gown belonging to a friend who was visiting him.[1] It is possible, however, that the Birmingham riots might have caused a liberal reaction, had not the political horizon in France meanwhile become darker and darker, while Burke in gloomier and gloomier accents announced the arrival of a universal cataclysm, in which law and order, property and religion, were alike to be swept away. The Whig party listened. Men began to talk of the necessity of a strong Government, and of a junction with Pitt. But Pitt at the moment was discredited by the failure of his Russian policy; the star of Fox might still be in the ascendant, and Fox cared nothing for the vaticinations of Burke. Thus it came to pass that the negotiations for a coalition, carried on by Lord Loughborough in the beginning of 1792, came to nothing. During their continuance, the King, weary apparently of the domination of Pitt, suddenly bethought himself of his old Minister, and sent to Lord Lansdowne, to obtain his views on the situation. This rapidly became known, and Gillray represented him driving to St. James's Palace, with the dove of peace flying before his carriage. He leans out of the carriage and shouts to the coachman, "Drive you dog, drive, now or never. Aha! the coast is clearing! Drive, drive, you dog." Fox, Sheridan, and their friends, hang on behind and call out, "Stop, stop, take us in, stop!" In the background Pitt and Dundas are seen leaving the palace.
To the overtures of the King, Lord Lansdowne replied as follows:—
- ↑ The following letter appeared in the Westminster Gazette of December 30th, 1911: "Sir, Referring to your Note on Dr. Priestley in to-day's Westminster, my great-great-grandfather, the Reverend Elisha Smith, Baptist minister of Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, was an intimate friend of Dr. Priestley, and while visiting him at Tewkesbury during the riots there probably saved his life. The house in which they were staying was surrounded by a dangerous, howling mob, and Priestley only escaped with his life by disguising himself in my ancestor's wig and gown.
"I remember many years ago talking with an old Cotswold labourer, who remembered Elisha Smith well, and described him as a 'valiant man in his profession.' Though unknown to history, Elisha Smith was no ordinary man, and would have counted it a small thing to have given his life for his friend. From Elisha Smith are descended the late Dean Payne Smith, of Canterbury, who was educated at Chipping Campden Grammar School, and also Elisha Smith Robinson, who made a large fortune, and became M.P. for Bristol, and also Mayor of that city. Both these men started life comparatively poor.—Yours faithfully, A. G. R. December 28."
