Most of the mobility as well as the nobility of the realm, and a large majority of both houses of parliament, being decidedly in favour of the minister, he carried every thing before him with a high hand, ruled for years with a rod of iron, and his little finger became heavier than the loins of any of his predecessors since the revolution. A spirit was then by him awakened and set to work, which had lain fast asleep ever since the days of the Stuarts, and Lynn partook of it in no small measure. The friends of peace and constitutional freedom, were here looked upon and treated as ill-disposed persons, and unworthy characters, scarcely entitled to the common rights of citizens, or the lowest offices of humanity. Such were some of the rare blessings we derived from the administration of the last Pitt, who was at the same time hailed by multitudes as a heaven born minister, the saviour of his country, and the wisest and greatest of statesmen. Nothing more clearly evinces the utter dissimilarity between his character and that of his renowned father, than the insatiate vindictiveness of his disposition towards those who opposed his measures; [974] of which there have been many very glaring, and numerous instances.
His reign terror was long and grievous. It lasted during nearly the whole length of the late war. His successor, Addington held the reins with a gentler hand, whatever may be said of his ministerial talents or capacity. He also restored to us the inestimable blessing of peace, which Pitt seemed incapable of effecting. That peace however, proved of but short duration, which yet might not be the fault of the minister. We were not, it seems, sufficiently humbled, or really tired of the horrid game of war, bloodshed and devastation: and so, without taking time to breathe, we rushed headlong into a new war, which has already lasted eight or nine years, and is likely to prove the longest and most disastrous of any we have been engaged in for many ages. God only knows when or how it will terminate.
Great complaints having for sometime been made of the sad state of fen-drainage in the parts above Lynn, much stir was made on that account about the year 1794, and a Cut from Eaubrink to Lynn-harbour was then proposed as a remedy for that growing evil. The expediency of the measure being agreed upon, an act of parliament was obtained in 1795 for its accomplishment. And though above fifteen years have since elapsed, during most of which time a heavy tax has been levied on the lands there, yet the projected cut, that was to produce such vast benefits, is not yet begun: nor is it at all certain, or even very probable at present, that it ever will, notwithstanding the vast sums that have been collected, and are still collecting for that purpose, from the respective land-owners. [976] The act of parliament that was obtained, if not already renewed, must, it seems, be so soon, because of this excessive procrastination. How many such renewals must hereafter be resorted to before the work will commence, it is impossible to say. The promoters of this measure appear to have engaged in it before they were sufficiently aware of the magnitude and arduousness of the undertaking. Their giving it up at last would therefore be no great wonder.
In 1794 serious apprehensions of a French invasion began to be pretty generally entertained in this kingdom; and in the summer of that year a new body of volunteers was formed at Lynn, under the command of alderman Edward Everard, junior. This was more numerous than that which was formed here some years before, and it continued embodied till the summer of 1802. The present writer being most of that time out of town, cannot say much from his own knowledge of the character of this corps, but he believes it was very fair, and no way discommendable, or discreditable to its worthy commandant: and this seems strongly corroborated by a paragraph which appeared in the Lynn Packet at the time when the corps was disbanded; [977] which also records the very day when that event took place.—Before we dismiss 1794, we may just hint that we had here then a violent thunderstorm, when a young girl was killed by the lightening. (See Norfolk Remembrancer, p. 29.)
The year 1796 is rendered very memorable here by the fatal disaster which happened then at the ferry in the mart time. On the 23rd of February, about 6 o’clock in the evening, many people, to the number of forty or more, got into the ferry-boat; and though the boat-men remonstrated with them, as being too many to be taken over at once, yet so anxious were they to get over without further delay that none of them could be persuaded to get out and wait for the return of the boat, it was a calm evening, but the tide was coming in very strong. The boat however proceeded safely till it had almost reached the opposite shore, when passing across some ropes belonging to a vessel lying there, it received a violent concussion which laid it pretty much on one side: at that moment the passengers, instead of keeping their places, rushed headlong to the lower side, and thereby overset the boat in an instant. Eleven of them lost their lives; among whom was a man and his wife and daughter; also two young persons on the point of marriage, who were afterwards found clasped in each others arms. It is rather wonderful that so many of them were saved; but it was said to be owing to several boats being then very near the spot, which came almost instantly to their assistance, and succeeded in picking up and saving most of them. Although the Lynn ferry be but an awkward kind of passage, yet this seems to have been the only very serious accident that has occurred there for a very great length of time. Our ferry-men in general are somewhat more civil and decent than their brethren in other parts, who have often been classed among the most rude and brutish of all our countrymen.
