The Parliament was dissolved, and a general election took place in November, 1806. The Whigs thought that, at all popular places, they should bring in their friends with a high hand. They, however, were very much deceived;—they were warmly opposed every where, and, instead of being, as they had heretofore been, the popular candidates, they were in all quarters unpopular, and nothing but ministerial influence gained them their seats. In several places they were thrown out. The electors for the borough of Southwark rejected Mr. Tierney, and he was obliged to come in for a ministerial rotten borough. Mr. Sheridan was opposed by Mr. Paul, for Westminster, where he was evidently far from being popular. The Whigs being in place and power, exercised the most unconstitutional means to carry their elections; they proved themselves much more barefaced in exercising their corrupt influence than the Pittites ever had, and they unblushingly set the opinion of the people at complete defiance. In Hampshire, Lord Temple behaved in the most arbitrary manner, and attempted to dictate in the most overbearing way; but, in doing so to Sir William Heathcote, he behaved so insolently, that the old Pittite of a baronet exposed him to his party, which caused the greatest indignation in the breast of every independent freeholder throughout the county and the kingdom.

One of our members for Wiltshire, Ambrose Goddard, of Swindon, being old and superannuated, resigned, and one of an old family, RICHARD LONG, of Rood Ashton, was to be foisted upon the county by an arrangement made between two clubs, without consulting the wishes of the freeholders. Mr. Goddard had resigned in consequence of some questions that I had put to him at a former election, as to his neglect of duty; which neglect he confessed arose from ill health and inability to attend in his place, in consequence of his age; and this rendered it too ridiculous for him to offer himself again. Mr. Richard Long, of Rood Ashton, was a fox-hunting country squire, without any other qualification to be a Member of Parliament than that of belonging to an ancient family of the county; in fact, he was proverbially a man of very inferior knowledge, remarkable only for being a stupid country squire, who, although a sportsman, scarcely knew how to address his tenants on his health being drank on a rent-day.

At a former election for the county, I attended on the day of nomination, at the townhall at Devizes, and, after Ambrose Goddard and Henry Penruddock Wyndham, Esgrs., had, in the usual form, been proposed and seconded, when the sheriff was about to put it to the vote, I stepped forward, and desired that, before the show of hands was taken, I might ask a question or two of the candidates who were the late members. This produced a murmur amongst the old electioneering stagers of the county; and Mr. Salmon, an attorney, who, from his overbearing disposition in the borough of Devizes, had acquired the name of "King Salmon," cried, order! order! and begged that the sheriff would proceed to the regular business of the day. I was young and bashful, but in so good a cause I was not to be put down so easily, although I had never attended at an election meeting before; I therefore respectfully, but firmly, addressed the High Sheriff, and demanded to exercise the right of a freeholder, by asking some questions of the candidates as to their former conduct in Parliament, of which questions I expected a specific answer, before I gave them my suffrage again. I was once more called to order by some of the ministerial sycophants; but, I added, that, unless I was permitted to put these questions, and received a satisfactory answer, I should feel it my duty to propose some other candidate.

The High Sheriff, Hungerford Penruddock, Esq., who, by the bye, had an eye himself to the future representation of the county, now interposed, and decided that as a respectable freeholder of Wilts Mr. Hunt had an undoubted right to put any questions which he might think proper to the candidates, before he proceeded to take the show of hands. Poor old Mr. Goddard mumbled out that he had represented the county for forty years, and had never before had any question put to him. A profound silence now pervaded the hall, and I proceeded as follows:—" Mr. Goddard, I wish to ascertain how you gave your vote in the House of Commons when the bill was brought in imposing a duty of TWO SHILLINGS PER BUSHEL upon malt? Wiltshire is a very considerable barley county, and many of your constituents are large barley growers, whose interests are seriously affected by this measure, which will take a very great sum of money annually out of their pockets. How did you give your vote upon that occasion?" Mr. Goddard hesitated, and stammered out, in a very feeble voice, "I have been incapacitated by old age and ill-health from attending my duty in Parliament, for the LAST TWO YEARS. I have never been in the House during that time, and, I fear I shall never be able to attend again."

I next turned round and addressed Mr. Wyndham, the other candidate, as follows:— "Well, Mr. Wyndham, as your colleague was '_incapacitated_' by old age from attending at all in the House, how did you vote upon this important measure, which so materially affects the interests of your constituents?" Mr. Wyndham, placing his _finger_ upon his right temple, as if to recollect himself, _pertly and affectedly_ replied, "'Pon my honour, Mr. Hunt, I cannot charge my memory whether I was in the House or not upon that occasion_." Upon this, I addressed him, at considerable length, shewing how many acres of barley were grown in the county of Wilts, and what an enormous sum of money would be taken out of the pockets of his constituents; and I proved that this was a tax that affected them a great deal more than the income tax, about which there had very properly been so much said. I added, that, in this additional duty upon malt and beer, one brewer in the town of Devizes would pay more than the whole inhabitants of the town, amounting to a population of six or seven thousand persons, would pay by the income tax; I urged, that the members for all the other barley counties in the kingdom—Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Sussex, Hampshire, &c. had opposed the measure with all their power and influence; therefore, I wished to know what measures he had taken to oppose and resist the passing of it? But all the answer that I could get from our worthy and efficient Member of Parliament, Mr. Wyndham, was, "'_Pon his honour he could not recollect, could not charge his memory whether he was in the House or not when this measure was discussed and passed_!"

My efforts on this occasion were, however, in vain, I had no one to second my exertions and inquiries, and the independent electors of Wiltshire proceeded to the business of the day, and once more returned the above two worthy, capable, and efficient representatives, to watch over their rights and liberties, to be the guardians and trustees of their property, and to assist in making those laws which have brought the country to its present state. I warned them, I began to warn them, thus early; and I continued to warn them against such apathy, such dereliction of principle, as long as I remained amongst them in that county. My having dared to ask a question and to expose the two venerable representatives of the county in such a public manner was an offence not to be forgiven; and accordingly I was set down as a jacobin and leveller, and was looked upon with an evil eye by the cunning supporters of the system, the parsons, lawyers, and attorneys. I received the thanks of many of the freeholders privately; but the poor sycophants did not dare to shew their, approbation publicly. How many of them are there who, when they read this, will recollect the circumstance with shame, and feel a pang of remorse that they did not stand forward at the time to obey the dictates of their conscience.

We will now return to the dissolution of the Parliament in 1806. On that occasion I made one more effort to rouse my brother freeholders of the county into a sense of their political rights. In order to stimulate them to the exercise of those rights, I called upon them in a public address, which I sent to be inserted in the Salisbury and Winchester Journal; and, taking care that there should be no pretence for refusing it, I sent the money to pay for it as an advertisement; but the time-serving proprietors of that paper refused to insert it in the columns of their Journal; I therefore had it printed and published in numerous handbills, which I caused to be pretty generally circulated. It also obtained admission into one of the Bath newspapers, and Mr. Cobbett, to whom I sent one of the bills, gave it a place in his Political Register. It will be impossible for me, in these Memoirs, to give all the public documents of this sort which I have sent forth to warn my fellow-countrymen of their danger, and to exhort them to stand up to maintain and defend their rights and liberties; but I will insert this, my first printed address, as I find it in the tenth volume of Cobbett's Political Register, published in November, 1806; and it will shew that I have always been consistent in my public conduct, and always maintained the same independent principles from that time to this.

"Mr. Hunt's Address to the independent Freeholders of the County of Wilts.

"GENTLEMEN, I flatter myself that a few lines addressed to you by a brother freeholder, (one who has ever lived among you, and has ever been most sincerely devoted to the liberty and independence of the county,) will not, at this critical period, be deemed obtrusive, nor wholly unworthy of your serious consideration.

