The excessive and absurd fear entertained by an English mob
of a few hussars has been explained in many ways. Some account for it by saying they have no old soldiers, as on the Continent, to lead them, others by their fear of the horses, others by a sense that they are invariably in the wrong. The last and most credit- able explanation seems justified by the scene at Rotherham during the election. The mob threatened to plunder the town, and after the arrival of the 15th Hussars, instead of running away in the proper English mob fashion, kept making furious rushes at the soldiery, who were remarkably good-tempered, hurling stones and seeking about for arms, which it luckily could not find. The cause of this unusual pugnacity was, it appears, an impression, very common among the lower classes, that the presence of soldiers during an election was illegal. The roughs thought they had the law on their side, and were entitled to have their heads broken properly by the police, and were accordingly ready to charge any- body. It is fortunate that the riot in Rotherham was no worse. If those Yorkshiremen under that impression had charged infantry, we should have had a massacre to record.
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