Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq Volume II Part 6

I was at this time residing in Belle Vue, at Clifton, winding up the brewing concern, in which I had unfortunately embarked. I had returned home out of Wiltshire, late at night, and had lain longer in bed than usual, when the servant came to my room, and informed me that an opposition was antic.i.p.ated for the election at the city of Bristol, as a new candidate had offered. This new candidate was Sir John Jarvis, an Irishman, who was the Commander of the Bristol Rifle Corps of Volunteers. I knew something of the politics of Bristol, but I could not fathom the drift of this opposition, as I could not make out what claim Sir John Jarvis had to be a more popular character than the late members, Colonel Baillie and Mr. Bragge Bathurst. To be sure Mr.

Bathurst was a ministerial man, a brother-in-law of the Addingtons, and therefore very unpopular; but as Sir John Jarvis was also a ministerial man, there appeared something mysterious in the business. However, the servant informed me that the populace were drawing him round the city in his carriage, and that he was evidently the popular candidate. After all, it ought to be no great wonder that any one should have been popular that was opposed to Mr. Bragge Bathurst.

On hearing this intelligence I put on my clothes, and having taken a hasty breakfast, I proceeded towards Bristol, determined to be an eye-witness of the proceedings of the election. When I got upon the Exchange all was confusion, Sir John Jarvis was addressing the people in an incoherent, unintelligible speech, in which, however, he professed great patriotism, and vowed that he would oppose Mr. Bathurst to the last moment, and keep the poll open as long as there was a freeman unpolled. He then alighted from his carriage, and retired into the large room in the Bush tavern, where he was followed by a great number of the electors, and others; and amongst that number I made one. He was attended by a noisy bl.u.s.tering person, who I found was an attorney, of the name of Cornish, who also was professing what he would do, and how he would support his friend Sir John Jarvis. Hundreds of freemen pressed forward, and offered their copies of their freedom, as an earnest that they would voluntarily give him their votes; but it struck me that all was talk, and no one appeared to take any efficient steps to promote or secure the election of Sir John Jarvis, who himself appeared to be all bl.u.s.ter, and to be acting without the least system or arrangement, calculated to secure even the first requisites to commence an election.

I now took the liberty to ask the candidate whether he was prepared with any one to propose and second his nomination; to which he gave me a vague and unmeaning answer, apparently as if he did not understand what I meant by a person to propose and second him. I then appealed to Mr.

Cornish, the worthy attorney, who answered me in a similar manner; and he evidently appeared not to be in the secret any more than myself. I next addressed the mult.i.tude, to inquire which of them was prepared to propose Sir John Jarvis, and which to second the proposition? All said they were ready to _powl_ for Sir John, but no one was engaged to perform the necessary part of the ceremony to which I had alluded, and it likewise seemed very plain that neither Sir John nor his attorney took any pains to secure any one to do this. At this critical moment intimation was given, that the Sheriffs were proceeding with the other Candidates to the Guildhall, to commence the election. Sir John and his agent were about to move very deliberately towards the scene of action, when I addressed him as follows:--"I see that you are either unaware of the forms to be observed, or you are unprepared, Sir John. If, however, when it comes to the proper time, no one else proposes you, I will: though I am no freeman of Bristol, yet I will undertake to do this, as it will give your friends an opportunity of coming forward, and it will prevent the Sheriffs from hastily closing the election, which they are very likely to do if you are not prepared with some friends to propose and second your nomination." He answered, as we went along together, "Very well, Sir." In this way we proceeded to, and entered, the Guildhall, and mounted the hustings together. The usual proclamation being read by the Under-Sheriff, an old mumbling fellow, of the name of Palmer, some one proposed Colonel Baillie, the late member, as a fit and proper person to represent the city again. Colonel Baillie was a Whig member, and Colonel of the Bristol Volunteers, being a Whig, or _Low-party-man_, as they called him. This proposition was received with very general cheers and approbation. The next person proposed was Mr.

Bragge Batburst. He being a ministerial man, the speaker was repeatedly interrupted with loud shouts of disapprobation, which continued without intermission till the conclusion of the speeches of those who proposed and seconded him. The Sheriffs were now about to proclaim these two candidates duly elected. There stood Sir John, looking as wild as a newly taken Irishman, fresh from the bogs of that country; and there stood the electors, bawling _Sir John Jarvis for ever!_ while the Sheriff was very deliberately proceeding to declare the proposed candidates duly elected. As I had narrowly watched their motions, I now stepped forward, and addressed the electors in at least an animated speech, in which I proposed Sir John Jarvis as the most eligible person to represent them in Parliament. During the time that I was thus addressing them, the most dinning uproar arose. I was loudly and enthusiastically applauded by the mult.i.tude, the great body of the electors; and as loudly and earnestly opposed and hooted by the well-dressed rabble upon the hustings and its vicinity, consisting of the whole of the Corporation, the Clergy, the Attorneys, and their myrmidons; but I persisted and delivered some wholesome truths as to the state of thraldom in which the electors had hitherto been bound and held by the two factions of Whigs and Tories, who had always in Bristol divided the representation and the loaves and fishes between them, leaving the electors nothing but the empty name of freemen. The people were in an ecstacy of joy to hear this language, which so completely corresponded with their feelings, which was so very different from that which they had been accustomed to hear from the candidates of the contending factions, and which language of truth also enraged the agents of those factions almost to a state of madness. The violence and threats of those despicable agents were open and undisguised, and exceeded all bounds; nay, some of them actually proceeded to personal violence, and began to lay hands upon me, to pull me down. As, however, I was no chicken, I easily repelled those who ventured too near, and threatened them, if they did not keep at a distance, that I would call in the aid of those who would soon make a clearance of the hustings, if they were disposed to try their hands at an experiment of that sort. The people immediately took the hint, and rushed forward to support me, and to punish those who had a.s.sailed me; but I told them there was then no occasion for their interference, as the gentry were peaceable.

