Dinner being ended, Mr. Bryant drank the health of the King, which toast pa.s.sed round till it came to Mr. Castles, who, having filled a b.u.mper, subst.i.tuted the following vulgar and sanguinary toast for that of the King--"_May the last of Kings be strangled with the guts of the last priest_;" a piece of brutality which had not even the miserable merit of being original, he having copied it from one of the French anarchists.
This was a pretty specimen of the company that had intruded upon us! I remonstrated against such blackguardism, and declared that I would not remain in the room if there was any repet.i.tion of it. Mr. Castles, nevertheless, soon began again in a similar strain, and having put forth some most outrageous speech, as vulgar as it was seditious, both myself and Mr. Bryant insisted upon the worthy gentleman leaving the room, or holding his peace. He promised to do the latter, and he soon dropped off, or appeared to drop off, into a very sound sleep. This was a circ.u.mstance which struck me as being very suspicious, and therefore I was particularly guarded in what I said, and in what was said by others.
At length two of the party, young Watson and Hooper, made a move to retire, and I insisted upon it that they should take their friend Castles with them; but he shammed so sound a sleep that it was with difficulty he was got out of the room, and it was only effected by my pulling the chair from under him; upon which he was in an instant as wide awake as any man in the room. This convinced me that his sleep was all a mere pretence. Soon after this the rest of the party left us, and Mr. Bryant and myself remained to talk over the curious adventures of the evening. We were both convinced that Castles was at any rate a great villain, and I was determined in future not to be in a room where he was.
On the next morning, Dr. Watson and Mr. Thistlewood came to apologise for the ill-behaviour of their friend Castles, who they a.s.sured me was at heart a very good fellow, but that he was overcome with liquor on the preceding evening, and that he now wished very much to have an opportunity of making an apology in person, for which purpose he was waiting hard by. I, however, positively refused to see him, saying, that I believed him to be a great scoundrel, and that I would on no account suffer him to come into my room again; and I not only cautioned the Doctor against him, but I believe I told him to take care, or Castles would bring him to the gallows. In fact, I made up my mind that as long as the Doctor and Mr. Thistlewood kept company with such a fellow, I would have nothing to do with them in private, nor would ever see them alone. The Doctor will recollect that, when they called on me in the evening afterwards, to make some inquiry about the proceedings which were to be adopted on the following meeting, intended to be held on the 2d of December, I declined to enter into any particulars, and did not even ask them to take a seat, although Mr. Mitch.e.l.l, a liveryman of the city, was with me. I felt that I had been in very dangerous company, and, though I would not neglect my public duty, I was determined that I would not place myself in the power of such a man as Mr. Castles appeared to me to be.
On the day of the meeting of the 15th of November, the _Courier_ newspaper roundly stated that HUNT had arrived at the meeting about one o"clock, and, after having addressed the mult.i.tude in a most inflammatory speech, had submitted to them a memorial to be presented to the Prince Regent, full of _treasonable matter_; and the corrupt knave, who conducts that paper, actually inserted one of the resolutions of the memorial which Dr. Watson and Mr. Thistlewood had submitted to me, and which I had rejected. The truth was, that the Government had previously procured a copy of the said memorial, from a person of the name of Dyall, one of the party who had called the meeting, and as this memorial had been unanimously agreed to by the Committee, my Lord Sidmouth, the Secretary of State, and his agents, made so certain that I should fall into this _trap_, and propose it to the meeting, that their princ.i.p.al organ, the editor of the _Courier_ newspaper, actually inserted a copy of it in the paper, as having been proposed by me at the meeting. But they soon found, to their sorrow, that old birds were not to be caught with chaff; for that I had blasted their fondest hopes of bloodshed, by proposing a pet.i.tion to the Prince Regent, of a nature totally the reverse of the said memorial; which pet.i.tion was universally adopted by the meeting; and that I had undertaken to present it to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and had also promised to report the answer, if I received any, at the next meeting, which was appointed to be held on Monday, the 2d of December.
On the following day, not only the _Courier_ and the _Morning Post_, but every paper published in the metropolis (with the exception of the _Statesman,_ which was then conducted by Mr. Lovell), joined in pouring forth a torrent of falsehood, misrepresentation, and abuse of me. I do not know that I can give a more correct account of what took place in London, more fairly represent the conduct of the public press upon this occasion, than by giving an extract from Mr. Cobbett"s Register, which was published the ensuing week, as follows, headed "SPA-FIELDS MEETING:"
"Since my long acquaintance with the press, I do not think that I have ever witnessed so much baseness of conduct as this Meeting has given rise to. If Mr. Hunt had been the most notorious pick-pocket; if he had been a raggam.u.f.fin covered with a coat hired for the day; if he had been a fellow who took up his lodgings in the brick-kilns or in the niches on Westminster Bridge; and if he had actually proposed to the Meeting to go directly and plunder the silversmiths" shops and cut the throats of all those who opposed them; if he had drank off a gla.s.s of human blood by way of moistening his throat: monstrous as this is, it is a real fact, that, if he had been and had done all this, the London press could not have treated him in a worse manner than it has. The _Statesman_ newspaper is an exception; but, I believe, that it is almost the only exception. Talk of _violence_ indeed! Was there ever violence _like this_ heard of in this world before?
