NOTES BY THE WAY.
receive 500 lashes." He was immediately tied up, and after receiving 155 lashes fainted away, and it was found necessary to stop the punishment.
The number of the 16th of October contains an account of the alarming outrages in Kent: "The insurgents go about in bands of one hundred and fifty, and coolly demand the keys of the barns, to destroy the thrashing machines, and all idea of resistance is out of the question." Signals were given by sky-rockets, and fourteen stockyards were seen in flames simultaneously.
On the 18th of October there is a report of the dinner at Birmingham to commemorate the French Revolution : 3,700 sat down to it. Mr. Thomas Attwood, the chairman in proposing the toast of the King, said that in his opinion "the illustrious individual who fills the throne of these realms is more entitled to this honour than any king since the days of Edward III. In the short period he has reigned he has given many indubitable proofs of his great kindness and sincere affection towards his people, and I am convinced that he will do everything in his power to restore the liberty and increase the happiness of his faithful subjects." 'God save the King ' was sung, the whole company joining with enthusiasm.
On the 3rd of November appeared the King's Speech on the opening of Parliament, in which he announced the surrender of his interest in revenues which had in former settlements of the Civil List been reserved to the Crown.
The number of Saturday, November the 20th, contains a letter to Henry Hunt, proposing the establishment of a "National Convention" of the people, rich and poor alike, in order to collect from it "the real sense of the nation upon every subject" ; and in the number of the following Tuesday the report of the proceedings in the House of Commons on the previous Friday states that Lord Nugent brought in a Bill "for the better providing employment for the labouring poor, at fair and adequate wages." He said that during the severe winter 4s. 6d. was the weekly wages in the county in which he resided, and in many parishes the wages were only 3s. 6d., whilst a peck of flour, "the starving ratio, the minimum of human existence," cost 3s.
1873, Jan. 4.
The
Unstamped
Press.A further note by my father on the Unstamped Press
appeared in the New Year number:—
When I wrote to 'N. & Q.' previously I had before me Routledge's reprint of The Spectator, edited by Prof. Morley, and was therefore aware that that journal was published until the 6th of December. The imposition of the compulsory stamp, as I then stated, immediately put an end to a number of papers, and although The Spectator survived eighteen weeks, I still think that the imposition of the compulsory stamp was the immediate cause of its
