3 John Duthy I. O. Zillwood, Clerk. James Johu Hugonin C. J. Hector John Portol Edward Carter Thomas Butler P. Williams, Clerk R. G. Richards, Clerk William Higgens John Barker, Clerk Henry Marsh Here are Iremonger and Bigg Wither among the desperate old Tories. Here are the Carters, the Portals, amongst the old sap-headed Whigs. Here is Tom Baring, and Zillwood the Parson, lately chaplain to Governor Beckett, at the Castle of Winchester, that used to be called the Jail: and, in order to have a spice of the little knot of reformers, here is Mr. Henry Marsh placed in what they deemed his proper situation, the bottom of the list, the other gentlemen of that party being left to advertise happy lives, or, be treated, all your days, and your children after you all their days, as degraded paupers; and in determining the nature and tendency of those measures, much will and must de-pend on the part which you yourselves shall act. Well did you act your part at the late county-meeting; you did a good, the effects of which you will feel very speedily; and, let this encourage you always, if possible, to attend upon such occasions. For, I pray you to observe, that neither I nor any other of your friends can do any good without you at our backs. Our facts and our arguments weigh not as a feather against "the bawlings and the revilings of crowds of tax-eaters and tithe-eaters, who are like so many wolves that are afraid of losing their prey. Therefore, always attend; and be alive and resolute in themselves. supporting your friends and keeping down your foes. I shall now proceed to give you an account of what took place at the last meeting. This meeting had been prepared by a combination of parties: first, some of the parsons, and some of the bitterest of the old Tories, as will appear by the names to the requisition, as published by the Sheriff, which names were as follows. But I must mention the other parties first. There were the Whigs, including the two new county Members, and Mr. Jervoise; there were the Barings, and the set belonging to them; and then there was a knot of reformers, consisting of Mr. Henry Marsh and some others, who consent to be talked over by all the others, particularly by the Barings. The names of the requisitionists, as published by Sir Harry Tichborne, the High Sheriff, will show that this statement of mine is correct: R. Carleton J. Macdonald, M. P. Chas, Richards, Clerk Charles Mill George Atherley When I read this requisition, which was forwarded to me in London, I saw clearly what sort of an Address it was intended to send up to his Majesty. It was manifest enough that Iremonger and Bigg Wither had no more wish to have reform in England than they had to have the devil at Wherwell and at Manydown. It was also manifest that the nine parsons by whom the requisition was signed, had much about the same degree of affection for the cause. Here, however, I must except Mr. Poulter and Mr. Newbolt, who, I verily believe, would have no objection to a reform to a very considerable extent. The Whigs by no means want it; but they must appear to want it in order to further their political views, and in order to get at more or less of the public money, which is always the end which they have in view. The Barings wish for reform no more than Iremonger and Bigg Wither; rather less perhaps; and if they were to see the devil, horns, tail and all, at Stratton and the Grange, he would not frighten them more, or so much, as my being returned Member for Manchester, As to the small detachment of genteel and jesting reformers, with Mr. Marsh at their head and Mr. Hector at their tail, I know them very well, and with the exception of Hector, I believe them to be perfectly sincere in their 66 wishes for reform: but know them not had to expect. It disconcerted them to be proof against the blandishments of exceedingly: and, of all the parsons those who are called "great men.” that had signed the requisition, no one Therefore, the moment I saw the re-made his appearance but Mr. Poulter. quisition I foresaw that we should The Iremongers, the Bonham Carters, have come from Hampshire an address the Bigg Withers, the Barings, did not full of confidence in the Ministers; full show their noses. I was told that Ireof resignation to the superior wisdom of monger and Wither were there, and his Majesty, his Ministers, and both that Tom Baring and the Lord of the Houses of Parliament; full of passive Treasury and Bingham, the two heroes obedience and non-resistance; and, in of Marwell, were at the meeting; but short, an address which would have their names were never pronounced in made the ministerial hack papers ex-my hearing, and certainly none of them, claim::-" There, look at that sensible not even old Tom, the successor of county! No division there: all is Alfred, made their appearance as orators, left, where it ought to be left, to those though Thomas used to make a consi"who must know better than the people derable figure in this way. Mr. BUDD, can