Enford, the farmers of which had used every means to raise the men;
being, in the first place, loth to part with their money, and in the
next, not relishing the disgrace of not having influence enough with
their labourers to induce them to volunteer. They had already held two
meetings, at which officers were appointed, but no men came forward to
put down their names, although they were earnestly exhorted to do so by
the vicar of the parish, the Reverend John Prince, who was generally
liked by his parishioners. One of my servants, my bailiff, I believe,
wrote to me at Clifton, to inform me of the state of the politics of the
parish, which was, that the men were willing enough, but they did not
like their officers, and that they wished me as an officer. My bailiff
added, that if I would come to the meeting, on the following Sunday,
which was the last intended to be held, and give in my name as their
captain, the number, which was to be sixty, would be volunteered in an
hour. Agreeable to this suggestion I drove to Enford on the following
Sunday, and, as I was late I drove up to the church door in my curricle.
I was welcomed as usual by the kind and friendly salutations of my old
neighbours; but when I came to the church-yard all was solemn silence,
and as still as death itself; not one of the parishioners appeared as
usual upon such occasions. I supposed that the meeting was over, and
was about to return, when one of the farmers came out of the church
and invited me into the vestry, where all the heads of the parish were
assembled, as he informed me, with the vicar in the chair. I followed
him into the vestry room, where I found them all in solemn, sober,
deliberation, brooding over their disappointment, in not having obtained
the names of any of the labourers of the parish. One of them shortly
addressed me, inveighing against this disloyalty and disaffection, and
he informed me, that they had just came to an unanimous resolution to
pay the fine, and not trouble themselves any farther about it, unless
I could suggest some plan to avoid the disgrace and the expence to the
parish. I submitted the propriety of making a proper appeal to those
whom they wished to come forward. They replied by producing a hand-bill,
to which they said they had added their personal entreaties; but all
in vain, as not one man had come forward, although three persons had
volunteered as officers. I hinted that that was beginning at the wrong
end; that the men should have been first enrolled, and then allowed to
choose their own officers.
At this moment the sexton came in, to say that the church-yard was full
of men; women and children; that the whole parish had assembled when
they saw Mr. Hunt drive up to the church; and that the men all said, "if
Squire Hunt would be their captain they would enroll their names, and
would follow him to any part of the world." It was proposed that we
should go out to them, and hear what they had got to say. As soon as
we reached the door, the cry was raised of Captain Hunt for ever!
accompanied with three cheers. This was a most gratifying spectacle to
me; I was surrounded by all those with whom I had been bred up, those
amongst whom I had been born, and with whom, and under whose eye, I had
passed my whole life, with the exception of the time which I had spent
at school. I could do no less than address them, and accordingly I
mounted on a tombstone (an excellent rostrum)--I spoke to them in a
language that they well understood, the language of truth and not of
flattery. I kindly thanked them for the honour they intended me, and the
unqualified confidence they appeared disposed to place in me; I recalled
to their recollections the happy days that we had spent together in
the alternate and rational enjoyment of useful labour and cheerful
recreation; we had worked, we had toiled together in the field; we had
mingled together in the innocent gay delights of the country wake; I had
been present, and had never failed to patronise their manly sports, at
the annual festivals of Easter and Whitsuntide; I had contended with
them, while yet a boy, in the foot race, at the cricket match, or at the
fives court; I had entered the ring with the more athletic, struggled
foot to foot for the fall, and had borne off many a wrestling prize for
the day, which I had never failed to give to some less powerful or
less fortunate candidate for the honour: I had always mingled with and
encouraged their innocent sports, but I had never countenanced any
drunken revelry. In fact, I was so well known amongst the young and the
old, that they all with one accord exclaimed, if Mr. Hunt will be our
captain we will follow where he leads, if it be to the farthermost parts
of the earth. At the same time that I thanked them for, and was highly
delighted with this predilection, I endeavoured to prevail upon them to
accept those who had offered themselves as their officers; and I pointed
out to them the distance at which I should be from them, and the
inconvenience it would be to me to attend to instruct them in their
duty. But all would not do; not one man would put his name to the paper;
not one female urged her relation on to volunteer. I must own that I
felt a conscious pride in their partiality, and particularly upon this
occasion, because a few envious persons had hinted that my family
misfortunes, and my separation from my wife, had in a great measure
weaned the affections of some of my neighbours from me.
