“It seems, at first sight, very strange that the Government should not have taken warning in time. But it had so long been in the habit ofdespising the people, that its mind was incapable of entertaining any notion of danger from the oppressions heaped upon them. It was surrounded with panders and parasites, who told it nothingbut flattering falsehoods; and it saw itself supported by 250,000 bayonets, which it thought irresistible.… And if you ask me how the ministers, and the noblesse, and the priesthood, who generally know pretty well how to take care of themselves; if you ask me how it came to pass that they did nottake warning in time, I answer, that theydidtake warning, but that, seeing that the change which was coming would deprive them of a great part of their power and emoluments, they resolved toresist the change, and to destroy the country, if possible, rather than not have all its wealth and power to themselves.“You have been represented by theTimesnewspaper, by theCourier, by theMorning Post, by theMorning Herald, and others, as the Scum of Society. They say that you have no business at public meetings; that you are rabble, and that you pay no taxes. These insolent hirelings, who wallow in wealth, would not be able to put their abuse of you in print, were it not for your labour. You create all that is an object of taxation; for, even the land itself would be good for nothing without your labour. But are younottaxed? Do you pay no taxes? One of the correspondents of the Board of Agriculture has said that care has been taken to lay as little tax as possible on the articles used by you. One would wonder how a man could be found impudent enough to put an assertion like this upon paper. But the people of this country have so long been insulted by such men, that the insolence of the latter knows no bounds.“The tax-gatherers do not, indeed, come to you and demand money of you; but there are few articles which you use, in the purchase of which you do not pay atax. On your shoes, salt, beer, malt, hops, tea, sugar, candles, soap, paper, coffee, spirits, glass of your windows, bricks and tiles, tobacco. On all these, and many other articles, you pay a tax, and even on your loaf you pay a tax, because everything is taxed from which the loaf proceeds. In several cases the tax amounts to more than one-half of what you pay for the article itself; these taxes go, in part, to support sinecure placemen and pensioners; and the ruffians of the hired press call you the Scum of Society, and deny that you have any right to show your faces at any public meeting to petition for a Reform, or for the removal of any abuse whatever! Mr. Preston, whom I quoted before, and who is a member of parliament, and has a large estate, says upon this subject, ‘Every family, even of the poorest labourer, consisting of five persons, may be considered as paying in indirect taxes, at least ten pounds a year, or more than half his wages at seven shillings a week!’ And yet the insolent hirelings call you themob, therabble, thescum, theswinish multitude, and say that your voice is nothing; that you have no business at public meetings; and that you are, and ought to be, considered as nothing in the body politic! Shall we never see the day when these men will change their tone? Will they never cease to look upon you as brutes? I trust they will change their tone, and that the day of the change isat no great distance!“With what feelings must you look upon the condition of your country, where the increase of the people is now looked upon as a curse! Thus, however, has it always been, in all countries, where taxes have produced excessive misery. Our countryman, Mr. Gibbon, in his historyof the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has the following passage:—“‘The horrid practice of murdering their new-born infants was become every day more frequent in the provinces. It was the effect ofdistress, and the distress was principally occasioned by the intolerable burden of taxes, and by the vexations as well as cruel prosecutions of the officers of the Revenue against their insolvent debtors. The less opulent or less industrious part of mankind, instead of rejoicing at an increase of family, deemed it an act of paternal tenderness to release the children from the impending miseries of a life which they themselves were unable to support.’“But that which took place under the base Emperor Constantine, will not take place in England. You will not murder your new-born infants, nor will you, to please the corrupt and the insolent, debar yourselves from enjoyments to which you are invited by the very first of nature’s laws. It is, however, a disgrace to the country, that men should be found in it, capable of putting ideas so insolent upon paper. So, then, a young man arm-in-arm with a rosy-cheeked girl, must be a spectacle of evil omen! What! and do they imagine that you are thus to beextinguished, because some of you are now (without any fault of yours) unable to find work? As far as you were wanted to labour, to fight, or to pay taxes, you were welcome, and they boasted of your numbers; but now that your country has been brought into a state of misery, these corrupt and insolent men are busied with schemes for getting rid of you. Just as if you had not as good a right to live, and to love, and to marry as they have! They do not purpose—far from it—to check the breeding of sinecure placemen and pensioners, who are supportedin part by the taxes which you help to pay. They say not a word about thewhole familieswho are upon the pension list. In many cases, there are sums granted in trust for the children of such a lord or such a lady. And while labourers and journeymen, who have large families too, are actually paying taxes for the support of these lords’ and ladies’ children, these cruel and insolent men propose that they shall have no relief, and their having children ought to bechecked! To such a subject no words can do justice. You will feel as you ought to feel; and to the effect of your feelings I leave these cruel and insolent men.”
“It seems, at first sight, very strange that the Government should not have taken warning in time. But it had so long been in the habit ofdespising the people, that its mind was incapable of entertaining any notion of danger from the oppressions heaped upon them. It was surrounded with panders and parasites, who told it nothingbut flattering falsehoods; and it saw itself supported by 250,000 bayonets, which it thought irresistible.… And if you ask me how the ministers, and the noblesse, and the priesthood, who generally know pretty well how to take care of themselves; if you ask me how it came to pass that they did nottake warning in time, I answer, that theydidtake warning, but that, seeing that the change which was coming would deprive them of a great part of their power and emoluments, they resolved toresist the change, and to destroy the country, if possible, rather than not have all its wealth and power to themselves.
“You have been represented by theTimesnewspaper, by theCourier, by theMorning Post, by theMorning Herald, and others, as the Scum of Society. They say that you have no business at public meetings; that you are rabble, and that you pay no taxes. These insolent hirelings, who wallow in wealth, would not be able to put their abuse of you in print, were it not for your labour. You create all that is an object of taxation; for, even the land itself would be good for nothing without your labour. But are younottaxed? Do you pay no taxes? One of the correspondents of the Board of Agriculture has said that care has been taken to lay as little tax as possible on the articles used by you. One would wonder how a man could be found impudent enough to put an assertion like this upon paper. But the people of this country have so long been insulted by such men, that the insolence of the latter knows no bounds.
“The tax-gatherers do not, indeed, come to you and demand money of you; but there are few articles which you use, in the purchase of which you do not pay atax. On your shoes, salt, beer, malt, hops, tea, sugar, candles, soap, paper, coffee, spirits, glass of your windows, bricks and tiles, tobacco. On all these, and many other articles, you pay a tax, and even on your loaf you pay a tax, because everything is taxed from which the loaf proceeds. In several cases the tax amounts to more than one-half of what you pay for the article itself; these taxes go, in part, to support sinecure placemen and pensioners; and the ruffians of the hired press call you the Scum of Society, and deny that you have any right to show your faces at any public meeting to petition for a Reform, or for the removal of any abuse whatever! Mr. Preston, whom I quoted before, and who is a member of parliament, and has a large estate, says upon this subject, ‘Every family, even of the poorest labourer, consisting of five persons, may be considered as paying in indirect taxes, at least ten pounds a year, or more than half his wages at seven shillings a week!’ And yet the insolent hirelings call you themob, therabble, thescum, theswinish multitude, and say that your voice is nothing; that you have no business at public meetings; and that you are, and ought to be, considered as nothing in the body politic! Shall we never see the day when these men will change their tone? Will they never cease to look upon you as brutes? I trust they will change their tone, and that the day of the change isat no great distance!
“With what feelings must you look upon the condition of your country, where the increase of the people is now looked upon as a curse! Thus, however, has it always been, in all countries, where taxes have produced excessive misery. Our countryman, Mr. Gibbon, in his historyof the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has the following passage:—
“‘The horrid practice of murdering their new-born infants was become every day more frequent in the provinces. It was the effect ofdistress, and the distress was principally occasioned by the intolerable burden of taxes, and by the vexations as well as cruel prosecutions of the officers of the Revenue against their insolvent debtors. The less opulent or less industrious part of mankind, instead of rejoicing at an increase of family, deemed it an act of paternal tenderness to release the children from the impending miseries of a life which they themselves were unable to support.’