I proceeded with my haranguing, and those who were not in the secret actually began to be alarmed, for fear there should be a contested election, which they had by no means expected. I eulogised Sir John Jarvis, cried his patriotic virtues up to the skies, and descanted upon his talent, his resolution, and his invincible love of religious and civil liberty. I saw that those around me were astonished at my language, and, what was rather surprising to me, I perceived that Sir John looked as much astonished as any of my hearers; and the reader will also be astonished when I inform him, that I had never seen Sir John Jarvis before in my life, to speak to him, and in fact that I knew nothing about him. I only spoke of him that which my imagination suggested to me an honest candidate ought to be; and, what is more extraordinary, as I was a stranger in Bristol, so the people were strangers to me, for I saw scarcely a single person amongst the whole a.s.semblage whom I could call by name. I recollect there was one old Alderman, of the name of Bengough, who was almost frantic during my speech, and some of his friends were obliged to hold him down by mere force. The cry was, who is he? What is his name? Is he a freeman or a freeholder of the county? At the intervals when the mult.i.tude gained silence for me, by overwhelming and drowning the clamour of my opponents with their shouts of hear him! he shall be heard!! Bravo, Bravo!!! &c. I went on with my speech. The Right Honourable Bragge Bathurst, the White Lion, or Ministerial Candidate, stood near me in great agony, which I did not fail to heighten, by giving him a well-merited castigation for his time-serving devotion to the Ministers, his never-failing vote for war, and for every tax which was proposed to be laid upon the people.

I urged the absolute necessity of the Electors of Bristol returning a member the exact reverse of Mr. Bragge, which I described Sir John to be. But these compliments to the popular Candidate, appeared to be received by no one less graciously than by Sir John himself; and instead of his giving me, by nods or gestures of a.s.sent, any encouragement to pursue my theme when I met his eye, which at first I frequently sought, I received the most chilling frowns and discouraging shakes of the head.

Though I had no doubt now but I had _mistaken my man_, I, nevertheless, concluded by proposing him as a Candidate to represent the city of Bristol in the ensuing Parliament which proposition was received by nine distinct and tremendous cheers.

Silence being restored, the Sheriff demanded, in a very respectful tone, if I was either a freeman or a freeholder? I replied that I was a stranger in Bristol, I was neither as yet; but that I hoped soon to become both. This caused immense clamour, and Alderman Bengough and his supporters, some of the well-dressed rabble of the city of Bristol, roared out l.u.s.tily, "turn him out, turn him out." My friends, however, or rather supporters, who were as to numbers and physical strength more than twenty to one, reiterated, "touch him if you dare!" I contended that it was not at all necessary for a Candidate to be proposed either by a freeman or a freeholder; that Sir John was ent.i.tled to offer himself without any such formality, and that if one man polled for him that made him a legal Candidate; and I urged him to do so, but he stood mute and shuffled from the point. Now, for the first time, I began to discover that it was all a hoax, and that the patriotic Irishman was nothing more nor less than a scape-goat, a mere tool in the hands of the White Lion club, or ministerial faction; a mere scarecrow, whom they had set up to deter any other person from offering himself, or rather to prevent the freemen from seeking another Candidate; and it must be confessed that their plan succeeded to a miracle. In the midst of this squabbling the Sheriffs very coolly declared that Colonel Baillie and the Right Honourable Bragge Bathurst were duly elected, without any opposition, and the return was made accordingly.

I was at that time a complete novice in electioneering matters, neither had I the least idea of offering myself, or indeed any ambition to be a Member of Parliament. I was, however, so completely disgusted with the conduct of the Sheriff, the factions, and their tool, Sir John Jarvis, that I addressed the enraged mult.i.tude, who felt that they had been cheated and tricked out of an election, and I promised them that, whenever there was another vacancy or a dissolution of Parliament, I would pledge myself to come forward as a Candidate, or bring some independent person, who would stand a contest for the representation of their city. The people were excessively indignant at the treatment which they had received, and they hooted, hallooed, and even pelted Mr. Bragge and his partizans out of the Hall, and with considerable difficulty the latter reached the White Lion, where a gaudy gilded car was provided, as usual, in which the Candidate was to be chaired. I left the scene in disgust, and returned to my house at Clifton. Before, however, I had taken half my dinner, which was waiting for me when I reached home, a messenger arrived, either a Mayor's or Sheriff's officer, to inform me that the populace had hurled Mr. Bragge Bathurst out of his car, and that he had escaped with great difficulty into a house, which the mob were pulling down, and had nearly demolished; and that Mr. Bragge's life would certainly be sacrificed if I did not come down to Bristol and save it, by interfering with the populace to spare him.

The event which occasioned me to be called back to Bristol was not wholly unexpected; for when I left the Guildhall I had overheard some of those who appeared to take the lead, and to have influence over the populace, solemnly declare their determination to have an election, even if it were at the expense of the life of Mr. Bathurst, against whom they vowed vengeance in such a tone and manner that I thought it proper to warn his friends; and, accordingly, before I left the town, I penetrated on horseback through the crowd in Broad-street, and with considerable pains and risk gained access to the White Lion, amidst the conflicts of the populace and the constables, or, more correctly speaking, bludgeon-men, employed by the White Lion club. The blood was streaming from their broken pates, and amongst the number of the wounded Mr. Peter Clisshold, the attorney, stood conspicuous, with his head laid open, his skull bare, and the blood flowing in streams down upon the pavement, as he stood under the archway of the White Lion gate. (He will recollect it if he should read this.) I desired to see some of the Committee, who came to me immediately. I communicated to them what I had overheard, and I strongly recommended, on the score of policy, that they should not attempt to chair their friend Mr. Bathurst, for, if they did, it was my decided opinion that some serious mischief would happen. They, however, informed me that they had determined at all hazards to have Mr.

