"We therefore being affected and alarmed with a due fenfe and dread of fo daring a "violation and infult, on our freedom and liberties, and the dangerous confequences of mi 66 litary power exercifed in civil affairs, do recommend it to this Honourable Court to "give fuch order and direction for preventing and difcouraging the like heinous offence "for the future, as they fhall judge moft proper and convenient." Such is the illuftriou example given by the firft county in England of a firm and manly refiftance to the infolence of a military interference in the rights of Election. To this we shall fubjoin an extract of the inftructions from the city of London to their new members upon the fame occafion. "As ftanding armies have ever been efteemed burthenfome to the subject, and dangerous to liberty; and as the moft facred and valuable privileges of Englishmen have "lately fuffered most outrageous infult and violence at a neighbouring Election, where the "military force was employed to the manifeft violation of juftice, and in the open defiance of a law, which exprefsly commands that no man, by force of arms, shall disturb the freedom of Election, we moft earnestly recommend that by a conftant and vigorous "oppofition to all standing armies in time of peace, you would preferve this nation "from a calamity which has already been fatal to the liberties of every kingdom "round us, and which we at this day are beginning to feel!" Sir Cecil Wray's fagacious Committee have conducted their murderous machinations upon principles truly Hibernian. They first prevail upon ilmot, that fober, fage Jufticiary Refident of Wood's Hotel, to lodge a detainer against three harmlets men, for an offence that will clearly appear to have been perpetrated by the Tower Hamlets banditti, and the next day advertife a reward of Fifty Pounds, for the evidence of any perfon who can step forth, and declare the murderer or murderers UNKNOWN. Yesterday another propofal was made to Mr. Fox, by Lord Hood and Sir Cecil Wray, through the official medium of the High Bailiff, to clofe the Poll finally this day, (May 14th) which, however, was peremptorily declined by the former; the High Bailiff then rejoined, he should clofe it by his own authority on Monday next. It fhould be known, that the High Bailiff is only a fecondary officer in the prefent Election, the King's writ being addreffed to the Sheriffs of Middlefex, who iffue their precept to the Bailiff of the city of Westminster, and to whom he, the Bailiff, muft make his return. Lord Sydney fent for Mr. Addington of the police in Bow ftreet, on Wednesday last, and remonstrated with him warmly for not having stepped forth and headed the military in Covent Garden, on Monday evening,-the independent magiftrate, with becoming fpirit and good fenfe replied-" he did not think any juftice of the peace warranted in fo doing; nor would he in a fimilar cafe prefume to call out the foldiery unless au"thorifed by the official feal and fignature of his Lordfhip himfelf as Secretary of State !" A warrant has been granted by two magiftrates of Middlefex and Westminster, for apprehending Lthe High Conftable, who is charged with having begun the riot in Covent Garden, on Monday last. The Coroner's Inqueft having found a verdict of wilful murder, again it perfons unknown, the beginner of the affray is legally guilty of murder; and it appears that L is well aware of this point of law, for which he has thought proper to atient himself, not relying much upon any evidence which Mr. Juftice Wilmot may be able to collect, or the immaculate Mr. Gretton fabricate against the honest marrowbones and cleavers whom they have fo extraordinarily charged with mur der, for the mere purpose of raifing a groundless Election-cry against their opponents. Anecdote. Anecdote. The bonour of Guftus Wilmot has lately rendered him an object of fuch general fpeculation, that every minutiae of his official conduct must be acceptable to the public. Not many years ago this worthy magiftrate had a very hot conteft with a brother of the bench, concerning fome emoluments to which he thought himfelf entitled. Every Juftice muft be a man of honour-Wilmot confequently gave the other a challenge, who, however, affected to treat the hero with fcorn, and, turning his back on the enraged Juftice, appealed to fome gentlemen prefent, whether he had not ufed him as he deferved? "No," faid one of the gentlemen, "you should have accepted the challenge; one "of you might then have fallen, and the other must have been hanged. By this means the "dignity of the magistracy