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LORD GEORGE GORDON 7
This was the culmination of an intensive campaign which
had led to the passing of resolutions of protest against
Savile's Act by almost all the provincial synods of Scot-
land, most of the city incorporations, and the town council,
of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and all manner of other public
bodies. The newspaper publicity given to these develop-
ments propagated the ferment and fanned the public
excitement into a blaze. Attacks were made on Catholic
chapels and priests' houses, and liberal Protestants,
known to favour toleration for the Catholics, were also
assaulted in house and person. Edinburgh Town Council
issued a proclamation assuring the people that no repeal
of the statutes against Papists would take place and attri-
buting the riots solely to the 'fears and distressed minds
of well-meaning people'. Glasgow Town Council followed
suit. The Home Secretary corroborated these assurances.
Nevertheless the excitement throughout the country
increased instead of abating. "At no period in our history
has either branch of the legislature been addressed or
spoken of in language half so daring, menacing, or con-
temptuous. The resolutions passed by the heritors and
heads of families in the parish of Carluke, Lanarkshire,
may vie with the most maledictory philippics poured forth
on the heads of the 'Boroughmongers' in later days."
The Papists in turn memorialised Parliament, praying
for protection for their lives and property, as well as
redress for what they had already suffered. Burke laid this
petition before the House, and it was in this debate that
Lord George first emerged as the champion of the Pro-
testant interests. The membership of the societies con-
tinued to swell; meetings and other forms of active
propaganda were devoted to the cause. The failure of a
Plymouth petition, presented by Lord George, praying
for the repeal of Savile's Act was the last straw. The
members of the Protestant Association determined to
take other steps to secure their object. It was at a meeting
held in Coachmakers' Hall that Lord George dilated on
the growing menace of Popery and declared that their