I never saw such drowned rats in my life! they looked wretched indeed!
nevertheless, on I drove, through the City up to Brandon-hill. When I
got there not ten persons were present, but as the rain held up, and the
day became fine, in less than ten minutes there were as many thousands
assembled. I sent my servant with the leader of my tandem to the inn,
and I made _my gig the hustings_. A chairman was appointed, and the
resolutions and a petition to Parliament were proposed by me, and
seconded by Mr. Cossens, and were unanimously adopted by the meeting.
The petition, which was for Annual Parliaments, Universal Suffrage, and
Vote by Ballot, was left for signatures in the City, and in a very short
time it received TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND names. These resolutions and this
petition were carried by a meeting of unarmed citizens, assembled upon
Brandon-hill, which was surrounded by armed troops, drawn up within
sight, and some of them within hearing, of what was said and done by
myself and others who took part in the said meeting. The Bath troops
were commanded on that day by a person of the name of King, a marble
mason of that city. The men were mounted before day-light, when the rain
commenced; and this very gallant officer and profound soldier objected
to the men wearing their _cloaks_. As they were going upon such a
magnanimous errand, such an heroic exploit, he said "he hoped they would
not disgrace themselves by wearing their cloaks." The consequence was,
that these _feather-bed soldiers_ suffered most wretchedly, as they were
soaked to the skin before they had got two miles on the road to Bristol.
Their being kept in this woeful plight all day caused the death of two
or three of them; _Robert Ansty_, a butcher, and _Wilton_, who kept the
Bear inn at Holloway, never recovered from the effects of their trip to
Bristol. There was, in truth, no more call for soldiers at Bristol on
that day than there was for them in the Guildhall at Bath, where there
was no meeting to be held. The Mayor of Bristol and other Magistrates
had sworn in 800 special constables upon the occasion; in fact, the
appearance of the City was more like a besieged fortress than any
thing else. But all this parade was intended only for the purpose of
intimidating the minds of the weak and silly portion of the people and
creating a panic throughout the country. I will venture to say, that the
business of the meeting would have been carried on as quietly, and as
much without any breach of the peace, and without one window having
been broken, had there not been one soldier, or one constable or peace
officer present at the time.
Mr. Thomas Cossens, of Castle-street, manfully stood forward to support
me, and courageously braved the anger of the corrupt knaves of Bristol.
He rode through the city with me to the extremity of it, cheered all the
way by the people, unless it was in passing the new reading room, in
Clare-street, where a few of those who had been sworn in as special
constables were assembled; a little contemptible group of the abject,
dependant tools of the corporation, who, as I suppose, from the
appearance of their lips, attempted to raise a hiss, but their voices
were instantly drowned by the cheers of the multitude; and thus the
meeting passed off as peaceably as if there had not been any bustle made
by the corporation and police of the city, in order to create a riot.
A few days after this, I got a requisition signed by thirty respectable
inhabitants of the City of Bath, the exact number of the corporation
who return the members. Having placed my name at the head of them, I
waited upon the Mayor, a Mr. Anderton, an apothecary, I believe; he was
better known amongst the citizens by the name of Pump-handle. When I
laid the requisition before him, he was presiding at the justice-room at
the Guildhall. He read it over, while I kept my eyes fixed upon him, and
when he had finished the perusal of it, he hemmed and hawed, and began
to make all sorts of excuses, saying that the City of Bath had never
been troubled with a public meeting, and he could not see why there
should be any meeting there now. I told him that there would certainly
be a meeting, whether he called it or not; that we the requisitionists
merely wished to pay him the compliment of giving him, as the chief
magistrate of the city, an opportunity of convening it; but that, if he
felt the least difficulty upon the subject, we would quite as soon
call it ourselves. He replied by some foolish observation, which I now
forget, but the purport of which was, to leave it doubtful whether he
would or would not comply with our wishes. This, however, did not suit
me, and I pressed him for a definite answer. At length be gave such a
one as, before I waited on him, I was thoroughly convinced that he would
give, namely, that he could not think of complying with the request of
his fellow-citizens. So thoroughly convinced indeed had I been that he
would not call the meeting, that, previous to my waiting on him, I had
sent the copy of the placard, calling the meeting ourselves, to the
printer's to be set up, only leaving room for the answer of the Mayor;
so that, within one hour after he had refused, large broadsides were
placarded all over the city, calling the meeting on the following
Monday, in the name of myself and the other persons who signed the
requisition. The meeting was appointed to be held at 12 o'clock, on my
premises, a large yard in Walcot-street, formerly belonging to a brewer,
so that we were totally free from any interruption that might have been
intended to have been given us.
