it is hardly necessary for me to advert to the conduct of
Mr. Hunt, which, in this case in particular, forms a contrast
with that of the other parties too striking not to
have produced a lasting impression upon your minds. He
does not content himself with _talking_ about defending
your liberties. He _acts_ as well as _talks_. He hears that
the enemy is at your camp, and he flies to rescue you
from his grasp. He does not waste his time in a tavern in
London, drawing up flourishing resolutions about "_public
spirit_." He hastens among you; he _looks your and
his adversary in the face:_ he shows you that you may
_depend upon him in the hour of trial_. These, Gentlemen,
are marks of such a character in a representative as
the times demand. Sir Samuel Romilly is a very worthy
gentleman; an honest man; a humane man; a man that
could not, in my opinion, be by any means tempted to do
a cruel or dishonest act; and he is, too, a man of great
talents. But, I have no scruple to say, that I should prefer,
and greatly prefer, Mr. Hunt to Sir Samuel Romilly,
as a Member of Parliament; for, while I do not know,
and do not believe, that the latter excels the former in
honesty or humanity, I am convinced that his talents,
though superior, perhaps, _in their kind_, are not equal, _in
value to the public_, to the talents possessed by Mr. Hunt,
who is at this moment giving you a specimen of the effect
of those talents.
Gentlemen, the predominance of _Lawyers_, in this country,
has produced amongst us a very erroneous way of
thinking with respect to the talents of public men; and,
contrary to the notions of the world in general, we are
apt to think a man great in mind in proportion to the glibness
of his tongue. With us, to be a _great talker_ is to be
a _great man;_ but perhaps a falser rule of judging never
was adopted. It is so far from being true as a general
maxim, that it is generally the contrary of the truth; and,
if you look back through the list of our own public men,
you will find that, in general, they have been shallow
and mischievous in proportion to their gift of talking. We
have been brought to our present miserable state by a
lawyer-like policy, defended in lawyer-like debates.
Plain good sense has been brow-beaten out of countenance;
has been talked down, by the politicians from the
bar; haranguing and special pleading and quibbling have
usurped the place of frank and explicit statement and unsophisticated
reasoning. In Mr. Hunt you have no lawyer,
but you have a man who is not to be brow-beaten
into silence. You have a man not to be intimidated by
the frowns or the threats of wealth or of rank; a man
not to be induced to abandon his duty towards you from
any consideration of danger to himself; and, I venture to
foretell (begging that my words may be remembered)
that, if you elect him, the whole country will soon acknowledge
the benefit conferred on it by the city of Bristol.
Gentlemen, this letter will, in all likelihood, find you
engaged in the bustle of an election. With all the advantages
on the side of your adversary, you may not, perhaps,
upon the _present_ occasion, be able to defeat him.
But you will have a chance; you will have an opportunity
of trying; you will have _an election_; and this you
would not have had if it had not been for Mr. Hunt,
for the whole affair would have been over before you had
scarcely _heard_ of it. At the very least you will have
_some days of liberty to speak your minds_; to tell Mr.
Davis what you think of him and of his predecessor; to
declare aloud your grievances and your indignation; and
even for _this_ liberty you will be indebted to Mr. Hunt,
and _solely_ to Mr. Hunt. You are told of the _zeal_ of Mr.
Prothero and Sir Samuel Romilly in your service; you are
told of their desire to promote your _interest_ and your _honour_;
but where are they _now_? Where are they when
the enemy is in your city, when you were to have been
handed over from Mr. Bragge Bathurst to Hart Davis as
quietly as if you had been a cargo of tallow or of corn?
It is now, it is in this moment of real need, that Mr. Hunt
comes to your aid; and, if he fail in defeating, he will,
at the least, harass your enemy, make his victory over
you cost him dear, and by exposing the sources and
means of his success, lay the foundation of his future defeat
and disgrace.--I am, your friend,
WM. COBBETT.
_State Prison, Nerogate, Monday, 29th June_, 1812.
