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 y.rM r ,r>B B E T T, M:F.
 
 LIFE 
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT, ESQ. 
 
 LATE M.P. FOR OLDHAM. 
 
 V«7ITH A PORTRAIT. 
 
 MantittaUt : 
 
 WILLIAM WILLIS. 
 
 1835.
 
 at 
 
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT, M. P. 
 
 To write the biograpliy of an individual so eminent in all 
 the relations of life as was the lamented subject of the pre- 
 sent memoir, is a task beset ^vitii difficulties of no ordinary 
 character. The extraordinary events of his career are closely 
 connected with, and in fact belong to the history of his 
 country. Elevated by liis own mental energies, from almost 
 the lowest grade in society, to a station of distinguished 
 eminence, we cannot but wonder at and extol the man 
 who, bursting resolutely through every obstacle that 
 would have opposed and intimidated men of less intre- 
 pidity, placed himself in that exalted sphere wliich won 
 for liim the love and confidence of his friends, and tho ad 
 miration of those, even, who were most strongly opposed 
 to him in political opinions. Some few, indeed, have 
 dared to accuse liim of political inconsistency — of deserting 
 the Tory party to espouse the cause of their most violent 
 opponents, and ofliaving, in fact, written, during the lattei' 
 period of his life, to contradict and falsify the opinions 
 he had formed in his less mature age. But let such 
 persons attentively consider the different positions in 
 which Mr. Cobbett has thus found himself placed. In 
 youtli and early manhood he was a Tory, for the self sam« 
 reason that he afterwards became a stern and uncom- 
 promising Radical Reformer — a veneration for his countiy, 
 and an ardent desire to see her constitution preserved 
 from tlic wicked designs of those who would have des- 
 troyed, while they affected to improve it. He saw the 
 encroachments tliat had been already madcontiielibcrtias 
 of Englishmen, and perceived witli a keen eye that the
 
 4 LIFE OF 
 
 whole fabric was doomed to fall beneath the insidious; 
 attacks of those who professed to be its conservators. 
 His pen was now wielded in the cause that, as a patriot, 
 was dearest to his heart; — he attacked, with unsparing 
 hand, those whom he had formerly supported as friends; — 
 he converted them to deadly foes, and was thenceforward 
 an object of hatred, who was to be crushed a« soon as the 
 first convenient opportunity presented itself. But a true 
 lover of his country is not to be intimidated by personal 
 danger, and we accordingly find Mr. Cobbett pursuing 
 his bold course with yigoiu" and manliness. Persecution 
 followed, and punishment, by fine and imprisonment — 
 succeeded, yet all this he endured with a degree of resig- 
 nation that is truly admirable. His spirit remained un- 
 broken by oppression; he saw that his enemies were 
 standing upon untenable ground, and that by persever- 
 ance he should yet be able to overcome them. With this 
 object in view, he continued to harass and hold them up to 
 public scorn; they quailed like cowards, and endeavoured 
 to protect themselves through the agency of ex officio 
 informations! — The results, however, remain to be told 
 in our succeeding pages ; we have mentioned the fact 
 merely to convince those of our younger readers who knew 
 not his real character, that William Cobbett 'deserves 
 not the designation of turn-coat ; — that he did change his 
 political opinions once, is true, but he clung to those 
 which he afterwards adopted, with a tenacity and firmness 
 of purpose, that must convince even his aspersers, that, in a 
 righteous cause, he could be, and was a resolute and most 
 efti(!ient ciiampion. 
 
 William Cobbett was born in the neighbourhood of 
 Farnham, Surrey, on the 9th of March, 1762. His pater- 
 nal grandfather was a day-labourer, whose honesty and 
 industry may be inferred from the fact of his having been 
 employed by one master, from the day of his marriage to 
 that ol his deatli, — a period of more than forty years. Tiie 
 fatlifcr of William Cobbett was a small farmer, who, 
 though he had received but a very moderate education, 
 was a man of very powerful natural abilities. When a 
 a little boy, he worked at plough for two-pence a day, and 
 trifling as his earnings were, he a[)i)ropriated tliem to the 
 expense of un evening scliuol. What a village school-
 
 WILLIAM eOBBET T. 6 
 
 uiiibtcr eoiild be cxpec.tecl to tencli, lie had learnt, and had 
 besides considerably advanced himself in several branches 
 of luatheni ilics. He understood land-surveying, and was 
 often chosen to draw the plans of disputed territories; in 
 short he iiad tiie reputation of possessing experience and 
 understanding, which never fails to give a man in a covm- 
 try place some little weight with his ueiglibours. He was 
 honest, industrious, and frugal, and it was not, therefoHr, 
 extraordinary, that he should be situated in a good farm, 
 and happy in a wife of his own rank, like him beloved and 
 respected. The issue of this worthy couple was four sons, 
 George, Tliomas, William, and Anthony, who, as appears 
 by the register of Farniiam parish, were christened at one 
 time, April 1, 1763. 
 
 The liouse in wiiich he was born is close beside the 
 river Wey, and immediately opposite the bridge which 
 passes over that little stream ; it is at present known by 
 the sign of " The Jolly Farmer," and is now kept by one 
 John Hoole. The house is at this period (July 1835) 
 undergoing an extensive repair and alteration ; the recent 
 removal of a partition has changed the situation of 
 Cobbctt's room, which was the hack parlour of the house, 
 but now forms a portion of the front one. To this room, 
 Cobbett, when he called in after life, was wont to go ; 
 and, as he brouglit friend aftcj: friend to see the place 
 " where he breathed his first," he would exclaim, striking 
 the cupboard, in the extreme corner, " here was my 
 hutch, and here I used to keep my rabbits." Cobbett's 
 father had a house, subsequently, next door to the 
 " Jolly Farmer;" his death was occasioned by falling 
 down stairs in a fit. 
 
 It may readily be supposed that the children of such 
 parents were not suffered to eat the bread of idleness, 
 and we according find that the subject of our present 
 memoir was employed at a very early age in driving the 
 small birds from the turnip seed, and the rooks from the 
 peas. When he first trudged out on tliis errand, with his 
 wooden bottle and satclicl swung over his shoulders, he 
 was hardly able to climb the gates and stiles, and, at the 
 close of the day, to reach home, was a task of infinite 
 difficulty. His next employment was weeding wheat, 
 and leading a single horsQ at harrowing barley. Hoeing 
 
 A3
 
 6 LIFE OF 
 
 peas followed, and hence he arrived at the honour, (to 
 use his own words) of joining the reapers at harvest, 
 driving the team, and holding the plough. William and 
 his brothers were strong and laborious, and their father 
 used to boast with honest pride, that the eldest boy, wlio 
 was then but fifteen, did as much work as any three men 
 in the parish of Farnham. 
 
 In the winter evenings the father taught the youths to 
 read and write, but not being a good grammarian himself, 
 he necessarily failed in making them masters of grammar ; 
 he, however, made them get the rules by heart, but as 
 they learnt nothing at all of the principles, the object was 
 ncvei gained. 
 
 As to politics, this happy family neither knew nor thought 
 anything about the matter. The siiouts of victory, or the 
 murmurs of a defeat, would, indeed, now and then break 
 in upon their tranquillity, but as they never saw a news- 
 paper, there was of couise no excitement to pursue their 
 inquiries on that mazy subject. After the American war, 
 however, had continued for some time, and the cause and 
 nature of it began to be understood among the lower 
 classes of the pcoj)le in England, they became a little 
 more acquainted with subjects of this kind. It is well 
 known that the people were, as to numbers, nearly 
 equally divided in their opinions concerning that war, and 
 their wishes respecting the result of it. The elder Cobbett 
 was a partizan of tlie Americans, and used frequently to 
 dispute on tlie subject with the gardener of a nobleman 
 who lived near. This was generally done with good 
 humour, over a mug of ale, yet the disputants sometimes 
 grew warm and obstinate. The elder Cobbett was usually 
 worsted in these wordy conflicts, as he had for his antago- 
 nist a shrewd and sensible old Scotchman, far his superior 
 in political knowledge; but he pleaded before a partial 
 audience, his own children, who thought there was but 
 one wise man in the world, and that that one was their 
 father. He who pleaded the cause of the Americans had 
 an advantage, too, witii young minds, he had only to re- 
 present the King's troops as sent to cut the throats of a 
 people, or friends and relations, merely because they 
 would not submit to oppression, and his cause was 
 gained.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 7 
 
 Men of integrity are generally very obstinate in ad- 
 hering to an opinion once adopted. Wliether it was 
 owing to this, or to the weakness of his adversary's argu- 
 ments, we cannot say ; but he never could make a convert 
 of Mr, Cobbett ; he continued to uphold the cause of the 
 Americans, and so staunch was he that he would not have 
 suffered his best friend to drink success to the King's 
 arms at his table. We cannot give a better idea of his 
 obstinacy in this respect, and of the length to which this 
 difference of sentiment was carried in England, than by 
 relating the following instance. 
 
 The worthy farmer used to take one of his sons with 
 him every year to the hop fair at Weyhill. The fiiir was 
 held at Old Michaelmas-tide, and the journey was, to tlie 
 boys, a sort of reward for the labours of the summer. It 
 happened to be William Cobbett's turn to go there the 
 very year that Long Island was taken by the British. A 
 large party of hop merchants and farmers were just sitting 
 down to supper, as the post arrived, bringing in the Extra- 
 ordinary Gazette which announced the victory. A hop 
 factor from London took the paper, placed his chair upon 
 the table, and began to read aloud. He was opposed": a dis- 
 pute ensued, and Mr. Cobbett retired, taking with him his 
 son, William, to another apartment, where they supped 
 with about a dozen others of the same sentiments. Here 
 Washington's health, and success to the Americans, were 
 repeatedly toasted ; this was the first time that ever the 
 subject of our memoir heard the name of that truly pa- 
 triotic general. 
 
 Speaking of this circumstance, Mr. Cobbett says : "Let 
 not the reader imagine that I wish to assume any merit 
 from this mistaken prejudice of an honoured and beloved 
 parent. Whether he was right or wrong, is not now worth 
 talking about. That I had no opinion of my own is cer- 
 tain ; for had ray father been on the other side, I should 
 have been on the other side too, and should have looked 
 upon the company I then made a part of, as malcontents 
 and rebels, I mention these circumstances merely to show, 
 that I was not nursed in the lap of aristocracy, and that I 
 did not imbibe my principles, or prejudices, from those 
 who were tlie advocates of blind submission. If my father 
 bad any fault, it was not being submissive enough, and I
 
 8 LIFE dF 
 
 am much afraid, my acquaintances have but too oltcu 
 discovered the same fault in liis son." 
 
 It would be useless to dwell any longer on the occupa- 
 tions and sports of a country boy; to leadtlie reader to 
 fairs, c-ricket-matches, and hare hunts. We will tliercforc 
 come at once to the epoch, when an accident happened, 
 which gave that turn to Mr. Cobbett's future life, that at 
 last took him to the United States. This event, which is 
 described by hini with much graphic force, is thus related 
 in his life, published by him in Philadelphia, 1796. 
 
 " Towards the autumn of 1783," says Mr. Cobbett, " I 
 went to visit a relation who lived in the neighbourhood of 
 Portsmouth. From the top of Portsdown, 1, for the first 
 time, beheld the sea ; and no sooner did I behold it, than 
 I wished to be a sailor. I could never account for this 
 sudden impulse; nor can I now; almost all English boys 
 feel the same inclinarion : it would seem, that, like young 
 ducks, instinct leads them to rush on the bosom of the 
 water. 
 
 " But it was not the sea alone that I saw ; the grand fleet 
 ^as riding at anchor at Spithead. I had heard of the 
 wooden walls of England; I liad formed my ideas of a sliip, 
 and of a fleet: but, what I now belield so far surpassed 
 what I liad ever been able to form a conception of, tiiat I 
 stood lost between astonishment and admiration. I had 
 heard talk of tlie glorious deeds of our admirals and 
 sailors, of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and of all 
 those memorable combats that good and true Englishmen 
 never fail to relate to tlieir chiltlren about a liundred 
 times a year. Tlie brave Rodney's victories had long been 
 the thenu^ of our praise and the burden of our songs. The 
 sight of the fleet brought all these into my nund; in con- 
 fused order, it is true, but with irrisistible force. My 
 heart was inflated M'ith national pride. Tlie sailors were 
 my countrymen ; tlie fleet belonged to my country, and 
 surely 1 had my part in it, and in all its honours; yet these 
 honours I had not earned; I took to myself a sort of re 
 proach, for possessing what I had no right to, and resolved 
 to have a just claim l)y sharing in the iiardships aud 
 dangers. 
 
 " I arrived at my uncIc^s late in the evening, with my 
 mind full of my scafarintj project. Tliough I liad walked
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 9 
 
 thirty miles dui-ing the day, and couscquently was well 
 wearied, I slept not a moment. It was no sooner day- 
 light, than I arose and walked down towards the old castle 
 on the beach of Spithcad. For a sixpence given to an in- 
 valid, 1 got permission to go upon the battlements ; here I 
 had a closer view of the fleet, and at every look mj' impa- 
 tience to be on board increased. In short, I went from tlie 
 castle to Portsmouth, got into a boat, and was in a few 
 minutes on board the Pegasus man-of-war. 
 
 *' The captain had more compassion than is generally met 
 with in men of his profession ; he represented to me the 
 toils f must undergo, and the punishment that the least 
 disobedience or neglect would subject me to. He pursua- 
 ded me to return home, and I remember he concluded iiis 
 advice by telling me, tliat it was better to be led to the 
 church in a halter, to be tied to a girl that I did not like, 
 than to be tied to the gangway, or, as the sailors call it, 
 married to Miss Roper. From the conclusion of this 
 wholesome counsel I perceived that the captain thought I 
 had eloped on account of a bastard. I blushed, and that 
 confirmed him in his opinion ; but I declare to the reader, 
 that I was no more guilty of that oflFence, than Mr. Swan- 
 wick, (an American with whom he was at variance J or any 
 other gentleman who is constitutionally virtuous. 
 
 *' I in vain attempted to convince Captain Berkeley that 
 choice alone had led me to the sea ; he sent me on shore, 
 and I at last quitted Portsmouth : but not before I liad 
 applied to the Port Admiral, Evans, to get my name en- 
 rolled among those who were destined for the service. I 
 was in some sort obliged to acquaint the admiral with 
 what had passed on board the Pegasus, in consequence of 
 which ray request was refused, and I happily escaped, 
 sorely against my will, from the most toilsome and peri- 
 lous i)rofession in the world." 
 
 After this unsuccessful application, young Cobbett once 
 more returned to the plough, but was completely spoiled 
 for a farmer. He had, previous to his Portsmouth adven- 
 ture, never known any other ambition than that of 
 surpassing his brothers in the different labours of the 
 field; but it was quite otherwise now; he sighed for a 
 sight of the world, and the little island of Britain, seemed 
 of too small a compass for iiim. The things in which he
 
 l(f LIFE Ot' 
 
 had formerly taken the most delight were now nfeglected ; 
 the singing of the birds grew insipid, and even the heart- 
 cheering cry oftlie liounds, after winch he had been \ised to 
 fly from iiis work, bomid o'er the fields, and dash through 
 the brakes and coppices, was heard with the most torpid 
 indifference. Still, however, he remained at homo till tlie 
 following spring, when he quitted it, as he believed, for 
 ever. 
 
 It was on the sixth of May 1783, that he, Don Qnixotte- 
 like, sallied forth to seek adventures. He was dressed in 
 his holiday clothes, in order to accompany two or three 
 lasses to Guildford fair. They were to assemble at a house 
 about three miles from his home, where he was to attend 
 them, but, unfortunately for his gallantry, lie had to cross 
 the London turnpike-road. The stage-coach had just 
 turned the summit of a hill, and was rattling down to- 
 wards him at a merry rate. The notion of going to Lon- 
 don had never entered liis mind till tliis moment, yet tfje 
 step was completely determined on before the coach came 
 to the spot where he stood. He jumped up, and found 
 himself in London about nine o'clock the same evening. 
 
 Mr. Cohbett, himself, confesses that it was by mere 
 accident he had money enough with him to defray the ex- 
 penses of that day. Being rigged out for the fair, he had 
 three or four crown and half-crown pieces, besides a few 
 shillings and some lialfpcnce. Tiiis, his little all, which 
 he had been years in amassing, melted away like snow 
 before the sun, when touched by the inn-keepers and their 
 waiters. In short, when he arrived atLudgatcHill, where 
 the coach stopped, and had paid his fare, he had but about 
 half a crown left in his pocket. 
 
 By a con\mcncement of that good luck which generally 
 attended him through all the situations in which fortune 
 had ])hiced him, our young adventurer was happily pre- 
 served from ruin. A gentleman, who was one of the pas- 
 sengers in the stage, fell into conversation witli him at 
 dinner, aiul soon learnt tliat lie was going he knew not 
 whither, nor for whatpurpose. This gentleman was a hop 
 m(>rchant in tlie borough of Southwark, and, upon closer 
 inquiry it appeared that lie had often dealt with the elder 
 Mr. Cobbett, at Wcyiiill. He saw the danger the young 
 man was in ; he wdt himScIf a father, find he felt fof the
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 11 
 
 parents of his newly found protcg^\ His house bocanio 
 the liome of the wandering youth; he wrote to his father, 
 and endeavoured to prevail upon the son to return home 
 immediately. Our hero, however, was resolute ; he would 
 willingly have returned, but pride would not suffer him to 
 do it. He feared the scoffs of his acquaintances more than 
 tjie real evils tiiat tiireatened him. 
 
 The gentleman, finding the obstinacy of the run-away 
 not to be overcome, then begin to look out for an em- 
 ployment for him. He was preparing an advertisement 
 for the newspaper, when an acquaintance of his, an attor- 
 ney, ciilled in to see him. He related the adventures of 
 tlie young man to this gentleman, whose name was 
 Holland, and who, happening to want a copying clerk, 
 did William Cobbett the honour to take him into his ser- 
 vice, and the next day saw him perched upon a great high 
 stoql, in an obscure chamber in Gray's Inn, endeavouring 
 to decipher the crabbed draughts of his employer. 
 
 Tiiough young Cobbett could himself write a good 
 plain hand, he found it impossible to read the pot-liooks 
 and hangers of Mr. Holland, who, consequently, was a 
 month in learning him to copy, without almost continual 
 assistance, and even then his new clerk was of but little 
 use to liim, for, besides writing very slowly, his want of 
 knowledge in ortliography, gave him infinite trouble ; so 
 that for tiic first two months, Cobbett was a dead wciglit 
 upon his master's hands. Time, liowever, rendered liim 
 useful, and Mr. Holland was pleased to say that he was 
 very well satisfied with his clerk, just at tlie precise 
 period when the latter began to grow extremely dissatis- 
 fied witli his employer. 
 
 The eight or nine months that young Cobbett passed 
 here, were heavy and wearisome enough. The office, (for 
 so the dungeon where he wrote was called,) was so dark, 
 that on cloudy days they were obliged to burn candles. 
 He worked like a galley slave from five in the rnorning 
 till eight or nine at night, and sometimes all night long. 
 From this gloomy recess he never escaped but on Sundays, 
 when he usually took a wa|k to St. James's Park, to feast 
 his eyes with the sight of the trees, tlio grass, and the 
 water. In one of his w%alk§ he happened to cast liis eyes on 
 an advertisement, or placard, invitiiigfill loyal young men,
 
 13 LIFE OF 
 
 who had a inind to gain riches and glory, to repai,- to a 
 certain rendezvous, where they might enter into His x>Ia- 
 jesty's marine service, and have the peculiar happiness 
 and honour of being enrolled in the Chatham Division 
 Young Cobbett was not simple enough to be the dupe o: 
 this morsel of military bombast, but a change was what h( 
 wanted; besides, he knew that marines went to sea, and 
 his desire to be on that element had rather increased thar 
 diminished by being pemied up in London. In short, lu 
 resolved to join this glorious corps ; and, to avoid all pos- 
 sibility of being discovered, went down to Chatham, and 
 enlisted, as he imagined, into the marines, but the next 
 moniing found himself before a captain of a marching 
 regiment ! There was now no retreating, he had taken a 
 shilling to drink the King's health, and still further bount} 
 was ready for his reception. 
 
 When Cobbett told the captain (an Irishman and after- 
 wards an excellent friend to him) that he had believed 
 himself to be enlisted in the marines : "By Jasus ! my lad,' 
 said he, "and you have had a narrow escape." H( 
 then told his recruit that the regiment into which he hac 
 been so happy as to enlist, was one of the oldest anc 
 boldest in the whole army, and that it was at that mo- 
 ment serving in tliat fine, flourishing, and plentiful coun- 
 try. Nova Scotia. He dwelt long on the beauties ami 
 riches of this terrestrial paradise, and dismissed the young 
 man, perfectly enchanted with the prospect of a voyage 
 thither. 
 
 Mr Cobbett enlisted early in the year 1784, and, is 
 peace had then taken place, no great haste was made to 
 send off the recruits to their regiments. He remained up- 
 wards of a year at Chatham, during which time he wi-s 
 employed in learning the exercise, and taking his turn in 
 the duty of the garrison. His leisure time, which was > 
 very considerable portion of the twenty-four hours, w? 
 spent, not in tlie dissipations common to such a way ' 
 life, but in reading and study. In the course of this year h 
 Jearnt more tliati he had ever done before. He subscribe'' 
 to a circulating library at Brompton, the greatest part o» 
 the books in which he read more than once over. The 
 librai-y, it is true, was not very considerable, nor in hiy 
 reading was lie directed by any degree of taste or choice.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 13 
 
 Novels, plays, history, poetry, — all were read, and nearly 
 with equal avidity. 
 
 Such a course of reading could be attended with but 
 little profit ; it was skimming over the surface of every- 
 thing. One branch of learning, however, he went to the 
 bottom with, and that the most essential branch too — the 
 grammar of his mother tongue. He had experienced the 
 want of a knowledge of grammar during his stay with Mr. 
 Holland; but it is very probable he never would have 
 tliought of studying it, had not accident placed him under 
 a man whose friendship extended beyond his interest. 
 Writing a fair hand procured him the honour of being 
 copyist to Colonel Debeig, the commandant of the 
 garrison. He transcribed the fitmous correspondence be- 
 tween that officer and the Duke of Richmond, which ended 
 in the good and gallant old colonel being stripped of the 
 reward bestowed on him for his long and meritorious 
 servitude. 
 
 Being totally ignorant of the rules of grammar, tlie 
 scribe naturally made many mistakes in copying. The 
 colonel saw his deficiency, and strongly recommended 
 study, in fact, he enforced his advice with a sort of injunc- 
 tion, and a promise of reward in case of successfid appli- 
 cation. 
 
 Cobbett then procured Lowth's Grammar, aud set him- 
 self to the study of it with uneasing assiduity, and not 
 without a fair share of profit ; for, though it was a con- 
 siderable time before he full comprehended all that he 
 read, still he read and studied with such unremitted 
 attention that, at last, lie could write without falling 
 into any very gross errors. The trouble he took was very 
 great; he wrote the whole grammar out two or three 
 times; got it by heart, repeated it every morning and 
 evening, and, when on guard, imposed upon himself the 
 task of saying it all over once every time he was posted 
 sentinel. To this exercise of his memory may be ascribed 
 tlie retentiveness of which it was subsequently found ca- 
 pable, and to the success witii which it was attended, may 
 be attributed the perseverance that afterwards, led to tlie 
 profound knowledge he attained. 
 
 This study, too, was attended with another ad vantage — 
 it kept him out of mischiel". He was always sober, and
 
 14 LIFE OF 
 
 regular in his attendance ; and, not being a clumsy fellow, 
 met witli none of those reproofs which disgust so many 
 young men with the service. 
 
 There is no situation where merit is so sure to meet with 
 reward as iu a well disciplined army. Those who com- 
 mand are obliged to reward it for their own case and 
 credit. Cobbett was soon raised to the rank of corporal ; 
 a rank, wliich, iiowcver contemptible it may appear in 
 some people's eyes, brought him a clear two-pence a 
 day, and put a very smart worsted knot upon his shoulder. 
 
 As promotion began to dawn, our youthful hero grew 
 impatient to get to his regiment, where he expected soon 
 to bask under the rays of royal favour. The happy day 
 of departure at last came; they set sail for Gravesend, 
 and, after a short and pleasant passage, arrived at Halifax, 
 in Nova Scotia. When Cobbett first beheld the barren 
 not to say hideous, rocks at the entrance of the harbour, 
 he began to fear that the master of the vessel had mis- 
 taken his way, for notliing could he perceive of that fer- 
 tility which his recruiting captain had dwelt on with so 
 much delight. 
 
 Nova Scotia had no other chann for our young soldier 
 than that of novelty. Everything lie saw was new ; bogs, 
 rocks, and stumps, musquitoes, and bull-frogs. Thousands 
 of captains and colonels without soldiers, and of squires 
 without stockings or shoes. In England, as a rustic boy, 
 he had never thought of approaching a squire without a most 
 respectful bow; but, in this new world, though he was 
 but a corj)ora], he often ordered a squire to bring him a 
 glass of grog, and even to take care of his knapsack ! 
 
 Tiu'y staid but a few weeks at Nova Scotia, being ordered 
 to St. John's, iu the province of New Brunswick. HeBe, 
 and at othi.;r places in the same province, they re- 
 mained till the month of Si'ptoniper, 1791, when the 
 regiment was relieved and sent hoini", after having been 
 absent from JOiigland for a period of about six years. 
 
 'J'he Province, of N(>w lirunswick, iu North America, 
 consists, in general of heaps of rocks, in the interstices of 
 of whi('h grow the J)iue, the S[)ruce, and various sorts of 
 fir trees, or, wiien the W(M)ds have been f)urnt down, the 
 bushes of the raspberry or those; of the huckleberry. The 
 province is cut asunder, lengthwise, by agreat river called
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 15 
 
 the St. John, about 200 miles in Icugtii, and, at half way 
 *froni tlic mouth, full a mile in width. Into this n)ain 
 river run innumerable snuilk;r ones,tliere valledcreeks. On 
 the sides of these creeks the laml is, in places, clear of 
 rocks, and is generally good and productive; the trees 
 that grow here arc the bii'ch, the maple, and others of the 
 deciduous class ; natural meadows here and there present 
 themselves, and some. of these spots far surpass in rural 
 beauty, those to be found in more cultivated districts; 
 the creeks, abounding towards their sources in water falls 
 of endless variety, as well in form as in magnitude, and 
 always teeming witli lisli, while water-foAvl enliven their 
 surface, and wild pigeons, of the gayest plumage, 
 flutter in thousands upon thousands, amongst the branclies 
 of the beautiful trees, whicli sometimes, for miles together, 
 form an arch over the creeks. 
 
 It was during his residence at this place that Mr. 
 Cobbett met witli that excellent female who, as his wife, 
 has passed with him througii so many of those severe 
 ordeals that he was subsequently doomed to eiidure. 
 When he first saw her she was but thirteen years old, 
 while he was within a month of twenty-one. She was 
 the daughter of a serjeant-mojor of artillery, and he the 
 seijeant-majorofa regiment of foot, both stationed in forts 
 near the city of St. Jolui. He sat in tiie same room with 
 her, for about an hour, in company with others, and made 
 up his mind at once that she was tlie very girl for him. 
 She was beautiful, and he perceived in her, wluitlie deem- 
 ed, marks of that sobriety of conduct which was after- 
 wards the greatest blessing of his life. It was then dead 
 of winter, the snow several feet deep on the ground, and 
 the weather piercing cold. It was his liabit, when he had 
 done his morning's writing, to go out at break of day to 
 take a walk on a hill at tlie foot of which their barracks 
 lay. In about three morniiigs after lie had first seen her 
 he had, by an invitation to breakfast witli him, got up two 
 young men to join liim in his walk, and tlieirroad lay by 
 the house of the father and mother of his fair inamorata. 
 It was hardly light, but she was out on the snow, scrub- 
 bing out a washing tub. "That's the girl for me," 
 exclaimed Cobbett, as soon as tliey had got out of her 
 hearing, and subsequent events have proved the prudence 
 of his sudden determination. n 2
 
 16 LIFE OF 
 
 At the end of about six months, the regiment to which 
 Cobbett belonged, was removed to Fredericktoii, a dis- 
 tance of about a hunch-cd miles up the river St. John, 
 and what was worse to the lover, the artillery were ex- 
 pected to go off to England a year or two before his own 
 regiment. The artillery did go, aud slie along with tliem ; 
 and then it was tliat he acted the part becoming an honour- 
 able and sensible man. He was aware tliat v/hen she got 
 to Woolwich, the house of her father and mother, neces- 
 sarily visited by numerous persons, not the most select, 
 might become unpleasant to her, and he did not like the 
 idea that she should continue to work hard. He had 
 saved one hundred and fifty guineas, tlie earnings of his 
 early iiours, in writing for the paymaster, the quarter- 
 master, and others, in addition to the savings of his own 
 pay. He sent her all his money, before she sailed, and 
 wrote to beg of her, if she found her home uncomfortable 
 to hire a lodging with respectable people, and not to 
 spare the money, but to buy lierself good clotlies, and 
 live without hard work until he returned to England; and, 
 hi order to induce her to lay out the money, told her he 
 should get plenty more before he came home. She went, 
 but circumstances kept her lover two years longer in New 
 Brunswick. 
 
