638 



The Life of William Hutton, of Birmingham. 



3. The Majesty of the People. 



4. May the Canstilution of France be ren- 

 dered perfect and perpetual. 



5. May Great Britain) France, and Ireland, 

 tinite in perpetual friendship ; and may their 

 only rivalship be, the extension of peace and 

 liberty, wisdom and virtue. 



6. The rights of man. May all nations 

 have the wisdom to understand, and courage 

 to assert and defend them. 



7. The true friends of the Constitution of 

 thU country, who wish to preserve its spirit 

 by correcting its abuses. 



8. May the people of England never cease 

 (o remonstrate till their parliament becomes 

 a true national representation. 



9. The Prince of Wales. 



10. The United States of America; may 

 they for ever enjoy the liberty which they so 

 honourably acquired. 



11. May the revolution in Poland prove the 

 harbinger of a more perfect system of liberty 

 Extending to that great kingdom. 



I'i. May the nations of Europe become so 

 enlightened as never more to be deluded 

 into savage wars b^ the ambition of their 

 rulers. 



13. May the sword never be unsheathed 

 but for the'defenceandliberty of our country ; 

 -And then, may every one cast away the scab- 

 hard till the people are safe and free. 



14. To the glorious memory of Hampden, 

 Sidney, and other heroes of all ages and na- 

 tions, who have fought and bled for liberty. 



15. To the memory of Dr. Price, and all 

 those illustrious sages who have enlightened 

 mankind in the true principles of civil so- 

 ciety. 



16. Peace and good-will to all mankind. 



17. Prosperity to the town of Birming- 

 ham. 



18r A happy meeting to the friends of li- 

 berty onthe 14th of July, 1792. 



The sum total of the above toasts 

 Itmounts to this-^a solicitude for the 

 perfect freedom of man, arising from a 

 love to the species. If I were required 

 to explain the words freedom and liberty 

 in their full extent, I should an^ver in 

 these simple words, that each individual 

 4hink and act us he please, provided no 

 Other is injured. 



The fatal 14ih of July was now ar. 

 Tived ; a day that will mark Birmingham 

 ■with disgrace for ages to come. The 

 Jaws had lust their protection, every 

 security of the inhabitants was given up, 

 the black fiends of liell were whistled 

 together, and let loose for unmerited de- 

 struction. She has reason to keep that 

 anniversary in sackcloth and ashes. 

 About eighty persons of various denomi- 

 nations dined together at the hotel. Du- 

 ring dinner, which was short, perhaps 

 from three to five o'clock, the infant 

 nob collected under (be aus^ice^ of a 



few in elevated life, began with hootinfj, 

 crying Church and King, and broke ih« 

 hotel windows. 



As Mr. Chillingwonh walked by the 

 hotel early in the afternoon of the 14tli, 

 twenty or thirty people were assembled, 

 all quiet : he heard one of the town- 

 beadies say to another, " This will be 

 such a day as we never saw." " Why 

 so ?" says Chillingworth. After repeated 

 inquiries, one of them replied, " Tht 

 gentlemen will not suffer this treatment 

 from the presbyteriaiis ; they will be 

 pissed on no longer.'' The beadles 

 could not make this remark without hav> 

 ing heard hostile expresiinn". fall from the 

 gentlemen, which proves a preconcerted 

 plan. 



It was now between eight and nine, 

 the numbers of the mob were increa'-ed, 

 their spiiits were inflamed. Dr. Priest- 

 ley was snuj^ht for, but he had not dined 

 at the hotel. The magistrates who had 

 diiitd at the Swan, a neighbouring ta- 

 vern, by vvay of counterbalance, huzzaed 

 Church and King, waving ihtir hats, 

 which inspired fresh vigour into the mob, 

 so that they verily thought and often de> 

 ciared, ihey acted with the approbation 

 at least of the higher powers, and that 

 what they did was right. The windows 

 of the hotel being broken, a gentleman 

 said, <* You have done mischief enough 

 here, go to the meetings." A simple re- 

 mark, and almost without a precise 

 meaning, hut it involved a dreadful com. 

 binaiion of ideas. There was no need 

 to say, " Go and burn the meetings." 

 The mob marched down Bull-street un« 

 der the smiles of magistrates. It has 

 been said that these were compelled 

 to echo the cry of the multitude, but ic 

 is nut wholly true. 



Xhe New Meeting was broken open 

 without ceremony; the pews, cushions, 

 books, and pulpit were dashed to pieces; 

 and, in hall an hour, the whole was in a 

 blaze, while the savage multitude re« 

 joiced at the view. 



The Old Meeting was the next mark 

 of the mob. This underwent the fate of 

 the New: and here again a system 

 seems to have been adopted, for the 

 enuines were sutfered to play upon the 

 adjoining houses to prevent iheii' taking 

 fire, but not upon the meeting-house, 

 which was levelled with the ground. 



Tiie mob then undertook a march of 

 more than a mile, to the house of Dr. 

 Priesitley, which was plundered and 

 burnt without mercy, the doctor and his 

 family baiely escaping. Exclusive of 

 the iurtiiiuxe, a very large ,^d valuable 

 library 



