man close by dropped, shot in the foot, and
another hit in the arm. A sailor in Rood-lane
was struck by a bullet in the back of the head,
and a corn-meter in the Minories was wounded.
At Mark-lane, which was crowded, it being
market-day, the balls flew thick and fast round
the alarmed corn-merchants. When the soldiers
began to turn homeward, Mr. Holdsworth, the
City marshal, appeared, and very properly
requested the commanding officers to lead the
troops back by London-bridge, in order that the
peace of the City should be no more disturbed.
The request was complied with, and Mr. Holdsworth
went before them to preserve order.

At Crutched-friars the uproar grew into a
whirlwind. The soldiers had left a wake of
bleeding and dying men. A few stones had
been replied to by swords and bullets, several
boys pelting with mud and bricks, the rear of the
Life Guards on which the mob closed, fired,
the alarm became wilder, and the soldiers fired
incessantly. Two men were shot at Cooper's-
row; on Tower-hill and in Gracechurch-street
the alarm and confusion was dreadful, the
screams and cries maddening. A woman was
struck; an unfortunate man, shot in the throat,
pleaded for admittance at a spirit-shop, but the
door was cruelly bolted against him. The
frenzied people, seeing this, broke all the windows,
and forced in the door. The cavalry continued
to load and fire, as if enjoying the ruthless
slaughter, and at the corner of Mark-lane many
inoffensive persons were wounded with sabres
and pistols. One man had his ear cut off,
another was wounded in the breast, a third shot
through the wrist. The balls passed through
many shop-windows. There is no knowing in
these cases how many are killed. Coaches bore
off the wounded. Many widows never came
forward to complain of the deaths of those dear
to them. Many injured persons afterwards died
uncomplaining in the obscurity of poverty.
No soldier received a mortal wound; it was the
poor earthen-pot, as usual, that went to pieces.

In all times of misrule there are, no doubt,
cases of lawlessness. Desperate men like Thistlewood
were in the crowd. On the Saturday
of these unfortunate riots, some such man
as Thistlewood tried to pass three of the
Coldstream Guards on duty in Piccadilly. One
of the soldiers stopped the man with his slant
firelock. The gentleman, taking a pistol from
his breast, presented it and said, " If you persist
in obstructing me, I'll shoot you dead." The
soldier persisting, the gentleman fired, and shot
the soldier through the neck. The man was
removed into an adjoining house by his comrades.
The stranger then coolly walked into Hatchett's
Coffee-house, followed by a huzzaing mob, and
boasted " that he had driven lead into one of
the red-coats, and should probably drive some
into a few more of them before the affair was
over." The same man was seen on Tower-hill
on the day of the riot with a case of pistols stuck
in the breast of his great-coat; so at least the
most truthful of the Tory papers asserted.

The soldiers returned with the empty coach
along the Surrey side of the water, and reached
the Horse Guards, after their brief but inglorious
campaign, about three o'clock. A regiment,
from Tilbury had been placed ready at the new
Mint. The " strong'' but rash government had
made great preparations. The Oxford Blues
were at the Mews in Charing-cross. The 1st
York Militia was at Tower-hill. The Cornwall
Militia was quartered on the inhabitants of
Kentish-town. The South Gloucester Militia had
been ordered from Brighton, as well as the 51st,
52nd, and part of the 95th Rifles. The
Coldstream Guards were supplied with ball-cartridge.
There were field-pieces in St. James's-square,
and the cannon in St. James's Park was loaded
with six-pound balls. The Westminster volunteers
were assembled at the King's Mews, and the
St. Margaret's and St. John's men in Westminster
Abbey churchyard, while the Westminster
constabulary were collected at the Axe and
Gate, in Downing-street. Torrents of rain that
night, however, cleared the streets better than
shot or sabre.

In the debate in the House, ministers were
much blamed for occasioning these riots by their
timid delays and irresolution.

On April 17th, about twenty thousand electors
met at Westminster, the hustings being
erected opposite the King's Arms tavern, when
a petition to parliament was signed praying for
the release of their representative; Lord Cochrane
presented it in spite of Canning's opposition.
Petitions from the livery of London and the
freeholders of Middlesex were however rejected
by the irritated House. In the mean time,
popular indignation was vehement against the
Life Guards, who were thought to have been
brutal and cruel while effecting their retreat
through the crowded streets. A longtime after
they were hooted at whenever they appeared as
"Piccadilly Butchers" and " Bloody Backs."

Sir Francis, whose residence at the Tower
was one long ovation, went on fighting the
House from law court to law court.

"And now the grand difficulty of all had to be
dealt with — the question whether parliament
should make any appearance at all in the law
courts. It was at last decided that the Speaker
and the Serjeant-at-Arms should be allowed to
plead. The report of the committee appointed to
inquire into the privileges of the House was so
incorrect that it had to be recommitted. The
members had gone out of their beat so far as
even to quote the opinion of the Peers as
ascertained in a conference. The House refused to
receive this opinion, and yet, as it curiously
happened, the Lords had, after all, to decide the
question of the privileges of the Commons,
Burdett's actions being carried before them by
writ of error. There seemed to be no end of
the perplexities, contradictions, and unmanageable
difficulties of the case, as always
happens when there is a strain upon the compromises
of the constitution. What the House had
desired in appointing the committee was that,
by means of the materials furnished by the
journals, the privilege of parliament should be
accurately defined, the questions of its application
and applicability remaining, of course, for