Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq, vol 1 | Page 2

that time, upon a final examination, I was sent under a military escort,
upwards of fifty miles, to Lancaster Castle, although bail was ready,
and waiting to be put in for me. After this sentence was passed, I was
sent to the King's Bench Prison, where I was confined till four o'clock
on the Wednesday following, when I was conveyed in a chaise to this
prison, where I arrived at ten o'clock the same night, being a distance of
120 miles. Thus, after having been confined in three separate jails
since the 16th of August--the New Bailey, at Manchester, Lancaster
Castle, and the King's Bench, I am doomed finally to be incarcerated in
a dungeon of this, the fourth jail, for two years and six months, while
Hulton of Hulton, and those benevolent gentlemen of the Manchester
yeomanry cavalry, are at large, without even the chance of any
proceedings, that might lead to the punishment of their crimes, being
instituted against them. Yet, we are gravely told from the bench, that
the laws are equally administered to the rich and to the _poor_; of the
truth of which assertion, the above will, in future ages, appear as an
unexampled specimen.
In addressing this work to you, my brave, patient, and persecuted
friends, I hope to have an opportunity of communicating with you once
a month, during my incarceration, and during the progress of the work,
I shall take care to avoid all exaggerated statements. I shall confine
myself to a strict relation of facts, and I shall be very particular not to
gloss over or slight any one political or public act of my life you shall
be in possession of the faithful history of that man whom you have so

unanimously honoured by the denomination of your champion, and in
whose incarceration a deadly blow is, with savage ferocity, aimed at
your rights and liberties--one who, during his whole political career,
will be found to have been the consistent and undeviating advocate of
real or radical reform, one who always, under every difficulty, at all
times and seasons, boldly and unequivocally claimed for the people, the
right of every man to have a vote for the members of the Commons
House of Parliament, and who never, under any circumstances, paltered
or compromised the great constitutional principle that "no Englishman
should be taxed without his own consent." Even when its most zealous
professed advocates had abandoned the intention of maintaining this
proposition, even at the risk of loosing the friendship of his dearest
political connections, he stood firm upon the solid basis of that
incontrovertible principle, "equal justice and freedom to all." No
pretended expediency, no crafty policy, although urged with the
greatest force and zeal, by the most experienced and acute reasoners,
neither flattery, bribes, nor threats, could ever, for one moment, shake
his determination to support the principle Of UNIVERSAL
SUFFRAGE, or in other words, the right of every freeman to have a
share by his representative in the making of those laws, by which his
life, his liberty, and his property, are to be governed and disposed of. I
allude, more particularly, to the meeting of delegates, (by some called
deputies) in London, some time in the beginning of the year 1817. The
principle of Universal Suffrage was nothing new. I claim no merit in
having proposed any thing novel--this right is as old as the constitution
of England; it had been advocated by Sir Robert, afterwards Lord
Raymond, by Sir William Jones, and afterwards, with great
perseverance and ability, by the Duke of Richmond, who brought a bill
into the House of Lords, in which he claimed this right for the people,
and proposed to carry it into execution. At that time, however, no part
of the people had petitioned for it, and the bill was thrown out. At that
period, the attention of the populace of the metropolis was directed to
other matters--they were engaged in Lord George Gordon's disgraceful
riots. The Duke of Richmond, disgusted at the apathy of the reformers,
to which he attributed the failure of his favourite measure, soon
afterwards accepted a place as master general of the ordnance, and
became a complete tool of the ministers. The cause of reform

languished till the year 1816, although Major Cartwright, Sir F. Burdett,
Mr. Cobbett, myself, and many others, had made frequent efforts to call
the people's attention to the only measure calculated to check the
progress--the fatal progress of corruption, and its consequent effects,
unjust and unnecessary war, profligate expenditure, the funding or
swindling system, and the rapid annual increase of a ruinous and
irredeemable debt. It will be said that these subjects will naturally be
included in, and make part of, my history. They certainly will, but there
is one circumstance connected