“But that which took place under the base Emperor Constantine, will not take place in England. You will not murder your new-born infants, nor will you, to please the corrupt and the insolent, debar yourselves from enjoyments to which you are invited by the very first of nature’s laws. It is, however, a disgrace to the country, that men should be found in it, capable of putting ideas so insolent upon paper. So, then, a young man arm-in-arm with a rosy-cheeked girl, must be a spectacle of evil omen! What! and do they imagine that you are thus to beextinguished, because some of you are now (without any fault of yours) unable to find work? As far as you were wanted to labour, to fight, or to pay taxes, you were welcome, and they boasted of your numbers; but now that your country has been brought into a state of misery, these corrupt and insolent men are busied with schemes for getting rid of you. Just as if you had not as good a right to live, and to love, and to marry as they have! They do not purpose—far from it—to check the breeding of sinecure placemen and pensioners, who are supportedin part by the taxes which you help to pay. They say not a word about thewhole familieswho are upon the pension list. In many cases, there are sums granted in trust for the children of such a lord or such a lady. And while labourers and journeymen, who have large families too, are actually paying taxes for the support of these lords’ and ladies’ children, these cruel and insolent men propose that they shall have no relief, and their having children ought to bechecked! To such a subject no words can do justice. You will feel as you ought to feel; and to the effect of your feelings I leave these cruel and insolent men.”
The following paragraph is against the republicans, of which there were many advocates, born of the troublous times:—
“I know of no enemy of reform, and of the happiness of the country, so great as that man who would persuade you that we possessnothing good, and that all must be torn to pieces. There is no principle, no precedent, no regulation (except as to mere matter of detail), favourable to freedom, which is not to be found in the laws of England or in the example of our ancestors. Therefore, I say, we may ask for, and we want,nothing new. We have great constitutional laws and principles, to which we are immovably attached. We want greatalteration, but we want nothing new. Alteration, modification to suit the times and circumstances; but the great principles ought to be, and must be, the same, or else confusion will follow. It was the misfortune of the French people, that they had no great and settled principles to refer to in their laws or history. They salliedforth and inflicted vengeance on their oppressors; but, for want of settled principles to which to refer, they fell into confusion; they massacred each other; they next flew to a military chief to protect them even against themselves; and the result has been what we too well know. Let us, therefore, congratulate ourselves, that we have great constitutional principles and laws, to which we can refer, and to which we are attached.When journeymen find their wages reduced, they should take time toreflect on the real causebefore they fly upon their employers, who are, in many cases, in as great, or greater, distress than themselves. How many of these employers have, of late, gone to jail for debt, and left helpless families behind them! The employer’s trade falls off. His goods are reduced in price. His stock loses the half of its value. He owes money. He is ruined; and how can he continue to pay high wages? The cause of his ruin is theweight of the taxes, which presses so heavily on us all, that we lose the power of purchasing goods. But it is certain that a great many, a very large portion, of the farmers, tradesmen, and manufacturers, have, by their supineness and want of public spirit, contributed towards the bringing of this ruin upon themselves and upon you. They haveskulkedfrom their public duty. They have kept aloof from, or opposed, all measures for a redress of grievances; and, indeed, they still skulk, though ruin and destruction stare them in the face.… Instead of coming forward to apply for a reduction of those taxes which are pressing them as well as you to the earth, what are they doing? Why, they are applying to the Government to add to their receipts by passingCorn Bills; by preventingforeign woolfrom being imported; and many other such silly schemes. Instead of asking for a reduction of taxes, they are asking for themeans of paying taxes! Instead of asking for the abolition of sinecure places and pensions, they pray to be enabled to continue to pay the amount of those places and pensions! They know very well that the salaries of the judges and of many other persons were greatly raised, some years ago, on the ground of the rise in the price of labour and provisions; why, then, do they not ask to have those salariesreducednow thatlabouris reduced? Why do they not apply to the case of the judges and others, the arguments which they apply to you? They can talk boldly enough to you; but they are too great cowards to talk to the Government, even in the way of petition!I have no room, nor have I any desire, to appeal to your passions upon this occasion. I have laid before you, with all the clearness I am master of, the causes of our misery, the measures which have led to those causes, and I have pointed out what appears to me to be the only remedy—namely, a reform of the Commons’, or people’s, House of Parliament. I exhort you to proceed in a peaceable and lawful manner; but, at the same time, to proceed with zeal and resolution in the attainment of this object. If the skulkers will not join you, if the ‘decent fire-side’ gentry still keep aloof, proceed by yourselves. Any man can draw up a petition, and any man can carry it up to London, with instructions to deliver it into trusty hands, to be presented whenever the House shall meet. Some further information as to this matter in a future number. In the meanwhile, I remain, your friend,Wm. Cobbett.”
“I know of no enemy of reform, and of the happiness of the country, so great as that man who would persuade you that we possessnothing good, and that all must be torn to pieces. There is no principle, no precedent, no regulation (except as to mere matter of detail), favourable to freedom, which is not to be found in the laws of England or in the example of our ancestors. Therefore, I say, we may ask for, and we want,nothing new. We have great constitutional laws and principles, to which we are immovably attached. We want greatalteration, but we want nothing new. Alteration, modification to suit the times and circumstances; but the great principles ought to be, and must be, the same, or else confusion will follow. It was the misfortune of the French people, that they had no great and settled principles to refer to in their laws or history. They salliedforth and inflicted vengeance on their oppressors; but, for want of settled principles to which to refer, they fell into confusion; they massacred each other; they next flew to a military chief to protect them even against themselves; and the result has been what we too well know. Let us, therefore, congratulate ourselves, that we have great constitutional principles and laws, to which we can refer, and to which we are attached.
When journeymen find their wages reduced, they should take time toreflect on the real causebefore they fly upon their employers, who are, in many cases, in as great, or greater, distress than themselves. How many of these employers have, of late, gone to jail for debt, and left helpless families behind them! The employer’s trade falls off. His goods are reduced in price. His stock loses the half of its value. He owes money. He is ruined; and how can he continue to pay high wages? The cause of his ruin is theweight of the taxes, which presses so heavily on us all, that we lose the power of purchasing goods. But it is certain that a great many, a very large portion, of the farmers, tradesmen, and manufacturers, have, by their supineness and want of public spirit, contributed towards the bringing of this ruin upon themselves and upon you. They haveskulkedfrom their public duty. They have kept aloof from, or opposed, all measures for a redress of grievances; and, indeed, they still skulk, though ruin and destruction stare them in the face.… Instead of coming forward to apply for a reduction of those taxes which are pressing them as well as you to the earth, what are they doing? Why, they are applying to the Government to add to their receipts by passingCorn Bills; by preventingforeign woolfrom being imported; and many other such silly schemes. Instead of asking for a reduction of taxes, they are asking for themeans of paying taxes! Instead of asking for the abolition of sinecure places and pensions, they pray to be enabled to continue to pay the amount of those places and pensions! They know very well that the salaries of the judges and of many other persons were greatly raised, some years ago, on the ground of the rise in the price of labour and provisions; why, then, do they not ask to have those salariesreducednow thatlabouris reduced? Why do they not apply to the case of the judges and others, the arguments which they apply to you? They can talk boldly enough to you; but they are too great cowards to talk to the Government, even in the way of petition!
