_the blunders of Administration, with respect to Falkland’s Islands, &c._
Townshend views with alarm an assortment of the events, momentous and
trivial, that had agitated the public mind in the preceding decade.
As to _Falkland’s Islands_, west of the southern tip of South America, a
dispute over their possession nearly brought on war between Great Britain
and Spain in 1770-71. After a display of force by Spain and a demand for
restitution by the British government, diplomatic exchanges resulted in
a conciliation that was unpopular in England (_The Annual Register_ for
1771, “History of Europe,” chs. i-v). At the request of the ministers,
Dr. Johnson wrote a spirited defence of their conduct, _Thoughts on the
Late Transactions respecting Falkland’s Islands_, 1771.
The _Middlesex Election_ was a remarkable exploit in the career of John
Wilkes, who in 1768 returned from France still an outlaw for his offence
in _North Briton_ No. 45, and was elected to Parliament for the county
of Middlesex. Expelled before he could take his seat, he was thrice
re-elected and as many times expelled. After his fourth victory at the
polls Parliament declared his opponent, the ministerial candidate,
duly elected. This breach of electoral rights led to street-rioting,
protracted debates in and out of Parliament, and, eventually, the
formation of a Radical party. See Horace Bleackley, _Life of John
Wilkes_, 1917, chs. xii-xiii.
The revolt of _Corsica_ under Pasquale Paoli against the French, who had
purchased the island from Genoa in 1768, won wide public sympathy in
England. The leading advocate of British intervention in favor of the
Corsicans was James Boswell. See Chauncey Brewster Tinker, _Nature’s
Simple Plan_, Princeton, 1922, ch. ii.
The _massacre in St. George’s Fields_, 10 May 1768, occurred when a crowd
of London citizens waiting for Wilkes to attend the opening of Parliament
taunted a detachment of foot-guards into firing on them. Several persons
were killed and about a dozen wounded. This “massacre” was the forerunner
and partly the inspiration of that in King Street, Boston, two years
later.
_Mr. Horne’s imprisonment_ resulted from the zeal of that radical parson
in the cause of America. The Rev. John Horne (1736-1812), afterwards
Horne Tooke, wrote and circulated an advertisement for the Constitutional
Society, June 1775, stating that 100_l._ was to be raised for “the
relief of the widows, orphans, and aged parents of our beloved American
fellow-subjects, who, faithful to the character of Englishmen, preferring
death to slavery, were, for that reason only, inhumanly murdered by the
king’s troops” at Lexington and Concord on the 19th of April. In July
1777 Horne was brought to trial before Lord Mansfield, found guilty,
and in November sentenced to a year’s imprisonment and a fine of 200_l._
(_The Annual Register_ for 1777, “Appendix to the Chronicle,” pp.
234-245).
The _fatal example of the Justitia_ is an allusion to the _Justitia_
hulk, a convict-ship stationed at Woolwich by an act of 1776 for the
purpose of dredging the Thames.
The _frequent exhibition of the Beggar’s Opera_ evidently alludes to
remarks by Townshend that had excited mirth in a debate on a bill for
licensing a play-house in Birmingham, 29 April 1777. Townshend opposed
the bill because, he said,
He had heard from good authority that the theatre licensed at
Manchester, in consequence of a similar application, had done
a great deal of mischief already: nor could it be wondered
at, if we consider what pieces are sometimes represented,
which, not being new, are not subject to the controul of the
Lord Chamberlain: the Beggar’s Opera, for instance, which had
brought more unhappy people to the gallows, than any one thing
he could name. As to the country gentlemen, surely this was
not such an age of domestic retirement, but what they might
find sufficient amusement in visiting their neighbours in the
summer, without wanting to frequent a theatre.... Considering,
then, the circumstances of Birmingham as a great manufacturing
and trading town, depending on the industry and frugality of
the poorer class of people, he was of opinion it would be
highly improper to license any theatre there (_Parliamentary
History_, XIX, 202).
_Is Omiah to pay us another visit?_ Omiah or Omai, a native of Otaheite
(Tahiti), was brought to England in 1774 by Captain Tobias Furneaux of
the _Adventure_. As the first South Sea Islander ever seen in England,
Omiah made a stir in fashionable and literary society, sat for his
portrait to the most eminent artists, and was the subject of countless
newspaper paragraphs and several pamphlet poems. There are well-known
lines by Cowper on Omiah in the first book of _The Task_, 1785:
The dream is past; and thou hast found again
Thy cocoas and bananas, palms and yams,
And homestall thatch’d with leaves. But hast thou found
Their former charms? And, having seen our state,
Our palaces, our ladies, and our pomp
Of equipage, our gardens, and our sports,
And heard our music; are thy simple friends,
Thy simple fare, and all thy plain delights,
As dear to thee as once?
_Sir Harry Clinton._ Sir Henry Clinton (1738?-1795), K.B.; Major-General;
succeeded Sir William Howe as Commander-in-Chief in America, May 1778.