"Considering, with many of the best disposed characters in the kingdom, that the fate of this country will be in a great measure decided by the approaching election, I think it highly important, that every freeholder should be exhorted to think and act for himself on this occasion. Let every man remember, that by bartering his liberty at this awful period, he may speedily endanger the very existence of his country. If you duly reflect on the present situation of the Prussians, and every other power on the Continent that are opposed to our powerful enemy, I think you will agree with me that this moment is the most awful in the history of Europe. Old England, our country, is not yet subdued; let us hope that she never will; but, it is by every thinking man confessed to be in a very perilous situation—in such a situation that it cannot possibly much longer support its independence, without the extraordinary sacrifices and exertions of the people. Therefore, it behoves you, my brother freeholders of this county, at this moment in particular, and let me conjure you, as the greatest boon you can bestow on your country 'diligently and impartially to inquire whether all the evils we endure, and all the dangers that threaten us, are not to be ascribed to the folly and the baseness of those who have so shamefully abused their privilege of choosing Members of Parliament.' The dangers I allude to will (I fear) be increased by every post we receive from the Continent; the evils are a system of taxation, which must be felt by us all (to say the least of it) to have trebled the paupers of this county, within the last twenty years. No country is willing to attribute its ruin to its own baseness, but if you tamely submit to have a man thrust down your throats, to be a representative for this county, by the Beckhampton or the Deptford Club, or any other party of men whatever, without your considering whether he be a proper independent character, and capable of executing such an important trust, at this eventful period; if you basely and tamely submit to this worst of degradation—whether it be from indolence, or whether it be from the worst of all human dependence, the fear of offending Mr. Long or Mr. Short—you will be a disgrace to your country, and be curst by your posterity for your pusillanimous surrender of those liberties and just rights that were so gloriously secured to you by your forefathers. I beseech you, let no man deceive himself; if he act in this manner, I am persuaded that he may live to be convinced that he has, by losing this opportunity, been in a great degree instrumental in his country's ruin.—Is there a man among you so insensible as not to feel the weight of the present taxes, and yet so hardened as to go to the hustings and give his vote to a mere cypher:—to a man from whom he has not the least reason to expect any thing but a tame acquiescence in the measures of any one who happens to be the minister of the day! The man who is now looked out to be our new representative, his very best friends do not speak of any qualification that he possesses, to make him worthy of that honourable situation; they only tell us of his uncle's long purse! therefore, in good truth, we may as well be repre- sented by his uncle's old three-corner'd hat. And as for the other member, even in his youthful days he was no better in the House of Commons than an old woman. Is there no honourable and independent man to be found in the county of Wilts, capable of sustaining such a charge? I, myself, have no doubt but there are many; but it is that cursed long purse, and an idea that the freeholders of this county will never exert themselves for their independence, that deter many from stepping forward that would do honour to the trust reposed in them. There are a number of freeholders in this county that are independent, if they would for one moment think themselves so. Then let us say we will have a man of our own choosing, as free of expense to himself as we would wish him to be honest and true to the confidence reposed in him. But if you let this present opportunity slip, I, for one, will never despair; I shall look on you with feelings of contempt and indignation; I shall wait patiently for the day when we shall be enabled to exert ourselves effectually for the preservation of those just rights and liberties that are the bulwarks of our glorious and blessed Constitution.

I am, Gentlemen, with great respect, Your obedient humble servant, "H. HUNT."

"Chisenbury House, Oct. 30th., 1806."

This appeal to the freeholders of Wilts gave great umbrage to the numerous friends of Mr. LONG, or rather to the whole of the friends of the Pitt system, which evidently included Whigs as well as Tories; but it produced no beneficial effect upon the senseless and inanimate freeholders of the county of Wilts. I was considered a very impudent fellow for my pains, though the almost universal whisper amongst the freeholders was, "what Mr. Hunt says is true enough, but what use is it?" The election took place, and Mr. Wyndham and Mr. Long were chosen without any opposition. The Whig ministry, or, ironically speaking, "All the Talents," were discarded in the Spring of 1807. Lord Eldon took the seals of office, and, to the astonisbment of the whole nation, Mr. Perceval was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the whole gang of Pitt's underlings came into place; and the Ministry was consequently composed of Castlereagh, Canning, Liverpool, the Roses and Longs; while, to crown the whole, Sir Vicary Gibbs was appointed Attorney General. As soon as the new Ministers were firmly seated in the saddle and settled in their places, they caused the Parliament to be once more dissolved.

During the last election, the people of Westminster, in consequence of the exertions of Mr. Paull and the able friends by whom he was surrounded, had made such a rapid progress in political knowledge, that they were quite prepared to break the trammels in which they had hitherto been bound by the two political factions of Ins and Outs, nicknamed Whigs and Tories. This change was brought about by the strenuous personal efforts of Mr. Cobbett, and by the excellent, clear, patriotic, and convincing addresses which he weekly published in his Political Register, seconded by the assistance of some very intelligent, public spirited men, amongst which number was a very worthy young friend of Liberty, Mr. ABRAHAM HEWLINGS, and the famous Mr. POWELL, the attorney, who lately cut such a conspicuous figure in the character of attorney for the prosecution of the Bill of Pains and Penalties against the Queen. By these persons the spirit of the electors of Westminster appeared to be roused to a proper sense of the power which they possessed, to return their own members in spite of the intrigues of the two factions.

Mr. Paull had become very popular by the exertions which he had-' made to bring the Marquis Wellesley's conduct in India before the public, by an impeachment; and it was pretty generally believed that he would come in for Westminster at the head of the poll. The moment that the Parliament was dissolved, he and his friends in Westminster were upon the alert, and a meeting was called at the Crown and Anchor, to consult upon the best means of securing his return, which was doubted by no one; however, the cursed bane of all political liberty, jealousy interposed. Sir F. Burdett and Mr. Paull had been upon the most intimate terms, and the Baronet had strained every nerve to promote and secure the return of Mr. Paull for Westminster; and if he could have secured the return of that gentleman by his own interest and popularity, Mr. Paull would have been returned; but the misfortune was, that Mr. Paull had himself become very popular, deservedly popular, sufficiently so, indeed, to have secured his seat by his own exertions, if Sir Francis Burdett had stood neuter. But Mr. Paull had no wish of this sort; he by no means desired to push himself above Sir Francis Burdett in the scale of political popularity; neither, on the other hand, was he quite prepared to act as the tool and puppet of Sir Francis Burdett.

Mr. Paull not having the slightest idea of the working of the green-eyed monster, jealousy, in the Baronet's breast, a dinner meeting of Mr. Paull's friends was advertised for the next day, at the Crown and Anchor, Sir Francis Burdett in the chair. The time arrived, the party assembled, but Sir Francis Burdett did not appear; a circumstance which threw a damp upon the meeting. Mr. Jones Burdett, however, attended, and read a letter from his brother, Sir Francis, addressed to the meeting, censuring in strong language the use that, without his consent, had been made of his name, and reflecting upon Mr. Paull. This caused a very unpleasant sensation in the meeting, and an elucidation of the business was demanded by some of the party. It appeared that Mr. Paull and his friends had announced the name of Sir Francis to be in the chair, as they had frequently done on a former occasion, without previously consulting the Baronet. Following the generous and undisguised impulse of his heart, and acting upon the principle of "do as you would be done unto;" Mr. Paull had used the Baronet's name, under the firm conviction that his friend Sir Francis would hurry to his post at a moment's notice to assist him, as he, Mr. Paull, would have done, at any hour of the day or night, to have served Sir Francis. But Mr. Paull was deceived; and some of his friends, who knew Sir F. Burdett better than he did, saw that the apple of discord had been thrown down by the implacable fiend jealousy, they anticipated what would follow, and they retired from the contest in disgust.

Mr. Paull, having had such a gross insult offered to him by a man whom he had hitherto esteemed his friend, and being wounded at such a moment in the most sensitive part, called upon Sir Francis Burdett for an explanation; and this being refused, he demanded satisfaction in the field, as a dernier resort, when he found that no terms of conciliation were likely to be acceded to by the Baronet. They met, and on the first fire both were wounded. Sir Francis Burdett received his antagonist's ball in his thigh, and Mr. Paull had the top of his shin bone shot away. They were both severely wounded. This caused a great sensation, not only throughout the metropolis but also throughout the kingdom. The public press, which was hostile to both the parties, made the worst of the affair; but they leaned to the Baronet, and affected to pity him, as having been stung by a viper of his own fostering. The truth was, that the press upon this occasion, as upon all others, had a leaning to the Aristocracy, and Sir Francis Burdett was no mean part of the Aristocracy. He was an old Baronet, with very large landed property, although he was supposed to have spent nearly a hundred thousand pounds, four years of his income, in his contests for the county of Middlesex. Sir Francis Burdett had besides endeared himself to the friends of Liberty all over the kingdom, by his public spirited exertions in and out of Parliament; and no man was a more warm and zealous admirer of the Baronet than I was. Like the great majority of his friends, I was enraged with Mr. Paull, and condemned his hasty, and, as I considered it, ungrateful attack upon the life of his patron, Sir Francis. This feeling was propagated with great assiduity by that part of the public press which was called liberal; and, taking advantage of this feeling, together with the pity excited by the severe and dangerous wound he was supposed to have received, the friends of the Baronet immediately came to a determination to propose him as a candidate for Westminster. Mr. Clayton Jennings, a barrister, took the lead, and during the contest appeared every day on the hustings as the Baronet's "locum tenens." However, few, if any of those who assembled as a Committee, were electors, and it was with the greatest difficulty that they could get the promise of two householders, to propose and second the nomination of Sir Francis Burdett. The great fear was, that the proposer and seconder would make themselves liable for the expenses of the hustings; and, as they had no reliance on the Baronet to indemnify them, this difficulty increased almost up to the hour appointed for the nomination. At length a Mr. GLOSSOP, a tallow-chandler, volunteered to propose the Baronet, if any one would second him; which, after a great deal of persuasion, one ADAMS, a currier and leather-dresser in Drury-lane, agreed to do. But, such was the dread of the expense, and so little acquainted was this person with the rights and duty of an elector, that, when it came to the pinch, as I am credibly informed, he actually run from his agreement, and refused to do it; so that the Baronet, when proposed, would have been left without a seconder, had not a young man, of the name of COWLAM, stepped forward and performed the office. I have heard poor COWLAM laugh most heartily at the timidity and meanness of this ADAMS, who, when the danger was over, claimed the merit of having seconded the Baronet at the nomination; which claim he has repeated ever since, and, on the merit of this he bravely swaggers and struts about at all the Rump dinners, he being one of the most conspicuous and notorious members of that August body. COWLAM, who was much too honest and sincere a lover of liberty to remain long either a dupe or a tool of this gang, let me into almost all the intrigues, tricks, and gambols of the junta of Westminster patriots, which I shall expose and lay bare to public view, as I proceed with my Memoirs.