 During this separation Cobbett remained true and un- 
 changed towards her to whom he had thus given his heart, 
 but a circumstance soon occurred tliat, had lie not been 
 a man superior in lionour to most others, would infallably 
 have embittered the remainder of liis life. Chance threw 
 liim into the society of another female, young, beautiful, 
 and virtuous; he felt the force of these combined charms, 
 but shaking off the fetters tliat love had nearly entwined 
 round his heart, he resolved that no consideration should 
 iiidtic(! liiin to blast the enduring affection of her whom 
 lie hail already vowed to wed. The occurrence to which 
 we allude is as follows": — 
 
 In one of his rambles in the woods of New Brunswick, 
 he chanced to reach a spot at a very short distance from 
 the source of one of those creeks to which we have before 
 alluded. Here was every thing to delight the eye, and 
 especially of one like hin'- who seems to have been born 
 to love rural life in its simplest and most natural form.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 17 
 
 Here were about two hundred acres of rich meadow land, 
 interspersed with patches of" maple trees in various forms, 
 and of various extent; indeed, if Nature, in her very hfst 
 humour had made a spot for the express purpose of capti- 
 vating? him, she couUl not have exceeded the efforts she 
 had made there. 
 
 In the midst of this beautiful spot he foimd a large and 
 well-built log dwelling-house, standing (in the month of 
 September) on the edge of a very good field of Indian 
 corn, by the side of wliich there was a piece of buck 
 wlieat just then mowed. Partly from misinformation, 
 and partly from miscalculation, the young soldier had lost 
 his way ; and, quite alone, but armed with his sword and 
 a brace of pistols, to defend himself against tlie beajs, he 
 arrived at the log iiousc in tlic middle of a moonlight 
 niglit. A stout and clamourous dog waked the master 
 of tlic liouse, who got up, received him with great hos- 
 pitality, gave liim sonu; of his best fare, and finally 
 insisted on iiis sleeping there that night. 
 
 In the moniing, when he arose, he found the breakfast 
 table loaded witii all sorts of good things. Here he met, 
 among the other ujcmbers of tlic family, the daughter, 
 a beautiful girl about nineteen years of age, who, (dressed 
 according to the neat and simple fashion of New England, 
 whence she had come with her parents five or six years 
 before) had her long liglit-brown liair twisted nicely up, 
 and fastened on the top of her head, in which head were 
 a pair of lovely blue eyes, associated with features of 
 whicli that softness and that sweetness, so ciiaracteristic 
 of American girls, were the predominant expressions ; the 
 whole being set off by a complexion of glowing hi>alth, 
 at)d forming, figure, movements, and all,taken togetlier an 
 assemblage of beauties, far supassing axw that lie had 
 ever seen but once in his life, — andslie, the object of his 
 first passion was now in a far distant land. 
 
 Here then was the present against the absent; liere was 
 the power of the eyes against that of the memory, here 
 were all the senses up in arms to subdue the influence of 
 the thoughts ; here, in fact, was every thing that imagina- 
 tion can conceive, united in a conspiracy against the j)ooi- 
 little brunette in England! What, then, — did li c fall in 
 love at once with this new found beautyl— No,— but he 
 
 b3
 
 18 LIFE OF 
 
 was so enchanted with the place ; he so much enjoyed its 
 tranquillity, the shade of the maple trees, the business of 
 the farm, the sports of the water, and of the woods, that 
 he stayed there to the last possible minute, promising at 
 his departure to visit them as often as he possibly could ; 
 — a promise wliich he most punctually fulfilled. 
 
 It is when you meet in company with others of your own 
 age, that you are, in love matters, put most frequently to 
 the test. The next neighbour might, in that country, be 
 ten miles off. They usea to meet sometimes at one house 
 and sometimes at another. Here, — where female eyes are 
 very much on the alert, — no secret can long be kept; and 
 very soon father, mother, brother, and the whole ueigh- 
 bouriiood looked upon the match as certain, not excepting 
 the girl herself, to whom, however, Cobbett had never 
 once even talked of marriage, or hinted at such a word as 
 love. But he had a thousand times done tliese things by 
 implication, taking into view the interpretation she would 
 naturally put upon his looks, words, and actions. Yet he 
 was no deceiver, for his affection towards her was very 
 great; lie spent no really pleasant hours but with her; he 
 was uneasy if she showed the slightest regard for any other 
 young man; lie was unhappy if she was affected in health 
 or spirits ; he quitted her with dejection, and returned to 
 her with eager delight. This, if not love, was at least 
 fii-st cousin to it, and he would frequently put to himself 
 the question: " What am I at?" " Is not this wrong?" 
 " Why do I go?"— But still he went. 
 
 At last the hour of their final parting came, fd' the re- 
 giment to wliich Cobbett belonged was at lengtli ordered 
 to return to England. To describe this parting would be 
 impossible. Tlie kind and excellent father travelled the 
 distance of forty miles to sec the young serjeant-major 
 just as he was going on board in the river. His looks 
 and words were expressive of the deep anguisli he felt. 
 As the vessel descended, she passed the mouth of that creek 
 which the subject of our memoir iiad so often entered with 
 deliglit; and though England, and all tliat England con- 
 tained were l)efore him, he lost sight of this creek with 
 an aching heart! 
 
 On what trifles turn the great events in the life of man! 
 If he had received a cool letter from his intended wife;
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. J 9 
 
 if lie had only heard a rumour of any thing from which 
 lii'klcnuss in her might have been inferred ; if hcliad found 
 in her any, even the smallest abatement of aft'eetion, if 
 she had, but let go any one of the himdred strings by 
 which she held his heart ; if any one of these things had hap- 
 pened, he would have settled for life in that wild soli- 
 tude, and the world would never liavc heard tiic name of 
 WiUiam Cobbett. 
 
 But to return to our narrative; — the troops landed 
 at Portsmouth on the 3rd of November, and on the 19th 
 of the next mouth he obtained his discharge, after 
 having served not quite eight years, during which 
 short space of time he passed through every rank, from 
 that of a private sentinel to that of serjeant-major, with- 
 out ever being once disgraced, confined, or even repri- 
 manded, but let his superiors attest for his conduct during 
 these years of his servitude ; the following is the testi- 
 monial of Lord Edward Fitzgerjvld who commanded the 
 regiment : — 
 
 " By the Right Honourable, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, 
 commanding the 54th regiment, of which Lieutenant 
 General Frederick is Colonel. — 
 
 "These arc to certify, that the bearer hereof, William 
 Cobbett, serjeant-major in the aforesaid regiment, has 
 served honestly and faithfully for the space of eight years, 
 nearly seven of which he has been a non-commissioned 
 officer, and of that time he has been five years serjeant- 
 major to the regiment; but, havingvery earnestly applied 
 for his discharge, he, in consideration of his good behaviour 
 and the services he has rendered the regiment, is hereby 
 discharged. 
 
 " Given under my hand, and the seal of the regiment, at 
 Portsmouth, this 19th day of December, 1791. 
 
 " Ed WARD Fitzgerald." 
 
 To this we will add the Orders issued in the garrison of 
 Portsmouth on the day of his discharge : — 
 
 " Portsmouth, 19th Dec. 1791. 
 
 " Serjeant-major Cobbett having most pressingly ap- 
 plied forhisdischaige, at Major Lord Edward Fitzgerald's 
 request. General Frederick has granted it. General 
 Frederick has ordered INIajor Lord Edward Fitzgerald to
 
 30 LIFE OF 
 
 return tlie serjeant-iuajor tiianks for liis bcljaviour and 
 conduct during the time he has been in the regiment; and 
 Major Loi-d Edward adds his most hearty tlianks to 
 those of tlie General." 
 
 Having thus obtained his diS(rharge from military ser- 
 vice, Mr. Cobbett's first thought was to visit Woolwich in 
 search of lier whom he liad chosen to be the future partner 
 of his life and fortunes. He found that siie had engaged her- 
 self as servant of all work, at five pounds a year wages, 
 in the liouse of a Captain Brisac, and following her thither 
 he had the happiness of meeting with her once more after 
 a separation of fom- long years. Tlio event was of course 
 gratifying in the extreme to both parties, but who can 
 describe the astonishment and admiration of the young 
 lover, when that excellent girl put into his hands the whole 
 of the lumdred and fifty pounds which he had given for her 
 own use just previous to her departure from New Bruns- 
 wick. He at once perceived th.at, in addition to all her other 
 eminent virtues, slie was possessed of prudence and discre- 
 tion in an extraordinary degree, and anxious to release her 
 from tlie state of drudgery in which he found her, he 
 pressed his suit so earnestly, that within three months af- 
 terwards they were united. According to the register in 
 Woolwich cliurch, their marriage took place on the 6th of 
 February 1792. 
 
 Now, when we consider the age of this girl (the widow 
 of Mr. Cobbett) ; when we reflect tliat she was living in a 
 place crowded with gaily dressed and handsome young 
 men, — many of whom were far richer and in higher rank 
 than her far absent lover, — who weic ready to oifcr her 
 their liand ; when we reflect that she was living among 
 young women who spent, in articles of dress and finery, 
 every sliilling they could get; when we see her keeping 
 the bag of gold untouched, and working hard to provide 
 hersi.'if with I)ut mere necessary apparel, and doing this 
 while she was passing from fourteen to eighteen years of 
 age; wlien we view tiie whole of the circumstances, we 
 must say tliat here is an example, which, while it reflects 
 honour on her sex, ought to have woiglit with every young 
 woman whose eyes or ears this relation shall reach. 
 
 The next important incident in the life of Mr. Cobbett, 
 was, his obtaiuiug a Court Martial against fow oflSccrs o
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 21 
 
 the 64tb regiment, on a charge of embezzlement of stores 
 And false returns. This was sliortly after he had obtained 
 his discharge. He required and obtained that the 
 Court Martial should be iield in London, and wrote 
 to the autliorities in the following words; — " If my 
 accusation is without foundation, the authors of cruelty 
 have not yet devised tlie tortures I ought to endure. 
 Hell itself, as painted by the most fiery bigot, would be 
 too mild a punishment for me." 
 
 The Court was held at the Horse Guards, on the 24tli 
 of March 1 792 ; but Mr. Cobbett did not appear. It was 
 adjourned to the 27th to make inquiries after him ; but 
 still no accuser came forward, or was to be found. The 
 Court then examined such persons as had been subpoenaed 
 as witnesses, and judged ; — " that the said several charges 
 against those officers respectively are^ and every part thereof 
 is, totally unfounded, and the Court does therefore most 
 honourably acquit the said Captain Richard Powell^ 
 Lieutenant Christopher Seaton, and Lieutenant John Hall 
 of the sar)ie.''' The fomlh officer, a Lieutenant-colonel, 
 had died before the case was hivestigated. 
 
 This apparently strange conduct of Mr. Cobbett, has 
 never been thoroughly cleared up, but it has been asserted 
 that he found a host of intrigue working against liim to 
 falsify the charges he had brought against these officers — 
 his witnesses had been bribed to keep out of the way, and 
 all liis material evidence being thus suppressed, he 
 liastily left England for France. There he remained for 
 six months, when finding that, in consequence of the re- 
 volutionary movements in that country, a war with 
 England was inevitable, he at once foresaw what would 
 be tlie late of Englishmen in that unhappy kingdom, 
 where the rulers had laid aside even the appearance 
 of justice and mercy. He wished, however, to see Paris, 
 and had actually hired a conveyance to go thither ; nay, 
 was even on the way to the capital, when he heard at 
 Abbeville that the King was dethroned, and his guards 
 murdered. This intelligence made him turn off to- 
 wards Havre de Grace, whence he embarked for America. 
 
 At this time, the latter end of the year 1792, party 
 feeling ran higli, and was indulged in with great bitter- 
 ness, in America. The French, or democratic party were
 
 22 LIFE OF 
 
 fierce in their abuse of Etigland find her institutions. 
 This Cobbett could not boar. The love of liis country 
 was with him not merely a settled feeling — it partook of 
 the ardour of a passion ; and it will be found, upon a 
 careful persual of his writuigs, that tliis feeling continued 
 unabated throughout his long life, and ever influenced his 
 pen and his tongue. 
 
 In Philadelphia, where iiis wife soon afterwards joined 
 him, he commenced his public career by espousing the 
 cause of England in a series of pamphlets, under the 
 assumed name of Peter Porcupine which soon excited 
 much attention even in this country, where some of them 
 were re-printed. The first of these pamphlets was " The 
 TartufFe Detected; or Observations on the Emigration of 
 a Martyr to the Cause of Liberty," — meaning Dr. Rush, 
 who, as we shall see, subsequently prosecuted the author 
 for a libel, and obtained heavy damages. As this was the 
 commencement of a literary career unexampled, taken 
 altogether, in the republic of letters, and was in itself 
 moreover, of rather a curious description, we shall give 
 Mr. Cobbctt's own account of it. There was great diffi- 
 culty, it seems in obtaining a puplisher for tliis work, in 
 consequence of its unpopular character, and it was not 
 until after the title was altered, by the suppression of the 
 first part of it, that the autlior could succeedin bringing 
 it before the public. It was tlien taken by a bookseller, 
 and the autlior shall relate his own story : — 
 
 •'The terms on which Mr. Bmdford took the " Observa 
 tions," w<'re what booksellers call, publishing it together. 
 1 beg the reader, if he foresees the possibility of liis becoming 
 author, to recollect this phrase well. Publishing it to- 
 gether is thus managed; the bookseller takes the work, 
 prints it, and defrays nil expenses of paper, binding, &c. 
 and the profits, if any, are divided between him and the 
 author, fiong after tlic " Observations" were sold oft", 
 Mr. Bradford rendered me an account (undoubtedly a 
 very just one) of the sales. According to his account, my 
 sliare of tlK> profits (my share only) amoiuited to tiie sum 
 of <»ne shilling and seven [jenite halfpenny currency of the 
 State of Pennsylvania (or, about eleven-pence tliree 
 farthings sterling,) quite entirely clear of all deductions 
 whntcver."
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 9S 
 
 A hopeful beginning for a young author, who had com- 
 mitted himself to the championship of a great cause, and 
 who liad made choice of literature as a profession for his 
 existence! After the "Observation," however, Mr. Cob- 
 bett and Mr. Bradford " published together" no longer. 
 The Author bargained for eacli of his subsequent pam- 
 phlets, until he turned publisher himself, and thus secured 
 the lion's share as well as his own. The titles of the 
 pamphlets which he produced are singular for their quaint- 
 ness ; such as ; '• A Kick for a Bite; — '* The Rush-l.\ght ;" 
 "The Scare Crow"— "The Bloody Buoy," &c. By all 
 these, though directed against the patriots of America, he 
 obtained great celebrity, and Thomas Paine, whom he 
 had violently attacked, complimented him by saying 
 that "Porcupine was tlie only one of his party who hatl 
 any brains." 
 
 In spite of the diificulti-es, however, whicli he had to 
 endure, his domestic life seems to have been one of 
 uninterupted happiness,. He himself, was a most con- 
 siderate and excellent husband, and his wife was blessed 
 with all those amiable qualities that ensure a permanent 
 felicity to the married life. An instance of his unweary- 
 ing assiduity to add to her comfort in the hour of woman's 
 severest trial, is afforded in the followingincident. At the 
 period of the birth of tiieir first cliild, wiiich happened in 
 the middle of the burning hot month of July, he was 
 greatly afraid of fatal consequences to his wife for want 
 of sleep, she not having, after the great danger was over, 
 had any sleep for more than forty-eight hours. All large 
 cities in liot countries arc full of dogs; and they, in 
 the very hot wcatlier, keep up during the night, a horrible 
 barking and fighting and howling. Upon the particular occa- 
 sion to which we allude, they made a noise so terrible and 
 so unremitted that it was next to impossible that even a 
 person in full iiealthand free from pain should obtain even 
 a minute's sleep. In the evening she felt disposed to 
 slumber and expressed her opinion that siic could get 
 some rest if it were not for the dogs. Down stairs went 
 the considerate husband, nnd out he sallied, in his shirt 
 and trowsers, and without siioes or stockings, and going 
 to a heap of stones lying beside the road, set to work 
 upon the dogs, walking backwards and forwards, and
 
 24 LIFE OF 
 
 keeping them at two or three hundred yards distance 
 from tiie house, He walked thus the whole night, bare- 
 footed, lest the noise of his slioes might possibly reach her 
 ears; and the bricks on the causeway were, even in the 
 night time, so hot as to be disagreeable to his feet. His 
 exertions, however, produced the desired effect ; a sleep 
 of several hours was the consequence ; and, at ei^ht 
 o'clock in the morning, off he went to business, which 
 was not to end till six in the evening, Wliat a beau- 
 tiful instance is this of a lieart truly excellent. 
 
 We must now quit this scene of quiet happiness and 
 return to Mr. Cobbett's more busy literary life. It lias 
 been already stated tiiat after the " Observations," 
 Mr. Bradford and he puhlished together no longer. When 
 a pamphlet was ready for the press, they made a bargain 
 for it, and the author took a note of hand, payable in one, 
 two, or three months. That it may be known what gains 
 he derived from the publications that issued from Mr. 
 Bradford's, we have subjoined a list of them, and tlie 
 sums received in payment: — 
 
 Dols. Cents. 
 
 Observations .. 21 
 
 Bone to Gnaw, 1st Part 125 .. 
 
 Kick for a Bite 20 . . 
 
 Bone to Gnaw, 2nd Part 40 • . 
 
 Plain Englisli 100 . . 
 
 New Year's Gift 100 . . 
 
 Prospect 18 .. 
 
 Total 403 .. 21 
 
 With this remuneration Mr. Cobbctt was not satisfied, — 
 but the publisher grumbled about the losses he had sus- 
 tained on their sale, and there, for the present, the matter 
 (h-oppi'd. But the best way to give thereaderan idea of tlic 
 gtiuerosity of tiiis Transatlantic bookseller, is to inform him 
 that thi; aiith)r, upon going into business for himself, 
 offered to pun^hase tlu; copyright of these pamphlets 
 at the same price for which lu> iiad sold them. Mr. Brad- 
 ford, however, refused to part with them, and we think, 
 tli(*refor(>, we havi* pretty good evidence to conclude that 
 tlie bargain he had mnde was most advantageous to him-
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT- 95 
 
 self, notwithstanding his repeated assertions to the 
 contrary. 
 
 All business transactions between these two parties 
 closed with a pamphlet entitled, " The Prospect from the 
 Congress Gallery;" and, as their separation gave rise to 
 various conjectures and reports, we will trouble the 
 reader with an explanation of the matter. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett, it seems, had proposed making a brief 
 collection of the debates, with licre and there a note by 
 way of remark. It was not his intention to publish it in 
 numbers, but at the end of a session, in a volume; but 
 Mr. Bradford, fearing a want of success in this form, 
 determined on publisliing in numbers. This was without 
 the editor's approbation, as was also a subscription that 
 was opened for the support of the work. When about 
 half a number was finished, Mr. Cobbett was informed 
 that many gentlemen had expressed their desire that the 
 work might contain a good deal of original matter, and 
 few debates. In consequence of this he was requested to 
 alter his plan, — a request that he refused to accede to, as 
 well as to continue the work. 
 
 The fast number (not however by Mr. Cobbett,) was 
 then published, and its success led Mr. Bradford to press 
 for a continuation. His son was sent to offer Mr. C. a 
 hundred dollars a number, in place of the eighteen which 
 had been originally agreed upon ; and the other would 
 have accepted so tempting an offer, had it not been for a 
 word that escaped the young man diu'ing the conversation. 
 He observed timt their customers would be much disap- 
 pointed, for that his father had promised a continuation, 
 and that it should he very interesting. This slip of the 
 tongue opened our author's eyes at once. He saw that 
 he was to be made the cat's-paw of a hungry bookseller, 
 and, spuming all the advantages of the offer, positively 
 wedined having any thing to do with the work. 
 
 At this time he was fully employed, having a transla- 
 ion on his liands for a Mr. Moreau de St. Mery, as well 
 'S another work which took up a great deal of his time, 
 o that Bradford, finding tliere was no chance of the differ- 
 •nccs between them being adjusted, sent the folJowiug 
 nthy note: —
 
 2G LIFE OF 
 
 " Sir, 
 Send me your account, and a receipt for tlie last pub-] 
 lication, and your money shall be sent by 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 
 Thomas Bradford." 
 " Phila. April 22, 1796. 
 
 To wliicli Mr. Cobbett returned the following answer : 
 Philadelphia, March 22, 1796. 
 •' Sir, 
 " I have the honour to possess your laconic note ; but, 
 upon my word 1 do not understand it. The requesting of 
 a receipt from a })erSon, before any tender of money is 
 made, and the note being dated in April in place of March ; 
 tliese tilings throw such an obscurity over the whole that 
 I defer complying with its contents, till I have the plea- 
 sure of seeing yourself. 
 
 I am, 
 Your most obedient. 
 
 Humble Servant, 
 
 William Cobbett." 
 This plain, strait-forward way of dealing brought a 
 second note, ih these words :— 
 " Sir, 
 •' Finding you mean to pursue the " Prospect" which 
 you Sold to me, I now make a demand of the fulfdment 
 of your contract, ami, if honour does not prompt you to 
 fulfil your engagement, you may rely on an application 
 to the laws of my country, and I make no doubt I shall 
 there nleet you on such groiuidsas will convince you I am 
 not to be trifled with. 
 
 I am, Yours, &c. 
 
 Thomas Bradford." 
 *' March 23nd, 1796. 
 
 Here ended the correspondence, and it is hardly neces- 
 sary to say that the wily bookseller knew his own interests 
 too well to ventnre with dirty hands into a court of law. 
 It may bo remarked too, as somewhat singular, that at 
 the very timc^ whnn Mr. Bradford was threatening Cobbett 
 with a prosecution for vol writing, other parties were 
 throatcning with e(|ual violence lor daring to write at 
 all! It must have Imm-ii a little ditfu-ult to set both 
 parties at open defiance, yet tliis was done, by continuing 
 to write, and by employing another bookseller.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 27 
 
 AI)OUt tliis time the cueniics of Mr. Cobbett, finding no 
 better groiincl for complaint, began to assert loudly that 
 lie was in the pay of the British Government. Now it is 
 hard to prove a negative, but we thiuk we l)ave sufficient 
 circumstantial evidence to prove the utter falsehood of the 
 charge. 
 
 When a foreign government hires a writer, it takes 
 care that his labours shall be distributed, whether the 
 readers are all willing to pay for tliem or not. Now this 
 we have positive assurance was never the case with the 
 works of Peter Porcupine. They were never thrust upon 
 people in spite of tiieir remonstrances. Mr. Bradford 
 never dai'ed to assert that any of these pamphlets were 
 ever paid for by any agent of Great Britain. He never 
 could say that the author himself had ever distributed 
 any of them. On the contrary they liad at first to en- 
 comiter every diflunilty, yet they made their way, sup- 
 ported by public approbation, and by tliat aloue. — 
 Mr. Bradford even acknowledged, on one occasion, tliat the 
 British Consul, M^hen he purchased half a dozen of them, 
 insisted uyton having them at the •wholesale price ! Did this 
 look like a desire to encourage them 7 Besides, those who 
 knew any thing of Mr. Bradford, would never believe 
 that he would have lent his aid to a British agent's pub- 
 lications ; for, of all Americans, it is acknowledged tliat 
 he entertained the greatest degree of lancour against tliis 
 country. 
 
 The notion of Mr. Cobbett being in British pay arose 
 from his having now and then taken upon himself to 
 attempt a defence of the character of this nation, and of 
 the intentions of its Government towards the United 
 States. But he never did so except when tlie subject 
 necessarily demanded it; and, if he did give way to liis 
 indignation on tliese occasions, wliat more did he do than 
 his duty ? When a man hears his country reviled, docs it 
 require that he should be paid for speaking in its defence 1 
 
 His writings, the first pamphlet excepted, liad no other 
 object than that of keeping alive an attachment to tlic 
 constitution of the United States, and to paint in tlieir 
 true colour* those who were its enemies ; to w arn the 
 people of all ranks and descriptions, of the danger of 
 admitting among them the] anarchical and blasphemous 
 
 c2
 
 28 LIFE OF 
 
 principle of tlie French R evolutionists; principle's as oppo- 
 site to those of liberty as the poles to eacJi other. If, 
 therefore, he wrote at the instance of a British agent, that 
 agent must certainly have deserved the thanks of all the 
 real friends of America. But, argued liis opponents, what 
 right has this man to meddle with the defence of our 
 government at all? To which we reply, the same right 
 that they had to exact his obedience to it. He was 
 liable to be called upon to serve in the militia — to serve 
 against the rebels in the western provinces ; and siu-ely a 
 man has a right to defend with his pen, that -which lie 
 may be called upon to defend with a musket. 
 
 The reader will now learn, and probably for the first 
 time, what innumerable shafts of envy, hatred, and 
 malice, and all unciiaritableness, were hourly directed 
 against Mr. Cobbett, by those who hated him for no otiier 
 eartlily reason than because he was a better man than 
 themselves. But he was nerved and braced for the con- 
 flict. His enemies, though numerous, were weak and 
 contemptible. They attacked him witli falsehood or 
 cowardly insinuation, and he repelled tliem with the only 
 weapon an honest man has need of — the bare and naked 
 truth. Thus conquered, they slunk back from the conflict 
 wdth shame and a consciousness of their own utter degra 
 dation. Others, however, were ever found to succeed 
 the vanquished in their foul work of aspersion, and thus 
 was Mr. Cobbett's life rendered, for a time, anything but 
 an easy one. 
 
 In the spring of the year 1796, Mr. Cobbett took a 
 house ffl Second Street, Philadelphia, for the purjjose of 
 carrying on [the bookselling business, which he imagined 
 would be at once a means of getting money, and of pro- 
 j)agating more widely his writings against the French. 
 He went into his house in May, but the siiop could not be 
 got ready for some time; and, from one delay and ano 
 ther, he was prevented from opening till the second week 
 in July. 
 
 Till lie took this house, he had remained almost entirely 
 unknown as a writer. A few persons did, indeed, know 
 that he was the perst)n who iiad assumed the name of 
 Peter Porcupine ; but the fact was by no means a matter 
 of notoriety. The moment, however, that he had taken
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 29 
 
 the Lease of a large house, the transaction became a 
 topic of public conversation, and the eyes of the Demo- 
 crats and the French, who owed him a mutual grudge, 
 were fixed upon him. 
 
 He then began to think his situation somewhat pe- 
 rilous. Such disagreeable truths as he had published, no 
 man had dared*to utter in the United States, since the 
 breaking out of the war with England. He knew that 
 these truths had mortally offended the leading men 
 among the Democrats, who could, at any time, muster a 
 mob quite sufficient to destroy his house and murder its 
 obnoxious occupant. In this situation, Mr, Cobbett had 
 not a friend to whom he could look with any reasonable 
 hope of receiving efficient support ; and, as to the lawy 
 he had seen too much of republican justice, to expect 
 anything but persecution from that quarter. In short, 
 there Avere in Philadelphia, about ten thousand persons, 
 all of whom would have rejoiced to see him murdered ; 
 and there might, probably, be two thousand, who would 
 have been very sorry for it ; but not above fifty of whom 
 would have raised a hand to save his life. 
 
 As the time approached for opening his shop, his few 
 friends grew more anxious for the safety of the adven- 
 turer. It was recommended to him to be cautious how 
 he exposed any thing at his window, that might provoke 
 the people; and, above all, not to put up any aristo- 
 cratkal ])ortraUsy which would certainly cause his win- 
 dows to be demolished. 
 
 Cobbett saw the danger ; but also saw that he must, 
 at once, set all danger at defiance, or live in everlasting 
 subjection to the prejudices of a democratical mob. He 
 resolved on the former; and as his shop was to be 
 opened on a Monday morning, he employed himself all 
 day on Sunday, in preparing an exhibition, that he 
 thought would put the courage and the power of his 
 enemies to the test. He put up in his windows, Avhich 
 were very large, all the portraits that he had in his 
 possession of k'uigs, queens, princes, and nolles. He had 
 all the English Ministry ; several of the Bishops and 
 Judges; the most distinguished Admirals; and, in 
 short, every picture that he thought likely to excite the 
 rage of the enemies of Great JBritain. 
 
 C 3
 
 30 LIFE OF 
 
 Early on the Monday morning lie took down his 
 shutters- Such a sight had not been seen in Phila- 
 delphia for twenty years. Never, since the beginning 
 of the war, had any one dared to exhibit in his window 
 the portrait of George the Third^ 
 
 In order to make the test as perfect as possible, he had 
 put up some of the leaders of the French llevoluticn, 
 and had found out, what he considered, fit companions 
 for them. Thus he coupled Franklin and Marat toge- 
 ther ; and in another place, M'Kean and Ankerstrom. 
 This insult, as it was called, to liberal opinions, did not, 
 of course pass unnoticed ; threats, both loud and deep, 
 were heard on all sides, and a few days afterwards 
 Mr. Oldden, his landloi'd, transmitted to him the fol- 
 lowing infamous anonymous letter which he had just 
 received. The letter, which we give entire, to show 
 the virulence "of his enemies, ran thus : — 
 
 ♦♦ To Mr. John Oldden, Merchant, 
 Chesnut Street, 
 " Sir, 
 
 "A certain William Cobbett, alias Peter Porcupine, I 
 am informed is your tenant. This daring scoimdrel, not 
 satisfied with having repeatedly traduced the people of 
 this country, vilified the most eminent and patriotic 
 characters among us, and grossly abused our allies, the 
 French, in his detestable productions, has now the as- 
 tonishing effi'ontry to expose those very publications 
 at his window for sale, as well as certain prints indi- 
 cative of the prowess of our enemies the British and 
 the disgrace of the French. Calculating largely upon 
 the moderation or rather pusillanimity of our citizens, 
 this puppy supposes he may even insult us with im- 
 punity. But he will, ere long, find himself dreadfully 
 mistaken. Though his miserable publications have not 
 been hitherto considered worthy of notice, the late ma- 
 nifestation of his impudence and enmity to this country 
 will not be passed over. With a view, therefore, of 
 preventing your feeling the blow designed for him, I 
 now address you. When the time of retribution arrives, 
 it may not be convenient to discriminate between the 
 innocent and the guilty. Your proj)erty, therefore, 
 may suffer. For, depend upon it, bnck walls will not
 
 WILLIAM COBBEIT 31 
 
 screen the rascal from i)unishment when once tlio busi- 
 ness is undertaken. Asa friend, therefore, I advise you 
 to save your property by either compelling Mr. Por- 
 cupine to leave your house, or at all events oblige him 
 to cease exposing his abominable productions, or any of 
 his courtly prints at his window for sale. In this way 
 only you may avoid danger to your house, and perhaps 
 save the rotten carcass of your tenant for the present. 
 
 " A HINT." 
 " July 16th, 1799." 
 
 Mr. Cobbett read this letter, and of course laughed 
 heartily at its contents, and the threats it held out; 
 for, of all the expedients they could have hit upon to 
 terrify a man of such a temperament as his, this cer- 
 tainly was the most ill-contrived and ridiculous. Had 
 they, indeed, studied for years, they could not have 
 found out anything that would have pleased him so 
 well. It would serve to silence their clamours about 
 their boasted liberty of the press; it would prove to the 
 people, most fully, the truth of what he had always told 
 them : — that they knew nothing of liberty but the 
 name. It proved to all the world that the Americans 
 had long dreaded him ; that they still continued to do 
 so, and that he despised them from the bottom of his 
 heart. 
 
 Conscious as he was of his own superiority over 
 enemies utterly worthless, Mr. Cobbett continued to 
 proceed in his old course. His publications went on as 
 heretofore, and in his windows were still exhibited the 
 offensive prints that had given such mortal umbrage to 
 his sensitive opponents. In the mean time, however, 
 attacks were made upon him in every quarter — other 
 threatening letters were sent — and the the most violent 
 pamphlets were published to libel and defame the man 
 they hoped to drive away from the soil where he had 
 rendered himself so obnoxious. Of these publications 
 we shall only enumerate a i'ew as marked with the 
 
 freatest degree of virulence and mendacity : — " A Blue 
 hop for Peter Porcupine ;" " A Pill for Peter Por- 
 cupine ;" " Peter Porcupine Detected;" •' A Koaster 
 for Peter Porcupine ;" " A History of Peter Porcu- 
 pine ;" "• A Picture of Peter Porcupine ;" &c.
 
 32 LIFE OF 
 
 It cannot be wondered at then, it" the said '« Peter Por- 
 cupme," began to think himself a person of some im- 
 portanee at this period : for, though his enemies affected 
 to despise him, he, at the same time, knew that they 
 dreaded the power of his pen, even more than they did 
 the swords of their enemies, or the clamours of the 
 disaffected. He did feel an honest pride at this mani- 
 festation of the importance to which he had raised him- 
 self, and, if proof be wanted, we have it in the following 
 extract of a letter to his father, dated in September 
 1796 : 
 
 " Dear Father," he says, " when you used to set me 
 off" to Avork in the morning, dressed in my blue smock 
 frock and woollen spatterdashes, with^my bag of bread 
 and cheese and bottle of small beer swung over my 
 shoulder bn the little crook that my old god-father Box- 
 all gave me, little did you imagine that I should one 
 day become so great a man as to have my picture stuck 
 in the windows, and have four whole books published 
 about me in the course of one week." — Yet such was 
 the fact, and, if people at the present day accuse 
 William Cobbett of being somewhat too much of an 
 egotist, let them consider the prominent situation he 
 has always maintained, and then, wonder if they can, 
 that he was — what any other man, placed in the same 
 situation would become — though probably with less dis- 
 cretion, and, consequently with less ability to keep pos- 
 session of the prominent station to which he had elevated 
 himself. 
 
 Attacked as he was on all hands, Mr. Cobbett now 
 began to devise some plan by which he might at the 
 same time defend himself from the poisoned weapons of 
 his adversaries, and add to those means which an in- 
 creasing family rendered the more absolutely necessary. 
 Towards fulfilling this design, nothing appeared to him 
 so advantageous as a newspaper, which, if conducted 
 with spirit, he was well assured would prove both lu- 
 crative and an efficient channel by which he might 
 circulate those bold opinions which'hc had the courage 
 to i)romulgate. No sooner was this project formed than 
 acted upon, juid, in the short spaceof five weeks, he, 
 by his oAvn individual exertions, contrived to send 
 forth the lirst number from the press. This was the
 
 WIjLIJAM COBBETT. 33 
 
 celebrated *' Porcupine's Gazette," against which the 
 whole power of the 13cmocratical party was opposed. 
 The first publication aj)peared on Saturday, March ith, 
 1797, and continued, without intermission, every day, 
 Suuda3'a excepted, till the month of January, 1806. 
 The sale fully realized his most sanguine hopes, and 
 he had thus the happiness, not only of filling up all his 
 vacant time, but also of increasing the domestic com- 
 forts of his family. 
 
 It will readily be conceived that the violent hostility 
 of his enemies was excited to the highest pitch against, 
 the man who thus, in defience of all opposition, seemed 
 to rise with even greater might in proportion as he was 
 vilified and attacked. Innuendoes of dark meaning, and 
 open threats of a terrible retribution were of constant 
 occurrence, so that Cobbett, at length, to show the con- 
 tempt, and utter disregard in which he held such paltry 
 scribblers, published in his Gazette the following squib, 
 which he called his 
 
 LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. 
 
 In the name of Fun, Amen. I, Peter Porcupine, pam- 
 phleteer and newsmonger, being (as yet) sound both 
 in body and in mind, do, this fifteenth day of April, in 
 the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and 
 ninety-seven, make, declare, and publish this my 
 LAST WILL AND TESTA3IENT, in manner, form, and 
 substance following, to wit : 
 
 In primis. I leave my body to Dr. Michael Leib, a 
 member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, to be by 
 him dissected (if he knows how to do it) in presence 
 of the Hump of the Democratic Society. In it they 
 will find a heart that held them in abhorrence, that 
 never palpitated at their threats, and that, to its beat 
 bade them defiance. Bnt my chief motive for making 
 this bequest is, that my spirit may look down with 
 contempt on their cannibal-like triumph over a breath- 
 less corpse. 
 
 iTEai, As I make no doubt that the abovesaid Dr. Leib 
 (and some other doctors that I could mention) would 
 like very well to skin me, I request that they, or one 
 of them may do it; and that the said Leib's father
 
 34 LIFE OF 
 
 may tan my skin ; after which I desire my executors 
 have eight copies of my works complete, bound in it, 
 one copy to be presented to the five Sultans of France ; 
 one to teach of their Divans ; one to the Governor of 
 Pennsylvania ; to Citizens Maddison, Giles, and Gal- 
 latin, one each ; and the remaining one to the Demo- 
 cratic Society of Philadelphia; to be carefully pre- 
 served among their archives. 
 
 Item. To the INIayor, Aldermen, and Councils of the 
 City of Philadelphia, I bequeath all the sturdy young 
 hucksters, who infest the market, and who, to main- 
 tain their bastards, tax the honest inhabitants many 
 thousand pounds annually. I request them to take 
 them into their worshipful keeping — to chasten their 
 bodies for the good of their souls ; and, moreover to 
 keep a sharp look out after their gallants ; and remind 
 the latter of the old proverb. Touch pot, touch penny 
 
 Item. To Thomas Jefferson, philosopher, I leave a 
 curious Norway Spider, with a hundred legs and nine 
 pair of eyes; likewise the first black cut-throat gene- 
 ral he can catch hold of, to be flayed alive, in order 
 to determine with more certainty the real cause of 
 the dark colour of his skin ; and should the said Tho- 
 mas Jefferson survive Banneker, the almanack ma- 
 ker, I request he will get the brains of said Philomatli 
 carefully dissected, to satisfy the world in what res- 
 pects they differ from those of a white man. 
 
 Item. To the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia I 
 will and bequeath a correct copy of ThorntonJs Plan 
 for abolishing the use of the English language, and 
 for introducing in its stead a republican one, the 
 representative characters of which bear astrong re- 
 semblance to pot-hooks and hangers ; and for the dis- 
 covery of which plan, the said society did, in the year 
 1793, gi-ant to the said language-maker 500 dollars 
 premium. It is my earnest desire, that the copy of this 
 valuable performance, which I hereby present, may 
 be shown to all travelling literati, as a proof of the 
 ingenuity of the author, and of the wisdom of the 
 Society. 
 
 Iti;m. To Dr. Benjamin Hush, I will and bequeath a 
 copy of the Censor for January 1797; but upon the
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 3d 
 
 express condition, that lie does not in any wise or 
 guise, either at the time of my death, or six months 
 after, pretend to speak, write, or publish an eulogium 
 on me, my calling or character, either literary, miK- 
 tary, civil, or political. 
 
 lTE3r. To my dear fellow-labourer, Noah Webster, 
 *• gentleman-citizen," esquire, and newsman. I will 
 and bequeath a prognosticating barometer of curious 
 construction and great utility, by which, at a single 
 glance, the said Noah will be able to discern the ex- 
 act state that the publicmind will be in in the ensuing 
 year, and will thereby be enabled to trim by degrees, 
 and not expose himself to detection, as he now does 
 by his sudden lee-shore tacks, I likewise bequeath 
 to the said " gentleman-citizen," six Spanish milled 
 dollars, to be expended on a new plate of his portrait 
 at the head of his spelling-book, that Avhich graces it 
 at present being so ugly, that it scares the children 
 from their lessons ; but this legacy is to be paid him 
 only on condition that he leave out the title of Squire, 
 at bottom of said picture, which is extremely odious 
 in an American school book, and must inevitably tend 
 to corrupt the political principles of the republican 
 babies that behold it. And I do most earnestly de - 
 sire, exhort, and conjure the said squire newsman 
 to change the title of his paper, " The (Minerva," 
 for that of" The Political Centaur." 
 
 Item. To F. A. Muhlenburgh, Esq. speaker of a 
 late House of Representatives of the United States,! 
 leave a most superbly finished statue of J anus. 
 
 Item. To Tom the Tinker, I leave a liberty cap, a Iri- 
 coloured cockade, a wheelbarrow full of oysters, and a 
 hogshead of grog. I also leave him three blank 
 checks on the Bank of Pennsylvania, leaving him the 
 task of filling them up; requesting him, however, to 
 be rather more merciful than he has shewn himself 
 heretofore. 
 
 Item. To the Governor of Pennsylvania and Cashier of 
 the Bank of the said State, as to joint legatees, 1 
 AA'ill and bequeath that good old proverb, Honesty is 
 the best Policy. And this legacy I have chosen for
 
 36 LIFE OF 
 
 them worthy gentlemen, as the only thing about 
 which I am sure they will never disagree. 
 
 Itjem, To Trench Coxe, of Philadelphia, citizen, I 
 will and bequeath a crown of hemlock, as a recompense 
 for his attempt to throw an odium on the adminis- 
 tration of General Washington; and I must positive- 
 ly enjoin on my executors, to see that the said crown 
 be shaped exactly like that which this spindleshanked 
 legatee wore before General Howe, when he made 
 his triumphant entry into Philadelphia. 
 
 Item, To Thomas Lord Bradford (otherwise called 
 Goosy Tom), bookseller, printer, newsman, and mem- 
 ber o'f the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, I 
 will and bequeath a copy of the Peerage of Great 
 Britain, in order that the said Lord Thomas may the 
 more exactly asertain what probability thereiis of his 
 succeding to the seat which his noble relation now 
 fills in the House of Lords. 
 
 Item, To all and singular the authors in the United 
 States, whether they write prose or verse, I will and 
 bequeath a copy of my Life and Adventures, and I 
 advise the said authors to study with particular care 
 the fortieth and forty-first pages thereof; more espe- 
 cially, and above all things, I exhort and conjure 
 them never " to puhllsh it together,''^ though the book 
 seller should be a sahit. 
 
 Item, To Edward llandolph, Esq., late Secretary of 
 State, to Mr. J. A. Dallas, Secretary of the State of 
 Pennsylvania, and his Excellency Thomas Mufiiiii, 
 Governor of the said unfortunate State, I will and 
 bequeath to each of them, a copy of the sixteenth 
 paragraph of Fauchett's intercepted letter. 
 
 Item, To citizen J, Swanwick, Member of Congress. 
 by the will and consent of the sovereign people, I 
 leave bills of exchange in London, to an enormous 
 anioiuit; they are all j)rotested, indeed, but, if j)ro- 
 nerty nianngcMl, may be turned to good account. \ 
 Jikc\dJHC^%*(juoath to tlie said John, a small ti'eatise 
 ])y an Italian author, wherein the secret of pleasing 
 the ladies is developed, and reduced to a n)cre me- 
 chanical operation, without the least dependence on
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 37 
 
 the precarious aid of the passions ; hoping that these in- 
 stances of my liberality will produce in the mind of the 
 little legislator, effects quite different from those pro- 
 duced therein by the King of Great Britain's pension 
 to his parent. 
 Item. To the Editors of the Boston Chronicle, the 
 New York Argus, and the Philadelphia Merchant's 
 Advertiser, I will and bequeath one ounce of modesty 
 and love of truth, to be equally divided between them. 
 I should have been more liberal in this bequest^ were 
 I not well assured that one ounce is more than they 
 will ever make use of. 
 Item. To Franklin Bache, editor of the Aurora of 
 Philadelphia, I will and bequeath a small bundle of 
 French asignats, which I brought with me from the 
 country of equality. If these should be too light in 
 value for his pressing exigencies, I desire my execu- 
 tors, or any one of them, to bestow on him a second 
 part to what he has lately received in Southwark ; 
 and as a further proof ot my goodwill and aifection, I 
 request him to accept of a gag, and a brand nev/ pair 
 of fetters, which, if he should refuse, I will and be- 
 queath him in lieu thereof — my malediction. 
 Item. To my beloved countrymen, the people of old 
 England, 1 will and bequeath a copy of Dr. Priestley's 
 Charity Sermon for ihe benefit of poor emigranls ; 
 and to the said preaching philosopher himself, I be- 
 queath a heart full of disappointment, grief, and des- 
 pair. 
 Item. To the good people in France, who 'remain 
 attached to their sovereign, particularly to those 
 among whom I was hospitably received, I bequeath 
 each a good strong dagger, hoping, most sincerely, 
 that they may yet find courage enough to carry them 
 to the hearts of their abominable tyrants. 
 Item. To Citizen Munro, I mIU and bequeath my 
 chamber looking-glass. It is a plain but exceedingly- 
 true mirror: in it he will see the exact likeness of a 
 traitor, who has bartered the honour and interest 
 of his country to a perfidious and savage enemy.
 
 38 LIFE OF 
 
 Item. To the republican Britons, who have fled from 
 the hands of justice in their own country, and who 
 are a scandal, a nuisance, and a disgrace to this, I 
 bequeath hunger and nakedness; scorn, and reproach ; 
 and I do hereby positively enjoin on my executors to 
 contribute five hundred dollars to the erection of 
 gallowses and gibbets, for the accommodation of the 
 said imported patriots, when the legislators of this 
 unhappy State shall have the wisdom to countenance 
 such useful establishments. 
 
 Item. My friend T. F. Callender, the runaway from 
 Scotland, is, of course a partaker in the last men- 
 tioned legacy ; but, as a particular mark ot my atten- 
 tion, I will and bequeath him twenty feet of pine 
 plank, which I request my executors to see made into 
 a pillory, to be kept for his particular use, till a gibbet 
 can be prepared. 
 
 Item. To Tom Paine, the author of Common Sense* 
 Rights of Man, Age of Keason, and a Letter to Gene- 
 ral Washington, I bequeath a strong hempen collar? 
 as the only legacy I can think of that is worthy of 
 him, as well as best adapted to render his death in 
 some measure as infamous as his life : and I do hereby 
 direct and order my executors to send it to him by the 
 first safe conveyance, with my compliments, and a re- 
 quest that he would make use of it without delay, 
 that the national razor may not be disgraced by the 
 head of such a monster. 
 
 Item. To the gaunt and outlandish orator, vulgarly 
 called the Political Sinner, who, in the just order of 
 things, follows next after the last-mentioned legatee, 
 I bequeath the honour of partaking in his catastrophe, 
 that, on iheir deaths, as well as in their lives, all the 
 world may exclaim, " See how rogues hang together.''^ 
 
 Item. To all and singular the good people of these 
 States, I leave peace, unton, abundance, happiness, 
 untarnished honour, and an unconquerable, everlasting 
 liatred to the French revolutionists, and their de- 
 structive abominable principles. 
 
 Ite.m. To each of my subscribers I leave a quill,
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 39 
 
 hoping that in their hands it may become a sword 
 against every thing that is hostile to the government 
 and independence of their country. 
 Lastly. To my three brothers Paul, SimonandDick, 
 I leave my whole estate, as well real as personal (first 
 paying the foregoing legacies,) to be equally divided 
 between them, share and share alike. And I do 
 hereby make and constitu te my said three brothers 
 the executors of this Last Will ; to see the same per- 
 formed, according to its true intent and meaning, as 
 far as in their power lies. 
 
 "Peter Porcupine." 
 " Witnesses present, 
 
 " Philo Fun, 
 ** Jack Jocus. 
 
 Though the foregoing extract is lengthy, we have given 
 it entire, as exhibiting a fair specimen of the style of our 
 author in the eailiest period of his literary career. In 
 it will be found all the characteristics which marked his 
 writings in a more mature age, when circumstances had 
 so operated as to convert his political principles from 
 Toryism to those of a stern and uncompromising Radi- 
 cal Reformer. The extract will also serve, in some de- 
 gree, to explain who were the most virulent among the 
 many enemies that had risen against him with the cha- 
 ritable design of destroying, or at least, driving him 
 from the land in Avhich he bad fixed his home. The 
 most prominent of these are mentioned by name in this 
 curious " Will," and among them will be found that of 
 the celebrated Tom Paine, whom he alluded to with a 
 degree of hatred the most intense. To some persons it 
 may appear singular that, after expressing himself as he 
 did, in innumerable instances, against Paine, that he 
 should, subsequently, have so completely changed his 
 opinions respecting him, as to bring over his bones to 
 England, as the relics of a man whose worth he esti- 
 mated in the highest degree. But, it is to be remem- 
 bered that Cobbett, himself, had seen sufiicient reason 
 to adopt most of the opinions promulgated by that 
 most extraordinary writer ; — he had become a convert 
 
 e2
 
 40 LIFE OF 
 
 to his views of political government — and lie felt that 
 it was but just, after the acrimony that had existed be- 
 tween them in life, to offer this last atonement to one 
 whom he now regarded as a patriot and philanthropist. 
 
 Let it not, howev^er, be imagined that Mr. Cobbett 
 had at the same time been induced to become a convert 
 to the theological views of Thomas Paine, whose Avrit- 
 mgs on this subject, be it understood, he always held 
 in the greatest abhorrence. That he was a Christian, in 
 the fullest acception of the term, we have the most po- 
 sitiveproof; in addition to which, his own Avritings, to 
 the latest period of his life, afford sufficient evidence 
 that his religious principles remained unchanged, and 
 that he continued a consistent member of that church 
 to which he had belonged from his birth. 
 
 Quitting this digression into which we have been ne- 
 cessarily led, we will now once more resume the thread 
 of our narrative. The commencement of the "Porcu- 
 pine Gazette," has been already alluded to, as well as the 
 opposition which was raised against it in all quarters 
 of the United 5'tates. As the work proceeded, however, 
 and its success became more and more unequivocal, 
 the wrath and spleen of those who would have sup- 
 pressed it, showed itself with still increasing and more 
 bitter violence. Every unfair means was adopted to 
 crush a paper that was considered to be inimical to the 
 best interests of America ; — the editor was daily libelled 
 and traduced, and his writings were pronounced sedi- 
 tious and detestable. 
 
 Thus the warfare continued between Cobbett, single- 
 handed, against a whole host of enemies who were watch- 
 ing with the greatest anxiety for the very first opportu- 
 nity that might offer, to crush the man who had had 
 the hardihood to attack their nation and character. At 
 length that opportunity seemed to arrive; — a few severe 
 remarks on tiie Spanish King and his Minister, were 
 loudly complained of as tending to create a breach of 
 that harmony that existed between Spain and the United 
 States, and })rosecutions of the most vindictive kind were 
 instantly commenced against Mr. Cobbett, as publisher 
 and proprietor of Porcupine's Gazette. But as this 
 forms a most important feature in the life of the man
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 41 
 
 we are thus feebly endeavouring to trace, we must, 
 with the reader's permission, descend a little more into 
 the details. 
 
 At the time when Mr. Cobbett undertook to publish 
 his daily paper, it was with the intention of annihilating 
 if possible, the intriguing faction which the French 
 had formed in the United States of America. He was 
 fully aware of the arduousness of the task, and of the 
 inconvenience and danger to which he would expose him- 
 self. He was prepared to meet the rancourous vengeance 
 of enemies in the hour of their triumph, and the cool- 
 ness of friends in the hour of his peril ; in short, to 
 acquire riches seemed to him quite uncertain ; and to be 
 stripped of every farthing of his property seemed ex- 
 tremely probable : but, let what would happen, he was 
 resolved to pursue the object which he had in contem- 
 plation, so long as there remained the most distant 
 probability of success 
 
 Among the dangers which presented themselves to 
 him, those to be apprehended from the severity of the 
 law appeared the most formidable; more especially as 
 he happened to be situated in the State of Pennsylvania, 
 where the government, generally speaking, was in the 
 hands of those who had manifested an uniform parti- 
 ality for the French, and a determined opposition to the 
 ministers and measures of the Federal Government. 
 These persons he knew he had offended by the promulga- 
 tion of disagreeable truths ; and therefore it was natural 
 that he should seek for some standard as a safe rule for his 
 conduct with respect to the Liberty of his Press. 
 
 To set about the study of the law of libels, — to wade 
 through fifty volumes of mysterious tautology, was 
 what he had neither time nor patience to do. He con- 
 cluded, however, that he might without danger go as 
 great lengths in attacking the enemies of the country, as 
 others went in attacking its friends, that as much zeal 
 might be shown in defending the general government 
 and administration, as- in accusing and traducing them ; 
 and that as great warmth would be admissible in the 
 cause of virtue, order, and religion, as had long been 
 tolerated in the cause of villainy, insurrection, and 
 blasphemy. Whatever rancour might be harboured 
 
 E 3
 
 42 LIFE OF 
 
 against him in the breasts of particular persons, he de- 
 pended on shame to restrain the arm of power from par- 
 tiality ; he thought no oflicer of state would, in that 
 country, dare to act towards an honest man with a 
 rigour which had never been experienced by the vilest 
 of miscreants. Alas ! all this he thought, and all he 
 thought was wrong ; as the following instance will most 
 clearly evince. 
 
 Sonie time in|the month of August, 1767, the Spa- 
 nish Minister, Don Carlos Martinez de Yrujo, applied 
 to the Federal Government, to prosecute Mr. Cobbett, 
 for certain matters, termed libels^ published in Porcupine's 
 Gazette on the 17th, the 24th and the 31st of July pre- 
 ceding, against himself and his royal master, Charles 
 the Fourth, King of Spain. The Government con- 
 sented, and the defendant (Mr. Cobbett) was bound 
 over to appear in the Federal District Court, which 
 was to meet in the April following. 
 
 Of this preparatory step to ^farr aud impartial tnsA^ 
 the Don was informed. But, it would seem, the infor- 
 mation was far from being satisfactory to him ; for he 
 delivered in a memorial to the Federal Government, 
 requesting that the trial might come on before the Su- 
 preme Court of Pennsylvania, of which court Mr. 
 M'Kean, a bitter enemy of Cobbett's, was Chief Justice. 
 It is hardly necessary to say that consent was speedily 
 obtained. A bill of indictment was prepared by the 
 Attorney General of the State, and a warrant immedi- 
 ately issued to seize the defendant. 
 
 Now the iiijlhig circumstances attending an aiTest and 
 giving bail, are scarcely worth relating, but sometimes 
 trifling circumstances serve to convey a more correct 
 idea of the parlies concerned in a transaction, and to 
 guide the reader to a more just appreciation of their 
 motives, than the longest and most laboured general 
 account of their conduct. 
 
 The Sheriff went to ]Mr. Cobbett's house for the first 
 time at twelve o'clock; and he was ordered to take him 
 before the Judge at half past one — thus giving him an 
 ftoiir and a half to prepare for going out and to procure 
 himself bail. Eut he was not so destitute of friends as 
 had proljidjly been anticipated. Bail was procured, and
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 43 
 
 Mr. Cobbett was before the judge at the appointed 
 time. 
 
 ]Mr. M'Kean had the politeness to ask him to sit 
 down. Mr. C. seated himself on one side of the fire, 
 and the Judge on the other. After the latter had talked 
 on for some time to very little purpose, he showed the 
 defendant certain newspapers, and asked him it' he had 
 printed and published them. To this Mr. Cobbett re- 
 plied, that the laxv did not require him to dtiswer any 
 questions in that stage of the business; and that^ therefore lie 
 shoulfi not do it. At this reply, though a very prudent 
 and a very proper one, he waxed exceeding wrath. He 
 instantly ordered Mr. Cobbett to get off his chair, and 
 stand up before him, though he 'himself had invited 
 him to sit down ! At length, however, the business be- 
 tween them having been disposed of, the defendant was 
 graciously permitted to return home till the issue of the 
 trial should be known. 
 
 The charge contained in the Bill of Indictment, which 
 the writer of these pages has seen, lie buried in such a 
 multitude of words which mean nothing, or at least 
 nothing to the purpose, that they are very difficult to be 
 understood. Some one says of a man extremely verbose 
 in his conversation, that " his wit is like three grains of 
 wheat in a bushel of chafif," and exactly the same may 
 with truth be said of the meaning of this Bill. 
 The three libels, as they are called', might all be 
 contained in a quarter of a page, whereas'the Bill is 
 
 swelled out to between four and five pages; however 
 
 the lawyers must live, and this fact proves that they are 
 not more honest in America than they are in Encrland. 
 
 Of the three publications which were thus miscalled 
 libels, two of them only originated in Porcupine's Ga- 
 zette, the other being taken from a paper called the 
 Gazette of the United States, and even the two which 
 made their appearance through Mr. Cobbett's means, 
 he had not the honour to be the author of. 
 
 They were both written by gentlemen belonging- to 
 Philadelphia: native Americans, ]ucn who were deter- 
 mined Whigs during the war for . , J ,,. 
 in principle, and firmly attac/"^ f " ,'"'S '''P"^-'f "' 
 government. '^^^ ^^ ^^^ t''^" ^-^^^^^^S
 
 44 LIFE OF 
 
 In the first of those two publications, though there was 
 certainly notliing libellous, it must be confessed there 
 was a great deal of warmth \ and if the admission of an 
 essay extraordinarily warm, abounding in strong ex- 
 pressions of resentment and indignation, were ever 
 justifiable, it most assuredly was on this occasion. The 
 commuuication in question was sent to Mi'. Cobbett at a 
 moment when the city of Philadelphia, just quieted after 
 the appeal of the French Minister, Adet, rang with the 
 daring, the degrading, the contemptuous insult, which the 
 Spaniard, Yrujo had offered to the Government of Ame- 
 rica, and to every individual living under it. 
 
 He had published a most audacious letter to Mr. 
 Pickering, the Secretary of State, containing a summary 
 of all that is insolent. This letter had been handed and 
 hawked about the city; and had, by his secretary, been 
 sent to every public print for insertion. It had gone 
 forth to the universe; and, that it tended to degrade 
 and defame America, we need no other proof than the 
 following paragraph from a London Gazette of the 14th 
 of September 1797:— 
 
 " The x\mericans are, according to our last advices 
 from New York, paying dear for their independence. The 
 French take all their vessels, block up their very ri- 
 vers, punish their seamen like malefactors, and actually 
 make them pay for the shot they fire at them ; while 
 the Spanish ]\Iinister, with impunity, insults and braves 
 their poor enfeebled government. He has written to 
 Timothy Tickering Esq., their first Secretary of State, 
 in a language that Buonaj)arte would not venture to 
 assume to his Cisalpine convention, or Citizen Noel to 
 the fallen and degraded Dutch ; and, what very much 
 aggravates the insult, he has, without permission from 
 the President of the General Congress, communicated 
 this letter to the people, as a sort of manifesto, or 
 appeal to them from their Government. Nothing of 
 this kind, we believe, ever passed nnrcscnted, except 
 in a conquered or invaded country ; and we cannot help 
 lamenting that so very little spirit shouid be found in 
 any people, hut particularly in a people who boast their 
 origin from iJritons." 
 Now, tiiough this ilecp shame and disgrace had gone
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 46 
 
 abroad, was not Mr. Cobbett, or any other printer to 
 admit anything m his paper that served to mark the 
 strong indignation it inspired at home ? Was the press 
 to be free for the Spaniard alone ? Was he to be allow- 
 ed to taunt, to threaten, and despise ? If so ; — if no 
 man, by assuming a bold, an indignant, and retaliating 
 tone, was to make an eftbrt to rescue hisc ountry and him- 
 self from dishonour, without being harassed with a 
 prosecution, without hazarding the punishment of a 
 murderer, then must America have acknowledged her- 
 self a fallen State indeed! 
 
