
not wanting others in the higher departments of Government, which would make
such suggestions favourably listened to.
    The mob of Edinburgh, when thoroughly excited, had been at all times one of
the fiercest which could be found in Europe; and of late years they had risen
repeatedly against the Government, and sometimes not without temporary success.
They were conscious, therefore, that they were no favourites with the rulers of
the period, and that, if Captain Porteous's violence was not altogether regarded
as good service, it might certainly be thought, that to visit it with a capital
punishment would render it both delicate and dangerous for future officers, in
the same circumstances, to act with effect in repressing tumults. There is also
a natural feeling, on the part of all members of Government, for the general
maintenance of authority; and it seemed not unlikely, that what to the relatives
of the sufferers appeared a wanton and unprovoked massacre, should be otherwise
viewed in the cabinet of St. James's. It might be there supposed, that upon the
whole matter, Captain Porteous was in the exercise of a trust delegated to him
by the lawful civil authority; that he had been assaulted by the populace, and
several of his men hurt; and that, in finally repelling force by force, his
conduct could be fairly imputed to no other motive than self-defence in the
discharge of his duty.
    These considerations, of themselves very powerful, induced the spectators to
apprehend the possibility of a reprieve; and to the various causes which might
interest the rulers in his favour, the lower part of the rabble added one which
was peculiarly well adapted to their comprehension. It was averred, in order to
increase the odium against Porteous, that while he repressed with the utmost
severity the slightest excesses of the poor, he not only overlooked the license
of the young nobles and gentry, but was very willing to lend them the
countenance of his official authority, in execution of such loose pranks as it
was chiefly his duty to have restrained. This suspicion, which was perhaps much
exaggerated, made a deep impression on the minds of the populace; and when
several of the higher rank joined in a petition, recommending Porteous to the
mercy of the Crown, it was generally supposed he owed their favour not to any
conviction of the hardship of his case, but to the fear of losing a convenient
accomplice in their debaucheries. It is scarcely necessary to say how much this
suspicion augmented the people's detestation of this obnoxious criminal, as well
as their fear of his escaping the sentence pronounced against him.