Such of my readers as are not old enough to remember the events, or to
have read Mr. Cobbett's Register at that time, will acquire from this
letter a pretty cleat insight into the state of the case at this period
of the proceedings. It has already been seen, that, on the first
morning, I made my way to the hustings, and, under every disadvantage,
maintained the right of election in the City of Bristol. I had no allies
but the people; of _them_, indeed, I had the great mass with me; but,
though I had well-wishers in all the richer classes, there was scarcely
a single man beyond the rank of a journeyman, who had the courage openly
to give me any countenance or support. The Whigs and Tories united with
all their accumulated force against me. I had, therefore, to contend,
single-handed, against all _the power, wealth and influence_ of
all parties and factions in the city. All the corporation, all the
merchants, all the tradesmen, all the clergy and priests, whether of the
church of England or of the numberless sects of dissenters, all these,
and all whom they could array under their banners, were volunteers to
uphold the most corrupt and profligate system of election that ever
disgraced the rottenest of rotten boroughs. Then came the hireling
legion, consisting of a swarm of more foul and noxious vermin than
Moses inflicted upon the land of Egypt. It was made up of all the
attorneys, and pettifoggers, with their clerks, scamps, and runners;
every man, or rather every reptile, of them, being profusely fed to
bark, to snarl, to cavil, and to bully; and all of them more ravenous
and ferocious than sharks or wolves. It is, indeed, almost a libel upon
the sharks and wolves to compare them with such creatures. I cannot,
perhaps, give a better idea of them than in the forcible, though rather
coarse language of a mechanic, who declared that, "if hell were raked
with a small tooth-comb, it would not be possible to collect another
such a gang." In the evening, I requested my Committee to procure me a
list of these worthy limbs of the law; and, if I recollect right, the
number was forty-one. I know that it was one under or one over forty,
but I do not know which. There they were, Whigs and Tories, bitter
haters of each other on all other occasions, but now jumbled together
like pigs in a stye, or like hungry curs of all sorts of mis-begotten
and degenerate breeds. I believe that the famous Mr. WEBB HALL, who was
then a practising attorney in Bristol (of the firm of Jarman and Hall);
I believe that this profound agricultural quack of 1821, was, in 1812,
one of the formidable phalanx which was drawn up against me.
O, how this blessed band did roar and bluster, and pretend to be shocked
and horrified at my "matchless impudence," in thinking to oppose "the
amiable" and mighty candidate of the White Lion Club! The reader will
bear in mind that there never had been a real contested election in
Bristol since that of 1774, when Mr. Burke and Mr. Cruger were elected,
upon the opposition or Whig interest, to the exclusion of Earl Nugent
and Mr. Brickdale. At the election in 1780, the ministerial faction
returned both members. "From that period till 1812," says Mr. Oldfield,
in his History of the Boroughs, "the city of Bristol has been governed
by two party clubs, and each club has nominated a member, who were
quietly returned without any opposition." The people of Bristol, I
found, distinguished their two factions by the designation of the _high_
and the _low_ party: the Whigs deriving their principal support from the
lower class of tradesmen and journeymen.
The hungry, grasping, quirking attorneys thought they were all the time
pretending to be shocked at my opposition to "the worthy Mr. Davis,"
were, in fact, frightened out of their senses, every moment of the first
day, lest I should make a slip, so as to enable their worthy _leader_,
Mr. Arthur Palmer, the perpetual Under Sheriff, to take an advantage of
it and close the election. These mercenaries were all _hired at five
guineas a day_ each, as long as the election lasted; and of course the
cunning old trickster, Palmer, was always upon the look out to spoil
their sport, by closing the election. This Squire Palmer, this perpetual
tormentor of the poor distressed debtors of the City, was a cavilling,
quibbling, empty-headed, testy, old womanish chap, scarcely worthy to be
designated by the title of a man. He was eternally yelping, like a cur,
without any rhyme or reason; and the reader may estimate the pack by the
description that I have given of this, the foremost hound. There was
another of this gang who put himself very forward, and who was very
insolent to some of my friends. Such a looking creature I had scarcely
ever seen in human form; he had coal-black, straight hair, hanging down
a sallow-looking face, that had met with very rough usage from the
ravages of the small-pox. In fact, his face resembled a piece of cold,