 But we have said enough we think to convince the 
 reader, that Mr. Cobbett was actuated by no unworthy 
 motives. He saw ample reason to fear that America, his 
 adopted land, was fast falling into a state of degradation ; 
 he witnessed the insults which she hourly received from 
 the Ministers of other States, and he stepped forward as 
 a good and virtuous man ever would do, to rescue her 
 from the reproach that he foresaw would follow. Yet 
 for that he was prosecuted — dragged into a court of 
 justice, and only rescued from his perilous situation by the 
 honest impartiality of a majority of the Grand Jur}', who 
 ignored the Bill, and thus restored Mr. Cobbett to that 
 station of society which he had filled with so much 
 credit among- all those wliose good opinions he conceived 
 it honourable to possess. 
 
 Matters now went on tolerably smoothly for some time ; 
 — Cobbett, it is true, attacked his old opponents with the 
 same vigour as before, a>id they retaliated with as much 
 bitterness as their humble means would allow. Still, 
 liowcver, they came to no open rupture till an attack 
 upon Dr. Rush, a physician of Philadelphia, served to open 
 an old wound which had never been properly liealed. As 
 tlie consequence of the ulterior proceedings in this affair 
 led to the departure of Mr, Cobbett from America, wc 
 cannot, injustice to the reader, pass slightly overasubject 
 of such moment in the life of tliis extraordinary man. 
 
 It seems that during tlie continuance, in Philadelphia, 
 of 1" j ellow fever of 1793, tiie wild and novel practice of 
 Mocdinif ii patient five or six times a day, and plying 
 liim, at the same time, with doses of calomel, or mercurial 
 purgesy became the subject of very warm discussions
 
 46 LIFE OF 
 
 amongst the medical men of that city. At tlie head of the 
 sticklers for this practice, was Dr. Benjamin Rush. In- 
 deed the practice originated with him, unless we believe 
 that such a man as Dr. Sangrado, really existed and prac- 
 tised physic ; for in the ranks of no other medical writer 
 could Rush find a sanction to his practice, and it is well 
 known that every eminent physi(!ian, at that time in Phila- 
 delphia, totally disapproved of it. 
 
 In the dispute of 1793 Rush was fairly defeated. Still, 
 however, resolved not to acknowledge himself in an error, 
 but to support his practice if possible, he stopped till the 
 fever was over, and tiien, like the famous physician of 
 Valladolid, he wrote a book. The book produced no more 
 effect than liis own obstinate assertions had done before ; 
 men could not be pursuaded that "bleeding almost to 
 death,'''' was likely to save life; and bleeding and mercurial 
 purges became the subject of general dread. 
 
 When, therefore, the yellow fever again broke out in 
 1797, Dr. Rush and liis pupils (who were the only persons 
 tliat followed tlie practice) found very little to do. The 
 Doctor recommenced writing in the newspapers, but with 
 somewhat less confidence and more caution than formerly. 
 He did not, (except in a few instances,) address himself 
 particularly to any person, but published letters, sent to 
 him by his brethren of the lancet practice, giving accounts 
 of the great cures wrouglit hy Ueeding 2i\\d mercurial purges y 
 which latter were sometimes called Rush's Powders. 
 Occasionally a letter from Rush to some other of the 
 learned tribe would appear, preceded by a letter requesting 
 information respecting his mode of treating patients. 
 Thus called upon, the grand master of the art seldom 
 failed to expatiate largely o\\ the virtue of his remedies 
 and on the success of their application. 
 
 These attempts to gain tlie confidence of the Philadel- 
 phians did not, however, pass unperceived. Many gen- 
 tlemen, (not pliysicians) expressed to Mr. Cobbett their 
 dread of the practice and their indignation at the arts that 
 were made use of to render it prevalent. They thought, 
 ''ind not without reason, that it was lawful, just, and fair 
 to employ a newspaper in tlecrying what other news- 
 papers had been employed to extol. In fact, Mr. Cobbett 
 wanted very little persuasion to induce him to combat the
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 47 
 
 commendations of a practice, which lie had always looked 
 upon as a scourge to the city in which lie lived. He 
 lashed the quackery of tiio system, and published a num- 
 ber of squibs, puns, epigrams, and quotations from Gil 
 Bias. 
 
 In this petite guerre he liad an excellent auxiliary in a 
 Mr, Foiino, a young man wiio occasionally wrote for the 
 Gazette. Never was a paper war carried on witli greater 
 activity and perseverance, or crowned with morecoinplete 
 success. It began about the middle of September, and 
 before October was ended, " bleeding almost to death'''' and 
 calomel were the standing jests of the town. Dr. Rusli 
 suppressed his mortification for some time, but at last tlie 
 sting became too pahiful, and he resolved to have liis 
 revenge in law ! 
 
 That this man, who had promulgated his opinions, and 
 extolled his practice in paragraphs, letters, pamplilets and 
 books without number, and who liad, in these various pub- 
 lications, ridiculed, decried, and abused both the practice 
 and the persons of liis opponents ; — that this man sliould 
 liave the audacity to appeal to tiie law for a protection 
 from the hostility of the press, astonished every body ; and 
 though it was clearly perceived, tliat he never would have 
 made the appeal but with the certitude of being able to 
 bring the cause before a judge notoriously inimical to 
 Cobbett, yet no one imagined that he would ever dare to 
 pursue tlie matter to a trial. 
 
 Tlie suit, however, against Mr. Fenno was dropped ; — 
 he was an American ! Tliat against Mr. Cobbett was put 
 off from court to coiut for upwards of two years, wlien a 
 favourable juncture of circumstsincos encouraged tlie plain- 
 tiff to bring it on, and when, for the publication of a string 
 of sqidhs, in which no man of candour will be able to dis- 
 cover any thing malicious or libellous, a Philadelphia n 
 court and jury, on tlie lltli December, 1799, adjudged 
 Mr. C.)bbett to pay the enormous sum of FIVE THOU- 
 SAND DOLLARS. 
 
 To show the malignity of the prosecut r's feelings, let 
 the reader observe his conduct subsequent to the trial. 
 So eager was Dr. Rush to touch the profits of his long 
 and unwearied lab »urs, that, in a few hours after the ver- 
 dict was given, he sent off expresses to execute the judg-
 
 48 LIFE OF 
 
 raent at New York — to wliich place Cobbett had fled. — 
 His victim, liowever, gave tiie requisite bail, and thus 
 escaped the horrors of a dungeon. But this seems to have 
 provoked them exceedingly, for they then sent for the 
 sherifif to seize upon the effects which he had advertised 
 for sale in his house at Philadelphia ; they lodged an at- 
 tachment in the hands of his agent in tliat city ; they hunted 
 out his clerk, who was left at Philadelphia to collect 
 debts, and attached all that he might have, or receive, 
 belonging to his master; nay, they had the unparalleled 
 meanness to lodge attachments with every one whom they 
 suspected to have a horse, a cow, or dog, or any thing of 
 Mr. Cobbett's in his possession. They afterwards made a 
 sale of the property they found in his house, where, 
 amidst the exulting yells of the mob, they sold for about 
 four hundred dollars what ought to have brought nine hun- 
 dred or a thousand ! 
 
 This trial was begun on the 13th, and the Jive thousand 
 dollars verdict was given on the 14th of December. It is 
 customary after every verdict to allow four days previous 
 to entering up the judgment, in order to enable the de- 
 fendant to prepare for application for an arrest of judg- 
 ment. On the nth Mr. Cobbett's counsel made a motion 
 for a rule to show cause why the verdict and judgment 
 should not be set aside for excessiveness of damages — 
 which motion, however, was rejected^-vind well might they 
 reject it, — for, on the 16th (the day previous) he had 
 actually been arrested for the 5,000 dollars at New York ! 
 But the partiality of his enemies does not appear in its 
 true light till it is known that Mr. Fenno, who was sued 
 at the same time, for the very same pretended libel, was 
 suffered to escape with impunity. They hated Fenno for 
 his royalist principles, but he, being an American, they 
 knew that it would be hard to find a jury to assess heavy 
 damages against him, and to have given 5,000 dollars 
 against Mr. Cobbett, while they gave perhaps only 100, 
 against him would have appeared too glaring a proof of 
 infamy. 
 
 Mr.Cobbett now began to find -that America would no 
 longer afford a secure or comfortable asylum for one, 
 whom all parties seemed determined to persecute and hunt 
 out of their dominions. He had raised up many enemies
 
 ^VILLIAM COBBETT. 49 
 
 there by his violent attacks upon several distinguished 
 personages who had taken a leading part in establishing 
 the independence of the American Colonies. His sketches 
 of Paine, Franklin, and Rush, were caustic in the extreme 
 and, it is not surprising, therefore, that the admirers of 
 those personages should have pursued the steps they did 
 for the purpose ridding themselves of a man Avhose 
 writings were so diametrically opposed to all that they 
 considered the best interests of their young and thriving 
 states. 
 
 Such being the state of affairs, Mr. Cobbett prepared 
 for his immediate departure, and that of his family, from 
 the country in which he had passed the last eight years of 
 his life. He however, entertained some apprehension least 
 his conduct on this occasion should be attributed to a 
 fear of the consequence of a longer residence there, and 
 resolving to deprive liis enemies of such a subject of their 
 boasting, he inserted a farewell address in the Philadel- 
 phia papers, of which the following is an extract : — 
 
 " You will, doubtless, be astonished, that after having 
 had such a smack of the sweets of liberty, 1 should think 
 of rising thus abruptly from the feast ; but this astonish- 
 ment will cease, when you consider, that under a general 
 term, things diametrically opposite in their natures are 
 frequently included, and that flavours are not more various 
 than tastes. Thus, for Jiistance, nourishment of every species 
 is called ^orf, and we all like food ; but while one is par- 
 tial to roast beef and plum pudding, another is distract 
 edly fond of flummery and mush ; so it is with respect to 
 ItbeHy, of whicli, out of its infiiiite variety of sorts, yours 
 unfortunately happens to be precisely the sort which I do 
 not like. 
 
 "When people care not two straws for each other, cere- 
 mony at parting is mere grimace ; and as I have long felt 
 the most perfect indifference with regard to a vast majority 
 of those whom I now address, 1 shall spare myself the 
 trouble of a ceremonious farewell. Let me not, liowever, 
 de^iart from you with indiscriminating contempt. If no 
 mtn ever had so many and such malignant foes, no one 
 ever had more friends, and those more kind, more sincere, 
 and more faithful. If 1 have been unjustly vilified by 
 some, others have extolled me far beyond my merits ; it 
 
 F
 
 30 LIFE OF 
 
 the savages of the city have scared my children in the 
 cradle, those children have, for their fatlier's sake, been 
 soothed and caressed by the affectionate, the gentle, the 
 generous inhabitants of the country, under whose hospi- 
 table roofs 1 have spent some of the happiest hours of my 
 life. 
 
 " Thus and thus, Americans, will I ever speak of you. 
 In a very little time 1 sliall be beyond the reach of your 
 friendsliip, or your malice ; beyond the hearing of your 
 commendations or your curses; but being out of your 
 power will alter neither my sentiments nor my words. 
 As I have never spoken any thing but truth to you, so I 
 will never speak any thing but truth of you ; the heart of a 
 Briton revolts at an emulation in baseness ; and though 
 you liave, as a nation, treated me most ungratefully and 
 unjustly, 1 scorn to repay you with ingratitude and injustice. 
 
 " To my friends, who are also the real friends of Ame- 
 rica, I wish that peace and happiness which virtue ought 
 to ensure, but which 1 greatly fear they will not find ; 
 and as to ray enemies, I can wish them no severer scourge 
 than that which they are preparing for themselves and their 
 country. With this 1 depart for my native land, where 
 neitlier the moth of Democracy, nor the rust of Federalism 
 doth corrupt, and where thieves do not with impunity, 
 break through and steal Five Thousand Dollars at a 
 time." 
 
 Thes'3 were the last words published by Mr. Cobbett, 
 during liis visit to America. On the 1st of June 1800, ho 
 ..mbarked with his family on board a vessel, and returned 
 to the fondly loved liome of his birth. 
 
 On arriving in England, his fame as a thick and tliin 
 Royalist having preceded him, he was taken by the hand 
 by Mr. Pitt, and the other ministers then in power, and 
 bi'i;aine the petted favourite of the Tory part of the aris- 
 tocracy. Caressed by such distinguished men, Cobbett 
 shortly afterwards entered on business in Pall Mall, as a 
 printer and pnblish<'r, putting up, as an unequivocal mark 
 «)l'his [)rinciplc'S, tlic Bil)lc, Crown, and Mitre. 
 
 His first stej) was to reprint all that he had written 
 during his residence in America, which he did in twelve 
 octavo volumes, under the title of "The Works of Peter 
 Porcupine." AVhile this was proceding, however, he was
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. fil 
 
 itot idle in his literary career; — he established a uioiuing 
 paper, called the "Porcupine," which, proving unsuccess- 
 lul, was subsequently transformed into the Political 
 Register, which he continued till the period of his death. 
 In the commencement of this work he supported, with 
 great power, Mr. Pitt, who wastlicn at the head of affairs. 
 An article on the threatened invasion of England by Na- 
 poleon Buonaparte, was reprinted, to the extent, it is 
 said, of two millions and upwards, and was read from 
 almost every pulpit in England. The service thus ren- 
 dered to the Minister was incalculable ; and Mr. Wyud- 
 ham declared in the House of Commons, that so great 
 was the benefit conferred, that the autlior deserved a 
 statue of gold to be erected in his honour. His health, 
 too, was drunk at all Tory dinners throughout tiie country, 
 and the name of William Cobbett was alluded to on all 
 hands with the most profound veneration and respect. 
 
 His letters on the subject of the Treaty of Amiens, 
 addressed to Lord Hawkesbury, produced a great sen- 
 sation, both here and on the Continent, Of their pro- 
 duction it was said by the celebrated Swiss historian, 
 MUUer, that it was more eloquent than any thing tliat 
 had appeared since the days of Demosthenes. But Cob- 
 bett continued not long to upliold the policy of the 
 dominant party : — he soon saw that his liumble origin 
 stood in the way of his future preferment, — and, disgusted 
 with the empty flattery of these purse-proud friends, he 
 began to oppose them with as much vigour, as that with 
 which he had formerly supported tlieir policy. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett's first desertion of the Tory party has been 
 ascribed to a gratuitous insult offered to liim by Mr. Pitt, 
 wUo, with a superciliousness that clouded his great quali- 
 ties, affected so much of aristocratic morgue as to decline 
 the introduction of Mr. Wyndiiam's protege ; Mr. Wynd- 
 ham being a pei-son of higher genealogical rank than Mr. 
 Pitt, and the person proposed to be introduced, Mr. Cob- 
 bett, being the man who, after Mr. Burke, liad done 
 incomparably the most for preserving the institutions and 
 the honour of England, more, we do not scruple to say, 
 than had been done by Mr. Pitt himself, from his unaided 
 exertions. This is the common version of Mr. Cobbett's 
 abandonment of Tory principles. We believe it is a cor- 
 
 f2
 
 62 LIFE OF 
 
 rect one; it is undoubtedly confirmed by the marked and 
 disgraceful neglect of Mr, Cohbett's services, during the 
 interval between his return from America to the period 
 of his change. A person of higher birth, placed in similar 
 circumstances, would for a moment, probably, have 
 felt as Mr. Cobbett felt under this insult, if it was 
 offered ; but he would have made allowances for the vul- 
 gar weakness of the great and affluent. He would have 
 known, that of all people, great men, and particularly 
 great statesmen, are the most timid ; and that if tiiey be- 
 stow the favour of their countenance upon fops and 
 fiddlers, players and buffoons, in preference to persons 
 of more laborious habits, and more useful talent, and, 
 certainly, of more moral worth, it is because they do not 
 dare to anticipate the Jiat of the vulgar public, in a case 
 in which such anticipation might seem to commit them to 
 sincerity and zeal on particular occasions. 
 
 Had Mr. Cobbett, too, belonged to a higher, — though, 
 perhaps, less honourable sphere, — even if he could not have 
 forgiven Mr. Pitt, he would have been too proud, were 
 motives of conscience wanting, to allow that personal 
 considerations should influence his political creed. This 
 sudden change he owed, in part, at least, to the humble 
 circumstances of his bn'th and education. He was not a 
 man, however, to do anything by halves ; having aban- 
 doned Tory politics, because he thought he saw tlie fruit 
 of these politics in Mr. Pitt's ungrateful, arrogant, and 
 contumelious conduct, Mr. Cobbett fell to the opposite side 
 to which he was otherwise naturally attracted by his hosti- 
 lity to overgrown wealtli. We should reprint awhole library 
 of his Register, to sliow with what indefatigable vigour 
 he warred against the manufacturing, theconnnercial and 
 the financial systems of the empire. He saw that the un- 
 fortunate disposition of the time was to promote the aug- 
 mentation of wealth in few hands, and to keep it in 
 those hands, and he directed liis shafts acrordingly. But 
 lie was muler a particular difliculty in tliis matter. He 
 had originally committed himself against a paper currency, 
 by treating as universal and permanent, its partial and 
 temporary ill effects. He prophesied that such a cur- 
 rency could not be continued, and that a departure from it 
 would necessarily lead to ruin. The first i)artof this pro-
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 63 
 
 pUcc.y was unhappily acted upon, and the acting upon it 
 went a great way towards realizing the second. 
 
 In the course of his subsequent writings, Mr. Cobbctt, 
 more than once avers that personal wrong, real or ima- 
 gined, done to himself, had given rise to feelings that ever 
 afterwards influenced his public conduct. It was thus 
 with reference to the thousand pounds he bad to pay, 
 under the Regency, as the pecuniary part of a penalty in- 
 curred by the publication of a libel. His desire for re- 
 venge on the Regent, induced him, at an after period, to 
 espouse the cause of the Queen, Caroline, and to persevere, 
 under the most adverse circumstances, until he triumphed 
 in exlii biting to the world one of the most atrocious and 
 unnatural conspiracies that ever disgraced a civilized 
 country. Be this as it may, however, Mr. Cobbett, from 
 this time abandoned a political course which he has since 
 confessed was adopted from the ardour of his feelings in 
 favom- of his country, rather than from grave deliberation ; 
 and we need not tell our readers that, since his conversion 
 to Radical Reform principles, he has consistently and 
 zealously advocated, through evil report and through 
 good report, those liberal doctrines that are identified 
 with the welfare of the British empire, and the happiness 
 of mankind. 
 
 It was in the year 1805 that Mr. Cobbett first came out 
 openly in the character of a Reformer, and we will chal- 
 lenge his most inveterate revilers to lay their fingers upon 
 any passage in his writings since that time, — when lie may 
 fairly be said to have commenced'his political career, — that 
 will bear the oft-repeated allegation of tergiversation — 
 that is, a wilful shifting of opinion from interested and 
 dishonourable motives. We do not mean to say that his 
 writings exhibit no discrepancies in statement, or no varia- 
 tions in opinion. We do not think, if such a thing were 
 possible, in so voluminous and rapid a writer, during the 
 space of thirty years, it would be any great matter to 
 boast of in his favour. Has he not ever been the s^-ady 
 and determined advocate of economical and efficient go- 
 vernment — of equalized and reduced expenditure — of a 
 large constituency — of institutions controlled by public 
 opinion and by public supervision — of a limited monarchy 
 —of the largest extent of civil and political freedom, and 
 
 f3
 
 54 LIFE OF 
 
 of a free and independent press? Has he not nniforiuly 
 opposed useless places and unmerited pensions — a large 
 standing army — partial or uneqaally-operating duties or 
 imposts — expensive laws — pampered and profligate cour- 
 tiers — and the excessive and ill-requited labour of the 
 poor ? What are the great political questions upon which 
 he has apostatised, or equivocated, or contradicted him- 
 self? We deny that there are any such, and ctiallcnge 
 his calumniators to the proof. His prejudices we do not 
 deny ; they were many and strong, and often betr.-iyed him 
 into statements and reasonings which cannot be denied to 
 be absurd, and greatly at variance with tuc conchwious at 
 which he arrived upon those subjects where cool and impar- 
 tial reason alone had sway. But, weraustadd, tliat if those 
 prejudices be carefully looked into and ac(!urately analysed, 
 they will be found to originate in identically the same feel- 
 ing wliich prompted him tliroughout his long political life ; 
 — an ardent love of his country, an attachment to the 
 theory of her institutions, and a fervent desire to see them 
 relieved from the various innovations and abuses which he 
 was of opinion diminished their lustre, impaired their 
 utility, or periled their stability. 
 
 That Mr. Cobbett was more ciiangeable as to men tlian 
 as to measures, we are free to admit. It has often hap- 
 pened that tliose who once ranked high in iiis estimation, 
 subsequently became exposed to his most unsj)aring hos- 
 tility ; but there was reason for this — sometimes of a per- 
 sonal, but more frequently of a public nature. A writer 
 in the " Standard"' evening newspaper, who understood 
 and appreciated his character better we think than any 
 ftny other, thus accounts, as it seems to us, satisfactorily, 
 for his apparent inconsistency in this particular : — 
 
 *' The pride of j)urse persecuted him in America, and 
 persecuted him no less in England, as it persecutes us all, 
 and will continue to persecute, until in the fulness of its 
 cup, it shall l)c laid low. Tiic purse-proud Americans 
 ■were a democracy ; and, therefore, in AmericraMr. Cobbett 
 was a Royalist. In England the vice is impartially dis- 
 tributed amongst all classes of the wealthy; and, there- 
 fore, in England, ]\lr. Cobbctt's resentment took a more 
 definite — perhaps a more just — direction, associating him- 
 self with whatever party most unequivocally prosecuted 
 the war against wealth."
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 66 
 
 The forogoiug defence of Mr. Cobbctt's poJitical con 
 duct has been rather more lengthy than we had intended; 
 but, having witnessed iiis complete conversion from the 
 Tory doctrines oi Mr. Pitt, to those afterwards so ably 
 advocated by himself, we found it impossible conscienti- 
 ously to discha)ge the duties of a biographer without en- 
 tering somcAvhat more into detail upon this important 
 period of his life. However, to proceed : — 
 
 Mr. Cobbett iiad no sooner quitted the ranks of the 
 Tory party than he commenced an attack upon the Ad- 
 dington Administration v.ith the utmost energy and effect. 
 Of the peace of Amiens he disapproved as being dangerous 
 and disgraceful ; and, inconsequence of his refusal to illu- 
 minate upon that inglorious occasion, his house was as- 
 sailed by a deluded and ignorant mob. So extensive, 
 however, became the sale of liis Political Register, that he 
 was enabled to extend his a sistancc to many of his rela- 
 tions, and to puivhase a considerable estate at Botley, in 
 Hampsiiire, at whicli place he fixed his residence, and 
 occupied his leisure hours in the business of farming, 
 which, having been the earliest occupation of his life, was 
 now a source of the greatest pleasure, and some degree of 
 profit. 
 
 In the year 1804, Mr, Cobbett turned his attentions 
 towards certain abuses that existed in the government of 
 unhappy Ireland, and in the course of some very severe 
 remarks upon the subject, ho animadverted with great 
 warmth on the conduct of the Earl of Hardwicke (Lord 
 Lieutenant), Lord Redesdaic (Lord Chancellor), and 
 other officers of state in that country. To revenge them- 
 selves for this raeiciless flagellation, the strong arm 
 of the law was appealed to, and, on the 25th of May, in 
 that year, he was tried on an information for a libel in the 
 Court of King's Bench, wlien damages were given against 
 him for ^500.— Hut Cobbett still buffetted manfully 
 against the storm that threatened to overwhelm him — he 
 rose superior to his enemies — and the Register continued, 
 in spite of all the efforts that were made to suppress it. 
 
 In the spring of the year 1805, Mr. Cobbett, finding that 
 Mr. Cavendish Bradshaw had been obliged to vacate his 
 seat for tbe borough of Honiton, in consequence Of the 
 acceptance of an ofiice in the Exchequer of Ireland, deter-
 
 66 LIFE OF 
 
 rained to make a stand against him. He accordingly re- 
 paired to Devonshire, and in an advertisement to the 
 electors, intimated, tliat he should stand forward, if no 
 otiier person presented himself, on independent principles. 
 
 At this time Lord Cochrane happening to return to 
 Plymouth after a successful cruize, heard by acci- 
 dent, that some of the electors of Honiton were desirous 
 of the presence of a candidate, who, uniting wealth with 
 respectability, might fight their battle at his own expense. 
 This borough, which had long been under the influence 
 of the family of Yonge, had recently emancipated itself, 
 in consequence of the deiilining fortunes of the head of 
 that house. The voters had split into parties, some of 
 which were supposed to be desirous to put up the elective 
 franchise to the best bidder. Others no doubt, were ac- 
 tuated by purer and nobler motives, and would have 
 blushed at the idea of a bribe. In a few days afterwards 
 Lord Cochrane happening to read the before mentioned 
 appeal of Mr. Cobbett, and conceiving that he really had 
 no desire to present himself to the electors of Honiton, 
 immediately posted to tiiat borough, and offered his ser- 
 vices. Cobbett gladly withdrew from the contest ; his 
 purpose had been served by the arrival of a liberal can- 
 didate, — and, whatever interest he possessed was given 
 for the support of that gallant officer. 
 
 The election took place on the 10th of June, when, 
 after a speech from Mr. Cavendish Bradshaw, Lord Coch- 
 rane addressed the electors in an able speech, wherein he 
 exposed the corrupt system of the then existing govern- 
 ment, — pointed out tiie remedy, and promised, if chosen 
 for their representative, to do all that was in his power 
 towards redressing the wrongs of the people. This appeal 
 was, however, of no use, the gold of his opponent had 
 already purchased the votes of this virtuous constituency, 
 and the Honourable Cavendish Bradshaw was declared 
 <luly elected by a majority of 135. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett now became deeply involved in the po- 
 litical transactions of this country; — he directed public 
 attention to men of liberal views; and in the year 
 1807 when the dissolution of Parliament took place, he 
 patronized and supported Sir Frances Burdett, who then, 
 for the first time offered himself for the city of West- 
 minster. After a severe contest the Baronet was elected
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 57 
 
 with Lord Cochrane for his colleague, and has continued 
 to sit for Westminster from that period to the present 
 time. In all the subsequent contests for that city, 
 Mr. Cobbett was ever found among the steadiest and 
 most unflinching of the partizans of Sir Francis; and the 
 friendship which had thus sprung up between them con- 
 tinued unabated until it was suddenly, and finally dis- 
 solved by a rupture between them in the year 1817. As 
 this quarrel, and the causes that are supposed to have led 
 to it have been the frequent subject of animadversion, we 
 will now refer to this portion of Mr. Cobbett's history, 
 merely premising that Sir Francis Burdett lent, or, what 
 is more probable, gave the sum of two thousand pounds 
 to Mr. C. in a moment of pressing emergency, for the 
 purj)ose of relieving him from some embarrassments that 
 untoward events liad brouglit on. For the purpose of 
 fully explaining this affair, we will give Cobbett's own 
 account of it, which we extract from his Register of a few 
 years back. The article in question was in answer to a 
 direct cliarge of sordidness and ingratitude, brought 
 against him by the editor of the Morning Chronicle ; and, 
 as the reply to it at once disposes of these charges, we 
 shall, notwitiistanding its length, lay it before our readers. 
 It is but an act of justice to his memory, and to the cause 
 of which he was the consistent and able champion. This 
 refutation, which is fair and manly, we give in his own 
 words : — 
 
 '* The Westminster elections, all put together, did not 
 cost me so little as 1 ,500A I, at the request of Col. Bos- 
 ville, ordered public breakfasts at several places, during 
 the election of Mr. Paull. Mr. Paull became unable to pay. 
 He died, in short, and the breakfast-furnishers came upon 
 me; and first and last, I had to pay them, together with 
 expenses attending it, upwards of twelve hundred pounds, 
 instead of w^hich, a halter Avould have suited them ex- 
 ceedingly well. However, I had to pay the money ; but 
 Colonel Bosviile, in consideration of those payments, 
 gave me a thousand pounds soon after I entered the 
 prison of Newgate, (ui 1810); with which thousand pounds 
 I paid a printer his bill, and a paper-maker one of his 
 bills; but ho did not give me the tliousand pounds to pay 
 VnQ Jine with, as some people have thought; and, Avhat
 
 58 LIFE OF 
 
 remains unpaid to nie of that fine, ought to be paid me 
 yet. Burdett's elections for Westminster, cost me, from 
 iirst to last, upwards of three hundred pounds, if I include 
 my subscriptions upon various occasions, since his first 
 election, for various purposes tending to uphold him, I, 
 looking upon that as necessary to the cause of Parlia- 
 mentary Reform. There was a large subscription for the 
 Coventry election ; principally coming from one generous 
 man, to name whom I shoidd be glad to have permission. 
 But I have paid more than five hundred pounds on account 
 of that election, since the election was over. Aye, and 
 tiu'ee hundred and seventy odd pounds of it, since I was a 
 bankrupt, and had to begin the world anew, without a 
 sheet of paper to print on, witliout a copyright left in my 
 possession, and without table, chair or bed. Then take 
 in the celebrated two thousand pounds of Burdett ; and 
 say that he did lend it. Then it was not a gift. Add 
 that to the rest, and call it raising of contributions upon 
 the public ; but then, if he lent it, why did he not come 
 and prove it to be a debt, when he was called upon so to 
 do 1 Loan or gift, it never went for a moment into my 
 pocket. I gave the check to INlr. Swan, who was also 
 an acquaintance of his own ; at whose house he had fre- 
 quently been, day and night; and he knows that as well 
 as I do. But, add this ; say that it was a debt that I 
 owed ; it was so ; but that debt arose, like numerous 
 others, from my preferring what 1 thought the public 
 interest to my own. The judges had blasted me, as Gibbs 
 had called upon them to do; and they thought, kind old 
 gentlemen as they were, that tiiey had blasted me for 
 ever, and Bayley must remember (if he remembers any 
 thing) , that he iieard old Grose almost tell me as much. 
 I have lived to see the whole twelve of them, all but 
 Bayley, safely under ground, and Gibbs and Perceval 
 under them. 
 
