Part 5

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 to _one_ side of the case; in short, they are generally a Jury who retire for a verdict when the evidence _for the prosecution_ is 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 or _spunging_ house. 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 her _as 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 his _posse_ in 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 a crowd, 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 abusing _them_, 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, and _fought 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 in disguise, 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 whence they 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 the _tempered_ madness 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 the Gentlemen, 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 sufferings have 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 to _kill_ an 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 usual blindness 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 his person. 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 some _patriotic_ bedlamite, 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 the _generous_ assertors 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 without any 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 himself confessed; 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 satisfied he 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 the _accidental_ discharge 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 from himself, as the question did not turn upon any difficult points; the Jury withdrew, and in about an hour returned with a verdict of _Not 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 and _Liberty 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 dooms _their_ stay, 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, where _political_ friends honoured his memory with a handsome, if not a superb monument, thus inscribed:

North side:

"Sacred to the memory of WILLIAM ALLEN, An Englishman of unspotted life and amiable disposition, 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 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." }

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 before _a year and three months_ had elapsed.

"To his MAJESTY.

"The humble Petition of William Allen, the disconsolate father of William Allen, who was barbarously murdered on the 10th of May, 1768.

"Most gracious Sovereign,