And, what is the monstrous _crime_ which has emboldened these literary ruffians to make this savage a.s.sault, and which induces them to suppose that they shall finally escape with impunity? They, the vile wretches, are the _real mob_. They attack in body; they know that _defence is impossible_; they know, that a hundred times the fortune of Mr. Hunt would not purchase enough of their columns to contain an answer to their falsehoods. Is this _manly_, is this _fairness_, is this _discussion_, is this _liberty of the press_? Infamous cowards! They merit to be dragged by a halter fastened round their necks, and whipped through the streets. They talk of _decency_ and _decorum_ indeed! _They_ call people _blackguards_ and ruffians!
_They_ pretend to complain of _misrepresentation_ and _exaggeration_!
They! who set up one common howl of foul abuse and viperous calumny.
"But, what is the act which has awakened all those filthy curs, and put them in motion? Some persons, no matter who, but, I believe, some suffering tradesmen, in London, agreed to call a meeting of _distressed_ people in Spa-fields, in order to present a pet.i.tion on the subject of their sufferings: one of the Committee, who had called this Meeting, wrote to Mr. Hunt to come and a.s.sist at it.
This he did. Being there, he proposed a Pet.i.tion, which was agreed to. This Pet.i.tion has appeared in the _Statesman_ newspaper, to which I refer the reader; and when he has looked at it, he will be convinced, that, if the language of _moderation_ be desirable, the language of this pet.i.tion is much _more moderate_ than that of almost any pet.i.tion, which has recently appeared in print. Upon what _ground_, then, is this outrageous abuse founded? The Meeting separated very quietly; never did any Meeting partake less of riotous behaviour. In the evening of the same day, a mob of boys and others attacked some _bakers"_ and _butchers"_ shops. But, whose fault was this? Was it Mr. Hunt"s, who seems to have spent a quarter of an hour in endeavouring to convince his hearers, _that to commit such acts was to prove themselves unworthy of relief_; or, was it the fault of those pestiferous vehicles of falsehood, the _Courier_ and the _Times_, who are incessantly _inveighing against the avarice of bakers and butchers_?
"It is clear, that these proceedings of the evening had no connection with the Meeting, but, on the contrary, that every thing which was said at the Meeting had a natural tendency to prevent them. As to the _attack on the office of the Morning Chronicle_, that might possibly arise out of what Mr. Hunt said at the Meeting. And, what then? Was he to endure the calumnies, the unprovoked calumnies, of that paper _for years_, and never reply a word? It would have _cost him hundreds of pounds_ to cause to be published in that paper _answers_ to a hundredth part of the base attacks upon him contained in that same paper. And, was he never to answer in any way?
Was he, when he had a hundred thousand men within his hearing, to abstain from expressing his indignation at the conduct of that paper, lest, by possibility, the indignation might be catching? _The Morning Chronicle_, _The Courier_, and _Times_, make no scruple to endeavour _to cause him to be knocked in the head_; they point him out for either hanging or murdering; they are ready beforehand with an apology for any one who may take his life. And is he, who can find no entrance into their columns, without covering his paragraph with gold, to abstain from uttering a word against them when he comes before a public meeting, lest the people should espouse his cause and demolish their windows? Whence have _they_ derived this privilege of a.s.saulting him with impunity? He has no newspaper in his hands. He has no means of answering them through the press. They a.s.sail him, sitting snugly in their offices. They a.s.sail him daily. And, is he never to open his lips at any time, or at any place?
"Where, then, is the ground of all this infamous abuse?
After accusing Mr. Hunt of having raised a mob for _treasonable_ purposes, some of the papers have, in the most _serious_ manner, a.s.serted that he was _insane_, and that he had been to a _madhouse_! Is not this a pretty stretch of calumny? Is a man bound to endure this in _silence_? "He has his redress _at law_." Oh! the base cowards! Their answer is worse than their crime.