Bathurst chaired immediately; and, I shall never forget the exulting manner in which Mr. Clisshold declared that they had five hundred bludgeon-men sworn in as constables, and, as they would act in concert and in a body, they were more than a match for five thousand of the mob.

I replied that I had done my duty, in communicating that which came accidentally to my knowledge, and if they had not prudence enough to benefit by the information, it was their business and not mine. I then retired through the immense mult.i.tude, mounted on my beautiful grey horse, Model, the populace making way for and cheering me as I pa.s.sed.

As I have before stated, I no sooner arrived at home, and was seated at my dinner, than a message was brought, requesting my interference with the populace, who were demolishing the house into which Mr. Bragge Bathurst had retreated, after he had been handled so unceremoniously by the enraged people. If I had done by them as I know they would have done by me, I should have taken my dinner very quietly, and left the fury of the mult.i.tude to be quelled by those who had created it. But, actuated by the sublime precept, "do as you would that others should do unto you," I ordered my horse to be instantly re-saddled and brought to the door; and having mounted him I was in High-street, the scene of action, in a few minutes. There I found the people a.s.sembled, in immense numbers. Having broken in the windows and window frames of the house in which the hapless member, Mr. Bathurst, had concealed himself, they only waited for a cessation of throwing brick-bats and stones to rush into the house; which, if they had once done, his forfeited life would have been the inevitable price of the temerity of his friends.

The moment I galloped up there was a partial suspension of hostilities, and the mult.i.tude received me with three cheers. No time was to be lost; one moment's indecision would have been the death-signal of the Right Honourable Bragge Bathurst. I did not hesitate an instant; but, taking off my hat, I addressed them in a tone of expostulation, condemning their folly; and I then declared that I had a measure of much greater importance to communicate to them than that of wreaking their vengeance upon Mr. Bathurst, and if they would follow me, I would instantly, upon reaching Brandon Hill, communicate it to them. This was said by me with so much confidence, that they instantly a.s.sented to my proposition by three cheers. "Come, follow me, then, my Lads," I firmly rejoined, as I wheeled my horse round, and the whole crowd, consisting of many thousands, instantly began to move after me up High-street, down Clare-street, over the draw-bridge, through College Green, and upon Brandon Hill, over the high gate of which I leaped my horse. As soon as I got upon the center of the gravel walk that leads across the hill, I halted and began to address them. My only object was, to draw them from the victim of their intended vengeance. But having, by a bold and decisive effort, effected this purpose, I had now a painful and rather a dangerous duty to perform, that of satisfying the enraged mult.i.tude that I had not duped them. I therefore boldly censured their hasty and indiscreet conduct, in proceeding to such a violent measure as that of seeking the life of one who was merely the agent of a corrupt system.

This was received with partial murmurs; but I, nevertheless, continued successfully to combat the indiscreet violence of the most sanguine, and, I soon found that, by dint of reason and argument, I had prevailed upon the great majority to agree with me. I then took occasion to dilate upon the consequences that must have followed the taking the life of a fellow creature, without the intervention of judge or jury. I was instantly answered, that their opponents had _taken the lives of a great many_, without judge or jury, some years before, when the Herefordshire militia, with Lord Bateman as their Colonel, had fired upon the inhabitants during the disturbances on Bristol bridge. I was obliged to admit the truth of this, and urge the folly of following so bad and murderous an example. I then informed them who I was, and told them that I would pledge myself to come forward, on the very next election, and give those who had votes an opportunity of exercising their franchises for a Candidate who would not betray and desert them, as Sir John Jarvis had that day done. This proposition was received with cheers. I also told them I would immediately form some plan, to enable the freemen to take up their freedom, by means of a voluntary weekly subscription amongst themselves; which plan should be carried into execution without delay. And as they had done me the kindness of patiently listening to, and acting upon, my recommendation to give up the desperate project which they had formed, I begged to offer them a drink of my genuine beer, not as a bribe, but as an earnest of my intention to carry my promise into execution.

Pointing now to my brewery at Jacob's Well, at the bottom of the hill, I said, once more, with confidence, "follow me, my Lads!" Till this time I was not even known by name to one in twenty of the mult.i.tude. This proposition was received with applause, and they followed me to the door of my brewery, where I ordered three hogsheads of strong beer to be rolled out and divided amongst them. This, together with my promise of future attention to their rights of election, restored them to good humor; and, upon my addressing them again, they promised to return to their homes as soon as they had finished their beer, which they did, almost to a man, without even the slightest disturbance taking place afterwards that night. I had no sooner drawn the people from the house in which Mr. Bathurst was concealed, than he took the opportunity of escaping out of the city, in a return post-chaise, to Bath. Thus did I save the life of a man whose partizans would have put me to death, without the slightest remorse, if they had had it in their power.

Many liberal-minded persons, of all parties, applauded my conduct and presence of mind; but I was informed that one of the leaders of the White Lion club said, when he was told of the means that I had used to draw the people from their premeditated victim, that he only wished the mob had broken into my cellar, and turned into the streets all my beer, amounting at that time nearly to three thousand barrels; and this was the only thanks I ever received from any of the faction, from that day to this. As for Mr. Bathurst, he never had the manliness nor the candour to acknowledge the service in any way. But the Right Honourable Gentleman possibly may have thought of the circ.u.mstance when he was sitting as one of the Privy Council, who advised the thanks that were given, in the name of the King, to the Manchester Yeomanry and Magistrates! What must have been the feelings of this Right Honourable Privy Councillor when, as one of that immaculate body, he advised the prosecution against me for attending the Manchester meeting; and advised it, that a sort of blind might be obtained for the deeds that had been committed by the military bravoes on that day! What must have been the feelings of this gentleman, if the recollection that I had saved his life came across his mind, at the time when in all probability he was one of the same Cabinet who _advised_ the _length_ of the _imprisonment_ that the Judges of the Court of King's Bench should impose upon me! Ah, Mr. Bragge Bathurst! what will be your feelings when you read this?

