word in his favour, or so much as to insinuate that he might be less guilty than was supposed, and in this state of public feeling, or rather madness, he was tried, found guilty of course, and condemned.

To every candid and considerate person, this sentence could not fail to be deeply affecting. There was every reason to suppose, that the city guard, composed of old veterans, proud of their military acquirements, were highly irritated at the regular troops being brought into the city, as they considered their own courage and conduct to be thereby called in question, and being trusted with loaded pieces by the magistrates, that they imagined they had a discretionary power to use them in their own defence, which it was quite possible they might do without the captain's order; and it appeared pretty certain, that the captain had not fired himself. Such, undoubtedly, were the impressions of the better sort of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, and of many gentlemen of the first respectability in the kingdom, a number of whom, drew up an impartial statement of all the facts of the case, with a petition to the queen, at that time regent, praying for mercy to the unhappy captain Porteous. The queen did not instantly pardon the unfortunate criminal, but she granted a reprieve for six weeks, till she might have an opportunity of inquiring more particularly, how far he was a proper object of her royal clemency.

No sooner was this circumstance made known to the public, than their indignation was aroused to the highest pitch, and it was openly declared, that the criminal should die, though the queen and all her minions had sworn to protect him. The day was even named on which this bloody purpose was to be executed. Nor was this language, and this fiery feeling confined to Edinburgh. It was general over the country, and every circumstance that could heighten it, was carefully narrated. So, it was said, did Bushel imbrue his hands in the blood of the citizens of Glasgow on the occasion of Shawfield's rabble, and so was he snatched out of the hands of justice, and for a reproach to the Scotish nation, promoted in the service of England; and so, it was said, it would ever be, till Scotishmen had the spirit to rise up, and with their own

hands, vindicate their injured and bleeding country, in the face of her arrogant and merciless oppressors.

The open manner in which this contemplated murder was talked of, and the unmeasured boldness of the language generally employed upon the subject, ought certainly to have called forth suitable preparations on the part of the public authorities for preventing it. But no such effect followed. The authorities either disbelieved that any such thing was in agitation, or they were willing for the sake of earning a little vulgar applause, rather to hazard the life of a poor unfortunate individual, than risk the vulgar reproach of having taken effectual measures, that the honour of the government and the majesty of the law should not be violated.

An attempt of such singular daring, was, to be sure, not a very likely event; yet on the Tuesday, the day previous to that upon which the unhappy captain Porteous was condemned to suffer, there was a concourse of so many strangers, particularly in the afternoon into the city, all apparently of the lower order, as ought to have excited the jealousy of the magistrates, and led them to take immediate measures for preventing what had been so openly threatened. This circumstance, however, does not seem to have been thought of till eight o'clock at night, when the West Port was seized upon, shut, and a guard placed upon it by the rioters. Having thus commenced, they seized a drum belonging to the suburb, which they had already shut out from the city, to the beat of which they proceeded up the Grassmarket, and along the Cowgate, till they came to the Eastern Gate, which they likewise seized upon, shut, and guarded. They then marched up the main street, and attacked the guard house, where they found only sixteen or seventeen men upon duty, with no higher officer than a sergeant. These, as might have been expected, made little if any resistance, but yielding up the guard house, hasted to shift for themselves. Having armed themselves with the arms belonging to the guard, the rioters proceeded directly to the prison, the door of which, they attempted to break open with sledges and fore-hammers, but in vain. They then had recourse to fire, and having burnt a hole through the door, the turnkey flung them the keys through it, with which they entered, went

up to the unhappy Porteous, who had attempted to hide himself, by climbing up the chimney, and dragging him down stairs by the heels, carried him to the place of execution, where they hanged him over a dyer's pole with a rope, which they had taken from a shop by the way, and for which they left the price, laid on the counter. One of the One of the spectators interceded tragedy to allow the unfortunate

with the actors in this horrid object of their vengeance as much time as to commend his soul to God by prayer, but received only insulting language in return. The mob remained with their victim till he was dead, and leaving him hanging, shifted each for himself, without further disturbance.

