Welsh Journals

took as many depositions as he was able to do. In all he managed to take the statements of Captain Harry Colt, Ensign Jarvis Newton and five petty constables but when he came to take the evidence of townspeople who had seen the riot he ran into problems. He could only get nine of them to give an account of what they had seen and heard over the previous two days. Dutton Colt claimed later that day that he had taken the depositions 'having no assistance' and that 'truly the better sort of the town are in mighty fear of the mob on all occasions'. They were right to be afraid. One of the witnesses interviewed by Dutton Colt was 'cruelly beaten' soon after leaving the Angel. Dutton Colt was horrified by the events of the previous few days. If the estimates of the size of the crowd were anywhere near accurate, then roughly between one third and a half of the population of Abergavenny had been involved in the attack on Captain Harry Colt and his troop. Dutton Colt wasted no time in informing the government of what had occurred. Later the same day, he sent a letter addressed to secretary Hedges informing him of all that had gone on and sent him the witnesses' depositions. He wanted the government to take action and issue an order to conscript the innkeeper of the Cow into the army for three years. For an army made up in large part of criminals, vagabonds and low-lifes, Dutton Colt claimed that course of action 'will be of great service, there being many of that profession in Abergavenny, they are lusty young fellows fit for soldiers and will be of great service to keep others in order'. Dutton Colt intended to be in Abergavenny again on the following Tuesday to take action against other rioters whom he hoped would be apprehended by the constables in the meantime. Even if they had failed to do that, he hoped at the very least the constables would have got more information about their identity.12 Meanwhile in London, secretary Hedges consulted the attorney general, Sir Edward Northey, about what course of action he should take over Dutton Colt's statement. Sir Edward read the depositions and Dutton Colt's accompanying letter but seemed decidedly unimpressed by Dutton Colt's request for government action. In his written opinion to secretary Hedges, he told him that he should not really have been bothered by Dutton Colt over such a matter. His opinion was that the only action that he thought that Hedges should take was to instruct the justices of the peace in Abergavenny to deal with the matter themselves. It was up to the justices to deal with such 'notorious rioters' and for them to suppress disorderly houses.13 It does not appear that Captain Dutton Colt was able to make much headway in prosecuting William Powell of the Cow Inn. If he did, all had been forgiven by 1715. For by April 1715, and possibly before, Powell was appointed one of the church wardens for the parish of Abergavenny.14 The Press Act was allowed to lapse in 1712 but reintroduced during 1745-6,