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 substitute, 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
advertisement 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 circumstance 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 constitutional 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 multitude was scarcely ever before seen
together. All the streets through which the procession had to pass 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 Constitution, the whole Constitution,
and nothing but the Constitution.
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 nobly stood forward to assert their own
Rights, and to excite the People of England to assert theirs.
7. Those Electors of _Bristol_ who, on the 2nd of June, with MR. H. HUNT
at their head, assembled 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 breasts that they merited the hatred and the
execration of the people. Every thing passed off quietly, and the dinner
party broke up in peace, after having passed 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
assembled 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 constituents. 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 circumstance 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 entitled him to have had
his health drank at a public dinner-meeting of his constituents, 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 God; 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 unbiassed 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 title of the White Lion Club, or the
Loyal and Constitutional 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 Constitution. 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 unconstitutional 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 constitutional 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 constitutional principles on
which we ought to act, namely,--'That as to our principles, they are
those of the constitution 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 constitutional 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 constitutional 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 Constitution, and the just rights
and liberties of the people. 6th. That the freeholders, freemen,
and entitled freemen and inhabitants of this city, who have united
themselves, for the laudable purpose of supporting each other in the
free and unbiassed 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 Constitutional Association," 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 passive spectators of the general wreck,
freemen with no other appendage of freedom but the empty name; we
therefore pledge ourselves, individually and collectively, to assist and
protect them in the recovery of our just and constitutional 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 association, 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."
These resolutions were published in the Bristol and London newspapers;
and also, in Cobbett's Political Register, the 8th of August, 1807,
(page 211, vol. 11th.) The reader will see the political ground which I
took, and the stand which I made, almost single-handed, in the city of
Bristol, against the corrupt and barefaced influence exercised by
both the contending factions of Whigs and Tories, over the freemen of
Bristol. I have inserted these resolutions for a twofold purpose; first,
that of shewing that I have never shifted my ground, that I have never
deviated from the straight path of publicly and boldly advocating the
rights and liberties of the people against the corrupt influence of all
factions; and second, to prove that Mr. Cobbett was so well pleased with
my exertions, and so well satisfied that those exertions were calculated
to serve the cause of public liberty, that he voluntarily gave them a
place in his Register, and thus early held me up to notice, as worthy
of public confidence and public support; and this he did, recollect,
although I was not personally known to him, and had never seen him, with
the exception of the slight call which I made on him in Duke Street,
which I have before mentioned.
Mr. Cobbett had already published in his Register my address, of the
18th of October, 1806, to the freeholders of Wiltshire; he had published
an account of my health being drank, at the largest public dinner ever
held in England, on the 29th June, 1807; and on the 8th of August, in
the same year, he published the foregoing resolutions, with my name to
them, as the chairman, and which resolutions he knew were drawn up by
_me_; therefore, I must seriously ask the reader how I am to account for
the scurrilous letter being written by Mr. Cobbett to Wright, cautioning
the committee of the electors of Westminster to _beware of me_? If this
letter be not a forgery, Mr. Cobbett was _openly_ recommending me to
the notice of the public, in his Political Register, while he was
_privately_ vilifying me by letter, and recommending the Westminster
committee to beware of me, as I was a sad fellow. For the honour of
human nature I should yet hope that this letter was a forgery, either of
Wright's or Cleary's.
Let it, however, be whichever it may, it had not the desired effect.
These exertions of mine in the city of Bristol, and my boldly avowing
the principles acted upon by the Westminster committee, and professed by
Sir Francis Burdett, met with the approbation and sanction of both, and
a correspondence was kept up between us. The baronet professed to be
greatly delighted with what I had done, and urged me to persevere in so
laudable an undertaking as that of putting myself at the head of the
independent electors of Bristol, to prepare them for following the
example so nobly set by the electors of Westminster. I have preserved
all the Honourable Baronet's letters, with the exception of three or
four, that he ever wrote to me during our political connection, which
may now be said to have commenced. Though as yet we had never had a
personal interview, he, nevertheless, corresponded with me with great
frankness and confidence; which _confidence_, I beg him to make himself
perfectly satisfied, shall never be basely betrayed by me, even if he
should behave to me worse than he already has done; even if he should
employ his hopeful paid agent Cleary to read upon the hustings a private
letter a day, for the remainder of his life. I will, at a proper period,
state my reason for destroying two or three of his letters, in the
spring of 1817. But he may rest assured that I will not betray any of
his private communications to me; I will not follow his example by
basely exposing a _private letter;_ even should he again hire James
Mills to propagate a report, which he, Burdett, as well as his agent,
knew to be a falsehood totally without foundation; namely, that I had
a government protection in my pocket when I attended the great public
meeting at Manchester, on the 16th of August, 1819. Even if the baronet
should hire a fellow to propagate another such a cowardly and infamous
fabrication as that, yet I will not publish any of his private letters
to me about ----.
But I beg the reader not to misunderstand me; most of the baronet's
letters to me were of a _public nature_, and those that were private,
were not about my business, but his own. Thank God! he has no letters
from _me_, about any _money transactions_; for I hereby most distinctly
state, that the only money transaction we ever had, the only money that
ever passed between us, was, that I, at his request, once purchased for
him a galloway, for twenty-five pounds, which money he paid me; and I
bought of him a horse for forty-five guineas, which I paid him for at
the time. The horse turned out not worth forty-five shillings. I believe
the Baronet knew that he was good for nothing when he favoured me with
him; but he never offered to make me any allowance, neither did I ever
expect it, or apply for it. I never blamed him for this--it was not his
fault, it was my own; he had the horse to sell, and I purchased it and
paid for it, and when I found him out, I disposed of him as well as I
could to a horse-dealer; I certainly did not oblige a friend with him.
After all the Baronet may have thought him a very good horse; he may
have been deceived, or may have been a bad judge of a horse. I was the
fool for believing that he wished to part with a _very good_ horse.
I mention this circumstance, not as any thing against the Baronet,
because it was my business not to have taken any one's word, not to have
bought a "pig in a poke;" but I mention it, merely to show the reader
that, although I was, for many years, intimately and closely connected
with Sir Francis Burdett, this is the only money transaction we ever
had, with the exception of his having given me cash for a country
banker's draft on his banker in London, made payable to my order,
at seven or fourteen days, I forget which it was. Although I was
comparatively a poor man, and he a most wealthy one, I was never
indebted to him a guinea in my life, nor ever solicited the loan of a
guinea from him.
I have said that I will never publish any of his private letters, but I
hereby authorize him to publish any one or every letter he ever received
from me in his life; and if he does not choose to do this, yet wishes it
to be done, and will send them to me, I will publish verbatim, in the
Memoirs, any or every letter I ever wrote to him. During the history
of the next ten years of my life, I shall have frequently to record
circumstances that have occurred between the Baronet and myself; it is,
therefore, but justice to myself, as well as to the reader, to make the
above declaration, as a prelude to that part of my Memoirs, as it may
save the Rump the trouble of circulating a great number of falsehoods,
of which they will ultimately, with many other base transactions, stand
convicted. When I say I was never indebted to or solicited any loan from
the Baronet, I mean to include all his family and connections, _Rump and
all_.