know." Thus this county would who met me at the BARLEY-MOW at have done all that it possibly could do Winchester, agreeably to his appointto encourage the Ministers to abandon ment, moved the address which was the bill; and this county could have seconded by me. In the morning, bedone much in that way, seeing that it is fore the meeting took place, we had so rich in church possessions, that it has had an interview with Mr. Marsh, and a bishop who voted against the bill, and had given him our address to read, he two parson-peers, Lords GUILDFORD and giving us at the same time a copy, for WALSINGHAM, each of whom has the the purpose of our reading it, of the adlivings of four parishes in the county, dress which he intended to move; so and each of whom voted against the that all the parties were duly apprized bill. In short, an unanimous vote of of what we intended to do, and we confidence and resignation in Hampshire were apprized of what they intendwould have been as heavy a blow as the ed to do, the other parties having, cause of reform could have received. as we understood, had communication The moment, therefore, that I received with them, or were about to have the requisition, though in the height communication with them, which afterof my corn-harvest, and pulled twenty wards appeared to be the case, seeways at once in London, I resolved to ing that neither the Tories nor the go down, and I sent before me, in print, Whigs had any-thing prepared for some copies of the following handbill: the meeting, and that certain resolu"HAMPSHIRE MEN,-If you have not a tions, which were proposed by Mr. Jer"mind to be for ever humbugged slaves, voise, served as the foundation of the "meet me at the county meeting at address which the Holy Alliance had "Winchester, on Wednesday the 26th finally presented to the meeting by "of this month. WM, COBBETT the Deputy Sheriff, in the most irreguThe next day I received a letter from lar and queer way, which I shall have to Mr. Budd, of Burghclere, telling me that describe by-and-by. There was one he intended to be at Winchester at the thing in which the Holy Alliance were county meeting, and sending me in his deceived, or rather in which they deletter the copy of a resolution, the sub-ceived themselves. Mr. Marsh (God stance of which is expressed in the last paragraph of the address, which he moved at the meeting, and which will be found here below. knows for what reason), in his conversation in the morning, took it for granted that he was to move an address, and that our address was to come in the This hand-bill, which was circulated shape of an amendment; and as he pretty widely, gave the " Holy Alli- took this to be a matter of course, it ance some intimation of what they would not have been good manners in " us to say anything in opposition to aned, merely observing, that he was a man opinion so positively entertained. But known to the county, and rather hinting Mr. Budd could see nothing either phy- that he was not as this " publican is.' sical or moral to hinder him from being After him came Mr. Marsh, not proposthe beginner of the business, while all of ing or supporting any-thing, as far as I us who surrounded him saw, in his age, could learn; but saying a great deal in his experience, in his great knowledge, about the bishops, and particularly in his high character, in the spotless and about "Mr. Cobbett," to whom he zealous and public-spirited conduct of would persist in ascribing the address his whole life, every reason in the that had been moved, and saying not a world for his taking the lead on an occa- word about Mr. Budd, any more than if sion of so much importance, so interest- there had not been such a man in the ing to the kingdom in general, and in- world; though he well knew, that the volving so deeply the character of this jet of the address; that is to say, the county, with which he has been con- suggestion at the close of it, which was a nected all his life, and in which he has matter of so much importance, was albeen a greater friend of the farmers and together the work of Mr. Budd, who the labourers than any man, be he who was, as far as any recommendation to he may, that ever set his foot in the his Majesty went, the real author of the county. As soon therefore as the High address. Sheriff had opened the business by hav- After Mr. Marsh, who had appeared ing the requisition read by his Under to be less jocund than formerly, came Sheriff, and by exhorting the meeting to a Mr. SPENCE, a broker, or pawnpreserve a peaceable, orderly and can- broker, from Portsmouth, who apdid conduct, Mr. Budd, who stood close peared to speak as the supporter of at the back of the High Sheriff, stepped Mr. Jervoise's resolutions, and who, forward, made his bow to the meeting, as Mr. Marsh had done before him, began to speak, and, to the apparent urged the necessity of expressing configreat consternation of the Holy Alliance, dence in Ministers. This was, in truth, was, as was just and