gratify that resentment; and some of the decisions of the Courts proved their fears to be well-founded. Thus far I have thought it necessary to state the cause, but by no means intend to enter into the merits of the case, which I shall conclude with Mr. Wilkes's address to theGentlemen, Clergy, and Freeholders of the county of Middlesex, in order to explain the origin of the subsequent bloodshed.
"Gentlemen,"In support of the liberties of this country against the arbitrary rule of Ministers, I was before committed to the Tower, and am now sentenced to this prison. Steadiness with, I hope, strength of mind, do not however leave me; for the same consolation follows me here, the consciousness of innocence, of having done my duty, and exerted all my poor abilities, not unsuccessfully, for this nation. I can submit even to far greater sufferings with cheerfulness, because that I see that my countrymen reap the happy fruits of my labours and cruel persecutions, by the repeated decisions of our sovereign Courts of Justice in favour of liberty. I therefore bear up with fortitude, and even glory that I am called to suffer in this cause, because I continue to find the noblest reward—the applause of my native country, of this great, free, and spirited people."I chiefly regret, gentlemen, that this confinement deprives me of the honour of thanking you in person according to my promise, and at present takes from me in a great degree the power of being useful to you. The will, however, to do every service to my constituents remains in its full force; and when my sufferingshave a period, the first day I regain my liberty shall restore a life of zeal in the cause and interests of the county of Middlesex."In this prison, in any other, in every place, my ruling passion will be the love of England and our free Constitution. To those objects I will make every sacrifice. Under all the oppressions which ministerial rage and revenge can invent, my steady purpose is to concert with you, and other true friends of this country, the most probable means of rooting out the remains of arbitrary power and Star-chamber inquisition, and of improving as well as securing the generous plans of freedom, which were the boast of our ancestors, and I trust will remain the noblest inheritance of our posterity, the only genuine characteristic of Englishmen. I have, &c. &c.John Wilkes."King's-bench Prison, May 5, 1768."
"Gentlemen,
"In support of the liberties of this country against the arbitrary rule of Ministers, I was before committed to the Tower, and am now sentenced to this prison. Steadiness with, I hope, strength of mind, do not however leave me; for the same consolation follows me here, the consciousness of innocence, of having done my duty, and exerted all my poor abilities, not unsuccessfully, for this nation. I can submit even to far greater sufferings with cheerfulness, because that I see that my countrymen reap the happy fruits of my labours and cruel persecutions, by the repeated decisions of our sovereign Courts of Justice in favour of liberty. I therefore bear up with fortitude, and even glory that I am called to suffer in this cause, because I continue to find the noblest reward—the applause of my native country, of this great, free, and spirited people.
"I chiefly regret, gentlemen, that this confinement deprives me of the honour of thanking you in person according to my promise, and at present takes from me in a great degree the power of being useful to you. The will, however, to do every service to my constituents remains in its full force; and when my sufferingshave a period, the first day I regain my liberty shall restore a life of zeal in the cause and interests of the county of Middlesex.
"In this prison, in any other, in every place, my ruling passion will be the love of England and our free Constitution. To those objects I will make every sacrifice. Under all the oppressions which ministerial rage and revenge can invent, my steady purpose is to concert with you, and other true friends of this country, the most probable means of rooting out the remains of arbitrary power and Star-chamber inquisition, and of improving as well as securing the generous plans of freedom, which were the boast of our ancestors, and I trust will remain the noblest inheritance of our posterity, the only genuine characteristic of Englishmen. I have, &c. &c.
John Wilkes.
"King's-bench Prison, May 5, 1768."
Some circumstances had induced the populace to suppose it was the intention of Government to remove Mr. Wilkes from the King's-bench to the House of Commons on Tuesday, May 10. Many idle and curious persons probably assembled near the gates tokillan hour by gazing at a man who had excited their attention, and many others doubtlessly attended for riotous and unjustifiable purposes, which Mr. Wilkes or any real patriot must have disapproved, though in the usualblindness of zeal those purposes are generally disregarded as unworthy notice in the cause of liberty, when violent men choose to espouse her interest. A detestable incendiary, a successful villain, to whom I attribute the innocent deaths of those that fell on this fatal day, pasted certain doggrel lines on the prison walls which were read with avidity by the mob, and contributed to inflame their minds; they demanded the appearance of the prisoner with shouts, and at length several Magistrates and the military arrived, the paper was taken down, the riot commenced, the soldiers fired, and a young man named Allen fell under such circumstances as occasioned the following trial.
