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A LETTER TO THE INHABITANTS OF MAN CHESTER AND ITS VICINITY, ON THE ANNI, VERSARY OF THE 16TH AUGUST, AND ON PRESENT PROSPECTS.

Fellow Citizens,

Dorchester Gaol, August 16, 1820.

It having been suggested by Mr. Hunt, that it would be becoming in the Reformers to mark this day with some particular observations, expressive of their strong recollections of it: for my part, as I am a recluse from society, I have come to the conclusion, that the best manner in which I can notice it with effect is, to address myself to you, and to occupy a portion of the day in that purpose. I do this, too, with peculiar satisfaction to myself, because our enemies, who on this day twelve months fancied that they had crushed us with the fright of that wanton and murderous attack which they made upon us, are now beginning to see that our attitude, although displayed in a different channel, is in fact more formidable now than it was on the morning of the 16th August, 1819. It matters nothing that those men who were considered to direct and give a tone to the public voice are in, or on the verge of, a prison: you will find that their confinement and persecution will serve you as much, as their exertions would if at large. It is the accumulation of public persecution, public misery, and public discontent, that works revolutions in all countries, because the hatred and opposition borne to established systems of misrule, will always operate in a ratio to the extent of their outrages.

You, the inhabitants of Manchester and its vicinity, have borne a conspicuous part in the cause of reforming the government, and from my knowledge of the immense number of political disquisitions that have passed through your hands within these last four years, I can venture to say, that your ideas are ripe on the nature and effects of different kinds of government, but more particularly on the abuses of that system under which you languish, and on what, and what only, is necessary to reform that system and restore the country to its prosperity and becoming rank among nations. There were times when the machinery of government was less complex than at present, and when a king, if he were well disposed towards his subjects, had it in his power to correct all the abuses by which they were aggrieved, but now the case is

quite different, for the king has scarcely more power than I have to correct abuses; he is disciplined into a system of sanctioning abuses under the notion, that any amelioration would tend to a republican form of government; and finding his ministers willing to pamper his appetite with whatever it may crave, he is rendered a dolt to passing events and becomes the mere tool of his administration. The proof of this assertion is so strong in the case of the present king, that it must flash conviction on every mind that reflects, and may not hitherto have borne the impression. It is therefore vain to expect that the present king will do any thing of his own accord towards correcting the abuses under which we linger, some in prison and the rest out of it in a state of absolute distress and want; there appears to be no possibility of rousing him to a sense of his danger, and you will find, that he will not move out of his present path until his ministers feel themselves in danger, when they will desert him with the same feelings as a debauchee does his cast off mistress; those are hatred and contempt.

I have not the least wish to lead the mind of any one of you to look further than a system of representative government, and I sincerely avow myself to you that I could wish its accomplishment to take place in just the same manner as it has in Spain. I am satisfied, and I doubt not but you are fully convinced of its propriety, that it would be better to leave every species of correction in the abuses of the government to the steady and deliberative hand of the representatives of the people in parliament assembled, than to correct them by violent means, even when the people have the power to do so. It is well to give all these things a full consideration at this moment, and before a convulsion takes place, for that a convulsion is approaching and near, is, I believe, an idea that fills the mind of every man and woman in the country, whatever be their different opinions as to its necessity: I have no hesitation in saying it is my opinion. The treatment of the Queen is a new circumstance to hasten it, and we have her distinct avowal in her famous letter to the King (which I hope will ornament every house in the three kingdoms in a neat frame), that she will not acknowledge his authority to degrade her with such a parliament as the present, and that she will resist his attempt to do it, and that nothing but superior force shall induce her to yield.

The conduct of the Queen, as a persecuted woman, has been, and continues to be, admirable: it forms an excellent lesson of the utility of resisting oppression as far as in us lies. She has

now distinctly avowed herself an advocate for reforming the parliament, and I congratulate you and the country at large, on so powerful an acquisition to our cause. It will naturally bring over hundreds that shrunk back from timidity, or a less honourable motive, because it was not fashionable among the higher class, or those possessing property to a great extent. The Queen is an avowed Reformer; she has told the King plainly, that both Houses of Parliament are corrupt, and that she will not respect their decisions if they are made against her. The female Reformers in your neighbourhood may now pride themselves with so distinguished a head, and expect that every virtuous female in the country will follow the example so well begun and supported by the females of the north.

