TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.

All misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. For example: free-men, freemen; burthen; intrusted; topick; negociations; nugatory.

BELL'S ENGLISH HISTORY SOURCE BOOKS

General Editors: S. E. Winbolt, M.A., and Kenneth Bell, M.A.

PEACE AND REFORM

BELL'S ENGLISH HISTORY
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PEACE AND REFORM
(1815—1837)

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LONDON
G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.

1913

[INTRODUCTION]

This series of English History Source Books is intended for use with any ordinary textbook of English History. Experience has conclusively shown that such apparatus is a valuable—nay, an indispensable—adjunct to the history lesson. It is capable of two main uses: either by way of lively illustration at the close of a lesson, or by way of inference-drawing, before the textbook is read, at the beginning of the lesson. The kind of problems and exercises that may be based on the documents are legion, and are admirably illustrated in a History of England for Schools, Part I., by Keatinge and Frazer, pp. 377-381. However, we have no wish to prescribe for the teacher the manner in which he shall exercise his craft, but simply to provide him and his pupils with materials hitherto not readily accessible for school purposes. The very moderate price of the books in this series should bring them within the reach of every secondary school. Source books enable the pupil to take a more active part than hitherto in the history lesson. Here is the apparatus, the raw material: its use we leave to teacher and taught.

Our belief is that the books may profitably be used by all grades of historical students between the standards of fourth-form boys in secondary schools and undergraduates at Universities. What differentiates students at one extreme from those at the other is not so much the kind of subject-matter dealt with, as the amount they can read into or extract from it.

In regard to choice of subject-matter, while trying to satisfy the natural demand for certain "stock" documents of vital importance, we hope to introduce much fresh and novel matter. It is our intention that the majority of the extracts should be lively in style—that is, personal, or descriptive, or rhetorical, or even strongly partisan—and should not so much profess to give the truth as supply data for inference. We aim at the greatest possible variety, and lay under contribution letters, biographies, ballads and poems, diaries, debates, and newspaper accounts. Economics, London, municipal, and social life generally, and local history, are represented in these pages.

The order of the extracts is strictly chronological, each being numbered, titled, and dated, and its authority given. The text is modernised, where necessary, to the extent of leaving no difficulties in reading.

We shall be most grateful to teachers and students who may send us suggestions for improvement.

S. E. Winbolt.
Kenneth Bell.

[TABLE OF CONTENTS]

PEACE AND REFORM

(1815—1837)

[THE DEBT (1816).]

Source.—William Cobbett's Rural Rides, ed. by Mr. Pitt Cobbett, 1885.

Letter to Mr. Jabet of the "Birmingham Register," Nov., 1816.

The reformers have yet many and powerful foes; we have to contend against a host, such as never existed before in the world. Nine-tenths of the Press, all the channels of speedy communication of sentiment; all the pulpits; all the associations of rich people; all the taxing people; all the military and naval establishments; all the yeomanry cavalry tribes. Your allies are endless in number and mighty in influence. But we have one ally worth the whole of them put together, namely the Debt! This is an ally whom no honours or rewards can seduce from us. She is a steady, unrelaxing, persevering, incorruptible ally. An ally that is proof against all blandishments, all intrigues, all temptations, and all open attacks. She sets at defiance all 'military,' all 'yeomanry cavalry.' They may as well fire at a ghost. She cares no more for the sabres of the yeomanry or the life guards than Milton's angels did for the swords of Satan's myrmidons. This ally cares not a straw about spies and informers. She laughs at the employment of secret-service money. She is always erect, day and night, and is always firmly moving on in our cause, in spite of all the terrors of gaols, dungeons, halters and axes. Therefore, Mr. Jabet, be not so pert. The combat is not so unequal as you seem to imagine; and, confident and insolent as you are now, the day of your humiliation may not be far distant."

[THE BARBARY PIRATES (1816).]

Source.—Life and Correspondence of Lord Sidmouth, by Dean Pellew. Vol. III. p. 142. London, 1847.

Letter from Viscount Exmouth on defeat of Barbary Pirates.

"Queen Charlotte,
Algier's Bay, August 30th, 1816.

"My dear Lord Sidmouth,

"I perfectly remember, in your office, pledging myself to you for the destruction of the Algerine navy. I am happy to inform you I have redeemed my pledge, and am in whole bones, as is also my opponent the Dey. His chastisement, however, has humbled him to the dust; and he would receive me, if I chose it, on the Mole, upon his knees.

"You will readily believe how much I regret the sad loss we have sustained: 883 out of 6500 is a large proportion; but we were exposed to almost a complete circle of fire. I can only enclose you the copy of my memorandum to-day to the fleet, and beg you to believe that I consider this the happiest event of my fortunate life. One thousand liberated slaves, just arrived from the country whither the Dey had driven them, are now cheering on the Mole. The consul has been cruelly treated, and the Dey been compelled to beg his pardon, before his full court, by the dictation of my captain.

"God bless you, my dear Lord. I hope to reach England before October, and am ever your most faithful friend and servant,

"Exmouth."

[THE HOLY ALLIANCE (1816).]

Source.—Annual Register, 1816.

The hon. member rose to move for the production of a copy of the treaty concluded at Paris on September 26th between Austria, Russia, and Prussia. By the tenor of this treaty, expressed in the most devout and solemn language, the three potentates, members of three different Christian churches, declared in the face of the world their resolution both in the administration of their own states, and in their political relations with other Governments, to take for their sole guide the precepts of the holy religion taught by our Saviour. In consequence, they signed an agreement to three articles, the first of which bound them to a fraternity of mutual friendship and assistance, and the common protection of religion, peace and justice, which in the second was explained in a kind of mystical strain, to notify that they regarded themselves as delegated by Providence to govern three branches of one and the same Christian nation, of which the Divine Being under his three characters was the sole real sovereign; and the third declared a readiness to receive into this holy alliance all the powers who should solemnly avow the sacred principles which had dictated it.

Politicians were much at a loss to conceive the occasion and purpose of a treaty, at the same time so serious and so indefinite, which appeared to bind the subscribers to nothing more than to act upon those general principles which, as Christian princes, they had always held forth as the rule of their conduct. It was understood that its immediate cause was an impression made upon the mind of the emperor Alexander, whose peculiar zeal in the project was displayed by a manifesto issued on Christmas day, and signed by his own hand, in which he made public the engagement which the three powers had entered into, and which he interpreted to be a reciprocal league of peace and amity upon Christian principles for the general good.

