John Ashton

Visit of the Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia — Stones thrown at the Regent — Issue of the new Silver Coinage — Riots and arrests for sedition — First issue of Sovereigns — The Case of Abraham Thornton and appeal by battle — The Queen at Bath — Death of the Princess Charlotte — Richard Owen and his scheme — "The Fortunate Youth" — "Caraboo."

The Chronicle of this year opens with the record of a luckily rare visitation, namely, that a slight shock of earthquake was felt on January 8th at Mansfield, in Nottinghamshire. In 1816 a shock had been felt in several places in Scotland.

The Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia, afterwards Czar, was over here, and spent some months in this country, and those of us who remember the last war we had with Russia, will scarcely recognize the stern Nicholas of the Crimea, under the guise of the light-hearted Grand Duke, as exemplified in the following anecdote, which occurred early in January:—

"A Little Frolic of the Grand Duke Nicholas.—On his Imperial Highness leaving Chester for Montgomeryshire, he perceived one of the outriders to be mounted on a good horse; being a fine morning, his Highness felt disposed to take a ride, and requested to change place with the Courier; it was a fourteen-mile stage, and, on descending a very long and steep hill, his Highness did not like to crawl down so slow as the others, and told his suite that he would ride on, and order some refreshment and horses for them. On his Highness arriving at the Inn, he desired the landlady to prepare some beefsteaks and mutton chops for the Grand Duke and his suite.

"The landlady observed that they should immediately be got ready, and, taking his Highness for the Courier, asked him to accept of something, which he politely declined, observing that he would wait until the company arrived. She then showed him the room she had prepared for the Grand Duke, and asked him if he thought it would do? His Highness told her that it would do extremely well. The carriages shortly after arrived, and the hostess begged him to have the goodness to point out to her the Grand Duke; his Highness smiled, and said she would be sure to see him." When Generals Kutusoff and Mansel alighted and saluted him, one can picture the landlady's astonishment. Nicholas was so pleased with the horse that he bought it. He left England at the end of March. Far less popular was another Royal Highness, far nearer home. The Prince Regent went on the 28th of January to open the Session of Parliament, and was met with a storm of yells and opprobious epithets, but he got safely to the House of Lords, and delivered his speech; on his return, the clamour and insults had vastly increased. It is true that some few cried "God save the King," but the majority hissed and hooted at, and called his Royal Highness naughty names; the climax was reached when the Regent's carriage was about the middle of the Mall. Some evilly disposed person threw a stone, or stones, at the Royal equipage, and made a hole in one of the windows. This hole remains a mystery, for the window on the opposite side was not broken, and no stone, nor other missile, was found in the carriage.

Lord James Murray, who was Lord of the Bedchamber to the Regent, was in the carriage with him, and was examined shortly afterwards at the bar of the House of Commons, and he was of opinion that the hole in the window was made by two small bullets, about a quarter of an inch apart—but this must have been pure conjecture on his lordship's part. He went on to say that "about a minute after the glass was broken, as I have described, a large stone was thrown against the glass of the carriage, which broke it, and three or four other small stones were thrown, which struck the glass, and the other part of the carriage." And this is all that was found out about it.

The Lords and Commons united in an Address conveying their Abhorrence of this attack upon his Royal Highness—the Guards at the Palaces, the Parks, the Bank, and elsewhere were doubled; the Lord Mayor was informed of the awful occurrence, and requested, if he thought necessary, to call in the aid of the Military power, and despatches were sent by the Mail Coaches to every part of the kingdom, to put the Magistrates in every place on their guard. But there was no occasion for all this fuss: the event did not produce a ferment in the public mind, and we learn in next morning's paper, "that by five o'clock in the afternoon the streets were perfectly clear of all mob, and no disposition to riot appeared in any part of the town."

"THE NEW COINAGE; OR, JOHN BULL'S VISIT TO MAT OF THE MINT!!"

(February 13, 1817.)

