"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—