The public mind was very much agitated by the duel of Sir Francis Burdett and Mr. Paull, but the newspaper editors all appeared to throw the blame upon the latter; and even those who at the former election had warmly supported him, with very few exceptions, abandoned him. The cry was raised against him, and he was basely deserted by those who, even at the risk of their lives, ought to have supported him. In justice to a much lamented deceased individual, the late Abraham Hewlings, Esq., I must state that he stood firmly and honestly by his friend Paull, to the last moment; but the cry was for Burdett, and his friends gathered those laurels which poor Paull had so deservedly won at the former election. If Sir F. Burdett had only stood neuter, nothing could have prevented the return of Mr. Paull; but with the support of Sir F. Burdett, similar to what he had received from him at the former contest, his election would have been sure.

The friends of the Baronet carried his election with a high hand, and he was returned at the head of the poll, by an immense majority; there having been polled for him 5,134 electors. Lord Cochrane polled 3,708; so that Sir Francis bad a majority of 1,426 votes above Lord Cochrane, the other successful candidate; Mr. Sheridan polled only 2,615, so that the votes of Sir Francis nearly doubled those of Mr. Sheridan, the late member; Mr. Paull polled no more than 269 votes.

The friends of freedom, throughout the whole country, were delighted with the success of Sir Francis and Lord Cochrane; or rather with the triumph of the electors of Westminster, in having thus rescued the representation of their city out of the hands of the two great factions of the country, which had always divided the representation of that city between them; the Whigs and Tories having each returned a member. This was, therefore, considered as a great triumph for the friends of reform; for neither Sir F. Burdett nor Lord Cochrane was considered as being a Whig or a Tory, but as a friend to the liberties of the people. Lord Cochrane was certainly an officer of his Majesty's navy, but he had on various occasions, during the last Parliament, expressed himself as a friend to an inquiry into the abuses of Government, and particularly into the abuses of the navy, with which he was intimately acquainted, and to expose which he had proved himself to be both able and willing. To some of the electors of Westminster he had likewise pledged himself to support the cause of Reform in the House of Commons. He was consequently considered a more eligible member for the electors of Westminster than the brilliant Mr. Sheridan; and he was accordingly elected with Sir F. Burdett.

I was at this time residing in Belle Vue, at Clifton, winding up the brewing concern, in which I had unfortunately embarked. I had returned home out of Wiltshire, late at night, and had lain longer in bed than usual, when the servant came to my room, and informed me that an opposition was anticipated for the election at the city of Bristol, as a new candidate had offered. This new candidate was Sir John Jarvis, an Irishman, who was the Commander of the Bristol Rifle Corps of Volunteers. I knew something of the politics of Bristol, but I could not fathom the drift of this opposition, as I could not make out what claim Sir John Jarvis had to be a more popular character than the late members, Colonel Baillie and Mr. Bragge Bathurst. To be sure Mr. Bathurst was a ministerial man, a brother-in-law of the Addingtons, and therefore very unpopular; but as Sir John Jarvis was also a ministerial man, there appeared something mysterious in the business. However, the servant informed me that the populace were drawing him round the city in his carriage, and that he was evidently the popular candidate. After all, it ought to be no great wonder that any one should have been popular that was opposed to Mr. Bragge Bathurst.

On hearing this intelligence I put on my clothes, and having taken a hasty breakfast, I proceeded towards Bristol, determined to be an eye-witness of the proceedings of the election. When I got upon the Exchange all was confusion, Sir John Jarvis was addressing the people in an incoherent, unintelligible speech, in which, however, he professed great patriotism, and vowed that he would oppose Mr. Bathurst to the last moment, and keep the poll open as long as there was a freeman unpolled. He then alighted from his carriage, and retired into the large room in the Bush tavern, where he was followed by a great number of the electors, and others; and amongst that number I made one. He was attended by a noisy blustering person, who I found was an attorney, of the name of Cornish, who also was professing what he would do, and how he would support his friend Sir John Jarvis. Hundreds of freemen pressed forward, and offered their copies of their freedom, as an earnest that they would voluntarily give him their votes; but it struck me that all was talk, and no one appeared to take any efficient steps to promote or secure the election of Sir John Jarvis, who himself appeared to be all bluster, and to be acting without the least system or arrangement, calculated to secure even the first requisites to commence an election.

I now took the liberty to ask the candidate whether he was prepared with any one to propose and second his nomination; to which he gave me a vague and unmeaning answer, apparently as if he did not understand what I meant by a person to propose and second him. I then appealed to Mr. Cornish, the worthy attorney, who answered me in a similar manner; and he evidently appeared not to be in the secret any more than myself. I next addressed the multitude, to inquire which of them was prepared to propose Sir John Jarvis, and which to second the proposition? All said they were ready to powl for Sir John, but no one was engaged to perform the necessary part of the ceremony to which I had alluded, and it likewise seemed very plain that neither Sir John nor his attorney took any pains to secure any one to do this. At this critical moment intimation was given, that the Sheriffs were proceeding with the other Candidates to the Guildhall, to commence the election. Sir John and his agent were about to move very deliberately towards the scene of action, when I addressed him as follows:—"I see that you are either unaware of the forms to be observed, or you are unprepared, Sir John. If, however, when it comes to the proper time, no one else proposes you, I will: though I am no freeman of Bristol, yet I will undertake to do this, as it will give your friends an opportunity of coming forward, and it will prevent the Sheriffs from hastily closing the election, which they are very likely to do if you are not prepared with some friends to propose and second your nomination." He answered, as we went along together, "Very well, Sir." In this way we proceeded to, and entered, the Guildhall, and mounted the hustings together. The usual proclamation being read by the Under-Sheriff, an old mumbling fellow, of the name of Palmer, some one proposed Colonel Baillie, the late member, as a fit and proper person to represent the city again. Colonel Baillie was a Whig member, and Colonel of the Bristol Volunteers, being a Whig, or Low-party-man, as they called him. This proposition was received with very general cheers and approbation. The next person proposed was Mr. Bragge Batburst. He being a ministerial man, the speaker was repeatedly interrupted with loud shouts of disapprobation, which continued without intermission till the conclusion of the speeches of those who proposed and seconded him. The Sheriffs were now about to proclaim these two candidates duly elected. There stood Sir John, looking as wild as a newly taken Irishman, fresh from the bogs of that country; and there stood the electors, bawling Sir John Jarvis for ever! while the Sheriff was very deliberately proceeding to declare the proposed candidates duly elected. As I had narrowly watched their motions, I now stepped forward, and addressed the electors in at least an animated speech, in which I proposed Sir John Jarvis as the most eligible person to represent them in Parliament. During the time that I was thus addressing them, the most dinning uproar arose. I was loudly and enthusiastically applauded by the multitude, the great body of the electors; and as loudly and earnestly opposed and hooted by the well-dressed rabble upon the hustings and its vicinity, consisting of the whole of the Corporation, the Clergy, the Attorneys, and their myrmidons; but I persisted and delivered some wholesome truths as to the state of thraldom in which the electors had hitherto been bound and held by the two factions of Whigs and Tories, who had always in Bristol divided the representation and the loaves and fishes between them, leaving the electors nothing but the empty name of freemen. The people were in an ecstacy of joy to hear this language, which so completely corresponded with their feelings, which was so very different from that which they had been accustomed to hear from the candidates of the contending factions, and which language of truth also enraged the agents of those factions almost to a state of madness. The violence and threats of those despicable agents were open and undisguised, and exceeded all bounds; nay, some of them actually proceeded to personal violence, and began to lay hands upon me, to pull me down. As, however, I was no chicken, I easily repelled those who ventured too near, and threatened them, if they did not keep at a distance, that I would call in the aid of those who would soon make a clearance of the hustings, if they were disposed to try their hands at an experiment of that sort. The people immediately took the hint, and rushed forward to support me, and to punish those who had assailed me; but I told them there was then no occasion for their interference, as the gentry were peaceable.