A man named James Scott was the only one arrested, although £1,000 reward was offered for the Criminals, and as somebody was wanted to be hanged, they accused him of high treason in throwing stones at the Vicegerent of the Lord's Anointed. But, although they tried very hard for a conviction, it only wanted three examinations by a Magistrate to acquit the man of the charge of treason, but he was committed for a misdemeanour in aiding and abetting of the Riot. He was admitted to bail in two Sureties of £100 each, and himself in £200. Reading the evidence, I can see nothing to incriminate him, and as I can find nothing about his conviction, or acquittal, from any source, I presume he was never called upon to appear. Peter Pindar satirised this event in "R—lty Beset."

On the 18th of January, a proclamation was issued "from our Court at Brighton," announcing the issue of a new Silver Coinage, which might be changed for old, at the Mint, between the 3rd and 17th of February: and another proclamation of the 12th of February, "from our Court at Carlton House," gave the date of the 13th of February as that of general issue, after which they were to be taken as lawful money. On this date was published a Satirical print, called "The New Coinage, or John Bull's visit to Mat of the Mint!!"[26] in which Wellesley Pole, "Master and Worker of his Majesty's Mint," is shovelling money into a sack, saying "There, Johnny! see how I have been working for you for months past; you can't say I get my money for nothing." John Bull replies, "You be a very industrious man, Master Mat, and the prettiest Cole[27] merchant I have dealt with for many a day." The room, and the street, seen through an open door, are crowded with men, women, and children, anxious to get the new silver. That advantage was taken of promptly changing old worn silver for bright new coin, is shown that by the 19th the large Hall of the Bank, which was given up to its issue, was nearly empty, and the old coinage had disappeared from circulation. They were counterfeited immediately, which was a natural sequence, and there were squabbles about their artistic merits, which was also natural. Regarding the latter, as there are plenty of this issue now in circulation, my readers can judge for themselves. There was the usual epigram upon it.

"THE NEW COIN.

It is allow'd, throughout the town,
The head upon the new Half-Crown,
Is not the George we so much prize—
The Chin's not like—the Nose—the Eyes.
This may be true—yet, on the whole,
The fault lies chiefly in the Pole!"

Reform was being violently agitated all over the country, and, without wishing to give this book any political character, yet as a phase of social life it must be mentioned. There were riots late in February in Somersetshire, among the Colliers, who struck against a deduction of 10 per cent. in their wages. They did not do much damage, but a dangerous spirit was abroad, and the cry of "Bread or Blood; Hunt for ever!" was ominous of mischief. They were soon put down by a troop of the 22nd Lancers, from Bristol, and the North Somerset Yeomanry, without bloodshed.

On the 28th of February, the operation of the Act of Habeas Corpus was suspended, and was not resumed until the 31st of January, 1818.

Of the Spa Fields rioters, two others besides Cashman, whose execution has already been recorded, were hanged—and the others in custody respited during pleasure: but no severity could quell the unhappy feeling all over England. The people were restless and suffering, and were determined to make themselves heard: as, for instance, on the 10th of March, a meeting took place at Manchester for the avowed purpose of petitioning the Prince Regent for a redress of grievances, and a Reform in Parliament. It was recommended for the Reformers to proceed in a large body to London, which was attempted to be carried into effect by some hundreds, who had provided themselves with blankets and bundles; but, by the activity of the Magistrates, aided by the military, their purpose was defeated, and several of the leaders were committed to prison.

On the 18th of March numerous arrests took place at Manchester, of persons charged with seditious practices; and on the 25th of March the Bill to prevent seditious meetings passed the House of Commons by a large majority. High treason had become so familiar that new regulations had to be adopted in the Tower, as to prisoners contained there. "Each prisoner is kept in a separate apartment, and night and day, two yeomen, or warders, continue in the room, the door of which is locked, and on the outside a sentinel is placed to prevent the approach of any one, except those in the Governor's establishment. Their beds and board are provided by the Government. No person is allowed to see the prisoners, unless a special order is sent to the Lieutenant-Governor by the Clerk of the Council, and then they are restricted from holding any communication except in the presence and hearing of some persons appointed by the lieutenant, or his deputy."