I have no room, nor have I any desire, to appeal to your passions upon this occasion. I have laid before you, with all the clearness I am master of, the causes of our misery, the measures which have led to those causes, and I have pointed out what appears to me to be the only remedy—namely, a reform of the Commons’, or people’s, House of Parliament. I exhort you to proceed in a peaceable and lawful manner; but, at the same time, to proceed with zeal and resolution in the attainment of this object. If the skulkers will not join you, if the ‘decent fire-side’ gentry still keep aloof, proceed by yourselves. Any man can draw up a petition, and any man can carry it up to London, with instructions to deliver it into trusty hands, to be presented whenever the House shall meet. Some further information as to this matter in a future number. In the meanwhile, I remain, your friend,Wm. Cobbett.”
Such, then, was the clarion, which was to awaken the working-classes of England; to systematize their thoughts, and to give definiteness to their aims.
And such was, also, the stuff which was to terrify, for a little while longer, our dear old friends “Law and Order.” While the hundreds of thousands were welcoming this new gospel, were learning a practicable path for their bewildered feet: the partisans of Government were absolutely dazed, blinded, with terror; and their horror at the growth of liberal opinions (otherwise, “the floodgates of sedition”) completely disabled them from discussing domestic politics with any semblance of calmness. As for the mediocrities in power,—they had succeeded in keeping out the shifty Whigs; but here was a third party coming to the front, with claims as good as their own, and promising to acquire a force which they might withstand in vain. Ministers, in short, were alarmed; and they announced their resolve, in the words of Lord Liverpool, to pursue the “Stern path of Duty!” Lord Sidmouth (now Home Secretary), whose qualities for statesmanship no person, other than his royal patron, had been able to discover since he left the Speaker’s chair in 1802,—was at his wits’ end. And minor lights, as Mr. Wilberforce, sighed and groaned over so much blasphemy as was rife, Cobbett’s being “themost pernicious of all.”
The course of the Stern Path, as regards the subject of these pages, must be described in another chapter. Meanwhile, the immediate consequences of the publication of the first cheapRegisterremain to be noted.
All sorts of means were taken to hinder the circulation of the now ubiquitous journal. Booksellers who sold theRegisterwere threatened with loss of custom; publicans were threatened with the withdrawal of their licences; hawkers and pedlars were threatened with the police.
Cheap opposition pamphlets were started.[5]The newspapers, which had been pretty quiet concerning Mr. Cobbett’s merits, ever since 1812, now began again:[6]theNew Timescoming out with a specially grand affair, headed “CobbettagainstCobbett,” which was subsequently issued as abroadside.
And a very serious charge did they bring against this “convicted libeller,” this “firebrand,” this “brutal ruffian,” this “convicted incendiary,” this “hoary miscreant,” and his “ferocious journal.”[7]In what, then, had he manifested this brutality,—this ferocity? By lacerating the naked back of another of his labourers? Running off with another man’s wife? Setting fire to barns and ricks? Defrauding the stock-exchange?
None, none of these things. The criminal was proved, by overwhelming evidence,—“out of his own mouth” indeed—to have formerly denounced Reform!!! Sad fellow!
[1]This reverend gentleman’s memory is still green, down at Botley. T—— (æt.) 81 will tell you of his being horsewhipped by the parish doctor; and of his being called by Mr. Cobbett an abominable liar, at which the assembled villagers cheered. Baker wanted the parish clerk to thrash his wife for not going to church, and showed him the size of stick with which he might legally do it. He was forthwith told to try it on Mrs. Baker first. H—— (æt.) 78 will call to mind the doctor and the parson “having sparring-bouts together in the vestry.” This man tells a good story about Cobbett, who wanted his people to work, on some special occasion, on a Sunday, agreeing beforehand to pay them double. The day’s work being done, a grand dinner was provided, during which C. went round the table and put everybody’s money in front of him. This being done, he said, “Now, if you do go to h—— for working on a Sunday, don’t go and say you ben’t paid!”
[1]This reverend gentleman’s memory is still green, down at Botley. T—— (æt.) 81 will tell you of his being horsewhipped by the parish doctor; and of his being called by Mr. Cobbett an abominable liar, at which the assembled villagers cheered. Baker wanted the parish clerk to thrash his wife for not going to church, and showed him the size of stick with which he might legally do it. He was forthwith told to try it on Mrs. Baker first. H—— (æt.) 78 will call to mind the doctor and the parson “having sparring-bouts together in the vestry.” This man tells a good story about Cobbett, who wanted his people to work, on some special occasion, on a Sunday, agreeing beforehand to pay them double. The day’s work being done, a grand dinner was provided, during which C. went round the table and put everybody’s money in front of him. This being done, he said, “Now, if you do go to h—— for working on a Sunday, don’t go and say you ben’t paid!”
[2]News from the provinces, in February, 1814:—“Hampshire.—Mr. Cobbett continues to write his celebratedPolitical Registerfrom his estate at Botley, in this county, uniting in his own person, in their completest sense, the character of agriculturist, patriot, and man of letters. Some of his late numbers, on the novel positions and pretensions of the belligerent powers, are distinguished above all his former writings for their masculine eloquence, power of reasoning, and courageous delineation of truth.”—Monthly Magazine, xxxvii. 93.
[2]News from the provinces, in February, 1814:—
“Hampshire.—Mr. Cobbett continues to write his celebratedPolitical Registerfrom his estate at Botley, in this county, uniting in his own person, in their completest sense, the character of agriculturist, patriot, and man of letters. Some of his late numbers, on the novel positions and pretensions of the belligerent powers, are distinguished above all his former writings for their masculine eloquence, power of reasoning, and courageous delineation of truth.”—Monthly Magazine, xxxvii. 93.
[3]Cobbett got up a requisition for a county meeting, but the High Sheriff refused to entertain the plan. Being thus foiled, he actually sent up a petition to the House of Lords, praying them not to pass any law to prohibit or restrain the importation of corn. Earl Stanhope was prepared to present the petition, but received it too late.
[3]Cobbett got up a requisition for a county meeting, but the High Sheriff refused to entertain the plan. Being thus foiled, he actually sent up a petition to the House of Lords, praying them not to pass any law to prohibit or restrain the importation of corn. Earl Stanhope was prepared to present the petition, but received it too late.
[4]“At this time [1816] the writings of William Cobbett suddenly became of great authority; they were read on nearly every cottage hearth in the manufacturing districts of South Lancashire, in those of Leicester, Derby, and Nottingham; also in many of the Scotch manufacturing towns. Their influence was speedily visible; he directed his readers to the true cause of their sufferings—misgovernment; and to its proper corrective—Parliamentary reform. Riots soon became scarce, and from that time they have never obtained their ancient vogue with the labourers of this country.… Instead of riots and destruction of property, Hampden clubs were now established in many of our large towns and the villages and districts around them. Cobbett’s books were printed in a cheap form; the labourers read them, and thenceforward became deliberate and systematic in their proceedings.”—Samuel Bamford: “Passages in the Life of a Radical” (London, 1844).
[4]“At this time [1816] the writings of William Cobbett suddenly became of great authority; they were read on nearly every cottage hearth in the manufacturing districts of South Lancashire, in those of Leicester, Derby, and Nottingham; also in many of the Scotch manufacturing towns. Their influence was speedily visible; he directed his readers to the true cause of their sufferings—misgovernment; and to its proper corrective—Parliamentary reform. Riots soon became scarce, and from that time they have never obtained their ancient vogue with the labourers of this country.… Instead of riots and destruction of property, Hampden clubs were now established in many of our large towns and the villages and districts around them. Cobbett’s books were printed in a cheap form; the labourers read them, and thenceforward became deliberate and systematic in their proceedings.”—Samuel Bamford: “Passages in the Life of a Radical” (London, 1844).
[5]E.g., “The Friend of the People,” price threepence, “occasionally” (Chapple, Pall Mall). Of this there were five “occasions.”“Anti-Cobbett; or, The Weekly Patriotic Register” (from theNew Times), which appeared about eight times.“The Detector; an Occasional Paper” (Hatchard). We cannot “detect” the existence of more than four such papers.These were all on similar lines: extracts from, and references to, the days of Porcupine, spiced with transparent falsehood.