"Was it any _fault_ in an Englishman, living in the country, to come to London to take part at a _Meeting of Englishmen in distress_? Was this any _fault_? No one can say that it was.--The Meeting had been advertised many days before any knowledge of it reached Mr. Hunt; he was requested to come up; and who can blame him for coming? However, it is not a question of blame or no blame; he had _a right_ to come, and he chose to exercise his right. If, indeed, the invitation had been from persons in _prosperity_, he might have easily declined; but, I do not see how he was to resist the call of people in distress.
"But his speech, that was "_inflammatory_." Good G.o.d!
what is _not_ inflammatory now-a-days? But, though the speech might, and, I dare say, did contain matter much stronger than that which I have read in the report of it, I am very sure that it could not surpa.s.s what I have read in the _Morning Chronicle_ within this month; and that it could not surpa.s.s (for nothing can surpa.s.s) the inflammatory matter in the _Times_ and the _Courier_ on the subject of their alleged extortions of the Bakers and Butchers.
Besides, as to the printed reports of the speech, Mr. Hunt was wholly _at the mercy of the Reporters_. They have made him say just what they pleased, and he has no redress; no means of correction; no chance of being heard in explanation. They impute to him the having a.s.serted, that _Lady Oxford_ is on the _pension list_. This was false, as he has since proved to me by the list which he read.
It has been a.s.serted, that he went to the Meeting with a tri-coloured flag. This is also false, he never having known of the existence of any flag until his arrival on the spot; and, was he to go away merely because some whimsical persons had _hoisted a flag and a cap of Liberty?_ Besides, are there not flags enough at contested elections?
Do not freemasons and others parade about with flags?
Why was this meeting not to have a flag, if it chose it?
Call the thing _nonsensical_ if you please, and I shall not dissent. But, where was the _harm?_ Where was the justification for all this vile, this atrocious abuse?
"It is said, that Mr. Hunt urged the people to use _physical force_ if their pet.i.tion was not granted. This also is false; or, at least, he a.s.sures me that it is; and I believe him, because it was too foolish for him to think of. But, how often have we heard of _resistance_ being recommended?
Mr. Fox once recommended it, and he never was calumniated in this outrageous manner. I have no doubt that many things escaped Mr. Hunt during his speech, that he himself wished he had uttered in more select phrases; but, who is there who is so very choice upon such occasions? If any one say, that he would do better to remain in Hampshire or Wiltshire, and take care of his farms, the answer is, that _he_ is seemingly of a different opinion. He _chooses_ to take a part in public matters.
He prefers this bustle to the tranquillity of a country life.
The boisterous hallooing of mult.i.tudes is more pleasing to his ears than the c.h.i.n.kling of the plough traces, the bleating of lambs, or the song of the nightingale. His taste may be bad; but, a"G.o.d"s name, do not cover him with all sorts of infamous names and imputations, on account of his want of taste. Besides, if this sort of objection were made to leaders at Public Meetings, we should, I imagine, have very few meetings. One might be told to keep to his snuff shop, another to his haberdashery, and so on.
Indeed, the tools of Corruption are so very nice upon this head, that I have never yet heard of any one trade, or calling, which they did not despise, if a man who came forward against abuses happened to be of that trade or calling; and, on the other hand, there is nothing too low or vile for them, if it be put forward in Corruption"s defence, or employed as one of her agents.
"We shall see in the end how this most calumniated gentleman conducts himself. He has engaged to carry the Prince"s answer to the Spa-fields Meeting next Monday week. Now, if, in the conducting of this business, he shall be found to have acted the part of a stupid country jolterhead, or of a head-strong insolent a.s.s, let him be left to the public contempt; but, if he shall be found to have carried the matter through with due respect towards the Prince and his Ministers, and at the same time, with the spirit and resolution of an independent man, let him have the praise that will be his due.
"In the meanwhile it must be not a little mortifying to the _Morning Chronicle_ in particular to see, that _votes of thanks to Mr. Hunt_ have been pa.s.sed at many of those meetings, in different parts of the kingdom, the proceedings at which meetings Mr. Perry has very highly and very justly _praised!_ How will this calumniator of Mr.
Hunt account for this? And how will he account for the speech of Mr. Hunt, at the late Westminster Meeting, having been re-published in _Norfolk_, and widely circulated in that county? There can have been no _trick_ made use of by Mr. Hunt to produce these effects. He has no acquaintances and cronies about the country. Ten times his fortune would not have purchased him these marks of popularity. And, why should the people of Spa-fields be abused for having chosen to ask the a.s.sistance of him, who has received votes of thanks from those very meetings, both in England and Scotland, the proceedings of which meetings Mr. Perry of the _Chronicle_ has _praised_ to the skies? Surely, the people in Scotland, in Norfolk, in Lancashire, cannot have had their judgment _unduly bia.s.sed_ in his _favour!_ They have heard the former outrageous _abuse_ of Mr. Hunt; never have heard, except by mere accident, a word in his defence; and, yet they have most solemnly decided, that his efforts are worthy of their praise and of their specific thanks.
