the brush-maker, who was very young in the ranks of Reform, professed
a determination to take a more active part at a future opportunity.
In conformity with this resolution, he wrote to invite me to attend a
public meeting, to be held at Manchester on the 9th of August, which
invitation I accepted. The intended meeting being publicly announced in
all the London papers, excited a very considerable sensation throughout
the country, and particularly through the North of England. As I
strongly suspected that my letters to Manchester, about this time, were
opened at the post-office, I sent them by other conveyances than by the
post. My family appeared to dread my second visit to Manchester, and to
forebode some fatal accident, and they endeavoured to persuade me not to
attend; but, although I did not anticipate a very pleasant journey, yet
I had given my word, and that was quite enough to insure my attendance.
On my road, I stopped to bait my horse at Wolseley Bridge. As soon as I
arrived, the landlord of the inn addressed me, and begged to know if my
name was Hunt. I answered in the affirmative; upon which he delivered an
invitation from Sir Charles Wolseley, requesting me to call on him. He
lived only about a hundred yards from the inn. The fact was, I had slept
at Coventry the night before, where I met Messrs. Goodman, Lewis, and
Flavel, and one of them had written to Sir Charles Wolseley, to say that
I should pass Wolseley Bridge in the morning, and this induced him to
leave the message which I have mentioned. I accepted his invitation, and
this was the first time that I ever met the worthy Baronet in private.
I spent a few hours very pleasantly with Sir Charles, who had also, I
understood, been invited to attend the meeting at Manchester; but some
family reasons prevented him from complying. When I arrived at Bullock
Smithey, near Stockport, I heard that the meeting was put off, and that
another meeting was advertised to be held on the 16th of August, the
following Monday. The cause of this was, that Mr. Johnson and those
concerned in calling the meeting had, in their advertisements, stated
one of the objects to be, that of electing a representative or
legislatorial attorney for Manchester. This foolish proposition,
directly in the face of the late proclamation, was seized on by the
Magistrates of Manchester, and they issued hand-bills, and had placards
posted all over the town, denouncing the intended meeting as illegal,
and cautioning all persons "_to abstain at their peril from attending
it_." Upon this, Mr. Saxton had taken a journey to Liverpool, to obtain
the advice of some barrister, of the name of Raincock, who gave it as
his opinion that the meeting was advertised for an illegal purpose, and
that the Magistrates would be justified in preventing it, or dispersing
the people when they were assembled. The parties concerned immediately,
therefore, advertised, and placarded the town, to say that the meeting
would not take place on the 9th of August; but that another meeting
would be convened on Monday the 16th of August, "_to take into
consideration the best and most legal means of obtaining a Reform in the
Commons' House of Parliament_." A requisition in these words was
immediately drawn up, signed by upwards of seven hundred of the
inhabitants, and addressed to the Boroughreeve of Manchester, requesting
him to call the meeting. It was presented to the Boroughreeve, who
haughtily refused to call the meeting, whereupon it was immediately
called in the name of those who signed the requisition, and was
appointed by them to be held on the _sixteenth_. All this had taken
place; the original meeting of the _ninth_, to which I had been invited,
had been abandoned, the new requisition had been signed, and the meeting
of the 16th had been appointed, without my having in any way received
the slightest intimation of what had been going on. I had arrived on the
eighth at Bullock Smithey, which is within ten miles of Manchester, and
within three miles of Stockport, where I had appointed to sleep on
Sunday, the day previous to the intended meeting, and I had not yet
heard one word of its being put off. I had travelled two hundred miles
in my gig for the purpose of presiding, and when I learned that I had
been made such a fool of, I expressed considerable indignation, and
declared my intention of returning into Hampshire immediately. I was,
however, at length prevailed upon to proceed to Stockport to sleep that
night, as I understood that Mr. Moorhouse had provided a bed for me, and
a stall for my horse. On my road to Stockport I was met by Johnson, the
brush-maker, and Mr. Saxton, who explained to me the whole of the
circumstances, and at the same time expressed a great desire that I
should remain in Manchester, to be present at the 16th, as they had,
without my knowledge, advertised my name as chairman of the intended
meeting. At first I positively refused to comply with their wish, and I
assigned more reasons than one for my refusal. At length, it was agreed
that I should proceed through Manchester the next day, Monday the 9th,
to dine with Mr. Johnson at Smedley Cottage, to meet some friends whom
he had invited to join me there.
