A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 39

A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 39

Among others, appeared the illustration of “The Scotch Victory,” 1768;

on the wall of the outhouse, to which the lad had fled for shelter

when pursued, is “’45,” an allusion to the cruelties of the Highland

raid in 1745, as well as to the “XLV. North Briton.” Alexander Murray,

the officer, Donald Maclury, a corporal, and MacLaughlin, a grenadier,

are shown in the act of assassinating Allen. A halter which lies near

the feet of the soldiers and a sketch of a gallows and a man hanging

indicate the public sentiments on the matter. The letterpress is to

this effect:--

 

“The monumental inscription on a tombstone erected over the

grave of Mr. William Allen, junior, in the churchyard of St.

Mary Newington, Surrey. ‘Sacred to the memory of William Allen,

an Englishman of unspotted life and amiable disposition, who

was inhumanly _murdered_ near St. George’s Fields, the 10th day

of May, 1768, by Scottish detachments from the army.’

 

“’Twas Grafton plann’d the horrors of that day;

’Twas Weymouth urg’d th’ enforcing his commands;

’Twas Barrington that gave th’ exciting pay,

The price of blood flow’d through his guilty hands.”

 

The Duke of Grafton was first lord of the treasury. Viscount Weymouth,

afterwards Marquis of Bath, was one of the secretaries of state; he

had urged the advisability of calling out military aid to strengthen

the civil authority. Viscount Barrington was secretary at war. He had

thought proper to convey to the field-officer in command of the Foot

Guards the royal approval of the men’s behaviour.

 

[Illustration: “WILKES AND LIBERTY” RIOTS. THE SCOTCH VICTORY. MURDER

OF ALLEN BY A GRENADIER. MASSACRE OF ST. GEORGE’S FIELDS. 1768.

 

[_Page 174._]

 

He begged “that they may be assured that every possible

regard shall be shown to them in return for their zeal and

good conduct on this occasion,” “and in case any disagreeable

circumstance should happen in the execution of their duty,

they shall have every defence and protection that the law

authorities, and this Office (the War) can give.”

 

Justice Gillam, who was the first to give the order to the third

regiment of Guards to fire on the people, was tried for the murder of

Redburn, a weaver; the judges acquitted him of all responsibility,

and complimented him on the humane manner in which he had exercised

his authority. Sergeant Glynn, Wilkes’s friend and adviser, was for

the prosecution. In the course of the evidence it appeared that there

had been assembled in St. George’s Fields a disorderly concourse,

where, after shouting “_Wilkes and Liberty_,” they made an attack on

the King’s Bench Prison, threw stones into the marshal’s house, and

at length burst open the outward gate of the prison, to the terror of

the keepers, who not only feared for the security of their prisoners,

but imagined their own lives were endangered; notwithstanding their

apprehensions, the keepers guarded the inner gates from the mob, so

that the rioters dispersed without effecting their purpose.

 

The marshal, anticipating another attack the day following, applied

to the magistrates for assistance, as shown in the foregoing. On the

10th of May, a larger mob assembled, repeating the cry of “Wilkes and

Liberty;” whereupon the magistrates began to expostulate with them. The

Riot Act was then read, and its intentions endeavoured to be explained.

The rabble hissed and hooted the soldiers, who endeavoured to scatter

them. At last, a stone struck Justice Gillam, and he ordered the

firing, though, as far as could be proved, there existed no absolute

necessity for this extreme measure. Gillam, who was exhibited to

ridicule as “Midas, the Surrey justice,” appears to have been most

unpopular, if not altogether unfit for the responsible position in

which he was placed; “the note sent to a bookseller by a magistrate” is

attributed to this hero: “Sir, Send me the ax Re Latin to a Gustus of

Pease.” On his trial, James Derbyshire, a bookseller, deposed that Mr.

Gillam said publicly in the hearing of the soldiers, “_that his orders

from the ministry were, that some men must be killed, and that it were

better to kill five and twenty to-day than one hundred to-morrow_.”

According to the Rev. John Horne (afterwards Tooke, and known to fame

as the “Brentford Parson”), who was present at the riot, it was he who

procured the warrant for the arrest of the soldiers. The trial did not

take place until the 9th of August. Witnesses appeared against Donald

Maclury, who was charged with firing the fatal shot; it was Maclury

(or M’Laury) who said “Damn him, that’s him, shoot him.” Mr. Allen’s

ostler declared that when Allen fell, after the prisoner had fired,

Maclury said, “Damn it, it is a good shot.” On his way to gaol, the day

after the murder, it was proved Maclury acknowledged “that what they

had done was in consequence of orders, and he hoped they should obtain

mercy.” The defence was that MacLaughlin, a grenadier, acknowledged to

Mr. Gillam and six soldiers that it was he who shot Allen, and _that

his piece went off by accident_. He had since deserted, and, it was

openly stated in the papers, received one shilling a day to keep out

of the way. The verdict was “not guilty;” and it was admitted that, in

order to save the life of the soldier, who was liable for murder, it

had “been found necessary to suffer the prosecutors to persist in their

mistake in apprehending and impeaching an innocent man, and in the mean

time giving the grenadier who actually fired the gun an opportunity

to escape.” Both soldiers were charged at the King’s Bench, when, by

arrangement, the guilty man was admitted to bail, to be smuggled out of

harm’s way; “the other was remanded back to prison as the person who

actually shot the lad,” according to the proceedings, May 16, 1768.

