The next prisoners of note also made the acquaintance of the inside of the fortress indirectly through the Press. They were no less personages than the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Brass Crosby, and one of his Aldermen, Oliver, both members of Parliament. They had held a messenger to bail, who, under the Speaker’s warrant, had apprehended the printers of the _London Evening Post_, and had afterwards been charged by the arrested printer with assault and false imprisonment. The Lord Mayor and his Alderman attempted to justify themselves before the House of Commons by claiming the City privileges,[7] but, nevertheless, they were kept in durance vile in the Tower until the 23rd of July, when, Parliament being prorogued, they obtained their liberty, after a confinement of four months’ duration. Their liberation was regarded as a popular triumph, and celebrated with much rejoicing. [Illustration: _West Front of the Tower in the time of George III._] During the American War many of the Tower guns, and a quantity of the ammunition stored there, was sent across the Atlantic, and used against the so-called “rebellious colonists.” In June 1780, that half-crazed fanatic, Lord George Gordon, was a prisoner in the Tower, charged with the instigation of the “No Popery” riots, which for a time had placed London in peril of mob-rule, and caused great loss of life and property by fire and pillage. After a trial which lasted twenty-one hours, Lord George was declared not guilty. A few years later, however, he was doomed to end his life in Newgate prison. At the same time that Lord George was a prisoner in the fortress, the Earl of Pomfret was committed there for having challenged the Duke of Grafton to fight a duel. In the following year a French spy, named Henry Francis de la Motte, was in the Tower on a charge of high treason. He was found guilty, and hanged at Tyburn on the 23rd of July. In 1794 the coalition between Pitt and the Whigs took place, and soon afterwards Pitt carried two Bills through Parliament, one of which was to the effect that mere writing, speaking, or preaching against the King’s authority was tantamount to treason; the other forbade all political meetings, unless advertised beforehand, and permitted their dispersal by any two justices of the peace. These very coercive measures over-reached themselves, and juries would not convict persons charged with offences under their clauses. Horne Tooke, “Parson Tooke,” as he was familiarly called, the celebrated wit, was the most brilliant of a set who desired more civil and religious liberty in England, and with this object they formed themselves into a society for the propaganda of their opinions, holding meetings, and making use of existing societies, clubs, and associations. Tooke, Jeremiah Joyce, a clergyman, and private secretary to Lord Stanhope, Thomas Hardy, a shoemaker, John Thelwall, Bonney, Richter, and Lovatt, were all