Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq, vol 1

Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq, vol
1

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Title: Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. Volume 1
Author: Henry Hunt
Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8685] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on August 1,
2003]
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[Note:The use of quotation marks in the text does not accord with
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[Illustration: HENRY HUNT, ESQR.]
_Engraved by T. Woolmoth from a Drawing taken in the Kings Bench
Prison the Morning after Judgement was given._
_Published June 5, 1820 by T. Dolby 299 Strand_.

MEMOIRS OF HENRY HUNT, ESQ.
_Written by himself,_
IN HIS MAJESTY'S JAIL AT ILCHESTER,
IN THE COUNTY of SOMERSET.

Volume I

Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is,
nor e'er shall be. In every work regard the Writer's end, Since none can
compass more than they intend; And if the means be just, the conduct
true, Applause, in spite of trivial faults, is due. POPE.
LONDON:

PUBLISHED BY T. DOLBY, 299, STRAND; AND 34, WARDOUR
STREET, SOHO.
1820

TO
THE RADICAL REFORMERS,
MALE AND FEMALE,
OF
ENGLAND, IRELAND, AND SCOTLAND,
_And particularly to the Reformers of Lancashire, who attended the
Meeting of the 16th of August, 1819, held on St Peter's Plain at
Manchester, and more especially to the Reformers of Yorkshire, in
which County a Jury found me Guilty of illegally attending that
Meeting, for which, the Court of King's Bench sentenced me to be
imprisoned in Ilchester Jail for_ Two YEARS and SIX MONTHS,
_and at the end of that period, to enter into recognisances for my good
behaviour, for Five Years, Myself in_ ONE THOUSAND POUNDS
and Two Sureties in FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS EACH.
* * * * *

_Ilchester Jail, May 22, 1820_
FRIENDS AND FELLOW COUNTRYMEN, In dedicating this work
to you, I will, in the first instance, briefly record the fact, that--on
Monday, the 15th day of May, Mr. Justice Bayley, as senior puisne
Judge of the court of King's Bench, in a mild and gentle manner,
passed the above unexampled sentence upon me for having attended a
public meeting at Manchester, by the invitation of seven hundred
inhabitant householders of that town, who signed a requisition to the
Boroughreeve to call the said meeting on the 16th day of August last,
for the purpose _"of taking into consideration the best and most legal
means of obtaining a reform in the Commons House of Parliament."_

This meeting was no sooner assembled to the number of one hundred
and fifty thousand persons, young and old of both sexes, in the most
peaceable and orderly manner, than they were assailed by the
Manchester yeomanry cavalry, who charged the multitude, sword in
hand, and without the slightest provocation or resistance on the part of
the people (as was clearly proved by the trial at York), aided by two
troops of the Cheshire yeomanry, the 15th hussars, the 81st regiment of
foot, and two pieces of flying artillery, sabred, trampled upon, and
dispersed the unoffending and unresisting people, when 14 persons
were killed and upwards of 600 wounded. I, and eleven others, having,
by a mere miracle, escaped the military execution intended for us, were
seized and confined in solitary dungeons in the New Bailey, for eleven
days and nights, under a pretended charge of high treason. At the end of