 " Having mentioned the affair of Burdett, I will here, 
 for about the hundredth time, expose the infamous lie 
 which has been circulated, and is still circulated, with 
 regard to that aft'air. Let it be a loan, which it was not; 
 but, let it be a loan, I owed it him, then; and, the stoiy 
 is, that I, owing it him, wrote to Inm from America, to 
 Bay. ' that I would uot pay liim.' Now, the senselessness
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 69 
 
 of this lie, one would think, would cause it to be uni- 
 versally disbelieved. I was attacking him at the time; 1 
 was accusing him distinctly of having abandoned the Re- 
 formers in the montlis of February and March 1817: 
 I was laying it upon him with a heavy hand ; I was 
 telling him that I would bring him down, tliough 
 it might cost me about ten years to do it ; and, at this 
 time I was writing to him, and acknowledging the debt, 
 and telling him that I would never pay him ! This is not a 
 thing to be believed of a sane person. I was in Long Island, 
 to be sure; but a power of attorney and a writ would have 
 stripped me of every thing that I possessed in that coun- 
 try, down to the very bed that I lay on. But, as if this 
 was not daring enough, I came to England in a year and 
 a half after I had told him that 1 would never pay him ! 
 and I came to London, too, at about the end of that year 
 and a half. What ! — come across tiie sea on purpose to 
 put myself within his reach, after having stirred up his 
 animosity, and declared that I never would pay him ! The 
 fact is, I knew that what he had said in his anger he would 
 never swear ; and therefore, I was suie that he never 
 would commence a suit against me for tliat money. Very 
 soon, however, after ray arrival, he had an opportunity of 
 swearing, if he cliose ; for I became a bankrupt, of which 
 he was duly informed, of course ; to prove his debt, he 
 must swear to his debt ; but, tliough invited so to do by 
 Mr. Brown, he never did it: and the truth is, that never 
 would he have said a word about the matter, had it not 
 been for his anger at the attacks which I had made upon 
 him. 
 
 *' But, did 1, then, never tell him that 1 would not pay 
 him ? Verbally this is impossible, because lie and 1 were 
 very intimate until the month of February 1817, and we 
 never Iiave spoken together, from tiiat time to this. Was 
 it in writing? then he has the letter ! and tlien he can pro- 
 duce it. But, I will state the substance of the contents of 
 the letter alluded to, and then the reader will see the peg 
 upon which has been hung this abominable lie ; and a 
 Member of Parliament, whom I will not now name, will be 
 cautious how he again makes allusion to any thing resting 
 on such a foundation. In Long Island, about the spring 
 of 1818, having had time to learn all the waste, the spo-
 
 60 LIFE OF 
 
 liation, the total annihilation of all my property in En- 
 gland of every description, 1 wrote a circular letter to all 
 those to whom I owed money in England, — amongst whom 
 I included the Baronet. 1 had been driven away from 
 what was then become really an enormous income. Sid- 
 mouth and Castlereagh's Power of Imprisonment Bill 
 had been passed ; my choice lay between flight and a dun- 
 geon; the laws of personal liberty wore r,}} agated as fa" 
 as related to me. In writing the above circidar letter, to 
 made observations of this sort. — Tliat the laws ofciviK' 
 society made it incumbent on men to pay the debts Avhich ' 
 they had contracted in that society: but, that if a partial 
 tyranny arose, depriving a portion of the society of the 
 power of pursuing the calling which they had pursued 
 while the debt was contracted ; and if the society, as a 
 whole, were either unwilling or unable to abate such 
 tyranny, — then that society had no right to demand the 
 payment of debts due from those who liad been proscribed 
 by tliat tyranny, any more than you have a right to de- 
 mand of a man the performance of a foot-race which he 
 lias contracted to perform, you having first given youi' 
 assent to the cutting off of one of his legs.' But after 
 having stated this doctrine, 1 expressly stated in that 
 same letter, that in his case, 1 would waive everj t-uch 
 jight of refusal ; and that, as soon as I was able, 1 would 
 satisfy his claim to the last pennv, and tl -it no exertion 
 on my part sliould be wanting for thn purpose of effecting 
 that object. If this be not a true statement of the sub- 
 stance of the letter, let him produce th'^ letter. 
 
 " However, at last came the hanicruptcy ; and tlien the 
 creditor was paid at any rate, as lar as the law could pay 
 him. As I said before, he never came to prove his debts, 
 and I was sure he never would ; and I owe him nothing 
 now, unless he have some peculiar privilege to set aside 
 tfie effects even of a bankruptcy. But he iiimself, never 
 for one moment, regarded any part or portion of this 
 transaction, as being dishonest on my part. He was 
 angry; — he iiad carried his liberty doctrine so far, and in 
 some respects too far, that he began to wish that he could 
 stop a little short of that which he iiad so long professed 
 in his more giddy days. Though he iiad a great opinion 
 of mc, he was displeased with me, because 1 would not
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 61 
 
 let him stop; because I would pull him along or push 
 him along, or else assail him. This was the fact ; and 
 then he said and wrote, while he was angry, that which he 
 did not think, and which he never could have thought. 
 When I came out of the prison of Newgate, (in 1812), he 
 was the chairman of a dinner that was given me at the 
 Crown and Anchor ; from that chair he proclaimed me in 
 th-^se very words : — * pre-eminent alike in talent and in 
 ^^ i/Ue, always found at his post, — that post the foremost ; 
 d always labouring with zeal, and with eflFect.' Wliy, 
 . do not accuse him of inconsistency ; I do not set up 
 that cuckoo cry against him ; he tiiought what he said at 
 the time when he uttered the words ; and, though age and 
 other circumstances may have a good deal ehanged him, 
 if lie were now on his death-bed, he would say the same 
 thing. 
 
 '• But the best answer to all thesemost atrocious calum- 
 niators, and to the vile hypocrites who pretend to believe 
 them, is his own conduct with regard to me since 1822. 
 About 1823 or 1824, 1 think it was, there was a sub- 
 scription proposed to raise a sum of money to defray the 
 expense of an election to put me into Parliament. This 
 was talked of most in Norfolk. Upon that occasion he, 
 (Sir Francis Burdett) wrote to Richard Gurney, to say 
 that lie would subscribe five hundred pounds towards the 
 fund, and that he did not care who knew it. This was 
 told me by Mr. Withers, of Holt, and by Mr. Spalding, 
 of Stoke Holy-Cross ; I have mentioned the thing before 
 in print, and it never has been contradicted by him or by 
 anybody else. In 1826, when the election for Preston 
 was coming on ; and when a subscription was again pro 
 posed for that purpose, he offered again to subscribe, and 
 by letter to Colonel Johnstone, who was then a member of 
 Parliament- Just before I and Sir Thomas Beever set 
 off to Preston, Colonel Johnstone left us at his house, 
 somewhere about Dover-street, I think it was, while he 
 wont to ask the Baronet the amount of the sum that he 
 intended to subscribe ; because upon that depended the 
 scale of our operations. Colonel Johnstone brought us 
 back word that he would subscribe, but that he did not 
 name the sum; but told us distinctly that he had told him 
 that he would subscribe towards the election. He did
 
 (53 LIFE OF 
 
 not do it, it is true ; but this does not at all mend the 
 matter with regard to him, nor make it worse with re- 
 gard to me ; for here was a second declaration, that he 
 was ready to subscribe to put me into that House of Com- 
 mons, where I now am without any subscription at all. 
 So tliat here he is caught, somehow or the other, in a 
 dilemma; either he did not think me a dishonest man, or 
 he was ready to give his money to put a dishonest man 
 into Parliament. It was the former. 1 do not wish to 
 blacken him so much as to inculcate the belief that it 
 was tlie latter. When he acted hostile to me, it was from 
 anger, and unjust anger too, for he should have reflected, 
 that, if I were going too far, the fault was his, and not 
 mine. Before I dismiss this proposition, I must obseinre, 
 that though the subscription for the election for Preston 
 amounted, I believe, to more tlian seventeen himdred 
 pounds, I did not escape quite clear out of that; and if 1 
 add this to the otlier sums of hard money which I have ex- 
 pended really and truly in the cause of Parliamentary 
 Reform, and if the public acknowledge any debts on that 
 score. I have expended, out of ray own earnings, more 
 than all that I have received, the two thousand pounds of 
 Burdett included." 
 
 We have been hiduced to give this long extract, be- 
 cause it serves to throw full light upon the transactions, 
 that have been so often misrepresented, between Sir F. 
 Burdett and Mr. Cobbett. It is true that some of the 
 statements will be found to anticipate many of the im- 
 portant features in the life of the subject of our memoir, 
 but as they are merely alluded to in a slight manner, we 
 have given tliem entire, as best calculated to clear up the 
 mystery in which the whole affair has been involved. 
 The charges have been brought repeatedly against Mr. 
 Cobbett, and it is our duty as faithful biographers to state 
 the whole case fairly and clearly to the reader, so that he 
 may draw his own (conclusions as to the truth or falsehood 
 of the allegations. That Sir Francis Burdett bestowed 
 the two thousand i)Oun(ls as a free gift upon iiis fellow la- 
 bourer in the cause of Reform, there can be little or no 
 cloubt, and it is to be regretted that he should afterwards, 
 wiieu the disagreement broke out between them, have 
 given currency to a report — that the sum had been advanced
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 63 
 
 only in the shape of a loan. Why, had this really been 
 the case, Mr. Cobbett, we are certain, was too honoiu- 
 able in his nature to have denied it. He would not so 
 repeatedly have asserted that he owed nothing to him 
 who had stepped forward to his assistance in the hour of 
 need ; nor would he have refused to give up his last 
 shilling towards repaying him, had he indeed considered 
 it as a just debt. We will however, conclude this 
 painful subject. Poor Cobbett is now gathered to the 
 quiet grave of his fathers ; and Sir Francis, we are sure, 
 possesses too much good feeling to remember his former 
 friend and companion with any other thought than that of 
 kindness or sincere regret. But to resume the thread of 
 our narrative : — . 
 
 It was about the year 1806, we believe, that Mr. Cob- 
 bett began to ask questions in his Register as to the pur- 
 poses and prospects of the Reformers. Major Cartwright, 
 who was then the ostensible head of that party, imme- 
 diately paid him attention, and thus commenced an ac- 
 quaintance and warm friendship that ended, only with the 
 life of the Major. This connection was of the highest 
 service . to Mr. Cobbett. The Major was no factious or 
 personal man. Principle, and that good, was his polar 
 star. Much of Cobbett's utility as a political reformer 
 may be justly attributed to the excellent character and 
 example of his friend. Major Cartwright. 
 
 From this period to the year 1810 we have nothing of 
 great importance to relate of the subject of our memoir. 
 His Register continued to make its periodical appearance, 
 and most of the articles arc distinguished by that extra- 
 ordinary force, combined with perspicuity of style, which 
 tended so materially to extend the popularity of his 
 writings. Admired by his numerous friends, and justly 
 dreaded by those whom he constantly lashed, he continued 
 liis labours without exciting the acknowledged attention 
 of the Government till the 24th of March 1810, when 
 there appeared in his Weekly Register a letter inscribed : 
 " Sir Francis Burdctt to his co7istituents, denying the power 
 of the House of Commons to imprison the People of Eng- 
 land;^* accompanied by the argument with whidi he had 
 endeavoured to convince the gentlemen of tiie House of 
 Commons, that their acts, in the case of INIr. Gale Jones, 
 
 g2
 
 64 LIFE OF 
 
 were illegal ; this laid the case before them, he said, in 
 a more full and connected way, than could possibly be 
 done by parliamentary reporters. 
 
 This publication of Mr. Cobbett's was brought under 
 the notice of the House of Commons, on tlia 26th of 
 March, by Mr. (now Sir Thomas) Lethbridge, at whose 
 desire the question was put by the Speaker to Sir Francis 
 Burdett, whether he acknowledged himself to be the 
 author ? Sir Francis having answered in the affirmative, 
 Mr. Lethbridge gave notice of a motion on the subject. 
 
 Next day, in consequence of this notice, Mr. Lethbridge 
 rose, with a degree of pain and embarrassment, which, he 
 declared he had never felt before, to make a complaint 
 against one of the United Commons of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, who, in his opinion, had violated the privileges 
 of that House. He did not, he said, mean to enter upon 
 the subject itself, but only to lay on the table the docu- 
 ment which the honourable Baronet, who was the object 
 of the motion he had to make, had admitted to have 
 been published by his autliority. For tlie purpose of 
 saving the time of the House, he had marked certain 
 passages in that document, which, in his opinion, more 
 particularly justified him in the charge which he had pre- 
 ferred against the honourable Baronet. Mr. Lethbridge 
 then gave in at the table "Cobbett's Weekly Register" of 
 Saturday, the 24th of March 1810; and Sir Francis Bur- 
 dett's papers were read by the Clerk. 
 
 Amongst the most offensive and obnoxious passages 
 pointed out by Mr. Lethbridge in Sir Francis Burdett's 
 Letter and Argument, were the following : — 
 
 " The House of Commons having passed a vote, which 
 amounts to a declaration, tliat an order of theirs is to be 
 of more importance than Magna Charta and the laws of 
 the land, I think it my duty to lay my sentiments thereon 
 before my constituents, wliose character as freemen, and 
 even whose personal safety depend, in a great degree, on 
 the decision of this question, — a question of no less im- 
 portance than this — whether our liberty be still to be 
 secured by the laws of our forefathers, or be to lie at the 
 absolute mercy of a part of our fellow subjects, — collected 
 together by means •which it it not necessary for me to de- 
 scribe.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 66 
 
 " U they (the House of Commons) have the absolute 
 power of imprisoning- and releasing, why may they not 
 send their prisoner to York gaol as well as to a gaol in 
 London ? Why not confine men in solitary cells, or load 
 them with cliains and bolts ? They liavc not gone these 
 lengths yet. But what is to restrain them, if they are to 
 be the sole judges of the extent of their own powers 
 without control, and without leaving the parties wliom 
 they choose to punish any mode of appeal, — any means of 
 redress ? 
 
 *' By proceding thus, they may have exercised a juris- 
 diction not vested in them ; a jurisdiction beyond tiic 
 limits of King, Lords, and Commons, while Magna 
 Charta remains unrepealed; and repealed it* never can be 
 till England shall have found her grave in the corruption 
 of the House of Commons. 
 
 *' But no wonder, when they have so entirely departed 
 from the ends of their institution, as was offered to be 
 proved by Mr. IMnddocks, and acknowledged by them- 
 selves, on the never-to-be-forgotten morning of the 1 1th 
 of May 1809, when, from being the lower or inferior, 
 (for it is the same sense, one being an English, the other 
 a Latin word,) branch of the liCgislature, they have 
 become, by burgagc-tenuro, the proprietors of the whole 
 representation, and in that capacity, inflated with their 
 high-flown fanciful ide.as of majesty, and tricked out in 
 the trappings of royalty, think privilege and protection 
 beneath their dignity, assume the sword of prerogative, 
 and lord it equally over the King and the people." 
 
 In reply to the charges that had thus been brought 
 against him, Sir Francis Burdett said, tliat in writing the 
 address to his constituents, and the arguments that ac 
 companied it, he had no idea that he was infringing any 
 privilege of tiiat House. Was it to be supposed that the 
 simple act of arguing on the powers of the Commons was 
 a crime ? Would not the House endure even an abstract 
 doubt of these powers ? He was willing to abide by the 
 fact and argument of what he had written. He would 
 stand the issue. But if it was the pleasure of the House 
 that he should now withdraw, he was ready to with- 
 draw. 
 The Speaker stated this was, iu similar cases, the uni- 
 
 ti 3
 
 66 LIFE OF 
 
 form practice. Sir Francis Burdett accordingly withdrew ; 
 after which Mr. Lethbridge proposed the two following 
 resolutions, for the adoption of the House. 
 
 " 1st. — Resolved that the letter signed Francis Burdett, 
 and the furtlier argument which was published in the 
 paper called " Cobbetfs Weekly Register", on the 24th of 
 this instant, is a libellous and scandalous paper reflecting 
 upon the just rights and privileges of this House. 
 
 "2nd. — That Sir Francis Burdett, who suffered the 
 above articles to be printed with his name, and by his 
 authority, has been guilty of a violation of the privileges 
 of this House." 
 
 The motion was seconded by Mr. Blatchford. Mr. She- 
 ridan concluded along harangue with moving, "that the 
 committee of privileges should resume its sitting on that 
 day se'nnight, and that the paper complained of should be 
 referred to it." Some debate about the necessity of mo- 
 ving this, in point of form, as an amendment on the 
 oiiginal question, was superseded by a motion made by 
 Mr. Brand, as an amendment to the original question, 
 that the debate be adjourned till the next day se'nnight. 
 A conversation ensued on this question of adjournment, 
 in which most of the speakers entered into the merits of the 
 original question. 
 
 Upon the question being put it was adjourned till 
 the following day se'nnight, the 5th of April, on which 
 day the resumed debate on wliich the main points on both 
 sides had been already discussed, was continued till half 
 after seven o'clock on Friday morning; and in the course 
 of which, speeches were made by no less than thirty mem- 
 bers. The resolutions, however, moved by Mr. Leth- 
 bridge, were eventually agreed to without a division ; 
 after which a motion was made by Sir Robert Salisbury 
 for the commitment of Sir Francis Burdett to the Tower, 
 but this not meeting with the entire approbation of the 
 House, an amendment was proposed that Sir Francis Bur- 
 dett, be reprimanded in liis place: upon which the House 
 jlivided, when there appeared — for the original motion 
 190; — against it 152; — majoirty in favour of the commit- 
 tal of Sir Frane.is Hiinh-tt— 38. 
 
 in consequence of this vote for tlie conunitmcnt of Sir 
 Francis^Burdett, the Speaker, on the same moniing, at
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT 67 
 
 hair past tight o'clock, signed the warrants for conimit- 
 Jiient, aiul iinniediately delivered them to the serjeant-at- 
 arms, to be carried into etiect, if possible, by ten o'clock 
 that morning. Sir Francis resisted tlie authority of those 
 warrants, and, upon being subsequently taken prisoner, a 
 very serious riot occurred in which several lives were lost. 
 The details, however, of this singular affair do not belong 
 to our present narrative ; we have mentioned the circum- 
 stance only from the fact of the letter of Sir Francis 
 Burdett, having originally appeared in Cobbett's Regis- 
 ter, from whicli it was copied on the followhig Monday 
 into the Times newspaper. 
 
 At this period, (1810), Mr. Cobbett had reached powder 
 enough in opposition to Perceval's administration, to 
 bring down the official persecution of the Attorney Gene- 
 ral (Sir Vicary Gibbs) on his head. For expressing his 
 utter abhorrence of the flogging of English Local-Militia 
 men, in tlie Isle of Ely, under a guard of German 
 soldiers, he was indicted by e.v officio information, 
 and subjected to all the annoyances and heavy 
 expenses consequent upon such proceedings. Thus 
 goaded by his enemies, and holding a gaol in the great- 
 est dread, together with a natural alarm for a happy 
 family, young and increasing, he began to conceive an 
 idea of surrendering his literary powers as a sacrifice to 
 Perceval. But that minister, w^aspish, as he ever was, 
 not choosing to accept the offer, Mr. Cobbett was once 
 more put on his mettle, and he determhied to brave and 
 suffer the judgment, w'hatever it might be, of the Court 
 of King's Bench. This trial was important in its results, 
 and so demonstrative is it of the vindictive feelings of his 
 enemies, that we shall give it at considerable length ; for, 
 since five and twenty years have now elapsed, few persons 
 know more of the subject than from mere hear-say, and 
 "We doubt not that a full report will prove acceptiblc to all 
 our readers. 
 
 On Friday, June 15th, 1810, this ministerial prosecution 
 was tried in the Court of King's Bench before Lord Ellen- 
 borough, who came into the court at nine o'clock, accom- 
 panied by Lord Lauderdale, and Mr. Tieniey. The 
 paunel being called over, the following persons Mer» 
 sworn of the jury: — Thomas Rhodes, Ilampstead Road
 
 68 LIFE OF 
 
 Jobu .Davis, Southampton Place, ditto ; James Ellis, 
 Tottenham Court Road; John Richards, Bayswater; 
 Thomas Marshara, Baker Street; Robert Heathcote, 
 High Street, Mary-le-bone; John Maude, York Place, 
 ditto ; George Bagster, Church Terrace, Pancras ; Thomas 
 Taylor, Red Lion Square ; David Deane, 1 10, St. John 
 Street ; William Palmer, Upper Street, Islington ; 
 Joseph West, (talesman) was about to be sworn, but 
 
 Mr. Cobbett objected to him, and he was withdrawn 
 without assigning any reason, on the consent of the At- 
 toYney-General. Henry Faver, a talesman, was then 
 sworn, and made up the twelve. 
 
 The Attorney-General (Gibbs) then opened the case 
 on behalf of the crown. In 1808, Lord Castlereagh 
 brought in his Bill by which the local militia might bo 
 called out for twenty-eight days, though they had only 
 been called out twenty days. When the Cambridge- 
 shire militia was called out, some disaffected persons in 
 the Isle of Ely caused them to mutiny, and it was found 
 necessary to call in the military in the neighbourhood , 
 and five of the ringleaders were sentenced to receive 500 
 lashes, part only of which they received. The German 
 legion^ who were thus called in, Mas composed of a body 
 of brave men, who, when Hanover was overcome, quitted 
 their country, and entering into his Majesty's service, had 
 conducted themselves with bravery, and it was no dis- 
 paragement to the British array to say, that the German 
 legion even shared the glory with them. At the battle of 
 Talavera, the German legion took three standards. No 
 troops had ever conducted themselves in a more qnict, 
 orderly, or sober manner, and he could not find that any 
 complaint had been made against them. Mr. Wardle, in 
 a motion in the House of Commons, had proposed to dis- 
 band the German legion, against which Mr. Huskisson 
 offered sufficient reasons, A paragraph soon after ap- 
 peared in tlie Courier, which he would read :— 
 
 •' Tlie mutiny amongst the local militia, which broke 
 out at Ely, was furlunatcly suppressed on Wednesday, by 
 the arrival of four squadrons of tlie German legion cavalry 
 from Bury, under tlic conim;ind of General Auckland. 
 Five of the ringleaders were tried by a court-martial, and 
 sentenced to receive 500 Jaslies cachy part of which punish- 
 ment they received on Wednesday ^ and a part was remitted.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 69 
 
 A stoppage for their Knapsacks was the ground of com- 
 plaint that excited this mttlinous spirit; which occasioned 
 the men to surround their officers, and demand what 
 they deemed their arrears. The first division of the Ger- 
 man legion halted yesterday at Newmarket, on their re- 
 turn to Bury." {Courier Newspaper ^ Saturday, June 2i. 
 1809.] 
 
 With this paragraph as a text to a sermon, had Mr. 
 Cobbett headed the article complained of in the Weekly 
 llegister. 
 
 The Attorney-General then read the alleged libel:— 
 
 "Local Militia and German Legion. 
 *' See the motto, English reader ! See the motto, and 
 then do pray recollect all that has been said about the 
 way in which Buonaparte raises soldiers— Weil done. 
 Lord Castlereagh ! This is just what it was thought 
 your plan would produce. Well said, Mr. Huskisson ; 
 It really was not without reason that you dwelt with so 
 much earnestness upon the great utility of the foreign 
 troops, whom Mr. Wardle appeared to think of no 
 utility at all. Poor gentleman ! he little imagined how 
 a great genius might find useful employment for such 
 troops. He little imagined that they might be made 
 the means of compelling Englishmen to submit to that 
 sort of discipline, which is so conducive to the producing 
 in them a disposition to defend the country, at the risk 
 of their lives. Let Mr. Wardle look at my motto, and 
 then say, whether the German soldiers are oi'no use- 
 Five hundred lashes rac/t!— Aye, that is right! Flog them; 
 flog them ! they deserve it, and a great deal more. They 
 deserve a flogging at every meal-time. Lash them daily; 
 lash them daily. What ! shall the rascals dare to mu- 
 tiny, and that too when the German legion is so near 
 at hand ! They deserve it. O yes ; they merit a double 
 tailed cat. Base dogs ! What ! mutiny for the sake of 
 the price of a knapsack ! Lash them ! flog them ! Base 
 rascals! Mutiny for the price of a goat's skin! — And 
 then, upon the appearance of the German soldiers, they 
 take a fiogigng as quietly as so many trunks of trees ! — I 
 do not know what sort of a place Ely is; but really I 
 should like to know how the inhabitants looked one
 
 70 LIFE OF 
 
 another in the face, while this scene was exhibiting in 
 their town. I should like to have been able to see their 
 faces, and to hear their observations to each other 
 at the time. This occurrence at home will, one would 
 hope, teach the loyal a little caution m speaking of the 
 means which Napoleon employs (or rather which they 
 say he employs) in order to get together and to dis- 
 cipline his conscripts. There is scarcely any one of these 
 loyal persons, who has not at various times, cited the 
 hand-cuffings and other means of force, said to be used 
 in drawing out the young men of France ; there is 
 scarcely one of the loyal, who has not cited these 
 means as a proof, a complete proof, that the people 
 of France hate Na_poleon and his government , assist 
 •with reluctance in his rears, and •would fain see another re- 
 volution. I hope, I say, that the loyal will, hereafter, 
 be more cautious in drawing such conclusions, now that 
 they see that our * gallant defenders' not only require 
 physical restraints, in certain cases, but even a little 
 blood drawn from their backs, and that too, with the aid 
 and assistance of German troops ! Yes ; I hope the 
 loyal will be a little "more upon their guard in drawing 
 conclusions against Napoleon's popularity. — At any 
 rate, every time they do, in future, burst out in ex- 
 cerations against the French for suflfering themselves to 
 be * chained together and ibrced at the point of the 
 bayonet to do military duty,' I shall just republish the 
 passage which I have taken for the motto to the present 
 sheet. I have heard of some other pretty little things 
 of the same sort ; but I rather choose to take my in- 
 stance, (and a very complete one it is) from a public 
 print notoriously under the sway of the ministry." 
 
 The jury, (continued the Attorney-General) would 
 observe with how much reproach Mr, Cobbett men- 
 tioned the word *' loyal." He would not suffer it to 
 be believed that Napoleon would use such means to 
 raise an army. He not only rendered it a vehicle of 
 attack on this country, but as a defence of the Emperor 
 of France ; he would not permit the country to believe 
 the tyranny of Buonajiarte. So that the author meant 
 to represent that the treatment of ministers was as 
 tyrannical as the chairiing together the conscripts of 
 France. The object of the libel was to give to all men
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 71 
 
 a distaste to the German Legion, into which some must 
 enter, and to persuade people that the tyranny of the 
 measure of the local militia, was greater than that of 
 Buonaparte. For these reasons he (the Attorney-Ge- 
 neral) felt himself called upon to bring- the publication 
 before a' jury. Whatever the author had to allege, he 
 would be patiently heard He had attentively con- 
 sidered the paper in question, and could give it no 
 character but that which he had described it to be. 
 
 The Attorney- General then went on to state, that 
 two persons of the names of Bagshaw and Budd, had 
 been included in the prosecution as printer and publisher 
 of the paper. They had, however, suffered judgment 
 to go by default ; and the only thing that now remained 
 to be done was to prove that the paper was published as 
 stated, and that William Cobbett was the author. 
 
 A Mr. Harvey was then called to prove the fact of 
 the publication. The Defendant, however, signified his 
 admission that he was the sole proprietor of the " Poli- 
 tical Begister," and author of the part in question, with 
 the exception of the matter taken from the Courier. 
 
