Government men; Lord Nelson, Sir Alured Clark, and Sir Evan Nepean,
Bart. Gracious God! only look at this! The counsel for the prisoner well
knew that these evidence to character were not worth a straw; for they
had not known any thing of Colonel Despard for many years past, and yet
these men were called, and others of the most vital importance were not
called. Gracious God! as Mr.---- now Sir Thomas Lethbridge, would say,
it almost makes my hair stand an end upon my head! Two out of three,
viz. _Clark_ and _Nepean_, upon their cross-examination, evidently gave
such testimony as told much more against him than for him. But Lord
Nelson spoke of him as follows:-- " We went on the Spanish Main
together; we slept many nights together under the same blanket, in our
clothes, upon the ground; we have measured the height of the enemy's
walls together. In all that period of time, no man could have shown more
zealous attachment to his Sovereign and his country than Colonel Despard
did. I formed the highest opinion of him at that time, as a man and an
officer; seeing him so willing in the service of his Sovereign. Having
lost sight of him for the last twenty years, if I had been asked my
opinion of him, I should certainly have said--if he be alive, he is
certainly one of the brightest ornaments of the British army." This was
certainly a just and true description of Colonel Despard's character;
but let us see how Lord Nelson finished his cross-examination, by the
Attorney General. What your Lordship has been stating, was in the
year 1780?-- "Yes." Have you had much intercourse with him since that
time?--"I have never seen him since the 29th of April, 1780." Then as
to his loyalty for the last twenty-three years of his life, you know
nothing?--"NOTHING." Gracious God! and THERE Mr. SERGEANT BEST left his
examination. Let the reader only look back at the trial, and read
the mawkish cross-examination of the villain Windsor, by the learned
Sergeant, and he will make up his mind to two things the very moment
he has finished it:--the first is, never to feel surprise again at the
verdict against Colonel Despard; and the second is, that he will never
trust his own life in the hands of an aspiring place-hunting lawyer.
After a very short speech from Mr.SERGEANT BEST and Mr. Gurney, wherein
they both apologized to the jury for its _length_, and a very long and
able reply from the Solicitor-General, and a very long summing up by
Lord Ellenborough, the jury withdrew for about twenty-five minutes, and
a little before three o'clock on the Tuesday morning, they returned a
verdict Of GUILTY. The foreman added, "MY LORD, WE DO MOST EARNESTLY
RECOMMEND THE PRISONER TO MERCY, ON ACCOUNT OF THE HIGH TESTIMONIALS OF
HIS FORMER GOOD CHARACTER, AND EMINENT SERVICES TO HIS COUNTRY." The
Judge said not a word. But where is the man of the present day, who
has read of the verdict of wilful murder given by the jury, at
Horsham Assizes, against the person upon the preventive service, who
deliberately shot a man, and who has since read of the pardon that has
bean granted to that person, but would have expected that the very
strong and emphatic recommendation of the jury, for the extension of
mercy to Colonel Despard, would have received some attention. No! no!
Colonel Despard had _opposed_ and _exposed_ the Government, and he was
hanged in the front of the county gaol at Horsemonger Lane, and after
having been suspended about twelve minutes and a half, his head was
taken off, (_the King having most graciously remitted the execution of
the remainder of the sentence_.) Thus died Colonel Despard, who, though
he was not a man of great talent, yet he was, in the language, the words
of Lord Nelson, "as brave as Caesar." But, as the vulgar saying goes,
"the death of the horse is the life of the "dog," and "it is an ill-wind
that blows nobody good." The learned Sergeant BEST displayed such
_extraordinary_ talents upon this trial, that he was rewarded with a
silk gown within one month afterwards. It has been confidently asserted
that when the Prince Regent had incessantly, but in vain, urged the Lord
Chancellor to promote a certain Welsh Judge, this venerable Peer once
answered, "I "cannot conscientiously recommend venality "to the English
Bench." "_Ellenborough, Thompson, Le Blanc_, and _Chambre_, the four
Judges, have long, long ago gone to stand at the bar of a special
commission to receive the sentence of the Judge of judges; but it is
doubtful whether they carried with them so strong a recommendation
to mercy as that which was urged, in vain, for poor Despard. We all
recollect how the then Attorney-General, Spencer Perceval, went out of
the world headlong by a shot, from the unerring aim of Bellingham. The
junior counsel for the exown, ABBOTT, and the senior counsel for the
prisoner, BEST, are both now placed in the same seat in the Court of
King's Bench. It also is a fact worth recording, that the _most violent_
of all Colonel Despard's associates had _no Bill_ found against him,
although _two_ were preferred, one in Surrey and one in Middlesex.
