Others, again, assumed the position of leaders in a cause against which they had fought for years. In 1830 and 1831 the spirit of the people rose to a dangerous pitch. In all the large towns immense assemblages of the middle and working classes convened, carrying flags bearing inscriptions, some of which were couched in terms more in the attitude of threats than that of petitions. Every city, town and hamlet had its reform society, from whom emanated spirited petitions, not always guarded in phraseology. Under the pressure from without a bill, under the auspices of that grand old political reformer, Lord John Russell, was introduced into the commons. After every schedule of the bill had been severely scrutinized, both in and out of parliament, it was accepted by the people, and the bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill, became the national demand from Land's End to John o' Groat's. But the king, intimidated at the aspect of affairs, made efforts to retract, dismissed his reforming minister, tried to form a cabinet of the leaders of the opposition, which proved impracticable, and thereby made shipwreck of his golden popularity. So much so that on his way to and from his palace at Windsor he found himself under the necessity of taking a by-road to escape the filthy missiles being thrown at his carriage, showing the instability of the popular applause. 1830 was an eventful year. George IV departed this life after ten years of misrule. It gave a throne to Louis Phillippe, obscurity to Charles X, and an addition to our little family at Peckham. In the revolution effecting the changes in France the whole world was dazzled at the noble defense of order made by La Fayette against a host of fire-brands. I was so taken with the bravery of that hero that I was desirous of naming our infant son after him, but on our way to Camberwell church to get a name, my wife, being a true English woman, scouted the idea of naming a child of ours after a Frenchman. I felt cheap and vanquished, and gave the choice up to her, and I am sure she found a much less worthy name in my own than in that of the hero of my choice, but I had disfranchised myself in the premises and yielded to the inevitable.

At this particular juncture all Europe seemed convulsed. Thrones toppled, dynasties arose and reigning families were ruthlessly shelved. Even these little republics, called parishes in England, where self-government really exists, were not exempt from the prevailing turmoil, and our quiet rural parish of Camberwell had to come in for its share. The clerical or bookkeeping part of the parish was nominally transacted by Mr. Gilbert, a prominent lawyer in the city, whose income enabled him to keep up a high-toned establishment in Camberwell. For his services as vestry-clerk he received four hundred pounds per annum, while Mr. Pool, the assistant vestry-clerk, on whose shoulders fell the real burden of the work, enjoyed a salary of seventy pounds a year whereon to support himself, wife and seven children. The childless Gilbert, moving in the highest circles of society, beginning to think that an additional two hundred to his four hundred would be acceptable, mooted the idea to his bosom friend, the vicar, and leading men of the influential class of parishioners in which he moved. The hill-tops teemed with the desire, but how shall we be able to counteract that abominable spirit of reform which seems to transform our trading and working classes from willing coadjutors to vile obstructionists? The vote in our favor can only be obtained by early attendance and filling the hall with our friends. But the move was anticipated by the despised reformers, and the audience proved too much imbued with the spirit of reform for their scheme. Under the auspices of John George Storey, vicar, the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of St. Giles, Camberwell, the meeting was convened. I was induced by neighbors to attend that meeting, at which John George Storey-took the chair. The object of the special meeting was somewhat hastily explained, and a motion to augment the salary of the vestry clerk two hundred pounds per annum was as hastily moved and seconded. Looking around in vain to those who had urged me to accompany them in the spirit of opposition to the measure, and somewhat nettled at the supine appearance of my neighbors, at the moment the vicar was about to submit the motion to the vote I made myself heard in the crowded hall, apologizing for so young a parishioner trespassing upon the notice of so great an assembly. I said that if my opinion of the sum of four hundred pounds a year was too inflated I had to attribute it to the fact of being a native of a part of the world where money is rendered valuable by its scarcity. "I therefore move as an amendment that Mr. Gilbert receive a vote of thanks for the able manner in which he has served the parish in the capacity of vestry clerk, and that he be invited to retain that position at his present salary of four hundred pounds per annum." This amendment was seconded by a stentorian voice at the opposite side of the hall, who, seeing the unwillingness on the part of the vicar to put the amendment, and at the time urging me to withdraw it, elbowed his way through the crowded audience, introduced himself as Mr. Brett, whom I afterward found to be an eminent attorney of the old Kent Road, saying," I seconded your amendment, and I fear you are about to lose it. According to appearances we shall be able to carry the vote. All now depends on your pressing it to an issue." Being entirely ignorant of parliamentary rules I took courage from his support, and to the chagrin of the chair pressed the amendment, which was carried by a very large majority. The effect of this vote throughout the parish was unprecedented, and infuriated for a time the proud priest and his party. The cool, temperate daring of a class they were wont to despise challenged their respect and paved the way to a wonderful change in parochial management. On the following Easter Tuesday, the day on which all the parish officers are elected for the year ensuing, in due order of business the election of overseer of the poor for the Liberty of Peckham came before the vestry, and Mr. Brett arose and said "that inasmuch as the parish of Camberwell stands indebted to a comparative stranger in that part of the parish for the judicious part he took in a recent controversy, I therefore move that David Johnston be overseer of the poor of St. Giles, Camberwell, during the ensuing year, ending in Easter, 1831," which, to the astonishment of all present, was seconded by Mr. Gilbert and unanimously carried. Thus was I honored by my fellow-parishioners in the receipt of the highest gift within the compass of their power, and all from a mere accident, not from any credit of my own. Oh, for the buoyant happiness of those too few days! To be lifted from a miserable life of servile drudgery into a snug, sweet, home at the age of twenty-six years, in robust health; to be in communion with the woman you dearly love, and with whom you have been acquainted for eight years; to be blessed with a promising son; to have your credit well established; to possess the confidence of your fellow-creatures, and all your prospects brightening, must be felt to be appreciated. But such felicity seldom falls to the lot of man. Indeed, I have been led to look upon happy coincidences as the harbinger of evil, an idea which might have found its origin in the dreadful ordeal which I was destined to undergo so close upon the heels of the attainment of all that I could wish. My wife's confinement had not been attended by anything like severity; still, her continued weakness gave rise to uneasiness, and shortly to alarm. At the close of the nurse's term Sophia's mother became her constant attendant, and under the auspices of the physician, Dr. Bissett, and her own loving heart, soothed the pillow of the darling patient until her last breath, which fatal event transpired on the seventeenth day of September, 1832. The grave in which her remains are deposited is in old Camberwell churchyard, pointed out by a headstone on which is inscribed the following language, quoted from Sterne, and garbled to suit the sex: