- f \ MJJYP IDF& BJRAT* MEMOIRS and CORRESPONDENCE of JAMES ACLAND, Proprietor and Editorwritten by Himself. " I LIKE HONESTY IN ALL PLACES."— Judge Bayley. Printed and Published by JAMES ACLAND ( SOLE PPOPRIKTOR AND EDITOR; at the BRISTOLIAN OPFICK, Uristolian Court, Bridewell Lane. VOL. IV— No. XXIII. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, IS31. [ PRICE J^. BR IS TO LI AN BREAD ASSOCIATION. The communicat ons I have received with reference to Mr. HaTiley, one of the original Committee of this unfortunate Association, are uot sufficiently exp'icit. The charges ira; 11 v a verv serious accusation against the individual in question— and the interest of the. Shareholders is still sufficiently dear to me to command my prompt interference in theii behalf, whenever, by such interference, I can serve'hem. Under these circumstances I shall ba glad to be informed of the unvar- nished facts of the case against Mr. Hamley — of whom, I confess, I have no very favor- able opinion— but who is not the less entitled to fair play and full proof before condemna- tion. The three gentlemen to whom the winding up of the Affairs of the Association has been entrusted ( I allude to Messrs Ravis, Mondey, & Farr,) are perhaps the most com- petent to say whether or not Mr. Hamley is implicated on the point of honesty or honor — and should they feel themselves compelled jn the discharge of their Trust to lay any statement on the subject before the Share- holders— my pages aie at their service to such axtent or in such manner as they can be rendered most available. JAMES ACLAND, TO THE HOUSEHOLDERS OF BRISTOL. It is distinctly understood in the Metopolitan Polttical circles, that in the contemplated sys. tern of Reform, a vital alteration is to be effected in the Corporate Franchises of our old fashioned Civic excrescences. God knows such alteration to have been long needed— and we need not wander beyond our own beautiful specimen Oj the iniquitous modernization of ancient corrup- tion— the City of Bristol and County of the same City ! The advocates of" things as they are '— such for instBnce, as Ebenezer Ludlow, with his Lawyerings, the Rrisac and the Burgcefa of Bristol, contend that if they can* find fools who will submit to be fleeced, and moreover pay for being fleeced, that it would be a most impudent stretch of Parliamentary power, to sanction any alteratiod in the beneficialities of the existing state of Corporate affairs. They contend tha, our ancestors were miracles of wisdom, and that we cannot do better than let our tubs stand on their bottoms 1 Yet the worshipful Aldermen no longer exercise their olden right of selling convicts for slaves, and making men guilty, that they might so sell them ; nor am I aware that they ever received any Parliamentary com pensation for the loss of that valuable and humane privilege. Yet it is just as reasonable that the men who have again and again uvli hemselves for the means of attaining the n « ar « $ t possible resemblance to beasts— I say it it equally as reasonable that the9e men should elect your Representative) in the Commons House of Parliament— as that the Judges vfi Bristol should be permitted to sell those wbtr. v they convict, for their own personal profit anil advantage. The one practice is quite as excel- lent and quite as just as tbe other. The one is exploded as barbarous— the oth- r is ahout to be done away with as absurd. Injustice was the basis of either, and in a few weeks I shall be enabled to record that neither have any longt* continuance— save on the page of history, as evidence of the wisdom of our forefathers— « ;> » ot the spread of liberty and the diffusion » f knowledge. Q.— Who'pay the Taxes ? A.— Householders, in far the greater pro- portion. Q — Who elect the Members of Parlia- ment ? A.— In Corporate Towns, the oceupiers of lodgings, chiefly. Q.— What is the most important duly of Members of Parliament? A.— To decide on the amount of taxation, and on the particular nature of the different taxes to be imposed. Is not this true ? And if it be true in Its THE BR1ST0L1AN application to the City of Bristoj, is it not certain extent* my proceedings are embar-' forward in the moment of urgency, and wiost ridiculous that at the period of an election, rassed ; and in ordinary cases and among " Whittington sold my Press to him for the you, the Householders— Rate Payers, and people of average sense and common feeling amount of the Distress and subsequent ex- Assessed Tal Payers, should be unable to give it might be reasonably expected, 1 that a pence— namely £ 5 5 0. more than your good wishes to the Candidate man buffetting tbe angry billows in the open' And here I must be permitted to repeat you would prefer, whilst the journeyman lodger,; sea would be permitted to take his chance of my often made protest against the iniquity of a system of law which permits the exaction of a charge of 75 per cent, on- the amount of all but drowning fellow creature from the his debt from a poor debtor! It is infa- who is subjected to no direct lax, should diink > escape, without the out- of- the- way interfer- es half gallon of heavey- wet from the butt of en- e of one, whose motive, in separating his corruption— giving in exchange for this slavish f> orge, the vote which shall send his purchaser t. i Parliament as the accredited- Representative « ' f the inhabitants of the Cily of Bristol— thM otice second City of the Kingdom, where pro- • sfcutors sit in judgment— where religionists rob the poor with impunity— where- lawyers Kre ever prepared to charge him with perjury Who at noon avers that the Son gives light- where to succeed in imposition is esteemed rtierilorious, and to fail in a good cause ctimi- l). al— wh ere all that is ancient is held sacred, a;> d all improvement deemed innovation— Vhere thousands may, at an hour's notice, be kited to bludgeon their unarmed fellows— and Where the greatest curiosities are honest men in thiiving circumstances, and independent Itien on the outside of a Goal!