It came out in evidence, that this person was more violent and more
determined than any other, and made use of the most outrageous
denunciations against the Government, and against any of his comrades
who might betray them, or refuse to go the lengths that he did. The
Government had this evidence, and it came out, upon the examination of
Thomas Blades, that this person threatened that he would blow any one's
brains out that showed any symptoms of cowardice, and that he would
plant a dagger in the breast of any one who should divulge their secret.
And yet, the same Grand Jury that found the Bills against Colonel
Despard and others, threw out the Bills against this said violent and
courageous gentleman. This is exactly the same game that was played by
Edwards and Castles; these two scoundrels were the most violent, and
urged on their unfortunate victims to deeds of desperation, yet they
escaped not only punishment but even indictment. What a lesson for
all Reformers, to avoid the snares of the most violent men, who are
generally the agents of Government! All these worthies contrived to get
into my company, _Castles_ ONCE, _Edwards_ ONCE, and this said person
who played such an active part in Colonel Despard's affair ONCE, and
_only once_ each; _once_ was quite enough for me. It has often been
said, by my friends, that Providence interfered to prevent my falling
into the trap of these villains. It is very true; but Providence
interfered in this way, Providence gave me resolution never to attend
any private meetings, never to be concerned in any private cabal, never
to get drunk, or associate with persons who frequented public houses; in
fact, Providence has filled my heart with a desire to promote the
welfare and happiness of my fellow-creatures, by a bold, straight
forward, public, open course. In private life, I have relaxed into all
the delightful enjoyments of domestic happiness, where I have very
seldom suffered politics and her boisterous train to interfere with
my rural felicity; but whenever I have come before the public, I have
always, with an inflexible resolution, cast all selfish considerations
behind me, and given a loose to that "_amor patria_" with which my bosom
ever glows, when I am in the presence of my fellow-countrymen. I have
always said bolder things, and used more of what is called violent
language, in public, than I ever allowed to escape from my lips in my
happy privacy. In that privacy I have been in the habit of associating
with friends holding different political sentiments from my own, without
ever quarrelling with them, or thinking the worse of them, on that
account. My safety has, I repeat, arisen from my political honesty. I
have never joined in any intrigue, any cabal, any faction; I have openly
and boldly contended for the natural and legitimate right of every man
to enjoy political freedom; and I pray God that I may breathe my last
before I alter my opinion upon this subject.
I had now resided in Bath nearly a year, occasionally visiting my farm
at Chisenbury and Littlecot. During my residence at Bath a circumstance
occurred of some importance to me and my family. A brewer, of the name
of Racey, had, as I have before hinted, borrowed upwards of seven
thousand pounds of my father, without any other security than his own
bond, in which sum he was indebted to him at his death. As he had not
paid his interest up regularly, I was induced to look a little more
minutely into his concerns; especially as I found that he was living a
very debauched life. My uncle, William Powell, of Nurstead, a quaker,
who was left joint trustee and executor with myself to my father's will,
and had taken the most active part in the management of my father's
affairs, appeared to place full as much reliance in the credit of this
said brewer as my father had done, and he had several times resisted my
importunities, to demand jointly with me better security for this money
than the brewer's own bond. I argued, that my father had a perfect right
to exercise his own judgment, and give what credit he pleased, as it was
his own property; but that my uncle and myself, acting as trustees for
my brothers and sisters, were not justified in suffering so considerable
a sum of money to remain in this man's hands without better security.
