452 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct.,

THE ENGLAND OF THE TIME OF THE WAR OFINDEPENDENCE.

BY JOHN BELLOWS.

" GEORGE l u . alone, and not England," remarks a recentwriter in the Times^ " was responsible for that great his-toric War of Independence." If along with the King weclass a few headstrong advisers, the statement will proba-bly be correct ; for although the nation when once it wascommitted to the conflict with the American Coloniessided with the King, it was not because its judguient wasconvinced that he had acted justly, but because its passionswere aroused ; for the masses of the people were neverconsulted in the matter; nor did there exist any realmoans of consulting them. It is true there was a Houseof Commons that had on several occasions done service tothe cause of right and of liberty ; but it must be borne inmind that representative institutions are tho result of anevolution extending over a long period of time, and thatthe stage at which they had arrived in the eighteenth cen-tury was an exceedingly imperfect one. The power ofvoting for candidates to Parliament was restricted to a verysmall minority, and even that minority was by no meanscomposed of the most intelligent classes of the community.The voters were as a rule the tools of wealthy or powerfulmen, who used them to secure the return of their ownnominees. The grosser forms of this corruption wereswept away by the Refonn Bill of 1832 ; not to givo placeto a perfect S3̂ stem of election, but to one less imperfecttlian that of the "Rotten boroughs" which had given occa-sion to Voltaire to say that Englishmen made themselvesbeasts for fourteen days in order that they might become

1 Í)(>1.] Kngland of Time of War of Independence. i'^^

slaves for seven years. This referred to the fortnight duringwhich the poll was kept open, and in which scenes occurredsuch as are depicted hy Hogarth. That his paintingsconvey no exaggeration will be easily believed from thefollowing illustrations which I had from people whoseexperience went back to the period before the ReformBill.

A contested election practically meant a struo-wle forsupremacy between two great families, who were respec-tively Whig and Tory. Tn a borough such as tiiat withwhich I am most familiar—Gloucester—the chief votiiio-power lay with the Freemen—a body which probably orio-.inated as far back as the time of the Roman occupation;for our oldest records speak of the Freemen as already inexistence. The Freeman, wherever he went, retained hisvote ; and a hundred pounds was sometimes paid to brintrsuch a man from Canada to Gloucester to record it. TheReform Bill only allowed votes to Freemen residing withinseven miles of the borough limits. But in the old days itwas a serious expense to bring a voter even from Londonto Gloucester. An agent would be sent to negotiate termswith him, and the negotiations sometimes extended overseveral weeks. The former resident in our city, who waspaid for his loss of time in revisiting it, could not bear tocome down among his old friends without being respecta-bly dressed ; and a suit of clothes was paid for accordingly.Then he discovered that his wife was unwilling for him to goalone, and a new dress was needful to enable her to accom-pany him. Some days after this it was found that it wouldnot be safe to leave the children in London while theirparents were at Gloucester, and an arrangement was madefor the whole family to travel together in a four-horsecoach, over a hundred miles each way, to and from thatcity, in which they were entertained in an hotel for afortnight at the cost of the candidate for whom the votewas given. So extravagant was the expense that one of

454 American Antiqitarian Society. [Oct.,

the leading families of Gloucestershire had to sell a largeestate to cover tbe cost of one lost election.

The wildest scenes in Hogarth's election pictures wereequalled by the reality. " I recollect," said an old man tome, referring to a Gloucester contest previous to 1832—" I recollect going down Westgate Street after the poll wasdeclared. There was a man in the shop that Fletdier hasnow, sawing up broomsticks into threes. As fast as he cutoä a piece, he flung it over bis shoulder into the street foranybody to fight with, and there was awful work ! "

All boroughs were not however like Gloucester. AtOld Sarum for example, things went on more respectably.The place had gone down until, it was averred, tbere wasno house left in it ; only one chimney remaining, whichwas kept in repair to prevent the representation from laps-in<r; and the elected member for Old Sarum took the oathwith his hand on the chimney. The ancient law was thatthe voter must be the holder of a house *' that put up asmoke." The same custom prevailed over some parts ofthe continent ; for I remember once asking the Maire ofa Commune in Belgium as to who had the right to vote,wheu he replied, "Every one who has a house that puts upa smoke." In some parts of England votes were made byfreeholders who boiled a pot ; evidently a proof of smokehaving been put up. These were known as " pot wallop-ers," from an old word "wallop," to boil.

An Englishman of the present day of course regards thestate of the country a century and a quarter ago just as heregards the Britain of the days of Cœsar. He is no moreresponsible for the one than for the other. Everywherein Europe society was in a rougher state than it is now.'

' Not in Europe only, but everywhere. In a history of his own family printed inI860 by my kinsman, Henry W. Bellows of New York, he gives tlie names of severalof the leading men of Walpole, N. H.. of the time of the Revolution, and says that" they and the like conTerted the village tavern into a sort uf literary pande-monium, in which fine scholarship, elegant wit, late card-playirip, hearty eating,ami lianl drinking were minpled in a very fascinatinf; complication." There cantie no doulit that the game description would apply toa multitude of other townson both sides of the Atlantic, at that period.