"Were I, who am acquainted with Mr. Hunt, to say to him, "why do you not stay quietly at home and attend to your country affairs, and pursue the foxes, and hares, and pheasants, when you find yourself in need of recreation?
You will be much happier in so doing, than in getting into all this turmoil of politics, and exposing yourself to so much calumny, and, indeed, to the hatred of those, whose hatred is full of danger to you." If I were to say this to him, would he not be fully justified in asking me, why _I did not myself_ act upon the principle of my own advice? _Times_ and _circ.u.mstances_ create _men;_ or, at least, they call men forth, who would otherwise have remained unknown to the end of their days; and the present are times when it is impossible for such men as Mr. Hunt to remain dormant.
"Since writing the former part of this article, I have discovered, that the report of Mr. Hunt"s speech in the _Statesman_ was taken, word for word, or nearly so, from the _Chronicle_. The evening papers have, I find, _no reporters_. So that _no true_ account has gone forth; and thus has the misrepresentation circulated without the _possibility_ of defence! There is a gentleman in Wiltshire, whose name is Benett, whose speech, at an agricultural meeting, about the Corn Bill, was published in all the London papers, and which speech, as published, drew down on him the _execrations_ of those same papers, and, indeed, of the public in general. He said, that he never uttered such words; that he bad been very grossly misrepresented. He wrote to some of these same papers a _contradiction_ of the statement; a _defence of himself_. But, in order to get in a short paragraph, he was called upon to pay to one paper _nineteen guineas!_ and, though he has a fortune of, probably, 10,000_l_. a year, he declared that his fortune would have been insufficient to obtain the means of defending himself through the same channels which had attacked him. A hundred such fortunes would not have obtained the means of such defence; for, the moment he had paid for inserting a defence against one calumny, he would have found another to defend himself against. What, then, is a calumniated man to do? The _law!_ The reptiles know how to evade that; and, besides, where is the fortune sufficient for _law?_ Therefore, the calumnies must go and take their course. If men cannot hear up against them, they must hold their peace, and retire from before the public. Whether Mr. Hunt is to be driven off by these means remains to be seen.
"WM. COBBETT."
The reader, who is old enough to recollect this circ.u.mstance, will never forget the infamous conduct of the public press at that time. Mr.
Cobbett"s description of it, in the above extract, is by no means an exaggeration. The younger branch of my readers may thus form some faint idea of what a bold and straight-forward friend of the people had to encounter in the year 1816. While this cry was yet at its height, I wrote to Sir Francis Burdett, who was then staying at Brighton, with General Halse, the Aid-de-Camp of the Prince Regent, and I informed him of the resolution which had been pa.s.sed, requesting him, at the same time, to present the pet.i.tion to the Prince Regent, a copy of which and of the resolutions, I enclosed to him as they were published in the _Statesman_ newspaper. I likewise begged that he would favour me with an answer, to say when he would please to present it, as I wished to accompany him, agreeable to the instructions of the meeting. I received a very laconic answer from the Baronet, saying, that "_he did not choose to be made a cat"s-paw of, neither would he insult the Prince Regent_."
As I had for many years been upon terms of intimacy with Sir Francis Burdett, and had always acted in strict conformity with his political principles, I own that I considered that answer to me as a direct insult, and, in the heat of the moment, I was disposed at once to resent it as such. From this, however, I was dissuaded by Mr. Cobbett and Major Cartwright, who were extremely anxious not to do any thing to risk the loss of Sir Francis Burdett"s support to the numerous pet.i.tions which had been agreed to, and were preparing to be sent up to the Parliament, from all parts of the kingdom.
Mr. Cobbett had addressed several of his Registers to Sir Francis, pointing out what sort of Reform it was necessary and just the people should have. In these letters he contended for Annual Parliaments, and that all direct tax-payers should have a vote, but no others. In his Register, No. 16, of Volume 31, published on the 19th of October, after having in a very elaborate manner maintained this doctrine, he says, "All, therefore, that the Reformers have now to do, is to adhere to the above-stated main points. _Every man who pays a direct tax to have a vote; and Parliaments to be elected annually_." The test to ascertain whether a man should have a vote or not, is laid down by Mr. Cobbett as follows:--"When a man comes to vote, the Church-wardens who have the charge of the ballot-box ask his name; the Overseers look into their rate-book, to see whether he be a TAX-PAYER; finding his name there, they bid him put in his ballot, which done, home he goes to his business. _If the Overseers do not find him to be a tax-payer, he, of course, does not vote_." This was the sort of Reform which, on the 19th of October, 1816, Mr. Cobbett proposed as competent to work our salvation.
