Hunt, Henry, 1773-1835; Social reformers -- Great Britain -- Biography
given away more than the value of the said old cow, to relieve and assist
my fellow creatures in distress; and yet the public well know how my name
has been bandied about in every newspaper in England, Ireland, and
Scotland, and, of late years, in almost every paper in Europe, as the
greatest enemy of the poor, as their deceiver, their deluder, their
plunderer! I have been held up, for political purposes, by the venal
press, as a sort of ferocious monster, who longed to gorge upon the
life-blood of my fellow countrymen! It will be asked by some, how comes it
that _all_ the public press has been induced to represent you as a monster
of this description? The answer is easy. For this plain reason: because
all those who belong to the _public press,_ the _liberal press_, have been
the agents or the, tools of one or the other of the two great political
factions, nick-named Whigs and Tories; because throughout the whole of my
political life, I have honestly opposed the peculations, the plunderings,
and frauds of the borough-mongers of both those two factions upon the
people, upon the earnings of the poor; because I have never in any way
been, nor ever would be, linked on to either of those factions; because I
have fairly, manfully, and openly stood up for the political rights of my
_poorer fellow countrymen,_ and never for one moment of my life have
compromised those rights, in order to secure or promote my own interest.
I repeat again, that I have not introduced the subject of the old cow with
any invidious motive. As far as the thing went it was a praiseworthy and
charitable act. I have myself many times done the same thing; have fatted
an old cow, and given the beef away to the poor, which has been worth, to
them, from ten to fifteen pounds; very excellent meat to eat, and I have
partaken of some of it in my own family; though it would have scarcely
fetched any thing to have been sold to a butcher. And if this should meet
the eye of the worthy justice, he will take it as it is meant, and not as
any sarcasm at him, though the said justice is one of the number who was
induced to sign the infamous order to exclude my female friends from
visiting me; which I would fain hope he did against his own judgment, and
I am sure, from the personal kindness I before received of him here, he
did it much against his inclination. Some may say that my statement, of
what I have done, is an egotistical digression; that I am sounding my own
trumpet; and that to do so is no proof of a truly charitable disposition;
but let them recollect that I am compelled to this digression, in order to
do justice to my own calumniated character; let them recollect that I am
writing my own history, and that, as _all the press_ of Europe has been
sedulously and malignantly employed to prejudice the public against me, I
owe it to myself, to my children and family, to the myriads of my fellow
countrymen who have honoured me with their confidence; I owe it to them,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account