The circumstances attending the calling of this meeting were rather
curious, and deserve notice, to shew how necessary it is upon these
occasions to act with promptness and decision. The calling of this
meeting had been in contemplation for some time. I had drawn up a
requisition, signed it with my own name, and sent it to Mr. John Allen,
who, together with Dr. Oliver and Mr. Binns, had undertaken to get it
signed. Some names, I knew, had been procured, but the business had been
driven off from time to time, and a number of difficulties had been
started; but now that I was come into the neighbourhood of Bath the
thing was to have been done out of hand. I had, meanwhile, procured and
held the meeting at Bristol, and now that it was over I was determined
to see after that of Bath, without further delay. I therefore drove
over, and found matters quite at a stand, and all sorts of difficulties
and impediments appeared to have quite overcome Messrs. Allen, Oliver,
and Co. I saw that it was their determination not to call the meeting;
as they said it was impossible to carry resolutions and a petition for
Reform in a city which was under such a corrupt influence. I requested
to have the requisition handed over to me, and I would get it signed
myself; but, after a great deal of searching the shop of Mr. Binns,
and hunting a long time for the said requisition, IT WAS LOST. To be
humbugged in this sort of way did not suit me; I called for pen, ink and
paper, instantly drew up another requisition, signed it myself, and
sent little Young, my tenant in Walcot-street, and little Hickman, the
assistant at Binns' shop, round with the requisition, to get it signed
by thirty tradesmen who were housekeepers, which I predicted they would
accomplish in half an hour. In the meantime I drew up the copy of a
placard, to be posted on the walls, calling the meeting on the following
Monday, in the name of the requisitionists; I being, as I have already
stated, perfectly convinced that the Mayor would not call the meeting.
As I had anticipated, Hickman and Young returned, in less than an hour,
with the requisition signed by thirty very respectable tradesmen, and
Young and myself carried it instantly and presented it to the Mayor, so
that in less than _three hours_ after I put my shoulder to the wheel,
the requisition was drawn up, signed, presented to the Mayor, and his
answer was printed on large placards, which placards were posted all
over the city, appointing the meeting to be held on the following
Monday. All this was accomplished in less than three hours, though the
little clan of pretended Reformers, Messrs. Allen and Co. had been
humdrumming about it for three weeks, without even getting the
requisition signed. I wish I had a list of the brave men's names who
so promptly signed this requisition; I would certainly record them. I
remember that Mr. Crisp, the hatter, and Mr. Rolf, the shoemaker, and my
tenant, Mr. Young, the builder, in Walcot-street, were three of them;
Mr. Hickman, not being a householder, did not sign it. The day came, and
a hustings was erected in my yard, and when I arrived, not only was the
place full from top to bottom, but all the roofs of the buildings were
covered with people. This also I had anticipated, and provided for. I
had got two carpenters' benches already loaded in a cart, which, upon a
signal being given, were to be taken to the Abbey Grove, to which spot
it was my intention to move that the meeting should adjourn. Accordingly
as soon as I got upon the hustings, I moved that the meeting should
forthwith adjourn to the Abbey-Grove. This was seconded, and, although
it came very unexpectedly, yet it was carried by acclamation. The cart
with the carpenters' benches reached the Abbey-Grove before we did, and
they were placed under the wall of the Abbey-Church. Thither I and
my friends walked, the immense multitude, of from twelve to fifteen
thousand persons, following us through the Marketplace, where many
of the military were drawn up; for, in spite of the example of
peaceableness which, in the week before, the people of Bristol had
exhibited, the worthy Mayor of Bath had ordered out all the troops,
Lancers and Somersetshire Yeomanry; and he had likewise been occupied
the whole of the previous days in swearing in a large body of the
gentlemen and tradesmen of the city, to act as special constables.
These, of course, being present at the meeting, swelled our numbers very
considerably. When we mounted the hustings, the Abbey-Grove was at least
one-third of it crammed full, so that, on a moderate calculation, there
were from twelve to fifteen thousand persons present. A public meeting
of the people for any political purpose had never before been held in
Bath, and therefore it attracted greater attention than is usual in
other cities.