would not have been injured, and the public rid of two very great An Hibernian Lord's vifit on Thursday upon the Huftings, was rather mal-a-propos on the part of his Lordship, as a gentleman prefent immediately put a queftion to him refpecting a 300l. electioneering bill, of near feven years ftanding, due to Wilfon, of the Bull, at Eaft Retford, which fo difconcerted the patriotic Pompey, that he decamped amidit the general hiffes of the advocates of liberty, and common honefty! Mr. Jennings, of Covent Garden, to whom the Ladies, in the intereft of Mr. Fox, are indebted for the accommodation of his houfe during the poll, has, in the handsomest manner, refused the fmalleft recompence on the occafion, profeffing himself perfectly neutral, with regard to the Election, declaring his only wish has thus been to gratify the curiofity of the Ladies. A correfpondent informs us, that the article, mentioning Mr. Addington's interview with the Secretary of State, is in fome particulars erroneous; the Secretary did not exprefs a wish that the military fhould be called forth, on the contrary, he thought it improper; but from what paffed, it was evident that Lord Sydney had not the beft intelligence of what happened at Covent Garden, as he understood the guards were ordered out on Tuesday to quell a riot, when, in fact, none had exifted. Mr. Addington's conduct as a magiftrate, is, in every point of view, irreproachable; his readineis to step forward to preferve the public peace is well known, and his reluctance to call out the military, unless in cases of abfolute neceffity, cannot be too highly applauded. It fhould not be forgotten, no, not even by a Secretary of State, that Mr. Addington is a gentle man! May 15.] The poll at Covent Garden clofed yesterday at two o'clock, inftead of three, which has been the ufual hour, owing to the following circumftance:-Mr. Fox's friends having received information that there was an intention of bringing the body of the constable who loft his life in the affray of Monday, from Nightingale-lane, to be buried in St. Paul's, Covent Garden, at the time of clofing the poll, were apprehenfive, that fuch a circumftance might give occafion to a renewal of thofe tumults, which it is fo peculiarly the intereft of the candidates at the head of the poll to avoid;-they made application, therefore to Lord Hood and Sir Cecil Wray, to agree to close the poll at an earlier hour, in order that the people might quietly difperfe before the ceremony of the burial began. This was with fome difficulty on their part agreed to, it being strongly ftated to them that their refufal would bear an appearance of their wifhing to turn fo folemn a ceremony, as the interment of a deceased person to the purposes of an Election clamour, and this confideration induced the abovementioned Candidates to consent to the propofal of Mr. Fox's friends; accordingly the poll was clofed at two o'clock, and the body was interred at four; without more than the ufual attendance upon fuch occafions. We are forry to add, from the manner in which the proceffion was conducted, the deportment of fome of the few perfons who attended it, and the inflammatory hand bills fhowered down from the windows of Hood and Wray's Committee Room, there is too much reason to think a design was entertained of creating a tumult upon this occa fion; which was happily prevented by the forefight, prudence, and moderation of Mr. Fox's party. Another correfpondent has given the following account of the above tranfanction, viz. The Committee at Wood's Hotel, had planned an affecting Spectacle for the close of yesterday's poll, from which, the moft glorious confequences to their caufe, were by such men naturally expected. A mock funeral proceffion of the murdered conftable was ably planned, to be brought round Covent Garden, to St. Paul's Church, for purposes of the most orderly, and pacific nature. The friends of Mr. Fox, however, having notice of the project, were determined to defeat its intended effect, and therefore propofed yesterday morning to Lord Hood, that the poll fhould clofe at two o'clock that day, in order to gratify the pious feelings of the widow of the deceafed, in the fingular mode fhe had adopted for the interment of her husband. His Lordship (who is too much of a Courtier already to offend any Gentleman by too direct an anfwer) begged leave to confult his colleague, and the High Bailiff, on a matter of fo much importance before he could give a reply. However, after many ifs and buts, and vefiry clofetings, his Lordship and the High Bailiff found themfelves at laft under the neceffity of acceding to the propo fition. In confequence thereof, orders were iffued from Wood's Hotel, to inform the honeft blades with the oak-boughs in their hats, who furrounded the Huftings fo early,-and Colonel Johnstone's brigade of the Third Regiment of Guards, then under orders at the Savoy-that there would be no occafion for their further fervices that day.