dirty, honey combed tripe, and had very little more expression in it;
and the whole was completed by two heavy, dark eyes, which looked like
leaden bullets stuck in clay. This worthy had been going on for some
time in an impertinent way, on which I was about to admonish him; and,
as a preliminary, I asked him, with great coolness, "pray, Sir, is not
your naive Leach?" "Yes," said he, "it is _Leech_, and I should like to
suck thy blood!" This was esteemed a brilliant sally of wit, and was
received with noisy approbation by his surrounding friends. Well! I
thought to myself, I am amongst a precious set of cannibals, indeed, and
it will require all my temper to manage with such a tribe. There, too,
sat the Sheriffs. The one of them, Mr. Sheriff Brice, a sugar-baker,
was as upstart, whipper-snapper, waspish a little gentleman as ever
disgraced the seat of office. I soon discovered that I was not to expect
from him an atom of liberality or fair play. Mr. Sheriff Benjamin
Bickley, the other Sheriff, appeared to be an easy, good sort of man,
that wished to take it all very coolly and unconcernedly--to wit, "you
may settle it just as you please, gentlemen," or some such answer as
that, when he was appealed to. However, there was, altogether, a spirit
of fairness about him, which, when it came to the push, he had too much
honesty to disguise; so that, when he could be moved to interfere,
it was generally with impartiality. These were our two Sheriffs and
returning officers. But, as they thought it quite beneath them to
understand any thing about the law of election, they had their assessor,
a barrister, to settle all the law points with me; this assessor was
Edmond Griffith, Esq. who is now one of the police magistrates in the
metropolis, but at which office I forget. The points of law I carried
nineteen times out of twenty, for I had _Disney's Abridgement_ at
my fingers ends, and that author's volume we made the umpire in all
contested points. Before I proceed any farther, I must say, that, during
the whole of this tremendous contest, Mr. Griffith conducted himself in
every respect like a gentleman and a man of honour; and when I have said
this of Mr. Chancellor Griffith, and Mr. Sheriff Bickley, I shall
not belie any person in the city of Bristol by paying him a similar
compliment. With these two exceptions, I can safely affirm, that I never
received an act of civility, liberality or fair play, from any of that
class that call themselves gentlemen, in Bristol, during the whole
fifteen days that the election lasted. But, to make amends for this, I
received numerous acts of kindness from many worthy tradesmen, and such
proofs of devoted attachment from almost the whole of the population,
male and female, with the exception of the hirelings and dependents of
the gentry, as I have never seen surpassed to this day.
Between the time of adjourning the poll to that of meeting again the
next morning, I received no less than half a score anonymous letters,
threatening my life, if I appeared at the Hall the next day. This had,
of course, no weight with me; but it shows by what a gang of desperadoes
I was surrounded. I had not the least doubt of their good will to put
this threat into effect; it was the fear of a _dreadful retribution that
alone_ deterred them from hiring some of the numerous assassins, who, it
was said, had volunteered for a good round sum to become my butchers.
All sorts of schemes and plans were devised to get rid of me; but
nothing was thought likely to answer. At length it was proposed, by
certain members of the White Lion Club, to bribe me with the offer of a
sum sufficient to purchase a seat from one of the Boroughmongers, if I
wished to be in Parliament. This was believed to be the only plan, and
every one appeared to think that it would be much better to give me
5000_l_. to withdraw, than it would be for them to pay 20,000_l_., which
was the least the contest would be likely to cost, besides all the
trouble to boot. But just as this was apparently unanimously agreed
upon, one of the sapient attorneys, who happened to know me a little
personally, put this very natural question, "Pray, Gentlemen, who is the
man that is to offer Mr. Hunt this bribe?" This, as I was informed, put
an end at once to the scheme; there being no one who would undertake to
be the messenger to bear such a proposition to me. The task would indeed
have been an absurd as well as a hazardous one; for I offered myself to
the people of Bristol upon the Constitutional principle that I would not
spend one shilling, neither would I canvass the electors; and I further
tendered an affidavit, which I offered to swear before the Mayor, that
I never would accept of a place of profit or a pension under the Crown,
either directly or indirectly, either for myself or any one of my
family. It was, therefore, not very likely that I would consent to creep
into Parliament by corrupt means.
