it was crammed to suffocation, and a great many persons who could not
gain admission, were standing at the outside. By the assistance of my
friend Akerman, I contrived to get near enough to the entrance of the
hall, to expostulate with the Sheriff, for attempting to hold a county
meeting in such a confined situation; adding, that a great number of
people were totally excluded, and amongst that number was Mr. Richard
Long, one of the Members for the county. Upon this, Mr. Long replied,
that he was very well off, and that he did not wish to gain admittance.
This, to be sure, caused a great laugh, but I persevered by moving an
adjournment, and after a great deal of noise and squabbling, the Sheriff
agreed to adjourn the meeting to the Market-place, whither we proceeded,
and Mr. Sheriff Penruddock took his station upon the steps of the
Market-cross, where he was surrounded by such a gang of desperadoes as
never disgraced a meeting of highwaymen and pickpockets in the purlieus
of St. Giles's. This gang was headed by the notorious John Benett, of
Pyt-House, from whom they took the word of command, when to be silent
and when to bellow, hoot, hallow, and make all sorts of discordant
vulgar noises, such as would have degraded and lowered the character of
a horde of drunken prostitutes and pickpockets, in the most abandoned
brothel in the universe.--The plan of operations had been previously
arranged, and a set of wretches had hired themselves, to play the most
disgraceful and disgusting part. Lord Pembroke, the Lord Lieutenant of
the county, had ordered and commanded all his tenantry, and even his
tradesmen, to attend the meeting to oppose HUNT. A butcher at Wilton,
who served his Lordship's family with meat, pleaded his previous
engagements on business of importance, as an excuse for his
non-attendance; but he was informed by his Lordship's agent, that if he
did not appear at Devizes, to oppose any proposition that was made by
_Hunt_, he should never serve the family at Wilton-house with another
joint of meat. The gang thus raked together was led on by regular
leaders; Black Jack, alias the Devil's Knitting Needle, was commander in
chief; Bob Reynolds, a scamping currier of Devizes, who was a sort
of lickspittle to Old Salmon, the attorney, was bully major; and a
jolter-headed farmer, of the name of Chandler, who lived on the Green,
was captain of a gang of little dirty toad-eaters of the corporation; in
fact, every scamp who lived upon the taxes--every scrub who had an eye
to a place--and every lickspittle of the corrupt knaves of the
corrupt and vile rotten-borough of Devizes, took a part in these
un-Englishman-like, partial, cowardly, and disgraceful proceedings.
Every expectant underling, every dirty, petty-fogging scoundrel showed
his teeth, opened his vulgar mouth, and sent forth the most nauseous and
disgusting ribaldry. A time-serving, place-hunting, fawning address to
the Prince Regent was moved by some person. It was stuffed with all
sorts of falsehoods, and was supported by John Benett, of Pyt-House,
in an address to the people, which contained nothing but a violent,
dastardly, and unmanly attack upon me, attributing to me all the
disturbances that had taken place in London, and roundly asserting
that I was the cause of Cashman's being brought to the gallows. By the
independent portion of the meeting, this harangue was listened to
with considerable impatience; but he had, nevertheless, every sort of
fair-play shown him, from their natural conviction, that, as I was
present, I should have an opportunity of replying to these infamous
charges: it was this conviction alone that procured him a hearing, and
gave him an opportunity of uttering such diabolical and premeditated
falsehoods. But the fellow knew that he was safe, and that he could lie
and abuse with impunity. He knew that his dirty hirelings would protect
him against a reply from me, and he, therefore, gave a-loose to a most
malignant spirit. The moment that I attempted to speak, the yell began.
