iet possession of it, and the meeting began. The armed men
stood round the principal platform, and there were a few others armed
amidst the general crowd; but by far the greater part were unarmed.

"Most people thought the meeting would go off peaceably; but the members
of the Committee had heard from various quarters that something would be
attempted against them; but these rumours were vague, and they had no
idea of what threatened. They soon found out.

"For before the streets about the Square were filled, a body of soldiers
poured into it from the north-west corner and took up their places by the
houses that stood on the west side. The people growled at the sight of
the red-coats; the armed men of the Committee stood undecided, not
knowing what to do; and indeed this new influx so jammed the crowd
together that, unorganised as they were, they had little chance of
working through it. They had scarcely grasped the fact of their enemies
being there, when another column of soldiers, pouring out of the streets
which led into the great southern road going down to the Parliament House
(still existing, and called the Dung Market), and also from the
embankment by the side of the Thames, marched up, pushing the crowd into
a denser and denser mass, and formed along the south side of the Square.
Then any of those who could see what was going on, knew at once that they
were in a trap, and could only wonder what would be done with them.

"The closely-packed crowd would not or could not budge, except under the
influence of the height of terror, which was soon to be supplied to them.
A few of the armed men struggled to the front, or climbled up to the base
of the monument which then stood there, that they might face the wall of
hidden fire before them; and to most men (there were many women amongst
them) it seemed as if the end of the world had come, and to-day seemed
strangely different from yesterday. No sooner were the soldiers drawn up
aforesaid than, says an eye-witness, 'a glittering officer on horseback
came prancing out from the ranks on the south, and read something from a
paper which he held in his hand; which something, very few heard; but I
was told afterwards that it was an order for us to disperse, and a
warning that he had legal right to fire on the crowd else, and that he
would do so. The crowd took it as a challenge of some sort, and a hoarse
threatening roar went up from them; and after that there was compar