I slept at the house of Mr. Moorhouse that night, and received from him
every polite and kind attention. When I arose in the morning, I was
agreeably surprised by a note being brought to me from Sir Charles
Wolseley, to say that, soon after I had left Wolseley Park, he had
followed me; that he was at the inn, and would accompany me to
Manchester, if I would let him know the time at which I meant to start
for that place. I immediately waited upon him at the inn, and, after
breakfast, we proceeded together in my gig to Manchester, attended by
many thousands of the Stockport people. Johnson, the brush-maker, and
others, from Manchester, had come to meet us, and they followed in a
chaise, and Mr. Moorhouse followed, with a party, in his coach. We were
greeted with the utmost enthusiasm by the people of Manchester. In one
of the open spaces I addressed them briefly, and explained to them
the reason of my then appearing amongst them. I told them that I had
travelled two hundred miles to keep my appointment, and that it was not
till the day before, when I had arrived within a few miles of their
town, that information was given to me of the meeting having been
postponed.
We dined at Smedley Cottage; and, after having, for a length of time,
resisted the most urgent intreaties, I was at last, though still very
much against my inclination, and quite in opposition to my own judgment,
prevailed upon to yield to the pleadings of Mr. Johnson and his friends,
to remain with him till the following Monday, in order that I might take
the chair at the intended meeting. Had Johnson's life depended upon the
result, he could not have been more anxious to detain me. He begged,
he prayed, he implored me to stay; urging that without my presence the
people would not be satisfied; and, in fact, foreboding the most fatal
consequences if I departed before the meeting took place. I solemnly
declare that I never before consented with so much reluctance to any
measure of the sort. I had important engagements of my own to attend to,
which I had put off to enable me to take the chair on the 9th, and to
remain from home another week would cause me the greatest personal and
private inconvenience. I was, nevertheless, ultimately prevailed upon to
stay, from a conviction that my presence would promote tranquillity
and good order, and under the assurance that, if I did quit the place,
confusion and bloodshed would, in all probability, be the inevitable
consequence. The manner in which those in authority had treated them,
had irritated to the highest degree the people in and near Manchester,
and they had also been excited to acts of desperation and violence, by
some of those who professed to be their leaders. As for Johnson, the
brush-maker, he was a composition of vanity, emptiness, and conceit,
such as I never before saw concentrated in one person. It was the most
ridiculous thing in the world to see him assuming the most pompous and
lofty tone, while every one about him did not fail openly to express
contempt for his insignificance and folly. In truth, even amidst all his
pomposity, of which he had so enormous a share, this poor creature
could not conceal the fact from any one, that he had not the slightest
confidence in himself; he expressed the greatest terror at the idea of
my leaving to him the management of the intended meeting, and swore
that he would run away from it altogether if I did not stay. In this he
involuntarily did himself justice; for, in reality, every one appeared
to dread the thoughts of the thing being left in his hands. Every thing,
therefore, conspired to impress on my mind the conviction that I alone
had the power of conducting this great meeting in a peaceable, quiet,
and Constitutional manner. I knew and felt, indeed, that it would be a
task of great difficulty, danger, and responsibility. Yet as I had
never turned my back upon the people because difficulties and dangers
presented themselves, so I made up my mind not to desert them upon this
trying occasion, when I knew they were surrounded by the most base and
blood-thirsty opponents, who were laying in ambush, and only waiting for
a pretext to take every unmanly and cowardly advantage of any accidental
disturbance or disorder that might occur. I repeat again, that I
consented most reluctantly to accept Johnson's pressing invitation to
remain at his house during the intervening week prior to the 16th of
August; and I can, with great truth, affirm that this was one of
the most disagreeable seven days that I ever passed in my life, not
excepting the period of my solitary imprisonment in the Manchester New
Bailey and Ilchester Bastile. However, most fortunately for me, Johnson
was from home a considerable portion of this time, attending to his
brush-making and other business; this alone rendered the visit to
Smedley tolerable: he frequently invited me to visit, with him, the
surrounding neighbourhood, from the inhabitants of which places
I had received pressing invitations; but all these I declined from
prudential motives, and it was fortunate I did so, or my prosecutors
would have found some pretence for the charge of conspiracy, of which,
as it was, they could never bring the slightest shadow of proof.