About fifty or sixty, or perhaps one hundred, out of two or three
thousand persons assembled, commenced a bellowing and braying like so
many of their four-legged brethren, and they were so well marshalled,
and acted so well in concert, that it was impossible for the great
majority of the people to gain me a hearing. At length the Sheriff,
Hungerford Penruddock, Esq. who looked ready to faint with shame at what
he was about to do, dissolved the meeting, and ordered the Riot Act to
be read, which, I believe, little whiffling Mr. Salmon made a sort of
dumb-show or pretence to do, and then immediately gave orders to have me
taken into custody. Now began such a contest as was seldom if ever seen;
the descendants of a _petty-fogging attorney_, a _bankrupt tailor_,
a _usurious splitfig_, &c. &c. &c. _William H----s, William S----n,
Stephen N----t & Co._ who were members of the corporation, and now
become _great men_, (good Lord, what would their forefathers have
said to have heard this?) aided by Reynolds, Chandler, and Co. made a
desperate effort to seize me, but all their attempts were in vain; the
gallant, brave, and kind-hearted people of Wiltshire surrounded me with
an impenetrable phalanx; they formed an irresistible bulwark with their
persons, which proved an impregnable barrier against all the assaults
of the constables, bullies, and blackguards, that were urged on by the
Mayor and his myrmidons--a "_matchless crew_." I was hoisted upon the
shoulders of those who stood in the centre of this brave phalanx, and
had a perfect view of all their operations. The gang repeatedly returned
to the charge upon the people, with staves and clubs, but the people
stood as firm as rocks, upon whom they never made the slightest
impression, the people all the while acting solely on the defensive. At
length, two ruffians, Reynolds and Chandler, seized my brother by the
collar, one on each side; he was standing as a spectator, taking no part
but that of looking on. My brother smiled at first, but finding them in
earnest, and being surrounded by the whole gang, who began to drag him
off, he let fly right and left, and, as if they had been shot, the two
bullies fell like slaughtered calves upon the ground, and before the
people could get to his assistance, the whole cowardly gang had taken
flight. This all occurred in the Market-place, in the front of the
Bear-inn, where the Sheriff and the notable founders and supporters of
the infamous time-serving petition were assembled, and from the windows
of which they had the mortification of witnessing the defeat, the
disgrace, and the complete routing of their hirelings, and the victory
of the people, who, instead of taking advantage of their success;
instead of inflicting summary vengance upon those who had assaulted them
in such a cowardly manner; instead of chastising those who had conducted
themselves in such a partial, corrupt, unmanly, and disgraceful way;
they peaceably bore me off to my inn. The pot-valiant Jack-in-office,
Mr. Mayor, soon after followed us, with a fresh posse of constables, and
repeated the reading of the Riot Act under my window, amidst the jeers,
the scoffs, the hootings, and the execrations of the people, who had
committed no act of riot, or breach of the peace, to justify such a
measure. From the window of the Castle-inn, where I was dining with some
friends, I addressed the people, and they peaceably dispersed, although
they kept a good look-out to see that there was no attempt made to annoy
or interrupt me. Had any attempt of that sort been made, I believe, from
what I have since heard, that the consequences might have proved very
serious to those who had been concerned in it.
One circumstance that occurred in the evening afterwards is worth
recording. One of my tenants, Mr. George Jones, who keeps the George
Inn, in Walcot-street, Bath, had driven his niece up to Devizes in the
morning, for the purpose of seeing me on some business, and also to
attend the meeting. As an Englishman, he of course wished for a fair
hearing of both parties, and standing near the bullies Bob Reynolds
and his brother, at the time they were conducting themselves so foully
towards me, he admonished them in a way which they did not appear to
relish. Mr. Jones drove home in his gig, in the evening, with his
niece, and just as they were entering Melksham, they passed Reynolds's
brother, who resided there at the time, in the capacity of a paid
serjeant of the Melksham troop of yeomanry. As soon as Mr. Jones had
passed him, Reynolds rode up to the back of the gig, and, without giving
him any notice, coward and assassin like, he struck him a heavy blow on
the back of his head, with a thick bludgeon. Fortunately Mr. Jones wore
a high-crowned stout beaver, which saved his head, but the crown of the
hat was severed in two by the blow. Jones no sooner recovered himself,
than he turned-to, and with his gig whip he gave a sound flogging to
the dastardly ruffian, who sued in vain for mercy, till the whip was
completely demolished. Some gentlemen, who happened to be passing at the
time, and saw the whole transaction, offered to give Mr. Jones their
address, and recommended him to take legal proceedings against the
villain, they vollunteering their services as witnesses. But Mr. Jones
very coolly replied, "I have taken summary redress, and paid the fellow
in his own coin; therefore it will be only necessary to give such a
scoundrel '_rope enough and he will hang himself_.'" Mr. Jones's
observation was not only very just, but most prophetic. _The loyal and
the worthy Mr. Reynolds, a few months afterwards, to save Jack Ketch
the trouble, put an end to his own existence, by hanging himself in a
malt-house._ If what I hear of another of them be true, it is not very
improbable that he may soon follow his example.
