HENRY HUNT, ESQ.
"I well know the superiority of mental over physical force; while we have the power of exercising the former, we cannot be justified in resorting to the latter" (his speech, November 15, 1816).
It was scarcely to be expected that London would escape scot free, and we find that she came in for her share. There was at this time a violent Mob orator named Henry Hunt, who, after the manner of his kind, was very fond of hearing himself speak. He was born on the 6th of November, 1773, in Wiltshire, and was a farmer, but, having imbibed violent Radical ideas, farming was too unexciting an occupation for him, and, embarking on the troubled sea of politics, he became the darling of the Mob. It is not in the scope of this work to speak of him except in connection with the "Spa Fields Riots," but I may mention that in 1819 he was sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment, to pay a fine of £1,000, and to find security for his future good behaviour. He died in 1835.
There was, unfortunately, a great deal of distress, but this was in the way of being met by giving employment on works for the general good, in the Country, and in London by very munificent donations, such as £5,000 from the Prince Regent. But public distress always has been the demagogue's opportunity; he has very little chance of being heard when working men are well employed and contented, and Henry Hunt was equal to the occasion.
On Friday, the 15th of November, about twenty thousand persons assembled in Spa Fields in consequence of a Requisition from a Committee in Shoreditch (which Requisition had been placarded all over the East End of London some days previously) addressed to distressed tradesmen, manufacturers, and mariners, calling upon them to meet for the purpose of adopting some measures with a view to their relief. The people began to assemble, and by half-past twelve many thousands were in the fields. But as no one came to address them, many were going away, when a Coach drove up, and from its window, an announcement was made that Mr. Hunt, of Bristol, was coming.
When the Coach stopped, a Rev. Mr. Parkes scrambled on to its top, whence he delivered a sensible introductory speech, in which he said: "The occasion was important and critical, and it behoved the people to conduct themselves with dignity and firmness. If they acted with due moderation—if they adhered to the Constitution—their present suffering, even severe as it was, might serve to approximate their complete salvation. But intemperance and riot must injure their cause. (Applause.)."
He kept on speaking until the arrival of Hunt, who, not satisfied with his predecessor's platform, retired to a public-house, "The Merlin's Cave" (still the same sign, 131, Rosoman Street, Clerkenwell), where he addressed the assembly, from a window. During his speech he frequently waved a tricolor flag, green, white, and red, which bore these inscriptions: "Bread to feed the Hungry"—"Truth to crush the Oppressors"—"Justice to punish Crimes."
He certainly began his speech with references to the general distress, but he soon drifted on to the subject of Reform, and tried to excite his audience by drawing attention to the Royal, and other Incomes. Here is a specimen of his oratory: "You have all heard of George Canning, that impudent dog, that vile, unprincipled, unmanly calumniator of the people—that miscreant, whose language failed him in applying disgraceful epithets to you: but you do not know his family; nay, I do not believe he knows his own grandfather. Yet Mother Hunn, who brought this hopeful cub into the world (without knowing who was his father), had £500 for the useful event, and her worthy daughters had also £500 each."[24] And in another part of his speech is reported to have said: "I know well the superiority of mental over physical force: while we have the power of exercising the former, we cannot be justified in resorting to the latter." This might be construed into a sort of "Don't nail his ear to the pump"—and was remembered as such on the 2nd of December.
Well, he made his Speech, and proposed some Resolutions which were cut and dried, and moved that they be embodied in a Petition to the Regent, which was to be personally presented to him. This Motion was carried by acclamation, and it was afterwards moved that Mr. Hunt, and Sir Francis Burdett, should present it. Hunt said he never had been to Court—that he never wished to go there, and, therefore, he requested that the meeting would not send him there.
The Meeting, however, adopted the proposition, and Hunt said "That, having good health, with a willing heart, he should comply with the wish of the Meeting. He should, to-morrow, in conjunction with Sir Francis Burdett, seek out the Regent wherever he was to be found, whether at Carlton House, the Stud House, the Brighton Pavilion, or Manchester Square[25] (laughter and applause); for, thank God, his horses had not yet been taken from him by the oppressive hands of the taxgatherer."