was fixed to commence on the 6th of that month. On the 5th I arrived
once more in Bristol, and I was received, if possible, with more
enthusiasm and greater demonstrations of respect than ever by the
people. A most dirty trick was played me by Mr. Protheroe, one of
the Whig candidates. He and his friends, by bribes and threats, got
possession of my inn, the Talbot, which I had occupied upon the former
occasion; and, as I had arranged to go there again, it created some
disappointment to my friends, for these cunning fellows had taken
possession of this inn only the day before I arrived in Bristol. My
friends, however, took me as usual to the Pedestal, at the Exchange,
where, in addressing the multitude, I informed them of this trick that
had been played me, which I had not been aware of till I came into the
city. But I soon convinced these gentry that I was not to be driven out
of the city by such means, although I had been informed that all the
inn-keepers had been threatened with the loss of their licenses, if they
admitted me into their houses. I declared my resolution to take up my
residence upon the Pedestal, where I then stood, if I could procure
no other accommodation. This sort of mean persecution to which I was
exposed, generally, however, brings with it its own remedy; and I soon
had a message from the mistress of the Swan-inn, in Maryport-street,
that she would furnish me with apartments. It appeared that her husband
was a partizan of the Whigs, and would fain have kept me out of his
house, but the lady was resolute, and she discovered a degree of spirit
and independence, in which the gentlemen of Bristol were lamentably
deficient, and I was consequently received into very good quiet
apartments, and received every accommodation and attention that I
required.
There were four candidates--Mr. Davis, the White Lion or Tory candidate,
Mr. Protheroe, and Sir Samuel Romilly, both of whom stood upon the Whig
interest, and myself, who contended upon true constitutional principles,
to maintain the right of the people to free election. The morning came,
and I proceeded to the Exchange, where, while I was addressing my
friends who had assembled in great numbers, intelligence was brought
to me, that the Sheriffs, with the other three candidates and their
friends, were gone to the Guildhall, which was filled almost to a state
bordering upon suffocation. Thus, by another trick, had these worthies
stolen a march upon me, by filling the hall with their friends before
the usual hour. As no time was to be lost, I proceeded thither with as
much speed as the density of the crowd would permit. I believe that no
man except myself would have been allowed to penetrate Broad-street; but
I was cheered by friends and even foes, all anxious to assist me to the
hustings. When I came to the hall-door, the steps were so jammed with
the people, that it was impossible to penetrate through the solid mass
of human bodies, upon which one man, at the top of the stairs, hailed
those at the bottom, as follows:--"Mount Mr. Hunt upon your shoulders,
my friends, and let him pass over us, as he cannot get through
the crowd." This plan was instantly adopted, and I marched along
deliberately stepping upon the shoulders of those assembled, every
individual endeavoring to assist me, as I passed amidst the cheers of the
whole multitude; but when I sprung upon the hustings, the shout was such
as made the old walls of the Guildhall shake, and it was actually so
deafening that it was some time before I could hear again. I found that
the greatest confusion and uproar prevailed, in consequence of the
Sheriffs having stopped up and barricadoed the _Two Galleries_ with
three-inch deal planks, lashed together with strong iron plates and
hoops. These galleries were the very best places for the people to see
the election, as they completely overlooked the hustings and the whole
court, which was calculated more than any other circumstance to secure
fair play. At any rate, every trick, quibble, and foul proceeding, every
fraud and underhanded transaction, that had been attempted at the former
election, by the agents of the factions who had combined against me, was
detected and exposed, and the detection was exceedingly facilitated by
my friends, and the friends of fair play and the freedom of election,
some of whom took care to place themselves in these galleries every day;
and they were sure to be so completely on the alert, that when any thing
escaped my observation, it was sure to be instantly detected by these
watchful lookers-on, who, from their peculiar situation, had the most
commanding power of seeing every transaction that passed. This was a
most galling circumstance to those who wished to carry on their old
pranks, as heretofore, unperceived and undetected.--Amongst this number
was the worthy perpetual Under Sheriff, Mr. Arthur Palmer. He appeared
to be dreadfully annoyed by being thus rigidly scrutinized; and
therefore, as deputy commanding officer over all the _minutiæ_ of
benches, tables, seats, &c. &c. he had, in conjunction with his friend
Jerry Osbourn, proposed and planned this notable scheme, to get rid
of what they considered as so intolerable a nuisance, by curtailing
one-fourth of the space of the hall, which before was infinitely too
small for the purpose of holding an election.
