34 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



" If the people will assemble at the 

 Corn-market on Monday. 

 "Fellow countrymen ! 

 " How long will ye quietly and 

 cowardly sufleryourselvestobe thus 

 imposed upon and half starved by a 

 set of mercenary slaves and govern- 

 ment hirelings ? can you still suffer 

 them to proceed in their extensive 

 monopolies, while your families are 

 crying for bread? no! let them 

 exist not a day longer; we are the 

 sovereignty; rise then from your 

 lethargy. Be at the Corn-market 

 on Monday." 



These infamous provocations to 

 popular outrage induced the lord 

 mayor to take the necessary mea- 

 sures of precaution to secure the 

 public peace. He collected all his 

 civil officers, and received an assur- 

 ance from the volunteer corps, that 

 they would await his orders. It 

 was not difficult to collect a mob, 

 under a promise of so great a reduc- 

 tion in the price of bread. At ten 

 o'clock the rioters began hissing the 

 mealmen and cornfactors goinginto 

 the market. Some they hustled, 

 others they pelted with mud. The 

 quakers were the peculiar objects of 

 their wrath. This body of trades- 

 men, who employ their skill and 

 capital only in those manufactures 

 and commodities which are uncon- 

 nected with war, deserve, more than 

 any othei", the blessings of the poor, 

 from the simplicity of their lives, 

 and the example which they give of 

 moderation in all their dealings. 

 Vulgar prejudice, however, mark- 

 ed them out as the authors of the 

 scarcity, by withholding from the 

 market stores which they had ac- 

 cumulated. The riot increasing, 

 the lord mayor went to Mark-lane 

 about ten, and addressed the popu- 

 lace, recommending them to go 



peaceably to their homes. The 

 mob heard him with complacency, 

 and began to disperse. There were 

 only a few stragglers: and thus, in 

 the first instance, the market was 

 protected. The lord mayor, how- 

 ever, had scarcely reached Guild- 

 hall, when a message was brought 

 him from the marshal and constables 

 he had left on duty, that the mob 

 had reassembled. The lord mayor 

 on his arrival again addressed them 

 in terms most conciliatory and tem- 

 perate, but in tlie most decided 

 manner. He was joined by sir Wil- 

 liam Leigh ton, and sir John Eamer, 

 and supported by his constables. He 

 descended into the streets among 

 them ; and finding at length that all 

 intreaties were ineffectual to make 

 them disperse, and that several of 

 his peace officers were wounded 

 with brick-bats and stones, he read 

 the riot act. The mob then dis- 

 persed, and before five o'clock there 

 were only a few idle spectators. — 

 Towards evening the populace, 

 however, again assembled in very 

 large bodies in Mark-lane, and 

 broke the windows of several inha- 

 bitants, particularly those of Mr. 

 BoUand. But being dispersed by a 

 few of the volunteers and con- 

 stables, they proceeded to White- 

 chapel and Shoreditch, and broke 

 the windows of some bakers' shops; 

 and, about twelve at niglit, they 

 went to the house of Mr. Rusby.in 

 the Blackfriars-road(whowassome- 

 time sin^e convicted of regrating), 

 which they completely gutted: an 

 actof the most disgraceful injustice, 

 since Rusby is now awaiting the 

 sentence of the law for his offence. 

 In consequence of the above riots, 

 the lord mayor ordered the follow- 

 ing hand-bill to be posted ou the 

 walls of the metropolis : 