I proceeded with my haranguing, and those who were not in the secret actually began to be alarmed, for fear there should be a contested election, which they had by no means expected. I eulogised Sir John Jarvis, cried his patriotic virtues up to the skies, and descanted upon his talent, his resolution, and his invincible love of religious and civil liberty. I saw that those around me were astonished at my language, and, what was rather surprising to me, I perceived that Sir John looked as much astonished as any of my hearers; and the reader will also be astonished when I inform him, that I had never seen Sir John Jarvis before in my life, to speak to him, and in fact that I knew nothing about him. I only spoke of him that which my imagination suggested to me an honest candidate ought to be; and, what is more extraordinary, as I was a stranger in Bristol, so the people were strangers to me, for I saw scarcely a single person amongst the whole assemblage whom I could call by name. I recollect there was one old Alderman, of the name of Bengough, who was almost frantic during my speech, and some of his friends were obliged to hold him down by mere force. The cry was, who is he? What is his name? Is he a freeman or a freeholder of the county? At the intervals when the multitude gained silence for me, by overwhelming and drowning the clamour of my opponents with their shouts of hear him! he shall be heard!! Bravo, Bravo!!! &c. I went on with my speech. The Right Honourable Bragge Bathurst, the White Lion, or Ministerial Candidate, stood near me in great agony, which I did not fail to heighten, by giving him a well-merited castigation for his time-serving devotion to the Ministers, his never-failing vote for war, and for every tax which was proposed to be laid upon the people. I urged the absolute necessity of the Electors of Bristol returning a member the exact reverse of Mr. Bragge, which I described Sir John to be. But these compliments to the popular Candidate, appeared to be received by no one less graciously than by Sir John himself; and instead of his giving me, by nods or gestures of assent, any encouragement to pursue my theme when I met his eye, which at first I frequently sought, I received the most chilling frowns and discouraging shakes of the head. Though I had no doubt now but I had mistaken my man, I, nevertheless, concluded by proposing him as a Candidate to represent the city of Bristol in the ensuing Parliament which proposition was received by nine distinct and tremendous cheers.

Silence being restored, the Sheriff demanded, in a very respectful tone, if I was either a freeman or a freeholder? I replied that I was a stranger in Bristol, I was neither as yet; but that I hoped soon to become both. This caused immense clamour, and Alderman Bengough and his supporters, some of the well-dressed rabble of the city of Bristol, roared out lustily, "turn him out, turn him out." My friends, however, or rather supporters, who were as to numbers and physical strength more than twenty to one, reiterated, "touch him if you dare!" I contended that it was not at all necessary for a Candidate to be proposed either by a freeman or a freeholder; that Sir John was entitled to offer himself without any such formality, and that if one man polled for him that made him a legal Candidate; and I urged him to do so, but he stood mute and shuffled from the point. Now, for the first time, I began to discover that it was all a hoax, and that the patriotic Irishman was nothing more nor less than a scape-goat, a mere tool in the hands of the White Lion club, or ministerial faction; a mere scarecrow, whom they had set up to deter any other person from offering himself, or rather to prevent the freemen from seeking another Candidate; and it must be confessed that their plan succeeded to a miracle. In the midst of this squabbling the Sheriffs very coolly declared that Colonel Baillie and the Right Honourable Bragge Bathurst were duly elected, without any opposition, and the return was made accordingly.

I was at that time a complete novice in electioneering matters, neither had I the least idea of offering myself, or indeed any ambition to be a Member of Parliament. I was, however, so completely disgusted with the conduct of the Sheriff, the factions, and their tool, Sir John Jarvis, that I addressed the enraged multitude, who felt that they had been cheated and tricked out of an election, and I promised them that, whenever there was another vacancy or a dissolution of Parliament, I would pledge myself to come forward as a Candidate, or bring some independent person, who would stand a contest for the representation of their city. The people were excessively indignant at the treatment which they had received, and they hooted, hallooed, and even pelted Mr. Bragge and his partizans out of the Hall, and with considerable difficulty the latter reached the White Lion, where a gaudy gilded car was provided, as usual, in which the Candidate was to be chaired. I left the scene in disgust, and returned to my house at Clifton. Before, however, I had taken half my dinner, which was waiting for me when I reached home, a messenger arrived, either a Mayor's or Sheriff's officer, to inform me that the populace had hurled Mr. Bragge Bathurst out of his car, and that he had escaped with great difficulty into a house, which the mob were pulling down, and had nearly demolished; and that Mr. Bragge's life would certainly be sacrificed if I did not come down to Bristol and save it, by interfering with the populace to spare him.

The event which occasioned me to be called back to Bristol was not wholly unexpected; for when I left the Guildhall I had overheard some of those who appeared to take the lead, and to have influence over the populace, solemnly declare their determination to have an election, even if it were at the expense of the life of Mr. Bathurst, against whom they vowed vengeance in such a tone and manner that I thought it proper to warn his friends; and, accordingly, before I left the town, I penetrated on horseback through the crowd in Broad-street, and with considerable pains and risk gained access to the White Lion, amidst the conflicts of the populace and the constables, or, more correctly speaking, bludgeon-men, employed by the White Lion club. The blood was streaming from their broken pates, and amongst the number of the wounded Mr. Peter Clisshold, the attorney, stood conspicuous, with his head laid open, his skull bare, and the blood flowing in streams down upon the pavement, as he stood under the archway of the White Lion gate. (He will recollect it if he should read this.) I desired to see some of the Committee, who came to me immediately. I communicated to them what I had overheard, and I strongly recommended, on the score of policy, that they should not attempt to chair their friend Mr. Bathurst, for, if they did, it was my decided opinion that some serious mischief would happen. They, however, informed me that they had determined at all hazards to have Mr. Bathurst chaired immediately; and, I shall never forget the exulting manner in which Mr. Clisshold declared that they had five hundred bludgeon-men sworn in as constables, and, as they would act in concert and in a body, they were more than a match for five thousand of the mob. I replied that I had done my duty, in communicating that which came accidentally to my knowledge, and if they had not prudence enough to benefit by the information, it was their business and not mine. I then retired through the immense multitude, mounted on my beautiful grey horse, Model, the populace making way for and cheering me as I passed. As I have before stated, I no sooner arrived at home, and was seated at my dinner, than a message was brought, requesting my interference with the populace, who were demolishing the house into which Mr. Bragge Bathurst had retreated, after he had been handled so unceremoniously by the enraged people. If I had done by them as I know they would have done by me, I should have taken my dinner very quietly, and left the fury of the multitude to be quelled by those who had created it. But, actuated by the sublime precept, "do as you would that others should do unto you," I ordered my horse to be instantly re-saddled and brought to the door; and having mounted him I was in High-street, the scene of action, in a few minutes. There I found the people assembled, in immense numbers. Having broken in the windows and window frames of the house in which the hapless member, Mr. Bathurst, had concealed himself, they only waited for a cessation of throwing brick-bats and stones to rush into the house; which, if they had once done, his forfeited life would have been the inevitable price of the temerity of his friends.

The moment I galloped up there was a partial suspension of hostilities, and the multitude received me with three cheers. No time was to be lost; one moment's indecision would have been the death-signal of the Right Honourable Bragge Bathurst. I did not hesitate an instant; but, taking off my hat, I addressed them in a tone of expostulation, condemning their folly; and I then declared that I had a measure of much greater importance to communicate to them than that of wreaking their vengeance upon Mr. Bathurst, and if they would follow me, I would instantly, upon reaching Brandon Hill, communicate it to them. This was said by me with so much confidence, that they instantly assented to my proposition by three cheers. "Come, follow me, then, my Lads," I firmly rejoined, as I wheeled my horse round, and the whole crowd, consisting of many thousands, instantly began to move after me up High-street, down Clare-street, over the draw-bridge, through College Green, and upon Brandon Hill, over the high gate of which I leaped my horse. As soon as I got upon the center of the gravel walk that leads across the hill, I halted and began to address them. My only object was, to draw them from the victim of their intended vengeance. But having, by a bold and decisive effort, effected this purpose, I had now a painful and rather a dangerous duty to perform, that of satisfying the enraged multitude that I had not duped them. I therefore boldly censured their hasty and indiscreet conduct, in proceeding to such a violent measure as that of seeking the life of one who was merely the agent of a corrupt system. This was received with partial murmurs; but I, nevertheless, continued successfully to combat the indiscreet violence of the most sanguine, and, I soon found that, by dint of reason and argument, I had prevailed upon the great majority to agree with me. I then took occasion to dilate upon the consequences that must have followed the taking the life of a fellow creature, without the intervention of judge or jury. I was instantly answered, that their opponents had taken the lives of a great many, without judge or jury, some years before, when the Herefordshire militia, with Lord Bateman as their Colonel, had fired upon the inhabitants during the disturbances on Bristol bridge. I was obliged to admit the truth of this, and urge the folly of following so bad and murderous an example. I then informed them who I was, and told them that I would pledge myself to come forward, on the very next election, and give those who had votes an opportunity of exercising their franchises for a Candidate who would not betray and desert them, as Sir John Jarvis had that day done. This proposition was received with cheers. I also told them I would immediately form some plan, to enable the freemen to take up their freedom, by means of a voluntary weekly subscription amongst themselves; which plan should be carried into execution without delay. And as they had done me the kindness of patiently listening to, and acting upon, my recommendation to give up the desperate project which they had formed, I begged to offer them a drink of my genuine beer, not as a bribe, but as an earnest of my intention to carry my promise into execution.