[5]E.g., “The Friend of the People,” price threepence, “occasionally” (Chapple, Pall Mall). Of this there were five “occasions.”
“Anti-Cobbett; or, The Weekly Patriotic Register” (from theNew Times), which appeared about eight times.
“The Detector; an Occasional Paper” (Hatchard). We cannot “detect” the existence of more than four such papers.
These were all on similar lines: extracts from, and references to, the days of Porcupine, spiced with transparent falsehood.
[6]“We believe it is now some five or six years since theTimesjournal put down the work entitledCobbett’s Weekly Register, and sunk its author into obscurity and contempt.… Since that time we had thought that his journal had wholly dropped to the ground, some other writers, such as those of theIndependent WhigandExaminer, who were more virulent and impudent than himself, having sprung up. We learned, however, lately, that Cobbett’sRegisterwas still in existence, having crept on in obscurity for a series of years.”—Times, Nov. 14, 1816.
[6]“We believe it is now some five or six years since theTimesjournal put down the work entitledCobbett’s Weekly Register, and sunk its author into obscurity and contempt.… Since that time we had thought that his journal had wholly dropped to the ground, some other writers, such as those of theIndependent WhigandExaminer, who were more virulent and impudent than himself, having sprung up. We learned, however, lately, that Cobbett’sRegisterwas still in existence, having crept on in obscurity for a series of years.”—Times, Nov. 14, 1816.
[7]For the context, whence these choice epithets are extracted,videQuarterly Review, 1816-17,passim.
[7]For the context, whence these choice epithets are extracted,videQuarterly Review, 1816-17,passim.
When your wife, or your nurse, or your mother-in-law, utters that reproach of hers, “Ah, I told you how it would be!”—the spirit within you is not apt to be tinged with a pervading gratefulness.
Similarly, “a man is not likely to be thanked who calls attention to the vast discrepancies between the theory and practice of the Constitution” (as one of our later philosophers remarks). What with the impertinence of the thing—the implied assertion of superiority—the further implication of failure and muddle on the part of the prescriptive interpreters of the Constitution: the counsel offered by outsiders is rejected with disdain, or put down to anything but disinterested motives.
The shortsightedness and illiberality of the Eldon and Sidmouth type of statesmanship was constantly displayed in this way. Let there be a Reform petition offered to Parliament, and they would refuse to receive it, if, by any means, some technical objection could be raised. Given a civic state dinner, and the ministers would absent themselves if they disagreed with the Lord Mayor’s politics. Let a Sunday paper advocate the correction of financial abuses, and the suspicion is at once raised that the grievance really lies in not having a share of the spoil. Genuine men like Whitbread and Romilly, Roebuck and Cobden, have not always escaped similar imputation, from which their known characters should yet have shielded them.
The ministers of the Regent might, however, have done better justice to themselves, and to their opportunities, but for their contemptible master. The difficulty of conciliating that man was immensely enhanced by his disreputable domestic circumstances, and the daily need of avoiding exposure, by keeping watch[1]upon theExaminersand theRegistersof the day. Animadversions upon the conduct of the Irreclaimable are pretty generally wasted; and when the Irreclaimable isin sovereign power, discussion on his personal demerits is apt to be mixed up, somehow or other, with such meaner questions as the welfare of his subjects, and the stability of the Throne. At this stage, “I told you so” becomes sedition; and the next thought is of sabres, and bayonets, and dungeons.
So the Liverpool ministry had their hands full, between this selfish prince and starving people. Throughout the year 1816, there was a determined outcry for Parliamentary Reform and reduction of public expenditure. And being demanded asrights, the end of granting these things was looked upon as something too awful to contemplate.
One leading difficulty with the Reformers was as to the mode: Reformers of that day must be divided into classes and sub-classes, when their history comes to be written. There were avowed Republicans at one end of the scale, and advocates of a purified Constitution at the other. Their common opponents, however, not only refused to make distinction, but took hold of minor differences and threw them in the Reformers’ teeth; thus discrediting the entire principle.
For example: Mr. Watson, surgeon, is found to have a number of prepared pike-heads in his house. He is ready to employ force, if it comes to the point. Mr. William Cobbett, editor, takes theliberty of telling the nation that it will never be itself again without a reform. He abhors violence of any sort or kind. Yet both of these persons, along with all those of intermediate shades of opinion, are decried as subverters of the Constitution.
This trick had been kept up for twenty-five years past. And now that “the most powerful and effective public writer that ever appeared,” the “closest political reasoner of his time” (as described by cotemporaries), was the leading writer and reasoner upon Reform in Parliament: the best thing to do was to impute unworthy and wicked motives, and to follow that up by an endeavour to curtail his liberty.
Accordingly, the principal London newspapers were full ofCobbett, from the middle of November, 1816, until the opening of Parliament; theCourier,[2]theTimes, and theMorning Post, making it their special business to misrepresent him.[3]And, as the popular ferment had reached a high point, nothing could be easier. Henry Hunt washolding forth to eager multitudes, whose conduct (partly by incitement of Government spies) led to measures being taken for preserving the peace. When the Regent went to open Parliament, a stone was thrown, which broke the window of his carriage. Then the Government tried a raid upon the Hampden Clubs, by hauling up their leading members before a Secret Committee. But, beyond a few scatter-brained individuals who really hoped there was going to be a revolution, there was nothing to fear. As theTimes(Feb. 5th) said, “Of anything like plot or conspiracy, in the general and national sense of those words, no symptoms have yet appeared.”
Yet, because people were clamouring for Reform and remission of public burdens, the Home Secretary and his friends were frightened out of their lives. And, because Mr. Cobbett was the leader and guider, upon these topics, he was charged with exciting the labourers and journeymen to “burnings, and plunderings, and devastations, and shedding of blood.” The law officers of the Crown were forthwith instructed to examine the “blasphemous and seditious” pamphlets of the day; but, as Lord Sidmouth was “sorry to say,” they were “unable to find out anything which they could prosecute with any chance of success!”
The Fears gained the day, however; and, to the dismay of the parliamentary opposition, headed by Earl Grey and Sir Samuel Romilly; and under a protest of the Lords, led by the Duke of Sussex, the ministry succeeded in passing a Bill for the Suspension of Habeas Corpus.
The astonishing success of the cheap edition of theRegistercaused a change in Cobbett’s domestic arrangements. The woods and the fields had to be relinquished; and he came up to London, so as to be in the thick of the fight. Accordingly, we find Wm. Cobbett, jun., installed as publisher, at 8, Catherine Street, Strand. TheRegisteris now entered at Stationers’ Hall, on account of the garbled editions that have been printed by others;yet the proprietor “gladly” gives permission to reprint his writings “in any regular newspaper.” A cheap edition of “Paper against Gold” is being issued in weekly numbers; and preparations are made for a new serial, under the title of “The Parliamentary Register.”
With all this writing, and printing and publishing, it must have been hot and exciting work in London. As the day for opening parliament approached, the houses of Burdett, and Cartwright, and Cobbett became the daily resort of Reformers. At this time, Burdett was getting cool over the great question, and the principal labours fell upon the hands of Mr. Cobbett and of Lord Cochrane; the latter, by the way, having charge of a monster petition. Besides this, there were two public appearances in Hampshire: one, on the occasion of a grand meeting upon Portsdown hill, and the other at Winchester. One evidence of the state of popular feeling upon the questions of Reform and of the threatened invasions of the liberty of the people, is shown in the presentation of six hundred petitions to the Commons on the 5th of March alone.
