From this period I may date the commencement of my political intimacy with Mr. Cobbett, who, in his next Register, spoke in very exulting terms of the respectability and good order of our meeting, and the great unanimity with which the Resolutions were passed. This was on the 17th May, 1809—eleven years after, on the 17th May, 1820, I passed by Salisbury on my road to this Bastile. I had long been a staunch advocate for a Reform in the representation of the Commons' House of Parliament; but the infamous practices which had been developed by Mr. Madocks, and the rejection, by a large majority, of his motion for an inquiry into those disgraceful practices, so thoroughly rooted in me a conviction of the absolute necessity of such a Reform, that I came to a determination within myself, never to cease from my endeavours to obtain it; being perfectly satisfied that, without an effectual and Radical Reform in the House of Commons, the boasted Constitution of England would soon become a mere mockery, and the scoff instead of the envy and admiration of surrounding States.
For the same reason that I insert the foregoing Resolutions, passed at the County Meeting for Wiltshire, I will now insert the charge made by Mr. Madocks, in the Honourable House, on the 11th of May, 1809. Mr. Cobbett observed, in his Register of the 20th of May following, that "It ought to be printed "in all shapes and sizes; and be perpetuated in all the ways in which any act can be perpetuated. A concise statement of the charge and the decision should have a place in all the Almanacks; all the printed Memorandum Books; in Court Calendars; Books of Roads; and I see no harm in its having a place upon a spare leaf in the Books of Common Prayer. It should be framed and glazed; and hung up in Inns, Town Halls, Courts of Justice, Market Places, and, in short, the eye of every human creature should be, if possible, constantly fixed upon it." I will, therefore, as far as I have the means, hand down the charge and the decision, by recording it in my Memoirs, for the benefit of my young readers, who are not old enough to remember the sensation which it excited at the time, as well as for the information of those who shall come hereafter. The charge, in Mr. Madocks's own words, was this: "I affirm that Mr. Dick purchased a seat in the House of Commons, for the Borough of Cashel, through the agency of the Honourable Henry Wellesley, who acted for and on behalf of the Treasury; that, upon a recent question, of the last importance, when Mr. Dick had determined to vote according to his conscience, the Noble "LORD CASTLEREAGH did intimate to that Gentleman, the necessity of his either voting with the Government, or resigning his seat in that House; and that Mr. Dick, sooner than vote against principle, did make choice of the latter alternative, and vacate his seat accordingly. To this transaction I charge the Right Honourable Gentleman, MR. PERCEVAL, as being privy, and having connived at it. THIS I WILL ENGAGE TO PROVE BY WITNESSES AT YOUR BAR, if the House will give me leave to call them." The Honourable Member, after making an eloquent and forcible appeal to the House, moved for an inquiry. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, (Mr. Perceval) addressed the House, and humbly declared that, "whether at such a time, it would be well to warrant such a species of charges, as merely introductory to the agitation of the great question of Reform, he left to the House to determine:" he then made his bow and retired. Lord Castlereagh did the same. Mr. Madocks then explicitly moved, that the said charge against the Right Honourable Spencer Perceval, and Lord Viscount Castlereagh, should be heard at the bar on Monday next. LORD MILTON said, "he would oppose the motion, if he thought it would tend to promote the question of Parliamentary Reform. But, although he would vote for the motion in part, still in whatever way it was decided, he would not think one jot the worse of either of the Right Honourable Gentlemen accused, or that they were in any degree more criminal than all former Governments." Sir FRANCIS BURDETT, in supporting the motion, said, "if the House refused to inquire into the transaction, or if any Gentleman within its walls contended these practices formed part of the Constitution, then he must say that Buonaparte had a "better ally within their walls than he had any where else." MR. TIERNEY opposed the motion, and said, "it would be great injustice to render a few individuals the victims of a system which did not commence with them." MR. WHITBREAD manfully supported the motion, and said, "if such a case as this were