As I drove home in the evening from this meeting, I could not avoid
seriously reflecting upon the critical situation in which I was placed
by my friend Mr. Cobbett having deserted me, and stolen away to America.
I had been constantly and faithfully acting with him for many years, up
to the very hour of his flight, for I had now no doubt in my mind that
the report in the _Courier_ was true. I felt indignant and mortified
in the extreme, at this desertion on the part of my friend, at such a
moment, and without his ever having given me the slightest reason to
suspect him of any such intention. My first resolve was this:--let what
will come I will never fly my country, never desert my countrymen in
the hour of peril. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, the Seditious
Meetings Bill had been passed and received the Royal Assent. Many of the
brave Reformers of Lancashire had, in consequence, been arrested and
thrown into dungeons, particularly those who had attended in London at
the delegate meeting; therefore I expected to share the same fate, but
still I made up my mind to this, that I would never run from the danger;
and, as I never secreted myself, but was always to be met with any day,
and every day, I was also resolved that no one should with impunity
treat me in the way in which Messrs. Knight, Bamford, Healy, and others
had been treated. They had not merely been arrested, but their houses
had been broken into, and they had been dragged out of their beds in
the dead of the night, and hurried away in irons to the dungeons of the
Boroughmongers.
When I reached home I informed my family of what it was possible might
happen, and this I did, not to alarm them, but to put them upon their
guard, that they might not lose presence of mind in case of any
nocturnal assault being made upon my house. In my own mind I had firmly
settled how to act: if any messenger from the Secretary of State's
office came to apprehend me in the _day time_, I should attend him very
quietly and peaceably; but if any nocturnal visit was intended me by the
officers of the ministers, I was determined to resist and to defend
my house to the last moment; because by so doing they would leave
themselves without the shadow of an excuse, as they always knew when and
where I was to be found in the face of day. Desperate as this plan may
appear in the eyes of many, it was that on which I was determined to
act. I took with me every night into my bed-room a brace of loaded
pistols, that never missed fire, and my double-barrelled gun, charged
and fresh primed; and any number of men less than four would not have
gained admittance alive into my house in the _night time_. I had
violated no law, I had committed no breach of the peace, and I was
resolved that I would maintain the right of an Englishman's house being
his own castle, in spite of Seditious Meeting Bills, or the suspension
of the Habeas Corpus Act. Fortunately, my coolness and determination
were never put to the test. I, however, never went to bed for many weeks
without expecting the enemy, and cautioning my family not to be alarmed
in case of any nocturnal visit being paid me.
Mr. Cobbett's leave-taking address was published, in which he pretty
clearly intimated what would be the fate of every man that remained in
the country, who had been an active leader of the people in promoting
petitions for Annual Parliaments, Universal Suffrage, and Vote by
Ballot; and he avowed the dread of a dungeon to be the cause of his
leaving the country! As he had never communicated the slightest hint to
me of his intention, so he never made the slightest allusion to me
in his leave-taking address, any more than as if he never had such a
friend. This, at the moment, I considered as most unkind, unfeeling, and
treacherous. But, upon reflection, I esteem it the highest compliment
that he could have paid me; for it clearly proves that he knew the
honesty of my nature too well, to expect that I should have ever
sanctioned so dastardly, so thoroughly unmanly a proceeding as that of
flying from my country, and abandoning the Reformers to the uncontrolled
malice of their enemies, and that, too, at such a moment of difficulty
and danger.
