unpardonably witty, both in prose and verse, at the expense of the
poor Whigs, while the _Morning Chronicle_, and other Whig papers, were
equally severe upon me, and the editors did not fail to be very lavish
in their vulgar abuse. That the Whigs were irritated at me is not very
wonderful; it was quite clear that they set their hearts upon this
meeting; in fact, it was got up by the Rump on purpose to gratify them,
the other measures which were brought forward being a mere secondary
consideration; and, after all, their labour was worse than thrown away;
such a complete defeat never having been before sustained by any party
at a public meeting. Yet I will take upon myself to say that, had I
not been there, the vote of thanks would have been passed without the
slightest opposition, and Messrs. Lawyer Brougham and Co. would have
figured away in great stile, and would have sworn that the meeting was
not only the most respectable and the most numerous that they ever
witnessed, but was composed of much the most intelligent, enlightened,
and patriotic citizens in the world; now, forsooth, they were a
despicable rabble, deluded and led away by that abominable demagogue,
Hunt! The fact is, that the multitude are often taken by surprise, and
an English political assemblage is not only the most peaceable, but
the best natured body in the world. They often are misled for want
of thought, and, in the warmth of their hearts, and for want of
explanation, hold up their hands for measures which, upon reflection,
they regret. But if the matter is fairly discussed, and they are clearly
made to understand the question, they always decide right; and they are
not only the most disinterested, but the most honest and upright judges
in the world.
Lord Cochrane, as I have before mentioned, having been sentenced to be
imprisoned and fined 100_l_. for escaping from the King's Bench prison,
it was proposed to pay this fine by subscriptions of one penny from each
person; and the very same Rump Committee, who had been intriguing to
bring in Mr. Brougham for Westminster instead of his Lordship, never
choosing to let a good thing slip through their fingers, and always
looking out to catch the public opinion, and to turn it to their own
advantage, now stood forward to promote this subscription. Boxes were
placed up at Brooks's, in the Strand, the standing treasurer of the Rump
Committee, as well as at many other places in London and Westminster,
and subscriptions, more or less, were sent in from every part of the
kingdom; and, what is very extraordinary, the whole sum was subscribed
to a penny; not one penny was there more or less than one hundred
pounds; at all events, I never heard of any _overplus_, and I am sure if
there had been any _deficiency_ we should have heard enough of it. When
the time came for his Lordship's liberation, it was proposed to tender
the whole in copper-pence, as it had been subscribed; and I believe it
was proposed or suggested by me, that there should be a public meeting
called in Palace-yard, on the same day, and that I would announce to the
people assembled, that we were going down to the King's-Bench, to pay in
pence, Lord Cochrane's fine of one hundred pounds, which would be taken
down in a cart; and I added, that I would give the hint, that those who
wished to accompany us might see his Lordship walk out of the front
door of the prison, instead of escaping over the walls. By this plan I
proposed to bring Lord Cochrane out of prison, and to have him drawn
in triumph through the streets of the metropolis, to his house in
Bryanstone-street, Bryanstone-square, attended by twenty or thirty
thousand people. Mr. Cobbett, who had taken a very active part in his
Lordship's favour, was in London at the time, and he fully concurred
in the propriety of carrying my plan into effect. The original plan of
paying the fine in pence, I believe, was his own: my plan of procuring
the meeting in Palace-yard, and proceeding from thence in a body, being
an after-thought.
As the period approached, there appeared to be a great deal of shuffling
by the Rump, about calling the meeting, and I was on the point of making
some stir in the affair, but Mr. Cobbett said _they_ had considered of
it, and they thought it would be better for me not to have any thing to
do with the meeting, but to let the Westminster people do it themselves.
A hint of this sort was never lost upon me, and I immediately said that
I concurred in the opinion, that it would be much better for the whole
to be done by his Lordship's constituents; but I added, "I am fearful
that some cursed _hitch_ may prevent the thing altogether, and that his
Lordship will at last be left to walk out of the prison by him self."
"Oh!" said Mr. Cobbett, "Peter Walker and the Major will take care of
that." I saw that my services were not wanted, and therefore I retired
the next day into the country, where my business demanded my presence,
and where my inclination at all times called me. Before I left Town,
however, I said in a very emphatic manner, "take my word for it,
Cobbett, there will be no meeting." Mr. Cobbett replied, "By G--, Hunt,
you are a little too bad! You would make one believe that nothing can be
done, unless it is done by you." To this sally I merely answered, "We
shall see."
I went into the country, and, as I had anticipated, there was no meeting
called. The worthy members of the Rump knew very well how to manage to a
nicety a thing of that sort, and they parried the importunities of Mr.
Walker from time to time, till at length they boldly declared that it
was too late to call a meeting. Ultimately the fine was paid, and Lord
Cochrane left the prison quietly, without his constituents knowing
any thing of the matter; whereas, if it had been made public, tens
of thousands would have paid him the compliment to have attended his
liberation, and would have conducted him home, as he ought to have been,
in triumph through the streets of the metropolis.
I forgot to mention that Lord Cochrane's original sentence, for the
Stock Exchange hoax, was, that he should be imprisoned and stand in the
PILLORY. The latter part of this sentence was remitted, not out of any
kindness, but because the more prudent part of the Cabinet considered
the experiment of placing his Lordship in the pillory, to be one upon
which it would be a little too hazardous to venture. It was currently
reported, that, when Sir Francis Burdett heard of this infamous Star
Chamber sentence, he at once declared that he would accompany his
colleague, and stand by his side during the time of his undergoing that
which was intended to be a disgraceful exposure. However, as I said
before, this part of the sentence was remitted, for reasons the most
obvious; since, instead of being a disgrace to his Lordship, it would
have redounded to his immortal honour. The intention of placing men in
the pillory is, to hold them up to the hatred, contempt, and execration
of their fellow-citizens; but it was well known to his Lordship's
persecutors, that their making the attempt, in this instance, would have
had a directly opposite effect: for if they had proceeded to place his
Lordship in the pillory, he would have been greeted with the applause
and affection of the whole population of the metropolis. This exhibition
was, however, dispensed with; but no thanks to the cruel, vindictive,
and remorseless _Ellenborough;_ no thanks to the amiable and the mild
_Judge Bayley_, who passed the sentence; no thanks to the Ministers, who
were only restrained from carrying it into effect by their fears, and by
their fears alone. Those Ministers had already received a lesson on this
subject. When Daniel Isaac Eaton was put in the pillory, for publishing
some work which was pronounced to be blasphemous by the Judges, he was
cheered by the people during the whole of the time that be stood there;
every one endeavouring to console him by kindness and attention. The
cunning Ministers did not want a second exhibition of this sort;
what had passed was calculated to bring the punishment of the pillory
into disrepute with the minions of despotism. The public were become too
enlightened to contribute to the corrupt views of such a tool to the
Government as Ellenborough, and therefore it was that one of the
precious minions of the Whigs was selected to bring a Bill into
Parliament, to abolish the punishment of the pillory, unless upon a
conviction for perjury, and some other particular offence. This Bill
passed through both Houses of Parliament without any opposition, and
without any discussion. The punishment of the pillory surely is as good
a punishment for misdemeanours as it was in the days of Prynne, who had
his nose slit, his ears cut off, and stood in the pillory, by a sentence
of the corrupt Judges of that day, but who lived to see his persecutors
brought to condign punishment. Placing a man in the pillory is an appeal
to public opinion; and therefore no punishment on earth can be inflicted
which leaves greater disgrace upon the character of the sufferer, where
public opinion coincides with and supports the sentence of the Court:
but, where public opinion does not coincide with the sentence, where, on
the contrary, the sufferer is caressed and applauded by the public, it
inflicts no disgrace whatever, but may rather be considered an honour.
It inflicted no disgrace upon Daniel Isaac Eaton, because not one single
soul in the metropolis concurred in the justice of the sentence; the
whole populace applauded him, and protected him, so that if one of the
myrmidons of lawless power had dared to insult him, or to pelt him, that
caitiff would have suffered on the spot for his temerity and villainy.
Had Lord Cochrane been placed in the pillory (and I wish the corrupt
knaves of the day had carried their design into execution), it would not
have been the slightest disgrace to his Lordship; it would have only
shewn that his malignant persecutors thought they had the power to carry
their revengeful sentence into execution. As it was, they had the shame
of having wished to do what they did not dare to do. At all events, the
sentence, the being expelled from the navy and the House of Commons, and
the kicking of his Lordship's knight's banner out of Westminster Abbey,
was quite enough to show what they would have done, could they but have
"screwed their courage to the sticking place."
When this prosecution was commenced, his Lordship was on board a ship of
war, upon the point of sailing to cruise against the Americans, and to
fight against the only free people in the universe. He was at that time
not half a real Reformer, though he had certainly incurred the hatred of
the Boroughmongers, by exposing the villainy of the Prize Courts of the
Admiralty. He had even gone further; he had done that for which he will
never be forgotten or forgiven by them. He had procured a return to be
made to the House, of all the _places, pensions_, and _sinecures_, held
under the Crown. His Lordship took the House rather unawares, he caught
its members in a _complying mood_, and, like a man of war, he pressed on
to conquest, and induced them to grant that which they can never recall;
and for granting which they have scarcely forgiven themselves, and will
certainly never forgive him as long as he lives. It was for THIS that he
was prosecuted; it was for THIS that he was sentenced to stand in the
pillory; it was for THIS that he was expelled the navy; it was for THIS
that he was expelled the House of Commons; it was for THIS that his
knight's banner was kicked out of King Henry's chapel: had it not been
for THIS, he would never have been prosecuted at all; but if these
things had never happened, I believe his Lordship would have never been
a _real Radical_ which now I hope and believe that he is; had it not
been for this, I believe he would have still continued the ornament of
the British Navy, and would never have joined to assist, by his talents
and his consummate naval skill, to emancipate the South Americans from
the slavery of Old Spain, the mother country, as it is foolishly called.
There were great emigrations to America, this year, 1815, both from
England and Ireland, in consequence of the distressed state of the
farmers, who gave up their leases, owing to the decreased prices of all
sorts of agricultural productions. The average price of wheat, during
the year, was sixty-four shillings and fourpence a quarter, about eight
shillings a bushel; the quartern loaf was sevenpence. The supplies voted
this year were EIGHTY-NINE MILLIONS eight hundred and ninety-three
thousand nine hundred pounds, for England, and NINE MILLIONS Seven
hundred and fifty thousand pounds for Ireland, making 99,643,900_l_.
This, together with the expenses of collection, (say five millions) and
ten millions paid for poor rates, makes the round sum of 114,643,900_l_.
collected in direct taxes this year from the pockets of JOHN GULL,
besides tithes and other _et ceteras_. O, brave John! thou art at any
rate a hard-headed and empty-pated fellow; and all in good time thy
pockets will be as empty as thy hard pate now is!
As might have been expected, France and Spain were ruled with a rod
of superstition, wielded by the flinty hearts and iron hands of the
Bourbons, Louis the Eighteenth of France, and Ferdinand of Spain, a
precious pair of English _proteges_. In spite of all the pledges
and securities which had been given, executions, banishments, and
proscriptions were the order of the day, both in France and Spain. In
France, Labedoyere and Marshal Ney fell the victims of Bourbon revenge
and cowardice. A law of pretended amnesty was indeed afterwards passed,
but all the relatives of Napoleon were excluded from residing in the
French territory. In the unhappy kingdom of Spain the execrable and
impotent Ferdinand, impotent in all but cruelty, exercised the most
unlimited powers of tyranny and oppression; a sad contrast to the
comparatively mild and liberal Government of Joseph Buonaparte. In
Spain, almost every man who had assisted Wellington to drive out the
French, in fact, every avowed friend of civil and religious Liberty,
were either executed, banished, or imprisoned by the execrable and
despicable bigoted tyrant Ferdinand, the beloved Ferdinand! May the
vengeance of Heaven pursue him! The Parliament of England met on the
first of February, when Castlereagh moved that a national monument
should be erected, to commemorate the late victories; which proposition
was unanimously agreed to by the "collective wisdom" of the nation. Mr.
Brougham moved for a copy of the treaty signed at Paris, by the allied
despots, commonly called the HOLY ALLIANCE. This was negatived by the
"collective wisdom," who also refused a copy of the treaty of Vienna.
John Gull had to pay for all, but John was not worthy of being trusted
with such mighty secrets.