Resolutions were now proposed and passed, which exposed the glaring
injustice of paying away enormous sums of the public money to sinecure
placemen and unworthy pensioners, &c. The Marquis of CAMDEN, who held
the office of one of the Tellers of the Exchequer, a sinecure of
thirty-five thousand a year, being the Recorder of the city of Bath,
gave us a fine opportunity of expatiating on the profligate waste of the
public money upon that corrupt and knavish corporation. Our resolutions
were extremely strong and pointed upon this subject of _our Recorder's_
enormous sinecure; and these resolutions were embodied in our petition,
which was passed almost unanimously, amidst the cheers of the citizens
of Bath. In this petition we forcibly remonstrated against such a wanton
and unfeeling waste of the public money, and urged the necessity of the
immediate abolition of the Marquis of Camden's sinecure. I wish I had
a copy of the resolutions and petition by me, that I might insert them
here, as I conceive this to have been the most momentous petition that
was ever presented to the House of Commons; and the effect which it
produced was more important than that of any other petition that was
ever passed at any public meeting, not excepting that which was passed
at Spafields. At this, as well as at all the public meetings that
I attended, the petition prayed for Annual Parliaments, Universal
Suffrage, and Vote by Ballot; but, as it was the first and only petition
that ever came from a public meeting of the citizens of Bath, we laid
very great stress upon the Marquis of Camden's sinecure, he being the
Recorder of the City.
After this petition had been passed unanimously, it was left for
signatures in several places in the city, but the rendezvous was at Mr.
Young's, who occupied my house and premises in Walcot-street, so that
he was totally independent of the corporation. The meeting was held and
conducted in the most peaceable and orderly manner, and as soon as it
was concluded the people retired to their homes in the same regular and
satisfactory way, each individual being conscious of having done his
duty to himself, his family, and his country. It is necessary to
observe, that Mr. John Allen, a builder, of Bath, who had offered
himself as the popular representative for that city in 1812, altogether
abstained from taking any part in any of the proceedings of this
meeting. He being a mushroom reformer, raised his head for a short
season, and was cut off and disappeared from the political world almost
as quick as a mushroom disappears after a nipping frost. The effect
produced by this meeting did indeed rouse him again for a moment; but it
was only that he might fall still lower, and be totally buried in the
lap of corruption, mingling with its basest tools and dependants. The
petition was signed by upwards of twenty thousand persons, in a few
days.
There had, in the meanwhile been meetings held, for the purpose of
petitioning for Reform, all over the kingdom, particularly in the
North of England and Scotland; which meetings emanated from the first
Spafields meeting; and at almost all of these Meetings resolutions
and petitions of a similar tendency were passed; Annual Parliaments,
Universal Suffrage, and Vote by Ballot, being very generally prayed
for. Hampden Clubs had been formed all over the North of England, by
Major Cartwright, who had sent an agent round the country for that
purpose. The Major had also supplied a copy of a petition for Reform,
to be transmitted to the members of these bodies, which prayed for the
suffrage, or right of voting, to be extended only to all payers of
direct taxes. These petitions being printed upon large paper, were very
generally adopted, as this saved the trouble of drawing up others. A
circular letter had also been sent round the country, signed by Sir
F. Burdett, or rather with the Baronet's fac-simile, which he had
authorised the Major to use, for the purpose of inviting the Hampden
Clubs, and all other petitioning bodies, to send up delegates or
deputies to London, to meet a deputation of the Hampden Club, to decide
upon what sort of Reform the reformers would unanimously agree to
petition for. Great numbers had followed the example set them at
Spafields, Bristol, and Bath; others, who had signed the Major's printed
petitions, only prayed for all payers of direct taxation to be admitted
to the right of voting.
On the 20th of January, 1817, five persons were tried at the Old Bailey,
for rioting in the City of London, on the day of the second Spafields
meeting. Cashman, the sailor, was found guilty, and sentenced to be
executed in the front of Mr. Beckwith's, the gun-smith's shop, in
Skinner-street.
The Parliament was to meet on the 28th of January. About the 24th of
that month, the delegates, or deputies, from the Hampden Clubs, and
other petitioning bodies, from various parts of the kingdom, arrived
in London; and a day was appointed for them to meet at the Crown and
Anchor. I was delegated from Bristol, to accompany Mr. Cossens, who
brought the petition from that city, signed by twenty-four thousand
persons. I was also delegated from Bath, together with Mr. John Allen,
who, seeing the spirit displayed by his townsmen, volunteered once more
to act the part of a Reformer, and he brought up the Bath petition,
containing upwards of 20,000 signatures. The Reformers of Bath and
Bristol gave positive instructions to their delegates that they should
support Annual Parliaments, Universal Suffrage, and Vote by Ballot. Mr.
