Читать книгу When William IV. Was King - John Ashton - Страница 9

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Duke of Wellington mobbed and stoned — Owing to riots, the King postponed his visit to the city — No Lord Mayor's show, nor dinner — Riots in the city — Apsley House besieged — Ireland proclaimed — Ferment in the country — Change of Ministry — Royal succession — Scotch regalia — Curious story of a bank-note.

Rioting was not confined to the country. The cry of parliamentary reform was exciting the great towns, and especially London. On November 2nd, when the King went to open Parliament, the Duke of Wellington was mobbed in the Park, and struck on the cheek with a stone. The King and Queen were going to dine at Guildhall on Lord Mayor's day, November 9th, and all was prepared for the banquet, but, on the 7th, the Duke of Wellington received the following letter:—

"My Lord Duke,

"From the situation of Lord Mayor, to which I have been elected, numberless communications have been made to me, both personally and by letter, in reference to the 9th, and it is on that account that I take the liberty of addressing your Grace.

"Although the feelings of the respectable citizens of London are decidedly loyal, yet it cannot but be known that there are, both in London, as well as the country, a set of desperate and abandoned characters who are anxious to avail themselves of any circumstance to create tumult and confusion. While all of any respectability in the city are vieing with each other to testify their loyalty on the occasion; from what I learn, it is the intention of some of the desperate characters above mentioned, to take the opportunity of making an attack on your Grace's person, on your approach to the Hall. Every exertion on my part shall be used to make the best possible arrangements in the City; and, at the same time, I feel that, should any violent attack be made in one quarter, any civil force alone might not be sufficiently effectual; and I should not be doing my duty, after what I have heard, did I not take the liberty of suggesting to your Grace the propriety of coming strongly and sufficiently guarded.

"I probably may be considered as giving you needless trouble, but the respect which I, as well as every person who really wishes the welfare of the country, must have for your Grace, and the gratitude we owe you, has induced me to adopt this course.

"I have, etc.

"(Signed) John Key,

"Lord Mayor Elect."

Other communications to a similar effect were made to the Ministers; and in the evening of the 7th the following letter was received by the Lord Mayor, from Sir Robert Peel:—

"My Lord,

"I am commanded by the King to inform your Lordship, that his Majesty's confidential servants have felt it to be their duty to advise the King to postpone the visit which their Majesties intended to pay the City of London on Tuesday next. From information which has been recently received, there is reason to apprehend that, notwithstanding the devoted loyalty and affection borne to his Majesty by the citizens of London, advantage would be taken of an occasion which must necessarily assemble a vast number of persons by night, to create tumult and confusion, and thereby to endanger the properties and the lives of his subjects. It would be a source of deep and lasting concern to their Majesties were any calamity to occur on the occasion of their visit to the City of London, and their Majesties have therefore resolved, though not without the greatest reluctance and regret, to forego, for the present, the satisfaction which that visit would have afforded to their Majesties.

"I have the honour to be, my Lord,

"Your obedient servant,

"Robert Peel."

A deputation from the committee appointed to superintend the entertainment waited upon his Majesty's ministers three times on Tuesday; and the Duke of Wellington plainly told them that there was but one of two courses to be adopted—the postponement of the visit, or the alternative of bringing a large body of military into the City.

The effect of Sir Robert Peel's letter upon the minds of the citizens was beyond description. Men hastened to purchase arms, and to secure the fastenings of their houses, as if there was going to be an armed rebellion. On the 8th, consols fell three per cent. in about an hour and a half, whilst the streets were choked with busy crowds, listening to and spreading all sorts of alarming rumours. The prevailing one was that it was intended to allow the procession to return to the Guildhall unmolested, but that, in the evening, the passage of Temple Bar and the bridges should have been barricaded, the gas-pipes cut off, and, under the cloud of darkness, an indiscriminate plunder of the City take place.

