m in Scotland was excited in view of this
reasonable indulgence, to a large body of men, of the rights of
conscience and civil liberty. On the bare rumor of the intended
indulgence, great tumults took place in Edinburgh and Glasgow; the
Roman Catholic chapel was destroyed, and the houses of the principal
Catholics were attacked and plundered. Nor did the magistracy check or
punish these disorders with any spirit, but secretly favored the
rioters. Encouraged by the indifference of the magistrates, the
fanatics formed themselves into a society called the _Protestant
Association_, to oppose any remission of the present unjust laws; and
of this association Lord George Gordon was chosen president. He was
the son of the Duke of Gordon, belonging to one of the most ancient of
the Scottish nobility, but a man in the highest degree wild and
fanatical. He was also a member of parliament, and opposed the views
of the most enlightened statesmen of his time, and with an
extravagance which led to the belief that he was insane. He
calumniated the king, defied the parliament, and boasted of the number
of his adherents. He pretended that he had, in Scotland, one hundred
and sixty thousand men at his command, who would cut off the king's
head, if he did not keep his coronation oath. The enthusiasm of the
Scotch soon spread to the English; and, throughout the country,
associations were affiliated with the parent societies in London and
Edinburgh, of both of which Lord Gordon was president. At Coachmakers'
Hall he assembled his adherents; and, in an incendiary harangue,
inflamed the minds of an immense audience in regard to the Church of
Rome, with the usual invectives respecting its idolatry and
corruption. He urged them to violent courses, as the only way to stop
the torrent of Catholicism which was desolating the land. Soon after,
this association assembled at St. George's Fields, to the astonishing
number of fifty thousand people, marshalled in separate bands, with
blue cockades; and this immense rabble proceeded through the city of
London to the House of Parliament, preceded by a man carrying a
petition signed by twelve hundred thousand names. The rabble took
possession of the lobby of the house, making the old palace ring with
their passionate cries of "No popery! no popery!" This mob was
harangued by Lord Gordon himself, in the lobby of the house, while the
matter was discussed among the members. The military were drawn out,
and the