 

Another version of the “Scotch Victory,” with the rebus of the

jack-boot standing under a petticoat, and enclosed by Scotch thistles,

forms part of a mock dedication: “To the Earl of (Bute), Protector of

our Liberties, this plate is humbly inscribed by F. Junius Brutus.”

 

“The Operation,” a frontispiece to the _Political Register_ for June,

1768, shows Lord Bute stabbing Britannia with a dagger, while the

ministers already mentioned in association with the death of Allen are

catching the blood which flows from her wounds:--

 

“The Blood of Vitals from her wounds he drew,

And fed the Hounds that help’d him to pursue.”

 

(DRYDEN.)

 

The _Oxford Magazine_ for 1769 gives an engraving of the monument

finally erected over the grave of Mr. Allen, junior. It represents

an altar tomb enclosed by iron rails: on one side is introduced

the reprobated Scotch thistle, with the legend, “Murder screen’d

and rewarded;” on the other side is shown a Scotch soldier of the

third regiment of Foot Guards, evidently intended for the murderous

MacLaughlin, approaching and pointing to the inscription on the tomb,

exclaiming, “I have obtain’d a pension of a shilling a day, only for

putting an end to thy days!”

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER VII.

 

MIDDLESEX ELECTIONS, 1768-9.

 

 

Within a month of his return died George Cooke, the Tory colleague

of Wilkes in the representation of Middlesex, who had sat from 1750;

he was prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas, one of the joint

paymasters of the forces, and colonel of the Middlesex Militia.

Consequent on his decease a seat for the county was to be contested

in December, 1768, and the public were indulged with another exciting

struggle at the Brentford hustings. The candidates were John Glynn, the

friend and advocate of Wilkes, and Sir William Beauchamp Proctor, the

candidate defeated in the previous election. The superheated state of

popular feeling had not had time to cool down; moreover, Wilkes, the

chosen of the electors, was a prisoner. Both parties on this occasion

seem to have resorted to terrorism; mutual recriminations as to the

hiring of ruffians and bludgeon-men were made during the inquiries into

the disturbances which ensued. A view of the situation, “Scene at the

Brentford Hustings,” 1768, exhibits the violent and brutal behaviour

of mercenaries in the pay of Proctor’s faction--chiefly reckless

bullies, according to the engraving of the Brentford election. Females

are beaten causelessly; a fruit-stall is wrecked, and a respectably

attired person is taking advantage of the confusion to help himself

from the stock, whilst the proprietress is wantonly beaten with a

heavy cudgel; the legion of bludgeons is enlisted in the cause

of “Liberty and Proctor;” a hero whose head is shaven, and who is

evidently a professional pugilist of the Figg and Broughton type, is

made to exclaim, “For a guinea a day; damn Glynn and all his friends.”

Other beaters--chairmen, linkmen, and the like--are driving all before

them, and carrying the hustings by assault, demanding, “Bring down

the poll-book--Proctor shall be the man.” The scattered remnants of

a rival mob are retiring; one of these is exclaiming, “D---- ye, you

dogs--we’ll match you all presently.”

 

[Illustration: THE HUSTINGS AT BRENTFORD, MIDDLESEX ELECTION, 1768.

SERJEANT GLYNN AND SIR W. BEAUCHAMP PROCTOR.

 

[_Page 178._]

 

The _Oxford Magazine_ (vol. i.) has printed the correspondence which

ensued upon the disgraceful violence and the attack on the hustings,

in which several persons were injured and at least one fatally. The

candidate ultimately returned, John Glynn, began by addressing a

“Letter to the Freeholders of Middlesex,” pledging himself that the

blood of his constituents so wantonly shed should be vindicated, and

the charge brought home both to the hired and the hirers--“the more

exalted their stations and the more privileged their persons, the

louder is the call for justice.” The serjeant continues, “The freedom

of a county election is the last sacred privilege we have left; and

it does not become any honest Englishman to wish to survive it. There

is virtue still left in the country; we are come to a crisis, and the

consequence of this struggle shall determine whether we shall be Slaves

or Free.”

 

Following suit, Sir W. Beauchamp Proctor also addressed a letter to the

freeholders of Middlesex, rebutting the charges made against him. After

referring to twenty years, during which, by fair and honourable means,

he had endeavoured to obtain their esteem,--