THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY HETHERINGTON. 'We, the Directors of the Poor of the parish of St. Pancras, at present assembled, sincerely deplore the loss of our much-respected friend, Mr. Henry Hetherington; and cannot allow the earliest opportunity to pass without offering this poor tribute to his worth, talent, energy, urbanity, and zeal. In him the poor, and more especially the infant, have lost a powerful advocate, the Directors a valuable coadjutor, the ratepayers an economical distributor of their funds, and mankind a sincere philanthropist.' -Passed, unanimously, at a meeting of Members of the Board of Directors, on Friday, Aug. 24, 1849. [PUBLISHED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE SURVIVORS.] London: J. WATSON, 3, QUEEN'S HEAD PASSAGE, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1849. [PRICE TWOPENCE.] PREFACE. A COMMITTEE of the Directors of the Literary and Scientific Institution, John Street, Fitzroy Square, who issue this Memorial of their late esteemed colleague, for the benefit of his survivors, have entrusted its compilation to me. The various matter is extracted from the Reasoncr, where Hetherington was gratified to think that all relating to him would appear. The chief abridgment for which I have to apologise is that of Mr. Cooper's Éloge, which could not be retained entire without greatly exceeding the limits prescribed for this Memento. Its condensation has been a task of difficulty and delicacy. But I have, I believe, preserved its spirit entire; and if it has lost anything in effect, Mr. Cooper's reputation can bear it; and I trust—the cause being considered—his generosity will forgive it. Reasoner Office, 3, Queen Head Passage, Paternoster Row, September 8th, 1849. G. J. HOLYOAKE. PUBLISHED BY THE LATE H. HETHERINGTON. Cheap Salvation, by H. Hetherington Trial of H. Hetherington, for Blasphemy, before Lord Denman, The Celebrated Speech of Robert Emmett, the Irish Patriot.. R. Cooper's Infidel's Text Book, bds. [Or in 13 numbers, at 2d. each.] Strauss's Life of Jesus Ditto [A considerable quantity of numbers remain on hand, so that persons having incomplete sets may possibly complete theni. But such applications must be made immediately.] Babeuf's Conspiracy for Equality. 1 vol., cloth bds. [Only a very few copies remain unsold.] The Yahoo: a Satirical Rhapsody. 1 vol., cloth bds. 4 0 2 0 To be had of J. WATSON, 3, Queen's Head Passage, Paternoster Row London: Printed by A. & H. Holyoake, 3, Queen's Head Passage, Paternoster Row. THE LIFE OF HENRY HETHERINGTON, ABRIDGED FROM THE ÉLOGE Delivered at the Literary Institution, John Street, on Sunday evening, Aug. 26, 1849; by THOMAS COOPER, author of the Purgatory of Suicides.' WHILE the instruments of royal and aristocratic tyranny have their pompous eulogies at the close of their evil career, it becomes the advocates of freedom to take care that the death of the humblest opposer of misrule should not go uncommemorated. Every step in the life of a struggler for human enfranchisement, if it could be beheld by the great Dead, must fix their attention as big with the fate of Progress. And, surely, the living would do well and wisely to bestow their anxieties in this humble direction, rather than on the gew-gaws which attract the unthinking. One word of bold and firm defiance against legalised oppression-one act of self-sacrificing and manly resistance to privileged power-is of deeper import to the true welfare of mankind than all the victories of Marengo and Austerlitz, of Trafalgar and Waterloo. Henry Hetherington was born in 1792, fifty-seven years ago, in Compton Street, Soho; and many remain, I am told, who remember the intelligence and kindly disposition of his boyhood. He was apprenticed to the trade of a printer, and served his time with the father of the wellknown Luke Hansard, now living. The printing business was either dull or overstocked with hands when his apprenticeship ceased, and he was eighteen months out of work. It was now that he went to Belgium, and worked there at his trade for a short period. He was in the habit of telling an anecdote, in his own felicitous way, of a conversation with a fellow-workman in a workshop at Ghent, that is worth recording. The report had just reached the Netherlands, of the superb munificence with which England had rewarded her 'iron duke,' the conqueror at Waterloo. Our friend, full of attachment to his native country, immediately exclaimed, with the exaggerated emotion of youth, Ay, see there! Look what a fine country ours is! You see how we reward our soldiers for fighting for us! You would not hear of any other country giving money and estates to their public servants like our country!' The Belgian workman was older than our friend: he darted an expressive look at him, and then replied, in broken English, Ay, ay, it is a tam fine country, and a tam fine ting for de Duke; but it is a tam bad country, and a tam bad ting for de Peuple!' The repartee dwelt in his mind, and led to his ultimate Radicalism. Our friend's marriage occurred shortly before this visit to Belgium, or shortly after, and the fruit of it were nine children, only one of whom-his son, Mr. David Hetherington -is now living. Among his carliest connections was that with the 'Free |