—The mock interment was likewife by command deferred till fix o'clock in the evening, when the proceffion was made in the following order: BANDITTI CONSTABLES of the borne by one of WILMOT'S THIEF TAKERS. (The BODY having been interred the preceding day at Whitechapel.) perfonating the RELICT of the deceased The Juftice and Squire well cocked and primed, As her CHIEF SUPPORTERS, Each bearing a bottle of ANNISEED WATER! with unblanched napkins round their temples. containing Lord HOOD and Sir CECIL WRAY'S COMMITTEE. Mr. JOHN CH-LL. KILLER in Ordinary to the COURT CAUSE. clofing the Scene. This ftriking proceffion arriving at the end of Ruffel-street, took to the right, and perambulated by the Shakespeare, Wood's, and before the Huftings, to the corner of Southampton Southampton-ftreet; after which they entered the church, depofited the remains of their mockery, and then retiring to the front of Wood's Hotel, there received the rewards of their pious labours, in large libations of ufqucbagh and brandy! May 15.] *Against that part of the recital, figned An Elector, in yesterday's Morning Poft and Public Advertiser, which refpects the Gentlemen who followed the hackney coach, containing Juftice Wilmot, Mr. Hood, &c. from Wood's Hotel on Wednefday morning, the Gentlemen alluded to beg leave to proteft in tots. And leaft their denial of its truth may be mifunderstood, they do, in terms the moft pofitive and unequivocal, declare the statement to be directly falfe. With regard to the Gentlemen following the coach, it arofe fimply thus: 66 After Mr. Kelly had fubftantiated his charge against Wilmot, he and Mr. Sheridan left the Hotel, acquainting the few of Mr. Fox's friends who were then in the Coffeeroom, that the obnoxious magiftrate actually ftood committed. The affertion of his committal having been denied by fome of the Committee at Wood's, the Gentlemen remained a little while in the houfe. That the fact was fo, they had no doubt, not only because Mr. Sheridan faid it was, but because several of the other party faid it was not. A wifh, however, to fee, if under the circumftances of this affair, any man would be rafh enough to difcharge Wilmot, induced the Gentlemen to remain. In a fhort time the accuted Juftice came down stairs, and went into a hackney coach, amidst the execrations of feveral perfons who furrounded the Hotel, and who exclaimed, "To Newgate with him!" he was accompanied by three perfons, whom the Gentlemen took to be conftables. The coach drove into King-ftreet, and returning back again, flopped at the Hotel. It then drove towards Ruffel-ftreet, and four Gentlemen (Colonel North, Mr. O'Bryen, Mr. Shove, and Mr. Reid) anxious to know whether he was going to prifon or not, without one moment's premeditation, went into another hackney coach, and drove after them. Curiofity alone incited thofe Gentlemen to follow the Juftice, and the courfe which the leading coach took increased their curiofity in a tenfold degree. It went up and down the fame ftreet three or four times. It went fometimes flow, and fometimes in full gallop. A confcioufnefs of fomething wrong, and an eagernefs to conceal their deftination, were evident in the Juftice's party. The Gentlemen, innocent of the remoteft intention to injure or offend, held themfelves at full liberty to gratify a curiofity as harmless as it was naturally excited, and made no fcruple to follow the coach. That any perfon known to the Gentlemen purfued on foot, or behind their coach, the Gentlemen abfolutely deny. Others might probably have been impelled by fimilar curiofity, but of thofe, if any fuch there were, the Gentlemen know nothing. Thus much with regard to the expedition, and the motives of it. As to the gallant detail of Mr. Hood's feats in two conferences with the gentlemen, they beg leave to affure the public, that they are neither more nor less than a feries of lies. To thofe who know the Gentlemen alluded to, it is prefumed there is no neceffity of faying, that they are not of a complexion to endure with temper the fpeciesof addrefs attributed to Mr. Hood by his hiftorian. Had he ufed the words imputed to him, the reply due to a blockhead and a bravadoe would