CHAPTER VIII.
The Lord Mayor attends the House.—Violent Discussion.—Alderman Oliver sent to the Tower.—Blow to the Influence of Wilkes.—Riot and Attack on Lord North.—Lord Mayor Committed to the Tower.—His Injudicious Conduct.—Desultory Discussions and Riots.—Lord Rockingham Visits the Lord Mayor in the Tower.—Princess Dowager and Lord Bute Burnt in Effigy.—Weakness of the Opposition in spite of the favourable Opportunity.—Observations on the Conduct of the Court.—Education of the Prince of Wales.—Character of Mr. Smelt.—Debate on the King’s Friends.—Alderman Oliver declines to stand as Sheriff with Wilkes.—Dissolution of the French Parliament.—Bill for an East Indian Regiment rejected.—Motion for an Inquiry into the Murder of Allen.—Bill for Triennial Parliaments.—Lord Chatham moves a Resolution tending to a Dissolution.—Lord Chatham and the Pynsent Estate.—Instances of the Partiality of both Houses.—Prorogation of Parliament.—Controversy between Horne and Wilkes.—Deaths of Lord Strange, the Earl of Halifax, and the Bishop of Durham.—The Duke of Grafton accepts the Privy Seal.—Visit of the Prince of Wales to Gravesend.—Wilkes and Bull elected Sheriffs.—“Adventures of Humphrey Clinker.”—The Chevalier D’Eon supposed to be a Woman.—State of Affairs in France.—Character of Chancellor Maupeou.—Disgrace of the Bishop of Orleans.—The Abbé du Terray.—Madame du Barry and her Governess.—Madame de Mirepoix.—Popularity of the Duc de Choiseul.—Unpopularity of the King.—Dissolution of the Parliaments of Bourdeaux and Toulouse.—Bold Conduct of Choiseul.—Disturbed State of France.—General Dislike of the Mistress.
1771.
On the 25th the Lord Mayor attended the House. He was now accompanied by a prodigious concourse of people, who insulted both Lords and Commoners, hissed Lord Rochford, and ill-treated Lord March and George Selwyn, the latter of whom they mistook for George Onslow. He collared and struck one of the rioters, and was with difficulty saved from their rage. The Lord Mayor told the House that he had brought no counsel with him: first, because he was cramped in his defence by their vote; and secondly, because the two advocates he should have chosen were gone the circuit. Ellis then moved a resolution that the imprisonment of their messenger by the Lord Mayor was a breach of privilege; but before they could proceed farther, the Lord Mayor was so ill that they suffered him to retire. The debate, however, continuing, Sir George Saville moved the previous question, because, the Lord Mayor being restrained in his defence, it would be a partial trial. This being rejected on a division of 272 to 90, Sir George, with six or seven of his friends, protesting against their proceedings, walked out of the House. Alderman Oliver was then called on; he adhered to his assertion of having acted according to his duty, oath, and conscience. The Ministers wished only to reprimand him; and Sir John Wrottesley,[171] a young member, told him the House would be contented if he would but say he was sorry for what he had done; but he replied, he had done what he thought right, and would do it again. Sir Gilbert Elliot, whether to inflame his offence, or to induce him to yield, repeated the same offer—in vain. T. Pitt and James Grenville[172] the younger, who spoke with great applause for the second time, endeavoured to moderate; but the warm men prevailing, Colonel Barré rose and said he would have nothing to do with such infamous proceedings—that no honest man could sit amongst them, and walked out of the House with four or five more. At that moment arrived Alderman Townshend, pale and ghastly from a sick-bed, his hair lank, and his face swathed with linen, having had his jaw laid open for an inflammation. He said directly that all those arbitrary proceedings were owing to the baneful influence of the Princess Dowager of Wales, and that he would move for an inquiry into her conduct. Yet all these insults could not dismount the passive phlegm of the Ministers; Lord North alone said, that Townshend could not know the truth or falsehood of his assertion, and for himself, in five years that he had been in the Administration, he had seen no influence of the Princess. At four in the morning they sent Alderman Oliver to the Tower, and ordered that the Lord Mayor should attend them again on the 27th.