In consequence of this obstruction, the greatest uproar ensued, and a
scene of tumult followed, such as, in all my previous attendance at
public meetings, I had never witnessed before. The people were highly
exasperated at this wanton and daring encroachment upon their rights,
as freemen, to the freedom of election; and every now and then we could
discover a voice more powerful than the rest exclaiming, "open the
galleries! down with the planks!" &c. &c. The pressure of the crowd
towards the hustings now increased to such a degree, and the heat was so
intolerable, that the Sheriffs (the two young Mr. Hillhouses) appeared
greatly alarmed; all were grasping for breath, and I believe that some
would have suffered from suffocation, if the Sheriffs had not resorted
to the expedient of admitting a little fresh air, by dashing to pieces
the large Gothic window, or at least the glass of it, at the back of the
hustings, which they did with their swords. I sat quietly down, and with
my arms folded I calmly looked on in silence upon this tremendous scene
of uproar and confusion. Poor Sir Samuel Romilly! I shall never forget
his looks; he stood aghast, and I saw his eyes were frequently turned to
me, with a sort of imploring expression. The Sheriffs, after having _in
vain_ made repeated attempts to procure silence, appealed to me, and in
the most supplicating manner requested me to address the multitude to
obtain it. I, however, sat firm upon my seat, and resolutely refused to
interfere; saying, that I could have no influence, as the Sheriffs
had, by a trick, shut out all my friends, and packed the hall with the
friends of the other candidates. I therefore begged them to apply to
those candidates, to procure silence from their own partisans. The
Sheriffs did so; but Davis and Protheroe knew they should not be
attended to, and consequently they declined to make the attempt. At
length Sir Samuel Romilly stood forward, but without the least possible
chance of a single word that he uttered being heard: he retired, and
then joined his intreaties to those of the Sheriffs, to request me to
address the people to be silent while the Sheriffs read the writ for
commencing the election. For some time I declined to interfere; and
urged the knight of the gown and wig to try again, repeating what I had
before said, that I could not be expected to have any influence, as the
greatest part of my friends were, by a petty trick of the Sheriffs, shut
out and left upon the Exchange, while the hall was packed and crammed
full by the friends of the other three candidates. I observed that there
were a great majority wearing the colours of Sir Samuel Romilly, and I
entreated him to make another attempt to be heard; he did so, but it was
all in vain. They all now repeated their supplications to me, that I
would rise and endeavour to gain silence, but for, I suppose, nearly
half an hour, I remained immovable. I thought this a proper opportunity
to place the question of my popularity beyond all dispute. The corrupt
hirelings of the press, particularly the corrupt John Mills, the
proprietor of the _Bristol Gazette_, had denied that I was the popular
candidate, and claimed this honour for Sir Samuel Romilly; I was
therefore determined to put this question at rest at once. All the
corrupt knaves of attorneys, petty-foggers and all, looked to me in
the most humble and imploring manner, and they might have looked and
implored till this hour, before I would have stirred an inch, or have
uttered a word to have gratified them, had I not been loudly called
for from all parts of the hall, and the call of the people I instantly
obeyed.
The moment that I rose from my seat I was received with three cheers,
upon which I gave a slight wave of my hand, and immediately, as if by
magic, the most profound silence ensued. I began as follows: "In the
name of the insulted freemen of Bristol, I demand of the Sheriffs to be
publicly informed by whose authority it is that the galleries have been
barricadoed!" (_loud cheers_.) "I'll wait for an answer"!!! The Sheriff,
the elder Hillhouse, "_an unlicked cub_," both of them being mere boys,
totally incapable of performing the office of Sheriff with any degree of
credit to themselves, or honour to the City, drawled out in a faultering
voice, "that the galleries had been examined by the city _surveyor_,
and had been pronounced unsafe." I knew this was a shuffle, as it was
evident that the galleries were most substantial; for, being supported
by large upright solid pillars, they were capable of sustaining ten
times the weight required to fill them with people. I therefore demanded
if the surveyor was present to answer for himself? The answer was, no.