Mr. Cobbett, very properly, attributed a great portion of the evils which the people endured to the corrupt state of the public press, which he denominated "_blind guides_." "They are," said he (in speaking of the provincial papers), "some of them tools of corruption, and some of them _dumb dogs_, that have not the courage to take the part either of right or wrong; they are neither one thing nor the other; they are quite vapid, and, therefore, will the public "spew them out of their mouths."
Not, indeed, such papers as the _Nottingham Review_, the _Stamford News_, the LIVERPOOL MERCURY, and some others, the proprietors of which do honour to the press, and the pages of which will always be read with pleasure and advantage." This is the way in which he spoke and wrote of Mr. Egerton Smith, the proprietor of the _Liverpool Mercury_, in the year 1816.
After the great public meeting, which had been held in Spa-fields, on the 15th of November, Mr. Cobbett, in the very next Number of his Register, published on the 23d of that month, came round all at once to _Universal Suffrage_; and he says, "In Nos. 16 and 18 I gave my reasons for _excluding_ from the vote all persons who did not pay direct taxes."
He then very clearly demonstrates the justice of _every one_ having a vote, and adds, "But, it appeared to me, when I wrote Nos. 16 and 18, to be too difficult to put this right in motion all at once; and therefore I recommended the confining of the right of voting _to the payers of direct taxes_, until there should be time for a reformed Parliament _to change the mode of taxing_. Since, however, I have come to London, I have had an opportunity of consulting MAJOR CARTWRIGHT upon the subject; and the result is, my THOROUGH CONVICTION that nothing short Of UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE would be just, and that such a system is perfectly practicable." This was published on the 23d of November, 1816. The reader will have to recollect these things when I come to detail what took place at the meeting of delegates, in London, on the following January. _Now_, Mr. Cobbett says that "there are three things for which I contend--_Universal Suffrage, Annual Parliaments_, and _Vote by Ballot_."
As soon as I received Sir Francis Burdett"s letter, declining to present the pet.i.tion of the distressed people to the Prince Regent, I took the earliest opportunity of proceeding to Carlton House by myself. When I arrived there, I was informed that Colonel McMahon, his Royal Highness"s secretary, had left town, and would not return till two o"clock the next day. I informed the under secretary, who was in waiting, who I was, and what was my business, and I made an appointment to wait on Colonel McMahon at two o"clock on the following day. I took care to knock at the gate at Carlton House at the appointed time, and the moment that the gate was open, the porter took off his hat, and, ringing a bell, accosted me by _name_, and requested me to walk forward to the front door, which I had scarcely reached before the large folding doors of Carlton House were thrown open, and I was politely requested by the attendants to walk in, as Colonel McMahon was ready to receive me. I was ushered into his apartments in great state, and was immediately introduced to him by name. I was most graciously received by the Secretary, to whom I stated that I was deputed to present to his Royal Highness a pet.i.tion, agreed to at a meeting of nearly one hundred thousand of his distressed subjects of the metropolis, a.s.sembled in Spafields on the 15th, and that I wished to know when I could have an audience for that purpose. The Colonel then took his book, and informed me that the next levee would take place in about three weeks, which was the first opportunity that I could have of being introduced to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent. I told him that would be too distant a date, and I begged to know if there were no means of presenting the pet.i.tion earlier, as I had promised to deliver the Prince"s answer to the people on the second of December, when they would a.s.semble again to hear what the answer was. To this he replied, that the only other means was to forward the paper through the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who, he had no doubt, would deliver it to his Royal Master immediately, as he knew it was considered by the Ministers as a matter of very considerable importance. I thanked him for his polite attention and obliging information, and I then retired with the same form as I entered, the Colonel attending me to the doors, which were thrown wide open as before.
I immediately wrote a letter to Lord Sidmouth, to appoint a time when I could have an audience, for the purpose of delivering to him the pet.i.tion to be presented to the Prince Regent, and I carried this letter myself direct to the office of the Secretary of State, and sent it up to his Lordship, saying, that I would wait in the ante-room for an answer.
In a very few minutes the servant in waiting returned, attended by an under secretary, who said that Lord Sidmouth would give me an audience immediately, and he desired that I would follow him. I did so, and was forthwith introduced into the audience room, where his Lordship received me with all that parade of overstrained politeness which belongs to a finished courtier. He was surrounded by some half-dozen lordlings, who, from the manner in which he ordered them out of the room, appeared to be hungry expectants, seeking and supplicating some place, office, or boon.