 The Attorney-General then called a witness to prove 
 that there was such a body of troops as the German 
 Legion in the British service : but on the Defendant's 
 admission of the fact, the examination did not proceed. 
 
 The libel was then handed up to the proper officer of 
 the court, and read; at the conclusion of which 
 
 Mr. Cobbett, who defended his cause in person, com- 
 menced by declaring to the jury, that no part of the 
 delay in the prosecution was owing, as had been stated, 
 to him. He was anxious to have so painful and weighty 
 a matter settled as the law would direct, and as soon as 
 would be permitted by the law. He would not now 
 take up the valuable time of the court by any preli- 
 minary details, but proceed at once to the act of delin- 
 quency with which he stood charged. It was not his 
 intention to dilate upon the formidable apparatus of 
 charges which the King's Attorney-General had set in 
 motion against him ; he (the Defendant) would pass by 
 all this thunder of technical phrases and harsh, legal, 
 overpowering accusations, Avhich Vvere, after all, little 
 more than the customary declamation of the law officers
 
 72 LIFE OF 
 
 of the Crown. But he (Mr. Cobbett) must intrude on 
 their patience for a moment, to read a passage from a 
 writer of great eminence in his da}' — Sir John Hall — 
 as it particularly applied to the species of fierce and 
 indiscriminate attack always made by an Attorney- 
 General. Sir John Hall, in speaking of that officer, 
 says, " In Spain, the Inquisition, when they wanted to 
 burn heretics, clothed the innocent Protestants in san 
 henitos, a dress painted all over with devils and flames, 
 and monsters of all kinds ; so that the people, seeing 
 them all alike covered with this terrible disguise, thought 
 them all equally guilty, and lost their natural compassion 
 for the sufferings of these poor men. It was thus that 
 Attorney-Generals heaped' the same ill-language on all 
 persons alike ; but still there was a distinction between 
 guilt and innocence, and the innocent must be still pro- 
 tected by the law." 
 
 I wish, gentlemen, said Mr. Cobbett, that the inten- 
 tion which was in my mind at the time of writing that 
 paper may be the thing tried, for my intention would 
 fully acquit me. You are not to place too solemn a 
 reliance on the judgment of the Attorney General — he 
 is not infallible; a late case proved this. A gentleman 
 of my profession, was arraigned before the court for a 
 crime much more serious than that which he ventures 
 to impute to me ; a crime of no less magnitude than 
 desiring the death of the king, and seeing his place filled 
 up by a successor. Yet, with all the labour of eloquence 
 which the Attorney General expended upon that occasion 
 a British jury found the defendant — not guilty. Gentle- 
 men, I believe,— I firmly and conscientiously believe,— 
 that, in the whole world, there is not a man so much 
 calumniated as myself. The most atrocious and false 
 calumnies have been sjiread concerning me and my mo- 
 tives, and my life. I would not say this as of certain 
 knowledge, nor as intending to say a harsh thing; but 1 
 believe ihut tliose calumnies havefound much of theirpro- 
 pagation from the influence of the ministry. I complain 
 of those calumnies, because, if you believe them, you 
 must condemn me — I must deserve j)unishment. . His 
 lordship will permit me to mention one or two of those 
 facts. You have seen, in the streets, posted up, papers
 
 WILIJAM COBBETT. 75 
 
 pretending to give an account of my life. I am in tliose 
 accused, (by a })erson whom I can prove to liave had a 
 pension of two hundred pounds a year, till Lord Sidmouth 
 struck him off,) of a transaction that ou<fht to have de. 
 graded any man. It states that I, having received from 
 Government four thousand pounds for sprending a cer- 
 tain pamphlet through the country, diverted the money 
 to my own purposes, and refused to give any further 
 account of it up to this day. Oa thk pnnt I have 
 written to Lord Sidmouth, and havereceived his answer. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett then read his letter, requesting a public 
 answer to the caliunny. Lord Sidmuuth's answer wa3 
 as follows : 
 
 *' vSir, I have but just received your letter, requesting 
 my declaration as to your having received £4,000 for 
 the alledged purposes. I think it only due to you, to 
 answer you as soon as possible, and to say, that the 
 transaction never had any existence. 
 
 " SlD3I0UTH." 
 
 "After having done away with this charge, I must 
 refute another. 1 have been stigmatized as having been 
 frequently liable to prosecuticms like the present. Gen- 
 tlemen, i once before stood in this court, not on my 
 own account, but on that of a learned judge. I published 
 his letter, and the hand discovered the author. But so 
 little was any thing in the shape of guilt connected with 
 that conviction, that the learned judge immediately af- 
 terwards obtained a pension of £1,200 a year. I may say 
 further, and say it as some proof of the proper feeling of 
 Mr. Perceval,sincehe has ceased to be Attorney-General, 
 that, in his capacity as Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 he has paid over £800 to that judge, which were kept 
 back, as accruing duruig the time of the prosecution. I 
 must answer another charge; for, gentlemen, I have 
 been the most caUunniatea man in the world. I have 
 been talked of as a convicted libeller in America. This 
 13 the very excess of stupid calumny. I was prosecuted 
 for a libel on the Spanish Minister.' But for what ? For 
 his attempts to raise an insurrection in Canada ; for his 
 detected attempt to poison the minds of the soldiery in 
 Quebec ; for his scattering money through the country 
 to detach the Canadians, the subjects of ray natural 
 
 U
 
 74 LIFE OF 
 
 king, from their allegiance. I attacked him ; — I exposed 
 him. For this I was attacked in my turn by a wicked 
 judge. A wicked judge was found, who took it upon 
 him to hurt and harass me for doing what was only my 
 duty. That wicked judge brought a prosecution upon 
 me'; seven special juries were struck, before they could 
 find the one that would be fit for their purpose. I was 
 subjected to the most galling oppression, yet I sustained 
 it firml3'^ : I lost in this life of difficulty and struggle, 
 the little property which I had acquired through diffi- 
 culties of no common order. I finally left the country ; 
 and left it because I could serve the cause of my lawful 
 king no longer. Yet this, this was what an Attorney- 
 General ripped iip^ against me, and blazoned me out as a 
 convicted libeller in America, as well as in Europe. 
 
 " The posted papers to which I have already alluded, 
 dare to speak of me as an oppressor of the poor, and as 
 converting the property and the influence which I may 
 have acquired, into the means of disturbing the country 
 in which I have settled. But this is weak and unworthy ; 
 the whole charge is false. It does not become any man 
 to speak in high terms of himself ; but I have been no 
 .oppressor, no defrauder of the rights of any human 
 being, no insulter of the poor. 1 have done good accord- 
 ing to my measure; I have not been indolent in pro- 
 moting the industry, and interests, and peace of Hamp- 
 shire. I am frequently consulted on matters relating 
 to the country, and I never refuse advice or assistance. 
 I must give one instance, some time since : The general 
 commanding the district wi«^d to have a road made 
 through a particular part of the country. His-aid-de- 
 camp was sent among the gentlemen of Hampshireto 
 make inquiries, and get Avhatever assistance he could 
 for the work. They all directed him to me : I was not 
 suspected of disloyalty ; I gave my assistance, and it 
 was effectual. The road was laid out. I spent a con- 
 sideral i)art of the winter in town, attending tlie progress 
 of the Bill through rarliament, and the road is nov\' in a 
 state of groat forwardness. 
 
 *• Having now, as I trust, removed from your minds 
 an y unfavourable impressions which such calumnies 
 must naturallv nroduce, I come no^v to consider the 
 ii ' *
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 75 
 
 matter upon which I am charged — I am charged, and 
 the whole criminality of the charge rests in this,— with 
 having written this paper with an intention hostile to 
 the King, and subversive of his government; or, in 
 other words, with meaning to do some injury to my 
 country. If 3'^ou find me guilty of the charge, you must 
 find me guilty in manner and form as alleged against 
 me. The wicked intention is necessary to constitute 
 the crime I am charged with ; and it is upon this point 
 alone that the whole merit of the case depends. The 
 Attorney-General has told you most erroneously, that 
 I availed myself of the circumstance of living in the 
 country to put off the trial; or, in other words, to evade 
 justice. In this statement the Attorney- General has 
 been greatly in error; my attornies, who are here pre- 
 sent, know that this is not the fact, but that, on the 
 contrary, I came to town at considerable inconvenience 
 to myself, and waited for my trial, but it was not 
 brought on. I was quite ready for my trial before ; 
 and it would have been more convenient to me that it 
 had been brought on at once and disposed of. The cir. 
 cumstance of the delay did certainly require some ex- 
 planation from the Attorney-General ; but that expla- 
 nation is not to be found from the circumstance of my 
 living in the country. It was certainly a very unplea- 
 sant thing to me to be proclaimed throughout the 
 country as a criminal, over whom a prosecution was de- 
 pending. To a man like me, who has a large family, 
 with some children just old enough to be alarmed, and 
 a wife in a situation in which alarms are often dangerous, 
 it was most particularly unpleasant to have this prose- 
 cution long hanging over my head, like a sword sus- 
 pended by a single thread. My prosecutors got an order 
 for me to come up to town to be tried ; and when I came 
 up to town to be tried; and when I came up for that 
 purpose I was told to go back again about my business. 
 
 " The Attorney-General has made great use of the 
 word %a7, which he says I am in the habit of using as a 
 term of reproach. Now my own property and all my 
 interests and prospects, are so connected with the se- 
 curity of the countr}', that it would be strange indeed 
 if I were to use the word loyalty as a term of reproach. 
 
 u2
 
 76 LIFE OF 
 
 If any of you, gentlemen, are in the habit of reading 
 my paper, you must know that I do not mean to con- 
 sider loyalty as a subject of reproach. The Attorney- 
 General nuist know it, and does know it. Every man 
 of common understanding that reads the article, will see 
 that the word loyal is used in an ironical sense. Ever}' 
 one knows that there are a set of men who wish to claim 
 an exclusive loyalty. Such men for example as John 
 Bowles, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Villiers, and others of that 
 description, who pretend to an extraordinary^ degree of 
 loyalty, and who endeavour to cry down as disloyal and 
 disaffected men, all who will venture to say an,v thing 
 tending to remove the present administration from 
 their places. It was to these pretended loyalists that I 
 applied the term, and the Attorney. General must know 
 my meaning well enough. When, in another part of 
 my paper, I say, ' flog them, flog them,' then he finds 
 out that I am speaking ironically ; but in the other ex- 
 pression, he wishes it to be supposed that I was in down- 
 right earnest. Now it is not fair of him to pick and 
 choose in this manner. He should either have consi- 
 dered both these expressions as serious, or both ironicaL 
 I really, gentlemen, do not want to impress you with a 
 belief that I meant any thing else by the words I used, 
 than what I really did mean. I meant to apply the 
 term loyal in an ironical sense, to those hypoorites and 
 flatterers who pretend to be loyal, but who are really the 
 greatest enemies of the country. There is another 
 term that he takes notice of, • the King's friends.' 
 This is a phrase which every body who has either read 
 my paper, or any other paper that is published, must 
 understand. It is not applied to those who really are 
 the best friends to the king and country, but to that 
 party which choose to call themselves exclusively the 
 King's friends, and would represent all other men as bis 
 enemies. Neither the terms King'' s friends nor loyal can 
 ever be used as a teini of reproach, except when applied 
 ironically to those hypocrites and flatterers who claim 
 exclusive loyality and attachment to the King's person. 
 In this paper which I am charged with, as being a libel, I 
 have not mentioned the King's name, nor that of any of 
 Ills lamily, nor anything respecting the royal authonty.
 
 WILLIAM' eOBBETT. n 
 
 This article, which was satirical, hyperbolical, and per- 
 haps clumsily and badly written (certainly written in a 
 great hurry) did not reflect upon HisiMajesty, but upon 
 his ministers — Ministers have, however, a way of con- 
 struing every attack upon them, as an attack upon the 
 King. When I say, ' Well done Lord Castlereagh, 
 his lordship would say ' this is not meant for me but for 
 the King.' Lord Castlereagh would certainly never 
 admit that any thing which sj)oke of cruelty or Hogging, 
 could be meant for him. They might as well say, that 
 if a minister was v/alking through tiie streets, and had 
 mud thrown at him, that it was the King himself that 
 was pelted. I certainly did not invent or devise those 
 facts upon which I commented ; and if upon those facta 
 my comment was somewhat angry and hasty, it cannot 
 be inferred from thence that it was my intention to over- 
 turn the government, or do any injury to my country. 
 The learned Judge Blackstone, (from whom every 
 lawyer in the court, and even the learned Judge had im- 
 bibed their first lessons of law) in speaking of the forma 
 of trial, states, that the trial by information, ex officio, 
 was only to be used in cases of such enormity, that the 
 least delay would endanger His Majesty's government ; 
 or, where His Majesty was molested, or affronted in the 
 exercise of his royal functions. In all other cases, the 
 subject is entitled to the double shield of a grand jury, 
 as well as of a petit jury. Did this paper endanger His 
 Majesty's government ? Was this a case that would not 
 bear a moments delay ? — or, if it were so, why was it 
 delayed for a whole twelvemonth ? If, instead of calling 
 me a person disaiiected to His Majesty, they had said 
 that I disliked Lord Castlereagh, and that I had in- 
 tended and devised to bring Lord Castlereagh into dis. 
 like, I would not have known Avhat defence to have 
 made to such a charge ; and I believe that I must have 
 admitted it to be true. It was but a short time ago that 
 this Lord Castlereagh complained in the House of the 
 difficulty of bringing libellers to punishment :" — 
 
 Lord Ellenborough, interrupting — *♦ I must in- 
 terrupt you. You must not make your defence a means 
 of traduction. The particular crime that you are charged 
 with, of publishing the paper which has been read, 
 
 h3
 
 78 LIFE OF 
 
 cannot be defended by charging other men with doc- 
 trines delivered in Parliament." 
 
 Mr. CoBBETT continued: — •' I shall return, then, to 
 the forced construction which I say the Attorney- 
 General has put upon my words. In that paper I was 
 ridiculing the measure of the Local Militia, introduced 
 by Lord Castlereagh. When I set down « Aye, the 
 rascals, Hog them, flog them,' no man would suppose 
 that I was speaking seriously. The Attorney-General 
 says, that I meant to say, that Buonaparte behaved 
 with less cruelty to his conscripts than our government 
 behaves to the I^ocal Militia. Now my meaning, in 
 referring to Buonaparte on this occasion, was merely to 
 sting them with this observation, that it would not be 
 prudent for them to be always inveighing against the 
 cruelty of Buonaparte, unless they would themselves 
 leave off such practices as these. As to making some 
 observations upon the treatment of soldiers, I will now 
 ask, are we never to be allowed, upon any occasion, to 
 say that soldiers have been cruell}'^ treated ? If one of 
 us was in a garrison town, and saw a soldier flogged to 
 death, (which I hope will never occur since the case of 
 Governor Wall,) would it be criminal to say anything, 
 or to v.-rite anything upon the subject ? What ! is every 
 man who puts on a red coat, to be from that moment 
 deserted by all the world ; and is no tongue, or no pen, 
 ever to stir in !:is dofence? Who were those local mi- 
 litiamen ? The grenter part were then young fellows, 
 probably in smoi-k-hocks, just taken from the plough, 
 and ignorant of that subordination that is j)ractised in 
 the arrny. I allow, that against a serious mutiny se- 
 vere meub lives may be necessary ; but then by mutiny 
 I understand taking up arms, and forcibly and violently 
 resisting the officers in the execution of their military 
 duties. I do not think a mere discontent and squabble 
 in a corps about the marching guinea, should oitlier re- 
 ceive tlie name or punishment of mutiny. I, and other 
 people, told Lord Castlereagh from the beginning, that 
 it would come to this ; that these local militiamen 
 would l-'C made ,just soldiers enough to be disinclined to 
 return to labour, and tiiat they would be so much of 
 labourers as never to be made effective soldiers. But it
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. ?9 
 
 is not always considered criminal to apeak of our sol- 
 diers having received cruel treatment. I shall now read 
 to you many extracts of speeches delivered in Parlia- 
 ment of the British army in Walcheren. The senti- 
 ments which I shall now read to you are much stronger 
 than anything contained in the paper for which I:ftm 
 prosecuted. I shall first read the words of liOrdGrenville, 
 
 LonD Ellenboiiough, — " Mr. Cobbett, I must 
 prevent this; I cannot allow speeches stated to have 
 been spoken in Parliament on other matters, to be read 
 to the jury. If you have any extracts from other 
 sources, which you think applicable to your case, you 
 may read them." 
 
 Mil. CoBBETT. — "AVell then, it will suffice for me 
 to say shortly, that there is no degree of cruel t}', hard- 
 ship, and oi)pression, which has not been charged to 
 those who conducted the AValcheren expedition. When 
 people speak against the ill-treatment of our soldiers, 
 the fair and natural presumption is, not that they want 
 to overturn the government, but that they want those 
 evils, of which they complain, to be remedied in future. 
 When Mr. Whitbread said, a few days ago,that as much 
 cruelty now prevails in the Duke of Cumberland's regi- 
 ment as th(?reever did, and that it was in that regiment 
 only that the practice of picketing was continued, did 
 any body believe that Mr. Whitbread really meant to 
 excite a mutiny ? No ! every body must be convinced 
 that the thing was mentioned only that the evil might 
 be corrected — 
 
 The At torney-Geneual complained to his lord- 
 ship of the impropriety of thus quoting speeches made 
 in Parliament. 
 
 Lord Ellenboiiough again informed Mr. Cobbett, 
 that it was improper to quote speeches made in the im- 
 perial chambers of Parliament. They could not be 
 brought into consideration upon the present occasion. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett resumed : — "It appeared to me that the 
 reasonable conclusion which is formed in other cases, 
 and which ought also to be formed in mine, is, that a 
 person generally complains, not with the view of doing 
 an injury to his country by the complaint, but Avith a 
 viewof having that altered of which lie complains. A
 
 8© LIFE OF 
 
 man may be mistaken in the subject of which he com. 
 plains, and yet may act withaut any of those bad inten- 
 tions which have been imputed to me. There is, indeed, 
 a circumstance respecting my paper, which shows that 
 it could not have been my intention to produce any 
 mutiny — My paper cannot get among the soldiers but 
 by mere accident. Its circulation is principally among 
 those classes who are best informed and most capable of 
 understanding its real meaning and object. If one 
 wanted to do mischief in the army, it is not by such pa- 
 pers as mine, but by placards and handbills, that soldiers 
 would easiest be worked upon. 
 
 *'I do conceive, however, that there are cases in which 
 much real mischief might be done by publications in 
 newspapers. For example, if a fleet were upon the 
 point of sailing on a particular destination, and any- 
 body was to publish that the transports were altogether 
 deficient for the accommodation of the troops, and that 
 there was no manner of attention to their comforts or 
 their health, such publication might do considerable 
 mischief, and therefore be deserving of punishment. In 
 point of fact, such a publication had taken place in a 
 morning paper; and it appeared to the last Attorney- 
 General (Sir A. Pigot) as so very dangerous that he 
 filed an information ex officio upon it, and yet the pre- 
 sent Attorney-General did not conceive it in that light, 
 and abandoned it. (Mr. Cobbett then read an extract 
 from the Morning Post, which contained the article to 
 which he alluded.) 1 think that the Attorney-General 
 acted rightly in abandonin<j this prosecution ; but I 
 think that upon the same principle he should also have 
 given up the present piosecution. In the last trial for 
 a libel upon an information, the Attorney-General laid 
 down very different doctrines. He said "that it was 
 not his practice to prosecute men for expressing their 
 sentiments even with some degree of warmth and indis- 
 cretion in the discussion of public affairs ; and that when 
 such warmth was only displayed in arraigning the con- 
 duct of ministers, or in discussing what belonged to the 
 important interests of this country, or the happiness of 
 mankind, no notice of this sort was ever taken of it." It 
 is a thing perfectly well known, that, in cases of this
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 81 
 
 sort, words should be judged of by tbe intention rather 
 than by the literal construction. Lord Erskine ex- 
 pressed this in a striking manner, when he was pleading 
 as an advocate for a defendant in a case of this nature 
 in this very court, (at that time the trial of Hastings 
 had been going on for a considerable len gth of time, 
 and the court erected for the trial obstructed the ave- 
 nues to the Court of King's Bench). ** What !" said 
 ISIr. Erskine, "if, when I am making ray way through 
 dismal passages to this Jiole in the walU I should mutter 
 to myself, and in an ill humour wish that the roof of the 
 building would fall upon king, lords, and commons, upon 
 prosecutors and defendants? Such a wish might show ill 
 temper ; if I expressed it aloud it would be indecorous ; 
 but if any one wished to take it up seriousl}', and com- 
 
 ?lained of me to the House of Commons, how would the 
 louse take it up, or how would the person who brought 
 so frivolous a complaint be treated ?" 
 
 "I do not, however, pretend to say,that I was in such 
 a passion at the time of my writing this article as not 
 to know what I was about; but still I say, that it was 
 an article written in a hurry, and without much time 
 for reflection. The article in the " Courier" was dated 
 the 24th of June, and the comment on it appeared in 
 my paper on the 1st of July. As it was necessary to 
 send to and from Botley in the interval, no great time 
 was left for deliberation. If every expression was to be 
 strained as the Attorney-General has attempted to strain 
 the expressions in this article, no person could be safe. 
 Half the language of mankind is figurative, and nothing 
 can be more unfair than construing according to the 
 letter, that which is meant as irony. Men, in common 
 conversation, otten use expressions that are hyperboli- 
 cal, and those expressions are never understood lite- 
 rally. If a different construction were to be put on 
 everything which appears in print, the press must be 
 either wholly silent, or confine itself to the praises of ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 I perhaps should have said nothing about the German 
 troops, if it were not for the high eulogium that the 
 Attorney-General has been pleased to bestow upou
 
 f2 1.IFE OF 
 
 them. 1 am free to confess, that I was always adverse 
 to the employment of German troops in this country ; 
 and it did particularly move my indignation, that Ger- 
 man troops should be brought to witness the punishment 
 of the local militiamen of this country, who, as I said 
 before, were most of them young fellows, just taken 
 from the plough, and unacc^uainted with the forms of 
 military discipline. The introduction of foreign troops 
 into this country was always warmly objected to by 
 our ancestors ; and in their objection and dislike of 
 them I perlectly agree. This objection, then, does not 
 proceed from any Jacobinical aversion to His Majesty, 
 but it is an objection which has been justly entertained 
 at all times by those who had the best British feelings. 
 So early as the year 1628, the House of Commons pre- 
 sented a petition to Charles I. in which they complained 
 of bringing German horse into this country. The bring- 
 ing in of strangers has been injurious to every country, 
 but to England it has often been fatal. They held it to 
 be far beneath the character, and the bold hearts of 
 Englishmen, to think it necessary to bring over foreign- 
 ers for their protection. 
 
 •' There is another authentic instance of the dislike of 
 our ancestors to the introduction of foreign troops. In 
 the year 1692, very shortly after the Revolution, there 
 was a debate in the House of Commons upon the intro- 
 duction of foreigners, and their commanding English- 
 men. Sir Peter Collier, in the course of his speech 
 said, ♦ that Englishmen bore a love to their own coun- 
 try which it is impossible that strangers can feel. Fo- 
 reigners could not have the same affection for this 
 country as the men who had been born in it.' He con- 
 cluded his speech by moving that none but natives 
 should command Englishmen. 
 
 " I'his motion, although very much against the incli- 
 nation of King William the Thiid, who was naturally 
 very much attached to his foreign troops, was agreed to, 
 and became a law. Notwithstanding this, there are now 
 no less than four or five (ierman generals either com- 
 manding districts, or on the staff. Since the year 1806, 
 this force has increased from twenty-four to thirty-nine
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 83 
 
 thousand men (including 5,000 provincial troops inNova 
 Scotia, &c.) There are tour German Lieutenant-Gene- 
 rals, four Major Generals, and nineteen Colonels, many 
 of whom have the rank of Brigadier-General, and who 
 commanded not only Englishmen' but English officers. 
 There are not only many Germans in high command in 
 this country, but there are Frenchmen also. There is one 
 Frenchman of the name of IMontalembert, who is on the 
 staff in Sussex ! and I understood that there are, or 
 there were, two of them lately intrusted as overseers of 
 a dock yard in Wales. Although the law says that no 
 foreigner shall be employed in any office of trust, civil 
 or military, yet the whole country is full of these fo- 
 reigners so employed in places of trust. The two acts 
 which authorized the introduction of these German 
 troops into this country were not enacting statutes, but 
 merely acts of indemnity. The law of the country was 
 such as was agreed to at the bargain made at the devo- 
 lution by theAct of Settlement, and that act prohibited 
 foreigners from holding those situations of trust. There 
 are now no less than 773 of those German officers ; and 
 if we take in all the foreigners who hold offices of trust 
 in our military service, — contrary to the laW) — there 
 are no less than 1,503. 
 
 ♦'The Attorney-General has mis-stated the fact, when 
 he represents those German Legions as entirely or prin- 
 cipally composed of Hanoverians who have enlisted from 
 attachment to their legitimate Sovereign. It is a very 
 small part indeed, not more than four or five thousand, 
 who enlisted in Hanover; the great bulk of them is 
 composed of persons enlisted in the prisons of Spain and 
 England. I have heard that a considerable number of 
 them were enlisted from the jnisoners of Dujiont's 
 army. When an army of foreigners is raked together in 
 this manner; when their officers command over English- 
 men; and, when part of them are brought to witness 
 the flogging of our local militiamen, how can I avoid 
 feeling the greatest indignation ? and, feeling (as I must 
 do) this indignation, why should I not be permitted to 
 express it? And, if I do express this indignation which 
 I feelj in somewhat of angry language, ai-e you, upon
 
 84 LIFE OF 
 
 that account, to presume that I am guilty of deliberately 
 wishing and contriving to subvert the government ol 
 this count ry ? 
 
 " The Attorney-General talks of the gallant conduct 
 of these troops at the battle of Talavera. Now I have 
 heard that they behaved very badly at Talavera ; and, 
 if I had expected the Attorney-General to make this 
 assertion, I should certainly have br lught in my pocket 
 a letter which I think will warrant me in saying that 
 they behaved badly there. The letter is from an officer 
 of the Horse Artillery (Lieutenant Frederick Read) and 
 directed to a person in a high situation in this country. 
 Among other things it states, *' that if it was not for 
 the timely arrival of the 29th regiment, their whole, 
 brigade would have been taken, in consequence of the 
 cowardly conduct of the German Legion." It is not 
 merely from this letter that I derive my information on 
 this subject ; but I have spoken with many officers from 
 Spain, who passed through my neighbourhood in the 
 country, and whom I invited to take up their quarters 
 at Botley. All their officers agreed in stating that the 
 Germans had behaved very ill. One of their officers, 
 indeed, planted the standard close to the enemy, and 
 endeavoured to rally them, but it was impossible. The 
 Attorney-General must have been much misled when 
 he made this statement ; and, indeed, I do not wonder 
 at it when I recollect, that, since leaving Portugal, the 
 officers have not been allowed to write, or even to speak 
 about what takes place in that part of the world. 'I'lie 
 Attorney-General appeals to the testimony of all in whose 
 neighbourhood these Gcrinans have been quartered, to 
 say what well conducted troops the,y are. Now, as to 
 what I know of them, their character is directly the re- 
 verse. I shall first speak of the regiment commanded 
 by the Duke of Brunswick; and in giving their charac- 
 ter, I shall first state what was the opinion of the Arch« 
 duke Charles, respecting this regiment. The Archdukp, 
 in a letter to the Duke of Brunswick states, " that it is 
 with great concern that I learn, that the troops under 
 the command of your Highness, in Saxony, have been 
 guilty of such extortions and excesses as to dishonour
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 85 
 
 the army, render forgotten all the atrocities committed 
 by the French, and dispose the minds of the people 
 against the common cause. I have therefore given 
 orders to General Kienmayer, commanding in Saxony, 
 to see that the most rigorous military discipline be pre- 
 served, as long as a corps continues there, which, like 
 that under your command, is composed of people having 
 no country." Such is the character that the regiment 
 of the Duke of Brunswick had in Germany. 
 
