Chapter XVI: Act 14: & 15 Vict. c. 36, and a duty upon inhabited houses was levied

in its place.

In this reign there could scarcely be political agitation without violence, and we find on May 13th, there was even murder committed. The following account is taken from the _Annual Register_, as being more condensed than the newspaper reports:--

"POLITICAL MEETING AND MURDER.

"For some days placards had been posted up, addressed to the
members of the political unions, calling a public meeting, to be
held in Calthorpe Street, Coldbath Fields, preparatory to forming
a National Convention. A proclamation had been issued from the
Home Office, prohibiting the meeting as being illegal. It was
held, nevertheless, on the 13th. The hour appointed for the
meeting was two o'clock, but the populace had been assembling for
three hours previously. Shortly after twelve o'clock strong
detachments of the metropolitan police marched into the
neighbourhood, and took up their quarters in the riding school of
the London Volunteers, and the several livery stables in the
vicinity. Colonel Rowan and Mr. Mayne, the two Commissioners, had
previously arrived, and were accommodated at a house in the
neighbourhood, attended by two clerks. A magistrate of Hatton
Garden office was stationed in the House of Correction, as were
also other magistrates, and a strong body of the police force.
Two officers of the 1st Regiment of Life Guards were on the
spot, in plain clothes, keeping up a constant communication with
their regiment, a detachment of which was under arms, and ready
at a moment's notice.

"Matters remained in this state till near two o'clock, by which
time the number of people had greatly increased, and there were
between three thousand and four thousand present. During this
time the committee, consisting of six individuals, were holding
their council at the Union public-house, Bagnigge Wells, and some
discussion arose between them, as to which of them should ascend
the hustings first. A young man named James Lee undertook to open
the proceedings by proposing a person to fill the chair. Shortly
before three o'clock a caravan, which had been engaged for the
purpose, took its station. Lee jumped into it, followed by a
person named Mee, and several others. Lee waved his hat several
times, which was answered by the shouts of the assembly. The
owner of the van, however, did not like the appearance of things,
and instantly drove off, the committee jumping out of the
caravan. Lee was then carried on the shoulders of some of the
mob, to the railings, and proposed that Mr. Mee should take the
chair, which, being seconded, Mr. Mee stood up and addressed the
meeting, calling upon those present to beware of those hirelings
of the Government who were paid to induce them to commit a breach
of the peace. The Union, who had been anxiously expected all the
morning, at this moment made their appearance, and the
acclamations of the populace were deafening. The Union consisted
of about a hundred and fifty persons, and the banners carried
were, 'Liberty or death,' with a skull and cross-bones on a black
ground, with a red border; 'Holy Alliance of the Working
Classes;' 'Equal Rights and Equal Justice;' a Tricoloured flag;
the republican flag of America; and a pole with the cap of
Liberty.

"They had scarcely got upon the ground, before a detachment of
the A division (supported by some other divisions) marched into
Calthorpe Street with the greatest order and precision. Their
promptitude and formidable appearance seemed to make a momentary
impression on the mob, but a person, pointing to the banner of
'Liberty or death,' shouted, 'Men, be firm!' This was sufficient
to rouse their feelings; they called out, 'Down with them;
Liberty or death!' and appeared determined to resist to the
utmost. 'Go on, go on!' resounded from all sides to the speaker.

"The division of police had halted in the middle of the street,
and received renewed orders to act calmly and with forbearance.
They then walked forward, with their staves in their hands,
clearing their way through the observers who had been attracted
to the spot, and pressed forward directly to the man who still
continued to address the mob. The police were instantly attacked
by the mob. The conflict was but of a minute's duration, and the
sound of the blows, and the shrieks of the women who had obtruded
themselves into danger were loud. When a clearance was effected,
at least twenty men were prostrate on the ground, with blood
streaming from their heads. Sergeant Harrison, of the D division,
was the first who seized a banner, but received a violent blow on
the arm. Robert Cully, C 95, and his brother, made up to another,
when Cully received a wound in the abdomen from a stilletto, and
instantly expired. Sergeant Brooks was also wounded, besides
several others who received blows. The people rallied in the open
space by the prison, and made a vigorous attack on the police,
which was instantly and effectually repelled, though not till
they had attempted to rescue the banner of 'Liberty or death.'
The police were therefore formed into lines, extending across the
different streets, for a quarter of a mile round the place, and
every party of three or four persons was instantly ordered to
'Move on.' In Gray's Inn Lane, on the N division clearing the
place, one man took a stone to fling at the policeman who was
ordering him off, but his arm was arrested by another policeman.
A united shout of 'Stone the ---- ----!' arose, and there was an
immediate rush of the populace into the middle of the road, where
there were fresh laid granite stones; but a movement of the whole
division, and the capture of the ringleaders, arrested the
further progress of the mob. By four o'clock, everything was
tranquil, and a number of prisoners had been arrested.

"An inquest was held on the body of Cully, the policeman who had
been stabbed. From the state of political feeling, the jury
seemed determined to justify murder on the ground that the
meeting was legal, or, if illegal, had not been legally
dispersed. The inquest was continued for several days, and
finally the jury, after retiring for nearly three hours, returned
the following verdict: 'We find a verdict of _justifiable
homicide_ on these grounds: That no Riot Act was read, nor any
proclamation advising the people to disperse; that the Government
did not take the proper precautions to prevent the meeting from
assembling; and that the conduct of the police was ferocious,
brutal, and unprovoked by the people; and we moreover express our
anxious hope that the Government will, in future, take better
precautions to prevent the occurrence of such disgraceful
transactions in this metropolis.'

