600

Total of all comers 2,284

In the same statement Sir Claudius says:--"The Lumber Troop are a
respectable smoking club, well known to every candidate for a seat in
Parliament for London, and most famed for the quantity of tobacco they
consume and the porter they drink, which, I believe (from my own
observation, made nineteen years ago, when I was a candidate for that
office), is the only liquor allowed. They were to have had no pay, and I
am sure they would have done their best."

Along the line of procession, to oppose this civic force, the right
worshipful but foolish man reckoned there would be some 150,000 persons.
With all these aldermanic fears, and all these irritating precautions, a
riot naturally took place. On Monday, November 8th, that glib,
unsatisfactory man, Orator Hunt, the great demagogue of the day,
addressed a Reform meeting at the Rotunda, in Blackfriars Road. At
half-past eleven, when the Radical gentleman, famous for his white hat
(the lode-star of faction), retired, a man suddenly waved a tricolour
flag (it was the year, remember, of the Revolution in Paris), with the
word "Reform" painted upon it, and a preconcerted cry was raised by the
more violent of, "Now for the West End!" About one thousand men then
rushed over Blackfriars bridge, shouting, "Reform!" "Down with the
police!" "No Peel!" "No Wellington!" Hurrying along the Strand, the mob
first proceeded to Earl Bathurst's, in Downing Street. A foolish
gentleman of the house, hearing the cries, came out on the balcony,
armed with a brace of pistols, and declared he would fire on the first
man who attempted to enter the place. Another gentleman at this moment
came out, and very sensibly took the pistols from his friend, on which
the mob retired. The rioters were then making for the House of Commons,
but were stopped by a strong line of police, just arrived in time from
Scotland Yard. One hundred and forty more men soon joined the
constables, and a general fight ensued, in which many heads were quickly
broken, and the Reform flag was captured. Three of the rioters were
arrested, and taken to the watch-house in the Almonry in Westminster. A
troop of Royal Horse Guards (blue) remained during the night ready in
the court of the Horse Guards, and bands of policemen paraded the
streets.

On Tuesday the riots continued. About half-past five p.m., 300 or 400
persons, chiefly boys, came along the Str