The Ministers now attempted to continue the property tax; but this
caused such a ferment through the country, that public meetings were
called, and petitions were presented from every part of the kingdom: the
Livery of London set the example, and sounded the alarm, which flew like
lightning throughout the country. Seeing that the public were alive
and anxious to oppose this tax, the Whigs once more made an attempt to
rally; in fact, all the landed proprietors were against it; and the
leading Whigs therefore called county meetings all over the kingdom; we
had a county meeting in Hampshire. It was held at Winchester, and was
called by the Whigs, the leader of whom was Mr. Portal, of Trifolk,
whose father had amassed a large fortune, by making all the paper for
the Bank of England notes. Mr. Cobbett and myself attended, and we
completely frustrated the intention of the Whigs. The Whigs, as we
expected, endeavoured to make a party question of it, and all their
anger was directed against the Ministers, or rather against the Prince
Regent, because he would not turn those Ministers out of place, and put
_them_ in. Mr. Portal called the tax a HIGHWAYMAN'S TAX. Mr. Cobbett and
myself thoroughly exposed those hypocritical Whigs, and proved to the
satisfaction of our hearers, that, if it were a highwayman's tax, the
Whigs had taken to the road in 1807, and robbed the people quite as much
as their more fortunate opponents. I recollect that I took occasion to
remind the worthy descendant of the Bank of England paper-maker, that I
agreed with him fully in the designation that he had given to the tax,
and to assure him that I considered those who collected it as nothing
better than highwaymen; but I begged that he, as well as those that
heard me, would at the same time not fail to remember that I considered
him (Mr. Portal) an accomplice; for he aided and abetted them in their
robbery, by acting as a Commissioner of the Property Tax, and did it
with so much heart and soul, that he sanctioned not only the assessor
and the collector, but likewise scarcely ever failed to confirm every
infamous surcharge that the rascally inspector chose to make.
This caused a burst of laughter, at the expense of the said Whig
Commissioner, who looked extremely foolish. Mr. Cobbett and myself
approved of their petition, as far as it went, but we moved a rider,
which prayed for the reduction of the war malt tax, the reduction of the
standing army, the abolition of useless pensions and sinecure places,
and also for a Reform of the Parliament. The Parsons, the Whigs, and the
Tories, all united and voted against us, and maintained the propriety of
continuing these burdens; and we were consequently left in a minority
upon a division, as always was the case at every public county meeting
that I attended at Winchester, with the exception of the county meeting
held upon the subject of the Duke of York and Mrs. Mary Anne Clark,
of notorious memory. Upon that occasion the public feeling was so
unanimous, that Mr. Cobbett's motion, for a vote of thanks to Colonel
Wardle, was carried by a very large majority. Between the Parsons, the
placemen and their dependants, they have always contrived, at all other
times, to carry every thing before them; when I say _they_, I mean an
union of the Whigs and Tories against the people. I also attended the
meeting at the Common Hall of the Livery of London, to petition against
the renewal of the Property Tax. Although the petitions were by no means
so numerous, nor so numerously signed, as they were against the Corn
Bill, yet as a great body of the Members of the Honourable House were
_personally interested_ in abolishing the Income Tax, they, good souls,
kindly condescended to listen, or at least they pretended to listen, to
the prayers of the people, and on the eighteenth of March this infamous
tax was repealed.
On the nineteenth of April a Bill was passed for detaining the Emperor
Napoleon Buonaparte a prisoner at St. Helena. This Bill will ever remain
a hateful and foul blot upon the statute book of England. Whigs and
Tories joined in passing this disgraceful Bill; an act that will be
handed down to posterity as a stigma not only upon the legislature of
the country, but also upon the character of the age in which such an
unjust and tyrannical proceeding could be permitted. Napoleon was not
the prisoner of England. The moment that peace was signed he was as
free to come to England as any other man in the world, and the English
Government had no more right to seize him, and carry him prisoner to
St. Helena, than the French had a right to seize the Prince Regent of
England, and chain him to a barren rock for life. It was arbitrary,
cruel, unjust, and most cowardly. The protest which Napoleon made
against being sent to St. Helena was as follows: "I hereby solemnly
protest, in the face of God and man, against the violation of my most
sacred rights, in forcibly disposing of my person and my liberty. I came
voluntarily on board the Bellerophon, I am not the _prisoner_ but the
_guest_ of England. As soon as I was seated on board the Bellerophon, I
was upon the hearths of the British people." Alas, poor Napoleon! you
ought to have known that there was then no British people; that the
British people, who formerly held an influence over the mind and actions
of the Government, were no more; that the people of England were become
a set of abject, grovelling slaves, ready to bow the knee and bend the
neck to their taskmasters! The conduct of the Ministers, in transporting
Napoleon forcibly to St. Helena, and afterwards sending out such a
gaoler as Sir Hudson Lowe to worry him to death, was well becoming their
upstart character; for none but the basest cowards will be found to
insult a fallen foe. Mr. Brougham could not hold his tongue upon
the occasion, but must disgrace himself, not only as a man but as a
legislator, by declaring in Parliament, when this shameful measure
was brought before the House, "that the law of nations justified the
detention of Napoleon at St. Helena." Mr. Brougham did not condescend to
tell us what law of nations; but of course he meant to say that the law
of nations would justify any thing that a Government had the power to
effect; this is the only standard by which modern statesmen estimate the
law of nations. On the same principle, or, more correctly speaking, want
of principle, an Act was passed, to restrict the Bank of England once
more from paying their notes in cash; or, in other words, to protect
them from the just demands of their creditors. The Act, however,
explicitly declared that this protection should cease on the 5th of
April 1818, when the Bank should positively pay their debts which they
owed, and which they had so repeatedly promised to pay to the public.