Still would not Wilkes obey their summons, nor did they dare to force him before them. Sir Joseph Mawbey again pressed it, but Lord North shuffled it off by saying Wilkes was so desperate that what would be punishment to others, would be an advantage to him. The courtiers repeated this, but it only displayed their timidity; and happy was it for the constitution that so much pusillanimity reigned in their conduct. Yet the Scotch wanted to come to blows, and were at least not sorry to see the House of Commons so contemptible.
But the victory which the Court did not dare to push over Wilkes, his rash and abandoned conduct threw into their hands. Shelburne’s faction, covertly under Townshend, and undisguisedly under Horne, was warring with him in the midst of their common attack in the House of Commons. The Society of the Bill of Rights happened to be adjourned; Horne and his partisans summoned a special meeting to reward the persecuted printers, and voted a sum of money to them. Wilkes, as if he grudged that any money should be expended but on himself, advertised against this step, as the measure of an irregular meeting. His antagonist replied, and published the names on each side, which proved not to be twenty on either, and all men most inconsiderable. This not only brought disgrace and ridicule on the Society, but fell more fatally on the credit of Wilkes than all his persecutions, all his follies, or all his vices, and was the destruction of his popularity itself, which became confined to the very dregs of the people. His old patron, Lord Temple, retaining his constancy to faction, though broken with all factions, immediately visited Alderman Oliver in the Tower.
The Lord Mayor went again to the House on the 27th at the head of a prodigious mob, who, meeting Lord North, attacked him with a rage that had all the appearance of being premeditated. They punched a constable’s staff in his face, and endeavoured to tear him out of his chariot, which they entirely demolished.[173] Sir William Meredith, a generous enemy, and Mr. La Roche, a friend, seeing his danger from the window of a coffee-house, went down and rescued him from the mob.[174] The two Foxes were as rudely handled, and escaped as narrowly. Vast numbers of constables were sent for, but it was late in the evening before the tumult subsided; nor would the Speaker suffer the business of the House to proceed till all was quiet. Wedderburne told the House it had been a riot headed by the magistrates. Lord North made a firm speech, and took notice of a report that he had resigned, and was to be succeeded by Earl Gower; but said he should be the meanest man living, if he quitted at that juncture; nor would he quit till his Majesty should dismiss, or the people tear him to pieces. Lord Hinchinbrook,[175] in answer to his uncle Seymour, who had spoken with violence, was so indecent as to betray a secret,—that Seymour, in Grenville’s Administration, had asked to be Vice-Chamberlain, and imputed his animosity to having been refused that office. Yet, in general, both parties behaved that day with moderation. The Ministers moved that the Lord Mayor should, on account of his bad health, be committed only to the custody of the Serjeant-at-arms; but he, rising up, scornfully declared he was as well as ever, and chose to be sent to the Tower with his brother Oliver. Temper could operate no farther, and at twelve at night he was committed to the Tower. The Ministers then proposed to elect, and did elect, by ballot, a committee to consider of the resistance given to the orders of the House, and of the means of redressing it. Rigby, who was named for one, refused to be of it; and he and his friends took pains to show they would not engage in the quarrel.
The Lord Mayor went for a few hours to the Mansion House. The mob meditated hanging Clementson, the Deputy Serjeant-at-arms, who conducted him, on a sign-post, and the poor man heard them debating on it; but the Lord Mayor with difficulty obtained his safety by representing that he was not a principal, but acting in quality of servant to the House. At four in the morning the Mayor went to the Tower, where the Common Council voted that tables should be kept for him and Alderman Oliver. Brass Crosby, the Lord Mayor, was originally a low attorney, and had married his master’s widow, and afterwards the widow of a carcass-butcher. With their fortunes he trafficked in seamen’s tickets,—a mean and disreputable kind of usury. Nor were his manners more creditable than his professions. When he entered the Tower he was half drunk, swore, and behaved with a jollity ill-becoming the gravity of his office or cause. Had his behaviour been solemn or dignified, the novelty of the City’s chief magistrate imprisoned in defence of the City’s pretended franchises, might have made a very serious sensation.[176] Oliver, though decent, was a young fellow unknown; nor had any of their associates character or conduct sufficient to manage a machine so important, which soon split into squabbles, and fell to pieces without noise.
The House of Commons again ordered that Wilkes should attend them on the Monday seven-night after the holidays, not desiring he should attend, but as if they meant to leave a precedent which men of more spirit might follow hereafter. Yet did they not adjourn till the Thursday in Passion week, when they might have sent for him; but they ordered their new committee to sit during the recess.