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Henry Hunt Letter (Johnson)
- Place: Elsewhere
- Role: Demonstrator
- Occupation: Orator
Letter from Hunt to Johnson 6/7/1819 accepting the invitation to attend the meeting on 2nd August.
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[Wrapper marked ‘Manchester July 3rd 1819. Copy of a Letter from Mr Johnson to Henry Hunt Esq, Received July 5th 1819.’]
Copy Manchester July 3rd 1819.
To Henry Hunt Esqr.
I have just received what I certainly never could have expected from my neglect but which has given me great pleasure in receiving it being to be so great a proof that although I may neglect you yet you cannot forget me. This letter I must consider an act of great friendship to me and be well assured my dear Sir that I shall attend to its contents.
I am very glad you have written to the Chairman of the Leeds meeting cautioning them against spies; I certainly had no great opinion of Mr. Petre which opinion I expressed to Mr Knight and I hope my dear Sir you will do your utmost to find out his character and if bad expose him.
You will perceive from [the] “Manchester Observer” we have had a most excellent meeting in Stockport, the largest ever held there; we only wanted you to complete the thing. Sir Charles Wolseley was there and was well received but what a difference between the Manchester and the Stockport Chairmen. Excuse me just observing that I did not quite forget you on that occasion.
I have been terribly plagued by the Tyrants here; lately they have done all they could to ruin my Trade, and a “Brother in Law” to whom I had lent several hundred Pounds stopped payment last week, and won't I believe pay 1/6 in the pound; in fact trade here is not worth following, every thing is almost at a stand, nothing but ruin and starvation stare one in the face, the state of this district is truly dreadful and I believe nothing but the greatest exertion can prevent and insurrection. Oh that you in London was prepared for it.
The Manchester Patriotic Union Society have requested me to inform you that it is their intention to call a Public Meeting in this Town next Monday four weeks.* They at the same time particularly request your attendance and if the time does not suit your convenience they will alter it to your wish. I trust therefore you will not deny us your company nor deny me the pleasure of lodging you.
Your request as to Messrs Harvey's shall be attended to.
I am my dear Sir
Yours sincerely
Joseph Johnson
Please to write
by next post.
*[August 2 – added in pencil above].
Copy
Middleton Cottage July 6 1819
[Added note]. ‘Dropped into a Gen[era]l Post Receiv[in]g House in London – 7 July. The Seal (Wax) a Pen with the Motto “Truth”]
My dear Friend,
I have this day received your favour & I am delighted to see the report of the Stockport Meeting & I am also very happy to perceive that Sir Charles Wolseley conducted himself so well. Really he is now fairly in with us, in the cause of the People, and altho' he is not the most brilliant Man in the world, nor the boldest perhaps, yet I believe him now to be honestly & sincerely with us, therefore we must cherish him. As for the Title I think nothing of it yet it may go a great way with the Multitude & it must be a cursed Eyesore to our aristocratical opponents. I feel highly flattered with the Compliment paid me at the Dinner & very sensible of the kindness of him who proposed it. Really my good fellow, there is nothing on Earth I would like better that to visit the Reformers of Manchester again, and in fact to pass a Day with you would be a sufficient Inducement for my taking such a Journey if it were not for the Expense.
I was in great hopes of receiving a visit from you long before this. However if you thing that I can render any Service to the cause of Real Reform by my coming to a Public Meeting at Manchester, you may command me & I will make any Sacrifice to obey your call, even if I were to walk.