Pointing now to my brewery at Jacob's Well, at the bottom of the hill, I said, once more, with confidence, "follow me, my Lads!" Till this time I was not even known by name to one in twenty of the multitude. This proposition was received with applause, and they followed me to the door of my brewery, where I ordered three hogsheads of strong beer to be rolled out and divided amongst them. This, together with my promise of future attention to their rights of election, restored them to good humor; and, upon my addressing them again, they promised to return to their homes as soon as they had finished their beer, which they did, almost to a man, without even the slightest disturbance taking place afterwards that night. I had no sooner drawn the people from the house in which Mr. Bathurst was concealed, than he took the opportunity of escaping out of the city, in a return post-chaise, to Bath. Thus did I save the life of a man whose partizans would have put me to death, without the slightest remorse, if they had had it in their power. Many liberal-minded persons, of all parties, applauded my conduct and presence of mind; but I was informed that one of the leaders of the White Lion club said, when he was told of the means that I had used to draw the people from their premeditated victim, that he only wished the mob had broken into my cellar, and turned into the streets all my beer, amounting at that time nearly to three thousand barrels; and this was the only thanks I ever received from any of the faction, from that day to this. As for Mr. Bathurst, he never had the manliness nor the candour to acknowledge the service in any way. But the Right Honourable Gentleman possibly may have thought of the circumstance when he was sitting as one of the Privy Council, who advised the thanks that were given, in the name of the King, to the Manchester Yeomanry and Magistrates! What must have been the feelings of this Right Honourable Privy Councillor when, as one of that immaculate body, he advised the prosecution against me for attending the Manchester meeting; and advised it, that a sort of blind might be obtained for the deeds that had been committed by the military bravoes on that day! What must have been the feelings of this gentleman, if the recollection that I had saved his life came across his mind, at the time when in all probability he was one of the same Cabinet who advised the length of the imprisonment that the Judges of the Court of King's Bench should impose upon me! Ah, Mr. Bragge Bathurst! what will be your feelings when you read this? When your life was in jeopardy, the power of saving that life was accidentally placed in my hands; I hesitated not to save that life, at the imminent risk of my own; and how grateful has been the return! But, Mr. Bathurst, I am a million times happier a man in my dungeon than you are in a palace. It was reserved for Mr. Bragge Bathurst, as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, to reward Parson Hay for his deeds on the 16th of August 1819, at Manchester; to reward him with the living of Rochdale, with, it is said, two thousand five hundred pounds a year! But I am a much happier man in my dungeon than Parson Hay, or his relation, Mr. Bragge Bathurst, is; though the one is the Rector of Rochdale, and the other Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with all its revenue and patronage.

The news soon after this reached Bristol, that Sir Francis Burdett had been returned at the head of the poll for Westminster, by a large majority. This gave new life and spirits to the friends of liberty all over the kingdom, and no one participated more warmly than I did in the general joy which this news created, for I was one of the Baronet's most enthusiastic admirers. I immediately proposed a public dinner in Bristol, to celebrate the joyful event; but I could get no one to join me. There were several who said that if the dinner took place they would attend it, but they would not take upon themselves any of the responsibility of ordering such a dinner, nor of the risk and expense attending the getting of it up. There was, for one, a Mr. Lee, a surgeon, who was very ready to join in the dinner to commemorate the Westminster victory, but he shrank from bearing any part of the onus of setting it on foot, either in purse or in person. But, having once proposed a measure, I was not to be foiled in that way. I therefore, after some considerable difficulty in finding any one to take the order for a dinner for such a purpose, took the whole expense and responsibility upon myself, by ordering dinner for a hundred persons, at the large room in the Trout Tavern, Stokes' Croft.

The dinner was now advertised and placarded, myself to be in the chair. In the mean time, every effort was used to run down the dinner, and to intimidate persons from attending it; and on the morning of the day that was appointed for our meeting, the walls of the city were placarded with the following notice, from authority—"DANGER to be apprehended from the proposed dinner to be held this day at the Trout Tavern," &c. &c. The word DANGER was printed in letters six inches long. The soldiers were ordered to be upon duty, and every species of threat and intimidation was resorted to, in order to deter people from attending the much-dreaded dinner. Nevertheless, in spite of all this, a hundred persons sat down together, not ten of whom had ever seen each other's faces before. I took the head of the principal table, and Mr. Lee that of the other. We spent a most gratifying day, in the greatest harmony, and parted with the same good humor; every one being pleased with his entertainment, which had proved "the feast of reason and the flow of soul;" in the fullest sense of that phrase. The authorities used every laudable endeavour to make a disturbance, and create that danger which they pretended to apprehend; and the time-serving despicable editors of the Bristol Newspapers joined in the cry. Nay, some of them bellowed aloud and declared that this dinner meeting, to celebrate the triumph of the electors of Westminster over the two corrupt factions, the Whigs and Tories, was the forerunner of a revolution; and they insinuated that I, who was the promoter of this dinner, was the instigator of the riots which occurred on the day of the election, and that the fellows who met to dine were the very same who assembled and threatened the life of their amiable and patriotic member, Mr. Bragge Bathurst.

These falsehoods did not, however, either prevent or disturb our dinner. The infamous hand-bill did indeed produce what its manufacturers called a mob, for the people assembled in the street, opposite the Trout Tavern, in great numbers: but upon their being addressed by me, and cautioned not to suffer themselves to be caught in the trap laid for them by their enemies, but to retire peaceably to their homes, they gave us three cheers and dispersed immediately. It was very fortunate that they did so, for it was ascertained that the tender-hearted authorities were so excessively anxious to preserve the peace which they had sworn to keep, that they had called out the military, in order to disperse, at the point of the bayonet, that multitude which they had themselves collected together by their ridiculous and evil-disposed hand-bill of "Danger, &c." My timely advice and admonition to the people had, however, deprived them of their prey, and thus the sacrifice of human blood was prevented; for when the troops marched by, with bayonets fixed, there were not ten persons more than usual in the streets. This was a great disappointment to those who had got up the precious hand-bill of "Danger to be apprehended;" and, because I had the prudence to foresee and to frustrate this brutal and sanguinary scheme of the authorities, I was set down as a most dangerous fellow, and an enemy to the Government.

I might now, in fact, be considered to have fairly entered the field of politics; for I was completely identified with this meeting and dinner, at which we passed several spirited resolutions, approving the conduct of the electors of Westminster, and strongly urging the freemen of Bristol to follow their example. Votes of thanks were passed to Joseph Clayton Jennings, Esq., and to the Westminster Committee, and a congratulatory address was voted to Sir Francis Burdett, which I, as chairman of the meeting, was desired to communicate to him. This I did immediately, which, for the first time, gave me an opportunity of opening a correspondence with the Baronet. The votes and resolutions, as well as the toasts drank, and the speeches delivered, were published; I forget now whether by Mr. Lee or myself, but I rather think by him, as he had been in the habit of publishing a great deal before on the local politics of Bristol.

I received a very polite answer from Sir Francis Burdett, who professed to be highly flattered with the compliment we had paid him at Bristol. I likewise received an answer from Mr. Jennings, and the chairman of the Westminster Committee, expressing great pleasure at this mark of the union of sentiment existing between the people of Bristol and Westminster. On the other hand, I sent copies of our proceedings to Mr. Cobbett, who lived at that time at Botley, expressing a wish, if he approved of them, that he would insert them in his Political Register; he, however, neither inserted them nor gave me any answer, but, as it since appears, he wrote the famous letter to his friend Wright, who was a sort of hanger-on at the Westminster committee, which letter, at the last general election for Westminster, was read upon the hustings by one Cleary, an attorney's clerk, or rather a pettyfogging writer to an attorney in Dublin, who had left his native country for the same cause that had prompted many others of his countrymen to leave it before him. This person was hired by the committee of Sir Francis Burdett to do this dirty office, to shew that Mr. Cobbett entertained a different opinion of me in the year 1808, before he knew me, from that which he entertained of me in the year 1818, after he had known me and had acted with me for so many years.

