“I am, etc.,
“Thomas Cantuar.”[386]
Under the circumstances of the time, Whitefield was almost driven to seek redress. First of all, he consulted the Honourable Hume Campbell, brother of Lady Jane Nimmo, and solicitor to the Princess of Wales, Lord Clerk Registrar of Scotland, and one of Whitefield’s occasional hearers. In a letter to the Countess of Huntingdon, dated “Canterbury, April 10, 1756,” Whitefield wrote:—
“The noise at Long Acre has been infernal. I have reason to think there was a secret design for my life. Some of my friends were sadly used; they applied for warrants; and that occasioned the sending of a threatening letter. I have written to Sir Hume Campbell for advice. Here all is peaceable. It is most delightful to see the soldiers flock to hear the word; officers likewise attend very orderly.”
On his return to London, Whitefield was introduced to the Earl of Holdernesse, one of his Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State. Hence the following to Lady Huntingdon:—
“London, April 18, 1756.
“Ever-honoured Madam,—Since my last, from Canterbury, I have received two more threatening letters. My greatest distress is, how to act so as to avoid rashness on the one hand, and timidity on the other. I have been introduced to the Earl of Holdernesse, who received me very courteously, and seemed to make no objection against issuing a reward for the discovery of the letter-writer. Whether I had best accept the plan, I know not. Sir Hume Campbell says the offence is not felony; and he advises me to put all concerned into the Court of King’s Bench. Lord Jesus, direct me, for Thy mercy’s sake! A man came up to me in the pulpit, at the Tabernacle; God knows what was his design. I seeno way for me to act, than, either resolutely to persist in preaching and prosecuting, or entirely to desist from preaching, which would bring intolerable guilt upon my soul, and give the adversary cause to blaspheme. Blessed be God! I am quite clear as to the occasion of my suffering. It is for preaching Christ Jesus, and loyalty to King George. Alas! alas! what a condition would this land be in, were the Protestant interest not to prevail! If Popery is to get a footing here, I should be glad to die by the hands of an assassin. I should then be taken away from the evil to come.”
The result of all this battling with the vestry mobs of Bishop Pearce, and of the apprehension created by these anonymous popish menaces, was the publication of the following announcement in the London Gazette of May 1, 1756, and in the two next succeeding numbers of that official journal. The italics and spelling are as they appear in the original:—
“Whitehall, April 30, 1756.
“Wheras it has been humbly represented to the King that an anonimous letter, without date, directed, To Doctor Whitefield, at his Tabernacle, by the Foundery in Moorfields, was, on the 6th of this instant April, received by the Reverend Mr. George Whitefield, by the penny post; and that two other letters, viz., one of them dated the 7th of the present month of April, subscribed, Your Friendly Adversary, and directed, To Mr. Whitefield, at his Tabernacle, near Hogston, beyond the Upper Moorfields; and the other, anonimous, without date, and directed, To the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, at the Tabernacle, near Moorfields, were also received by the said Reverend Mr. George Whitefield, by the penny post, on the 8th of this instant April; and that the said letters, written in very abusive terms, contained threats of injury and destruction to the said Reverend Mr. George Whitefield; His Majesty, for the better discovering, and bringing to justice the persons concerned in writing and sending the said three letters, as above-mentioned, or any one, or more, of them, is pleased to promise his most gracious pardon to any one of them, who shall discover his, or her, accomplice, or accomplices therein, so that he, she, or they, may be apprehended and convicted thereof.