During this week I was waited upon by many very respectable inhabitants
of Manchester and the surrounding country, and on the Friday Mr. Edward
Grundy and a friend from Bury called, and informed me that there was a
report in circulation in Manchester, that it was the intention of the
Magistrates to have me apprehended, under the plea of having committed
some political offence, in order to interrupt the proceedings of the
meeting; but these gentlemen assured me that they would become my bail
to any amount, if it should be so. However, this did not satisfy me,
and on Saturday, morning I drove down to the New Bailey, where the
Magistrates were sitting, and applied to know if there was any charge
against me?--if there was, I begged to know what was the nature of it,
as I was then ready to surrender myself and to meet it. Mr. Wright, who
was present, appeared surprised at my application, and said he had not
heard of any such thing, and he called Nadin, and asked him, if he
had heard of any charge having been made against Mr. Hunt? Nadin, who
appeared to be surprised at the question, replied, "none whatever." I
then informed them that I understood the report to come from the police
office, which induced me to attend for the purpose of ascertaining the
fact. I was, I told them, then ready, and should at all times be ready,
to meet any charge that had been or might be preferred against me;
and, consequently, there could be no necessity to issue any warrant or
summons whatever, as the slightest intimation of my conduct being called
in question would always insure my attendance. Mr. Wright, as well as
Nadin, professed they were perfectly satisfied of this, and appeared to
shew to me all the polite attention that they were capable of showing. I
left the Court House with the full assurance from them that there was no
charge against me, nor, as far as they knew of, any person who designed
to bring a charge against me. Although I was fully impressed with the
treacherous and blood-thirsty characters of those with whom I had to
deal; and, of course, was not wholly satisfied of the sincerity of their
language, yet I was conscious of having in this instance performed an
important duty to the public, by depriving the authorities of every
fair pretence for interfering with the proceedings of the intended
meeting. I therefore returned to Smedley Cottage, with the conviction
upon my mind that I had done all that a man could do, or ought to do,
upon such an occasion.
On Sunday morning intimation was brought to me that one Murry, a sort of
spy of the police, had, early in the morning, been very much beaten
and ill-used, for interrupting some persons, who had assembled on a
neighbouring Moor, to practice the method in which they should come into
Manchester, to join the meeting on the following day; their wish being
to enter the town with that sort of regularity which should give the
least possible room for complaint to the authorities. I was sorry to
hear of this breach of the peace, as I foresaw that an advantage would
be taken of the circumstance, to inflame the minds of those who were
perhaps as yet only half bent upon the diabolical plot against the
liberties of the people, and that it would be used as a plausible
pretext to alarm the more timid part of those who are called the
respectables of Manchester. I, therefore, passed the Sunday with that
degree of anxiety which every person not wholly devoid of sensibility
must have naturally felt for the result of the coming day.
Monday arrived, and a beautiful morning it was. From my bed-room I
beheld the people, men, women, and children, accompanied by flags and
bands of music, cheerfully passing along towards the place of meeting.
Their appearance and manner altogether indicated that they were going to
perform an important, a sacred duty to themselves and their country, by
offering up a joint and sincere prayer to the Legislature to relieve the
poor and needy, by rescuing them from the hands of the agents of the
rich and powerful, who had oppressed and persecuted them. In fact, the
conduct of the people, in every instance, was such, that none but devils
in human form could ever have premeditated to do them any injury.