When your life was in jeopardy, the power of saving that life was accidentally placed in my hands; I hesitated not to save that life, at the imminent risk of my own; and how grateful has been the return! But, Mr. Bathurst, I am a million times happier a man in my dungeon than you are in a palace. It was reserved for Mr. Bragge Bathurst, as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, to reward _Parson Hay_ for his deeds on the 16th of August 1819, at Manchester; to reward him with the living of Rochdale, with, it is said, _two thousand five hundred pounds a year!_ But I am a much happier man in my dungeon than Parson Hay, or his relation, Mr. Bragge Bathurst, is; though the one is the Rector of Rochdale, and the other Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with all its revenue and patronage.

The news soon after this reached Bristol, that Sir Francis Burdett had been returned at the head of the poll for Westminster, by a large majority. This gave new life and spirits to the friends of liberty all over the kingdom, and no one partic.i.p.ated more warmly than I did in the general joy which this news created, for I was one of the Baronet's most enthusiastic admirers. I immediately proposed a public dinner in Bristol, to celebrate the joyful event; but I could get no one to join me. There were several who said that if the dinner took place they would attend it, but they would not take upon themselves any of the responsibility of ordering such a dinner, nor of the risk and expense attending the getting of it up. There was, for one, a Mr. Lee, a surgeon, who was very ready to join in the dinner to commemorate the Westminster victory, but he shrank from bearing any part of the onus of setting it on foot, either in purse or in person. But, having once proposed a measure, I was not to be foiled in that way. I therefore, after some considerable difficulty in finding any one to take the order for a dinner for such a purpose, took the whole expense and responsibility upon myself, by ordering dinner for a hundred persons, at the large room in the Trout Tavern, Stokes' Croft.

The dinner was now advertised and placarded, myself to be in the chair.

In the mean time, every effort was used to run down the dinner, and to intimidate persons from attending it; and on the morning of the day that was appointed for our meeting, the walls of the city were placarded with the following _notice_, from authority--"DANGER to be apprehended from the proposed dinner to be held this day at the Trout Tavern," &c. &c.

The word DANGER was printed in letters six inches long. The soldiers were ordered to be upon duty, and every species of threat and intimidation was resorted to, in order to deter people from attending the much-dreaded dinner. Nevertheless, in spite of all this, a hundred persons sat down together, not ten of whom had ever seen each other's faces before. I took the head of the princ.i.p.al table, and Mr. Lee that of the other. We spent a most gratifying day, in the greatest harmony, and parted with the same good humor; every one being pleased with his entertainment, which had proved "the feast of reason and the flow of soul;" in the fullest sense of that phrase. The authorities used every laudable endeavour to make a disturbance, and create that danger which they pretended to apprehend; and the time-serving despicable editors of the Bristol Newspapers joined in the cry. Nay, some of them bellowed aloud and declared that this dinner meeting, to celebrate the triumph of the electors of Westminster over the two corrupt factions, the Whigs and Tories, was the forerunner of a revolution; and they insinuated that I, who was the promoter of this dinner, was the instigator of the riots which occurred on the day of the election, and that the fellows who met to dine were the very same who a.s.sembled and threatened the life of their amiable and patriotic member, Mr. Bragge Bathurst.

These falsehoods did not, however, either prevent or disturb our dinner.

The infamous hand-bill did indeed produce what its manufacturers called a mob, for the people a.s.sembled in the street, opposite the Trout Tavern, in great numbers: but upon their being addressed by me, and cautioned not to suffer themselves to be caught in the trap laid for them by their enemies, but to retire peaceably to their homes, they gave us three cheers and dispersed immediately. It was very fortunate that they did so, for it was ascertained that the tender-hearted authorities were so excessively anxious to preserve the peace which they had sworn to keep, that they had called out the military, in order to disperse, at the point of the bayonet, that mult.i.tude which they had themselves collected together by their ridiculous and evil-disposed hand-bill of "Danger, &c." My timely advice and admonition to the people had, however, deprived them of their prey, and thus the sacrifice of human blood was prevented; for when the troops marched by, with bayonets fixed, there were not ten persons more than usual in the streets.

This was a great disappointment to those who had got up the precious hand-bill of "Danger to be apprehended;" and, because I had the prudence to foresee and to frustrate this brutal and sanguinary scheme of the authorities, I was set down as a most dangerous fellow, and an enemy to the Government.

I might now, in fact, be considered to have fairly entered the field of politics; for I was completely identified with this meeting and dinner, at which we pa.s.sed several spirited resolutions, approving the conduct of the electors of Westminster, and strongly urging the freemen of Bristol to follow their example. Votes of thanks were pa.s.sed to Joseph Clayton Jennings, Esq., and to the Westminster Committee, and a congratulatory address was voted to Sir Francis Burdett, which I, as chairman of the meeting, was desired to communicate to him. This I did immediately, which, for the first time, gave me an opportunity of opening a correspondence with the Baronet. The votes and resolutions, as well as the toasts drank, and the speeches delivered, were published; I forget now whether by Mr. Lee or myself, but I rather think by him, as he had been in the habit of publishing a great deal before on the local politics of Bristol.

I received a very polite answer from Sir Francis Burdett, who professed to be highly flattered with the compliment we had paid him at Bristol. I likewise received an answer from Mr. Jennings, and the chairman of the Westminster Committee, expressing great pleasure at this mark of the union of sentiment existing between the people of Bristol and Westminster. On the other hand, I sent copies of our proceedings to Mr.