Well, the election was fairly begun, two candidates were regularly
proposed, it had been put to the vote, the shew of hands had been
declared by the Sheriffs to be in my favour, a poll had been demanded by
Mr. Davis, the poll was open and votes on each side had been taken, and
the poll been adjourned till nine o'clock the next morning. One thing
was made obvious, on the first day, to my opponents. It was clearly
ascertained that I could not be put off my guard; and that in the midst
of this terrible struggle and hurlyburly, I was perhaps the calmest
and most collected man in the whole assemblage. All hopes of putting an
end to the election were consequently quite banished from the mind even
of the arch-trickster, Mr. Arthur Palmer, and there was nothing left for
them but to endure the fifteen days contest, or try to bring it by force
to a sudden conclusion. It was then, as I have before stated, that
the bludgeon-men were let loose to accomplish the plan, and glut the
vengeance of their enraged and mortified employers; and, after I was
retired to bed at my inn, to recruit my strength, that I might be able,
on the next day, to commence single-handed, the task of keeping in order
these said forty limbs of the law, and dreadful was the struggle. Mr.
Davis had all the power of authority and wealth thrown into his scale;
and finding that I had all the popularity, his supporters set to work
the engines of intimidation, corrupt influence, and bribery. All day
long my voters had to submit to insults and assaults, committed upon
them by the bludgeon-men, who had increased their numbers to eight
hundred. These fellows, together with the whole of the City police,
conducted themselves in the most outrageous manner, by maltreating the
people. Their gangs had absolutely blocked up the whole of Broad-street,
and every avenue leading to the hustings. Information was frequently
brought to me, that these ruffians were assaulting and beating back my
votes; and I frequently left the hustings and went into the streets to
rescue those who were so unmercifully attacked, which I always effected
whenever I went forth.
When the evening came, and the poll was adjourned to the next day, I
retired, mounted my horse, which was waiting for me at the Hall door,
and rode to the Exchange, to give the multitude a history of the
proceedings of the day in the Guildhall. After giving them a correct
detail of the business of the day, and the state of the poll, I urged
every man to get as well armed as he could, and by all means resist the
illegal violence of the hired bludgeon-men; but on no account to strike
first. It behoved them, I said, to stand up manfully for their rights,
and not be driven off the field, particularly out of their own city, by
hired ruffians. I told them that, after I had been home to my inn and
taken my dinner, it was my intention to ride round the city for a little
fresh air, and that I should, if they wished it, have no objection to
my friends accompanying me, to make a sort of general canvass. This
communication was received with universal approbation, all declaring
that they would attend me; and I promised to start from my inn, the
Talbot, precisely at seven o'clock, to ride an hour or an hour and a
half.
At the appointed time they were all as good as their words, and the
Talbot was surrounded by perhaps not less than from ten to fifteen
thousand people. I also was as good as my word, for as soon as the clock
struck seven I mounted my horse, and rode out of the inn yard amongst
them. I was of course hailed with such shouts as made the whole city
ring again. Unaccompanied by any human being whom I knew, I threw myself
amongst them, and made my way through a passage that was opened, over
the bridge and down by the quay, gently following the course of the
river from Bristol-bridge even till I came round by the Broad-quay to
the draw-bridge. The whole of this quay is covered with all sorts
of timber, wood, poles, faggot piles, and other rough merchandise,
principally brought. from Wales. The people eyed these faggot piles very
wishfully; at length one drew out a stick, another followed, till, as
we passed along, the whole male part of the multitude became armed with
bludgeons and sticks as well as Mr. Davis's bludgeon-men. Though I could
have wished that the weapons had been otherwise obtained, yet I must
confess that I was not very sorry to see what had happened, as the White
Lion hirelings had become so outrageously brutal that it was absolutely
necessary to put them down, or the next day we should not have been
enabled to bring up a single vote. Eight hundred ruffians, collected
from the collieries at Kingswood and from Cock-road, the haunt of every
species of desperadoes; such a gang as this, well paid and well filled
with ale, and knowing that, do what they would, they should be protected
by the authorities, was a sort of force that was not to be trifled with.
I therefore gave the word, let none of my friends strike first, but let
no one upon such an occasion as that for which we are contending, which
is for the freedom of election, let no one be insulted or assaulted with
impunity by the hired bludgeon-men. If they once begin to knock down the
people, let them without ceremony be driven out of the city.