Mr. Brougham prefaced his motion with reasons why he thought it material that inquiry should be made respecting the above treaty, instancing the circumstances of its having been contracted by three powers, our allies, without our participation; of its having received the signatures of the sovereigns themselves, whereas all other treaties had been ratified by the medium of diplomatic agents; of being apparently uncalled for, since the attachment of the contracting parties to the Christian religion had never been questioned. He adverted to the union of the same powers for the partition of Poland, on which occasion the empress Catherine had employed in the proclamations language similar to that of the treaty.

He concluded by moving an address to the Prince Regent, that he would be pleased to give directions that a copy of the treaty would be laid before the House.

Lord Castlereagh who had previously admitted to the authenticity of the document moved for, after adducing, from the result of the preceding union of these sovereigns, arguments against regarding them with suspicion, informed the hon. gentlemen, that instead of any secrecy in their proceedings on the present occasion, the emperor of Russia had communicated to him a draft of the proposed treaty, he believed, before it had been communicated to the other sovereigns; and that after its signature a joint-letter had been addressed by them to the Prince Regent, stating the grounds on which it had been concluded, and anxiously desiring his accession to it: that his Royal Highness in reply had expressed his satisfaction at the nature of the treaty, and his assurance that the British Government would not be the one least disposed to act up to its principles. His lordship then went into a panegyric of the emperor of Russia, and finally characterised the motion as wholly unnecessary and of dangerous tendency if the confederacy could be shaken by attempts to degrade the sovereigns of Europe by unfounded imputations.

On a division of the House, the motion was rejected by a majority of 104 to 30.

The public opinion concerning this extraordinary treaty seems to have corresponded with that expressed by the hon. Mr. Bennet in his speech: "that the only motive which the noble lord could have for refusing its production was, that he was ashamed of it and of our allies."

[THE STATE OF IRELAND (1816).]

Source.—The Political Life of Sir Robert Peel, by Thomas Doubleday. London, 1856. Vol. I. pp. 169-172.

In the course of a debate on the army estimates in February, 1816, the Irish Secretary entered into the following extraordinary details on the employment of the soldiery in Ireland in the suppression of illicit distillation, as well as of insurrectionary movements in the wilder districts of Ireland:

"It must not be forgotten (said Mr. Peel) that the employment of a military force in Ireland, under existing circumstances, is calculated to save the government of that country from the necessity of recurring to those measures of civil rigour which parliament had sanctioned with its approbation. In some districts, where the military was not employed, they had been compelled to suspend trial by jury, under the operation of the Insurrection Act; but every one would allow that it was better to deter from the commission of crime than to transport for it. If they could succeed in deterring these, there was not the necessity to proclaim certain districts. What he asserted was no visionary speculation. Events, such as he now described, were passing at that moment. The Act to which he alluded had been applied to several baronies in Tipperary, upon the unanimous application of forty of the magistrates. He believed he was right in saying the unanimous application. In some cases, indeed, it had been refused; but he knew as a fact, that not less than seventy-six magistrates of that county, united for the paramount object of maintaining the public peace, had applied to government for the application of that bill. A similar course had been pursued in the county of Westmeath. It was proposed in some counties to remove the soldiers; but the answer was by the magistrates, 'If you remove the troops you must give us the Insurrection Act, as it will be impossible to do without it.' Even on constitutional grounds, therefore, and as calculated to prevent a recurrence to these really severe measures, he would venture to appeal to the House for its approbation of the alternative of employing the military to aid the civil power. With respect to its employment in another way, by doing the duty of custom-house officers, he wished to observe that this system had prevailed in Ireland at least as far back as in 1799. At that period, a regulation for the employment of a military force in that service was adopted. It was stated to be imperatively necessary for the suppression of illicit distillation; and it was further ordered, that any officer hesitating to employ his men on that service should be brought to a court-martial for disobedience of orders. He stated that, to prove the propriety of a remark made at the commencement of his address, that even if it should be thought that the introduction of a military force was a vicious practice, it was at all events unavoidable without the accomplishment of other essential reforms.

"He should now state the extent to which the military arm had been so employed, and in order also to show that it had not been the policy of one single government merely, he should mention that, in 1806, under the government of the honourable gentlemen opposite, 448 military parties were employed in detecting and frustrating the practice of illicit distillation; in 1807 there were 598 military parties; in 1808 there were 431; in later periods still more; and in the half-year ending the 31st December, 1815, there were 1889. No one, he presumed, would deny that the morals and habits of the lower classes were not only corrupted by the dreadful extent to which that illicit distillation was carried, but that the laws of the country were violated, and that the revenue was greatly diminished by it. In order that the House might be enabled to judge of the character of those who carried on those practices, as well as of the danger attending their detection or apprehension, he would mention one circumstance that came within his own knowledge. In a district in the north-west of Ireland well known to the gentlemen of that country as one where illicit distillation is carried on to an enormous excess, frequent seizures were made by parties of twenty to forty men, who generally had to risk an actual engagement with the offenders. In one instance he recollected the soldiers were fired at, and no less than two hundred rounds of musketry were discharged in their own defence. They succeeded in their seizures, however, but on their return were again attacked, their seizures taken from them, and they themselves obliged to seek shelter in a house on the road, where they maintained a contest with the assailants till they were relieved by two hundred men who were marched to their assistance. Such occurrences sufficiently showed the necessity of employing a military force, but he would again guard against its being supposed that he considered these temporary remedies as at all calculated to afford any permanent relief. He was as fully convinced of their inadequacy in that respect as any honourable member could be; but whilst that disposition to turbulence existed, would it be contended that the crimes connected with it ought to go unpunished? Would it be said that desperate bands that roamed about the country at night ought to remain unmolested?

"Perhaps it would be said that the course of policy hitherto pursued in Ireland was a bad one. Let that be granted, then, for the sake of argument; still, was it possible to remove the evils of that bad and imperfect policy in an hour—or by the 25th of April? Would it be possible, even to gentlemen opposite, to change on a sudden the whole habits and manners of so large a class of the community, and to introduce, as by magic, a radical and effectual reform? It was utterly impossible. He was perfectly satisfied of the inefficiency of these temporary remedies, but meanwhile the hand of the robber must be arrested, or else the whole frame of civilized society must be now dissolved, and a residence in Ireland be rendered absolutely impracticable. He was of opinion that good might be done in that country by a reformation of the police, and he should prefer an army of police if he might so call it, to a military army. He deeply regretted the very imperfect character of the police in Ireland. Since he had the honour of filling the station he occupied, he had turned much of his attention to the subject of police, and proposed alterations which the House had sanctioned. Real, substantial, and permanent reform, however, amongst the lower classes, could be looked for only from the general diffusion of knowledge, and from enlightening their minds. From such sources of reform he anticipated the grandest and the noblest results. (Hear, hear, hear.) He could state it as a fact within his own knowledge, that the greatest eagerness for instruction prevailed amongst the lower classes. It was the duty of every one, even in these times of economy, not to obstruct the progress or the limits of education, which ought to be as widely as possible diffused. It would be infinitely better for Ireland and for this country to have a well instructed and enlightened Catholic population than an ignorant and a bigoted one!"