At length, after having tried their sincerity fairly, and found it
invincible, I yielded to their wishes, and in an impassioned tone,
I announced _that I would be their captain_; this I did amidst the
enthusiastic shouts of the whole assembled multitude, men, women, and
children; every man pressing forward to sign his name as a volunteer.
But, having obtained silence, I seriously admonished them as
follows:--"My kind-hearted, generous, zealous, neighbours and friends,
recollect what you are about to do, and pause a little before you sign
your names; for I solemnly declare, before God and my country, that I
have no other object in becoming your captain, but a sincere desire to
serve my country; and, as I should be ashamed to become a volunteer, if
I were not ready to lay down my life in defending her shores against the
invasion of a foreign enemy, I shall, therefore, not tender my services,
or accept of yours, upon any other terms than these: _That we volunteer
our services to Government, to be ready at a moment's notice, to march
to any part of the united kingdom, whenever we may be called upon,
and wherever we may be wanted_. Upon these terms, and these alone, I
consent to become your captain."
This was again answered by three more cheers, and a general cry of
"_wherever you, our captain, choose to lead we will be ready to
follow!_" The first men who pressed forward, and placed their names at
the head of the list, were those very men whom, a few years before, I
had caused to be prosecuted for a riot and rescue, at Netheravan. I
never witnessed a more gratifying flattering scene than the village
church-yard of Enford exhibited. Old women were encouraging their sons,
others their husbands, young maidens were smiling their willing assent
to their sweethearts and brothers, and although there was not a single
instance where the men required any of these to urge them on to do their
duty in the defence of their country, yet the approbation and smiles of
the females gave such a zest to the act, and stamped such a sanction
upon the whole undertaking, that one and all burned with the most lively
enthusiasm to become willing agents to stem the threatened irruption
of the invader, and to repel his aggressions even at the risk of their
life's dearest blood. With the exception of two individuals, who had
taken some pique, every man in the parish capable of bearing arms
enrolled himself on that day or the following morning; upon the
completion of which I wrote the following letter to Earl Pembroke, the
Lord Lieutenant of the County :----
_Chisenbury House, August_ 15, 1803.
MY LORD,
Having observed, with infinite regret, in the public newspapers, that
when a general meeting of the various parishes in this neighbourhood
took place, the inhabitants exhibited great apathy with regard to
the situation of the country, and that only a small portion of the
inhabitants of the parish of Enford had signed their names to act as
volunteers in defence of their country in case of an invasion, I was
induced, yesterday, from a sense of public duty, to come amongst them;
and, at their particular and unanimous request, I accepted the offer to
command them, agreeable to the provisions of the late act of parliament.
I have the pleasure now to inform you, that all the men in this parish
capable of bearing arms, with the exception of two, have voluntarily
enrolled their names to act as a company of volunteers, to be at the
command of the Government, to march at a moment's notice to any part
of the united kingdom, where our services may be required. I also beg
leave, in addition to the foregoing, to renew the offer which I made
through your Lordship two years back, of my life and fortune, without
any reservation, to oppose the daring views of our enterprising enemy.
Sir John Poore, your Deputy Lieutenant, has expressed himself much
pleased with the zeal and the alacrity with which the people of Enford
have come forward, and I have to solicit your Lordship's early attention
to this corps (in case our services should be accepted), as I feel
particularly anxious to render their services available as speedily as
possible.
I am, my Lord,
Your Lordship's obedient Servant,
H. HUNT.
_To the Earl, of Pembroke._
Having dispatched my servant off with this letter, enclosing a list of
the names of the volunteers, I appointed to meet them at my house at
Chisenbury on the following Sunday, by which time I expected I should
be able to give them the answer of the Lord Lieutenant; and in the mean
time I returned to look after my brewing concern at Clifton. In a few
days after, I received a palavering letter from my Lord Pembroke, as
follows:---- _Lower Brook Street, Aug_. 18, 1803.
SIR,
I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 15th, enclosing a
list of persons who have volunteered in the parish of Enford. The offer
is most liberal and handsome on your part, as well as on the part of
those who have joined you in tendering such unlimited service, which,
although it far exceeds the limits of the Defence Bill, yet I shall feel
it my duty to lay it before the Secretary of State, that it may receive
that attention which your patriotic offers merit. There will be a
meeting of Deputy Lieutenants in a few days, when your offer shall be
taken into consideration, and receive my early attention.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
PEMBROKE.
_To Henry Hunt, Esq_.
_Chisenbury House_.
