Portius riots

Three smugglers , Andrew Wilson, William Hall, and George Robertson, were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death. Hall's sentence was commuted and replaced with a life sentence . Wilson and Robertson were awaiting execution. Scott in his novel reports that “during the reign of the first and second Georges, smuggling in Scotland was widespread, because the population, unaccustomed to duties and considering them a violation of their original rights and freedoms, tried by all means to evade them." Wilson was perceived by the people as being robbed by the authorities and unjustly convicted of trying to return his property - he was arrested after robbing a customs officer. A few days before the execution, Robertson managed to escape thanks to Wilson's courage.

On September 7, 1736, Wilson was hanged at Grassmarket Square Edinburgh on April 14, 1736. After the execution, the crowd of spectators began to worry, and stones flew into the guards. Further events were set out in a subsequent court in a contradictory manner, but it was recognized that it was Portius who ordered the soldiers to shoot and personally killed several townspeople. As some of the soldiers fired over their heads, several residents were killed watching the execution from the windows of houses adjacent to the square.

Portyus for abuse of authority by the High Criminal Court of Scotland on July 5, 1736 was sentenced to be hanged, the execution date was set for September 8 of the same year. While waiting, Portyus was placed in the . After the execution did not take place on the appointed day, it became known that the execution of the sentence was postponed for six weeks, Edinburgh residents were outraged. On the night of the same day they seized weapons, overcame the city fortifications and stormed the prison. Portyus was pulled out of his cell, taken to Grassmarket and hanged. After which the crowd went home. The infantry regiment, stationed at that time in Kenongate, did not take part in the suppression of the rebellion, since, without receiving written instructions, the regiment commander was afraid to repeat the fate of Portyus.

The events in Edinburgh raised alarm in London , where there were doubts about the ability of the Duke of Argyll to maintain control of Scotland ^[1] . According to Prime Minister Walpole , Queen Carolina, and the Duke of Newcastle , Portyus was sacrificed in vain, and this could very well have been the result of a conspiracy. The Queen called the Lord Provost of Edinburgh and, according to legend, threatened to turn Scotland into a "wasteland for hunting." She also demanded to demolish the city walls and dissolve the guard; the Provost himself was arrested ^[2] . Carolina's death next year prevented the implementation of these plans.

For almost 250 years, Portyus' grave at the Greyfriars Cemetery was marked with a small square stone with P and 1736 knocked out. In 1973, he was replaced by a tombstone with the inscription “John Portyus, captain of the Edinburgh city guard, killed on September 7, 1736. All Passions Quenched, 1973 ”( Eng. “ John Porteous, a captain of the City Guard of Edinburgh, murdered September 7, 1736. All Passion Spent, 1973 ” .

Chapters II to VII of Walter Scott 's Edinburgh Prison novel dedicated to these riots were written on the basis of numerous reports on the trial of Portyus and the recollections of the author’s relatives and acquaintances. This case, along with the case of Ebenezer Richardson in 1770 in Boston , became a precedent in the use of armed forces in the suppression of civil unrest ^{[3] [4]} .