1733. The Excise scheme was first moved in the House of Commons, by
resolutions, which were powerfully resisted, but on the 16th finally
carried, and the Excise bill brought in. On the 4th of April the bill
was read a first time, and carried by a majority of 36; the majority
being 230, the minority 200. There were petitions against it from every
trading town of the kingdom, and great tumults in London; the obnoxious
members were attacked on their way to parliament. The measure was so
unpopular that it was for that time dropped, whereon public feeling was
manifested by general illuminations, and other rejoicings.
1757. Admiral John Byng, second son of lord viscount Torrington, was
shot at Portsmouth, under the sentence of a court martial, for not
having done his duty in an action between the British and French fleets
on the 20th of May preceding. After he had made his defence, and
conducted himself throughout the trial with coolness and courage, he was
so sure of acquittal, that he ordered his coach to be in waiting to
convey him to London. He suffered on board the Monarque with undaunted
firmness, walking out of the cabin with unchanged countenance to the
quarter-deck, where the marines were stationed to execute the sentence.
He desired to die with his eyes uncovered; but on its being represented
that his intrepid looks might intimidate the soldiers, and frustrate
their aim, he tied a handkerchief over his eyes, and then dropping
another, five musket balls passed through his body, and he fell dead
instantly. An historian of the day says of him, that “Whatever his
errors and indiscretions might have been, he seemed to have been rashly
condemned, meanly given up, and cruelly sacrificed to vile
considerations.” It is believed that popular fury had been excited
against him by various arts, and especially by the suppression of
important passages in his official despatches. He delivered a paper to
the marshal of the admiralty on the morning of his death, wherein he
expressed his conviction, that he should hereafter be regarded as a
victim to divert the indignation and resentment of an injured and
deluded people from the proper objects, and that his very enemies
believed him innocent.
1797. Courtney Melmoth died at Bath, aged 89 years; he translated part
of “Cicero’s Works,” and “Pliny’s Epistles,” and wrote “Fitzosborne’s
Letters,” and the “Memoirs of a late eminent Advocate;” his father was
the author of “The great Importance of a Religious Life.”
1803. Frederick Klopstock, a German writer, author of the “Messiah” and
other works, chiefly poetical, died at Hamburgh, aged 80. His funeral
was a public one, and conducted with a marked solemnity, denoting
affectionate respect for his talents and character.
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