"Summary of the Trial of Donald Maclane, on Tuesday last, at Guildford Assizes, for the Murder of William Allen, jun. on the 10th of May last in St. George's Fields."Mr. Serjeant Leigh, Counsel for the prosecution, having opened the trial with a speech suitable to the purpose, proceeded to an examination of witnesses, and produced two, one Skidmore a discharged marine, and one Twaites a country lad, who had been about a fortnight in Mr. Allen's service as an ostler. These evidences swore positively to the identity of the prisoner, and were the only people on the part of the prosecution, who declared any knowledge of hisperson. The latter, however, differed in his own accounts of the transaction; and the testimony which he gave before the Coroner was contradicted by the deposition which he gave into Court."The next witnesses, Okins and Brawn, swear that they were in the cow-house with Mr. Allen at the time he was shot; and the latter particularly says, that he was going to strike down the soldier's musquet, which was levelled at the deceased, but that another soldier seeming ready to present at himself, the care which he had for his own life, together with his terror at the situation of Mr. Allen, obliged him to retire. Okins says, that when he heard the soldier threaten Mr. Allen, he (Okins) fell down with an excess of apprehension; neither, however, though so near to the soldier, could swear to his identity; and what is the more remarkable, each was unseen by the other, Okins never once recollecting Brawn's being present, and Brawn being equally ignorant of Okins. Several other witnesses appeared for the prosecution, but as they prove nothing so material as the evidences already mentioned, and chiefly tend to clear up what is universally admitted, namely, Mr. Allen's being wholly unconcerned in the riots of the day, it is not necessary to take any particular notice of them."The evidence for the prosecution being ended, the prisoner's Counsel produced their witnesses; the first of whom, Samuel Gillam, Esq. declared, that on the 10th of May, having been previously applied to by the Marshal of the King's Bench prison for a guard, he came into St. George's Fields, where a detachment of one hundred men, properly officered, had been ordered. Here the mob were exceedingly riotous; and Mr. Gillam tells us, that he himself was several times struck with a variety of missile articles. A paper had been stuck up against the prison, which seemed the raving of somepatrioticbedlamite, and in six lines, as stupid as they were seditious, talked about Liberty being confined with Mr. Wilkes, and desiring all good Englishmen to pay their daily homage, at the place where those invaluable blessings were lodged. This paper had been taken down by the Constables, a circumstance which gave thegenerousassertors of Freedom incredible offence, and they roared out, 'the paper, the paper, give us the paper.' Mr. Gillam answered, that if any person there would claim the property of the paper, it should be immediately restored, and gave it into Mr. Ponton's hands, before the rioters, to keep till somebody should be bold enough to make so particular a demand. This enraged the populace still farther, and a Patriot in two dirty red waistcoats, but withoutany coat, distinguished himself in throwing stones at the Magistrates, and the Constables received orders to apprehend him; in this service they were assisted by Mr. Murray, the Ensign on duty, and five or six grenadiers. The fellow fled, and was pursued by the grenadiers; he escaped into a Cow-house, and shut the door after him, but the soldiers continued their pursuit, and in a little time the report of a musquet was heard; in a few minutes after they returned, and Peter Mac Cloughlan, with an air of great concern, and a tone of much distress, informed Mr. Murray that his piece had gone off accidentally, and that a man was killed—'Damn you,' replied Mr. Murray, 'Who gave you orders to fire?' 'Nobody,' answered Mac Cloughlan; 'it went off entirely by accident.' This circumstance Mr. Gillam deposed he took particular notice of, because the man testified every natural sign of concern and humanity."The Cow-house has three doors or gates, one at each side, and another at one of the ends. The fellow in the red waistcoat got in at a side door, and is supposed to have escaped the opposite way; just at this unfortunate crisis young Mr. Allen, who was also in a red waistcoat, entered at the door out of which the rioter had fled, so that when the soldiers opened the door nearest to them, they found a person in a red waistcoat, and this person was shot by Mac Cloughlan, as he himselfconfessed; but whether by accident, or design is not at all necessary to the present object of enquiry; the enquiry now is, whether Mr. Allen was shot by Maclane, or whether he was not."Mr. Gillam swears peremptorily that Maclane is not the man who made the confession alluded to; and Corporal Neale, with Serjeant Earle, Serjeant Steuart, and several private men, who were