Hansard's Debates, Vol. XXXII. pp. 926, 1816.

[THE STATE OF ENGLAND (1818).]

Source.—Life and Correspondence of Lord Sidmouth, by Dean Pellew. Vol. III. p. 242. London, 1847.

Letter from Earl of Sheffield to Lord Sidmouth.

"Sheffield Place, Dec. 13th, 1818.

"My dear Lord,

"Although I doubt not your Lordship has ample information, I cannot resist the pleasure of communicating the very satisfactory accounts I have received from different parts, of the state of trade and manufactures, and particularly from the neighbourhood of Birmingham, Warwickshire, and Staffordshire. Both trade and manufactures are in a flourishing condition, and likely to improve still further. There appears to be little speculation beyond the regular demands of the different markets, men without adequate capital finding it almost impossible to procure credit; so that there is now no disposition to force a trade, and no injurious competition among the merchants to procure the execution of orders, and, consequently, wages are fair and reasonable. I conceive that things cannot be in a much better train either for the merchant or manufacturer, not so for the constitution or agriculture of the country: the first, I fear, is en décadence; the case, however, of the latter is somewhat better than it was, though far short of that of the trading part of the community. The demand for land is considerably increased, but in many instances at reduced rents. Agriculture, the most essential of all concerns, is so extremely depressed by the great increase of tithes and of parochial rates, that I cannot refrain from being its strenuous advocate: and so strongly am I impressed with the evil consequences of the excessive load of such taxation on the landed interests, and particularly on the occupiers in the southern and midland parts of England, that it is wonderful to me that agriculture has not been in those districts annihilated; and there is nothing of which I am more thoroughly convinced than the necessity of affording it every relief and encouragement possible. I do not conceive that the subject of the corn laws can be renewed at present with advantage. The ignorance and supineness of the landowners generally is so excessive; the violence of the middling and lower classes so overbearing; the use made of it by the popularity hunters of all descriptions so pernicious and vile; the fears of government so great, and at the same time so natural, that, upon the whole, I do not entertain a hope of any beneficial results from any efforts that are now making, or may be made, for a considerable time. It is greatly to be regretted, however, that in the last correction of the corn laws, foreign grain, under any circumstances, should be admitted duty free; it would have been sufficient to have lowered the import duties, as to wheat, when the price in our market was 5l. per quarter; but I by no means wish ministers so soon to be embroiled again on that subject, nor do I think, earnest as I am on this head, that this is the proper time to renew the discussion, or to attempt a change with respect to the duties. I would not, however, wish to damp the ardour of those who urge the principle, that every thing arising from the soil, and every manufacture of the country, should be protected by adequate import duties; as that principle is generally observed with regard to every article except wool, and must be in a country so heavily tithed, and necessarily burdened with such an extraordinary degree of taxation. Previously to the year 1793, no direct or assessed tax, affecting agriculture, was tolerated, and surely it is now expedient, whenever possible, to relinquish those taxes which particularly affect that most essential interest of the country, and to adopt such other measures as will enable it to support the heavy imposts which fall upon it. The legislature might now show attention to the grievances of the occupiers of land, by relinquishing all the direct taxes imposed on agriculture during the late war; and it will only be common justice to protect the wool of the country from being debased in value, by the import of wool from every part of the world free of duty, and it is not difficult to demonstrate that a moderate duty on the import of foreign wool would not affect, even in a slight degree, the great mass of our woollen manufacture.... The levity of the public on the most interesting and important subjects is often not only very extraordinary, but even ridiculous. The well-founded alarm on the ruinous and impolitic management of the poor, which appeared to make a deep and general impression, seems now to be forgotten except by the oppressed occupiers of lands, who so severely feel the effects of it. The public mind is not yet ripe for such a great measure as might prove an effectual remedy; but in the meantime I think something might be done. Is your Lordship disposed to repeal all the laws relating to the poor (heterogeneous, discordant, impracticable, unintelligible, and absurd as they are), to the 43d of Elizabeth, and to re-enact all those parts of them which the circumstances of the times may require (defining the powers of the magistrates, the parish officers, and the claims of the poor), and form them into a regular intelligible code? for I verily believe there is not one magistrate, nor any clerk (who governs him) who is acquainted with them all. I believe I am one of the oldest magistrates in the kingdom, being in my fiftieth year, and yet I have never met with any man who seemed fully acquainted with them. If an intelligent select committee, having a practical knowledge of the subject (without which the ablest men are not competent to it), could be induced to undertake this work, I have no doubt but that a law could be so framed as to lead to a great amelioration of our present vile system, if not gradually to a complete remedy. But I must not impose more of my notions on your Lordship. You must be now quite tired of me. If you think there is any thing in this letter worthy of Lord Liverpool's attention, I wish it to be communicated to him; but as I inflicted on his Lordship some time ago a large dose respecting the poor, I refrain from a direct communication. I am, seemingly, as well as ever I was; but I must not risk myself in town before the end of March, except for two nights on the meeting of parliament, in order to take my seat and enable me to leave a proxy. I have the honour to be, with very sincere regard, my dear Lord, most truly your Lordship's faithful servant,

"Sheffield."

[PARISH REGISTERS (1818).]

Source.—The London Medical Repository, Vol. X. p. 267.

George Man Burrows on Parish Registers.

But I must reiterate, that it will be a work of supererogation to offer either remarks or proposals for establishing improved registers of marriages, births, baptisms, burials, diseases, &c. or for attaining any of the other objects upon which I have dilated, unless all denominations of religion in the whole of the united kingdom be included.

On recapitulation, it appears that the principal defects in the present system are:

1. Registers of marriages, births, baptisms, and burials, or bills of mortality are not kept in every place of religious worship; nor in hospitals and infirmaries having private burying-grounds.

2. Children who die unbaptized are not entered in any register or bill of mortality.

3. Registers of baptism do not set forth the place and date of birth.

4. Registers of burial do not specify where a person died, as well as where he lived, nor his condition, whether single, married, or widowed.

5. There is no certificate provided, showing in what parish a person died, with other necessary particulars, as to age, the disease, &c.

