Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London during the Eighteenth Century; Vol. 2 (of 2) / Including the Charities, Depravities, Dresses, and Amusements etc.

by James Peller Malcolm

necessity, in defence of their lives, and for the public peace, obliged to fire, and the firing continued till they cleared the passage and street before it, which was very soon done: upon which the Serjeant took the opportunity of running to his men, and cried out, 'For God's sake fire no more.' He then drew all his men out of the passage, and formed a square in the street, and ordered them to ease their arms, and on looking about him he saw three men lying dead in the street, two of which appeared to be sailors. Several of the soldiers' fingers were bloody from the blows they received from the rioters. In the riot two sailors jumped into a window belonging to a butcher's house, near the public-house, and one of them taking a chopper out of the shop, endeavoured to rush by the Corporal into the passage to the public-house, but was seized by the Corporal to prevent his going in, by which means the Corporal's hand was cut by the chopper to such a degree, that he was obliged to be sent to an hospital.

"The witnesses swore, that they verily believed the soldiers were obliged to fire in defence of their lives, as well as for the preservation of the public peace; and the Jury were well satisfied with the evidence before them.

"The Coroner, in summing up the evidence, distinguished between murder, manslaughter, and justifiable or excusable homicides, both voluntary

and involuntary; and chance-medley, or homicide by misadventure; under one of which classes, he informed the Jury, the present case must fall. He observed, that the soldiers did not come to that place wantonly to do an injury, but were called in, as the Lieutenant understood, and so called it (when he produced his authority) in his evidence, 'by an order from the civil power,' to suppress the rioters, and preserve the King's peace; and whether the civil power had taken the proper steps before applying to the military, or whether the notice sent to the Lieutenant was a legal warrant or order, or not, were not matters of their enquiry; for that, supposing a Justice of Peace should issue an illegal warrant, and an officer should be killed in the execution of it, in that case the party killing would be deemed a murderer; for the officer was obliged to execute his office: he is not supposed to be a judge of law; he is only a minister of Justice, and the party had a legal remedy, if he had been improperly arrested. The Coroner said, that the conduct of the military power upon that occasion was the immediate subject of their enquiry; that, if the Jury gave credit to the witnesses, the major part of whom were disinterested persons, the soldiers did not fire till they were pressed to it, by inevitable necessity, in defence of their own lives, and for the preservation of the public peace; and in killing any of the rioters, had done no more

than 'Justifiable Homicides' of inevitable necessity, for the preservation of the King's peace, and in defence of themselves; and added, that in such case, if any person was killed that was not concerned in the riot, but unfortunately hemmed in by the rioters, or was passing along at that time, in that case it would be chance-medley, or homicide per infortunium, that is, death by misadventure; and as it did not appear to the Jury that the persons upon whom they then sat were acting in the riot, the Jury found the special matter, and brought in their verdict Homicides by Misadventure.

"After the riot by the sailors was over, the people collected, and were so much enraged against the soldiers, that the Lieutenant was obliged to send to the Tower for a reinforcement to prevent mischief; and they continued under arms till near twelve at night, when he withdrew, leaving at the public-house a Serjeant, Corporal, and twenty private men, who, reporting the next morning that all was well, were ordered to their several quarters."

A third scene of popular tumult occurred before the close of the year 1763, and was caused by the execution of the sentence of burning Mr. Wilkes's celebrated Number 45 of the North Briton.

The 3d of December was appointed for this silly ceremony, which took place before the

Royal Exchange amidst the hisses and execrations of the mob, not directed at the obnoxious paper, but at Alderman Harley, the Sheriffs, and constables; the latter of whom were compelled to fight furiously through the whole business. The instant the hangman held the work to a lighted link it was beat to the ground; and the populace, seizing the faggots prepared to complete its destruction, fell upon the peace-officers, and fairly threshed them from the field; nor did the Alderman escape without a contusion on the head, inflicted by a billet thrown through the glass of his coach; and several other persons had reason to repent the attempt to burn that publicly which the sovereign people determined to approve, who afterwards exhibited a large jack boot at Temple-bar, and burnt it in triumph, unmolested, as a species of retaliation.

February in the following year produced another description of outrage; and, as the mob arranged themselves on the side of Liberty in the above instance, they determined in the following to adopt the cause of Justice, though, as it almost always happens, they listened only to one side of the case; in short, they are generally a Jury who retire for a verdict when the evidence for the prosecution is closed. The Ambassador from the Emperor of Morocco resided in Panton-square, and had in his suite a female servant who was arrested for debt, and sent to a receiving or