Such a body of men as were with me, armed each of them with a good
thick stick, made rather a formidable appearance, and I saw that the
countenances of the citizens, shopkeepers, and merchants, as I passed,
evidently betrayed the greatest alarm. As soon as they had attended me
to my inn, and given me three cheers at parting, the cry was, "_to
Broad-street! to Broad-street!_" which was the rendezvous for Davis's
bludgeon-men, who had got complete possession of that street, and
remained opposite the White Lion the whole of the day, stopping up all
access to the Guildhall, which is in the same street. Every one who was
not of the Blue party, and who had attempted to pass, had been not only
insulted but assaulted, and sometimes knocked down and half murdered.
One man had been killed the night before. Every one now affected to
dread Hunt's mob; but I replied "depend upon it they only want their
rights, and their rights they shall have, as far as maintaining the
freedom of election, or they shall fight for it." In less than a quarter
of an hour after they quitted the Talbot, and before I had finished my
tea, I heard a tremendous shouting, and upon inquiring the cause, I
found that the bludgeon-men had all fled at the approach of my men. On
the evening before, when the people had no weapons, the bludgeon gentry
had received a specimen of what they could do in resisting unjust and
usurped power; and now that the people had bludgeons as well as their
enemies, the hirelings took to their heels, and the volunteers were
victorious, without striking scarcely a blow. The timid and cowardly
race that had employed these bludgeon-men, in whom they placed great
confidence to save them from Hunt's mob, began to quake for fear; but
their fears were groundless. Having by their victory gained that to
which they were entitled, a free and unmolested passage through the
streets of their city, they were content; and, instead of acting in the
same way, that, under similar circumstances, their dastardly oppressors
would have done, instead of committing the slightest depredations upon
any body or any thing, they returned to communicate their triumph to me,
which they announced by three cheers, and then quietly and peaceably
dispersed, and retired each man to his home, without even having broken
a single pane of glass, that ever came to my knowledge. The very idea of
having a free election was, however, quite out of the question with my
opponents. They sent off for the military, as it was reported, without
further delay, though there did not exist the least riot, or probability
of one; in fact, all rioting and bloodshed had been put an end to by
driving the hireling bludgeon-men to quarters, and clearing the streets
of them.
By this time I had received a considerable accession to my forces at the
inn. My committee, or rather the committee of the free men, mustered
very strong. Mr. Williams, a very respectable shoemaker, together with
Mr. Cranidge, a schoolmaster, had now joined the standard of Liberty,
and added their names to my committee. Every one who entered the
committee subscribed his name to act as a volunteer, without the
slightest pecuniary remuneration. There were the two Pimms, Lyddiard,
Mr. Bright, in the Old Market, Mr. Brownjohn, Mr. Wright, the famous
pedestrian, who has lately accomplished such feats in Yorkshire, such
as no one but a real Radical could perform; a Mr. Webb, a sort of an
attorney, a very active man, who was generally in the chair at most of
the committee meetings, and who used to be very particular that
every one who joined the committee should pledge himself to act as a
volunteer, &c. without fee or reward. There was also a Mr. Hornbrook,
who, together with Webb, took a very prominent part in the _talking
department_. There were several more, but these determined Radicals
managed every thing, and carried all my plans into effect. I seldom saw
any thing of the committee in a body, except that every evening I paid
them a mere visit of form for a few minutes. It was real purity of
election; not one shilling was to be spent or given away, every one was
to do his best, and to pay his own share of any little expense they were
at; and so well understood was it, that it was an election of principle,
that scarcely ten persons ever asked for any thing; not even so much
as a draught of porter was ever given away to a voter or any one else.
There was a daily subscription for printing, and that was all the money
that was ever required, and printing was the only thing on which money
was spent. Yet even this was a heavy expense. I have since learned that
there was a rich Quaker, and two or three rich men, that, under the
rose, furnished my committee, or at least some of the members of it,
with liberal sums. There was also a lady at Clifton who did the same;
and, in truth, I have reason to think that money to a considerable
amount was subscribed in this way, which never came to my knowledge, or
to the knowledge of the great body of the committee.