A remarkable collection of related - and almost entirely unrecorded - broadsides that illustrate the great paranoia and fear of revolution in the 1790’s in England following the Revolution in France, the publication of Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man and the Revolutionary Wars in America.
This group of broadsides are largely centred around the industrial market town of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire which was, like most of that part of the country, heavily involved in the textile industry. The first broadside here immediately highlights the fear of uprising and sedition in this period as a hasty meeting is called to discuss an “Incendiary Letter” sent to Rev. Mr. Coates. “being replete with insolent invective against the King, and unfounded aspersions and unmanly threats…” against a committee assembled to quell revolutionary fervour.
The broadside printing of Justice William Henry Ashurst’s famous attack on the revolutionary sentiments enflamed by the upheaval in France must have served as a manifesto for the committee setup in Huddersfield to stamp out unrest. Ashurst states:
“…for if every man were left to the free and uncontrouled impulse of his own mind, as in a state of Nature, no man could be secure of his person or property, and the weak would become a prey to the strong…“
The third broadside here is addressed from York in March 1793 to Sir Francis Buller reprinting Buller’s own defence of English laws and liberties and paints a similarly grim picture of a post-revolutionary society. Buller warns of the “massacring of Thousands of Fellow-subjects” and states, “I trust in God that not one Englishman can be found who would be willing to hazard the solid and permanent Advantages which he enjoyed, for a vain and illusory Phantom, which can only end in Anarchy, in Tyranny, and Oppression; which holds out its Votaries that they must expect Distress, and prepare themselves for every Species of Want; and by which it is at last plainly avowed that the English must be crushed, and others eat the Bread out of their Mouths, or starve”
The “Address to the Public” describes the fate of the Nation as at stake and calls on the population to help maintain order. The address reminds the reader of the advantages of living in England where there is “extensive commerce, flourishing manufacture” and a “superior system of agriculture” and states that the laws of England were the basis for the American Constitution put in place by “the ablest men in America”. The reader is warned of the “dark malignant spirit” which promises “The Sovereignty of the People; Liberty and Equality; The Rights of Man; &c…”
Two of the broadsides here highlight the practical solutions used to try and maintain order: the 5th and 6th broadsides are notices of a meeting to form a committee to suppress anyone trying to “**inflame the minds of the People…”** The meetings are to take place at the George Inn in Huddersfield and the committee is listed in full alongside the objectives of the gathering. The chairman is Sir George Armytage, 4th Baronet (1761–1836) with James Dyson appointed as Treasurer and Henry Stables as Secretary. The second meeting warns of the “present alarming Crisis of this Country” and instructs the reader: “**We recommend to every Person, well affected to the present Government, to use his utmost Exertions to instill into the Minds of his Servants, Workmen, and Neighbours, just Notions of Civil Government, Subordination, Good Order, and Good Morals”**
The final broadside gathered here is anonymously written by a “Yorkshire Clothier” and attacks the French for removing their King and the “New-fashioned restless Dissenters” (who are advised to be “off to America directly, where there is no King, and plenty of room for you”). To his “Brother Clothiers” the author warns “Don’t let us be humbuged by Mr. Paine, who tells us a great many truths, in his book, in order to shove off his lies”
Provenance: Benjamin North of Fenay near Huddersfield. A number of the broadsides gathered here have obviously been folded, sealed for postage and addressed to Benjamin North.
