70 LITTLEPORT RIOTS. 



received every mark of kindness and 

 attention, as we did from a member of 

 the medical profession a profession that 

 generally forms the advanced guard of 

 intelligence and improvement in isolated 

 districts. 



Not to confine myself to one parti- 

 cular class, I must add that it was la- 

 mentable to observe the cloud of ignorance 

 which then overshadowed this part of His 

 Majesty's dominions. It was not many 

 years before that its awful effects had been 

 manifested in the Littleport riots, which 

 terminated in capital punishment being in- 

 flicted on five misguided human beings, 

 and in the deportation of many others 

 for the same crime. One man, I remem- 

 ber, returned on my coach after an ab- 

 sence of eight years, having received an 

 unconditional pardon ; and I shall not 

 readily forget the violent ebullition of the 

 poor fellow's feelings when informed by 

 my horse-keeper that his wife, to whom 