About twelve o'clock an open barouche was drawn up to the door of
Smedley Cottage, to convey to the meeting myself and those who were
assembled at Mr. Johnson's. It was settled that I should take the chair,
that Johnson should move the Resolutions and the Remonstrance, and that
John Knight should second them. It was not anticipated that any other
person would address the Meeting. We entered the barouche soon after
twelve o'clock on the morning of the 16th of August 1819, and proceeded
immediately towards St. Peter's Plain, on which spot the Meeting was to
be held. We were attended by an immense multitude, preceeded by a
band of music, and we very soon met the Manchester Committee of Female
Reformers, headed by Mrs. Fildes, who bore in her hand a small white
silk flag. These females were all handsomely dressed in white, and they
proposed to lead the procession to the field, walking two and two, but
as, in consequence of the crowd, this was found to be impossible, they
fell into the rear of the barouche, which position they maintained, with
some difficulty, during the whole way till we arrived at the Hustings.
Mrs. Fildes, who carried the flag, was taken up at my suggestion, and
rode by the side of the coachman, bearing her colours in a most gallant
stile. As, though rather small, she was a remarkably good figure, and
well dressed, it was very justly considered that she added much to the
beauty of the scene; and, as she was a married woman of good character,
her appearance in such a situation by no means diminished the
respectability of the procession, the whole of which was conducted with
the greatest regularity and good order.
When I entered the field or plain, where the people were assembled, I
saw such a sight as I had never before beheld. A space containing, as
I am informed, nearly five acres of ground, was literally covered with
people, a great portion of whom were crammed together as thick as they
could stand. Great bodies of people had assembled and marched to the
spot in regular order, each striving with the other which should
contribute most to the respectability of the meeting by peaceable
conduct; every one appeared to be animated with the greatest enthusiasm
and devotion to the cause for which they had come together; that cause
being solely either to petition, to address, or to remonstrate with, the
throne, for a redress of insupportable grievances. Every one appeared to
me to be actuated by a similar feeling to that by which I felt that I
was prompted in attending the meeting--namely, the performance of an
important, a sacred, and a solemn duty to ourselves and our country. Let
the reader who was not present picture to his imagination an assemblage
of from 180 to 200 thousand English men and women, congregated together
to exercise the great constitutional right of laying their complaints
and grievances before the throne, and when he has done this, he may form
an idea of the scene which met my view.
The moment that I entered the field, ten or twelve bands struck up the
same tune, "See the conquering hero comes;" eighteen or twenty flags,
most of them surmounted by a Cap of Liberty, were unfurled, and from the
multitude burst forth such a shout of welcome as never before hailed the
ears of an individual, possessed of no other power, no other influence
over the minds of the people, except that which he had gained by an
honest, straight-forward discharge of public duty. With some difficulty,
and by slow degrees, the carriage was drawn up within a few yards of the
Hustings, where the crowd was so dense as to forbid the approach of the
carriage any nearer. We alighted, and, an avenue being made for us, we
ascended the Hustings. The ladies composing the Committee of Female
Reformers had followed close to the carriage up to this point, and
therefore it was absolutely necessary to dispose of them in some place
of safety, to prevent their being trampled under foot. Some part of them
were placed in the carriage, which we had left, and the remainder were
assisted upon the Hustings.
Another shout now filled the air, as a compliment to me, and I took off
my hat, to endeavour to address this immense multitude, with a full
conviction that the very orderly conduct of the people would deprive
their enemies of all pretence whatever to interrupt their proceedings. I
had scarcely uttered two sentences, urging them to persevere in the same
line of conduct, when the Manchester Troop of Yeomanry came galloping
into the field, and formed in front of a house occupied by a Mr. Buxton,
where it was said the Magistrates had assembled for the purpose of
keeping the peace. As soon as the military appeared, the people, (as is
always the case under such circumstance) began to disperse and fly from
the outskirts. To prevent the confusion likely to arise from such a
circumstance, I caused three cheers to be given, which had the desired
effect of restoring the confidence of the people, who did not, indeed,
suspect it to be possible that the devil himself would have authorised
the Yeomanry to commit any violence upon them, as there was not the
slightest symptom amongst them that could have created any real fear in