And well might the nation be alarmed. As soon as the preliminaries of the session had been completed, the ministry introduced their Habeas Corpus Suspension Bill, and passed also an Act for preventing “seditious meetings and assemblies.” The public voice was thus completely enthralled.And, amid all the hubbub, it was known that the leading object in view was to silence Mr. Cobbett.[4]
The Government might as well have taken up the broom of Mrs. Partington, in order to dispose of Mr. Cobbett. The only effect, upon him, was to provide new and beautiful topics for his readers:—
“I will first explain clearly what the Habeas Corpus Act is, &c.”“Suffer me to say a word or two about the Hawkers’ and Pedlars’ Act.”
“I will first explain clearly what the Habeas Corpus Act is, &c.”
“Suffer me to say a word or two about the Hawkers’ and Pedlars’ Act.”
and so forth; with full exposition of all previous futile attempts upon the progress of liberty and intelligence. The papers in theRegisterof this period ought to have convinced Ministers of the error of their ways: of the utterly false position in which they had placed themselves. So clear in description; so cogent in their reasoning; so temperate. And withal, so full of the writer’s own humour:—
“… irreligious, immoral, or seditiousTendency. Only think of the extent of this wordtendency!only think of the boundless extent of such a word, and of such a word being left to the interpretation of thousands of men!Suppose the editor of a newspaper to insert an article, which article recommended the reduction of the salt-tax: what does thistendto? Why, to be sure, a magistrate might think, to make the people discontented with the salt-tax; to make them discontented with the salt-tax would be, he might think, to make them discontented with those who compel the people to pay it; those who compel the people to pay it are Kings, Lords, and Commons; and, therefore, here is an article whichtendsto make the people discontented with Kings, Lords, and Commons, and which, of course,tendsto produce hatred of them, and to bring about insurrection, treason, revolution, and blood and carnage!”
“… irreligious, immoral, or seditiousTendency. Only think of the extent of this wordtendency!only think of the boundless extent of such a word, and of such a word being left to the interpretation of thousands of men!Suppose the editor of a newspaper to insert an article, which article recommended the reduction of the salt-tax: what does thistendto? Why, to be sure, a magistrate might think, to make the people discontented with the salt-tax; to make them discontented with the salt-tax would be, he might think, to make them discontented with those who compel the people to pay it; those who compel the people to pay it are Kings, Lords, and Commons; and, therefore, here is an article whichtendsto make the people discontented with Kings, Lords, and Commons, and which, of course,tendsto produce hatred of them, and to bring about insurrection, treason, revolution, and blood and carnage!”
Clear, and temperate, and lively as they were, however, there was no mincing of matters; even to the pointing out to Lord Sidmouth, at last, that he was the real revolutionist,[5]and that all his efforts were “unavailing as to the work of stifling.”
“Nothing will, can, or shall keep my writings from the eyes of my suffering and faithful countrymen!”
“Nothing will, can, or shall keep my writings from the eyes of my suffering and faithful countrymen!”
But, if this was resolution and not mere swagger, how was it to be done? Any one of his neighbours, maliciously disposed, could have Mr. Cobbett brought before a magistrate, and thrown into jail without warning, for any word with a tendency. What is more, they meant to do so.
There was only one way:—
“A few years ago, being at Barnet Fair, I saw a battle going on, arising out of some sudden quarrel, between a butcher and the servant of a West-country grazier. The butcher, though vastly superior in point of size, finding that he was getting the worst of it, recoiled a step or two, and drew out his knife. Upon the sight of this weapon, the grazier turned about and ran off, till he came up to a Scotchman who was guarding his herd, and out of whose hand the former snatched a good ash-stick, about four feet long. Having thus got what he calleda long arm, he returned to the combat, and, in a very short time, he gave the butcher a blow upon the wrist, which brought his knife to the ground. The grazier then fell to work with his stick in such a style as I never before witnessed. The butcher fell down, and rolled and kicked; but he seemed only to change his position in order to insure to every part of his carcase a due share of the penalty of his baseness. After the grazier had, apparently, tired himself, he was coming away, when, happening to cast his eye upon theknife, he ran back and renewed the basting, exclaiming every now and then, as he caught his breath: ‘Dra’ thy knife, wo’t?’ He came away a second time, and a second time returned, and set on upon the caitiff again; and this he repeated several times, exclaiming always when he recommenced the drubbing: ‘Dra’ thy knife, wo’t?’—till, at last, the butcher was so bruised, that he was actually unable to stand or even to get up; and yet, such, amongst Englishmen, is the abhorrence of foul fighting, that not a soul attempted to interfere, and nobody seemed to pity a manthus unmercifully beaten.“It is my intention to imitate the conduct of this grazier; to resort toa long arm, and to combat Corruption, while I keep myself out of the reach of herknife. Nobody called the grazier a coward, because he did not stay to oppose his fists to a pointed and cutting instrument. My choice, as I said before (leaving all considerations of personal safety out of the question), lies between silence and retreat. If I remainhere, all other means will be first used to reduce me to silence; and if all these means fail, then will come the dungeon. Therefore, that I may still be able to write, and to write with freedom too, I shall write, if I live, fromAmerica.…”
“A few years ago, being at Barnet Fair, I saw a battle going on, arising out of some sudden quarrel, between a butcher and the servant of a West-country grazier. The butcher, though vastly superior in point of size, finding that he was getting the worst of it, recoiled a step or two, and drew out his knife. Upon the sight of this weapon, the grazier turned about and ran off, till he came up to a Scotchman who was guarding his herd, and out of whose hand the former snatched a good ash-stick, about four feet long. Having thus got what he calleda long arm, he returned to the combat, and, in a very short time, he gave the butcher a blow upon the wrist, which brought his knife to the ground. The grazier then fell to work with his stick in such a style as I never before witnessed. The butcher fell down, and rolled and kicked; but he seemed only to change his position in order to insure to every part of his carcase a due share of the penalty of his baseness. After the grazier had, apparently, tired himself, he was coming away, when, happening to cast his eye upon theknife, he ran back and renewed the basting, exclaiming every now and then, as he caught his breath: ‘Dra’ thy knife, wo’t?’ He came away a second time, and a second time returned, and set on upon the caitiff again; and this he repeated several times, exclaiming always when he recommenced the drubbing: ‘Dra’ thy knife, wo’t?’—till, at last, the butcher was so bruised, that he was actually unable to stand or even to get up; and yet, such, amongst Englishmen, is the abhorrence of foul fighting, that not a soul attempted to interfere, and nobody seemed to pity a manthus unmercifully beaten.
“It is my intention to imitate the conduct of this grazier; to resort toa long arm, and to combat Corruption, while I keep myself out of the reach of herknife. Nobody called the grazier a coward, because he did not stay to oppose his fists to a pointed and cutting instrument. My choice, as I said before (leaving all considerations of personal safety out of the question), lies between silence and retreat. If I remainhere, all other means will be first used to reduce me to silence; and if all these means fail, then will come the dungeon. Therefore, that I may still be able to write, and to write with freedom too, I shall write, if I live, fromAmerica.…”
This resolve appears to have been in Mr. Cobbett’s mind since the middle of February, shortly after the introduction of the Gagging Bills, as they were called. It was now the end of March, and the campaign against the popular press was in victorious advance. People could almost hear the prison doors creaking open. When, lo! the persecutors wake up one morning, and find that the wretch has flown!
Have you ever watched, reader, the gyrations of pussy’s face—the involuntary muscular contortions of her jaws, at sight of a dickey-bird, when that gentle creature is on the wrong (but safe) side of a window-pane? Such was the aspect of Authority, when she found that Mr. Cobbett had slipped through her fingers. And such, the impotentanger of his rivals.[6]The explosion of wrath, which took place upon the discovery that he was out of harm’s way, really appears laughable, to look back upon it from this distance of time. He had eloped from his creditors, had been diddling the Stamp Office, had escaped imprisonment for life: he had deserted his family, deserted the cause, deserted his country: and, as for his pretended patriotism, what did his friends think of the brave Cobbett now? Even the Reformists, themselves, felt a shudder of dismay pass over them; whilst theExaminerclass of scribblers fell upon the caitiff with their envious sneers, retailing the lies and imputations invented and cast about by their own enemies! But, perhaps the unkindest cut of all was on the part of theChronicle, when that great bulwark of whiggism, and mock-Reformist, informed its readers that Cobbett had gone off to America because the circulation of theRegisterhad fallen so low, through the operations of Sidmouth’s acts.