 "When they came to this country, one of the first 
 places they were sent to was the Isle of AYight. There 
 they committed all manner of violences, enormities, and 
 devastations. They were charged with committing two 
 murders ; — I cannot pretend to say they actually did 
 commit them ; — but, this I will say, I have seen a letter, 
 stating that the bar of a public- house has been chopped 
 through with their sabres, and the landlord put in the 
 greatest danger of his life, for not supplying them witli 
 liquors. In sliort they were the terror of the whole neigh- 
 bourhood, who rejoiced most sincerely when they were 
 sent off somewhere else. Nevertheless, I do not pretend 
 to deny, that many of them may be very good men; but 
 yet 1 have an objection to their being employed in this 
 country, on the ground that our ancestors objected, that 
 they never can participate in the feelings of Englishmen. 
 Their attachments lie not to England but to Germany. 
 It is impossible, from the feelings of human nature, that 
 it should be otherwise. The graves of their fathers and 
 rlieir properties, (if tliey have any) lie in Germany, and 
 there are their affections also. This is a principle of 
 human nature too strong to be eiadicated. If you take a 
 Laplander from his own country and bring him here, he 
 will still suppose that there is something in Lapland supe- 
 rior to anything he sees elsewhere. When Germany shall 
 be completely under tlie dominion of Buonaparte, if he 
 sho-ild ever invade this country, is it German troops that 
 are ft to be sent forward to oppose his armies? I believe 
 in mv conscience, that it would be highly dangerous to 
 trust them in such a situation. I believe that the mass 
 of foreign troops, — wliich ministers are collecting in thisi 
 country, — M-ill rather serve as the vanguard of Baona- 
 parte's armies — that it will be, — like the Trojan borse, 
 only filled with Germans instead of Greeks ! i
 
 96 LIFE OF 
 
 Another [instance of the value of those troops was re- 
 cently displayed at Guadaloupe : — A part of the 60th re- 
 giment, who were mostly Germans, ran away from the 
 enemy. The depot of this regiment was established at 
 Lymington, in Hampshire, and they kept the whole neigh- 
 bourhood in terror and alarm. I certainly imve had ray 
 eye constantly on those G erman troops since their first in- 
 troduction into the country; and, I am convinced that the 
 employment of them is most injurious to the true interests 
 of this country. I allow that my indignation was much 
 excited at their being employed, (as I thought indecently) 
 in witnessing, if not assisting, in the flogging of English- 
 men. In my hasty observations upon this subject, there 
 may have been much bad taste, and many tilings which 
 cannot bear the test of literary criticism, but I trust you 
 will believe there was no bad meaning. My property, the 
 profits of my publications, the very trees of my planting, 
 all depend on the security of the country under the go- 
 vernment of His Majesty and his successors; and 1 must 
 be the greatest beast and fool, as well as knave and traitor, 
 if 1 could seriously and deliberately intend the subversion 
 of tlie government, or to do any injury to the country. I 
 have now nothing more to say, than to thank you, gen- 
 tlemen of the Jury, and you, my lord, for the attention 
 with which you liave been good enough to favour me. 
 
 The Attorney Genera.l then rose to reply, which he 
 did in a speech of very considerable length but very 
 little power. We regret that our space will not allow of 
 its insertion here, but as its object was merely to impress 
 the minds of the jury with the guilt of the defendant, and 
 to reiterate his charges against him, its omission will be 
 of very little consequence. At the conclusion of the 
 Attorney Goncrars address, 
 
 Lonn Ellexbououoh charged the jury to the follow- 
 ing cUVct ; — You have been assembled, and are sworn to 
 try an infoimation, filed by his Majesty's Attorney Gene- 
 ral, against William Cobbett, charging hiui with being 
 the author of a libel, int(Miding- to injuri- the King's mili- 
 laiy service, a>id to rrprL-sent that certain soldiers in the 
 Local Militia were treated with oppression. This is the 
 substance of the charg(,' and mischief; and the question ia 
 whether the mischief is justly ascribable to the libel ia 
 question, aud whcthw it bu of that uoxious tendency.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 87 
 
 The Defendant has said in the course of his defence, tha** 
 he has been the object of much calumny. Whether he ha^ 
 been so or no, I know not ; but I am quite sure you wil 
 divest your mind of every prejudice against the Defend- 
 ant, on account of either his actual or supposed conduct, 
 and consider him only upon tlie demerit imputed to him 
 by this publication. The publication took its rise in a 
 passage of the Courier, whicli the Defendant took for his 
 motto. [ Lord Ellenborough here read the passage.] It 
 appears by this that the soldiers had actually been tried 
 by a Court Martial for mutiny ; but the Defendant has 
 stated this to have amounted, in his conception, merely 
 to a squabble between officers and soldiers, about a 
 marching guinea. Bat how this can be construed to be 
 other than a mutiny, and that of the most dangerous sort, 
 exceeds my comprehension. [Lord Ellenborough then 
 read the libel as far as the words, ' it really was not with- 
 out reason that you dwelt with so much earnestness upon 
 the great utility of the foreign troops, whom IVIr. Wardle 
 appeared to think of no utility at all.'] Although the 
 introduction of foreign troops is certainly sanctioned by 
 law, yet every individual has a right to suggest an alter- 
 ation in that law, provided that suggestion be made in 
 temperate and qualified terms ; he may address himself to 
 the sober reason of his country, that mischief will result 
 from present measures ; aud endeavour, tluough the peo- 
 ple, to impress the Parliament with the necessity of their 
 being changed. I am sure that if such a discussion had 
 been brought before a jury, you would have been no more 
 inclined to construe it, than any judge in the situation 
 which I unworthily fill, would be to recommend you so to 
 constnie it — a libel. But, gentlemen, it is for you to 
 consider whether this publication has a bad intention ; — 
 an intention is principally to be looked at by a fair consi- 
 deration of terms. If intention be to be judged otherwise, 
 a Defendant would have nothing to do, upon all occasions 
 but to say *' my mind was innocent, but my pen slipped : 
 the libel was unguarded, — acquit me." But thi^ is not 
 one random expression ; there is a continuity of the same 
 thought; and, can you infer from it any purposes but 
 one? 
 
 The libel proceeds: — "Poor Gentleman! be little 
 imagined how a great genius might find employment for
 
 88 - LIFE OF 
 
 such troops. Let Mr. Wardle look at my motto, and then 
 say whether tbe German soldiers are of no use." The 
 "employment" here talked of must have been that of 
 chastising the mutineers ; and the words " useful employ- 
 ment.' are evidently used in an ironical and calumnious 
 sense "He little imag-ined that they might bemads the 
 means of compelling Englishmen to submit to that sort 
 of discipline which is so conducive to the producing in them 
 a disposition to defend the country at the risk of their 
 lives." This is partly cliarge and partly sneer. I was 
 at first doubtful as to the meaning of the former part of 
 it; and attended to what was said on both sides, leaning, 
 if at all, to that of the Defendant, wlio appeared here as 
 his own defender. But the words of his defence leave no 
 doubt as to his meaning ; for, in the course of it, you re- 
 member him to have said "I should not have said so 
 much about the German Legion, if they had not been 
 brought to flog the backs of ray own countrymen." That 
 part about the "risk of lives," is sneer. Is this not natu- 
 rally calculated to generate distrust in the army ? Has it 
 not the tendency to loosen all the links and ties of military 
 subordination, and to renew mutiny ? And if so, it must 
 be understood to have been intended to do so. [Lord 
 Ellenborough then proceeded to read the libel from the 
 words "five hundred" to "trees."] Now, what is the fair 
 meaning of this passage .' Is it exhortation, or ad vice to lay 
 on punishment ; or is it not the meaning to reproach the 
 mutineers lor submitting to be punished with arms in their 
 hands? [Lord Ellcnborougli then read from the words : 
 "I do not know," to "at the time." ] Does not this appear 
 to convey an imputation against the iniiabitants of Ely for 
 suffering the punishment to be inflicted? In what manner 
 can this be palliated or explained ? The defendant admit- 
 ted that it was a passionate article, and written in bad 
 taste, if it were only so, the rej)robation and discon- 
 tinuance of the practice would be enough to require. But 
 can sentiments like these proceed from any other purpose 
 than to ho!(l tlie, government and constitution up to con- 
 tempt? [Lord Ellenborough then read from tlje words 
 " this occurrence," to the end.] If this passage alludes to 
 any publication on the nature of the French Govermnent
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 89 
 
 there is only oue that has come under my view by an Ame- 
 rican of some distinction as a writer ; but Mr. Cobbett 
 himself, explains his allusion to have been to Mr. Bowles, 
 Mr. Villiers, and Mr. Hunt. They may or may not have 
 cast these imputations on Buonaparte ; the words apply 
 to those persons, whoever tliey are. But the object of 
 this paragraph, is to say to the English people, "You 
 have not a right to complain of Buonaparte: — look at 
 home." This is the scope of the publication ; and was it 
 not its tendency to injure the military service ? It is for 
 you to say, whether these arc words escaped in haste from 
 a man, otherwise writing temperately, but whose zeal 
 overshot his discretion; or, whether they are the words 
 of a man who wished to dissolve the union of the military 
 upon which, at all times, but most especially at this time, 
 the safety of the kingdom rests. If this latter be the 
 case, surely the defendant will well-meritedly fall under 
 the description of that seditious person which the informa- 
 tion charges him with being. In cases like the present, 
 the law requires me to state my opinion to the jury, and 
 when 1 have held a different opinion to that which I have 
 of the present case, 1 have not withheld it from the jury. — 
 / do pronounce this to he a tnost infamous and seditious libel. 
 
 The jury, after consulting together five minutes, with- 
 out retiring from the box, pronounced the defendant 
 Guilty. — The trial lasted from nine o'clock in the morning 
 till half past twelve. 
 
 After being thus convicted Mr. Cobbett was not allowed 
 to remain long in suspense as to the degree of punishment 
 to be awarded him. Almost immediately after the trial 
 he received a notice to appear in the Court of King's 
 Bench on the 5th July following, in order to receive 
 judgment. — though, with an understanding that the matter 
 M'ould be postponed till tlic ensuing Monday. 
 
 On the appointed day (July 5) Mr. Cobbett went into 
 the court, with the order defendants, and many of his 
 friends. The four judges were on the bencih, and the court 
 was unusually crowded. When the bustle had subsided, 
 the Attorney-General rose, and briefly moved the judg- 
 ment of the court againstWilliam Cobbett, the proprietor, 
 Messrs. Bagshaw and Budd, the publishers; and Mr. 
 Hansard, the printer of the Political Register.
 
 00 LIFE OF 
 
 Lord Ellenborough recapitulated the evidence given 
 on the trial, and when this had been concluded, inquired 
 whether the defendants had any affidavits to produce. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett replied that lie did not intend to otter any 
 to the court. 
 
 Affidavits on the parts of Richard Bagsiiaw, and John 
 Budd M'ere then read. They severally stated, in nearly 
 the same terms, that their connection witli Mr. Cobbett, 
 was merely as the vendors of this paper ; tliat they had no 
 peculiar profit on it ; and that they merely ordered it as 
 they would have ordered any other, at the desire of their 
 customers. Tiiey both stated tiiat they had not read the 
 paper in question, previously to publication, and that they 
 were not acquainted with its libellous tendency. They 
 were married men, with children, and their presence was 
 necessary to their business. Tiicy were both advanced in 
 life and infirm, and confinement would be ruinous to 
 them. They had suffered judgment to go by default, and 
 now threw themselves on the mercy of the court, with the 
 stronger hope, as they had lu^ver before been prosecuted 
 in any charge of libel. — Affidavits from medical men were 
 read in corroboration of these statements of their health. 
 
 Mr. Hansard's affidavit stated, that having purchased 
 the stock-in-trade of a person who had formerly printed 
 Mr. Cobbetfs Parliamentary History, he came into the 
 printing of that work. That, in some time after, — about 
 1805, — Mr. Cobbett having a quarrel withMessrs.Cox and 
 Baylis, his printers, prevailed upon the deponent, with 
 much entreaty, to undertake the printing of the Political 
 Register. That Botley, (Mr. Cobbetfs residence,) being 
 70 miles from London, and the communications from the 
 author coming in late on the Thursday in each week, every 
 thing was required to be done with the utmost expedition, 
 to be ready for publishing in time. That the separate di- 
 visions of the work were brought to him in the form, which 
 was called proof-slips; and it M'as only in this broken and 
 partial way, that lie liad an opportunity of reading the 
 composition. That though it might liave been proper for 
 deponent -to inspect the entire Mork on the morning of 
 publication, yet, that from anxiety to send out tlie work, 
 Hud from having no suspicion that it was libellous, he had
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 91 
 
 omitted that duty. That deponent had no other profit in 
 the Register than the common price of printing, that he 
 had no share, kept no copies, recommended none to buy- 
 ers, did not provide even paper or stamps, and was alto- 
 gether unconccnied with the objects which tlie author 
 might be supposed to have had in view. That this was 
 the first time he had been before the court for an offence 
 of this nature, and that lie prayed for their consideration. 
 
 Lord Ellenboiiough ; — Have the defendants any 
 Counsel ? 
 
 Mr, Cobb En; — My lord, after what lias already been 
 said on the subject, I have nothing at present to trouble 
 your lordships witii, except to say that the defendants had 
 no share whatever in the composition of theRegister : and 
 I believe, no opportunity of looking over it before pub- 
 lication. In this I except Mr. Hansard, the printer, but, 
 I here declare, tliat in my whole intercourse with them, 1 
 cannot recollect ever having heard a disloyal sentiment 
 from the lips of one of them. I need not now repeat, that 
 the paragraph, which has been made the foundation of the 
 charge, was not written by me with any evil or libellous 
 intention. 
 
 After some further preliminary business, the Attorney - 
 General rose, and, in a speech, remarkable only for its 
 virulence, besought a heavy punishment for the Defendant, 
 Cobbett. The speech is too long for insertion in our 
 pages, but we will give the concluding paragraphs, in 
 order to shew the rabid ferocity of the man : — 
 
 "Your lordships," continued the Attorney-General, 
 *' may be strong enough now to restrain the criminal who 
 now awaits your sentence ; but, if you let him loose, who 
 can say that you will have the same strength next year ? 
 I say it in deference, but it is the duty of your lordships, 
 when such an offender comes within the view of public 
 justice, to mark liim with peculiar punishment. You 
 have had private libellers before you ; you punished thera 
 justly, though their offence (;oul(l scarcely reach beyond 
 the casual pain of the individuals whom they aspersed. 
 You have had before you libellers on the administration 
 of justice, and those you felt it your duty to punish ; not 
 from any personal feeling, but from the honourable and 
 dignified consciousness that tlie character of the Courts of
 
 9i LIFE OF 
 
 Justice ought to stand in spotless and unblemished majesty 
 before the people ; and that an insult on their purity was 
 an attack on the best interests of the nation. Those li- 
 bellers arraigned the course of law ; they did not dare to 
 think of abolishing it altogether. Their guilt sinks and 
 Tanishes away before the bold and glaring crime of the 
 man who stands before you. Their object was not to 
 destroy society. If you punished others, you will punish 
 this criminal with a more severe visitation, for a more 
 extensive crime. 
 
 " My Lords. — The army, insulted by this libel, calls on 
 you for justice. The Government, which, however it may 
 be formed, must look to public esteem, for any power of 
 public good, and whose authority, to be useful, must be 
 conformable to the laws. — the people, terrified, disgusted, 
 and indignant, at the calumnies by which this libeller 
 would shake all the foimdations of natural seciu-ity, call 
 on you for justice. 
 
 "I leave the case to you; I know that justice will be 
 administered by you, tempered with mercy; but your 
 lordships will not forget, that, if there be a merey due to 
 the individual, there is a more solemn and important 
 mercy due to the nation." 
 
 Lord Ellenborough. — "Let the four defendants be 
 brought up for judgment on Monday next." 
 
 The court then rose, and Mr. Cobbett, with the other 
 defendants, were taken, in the custody of the Marshall, to 
 the King's Bench Prison, accompanied by Major Cart- 
 wright and some other friends. 
 
 On Monday the 9th of July, Mr. Cobbett and his fellow 
 prisoners were brought up for judgment. The public ex- 
 pectation, which had been for tiie last few days antici- 
 pating the sentence of the court, mms so much excited 
 that Westminster Hall was crowded at an early hour, and 
 it was with considerable difficulty that the avenues to the 
 court could be approached. 
 
 Mr. Justice Grose attended during the morning to go 
 through the routine business ; and it was not till half-past 
 eleven that tlie Lord Ciiief Justice, Mr. Justice Le Blanc, 
 and Mr. Justice Bayley, took their seats on the Bench. 
 The passages were by this time so full, that all the exer- 
 tions of the tipstaffs were necessary to make way for the
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 0% 
 
 counsel. Lord Ellenborough directed the lower part of 
 the court to be cleared of strangers, but the crowd was 
 too dense to be removed without great confusion, and, as 
 the less of the two evils, strangers were suffered to re- 
 main. 
 
 After the tumult had subsided, the defendants, Mr. 
 Cobbett, Messrs. Budd and Bagshaw, the publishers, and 
 Mr. T. C. Hansard, the printer of tlie Political Register, 
 were brought into tlie court. After the Attorney-General 
 had prayed judgment in the usual form, Mr. Justice Grose 
 proceeded to pass the sentence of tiie court. He princi- 
 pally addressed himself to Mr. Cobbett, and animad- 
 verted witli particular severity upon the libel on which 
 the Defendant was convicted. " It was a work which 
 no well-disposed mind could doubt to have been framed 
 for the most pernicious objects. Looking at the time at 
 which it was written; looking at the circumstances of the 
 world, there could be no doubt of the evil intention of the 
 paper. The tendency of the paper," said the judge, *' is 
 in so many words to excite an unwillingness and dislike 
 to the service of the country, among those who are to be 
 its defence; and to insult those foreigners who are in our 
 service, to deprive tlie country of their honourable assist- 
 ance, and paralyse the energies of the state. 
 
 *' And, at what time was this libel published? At a 
 time when a lawless and violent enemy was threatening 
 our shores. Aud yet it was with this enemy tliat the 
 mild aud parental government of our country was to be 
 contrasted, auil disgraced by the contrast. Our country, 
 where every comfort, every privilege, and every honour, 
 that could be afforded to the army, was afforded by the 
 liberality of the laws ; was this to be compared with that 
 country whose object was conquest, and whose soldiers 
 were sacrificed, to every pursuit of insolent and unfeeling 
 ambition? The evil of the publication was therefore en- 
 hanced by the time at which it was sent forth through 
 the nation. 
 
 The Defendant could not complain of any severity in 
 the justice which liad been freely and fairly dealt out to 
 him. He had had a patient trial. He might have removed, 
 if he would, the doubt which the jury might have enter- 
 tained of the evil of the pernicious libel, for which he was
 
 04 LIFE OF 
 
 now to receive sentence. But the objects of the libel 
 were too palpable; the jury found you, William Cobbett, 
 guilty, upon the fullest and most satisfactory evidence. 
 If it were to be allowed that your object was not to em- 
 barrass and eufeeblc the operations of government, there 
 can be no grounds for exculpating you from the guilt of 
 libelling, for the base and degrading object of making a 
 stipend by your crime. If there had been no other impu- 
 tation upon you, the court, as protecting the peace and 
 purity of the public mind, would have felt itself called 
 upon to punish you severely. It I.s strange that a man, 
 who mixes so much in general and common life, as you do, 
 should not see that such acts as those for which you have 
 been tried are only productive of mischief to every mind 
 that is influenced by them, and that they necessarily termi- 
 nate in punishment on the guilty author. It is strange that 
 experience should not have taught you, and that you should 
 be only advancing in a continual progress of malignity. 
 What were the circumstances that you distorted in your 
 libel? The Local Malitia, in the Isle of Ely mutinied, they 
 overpowered their officers ; and there was nothing to res- 
 train them from committing acts of violence and injury on 
 those very inhabitants of Ely whom you insult for per- 
 mitting their just punishment. The German Legion, who 
 were accidentally in the neighbourhood, were called in 
 to enforce that discipline which is as necessary for 
 the well being of the army, as the security of the 
 people. Some were punished ; many were forgiven ; 
 and even of thoSe whose crime could not be altogether 
 passed over, a part of the punishment was remitted ; yet 
 this you describe as an act of atrocious tyranny. You 
 speak of the crime as if it were nothing more than a tri- 
 fling dispute about a small sum of money, and the pu- 
 nishment as being violent and oppressive in the extreme; 
 you insulted the soldiers, and said they took the flogging 
 like so many triniks of trees. The whole intention of 
 your libel was to throw disgrace on the government, 
 and to disgust and alienate the army. Ifyouhadany 
 thing to offer in extenuation, you might have offered it: 
 the court would have received it, and, in all events, im- 
 partial justice would have been dealt to you. 1 now pass 
 the sentence of the cowt upon you, William Cobbett, 
 as the principal criminal, who now stand before the court.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. M 
 
 The court do accordingly adjudge, that you William Cob- 
 bet, pay to our lord, the king, a fineofdg'ljOCO; that you be 
 imprisoned in His Majesty's gaol of Newgate for the space 
 of two years ; aud that at the expiration of that time, you 
 enter into a recognizance to keep the peace for seven 
 years, yourself in the sum of ^£"3,000, aud two good and 
 sufficient securities in the sums of dfi" 1,000 each. And fur- 
 ther that you be imprisoned till that recognizance be en- 
 tered into, and that fine paid. 
 
 His lordship then addressed the other defendants, 
 Messrs. Budd and Bagshaw, and, after observing that 
 from their having suflFered judgment to go by default, and 
 their not having any share of the profit of the paper, their 
 offence was lighter than that of the criminal, on whom 
 sentence had been just passed, their punishment should be 
 lighter ; but, that they might understand in future that no 
 carelessness or inattention in the publisher is a sufficient 
 excuse for sending out into the world mischievous works, 
 the court had determined that they should be imprisoned 
 for two months each in the King's Bench. 
 
 His lordship then commented on the guilt of Mr. Han 
 sard, the printer, who, from liaving read the proof-slips, 
 and having it in his power to read over the entire pro- 
 duction before it left his hands, was guilty of a high 
 offence in allowing the libel to come forth to the public ; 
 the extenuations of his offence, as well as those of the 
 two preceding defendants, liad been attended to by the 
 court, and in consideration thereof, the court would only 
 sentence him to three months imprisonment in the King's 
 Bench prison, and to enter into a recognizance to keep the 
 peace for three years, himself in ^400, and two sureties 
 in ^200 each. 
 
 The defendants then withdrew in the custody of tlie 
 officer of the court. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett appeared not much affected by the sen- 
 tence; his deportment during its delivery was unem- 
 barrassed, — he left the court with a smile on his coun- 
 tenance. 
 
 This sentence, thougli it was not one of deaiJi, was, 
 in effect, one of ruin^ as far as his possessed pro- 
 perty went. Every one regarded the judgment as se- 
 vere in the extreme. He lived in the country at the 
 time, seventy miles from London ; he had a farm oa hi»
 
 9& LIFE OF 
 
 hands. He had a family of small children, amongst whom 
 he had constantly lived ; he had a most devoted and 
 anxious wife, who was, too, in tliat state which rendered 
 the separation more painful ten-fold. On going to prison, 
 Mr. Cobbett was put into a place among/eZora^, from which 
 he had to rescue himself at tlie price of twelve guineas a 
 •week for the whole of the two years. The King — (Geor 
 III) was, at the close of his imprisonment, not in a cc 
 dition to receive the thousand pounds ; but his son, (t; 
 Regent) punctually received it " in his name and behaK 
 But all the misery that Cobbett endured appeared 
 nothing, compared with the circumstances that he must 
 have a child horn in a felon'' s gaol, or be absent fro»- 
 the scene at the time of the birth. His wife, who h.. 
 gone to see him for the last time previous to her lying-in, 
 perceiving his deep dejection at the approach of her 
 departure forBotley, resolved not to go; and consequently 
 went and took a lodging as near to Newgate as she (;ould 
 find one, in order that the communication between them 
 might be as speedy as possible; and in order that the 
 naturally anxious husband might sec the doctor, and re- 
 ceive assurances from him relative to her state. The 
 nearest lodging that she could find was in Skinner Street, 
 at the corner of one of the streets leading to Smithfield. 
 So that tli(;re she was, amidst the incessant rattle of 
 coaches and butchers' carts, and the noise of cattle, dogs, 
 and bawling men, instead of being in a quiet and com- 
 modious country house, with neighbours and servants, and 
 everything necessary about iier. Yet, so great is the 
 power of the mind in such cases, she, — thougli the circum 
 stances proved uncommonly perilous, and were attended 
 with the loss of the child, — bore her suft'erings with the 
 greatest composure, because, at any minute, she could 
 send a message to, or hear from, her Imsband. If she had 
 gone to Botlcy, leaving him in tliat stat(> of anxiety in 
 which she saw him, it is most likely she would have died; 
 and that event taking place at such a distance from poor 
 Cobbett, how was he to contemplate iier crorpse, sur- 
 rounded by her (lislra(;ted children, and escape death, 
 or madness himself? If such was not the effect of this 
 merciless act of the government towards him, that amiable 
 body might be assured that he had taken and recorded
 
 ^VILLIAM COBBETT 97 
 
 ihe will for the deed, and that, as such it lived in his me- 
 mory as long as that memory lasted. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett himself says, speaking of this event : " The 
 bJow '« Hs, to be sure, a terrible one; and, oh God! how 
 was I felt by my poor children ! It was in the month 
 ■ )f July when the horrible sentence was passed upon 
 
 'je. My wife, having left her children in the care of her 
 pd and affectionate sister, was in London, waiting to 
 
 -fow the doom of her husband. When the news arrived 
 
 Botley, the three boys, one eleven, another nine, and 
 
 other' seven years old, were hoeing cabbages in that 
 
 „ardcn which had been the source of so much delight. 
 
 yV'hen the account of the savage sentence was brought to 
 
 'em, the youngest could not, for some time, be made to 
 understand what a gail was ; and when he did, he, all in a 
 tremor exclaimed, "Now, Vm sure William, that Papa is 
 ■i^ot in a place like tliatV^ The other, in order to disguise 
 nis tears and smother his sobs, fell to work with his hoe, 
 and chopped afytit like a blind person. This account, when 
 it reached me, affected me more, filled me with deeper 
 resentment, than any other circumstance. And, oh ! how 
 I despise the wretches wliotalk of my vindictiveness, of my 
 exultation at the confusion of those who inflicted those 
 sufferings! How 1 dispise the base creatures, the crawl- 
 ing slaves, the callous and cowardly hypocrites, who affect 
 to be 'shocked'' (tender souls) at my expressions of joy, 
 And at the death of Gibbs, Ellenborough, Perceval, 
 Liverpool, Canning, and the rest of the tribe that 1 have 
 already seen out, and at the fatal working of that system, 
 for endeavouring to check which, I was thus punisiied ! 
 How I despise these wretches, and how I, above all things, 
 enjoy their ruin, and anticipate their utter beggary ! What ! 
 I am to forgive, am 1, injuries like this; and that, too, 
 without any atonement f Oh, no! I have not so read the 
 Holy Scriptures; I have not from tiiem learned that I 
 am not to rejoice at the fall of vnijust foes ; and it makes a 
 part of my liappiness to be able to tell millions of men th.it 
 I do thus rejoice, and that 1 have the means of calling ou 
 so many just and merciful men to rejoice along with me." 
 
 in the interval between the conviction and the passing 
 ot that heavy sentence upon Mr. Cobbett, it seems that 
 he contemplated the discontinuance of the Register, on 
 
 R
 
 0S LIFE OF 
 
 cdttditioil that government would give up the prosecution 
 and content itself with giving a merely nominal punish- 
 ment. Under all the circumstances of the case we think 
 the reader must acquit Cobbett of the charge of truckling 
 to his oppressors, or of endeavouring to screen himself 
 from the wrath of those who sought his destruction. Ti:e 
 sacrifice was a great one for him to make, and it was only 
 in consideration of his wife and numerous family that in- 
 duced him to think, even for a moment, of sucli a course. 
 Urged on by the impulses of his own heart, ho however, 
 did make the offer, and the following address to his rea- 
 ders and subscribers appeared in the next number of the 
 Register. 
 
 "to the readers of the register." 
 " As I never have written, merely for the sake of gain, 
 and as I have always held it to be a base act to write upon 
 political subjects, or, more correctly speaking, to take a 
 part in tlH3 war of politics, merely with a view to emolu- 
 ment or the means ofaliveliliood, I cannot of course, after 
 what has taken place, tliink it proper, let the pacuuiary 
 loss be what it may, to continue any longer this publi- 
 cation ; and, therefore, with this present number, which 
 also concludes the volume, I put an end to it for ever. I 
 hardly think tliat any statement of my reasons for doing 
 this can be necessary to any body; for it must be manifest, 
 that if the work were continued, it could not be wliat it 
 has been, and, of course it could no longer meet with the 
 approbation oi those by wiiom it has been iiitherto appro- 
 ved of. It in manifest, that, if continued, it must take 
 quite a new tone and manner; nay, tliat its matter must 
 also be (^hanged; that, in sliort, it must be totally different 
 to what it has Iiitherto been ; and, therefore, tliosc who iiave 
 most liiglily valued its existence, must, of course, be tlie 
 most desirous that it should now cease to exist. 
 
 "I know Unit tlicre will, nevertheless, be enough per- 
 sons to say, that I have deserted the cause; but I shall 
 ask, fv//05C cause '^ It is, 1 presume, meant, the cause of 
 the public, or the people, or thccounlry, — give it wiiat name 
 you please. Well, if tlie ]iutting a stop to tliis work be 
 ;»n injury to the country, let it l)e recollected, liiat it is 
 tilt country itself y,Uo liave yondeiuned ine."
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 99 
 
 This contemplated suspension of his Register, however, 
 did not meet with the result anticipated. Ministers now 
 had the enemy in their grasp, and they were determined to 
 mete out a punishment that should amply satiate their 
 revenge. Mr. Cobbott was lined in a heavy amount, and 
 condemned to wear out two years of his existence in a 
 wretched prison, He then found that he had no mercy to 
 expect at their liands, and, abandoning his design, he de- 
 termined to continue his paper luider all the disadvantages 
 in which he was placed. The publication proceeded as 
 usual, and the increased number of his subscribers afforded 
 a gratifying proof that his case met with the commissera- 
 tion of thousands of his fellow subjects. 
 