What induced Mr. Cobbett to write this letter, or what were his motives, are best known to himself. But, the contents of the letter were as false, as the stile and language were gross, and the sentiments it contained illiberal and unmanly. Mr. Cobbett had at that time spoken to me but once; and as I was never in the habit of flattering any one, or disguising my opinions, I can easily conceive that he had, from this first interview, formed personally as unfavourable an opinion of me as I had of him. But he knew nothing of me or my connections. All that he could have known of me was, that I was a zealous advocate of that cause which he then professed to espouse. Therefore, what were his motives for writing this letter must remain with himself. However, Mr. Jennings, and the gentlemen who then composed the Westminster committee, treated his advice with that contempt which such a malignant and unmanly act deserved; for they opened a communication with me immediately. As to the letter, however, it was of such a nature, that they thought it advisable to lay it by, to be produced upon some future occasion, and that occasion was the one which I have named. Now I must intreat the reader to give me credit when I say, that I never suffered the production of this letter to operate upon me, so as to shake the private friendship I had with Mr. Cobbett. What he wrote of me, or whatever opinion he entertained of me, ten years back, and previously to his knowing any thing of me, however unjust that opinion might have been, however coarsely or illiberally that opinion might have been expressed, and however basely that circumstance might, after a lapse of ten or eleven years, have been used by a contemptible hired agent of Sir Francis Burdett, upon the public hustings at an election, I never suffered it for one moment to have the slightest influence upon my public or private conduct towards Mr. Cobbett. But what I was grieved and hurt at, was, that Mr. Cobbett should have made me his dupe, by writing home to me from America, to assure me, that the letter read by Cleary upon the hustings at Westminster was a forgery; and not only sending me a copy of the New York paper, wherein he had declared this letter to be a forgery, but authorizing ME, nay, urging ME to pronounce it to be a forgery, which, upon the faith of his word, I did, at a meeting at the Crown and Anchor, where Cleary produced the letter. At this treatment I was hurt; I had good reason to be offended; but I never complained of it. The shyness and the dispute which has arisen between Mr. Cobbett and myself has arisen from a very different cause. But, for my own part, I am happy that this shyness did not happen while Mr. Cobbett was in prison, but while Henry Hunt is incarcerated in his dungeon. Although I cannot accuse myself of having ever done any thing to merit this conduct from Mr. Cobbett, yet I shall never cease to lament it, as an injury to that cause in which we had so long drawn together. But, as is generally the case in such differences between friends, there may be faults on both sides; and I am not so presumptuous as to believe that I am exempt from error. It is a lamentable truth, however, that the strongest mind is not always proof against the insinuations of false friends, of go-betweens, and the eternal workings, and worryings, and sly malignant hints, of the low pride and cunning of those who are always at a person's elbow. The reader must excuse this digression; it is, in fact, no more than I owed to the subject, and an early explanation which is due to those who honour me by reading these Memoirs.

The infamous conduct of the authorities at Bristol did not deter me from keeping the promise which I made to the people on the day of election. I immediately formed a society, and arranged a plan of weekly subscriptions, to enable those who were entitled to their freedoms to pay their fee to the chamberlain of the city, without being, as they had always hitherto been, dependent upon the bounty of the candidates when. the election was about to begin. Each entitled freeman, who enrolled his name, and paid a subscription of 3d. per week, had, in his turn, his freedom taken up, and his fees, amounting to about 2l. 8s. paid out of the fund.

One would have thought this a most legitimate and praiseworthy association. What could be more proper than a subscription, weekly, amongst the entitled freemen, to raise a sum to take up their freedoms; to accumulate that sum by a weekly subscription which they could not at once command out of their own pockets, and the want of which had heretofore in a great measure placed them in the power of those who would only advance the money for them to obtain a promise of their votes at the election? To assist in accomplishing so desirable an object as this, any one who did not understand the principles upon which those elections are carried on by corporations, would have thought a most praiseworthy act. But in Bristol it was esteemed a great crime; and all sorts of threats and intimidations were offered to those who stood forward as the friends of constitutional liberty, and who attempted to aid the young freemen in procuring their copies to become entitled to exercise their franchises at the elections. Our society was denounced as seditious, revolutionary, and treasonable, by the corrupt newspapermongers of that city; at the head of whom stood a man of the name of GUTCH, who was the editor of the paper called Felix Farley's Bristol Journal. This was as corrupt and time-serving a political knave as ever lived. This gentleman belonged to the White Lion club; and for hire he weekly vomited forth all sorts of lies and calumnies against those who met weekly at the Lamb and Lark, in Thomas Street, under the pretence, as this loyal Government scribe said, of subscribing to take up freedoms; but whose real object this hireling declared to be, to overturn the Government, by subverting the constitution of the country. This was the organ, the trumpeter of the White Lion club; the Pitt faction; the thick and thin supporters of the ministers. Then there was another corrupt political knave, of the name of John Mills, who published a paper, which, if I recollect right, was called the Bristol Gazette. He was equally a thick and thin supporter of the other faction, the Whigs; he was their time-serving dirty tool; no falsehood, no absurdity, however palpable, so that it served his masters, the Whig faction, was too gross for his depraved appetite. This gentleman, also, was equally lavish of his abuse against me, for having dared to interfere with a privilege which exclusively belonged to the two factions; any innovation upon which was considered as high treason of the greatest magnitude.

At this time a gentleman of the name of LEE, a surgeon, and a very clever fellow, lashed the cheats of both factions by frequent cheap publications; the severity of which made the rogues twist and writhe as snails and grubs do, when quick lime is sprinkled upon them. With this Mr. Lee I of course became acquainted, from the time of the Trout Tavern dinner. For some time we went on very well together but, by-and-bye, we quarrelled and came to an open rupture. This quarrel was excited and fermented by talebearers and go-betweens; and at length Mr. Lee commenced a paper war, directing all his talent against my views and objects. I replied: and a most vindictive political warfare raged for a while, in which we were both most magnanimously bespattered with the filth of our own creating. I was very young at this time, and where I failed in argument, I of course made up for it in abuse. In reality, there was very little argument on either side; and in default of it, downright abuse was resorted to, to the great amusement of the two contending factions. He at length retired from politics altogether, and very soon afterwards left Bristol, to reside in London, and kept his terms, I believe, in the Temple, where he now practises as a barrister. But I, however, stood my ground, and continued to support and cultivate an union, by subscribing to and attending the meetings at the Lamb and Lark. In fact, I took a lease of that house for the purpose; several publicans having been threatened with the loss of their licences, if they gave us the accommodation of a room, once a week, in the way of their business. The moral Magistrates of Bristol, some of whom were brewers and distillers, encouraged every species of drunkenness, and connived at every species of debauchery, so that their pockets were filled, and the customs and the excise were benefited; but they were alarmed and shocked at the monstrous crime of the freemen meeting once a week to subscribe their pence, to procure their freedoms, independent of every political faction.

I now resided at Clifton, in lodgings, during the winter, and attended to the collecting together of the scattered remains of my wreck of a brewery. The reader may easily conceive that, if I had been disposed to carry on the concern (which, by-the-bye, I was not), I should have had very little chance at Bristol, amongst a set of the most illiberal and selfish tradesmen and merchants in the universe. But, the truth was this, I brewed my beer from malt and hops only; I had fairly tried the experiment, and the result was, that no one could brew with malt and hops for sale, without being a loser; and as I was determined not to use any drugs or substitute, I made up my mind to get out of the concern as soon as possible. No man could have had a fairer opportunity of trying the experiment than I had; I grew my own barley, which was of the very best sample; I made my own malt, and I bought my hops at the best hand, for ready money. If any one could have brewed beer from malt and hops, to have made a profit from it, I could have done it. I brewed excellent beer, but I lost money by every brewing. I therefore take leave to caution my friends against being poisoned by genuine beer brewers; the worst sort of quacks and impostors. Mark what I say—a brewer may brew, and sell genuine beer, made from malt and hops; but, if he does not become a bankrupt in three years, or if he contrives to sell genuine beer, and grows rich, or pretends to grow rich, let me advise you not to drink any of his genuine beer. No! no! my friends, if you must drink beer and porter, drink that brewed by the common brewer, who does not profess to be any honester than his neighbours. Drink the porter of Messrs. Barclay, or of Messrs. Whitbread, and take your chance with the common herd of beer and porter drinkers. When I see an advertisement of any gentleman "Bung" having made an affidavit before the Lord Mayor, that his beer is brewed only with malt and hops, I look regularly for his name in the Gazette, and if I do not soon find it, there, or hear that he has cut and run, I set him down for a successful impostor.

I now enjoyed the society of a few select friends, who visited in my family, when I was living at Chisenbury House, in Wiltshire, or at Clifton; and I had nearly got rid of all my old pot-companions. Those who now visited me, did so for the purposes of friendship and rational society; as I had now completely put an end to all drinking carousals in my family, neither did I mix with them in others. When I was in the country, I used to enjoy the pleasures of the field, both as a fox-hunter and an expert shot. As a shot, I fancied myself at that time a match for any man in the kingdom, having challenged to shoot with any gentleman sportsman in the united kingdom, five mornings, at game, for fifty guineas a morning; which challenge I sent to the Sporting Magazine, but whether it was published or not, I do not recollect.

One circumstance I forgot to notice, relative to the general election which took place in the beginning of this year; which was, that Major Cartwright offered himself, and stood a contested election, for the borough of Boston, in Lincolnshire. The Major offered himself upon the pure principles of representation, without spending any money. The Major only polled eight votes!—This shews the state of the representation of Boston at that time. Mr. Maddox was elected, having polled 196 votes. But the Major stood upon real constitutional principles, and therefore only polled eight votes.

On the 29th of June, Sir Francis Burdett was chaired through the streets of Westminster, and such a multitude was scarcely ever before seen together. All the streets through which the procession had to pass were thronged to excess, and every window was full of admiring and applauding spectators. This certainly was the triumph of Westminster, by purity of election. At five o'clock the procession arrived at the Crown and Anchor, where it is said nearly two thousand persons gained admittance to dinner. This must have been a fine harvest for the landlord, and those who had the management of the twelve shilling tickets. After dinner, the following toasts were drank:—

1. The King, the Constitution, the whole Constitution, and nothing but the Constitution. 2. The People. 3. Purity of Election, and may the Electors of the whole kingdom take a lesson from the Westminster School. 4. The Health of that Honest and Incorruptible Representative of the People, Sir Francis Burdett. 5. The Electors of Westminster. 6. The 5134 Electors who so nobly stood forward to assert their own Rights, and to excite the People of England to assert theirs. 7. Those Electors of Bristol who, on the 2nd of June, with MR. H. HUNT at their head, assembled to celebrate the return of Sir Francis Burdett. 8. May the ineffective of the Regiment be speedily disbanded, and the Red Book reduced to its proper dimensions. 9. Mr. Jennings, our worthy Chairman. 10. The Election Committee.