The fact of the matter being that, in spite of all that could be said, Mr. Cobbett’s flight to America in 1817, was one of the cleverest and most spirited acts of his life. The decision of character, the singleness of purpose, and confidence in his own resources, displayed on this occasion, are almost unexampled. Hundreds of writers had expatriated themselves, before now; but where was the man to be found, who had done so with a view to a better fighting-ground? Political refugees were swarming throughout the Union, but they were beginning life anew; and who amongst them but had cast the dust of their native country from off their shoes—who but this one proclaimed, “England is my country, and to England I shall return,”—and lived to return and see his work accomplished?
The world, then, was looking for its weekly oracle (or weekly trash, or weekly venom, according to the point of view), upon Saturday, the 5th of April, 1817. Rumours had been afloat for several days that Cobbett was in Liverpool, on his way to America; and, upon the world going, with its twopences, to Catherine Street, Strand, rumour developed into certainty. The intending purchaser of aRegisterreceived instead,—
“Mr. Cobbett’s Taking Leave of his Countrymen.”
“Mr. Cobbett’s Taking Leave of his Countrymen.”
Asone more specimen of what Cobbett could say, when his heart was more than usually full of tender and earnest feeling, the reader will like to have presented here some portions:—
“My Beloved Countrymen,—Soon after this reaches your eyes, those of the writer will, possibly, have taken the last glimpse of the land that gave him birth, the land in which his parents lie buried, the land of which he has always been so proud; the land in which he leaves a people whom he shall, to his last breath, love and esteem beyond all the rest of mankind.“Every one, if he can do it without wrong to another, has a right to pursue the path to his own happiness; as my happiness, however, has long been inseparable from the hope of assisting in restoring the rights and liberties of my country, nothing could have induced me to quit that country, while there remained the smallest chance of my being able, by remaining, to continue to aid her cause. No such chance is now left. The laws which have just been passed, especially if we take into view the real objects of those laws, forbid us to entertain the idea, that it would be possible to write on political subjects according to the dictates of truth and reason, without drawing down upon our heads certain and swift destruction. It was well observed by Mr. Brougham, in a late debate, that every writer who opposes the present measures, ‘must now feel that he sits down to write with a halter about his neck,’ an observation the justice of which must be obvious to all the world.“Leaving, therefore, all considerations of personal interest, personal feeling, and personal safety; leaving even the peace of mind of a numerous and most affectionate family wholly out of view, I have reasoned thus with myself: What is now left to be done? We haveurged our claims with so much truth; we have established them so clearly on the ground of both law and reason, that there is no answer to us to be found other than that of a suspension of our personal safety. If I still write in support of those claims, I must be blind not to see that a dungeon is my doom. If I write at all, and do not write in support of those claims, I not only degrade myself, but I do a great injury to the rights of the nation by appearing to abandon them. If I remain here, I must, therefore,cease to write, either from compulsion, or from a sense of duty to my countrymen; therefore it is impossible to do any good to the cause of my country by remaining in it; but, if I remove to a country where I can write with perfect freedom, it is not onlypossible, but veryprobable, that I shall, sooner or later, be able to render that cause important and lasting services.“Upon this conclusion it is, that I have made my determination; for, though life would be scarcely worth preserving, with the consciousness that I walked about my fields or slept in my bed merely at the mercy of a Secretary of State; though, under such circumstances, neither the song of the birds in spring, nor the well-strawed homestead in winter could make me forget that I and my rising family were slaves, still there is something so powerful in the thought of country and neighbourhood, and home and friends, there is something so strong in the numerous and united ties with which these and endless other objects fasten the mind to a long-inhabited spot, that to tear oneself away nearly approaches to the separating the soul from the body. But then, on the other hand, I asked myself: ‘What! shall I submit in silence? Shall I be as dumb as one of my horses? Shall that indignation which burns within me be quenched? ShallI make no effort to preserve even thechanceof assisting to better the lot of my unhappy country? Shall that mind, which has communicated its light and warmth to millions of other minds, now be extinguished for ever; and shall those who, with thousands of pens at their command, still saw the tide of opinion rolling more and more heavily against them, now be ever secure from that pen, by the efforts of which they feared being overwhelmed? Shall truth never again be uttered? Shall her voice never be heard, even from a distant shore?’“Thus was the balance turned; and, my countrymen, be you well assured that, though I shall, if I live, be at a distance from you; though the ocean will roll between us, not all the barriers that nature as well as art can raise, shall be sufficient to prevent you from reading some part, at least, of what I write; and, notwithstanding all the wrongs of which I justly complain; notwithstanding all the indignation that I feel; notwithstanding all the provocations that I have received, or that I may receive, never shall there drop from my pen anything which, according to the law of the land, I might not safely write and publish in England. Those who have felt themselves supported by power, have practised towards me foul play without measure; but though I shall have the means of retaliation in my hands, never will I follow their base example.“Though I quit my country, far be it from me to look upon her cause as desperate, and still farther be it from me to wish to infuse despondency into your minds.I can serve that cause no longer by remaining here; but the cause itself is so good, so just, so manifestly right and virtuous, and it has been combated by means so unusual, so unnatural, and so violent, that itmust triumphin the end.Besides, the circumstances of the country all tend to favour the cause of Reform. Not a tenth part of the evils of the system are yet in existence. The country gentlemen who have now been amongst our most decided adversaries, will very soon be compelled, for their own preservation, to become our friends and fellow-labourers. Not a fragment of their property will be left, if they do not speedily bestir themselves. They have been induced to believe that a Reform of the Parliament would expose them to plunder or degradation; but they will very soon find, that it will afford them the only chance of escaping both. The wonder is that they do not see this already, or rather that they have not seen it for years past. But they have been blinded by their foolish pride; that pride, which has nothing of mind belonging to it, and which, accompanied with a consciousness of a want of any natural superiority over the labouring classes, seeks to indulge itself in a species of vindictive exercise of power. There has come into the heads of these people, I cannot very well tell how, a notion that it is proper to consider the labouring classes as a distinctcaste.“The writings of Malthus, who considers men as mere animals, may have had influence in the producing of this change; and we now frequently hear the working classes calledthe population, just as we call the animals upon a farmthe stock. It is curious, too, that this contumely towards the great mass of the people should have grown into vogue amongst the country gentlemen and their families, at a time when they themselves are daily and hourly losing the estates descended to them from their forefathers. They see themselves stripped of the meansof keeping that hospitality, for which England was once so famed, and of which there remains nothing now but thewordin the dictionary: they see themselves reduced to close up their windows, live in a corner of their houses, sneak away to London, crib their servants in their wages, and hardly able to keep up a little tawdry show; and it would seem, that for the contempt which they feel that their meanness must necessarily excite in the common people, they endeavour to avenge themselves, and at the same time to disguise their own humiliation, by their haughty and insolent deportment towards the latter: thus exhibiting that mixture of poverty and pride, which has ever been deemed better calculated than any other union of qualities to draw down upon the possessors the most unfriendly of human feelings.“It is curious, also, that this fit of novel and ridiculous pride should have afflicted the minds of these persons at the very time that the working classes are become singularly enlightened. Not enlightened in the manner that the sons of Cant and Corruption would wish them to be. The conceited creatures in what is called high life, and who always judge of men by their clothes, imagine that the working classes of the people have their minds quite sufficiently occupied by the reading of what are called ‘religious and moral tracts.’ Simple, insipid dialogues and stories, calculated for the minds of children seven or eight years old, or for those of savages just beginning to be civilized. These conceited persons have no idea that the minds of the working classes ever presume to rise above their infantine level.