6. A corpse may be removed from a parish within the bills of mortality of London to one without, and the burial be omitted in the returns.

7. There is no medical authority for ascertaining and certifying the nature of the disease of which a person died, &c.

8. The names of diseases in the bills of mortality are either unintelligible, or so arranged as to confound diseases very distinct in their characters.

9. In respect to ages, the periods are injudiciously divided; so that many of the purposes to which the bills are applicable in medical and political science are defeated.

10. The law enforcing the keeping of Registers is defective; and does not adequately regard political, civil, or medical information.

11. All parishes and places of worship within that circle denominated the bills of mortality of London, are not included in the weekly or general annual returns; nor is there any existing authority to enforce their being made, and regularly entered.

Among some of the advantages in medical, political, and moral science, which would result, were proper parochial registers and bills of mortality established and kept throughout the united kingdom, the following present:

I. Medically.—They point out:

1. The causes of many diseases, and their affinity to one another.

2. The rise, situation, increase, decrease, and cessation of epidemic and contagious diseases.

3. The means of guarding against their extension and effects.

4. The comparative healthiness of different countries and places, climates and seasons.

5. The influence of particular trades and manufactures on the human constitution.

6. They elucidate many important and dubious medical points essential to the perfection of the preventive and curative arts.

II. Politically.—They are a means:

1. Of ascertaining the increment or decrement of the population in every place, and at any period.

2. Of accurately ascertaining the population of the country, and at any period.

3. Of diminishing, if not nearly superseding, the immense expense incurred by a census.

4. Of obviating the difficulties, great expense, and frequent disappointment in proving marriages, births, baptisms, and burials, to which persons who are desirous of establishing legal proof of their identity, descent, consanguinity, &c. are still exposed.

5. The present extensive and beneficial system of assurance on lives, reversionary payments, annuities, and legacy duties on the latter species of testamentary property, is founded on calculations deduced from numerous bills of mortality.

6. The prosperity or decay of commerce, manufactures, or trade of any place, is shown by comparing bills of mortality of different dates.

III. Morally.—They mark:

1. The prevalence of moral or licentious habits.

2. The diseases of which the inhabitants of a place die; and, consequently, those arising from luxury or intemperance.

3. The effects of the passions on human actions.

4. By knowing where they are most required, the means of correcting such effects may be the more effectually applied.

[PETERLOO (1819).]

Source.—Life and Correspondence of Lord Sidmouth, by Dean Pellew. Vol. III. p. 253. London, 1847.

Letter of Sir Wm. Jolliffe to Thos. G. B. Estcourt.

"9 St. James's Place, April 11th, 1845.

"My dear Sir,

"Twenty-five years have passed since the collision unfortunately occurred between the population of Manchester and its neighbourhood, and the military stationed in that town, on the 16th of August, 1819.

"I was at that time a lieutenant in the 15th King's Hussars, which regiment had been quartered in Manchester cavalry barracks about six weeks. This was my first acquaintance with a large manufacturing population. I had little knowledge of the condition of that population; whether or no a great degree of distress was then prevalent, or whether or no the distrust and bad feeling, which appeared to exist between the employers and employed, was wholly or in part caused by the agitation of political questions. I will not, therefore, enter into any speculations upon these points; but I will endeavour to narrate the facts which fell under my own observation, although acting, as of course I was, under the command of others, and in a subordinate situation. The military force stationed in Manchester consisted of six troops of the 15th Hussars, under the command of Colonel Dalrymple; one troop of horse artillery, with two guns, under Major Dyneley; nearly the whole of the 31st regiment, under Colonel Guy L'Estrange (who commanded the whole force as senior officer). Some companies of the 88th regiment, and the Cheshire yeomanry, had also been brought into the town, in anticipation of disturbances which might result from the expected meeting; and these latter had only arrived on the morning of the 16th, or a few hours previously; and, lastly, there was a troop of Manchester yeomanry cavalry, consisting of about forty members, who, from the manner in which they were made use of (to say the least), greatly aggravated the disasters of the day. Their ranks were filled chiefly by wealthy master manufacturers; and, without the knowledge which would have been possessed by a (strictly speaking) military body, they were placed, most unwisely, as it appeared, under the immediate command and orders of the civil authorities.

"Our regiment paraded in field-exercise order at about half-past eight, or, it might be, nine o'clock a.m. Two squadrons of it were marched into the town about ten o'clock. They were formed up and dismounted in a wide street, the name of which I forget, to the north of St. Peter's Field (the place appointed for the meeting), and at the distance of nearly a quarter of a mile from it. The Cheshire yeomanry were formed, on our left, in the same street. One troop of our regiment was attached to the artillery, which took up a position between the cavalry barracks and the town; and one troop remained in charge of the barracks.

"The two squadrons with which I was stationed must have remained dismounted nearly two hours. During the greater portion of that period, a solid mass of people continued moving along a street about a hundred yards to our front, on their way to the place of meeting. Other officers, as well as myself, occasionally rode to the front (to the end of a street) to see them pass. They marched, at a brisk pace, in ranks well closed up, five or six bands of music being interspersed; and there appeared to be but few women with them. Mr. Hunt, with two or three other men, and, I think, two women dressed in light blue and white, were in an open carriage, drawn by the people. This carriage was adorned with blue and white flags; and the day was fine and hot. As soon as the great bulk of the procession had passed, we were ordered to stand to our horses. In a very short time afterwards the four troops of the 15th mounted, and at once moved off by the right, at a trot which was increased to a canter. Some one who had been sent from the place of meeting to bring us up led the way, through a number of narrow streets and by a circuitous route, to (what I will call) the south-west corner of St. Peter's Field. We advanced along the south side of this space of ground, without a halt or pause even: the words 'Front!' and 'Forward!' were given, and the trumpet sounded the charge at the very moment the threes wheeled up. When fronted, our line extended quite across the ground, which, in all parts, was so filled with people that their hats seemed to touch.

"It was then, for the first time, that I saw the Manchester troop of yeomanry: they were scattered singly, or in small groups, over the greater part of the field, literally hemmed up, and hedged into the mob, so that they were powerless either to make an impression or to escape; in fact, they were in the power of those whom they were designed to overawe; and it required only a glance to discover their helpless position, and the necessity of our being brought to their rescue. As I was, at the time, informed, this hopeless state of things happened thus: A platform had been erected near the centre of the field, from which Mr. Hunt and others were to address the multitude; and the magistrates, having ordered a strong body of constables to be in readiness to arrest the speakers, unfortunately imagined that they should support the peace officers by bringing up this troop of yeomanry at a walk. The result of this movement, instead of that which the magistrates desired, was unexpectedly to place this small body of horsemen (so introduced into a dense mob) entirely at the mercy of the people by whom they were, on all sides, pressed upon and surrounded.

