WESTMINSTER HUSTINGS BILL—PETITION OF MR. HUNT. (Hansard, 2 February 1819)

§ Mr. D. W. Harvey

presented a petition from Mr. Hunt, against this bill. The hon. member declared, that in presenting this petition, he begged the house to be assured, that he brought the matter forward as a member of that house, and that he by no means wished to be considered as partaking in any of the views or principles of the petitioner.—The petition was then brought up, and read, as follows: To the honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in parliament assembled:—The Petition of Henry Hunt of Middleton Cottage, in the county of Southampton, esq.;— "Humbly sheweth; That your petitioner having been a candidate at the last election for the city of Westminster, felt it his duty to lay before your hon. house a short statement of some of the facts relating to the conduct of the high bailiff of the said city, seeing that it was the object of the said high bailiff to get another bill to pass your hon. house to protect him in the continuance of such conduct. But as your petitioner perceives that it is still the intention of some of the friends of this measure to press it upon the consideration of your hon. house without any inquiry whatsoever, he begs therefore, most earnestly to call the attention of your hon. house to some other 207 facts which occurred during the late election; which were not only in direct violation of the privileges of your hon. house, but, if persisted in, will prove the total subversion of the freedom of election. Your petitioner cannot but lament that an hon. member, the mover of the present bill now pending in your hon. house, should have only answered the important facts in the said petition presented, by vague and groundless charges against your petitioner, totally unconnected with the merits of the present bill.—Your petitioner feels that it would be indecorous in him to make any other reply to these heavy charges, than to implore your hon. house to permit him to prove at your bar, before a committee thereof, that the very reverse is the fact.—Your petitioner most distinctly states, that the disgraceful and cowardly assaults that were daily committed upon the person of sir Murray Maxwell, were neither sanctioned by your petitioner, or any of his friends; but, that they were committed by a gang of hired drunken ruffians, instigated by those who were acting as the friends of an hon. baronet, the present member for Westminster; which infamous and cowardly assaults could never have been put in force or repeated, without the collusion of the said high bailiff, and the connivance of the constables under his control.— Your petitioner most distinctly disclaims any intention either in this, or his former petition, to obtain the protection of your hon. house to stay the sharp proceedings of the high bailiff and his solicitor against your petitioner in the courts of law, as he is fully persuaded, that he shall have ample justice done him in the honourable court to which those proceedings are referred. Your petitioner is only anxious that your hon. house should investigate the conduct of the said high bailiff, before you pass any new law for his protection; and that your hon. house will cause a committee to be appointed to examine into the very large amount of the income of the dean and chapter, which your petitioner believes to be upwards of 60,00l. a year; and who are bound, as your petitioner humbly submits, to indemnify the high bailiff, whose servant he is, for the fair expenses of executing the king's writ. —Your petitioner also submits to your hon. house that there is the less cause to hasten the present bill through your hon. house, to protect the said high bailiff from the expenses of the approaching contest, 208 as Mr. Smedley, the solicitor and legal adviser of the said high bailiff has officially informed your petitioner, in the presence of a third person, that it is not the intention of the said high bailiff to put himself to any expense in the erection of hustings; but that the said high bailiff is determined to execute the king's writ, in the open air, and that the poll shall be taken in eleven watch-boxes.—Your petitioner therefore most humbly prays that your hon. house will not pass any new bill exclusively for the protection of the said high bailiff to exonerate him and his employers, the dean and chapter of Westminster, from the payment of the necessary expenses of executing the king's writ; and your petitioner implores your hon. house to permit him to prove all and every of the allegations contained in this and his former petition either at the bar or before a committee of your hon. house, all and every of which allegations your petitioner is ready to prove, and prays that he may have an opportunity of doing. And, &c. HENRY HUNT."