He, however, still persisted that the brewer had a good stock, and a
good trade; that he regularly examined his stock every half year, and he
found that it was in a flourishing state. My answer was, the man lives a
very debauched life, and therefore his affairs must be in a precarious
state; but the quaker was inflexible, and nothing was done in the
matter. The brewer continued his debauched course, and neglected
and quarrelled with his family, and my uncle Powell continued his
confidence. At length, the old man carried his excesses so far, that he
not only quarrelled with his eldest son, but he actually turned him out
of doors. This young man was a great intimate of mine, with whom I
had contracted a sort of school-boy friendship; he, therefore, fled
immediately to me for protection, when he was driven from his father's
house. I laboured with great zeal and perseverance to promote a
reconciliation between the father and the son, but I found the former
implacable, and rancorously vindictive against his son, who had been
interfering about some of his father's debaucheries; and he was
consequently not to be forgiven. The young man saw that his father's
affairs were going fast to ruin, and knowing the large sum that he was
indebted to me and my family, he communicated to me the real situation
of his father, and advised me to take some measures to secure the
property that he was indebted to us as executors under my father's will.
I went to my uncle once more, and represented the matter to him, but
he was as obstinate as ever: he answered, that I had taken a prejudice
against the old man, in consequence of his quarrelling with his son; and
that he should decline taking any hostile measures against him; and that
he had a large stock of good beer, for he had lately examined it. I
informed him that he was imposed upon, that the old brewer had filled
up all his large casks, amounting to between two and three thousand
barrels, with _small beer_, in order to deceive him, and make him
believe that it was strong beer. At this he stared a very incredulous
stare, and said that he would look into it, but he delayed it so long
that, when he did join me in taking decisive measures, the whole
property sold for about two thousand pounds, so that we were minus about
five thousand pounds; and every shilling of this loss I attribute to
my quaker uncle's obstinacy--a failing, notwithstanding all their good
qualities, to which this sect is very subject.
I had contracted a great predilection for the son, with whom I had
had an intimacy for some years; and, notwithstanding the loss I had
sustained by his father, he prevailed upon me to join him in a brewing
concern at Clifton, near Bristol: as he had not a shilling of his own, I
was to find the cash, and he judgment. I did this mainly to set him
up in business, although I was not without expectations that it might
ultimately become a profitable concern. I therefore engaged to find a
capital of six or eight thousand pounds; from two to three of which
was to be sunk in building a brewery, the erection of which I was to
superintend, and complete the fabric after my own plan. As soon as this
was done, I was only to find the money, and my young friend was to
manage and conduct the brewing concern. I agreed to all this upon one
condition only, which was, that there should be nothing brewed in our
brewery but genuine beer and porter, made of malt and hops alone. After
some parley upon this point it was at length assented to.
The brewery was built upon the site of an old distillery, at the rising
of a spring called Jacob's Well, at the foot of Brandon Hill, and
immediately below Belleview, at Clifton. The whole was soon completed
under my own eye, and finished entirely on my own plan. I took advantage
of the declivity of the hill, on the side of which the premises were
situated, to have it so constructed that the whole process of brewing
was conducted, from the grinding of the malt, which fell from the mill
into the mash-tun, without any lifting or pumping; with the exception of
pumping the water, called _liquor_ by brewers, first into the reservoir,
which composed the roof of the building. By turning a cock, this liquor
filled the steam boiler, from thence it flowed into the mash-tun; the
wort had only once to be pumped, once from the under back into the
boiler, from thence it emptied itself, by turning the cock, into the
coolers; it then flowed into the working vats and riving casks, and from
the stillions, which were immediately above the store casks into which
it flowed, only by turning a cock. These store casks were mounted on
stands or horses, high enough to set a butt upright, and fill it out of
the lower cock; and then the butts and barrels were rolled to the door,
and upon the drays, without one ounce of lifting from the commencement
of the process to the end. This was a great saving of labour. I left the
concern in the hands of my young friend, with every prospect of success,
and I then returned to my farm at Chisenbury; having, as I was taught
to believe, laid the foundation of a lucrative concern, from which I
expected to derive a liberal interest for the money I had advanced,
which was about eight thousand pounds, and at the same time afford a
handsome income for my young friend. But such is the uncertainty and
precarious state of all speculative concerns of this nature, and such
the inconstancy of friendship, that, instead of ever receiving one
shilling from this concern, I found it still continue to be a drain upon
my purse. Bills were coming due, I was told, and they must be provided
for, or the credit of the firm would be blasted. Duty, to a large
amount, was to be paid every six weeks, and as often I was called upon
to assist in making up the sum. I now began, although much too late, to
curse the hour that I became connected with trade. I, however, did not
despair. I met all the demands, till, having called in a considerable
sum of money, which I had lent to a friend, an attorney, upon his note
of hand, he gave me bills, payable at _one, two_, and _three_ months,
for the amount. These were all absorbed at the brewery, and paid away
in the course of trade, for malt, hops, &c. but the first, second, and
third, all the said bills, were as _regularly dishonoured_ as they
became due. So much for friendly attorneys! and though I had a
sufficient sum in my bankers' hands, Stuckey and Co. to meet the
deficiency, with some exertion of my own, _yet_, such a ticklish thing
is _credit_, and particularly in the illiberal city of Bristol, that I
found my bankers always looked shy at any bills that were carried to
them afterwards. My friend, the attorney, renewed the bills, with a
solemn promise that they should be regularly paid when they became due;
but the word and honour of an attorney, at least of this attorney, was
good for nothing. Fortunately, I only paid one of them away in the
trade; for that and the others were as _regularly dishonoured as
before_.