"The charge of the hussars, to which I have just alluded, swept this mingled mass of human beings before it: people, yeoman and constables, in their confused attempts to escape, ran one over the other; so that by the time we had arrived at the end of the field, the fugitives were literally piled up to a considerable elevation above the level of the ground. (I may here, by the way, state that this field, as it is called, was merely an open space of ground, surrounded by buildings and itself, I rather think, in course of being built upon.) The hussars drove the people forward with the flats of their swords; but sometimes, as is almost inevitably the case when men are placed in such situations, the edge was used, both by the hussars, and, as I have heard, by the yeomen also; but of this latter fact, however, I was not cognisant; and believing though I do, that nine out of ten of the sabre wounds were caused by the hussars, I must still consider that it redounds highly to the humane forbearance of the men of the 15th that more wounds were not received, when the vast numbers are taken into consideration with whom they were brought into hostile collision; beyond all doubt, however, the far greater amount of injuries arose from the pressure of the routed multitude. The hussars on the left, pursued down the various streets which led from the place; those on the right met with something more of resistance. The mob had taken possession of various buildings on that side, particularly of a Quaker's chapel and burial-ground enclosed with a wall. This they occupied for some little time; and, in attempting to displace them, some of the men and horses were struck with stones and brick-bats. I was on the left; and as soon as I had passed completely over the ground, and found myself in the street on the other side, I turned back, and then, seeing a sort of fight still going on on the right, I went in that direction. At the very moment I reached the Quaker's meeting-house, I saw a farrier of the 15th ride at a small door in the outer wall, and, to my surprise, his horse struck it with such force that it flew open: two or three hussars then rode in, and the place was immediately in their possession. I then turned towards the elevated platform, which still remained in the centre of the field with persons upon it: a few struggling hussars and yeomen, together with a number of men having the appearance of peace officers, were congregating upon it. On my way thither I met the commanding officer of my regiment, who directed me to find a trumpeter, in order that he might sound the 'rally' or 'retreat.' This sent me again down the street I had first been in (after the pursuing men of my troop); but I had not ridden above a hundred yards before I found a trumpeter, and returned with him to the Colonel. The field and the adjacent streets now presented an extraordinary sight: the ground was quite covered with hats, shoes, sticks, musical instruments, and other things. Here and there lay the unfortunates who were too much injured to move away; and this sight was rendered the more distressing by observing some women among the sufferers.

"Standing near the corner of the street where I had been sent in search of a trumpeter, a brother officer called my attention to a pistol being fired from a window. I saw it fired twice; and I believe it had been fired once before I observed it.

"Some of the 31st regiment, just now arriving on the ground, were ordered to take possession of this house; but I do not know if it was carried into effect.

"I next went towards a private of the regiment, whose horse had fallen over a piece of timber nearly in the middle of the square, and who was most seriously injured. There were many of these pieces of timber (or timber trees) lying upon the ground; and as these could not be distinguished when the mob covered them, they had caused bad falls to one officer's horse and to many of the troopers'.

"While I was attending to the removal of the wounded soldier, the artillery troop, with the troop of hussars attached to it, arrived on the ground from the same direction by which we had entered the field: these were quickly followed by the Cheshire yeomanry. The 31st regiment came in another direction; and the whole remained formed up until our squadrons had fallen in again.

"Carriages were brought to convey the wounded to the Manchester Infirmary; and the troop of hussars, which came up with the guns, was marched off to escort to the gaol a number of persons who had been arrested, and among these Mr. Hunt. For some time the town was patrolled by the troops, the streets being nearly empty, and the shops, for the most part, closed. We then returned to the barracks. I should not omit to mention, that, before the men were dismissed, the arms were minutely examined; and that no carbine or pistol was found to have been fired, and only one pistol to have been loaded. About eight o'clock p.m., one squadron of the 15th Hussars (two troops) was ordered on duty to form part of a strong night picket, the other part of which consisted of two companies of the 88th regiment. This picket was stationed at a place called the New Cross, at the end of Oldham Street. As soon as it had taken up its position a mob assembled about it, which increased as the darkness came on: stones were thrown at the soldiers; the hussars many times cleared the ground by driving the mob up the streets leading from the New Cross. But these attempts to get rid of the annoyance were only successful for the moment; for the people got through the houses or narrow passages from one street into another, and the troops were again attacked, and many men and horses struck with stones. This lasted nearly an hour and a half; and the soldiers being more and more pressed upon, a town magistrate, who was with the picket, read the Riot Act, and the officer in command ordered the 88th to fire (which they did by platoon firing) down three of the streets. The firing lasted only a few minutes: perhaps not more than thirty shots were fired; but these had a magical effect: the mob ran away, and dispersed forthwith, leaving three or four persons on the ground with gun-shot wounds.

"At four o'clock in the morning the picket squadron was relieved by another squadron of the regiment. With this latter squadron I was on duty; and after we had patrolled the town for two hours, the officer in command sent me to the magistrates (who had remained assembled during the night), to report to them that the town was perfectly quiet, and to request their sanction to the return of the military to their quarters.

"On the afternoon of the 17th I visited, in company with some military medical officers, the infirmary. I saw there from twelve to twenty cases of sabre wounds; several persons that were severely crushed, and, among these, two women, who appeared not likely to recover. One man was in a dying state from a gun-shot wound in the head; another had had his leg amputated: both these casualties arose from the fire of the 88th the night before. Two or three were reputed dead; one of them, a constable, killed in St. Peter's Field; but I saw none of the bodies.

"As shortly as I could, I have now related what fell under my own observation during these twenty-four hours.... I trust that I have, at least in some degree, complied with your wishes; and I beg you will believe me, my dear Sir, yours most truly,

"Willm. J. Hylton Jolliffe."

"To Thomas Grimston Bucknall Estcourt,
"Esq., M.P."

[STATE OF ENGLAND (1819).]

Source.—Works of P. B. Shelley.

An old, mad, blind, despised and dying king,—

Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow

Through public scorn,—mud from a muddy spring,—

Rulers who neither feel nor see nor know,

But leech-like to their fainting country cling,

Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow,—

A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field,—

An army, which liberticide and prey

Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield,—

Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay;

Religion, Christless, Godless—a book sealed;

A Senate—Time's worst statute unrepealed,—

Are graves, from which a glorious phantom may

Burst, to illumine our tempestuous day.

[THE CATO STREET CONSPIRACY (1820).]

