History of Brighthelmston; or, Brighton as I View it and Others Knew It: With a Chronological Table of Local EventsErredge, John Ackerson
History
History of Brighthelmston; or, Brighton as I View it and Others Knew It: With a Chronological Table of Local Events
Erredge, John Ackerson
Brighton (England) -- History
During the Doctor’s address the persons in uniform kept up an incessant
clamour, the most outrageous expressions being used, such as:—“A
democratical scoundrel that deserves to be hanged,”—“A democrat, a
democrat, a d—d democrat,”—“Out with the democrat,—no democrats,” the
expressions being lavishly interlarded with scoundrel and rascal, and the
interjections Bah! Boo! Boh! One of the party exclaimed, “No
speech,—that won’t do,—he ought to be hanged,—out with him;” while
another suggested personal violence before the offender should be allowed
to depart. A grim, gaunt figure vociferated, “Irons,—irons, here: he
ought to be put in irons directly.” All, however, was _vox et preterea
nil_, notwithstanding one, very much out of breath with hooting and
yelling, crying out “Go directly,—you must go;” whilst from behind
resounded the cry “Out with him,—a democrat, a democrat, a democrat,—no
democrat, a d—d democrat.” Eventually the Doctor and his party were
allowed to depart unmolested, though during the time he was separated
from his family in the lobby, a tall officer, when Mrs. Knox was turning
back to look for her daughter, violently pushed her by the shoulder, and
bade her “go along after her husband, and be d—d.” One, somewhat ashamed
of his companions’ behaviour, however, assured her that no violence
should be used, and added,—“He should not have come amongst us. Had he
stuck to peace we should all have admired him.” Another, nodding his
terrific plumes, exclaimed, “It is well his wife and children are with
him, or else, &c., &c.” The son happening to cry “Shame upon you!—near
twenty to one,” one of the valiant party shook him violently, saying at
the same time, “Who are you, you dog? You ought to be hanged as well as
your father,—if it is your father: and all such as hold his democratical
principles, you dog, you!”
The Doctor avers that though the world had been told that they were a
parcel of drunken boys who committed the outrage, the ringleaders were
veterans in age, if not in service; and he adds:—“Very few were my
hearers in the church, the major part being wholly influenced by the
false representations of gossips.”
On Wednesday, the 21st of August, Dr. Knox and his family having occupied
Mr. Grantham’s house, in North Street, a month, the period for which it
was engaged, left Brighton; and soon some of the newspapers teemed with
magnified accounts of a mutiny having broken out in the Brighton Camp
through the Doctor’s democratical sermon. The most virulent was the
_True Briton_. He also received numerous insulting and threatening
letters; and one silly epistle, dated Wick Camp, near Brighton, enclosed
a painted bloody hand. The _World_, of August 27th, 1793, declares the
treatment which the Doctor and his family received to be most
unjustifiable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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