naturally have fucceeded. It is true, however, that Mr. Hood, in a fpirit congenial with the caufe he abets, and perfectly characteristic of his connections, did exprefs fome fears for his perfonal fafety; but it is as true that he precluded the Gentlemen the trouble of checking him, by inftantly difclaiming every term of offence. The four perfons in the coach that followed had not a fingle weapon of any kind; the four in the leading coach pofitively had. Thofe, therefore, who avowedly had "bludgeons and broomsticks," feemed better For the paper, to which this pointed piece of compofition is an anfwer, fee page 120 calculated calculated for affaffination, than they who were wholly unarmed; and whether it was for the fake of his understanding, or from motives more influencing upon his nerves, that Mr. Hood apologized, it is difficult to afcertain: this, however, is true, that he prudently retracted his infinuations in lefs than half a minute after he had the weaknefs to exprefs them. Mr. Hood might poffibly be a very wife and valiant man. The Gentlemen in queftion, however, folemnly declare, that it is in the newspapers only they have feen his wifdom and valour upon this occafion. In thofe indeed there is a pompous difplay of various prowefs, and if Mr. Hood himfelf can endure without pain the diftortion which thefe imputed virtues force him into, the detail of his couduct could have no poffible good effect upon a character, which affumes and attaches to itfelf fo very much of what is fo very, very little its right. To fuppofe that Mr. Hood connived at the publication of yesterday, would be a hard fuppofition indeed. That farrago could only be the fabrication of fome perfon, who, in contradiction to Mr. Hood's own practice, was prodigal of his fafety, and wickedly wifhed to involve him in an embarraffiment, which might hazard much more than the imputation of idiotifm. This morning Mr. Fielding moved the Court of King's-bench, for an information to be filed against Juftice Wilmot, for affembling a large body of the Tower Hamlet Conftables in Covent Garden on Monday laft, by which the freedom of Election was violated, and other outrages, too notorious to be here defcribed, committed against the peace of his Majesty's fubjects, &c. &c.-Earl Mansfield paid the utmost attention to the eloquent and pointed ftatement of the cafe by Mr. Fielding, and, at the close of it, informed him, "that his motion for a rule to fhew caufe, would come fronger after the final clofe of the Election;" in confequene of which, the further proceedings in this extraordinary tranfaction are of courfe fufpended, till the High Bailiff fhall have made his return for the city of Westminster. The attempts which have been made by the Committee affembled at Wood's Hotel, to transfer the original blame of the riots in Covent Garden, and their unfortunate confequences, from their own party to the friends of Mr. Fox, are too abfurd and contemptible to produce any other effect upon minds that have the finalleft pretenfions to justice, candour, or truth, than a full and complete confirmation of their own guilt. Without entering into a minute narrative of all the circumftances which attended this unhappy disturbance (the detail of which will be laid before the public, with every accuracy and authority, in as fhort time as the various depofitions can be adjufted and tranfcribed) we fhall only mention two plain facts, that are not even attempted to be denied by the adverfary, and which we conceive will appear to our readers decifive upon the queftion, where thefe difturbances originated. In the courfe of an Election, which has lafted longer than almost any preceding one, and commenced at a period when men's minds were more heated and irritated, than they perhaps ever were known to be even in this country, there have been only two riots. The firit was occafioned by a gang of failors parading about the Huftings in an armed body, menacing and infulting all the friends of Mr. Fox.-No fatal confequence, however, happily enfued from this attempt. The failors retired, and the riots ceafedevery thing was quiet before they attended the Huftings-when they ceafed to attend them every thing became quiet again. Where then did the caufe of this difturbance lay? It would be abfurd to attempt to direct mens opinions on an occafion fo obvious and irrefiftable as this is. The riot commenced on that day, when the naval raggamuffins fhowed themselves at the Huftings-on the preceding and subsequent days, when they were not prefent, every thing was orderly and peaceable. A full |