They vanished in a twinkling, and his Lordship could not hear a word for the world, till I did him the honour to take a seat, which he politely drew for me. My letter had explained the object of my visit, and, after having briefly apologised for intruding at a time when he was surrounded by others, I expressed my wish to have the pet.i.tion of 100,000 of the distressed inhabitants of the metropolis, who had a.s.sembled in Spafields the preceding Monday, presented to the Prince Regent; and I then put into his hands the pet.i.tion: he read it over attentively, and having finished the perusal of it, he said that it was a most important paper, and was couched in such proper language, that he should feel it his duty to lay it before his Royal Master the very first thing on the following morning, and he had not the least doubt but every attention would be paid to the prayer of it. I begged to know if I might expect any reply from his Royal Highness. He answered, certainly not; it being the practice never to give any answer to pet.i.tions; but, if it was thought advisable to attend to the prayer of it, his Royal Highness"s Ministers would immediately act upon it, and indeed he had no doubt that it would receive due attention. He then entered into familiar conversation as to the nature and extent of the meeting; and I embraced the opportunity of pointing out, in glowing terms, the great and severe distress under which the ma.s.s of the people were labouring, and expressing my earnest hopes that some relief would be granted to them. He next introduced the subject of the _Memorial_, a copy of which, he informed me, he had received several days before the meeting was held; and he declared, that if any attempt at going in a body to Carlton House had been made, it would have been resisted by the military, and that bloodshed would have been the consequence. He was perfectly aware that I had been the cause of setting aside the Memorial, and subst.i.tuting the pet.i.tion in its stead; and he emphatically added, "his Majesty"s Ministers are greatly indebted to you, and they are fully sensible that you have been the cause of preventing a great public calamity; you have prevented the spilling of human blood." I told him that I had promised to attend another meeting, in the same place, on the Second of December, to acquaint them with the result of my application, and I promised him that I would represent it fairly. With this he appeared perfectly satisfied, and he repeated the a.s.surance, that he would lay the pet.i.tion before his Royal Highness the moment he could gain access to him in the morning, and that he had no doubt it would receive due attention.
In the evening paper, the _Courier_, of the next day, it was announced that the Spafields pet.i.tion bad been presented to the Prince Regent, who had graciously ordered FOUR THOUSAND POUNDS to be paid to the Spitalfields soup committee; which sum was to be taken from the Droits of the Admiralty. In consequence of this grant from his Royal Highness, the soup committee met, and called a public meeting in the city, for the purpose of promoting the subscriptions, and devising the best means of relieving the distress which now was admitted universally to prevail amongst the labouring cla.s.ses in the metropolis; so that it was quite evident that our Spafields meeting had produced infinite good, that in all probability it had been the means of saving the lives of thousands, and relieving the distresses of tens of thousands. Mr.
Fowell Buxton attended this meeting, and, after having described the unparalleled distress and misery of the people, he made a most animated and feeling appeal to the humanity of the public, to come forward to relieve them. This and all the other meetings that followed, and all the subscriptions that were raised, may very justly be ascribed to the meeting at Spafields; for till that meeting took place, the general overwhelming distress was little known, and less regarded, by the opulent and powerful, who alone had the means of relieving it.
Notwithstanding this was undeniably the fact, yet the whole public press of the metropolis, with very few exceptions, was daily employed in spreading the most atrocious falsehoods and calumnies against me, for having attended that meeting. I was represented as a traitor, and one who wished to overturn the sacred inst.i.tutions of the country, and to produce revolution, confusion, and bloodshed. The _Times_, the _Chronicle_, the _Morning Post_, and the _Courier_, held me up to public execration, and even pointed me out for destruction. The editor of the _Times_, who was then the notorious Dr. Slop, alias Dr. Stoddart, the present proprietor of the _New Times_, urged my a.s.sa.s.sination over and over again. As, however, no one would kill me in reality, he determined at least to kill me in print. Accordingly along article was inserted in the paper, announcing, in the gravest manner, the death of Hunt. It stated that I bad got drunk, at Mr. Thompson"s gin-shop on Holborn-hill, and had fallen into one of the areas of the new buildings at Waterloo-place, opposite Carlton-House, where I was found dead. A few days afterwards, it was declared that they were misinformed as to my death, but that I was taken in a melancholy state of insanity to Bedlam; and the writer gave an account of the incoherent conversation which I had held with Major Cartwright, Mr. Cobbett, and Sir Francis Burdett, who had been to visit me. These accounts were given in such a serious manner, the details were so minute, and they had altogether so much the appearance of truth, that many of my friends and relations in the country were exceedingly alarmed, not having any idea that the editor of a respectable newspaper would have the impudence to put forth such barefaced falsehoods. There was also generally one scoundrel or other who gratified his malignity by writing to my family some dreadful story of my death, or of some serious injury which I had received.