"Coroner: Your verdict only traduces the police and the
Government. You are not borne out by the evidence in justifying
the murder of this man. Were the people innocent who used the
murderous weapons, stilettos, bludgeons, and lances, such as you
have seen?

"Foreman: We state in our verdict on what grounds we justify the
homicide. We do not traduce the police, nor the Government. We
trust that our verdict will prevent the negligence and misconduct
that has caused the arms and heads of his Majesty's peaceable
subjects to be broken.

"Coroner: Do you call them peaceable subjects?

"Foreman: It has been proved that they are peaceable. We will say
no more, sir; record our verdict or dismiss us. We have told you,
sir, we will not alter a letter. In regard to our oath, and our
duty to our God, our country, and our King, we can give no other
verdict.

"After a consultation of some length, the coroner directed the
verdict, as originally put in, to be entered on the record. The
depositions, inquisition, and record were then completed and
signed.

"The coroner said, 'Gentlemen, I consider your verdict
disgraceful to you; but I thank you for your great attention to
the case.'

"The foreman, bowing, said, 'We thank you, sir.'

"Hereupon, a number of persons in the room, which was crowded to
excess, exclaimed, 'Bravo, jurors; you have done your duty nobly,
the country is indebted to you;' which was followed by vociferous
cheering in the room, re-echoed with prodigious vehemence by the
crowd outside. As the jury withdrew, numbers of persons pressed
forward and shook each of them eagerly by the hand. In the
streets, as they passed, they were cheered by name, while the
police were hooted.

"On May 29th, the Solicitor-General moved the Court of King's
Bench for a writ of _Certiorari_ to remove the inquisition into
that court, for the purpose of having the verdict quashed. The
verdict, he said, was bad in point of law. The conclusion at
which the jury had arrived was not only unwarranted by the facts
given in evidence, but directly contrary to those facts."

The verdict was quashed, and a man named George Nursey was charged with the policeman's murder, but the prosecution failed in getting a conviction.

Here is a somewhat curious police report treating of an extinct industry. Indeed, I doubt whether it would have obtained in 1833, had not tea been so dear. _Times_, May 14th--

"UNION HALL.

"Yesterday, in the course of examination of two boys, who were
brought from Camberwell, before Mr. Chambers, for gambling on
Sunday, some disclosures of importance respecting the extent to
which the suspected adulteration of tea is carried on in this
metropolis were made.

"In the possession of one of the juvenile defendants a policeman
found two shillings upon taking him into custody, and when the
boy was asked by the magistrate where he got that money, he
immediately replied, 'Not by gambling, your Worship, but by
picking tea leaves.'

"Mr. Chambers (smiling): The tea plant does not happen to grow in
this country, my lad; therefore you are adding a falsehood to the
offence for which you were brought here, and that offence is
always sure to lead to crimes of more magnitude.

"The defendant still persisted in the truth of his assertion,
relative to the picking of tea leaves; and when asked to explain
the manner in which he did it, he replied, 'Why, your Worship, I
am employed by a cowkeeper at Camberwell, who sends me into the
fields to gather sloe leaves and black and white thorn leaves,
and he pays me so much a pound for all I picks. I works hard, and
sometimes earns a good bit of money at the job.'

"Mr. Chambers inquired what the cowkeeper wanted with sloe and
black and white thorn leaves; it could not be for the use of his
cows.

"Inspector Walters, of the P division, stated that he should be
enabled to throw some light upon the subject of what the boy
termed 'picking tea leaves.' The inspector then said that for the
last month a number of poor persons, of both sexes, were observed
in the fields adjacent to Camberwell, picking leaves out of the
hedges. To such an extent, in fact, had this picking system
lately been carried, in and about that neighbourhood, that many
of the hedgerows were completely divested of their foliage. He
had questioned some of the people as to the purposes for which
the leaves were intended, and he had the same reply from all,
namely, that they were employed by a cowkeeper, who gave them a
penny a pound for sloe and black thorn leaves, and half that sum
for white thorn leaves. One man told him that he picked between
50 and 60 lbs. a day, and always had a sure market for selling
them to the cowkeeper. On a recent occasion a gentleman resident
in Camberwell complained that the hedge surrounding one of his
fields had been entirely stripped of its leaves, but he objected
to give any person into custody for the damage committed on his
property, but warned them not to be seen there again. The
inspector added that the circumstance had created some surprise
at Camberwell, and he had instituted an inquiry into the matter,
in the course of which he ascertained that the statement made to
him by the persons found picking the leaves was perfectly correct
as to the party whom they supplied. The next step was to discover
how the cowkeeper disposed of the leaves, and this was
accomplished by placing persons to watch his premises, when it
was found that they underwent no process while in his possession,
but were sent in bags to extensive tea dealers in the city, to
whose warehouses they were traced from the cowkeeper's yard in
Camberwell.

"Mr. Chambers inquired what steps had been taken after tracing
leaves of that description to the house of a tea dealer. It
looked, certainly, very suspicious, for he heard reports of tea
being adulterated with sloe leaves.

"The inspector said that information of the fact of such leaves
as those he had described having been received at a tea warehouse
was given to the Excise, and he had no doubt but they intended to
act forthwith upon it."