This chairing and dinner-meeting excited the attention not only of the metropolis but the whole kingdom. It was the real triumph of Westminster, and Sir Francis Burdett was that day in sober earnestness, and in the honest sincerity of their hearts, the pride of the people. It was no fiction, it was no joke; but, in fact and in truth, Sir Francis Burdett was on that day "Westminster's Pride, and England's Glory." All was peace and good order, every face beamed with good humor, and upon every brow sat a sort of conscious pride, as if each person felt that he had performed a duty, by offering a tribute of devotion to the Honourable Baronet. This being the case, one would have thought that there was no occasion for the interference of the military; but, as the troops had been called out at Bristol, in consequence of our dinner of one hundred, to celebrate the election of Sir Francis, of course the myrmidons of power in the metropolis did not, or pretended they did not, think themselves safe without the aid of the military. The different guards about the palace, and also about the offices at Whitehall, were doubled, and supplied with ball cartridges. The several regiments were drawn out in the morning and kept under arms, and a great body of the horse artillery corps was kept ready harnessed in St. James's Park, to draw the cannons to the scene of action, if necessary!—The volunteer corps were also summoned to muster, and the police were put in motion; in fact, the Government appeared determined to be ready with a military force to act promptly upon an emergency, if one should arise, as some persons, perhaps, hoped would be the case. All this, however, proved to be totally unnecessary. The fear of the Ministers arose solely from the sense of their own unworthiness; a conviction in their own breasts that they merited the hatred and the execration of the people. Every thing passed off quietly, and the dinner party broke up in peace, after having passed the day in the greatest hilarity and unanimity. Such a dinner-meeting was never before witnessed in the metropolis; hundreds were contented to take a scanty meal standing, and no one grumbled at his fare.

The reader will see that, at this dinner, the only toast drank, unconnected with the election of Westminster, was the seventh, "The Electors of Bristol with MR. H. HUNT at their head," &c. Indeed the only names mentioned in the toasts, which had been drawn up with great care by the Committee, were Sir F. Burdett, Mr. H. Hunt, and Mr. Jennings, the chairman; so that, with the exception of the chairman and Sir Francis Burdett, I was the only man in England whose name was honoured by being publicly drank by this the largest dinner-meeting ever assembled in England. I was not at that time known to Sir Francis Burdett; I was not known to Mr. Jennings, or to any of the Committee, yet my exertions in the cause of Liberty at Bristol had attracted the attention of its real friends in Westminster, and my health was toasted accordingly.

The first time, however, that I came to London after this, I was introduced to Mr. Jennings, and all the Westminster heroes, by my worthy friend Henry Clifford. They all received me very cordially, and I was invited to a public meeting at the Crown and Anchor, that was held about that time, I forget upon what occasion, Mr. Jennings in the chair, myself having a seat appropriated for me by the Committee next to him, on his left hand, Clifford being seated at his right. My health was drank with great applause, and I returned thanks in a manner that met the approbation of the whole meeting.

Thus was I, in the year 1807, fairly drawn into the vortex of politics. My worthy friend Clifford publicly claimed me as his disciple, and ventured to predict that I would some day become one of the most able champions of the cause of Liberty. Sir Francis Burdett was not in town, therefore I was not introduced to him, which both Jennings and Clifford were anxious to do.

I do not recollect that Lord Cochrane's name was ever mentioned at either of these meetings. His health was not even drank at the great meeting for Westminster, on the 29th of June, to celebrate the purity of election, although he was one of the Members for Westminster, was returned as the colleague of Sir Francis Burdett, and polled above a thousand votes more than Mr. Sheridan. Nay, I do not think that he even attended this dinner of his constituents. Indeed, had he attended, his health would have been drank of course, as one of the Members. Lord Cochrane was a bold, enterprising, and successful officer; but, as to politics, I believe the real state of the case to be, that he was suspected, at that period, not to have made up his mind upon them.

This fact is worthy to be recorded, that, when the electors of Westminster held their great public dinner to celebrate the triumph and purity of election in their city, though Lord Cochrane had been elected one of their representatives, yet so little faith had Sir F. Burdett or his friends in the sincerity of Lord Cochrane's principles, that they never drank his health, or even mentioned his name. Let this be marked down as a curious fact. Lord Cochrane had not been kicked into a thorough patriot by the Government, which, at this time, looked upon him as still being one of their regiment, and they rather rejoiced than otherwise at his being elected for Westminster; it being very clear that, during the election, he received considerable support from the friends of the ministers.

Now I call the circumstance to my recollection, I believe that, immediately after the election, Lord Cochrane went to sea as the commander of the Imperieuse. At all events it is certain that his health was not drank. The fact is indisputable, that at a dinner-meeting of the electors of Westminster, one of the Member's health not drank, and that Member LORD COCHRANE, who had been in the House before, as a Member for Honiton; and let it be recollected, to his honour, that when he was elected for Honiton, he gave a pledge in the face of the nation, that he never would, as long as he lived, accept of any sinecure or emolument, either for himself or any relation or dependent; and that he never would touch the public money in any way, but that of his profession as a naval officer. He had also made a motion in the House, respecting places, pensions, and emoluments, held or received by Members of the House of Commons, or by his relations. This motion was of the greatest public importance, and of much more real service to the cause of public liberty, and the purity of the Members of the House of Commons, than any motion that Sir Francis Burdett had ever made in the House; and one would have thought that this alone would have been a sufficient earnest of his future honesty, at any rate would have entitled him to have had his health drank at a public dinner-meeting of his constituents, the electors of Westminster! —It is a very curious and remarkable fact that my health was drank at this meeting, and that Lord Cochrane's health was not; and what makes it the more extraordinary was, that I was a perfect stranger to the electors of Westminster, and Lord Cochrane was one of their representatives.

As for poor Paull, although he was laying wounded, on a bed of sickness, his name was never mentioned. I always thought, and I always said, though I did not know Mr. Paull, that Sir Francis Burdett would have appeared more amiable in my eyes if he had condescended to notice with marks of kindness his vanquished adversary, or at least his antagonist, who had been defeated upon the hustings, although not in the field. But, alas! poor Mr. Paull, who had contributed, largely contributed to rouse a proper spirit of independence amongst the electors of Westminster, and who was a very Idol amongst them at a former election, was now so deserted, neglected, and despised, as at this meeting never to have been noticed in any way whatever, merely because he had quarrelled with Sir Francis Burdett, or rather because Sir Francis had quarrelled with him. But Sir Francis Burdett was now become the great political Idol, a political God; and I was one of his most enthusiastic worshippers, one who would have risked my life at any moment to have saved his, although I was at the time personally unknown to him. On the 10th of July, a numerous and respectable meeting of the freemen, freeholders, and inhabitants of the city of Bristol, was held in the large room at the Lamb and Lark, in Thomas Street, for the express purpose of inquiring into the state of the elective franchise, Henry Hunt, Esq. in the chair. It was unanimously resolved, "1st. That the elective franchise is an object of the highest importance, as it is the basis of our laws and liberties. That in the free and unbiassed exercise of this great and yet undisputed privilege, depends our best interests and dearest rights as free- born Englishmen. 2nd. That if any club or party of men whatever, arrogate to themselves the power of returning a representative for this city, whether designated by the title of the White Lion Club, or the Loyal and Constitutional Club; if they threaten, persecute, and oppress a voter, for the free exercise of his judgment in the disposal of his suffrage, they are enemies to their country, by acting in direct opposition to the sound principles of the British Constitution. 3rd. That we view with painful anxiety the contracted and enthraled state of the elective rights of this city, and we are fully convinced of the existence of such unconstitutional clubs as are mentioned in the foregoing resolution; that their evil effects have reduced this great city to a level with the rottenest of rotten boroughs; therefore we are determined, by every legal exertion in our power, to interpose, and adopt such constitutional and effective measures as may appear most conducive to the recovery and firm establishment of the freedom of election in this city. 4th. That the following declarations of the Westminster Committee, contain the great constitutional principles on which we ought to act, namely,—'That as to our principles, they are those of the constitution of England, and none other; that, it is declared by the Bill of Rights, that one of the crimes of the tyrant James, was that of interfering, by his Ministers, in the election of Members of Parliament; that, by the same great standard of our liberties, it is declared that the election of Members of Parliament ought to be free! That by the act which transferred the crown of this kingdom from the heads of the House of Stuart, to the heads of the House of Brunswick, it is provided, that, for the better securing of the liberties of the subject, no person holding a place or pension under the Crown, shall be a Member of the House of Commons; that these are constitutional principles; and as we are convinced that all the notorious peculations, that all the prodigal waste of public money, that all the intolerable burdens and vexations therefrom arising; that all the oppression from within, and all the danger from without, proceed from a total abandonment of these great constitutional principles; we hold it to be our bounden duty, to use all the legal means in our power to restore those principles to practice. That though we are fully convinced, that, as the natural consequences of the measures pursued for the last sixteen years, our country is threatened with imminent danger from the foe which Englishmen once despised, and, though we trust there is not a man of us who would not freely lay down his life, to preserve the independence of his country, and to protect it from a sanguinary and merciless invader; yet we hesitate not to declare, that the danger we should consider of the next importance, the scourge next to be dreaded, would be a packed and corrupt House of Commons, whose votes, not less merciless, and more insulting, than a conqueror's edicts, would bereave us of all that renders country dear, and life worth preserving, and that too, under the names and forms of Law and Justice; under those very names and those very forms which yielded security to the persons and, property of our forefathers.' 5th. That, in following the glorious example of the citizens of Westminster, by choosing men of corresponding sentiments and undeviating public virtue, we shall, as far as rests with us, restore the blessings of our Constitution, and the just rights and liberties of the people. 6th. That the freeholders, freemen, and entitled freemen and inhabitants of this city, who have united themselves, for the laudable purpose of supporting each other in the free and unbiassed exercise of their judgment in the choice of their representatives, merit the approbation and applause of all their fellow-citizens; and that we do now form ourselves into a body, to be called the "Bristol Patriotic and Constitutional Association," to co-operate with them, in counteracting that unwarrantable influence, manoeuvre, and deception, which have reduced the electors of this city to mere political cyphers, to passive spectators of the general wreck, freemen with no other appendage of freedom but the empty name; we therefore pledge ourselves, individually and collectively, to assist and protect them in the recovery of our just and constitutional liberties. 7th. That a public subscription be immediately opened, to raise a fund for the purpose above mentioned, for defraying the expenses of a room for the association, printing, &c. and that a list of the subscribers and subscriptions be regularly kept, and that proper books be provided for that purpose. 8th. That these resolutions be signed by the chairman, and that they be published. Signed HENRY HUNT, Chairman."