I am not ashamed altho' I am sorry to inform you that the Tyrants have, by means of their Agents, the Harpies of the Law, harassed me so as to strip me of every Shilling of ready rino to meet the Demands of the Villains. They have several suits now hanging over my head, that I scarcely know how I shall raise sufficient money to ward off the Blow that is aimed at me. I think if you have another Meeting at Manchester you should make it very Public as early as Possible, & make it rather a Meeting of the County of Lancashire, than of Manchester alone. The best way to do all this will be to send me a short public invitation which I will briefly answer. You can get this correspondence into the Observer & we will get it into the London Papers, what say you to this? You can advertise the Meeting in the next Observer & say that you have sent an Invitation to me to take the Chair. This will raise a public feeling, & a desire to know whether I accept it, or not. Nay I think by management the Largest assemblage may be procured at Manchester the 2nd of August that ever was seen in this Country.
Unless the People are prepared to come from almost all Parts within 20 Miles around I thing we had better let the matter rest a while. What say you? Pray write to me fully your opinion. You see I use candour to you in the greatest Confidence. We shall have a Meeting in London, as I have heard before that Time. Write, but be careful to say nothing that can even by implication [be] taken hold of by the Villains. Address me 5 Wych Street London. God bless you.
Yours most sincerely
(Signed) H Hunt
Remember me kindly to Whitworth, Knight, Wroe & all Friends.
[Note: ‘Smedley Cottage July 10 1819. Copy of a letter from Mr Johnson to Mr Hunt. Received July 13th 1819.’]
Smedley Cottage July 10th 1819.
To Henry Hunt Esqr.
My dear Sir,
I am happy to find from your kind letter this day received that you intend to honour Manchester again by visiting us, and again presiding at a public Meeting. I received this day a letter from Sir C. Wolseley stating the Intention of himself and Major Cartwright likewise to attend it. This arose from a conversation at my house, where I gave Sir Charles to understand that we should have one, but intending to consult your convenience first, I of course did not say where: I shall therefore now write an invitation to him, the Major, and Wooler, if there be any other Gentlemen you would wish to be invited have the goodness to let me know and it shall be done. Sir C. Wolseley thinks the Major should be Chairman, I am inclined to have him who filled it with so much honour and ability at our last meeting: as no other person knows either of Sir Charles' wish or this letter. I trust you will say that which accords the most with your own feelings. I am extremely sorry to find that the Villains have still hold of you, when will it be possible for honest and independent men to obtain Justice? I have no doubt from the disposition of the people at present, but we shall have a very large Meeting, the Reformers of Stockport, Ashton under Lyne &c. mean to come in bodies preceded but Music and the Cap of Liberty. If you have time I should wish you to prepare the declaration of Rights and an appeal to the people; let them be strong, pointed and every way fitting such and important meeting; have the goodness to let me know your will on this and if you prepare them please send them to me as soon as completed. I see from the papers and an Invitation I have received you are requested to attend and take the Chair at a Meeting at Smithfield, I intend if my affairs will permit me, to write an address to that Meeting, which I shall send to you, with a desire to alter what you shall see amiss; I certainly would have done myself the pleasure of attending but for the failure of the person I mentioned to you in my last. I have been and shall be for some time employed in looking into his affairs. If I should fail to write tell the Reformers of London that if my body is not with them yet my whole soul is. Excuse these hasty lines and be assured that I am yours sincerely.
Joseph Johnson.
To Henry Hunt Esqr.
Sir,
Impressed with a lively sense of the inestimable Services you rendered to our public Meeting in January last, and convinced from past events of your uniform readiness to sacrifice your private concerns to promote the public Good: I with pleasure inform you that we have determined to hold another public Meeting on Monday 2nd of August for the purpose of accelerating the accomplishment of radical reformation of the house of Commons on the principles of Universal Suffrage, annual Parliaments and Election by Ballot: and by the Committee appointed to manage the said meeting I am requested particularly to solicit you to favour us with your Company and incalculably valuable aid on that occasion.
I am Dear Sir
Your Obedient Servant
Joseph Johnson
Make any alteration in this Invitation you please only send a copy of the alteration if any with your answer. Write by the first post, your letter was two days longer on the way that it ought to have been.
[Note added: ‘The latter letter was afterwards published with an alteration of the day to the 9th of August.’]