I could easily see that there was a shuffle meant here; and I
anticipated that our services were much too zealous and disinterested
to meet with the sanction of his Lordship, and so it proved; for when
I reached Chisenbury House, on the following Sunday, I found a letter,
written by Lord Pembroke to Sir John Melburn Poore, Bart, left for my
perusal, as underneath:----
_Margate, August_, 1803.
SIR,
I find that it will not be in my power to forward the offer from
Enford, in your division, which was communicated to me by Mr. Hunt,
of Chisenbury House. I must beg that you will state to him, for the
information of the members of the proposed company, that I am sorry they
cannot be included in the county quota, in consequence of there having
been a sufficient number already volunteered from that district; but
that, in justice to their marked zeal and loyalty, I shall think it my
duty to state the offer that they have made, to the Secretary of State,
and I shall point it out as an instance of great devotion to the
service, to the notice of his Majesty's ministers, &c. &c. &c.
I am, Sir,
Your very obedient Servant,
PEMBROKE.
_Sir J. M. Poore, Bart._
When I drove into my front court, at Chisenbury House, I found these
brave and zealous fellows drawn up in as good line as I ever in my life
saw in a company of regulars, and they instantly saluted me with three
cheers. They had employed a drill serjeant, and had met to perform their
exercise two or three evenings during the week, and they could already
march and wheel with considerable facility and address. However, as soon
as I had read the letter which had been forwarded by Sir John Poore,
from the Lord Lieutenant, I did not keep them a moment in suspence. I
formed them into a hollow square, and having briefly addressed them,
I next proceeded to read the letter aloud, which appeared to excite
mingled feelings of regret and indignation; every one seemed to feel
that zeal and devotedness were not the qualities that were sought for by
the Lord Lieutenant. We had, however, the great consolation of knowing
that our promptitude and patriotism, not only saved the parish of Enford
from the fine which had been threatened, but also saved the whole
district from the fines that would no doubt have been levied to a
shilling: for the Lord Lieutenant having said that he declined to
forward our offer in consequence of a _sufficient number_ of men in our
district having already volunteered their services, they could not after
that, with common decency, fine any parish in our district for not
offering to volunteer.
I now caused a hogshead of good old strong beer to be rolled out upon
the lawn, and, although our services were not accepted in defence of our
country, yet that did not prevent us from drinking to her success, and
prosperity to her people. My neighbours, when they had finished their
old stingo, were about to depart in peace; but, as is frequently the
case, when men have made free with the glass, reason and liberality
forsake them, so it was here, for some of them wished to proceed
immediately to the house of the miller, who, with his servant, in
consequence of some pique against me, had declined to place their names
in our list of volunteers. Elated with liquor, they proposed to inflict
summary punishment upon these persons, by giving them a sound ducking
in their own mill pond; but this course of proceeding I immediately put
down, by justifying the men in their conduct, and contending that they
had an equal right to withhold their services as we had to volunteer
ours; and thus they escaped the threatened unjustifiable punishment. The
men, however, one and all, renewed their offers to me, that they would
be ready and willing at all times to come forward, to undertake any
service that I might propose to them; and they added the assurance of
their belief, that I would never propose any thing to them that I would
not join them in accomplishing. Thus ended our meeting, and at all
events we had the satisfaction of having done our duty to ourselves and
our country.
Some time after this, I was informed of a very curious circumstance,
relating to this affair. As soon as I sent in this offer to the Lord
Lieutenant, he called a meeting of his Deputy Lieutenants, and laid it
before them; pointing out the unlimited and extensive nature of the
tender of our services, and expressing a doubt whether he should be
justified in accepting it under the provision of the Defence Bill,
without some reduction in the numbers, and modification as to the
extension of the service tendered. This, I understood, caused a very
long discussion; all of them disapproving of the example set by offering
such extensive service; none of the other corps having volunteered to go
farther than their military district, Wilts, Hants, and Dorset. One
of these wiseacres exclaimed, in very boisterous language, against
accepting the offer, and for this sapient reason--"because," as he said,
"two hundred men out of one parish had volunteered to march to any part
of the kingdom to hazard their lives in the defence of their country,
provided they were commanded by an officer of their own choice; _ergo_,
it was highly improper to trust arms in the hands of such a body of
men." Though this was very properly laughed at by some of the more
rational members of this divan, yet they came to an unanimous resolution
to exempt the whole district of Enford from their quotas rather than run
such a desperate risk. Well! I had all the credit of the offer, without
any of the trouble and expence of putting it into execution. I have
detailed these facts as another proof of my enthusiasm. I never acted
from any cold calculating notions of self-interest. If I thought it
right to perform an act of public or private duty, having once made up
my mind, I never suffered any selfish considerations to interpose to
prevent my carrying it into effect.