Allen brought up the written instructions from Bath which he delivered
to me, and he accepted the delegation upon the express condition that he
would support and vote for Annual Parliaments, Universal Suffrage, and
Vote by Ballot. I met Mr. Hulme from Bolton, Mr. E. Taylor from Norwich,
Mr. Warburton from Leicester, and several other delegates from England
and Scotland, at Mr. Cobbett's house in Catherine street, in the Strand,
which was the general rendezvous; and there I first saw Mr. Fitton and
Mr. Kaye of Royton, Mr. Bamford from Middleton, Mr. Benbow and Mr.
Mitchell from Manchester, and many others. Major Cartwright had, in the
meantime, been down to Brighton, personally to ascertain Sir Francis
Burdett's opinion upon the subject; and from him the Major learned that
he would not support any petitions that prayed for _Universal Suffrage_;
that he would support Householder Suffrage and the payers of direct
taxes, but nothing farther. When the Major returned he communicated this
to Mr. Cobbett, who was requested to use all his influence to prevail
upon me to give up Universal Suffrage, and to adopt the plan of Sir
Francis Burdett. I had consulted with Mr. Hulme, whom I found an honest
and staunch friend of Liberty, and he had agreed to support me in
the motion which I had resolved to make at the delegate meeting, for
Universal Suffrage, and Vote by Ballot. The Major, as well as Mr.
Cobbett, had already done every thing to prevail upon us to give it
up for the householder plan, but we were inflexible. This being the
situation of affairs, on the day before the meeting was to take place,
the Major was very anxious for Mr. Cobbett to attend as a delegate; but
to accomplish this was not quite an easy matter, as Mr. Cobbett had not
been elected a delegate by either of the petitioning bodies. The Major,
however, was never at a loss for a scheme, and his agent or writer, whom
he employed at the time, an Irishman, of the name of Cleary, was set to
work privately to assemble some members of the _Union_, which had been
formed in London by the Major, previous to the formation of the Hampden
Club; in fact, the latter sprung out of the former, which was too
democratical for the aristocracy, and they consequently set on foot a
select club amongst themselves, called the Hampden Club; although I
believe, with the exception of the Major and Mr. Northmore, there was
not a member amongst them who was at all disposed to follow the example
of John Hampden. But, be this as it may, Cleary was ordered to get
together, at the Crown and Anchor, the night before the intended
delegate meeting, a chosen number of the members of the _Union_,
expressly for the purpose of appointing two delegates for the
metropolis. Although we were both members of the _Union_, Cleary was
strictly enjoined not to communicate either to me or to Mr. Hulme any
intention of holding this conclave, which was to have been a snug junto
of Westminster men, nothing more nor less than the Rump Committee, who
were to assemble at the request of the Major, to appoint Mr. Cobbett a
delegate, that he might attend the meeting the next day, purposely to
oppose my motion for _Universal Suffrage_, and to move in its stead,
that we, the delegates, should adopt the recommendation of the Hampden
Club, and support the _householder suffrage_ only.
This good piece of generalship could not, however, be carried completely
into effect, as one of the invited party communicated it in confidence
to Mr. Hulme and myself. We laughed heartily at the intrigue of the old
Major and Mr. Cobbett, and agreed that, being members of the Union, we
would unexpectedly attend the meeting at seven o'clock, without saying
a word to any one. We both dined with Mr. Cobbett, and a little before
seven we made an excuse for leaving his table, saying, that we had a
particular engagement for an hour or two, after which we would return
again. Mr. Cobbett strongly opposed our leaving him; but whether he had
any suspicion that we were up to the tricks of the Major and himself, I
never ascertained. However, off Mr. Hulme and I started together, and we
soon arrived at the Crown and Anchor, and desired to be shown into the
room where the members of the _Union_ were assembled. At first the
waiters did not appear to understand us; at length they asked me if we
meant Mr. Brooks and Mr. Cleary's room. We replied, "exactly so," and
in we marched, to the great consternation of Mr. Brooks, who sat at the
head of the table, with Cleary at his right, and surrounded by some half
score of as pretty a picked junto for dishing up a little under-plot
of the sort, as could have been selected for the purpose in the whole
kingdom.