that day in St. George's-fields, and some of whom were likewise at the Cow-house, in pursuit of the rioter, either declare, that they heard Mac Cloughlan's own acknowledgment of the fact, or swear that Maclane did not enter the Cow-house at all. One of the private men particularly, James Hide, says he was in the Cow-house when Mac Cloughlan's piece went off, and adds, that there was at that time nobody in it but the deceased, Mac Cloughlan, and himself."Many of the military witnesses swear that they can easily tell, by looking at a musquet, if it has been newly discharged; and they express themselves with certainty, that Maclane's was not discharged at all on the 10th of May. To this they add, that Mac Cloughlan, from an apprehension of consequences, has deserted."The evidence for the prosecution, however, took notice, that Maclane's musquet was particularly examined, and that he was even ordered from the ranks, upon a presumption, as they imagine, that the officers themselves were satisfiedhe was the person by whom Mr. Allen had been killed. But this circumstance is very well accounted for on the other side; where several of the witnesses prove, that after theaccidentaldischarge which Mac Cloughlan mentions of his piece, and the unhappy consequence, Mr. Murray, the Ensign, observing Maclane's musquet on a full cock, reproached him with negligence, and took the piece out of his hand to look at; Maclane mentioned in his excuse, that his flint was too large, and that if he kept it upon a half cock, he should lose all the priming from his pan."Some persons seeing the transaction, and hearing Maclane reproached, concluded he was the person who had shot Mr. Allen; and they pointed him out as a murderer; the officer, therefore, thought it necessary, for the man's security, to remove him from the ranks; but, finding him more liable to danger then than when he was with the corps, he ordered him to his former station.—However, as he was positively sworn to, the military were forced to give him up, notwithstanding their consciousness of his innocence; and Mr. Gillam, as a Magistrate, was obliged to receive the charge, notwithstanding he was so perfectly acquainted with Mac Cloughlan's declaration."Such was the general scope of the evidence on this trial; after which the Judge summed up the evidence, declined saying much fromhimself, as the question did not turn upon any difficult points; the Jury withdrew, and in about an hour returned with a verdict ofNot Guilty. Mr. Wilkes, who was all the time at the Red Lion Inn, opposite the Court, was taken to town the moment the prisoner was acquitted. He was only examined a few minutes by the Grand Jury. He was brought back on Tuesday night to the King's-bench Prison."The Grand Jury dismissed the bills against the officer and the other soldiers."The above trial began about half an hour after seven in the morning, and lasted near nine hours. The counsel for the prosecution were, Mr. Serjeant Leigh, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Lade, and Mr. Baker; those for the prisoner were, Mr. Hervey, Mr. Cox, Mr. Bishop, and Mr. Robinson."
"Summary of the Trial of Donald Maclane, on Tuesday last, at Guildford Assizes, for the Murder of William Allen, jun. on the 10th of May last in St. George's Fields.
"Mr. Serjeant Leigh, Counsel for the prosecution, having opened the trial with a speech suitable to the purpose, proceeded to an examination of witnesses, and produced two, one Skidmore a discharged marine, and one Twaites a country lad, who had been about a fortnight in Mr. Allen's service as an ostler. These evidences swore positively to the identity of the prisoner, and were the only people on the part of the prosecution, who declared any knowledge of hisperson. The latter, however, differed in his own accounts of the transaction; and the testimony which he gave before the Coroner was contradicted by the deposition which he gave into Court.
"The next witnesses, Okins and Brawn, swear that they were in the cow-house with Mr. Allen at the time he was shot; and the latter particularly says, that he was going to strike down the soldier's musquet, which was levelled at the deceased, but that another soldier seeming ready to present at himself, the care which he had for his own life, together with his terror at the situation of Mr. Allen, obliged him to retire. Okins says, that when he heard the soldier threaten Mr. Allen, he (Okins) fell down with an excess of apprehension; neither, however, though so near to the soldier, could swear to his identity; and what is the more remarkable, each was unseen by the other, Okins never once recollecting Brawn's being present, and Brawn being equally ignorant of Okins. Several other witnesses appeared for the prosecution, but as they prove nothing so material as the evidences already mentioned, and chiefly tend to clear up what is universally admitted, namely, Mr. Allen's being wholly unconcerned in the riots of the day, it is not necessary to take any particular notice of them.