Although I should, as I have before said, regret to see any violent attempts used for the abolition of any established custom, still I will never cease to do what I have continued to do hitherto, namely, to point out the absurdities of the monarchical system of government, and to shew that it is rather a disgrace than an embellishment to an enlightened nation. We are apt, and much too apt, to applaud whatever was done by our ancestors; but it unfortunately happens that the power of the press was not so extensive formerly as at present, and that we have only had the fair side of history handed down to us: but, in addition to the picture of monarchy I lately printed in the Republican, I can now bring forward a few documents to shew that its absurdity was as great, or more so, 500 years since, than at present. It has ever been the same thing, and ever will be whilst it continues; it may change a little with the change of the times, but its fundamentals are immutable. It was formerly admitted that the King was sovereign lord of all the land in the kingdom, and every one held his lands by some tenure or by the performance of some service, and some of these offices were not a little ridiculous and brutal. I shall mention a few, but must first apologize for the contents, and beg that it will not be considered as indecent in me to revive them, but rather that I bring them forward to elucidate the absurdity of monarchy, past and present. The following are a specimen of tenures:

Rowland de Sarcerre held one hundred and ten acres of land in Hemingston, in the county of Suffolk, by serjeanty; for which, on Christmas-day every year, before our sovereign lord the King of England, he should perform, altogether, and at once, a leap, a puff, and a fart; or, as Mr. Blount has it, he should dance, puff up his cheeks, making therewith a sound, and let a erack; and, because it was an in

decent service, therefore it was rented, says the record, at 17. 6s. 8d. a-year, at the King's Exchequer.'

'One Baldwin, also, formerly held those lands by the same 'service; and was called by the nick-name of Baldwin le 'Pettour.'

'Solomon Attefeld, held land at Keperland and Atterton, in the county of Kent; that as often as our lord the King 'crossed the sea, the said Solomon and his heir ought to go along with him, to hold his head on the sea, if it was 'needful.'

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John Compes held the manor of Finchingfield in the county of Essex, of Edward III. by the service of turning the spit at his coronation.'

Robert Testard held certain land in the town of Guildford, by serjeanty of keeping the whores in the court of our lord the King.'

Thomas de la Puille, holds one serjeanty in the town of Guldeford, of the gift of Richard Testard; for which he formerly used to keep the laundresses of the King's Court.'

William Hoppeshort holds half a yard-land in the town of Bockhampton, in the county of Berks, of our lord the King; by the service of keeping for the King six damsels, to wit, whores, at the cost of the King. This was called pimptenure.'

6 Robert de Gatton holds the manor of Gateshill, in the county of Surry, by the serjeanty of being marshall of twelve girls who followed the King's Court.'

'Hamo de Gatton holds the manor of Gateshill, in the county of Surry, of our lord the King; by serjeanty of being marshall of the whores, when the King should come ' into those parts. And he was not to hold it but at the will ❝ of the King.'

The above are rare specimens of the virtues of those times. Many persons are apt to cry out that we are degenerated and more vicious than our ancestors; but the above extracts must convince any reflecting mind as to what was the state of this country for virtue and chastity in those days. We are too apt to idolize the past and to condemn the present. I shall now, by a few more extracts, shew that a king in those days fared no better than a king's horse in the present, neither was there much more expense in keeping him. It will be seen that kingcraft like priestcraft, has been a growing evil; but, thanks to the printing-press, both are near the close of their career.

Peter Spileman paid a fine to the King for the lands which

"the said Peter held by serjeanty of finding an esquire with a hambergell, or coat of mail, for forty days in England, and of finding litter for the King's bed, and hay for the King's palfrey, when the King should lie at Brokenerst, in the county of Southampton."

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Here we see the King rode about the country on a palfrey, and not as at present, in a bullet proof coach surrounded by guards with drawn sabres! I wonder what George the Fourth would say to a litter or bed of straw?

'William, son of William de Alesbury, holds three yard'lands of our lord the King, in Alesbury, in the county of 'Bucks; by the serjeanty of finding straw for the bed of our lord the King, and to straw his chamber, and by paying three cels to our lord the King, when he should come to 'Alesbury in winter. And also finding for the King, when he should come to Alesbury in summer, straw for his bed, and moreover grass or rushes to strew his chamber, and also paying two green geese; and these services afore'said he was to perform thrice a-year, if the King should happen to come three times to Alesbury, and not oftener.

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C John de Curtese held thirty acres of land in Stow, in the 'county of Cambridge, by the serjeanty of carrying a truss < of hay to the necessary-house of our lord the King, when 'the King passed through those parts.'

From this last paragraph, it would appear that a king was not so extravagant as to use fine paper or napkins in the necessary-house! Chesterfield recommends his son to keep a book, that is worth reading, for the purpose, but to be sure and not sacrifice a leaf until he has well read it. A very good and useful recommendation. The object of Lord Chesterfield was to enforce on the mind of his son the importance of time, and that it was imprudent to waste those few minutes without reading something. The many foolish services performed at a coronation have been so fully before the public of late, that it would be superfluous to notice them here.

But, however, to return to my subject, I beg leave to say, that I am no advocate for any act of violence being committed on any individual who might fill the office of king. If the representatives of the people thought proper to decree the extinction of that office, well and good, it must be obeyed. I should deem it a strong proof of their wisdom, and I should think the individual who held the office might think himself well off, if he had an estate given him as a private country gentleman in the country afterwards. I think that the putting to death the King of France and his wife and sister, was a

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