* J \ MES ACLAND. 1 TO MY. READERS. It is a principle of usurpation and tyranny that, when you have knocked a man down you should keep him down; And this doc trine is diametrically opposed to that of the fair play ring of British Boxing, which not only forbids a man to strike his opponent when down, but also proh bits any attempt » o prevent him from regaining his feet.-^- The one doctrine is induced by cowardice— the other is consequent on courage and an innate love of justice. Leaving the application of these introduc- tory observations to those who may be com. |> etent to understand- them and to feel their truth— I proceed in the immediate purpose of this address. All Bristol is aware of the peculiar difficul- ties which surround me, and by which, to a straw which in his desparation he had clutched as a means of safety; may well be questioned, Yet such a straw- snatcher have I had to encounter with in the person of an individual named Vaughan— the landlord of my Printing Office in Bridewell Lane; and when I shall have shewn him up in his proper colors, you will'have some difficulty in demonstrating to my S4tisfaction, his moral superiorly over that other disgusting trader on the defenceless, known as the body- snatcher. I rented the premises • in--' question for a twelvemonth from Michaelmas last, at „£' I2. per Annum payable quarterly. Of course ihe first quarter was due on Christmas day las:. On Monday the 20th of December, Vaughan fastened up the entrance to the office. On Friday, the 24th he made a dislrees for the rent— YV. Witiington, of All Saints' Street, being the Auctioneer. I need not state that these proceedings had not been anticipated by me— for I, . s it seems, foolishly thought that no landlord, even in Bristol, would distrain the goods of his tenant for rent due at Christ mas, before Monday, the 27th of December, the 26 h falling on a Sunday, I had theie- ' ore contented myself with writing Mrs, A. to , nf> rm Vaughan that he should have the qtiaiter's rent before New Year's day. Her replji acquainted me with- the fact of the seizure, and the consequent refusal of both Vaughan mously disgraceful to the country, the legis- lature of which sanctions it, to those who are content to suck a living from the milklesa breasts of the wretched, and above all, to those who for so many years have slavishly submitted to so abominable a system. Mr. Whittington will perhaps sav, that the expenses were not so great— but he can. not deny that he refuied to remove tfte man in possession until the five shillings over the five pounds were paid to him. He demanded and received 5 0, which thinking exoibitant 1 sent a note to the Auctioneer demanding a bill of particulars This was given him by Mrs A on the night of the 31st of December ( Friday last) and on Sa- turday morning the account was furnished. That account shews J? 4 13 0 to be the amount of the debt and expenses, and as Mr. Whittington ought to know his business — and as he knew the Press was bought b^ friend' for rne, he ought to have charged him. with a bidding of higher amount than the. sum legitimately required. Why then te* fuse to release the property even after was paid and until an additional crown wn handed lo him. This is rather a curious piece of information. The Auctioneer charges five shillings for employing a person to bid and then sends me in an account shewing me his debtor in the sum of ofl 1 0, and giving me credit for the seven shillings, thereby reducing our private and separate anil VVitinglon to give any, even the slightest, account to fourteen shillings! accommodation. It was impossible for me to communicate I look rather to the spiiit than ttie mailer of these paltry vexations, and I think il can with any friend in Bristol anterior lo the scarcely admit of a donb that Vaughun's very day of Sale, for I was in the neighbourhood hasty seizure for rent, if not illegal, ( of which of London, A poor man however stepped there is a question) was most illiberal awd THE BRISTOLIAN 91 unmanly, ( for he had at the time, the key of date of your official appointments you nive j my premises in his possession) and, if he was one and all consistently attributed the present actuated by any motive at all, it was assuredly deplorable condition of the laboring classes « o bad that he would blush, even in Bristol, l° ' he ruinous extravagance of your prede- to own it. As to the Auctioneer, he is fairly cessors and to the innumerable acts of op. chargeable with an unprofessional abuse of his pression, extortion, and despotism which trust, for the purpose, under color of his trade have degraded and pauperised the great bulk as an Auctioneer, to reduce a private debt ° f the population of the country, owing to him by the party whose goods be j U results therefore