Yet, doubly wounded as I was by the conduct of Mr. Cobbett, wounded
both personally and as a friend of the people, I, nevertheless, soon
endeavoured to find at least some excuse for him, and I made up my mind
not to act the same part towards him which he had done towards me. Real
friendship is not easily alienated from its object. On the very first
opportunity, therefore, I rode over to Botley, to make inquiries about
his circumstances, and, if possible, to serve my friend, notwithstanding
his desertion of me. I found that Mr. Tunno, the mortgagee, had taken
possession of his estate, and that the landlord of the farm which he
occupied, and of the house in which he had lived, had seized for rent;
and, as might naturally be expected under such circumstances, every
thing was going, or rather gone, to rack; all his family had abandoned
the place, and were in London. I called upon the only person in Botley
that used to be intimate with him, from whom I received such an account
as made me form a worse opinion of mankind than I had ever before
entertained. He spoke in opprobrious terms of his former acquaintance,
saying that he, Cobbett, had run away in every one's debt, and, with an
oath, (most brutally, as I felt it) he declared "hanging was too good
for him." I never spoke to this man afterwards; neither was I deterred
by his language from proceeding in my endeavours to serve my absent
friend. I therefore rode on to Mr. Hinxman's, of Chilling, near
Titchfield, who had been for some time a friend of Mr. Cobbett's; and
when I got there I was much delighted to find him as zealous for him as
he had been. He was not merely a professing friend, but he wished to
show his friendship by deeds as well as words, and he had been devising
the best means of showing his friendship. As the result of his
reflections, he put into my hands an address, which he had drawn up, to
the people of England, proposing a subscription of one shilling each
person, to pay off the debts of Mr. Cobbett, and thus to enable him to
return to his country, free from pecuniary embarrassments. This address
was penned in a masterly style, and in every sentiment which it
contained, I fully concurred. I promised to do every thing that lay in
my power to promote its object, and to attend a public meeting,
which was to be called at the Crown and Anchor, for the purpose of
promulgating it; and I agreed to take the chair upon the occasion,
provided that Major Cartwright and Lord Folkestone declined the offer of
it, which was, in the first instance, to be made to them. With the firm
impression on my mind that this plan would be carried into full effect,
I left Mr. Hinxman, perfectly satisfied with the result of my journey of
three days to serve my friend. Mr. Hinxman sent his address to London,
as proposed; but the parties applied to immediately put a negative on
the proposition, assigning as a reason, that it would be establishing a
very bad precedent, to raise a subscription amongst the Reformers to pay
the debts of a man who had deserted the cause of the people, by flying
from the country at a moment of peril and difficulty; and thus at once
was a stop put to the laudable intentions of Mr. Hinxman. There was,
indeed, no possibility of giving any satisfactory answer to such a
reason, and the project was in consequence altogether abandoned. By this
time upwards of SIX HUNDRED PETITIONS had been presented to the House of
Commons, praying for retrenchment, a reduction of the army, and for a
RADICAL REFORM IN PARLIAMENT. These petitions were signed by nearly a
million and a half of people. The only answer that was given to them
was, as the reader has already seen, passing the Seditious Meetings
Bill, and the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. These petitions were
suffered silently to be laid upon the table of the House; nothing that
they prayed for was ever granted, and so far from the Honourable House,
or any of its members, ever answering the allegations contained in them,
they never even condescended to discuss any of the matters contained in
them.
Although Mr. Cobbett, the great literary champion of the Radical
Reformers, had deserted and fled to America, yet others sprung up. About
this period Mr. Wooler began to publish his Black Dwarf, and Mr.
Sherwin published his Weekly Register. These were two bold and powerful
advocates of Reform, and Mr. Wooler, as well as Mr. White, of the
Independent Whig, lasbed Mr. Cobbett most unmercifully for his cowardice
in flying his country, and abandoning the Reformers at such a critical
moment. Mr. Wooler was excessively severe, and he laid it on with an
unsparing hand. I lost no opportunity to vindicate the character of my
absent friend, and in doing this I attacked Mr. Wooler as violently as
he attacked Mr. Cobbett, for which Mr. Wooler denounced me as a spy of
the Government!
