Part 18 (1/2)

Early in the ht into court Bail was offered at once, but the h offered by well-known and thoroughly respectable parties The reason was, the election was to take place at Bolton that day, and the istrates were afraid that if I were allowed to be present, there ht be more excitement than would be consistent with the peace and safety of the Borough So they kept ence that the election was over, and that all was peaceful They then set h, that I had been elected, and that by an iht to one And as no one else was elected at that time, either by show of hands or a poll, I was, in truth, the only legal representative, though I never sat in Parliament Explanations after

I was soon surrounded by a vast ave a short address As soon as I could get away from the excited crowd, I hastened home A friend had started for Wortley as soon as I was out of prison, to inform my wife and children that I was safe and at liberty, and he was there when I arrived It fortunately happened that my family heard of my imprisonment and of my liberation at the same time, and from the same lips, so that the shock they received was not so severe as it ht have been But they were terribly tried It would be vain to attes when they saw me enter the house I did my best to comfort them, and assured them that I should take no hurt

I was bound over to appear to take e of sedition and conspiracy, and I set to work to prepare for the event A good kind friend residing at Barnard Castle, George Brown, Esq, who had helped ical opponents, helped me in this new trial He had studied the law all his life, and was a most faithful and trustworthy adviser He directed me what steps to take, and all his instructions proved wise and good

My friends set on foot a subscription, to procure for me the ablest defence, and raised, in the course of a feeeks, from two to three hundred pounds I am amazed when I look back to those days, at the nuerness hich they hastened to h of Leeds, requested me to allow myself to be put forward as a candidate for the Town Council at the approaching election Not thinking that I should have any chance of being elected, I hesitated; but as they expressed a contrary opinion, and seely anxious that I should place myself in their hands, I coest nuiven for a town councillor in any borough in the kingdohbors chose this ainst the conduct of the Governth the assizes came I made my appearance in court at the time appointed, with more than thirty voluntary witnesses by my side, all prepared to testify, that in my lectures and public speeches I had unifor in the shape of conspiracy, violence, or insurrection I waited ten days forin court all the time I watched the trials of other political prisoners, and was not a little discouraged to find that they were all convicted, and sentenced, generally, to lengthy terainst one of the prisoners was, that he had sold and circulated seditious publications Copies of the works which he was charged with circulating were brought into court What were s when I found that the publications were my own _Companion to the Almanacs_, and my weekly periodical _The People_ These works were handed about the court, and placed in the hands of the judge The man was convicted, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment What chance was there now forhter punishet off with lighter punishments than those who stood their trial; but I was detered

It was alarhappened the following day A ht forward by the Attorney-General During the trial of one of the Chartist leaders he swore that he had himself fored themselves to burn the city, and who had prepared the most destructive combustibles to secure the success of their horrible plot When asked to na at which he said he had been present, he named me as one I was horrified I had never seen the man before in all my life, and the idea that I should be a party to such a plot as he had described, was htened jury froe asked him if he saw in court, and could point out, any of the persons he had named as parties to the conspiracy I stood within two or three yards of him, and looked him full in the face It was plain fro eyes passed by ht know, he did not know th he pointed out a person that he said was present at the secret ave a naht one He pointed out another

'What is his naave a naot out of patience with the villain, and the Judge ordered hie of perjury This was an unspeakable relief both to me and to my anxious wife and friends, who had witnessed the dreadful affair with the most intense anxiety and alarm

Some time after this horrible exhibition of baseness, my solicitor came to me and told me that he had had an intervieith the Attorney-General, and that he had authorized hiive securities to keep the peace, he would not ask uilty, but set me at liberty without nizances to the small amount of fifty pounds, without any other security I refused the offer To give bonds to keep the peace seement that I had atte My solicitor said the offer was a very generous one, and pressed me very earnestly to accept it: my counsel did the same; but without effect A number of friends came round me and tried to remove my objections to the ainst their advice, but ree to the compromise proposed would be a sacrifice of principle, and would entail dishonor on me, and be followed by self-reproach and shaet out of the way of my importunate friends for a time, I told my solicitor that I would lay the ht advise, I would do He agreed to this He was satisfied that there was not a woman in the country that would not advise her husband to make a concession like that required of me, rather than see him run the risk of two or three years' imprisonhteen et to her that evening, so I had to spend the night alone in Liverpool I went to bed, but found it i over and over the proposal of the Attorney-General, and trying to find so it; but all in vain I had prouided by ive the required security, could I do so and be happy? It seemed impossible It struck twelve,--it struck one--two--three, and I was still unsettled At last I said, 'I will explain s to my wife,--I will tell her that I feel as if I should never be happy to consent to the co that it would be dishonorable And I know she will never advise ard as dishonorable' As soon as I had fairly decided what to do, I fell asleep

