iption would amount to a
much larger sum than the fine, and resolved that the surplus should be
devoted to the re-imbursement of the former fine of 1000_l._ and of the
expenses to which I had been put at the trial. Receiving-houses were
accordingly opened in the metropolis and in various other large towns,
and the amount of the fine of 100_l._ was speedily collected in London
alone.

"Meanwhile meetings were constantly being held to petition Parliament
for reform, and at these my name and sufferings formed a prominent
topic, so that the Government would have been glad to be rid of
me. After one of these meetings in Spafields, for the purpose of
requesting Sir Francis Burdett and myself to present a petition to
Parliament, a serious riot took place in the city of London, in which
a gentleman was shot by the military. The Government, in alarm lest
the people should proceed to the King's Bench and liberate me, did me
the honour to send a company of infantry to guard me, the officers of
the prison being ordered to admit no strangers whatever. The troops
were further ordered to continue their attendance till I was released
from custody.

"The subscription having been completed in pence, sent from all parts
of the kingdom, my secretary, Mr. Jackson, applied to the Master of
the Crown Office to receive the amount of the fine in coppers. This
was refused, as not being a legal tender. The Master, however, in
token of the suffering to which I had so unworthily been subjected,
said that, as payment of the fine in such a manner marked the sense of
the people on my case, he would not oppose himself to the expression
of public sentiment, but would take 10_l._ of the sum in coppers. This
was accordingly paid, and the remainder in notes and silver, which
were given by various tradesmen in exchange for the coppers of the
people, whose money was thus literally appropriated to the payment of
the fine.

"Finding, on my liberation, whole chests filled with penny pieces, I
wrote to the committee, stating that sufficient had been collected.
The reply was that the subscription should go on till the amount of
the fine of 1000_l._ was paid in addition. The whole of the amount of
the fine was thus realized, with something beyond--I do not recollect
how much--towards my law expenses, which had necessarily been
excessive. Taking, however, the 1100_l._ paid in pence, this
alone showed that two million six hundred and forty thousand
persons--com