1808.] 
fully Jocked up in a room by themselves, test 
they should become quarrelsome, or be unable 
to conduct themselves with propriety. [t was 
@ most interesting spectacle: Sir John accom- 
panied thm himself through the garrison to 
prevent any insult being offered to them ; at 
the Common Hard,he was joined by Mr. God- 
win, the friend and associate of his youth, 
and, also, a most worthy magistrate of this 
borough; they attended the procession, till it 
had passed the fortification at Portsea: every 
thing was conducted with the greatest deco- 
rum. When the sailors returned and were 
sent off to their respective ships, two or three 
of the managing delegates came to Sir John 
to inform him that the men were all gone on 
board, and to thank him for ‘* his great good- 
Ness” to them, Sir Johnseized the opportu- 
Nity of inquiring after their Admiral, as these 
delegates belonged > London: §* do youknow 
him, your honor?” yes; I havea great res- 
pect for him and hope you will not do him 
any harm: ‘no; by G—-d, your honor, he 
shall not be hurz!” It was, at that time, 
imagined Admiral Colpoys would be hung at 
the yard-arm; and he had prepared for this 
évent by arranging his affairs and making his 
will: in this will he had left to the widows 
of the two men, who were: so unfortunately 
killed, an annuity of 20]? each. The next 
morning, however, the Admiral was privately, 
unexpectedly, and safely broughc on shore, 
though pursued by a boat from the Mars, as 
soon as they suspected what was transacting : 
the delegates brought him to Sir John Carter, 
and delivered him to his care: they. then, 
desired to have a receipt for him, as a proof to 
their comrades that they had safely ‘delivered 
him into the hands of the civil power ; and 
which receipt he gave. The Admiral him- 
self,on his first appearance at court afterwards, 
acknowledged to the King that he owed his 
life to Sir John Carter, and assured his Majes- 
ty that his principles were misinterpreted and 
his conduct misrepresented, and that he had 
net a more faithful and worthy subject tn his 
dominions.—-The honorable influence‘ which 
the suavity of his manners, his gentle, unas- 
Suming demeanour, his kind, unostentatious 
deportment obtained for him, was most use- 
fully conspicuous during the riots, on account 
of the scarcity, in July, 17973 and, also, du- 
ring a mutiny of the Buckinghamshire mili- 
tia; among whom he fearlessly mixed, ex- 
horting and prevailing with them to return to 
their duty. Indeed, wherever he could be 
useful, either by personal exertions, by his 
influence, or persuasion, there he was con- 
Stantly to be found. He was denounced, at 
the head of a long list of inhabitants of thig 
town, to Mr. Reeves, as a jacobinand an ene-~ 
My to his king and country. A gentleman of 
rank, who belonged to that association, on 
Seeing this immediately struck his name out 
of the list of the commitree and asSuciation, 
The Duke of Portland, the secretary of state 
for the home department, teceived'a very 
EF ampshire. 
- Karl of St. Vincent. 
507 
strong letter against him, which letter his 
Grace sent to Sir John, assuring him, at the 
Same time, that the government placed the 
utmost confidence in his honor, integrity,/and 
patriotism, and concluded by proposing to offer 
a large reward for discovering the writer's 
this, with a dignified consciousness of t-he pu~ 
rity of his conduct, Sir John declined, though 
from some well-founded conjectures, tthe die 
covery might possibly have been easily made, 
And this inestimable consciousness enablex 
him to meet, with the greatest composure, 
every attempt which the rancour and violence. 
of party rage made to sully his reputation and 
destroy his influence. So pure, so disistteresr= 
ed, so honorable were his principles that 
when, in the year ‘1806, -he was offered a 
baronetage by Mr. Fox, he declined it, and, 
on the ground that he believed the afer to 
have been made for his undeviating attach- 
ment to those political principles which cha- 
tacterized that great man; and that to accept 
it would manifest departure from thoge pria- 
ciples. Jt was these principles which induced 
him to ofter a seat in parliament, for the toe 
rough of Portsmouth, to that distinguished 
friend of liberty, Thomas Erskine. The same 
principles led him to make a similar offér to 
that most respectable, independent, and high- 
ly valued character, Sir Thomas Miller, batt, 
who has declared that nothing, but the truly 
honourable way, in which the seat was ofter- 
ed to him, could have induced him to return 
again to the fatigue of parliamentary duties, 
At was his conciliating temper which led him, 
during the late violence of party, to propose 
as the other representative, some moderate 
member of the administration; in the firse 
instance the late Lord Hugh Seymour; ané 
aiterwards, Captain, now Admiral Markham, 
in compliment to their common friend, the 
Some persons are ap~ 
prehensive, but on what groundsis best known 
to themselves, that those, who succeed to the 
leading influence in the corporation, will not: 
preserve the same independence of mind, 
the same purity of principle, or the same diss 
interested conduct. In the year 1796, he wag 
again elected mayor, as, also in the year 1800, 
and in 1304, he filled the chair of chief maa 
gistrace for the ninth and last time. Whether 
he acted as mayor, OF aS magistrate for the 
borough or county, he was uniformly mild, 
impartial, and upright; nor, ‘was he ever de= 
terred by personal difficulties or inconveience$ 
from a faithful, active, and even minute ate 
tendance on the widely extended duties of his 
laborious office. The poor in him ‘ever found 
a friend, and the unfortunate a protector. He 
was equally willing and ready to afford relief 
by his purse, or to render assistance by his 
advice. ‘The peace, comfort, and happiness 
of others, and not his own interest, was the 
unwearied object of his pursuit. Lu the wi- 
dow and the fatherless, he’ was a father and 
guardian. Many persons had prevailed on him 
to undertake the direction of their concerns, 
by 
€ 
