GENERAL HISTORY. 



[7 



tendency to excite them to out- 

 rage and violence : and the meet- 

 ing was in fact followed by some 

 acts of plunder and riot. A peti- 

 tion to his Royal Highness the 

 Prince Regent was agreed to at 

 that meeting, and an adjournment 

 to Palace- Yard on the first day 

 after the meeting of parliament 

 was proposed ; but the Id of De- 

 cember was subsetjuently fixed 

 upon (on the proposition of one 

 of the persons concerned in the 

 plans already described) for ano- 

 ther meeting in Spa-Fields ; and 

 that day appears to ha\ e been de- 

 termined upon for the execution 

 of their design. 



Various schemes were formed 

 for this purpose. Amongst them 

 was a general and forcible libe- 

 ration of all persons eonlined in 

 the different prisons in the metro- 

 polis ; into some of which, in or- 

 d.;r to facilitate its execution, an 

 address to the ]n-isoners was in- 

 troduced, assuring them tliat their 

 liberty would be restored under a 

 new government ; announcing the 

 intended attack upon all the pri- 

 sons for that day ; apprizing the 

 prisoners that arms would be 

 .ready for them ; exhorting them 

 to be prepared with the national 

 tricolor cockade, and to co-ope- 

 rate by the most violent and san- 

 guinary means to ensure success. 



It was also jnoposed to set fire 

 to various barracks, and steps were 

 taken to ascertain and prepare the 

 means of effecting this purpose. 

 An attack upon the Tower and 

 Bank, and othei- points of ini])oi t- 

 ance, was, after previdus ccnisul- 

 tations, finally determined upon. 

 Pikes and arms to a certain ex- 

 tent were actually pro\idc(l, and 

 leaders were named, among whom 



the points of attack were distri- 

 buted. It further appears that 

 the interval ijetween the two meet- 

 ings was employed with unre- 

 mitting assiduity by some of the 

 most active agitators in taking 

 regular ciicuits through different 

 quarters of the town. In these 

 they either resorted to the esta- 

 blished clubs or societies, or la- 

 boured in conversations, appa- 

 rently casual, at public houses, to 

 work up the minds of those with 

 whom they conversed into such a 

 state of ferment and irritation as 

 to render tliem, when collected in 

 sufficient numbers, for whatever 

 ostensible purpose, the fit and 

 ready instruments foi' the execu- 

 tion of any project, however rash 

 and desperate. In the course of 

 these circuits one of their chief 

 objects appears to have been to 

 take e\ ery opportunity of attempt- 

 ing to seduce from their alle- 

 giance the sold'crs of the different 

 guards and at the barracks. The 

 ])rincipal persons concerned in 

 this plan actually proceeded to 

 Spa-fields on the second of De- 

 cember, some of them with con- 

 cealed arms, and with ammu- 

 tion previously prepared ; they 

 had also provided themselves 

 with tricolor flags, and with a 

 standard bearing the following 

 inscription : " The brave soldiers 

 are our brothers ; treat them kind- 

 ly ;" and also with tricolor cock- 

 ades, evidently adojitetl as the sig- 

 nal of revolution. After much in- 

 flammatory language a direct in- 

 vitation was by one of these per- 

 sons addressed to the multitude 

 to ])roceed immediately to actual 

 insuireclion. And it appears quite 

 certain, that the acts of plunder 

 which were perj-etrated for the 



purpose 