Some time in May, 1817, a Count Maubrueil was tried at Paris for robbing
the Queen of Westphalia, when it came out that he had been hired by an
accredited agent to assassinate the Emperor Napoleon, on his journey
to Elba. Maubrueil afterwards published in London the details of this
transaction. On the 17th of May, Messrs. Watson, Thistlewood, Hooper,
and Preston, were brought into the Court of King's Bench, to plead to
charges of high treason. Mr. Hone also appeared, and complained of the
illegality of his arrest on Lord Ellenborough's warrant. On the 30th
of May, the Right Honourable Charles Abbott resigned the situation of
Speaker of the House of Commons, and Mr. Manners Sutton was chosen in
his place. On the 6th of June, Mr. Wooler was tried for a libel on
Ministers; he was acquitted in consequence of doubts having arisen
respecting the validity of the verdict of guilty delivered in by the
foreman of the jury, although some of them were not agreed in the
verdict.
On the 9th of June, Messrs. Watson, Thistlewood, Preston, and Hooper,
were conveyed from the Tower, where they had been confined, to the Court
of King's Bench to be tried for high treason. Watson was tried first.
His trial lasted _seven days_, at the end of which he was acquitted. The
Attorney-General then gave up the prosecution against the others. The
principal witness called by the Crown was the famous Mr. _John Castles_,
the worthy gentleman who feigned asleep in my room at the Black Lion,
Waterlane, on the evening after the first Spafields meeting, and the
same worthy who met me in Cheapside, as I was driving to the second
meeting on the second of December, and who kindly invited me to go to
the Tower with him, which he assured me was in the possession of young
Watson. What follows is curious and worthy of notice. It was publicly
known that _Castles_ was to be the principal witness against his former
associates. I therefore sent a gentleman, to inform the attorney for
the prisoners, that I had become acquainted with certain circumstances,
relating to this Mr. Castles, which would be of infinite service to his
clients. This message was sent a fortnight before the time fixed upon
for their trial; but the 9th of June approached without my having
received any answer. I sent a second message, by another person; but,
as no notice was taken of it, I sent a third person, on the 8th, to say
that I was in town, and unless it was intended to hang the prisoners,
I expected that I should be subpoened, and that I was come to town on
purpose to give my evidence. In fact, this third message rather conveyed
a demand than a request, and I was next morning subpoened.
Another very extraordinary circumstance made up part of this
transaction. Mr. Brougham had been applied to, and I understood had
positively refused to become counsel for the prisoners, and Mr.
Wetherell and Mr. Copley were retained; the former a most decided
rank thick and thin supporter of the Ministers; the latter, as I was
informed, not only a decided opponent of the Ministers, but an avowed
Republican in principle. Mr. Samuel Shepherd was Attorney, and Mr.
Gifford Solicitor-General; and they of course were counsel for the
prosecution. When I saw Mr. Wetherell at his chambers, which was in the
evening of the 9th, after the first day's proceedings were over, and
stated to him what I knew of Castles, he at once declared that my
testimony would be most important, and would most likely save the lives
of the prisoners; and he expressed great astonishment that this had
never been communicated to him before. From what I stated to him, he was
enabled to draw out of Mr. Castles' own mouth, in cross-examination, the
full proof of his own infamy, which he never could have done without it.
After I had given my testimony in court, I saw plainly that the jury had
made up their minds to acquit the doctor, who was the first and only one
put upon his trial. At the end of seven days, the time Watson's
trial lasted, the jury returned a verdict of _not guilty_, and the
Attorney-General then gave up the prosecution against the other three
prisoners. It is very curious that it was never communicated to the
prisoners that I was in attendance to give evidence on their behalf; but
when they saw me in court, they actually thought that I was subpoened as
an evidence for the Crown against them.
Lord Sidmouth now brought in a Bill for the further suspension of the
Habeas-Corpus Act. In the House of Commons, Sir Francis Burdett called
the attention of its Members to the conduct of _Oliver, the spy_, and
of others who had been employed by Government, and who had excited
distressed persons to riot in the North. The county of Middlesex
petitioned in vain against the renewal of the Habeas-Corpus Act. The
Bill passed, and Parliament was prorogued by the Prince Regent on the
12th of July.