overlooked, the House might as well, in his opinion, expunge its Journals, burn its Statutes, and blot out the Constitution." MR. PONSONBY, in opposing the motion, said, "he would appeal to all who heard him, whether many seats were not sold, and that being NOTORIOUS, he never could persuade himself to take advantage of such a circumstance in a political adversary, for the purpose of running him down." LORD FOLKESTONE warmly supported the motion, and said, "that resisting inquiry only served to strengthen the influence and extend the limits of suspicion, by comprehending all those who connected themselves with such resistance." MR. WINDHAM Opposed the motion, and in the following words impudently justified the practice. He affirmed that "these things were, in fact, so interwoven with the Constitution, and that Constitution itself was such a complicated system, that no wise statesman would venture to tear them out, lest he should take out something very valuable along with them." MR. CANNING called upon the House "to make a stand THAT NIGHT, against the encroachments of the factious. To-night it was summoned to make an immolation of TWO upon his side of the House, and perhaps, if successful now, it would on the morrow be summoned to sacrifice two stately victims from the other side." Sing Tantararara, Rogues all!!! The House divided, and the question was taken upon Mr. Madocks's motion FOR AN INQUIRY into the matter, when EIGHTY-FIVE members voted for the motion, and THREE HUNDRED AND TEN members voted against all inquiry—Majority against inquiry, TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE. Such was the charge, and such was the result.
After having read the above, will any honest man say, that a Reform in the House of Commons is not necessary? It was this memorable transaction to which I alluded, in the resolutions that I proposed, and which were unanimously adopted at the County Meeting at Salisbury; and, by being the principal, or, I may say, the sole cause of such meeting being called, I rendered myself so completely obnoxious to the Government, that every means were put in practice by their agents and underlings, to annoy, perplex, and harrass me; amongst which number the stock purse combination took the most prominent part.
At the Michaelmas Sessions 1809, as I have before stated, a Bill of Indictment was found against me, for an assault upon Stone, the ruffian gamekeeper of John Benett, Esq. of Pyt House, which indictment was moved by a writ of Certiorari, into the Court of King's Bench. Michael Hicks Beach had also commenced an action against me, in the name of Mr. Jenner, one of his tenants, for a trespass, in following Colonel Thornton's stag hounds over a portion of his property, after I had received a notice, warning me off. Both the indictment and the action were to be tried at the ensuing Spring Assizes, to be holden at Salisbury, in March, 1810.
The Attorney-General had, in the mean time, moved for, and obtained a Criminal Information against Mr. Cobbett, for an article which he inserted in his Register, on the 1st of July, 1809, upon the subject of flogging the Local Militia in the Isle of Ely. The account of this flogging was published in the Courier newspaper, on the 24th of June, which account, as follows, was taken by Mr. Cobbett as his motto: "The mutiny amongst the LOCAL MILITIA, which broke out at Ely, was fortunately suppressed on Wednesday, by the arrival of four squadrons of the GERMAN LEGION CAVALRY from Bury, under the command of General Auckland. Five of the ring-leaders were tried by a Court Martial, and sentenced to receive five hundred lashes each; part of which punishment they received on Wednesday, and a part was remitted. A stoppage for their knapsacks was the ground of complaint which excited the mutinous spirit, which occasioned the men to surround their officers and demand what they deem their arrears. The first division of the German Legion halted yesterday at Newmarket, on their return to Bury." This transaction of German soldiers superintending the flogging of English Local Militia-men, who were scarcely to be called soldiers, and who were, indeed, only one remove from the volunteers, caused a considerable sensation throughout the country, and Mr. Cobbett wrote a spirited article in his Register, in which he indignantly expressed the natural feeling of an Englishman, upon hearing that German troops were employed for such a purpose. This publication was seized with avidity by the Attorney-General, Sir Vicary Gibbs, who not only moved for a Criminal Information against Mr. Cobbett, the author, but also against his printer and publisher.
