Hunt, Henry, 1773-1835; Social reformers -- Great Britain -- Biography
"The unfortunate men, whom want and ruin have driven to deeds of
desperation, are not, with all their temptations, more desperate in
their way than are the sons of Corruption in theirs, without any
temptation at all. The numerous and ponderous facts, the clear and
forcible arguments, by which they have been assailed, leave them no
means of _defence_.--They have been driven to the wall, beaten, subdued.
They dare not show themselves, in the field of dispute. They, therefore,
resort to false accusations; and, unable to find any thing upon which to
put a false construction, they have, at last, thrown aside all attempts
to discover the means of misrepresentation, and have had recourse to
open, unblushing, to sheer _invented falsehoods_. That love of _fair
play_, for which all orders of Englishmen in all ages have been so
famed, finds no place in the bosoms of these degenerate men.--They enter
the ring with seeming bravery, but being, round after round, knocked
down and crippled, they use, like a Dutchman, their remaining strength
to draw out a _snigarsnee_ to run into our bowels. Let us, however, by a
steady and cool perseverance in the cause of our country's freedom
and happiness, endeavour to break the arm that wields this hateful
instrument of malignity and cowardice.
"You, conscious of your honourable motives, and listening only to your
courage, have always been deaf to the intreaties of those who cautioned
you against the danger of spies and false-witnesses. But, do you think
that the wretches who could be base enough to publish falsehoods such as
I have enumerated above: who could coolly represent you as having been
sent first to gaol and then to Bedlam; and who, in order to deter me
from my duty, could exhibit my son as being in danger of his life, and
thereby cause alarm in his mother and sisters: do you think that men
so lost to all sense of shame, and so devoted to every thing that is
corrupt; do you think they would hesitate one moment to bribe villains
to swear falsely against you or against me or against any man, whom they
thought it their interest to destroy? Nay, do you think that they would
hesitate one single half moment to be guilty, for such a purpose, of the
blackest perjury themselves? Be you assured, that there is nothing of
which such men are not capable; intimidation, promises, bribes, perjury,
any thing such men are capable of recommending to others, or of doing
themselves. Your country life, your sober habits, your dislike of
feastings and carousings; these are great securities; but, while you
follow the impulses of your public-spirit and your valour, I hope you
will always bear in mind, that there are such things as _false-swearing_
in the world, and that a defeated coward has never been known to be
otherwise than inexorably cruel. The proprietor of the Morning Post, in
his paper of last Monday, says, that Cobbett and Hunt ought at least to
lose their lives; and the author of the Antigallican has, I am told,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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