On the 31st of July, a public dinner was given at the Crown and Anchor,
to celebrate the acquittal of Watson, Thistlewood, Preston and Hooper,
at which dinner I was in the chair, and upwards of a hundred persons sat
down to it. Hooper very shortly after died; he fell a victim to a cold
which he caught in prison.
Such was the increasing distress of the people in the metropolis,
that the Old Bailey Calendar contained above 400 prisoners for trial;
forty-five more than were ever before known. In this year, 1817, the
Bank of England prosecuted _one hundred and twenty-four_ persons for
forgery, or uttering forged notes. This speaks for itself, and shews the
state of society produced by the Pitt system. On the 22d of September
the Bank of England announced their intention of paying in cash all
their small notes issued before the first of January 1817. This was a
beginning of calling in one pound Bank of England notes.
In this year the Common Hall of the City of London had petitioned
against the passing of the suspension of the Habeas-Corpus Act, and they
had instructed their members to support the prayer of their petitions,
by opposing the measure. As usual, their members set the prayers of the
Livery at defiance, and supported the Bill; at least Curtis and Atkins
did; and as for Alderman Combe, the Whig Member, he was not in the House
during any of the debates. When the Common Hall assembled the next time,
the Waithmanite faction intended to move a vote of censure against
Curtis and Atkins, for not attending to the instructions of their
constituents; and of course they contrived to procure from Alderman
Combe a letter to be read in the Hall, apologising for his
non-attendance in his place in the House of Commons, in consequence of
very ill health, which had prevented his attendance there ever since he
had been last elected, and which, in all probability, would prevent his
attending there any more. This game had been carried on for a long time
by the Waithmanites, and I had made up my mind, whenever an occasion
should offer, to enter my protest against the City of London being
represented by a person who never attended the House, and who was
rendered incapable of doing so from ill health. I had several times
carried some resolutions in my pocket, to the meetings of the Livery,
but no opportunity had offered for me to bring the subject forward
before. As soon as this letter was read from Alderman Combe, which
stated his inability to attend in his place, &c. &c., I told Sir Richard
Phillips, who was standing near me upon the hustings, that, as soon as
the usual vote of thanks was moved to Alderman Combe, I should move some
short resolutions, which I shewed him, as an amendment: "1st, thanking
the Alderman for his past honourable services: 2nd, sympathizing with
him on his illness, and lamenting the cause of his incapacity to attend
the House of Commons: and 3rd, respectfully calling upon him to resign
his seat, to give the Livery an opportunity of electing an efficient
Member of Parliament as their representative, in his stead." I asked Sir
Richard if he would second these resolutions; he replied no, he could
not, but he would ask Mr. Waithman to do it; and away he went in the
honesty of his heart, and told Mr. Waithman that I was going to move
such resolutions as an amendment to the usual vote of thanks to Alderman
Combe, and he very innocently asked him if he would second them? I shall
never forget the city hero's look; be turned round as if he would have
bit Sir Richard's nose off, and in a _whisper_ that I could hear all
across the hustings, replied, "NO _it is meant to cut my throat_."
Sir Richard, surprised and mortified at the mistake which he had
unintentionally made, returned me the resolutions, without saying a
word, as he saw that I had heard Waithman's answer, which I was laughing
at most heartily. I knew that Mr. Waithman would not have joined me in
any measure, even if it had been to save the City of London from an
earthquake, or its citizens from the greatest of all calamities, a
famine; but at the first view of the thing, I did not perceive how this
amendment was calculated to injure or cut the throat of Mr. Waithman.
The dread of this mighty sacrifice did not, however, deter me from doing
my duty. The vote of thanks having been moved to Alderman Combe, I
stepped forward and proposed my resolutions as an amendment; this I did
in the most respectful and handsome manner towards the Alderman, giving
him much greater credit for his past exertions, as our City Member, than
he in fact ever merited.