Source.—Annual Register, 1820, pp. 30-32.

At last, on Saturday, the 19th of February, it was resolved at one of their meetings, that poverty did not allow them to delay their purposes any longer, and that, therefore, on the next Wednesday, the ministers should be murdered separately, each in his own house. On Sunday they arranged their plans. Forty or fifty men were to be set apart for the work of murder; and whoever failed through any fault of his own, in performing the task assigned to him, was to atone for his failure with his life. Two separate detachments were at the same time to seize two pieces of cannon stationed in Gray's-Inn-lane, and six in the artillery ground. The Mansion-house was to be proclaimed the palace of the provisional government; the Bank was to be attacked forthwith; and London was to be set fire to in different quarters.

Meetings were again held on Monday and Tuesday; and on the latter day, a conspirator, named Edwards, informed Thistlewood, that there was to be a cabinet dinner on the morrow. Thistlewood, doubting the information, sent for a newspaper, and finding it announced that a cabinet dinner was to be given at lord Harrowby's house in Grosvenor-square on Wednesday evening; "As there has not been a dinner so long," said he, "there will no doubt be fourteen or sixteen there, and it will be a rare haul to murder them all together." According to the fresh arrangements now determined on, one of their number was to go with a note addressed to lord Harrowby; when the door was opened to him, a band of the conspirators were to rush in; and while some seized the servants, and prevented any one from escaping from the house, others, forcing their way into the room where the ministers were assembled, were to murder them without mercy. It was particularly specified, that the heads of lords Sidmouth and Castlereagh were to be brought away in a bag. From lord Harrowby's house two of their number were to proceed to throw fire-balls into the straw-shed of the cavalry barracks in King-street, while the rest were to co-operate in the execution of the subsequent parts of the scheme.

In the meantime spies were dispatched to watch lord Harrowby's house, and to ascertain that no police officers or soldiers were concealed within it, or close to it. The next day was spent in preparations. Their weapons and ammunition were put into a state of readiness, and proclamations were written, which it was intended to fix to the houses that were to be set on fire. In the course of the day several of the infatuated wretches met, from time to time, at the old place of rendezvous; and, towards six in the evening, they assembled in a stable, situated in an obscure street, called Cato-street, in the neighbourhood of the Edgware-road. Besides the stable in the lower part, the building contained two rooms above, accessible only by a ladder, in the larger of which, a sentinel having been stationed below, the conspirators mustered, to the number of twenty-four or twenty-five, all busy in adjusting their accoutrements by the scanty light of one or two candles, and exulting in the near approach of the bloody catastrophe.

All their machinations, however, were known to the very men, whom they hoped within an hour to see lying butchered at their feet. One of the conspirators, Edwards, had, for some time, been in the pay of government, to whom he communicated every step that was taken. A man, too, of the name of Hidon, who had been solicited to enter into the plot, warned lord Harrowby of it, the day before that which was fixed for carrying it into execution. The ministers took no steps which might deter or alarm the ruffians; for it would have been the height of madness to have stopped them in their career of guilt. Interruption would have saved them from punishment, by rendering it impossible to procure evidence of the atrocious nature of the plot; so that they would have been let loose upon society, ready to enter into some new scheme of murder, which, by being intrusted to a smaller, or more select number, or by being attempted with less delay, might be followed by success. The preparations for the dinner went on at lord Harrowby's house till eight in the evening, though, in fact, no dinner was to be given.

In the meantime, a strong party of Bow-street constables, under the direction of Mr. Birnie, proceeded to Cato-street, where they were to be met and supported by a detachment of the Coldstream Guards. The police officers reached the spot about 8 o'clock. They immediately entered the stable, and, mounting the ladder, found the conspirators in the loft, on the point of proceeding to the execution of their scheme. The principal officer called upon them to surrender. Smithers, one of the constables, pressing forward to seize Thistlewood, was pierced, by him, through the body, and immediately fell. The lights in the loft were now extinguished; some of the conspirators rushed down the ladder, and the officers along with them; others forced their way out by a window in the back part of the premises. At this moment, the detachment of the military arrived, somewhat later than the precise time fixed. Two of the conspirators, who were in the act of escaping, were seized: by the joint exertions of the police and soldiers nine in all were taken that evening, and conveyed to Bow-street. Thistlewood was among those who had escaped, but he was arrested next morning, in bed, in a house near Finsbury-square. Some others of them were seized in the course of the next two days.

On the 27th of March, true bills of indictment for high treason were found against eleven of the prisoners; and, on the 17th of April, Thistlewood was put upon his trial. The principal witness was a conspirator, of the name of Adams, who, having escaped from Cato-street, had been taken on the following Friday, and had remained in custody up to the time when he was produced in court to give evidence. After a trial which lasted three days, the accused was found guilty on those counts of indictment which charged him with having conspired to levy, and with having levied war against the King. Ings, Brunt, Tidd, and Davidson, were afterwards severally tried and convicted. The remaining six, permission to withdraw their former plea having been given, pleaded guilty. One of them, who appeared to have joined the meeting in Cato-street without being aware of its true purpose, received a pardon; the other five had their sentence commuted into transportation for life. Thistlewood, with the four whom we have named, suffered the sentence of the law, rather glorying in what they had attempted, and regretting their failure, than repenting of their atrocious guilt.

[THE DEATH OF GEORGE III. (1820).]

Source.—The Diary and Correspondence of Charles Abbott, Lord Colchester. London, 1861. Vol. III. p. 112.

Letter from Mr. B. Wilbraham.

"Portland Place, February 7th, 1820.

"My dear Lord,

"I am not aware that I can communicate much more information than the newspapers, if so much, but as a letter from London at a moment like the present is supposed to be interesting, I write a few lines.

"The death of the poor King was not expected by the public in general, but those who were about him saw a rapid change taking place, and a loathing of nourishment and other symptoms; and when I was at Windsor three weeks ago, the Duke of York, who had not seen him for five or six days, was much affected at the change.

"He died without any pain, spoke a short time before his death, and had no gleam of returning reason, which Dr. Willis then told me he would not have. Since his death we have been in some danger of losing the present King, who has been very ill of an inflammation of the chest, which was cured by his losing 130 ounces of blood. This loss would have killed you or me, but he is so accustomed to being bled, that the day after the operation was performed his pulse was at 84. He is now recovering, but I expect that his constitution will not be the better for this violent, though necessary discipline.

"He held a Privy Council two days after the King's death, and was forced to exert himself, which I believe was rather against him; but he has not done anything of the sort since, and I hope he will soon recover his strength.