The name of the surveyor was demanded, but an abusive answer was
given by Mr. Perpetual. After a shower of hisses from the audience,
I deliberately declared it to be an infamous shuffle, a premeditated
insult to the citizens, and a step calculated to obstruct the freedom
of election, and to promote and screen bribery and corruption. I,
therefore, desired the people to remove the nuisance, by taking down the
planks and forcing an entrance into the galleries as usual, and I would
be answerable for the consequences. A sailor instantly scaled the
height, and in about twenty minutes the immense barricado was removed,
and the planks, iron and all, were handed over the people's heads into
the streets; and thus what had taken Mr. Arthur Palmer several days to
erect, was now removed in a few minutes. The galleries were soon filled
with several hundred people, and complete silence was restored. To
accomplish this might altogether have taken up two hours. Davis,
Protheroe, Romilly, and Hunt, were duly and regularly proposed and
seconded by their respective friends, and each having addressed the
electors, the show of hands was taken by the Sheriffs, and declared by
them "to have fallen upon _Mr. Hunt and Sir Samuel Romilly, by a very
large majority_;" upon which Davis and Protheroe demanded a poll; and
each candidate having polled a few electors, the election was adjourned
till the next morning.
My friend Davenport had kindly consented to accompany me to Bristol, and
I was surrounded and supported by all my former friends, who had given
me their support during the recent contest, with the exception of a Mr.
Webb, who did not appear amongst them. It was soon found that _he_ had
_openly_ joined the ranks of the enemy, as his secret intrigues and
infamous treachery, during the former election, had been detected by my
friends, who found out that every night, after he left my committee, he
had proceeded to a secret committee of Mr. Davis, and communicated to
them the whole of the plans of my supporters; and, in fact, through this
treacherous caitiff they every night knew what we had done, and what we
intended to do on the following day. Although this was a most diabolical
act on the part of Mr. Webb, and very unfair upon my committee, of whom
he made one, and generally the chairman, yet as I had no secrets, it did
not serve the purpose of my opponents much. To be sure, it in a small
degree enabled them to anticipate and frustrate the effect of the plans
of my committee; but, as I took a straight forward course, it did not
put me off my guard at all, and, besides, as I soon found that all the
projects of my committee were known to the enemy, and was, of course,
quite sure that we had a spy in our camp, I took good care to keep my
order of battle to myself till it was about to be put in force. I must,
however, own that this viper did completely deceive me; as I had not
the slightest suspicion of him till after the election, when he was
detected, in fact, not till I had it from one of the White Lion Club,
that Webb came every night to them, and frequently supped with them
after he left my committee; and even then I was incredulous, till he
related some particular facts, that put all doubt out of the question,
by proving the truth of his information in the most unequivocal manner.
In my address to the electors, I put it fairly to Sir Samuel Romilly, to
declare whether he would support a real Reform in Parliament or not; I
meant such a Reform as Sir Francis Burdett at that time advocated; and I
declared it to be my intention, in case he answered in the affirmative,
to give him every aid in my power. Sir Samuel candidly and honestly
declared that he would vote for a reform of abuses, and also that he
would always vote for a moderate Reform; but that he could not with
consistency favour the kind of Reform for which Sir Francis Burdett
was contending. This reply was received with cheers by his immediate
advocates, such as _Mister_ Mills, and Mr. Winter Harris, who had
declared to the citizens, upon their canvass, that the Knight was a
staunch friend of Reform. As, however, the Knight had never declared it
himself, I thought this the proper time to put the question; the answer
to which the great body of the people received, some with surprise
and some with disgust. I then stated my objections to a lawyer, and
especially my particular objection to a King's Counsel, being a Member
of Parliament for an independent and populous city; which objection was
this, that the moment a counsellor received a _silk gown_, he accepted a
retaining fee from the Crown, to plead at all times against the people.