Let us pass to something pleasanter. The Custom House was opened for business on the 12th of May without ceremony, and as one newspaper says: "This structure is, in fact, perfect in everything, as its inmates confess, and wants nothing but business." But the building was not finished until the 2nd of August.

The only Social News between this date and July is the account of mere riots at Nottingham and Leeds—together with State trials—which we will skip.

On the 1st of July were issued the new gold Coin "the Sovereign," and from that date the old Guinea was doomed, and only now survives in professional fees, and wherever any one can stick on an extra shilling to a Sovereign. They were taken very kindly to, only some exception was taken to the name, many thinking they ought to have been called a "George." The half-sovereigns soon got a nickname, that of "Regents." This is what a wicked wag thought of the "New Sovereign":

"The Horse on the Coin is more fit for a Waggon,
Than meet for St. George to encounter the Dragon!
And, as for the Effigy, meant for the Saint,
He appears like a Sans Culotte, ready to faint;
With his head hanging down o'er a lean hungry paunch,
He has struck, with his spear, his poor horse, on the haunch;
While the Dragon in pity, looks at the incision,
And cocks up his nose, at St. George in derision!!!"

One of the most famous Criminal Cases of modern times occurred this year—singular for the fact that it revived the old Ordeal, "Appeal by battle," which had been in obeyance since 1771, and which no one ever dreamed would be revived. One Abraham Thornton had been accused of murdering Mary Ashford by drowning her on the 27th of May. He was tried, and acquitted, but was subsequently arrested in October on an appeal. This was heard in the King's Bench on the 17th of November, and both Appellant and Appellee answered to their names. The first, William Ashford, brother of the deceased, is described as being a slight made lad, about seventeen years of age, and short in stature. Thornton stood about five feet four inches high, very stout and robust.

After the preliminary formalities were over, Mr. Leblanc, clerk to the Crown, read over the record against him, and asked him whether he was guilty or not." "His Counsel, Mr. Reader, then put a piece of paper in his hand from which the prisoner read:

"'Not guilty; and I am ready to defend the same with my body.'

"Mr. Reader had likewise handed a pair of large gauntlets, or gloves, to the prisoner, one of which he put on, and the other, in pursuance of the old form, he threw down for the appellant to take up. It was not taken up, and

"Mr. Reader moved that it should be kept in the custody of the officer of the Court.

Mr. Leblanc: Your plea is that you are not Guilty, and that you are ready to defend the said plea with your body?

"The Prisoner: It is.

"Lord Ellenborough: Is the Appellant in Court?

"Mr. Clarke (his Counsel): He is, my Lord."

He appeared, but said nothing, and then Mr. Clarke addressed the Court with a counter plea for the Appellant. In the course of his speech, he said, "It would appear to me extraordinary indeed, if the person who murdered the sister, should, as the law exists in these enlightened times, be allowed to prove his innocence by murdering the brother also, or at least, by an attempt to do so. "Lord Ellenborough: It is the law of England, Mr. Clarke. We must not call it murder."

Mr. Clarke then went on arguing that, surely the appeal must be discretionary with the Court, and urged the inferiority of his client's physique.

The Case was adjourned until the 22nd of November, when the Appellant pleaded that Thornton ought not to be admitted to wage battle with him, because both before and after the appeal there had been, and still were, proofs that he had murdered the Appellant's sister. Case adjourned.

On the 16th of April, 1818, Abraham Thornton was discharged, without bail, the appellant declining the Challenge to combat, according to ancient usage. But such a scandal could not long continue, and the law was repealed in 1819 (59 George III. cap. 46).

What became of him, I know not, but I find mention of him in The Morning Chronicle of the 26th of October, 1818. The Liverpool Courier says: "We stated a few weeks ago, that the celebrated Abraham Thornton had arrived in this town for the purpose of emigrating to the United States. He has experienced more difficulty than he anticipated in getting a passage thither. It appears that he had engaged one in the Independence, but, when the other passengers became acquainted with his name and character, they unanimously refused to go in the same vessel with him; and a new Muster roll was, in consequence, made out, in which his name was omitted."