I was at Southport in theby the earliest conveyance, and laid the ard as a sacrifice of principle, or an act of dishonor Whatever you believe to be your duty, do it; I a to take the consequences' I answered, 'I believe it e,' 'Then insist on it,' said she That was enough I returned to Liverpool at once, and told my solicitor the result of ence to the Attorney-General The Attorney-General was veryan expression which we cannot with propriety repeat, declared that he would 'make me squeak'

The result of my refusal was that the Attorney-General put off my case to the very last On the eleventh day of the assizes I was placed in the dock with a nuuilty, and enter into bonds My nauilty, or to be bound to keep the peace 'Can there be any man so foolish as not to accept the e

My ansas, that I had committed no crime, and that it was justice that I wanted, and not e I have been arrested on a charge of sedition and conspiracy, and held up before the world as a cri ed' The Judge said I had no need to concern myself about the public,--that the public did not concern itself about me I answered that the public _did_ concern itself aboutmyself about the public At this point my Counsel rose, and spoke of my character and position, with a view to justify e The Attorney-General then applied for a postpone that I was the author of a seditious and blasphemous publication I said the stateht to ainst me, and added that to ask a postpone there eleven days, was rounds a postponerounds, the Judge pronounced them insufficient The Attorney-General then said he should enter a _nolle prosequi_ Soreatly alar very terrible, and expected to see me carried away at once to prison And sohtly served for not accepting the generous offer of the Attorney-General I, of course, knew that the Attorney-General's _nolle prosequi_more to do with me, and that I was now free While therefore , I stood cale said 'You are at liberty, and may retire'

When ht, and flocked round ratulations They were now satisfied that in rejecting the proposal of the Attorney-General, I had done no entleh to declare that I occupied the proudest position of any man in the country 'You have withstood the tyranny of the Government,' said he, 'and have triumphed' I hurried ho friends When we got there the cannon were roaring and the bands playing My workhbors had heard ofit in the noisiest way they could Then followed feasting and public congratulations, both at home and in distant parts of the country, and for a time I was quite a hero

The interference of the authorities with my liberty, and the needless annoyances to which they had subjected h pitch, and after ainst the Governreat excite lived, and the excessive labors in which I had been so long engaged, exhausted ht e of position and occupation

I had long suffered from dyspepsia For twenty years I had spent so y in est my food And I had suffered in consequence, not only fro pain at the pit of my stoether, a feeling as if a red-hot bullet lay burning ina hole through the bottoavedrinks had once cured me for a ti, depressing sensation caain at last, and see home one day in the train, I was seized with a pain of a much more dreadful description It seemed as if it would burst my stomach, or tear it in pieces, and destroy my life at once It continued for nearly an hour It returned repeatedly, and remained sometiht

Vo took it away, so I frequently took ater to produce vo I was advised to take un and went out shooting I purchased a horse and carriage too, and went out riding These did ood But I found that when I took certain kinds of food, such as rich cakes, rich pies, or rich puddings, the pain returned So I began to denysee, and then the stretching, tearing, rending pain returned

In 1849, I took a voyage to Arate to A the country I had given theet, but they wanted ive them the result of my observations and inquiries I did so To fitthe vessel, and sa the poor creatures fared We were nearly eight weeks on the water For much of the tiht have struck for shorter hours or better pay

When they did blow, they bleith all theirdirection; as if they regarded us as their ene us all the annoyance they could Many were sick; ed wearily for land These eight weeks were the longest ones I ever lived They looked like years At length we got a sight of land, and rejoiced exceedingly For ot sight of the great New World of which I had heard, and read, and thought so , and of which I had dreahts frolimpse of her wooded shores thrilled my whole soul with unspeakable e houses I sought infores, and about means of transport to the West I called on Horace Greeley and others, to whom I had letters of recommendation, who helped h New York, and across Lake Erie to Cleveland I had three brothers ere settled in different parts of Ohio, and a number of old friends I visited theinia, and examined soland

