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Tower, entered Little Eaftclieap, when they were attacked 
with fhowersof Hones, brick-bats, and other miftiles. The 
troops, for fome time, bore the affault with patience; but, 
finding that the mob grew more and more outrageous and 
daring, they fired feveral fhots among them, by which 
two or three lives were loft, and not a few wounded. 
This kind of warfare was continued till the guards crofted 
the Thames, by London-bridge, to return through St. 
George’s Fields, and by Weftminfter-bridge, to their 
quarters. 
The letter which firFrancis Burdetthad written, agree¬ 
ably to what he had faid to the ferjeant, on Friday even¬ 
ing, to the Speaker, was communicated by him to the 
lioufe, on Monday, the 9th of April. In this piece, af¬ 
ter Hating what he conceived to be his duty, both to his 
co.nftituents and to the king, firFrancis Burdett proceeds 
as follows: “ Your warrant, fir, I believe, you know to 
be illegal. I know it to be fo. To fuperior force I muft 
fubmit. But I will not incur the danger of continuing 
voluntarily to make one of any fet of men who fhall af- 
fume illegally the whole power of the realm ; and who 
have no more right to take rnyfelf, or any one of my con¬ 
ftituents, by force, than I or they pofi’efs, to take any one 
of thofe who are now guilty of this ufurpation. And I 
would condefcend to accept the meaneft office, being more 
defirous of getting out of my prefent aftociation, than 
others may be defirous of getting profitably into it.— 
Since you have begun this correfpondence with me, I muft 
beg you to read this, my anfwer, to thofe under whofe 
orders you have commenced it. I remain, fir, &c. &c.” 
The Speaker, having read the letter, Hated, that the 
next thing the houfe had to difpofe of was, whether it 
ftiould be ordered to lie on the table ? The debate, on 
that queftion, on the fuggeftion of C- W. Wynne, was 
adjourned until the next day, April the 10th ; on which 
day Mr. Curwen, thinking that thecourfe molt becoming 
the dignity of the houfe would be to take no farther no¬ 
tice of that letter, moved, “ that the further confideration 
of it be adjourned to that day fix months.” The Chan¬ 
cellor of the Exchequer faid, that the puniftiment he had 
before propofed was fora defiance of the authority of that 
houfe. The prefent letter was but a continuation of the 
fame defiance, and a proof of the fame offence. It was, 
however, a great aggravation to repeat it. He therefore 
propofed the following refolution : “ That the letter which 
fir Francis Burdett had written to the Speaker was a high 
aggravation of his offence; but it appearing, from the re¬ 
port of the ferjeant, that the warrant for his commitment 
to the Tower had been executed, this houfe did not think 
at neceflaiy to proceed any farther on the faid letter.” 
A long converfation enfued, in which the impropriety 
of fir Francis Burdett’s letter to the Speaker was urged by 
molt of the members, though his conduct "was animad¬ 
verted on with much lefs feverity by fome than by others. 
Sir Samuel Romilly contended that there was no original 
offence ; and that, therefore, the letter could not, properly 
fpeaking, be called an aggravation. 
Capt. Parker, in a tone of great indignation, could not 
help expreffmg his wilh that the houfe would at once ex¬ 
pel fir Francis Burdett. The objection feemed to be, that 
fir Francis would be returned again ; but he was fatisfied, 
that, when once the electors of Weftminfter knew all the 
particulars of his late conduCt, they would never return 
him to reprefent them again. 
Mr. Whitbread could not confent to the word aggra¬ 
vation in the original motion ; and propofed flagrant, as a 
parliamentary word, and, at the lame time, fufficiently 
ftrong. The Chancelior of the Exchequer, being ex¬ 
treme! y defirous of unanimity on the prefent occafion, 
wilhed to adopt this fuggeftion. In order, however, that 
it might not appear on the journals that the original 
words, relative to aggravation, had been left out, he re- 
quefted lie might be allowed to propofe the words fug- 
gefted by the honourable gentleman as a part of the ori¬ 
ginal motion. Mr. Whitbread confented. It appearing 
D O N. 
to be the general fentiment of the houfe, that neither the 
letter, nor the amendments moved, fhould appear on the 
journals, the Speaker faid he would give directions accord¬ 
ingly. And the queftion was put as an original motion ; 
“ That it is the opinion of this houfe, that the faid letter 
is a high and flagrant breach of the privileges of the houfe : 
but it appearing, from the report of the ferjeant at arms, 
attending this houfe, that the warrant of the Speaker, for 
the commitment of fir Francis Burdett to the Tower, has 
been executed, this houfe will not, at this time, proceed 
further on the faid letter.” Agreed mm. con. 