… The working classes of the people understand well what they read; they dive into all matters connected with politics; they have a relish not only for interesting statement, for argument, for discussion; but the powers ofeloquenceare by no means lost upon them.… In the report of the Secret Committee of the House of Lords, it is observed that, since the people have betaken themselves to this reading and this discussing, ‘their character seems to be wholly changed.’ I believe it is indeed! For it is the natural effect of enlightening the mind to change the character. But is not this change for the better? If it be not, why have we heard so much about the efforts for instructing the children of the poor?… Has it been intended that these people, when taught to read, should read nothing but Hannah More’sSinful Sally, and Mrs. Trimmer’s Dialogues? Faith! The working classes of the people have a relish for no such trash. They are not to be amused by a recital of the manifold blessings of a state of things, in which they have not half enough to eat, nor half enough to cover their nakedness by day, and to keep them from perishing by night. They are not to be amused by the pretty stories about ‘the bounty of providence in making brambles for the purpose of tearing off pieces of the sheep’s wool, in order that the little birds may come and get it to line their nests with to keep their young ones warm!’ Stories like these are not sufficient to fill the minds of the working classes of the people. They want something more solid. They have had something more solid. Their minds, like a sheet of paper, have received the lasting impressions of undeniable fact and unanswerable argument; and it will always be a source of the greatest satisfaction to me to reflect that I have been mainly instrumental in giving those impressions, which I am very certain will never be effaced from the minds of the people of this country.“I shall be as careful as I have been, not to write anything that even a special jury would pronounce to be aLibel. I have no desire to write libels. I have written none here. Lord Sidmouth was ‘sorry to say’ that I had not written anything that the law officers could prosecute with any chance of success. I do not remove for the purpose of writing libels, but for the purpose of being able to write what isnotlibellous. I do not retire from a combat with the Attorney-General, but from a combat with a dungeon, deprived of pen, ink, and paper. A combat with the Attorney-General is quite unequal enough. That, however, I would have encountered. I know too well what a trial by Special Jury is. Yet that, or any sort oftrial, I would have stayed to face. So that I could have been sure of a trial, of whatever sort, I would have run the risk. But, against the absolute power of imprisonment, without even a hearing, for time unlimited, in any jail in the kingdom, without the use of pen, ink, and paper, and without any communication with any soul but the keepers; against such a power it would have been worse than madness to attempt to strive. Indeed, there could be no striving, in such a case; where I should have been as much at the disposal of the Secretary of State as are the shoes which he has upon his feet. No! I will go, where I shall not be as the shoes upon Lord Sidmouth’s and Lord Castlereagh’s feet. I will go where I can make sure of the use of pen, ink, and paper; and these two lords may be equally sure that, in spite of everything they can do, unless they openly enact or proclaim a censorship on the press, or cut off all commercial connexion with America, you, my good and faithful countrymen, shall be able to read what I write.“And now, my countrymen, before I set off, let me caution you against giving the smallest credit to anything that Corruption’s Press may assert of me. You have seen what atrocious falsehoods it has put forth in my presence; what, then, will it not do in my absence? I have written thousands of letters to various persons in all parts of the kingdom. I give any one leave to make public any letter of mine, accompanied by the certificate of any respectable friend of mine, that it is in my handwriting. I challenge all those, whom I ever conversed with, to say, that I ever uttered a wish to see overthrown any one of the Constitutional establishments of the kingdom; and, I most solemnly declare that I never associated with any man who professed, even in private, to entertain any such wish; but, on the contrary, all those with whom I have ever been intimate in politics, have always had in view the preservation of all the establishments and orders of the kingdom, as one of the objects of a timely reform of the Parliament.“A mutual affection, a powerful impulse, equal to that out of which this wonderful sagacity arises, will, I hope, always exist between me and my hard-used countrymen; an affection which my heart assures me, no time, no distance, no new connexions, no new association of ideas however enchanting, can ever destroy, or in any degree enfeeble or impair.… Never will I own as my friend him who is not a friend of the people of England. I will never become a Subject or a Citizen in any other State, and will always be a foreigner in every country but England. Any foible that may belong to your character, I shall always willingly allow to belong to myown. All the celebrity which my writings have obtained, and which they will preserve long and long after Lords Liverpool, and Sidmouth, and Castlereagh are rotten and forgotten, I owe less to my own talents than to that discernment, and that noble spirit in you, which have at once instructed my mind and warmed my heart: and, my beloved countrymen, be you well assured that the last beatings of that heart will be, love for the people, for the happiness, and the renown of England; and hatred of their corrupt, hypocritical, dastardly, and merciless foes.”
“My Beloved Countrymen,—Soon after this reaches your eyes, those of the writer will, possibly, have taken the last glimpse of the land that gave him birth, the land in which his parents lie buried, the land of which he has always been so proud; the land in which he leaves a people whom he shall, to his last breath, love and esteem beyond all the rest of mankind.
“Every one, if he can do it without wrong to another, has a right to pursue the path to his own happiness; as my happiness, however, has long been inseparable from the hope of assisting in restoring the rights and liberties of my country, nothing could have induced me to quit that country, while there remained the smallest chance of my being able, by remaining, to continue to aid her cause. No such chance is now left. The laws which have just been passed, especially if we take into view the real objects of those laws, forbid us to entertain the idea, that it would be possible to write on political subjects according to the dictates of truth and reason, without drawing down upon our heads certain and swift destruction. It was well observed by Mr. Brougham, in a late debate, that every writer who opposes the present measures, ‘must now feel that he sits down to write with a halter about his neck,’ an observation the justice of which must be obvious to all the world.
“Leaving, therefore, all considerations of personal interest, personal feeling, and personal safety; leaving even the peace of mind of a numerous and most affectionate family wholly out of view, I have reasoned thus with myself: What is now left to be done? We haveurged our claims with so much truth; we have established them so clearly on the ground of both law and reason, that there is no answer to us to be found other than that of a suspension of our personal safety. If I still write in support of those claims, I must be blind not to see that a dungeon is my doom. If I write at all, and do not write in support of those claims, I not only degrade myself, but I do a great injury to the rights of the nation by appearing to abandon them. If I remain here, I must, therefore,cease to write, either from compulsion, or from a sense of duty to my countrymen; therefore it is impossible to do any good to the cause of my country by remaining in it; but, if I remove to a country where I can write with perfect freedom, it is not onlypossible, but veryprobable, that I shall, sooner or later, be able to render that cause important and lasting services.
“Upon this conclusion it is, that I have made my determination; for, though life would be scarcely worth preserving, with the consciousness that I walked about my fields or slept in my bed merely at the mercy of a Secretary of State; though, under such circumstances, neither the song of the birds in spring, nor the well-strawed homestead in winter could make me forget that I and my rising family were slaves, still there is something so powerful in the thought of country and neighbourhood, and home and friends, there is something so strong in the numerous and united ties with which these and endless other objects fasten the mind to a long-inhabited spot, that to tear oneself away nearly approaches to the separating the soul from the body. But then, on the other hand, I asked myself: ‘What! shall I submit in silence? Shall I be as dumb as one of my horses? Shall that indignation which burns within me be quenched? ShallI make no effort to preserve even thechanceof assisting to better the lot of my unhappy country? Shall that mind, which has communicated its light and warmth to millions of other minds, now be extinguished for ever; and shall those who, with thousands of pens at their command, still saw the tide of opinion rolling more and more heavily against them, now be ever secure from that pen, by the efforts of which they feared being overwhelmed? Shall truth never again be uttered? Shall her voice never be heard, even from a distant shore?’