"The evidence for the prosecution being ended, the prisoner's Counsel produced their witnesses; the first of whom, Samuel Gillam, Esq. declared, that on the 10th of May, having been previously applied to by the Marshal of the King's Bench prison for a guard, he came into St. George's Fields, where a detachment of one hundred men, properly officered, had been ordered. Here the mob were exceedingly riotous; and Mr. Gillam tells us, that he himself was several times struck with a variety of missile articles. A paper had been stuck up against the prison, which seemed the raving of somepatrioticbedlamite, and in six lines, as stupid as they were seditious, talked about Liberty being confined with Mr. Wilkes, and desiring all good Englishmen to pay their daily homage, at the place where those invaluable blessings were lodged. This paper had been taken down by the Constables, a circumstance which gave thegenerousassertors of Freedom incredible offence, and they roared out, 'the paper, the paper, give us the paper.' Mr. Gillam answered, that if any person there would claim the property of the paper, it should be immediately restored, and gave it into Mr. Ponton's hands, before the rioters, to keep till somebody should be bold enough to make so particular a demand. This enraged the populace still farther, and a Patriot in two dirty red waistcoats, but withoutany coat, distinguished himself in throwing stones at the Magistrates, and the Constables received orders to apprehend him; in this service they were assisted by Mr. Murray, the Ensign on duty, and five or six grenadiers. The fellow fled, and was pursued by the grenadiers; he escaped into a Cow-house, and shut the door after him, but the soldiers continued their pursuit, and in a little time the report of a musquet was heard; in a few minutes after they returned, and Peter Mac Cloughlan, with an air of great concern, and a tone of much distress, informed Mr. Murray that his piece had gone off accidentally, and that a man was killed—'Damn you,' replied Mr. Murray, 'Who gave you orders to fire?' 'Nobody,' answered Mac Cloughlan; 'it went off entirely by accident.' This circumstance Mr. Gillam deposed he took particular notice of, because the man testified every natural sign of concern and humanity.
"The Cow-house has three doors or gates, one at each side, and another at one of the ends. The fellow in the red waistcoat got in at a side door, and is supposed to have escaped the opposite way; just at this unfortunate crisis young Mr. Allen, who was also in a red waistcoat, entered at the door out of which the rioter had fled, so that when the soldiers opened the door nearest to them, they found a person in a red waistcoat, and this person was shot by Mac Cloughlan, as he himselfconfessed; but whether by accident, or design is not at all necessary to the present object of enquiry; the enquiry now is, whether Mr. Allen was shot by Maclane, or whether he was not.
"Mr. Gillam swears peremptorily that Maclane is not the man who made the confession alluded to; and Corporal Neale, with Serjeant Earle, Serjeant Steuart, and several private men, who were that day in St. George's-fields, and some of whom were likewise at the Cow-house, in pursuit of the rioter, either declare, that they heard Mac Cloughlan's own acknowledgment of the fact, or swear that Maclane did not enter the Cow-house at all. One of the private men particularly, James Hide, says he was in the Cow-house when Mac Cloughlan's piece went off, and adds, that there was at that time nobody in it but the deceased, Mac Cloughlan, and himself.
"Many of the military witnesses swear that they can easily tell, by looking at a musquet, if it has been newly discharged; and they express themselves with certainty, that Maclane's was not discharged at all on the 10th of May. To this they add, that Mac Cloughlan, from an apprehension of consequences, has deserted.
"The evidence for the prosecution, however, took notice, that Maclane's musquet was particularly examined, and that he was even ordered from the ranks, upon a presumption, as they imagine, that the officers themselves were satisfiedhe was the person by whom Mr. Allen had been killed. But this circumstance is very well accounted for on the other side; where several of the witnesses prove, that after theaccidentaldischarge which Mac Cloughlan mentions of his piece, and the unhappy consequence, Mr. Murray, the Ensign, observing Maclane's musquet on a full cock, reproached him with negligence, and took the piece out of his hand to look at; Maclane mentioned in his excuse, that his flint was too large, and that if he kept it upon a half cock, he should lose all the priming from his pan.
"Some persons seeing the transaction, and hearing Maclane reproached, concluded he was the person who had shot Mr. Allen; and they pointed him out as a murderer; the officer, therefore, thought it necessary, for the man's security, to remove him from the ranks; but, finding him more liable to danger then than when he was with the corps, he ordered him to his former station.—However, as he was positively sworn to, the military were forced to give him up, notwithstanding their consciousness of his innocence; and Mr. Gillam, as a Magistrate, was obliged to receive the charge, notwithstanding he was so perfectly acquainted with Mac Cloughlan's declaration.
"Such was the general scope of the evidence on this trial; after which the Judge summed up the evidence, declined saying much fromhimself, as the question did not turn upon any difficult points; the Jury withdrew, and in about an hour returned with a verdict ofNot Guilty. Mr. Wilkes, who was all the time at the Red Lion Inn, opposite the Court, was taken to town the moment the prisoner was acquitted. He was only examined a few minutes by the Grand Jury. He was brought back on Tuesday night to the King's-bench Prison.