These resolutions were published in the Bristol and London newspapers; and also, in Cobbett's Political Register, the 8th of August, 1807, (page 211, vol. 11th.) The reader will see the political ground which I took, and the stand which I made, almost single-handed, in the city of Bristol, against the corrupt and barefaced influence exercised by both the contending factions of Whigs and Tories, over the freemen of Bristol. I have inserted these resolutions for a twofold purpose; first, that of shewing that I have never shifted my ground, that I have never deviated from the straight path of publicly and boldly advocating the rights and liberties of the people against the corrupt influence of all factions; and second, to prove that Mr. Cobbett was so well pleased with my exertions, and so well satisfied that those exertions were calculated to serve the cause of public liberty, that he voluntarily gave them a place in his Register, and thus early held me up to notice, as worthy of public confidence and public support; and this he did, recollect, although I was not personally known to him, and had never seen him, with the exception of the slight call which I made on him in Duke Street, which I have before mentioned.

Mr. Cobbett had already published in his Register my address, of the 18th of October, 1806, to the freeholders of Wiltshire; he had published an account of my health being drank, at the largest public dinner ever held in England, on the 29th June, 1807; and on the 8th of August, in the same year, he published the foregoing resolutions, with my name to them, as the chairman, and which resolutions he knew were drawn up by me; therefore, I must seriously ask the reader how I am to account for the scurrilous letter being written by Mr. Cobbett to Wright, cautioning the committee of the electors of Westminster to beware of me? If this letter be not a forgery, Mr. Cobbett was openly recommending me to the notice of the public, in his Political Register, while he was privately vilifying me by letter, and recommending the Westminster committee to beware of me, as I was a sad fellow. For the honour of human nature I should yet hope that this letter was a forgery, either of Wright's or Cleary's.

Let it, however, be whichever it may, it had not the desired effect. These exertions of mine in the city of Bristol, and my boldly avowing the principles acted upon by the Westminster committee, and professed by Sir Francis Burdett, met with the approbation and sanction of both, and a correspondence was kept up between us. The baronet professed to be greatly delighted with what I had done, and urged me to persevere in so laudable an undertaking as that of putting myself at the head of the independent electors of Bristol, to prepare them for following the example so nobly set by the electors of Westminster. I have preserved all the Honourable Baronet's letters, with the exception of three or four, that he ever wrote to me during our political connection, which may now be said to have commenced. Though as yet we had never had a personal interview, he, nevertheless, corresponded with me with great frankness and confidence; which confidence, I beg him to make himself perfectly satisfied, shall never be basely betrayed by me, even if he should behave to me worse than he already has done; even if he should employ his hopeful paid agent Cleary to read upon the hustings a private letter a day, for the remainder of his life. I will, at a proper period, state my reason for destroying two or three of his letters, in the spring of 1817. But he may rest assured that I will not betray any of his private communications to me; I will not follow his example by basely exposing a private letter; even should he again hire James Mills to propagate a report, which he, Burdett, as well as his agent, knew to be a falsehood totally without foundation; namely, that I had a government protection in my pocket when I attended the great public meeting at Manchester, on the 16th of August, 1819. Even if the baronet should hire a fellow to propagate another such a cowardly and infamous fabrication as that, yet I will not publish any of his private letters to me about ——.

But I beg the reader not to misunderstand me; most of the baronet's letters to me were of a public nature, and those that were private, were not about my business, but his own. Thank God! he has no letters from me, about any money transactions; for I hereby most distinctly state, that the only money transaction we ever had, the only money that ever passed between us, was, that I, at his request, once purchased for him a galloway, for twenty-five pounds, which money he paid me; and I bought of him a horse for forty-five guineas, which I paid him for at the time. The horse turned out not worth forty-five shillings. I believe the Baronet knew that he was good for nothing when he favoured me with him; but he never offered to make me any allowance, neither did I ever expect it, or apply for it. I never blamed him for this—it was not his fault, it was my own; he had the horse to sell, and I purchased it and paid for it, and when I found him out, I disposed of him as well as I could to a horse-dealer; I certainly did not oblige a friend with him. After all the Baronet may have thought him a very good horse; he may have been deceived, or may have been a bad judge of a horse. I was the fool for believing that he wished to part with a very good horse.

I mention this circumstance, not as any thing against the Baronet, because it was my business not to have taken any one's word, not to have bought a "pig in a poke;" but I mention it, merely to show the reader that, although I was, for many years, intimately and closely connected with Sir Francis Burdett, this is the only money transaction we ever had, with the exception of his having given me cash for a country banker's draft on his banker in London, made payable to my order, at seven or fourteen days, I forget which it was. Although I was comparatively a poor man, and he a most wealthy one, I was never indebted to him a guinea in my life, nor ever solicited the loan of a guinea from him.

I have said that I will never publish any of his private letters, but I hereby authorize him to publish any one or every letter he ever received from me in his life; and if he does not choose to do this, yet wishes it to be done, and will send them to me, I will publish verbatim, in the Memoirs, any or every letter I ever wrote to him. During the history of the next ten years of my life, I shall have frequently to record circumstances that have occurred between the Baronet and myself; it is, therefore, but justice to myself, as well as to the reader, to make the above declaration, as a prelude to that part of my Memoirs, as it may save the Rump the trouble of circulating a great number of falsehoods, of which they will ultimately, with many other base transactions, stand convicted. When I say I was never indebted to or solicited any loan from the Baronet, I mean to include all his family and connections, Rump and all.

I have before mentioned, that I was invited to, and attended, a public dinner, held at the Crown and Anchor, Mr. Jennings in the chair. At this dinner I was introduced to the worthy, the venerable and patriotic Major Cartwright, who invited me to his lodgings, to take some coffee after the meeting was over, whither I accompanied him, either with Clifford, or some other friend. There the worthy old Major produced for my inspection, the pike which he had invented, and recommended in his "England's Aegis," to be used for the national defence. It was of a very curious and ingenious construction, with a sort of double shaft, to protect the hands of him who used it from the blows of a sabre, &c. The Major was in high spirits, and exhibited to us all the various purposes of attack and defence for which it was calculated. I was highly delighted with the old Major, at this first introduction and interview, and this exhibition added very much to the gratification which I felt in being known to a man of whom I had so often heard and read, as the steady and inflexible friend of reform, and public freedom. I returned home to my inn exceedingly gratified, the old Major having created a very favourable opinion in my breast of his patriotism and public virtue.

During this year, a considerable sensation was created, by the military inquiry which was going forward. Many nefarious peculations, and many scandalous abuses, were detected and exposed; but, as is generally the case in these parliamentary inquiries, the expenses of the commissions are ministerial jobs, that cost the country more than the sums which are saved by these detections.

The bill for the abolition of the slave trade was brought into the House of Lords, by Lord Grenville, and after warm debates passed both Houses; this, to the immortal honour of the Whigs, was effected by them, and must be recorded as one good act passed during their administration. The old saying is, that "Charity covereth a multitude of sins;" so, the passing of this act by the Whigs has, with many, covered a multitude of their sins.