The acting of this brutal murder, occupied from eight o'clock, till about half an hour past midnight, the magistrates being the greater part of that time in a tavern in the near neighbourhood of the jail, without being able to do any thing towards suppressing the mob. Once, indeed, they went out to attempt it, but were attacked by the rioters with a shower of stones, and were glad to escape into the tavern with their lives. Guards they had in the city, but they were disarmed and dispersed; regular troops in the suburbs, but the rioters were in possession of the city gates, which prevented all communication with them. Their consternation, too, was so great, that what force they had, they wanted presence of mind to bring into action. So completely, indeed, were the magistrates paralyzed, that the body was not taken down till seven o'clock next morning.

"Next morning," says one, "all the thinking part of the community expressed their surprise at the boldness of the undertaking, as well as their sense of the monstrous barbarity of the action. People's conjectures were various about it, and not a few blamed the magistrates for want of conduct. Now that the bustle was over, every one could easily figure to himself the means that might have prevented it, which is very common in such like cases, though if these very judicious persons were to have the conducting of such an affair, the means which afterwards appeared so plain, might not perhaps have occurred to them more than to the magistrates.'

Life of Jolin, Duke of Argyle, p. 310.

It

would not indeed be an easy matter to vindicate the magistrates from the charges of culpable negligence previous to the riot, and of imbecility during the time it was going on. Had they attended to the spirit of the time, they could easily have made such arrangements as would have rendered the success of such an attempt impossible; which, while it exalted their own characters, would have saved the metropolis of Scotland from what must remain an indelible blot upon her history.

This affair when made known in London, excited the utmost indignation, as it was evidently done in contempt of legal authority; and though it was determined to make the most severe inquiry into the conduct of all concerned, nothing was done for the present, the king being in Hanover, except that a reward of two hundred pounds was offered for any individual that had been concerned in the action.

His majesty having met with a severe storm in returning from Germany, in consequence of which, he was for some time indisposed, the parliament did not meet till the first of February, 1737, when it was opened by commission. The lord chancellor, as one of the peers authorized by this commission, made a speech in his majesty's name to both houses, in which he informed them, that the great work of re-establishing the general tranquillity of Europe was far advanced, yet common prudence called upon them to be very attentive to the final conclusion of the new settlement. He also expressed his majesty's great concern to observe the many contrivances and attempts carried on in different places of the nation, tumultuously to resist and obstruct the execution of the laws, and to violate the peace of the kingdom, which if not promptly suppressed, might affect private persons in the quiet enjoyment of their property, as well as the general peace and good order of the whole.

To prevent as far as possible the recurrence of these outrages, which of late had afflicted so many places of the nation, a bill was brought into the house of lords for punishing the magistrates and city of Edinburgh, on account of the atrocious murder of captain Porteous, which was insisted upon as a flagrant insult upon the government, and a violation of

the public peace, so much the more dangerous, as it was evidently concerted and executed with deliberation and decency. The magistrates, it was contended, had encouraged the riot, and it was proposed to take away the city charter, to declare the lord provost incapable of ever holding any place of public trust, to demolish the Nether Bow Port, and to take away the city guards. In consequence of these proposals, it was resolved, that the magistrates and other persons from whom they might obtain the necessary information concerning this riot, should be ordered to appear at the bar of the house, and that an address should be presented to his majesty, desiring that all papers relating to the murder of captain Porteous, might be submitted to their lordships. Those documents being accordingly examined, and all the witnesses arrived, among whom, with the magistrates of Edinburgh, were three of the Scotish judges, who were under the necessity of appearing in their robes at the bar of the house of lords, the whole house seemed to be agreed in passing the bill, with the exception of Argyle and Ilay, the former of whom, made a long speech in defence of the city, in which his lordship observed, "that great zeal had appeared in this house to pass this present bill into an act, which is to affect a person whose only crime seems to have been, that he was unfit for a trust that requires an active and vigilant man, and against the citizens of Edinburgh, who are only guilty of not foreseeing what it was impossible for them to have foreseen; and yet my lords, no bill has been brought in, to bring the persons who have been guilty of that barbarous murder to justice.* These, my lords, ought to be the immediate objects of the resentment of this house, for where such desperate enthusiasts are harboured, no state can be secure of its peace, and no private person of his property. Great insinuations, my lords, have been made, that this and many other tumults that have frequently happened in the united kingdom, have been owing to the oppression of the magistrate. For my part, my lords,

* What prodigious nonsense great men and great orators will sometimes talk! Could his Grace of Argyle have discovered these murderers, the existing laws would have been found amply sufficient for punishing them.