THE POPULAB EDUCATOE. 



possession of tlie lobbies, whence they kept up a cry of " No 

 Popery!" "Repeal, iiepeal ! " Lord George constantly went 

 out to encourage the people to persevere, bade them keep up 

 the demonstration, and compel the House to listen to them at 

 once. The uproar was tremendous. 



Within the House there was wisdom and dignity, and some 

 anger. One member was for sending Lord George Gordon 

 instantly to Newgate, others were for refusing to consider 

 anything in connection with the petition while the House was 

 under intimidation, and Colonel Murray, when tho rioters wero 

 actually knocking at the door of the House, addressed to his 

 kinsman the words which appear at the head of this paper. 

 Lord North, however, the Prime Minister, sat serenely in his 

 place, and by his conduct succeeded in infusing a spirit of 

 confidence into the wavering members. Privately he sent for 

 a detachment of the Guards, and these coming about nine 

 o'clock in the evening, the rioters dispersed, the House divided, 

 and rejecting Lord George's motion, adjourned till June the 6th. 



With the exception of the burning of the chapels of the 

 Bavarian and Sardinian ministers, which were utterly destroyed, 

 no great damage was done by the rioters in London that night. 

 The magistrates thought the disturbances were over, but on 

 Sunday, June the 4th, the Roman Catholic chapels in Moor- 

 fields, and the houses belonging to Romanists in that district, 

 were attacked and gutted. Next day the like fate befel the 

 chapels and houses of the obnoxious religionists in other 

 quarters ; and the rioters growing bold at the non-interference 

 of authority, resolved to attack the house of Sir George Savile, 

 who originated the slight measure of toleration which had been 

 granted to the Catholics. Savile House in Leicester Fields, 

 now Leicester Square was accordingly besieged, carried by 

 storm, and destroyed with all that was in it. 



On June the 6th the House of Commons met under the pro- 

 tection of a body of soldiers, and Lord George Gordon appeared 

 with a blue cockade, the sign of the rioters, in his hat. Colonel 

 Herbert drew the attention of the House to the cockade, and 

 recommended Lord George to remove it, adding that if he did not, 

 he (Colonel Herbert) would step across the House and remove it 

 for him, upon which Lord George put the obnoxious sign into 

 his pocket. While the debate was going on, a mob attacked 

 the official residence of the Prime Minister in Downing Street, 

 but made oil at the appearance of some soldiers. During the 

 afternoon a vast multitude assembled before Newgate, and 

 demanded the release of their friends who had been committed 

 a few days before. The demand being refused by the governor, 

 an attack was made on the gaol ; fire and levers, pickaxes and 

 crowbars were freely applied, and in the course of a few hours 

 the prison, which had lately been rebuilt at great cost, was a 

 smoking ruin, portions of the stone walls alone feeing left. The 

 liberated prisoners increased the number and the audacity of 

 the mob, who proceeded to break open the prison at Clerken- 

 well, and to liberate the prisoners there ; and the houses of 

 several obnoxious persons were destroyed in open day. Towards 

 night, however, the mob, drunk with success and with liquor also, 

 grew bolder. At midnight they congregated in front of Lord 

 Mansfield's house, in Bloomsbury Square, and burned it with its 

 contents, including a library of inestimable value, and a priceless 

 collection of materials for history. Lord and Lady Mansfield 

 escaped by a side entrance. 



From six-and-thirty different places the fire and smoke went 

 up, promoted by the efforts of incendiaries; but for magnitude, 

 perhaps, the worst fire was that which finally caused the Govern- 

 ment to act decisively against the offenders the fire at the 

 distillery in Holborn. The distillery at the time belonged to 

 Mr. Langdale, a Roman Catholic, and this fact, coupled with 

 the attraction caused by the stores of spirit, was sufficient to 

 draw the attention of the rioters. The place was sacked and 

 then fired. Hundreds of drunken wretches perished in the 

 flames, the gin ran down the gutters in a blaze, and the flames 

 from the burning premises lighted the sky over all London. 



There were no police. The officers in command of troops 

 were afraid to fire upon the people, doubts having been raised 

 whether by so doing, even at the bidding of a magistrate, they 

 did not render themselves liable to prosecution for murder. 

 But the danger increased. The king, in council, had the 

 question of military interference debated, and upon the Attorney- 

 General giving it as his opinion that under the circumstances 

 'which then existed the soldiers might legally be called upon to 



act, the king announced that there was at least one magistrate 

 (meaning himself) in the country who was determined to do 

 his duty. Soldiers were forthwith ordered to take military 

 possession of the town, and the instructions to their officers 

 were that if the people would not disperse on being summoned, 

 they should be fired upon. 



