PETITION OF THE TORIES.

Notwithstanding the act for reversing the proceedings against the city charter, the whigs had made shift to keep possession of the magistracy: Pilkington continued mayor, and Eobinson retained the office of chamberlain. The tories of the city, presuming upon their late services, presented a petition to the house of commons, complaining, That the intent of the late act of parliament, for reversing the judgment on the quo warranto, was frustrated by some doubtful expression; so that the old aldermen elected by commission under the late king’s great seal still acted by virtue of that authority: that sir Thomas Pilkington was not duly returned as mayor by the common-hall: and, that he and the aldermen had imposed Mr. Leonard Eobinson upon them as chamberlain, though another person was duly elected into that office: that divers members of the common-council were illegally excluded, and others, duly elected, were refused admittance. They specified other grievances, and petitioned for relief. Pilkington and his associates undertook to prove that those allegations were either false or frivolous; and presented the petition as a contrivance of the Jacobites to disturb the peace of the city, that the supply might be retarded and the government distressed. In the late panic which overspread the nation, the whigs had appeared to be the monied men, and subscribed largely for the security of the settlement they had made, while the tories kept aloof with a suspicious caution. For this reason the court now interposed its influence in such a manner, that little or no regard was paid to their remonstrance.