This assertion was received with cheers from the people, and a burst of
indignation from the partizans of Sir Samuel Romilly. I repeated the
assertion, and added, that in case any one of Sir Samuel Romilly's
voters had an indictment preferred against him for a libel, for any
offence under the excise laws, for high treason, or, indeed for any
offence where the prosecution was in the name of the King, that the
worthy counsellor could not plead for his constituent the subject,
against his master the King, unless the subject would submit to the
juggle of taking out a _licence_, for which he must pay ten or twelve
pounds to the King, to enable the gentleman with the silk gown to plead
against the Crown. This caused a great sensation throughout the hall,
and the truth of it was most vociferously denied by the Romillites, many
of whom declared that it was a base and false assertion. John Mills,
always foremost at such times with his brazen face and stentorian lungs,
roared out that it was a lie. As this gentleman was remarkably deficient
in sense and talent, he endeavoured to make amends by bluster and
violence; this will sufficiently account for the vulgarity of his
language. An apology from him was, however, loudly insisted upon by his
indignant hearers. As soon as silence was restored, I turned round to
Sir Samuel Romilly, and called upon him to say honestly and fairly
whether I had not spoken the truth; and as I stated that I waited for
an answer, the Knight came forward amidst the cheers of his partizans.
Knowing what would be the result, I did not fail to cheer also. Sir
Samuel Romilly said he had no hesitation in admitting that what Mr. Hunt
bad stated was perfectly true, that a King's Counsel could not plead for
a subject in a criminal prosecution, without a licence from the Crown.
If Sir Samuel Romilly had not been present to admit the fact, these
amiable Bristolians would have lied and sworn out of it, but they were
now chop fallen, and I was allowed to proceed without any further
interruption.
During the whole election afterwards, no statement of mine was
contradicted. I said nothing against Sir Samuel; on the contrary, I gave
him full credit for being one of the very, best of the gown and wig
gentry; not one offensive personal expression was used by me towards him
throughout the whole election; neither did he throw out one insinuation
against me; on the contrary, it was the fashion for us to compliment
each other. In fact, he followed my example, and after the poll was
closed for the day, he every evening addressed the people upon the
Exchange from the window of his Committee-room. I always gave him the
precedence to address them, so that had he been disposed to join
his Committee, by endeavouring to practise delusion, I should have
immediately detected and exposed any such sophistry upon the spot. But I
will repeat now what I unequivocally stated at the time, that, had the
Committee and the friends of the Knight possessed half the liberality
and honesty that he did, and practised one-tenth of the fairness that
was shewn upon all occasions by Sir Samuel, I have no doubt but he would
have been elected with myself, instead of Mr. Davis and Mr. Protheroe.
But the Romillites in Bristol were not a rush better or more liberal
than the friends of Davis or Protheroe. There was as much corruption,
bribery, treating, intimidation, and undue influence, exercised on the
part of these hypocritical, professed friends of freedom, as there was
by the partizans of Davis, who was the avowed enemy of freedom, and the
determined, unprincipled champion of tyranny and despotism. By this
conduct the real friends of Reform were disgusted, and the enthusiasm
that was so visible during the former election was paralized: neither
myself nor any one of my friends ever canvassed for a single vote; the
electors had been all canvassed, over and over again, by the partizans
of Davis, Protheroe, and Romilly. I saw that the latter was most
heartily sick of being made the tool of the Whig faction, without any
chance of being elected. Sir Samuel frequently told the people that
they were indebted to Mr. Hunt for the little share of the freedom of
election which they had left them, and although he got behind upon the
poll every day, yet he solemnly declared that he would not resign as
long as there was a man left to poll for him. This declaration, however,
proved to be a bravado, for he resigned on the eighth day, when there
were a considerable number of voters left unpolled in the city, and one
half of the out-voters had not been polled. My friends, Williams, Pimm,
Cranidge, Brownjohn, and others, stood firmly and staunchly by me, and
Mr. Cossens, one of Sir Samuel Romilly's committee, I found also to be
a staunch friend; and I believe this was the only friend I had amongst
them: almost all the freemen that he brought up to the hustings polled
for Romilly and Hunt, but all those of Sir Samuel Romilly's voters, who
were under the influence of their masters, were ordered to give plumpers
for Sir Samuel Romilly, and all of them were canvassed to do so. Such,
however, as had the spirit to follow the dictates of his conscience,
voted for Hunt and Romilly; almost all the London voters did this,
although they were urged to vote for Romilly alone.