Upon these orders the officers acted. Troops marched 

 through the streets, and in some houses they were quartered as 

 garrisons. Unhappily, the march of the soldiers was not 

 unimpeded, though it can scarcely be said to have been resisted. 

 The people would not disperse, the soldiers fired, and the gutters 

 which lately ran gin now ran blood. Two hundred persons 

 were shot dead in the streets, besides those who perished in 

 the flames of the distillery, and 250 more were sent wounded to 

 the hospitals. A few hours served to replace the authorities 

 in possession of London, and " on the morning of Thursday, 

 June the 8th, no trace was to be seen," says Lord Mahori (Earl 

 Stanhope), " of the recent tumults, beyond the smouldering 

 fuins, the spots of blood upon the pavements, and the marks 

 of shot upon the houses." 



On Friday, June the 9th, Lord George Gordon was arrested 

 and sent to the Tower, but subsequently escaped trial in conse- 

 quence of some technical flaw in the legal proceedings. His 

 followers were not so fortunate. Out of a large number con- 

 demned to death at the July Assizes, many experienced the 

 king's mercy, but twenty-one were hanged for the part they had 

 had in the Gordon Riots. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE III. 



George III. was the son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and 

 the Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. His father was the eldest 

 son of George II. He was the thirty-second monarch of Great 

 Britain and Ireland after the Norman Conquest, and the third 

 of the Hanoverian Dynasty, or House of Brunswick. He mar- 

 ried the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg, by whom he had 

 nine sons and six daughters. 



Born in London . June 4, 1738 

 Death of Frederick, Prince 



of Wales 1751 



Began to reign . . Oct. 25, 1760 

 Married .... Sept. 8, 1761 

 Stamp Act for American 



Colonies 1765 



Tax on Tea Imported into 

 American Colonies en- 

 forced by Lord North . . 1770 

 Royal Marriage Act passed . 1772 

 Riot at Boston. American 

 Colonists meet at Phila- 

 delphia 1773 



Boston Port Bill passed . . 1774 

 Revolt of the American 



Colonies 1775 



Bat. Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775 

 Declaration of Independence 

 by the American Colonies, 

 which are now called the 

 " United States," July 4, 1776 

 Death of Earl Chatham 



May 11, 1778 



"No Popery" Riots . . . 1780 

 Siege of Gibraltar .... 1782 

 Independence of the Ameri- 

 can Colonies acknowledged 



Nov. 30, 1782 | 



Peace of Versailles . . . 1783 

 William Pitt, Prime Minis- 

 ter 1783 



Warren Hastings impeached 



for misdemeanour in India 1788 ' 

 Temp. Insanity of the King 1788 

 Commencement of the 

 French Revolution. De- 

 struction of the Bastile 



July 20, 1789 

 Louis XVI. of France and 



Marie Antoinette beheaded 1793 

 Declaration of War against 

 England by the French 

 Republic ..:... 1793 

 Lord Howe's Victory off 

 Ushant. . . . June 1, 1794 



Partition of Poland . . . 



War with Spain .... 



Battle of Cape St. Vincent 

 Feb. 14, 



Suspension of Cash Pay- 

 ments .... Feb. 25, 



Mutiny at the Nore, June, 



Bat. of Camperdown, Oct. 11, 



Irish Rebellion commenced 

 May 4, 



Battle of the Nile . Aug. 1, 



Capture of Seringapatam 

 (India) .... May 4, 



Legislative Union of Great 



Britain and 



of 



Ireland 

 Jan. 1, 

 Copen- 



April 2, 



Bombardment 

 hagen . 



Peace of Amiens 



Renewal of War with France 



War with Spain .... 



Bat. of Trafalgar and Death 

 of Nelson . . . Oct. 21, 



Death of William Pitt 

 Jan. 23, 



The " Delicate Investiga- 

 tion;" an Inquiry into 

 charges a gainst the Prin- 

 cess of Wales . May 22, 



Death of Charles James Fox 

 Sept. 13, 



Abolition of the Slave Trade 

 procured by Wilberforce . 



Peninsular War begins . 



Battle of Vimeira . Aug. 21, 



Convention of Cintra, Aug. 22, 



Bat. of Corunua and Death 

 of Sir John Moore, Jan. 16, 



Riots and Arrest of Sir 

 Francis Burdett, April 6, 



Battle of Talavera . July 27, 



Expedition to Walcheren 

 Aug. 10, 



Battle of Busaco . Sept. 27, 



Return of the Insanity of 

 the King .... Nov. 



1795 

 1796 



1797 



1797 

 1797 

 1797 



1798 



1798 



1799 



1801 

 1801 



1803 

 1804 



1805 

 1806 



1806 

 1806 



1807 

 1808 

 1808 

 1S03 



1809 



1809 

 1809 



1809 

 1809 



1809 