To meet and overcome such treachery, I was obliged to reside a great
portion of my time at Clifton; and I soon found that, instead of my
receiving regular interest for the money which I had advanced, I was in
a fair way of being drained of every shilling I possessed, if I did not
make a stand. My old friend, Waddington, came to visit me; he was a man
of business and of the world, and I begged of him to look into the
books and advise me. He did so, and at the end of a couple of hours
he returned, and informed me that I had been egregiously deceived,
plundered, and robbed, and that he had not the slightest hesitation in
declaring, that my young friend, in whom I had placed such unlimited and
implicit confidence, was a _great villain!_ I was thunderstruck, and
inquired how he meant to substantiate his charge; his answer was, invite
him to dine with us to-day, and after dinner send for the books, and
I will make him confess his villainy before your face. I followed his
advice, invited him to dine, and after dinner I sent for the books,
under the pretence of explaining something to Mr. Waddington. The books
came; Mr. Waddington turned to a particular account, which he had
investigated in the morning, pointed it out to him, and begged to know
how he could account for such and such entries. My gentleman turned pale
and equivocated. Mr. Waddington turned to another and another, upon
which my protégé stood confessedly a most complete hypocrite; and having
thrown himself on my mercy, he at once obtained my forgiveness, upon a
solemn promise of never being guilty of a similar offence again. Mr.
Waddington expressed his astonishment at my forbearance in not having
him committed, and ridiculed my folly in continuing to place any
confidence in him; adding, "I hanged one clerk and transported two more,
for much less offences than he has been guilty of, and in which I have
clearly detected him."
The young man shewed the greatest contrition, and after he had vowed
reparation in the most solemn terms, he took his leave. The moment his
back was turned, Mr. Waddington declared, that he had not the least
doubt in his own mind that, notwithstanding all the protestations which
I had heard, he was gone away determined to commit some more desperate
act of fraud; and, to convince me of the correctness of his judgment, he
got up at four o'clock the next morning, and stole down to my brewery,
and there he detected him in the fact of practising upon me a fraud
similar to that of which he had been previously convicted by his own
confession. Mr. Waddington came back to breakfast, and informed me of
the fact, and urged my taking immediate criminal proceedings against the
offender. I, however, preferred giving him an opportunity to escape, and
having ordered my curricle I called at the brewery, to say that I was
going to Chisenbury for a few days. He inquired as follows--"_Pray,
Sir, what day shall we have the pleasure of seeing you back again?_" I
replied that it would be in about a week. These were the last words I
ever heard from him. When I returned I found, as I expected, that he had
sailed for America, bag and baggage, two days: after I left Bristol.
I discovered that the concern was in a most wretched state; the debts
had been collected to a shilling, where they were good for any thing.
The cellars were filled with bad beer, although he had had the unlimited
control of the best malt and hops. I had sent my own best barley down
from Chisenbury, and had made fifty quarters of malt a week, for two
whole seasons, for which I had no return, and the amount of my losses
in this concern is incalculable. When he first began brewing I made him
make oath, before the Mayor of Bristol, that he would use only malt and
hops in the brewing of the beer and porter at the Jacob's Well Brewery.
Some time after this, I had some ground of suspicion that the brewer
purchased some small quantity of copperas, to assist his faults in
brewing. I, therefore, ever afterwards made the brewer, as well as his
master, take the oath before the Mayor, that they would use nothing but
malt and hops in brewing.
