380 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



them to their legitimate aspirations, though it must be confessed 

 there was no fitter incarnation of their weaknesses and their 

 folly. They were indignant at the slight concession given to 

 their fellow-Christians, and they resolved, if possible, to procure 

 the repeal of it, and if that was not to be, then they would do 

 whatever their too ready hands might find to do. At the 

 suggestions of Lord George, petitions were got up and nume- 

 rously signed, begging the Legislature to deliver the land from 

 the guilt of allowing certain of the inhabitants to pray together ! 

 Every means were taken to make the petition from the Pro- 

 testants of London a " monster petition." Advertisements were 

 issued, speeches were made to inflame the public mind, and per- 

 sonal entreaties were not wanting to induce the people to add 

 their names. 



Towards the end of May, 1780, a crowded meeting was held 

 in Coachmakers' Hall, where Lord George spoke at length, 

 addressing the people in a highly inflammatory harangue. He 

 promised to present their petition to the House of Commons, 

 of which he was a member, if they would attend him with not 

 less than 20,000 persons, on the 2nd June. Eesolutions were 

 passed pledging the Association to meet with as many friends 

 as they could muster on that day in St. George's Fields ; and 

 in order the better to distinguish those of the " true Protes- 

 tant " party, it was agreed that the petitioners and their friends 

 should wear blue cockades in their hats. 



On Friday, the 2nd of June, Lord George Gordon met his 

 followers, some 60,000 strong, in St. George's Fields, and after 

 addressing them in a foolish speech, full of intolerant and 

 strife-stirring words, marched them, six abreast, over London 

 Bridge, up Fleet Street and the Strand to Palace Yard, of 

 which they took riotous possession. The Houses had not yet 

 met when the processionists arrived ; there were not any police 

 to keep order, and the troops had not any instructions. 



Very soon the disposition of the assemblage was apparent. 

 Thousands had only availed themselves of the Protestants' 

 petition to indulge their natural instincts to commit robbery 

 and violence, and as soon as the members of either House of 

 Parliament began to arrive, these persons commenced to be 

 natural. Earl Mansfield, one of the most upright and able 

 Chief Justices England ever had, had agreed to preside over 

 the House of Lords instead of Lord Chancellor Thurlow, who 

 was ill at Tunbridge. As soon as his carriage came into 

 Palace Yard it was attacked, the windows were broken, the 

 body was much damaged, and the venerable old man with 

 difficulty escaped into the House, with torn robes and disordered 

 wig. The Archbishop of York was subjected to like violence, 

 and the Bishop of Lincoln, whose carriage was literally de- 

 molished, was taken fainting into a house, whence he escaped 

 in disguise over the leads. The Duke of Northumberland was 

 pulled out of his carriage and robbed of purse and watch ; the 

 Lord President of the Council and other peers were also so 

 roughly handled that they could hardly get into Westminster 

 Hall. The Lords continued to arrive, and business commenced ; 

 but little progress had been made when Lord Montfort rushed 

 in to say that Lord Boston was in the hands of the mob, 

 and in imminent danger of his life. One who was present 

 says : " At this instant it is hardly possible to conceive a 

 more grotesque appearance than the House exhibited. Some 

 of their lordships with their hair about their shoulders ; others 

 smutted with dirt ; most of them as pale as the ghost in 

 ' Hamlet;' and all of them standing up in their several places, 

 and speaking at the same instant. One lord proposing to 

 send for the Guards, another for the justices or civil magis- 

 trates, many crying out, ' Adjourn, adjourn ! ' while the skies 

 resounded with the huzzas, shoutings, or hootings in Palace 

 Yard." 



Lord Boston escaped from the crowd just as the House of 

 Lords were proposing to go out and rescue him ; but it being 

 impossible to go on with business, the House adjourned at 

 eight o'clock, and its members managed to get away unper- 

 ceived by side ways and passages. 



Some 200 members of the House of Commons assembled, 

 but the noise of the Protestant rioters almost drowned their 

 voices in debate. Lord George Gordon presented the monster 

 petition, and moved that the House should consider it in com- 

 mittee forthwith. An amendment was moved that it should 

 not be considered till the 6th instant (four days on), but the 

 cense of the House could not be taken, because the rioters had 



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

 Popery ! " " Eepeal, Eepeal ! " 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 were 

 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 off 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 being 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 



