Lorenzo Dow and Bourne's association with him. Dow was a republican and a millenarian. He made wild anti-establishment speeches and drew no distinction between religion and politics. In a tract of 1812, he preached: "May not the 'Seventh Trumpet' now be sounding, and the 'seven last plagues' be pouring out?" Dow accused the British government of tyranny and repugnance to God's laws of nature. As a separate church, conscious of their own public image and fearing repression, they felt they had to disassociate themselves from him. The Wesleyan leadership's measures to evade repression led to greater internal discipline. Members who were seen as a liability were expelled. Views that were anti-establishment were condemned. Wesleyan propaganda The Wesleyan leadership did not seek to improve its reputation with discipline alone. Through propaganda it capitalised on a greater level of discipline in an attempt to reform its image. Hempton claims the Methodists used propaganda to project an industrious and well disposed image. The Methodist Magazine printed supportive tracts about the monarchy, praising the King's wariness of reformers. The movement was portrayed as a conservative force, with the leadership claiming Methodism promoted "subordination and industry in the lower orders". In promoting this image of Methodists, the Wesleyan leaders also sought to escape old slurs. One obstacle to Methodist respectability was its association with ignorance and superstition. In Wales in 1801, the leadership warned its members against involvement in sorcery, magic, and witchcraft. In 1816, 50 members of the Portland Methodist Society were struck off for maintaining belief in the supernatural. This demonstrates that the Wesleyan transition to denominational conservatism resulted in less toleration for alternate beliefs and non-bourgeois beliefs. So the association of Bourne and Clowes with Crawfoot was unacceptable to the leadership. It also suggests a gulf between the outlook of the Wesleyan leadership and the Methodist rank and file. Disillusionment with Wesleyan leaders There was disillusionment with the Wesleyan leadership's conservatism and with financial policies. The reaction of the Yorkshire membership to its support of the government after Peterloo is illustrated by a rumour that it had "lent the government half a million of money to buy cannon to shoot them with". When a local preacher in North Shields criticised the actions of the magistrates at Peterloo, he faced criticism from itinerants and "respectable friends". The leadership judged, however, that it could not afford to expel this preacher because of the support