1901.] England of Time of War of Independence. 455

Bull-baiting, bear-baiting, cock-fighting, and other brutalamusements that had come down from the dark ases werecommon ; and crime was repressed by codes of laws sosevere that in the British Islands a multitude of offenseswere punishable with death; a severity that made mencallous to hanging. A street on the site of the New StreetStation in Bii-mingham had been such a haunt of coinersthat there was hardly a house in it one at least of whoseoccupants had not been hanged for counterfeiting money.A late clerk of the County Prison at Gloucester once told methat an old woman he knew had described to him the road-way that ran through the courtyard of the building in thetime of George i n . Iron railings only separated themixed company of prisoners of all kinds from the by-passers. She said that when about twelve years of age shewas going along this roadway, when one of the men behindthe bars accosted her with, "Little maid, what be yoneome here for? To see we hanged I s'pose? We be'anta goin' to be hanged today ; 'tis put off till next Satur-day I "

Many years ago I took a Philadelphian visitor overGloucester Prison. He was struck on entering one of theprincipal wards with its resemblance to similar buildings inthe United States. As we were leaving we met the magis-trate who presided over the Committee in charge of thePrison, T. Barwick Lloyd Baker, the founder of the Re-formatory system. On introducing the American to him,and mentioning what the latter had said about GloucesterPrison being so much like those on the other side of thewater, T. B. Lloyd Baker said, " I can tell you the reasonof that. Very soon after the United States had gained theirindependence, they found the need of an effective sj'stemof prison discipline, and they sent a commission to thiscountry to enquire into the systems in vogue in GreatBritain. Tt so happened that just before this, this prisonat Gloucester required some extension and alteration, aud

45ß American Antiquarian Society. [Oct.,

as John Ploward had lately pul)lished his book, the magis-trates decided to carry out his recommendations, and builtthis new portion on Howard's plan ; that is, ours was thefirst prison in England to adopt his system. When theUnited States Commission returned it reported that theGloucester system was the best ; and it accordingly becamethe model on which American prisons were established.But these alterations in Gloucester were not made withoutopposition. Thus, the only seat a prisoner had in his cellused to be a stone pillar four inches square at the top ; andwhen we fixed a board on this a foot square, and warmedthe cells in winter, there was an outcry that if we madeprisons so comfortable as that, everybody would want togo into them, and crimes would increase as a result of theindulgence ! " A merry smile lighted the old magistrate'sface as he recalled this pessimist prediction ; and he thenwent on to say : " Many years after this the superiorityof American prison management to that of most Englishjails was nuich talked of, and when Lord John Kassell wasHome Secretary—I think about 1836 (?)—his governmentsent a Commission to the United States to enquire intotheir systems. The result of this was that a circular wassent round to all the prisons in England, ordering them tocarry out forty new rules. I was Chainnan of tlie Magis-trates here, and it devolved on me to acknowledge thereceipt of this circular; which I did somewhat in thisfashion:—'My Lord — I have the honor — and so on.—With respect to the forty new rules you order us to adopt,there will be no difficulty with thirtj'-six of them, inas-much as they have always been the rules of GloucesterPrison. The 37th and 38th are of no particular impor-tance ; but we would respectfully state that we fear the lasttwo are contrary to law, and we would suggest that l)eforerequiring us to enforce them you would take the opinionof the law-officers of the Crown with respect to them.'"Again a smile stole over Barwick Baker's face a.s he

1901.] England of Time of War of Independence. 457

added, " It was found we were right—and the two illegalrules wero withdrawn."

Even later than the War of Independence the practisewas maintained in English Courts of giving fees in certaincases to jurymen to bias a verdict. This evil customlingered on till the trial for smuggling, of a grocer, ofIrongate, Glasgow, a canny Scot named Robert MacNair,just before the end of the eighteenth century. The casewas pretty clear against him, and the counsel for theCrown closed his speech by saying that if the jury founda verdict for the Crown there would be a guinea each forthe jurymen. MacNair conducted his own defense. Itwas brief. He simply stated that he would only make oneobservation on the eloquent speech for the prosecution." The learned gentleman who made it told you that if youfind a verdict for tho Crown there will be a guinea (îuch fortho gentlemen of the jury. All I have to say in reply is^that if the verdict is given for the defendant there will betim guineas each for you, and your supper at my house."The verdict, as it happened, was for the défendant; buttho incident brought such ridicule on the practise of offer-ins fees that this was the last time it was used.