The new Lord Mayor proclaimed that neither the usual procession, nor the banquet would take place, and, accordingly, there were neither this year. And well it was that it was so, for there would assuredly have been a riot; as it was, it was bad enough, as we see from the following account taken from the Annual Register:—

"Both on Monday and on Tuesday (8th and 9th November) the streets of the Metropolis were unusually crowded, and a considerable degree of excitement prevailed. On Monday night a meeting was held at the Rotunda, in Blackfriars Road, at which Mr. Hunt presided as Chairman. It did not terminate till half-past eleven o'clock, when Hunt retired. The instant he left the meeting, an individual exposed a tri-coloured flag, with 'Reform' painted upon it; and a cry of 'Now for the West End,' was instantly raised. This seemed to act as a signal, evidently preconcerted, as the individuals composing the meeting, one and all, assented, and sallied forth in a body, the individual unfurling the tri-coloured flag.

"They then proceeded over the bridge, in numbers amounting to about a thousand, shouting as they passed along, 'Reform!' 'Down with the Police!' 'No Peel!' 'No Wellington!' In their route they were joined by others, and in this manner they proceeded through Fleet Street and the Strand. The Adelphi theatre was closing, and the audience about to leave, when, the shouts of the mob being heard, the doors were instantly closed, and the audience were kept in the house till they had passed. As they proceeded, they were joined by a considerable number of notoriously bad characters, who were very loud in their exclamations against the police.

"The mob first proceeded into Downing Street, where they formed themselves into a line immediately in the front of the residence of Earl Bathurst. A gentleman in the house, hearing the tumult, presented himself at the balcony, armed with a brace of pistols, and, addressing the mob, warned them against committing any illegal act, declaring that he would fire upon the first man that attempted to enter the house. Yells and groans followed this declaration, and a cry of 'Go it, go it!' was raised by the mob. At this moment, another gentleman came out on the balcony, and took the pistols out of his hands, upon which the mob gave loud cheers.

"A strong body of the new police arrived from Scotland Yard, and formed themselves into a line at the end of King Street to prevent the mob from going to the House of Commons, where they intended to proceed. A general fight now ensued, in which the new police were assisted by several respectable-looking men, who used every endeavour to put the mob to the rout. In the skirmish many received broken heads, and the flag was captured. Inspector Lincoln of the E division arrived with a body of seventy men, and an equal number of the B division also came up, when the mob, seeing the reinforcement, took to flight in all directions, and the most perfect quietude succeeded. Three of the most desperate of the rioters were arrested, and carried to the watch house in the Almonry, Westminster. A reinforcement of the Royal Horse Guards, blue, were mounted in the yard of the Horse Guards, and remained there during the night, and extra policemen, in bodies, paraded the streets.

"At an early hour in the morning of Tuesday, the new police were called out in considerable numbers, and, by five o'clock in the evening, a double row flanked the edges of either pavements, on the Westminster side of Temple Bar, for a considerable distance. This precaution was not taken without occasion, for, before this period, a dense mob had collected within Temple Bar, in order to see the preparations there made for an illumination. It was, at last, found necessary, at a late hour in the afternoon, to employ workmen in removing the temporary gas-pipes by which the lighting up was intended to have been effected, lest any of the mob should clamber the Bar, and communicate light to the various gas orifices.

"As soon as the workmen arrived for this purpose, a body of vagabonds ran through the avenues into Westminster, and endeavoured to excite alarm by cries of 'Fire! Fire!' A large body of the police were drawn up, about six o'clock, in the open space leading to Waterloo Bridge, and similar precautions were taken in other parts of Westminster.

"About half-past five, the refuse of the mob, which at an early hour had assembled in the City, proceeded along the Strand, in a body of between three and four hundred, consisting principally of boys of the lowest description, vociferating 'No Peel—down with the raw lobsters!' and other expressions of a similar tendency. On arriving at Catherine Street, they rushed up it, headed by a youth about sixteen, who cheered on the throng with 'This way, my lads—we'll give it them.' A temporary halt was made at the corner of York Street; the mob then proceeded down York Street, through Maiden Lane, Chandos Street, Hemming's Row, to the rear of the Menagerie, at Charing Cross; the whole of them yelling, shouting, groaning, and breaking windows in their progress. A strong body of the E division now rushed upon them, and dealt out severe blows with their staves on the heads and arms of the mob. The captain of the gang was the first to retreat; and the rioters were completely dispersed. At seven o'clock the end of Fleet Street, by Temple Bar, was nearly impassable, and the mob, who extended beyond the pathways, so as to leave barely room for a coach to pass, demanded from each passenger or coachman, as a passport, that he should pull off his hat and shout 'Huzzah!'