“Thus was the balance turned; and, my countrymen, be you well assured that, though I shall, if I live, be at a distance from you; though the ocean will roll between us, not all the barriers that nature as well as art can raise, shall be sufficient to prevent you from reading some part, at least, of what I write; and, notwithstanding all the wrongs of which I justly complain; notwithstanding all the indignation that I feel; notwithstanding all the provocations that I have received, or that I may receive, never shall there drop from my pen anything which, according to the law of the land, I might not safely write and publish in England. Those who have felt themselves supported by power, have practised towards me foul play without measure; but though I shall have the means of retaliation in my hands, never will I follow their base example.
“Though I quit my country, far be it from me to look upon her cause as desperate, and still farther be it from me to wish to infuse despondency into your minds.I can serve that cause no longer by remaining here; but the cause itself is so good, so just, so manifestly right and virtuous, and it has been combated by means so unusual, so unnatural, and so violent, that itmust triumphin the end.Besides, the circumstances of the country all tend to favour the cause of Reform. Not a tenth part of the evils of the system are yet in existence. The country gentlemen who have now been amongst our most decided adversaries, will very soon be compelled, for their own preservation, to become our friends and fellow-labourers. Not a fragment of their property will be left, if they do not speedily bestir themselves. They have been induced to believe that a Reform of the Parliament would expose them to plunder or degradation; but they will very soon find, that it will afford them the only chance of escaping both. The wonder is that they do not see this already, or rather that they have not seen it for years past. But they have been blinded by their foolish pride; that pride, which has nothing of mind belonging to it, and which, accompanied with a consciousness of a want of any natural superiority over the labouring classes, seeks to indulge itself in a species of vindictive exercise of power. There has come into the heads of these people, I cannot very well tell how, a notion that it is proper to consider the labouring classes as a distinctcaste.
“The writings of Malthus, who considers men as mere animals, may have had influence in the producing of this change; and we now frequently hear the working classes calledthe population, just as we call the animals upon a farmthe stock. It is curious, too, that this contumely towards the great mass of the people should have grown into vogue amongst the country gentlemen and their families, at a time when they themselves are daily and hourly losing the estates descended to them from their forefathers. They see themselves stripped of the meansof keeping that hospitality, for which England was once so famed, and of which there remains nothing now but thewordin the dictionary: they see themselves reduced to close up their windows, live in a corner of their houses, sneak away to London, crib their servants in their wages, and hardly able to keep up a little tawdry show; and it would seem, that for the contempt which they feel that their meanness must necessarily excite in the common people, they endeavour to avenge themselves, and at the same time to disguise their own humiliation, by their haughty and insolent deportment towards the latter: thus exhibiting that mixture of poverty and pride, which has ever been deemed better calculated than any other union of qualities to draw down upon the possessors the most unfriendly of human feelings.
“It is curious, also, that this fit of novel and ridiculous pride should have afflicted the minds of these persons at the very time that the working classes are become singularly enlightened. Not enlightened in the manner that the sons of Cant and Corruption would wish them to be. The conceited creatures in what is called high life, and who always judge of men by their clothes, imagine that the working classes of the people have their minds quite sufficiently occupied by the reading of what are called ‘religious and moral tracts.’ Simple, insipid dialogues and stories, calculated for the minds of children seven or eight years old, or for those of savages just beginning to be civilized. These conceited persons have no idea that the minds of the working classes ever presume to rise above their infantine level.… The working classes of the people understand well what they read; they dive into all matters connected with politics; they have a relish not only for interesting statement, for argument, for discussion; but the powers ofeloquenceare by no means lost upon them.… In the report of the Secret Committee of the House of Lords, it is observed that, since the people have betaken themselves to this reading and this discussing, ‘their character seems to be wholly changed.’ I believe it is indeed! For it is the natural effect of enlightening the mind to change the character. But is not this change for the better? If it be not, why have we heard so much about the efforts for instructing the children of the poor?… Has it been intended that these people, when taught to read, should read nothing but Hannah More’sSinful Sally, and Mrs. Trimmer’s Dialogues? Faith! The working classes of the people have a relish for no such trash. They are not to be amused by a recital of the manifold blessings of a state of things, in which they have not half enough to eat, nor half enough to cover their nakedness by day, and to keep them from perishing by night. They are not to be amused by the pretty stories about ‘the bounty of providence in making brambles for the purpose of tearing off pieces of the sheep’s wool, in order that the little birds may come and get it to line their nests with to keep their young ones warm!’ Stories like these are not sufficient to fill the minds of the working classes of the people. They want something more solid. They have had something more solid. Their minds, like a sheet of paper, have received the lasting impressions of undeniable fact and unanswerable argument; and it will always be a source of the greatest satisfaction to me to reflect that I have been mainly instrumental in giving those impressions, which I am very certain will never be effaced from the minds of the people of this country.
“I shall be as careful as I have been, not to write anything that even a special jury would pronounce to be aLibel. I have no desire to write libels. I have written none here. Lord Sidmouth was ‘sorry to say’ that I had not written anything that the law officers could prosecute with any chance of success. I do not remove for the purpose of writing libels, but for the purpose of being able to write what isnotlibellous. I do not retire from a combat with the Attorney-General, but from a combat with a dungeon, deprived of pen, ink, and paper. A combat with the Attorney-General is quite unequal enough. That, however, I would have encountered. I know too well what a trial by Special Jury is. Yet that, or any sort oftrial, I would have stayed to face. So that I could have been sure of a trial, of whatever sort, I would have run the risk. But, against the absolute power of imprisonment, without even a hearing, for time unlimited, in any jail in the kingdom, without the use of pen, ink, and paper, and without any communication with any soul but the keepers; against such a power it would have been worse than madness to attempt to strive. Indeed, there could be no striving, in such a case; where I should have been as much at the disposal of the Secretary of State as are the shoes which he has upon his feet. No! I will go, where I shall not be as the shoes upon Lord Sidmouth’s and Lord Castlereagh’s feet. I will go where I can make sure of the use of pen, ink, and paper; and these two lords may be equally sure that, in spite of everything they can do, unless they openly enact or proclaim a censorship on the press, or cut off all commercial connexion with America, you, my good and faithful countrymen, shall be able to read what I write.
“And now, my countrymen, before I set off, let me caution you against giving the smallest credit to anything that Corruption’s Press may assert of me. You have seen what atrocious falsehoods it has put forth in my presence; what, then, will it not do in my absence? I have written thousands of letters to various persons in all parts of the kingdom. I give any one leave to make public any letter of mine, accompanied by the certificate of any respectable friend of mine, that it is in my handwriting. I challenge all those, whom I ever conversed with, to say, that I ever uttered a wish to see overthrown any one of the Constitutional establishments of the kingdom; and, I most solemnly declare that I never associated with any man who professed, even in private, to entertain any such wish; but, on the contrary, all those with whom I have ever been intimate in politics, have always had in view the preservation of all the establishments and orders of the kingdom, as one of the objects of a timely reform of the Parliament.
“A mutual affection, a powerful impulse, equal to that out of which this wonderful sagacity arises, will, I hope, always exist between me and my hard-used countrymen; an affection which my heart assures me, no time, no distance, no new connexions, no new association of ideas however enchanting, can ever destroy, or in any degree enfeeble or impair.… Never will I own as my friend him who is not a friend of the people of England. I will never become a Subject or a Citizen in any other State, and will always be a foreigner in every country but England. Any foible that may belong to your character, I shall always willingly allow to belong to myown. All the celebrity which my writings have obtained, and which they will preserve long and long after Lords Liverpool, and Sidmouth, and Castlereagh are rotten and forgotten, I owe less to my own talents than to that discernment, and that noble spirit in you, which have at once instructed my mind and warmed my heart: and, my beloved countrymen, be you well assured that the last beatings of that heart will be, love for the people, for the happiness, and the renown of England; and hatred of their corrupt, hypocritical, dastardly, and merciless foes.”
A postscript adds that the weekly political pamphlet would be revived in about three months’ time. And his readers are assured further that—