Cobbett, who lived at that time at Botley, expressing a wish, if he approved of them, that he would insert them in his Political Register; he, however, neither inserted them nor gave me any answer, but, as it since appears, he wrote the famous letter to his friend Wright, who was a sort of hanger-on at the Westminster committee, which letter, at the last general election for Westminster, was read upon the hustings by one Cleary, an attorney's clerk, or rather a pettyfogging writer to an attorney in Dublin, who had left his native country for the same cause that had prompted many others of his countrymen to leave it before him.

This person was hired by the committee of Sir Francis Burdett to do this dirty office, to shew that Mr. Cobbett entertained a different opinion of me in the year 1808, before he knew me, from that which he entertained of me in the year 1818, after he had known me and had acted with me for so many years.

What induced Mr. Cobbett to write this letter, or what were his motives, are best known to himself. But, the contents of the letter were as false, as the stile and language were gross, and the sentiments it contained illiberal and unmanly. Mr. Cobbett had at that time spoken to me but once; and as I was never in the habit of flattering any one, or disguising my opinions, I can easily conceive that he had, from this first interview, formed personally as unfavourable an opinion of me as I had of him. But he knew nothing of me or my connections. All that he could have known of me was, that I was a zealous advocate of that cause which he then professed to espouse. Therefore, what were his motives for writing this letter must remain with himself. However, Mr.

Jennings, and the gentlemen who then composed the Westminster committee, treated his advice with that contempt which such a malignant and unmanly act deserved; for they opened a communication with me immediately. As to the letter, however, it was of such a nature, that they thought it advisable to lay it by, to be produced upon some future occasion, and that occasion was the one which I have named. Now I must intreat the reader to give me credit when I say, that I never suffered the production of this letter to operate upon me, so as to shake the private friendship I had with Mr. Cobbett. What he wrote of me, or whatever opinion he entertained of me, ten years back, and previously to his knowing any thing of me, however unjust that opinion might have been, however coa.r.s.ely or illiberally that opinion might have been expressed, and however basely that circ.u.mstance might, after a lapse of ten or eleven years, have been used by a contemptible hired agent of Sir Francis Burdett, upon the public hustings at an election, I never suffered it for one moment to have the slightest influence upon my public or private conduct towards Mr. Cobbett. But what I was grieved and hurt at, was, that Mr. Cobbett should have made me his dupe, by writing home to me from America, to a.s.sure me, that the letter read by Cleary upon the hustings at Westminster was a _forgery_; and not only sending me a copy of the New York paper, wherein he had declared this letter to be a forgery, but _authorizing_ ME, nay, _urging_ ME to p.r.o.nounce it to be a forgery, which, _upon the faith of his word_, I did, at a meeting at the Crown and Anchor, where Cleary produced the letter. At this treatment I was hurt; I had good reason to be offended; but I never complained of it. The shyness and the dispute which has arisen between Mr. Cobbett and myself has arisen from a very different cause. But, for my own part, I am happy that this shyness did not happen while Mr. Cobbett was in prison, but while Henry Hunt is incarcerated in his dungeon. Although I cannot accuse myself of having ever done any thing to merit this conduct from Mr. Cobbett, yet I shall never cease to lament it, as an injury to that cause in which we had so long drawn together. But, as is generally the case in such differences between friends, there may be faults on both sides; and I am not so presumptuous as to believe that I am exempt from error. It is a lamentable truth, however, that the strongest mind is not always proof against the insinuations of _false friends, of go-betweens,_ and the _eternal workings, and worryings, and sly malignant hints, of the low pride and cunning of those who are always at a person's elbow._ The reader must excuse this digression; it is, in fact, no more than I owed to the subject, and an early explanation which is due to those who honour me by reading these Memoirs.

The infamous conduct of the authorities at Bristol did not deter me from keeping the promise which I made to the people on the day of election.

I immediately formed a society, and arranged a plan of weekly subscriptions, to enable those who were ent.i.tled to their freedoms to pay their fee to the chamberlain of the city, without being, as they had always. .h.i.therto been, dependent upon the bounty of the candidates when.

the election was about to begin. Each ent.i.tled freeman, who enrolled his name, and paid a subscription of 3_d._ per week, had, in his turn, his freedom taken up, and his fees, amounting to about 2_l_. 8_s_. paid out of the fund.

One would have thought this a most legitimate and praiseworthy a.s.sociation. What could be more proper than a subscription, weekly, amongst the ent.i.tled freemen, to raise a sum to take up their freedoms; to acc.u.mulate that sum by a weekly subscription which they could not at once command out of their own pockets, and the want of which had heretofore in a great measure placed them in the power of those who would only advance the money for them to obtain a promise of their votes at the election? To a.s.sist in accomplishing so desirable an object as this, any one who did not understand the principles upon which those elections are carried on by corporations, would have thought a most praiseworthy act. But in Bristol it was esteemed a great crime; and all sorts of threats and intimidations were offered to those who stood forward as the friends of const.i.tutional liberty, and who attempted to aid the young freemen in procuring their copies to become ent.i.tled to exercise their franchises at the elections. Our society was denounced as seditious, revolutionary, and treasonable, by the corrupt newspapermongers of that city; at the head of whom stood a man of the name of GUTCH, who was the editor of the paper called Felix Farley's Bristol Journal. This was as corrupt and time-serving a political knave as ever lived. This gentleman belonged to the White Lion club; and for hire he weekly vomited forth all sorts of lies and calumnies against those who met weekly at the _Lamb and Lark_, in Thomas Street, under the pretence, as this loyal Government scribe said, of subscribing to take up freedoms; but whose real object this hireling declared to be, to overturn the Government, by subverting the const.i.tution of the country.

