ess was so great that the people there were full of a
rebellious element; at a meeting in Spitalfields, whereat the celebrated,
or, if the term be more appropriate, "notorious," Henry Hunt was present,
and addressed a numerous assembly, frightful disorders took place.
Meetings of large bodies of the people were held in all the leading
cities and towns throughout the kingdom to petition the Prince Regent and
parliament to do something effectual to stay the tide of calamity that
seemed to be setting steadily in to overwhelm the nation.

The petition from Liverpool was most numerously and respectably signed;
and I recollect that so determined were the memorialists to ascertain
whether their petition had been properly presented that a correspondence
took place on the subject and was made public, between his worship the
mayor, Sir W. Barton, and General Gascoigne, one of our members, relative
to its having reached its destination.

The price of wheat in the month of December, 1816, was 21s. per 70lbs.,
while the quartern loaf of 4lb. 5oz. cost 1s. 6.75d. The penny loaf only
weighed 3oz. 1.25 dr.

To the credit of the working classes in Liverpool, the utmost patience
and forbearance was exhibited under intense sufferings. I recollect well
the energy exhibited by the gentry of the town, in their endeavours to
raise funds for the general relief. The Dock Trustees employed numbers
of people at 2s. a day. A large loan was raised to enable them to give
unlimited employment. The leading firms in the town were subscribers to
this loan, which was headed by the Norwich Union Life and Fire Office
with 1000 pounds. In the churches and chapels charity sermons were
constantly preached, and the clergy of all denominations urged their
flocks to give anything at all, and not to withhold even their mites.

Gentlemen formed themselves into parties to canvass subscriptions for the
poor from house to house, while the ladies left no stone unturned to
further the cause of charity. It was a most remarkable epoch in the
history of this country, and certainly in Liverpool the time was as
trying as could possibly be conceived. Merchants and tradesmen were
daily failing. Great houses, apparently able to stand any amount of
pressure, gave way, and many of the provincial banks succumbed, adding to
the horrors of the time. Amongst other schemes afloat to relieve
distress in Liverpool was the benefit got up at the Theatre Royal, to
which I hav