"The Grand Jury dismissed the bills against the officer and the other soldiers.
"The above trial began about half an hour after seven in the morning, and lasted near nine hours. The counsel for the prosecution were, Mr. Serjeant Leigh, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Lade, and Mr. Baker; those for the prisoner were, Mr. Hervey, Mr. Cox, Mr. Bishop, and Mr. Robinson."
The lines alluded to in the trial were:
"Let * * * * * Judges, Ministers combine,And here great Wilkes andLiberty confine;Yet in each English heart secure their fame is,In spite of crowded levies at St. J—s's.Then, while in prison Envy doomstheirstay,Here grateful Britons daily homage pay."
"Let * * * * * Judges, Ministers combine,And here great Wilkes andLiberty confine;Yet in each English heart secure their fame is,In spite of crowded levies at St. J—s's.Then, while in prison Envy doomstheirstay,Here grateful Britons daily homage pay."
"Let * * * * * Judges, Ministers combine,
And here great Wilkes andLiberty confine;
Yet in each English heart secure their fame is,
In spite of crowded levies at St. J—s's.
Then, while in prison Envy doomstheirstay,
Here grateful Britons daily homage pay."
It is by no means necessary to trace the effects of the several balls fired upon this occasion; it will be quite enough to add that the innocent alone suffered.
To conclude the eventful story of poor Allen; his remains were deposited in the church-yard of St. Mary Newington, Surrey, wherepoliticalfriends honoured his memory with a handsome, if not a superb monument, thus inscribed:
North side:
"Sacred to the memory ofWilliam Allen,An Englishman of unspotted life and amiabledisposition,Who was inhumanly murdered near St. George's-fields, the 10th day of May, 1768, by the Scottish detachment from the army. His disconsolate parents, inhabitants of this parish, caused this tomb to be erected to an only son, lost to them and to the world, in his 20th year, as a monument of his virtues and their affection!"
"Sacred to the memory ofWilliam Allen,An Englishman of unspotted life and amiabledisposition,
Who was inhumanly murdered near St. George's-fields, the 10th day of May, 1768, by the Scottish detachment from the army. His disconsolate parents, inhabitants of this parish, caused this tomb to be erected to an only son, lost to them and to the world, in his 20th year, as a monument of his virtues and their affection!"
South side:
"O disembody'd Soul! most rudely drivenFrom this low orb (our sinful seat) to Heaven;While filial piety can please the ear,Thy name will still occur, for ever dear:This very spot, now humaniz'd, shall craveFrom all a tear of pity on thy grave.}O flow'r of flow'rs! which we shall see no more,No kind returning Spring can thee restore:Thy loss thy hapless countrymen deplore."
"O disembody'd Soul! most rudely drivenFrom this low orb (our sinful seat) to Heaven;While filial piety can please the ear,Thy name will still occur, for ever dear:This very spot, now humaniz'd, shall craveFrom all a tear of pity on thy grave.}O flow'r of flow'rs! which we shall see no more,No kind returning Spring can thee restore:Thy loss thy hapless countrymen deplore."
"O disembody'd Soul! most rudely driven
From this low orb (our sinful seat) to Heaven;
While filial piety can please the ear,
Thy name will still occur, for ever dear:
This very spot, now humaniz'd, shall crave
From all a tear of pity on thy grave.
}O flow'r of flow'rs! which we shall see no more,No kind returning Spring can thee restore:Thy loss thy hapless countrymen deplore."
}
O flow'r of flow'rs! which we shall see no more,
No kind returning Spring can thee restore:
Thy loss thy hapless countrymen deplore."
East side:
"O earth! cover not thou my blood. Job xvi. 18."
"O earth! cover not thou my blood. Job xvi. 18."
"O earth! cover not thou my blood. Job xvi. 18."
West side:
"Take away the wicked from before the King, and his throne shall be established in righteousness. Prov. xxiii. 5."
"Take away the wicked from before the King, and his throne shall be established in righteousness. Prov. xxiii. 5."
The unwarrantable inferences of the above inscription, and the spirit which dictated the exposure of it, removes the compassion that posterity would otherwise have felt for the parents of the innocent youth, whose situation was certainly not more pitiable than that of the relatives of the other persons killed on the same day. If we had a single doubt that the senior Allen became a tool of party after perusing the epitaph, the petition which he put into the King's own hands on the 5th of October will prove it beyond dispute. His cries for vengeance proceeded not from a broken spirit; such would have forgiven mankind long beforea year and three monthshad elapsed.