most naturally fnfoi was> selling under a distress for rent. th « * sc- Vf » ur oft repeated efforts to excite the But these are not all the instances of paltry persecution to which I have been subjected by must dear friends, and the others shall kave my early attention. I however beg to return my best thanks t< an individual who cumt torwmd to piCM- nt. if nrces6iir>, the ( karnt; out of ihe B-) « IOIIMI Piiiring Otfice, in the entotced absence, uini wi. aoui ( be knowledge of JAMES AC LA N 1). sanguine expectations of the nation in favor of your embryo measures for its salvation and resusatation, that millions of your fellow countrymen are looking with the utmost i anx'ety to the development of your views, so far as rhe, may be inferred from the charac ter't.' f the few proceedings which have hitherto emanated from uiur ministerial deliberations. True it is, however, that the conclusions thence attained, are with many, adverse to your claims to administrative wisdom, as well as political honesty, and- patriotic prv'tnMon ; JUGHT HONOURABLE EARL GRSY. and others — Siembers of his Mujesty'a l'rin/ Council. My Lords and Gentlemen, For many yeais antecedent to your acces sion to the Administration of the Country, you have, from your seats in either House of Patliament, most constantly oaposed the late Government, as ruling the destinies of the nation by corrupt and unconstitu ' orial means, and most consistently contended, that it was absolutely necessary the demands of whilst ' here « ie more, who, wita every pre- disposition favorably to interpret your uc mnt. view your inea* ur>* « with doub1, if not with suspicion. Fot mv part, 1 « m tree to declare tbat I have now b « t b ile confidence in your professions, and 1 proceed u> shew you and my readers the ground* of my mistrust. You have increased the Standing Army in the sixteenth year of Peace— when 1 lor one had expected that one of your earliest pro- positions to the Parliaineut of the Country, would have been for the reduction, if not the annihilation of that unconstitutional power— the source of so much corrupt influence— the charac. eiistic support of such Governmen the People for Reform, for Econ miy in the j0!, ty as may Il> llk , or ils slreng, h and conn- expenditure of Government, and for an ex- • nuellco by an arbitrary and u.,- English course tensive reduction in taxation, should be , „ f procedure. N., t a: n , ,,„„„. j„ lhls attended to and conceded. By such course fetltl, g of " disappointment and astonishment, you acquired the confidence of the People Tlie general cry that " Whigs and Tories and the popularity whereby you attained. are equally opposed to the b> st interests and your present political eminence through the dearest privileges of the People," has gone favor of your Sovereign, who, in preferring for. h, traversing the United Kingdcm from jou to his Councils only sought the gratifita- South to Noith, and from East to West, tion and welfare of his subjects. From the atv] ouryitg with . it the sad conviction: in- duced by your increase of the Standing Army, tbat you would consolidate Political power by the ascendancy ol the Sword ! You have called out the Militia— a step- which would htive been most prudent if the Standing Army had been intended to have been disbanded-— but as in connection with, and as a second to that un- constitutional force, this proceeding has but confirmed the opinion, that, wi h regard lo your contem- plated measures, yon do not feel strong in \ our reliance on popular approbation, if so, your appeal to gunpowder is bui the ru tiice of desperate men, and cannot avert Iron you ( lie ignominy of ultimate ( allure in \ o ir- treasonous designs against ihe supre- macy of the J'eople. But you have done worse than 1 b « v « yet recounted, - Yon have specially advised J and by such advicr, caused, ibe execution on the' infanriUb gallows— the execution as criminals, of several of the unfortunate men whom dis'. rrss bad dtiven to despair, and utiose dtfsperaion led them into error. " Let hem be - Lung " has bein your sentance ; and I uir detnh, if I mistake not, will be yotir Political damnac. m. I hesitate not to cha- racterise such Ministerial policy as cruel hear, less, inhuman ; and I thereupon formed my opinion that you would as soon authorise the massacre pf ibose who disapprove your administrative acts, as the execution of lite poor and misled agriculturists whom you have with so much apparent alacrity ordered II the gallows within this fortnight. . What was their ofleftet ? An attempt to compel justice by inducing fear! Such was ffte ( xteui of their criminality— and they resorted not to such measures which have aroused the bloodthirstyuess of ycur Whig Adinitfis- tration, by preference. <. iit .