On the Sat.u.r.day previous to the 2d of December I drove again to London, and as I was sitting, in the evening of that day, in the room at the Black Lion, Water Lane, Dr. Watson and Mr. Thistlewood called to consult me upon what I meant to propose on the following Monday. I declined, however, to have any conversation with them upon the subject. I should, I told them, be there at the time appointed (one o"clock), on the ensuing Monday; but that I was going out of town on the next morning, and should return on the following day in time for the meeting. On Sunday morning I left London with my servant, and drove to a friend"s, at Wanstead, in Ess.e.x, where I pa.s.sed the day and slept, on purpose to be out of the way of the party which I had before met at Spafields; as, after what I had seen and heard when Mr. Castles was present, I was determined to avoid having any communication with any of them, unless it was in public.
About twelve o"clock I started from Wanstead in my tandem, and, as I was driving down Cheapside at a pretty smart pace, I met a considerable crowd going towards the Mansion-House; and, just after I pa.s.sed Bow- Church, I saw Mr. John Castles amongst those who appeared to be going in a contrary direction from that which led to Spafields. He beckoned me, and I drew up to the pavement to inquire the cause of what appeared to me rather extraordinary. Before, however, I could put the question to Mr. Castles, he inquired where I was going? to which I replied, "to Spafields, to be sure." "Oh," said he, "the meeting has been broken up these two hours nearly; young Watson has got possession of the Tower, and we are all going thither; turn your horses" heads and come with us."
I gave him a look that appeared to strike him dumb, and laying my whip upon my wheel-horse, I pa.s.sed rapidly on, exclaiming "what a ------ scoundrel!" I looked at the clock of Bow-Church, and saw that it wanted a quarter of an hour to one. I drove on at a smart pace towards Spafields, and observed to my servant, that I had no doubt in my own mind that Castles, the villain whom we had met, was an agent of the Government, a spy; and the suspicions which I entertained of him when I first met him, were now fully confirmed.
When we reached Spafields, the throng was very great, much larger than even at the first meeting of the 15th of November. By the kindness of the mult.i.tude I was enabled to drive up to the door of the Merlin"s Cave, in the front of which the people were a.s.sembled. My servant returned with my tandem, with orders to have my horse Bob, which I drove as leader, ready in the evening with a saddle and bridle on, that I might ride him home to my Inn from the meeting. The cheers of the congregated tens of thousands were almost insupportable; I never heard such before. I made my way into the Merlin"s Cave with difficulty, as it was again taken possession of by the police. When I entered the room, I found very few persons there except the newspaper reporters, and the police magistrates with their officers, and none of those that had taken any part at the previous meeting but Mr. William Clark, who was again appointed to take the chair. Watson, Thistlewood, Preston, and all that party were absent, but I had no knowledge of the cause, any farther than the intimation which I had received from the very worthy Mr. John Castles, not one word of which did I believe to be true.
After having addressed the people, I moved a string of resolutions, the first of which inculcated the necessity of peaceable conduct, and denounced as the greatest enemies of Reform all those who should commit any act of violence, or any breach whatever of the peace. Another resolution was, to agree to pet.i.tion the House of Commons for a Reform in the representation of the people, upon the principle of universal suffrage, annual parliaments, and vote by ballot. The resolutions being seconded by Mr. Haydon of Welbeck-street, were all pa.s.sed, and the pet.i.tion which I proposed was unanimously agreed to, and was, as will hereafter be seen, signed by _twenty-four thousand_ of the suffering unrepresented people, and which was presented to the Honourable House by Lord Cochrane.
Towards the latter end of the meeting information was brought to me that, in the course of the day, there had been some serious riots in the city; I therefore immediately cautioned all those who had attended our meeting to avoid mixing themselves up in any way with those illegal and foolish proceedings. I told them that I should ride home to my hotel upon my favourite horse BOB, and, as I knew they would attend me, I earnestly entreated them that, as soon as they had protected me to my abode, they would each of them peaceably and quietly return home, and not give the enemies of Reform an opportunity of attributing disorderly conduct to any part of the meeting. This advice they promised me they would attend to. I then mounted my horse, and almost the whole a.s.sembly accompanied me to my inn. As we pa.s.sed in the front of the House of Correction, in Cold Bath Fields, I observed great numbers of constables and police officers a.s.sembled, armed with their staves of office, &c.
&c., as if for the purpose of protecting that building from the fury of the populace. But there was not the slightest occasion for this, as the people did not evince the least disposition to do any harm to any one; and, notwithstanding the immense pressure of the crowd, I do not believe that there was a single pane of gla.s.s broken.