The Chinese Embassy sent out under Lord Amherst had returned, having failed in its object, his lordship refusing to kotoo to the Emperor: his ship, the Alceste, being fired into by the Chinese.

The health of that tough old lady, Queen Charlotte, was beginning to fail, and her physicians recommended her to go to Bath, for the waters, and, in November, thither repaired, accompanied by the Duke of Clarence.

The illustration gives an extremely graphic idea of the effects of the Water upon the afflicted Queen. It is called "A Peep into the Pump Room, or the Zomersetshire folk in A Maze."

The following anecdote of her sojourn is dated "Bath, November 28th.—The Queen wishing to ride through Prior Park, the property of John Thomas, a very rich Quaker, a footman was sent forward to the house to ask leave for the gates to be opened. Mr. Thomas received the Queen very respectfully at the park gate, and addressed her as follows: "Charlotte, I hope thee is very well: I am glad to see thee in my park; thou art very welcome at any time, and I shall feel proud in opening my gates for thy pleasure. I hope thou receives benefit from the Bath waters. I wish thee well."

Early in the morning of the 6th of November, died the Princess Charlotte. On the day before she had been delivered of a stillborn child, and was reported to be going on well, but within twelve hours she was a corpse. There really was sorrow when she died. Her husband was inconsolable, and her father, bereft of his only, though somewhat wayward child, stayed at home and was ill. She was buried, with all pomp, at Windsor, on the 19th of November. There was no Lord Mayor's Show this year.

Before the end of the year there were more riots at Brighton and Worcester, and a Commission sat at Derby, upon thirty-five persons charged with high treason. Three of them, Brandreth, Ludlam, and Turner were found guilty, and afterwards hanged and beheaded. The others, on withdrawing their plea of not guilty, were dealt with mercifully.

The Chronicle of this year must not be closed without mention of Robert Owen, a Cotton Spinner at Lanark, who was a Social Reformer of somewhat peculiar views. He had a Plan for the better support and government of the poor, the outlines of which are as follows:—He proposed to make the poor National, and to raise funds by mortgaging the poor's rate to the amount of five or six years of its annual value. The money so raised, in sums as required, he would have applied in purchase of land, in portions of different magnitudes, and erect establishments thereon for the accommodation of from five hundred to fifteen hundred people. Of these buildings he furnished a plan, on a scale for twelve hundred persons—men, women, and children. The buildings were to be surrounded by a regulated quantity of land for spade cultivation—say an acre for each person, including the site of erection—and they were designed for a pauper community, which was to supply everything for itself; and to be superintended on the principle of combining moral culture, and reformation, with industry and frugality.

The occupants were both to farm and manufacture, and, consequently, to employ the faculties of each description of poor. Besides comfortable lodging rooms, the buildings were intended to contain a public kitchen, mess rooms, and all requisite accommodation attached to comfortable cookery and eating; a chapel, infant schools, schools for adults, grounds for exercise and recreation, planted and beautified with trees. The lodgings for the married poor, each to be sufficient to accommodate two children with their father and mother: dormitories for children above three years of age; manufactories and gardens; a complete farming establishment; malting, and brewing-houses, corn-mill, dairy, and, in short, all the constituents for self-support. To the men were assigned the labours of agriculture, and the heaviest part of the manufactures. To the women the care of their children and houses, the cultivation of vegetables, the making of clothes, and an attendance, in rotation, on the kitchen, mess-room, and dormitories. The children were to be trained in the lighter occupations until fit for manly or womanly employment, &c. The expense of such an establishment for twelve hundred people, Owen estimated at £96,000.

In the latter part of this year, a great deal was heard of "The Fortunate Youth." The story told about whom was, that a young gentleman met with a very rich old one, who took a violent fancy to the youth, used often to have him at his house, without the knowledge of his parents, and finally, dying, left "The Fortunate Youth" an immense fortune. This lad succeeded in humbugging people to an unlimited extent, and in obtaining money from them, until, in a Newspaper of the 6th of December, appeared: "Soi-disant Fortunate Youth.—We lament to wound the feelings of the friends of this young man, but we are bound by a painful duty to caution the public against an impostor, whose detected falsehoods, and disingenuous acts, authorize the assertion, that there is not one word of truth in his whole story."