In 1797 a whale measuring 44 feet, (according to the Norfolk Remembrancer,) was caught in Lynn channel. In the course of the same year our farmers are said to have discovered cleansing seed-wheat by water only, (fresh water we suppose,) to be the best and most certain preservative against the smut or brand. If it be really so, many have been at a great deal of needless trouble and expense in preparing their seed-wheat. But such an imputation is by no means peculiar to our wheat growers. It is commonly the case in a progress of investigation and experiment. Many a highly and generally esteemed practice or usage, beside those that have obtained in the preparation of seed-corn, have been afterwards found far from deserving the high estimation they had acquired, and in which they had been long held. [979]
In the course of the year 1798, the fear of an invasion from France became very strong and general in this part of the kingdom; which occasioned our armed associations to be considerably multiplied. Among the new armed companies which sprung up, or were formed that year in this country, we read of the Holkham Yeomanry Cavalry, commanded by T. W. Coke Esq. and E. Rolfe Esq. The Freebridge Smithdon Yeomanry Cavalry, commanded by H. Styleman Esq. The Freebridge Lynn Yeomanry Cavalry, commanded by Joseph Taylor Esq. and the Swaffham ditto, commanded by J. Micklethwaite Esq. &c. &c. The very clergy discovered a readiness and strong desire to learn the use of arms, and one of them appears actually to have become commandant of one of these new raised corps; for among the military officers then enumerated the name of the revd. T. Lloyd appeared as captain of the North Walsham Volunteer company. This clerical ardour for taking up arms was said to be sometime after checked by episcopal authority, otherwise we might have had before now a very great number of reverend captains, and majors, and colonels. The Freebridge Lynn Yeomanry Cavalry remain still undisbanded under the orders of their original leader.—An Act passed this year for draining &c. the lands and fen grounds in Outwell, Stow Bardolph, Wimbotsham, and Downham; which it is to be hoped has answered much better than the Feltwell new drainage act, which we have already noticed.—On the 29th. of December this same year, at 11 P.M. the thermometer was said to be at 3 below 0: a degree of cold never before noticed in this island—if we may rely on the authority of the Norfolk Remembrancer.
The year 1799 was rendered somewhat remarkable here by an attempt to establish a Newspaper, under the name of the Lynn and Wisbech Packet; but it did not finally succeed, though persevered in for several years. Lynn seems not favourably situated for the success of such an undertaking, placed as it is in a corner of the country, and the adjacent parts well supplied with provincial papers of established repute and extensive circulation. It was therefore, perhaps, a rash and hopeless attempt, so that its relinquishment at last need not to excite any great surprise. The projector hoped, when he resolved to try this experiment, that it would prove a source of much gain, but he found in the end that what he gained by it was only a pretty heavy loss, which placed him in the list of unfortunate adventurers. [982]
But what rendered this year still more remarkable and memorable, both here and throughout the kingdom, was the origination, introduction, and operation of the income tax, which now took place and will not be soon forgotten. In former times this odious tax would have been very unwelcome in this country, and probably deemed intolerable by the whole nation. The people would have thought themselves degraded to the lowest degree, in being obliged to appear before certain of their own neighbours, in the character of commissioners, and there disclose upon oath the amount of their property and means of subsistence, in order to empower the tax-gatherers to take from them a tenth part of their yearly income, for the purpose of supporting and pursuing measures which many of them utterly disapproved. This vile impost was indeed doubly detestable, as it not only sunk the subjects below the rank of freemen, but also laid before them a strong incitement to falshood and perjury, and was, in all probability, the means of greatly increasing our national guilt and depravity. But these were considerations that weighed but little with the minister and his associates. An increasing revenue was with them of infinitely greater importance.—On the 2nd. of June this year, a pleasure boat going off from Heacham to a vessel lying in Lynn channel overset, and out of fourteen persons, who were on board, men women and children, twelve unfortunately perished.—This year also, from continued rains, the harvest was not got in, in some parts of Norfolk till the beginning of November; and in some parts of the kingdom some corn lay rotting in the fields at the beginning of December: a like instance had not occurred before for 40 or 50 years.
