1831-1836.] 



BRISTOL RIOTS. 



9 



was too apparent to the watchers at the windows. But when 

 the riot was crushed, those who went to the Square could see 

 not only the smoking ruins, but evidences that buried in them 

 were the wretched victims of drink, who had remained too 

 long in the houses they had set on fire. Philip became one of 

 the most earnest preachers of peace, and he often referred to 

 these horrors, as they gave him a vivid conception of what 

 happens in war. The riots were followed by courts-martial on 

 officers ; a special commission for the trial of prisoners, of 

 whom four were hanged ; and the trial of the Mayor (at West- 

 minster), at which Dr. Carpenter gave important testimony. 

 Good came out of evil. The incompetency of a self-elected 

 corporation was so signally proved that these riots prepared 

 the way for the Municipal Corporation Act of 1834. (Philip 

 copied his father's correspondence with Earl Grey, Lord Hol- 

 land, and others. His obliging disposition, and his readiness 

 to learn shorthand, made him a useful little secretary.) If 

 possible, his hatred of slavery was in after life a more striking 

 feature of his character than his abhorrence of war ; and no 

 doubt it was stimulated by his father's ardent love of freedom, 

 which was not abated by the circumstance that some of the 

 most influential and esteemed members of his congregation 

 were large West Indian proprietors. 



Philip fondly remembered that his father called him " my 

 little Mercury." One of his sisters described him as "the 

 matter-of-fact gentleman ; " and his accuracy, as well as his 

 good nature, was often called out in the family service. Dr. 

 Carpenter published a good deal, and Philip in after days 

 wrote : " I have been connected with printing and editing from 

 my boyhood." The workshop, with its carpenter's tools, was 

 not used when the boys' school had ended ; but we had a 

 book-binder's press, etc., and practised the rudiments of that 

 trade ! Philip's help was frequently sought by his sisters on 

 behalf of the Sunday school. Anna was the librarian, and 

 took good care to keep the soiled books in the best possible 

 order, patching, covering, and mending them ; this used to be 

 the employment of Saturday evening, when her home-school 

 work was over. 