Our unexpected visit, without any invitation, appeared to create very
considerable uneasiness, and even dismay. I informed them that, as we
were both old members of the _Union_, and had accidentally heard that
there was to be a meeting, we did ourselves the pleasure of attending
it, although (no doubt from mistake) we were not summoned. This did not
at all relieve them from the dilemma in which they were placed. After
looking at each other for some time, they cautiously developed the
object of the meeting, and with great timidity and doubt Mr. Brooks
proposed Mr. Cobbett as "a proper man to be a delegate to represent
the Union, at the delegate meeting to be holden the next day." Instead
of throwing any obstacle in the way, which they had expected would be
the case, I instantly arose and seconded the motion; adding, that I
believed Mr. Cobbett to be one of the most proper men in the kingdom
to attend such a meeting, and that I proposed Mr. Brooks as a proper
colleague for him; and I moved that those two gentlemen should be
appointed as the delegates of the Union Society, to maintain their
rights at the approaching meeting. Mr. Hulme seconded the motion, and it
was carried unanimously; upon which we returned to Mr. Cobbett's, and
were the first to communicate the result of that select assembly which
was got up privately, and from which it was intended that we should have
been totally excluded. He appeared astonished, but carried it off with a
laugh.
After this, many, many hours were employed by Mr. Cobbett, in
endeavouring to prevail upon us to give up the plan of supporting
_Universal Suffrage_. He should, he said, propose to the delegates
to agree to the _householder plan_; especially as Sir F. Burdett had
declared that he would not support the former. I lamented differing
from him, but I declared that I would support Universal Suffrage from
principle, in spite of all the policy in the world, and in spite of the
opinion or whim of all the baronets in the world.
With this determination we left him, and met at the appointed hour, at
the Crown and Anchor, on the next day. Major Cartwright and Mr. Jones
Burdett were the deputation from the Hampden Club; and there were, in
the whole, about sixty delegates from different parts of the kingdom
of England and Scotland; but, with the exception of those from Bath,
Bristol, and London, they all came from the North.
Major Cartwright was unanimously called to the chair, and he opened
the proceedings by informing us, that the Hampden Club had come to the
determination of supporting the _Householder Suffrage_; which plan he
strongly recommended to the delegates to adopt, particularly as _Sir
Francis Burdett had declared that he would not support any petition
that prayed for a more extended right of voting._ In truth, the Major,
instead of performing the part of chairman, actually became the
strenuous and eloquent advocate of the Hampden Club, and their notable
scheme of restricting the right of voting to householders and payers of
direct taxes to Church and King; and I must in justice say, that I never
saw an advocate labour harder than the Major did to carry this point,
which I believe he confidently relied upon accomplishlng, as he knew
that he would have the support of Mr. Cobbett's great talent and weight
of influence amongst the assembled delegates.
Mr. Cobbett then rose, and, in a luminous and artful speech, endeavoured
to convince the delegates, or rather to bring them over to the same way
of thinking. He, as well as the Major, were heard with great attention,
but it was with such silent attention as rendered it very evident to
me that their doctrine of _exclusion_ was listened to by the delegates
without any conviction of its truth. It may easily be supposed that I
took good care narrowly to watch the contrivances of those who, by their
votes, were to decide the great question; many of whom Mr. Cobbett had
previously had an opportunity of communicating with, and using his
influence upon, in private. After a most ingenious speech, he concluded
by moving, that the present meeting was of opinion, that the right
of voting for Members of Parliament could be safely and practicably
extended only to _householders paying direct taxes_ to Church and State,
and that it should be recommended to the Reformers throughout the
country to petition for a Reform of the Commons' House of Parliament,
upon the plan of householder suffrage. If not the words, this was the
substance and meaning of the motion.
The moment that Mr. Cobbett sat down, (sat down with perfect silence
round him), to my great astonishment up started John Allen, my
brother-delegate from Bath, and _seconded the motion_ for the EXCLUSION
from the right of voting of all persons _except householders and payers
of direct taxes_; that is, except they were payers of church and poor
rates, and King's taxes. This was the conduct of the volunteer delegate
from Bath, although he had received written instructions, from the
committee of Reformers of that city, to support _Universal Suffrage_.