When we arrived at the Black Lion in Water-lane, I stood up in my stirrups, and demanded of the people if they would grant me _one favour?_ A thousand voices exclaimed "Yes, Sir, any thing that you wish." I then requested them to disperse immediately, and return to their homes. They answered, "We will, we will!" I alighted and went into my inn, and in a very few minutes afterwards the whole of this immense mult.i.tude had dispersed, and were on their way homeward, without doing any mischief.
It was now for the first time that I heard any thing of the riots which had taken place in the city. A second edition of the _Courier_ gave a most exaggerated account of them, misrepresenting every thing, and heading the statements "_Spafelds Meeting_;" when the truth was, that so far from any of the persons who attended the Spafields meeting having had any hand in the riots, they actually knew nothing of the matter, till they heard it from their neighbours, after they had returned home from the meeting. The fact was this: Watson and Thistlewood found that I would not have any thing to do with their wild schemes, whatever they might be; they therefore a.s.sembled in Spafields about eleven o"clock in the morning, more than an hour before the persons who meant to attend the meeting began to meet together; they mounted the waggon, and addressed the few individuals that surrounded them, perhaps at the time two or three hundred; the elder Watson harangued them upon the advantages of the Spencean plan, and young Watson, urged on by Castles, having briefly addressed them, jumped from the waggon, and called upon those who wished to be led on to victory to follow him; the villain Castles taking care to leave a few bullets, wrapped up in an old stocking, so exposed in the waggon, that those who remained could not avoid seeing them. The whole of what occurred was reported by Mr.
Spectacle Dowling, a confidential reporter of the Sunday _Observer_, who swore to the particulars afterwards with an astonishing degree of minuteness, although other reporters who were present declared, that not one-tenth of what was said could be heard.
About forty persons followed young Watson, accompanied by his friend Castles; and Mr. Dowling the reporter followed this little squad of desperadoes, no doubt for the purpose of giving a faithful detail of what pa.s.sed, although he was sent by Mr. Clement, of the _Observer_, to report the proceedings of the meeting to be held in Spafields at one o"clock. It appears that having been reinforced by a party of distressed sailors and others, who were returning from the Old-Bailey, where they had been to witness the hanging of some criminals, these gentry attacked and began to plunder the shop of Mr. Beckwith, a gun-smith, in Skinner-street. It is said that young Watson was seized there by a man of the name of Platt, and that, in order to save himself, he fired a pistol loaded with powder and wadding only, which wounded the said Platt in the groin. Young Watson was, however, seized and taken up stairs into a back room, and the front doors of the shop and the windows were closed. During the confusion Platt escaped over a back wall of the premises, and as young Watson was left in the house a prisoner at large, he walked into a front room, opened a window that looked into the street, and waved his handkerchief to the mult.i.tude, to make an effort to relieve him. This they immediately attended to: a sailor volunteered his services, and being hoisted up by the people, he threw himself through the fan-light over the front door, which he soon opened, and Watson was released without any resistance. They then seized some of the guns, and pushed forward towards the Exchange, firing in the air as they pa.s.sed along Newgate-street and Cheapside. They entered the Exchange; upon which the doors were closed upon them, and Alderman Wood, who was a second time Lord Mayor, and Sir James Shaw, seized a sailor or two, one of whom proved to be Cashman, who was then bearing the tricoloured flag.
The rest of the party, headed by Watson, marched off to the Tower, where, as it was afterwards sworn, Thistlewood demanded of the soldiers upon duty on the parapets to surrender the Tower to them. Some of the party broke into a gunsmith"s shop in the Minories, and carried off several of his guns, some finished and others not finished. By this time, however, a half-dozen of horse soldiers made their appearance upon Tower-hill, upon which the authors of this mighty insurrection all fled with the greatest precipitancy, helter skelter, the devil take the hindermost, without the soldiers having made a charge, raised an arm, or even approached near to them.
So much for this disgraceful and contemptible riot, during the whole of which not one life was lost, and, with the exception of Platt, not one person was even wounded or hurt. While these things were going on, it has been seen that Castles had contrived to way-lay me, in Cheapside, on my road from Wanstead towards Spafields; and, as I have before observed, kindly invited me to accompany him to the Tower, which he said young Watson had got possession of for more than an hour before.
In the evening the elder Watson and Thistlewood were taken near Paddington or Islington, as they were endeavouring to make their escape into the country. The worthy Mr. John Castles no doubt surrendered himself, and soon after Preston and Hooper were apprehended, and they were all five committed to prison. I believe a reward of 750_l_. was offered for the apprehension of the chief conspirator, young Watson.