The Sun.
London, England, 1822-03-20 00:00:00

PROVINCIAL JOURNALS.

[FROM THE BRISTOL. JOURNAL, MARCH 16.1
VIRTUE IN DISTRESS.—Various petitions in favour of that
renowned and most worthy individual Henry Hunt, Esq. have
been, of late, obtained by Radical artifices, and presented by
certain honourable Members to the House of Commons. They
all go upon the ground of unnecessary restraints being put
upon him; and the ostensible object is to obtain a mitigation
of the rigours of his confinement, while the real one is to im-
press upon the more ignorant of his former adherents that his
sufferings, as they are called, are a proof of the tyranny of the
Government. In allusion to the last, which was presented on
Wednesday night, by Sir R. Wilson, both Sir Thomas Leth-
bridge, and Mr. Dickinson, the Somerset County Mem-
bers, replied to its contents. Hunt indeed furnishes an-
other example* of the new principles which our favoured
age, and " the march of mind," have introduced for our own
benefit and that of posterity. The stupid rules of mar-
riage obligation first fell beneath his liberating. hand ; and he
plumed the opinions of his reforming sigour in the domestic
circle. The game laws, those badges of feudal slavery, he has
uniformly treated with indignation. The science of pugilism
is magnified by the sanction of this Reformer; and we are cured
of the doltish refinements of civilization, and our liberty makes
progress, by going back to the manners of the unrestrained and
noble savage. This Hunt learned from Rousseau, which suf-
ficiently proves that the inmate of Ilchester Gaol is a deep phi-
losopher. The liberty of the tongue has found as zealous a cham-
pion in this notable as the liberty of the fist. Abuse is no longer
vulgar ; it is reformed into manliness and taste ; and thus the
" mind marches" and ripens us into improvement. But great
geniusses cannot long be hid ; and the " spirit of the age"
called forth this Prince of Reformers from his fowling piece,
and his fisticuffs, and his reformed brewing. process, to head
the indignant people of England, struggling for their rights
against oppression. Liberty, long repressed, reared her head
in Spa-fields, roused by his voice, and gave a martyr to the
gallows in the person of Cashman, over whose remains a monu-
ment will doubtless be erected by the subscriptions of the
friends of freedom, when their debt of gratitude is discharg-
ed to those patriots to whom the honours of the gallows
have not yet been awarded. By a happy incident; he first call-
ed the powers of Alderman Wood into notice, when the Royal
Exchange was besieged by a detachment from Spafields ; a
prowess only to be equalled by that of another Alderman in the
cause of the people, whose poney charger led him to so many
feats of valorous enterprise on the causeway at Knightsbridge
barracks. Manchester, alas ! terminated Hunt's career, but
entitled him to the support of every Reformer. There it was
demonstrated how easy it is to raise workmen against their
masters, and overawe those who areifoolish enough to be peace-
able when all ought to be up in arms, except those who have any
thing to lose. There a lesson was read to the Reformers every
where, that the laws ought to be repealed, because they stop
the progress of Reform ; that Magistrates who do their duty
ought to be libelled and held up to public execration, and that
Magistracy itself ought to be abolished. For teaching these
important lessons, poor Hunt is now in durance, and the op-
pressive Magistrates of Somerset refuse to admit, as often as he
pleases, some friends of his, among whom is a lady of his par-
ticular acquaintance. But his virtues are not to be forgotten,
nor the service he has rendered to the liberties of the country :
and, therefore, petitions are very properly got up in his favour.
Hunt will be wanted another day, and must not, therefore, be
forgotten.

METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL

BY R. BANKS.

PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER.

Thermometer.
1 I Weather.
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4 r. g 4'4 p= ':`
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March ' ° ' .°- Inches
8 39 42 51 39 29.62 .19 Ram Cloudy
9 46 49 54 46 .59 .44 Do. Rain
10 50 48 56 39 .57 .05 Do. Do.
11 43 39 47 34 .82 .04 Do. Cloudy
14 39 40 49 37 30.36 Fair Fair
13 40 46 52 40 .20 Do. Cloudy
14 49 50 56 40 29.95 .04 Rain* Do.

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