This was the organ, the trumpeter of the White Lion club; the Pitt faction; the thick and thin supporters of the ministers. Then there was another corrupt political knave, of the name of John Mills, who published a paper, which, if I recollect right, was called the Bristol Gazette. He was equally a thick and thin supporter of the other faction, the Whigs; he was their time-serving dirty tool; no falsehood, no absurdity, however palpable, so that it served his masters, the Whig faction, was too gross for his depraved appet.i.te. This _gentleman_, also, was equally lavish of his abuse against me, for having dared to interfere with a privilege which exclusively belonged to the two factions; any innovation upon which was considered as high treason of the greatest magnitude.

At this time a gentleman of the name of LEE, a surgeon, and a very clever fellow, lashed the cheats of both factions by frequent cheap publications; the severity of which made the rogues twist and writhe as snails and grubs do, when quick lime is sprinkled upon them. With this Mr. Lee I of course became acquainted, from the time of the Trout Tavern dinner. For some time we went on very well together but, by-and-bye, we quarrelled and came to an open rupture. This quarrel was excited and fermented by talebearers and go-betweens; and at length Mr. Lee commenced a paper war, directing all his talent against my views and objects. I replied: and a most vindictive political warfare raged for a while, in which we were both most magnanimously bespattered with the filth of our own creating. I was very young at this time, and where I failed in argument, I of course made up for it in abuse. In reality, there was very little argument on either side; and in default of it, downright abuse was resorted to, to the great amus.e.m.e.nt of the two contending factions. He at length retired from politics altogether, and very soon afterwards left Bristol, to reside in London, and kept his terms, I believe, in the Temple, where he now practises as a barrister.

But I, however, stood my ground, and continued to support and cultivate an union, by subscribing to and attending the meetings at the _Lamb and Lark_. In fact, I took a lease of that house for the purpose; several publicans having been threatened with the loss of their licences, if they gave us the accommodation of a room, once a week, in the way of their business. The moral Magistrates of Bristol, some of whom were brewers and distillers, encouraged every species of drunkenness, and connived at every species of debauchery, so that their pockets were filled, and the customs and the excise were benefited; but they were alarmed and shocked at the monstrous crime of the freemen meeting once a week to subscribe their pence, to procure their freedoms, independent of every political faction.

I now resided at Clifton, in lodgings, during the winter, and attended to the collecting together of the scattered remains of my wreck of a brewery. The reader may easily conceive that, if I had been disposed to carry on the concern (which, by-the-bye, I was not), I should have had very little chance at Bristol, amongst a set of the most illiberal and selfish tradesmen and merchants in the universe. But, the truth was this, I brewed my beer from malt and hops only; I had fairly tried the experiment, and the result was, that no one could brew with malt and hops for sale, _without being a loser_; and as I was determined not to use any drugs or subst.i.tute, I made up my mind to get out of the concern as soon as possible. No man could have had a fairer opportunity of trying the experiment than I had; I grew my own barley, which was of the very best sample; I made my own malt, and I bought my hops at the best hand, for ready money. If any one could have brewed beer from malt and hops, to have made a profit from it, I could have done it. I brewed excellent beer, _but I lost money_ by every brewing. I therefore take leave to caution my friends against being poisoned by genuine beer brewers; the worst sort of quacks and impostors. Mark what I say--a brewer may brew, and sell genuine beer, made from malt and hops; but, if he does not become a bankrupt in three years, or if he contrives to sell _genuine beer_, and grows rich, or pretends to grow rich, let me advise you not to drink any of his genuine beer. No! no! my friends, if you must drink beer and porter, drink that brewed by the common brewer, who does not profess to be any honester than his neighbours. Drink the porter of Messrs. Barclay, or of Messrs. Whitbread, and take your chance with the common herd of beer and porter drinkers. When I see an advertis.e.m.e.nt of any gentleman "Bung" having made an affidavit before the Lord Mayor, that his beer is brewed only with malt and hops, I look regularly for his name in the Gazette, and if I do not soon find it, there, or hear that he has cut and run, I set him down for a successful impostor.

I now enjoyed the society of a few select friends, who visited in my family, when I was living at Chisenbury House, in Wiltshire, or at Clifton; and I had nearly got rid of all my old pot-companions. Those who now visited me, did so for the purposes of friendship and rational society; as I had now completely put an end to all drinking carousals in my family, neither did I mix with them in others. When I was in the country, I used to enjoy the pleasures of the field, both as a fox-hunter and an expert shot. As a shot, I fancied myself at that time a match for any man in the kingdom, having challenged to shoot with any gentleman sportsman in the united kingdom, five mornings, at game, for fifty guineas a morning; which challenge I sent to the Sporting Magazine, but whether it was published or not, I do not recollect.

One circ.u.mstance I forgot to notice, relative to the general election which took place in the beginning of this year; which was, that Major Cartwright offered himself, and stood a contested election, for the borough of Boston, in Lincolnshire. The Major offered himself upon the pure principles of representation, without spending any money. The Major only polled _eight votes_!--This shews the state of the representation of Boston at that time. Mr. Maddox was elected, having polled 196 votes.

But the Major stood upon real const.i.tutional principles, and therefore only polled eight votes.

On the 29th of June, Sir Francis Burdett was chaired through the streets of Westminster, and such a mult.i.tude was scarcely ever before seen together. All the streets through which the procession had to pa.s.s were thronged to excess, and every window was full of admiring and applauding spectators. This certainly was the triumph of Westminster, by purity of election. At five o'clock the procession arrived at the Crown and Anchor, where it is said nearly two thousand persons gained admittance to dinner. This must have been a fine harvest for the landlord, and those who had the management of the twelve shilling tickets. After dinner, the following toasts were drank:--

1. The King, the Const.i.tution, the whole Const.i.tution, and nothing but the Const.i.tution.

2. The People.

3. Purity of Election, and may the Electors of the whole kingdom take a lesson from the Westminster School.

4. The Health of that Honest and Incorruptible Representative of the People, Sir Francis Burdett.

5. The Electors of Westminster.

6. The 5134 Electors who so n.o.bly stood forward to a.s.sert their own Rights, and to excite the People of England to a.s.sert theirs.