To make the young reader completely acquainted with the subject, it is necessary here to observe, that some time previous to this, a large body of German troops, called the German Legion, had been introduced into the country, by a vote of the faithful guardians of the people's rights and liberties, contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution, and in direct violation of the Act of Settlement. The admitting of these German troops excited strong suspicions in the breast of every friend to freedom, and every lover of the Constitution; and their being employed in such a service as that of superintending the flogging of Englishmen, was a most disgusting and revolting sight, which was contemplated with feelings of the utmost abhorrence by every man who had the least regard for the honour of his country or the character of his countrymen.
The fact was, that the Government had placed arms in the hands of so many volunteers and local militia-men, that they became alarmed at the power which they had themselves created; and these whiskered German troops were, therefore, called in for the purpose of keeping them in subjection. So that the Ministers took care to have plenty of German troops, who, in conjunction with the Irish regiments of militia, were to watch over the movements of the English, particularly those newly raised volunteers and local militia, who, in many instances, manifested rather a turbulent disposition, and an impatience of being bilked in the same manner as some of the regulars were, by their officers. An instance of this I witnessed in Bath, where the Somerset local militia were quartered. Great dissatisfaction had for a day or two been strongly expressed by the men, in consequence of a stoppage of some portion of their pay having been made for gaiters. What was the sum stopped, I forget; but I recollect that as I was walking of which the prison stood. I hastened to the spot with a friend, and we got there just in time to see the soldiers come out of the prison with their comrade, whom they had rescued, mounted upon their shoulders; and in this manner they bore him in triumph to his quarters. Some of the officers arrived, and one of them drew his sword; but he was instantly disarmed, and pelted with mud, so that, while he escaped with some difficulty, he looked more like a person just released from the pillory than like an officer who had the command of troops. During the whole evening the streets swarmed with crowds of people, and the injustice of the extortion for the men's gaiters was the universal topic of converse amongst them. As almost every one was expressing his indignation at the conduct of the officers, and swearing that the men should not be punished, affairs bore such an alarming appearance, that dispatches were sent off, in all directions, for more troops to come to the assistance of the officers. Very prudently, there was no attempt made that night to take into custody the man who had been rescued, or those who had rescued him. As all the men concerned in the transaction were known, it was reported that they would be brought to a drum-head court-martial ear up the street, I heard some of the men inquiring at a shop the price of a pair of gaiters, which they were told by the tradesman was about half as much as had been stopped out of each man's pay. The men had complained loudly to the non- commissioned officers, without obtaining any redress. The next day they made a stand upon parade, which was called a mutiny. The ring-leader was seized, and conveyed immediately, under a military escort, to the town prison. This circumstance ran like wildfire all over the city, and when the troops were dismissed from the parade, which was incautiously done soon after, the militia-men proceeded in a body to the gaol, and demanded their comrade; and compliance with the demand being refused, they seized a long piece of timber that lay in the street, near the prison, and this they used as a battering-ram against the door of the gaol, which they soon forced off its hinges. I was sitting in the back dining-room at my house, No. 1, Lady Mead, and I witnessed the transaction myself. About the third effort with the battering-ram, each of which was cheered by the populace, I saw the prison doors fly open, and the soldiers enter. By this time an immense multitude, consisting of many thousand persons, had assembled in Grove-street, at the bottom, early the next morning, and punished. Orders were given for their being upon the parade the next morning at four o'clock; and all attended, together with about four or five thousand of the Bath populace, resolutely swearing that the man should not be punished. There was no German Legion at Bath, or blood would have been spilt. Happily the whole passed off without any bad consequences. After the offenders had been admonished, one of the officers informed the populace that they were forgiven, upon which they peaceably departed to their homes. I believe that a proper abatement was made in the price of the gaiters, and thus this affair was settled before the arrival of any other troops, many of which (Somersetshire Yeomanry) came galloping