Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty
The strangers’ gallery, which was immediately above the door of the
House, had been ordered to be closed on the first rumour of disturbance,
and was empty; save that now and then Lord George took his seat there,
for the convenience of coming to the head of the stairs which led to
it, and repeating to the people what had passed within. It was on
these stairs that Barnaby, Hugh, and Dennis were posted. There were two
flights, short, steep, and narrow, running parallel to each other,
and leading to two little doors communicating with a low passage which
opened on the gallery. Between them was a kind of well, or unglazed
skylight, for the admission of light and air into the lobby, which might
be some eighteen or twenty feet below.
Upon one of these little staircases--not that at the head of which Lord
George appeared from time to time, but the other--Gashford stood with
his elbow on the bannister, and his cheek resting on his hand, with his
usual crafty aspect. Whenever he varied this attitude in the slightest
degree--so much as by the gentlest motion of his arm--the uproar was
certain to increase, not merely there, but in the lobby below; from
which place no doubt, some man who acted as fugleman to the rest, was
constantly looking up and watching him.
‘Order!’ cried Hugh, in a voice which made itself heard even above the
roar and tumult, as Lord George appeared at the top of the staircase.
‘News! News from my lord!’
The noise continued, notwithstanding his appearance, until Gashford
looked round. There was silence immediately--even among the people in
the passages without, and on the other staircases, who could neither
see nor hear, but to whom, notwithstanding, the signal was conveyed with
marvellous rapidity.
‘Gentlemen,’ said Lord George, who was very pale and agitated, ‘we must
be firm. They talk of delays, but we must have no delays. They talk of
taking your petition into consideration next Tuesday, but we must have
it considered now. Present appearances look bad for our success, but we
must succeed and will!’
‘We must succeed and will!’ echoed the crowd. And so among their shouts
and cheers and other cries, he bowed to them and retired, and presently
came back again. There was another gesture from Gashford, and a dead
silence directly.
‘I am afraid,’ he said, this time, ‘that we have little reason,
gentlemen, to hope for any redress from the proceedings of Parliament.
But we must redress our own grievances, we must meet again, we must put
our trust in Providence, and it will bless our endeavours.’
This speech being a little more temperate than the last, was not so
favourably received. When the noise and exasperation were at their
height, he came back once more, and told them that the alarm had gone
forth for many miles round; that when the King heard of their assembling
together in that great body, he had no doubt, His Majesty would send
down private orders to have their wishes complied with; and--with the
manner of his speech as childish, irresolute, and uncertain as his
matter--was proceeding in this strain, when two gentlemen suddenly
appeared at the door where he stood, and pressing past him and coming a
step or two lower down upon the stairs, confronted the people.
The boldness of this action quite took them by surprise. They were
not the less disconcerted, when one of the gentlemen, turning to Lord
George, spoke thus--in a loud voice that they might hear him well, but
quite coolly and collectedly:
‘You may tell these people, if you please, my lord, that I am General
Conway of whom they have heard; and that I oppose this petition, and all
their proceedings, and yours. I am a soldier, you may tell them, and I
will protect the freedom of this place with my sword. You see, my lord,
that the members of this House are all in arms to-day; you know that the
entrance to it is a narrow one; you cannot be ignorant that there are
men within these walls who are determined to defend that pass to the
last, and before whom many lives must fall if your adherents persevere.
Have a care what you do.’
‘And my Lord George,’ said the other gentleman, addressing him in like
manner, ‘I desire them to hear this, from me--Colonel Gordon--your
near relation. If a man among this crowd, whose uproar strikes us deaf,
crosses the threshold of the House of Commons, I swear to run my sword
that moment--not into his, but into your body!’
With that, they stepped back again, keeping their faces towards the
crowd; took each an arm of the misguided nobleman; drew him into the
passage, and shut the door; which they directly locked and fastened on
the inside.
This was so quickly done, and the demeanour of both gentlemen--who
were not young men either--was so gallant and resolute, that the crowd
faltered and stared at each other with irresolute and timid looks. Many
tried to turn towards the door; some of the faintest-hearted cried they
had best go back, and called to those behind to give way; and the panic
and confusion were increasing rapidly, when Gashford whispered Hugh.
‘What now!’ Hugh roared aloud, turning towards them. ‘Why go back? Where
can you do better than here, boys! One good rush against these doors and
one below at the same time, will do the business. Rush on, then! As to
the door below, let those stand back who are afraid. Let those who are
not afraid, try who shall be the first to pass it. Here goes! Look out
down there!’
Without the delay of an instant, he threw himself headlong over the
bannisters into the lobby below. He had hardly touched the ground when
Barnaby was at his side. The chaplain’s assistant, and some members who
were imploring the people to retire, immediately withdrew; and then,
with a great shout, both crowds threw themselves against the doors
pell-mell, and besieged the House in earnest.