> : ; Over and over again the people had feppe- sented their sufferings and their starvation /* the legislature — through your means and pour encouragement ! Again and again thfy had besought e : onomy and reduction of tax- ation as the un'y means of averting from t3te couutrv tho i" j> P. y evils which impended etc THE BRISTOLIAN 564 it. Now mark! Ju- t so often justice was what cause, I have done nothing that com refused and even the existence of distress pells me to turn about— no sir, i will stav denied. You pio. he ied to the Parliament heie as long as I have a shilling left, lei ( hem of which you are members, that a Revolu- biing forward their charge against me if ; hey tion was reasonably to be anticipated— the have any, and I will def- nd it j but no, they Government which refused justice to the did not, except it was in the dark. Thus ! oppressed and starving people was cashiered was harrassed for several yeats, and though you were commissioned by the Sovereign I applied to many places for employment, to replace them— and no sooner are you in and i could nol procure any; during office than you order the executi n of the the time 1 was in the employ of Messrs. despised petitioners for justice— because their: Rickctts & Co. I L'd out my savings despair had blinded them and in their blind in purchasing the house I lived in, which ness thev had injured the farmer when if I was nnder the necessity of selling, to vengeance were justifiable and being justifia- ble could be directed in a reasonable course, they ought only to have sought the injury of the farmer's land ord— of the aristocrat, whether Whig or Tory, whose gluttony re. quires the contingency of the pauperization tif million^ a. id the starvation of thousands Go on ! 1— and the People— watch you — and with suspicion JAMES ACI. AND. No. 5. J TO TUB EDITOR OF THE BRISTOLIAN. SIR, In the conclusion of my letter No. 3, I there informed you how I was prevented from having Justice, by appealing lo the laws of my country; ihey knew full well, that the two respectable witnesses 1 should have brought forward, Gen'lemen of great property, ( men who would say nothing but the real trutb) would gain a verdict in my favor, and 1 should have been exonerated from those accusations which have been made against me Believe me, Sir, I new think, had it been so, k would have, redounded much more to their credit than acting towards roe in the manner which. 1 shall soon describe. i had threats held out against me by one aad the other of my opponents, that 1 should be taken hold of, if 1 continued in Bristol audi longer— and even my friend H. meet- nig We day as he was on horse back, advise,} • IS to leavp the city; leave it sir, said I, for support myself and wife till at last, all my hard earings were spent. 1 then made my case known to many gentlemen of this city, and one of them well know- ing me for so many years, told me if 1 wished to go in the shop keeping business he would assist me by lendi ig me One Hundred Pounds to begin with. Such a friend I shall never forget. 1 ac cepted his kind offer, and I com menced business immediately, at the top of Avon Street, Great Gardens, Temple Parish, in the Giocery line, & c. and though the rent of mv house was Thirty, five Pounds per annum yet Sir, to mv joy, comfort, and satisfaction, Piovi dance so blessed my undertaking, that I was enabled to pay that gentleman the One Hundred Pounds at the end of the year, without wanting it in trade. My credit was so good that I was trusted with any << iiiouut of goods. Thus Sir I was in a prosperous state, respecting ( be things of this world— my bills would be taken at the time when others were refused. As a proof of this, a tradesman of this pariih, wbo was well known, called on me and requested me to favor him with the loan of my bill for ,£ 30 signifying he had lo make up a large sum of money to make up at that time, and when it becomes payable, you might rest assured I wil| take it up. I replied, the limes ate now very precarious indeed, for a Banker's Clerk has called on on me this morning, with a bill of mine for <£ 35. which I took up and he declared that he brought out If bills with him and only me and one more hail cashed them, so 1 think it would n » t be light for me lo comply with your requesj — my ctedit is now good, and I would wish to keep it as such. He left my shop saying well Sia, I shall remember you fir bis. Poor creature I [ have ojften realised his expression towaids me, for whenever [ pass him, his looks are more like a Savage than a Christian. However at this lime my enemies be^ an to work their engines of mischief, findiog that I was doing so well, rid sir, do but observe the villainy of the following proceeding, to destroy my c.' edit and repntatiou- Silc years had now elapsed since I left Messrs. Rickettses employ, yet Sir I had a demand made ott me by Mr, Bishop, in Keiic'iff- Slreet, fur mo ey which I had received from him for glass, and which 1 had not accounted for, be said, lo Mr, R. I was really astonished at this treatment — I replied to Mr. Bishop, I can assure you, that the money was paid by me, and that I have therewith to prove it — he answered me very warmly, that if I did not pay him back the money again, he. would proceed against me by law — for, said he, Mr. Ricketts has declared he will commence an action against me if [ dp not settle it— 1 said, then let me beg of you to suffer him so to do. and I will defend it for you, and prove that the money was paid into their hands by me. ' « O no, no, I will not stand against such a strong power, I will compell you to pay it." I felt much hurt at this threat, after making him such an offer— therefore I replied, then if that's your mind, proceed against me as soon as you please, and rest assured I will make you repent of it— which I did, and which you will see in my nejet, 1 remain, Sir, Your's, & c. JOHN WINDSOR. Jan. 3, 1831. n^^ laadPahlisticd bj J JAMES ACLAND, ( 8CM FaormsTea t* D Eonoa) at the BRUTOIU* Oirica. Briitolian Court, Bridewell Lena