Sir Francis, it may be prefumed, was abundantly con- 
foled under his imprifonment in the Tower, by thead- 
drefies he received, from different parts of the kingdom, 
and the petitions that were fent to the houfe of commons 
for his liberation. The firff place that petitioned, as might 
be expected, was Weftminfter. On the 17th of April, 
lord Cochrane preferred a petition from a meeting at 
Weftminfter, held that day in Palace-yard. It was en¬ 
titled a Petition and Remcnjlrance. Tiie houfe was not pe¬ 
titioned, but called upon, to reftore to the inhabitants of 
Weftminfter their beloved reprefentative, and to take into 
their confideration a reform in parliament. It contrafted 
the refufal of the houfe to inquire into the cond-uCt of 
lord Caftlereagh and Mr. Perceval, when diftinCtly charged 
with the fale of a feat in that houfe, with the committal 
of firFrancis Burdett to prifon, enforced by military power. 
The petition being read, lord Cochrane moved, that it 
ftiould lie on the table. This'motion was oppofed by fe¬ 
veral members, on account of the great indecency of the 
language. The Chancellor of the Exchequer entered fully 
into the feelings of thefe gentlemen ; yet, in a cafe of pe¬ 
tition, he would rather err on the fide of indulgence than 
of feverity, if the queftion -could at all admit of a doubt. 
If the houfe ftiould think, that the petition was intended 
merely as a vehicle of abufe, it ought, undoubtedly, to re¬ 
ject it. If not, then the petition ought, in his opinion,, 
to lie on the table; which, after fome further confidera- 
tion, was ordered. 
A petition from Middlefex was prefented on the 2d of 
May by Mr. Byng, who moved that it do lie on the table. 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer appealed to the houfe 
whether there was any member who heard that petition 
read, that did not conceive it to be rather an experiment 
to try how far the forbearance of the houfe would go, in 
the fufferance of language fuch as it contained ; or whe¬ 
ther it could have any other objeCt than to infult ? • A 
debate enfued/which was continued, by adjournment, on 
the next day. On a divifion of the houfe, there appeared, 
for receiving the petition 58 ; againft it 139.—A petition 
from the livery of London for the releafe, not only of fir 
Francis Burdett, but of Mr. jones, after a debate, con¬ 
tinued by adjournment from the 8th to the 9th of May, 
was rejected by 128 againft 36.—A fecond petition from 
the fame party, in which they declared that in their for¬ 
mer one they meant nothing difrefpedlful to the houfe, 
was received.—A petition from the borough of Reading, 
more refpe&ful to the houfe of commons, for the difeharge 
of John Gale Jones and fir Francis Burdett, wnas ordered 
to lie on the table ; fo alfo were petitions from Berkfhire, 
Nottingham, Kingfton-upon-Hull, Rochefter, and the Bo¬ 
rough of Southwark. A petition from Sheffield was re¬ 
jected. 
For fame days before the prorogation of parliament, 
when prifoners committed by either lioufe are always li¬ 
berated, a number of fir Francis Burdett’s 1110ft zealous 
partifans, having formed themfelves into what they called 
a committee of his friends, announced, in the newlpapers, 
the ceremonial to be obferved on Ills going out of prifon, as. 
if it had not been a matter of courfe, but a triumph. There 
was to have been a proceffion, for numbers and pageantry 
beyond any tiling of the kind recorded in Englifh hiftory, 
to accompany the champion of liberty from Tower-hill 10 
his houfe in Piccadilly. The quarters, in-which different 
parties were to affemble, were pointed out j and the order 
