Folios 203-205. A letter to John Irving, MP, from B Sandford of Farningham, near...

Folios 203-205. A letter to John Irving, MP, from B Sandford of Farningham, near Dartford, [Kent], reporting that the fires continue even after the good harvest they have experienced. He notes that since June there has been 'upward of 20 Fires by Incendiaries', two of which have occurred since Saturday and one of them, at Otford about 6 miles from Sevenoaks, occurred the previous night. He states that in the lower regions of Kent the 'mob' are breaking threshing machines and burning stacks near Canterbury and Dover.

He comments that the magistrates seem paralyzed and the village constables afraid, and that if this continues that the 'Peasantry will learn the secret of their own physical strength'. He suggests the re-establishment of the yeomanry corps. He stresses that, if the government does nothing, 'the necessity of self preservation may induce illegal Associations for the defence of life and property', and refers to uprisings of the middle classes on the continent as examples.