"No political change has taken place under the circumstances of the country, but we look forward to a dissolution of Parliament; and whether it will be early or late, before the ensuing session of Parliament or after it, it is the question about which we are very anxious; though I am not of the number, it being a matter of indifference to me when I visit my Dover[1] friends.

"Brougham, it is said, has sent the Queen a detailed account of her patronage, which, as you know, is considerable, and a blank patent for the office of her Attorney-General; when this returns filled up, he will form a third party in the House of Commons, and probably will be very troublesome to both the others; though the Whigs will contrive to agree with him as often as they can.

"You will be glad to hear that we are as peaceable and quiet as lambs in Lancashire; that seditious printers, drillers at night, and others were found guilty by the juries at the Manchester Sessions, and were sentenced to various punishments without a single murmur being heard in Court. I understand that this implicit obedience to the laws has produced a sensation of considerable surprise on the Continent, where people imagined us on the eve of a revolution. I confess that I imagined we should not have been so quiet in the North as we are. Hunt and Co., you know, are to be tried at the Spring Lancashire Assizes....

"The Bank resumed bullion payments on the 1st February, in ingots (to the amount of £300), commonly called Ricardos; and I understand that in the first three days only three were applied for. One for Lord Thanet, one for a country banker, from curiosity, and the other I know not for whom. The price of gold is from two to three shillings below the Mint price, which accounts for this little demand.

"Yours very truly,
"E. B. Wilbraham."

[THE KING'S SPEECH (1820).]

Source.—Annual Register, 1820. Appendix to Chronicle, p. 749.

The King's Speech to the New Parliament (Thursday, April 27).

"My Lords and Gentlemen;

"I have taken the earliest occasion of assembling you here, after having referred to the sense of my people.

"In meeting you personally, for the first time since the death of my beloved father, I am anxious to assure you, that I shall always continue to imitate his great example, in unceasing attention to the public interests, and in paternal solicitude for the welfare and happiness of all classes of my subjects.

"I have received from foreign powers renewed assurances of their friendly disposition, and of their earnest desire to cultivate with me the relations of peace and amity.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons;

"The estimates for the present year will be laid before you.

"They have been framed upon principles of strict economy; but it is to me matter of the deepest regret that the state of the country has not allowed me to dispense with those additions to our military force which I announced at the commencement of the last session of parliament.

"The first object to which your attention will be directed is the provision to be made for the support of the civil government, and of the honour and dignity of the crown.

"I leave entirely at your disposal my interest in the hereditary revenues; and I cannot deny myself the gratification of declaring, that so far from desiring any arrangement which might lead to the imposition of new burthens upon my people, or even might diminish, on my account, the amount of the reductions incident to my accession to the throne, I can have no wish, under circumstances like the present, that any addition whatever should be made to the settlement adopted by parliament in the year 1816.

"My Lords and Gentlemen;

"Deeply as I regret that the machinations and designs of the disaffected should have led in some parts of the country to acts of open violence and insurrection, I cannot but express my satisfaction at the promptitude with which those attempts have been suppressed by the vigilance and activity of the magistrates, and by the zealous co-operation of all those of my subjects, whose exertions have been called forth to support the authority of the laws.

"The wisdom and firmness manifested by the late parliament, and the due execution of the laws, have greatly contributed to restore confidence throughout the kingdom, and to discountenance those principles of sedition and irreligion which had been disseminated with such malignant perseverance, and had poisoned the minds of the ignorant and unwary.

"I rely upon the continued support of parliament in my determination to maintain, by all the means intrusted to my hands, the public safety and tranquillity.

"Deploring, as we all must, the distress which still unhappily prevails among many of the labouring classes of the community, and anxiously looking forward to its removal or mitigation, it is in the meantime our common duty effectually to protect the loyal, the peaceable, and the industrious, against those practices of turbulence and intimidation by which the period of relief can only be deferred, and by which the pressure of the distress has been incalculably aggravated.

"I trust, that an awakened sense of the dangers which they have incurred, and of the arts which have been employed to seduce them, will bring back by far the greater part of those who have been unhappily led astray, and will revive in them that spirit of loyalty, that due submission to the laws, and that attachment to the constitution, which subsist unabated in the hearts of the great body of the people, and which, under the blessing of Divine Providence, have secured to the British nation the enjoyment of a larger share of practical freedom, as well as of prosperity and happiness, than have fallen to the lot of any nation in the world."

[THE CHARACTER OF "JOHN BULL" (1820).]

Source.—Washington Irving's Sketch Book. Pp. 237-239. Bohn's Libraries. G. Bell & Sons, London.

What is worst of all, is the effect which these pecuniary embarrassments and domestic feuds have had on the poor man himself. Instead of that jolly round corporation, and snug rosy face, which he used to present, he has of late become as shrivelled and shrunk as a frost-bitten apple. His scarlet gold-laced waistcoat, which bellied out so bravely in those prosperous days when he sailed before the wind, now hangs loosely about him like a mainsail in a calm. His leather breeches are all in folds and wrinkles, and apparently have much ado to hold up the boots that yawn on both sides of his once sturdy legs.

Instead of strutting about as formerly, with his three-cornered hat on one side; flourishing his cudgel, and bringing it down every moment with a hearty thump upon the ground; looking every one sturdily in the face, and trolling out a stave of a catch or a drinking song; he now goes about whistling thoughtfully to himself, with his head drooping down, his cudgel tucked under his arm, and his hands thrust to the bottom of his breeches pockets, which are evidently empty.

Such is the plight of honest John Bull at present; yet for all this, the old fellow's spirit is as tall and as gallant as ever. If you drop the least expression of sympathy or concern, he takes fire in an instant; swears that he is the richest and stoutest fellow in the country; talks of laying out large sums to adorn his house or buy another estate; and with a valiant swagger and grasping of his cudgel, longs exceedingly to have another bout at quarter-staff.