The Parliament was, in this case, like the shepherd boy, who so often
cried "wolf," for fun to alarm the people, that when the wolf really
came and attacked his flock, nobody either believed or heeded his cries.
Thus it was with the Parliament; they had so repeatedly promised the
people that they would make the Bank of England pay their notes, and
they had so frequently broken this promise, that the people firmly
believed that payments in cash would never be made. All those, too, who
read the writings of Mr. Cobbett were persuaded that it was impossible
for it even to be attempted, and therefore those who had any faith in
his predictions were of course totally unprepared for it, on the time
arriving for its being carried into effect.
On the 24th of April, 1816, Major-General Sir Robert Wilson, Michael
Bruce, Esq. and Captain J. H. Hutchinson, were convicted, in Paris, of
assisting the escape of the Count de Lavalette, who was condemned for
high treason, and they were sentenced to three months' imprisonment. A
well-written article has appeared in the _Times_ newspaper, contrasting
the mild sentence inflicted upon these gentlemen, with that which has
been inflicted upon me, of two years and six months' incarceration in
this Bastile.
Some time in the spring of this year, a public meeting was called of the
freeholders of the county of Somerset, and it was advertised to be held
at Bridgwater, John Goodford, Esq. of Yeovil, High Sheriff. I forget now
what was the precise object of the signers of the requisition, but I
believe that it was to congratulate the Regent upon the marriage, or the
intended marriage, of the Princess Charlotte of Wales, to the Prince of
Saxe Cobourg. This I know, however, that the meeting was called by that
faction in the county, at the head of which stood the Rev. Sir Abraham
Elton, Bart. By accident I saw, in a London paper, the advertisement for
this meeting, and though I was then residing in town, I made up my mind
to attend it.
When I arrived at Bridgwater, I put my horses up at the Globe, and
during the time that I was changing my dress, I saw the country people
and farmers ride into the town in droves, but I did not see a single
soul whom I knew; and being a perfect stranger in the town of
Bridgwater, I had to make my way up to the hustings alone. As, however,
I passed up the street, Mr. Tynte, the present Member for that town,
accosted me, saying, "Well, Mr. Hunt, what are _you_ come here? I really
believe that the meeting was called in this town because you were not
known here, and therefore it was expected, or rather hoped, that you
would not come. At Wells they knew you would carry any proposition that
you might choose to bring forward, and I really believe it will be the
same here." After this salutation from him I passed on; he took one
side of the street, and I the other; for as he was a magistrate of the
county, and one of the gang, it would not have been at all in character
to have seen him walking at the same side of the street with me.
I reached the hustings just in time, and up I went with the rest. Little
Squire Goodford opened the proceedings, and had the requisition read,
after which he called upon the people to hear all parties that might
choose to address them, &c. &c. &c. Sir Abraham Elton next came forward,
and addressed the meeting in one of the most bombastical and ridiculous
speeches that I ever heard. He expatiated upon the GLORY that we had
acquired by the war, and the overthrow of Buonaparte, and predicted that
peace, plenty, and their concomitant train of blessings, would strew the
path of John Bull. Of the virtues of the Prince of Saxe Coburg, he
spoke in high-sounding terms; and he drew the conclusion that the union
between him and our Princess Charlotte would contribute greatly to the
happiness, and even safety, of the British people. Some one of the same
kidney followed him, and seconded his motion in a similar strain of
sublime humbug and nonsense.