venting the assembly of
a Convention in Great Britain; and the delegates resolved to prepare to
summon a Convention if the following emergencies should arise--an
invasion, the landing of Hanoverian troops, the passing of a Convention
Act, or the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. These defiant
resolutions were proposed by Sinclair; and, as he afterwards became a
Government informer, they were probably intended to lure the Convention
away from its proper business into seditious ways. However that may be,
the delegates solemnly assented to these resolutions.

Scotsmen will notice alike with pride and indignation that the delegates
of the Societies north of the Tweed adhered to their main purpose,
Parliamentary Reform, until, under the lead of the men of London,
Sheffield, and Dublin, debates became almost Parisian in vehemence. As
reported in the "Edinburgh Gazetteer" of 3rd December, they gave Robert
Dundas the wished-for handle of attack. Then and there he decided to
disperse the Convention, so he informed Henry Dundas in the following
letter of 6th December: "Last Tuesday's '[Edinburgh] Gazetteer,'
containing a further account of the proceedings of the Convention
appeared to the Solicitor and me so strong that we agreed to take notice
of them. The proper warrants were accordingly made, and early yesterday
morning put in execution against Margarot, Gerrald, Callender, Skirving,
and one or two others, and with such effect that we have secured all
their Minutes and papers. Their conduct has excited universal
detestation."[308] The expulsion took place quite peaceably. The Lord
Provost informed the delegates that it was not their meeting, but their
publications, that led him to intervene. The Chairman, Paterson,
thereupon "skulked off"; but Brown, the Sheffield delegate, took the
chair, and declared that he would not quit it save under compulsion. The
Lord Provost and constables then pulled him down; and the meeting was
adjourned. Events ran the same course on the morrow, save that the
chairman, Gerrald, was allowed to wind up the proceedings with prayer
before he was pulled down. Thus ended the first British Convention.

The natural sequel was a trial of the leaders, Sinclair, Margarot,
Gerrald, and Skirving. Sinclair turned informer, whereupon his
indictment was allowed to lapse. The others were charged with attending
the meetings of the Convention which, "under the pretence of procuring a
Reform of Parliament, were e