This was pretty plain speaking, and brought forth a disclaimer from "The Solicitor and Confidential Friend of 'The Fortunate Youth' and his family," in which he says, "I will venture to assert that this Youth has never defrauded, nor attempted to defraud, any one; and that if any person has any just pecuniary claim upon him, the liquidation of it will be immediately provided for, on such claim being made known to me." Once again he wrote defending his client; but alack, and well-a-day, a little time afterwards, in a letter to the same Newspaper, he writes (giving his own name, Weatherby): "I feel it now a duty I owe to the public to declare, that circumstances have since occurred, which induce me to think that I have been grossly deceived in my opinion of him, and that his pretensions to a large property are without foundation."

The editor then gives the impostor's real story.

"This young man's name is Abraham W. Cawston. His father is a farmer at Chippenham, near Newmarket. The early promise of shining talents induced his father to send him to school, under the tuition of the eminent Dr. Butler, of Shrewsbury, and there his attainments and abilities gained him universal admiration. He was not seventeen years of age when he paid his addresses to a young lady of fortune in that place, and from that time the strange artifice or imagination of this enormous fortune that had dropped to him, as it were, from the clouds, had birth. He first opened his wonderful secret to his father; and the story which he told was, that an aged gentleman had, at one of his journeys from home to school, fallen in with him in a stage coach going to Birmingham, and that he afterwards made him a deed of gift of his whole fortune! It did not, in the first disclosure, swell to the magnitude which it afterwards attained; but the first feeling that he manifested was to settle a part of his wealth on his parents and brother. For this purpose he was introduced to Mr. Weatherby, to whom he gave instructions to make a will; and, as his fortune was stated to be all personal, Mr. Weatherby saw no objection to the deed. His distribution of wealth, though uncommon, did not strike Mr. Weatherby as improbable, so clear and consistent were the boy's statements in their different interviews, and so filial, and brotherly, were the bequests.

"From this time, nothing could equal the romance of his story, the unblushing effrontery with which he maintained it, and the ingenious stratagems he devised to keep up the delusion. It would fill a volume to recount the history of the youth for the last two months; and we are possessed of so many curious anecdotes, that we shall entertain our readers with the relation of a few of them, since the affair has afforded a striking example of the courtesy which is shown to appearance, and the eagerness with which a meteor is contemplated in the hemisphere of rank and fashion. That tradesmen of all descriptions should crowd round his doors for the advantage of his orders, was natural; but that Bankers should contend for his account—Duchesses for the honour of his acquaintance—and Ministers for his Parliamentary support—prove how much all conditions of Society are on the alert for gold and power.

"He prevailed on his father to enter his elder brother, who is twenty-four years of age, and had been brought up in the line of farming, as a fellow commoner of Emanuel College, Cambridge.

"He instructed one solicitor to enter into a negociation for the purchase of several estates, and surveys had actually been made.

"He applied to Government for a grant to take the name and bear the arms of Devereux, and the Herald's College had begun to take steps to exemplify the arms, and waited only for information as to which branch of the house of Devereux his benefactor belonged.

"He instructed another Solicitor to insert an advertisement in the public papers, calling on the Creditors, if any, of Don Gaspar de Quintilla, deceased, to bring vouchers of their demands, in order that they might be immediately liquidated. (Meaning to couple him with Don Joachim de Quintilla, a rich Portuguese diamond Merchant.)

"He stated that it was his determination to purchase ten Boroughs, that he might have twenty Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, to procure him an Earldom.

"He said that his half-year's dividend, due on the 5th of January next, was £92,000, and that he held annuities from several of the crowned heads of Europe to the amount of millions.