During this contest, if it may be called one, the notorious Captain
Gee was a very active partizan of Mr. Davis's; he headed a gang of
blackguards, a set of second-rate prize-fighters, amongst whom was the
notorious Bob Watson. This gang used to annoy the voters of Sir Samuel
Romilly most infamously. Watson used to come into the box, where ten or
twelve of Sir Samuel Romilly's voters were assembled waiting to poll,
and with the assistance of two or three more of his gang, backed on by
Captain Gee, he would hustle and drive them all out of the box, and
prevent them from giving their votes. At length, Sir Samuel was
induced to snake a serious remonstrance to the Sheriff against such an
unwarrantable violation of the freedom of election, and he called upon
the Sheriff to have Watson taken into custody, who had actually been
assaulting several of his voters in the presence of the Sheriff.
Although Mr. Sheriff had been an eyewitness of these proceedings several
times before, yet he felt that, now his attention was thus publicly
called to the subject, he could not connive at them any longer; and as
Watson had been laying about him in the most outrageous manner, in which
he had the audacity to persevere, although called upon by the Sheriff to
desist, Mr. Sheriff ordered his constables to take Watson into custody.
Two or three of these guardians of the peace made a faint attempt to
obey his orders, but Watson beat them all off, and set them at defiance.
Sir Samuel remonstrated again; the constables were called up, and they
informed the Sheriff that, notwithstanding there were fifty of them in
the Hall, yet they dared not seize Watson. Mr. Sheriff, turning to Sir
Samuel, said, "there you hear, Sir, what the constables say, what can I
do more than I have done?" This pusillanimous speech made Watson ten
times more violent than he was before. I confess that my blood
boiled at hearing such language from the Sheriff; and although I was
not personally concerned, as Watson had not touched one man that had my
colours in his hat, yet I felt disgusted and angered to see such partial
and indecisive conduct on the part of the Sheriff, who actually
turned round and appealed to me to know what he should do? I replied
indignantly, "why, commit the constables, and seize the daring violater
of the law yourself, to be sure; you cannot plead that you have not the
means to put a stop to this brutal insolence, when you have the power of
calling every man to aid and assist you." The Sheriff did not like this
advice, or at best he did not attempt to follow it; but made some paltry
excuse, saying that it would be very dangerous to interfere with such
desperate ruffians, and he could not do more than he had done.
All this time Watson was committing the most daring outrages upon every
one who came within reach of his fist. At length I said aloud to the
Sheriff, "Sir, as your constables have refused to obey your orders, will
you authorise _me_ to bring Watson before you?" "By all means, Mr. Hunt,
and I shall really be much obliged to you if you will aid and as
sist." I sprang from the hustings upon the table appropriated for the
inspectors, and from thence into the box where Watson was, and seized
the ruffian by the collar, and almost in the twinkling of an eye I threw
him out of the box upon the table. In the effort I had stripped his
coat, waistcoat and shirt, off his back, nearly down to his waist; there
he stood riveted in my grasp, with his brawney shoulders naked and
exposed to the whole assembly; and the Sheriff and Sir Samuel Romilly
appeared to be thunderstruck for the moment. The Sheriff ordered him
into the custody of half a score of constables, and directed that he
should be taken before the mayor, either to be committed or bound over
to keep the peace, and Sir Samuel Romilly undertook to go and prefer
the charges against him. The fellow was led away thus guarded, and I
received the warm thanks of Sir Samuel as well as the Sheriff; the
former was very sincere, but the latter was most jesuitical. Within five
minutes the news was brought, that Watson had no sooner got into the
street than he upset the ten constables, and made his escape. However,
my decisive conduct had the effect of keeping Mr. Watson out of the hall
for the remainder of the election, and the very brave Captain Gee became
much less troublesome afterwards. Those who saw this transaction will
never forget it.