Even so great an abuse as the right of " wager of battle "was onlj' abolished at the close of tho reign of George III.It had existed from the Norman Couijuest, and was in facttho only "ordeal" left on the Statute book, all the othershaving been repealed undor Henry HI. It hiul lont̂ fallóninto desuetude, when it was pleaded, in 1817, iu tho caseof Thornton, who had murdered the sister of a man namedAshford, and who was brought to trial for the crime by thelatter. Nicholas Tindal, who defended the accused, advisedhim to claim the right of wager of battle against Ashford,whom he challenged accordingly to moital combat, insteadof lotting tho case go before the jury. Ashford refusedtho challenge, and on the case being argued in full court,before Lord EUenborough, it was given in Thornton'a

458 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct.,

favor, and he was discharged. The matter at once camebefore Parliament, and by the Act 59 Geo. HI. c. 46, [in1818] wager of battle in cases of murder and felony wasabolished. {See ''Mssex Review, Oct., 1901,")

As I have already said, to the Englishman of the presentday the England of the times of George the Third hasbecome as much a matter of " ancient history " as the land-ing of Julius Cißsar, and he can share the reminiscences ofit with intelligent Americans with no more hesitation thanhe has in speaking of them to his own countrymen. Ifschool books do not always treat of the period in the sameBpirit, they ought to do so in justice to both countries, andfor the simple sake of truth.

If nature heals every scar in the landscape by the silentgrowth of vegetation, by a similar law she softens off withthe lapse of time the memorj' of all old wrongs, unless weuse force to prevent her doing so. There was a time whenSaxon and Dane in the north of England, and Saxon andNorman in the south, had grievances against each other.The men who are descended from two of the races, orfrom all three, have no ground for reviving these griev-ances, nor have the New Englanders of 1901 any groundfor holding the English who are living now, responsiblefor wi-ongs that some of their great-grandfathers did—and that many of them for that matter did not!

Here is an incident in the battle of Bunker's Hill that hasnever been published, and that will interest both Americansand Englishmen as an archœological curiosity :—

Two of the regiments that fought in the American Warwere the 88th Connaught Rangers and the Royal Marines.Lieut.-Col. Holland, a retired officer of the latter force,and for many years a neighbor of mine, lately mentionedto me a curious fact about his Marines. They perpetuallystirred up quarrels with the men of the 88th ; so that someyears ago the Rangers had to be removed from Ports-mouth, the headquarters of the Royal Marines, to another

lílOl.] England of Time of War of Independence. 459

district. The bad feeling that existed between them arosefrom two causes. In the first place the oflScers of theMarines until late years were ordered to enlist no recruitswhose antecedents they could not satisfy themselves weresatisfactory. The printed instructions to the recruitingsergeants were :

" You are not to receive any strangers or persons from adistance from their homes about whom you cannot makeen()uiries."

The result of this was that Irishmen seeking to enlist inthe Marines were refused ; so that the Irish rej;imentshated them ; and the Marines retorted by " chaffing " theIrish soldiers at every opportunity. Whenever one ofthem found a man of the Connaught Rangers in a ¡)ubHchouse, or met with him in the street, he would annoy him bycalling out—" Lie down, eighty-eighth, and let the Marinespass to the front ! " and then would follow a fight.

Neither of these men had the slightest idea. Col. Hollandsays, of the meaning of the words, which originated in anorder given in the battle of Bunker's Hill. I quote Col.Holland's words :

" At Bunker's Hill during the War of Independence theBritish forces suffered a very serious reverse. The Ameri-cans were intrenched in a very strong position, under excel-lent cover and were mostly armed with the Kentucky Kifle ;'a va.stly superior weapon, both in accuracy and range to theold 'Brown Bess' of the British. Moreover most of theAmericans were backwoodsmen, and about the best marks-meii in the world. To reur-h the American linos the Britishliad to march up the open sl()pes, fully exposed to thesweeping fire of American sharpshooters, who sheltered bytheir entrenchments were bound to sweep uway tlieir ex-posed assailants. The Old 88th Kogiinent, or ConnaughtRangers, were in the first line of attack with a battalion ofthe Royal Marines behind them in the second line as their

^Col. Holland iB miBtaken in tbis. The Kentucky rifle was not in existence atthis period. The advantage on the American side was in the position ; not in theweapons.

4fí() American Antiquarian Society. [Oct.,

supports. The Rangers suffered terribly. Half the regi-ment were killed, and their ammunition was run out: itwas time to relieve them, and the General rode up andordered them to lie down, in the usual manner of relievingunder fire. The exhausted men would fonu four deep»,and the relieving line would form four deep also andadvance and pass between the blank files.

M MI M I I M I M M M M

So the word was passed along the shattered line, 'Liedown, eighty-eighth, and let the Marines pass to thefront.' This was done. The Marines suocred fearfully,but accomplished the relief and covered the retreat. Forthis service they were awarded a Laurel-leaf wreath to beworn on their buttons and caps." Col. Holland adds, " Iwore it myself for twenty-six years."

And so for a hundred and twenty-six yeai-s these sol-diers have kept up their unreasoning quarrel ! In thisinterval vast changes have taken place ; for a JVeto Englandhas grown up on the east of the Atlantic in addition to theOlder New England in the west : and the two are increas-iniifly in unison with each other : until one may well sa '̂ ofthem nearly in the words of tiie Frithiofs Saga :—

Who Bball part youYe who ne'er should parted be ?