7. Those Electors of _Bristol_ who, on the 2nd of June, with MR. H. HUNT at their head, a.s.sembled to celebrate the return of Sir Francis Burdett.

8. May the ineffective of the Regiment be speedily disbanded, and the Red Book reduced to its proper dimensions.

9. Mr. Jennings, our worthy Chairman.

10. The Election Committee.

This chairing and dinner-meeting excited the attention not only of the metropolis but the whole kingdom. It was the real triumph of Westminster, and Sir Francis Burdett was that day in sober earnestness, and in the honest sincerity of their hearts, the pride of the people. It was no fiction, it was no joke; but, in fact and in truth, Sir Francis Burdett was on that day "_Westminster's Pride, and England's Glory._"

All was peace and good order, every face beamed with good humor, and upon every brow sat a sort of conscious pride, as if each person felt that he had performed a duty, by offering a tribute of devotion to the Honourable Baronet. This being the case, one would have thought that there was no occasion for the interference of the military; but, as the troops had been called out at Bristol, in consequence of our _dinner of one hundred_, to celebrate the election of Sir Francis, of course the myrmidons of power in the metropolis did not, or pretended they did not, think themselves safe without the aid of the military. The different guards about the palace, and also about the offices at Whitehall, were doubled, and supplied with ball cartridges. The several regiments were drawn out in the morning and kept under arms, and a great body of the horse artillery corps was kept ready harnessed in St. James's Park, to draw the cannons to the scene of action, if necessary!--The volunteer corps were also summoned to muster, and the police were put in motion; in fact, the Government appeared determined to be ready with a military force to act promptly upon an emergency, if one should arise, as some persons, perhaps, hoped would be the case.

All this, however, proved to be totally unnecessary. The fear of the Ministers arose solely from the sense of their own unworthiness; a conviction in their own b.r.e.a.s.t.s that they merited the hatred and the execration of the people. Every thing pa.s.sed off quietly, and the dinner party broke up in peace, after having pa.s.sed the day in the greatest hilarity and unanimity. Such a dinner-meeting was never before witnessed in the metropolis; hundreds were contented to take a scanty meal standing, and no one grumbled at his fare.

The reader will see that, at this dinner, the _only_ toast drank, unconnected with the election of Westminster, was the seventh, "The Electors of Bristol with MR. H. HUNT at their head," &c. Indeed the only names mentioned in the toasts, which had been drawn up with great care by the Committee, were Sir F. Burdett, Mr. H. Hunt, and Mr. Jennings, the chairman; so that, with the exception of the chairman and Sir Francis Burdett, I was the _only man in England_ whose name was honoured by being publicly drank by this the largest dinner-meeting ever a.s.sembled in England. I was not at that time known to Sir Francis Burdett; I was not known to Mr. Jennings, or to any of the Committee, yet my exertions in the cause of Liberty at Bristol had attracted the attention of its real friends in Westminster, and my health was toasted accordingly.

The first time, however, that I came to London after this, I was introduced to Mr. Jennings, and all the Westminster heroes, by my worthy friend Henry Clifford. They all received me very cordially, and I was invited to a public meeting at the Crown and Anchor, that was held about that time, I forget upon what occasion, Mr. Jennings in the chair, myself having a seat appropriated for me by the Committee next to him, on his left hand, Clifford being seated at his right. My health was drank with great applause, and I returned thanks in a manner that met the approbation of the whole meeting.

Thus was I, in the year 1807, fairly drawn into the vortex of politics.

My worthy friend Clifford publicly claimed me as his disciple, and ventured to predict that I would some day become one of the most able champions of the cause of Liberty. Sir Francis Burdett was not in town, therefore I was not introduced to him, which both Jennings and Clifford were anxious to do.

I do not recollect that Lord Cochrane's name was ever mentioned at either of these meetings. His health was not even drank at the great meeting for Westminster, on the 29th of June, to celebrate the purity of election, although he was one of the Members for Westminster, was returned as the colleague of Sir Francis Burdett, and polled above a thousand votes more than Mr. Sheridan. Nay, I do not think that he even attended this dinner of his const.i.tuents. Indeed, had he attended, his health would have been drank of course, as one of the Members. Lord Cochrane was a bold, enterprising, and successful officer; but, as to politics, I believe the real state of the case to be, that he was suspected, at that period, not to have made up his mind upon them.

This fact is worthy to be recorded, that, when the electors of Westminster held their great public dinner to celebrate the triumph and purity of election in their city, though Lord Cochrane had been elected one of their representatives, yet so little faith had Sir F. Burdett or his friends in the sincerity of Lord Cochrane's principles, that they never drank his health, or even mentioned his name. _Let this be marked down as a curious fact._ Lord Cochrane had not been kicked into a thorough patriot by the Government, which, at this time, looked upon him as still being one of their regiment, and they rather rejoiced than otherwise at his being elected for Westminster; it being very clear that, during the election, he received considerable support from the friends of the ministers.

Now I call the circ.u.mstance to my recollection, I believe that, immediately after the election, Lord Cochrane went to sea as the commander of the Imperieuse. At all events it is certain that his health was not drank. The fact is indisputable, that at a dinner-meeting of the electors of Westminster, one of the Member's health not drank, and that Member LORD COCHRANE, who had been in the House before, as a Member for Honiton; and let it be recollected, to his honour, that when he was elected for Honiton, he gave a pledge in the face of the nation, that he never would, as long as he lived, accept of any sinecure or emolument, either for himself or any relation or dependent; and that he never would touch the public money in any way, but that of his profession as a naval officer. He had also made a motion in the House, respecting places, pensions, and emoluments, held or received by Members of the House of Commons, or by his relations. This motion was of the greatest public importance, and of much more real service to the cause of public liberty, and the purity of the Members of the House of Commons, than any motion that Sir Francis Burdett had ever made in the House; and one would have thought that this alone would have been a sufficient earnest of his future honesty, at any rate would have ent.i.tled him to have had his health drank at a public dinner-meeting of his const.i.tuents, the electors of Westminster! --It is a very curious and remarkable fact that _my_ health _was_ drank at this meeting, and that Lord Cochrane's health was not; and what makes it the more extraordinary was, that I was a perfect stranger to the electors of Westminster, and Lord Cochrane was one of their representatives.