After all, the troops of Napoleon never landed, and consequently
the mighty heroes of the volunteer corps escaped with whole skins.
Buonaparte, nevertheless, persisted in playing off the bugbear of the
French flotilla at Boulogne, by which John Gull was kept in a complete
state of agitation and ferment. Addington's majorities fell off every
day, in the House of Commons; and by Pitt's intrigues and management he
was at length left in a minority; and, as it was considered much too
disgraceful a thing even by Addington to hold his place after he had
been left in the minority, he resigned, and William Pitt once more
wielded the destinies of England, he being appointed prime minister
on the twelfth of May, 1804. The British navy was unsuccessful in its
attempts to destroy the French flotilla at Boulogne; and three trials to
set fire to the shipping at Havre also proved abortive.
On the eighteenth of May, Buonaparte was declared Emperor of France,
under the title of Napoleon the First. This act was in fact hastened, if
not produced, by the discovery and detection of a real diabolical
plot against the life and government of Buonaparte; in which Moreau,
Pichegru, Georges, and others, were implicated, and were in consequence
arrested. Moreau was tried, found guilty, pardoned, and exiled. The
Duke D'Enghien, grandson of the Prince of Condé, was known to be on the
frontier, connected with these men, and some English agents, who were
concerned in the conspiracy. D'Enghien was urging them on, and zealously
endeavoring to raise a rebellion in the French territories. This he did
in a very conspicuous way, relying upon his own security, he being at
the time in Baden, a neutral territory; but Buonaparte, setting the Duke
of Baden at defiance, entered his territory, and caused the conspirator
to be seized and tried, and being found guilty, he was shot. The despots
of the north, Russia and Sweden, remonstrated against this violation of
neutral territory; but all the other powers of Europe displayed a more
tame and forbearing policy. As the trial and execution of this sprig of
the Bourbons, who was detected in a conspiracy to assassinate Napoleon,
and to produce the overthrow of his Government in France, caused a
universal howling of all the hireling editors of all the newspapers
in this country, against what they called the murder of this Duke
D'Enghien, I shall shortly state the charges on which he was unanimously
found guilty by the Military Court, which was appointed to try him; the
President being Citizen Hulin, General of Brigade. The FIRST charge was
"That of having carried arms against the French Republic."--SECOND, "Of
having offered his services to the English Government, the enemy of the
French people."--THIRD, "Of receiving and having, with accredited agents
of that Government, procured means of obtaining intelligence in France,
and conspiring against the internal and external security of the
state."--FOURTH, "That he was at the head of a body of French emigrants,
paid by England, formed on the frontiers of France, in the districts of
Friburg and Baden."--FIFTH, "Of having attempted to foment intrigues
at Strasburg, with a view of producing a rising in the adjacent
departments, for the purpose of operating a diversion favourable to
England."--SIXTH, "That be was one of those concerned in the conspiracy
planned by England for the _assassination of the First Consul_, and
intending, in case of the success of that plot, to return to France."
The court, composed of military officers, after a patient hearing,
unanimously found the prisoner _guilty_ of all the six charges. The
president of the court then pronounced the sentence as follows:--"The
Special Military Commission condemns unanimously to death, Louis Antoine
Henry de Bourbon, Duke D'Enghien, on the ground of his being guilty of
acting as a spy, of corresponding with the enemies of the Republic, and
conspiring against the external and internal security of the Republic."
However this young man might be pitied, however much we may have
lamented his end, yet he was tried and condemned by the known
and written law of France, which was expressed in the following
terms:--Article 2nd, 11th January, year 5--"Every individual, whatever
be his state, quality, or profession, convicted of _acting as a spy for
the enemy, shall be sentenced to the punishment of death_." Article 1st,
every one engaged in a plot or conspiracy against the Republic, shall
on conviction be punished with _death_. Article 3rd, 6th October,
1791.--Every one connected with a plot or conspiracy tending to disturb
the tranquillity of the state, by civil war, by arming one class of
citizens against the other, or against the exercise of legitimate
authority, shall be punished with _death_. Signed and sealed the same
day, month and year aforesaid. Guiton, Bazancourt, Revier, Barrois,
Rabbe, D'Autancourt, Captain Reporter; Molin, Captain Register; and
Hulin president.