Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq, vol 1 | Page 8

cabinet and the field, as to
talent and courage, unrivalled in the pages of modern or ancient history.
Neither the reformers nor the people of England had any share in
sending him to St. Helena, nor ought they in fairness to participate in
the disgrace of his detention.
In my humble judgment, the greatest fault he ever committed was, in
having too good an opinion of the justice of the boroughmongers, and
relying upon the liberality of their agents, so far as to be betrayed into
that net which now surrounds him. He always appeared to admire our
courts of justice; but he knew nothing of our system of packing
SPECIAL JURIES.
In the progress of this work I shall give a brief delineation of the
political movements of the last twelve or fourteen years, or at least of
those events that came within my knowledge, which I believe will
include almost every thing relating to reform and the public characters
who have taken any part in promoting or retarding that desirable object.
These public characters consist of George the Third down to Arthur
Thistlewood inclusive, who are dead and gone; of those who are yet
living from George the Fourth down to Mr. Cobler Preston and Mr.
Billsticker Waddington. The public events will more particularly
include the History of the great Public Meetings held within the last
twelve years in Wiltshire, Hampshire, Somersetshire, Middlesex,
London, Westminster, Bristol, Bath, Spa-fields, Smithfield and
Manchester, as well as those held at the Crown & Anchor and the
Freemason's and London Taverns; and likewise of the contested
elections of Bristol, Westminster, London, Bridport, Ludgershal and
Preston, at all of which I took an active part, and therefore am enabled
to detail many curious and interesting anecdotes, facts, intrigues, plots,
under-plots, cabals, &c. which were never before presented to the

public, and which circumstances, together with the secret springs and
actions of those who worked in the back ground, which have hitherto
been very imperfectly understood, shall be brought to light and
faithfully recorded; taking due care not to betray any confidential
communications. I shall, also, as is usual, or at least as is very common,
give a short sketch of my ancestors, not because I can show a long line
of them up to the Conquest, (nor because I esteem this a circumstance
to boast of), but I shall state facts as they have been handed down from
father to son by old family documents, regardless of the sneers of those
who, at the same time and in the very same breath in which they affect
to ridicule and despise all distinctions of this sort, fall themselves into a
much greater error and indulge in a much less excusable folly; that of
holding up to public admiration, esteem and confidence, their own
offspring, and bedaubing them with the most fulsome adulation merely
because they are their own progeny; although every other person except
themselves can clearly perceive that they neither possess talent,
intellect, public spirit, nor any other qualification calculated either to
amuse or to instruct. When I see a sensible man in other respects fall
into an inconsistency of this sort, I am always reminded of the fable of
the _Eagle, the Owl, and her young ones_. The fact is, that I am more
proud of my father than of any of my ancestors, because I know him to
have been an excellent and an honest man, and one who by his industry
and talent became a second founder of his family. But as the object of
my labours will be to give you a faithful history of my own life, it is of
very little consequence either to you or me whether I ever had a grand
father or not, except as far as relates to the coincidence of the events of
the present time with those which occurred in the reigns of Charles the
First and Second, and during the protectorship of Cromwell. It may not
be amiss to remind you that the brave and enlightened patriot, Prynne,
was imprisoned at Dunster Castle in this county by the tyrant Charles
the First. Prynne had his nose slit, and his ears cut off, for speaking and
writing his mind; but it must not be forgotten, that he lived to see the
_tyrant's head struck off_, and the infamous judge who passed the cruel
sentence upon him, brought to a just and exemplary punishment.
In the confident hope that we shall live to see better days, our Country
restored to prosperity, and its inhabitants to freedom and happiness,
I remain,

My friends and fellow-countrymen,
Your faithful and sincere humble servant,
H. HUNT.

MEMOIRS
OF HENRY HUNT.

I was born at Widdington Farm, in the parish of Upavon, in the county
of Wilts,