I passed on to Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin I spent soo The city fully dull The people were despondent

I alht the whole city for fifty thousand pounds I had a farm offered reat part of the city I suppose is built I went to Milwaukie There the people see for warmer climes It was autumn, and I treated myself freely to the peaches and other rich fruits of the country About the end of October I started for England, in one of the Cunard Stea the ocean in nine days, about one-sixth of the tiave to my readers an account of all I had seen, and heard, and read, and thousands of them left the land of their birth in search of hoot hoot profitable work, or pro farms, and blessed me And I learned two lessons; first, that a man must not look to men for the reward of his beneficent services, but to God and a good conscience; and, second, that soo where they may:--that it is not the land they live in, but the dispositions they cherish, and the life they live, that makes their heaven or hell

I had already made up my mind to settle in America myself, and early in 1851 I disposed of my business, and prepared to transportfrom pain, and weakness, and depression, and I was so utterly wearied with continual over-work, and so disgusted too with the government and institutions of the country, and with some of its inhabitants, that I felt it an infinite relief to be freed from all further care and concern about business, and in the first rush of un and blew off part of the top of the chi establish fro for the longed-for society and pleasures of his ho for a journey of four thousand h for a tiht, which you would need in your new and far off hos which you already had, to be packed, and as iven away And there were a thousand letters and papers to be exament formed, as to which should be preserved, and which should perish in the flames And there were visits to be paid and repaid, and there were partings, and regrets, and tears But all was over at length, and ere on our way to the world beyond the flood

It was pleasant to get away froious and political opponents, but painful to part with so many devoted friends, who had proved their affection for me and for my family by so many sacrifices, and their steadfastness in ti upto their gratification and i the character in the land to which I was going I had also hopes that a quiet hoht prove conducive to my own improvement and happiness

One of the objects I had in view in going to America was to obtain a little quiet for cal, and a sober consideration of the position which I had reached

I was not satisfied that the changes which had taken place in my views and way of life, since my separation froes for the better I had had suspicions for some time, that amidst the whirl of perpetual excitery contests in which I had been engaged, I had probably missed my way on some points, and I wished for a favorable opportunity of ascertaining whether these suspicions ell grounded or not

But when I got to America I found myself in a condition less friendly to calm reflection and to a just and impartial review of my past history, than the one from which I had fled The very day we landed in New York we fell in with the Hutchinson faland, and had spent some time in their company, and had attended soht in New York, and we attended the perforhted with their sild music, and with their wisdom and their wit They were all refors and conversation were not immoral or profane, they were advanced beyond the bounds of religion, into the neutral ground of Latitudinarianishts Convention in session; and there we got introduced to a number of advanced spirits, both male and female, and in their society becae and lawless speculations, of which, till then, we had lived in happy or in woful ignorance We reached at length the region where ere to rossed my mind I had, in the first place, a faroods to look after, e, andon the farm--a hundred kinds of work, all new, andWe wanted ot, were difficult to e, and hard to please And horses, and cows, and sheep, anted; and poultry, and pigs; and ploughs, and harrows, and wagons, and harness And stoves and fuel were required And the house had to be enlarged, and the barns rebuilt, and the gardens cultivated, and the orchard replanted And a hundred lessons on far had to be learnt, and a hundredhbors were not all that we could wish; and ere not all that they could wish It was impossible to avoid impositions, and difficult to take injustice quietly; so we res worse

Before we had got ourselves fairly settled we began to be visited by a number of friends And ant, in their views on religion and politics, thanimpossible They were mostly Garrisonian Abolitionists, hoh the medium of anti-slavery publications Many of theood deal like my own They had been ot into trouble in consequence of their refored to withdraw They had waged a long and bitter war against the churches and ministers of their land, and had becoant kind

Henry C Wright was an Atheist So were some others of the party My own descent to skepticism was attributable in some measure to my intercourse with theland The first deadly bloas struck at my belief in the supernatural inspiration of the Scriptures by Henry C Wright It was in conversation with hianization was undermined, and that the as smoothed to that state of utter lawlessness which so naturally tends to infidelity and all unGodliness My respect for the talents of the abolitionists, and the interest I felt in the cause to which they had devoted their lives, and the sy from the similar way in which we had all been treated by the churches and priesthoods hich we had coard their skeptical vieith favor, and then to accept them as true