the mind of the most timid. Before, however, the cheering was
sufficiently ended to enable me to raise my voice again, the word was
given, and from the left flank of the troop, the trumpeter leading the
way, they charged amongst the people, sabring right and left, in all
directions, sparing neither _age, sex_, nor _rank_. In this manner they
cut their way up to the Hustings, riding over and sabring all that could
not get out of their way. In this magnanimous exploit _several fell
dead, and hundreds were wounded; and this was done in cold blood,
with the most savage ferocity, without the slightest provocation having
been given by the people, and without one act of resistance, without_
ONE STONE, ONE STICK, _or_ ONE FINGER _having been raised even to
resist, much less to provoke, such a bloodthirsty, such a cowardly,
wanton, cruel, and murderous act_. At length it turned out that these
diabolical deeds were committed in order, as it was pretended, to
execute a warrant, to apprehend myself and others who were upon the
Hustings with me. Now I most solemnly declare, that this warrant could
have been executed with the greatest possible ease, by any single
constable, without the aid of the military, or any breach of the peace
whatever; and I have not the slightest doubt in my own mind, that the
magistrates were fully sensible of this fact at the time when they
ordered the ferocious Yeomanry to charge and cut down the people. The
object was to strike terror into the minds of the assembled multitude,
and to pull down reform by the sword, regardless of the blood that would
be spilt in the enterprise. That my life was meant to be a sacrifice no
reflecting man can for a moment entertain a doubt. We were now seized
and taken, by Nadin and his runners, to the house where the worthy
projectors of the plot were sitting in solemn conclave. While we were
passing to the house, amidst the screams of the flying, and the piercing
cries and groans of the dying people, two ruffian Yeoman made several
efforts to cut me down, but each time I guarded myself, by placing Nadin
between myself and them as they renewed their charge upon me. Nadin
endeavoured to escape, and to leave me to their mercy, but, with the aid
of providence, I held him fast, and used him as a shield to ward off the
deadly blows of these blood-thirsty cowards. Nadin was so alarmed that
he at length yielded like a child to the direction of my arm, and
quietly suffered himself to be placed before me as they came up,
hallowing lustily for them to desist, and using his staff for his
protection. They, however, charged, and cut at me several times, and I
received three cuts from them, a slight one on the back of my hand, and
two others in my head, which cuts penetrated through my hat. As I
entered into Buxton's house, pinioned between two constables, Nadin and
another, a ruffian came behind me and levelled a blow at my head with a
heavy bludgeon, which would have felled me to the earth, had I not been
supported by the constables, who had hold of my arms. One fellow very
deliberately took off my hat, that the other coward might have a fairer
blow at me, which he instantly repeated, and had I not at the moment
fortunately slipped my head on one side, my scull must have been
fractured. Nadin cried shame at this, and replaced the hat upon my head,
saying it was too bad! By this means Nadin saved my life, as it was
evidently the intention of the ruffian to have taken it. The fellow who
acted such a cowardly and diabolical part, was a general in the English
army, of the name of C---y, who was then on half-pay, and living at
Pendleton. The following extract from a letter, written to Mr. Sheriff
Parkins by his brother, who was an eye-witness of the transaction,
speaks for itself; it was given to me by Mr. Parkins to make what use of
it I pleased, and I shall therefore insert it verbatim:
"79, _Water-Street, Manchester_,
"I take up my pen to relate to you one of the most daring,
cruel outrages that ever was committed on a defenceless
people. I was within ten yards of the Hustings, when the
cavalry surrounded the stage on which Mr. Hunt, Mr. Johnson,
Mr. Knight, and many other gentlemen, whom I personally
knew, were standing, with several ladies. At this
time the main body of the Cavalry made a charge on the
people who were assembled, and cut down all before them;
and if I had had a pistol, I would have levelled that villain
C----y, who used Mr. Hunt in such an outrageous manner,
that if I had gone into eternity that moment, I would have
shot him; but I had nothing but a small walking-stick in
my hand, with which I parried off several blows that were
aimed at me, and thank God I received no material injury.
I never saw a man behave with more fortitude than Mr.
Hunt did on that most trying occasion.
"Instead of reading the Riot-Act, and ordering the people
to disperse, the military came on without any notice
whatever. Mr. Hunt was committed to the New Bailey
Prison, and what will be the result of all this the Almighty
only knows. If you will do a praiseworthy action, come
down and back Mr. Hunt, and your name will then be
handed down to posterity with the blessing of thousands of
your suffering countrymen."