On May 16th the citizens followed suit. At a numerously attended common hall a petition to His Majesty, praying him to dismiss his administration, was carried unanimously, with the exception of one spirited Tory, who had nearly fallen a victim to popular vengeance on the spot. A counter address of the citizens was afterwards signed and presented to the King, who must have been a good deal bothered at the time by such evidences of the violent agitation of his subjects. On May 26th, attempts were made here to seduce the military from their allegiance; and on the following day the republican orator, Thelwall, arrived in this city, which caused a great commotion. On the 29th, a party of the Inniskilling Dragoons proceeded to his lecture room, opposite Gurney’s bank, drove out the persons assembled, destroyed the tribune and benches, and then attacked the Shakespear Tavern adjoining, in which a disturbance had taken place. After destroying the furniture and partly demolishing the house, and also breaking the windows and destroying the furniture of the Rose Tavern, in which they supposed the lecturer had concealed himself, the dragoons, on the appearance of their officers and the magistrates, retired to their barracks. Thelwall, in this affray, fortunately for him, escaped and fled to London. Davey, the landlord of the Shakespear Tavern, on being pursued by the soldiers, threw himself from the garret into the street, and was much injured. At the subsequent assizes, Luke Rice, a tailor of this city, was indicted capitally for aiding and abetting the soldiers in this outrage; but as the offence charged in the indictment did not come within the meaning of the statute, he was acquitted. He had, however, a very narrow escape. On June 1st of the same year, (1797) a mutiny broke out on board the fleet at Yarmouth, and several sail of the line hoisted the red flag of defiance. In January, 1798, the sword of the Spanish Admiral Don Francisco Winthuysen, presented by Admiral Nelson to the corporation of Norwich, was placed in the Council Chamber of the Guildhall, with an appropriate device and inscription. On February 28th, at a general meeting of the inhabitants of this city, more than £2,200 were immediately subscribed as voluntary contributions towards the defence of the kingdom. In a few weeks afterwards, the whole subscription amounted to more than £8000, a proof of the loyalty as well as liberality of the well-to-do citizens. In May, the following Loyal Volunteer Corps were formed for the purpose of preserving internal tranquillity, and supporting the police of this city, viz., the Mancroft Volunteers, Capt. John Browne; St. Stephen’s Volunteers, Capt. Hardy; St. Peter per Mountergate, &c., Capt. Herring; St. Saviour’s and St. Clement’s, Capt. Fiske; St. Andrew’s, Capt. T. A. Murray.