into the city in the course of the day. This year, the arms of Great Britain were, to say the least of it, very unsuccessful. The army in Spain, under Sir John Moore, made a very inglorious retreat, or rather flight, before the French troops, which, after being continued for two hundred and fifty miles, ended in the battle of Corunna. In that battle the English Commander fell, and the remains of the army, after having sustained immense loss, were compelled to embark on board their fleet; not less than six thousand troops having been sacrificed upon the occasion. On the 27th of January, the French entered Ferrol, and took seven sail of the line; Saragossa also surrendered to their arms. In May there was a revolution in Sweden, and Gustavus the Fourth, one of the legitimate race of old kings, was deposed. War was again declared by Austria against France. In April, the English fleet, under Lord Cochrane, destroyed four sail of the line in Basque Roads. On the 13th of May, the French entered Vienna. Russia also declared war against Austria. Buonaparte beat the Austrians in various battles, and effected the passage of the Danube in July, and finished the campaign by a total defeat of the Austrian army at the battle of Wagram; upon which the Emperor Francis was obliged to sue for an armistice. It was granted by Napoleon, although the prostrate legitimate was, with his whole dominions, completely in the power of the French Emperor. Thus did Napoleon show him that mercy which the deadly Austrian had not the magnanimity or the honour to return when Napoleon had fallen into misfortune. This was one of Napoleon's greatest faults; he appeared to delight in conquering and subduing tyrants, and then reinstating them on their thrones, that he might conquer them again. This is one of the greatest stains upon his character. He had it in his power to exterminate the tyrants of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, and by that means to bring the English Government to a sense of its duty to the people of England. This he failed to do, and his reward was perpetual imprisonment, lingering torture, and a premature death, inflicted upon him by the very same sovereigns that he had spared from annihilation. The old proverb, of "Save a thief from the gallows and he will cut your throat," was never more truly verified than in this instance.
On the 27th of July, the Battle of Talavera was fought between the English and the French, in which Sir Arthur Wellesley pompously claimed a victory, although he and his whole army retreated before day-break the next morning, leaving the whole of the sick and wounded behind them. Such was the rapidity of this retreat, that they scarcely ever stopped to refresh themselves, till they had passed the boundaries of the Spanish dominions, and entered into Portugal.—Notwithstanding all this, it was trumpeted forth in all the ministerial papers that Sir Arthur Wellesley had gained a GREAT VICTORY; and, to complete the humbug, the Ministers carried the hoax so far as to create the said Sir Arthur Wellesley either Baron or Viscount TALAVERA! This was the way in which the English Ministry gulled John Bull; and as John swallowed this title so readily, from that time I have designated, and I shall always designate him, by the title of JOHN GULL, instead of John Bull; GULL being a most appropriate title, with a very significant and truly characteristic meaning.
Blake's army from Valentia was also at this period completely dispersed. The English Ministry likewise sent out two expeditions this year, both of which ended in defeat and disgrace. One was dispatched from Sicily to the South of Italy, and the other was the memorable and fatal expedition to Walcheren, commanded by the renowned Lord Chatham, the elder brother of Pitt, who, from his fondness for lying in bed, had obtained the nick name of the late Lord Chatham. This was a most calamitous undertaking, and reflected the highest disgrace upon the characters of those who planned it, as well as of those who were selected to carry it into execution. I recollect that at the time it was confidently asserted that the redoubtable Commander, Lord Chatham, spent three parts of his time in bed; at all events, he proved to be a most unsuccessful, if not a sleepy commander. The famous city-gormandizer, Sir William Curtis, accompanied this expedition, thus making one, as it were, of a party of pleasure, while, from exhaustion and disease, the troops were perishing in the pestilential swamps of the country. In fact, this proved a mere wanton sacrifice of British treasure and British blood.
In consequence of these disasters, there arose such great dissentions and heart-burnings in the British Cabinet, that at length it produced a duel between two of its most conspicuous members, Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning, in which Mr. Canning was badly wounded. In better times, the dispute possibly would perhaps have been settled much more conformably with the principles of justice, by both of them being impeached for their mal-administration, and their wanton and lavish waste of the best blood and treasure of their country.