Though there may be something rather whimsical in all this, yet I confess I cannot look upon John's situation without strong feelings of interest. With all his odd humours and obstinate prejudices, he is a sterling-hearted old blade. He may not be so wonderfully fine a fellow as he thinks himself, but he is at least twice as good as his neighbours represent him. His virtues are all his own; all plain, home bred and unaffected. His very faults smack of the raciness of his good qualities. His extravagance savours of his generosity; his quarrelsomeness, of his courage; his credulity, of his open faith; his vanity, of his pride; and his bluntness, of his sincerity. They are all the redundancies of a rich and liberal character. He is like his old oak, rough without, but sound and solid within, whose bark abounds with excrescences in proportion to the growth and grandeur of the timber; and whose branches make a fearful groaning and murmuring in the least storm, from their very magnitude and luxuriance. There is something, too, in the appearance of his old family mansion that is extremely poetical and picturesque; and, as long as it can be rendered comfortably habitable, I should almost tremble to see it meddled with, during the present conflict of tastes and opinions. Some of his advisers are no doubt good architects, that might be of service; but many, I fear, are mere levellers, who, when they had once got to work with their mattocks on this venerable edifice, would never stop until they had brought it to the ground, and perhaps buried themselves among the ruins. All that I wish is that John's present troubles may teach him more prudence in the future. That he may cease to distress his mind about other people's affairs; that he may give up the fruitless attempt to promote the good of his neighbours, and the peace and happiness of the world, by dint of the cudgel; that he may remain quietly at home; gradually get his house into repair; cultivate his rich estate according to his fancy; husband his income—if he thinks proper; bring his unruly children into order—if he can; renew the jovial scenes of ancient prosperity; and long enjoy, on his paternal lands, a green, an honourable and a merry old age.

[THE DEATH OF NAPOLEON (1821).]

Source.—The Gentleman's Magazine, 1821. Vol. 91, p. 86.

May 5. At St. Helena, of a lingering illness, which had confined him to his bed for upwards of forty days, Napoleon Buonaparte. He desired that after his death his body should be opened, as he suspected he was dying of the same disease which had killed his father—a cancer in the stomach.

He lay in state three days, at the particular wish of the French people, who behaved to all visitors with much affability, amounting to condescension. The body was opened; the stomach was the entire seat of the disease—a cancer, or a schirrous state of that organ. The disease must have caused great pain, and appeared to have been of considerable standing. It was remarked before his death, that for more than nine days he had refused all nourishment, which was supposed to proceed from resignation or obstinacy; but the diseased state of the stomach fully accounts for it.

The body was laid out on a bed in a room of the middling size, hung with black, and well lighted up. He was dressed in full Field-Marshal's uniform; that said to have been worn by him at the battle of Marengo. His person seemed small, and rather diminutive (exact height five feet seven inches); but the fineness of the countenance much exceeded expectation. The face appeared to be large, compared with the body; the features pleasing and extremely regular, still retaining a half-formed smile; and must have been truly imposing, when enlivened by a penetrating pair of eyes. His skin was perfectly sallow, which seemed to be its natural colour.

The garden was laid out in the most fanciful manner; an astonishing variety being contained in a very small space.

Buonaparte died on Saturday, and the funeral took place the following Wednesday at 12 o'clock. A grand procession was formed of the officers, soldiers, and marines; which, altogether, made a very striking exhibition. The troops were drawn up two men deep on the road side, out of Longwood gates; each man resting the point of his musket on his foot, with the left hand on its butt; and the left cheek leaning on his hand in a mournful position; the band stationed at the head of each corps playing a dead march.

He was buried at the head of Rupert's Valley, about half-way between James' Town and Longwood, under the shade of a large willow-tree, near a small spring well, the water in which is both good and pleasant. For some years past he had water carried to him daily from this well, in two silver tankards which he brought from Moscow. Some years since, when visiting this well, in company with Madame Bertrand, he said, if the British Government buried him on St. Helena, he wished this to be the spot. It is certainly a very retired pretty situation, surrounded by high hills in the form of an amphitheatre, the public road to Longwood leading along the top of the ridge.

After letting the coffin into the grave, three vollies from 11 field pieces were fired, and the flag-ship also fired 25 minute guns. The Catholic priest performed the ceremony after the rites of the Romish Church.

The grave was 10 feet long, 10 deep, and five wide; the bottom happened to be solid rock, in which a space was cut to receive the coffin; the sides and ends of the grave were each walled in with one large Portland flag, and three large flags were put immediately over the coffin, and fastened down with iron bars and lead, beside Roman cement. The top of the grave is elevated about eight inches above the surface of the ground, and covered over with three rough slates.

[NAPOLEON (1821).]

Source.—P. B. Shelley's Poems.

What! alive and so bold, O Earth?

Art thou not over bold?

What! leapest thou forth as of old

In the light of thy morning mirth,

The last of the flock of the starry fold?

Ha! leapest thou forth as of old?

Are not the limbs still when the ghost is fled

And can'st thou move, Napoleon being dead?

How! is not thy quick heart cold?

What spark is alive on thy hearth?

How! is not his death-knell knolled?

And livest thou still, Mother Earth?

Thou wert warming thy fingers old

O'er the embers covered and cold

Of that most fiery spirit, when it fled—

What, Mother, do you laugh now he is dead?

"Who has known me of old," replied Earth,

"Or who has my story told?

It is thou who art over bold!"

And the lightning of scorn laughed forth

As she sung, "To my bosom I fold

All my sons when their knell is knolled,

And so with living motion all are fed,

And the quick spring like weeds out of the dead.

"Still alive and still bold," shouted Earth,

"I grow bolder and still more bold.

The dead fill me ten thousand fold

Fuller of speed, and splendour, and mirth.

I was cloudy, and sullen, and cold,

Like a frozen chaos uprolled,

Till by the spirit of the mighty dead

My heart grew warm. I feed on whom I fed.

"Ay, alive and bold," muttered Earth,

"Napoleon's fierce spirit rolled,

In terror and blood and gold,

A torrent of ruin to death from his birth.

Leave the millions who follow to mould

The metal before it be cold;

And weave into his shame, which like the dead

Shrouds me, the hopes that from his glory fled."

[NAPOLEON AND ENGLAND (1821).]

Source.—Lord Tennyson's Early Sonnets, V. 1832.

Buonaparte.

He thought to quell the stubborn hearts of oak,

Madman!—to chain with chains, and bind with bands

That island queen that sways the floods and lands

From Ind to Ind, but in fair daylight woke,

When from her wooden walls, lit by sure hands,

With thunders, and with lightnings and with smoke,

Peal after peal, the British battle broke,

Lulling the brine against the Coptic sands.

We taught him lowlier moods, when Elsinore

Heard the war moan along the distant sea,

Rocking with shattered spars, with sudden fires

Flamed over: at Trafalgar yet once more

We taught him: late he learned humility

Perforce, like those whom Gideon school'd with briers.

[MONROE DOCTRINE (1823).]

Source.—Annual Register, 1823 (Public Documents).

President Monroe's Message to Congress, Dec. 2, 1823.

"In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy to do so. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defence. With the movements in this hemisphere we are, of necessity, more immediately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political system of the allied powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their respective governments. And to the defence of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of our most enlightened citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers, to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with the Governments who have declared their independence, and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition, for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United States."