proper, permitted but a dismal day for Mr. MARSH, who to proceed, though Mr. Jervoise, who has long been the WIT, ex-officio, stood a little behind Mr. Budd, had got of the county, for whose well-conhis paper out and was evidently disap-cocted jests the audience always, herepointed at not being suffered to be the tofore, had their laugh ready on beginner. The High Sheriff, too, who the nail; but who, to-day, had the had, doubtless, received a previous inti- mortification to call forth, first, mation of Mr. Jervoise's intention, marks of listlessness, next, a smart seemed to look round for him; but it sprinkling of " NO, NOES!" and of " он, was too late. It was not the first coun- ons!" and, at last, that ominous sound, ty meeting by many a score that Mr. which, to the ears of an orator, is what Budd had been at. Our leader was that of the death-watch is to those of the fittest man in the world for the oc- the fond mother whose darling is breathcasion. On he went, made a short and ing its last; that heart-sinking sound, very pithy speech, and concluded with" question! question!" began to salute reading his address, which he did in a very audible voice and to the great apparent satisfaction of the meeting. [(For the Address, see last Register, p. 293.) I seconded the address, in a speech, in which of course I urged the adoption of it; but the address speaks for itself, and wants no speech to explain it. Then came Mr. Jervoise, with his resolutions, which he very modestly propos his ears; and, breaking out here and there, seemed to be the harbinger of a dreadful peal that was brewing to windward. It was a sober affair that we had in hand now; jesting was not in request; and it was impossible for people to see the reason, or even the common sense, of a long speech filled with attempts to divert them on the subject of the conduct of the Bishops, while the speech-maker protested against saying 66 a word about them in the address, which habited by as orderly, as sensible, as the speech was intended to cause to be intelligent, as frank, as public-spirited adopted. Besides, there were many people as ever breathed. I applaud persons present, who (in his after- their quick-sightedness, and their honest dinner speech at the former county decision. The Chronicle talks of " α meeting) had, as I had, heard him, mob." Never was there a town with so who was the chairman at the din- few persons in it to whom that name ner, most solemnly, and with up-can, with justice, be applied. Hull is a lifted hand, declare, that "if THE town of people above want, and below BILL were rejected, he would never luxury. It is little infested with those again pay any Assessed Tuxes if he vermin who riot on the vitals of the "could get any one to join him in the country; and hence this just decision. "resistance!" There were many per-I showed JEPHTHAH MARSH this para! sons present, who recollected that VOW, graph in the morning, before he went and who now saw in Mr. MARSH a se-to the meeting; and, therefore, in addicond JEPHTHAH all but in fidelity to his tion to the foul play, we must place the vow; for our Hampshire JEPHTHAH merit of this wilful falsehood, on the seemed evidently enough to have adopted part of this vow-maker, who uttered the the opinion of the poet :falsehood with the foreknowledge that it would not be exposed to those who had heard it. Nothing will he, however, gain by that in the end; and it is the end to which men always ought to look. "To make the vow was rash, to keep it sin." People recollected this vow, and their sincerity could not fail to be somewhat shocked, at seeing this bold Jephthah, NOW, when the bill had been rejected, Next came a Mr. TwYNHAM, an the foremost and the loudest in con-attorney, who seemed wholly to have demning every sentiment pointing, overlooked that he had any thing to though in the most indirect manner, oppose but the speech of "Mr. CоB→ towards sturdy behaviour on the part BETT," whose name was continually of the people.. JEPHTHAH, in his on his lips from one end of his speech speech at the meeting, said that to the other, and to whom he imI, in disapproving of an expres-puted the strange wish for the Reform sion of confidence in the Ministers, Bill not to pass, lest, I suppose, the was opposing my opinion to that of said "Mr. COBBETT" should be Mem every other man in the country. If ber for Manchester! This TwYNHAM is, JEPHTHAH and his allies would have let it seems, an eager candidate for the me be heard in the reply to their per-patronage of the loan-people, in which, sonalities, I should have read to them it is suspected, that he is the formidable the following extract from the CuRO-rival of the "LOUSE of Winton." He, NICLE of Tuesday:-"At the Reform like Horace Twiss, is of" the true herd, Meeting at Hall, on Monday week, and on the right scent," but comes into an amended address was carried by a the chase too late: the high game will "large majority, in which it is stated, be all gone very quickly, and leave to "That we have heard, with the deep-such as he only the moles and the field"est indignation which it is possible mice, and perhaps nothing but those "for a betrayed people to feel, that much smaller vermin, which nestle in the hair of the canine race, and which these latter dispatch at a great rate; a circumstance of which "the Louse seemed to be most sensitively aware; for the moment Twynham began to give tongue," the Louse," who had, till then, been hiding behind the skirts of Tom Baring, crept away from the scene as fast as he could. To see this expectant 66 666 your Majesty's Prime Minister has "declared his determination not to "reform the Upper House of Parlia ment, nor to attempt the restoration "of the representative system in the "House of Commons, until January next." Here, then, is what was said on the subject by the very finest town in the King's dominions, and in 66 His deter 1 attorney, this aspirer after servility, same "Mr. COBBETT ;" and in which, barking and foaming at the window, in if he were not actually pleading for a order to prove himself worthy of a post place, all that I can say is, that if he had in the pack of attorneys that the loan-had a fee for pleading for a place, he mongers have in their service; to see could not have pleaded better. and hear him doing this at the window, Now, however, we drew to a close. while the loanmongers themselves were Mr. Budd was, according to all the back out of sight and as silent as mice rules upon such occasions, entitled to a in cheese, was just the very sight for us reply to the arguments (if there had to behold. They, if they have any feel- been any) which had been urged against ing, felt at that moment that there was, his address; and 1, upon every principle in this world, something more valuable recognized amongst men, was entitled, than money, and so the High Sheriff determined, to This eager attorney was received a reply to the personalities incessantly with very great impatience, and with poured forth against me. marks of those other feelings which mination, however just as it was, and on such occasions generally accom- fairly as it was made, was now of no pany a want of the great quality of avail. The groups of attorneys, stewards, Job. But it was when Sir JAMES bailiffs, servants, and others, judiciously MACDONALD came, that the meeting distributed for the purpose, and with stood in need of all the forbearance whom the Grand Jury Chamber, from of the patient patriarch. His speech, as which we spoke, was most effectually Lord Thurlow said of sessions-lawyers, packed, kept up a noise so loud and so was hot and heavy;" long and loud; incessant that to obtain a hearing amidst all effort and no effect, other than that of it was as useless as it is to attempt to.. realizing the paradox of rousing people still the roarings of the wind in the to inattention. The people, who recol-midst of a hurricane. The baseness, lected that they had so lately elected him the incomparable baseness of spending their Member, averted their eyes, as-hours in uttering personalities against sumed a melancholy countenance; drew a man, with a previous determination down the lids, or turned up the whites of that that man shall not be allowed to the organs of sight; every one seeming reply to the personalities; such baseto sigh out to himself, “ God bless me! isness can exist in. no breast in which that our Member?" while the country there does not exist at the same time a girls, a very pretty group of whom was consciousness that the personalities are standing under the window out of which false; and from this charge I exempt I was looking, looked as innocently in-not a man of those who uttered personquisitive in the face of each other, or in alities against me; for they were, every those of the young fellows that had one of them, most boisterous in prethem by the arm, as if they had been all venting any reply from me being heard, saying at once, "What, in the name of in which work of meanness Jephthah "wonder, can this man be talking Marsh was conspicuous. However, this "about!" and while I, who am a great is of no consequence at all when comadmirer of patience, was saying to a pared with the division which now took gentleman that stood by me, that those place. who accused Englishmen of a want of In such confusion were the minds of patience were the vilest slanderers upon the Holy Alliance; into such a complete. earth. A gentleman from the body of state of botheration had our proceed, the meeting called out to Sir James: ings and their own anxious vanity put "Will you abandon the Ministers if them, that they really knew not what they do not bring in again the same they were about. The Under Sheriff.. "bill?" This disconcerted him he came forward, not with any thing› jostled; he wriggled; he twisted; and called an amendment; not with any-, soon came to the end of a speech, in thing in the shape of an amendment; which he, too, had not forgotten that but with an address, which that Gentle 66 |