THIS WEEKS GREAT DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 127, 1 June 1927, Page 6

THIS WEEKS GREAT DAY.

JUNE 2.—THE GORDON RIOTS

(By CHARLES CONWAY.)

One hundred and forty-seven years .tl'o, on Juno 2, 17«">, the disgraceful Gordon Riots broke out in London.

At the time of the accession of William and Mary in 1689, when the British nation was in a paroxysm ot nervous -excitement owing to the religious zeal of James 11., several harsh laws were passed which imposed many hardships and disabilities on the Roman Catholics of Britain, and these laws remained in force until the Catholic Relief Act was pa.-sed in 1775. This was a inosc just and reasonable measure, which met with the approval of all fairinindcd Protestants, and there would have been no trouble in connection with it had it not been lor the fanaticism of Lord George Gordon.

He was the crack-brained son of the Duke of Gordon, and was the bult and laughing-stock of the House of Commons owing to the violence of his speeches whenever his bigotry was aroused. In 1779 he founded and became president of the London Protestant Alliance, the members of which declared that the smallest concession would be abused by the Catholics, and result in the downfall of the Protestant religion. Gordon prepared a petition for the repeal of the Relief Act. and called tor 20,000 Protectants to ai.voiiip.iiiy him to the House of Commons to present it. He made a number of grandiose and inflammatory speeches, and secured a considerable following, which consisted mainly of the most reckless and beggarly scoundrels in London ami it> vicinity, and on the morning of June 2. 17so. Inmarched to Westminster at the head of a gigantic crowd, in which were to l>e found all the worst criminals of the city. The movement had been regarded with amused indifference by the authorities, who did not think that anyone would take Gordon's crazy project seriouslv," and thus no preparations had "been made to cope with trouble.

For several hours the Houses of Parliament were besieged by the mob, which soon broke out into open violence, and many prominent members were assaulted and half-murdered. Finally the crowd was dispersed by a detachment of soldiers, but the spirit of mischief had been aroused, and at nightfall the mob reassembled and commenced an orgy of murder and destruction which lasted for five davs.

The rioters pillaged and burned numerou* Catholic churches and mansions, set lire to Newgate gaol, broke open all the othVr prisons and released their inmates, and attacked the Bank of England and many public buildings, while scores of innocent citizens were murdered or maimed for life. For four days the mob did practically what it pleased owing to the weakness and indecision of the Government, which whs fearful of proclaiming martial law, and it was not until the King himself gave orders that the soldiers were to fire on the rioters that peace was restored. More than five hundred of the rioters were slain in London streets, and several of their ringleaders were afterwards tried and executed, but the principal offender escaped punishment, for when Gordon was placed on trial he was acquitted on the ground that he had no treasonable intention. Hβ soon became involved in further dangerous schemes, which led to his being excommunicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury and placed under lock and key in Newgate, where lie died after an imprisonment of nearly six years. Some time before his death h« renounced the Christian faith and professed to have become a convert to Judaism,