"The City side of Temple Bar was in a very tumultuous state. Stones were repeatedly thrown thence upon the police stationed on the Westminster side. Attempts were also made to close the gates, and several rushes upon the police were made from within. Mr. Brown, the Marshal, insisted upon having the control of the gate, as belonging to the City, and caused it to be instantly opened, which produced loud cheering among the mob, and the cry of 'The City police for ever!' They soon, however, lost their popularity, by opposing the passage of the mob through the gate; and Mr. Brown received a severe wound upon the head, in attempting to disarm the rioters. The other City officers were also roughly handled. The mob forced their way, but returned soon afterwards, and went quietly through the City. The police were afterwards withdrawn to a passage leading out of Picket Place into Newcastle Court; and conflicts took place between them and the mob, in which many on both sides received serious injuries. The mob, who appeared afraid to venture outside the gates of Temple Bar, amused themselves with throwing stones and large pieces of wood among the police in Picket Place; they obtained these missiles from the New Law Institution in Chancery Lane, the scaffold of which was broken down and carried off, amidst loud cheers.

"In the course of the evening, another mob, of between four and five hundred persons, proceeded along Piccadilly, and, in a smart trot, made their way to Apsley House, the residence of the Duke of Wellington; hallooing, and bestowing the usual expression of disapprobation on the Duke, Mr. Peel, and the police. On their reaching the end of Piccadilly, they were met with a strong force of the D division of police, who succeeded in dispersing them in different directions, without any serious accident to either party. At eleven o'clock, Piccadilly and the whole of the West End, from the bottom of the Haymarket upwards, was in an undisturbed state; but the police, in number between four and five hundred, were drawn up in Spring Gardens, ready to act, should necessity require them to do so. Frequent communications took place from the different station-houses to the head-quarters at Scotland Yard, and the men employed as messengers upon this occasion were attired in plain clothes, the better to facilitate their progress, and prevent them from being attacked.

"Several parties of ill-disposed persons, many of whom were boys, paraded the streets in Bethnal Green, Spitalfields, and Whitechapel, for the purpose of creating a riot, but were disappointed. One party, more formidable than the rest, passed by Worship Street Office into Church Street, Spitalfields, where they demolished the gas lamp and some windows at the police station there, and, afterwards, those of a Mr. Chapple, a fruiterer; thence they took a circuit round Bethnal Green, and returned into the City without committing further mischief. The magistrates were the whole evening in attendance at the different offices. As early as six o'clock, the shops in St. Paul's Churchyard, Ludgate Hill, and Fleet Street, were completely closed, in consequence of the number of men assembled. The City police in motion in the course of the day amounted to from five hundred to six hundred men, including the firemen, ticket porters, and tackle porters."

The whole country was in a state of ferment. In Ireland, the feeling for repeal of the Union was so strong, that the Duke of Northumberland, as Lord Lieutenant, issued a proclamation putting in force the Act (10 George IV. c. 1) entitled, "An Act for the Suppression of dangerous Associations or Assemblies in Ireland." And the Leeds Intelligencer (quoted in the Times of October 23rd) says—

"We observe that fears are expressed in some of the Metropolitan papers, that disturbances are on the point of breaking out in the North. It was reported in the City, on Monday afternoon, the Standard tells us, 'that a reinforcement of troops had been demanded for Cumberland, in consequence of symptoms of dissatisfaction having appeared among the colliers. Two regiments, they state, are to start from Portsmouth. Artillery, also, it is said, has been ordered from Woolwich, on Friday, for the North. The state of the collieries and manufacturing districts in that part of England is alarming.' Our information does not at all bear out this alarming statement. Except some Radical demonstrations at Carlisle, such as threats, political nocturnal trainings, and a supposed secret preparation of pikes—young trees having been cut down in various places—we hear of nothing which should cause a sudden movement of troops. Certain, however, it is, that an augmentation of force is taking place in the North. The detachment of artillery stationed in Leeds for about a year past, marched for Newcastle on Monday morning."