As for poor Paull, although he was laying wounded, on a bed of sickness, his name was never mentioned. I always thought, and I always said, though I did not know Mr. Paull, that Sir Francis Burdett would have appeared more amiable in my eyes if he had condescended to notice with marks of kindness his vanquished adversary, or at least his antagonist, who had been defeated upon the hustings, although not in the field. But, alas! poor Mr. Paull, who had contributed, largely contributed to rouse a proper spirit of independence amongst the electors of Westminster, and who was a very _Idol_ amongst them at a former election, was now so deserted, neglected, and despised, as at this meeting never to have been noticed in any way whatever, merely because he had quarrelled with Sir Francis Burdett, or rather because Sir Francis had quarrelled with him.

But Sir Francis Burdett was now become the great political Idol, a political G.o.d; and I was one of his most enthusiastic worshippers, one who would have risked my life at any moment to have saved his, although I was at the time personally unknown to him. On the 10th of July, a numerous and respectable meeting of the freemen, freeholders, and inhabitants of the city of Bristol, was held in the large room at the Lamb and Lark, in Thomas Street, for the express purpose of inquiring into the state of the elective franchise, Henry Hunt, Esq. in the chair.

It was unanimously resolved, "1st. That the elective franchise is an object of the highest importance, as it is the basis of our laws and liberties. That in the free and unbia.s.sed exercise of this great and yet undisputed privilege, depends our best interests and dearest rights as free- born Englishmen. 2nd. That if any club or party of men whatever, arrogate to themselves the power of returning a representative for this city, whether designated by the t.i.tle of the White Lion Club, or the Loyal and Const.i.tutional Club; if they threaten, persecute, and oppress a voter, for the free exercise of his judgment in the disposal of his suffrage, they are enemies to their country, by acting in direct opposition to the sound principles of the British Const.i.tution. 3rd.

That we view with painful anxiety the contracted and enthraled state of the elective rights of this city, and we are fully convinced of the existence of such unconst.i.tutional clubs as are mentioned in the foregoing resolution; that their evil effects have reduced this great city to a level with the rottenest of rotten boroughs; therefore we are determined, by every legal exertion in our power, to interpose, and adopt such const.i.tutional and effective measures as may appear most conducive to the recovery and firm establishment of the freedom of election in this city. 4th. That the following declarations of the Westminster Committee, contain the great const.i.tutional principles on which we ought to act, namely,--'That as to our principles, they are those of the const.i.tution of England, and none other; that, it is declared by the Bill of Rights, that one of the crimes of the tyrant James, was that of interfering, by his Ministers, in the election of Members of Parliament; that, by the same great standard of our liberties, it is declared that the election of Members of Parliament ought to be free! That by the act which transferred the crown of this kingdom from the heads of the House of Stuart, to the heads of the House of Brunswick, it is provided, that, for the better securing of the liberties of the subject, no person holding a place or pension under the Crown, shall be a Member of the House of Commons; that these are const.i.tutional principles; and as we are convinced that all the notorious peculations, that all the prodigal waste of public money, that all the intolerable burdens and vexations therefrom arising; that all the oppression from within, and all the danger from without, proceed from a total abandonment of these great const.i.tutional principles; we hold it to be our bounden duty, to use all the legal means in our power to restore those principles to practice. That though we are fully convinced, that, as the natural consequences of the measures pursued for the last sixteen years, our country is threatened with imminent danger from the foe which Englishmen once despised, and, though we trust there is not a man of us who would not freely lay down his life, to preserve the independence of his country, and to protect it from a sanguinary and merciless invader; yet we hesitate not to declare, that the danger we should consider of the next importance, the scourge next to be dreaded, would be a packed and corrupt House of Commons, whose votes, not less merciless, and more insulting, than a conqueror's edicts, would bereave us of all that renders country dear, and life worth preserving, and that too, under the names and forms of Law and Justice; under those very names and those very forms which yielded security to the persons and, property of our forefathers.' 5th. That, in following the glorious example of the citizens of Westminster, by choosing men of corresponding sentiments and undeviating public virtue, we shall, as far as rests with us, restore the blessings of our Const.i.tution, and the just rights and liberties of the people. 6th. That the freeholders, freemen, and ent.i.tled freemen and inhabitants of this city, who have united themselves, for the laudable purpose of supporting each other in the free and unbia.s.sed exercise of their judgment in the choice of their representatives, merit the approbation and applause of all their fellow-citizens; and that we do now form ourselves into a body, to be called the "Bristol Patriotic and Const.i.tutional a.s.sociation," to co-operate with them, in counteracting that unwarrantable influence, manoeuvre, and deception, which have reduced the electors of this city to mere political cyphers, to pa.s.sive spectators of the general wreck, freemen with no other appendage of freedom but the empty name; we therefore pledge ourselves, individually and collectively, to a.s.sist and protect them in the recovery of our just and const.i.tutional liberties.

7th. That a public subscription be immediately opened, to raise a fund for the purpose above mentioned, for defraying the expenses of a room for the a.s.sociation, printing, &c. and that a list of the subscribers and subscriptions be regularly kept, and that proper books be provided for that purpose. 8th. That these resolutions be signed by the chairman, and that they be published. Signed HENRY HUNT, Chairman."