When the act was passed, making it a penalty of two hundred pounds to
use any _drug, ingredient_, or _material_, except malt and hops, in
the brewing of beer, Alderman Wood obtained a patent for making of
colouring, to heighten the colour of porter. This colouring was made of
scorched or burnt malt, and it was mashed the same as common malt, which
produced a colouring of the consistency of treacle, and having nearly
its appearance. As this patent was very much approved of, almost every
porter brewer in England used it in the colouring their porter; and
amongst that number I was not only a customer of the worthy alderman for
colouring, but I was also a considerable purchaser of hops from the firm
of Wood, Wiggan & Co. in Falcon Square. I had just got down a fresh
cask of this colouring, and it was standing at the entrance door of the
brewery, where it had been rolled off the dray, when news was brought me
that the new exciseman had seized the cask of colouring, and had taken
it down to the excise office. I immediately wrote to Wood, Wiggan & Co.
to inform them of the circumstance; upon which they immediately applied
to the board of excise in London, and by the return of post I received
a letter from Messrs. Wood, to say, that an order was gone off, by the
same post, to direct the officers of excise in Bristol to restore the
cask of colouring without delay; and almost as soon as this letter had
come to hand, and before I could place it upon the file, one of the
exciseman came quite out of breath to say that an order had arrived from
the board of excise in London, to restore the cask of colouring, and it
was quite at my service, whenever I pleased to send for it. I wrote back
a letter by the fellow, to say, that as the exciseman had seized and
carried away from my brewery a cask of colouring, which was allowed by
the board of excise to be perfectly legal to use, as it was made of malt
and hops only, unless, within two hours of that time, they caused it to
be restored to the very spot from whence it was illegally removed, I
would direct an action to be commenced against them. In less than an
hour the cask of colouring was returned, and the same exciseman who had
seized it came to make an apology for his error. His pardon was at once
granted, and so ended this mighty affair; and I continued to use the
said colouring, as well as did all the porter brewers in Bristol,
without further molestation, as long as I continued the brewery; never
having had any other seizure while I was concerned in the brewery.
Now, let the reader look at this circumstance, and compare it with the
account, the malignant account, given of it in the Mock Times, which, I
think, was given to the public while I was in solitary confinement in
the New Bailey, at Manchester, upon a charge of high treason. That was
the time chosen by the cowardly scoundrel, the editor of the Mock Times,
to state "that I had formerly been a brewer at Bristol, and, that I had
made oath that my beer was genuine, and brewed solely from malt and
hops; but that, in turning to the excise books, they found that, at such
a period (mentioning the term) Henry Hunt was exchequered, for using
deleterious drugs in the making the said genuine beer." This was the
time chosen to propagate this infamous, this cowardly, this barefaced
falsehood; the very time when I was locked up in solitary confinement,
in a dungeon, under a charge of high treason; and this is the hypocrite
who pretends never to attack private character. This fellow, Slop, I
never yet saw to know him; but I hope I shall live to look the coward
scoundrel in the face.
In the latter end of the year 1803, an insurrection broke out in
Ireland, and the Habeas Corpus Act was in consequence suspended. Lord
Kilwarden, Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland, was put to
death by the insurgents in Dublin. War had also commenced once more
between England and France. The English proceeded to seize all the
French ships they could find at sea; making the people on board
prisoners of war. In retaliation for this act of aggression, Buonaparte
seized upon the persons of all the English in France, and treated them
as prisoners. This was blazoned forth as a tyrannical act of injustice,
in all the public newspapers, the venal editors of which contrived to
keep out of sight the provocation which France had received, and that
she only seized the English, and made them prisoners in retaliation.
Addington's peace was now, indeed, proved to be what Mr. Fox had
anticipated, in his speech upon the occasion in parliament, "a hollow
truce;" for, to use the minister's own expression, "he had entered into
the treaty of Amiens _merely as an experiment_." A bill called the
Defence Bill was passed; an army of reserve was raised; volunteer corps
were again established all over the country; and every measure was
used to repel the threatened invasion of the enemy. This defence bill
compelled every parish or district to raise a certain number of men, as
volunteers, or pay a fine if it failed to do so. Having endeavoured in
vain to raise their quota, many parishes paid the fine (which by the bye
was not unacceptable to the Government).