Space prevents my giving any more about the riotous state of the country during this year, exception only being made to the following excerpt from the "Greville Memoirs":—

"December 1.—The last two or three days have produced no remarkable outrages, and, though the state of the country is still dreadful, it is rather better on the whole, than it was; but London is like the capital of a country desolated by cruel war, or foreign invasion, and we are always looking for reports of battles, burnings, and other disorders. Wherever there has been anything like fighting, the mob has always been beaten, and has shown the greatest cowardice. They do not, however, seem to have been actuated by a very ferocious spirit; and, considering the disorders of the times, it is remarkable that they have not been more violent and rapacious. Lord Craven, who is just of age, with three or four more young Lords, his friends, defeated and dispersed them in Hampshire. They broke into the Duke of Beaufort's house at Heythrop, but he and his sons got them out without mischief, and, afterwards, took some of them. On Monday, as the field which had been out with the King's hounds were returning to town, they were summoned to assist in quelling a riot at Woburn, which they did; the gentlemen charged and broke the people, and took some of them; and, fortunately, some troops came up to secure the prisoners. The alarm, however, still continues, and a feverish anxiety about the future universally prevails, for no man can foresee what course events will take, nor how his own individual circumstances may be affected by them."

The Houses of Parliament were dissolved on July 23rd, and re-assembled on October 26th. On November 15th, the Ministry were defeated over the Civil List by a majority of twenty-nine, and on the next day the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel resigned, and were succeeded by a Ministry, at the head of which was Earl Grey. On the 15th, the Lord Chancellor (Lord Lyndhurst) moved the appointment of a Regency in case of the death of the King before the Princess Victoria arrived at the age of eighteen. He said that the Bill which he was about to propose, provided that, in the event of a posthumous child, her Majesty the Queen should be guardian and regent during the minority; and that her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent should be guardian and regent during the minority of the Princess Victoria; subject to be superseded in the regency, in the case of the birth of a posthumous child. An amendment was afterwards introduced, to the effect that the Princess Victoria should not marry, while a minor, without the consent of the King; or, in the event of his death, without the consent of both Houses of Parliament; and that, if the Duchess of Kent, while regent, married a foreigner, she should lose the regency. This Bill became law on December 23rd, and is know as 1 Gul. IV. c. 2.

In December, the King sent to Scotland, for the purpose of being deposited with the regalia, in the Crown-room of Edinburgh Castle, a beautiful massive gold collar of the Garter, with rose diamond and enamelled George, left to the King (George IV.) by Cardinal York, the last of the royal line of Stuarts; and an ancient rose diamond badge of St. Andrew, and a sapphire ring, set round with brilliants, being Charles the First's coronation ring. The former of these jewels (which weighs about three pounds), was presented to James VI. by his queen, and was worn by that monarch.

I wind up the year with a very curious story of a bank-note. The Carlisle Patriot quoted in the Times of December 29, says—

"We mentioned in our last that a £5 Bank of England note had been received by a mercantile house in Liverpool, on the back of which were written the following words: 'If this note gets into the hand of John Dean, of Long Hills, near Carlisle, his brother Andrew is a prisoner in Algiers.' The paragraph was read by a person in Carlisle, who knew Andrew Dean, and is acquainted with his brother, John Dean's, family, who are residing at Longtown. John Dean's son was in Carlisle on Thursday last, and heard of the paragraph from the person above alluded to; he called at this office, in company with a friend, and, from what he related of his uncle, there is every reason to believe that he is the Andrew Dean, whose imprisonment in a distant country has, by this singular means, been made known to his friends in England. Andrew Dean, it appears, was formerly in the British navy, which he left some time ago, and settled in business in Algiers. Communications will be made to the Liverpool house, and also to Sir James Graham (First Lord of the Admiralty), to ask his assistance in the interesting inquiry."

I can trace no more about it; but it was pointed out that the Ironmongers' Company has a fund of enormous amount, purposely reserved for the liberation of captives in Barbary.

Here are some bonnets and fashions worn in 1830. Two walking dresses, one evening, and one ball dress.