It is now necessary to relate the march of events up to this period. General Mapleton, in reply to the letter which Warenne had addressed him on his return from Fisherton, requesting that he might be allowed to send an increased force to that place, returned a most dry and positive negative. His answer was to the effect,—that he was very sorry to receive from Colonel Warenne such a proof of the disaffected spirit which prevailed in the district to the command of which he had been appointed by his majesty, but that being responsible for the employment of the troops under his orders, he must be permitted to station them in such manner, and in such numbers, as in his own judgment he considered best for the interests of the country; and that he must desire Colonel Warenne would on no account detach from himself a larger force than that which he had authorised. It was his wish that Colonel Warenne should send one troop to Fisherton and another to Charnstead, or some place midway between Fisherton and Calbury, and that at the expiration of every month the Fisherton troop should return to head quarters of the regiment, and the Charnstead troop move on to Fisherton. “In conclusion,” wrote the general, “I must particularly request that Colonel Warenne will on no account alter these arrangements, nor absent himself from the quarters of his regiment without leave.” The soreness and readiness to take umbrage evident throughout this letter gave much disturbance to Warenne, who had written to the general in the fullness of his heart, and with the sincere wish of setting him on his guard against times of peril; but he was too sensible a man, and too zealous an officer, to suffer his uneasiness to be seen even by his most intimate associates. He resolved diligently to conform to the orders he had received, and was really anxious that they might prove effectual. In truth, the general, though the principal motive for his refusal had been a low jealousy of Warenne’s European honours, was not without reasons for the negative which he had sent. Much about this time reports came in almost daily from the surrounding villages that the labourers were using threatening language to the farmers, insisting upon an increase of wages, and upon the demolition of their threshing machines; that they threatened to pull down and burn the machines of those who would not comply with the demands; and that the farmers in consequence were in a state of great alarm. Some had yielded to the demands of the rioters, partly from fear, and partly also from an idea that they might make their sufferings a plea for a diminution of rent and tithes—others again had resisted them; but the cunning or cowardice of the former had added exasperation to the anger of the peasantry against the latter, so as to put an end to all feeling of security with regard to life and property. It was said, also, that there were assemblages every evening round the alehouse-doors, where orators in