"He was in the habit of suffering drafts on bankers for thousands, nay, at times for tens, and hundreds of thousands, to drop from his pocket-book, as if by accident, that they might be seen; and he talked of loans to persons of the highest distinction, on whose estate he had mortgages.

"When strongly pressed for an explanation as to the Deed of Gift by which the Legacy Tax had been evaded, he said that it was a secret which he was bound to conceal for a time, but it was in an iron chest, buried in the garden of his benefactor.

"So entire was the conviction of his friends, as to the certainty, and extent, of his wealth, that a consultation was held with two eminent Lawyers, to devise the means of making him a Ward of Chancery; and, as his wealth was all his own, and, consequently, there was no ground for the interference of the Lord Chancellor, it was settled that he should present £30,000 to his father, and file a friendly bill, upon which application might be made to constitute him a ward."

This is only a slight portion of the revelations made respecting him; but, although highly amusing, the relation of them would occupy too much space. I have not taken the trouble to try and find out what became of him.

It is curious that this should have been the year of two notorious and historical impostors. One we have just heard of: the other was a hussey named Wilcox or Baker—who tried to ape the rÔle of George Psalmanazar. Her story is on this wise. On the evening of 3rd April, 1817, the guardian of the poor brought a female, aged about twenty-five, clothed in ordinary costume, although it was somewhat fantastically put on, to Mrs. Worrall, of Knole Park, for advice. She had been found in the neighbouring village of Almondsbury (Gloucestershire), and had gone into a cottage, making signs that she wished to rest and sleep there: but as there was something uncanny about her, and she spoke no language they understood, she was taken to the Great House. Mrs. Worrall very kindly sent a maid with her to the village inn, where she slept that night. Next day she was interviewed, but all that could be got out of her was some gibberish no one could understand, and she kept pointing to herself, saying "Caraboo," by which it was inferred that such was her name. She was taken to Bristol and examined: many persons versed in Eastern languages trying to converse with her, but failing—her language being utterly unknown to them.

Mrs. Worrall then took her to her house at Knole, and afterwards, a Portuguese Malay appeared on the scene, undoubtedly a confederate, who could talk to her, and then it came out that she was a Malayan princess, of Chinese origin, and that she came from Javasu (wherever that may be). One day she was walking in her garden attended by her women, when the crew of a pirate prahu landed, scaled the walls, gagged her, bound her and carried her off! (Red fire. Curtain falls).—Act II. She is now discovered in a state of slavery—having been sold by the pirates to the captain of a brig, from which ship she was transferred to another, where she found company in the society of a few more female captives, who, after five weeks' cruise, were landed at another port. Caraboo, however, continues sailing the wild ocean for nearly three months, till, nearing land, and preferring death to slavery, she jumps overboard! (Soft music. Curtain falls).—Act III. A merciful Providence watches over her, and she swims ashore, borne to a land to which she is an utter stranger, wanders about for six weeks, and at last finds herself in this village of Almondsbury, clad like a respectable working woman, in stuff dress, bonnet, woollen socks, leather boots, a piece of soap, and other necessaries in a bundle, and a few halfpence and a bad sixpence in her pocket. Kind people befriended her, she composed a new language, and wrote some of it. Suspicion is aroused, other kind people take an interest in her, who trace different antecedents for her; she is confronted with the friends of her youth, and (counterpart of Rider Haggard's "She") the Princess Caraboo of Javasu crumbles into Mary Baker, or Wilcox, of Witheridge, in the county of Devon!!! (Tableau. Curtain falls, hisses and catcalls.)

She afterwards went, still in 1817, to America, but a New York paper noticing her arrival at Philadelphia, remarked, "That her personal charms will have their due weight here, we should be sorry in this age of gallantry, to doubt; but as to any prospect of success which the fair adventuress may promise herself in the way of hoaxing, she will shortly discover, from the number of our banking institutions, our stones in cotton, and wooden nutmegs, that we are already adepts in her profession."

In the year 1824 she returned from America, and took apartments in New Bond Street, where she publicly showed herself at a shilling a head. She finally settled down at Bristol, where she sold leeches, and died at the close of 1864.