At that moment, when a second onset must have brought them into
collision with those who stood on the defensive within, in which case
great loss of life and bloodshed would inevitably have ensued,--the
hindmost portion of the crowd gave way, and the rumour spread from mouth
to mouth that a messenger had been despatched by water for the military,
who were forming in the street. Fearful of sustaining a charge in the
narrow passages in which they were so closely wedged together, the
throng poured out as impetuously as they had flocked in. As the whole
stream turned at once, Barnaby and Hugh went with it: and so, fighting
and struggling and trampling on fallen men and being trampled on in turn
themselves, they and the whole mass floated by degrees into the open
street, where a large detachment of the Guards, both horse and foot,
came hurrying up; clearing the ground before them so rapidly that the
people seemed to melt away as they advanced.
The word of command to halt being given, the soldiers formed across the
street; the rioters, breathless and exhausted with their late exertions,
formed likewise, though in a very irregular and disorderly manner. The
commanding officer rode hastily into the open space between the two
bodies, accompanied by a magistrate and an officer of the House of
Commons, for whose accommodation a couple of troopers had hastily
dismounted. The Riot Act was read, but not a man stirred.
In the first rank of the insurgents, Barnaby and Hugh stood side by
side. Somebody had thrust into Barnaby’s hands when he came out into the
street, his precious flag; which, being now rolled up and tied round
the pole, looked like a giant quarter-staff as he grasped it firmly and
stood upon his guard. If ever man believed with his whole heart and soul
that he was engaged in a just cause, and that he was bound to stand by
his leader to the last, poor Barnaby believed it of himself and Lord
George Gordon.
After an ineffectual attempt to make himself heard, the magistrate gave
the word and the Horse Guards came riding in among the crowd. But, even
then, he galloped here and there, exhorting the people to disperse; and,
although heavy stones were thrown at the men, and some were desperately
cut and bruised, they had no orders but to make prisoners of such of the
rioters as were the most active, and to drive the people back with the
flat of their sabres. As the horses came in among them, the throng gave
way at many points, and the Guards, following up their advantage, were
rapidly clearing the ground, when two or three of the foremost, who were
in a manner cut off from the rest by the people closing round them, made
straight towards Barnaby and Hugh, who had no doubt been pointed out as
the two men who dropped into the lobby: laying about them now with some
effect, and inflicting on the more turbulent of their opponents, a few
slight flesh wounds, under the influence of which a man dropped,
here and there, into the arms of his fellows, amid much groaning and
confusion.
At the sight of gashed and bloody faces, seen for a moment in the crowd,
then hidden by the press around them, Barnaby turned pale and sick. But
he stood his ground, and grasping his pole more firmly yet, kept his
eye fixed upon the nearest soldier--nodding his head meanwhile, as Hugh,
with a scowling visage, whispered in his ear.
The soldier came spurring on, making his horse rear as the people
pressed about him, cutting at the hands of those who would have grasped
his rein and forced his charger back, and waving to his comrades to
follow--and still Barnaby, without retreating an inch, waited for his
coming. Some called to him to fly, and some were in the very act of
closing round him, to prevent his being taken, when the pole swept into
the air above the people’s heads, and the man’s saddle was empty in an
instant.
Then, he and Hugh turned and fled, the crowd opening to let them pass,
and closing up again so quickly that there was no clue to the course
they had taken. Panting for breath, hot, dusty, and exhausted with
fatigue, they reached the riverside in safety, and getting into a boat
with all despatch were soon out of any immediate danger.
As they glided down the river, they plainly heard the people cheering;
and supposing they might have forced the soldiers to retreat, lay upon
their oars for a few minutes, uncertain whether to return or not. But
the crowd passing along Westminster Bridge, soon assured them that the
populace were dispersing; and Hugh rightly guessed from this, that
they had cheered the magistrate for offering to dismiss the military on
condition of their immediate departure to their several homes, and that
he and Barnaby were better where they were. He advised, therefore, that
they should proceed to Blackfriars, and, going ashore at the bridge,
make the best of their way to The Boot; where there was not only good
entertainment and safe lodging, but where they would certainly be joined
by many of their late companions. Barnaby assenting, they decided on
this course of action, and pulled for Blackfriars accordingly.
They landed at a critical time, and fortunately for themselves at the
right moment. For, coming into Fleet Street, they found it in an unusual
stir; and inquiring the cause, were told that a body of Horse Guards had
just galloped past, and that they were escorting some rioters whom they
had made prisoners, to Newgate for safety. Not at all ill-pleased to
have so narrowly escaped the cavalcade, they lost no more time in asking
questions, but hurried to The Boot with as much speed as Hugh considered
it prudent to make, without appearing singular or attracting an
inconvenient share of public notice.
Chapter 50
They were among the first to reach the tavern, but they had not been
there many minutes, when several groups of men who had formed part of
the crowd, came straggling in. Among them were Simon Tappertit and Mr