 As soon as the sentence was known many gentlemen, 
 admirers of Mr. Cobbett, proposed setting on foot a sub= 
 scription for the purpose of paying the fine which liad thus 
 been imposed upon him. The proposal having been 
 warmly received, was soon afterwards made known to 
 him, but Cobbett rejected their proffered kindness with 
 many thanks, declaring that he would not suffer his 
 friends to sacrifice their own interests in furthering his. 
 He, however, stated that he would have no objection to 
 accept of the assistance they had thus volunteered, pro- 
 vided they wou'd accept the value of whatever money 
 they might feel inclined to advance. This was acceded 
 to by the men who had thus stepped forward to his relief, 
 and the following letter, explanatory of his views of the 
 subject was published in the Register of A\igust 11th, 
 1810 :— 
 
 To THE Readers of the Register, 
 "Many Gentlemen have, by letter, as well as ver- 
 bally, proposed to me the putting forward a subscription 
 for tlie purpose of indemnifying me and my family against 
 the heavy expenses and loss, which have been, and must 
 be, incurred, in consequence of tliat prosecution, the 
 nature, the progress, and the result of which are too well 
 known to be here dwelt upon. It must be manifest to 
 every one, that these expneses, including all the various 
 sorts of them, will extend to several thousands of pounds, 
 besides the loss which I must suffer in my concerns at 
 home, and, indeed, in many ways, which cannot well \3c
 
 100 LIFE OF 
 
 raentiooed, and which it is not at all necessary to mention, 
 or to hint at, to those who have ever known what it is to 
 be so situated as to lead the world to believe, that pecu 
 liar distress, if not ruin, is even the possible consequence. 
 I am, however, happy to say, that 1 have been not only 
 able to withstand all pressure of the sort here alluded to ; 
 but, tiiat, without any extraordinary aid from any quarter, 
 I should feel confident of my ability to proceed,' and with 
 the blessing of continued health, make a suitable pro- 
 vision for all my children. Yet, though I neither feel nor 
 dread poverty, 1 do not think that 1 ought to neglect any 
 means consistent with honesty and honour, to guard ray- 
 self, and, which is of more consequence, ray family ^ 
 against it. My health, thank God, is as good as ever it 
 was; but I have no security for either liealth or life, 
 any more than other men; and, if I were now to attempt 
 an insurance upon my life, Newgate would tell pretty 
 strongly against me. It is, therefore, impossible for me 
 not to feel an anxious desire to see my family, at least, 
 guarded against certain expense and loss above raeu- 
 tioned ; but I have, as has been stated, to two in particular, 
 of the gentlemen who have proposed the subscription, an 
 objection to that mode of obtaining of indemnity. There 
 is, however another mode, which, though perhaps attended 
 in the end, with little possitiveand numerical gain, would 
 answer all my views full as well, while it would remove 
 every objection which the mode of subscription presents. 
 It is this ; — upon reviewing my stock of printed books, I 
 find that I have a number of SETS OF THE REGISTER, 
 from its commencement to the present time, which, by 
 reprinting one whole volume and part of another, 1 can 
 make complete ; there will "be in each set. Seventeen 
 Volumes, the price of which, bound in the usual way, will 
 be, what it always has been, 25^ guineas; about one- 
 third of which goes to tlie book-binder and the publisher, 
 exclusive of tlie cost of paper and printing. The exact 
 number that I iiave of these sets I do not yet know; but. 
 this I know, that when they are disposed of, there will 
 never be another complete copy sold, as I shall now have 
 every set that can be completed nmde up and prepared 
 for sale. In the course of nfew years all these sets would 
 be disposed of in the usual course of bookselling; but o»
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 101 
 
 immediate sal<} of the ivhole would, from the consideration 
 before mentioned, produce great convenience to me, 
 besides the ease of mind, which would arise from re- 
 flecting on the security that it would give to my family, 
 in case my long punishment should, as I trust it will not, 
 be attended with consequences fatal to myself. Such, 
 Gentlemen, therefore, as wished for the opening of a sub- 
 scription for the purpose above mentioned, will, in this 
 mode, have an opportunity of doing that which will be 
 equally advantageous, and much more agreeable to me; 
 and all that I shall say in the way of request, is, that each 
 individual disposed to further the object in view, would 
 recollect, that in this case, as in all others, where success 
 depends upon the co-operation of many ; each individual 
 so disposed, should look upon that success as wliolly de- 
 pending upon himself and should conclude that, unless he 
 act up to his wishes, every one else will content himself 
 with wishes alone." 
 
 This extract will be sufficient, we should imagine to 
 prove to any, not resolutely opposed to fact, that Mr. 
 Cobbett was not the sordid man he had been represented 
 to be. Here is an offer made to subscribe for him a large 
 sum of money Avhich he refuses to accept under any other 
 terms than giving an equivalent in return. Does this look 
 like avarice I Does this look like a man grasping at all 
 he can get, and preferring to live upon the labours pf 
 others rather than his own ? Does it not, on the contrary, 
 prove him to have been actuated by the most honourable 
 principles? Is it not, in fact, sufficient to overturn the 
 many calumnies that have been so industriously raised 
 a,gainst him. In our opinion it speaks volumes in his 
 favour, and, if no other instance could be found, this 
 one would amply suffice to quiet the wretched idiots who 
 have raised themselves up in hostility against him. But 
 to return to this victim of Castlereagh's cold blooded 
 cruelty, who was thus languishing within the walls of a 
 prison, separated from his wife, and withheld from tlie 
 society of those children, among whom it had ever been 
 his greatest gleasure to pass the leisure moments of his 
 life. 
 
 Notwithstanding his confinement in Newgate, Mr. Cob- 
 bett continued to write with his wonted perseverance and
 
 103 LIFE OF 
 
 spirit, and for a time he even published the Register 
 twice a week; at this period, and for many subsequent 
 years, he aimed the heaviest blows at the paper system of 
 this country, and, we may attribute to his exertions that 
 it afterwards tottered to its fall : had he been less active 
 perhaps it might have existed a considerable time longer 
 in all its mischievous strength. 
 
 At the termination of his two years imprisonment Mr. 
 Cobbett was received by his friends and admirers with 
 open arms. On the 9th of July, 18l2,the day of his release 
 from Newgate,he was invited to meet a large party to 
 dinner, at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, where his pa^- 
 tizans were to meet him for the purpose of celebrating 
 his return among them. As the account is particularly 
 interesting, we will give the particulars of this festival 
 from the Cornier Evening Newspaper. 
 
 "Dinner to Mr. Cobbett." 
 
 Soon after five o'clock, Mr. Cobbett, accompanied by 
 Sir Francis Burdett, Major Cartwright, Mr. Alderman 
 Goodbehere, Mr. Alderman Wood, Mr. Waithraan, Mr. 
 Favell, and several other friends, entered the great room 
 amid reiterated bursts of applause. 
 
 Sir Francis Burdett took the chair, and was supported 
 on the right by Mr. Cobbett. 
 
 After the cloth was withdrawn the following toast was 
 proposed from the chair, and pledged by the company 
 present : 
 
 " The Prince Regent — may he call to mind the decla- 
 ration of the Prince of Wales — ' That the crown is held in 
 trust for the benefit of the people.' 
 
 The following toast was tlien proposed, and drank with 
 three, amid loud shouts of aj)plausc : 
 
 " The People — the source of all power." 
 
 The next toast was also drank with three, accompanied 
 by shouts of applause : — 
 
 '* A Free Prt^ss, and Free Discussion." 
 
 The following tonst was then proposed by the Chaii*, 
 and drank with three times three, amid great and repeated 
 shouts of applause : — 
 
 ** Our sincere congratulatious on the release of that able
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. lOS 
 
 Advocate of Parliamentary Reform, and zealous opposer 
 of the Flogging System — William Cobbett." 
 
 Mr. Cobbett then rose, and said, that unused as he was, 
 to speak in public, he should iiave contented himself 
 on this occasion with the mere expression of his warmest 
 thanks for tiie lionour the company had done him, and his 
 sincere approbation of tliose sentiments they had now ex- 
 pressed, and for the expression of which he had so lately 
 suflfered. On coming, however, to this place, a paper had 
 been put into his liand, and, he supposed, into the hands 
 of most of the gentlemen present, accusing him of incon- 
 sistency of conduct, and of supporting principles contrary 
 to those he now lield. He had also read this morning in 
 The Times newspaper, an article which accused him of two 
 articles which were equally im founded. To these he found 
 it necessary to advert, though he liad no intent to delay 
 them long. ( Loud yipplause. ) iinvcly these men might have 
 been satisfied after having put him in goal, among felons, 
 and detained him so long, and after his having paid d^l,000 
 to their king, and found further securities for seven years, 
 without any fm*ther persecution. Of the source from which 
 the paper that had been put into theil* hands had come, 
 they could tell nothing: and the sort of criticism it con- 
 tained, was little calculated to weigh with thinking men, 
 or to require much animadversion. It showed that his 
 opinions, ten years ago, were different Irom what they 
 were now, and at that time he had expressed himself 
 harshly towards the man who now did them the honour 
 to preside on this occasion. {Loud Applmisc.) He had then 
 exercised that right for which they now contended, and 
 for which he had since suffered — the right of opinion and 
 free discussion. He was then, he acknowledged, in the 
 wrong, and was there any man living who was not some- 
 times in the wrong ? He had since, publicly and avow- 
 edly acknowledged his error, and had given sufficient 
 proofs of his change of opinion. A change of opinion was 
 only disgraceful when produced by interested and pecu- 
 niary motives, and they all knew that, in changing his 
 opinion of the Honourable Baronet, bis interest could 
 have no influence, as this was the least possible way of 
 promoting it. {Loud Applause.) Those who had printed 
 
 nd sent the paper,— and most likely they had doue so at
 
 |@f LIFE OF , 
 
 our expense (Joud applause) , did, however, unintentiona.lly, 
 the greatest honour to their worthy Chairman, who was 
 in no need of being informed of the circmnstance, and who 
 was here to support, not the man, but the principle. {Loud 
 applause.) They showed the Honourable Baronet's attach- 
 ment to the cause, independently of all personal considera- 
 tions, and that it was tlie principle, and not the man he 
 supported. With respect to the Times newspaper, the 
 whole of which it accused him, was a tissue of falsehoods. 
 The intended advertisement of his they had there pub- 
 lished, did not show that he repented what he had done, 
 but, merely, that he did not think, in the circumstances 
 he was then placed, that he could exercise the same 
 liberty of discussion he had done before, and that he did 
 not wish to lower the tone of his paper, but rather to 
 abandon it, with all its profits. That advertisement was 
 written at Botley, after the trial, seventy miles from Lon- 
 don, and sent to all the newspapers, when the next num- 
 ber of the Register, which happened to complete the vo- 
 lume, was intended, under tlie impression he had men- 
 tioned, to be the last. On reflection, however, with him- 
 self, after this advertisement was sent away, it occurred 
 to him, that dropping the Register might be misunder- 
 stood by the public, as an abandonment of the cause. 
 Mr. Finnerty, who was with him at Botley at the time, 
 could bear testimony to wliat he stated, and on this de- 
 termination set off immediately in a post-chaise for town, 
 to prevent the publication of this advertisement. This he 
 had done, not from any personal or pecuniary motive, but 
 to prevent the impression he had alluded to being made 
 on the public mind. As there might be persons present wlip 
 were not acquainted with the nature of the punishment he 
 had undergone, and to what a man was doomed when 
 sent to prison for libel, he would take the liberty of 
 stating some of the particulars. He was sent to the 
 Jehus' side of Newgate, where a yard is attached to the 
 cells, only tliirty-seven feet long by twenty-seven wide. 
 Here, in the same prison, were persons of the lowest des- 
 cription, and (Von some for unnatural crimes. In the prison 
 to which he (Mr. Cobbett) was sent was Aslett for one, and 
 another man, who was transported next day, and into whose 
 cell he (Mr.C.) was put, where Major Caitwright,.wheu he
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 166 
 
 called on him, found liini, and liero he must have remained 
 had he not redeemed himself by his purse. To be sent to 
 prison, therefore, for what was called a libel, was not a 
 bed of roses. In the same prison where Mr. Eaton was 
 confined, was a man imprisoned for unnatural crimes. 
 This man was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment 
 only, and to stand once in the pillory ; while Mr. Eaton 
 had stood once in the pilory, and was to undergo twenty 
 two months' imprisonment. He (Mr. Cobbett) had men- 
 tioned this with a view that Mr. Eaton's situation might 
 attract their attention ; whose case, at his advanced time 
 of life, was extremely severe. Mr. Cobbett concluded by 
 observing, that if he wanted any motive to attach him to 
 the cause of Liberty, that motive he should always find ia 
 those sentiments of gratitnde he felt for the honour they 
 had done him this day. (Loud applause.) 
 The following toasts were then drank : — 
 "The memory of William Piynne, who, after being pu- 
 nished as a seditious libeller, for exposing the corruptions 
 of the court, lived to bring his persecutor and unjust judge 
 to the block." 
 
 *'Mr. Drakard, and the other victims of ex-officio iQ= 
 formations." 
 
 ** May the servants of the people be prevented from 
 becoming their masters, by the Radical Reform proposed 
 by that firm opposer of undefined privilege, — Sir Francis 
 Burdett." 
 
 This toast was drank with three times three, amid the 
 greatest bursts of applause. 
 
 Sir Francis Bm'dett observed, tliat it sometimes fell to 
 his lot to address another assembly, now alluded to, and 
 that he had often seen gentlemen assume what he had 
 always deprecated ; while professing to be the represen- 
 tatives of the people, they did take upon themselves to 
 act as their masters. This high life below stairs it had 
 often fallen to his lot to witness. {A laugh.) This was an 
 assumption equally hostile to the people, and the fair 
 and legal prerogative of the Crown. They were met this 
 day on an occasion in which all civilized men throughout 
 the world would sympathise; to congratulate a man who 
 had suffered in the common cause of mankind ; whose pen 
 had long liad its due weight with the public, and whose
 
 |0§ LIFE OF 
 
 principles would always stand the tesfe of public opinion. 
 They had already seen how much the cause of humanity 
 bad benefited by his endeavours on the subject, for the 
 discussion of which he had been imprisoned. He was sure 
 that, by an impartial jury of Englislitnen, he would have 
 had a Civic Crown awarded to him, instead of tliat pun- 
 ishment, which he would not say he had sutfered unmerit- 
 edJy, but which he had so meritoriously sustained, Free- 
 aom of discussion was our birthright, and by the dissemmi 
 nation of truth alone, through the medium of a free press, 
 we could hope to preserve or attain our liberties. That 
 it should exist, however, in a government so corrupt was 
 ?nore than tliey could reasonably expect. The talent, 
 however, and ability employed by the press, if not wholly 
 silenced, would bring about such an union of opinion and 
 sentiment, as must shake corruption to its basis. Time, 
 the great discoverer of al! things, would discover what 
 measures government intended, in consequence of their 
 Secret Committee, for as yet it had been kept a profound 
 gecret, what measures they intended adopting, or if any., 
 though the question was to come on to-morrow. The great 
 enemy to the liberty of the press, was the power exercised 
 by the Attorney General in filing ex officio informations, a 
 power assumed contraiy to reason, law, and common 
 sense. According to this system, a man might be put to 
 all the risk and expense of a trial without even having 
 the cause brought to issue. It was putting the law into 
 the hands of the Attorney-General, and under the control 
 of Government, which reminded him, (Sir F. Burdett) of 
 an anecdote of King James I. when he came first to this coun- 
 try. Being a stranger and unacquainted with the forms of 
 the government, he asked, if tlie king made the judges 
 and bishops? and being answered in tlie affirmative, he 
 said, "Oh! tlien, 1 may have what law^ and what sort of 
 gospel I please!" (A laugh.) Our forefathers had good 
 sense enough to guard against an evil of this kind, by not 
 trusting tljc power out oftheir own hands. A jury, therefore, 
 was provided to intervene in every question affecting the 
 property or life of a subject. This provision, wise and 
 salutary as it was, the Attorney General took away by his 
 ex officio informations, exposing an inrlividual to all the 
 vexations and expense of a prosecution, which he might
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. lOt 
 
 abandon at aiiy time, if he chose, without assigning a rea- 
 son, while, if the trial should be brought to issue, the 
 Crown had the nomination of the Jury ; better be under 
 an absolute despotism than undergo this sort of oppression 
 under the pretext of law. Sir William Blackstone, 
 though at the time he wrote he was considered as a Court 
 tool, was now regarded as too favourable to the rights of 
 the people, and on these subjects, indeed, as inculcating 
 Jacobinical doctrines, so much had we lost sight of all 
 constitutional views. He says, in those cases were the 
 State or Constitution is in immediate danger the Attor- 
 uey-General has a right to come, when the law does not 
 provide a remedy ; but have those people who have suffered 
 form these informations, done any thing to cause their fear 
 of immediate miscliief ? To stifle discussion v/as the great 
 desideratum of all tyranny. To commit oppression and 
 stifle complauit was the object of every coriupt aad pia- 
 fligate government. Tliey had heard of a tyrant, who, de- 
 lighting in cruelty, contrived a brazen bull, in which he 
 enclosed his victims of his resentment, and kindled a fire 
 about it, being pleased to liear the bull roar. These 
 ex officio informations, however, were refining even 
 in tuis species of cruelty, for the unfortunate sufferer was 
 not even permitted to utter a complaint. They had heard 
 also of another tyrant, who had a bed, on which he laid 
 the victims of his cruelty, and those who were too short 
 had their limbs stretched to answer the bed, while those 
 who were too long had them cut off" in order to fit it. This 
 was somewhat like the treatment of the Press, there being 
 a common standard to which the mind must be rendered, 
 which, as it affected the mind, was equal in brutality to 
 the other. {Loud applmise.) 
 
 With respect to Mr. Cobbett's former opinions, he (Sir 
 F. Burdett) hoped that gentleman would always state his 
 opinions with the same independence. They did not wish 
 all men to be of the same opinion with themselves; all 
 they contended for was, freedom of discussion, a fair 
 stage; and no favour. What tlie gentleman on his right 
 had suffered, whose liberation they met this day to con- 
 gratulate, Avould formerly have been thought illegal. It 
 was a maxim in the old law, that, except in criminal 
 cases, a person could not suffer both in purse and person.
 
 108 LIFE OF 
 
 Here, however, not only personal pains were inflict- o, but 
 a higli fine levied. Except in tiie practice oft' ^-tar^o 
 Cliamber, tliey iiad seldom met witii a doctrine so cruQJsart 
 and unjust. {Appla7ise). It was ex officio inform ^tions^fti 
 tliat rendered tlie Star Ciiamber odious, and that, ». r- 
 sisted in, must take away the credit of the Cc *■ of 
 King's Bench. While the officers of justice contini-eu to 
 do their duty, there was no fear to be entertained of their m 
 not being held in public estimation. All they wished wasvij 
 that discussion should be as free as air. If any mischief re- 
 sulted from such discussion, the common law of the lane' 
 afforded eveiy reasonable relief. When they supported 
 the liberty of the Press, they did not contend for lice^.j 
 ousness. Freedom of the Press had always been t!i <» 
 proof a free country. He compared those who fell in*; 
 the Attorney-General's hand, to Daniel, who was caat^^ 
 into the Lions' Den. Daniel had the good fortune to 
 escape however, but very few who fell into the Attor , 
 ney-Gencral's claws, ever escape. (Applause.) With re- 
 spect to the flogging of soldiers, he (Sir F. Burdett) ob- 
 served, as Mr. (Jobbett had justly written, that it was not. 
 to be borne, that men should be taken from the plough, 
 and have the flesh torn off their backs by a cat o' nine ^ 
 tails, while (government troops are employed to see thats 
 the punishment be inflicted. (Loud applause.) Such a cir- 
 cumstance in former times, would have raised a forest of 
 arms all over the country. It was not only the <'ause of 
 humc%nity, but our national lionour was violated. Mr. 
 Cobbett might be proud, till the day of his death, of 
 having suffered in so lionorable a cause, it was a lot that 
 was less to be avoided tlian to be envied. It was a cause 
 in which our Sidneys and our Hampdens had suffered 
 before us. 
 
 Sir Francis concluded by M'armly seconding the idea 
 that liad been thrown out M'ith respect to the cise of those 
 victims of oppression that had suffered in this way, and 
 especially recomniendod the case of Mr. Eaton, wlio h.ifl 
 suffered so often, and was now suffering v. ith the same 
 fortitude as ever, though at a vt^ry advanc.-d ))eriod of life. 
 H& (Sir F. Burdett) hoped some relief would be afforded 
 him while in prison, and was convinced he must tind an ad- 
 vocate in the bosom of every man who now he^rd hiin.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 109 
 
 {A iplauss.) The Honourable Baronet then thanked the 
 ' ipany for tlic honour they liad done liirn in drinking his 
 'th, and for their approbation of liis conduct, which he 
 i^ht not, perhaps, always meet with, but which he 
 should always endeavour to preserve. 
 The following toast was then drank : — 
 ' Revision of the Penal Code — may it be rendered 
 Oi'o severe against public depredators, and less severe 
 ^ninst starving manufacturers/' 
 
 Mr. Collier, referring to the accusation in the Times 
 >;nst Mr. Cobbett; called on that gentleman to rebut 
 '6 n, thinking it necessary that some satisfactory answer 
 1 be given. The charge he considered two-fold; 
 of* attempting to raise subscripton in an indirect 
 ,, and that of offering to discontinue the 7?('^w^fr, 
 lOuld he not be brought up for judgment. 
 Mr. Cobbett observed, that the publication alluded to 
 the Times newspaper, which he held in his hand, had 
 peared only this morning. The gentleman, for any 
 . li.ig iie knew, might be the author of it ; but he ought 
 ?rtainly to have done it sooner, that he might have 
 ad an opportunity of answering it; and not on the very 
 1/ of their meeting. With respect to the subscription, 
 did not see how he could be accused of this, as he had 
 vr fused to accede to any such proposition when made to 
 'lim. — Having, however, a number of sets of his Register 
 •>n hand, that were unsold, he had certainly a right to 
 >.vertise them, leaving any person to purchase that 
 . ight please, at the ususal price. He did not even say 
 -i^at he would thank any person to purchase them. 
 »Vit!i respect to discontinuing the Register, he had cer- 
 tainly a power to do so, should it suit his convenicncy, 
 or should he suppose he had enough to keep himself and 
 his ftmily without this labour. He could only say, 
 that he had never made any proposition to have the 
 punishment remitted, nor had any proposition of that 
 .^ort ever been made to him, nor had he even, ever 
 thought of it. {Great apjjlause.) 
 
 Mr. Collier again mounted the table, and attempted 
 to speak, but from the continued clamour and opposi- 
 lion, could not be heard. 
 
 Sir Francis Burdett then addre^fsed the meeting on 
 
 L
 
 110 LIFE OF 
 
 the propriety of allowing every man a fair hearing. He 
 would request, however, persons coming forward in this 
 •way to fight in armour. Mr. Cobbett stood the shot of 
 everybody that fired at him, but it was right the com- 
 pany should know who the gentleman was. 
 
 Mr. Collier, when permitted to be heard, said, that 
 though he did not see there was a necessity for it, h& 
 was not ashamed to declare his name to the company^ or 
 to proclaim it to the whole world. He disclaimed 
 having any concern in the article alluded to, or any 
 motive of hostility against Mr. Cobbett. He cnl}' 
 wished that the assertions in the Times should be as 
 publicly refuted as they had been made, and he felt as 
 much satisfaction as any individual present, in the amp!v 
 justification Mr. Cobbett had made. (Loud applause.) 
 
 After the toast, " Success to the American Patriots," 
 had been given, Mr. Cobbett, Sir Frances Burdett and 
 his other immediate friends retired. 
 
 On the day following this event, Mr. Cobbett quitted 
 London to return once more to Botley, where pre- 
 parations had been made by his neighbours to receive 
 him in a manner that should convince his enemies 
 how much they admired the man whom they had thus 
 persecuted. In order to give the greater eclat to this 
 joyful occasion, it was proposed to set the bells a ringing 
 on his entrance into the village, but the request for per- 
 mission to do so was peremptorily refused by ihe liberal- 
 minded parson of the parish, and this part of the cere- 
 mony was of course obliged to be omitted. About eight 
 o'clock on Saturday evening, Jitly 11th, 1812, the land- 
 lord of the principal Inn, bearing a large flag, and 
 accompanied by a vast concourse of persons, set out to 
 meet Mr. Cobbett. At the distance of about a mile 
 from the village they met Mr. C. in an open landau, 
 when taking the horses from his carriage, the victim of 
 ministerial ojipression was borne triumphantly to the 
 house of his agent, where he addressed the crowd in a 
 speech expressive of his gratitude, and explanatory of 
 the crime and other circumstances attending his recent 
 imprisonment. Having concluded, he returned to his 
 own house, when the remainder of the evening was spent. 
 in the bosom of that now happy family, from which be 
 had been so long separated.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. Ill 
 
 From this period Mr. Cobbett was allowed to remain 
 unmolested by his enemies. The Register was continued, 
 .ind his attacks upon an infamojs government were pur- 
 sued with that vigour which he could at all times bring 
 to his aid whenever he sought to expose or crush an ad- 
 versary. Yet, in spite of this fierce warfare in politics ■ 
 his life was now spent in comparati'^e peacefulness — his, 
 family required all his attention with respect to their 
 education and the formation of their youthful mhids. 
 His farming speculation at Botley, it is true, turned out 
 not quite so profitable as he had anticipated, but this he 
 the less regretted, as it proved to him a source of plea- 
 sure, amusement, and experimental utility. More or 
 less he contrived to cultivate land throughout the re- 
 mainder of his life, boasting, with, honest pride, that the 
 character of a farmer was his aim, pride, and desired 
 distinction. 
 
 In the year 1816, Mr. Cobbett, at the instigation of 
 Lord Cochrane, reduced the price of his Register to two- 
 pence, that it might be read the more extensively by 
 the industrious classes of society. The effect of this 
 step exceeded even his most sanguine expectations, and 
 in a short time afterwards, he saw his favourite work 
 attain a sale varying from seventy-five to one hundred 
 thousand weekly. A great feeling was thus produced 
 throughout the country, and more particularly in Lan- 
 cashire and Yorkshire. Political observations began to 
 be extensively circulated throughout the country ; he in 
 fact introduced a new era into the politics of England 
 Other writers. Hone, Wooller, Sherwin, V/ade and 
 Carlile, entered the field of cheap political publications, 
 and roused a feeling that in 181 9 was near insurrectionary 
 combustion, and led to the notorious Six Acts of that 
 year. Mr. Cobbett had, single-handed, induced the 
 Ministers to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, at the 
 meeting of Parliament in 1817 almost avowedly to ob- 
 tain over him the absolute power of imprisonment without 
 cause shown. The whole country seemed inspired with 
 one common feeling of patriotism. The Ministers of the 
 day, Liverpool, Castlereagh, Canning, and Sidmouth, 
 met them with spies and instigators to plots and insur- 
 rection, and thus obtained a green bag full of documents, 
 
 l2
 
 112 LIFE OF 
 
 on which to plead a justification for the suspension of 
 the Habeas Corpus Act. Mr. Cobbett Avas in Parlia- 
 ment declared the cause of all the trouble and the aim 
 of the Ministers, who despaired of again bringing his now 
 cautious writing under the system called the Law of 
 Libel. This epoch was one of fearful and engiossing 
 interest, and of the most perilous importance to the 
 eause of lleform, which, in spite of the desperate attempt 
 of power to crush it for ever, in 1817, has since obtained 
 a partial triumph, — the sure precursor of a future and 
 complete victory. The Habeas Corpus Act was sus- 
 pended by the Parliament on the 4th of March, 1817. 
 It was openly avowed by Government that this stretch 
 of arbitrary power was chiefly occasioned by the writings 
 of \^'illiam Cobbett, and was resorted to for the purpose 
 of enabling the Home Secretary of State to throw that 
 formidable champion of reform into prison. This avowal 
 was the more extraordinary and humiliating, inasmuch 
 as it was at the same time acknowledged by Lord Sid- 
 mouth, that thelawofficersof the Crown had been unable 
 to find anything in IMr. Cobbett's writings upon which 
 a prosecution could be instituted, with a reasonable pros- 
 pect of obtaining a conviction against him ! The con- 
 stitution of the country, therefore, was temporarily sub- 
 verted, and the personal freedom of every one of its in- 
 habitants flagtitiously placed at the absolute disposal of 
 the Government, for the purpose of allendng a man 
 against whose language no violation of the law could be 
 even alleged, and whose influence and reputation had 
 been only increased by the futile attempts which had 
 been previously made, on the part of all the advocates of 
 corruption, to combat his principles and doctrines, 
 though the medium of the press. 
 
 One of the most remarkable occurrences in the domes- 
 tic history of the year 1817, Avas the double renewal of 
 the bill for WiQ.snspcits'wn of the Habeas Corpus Act, moved 
 first in the two Houses near tiie close of February, and 
 afterwards, upon a fresh alarm, in the month of June. 
 The majorities by which these measures were carried 
 sufficiently indicated the affright which was spread 
 through the most opulent, and the most timorous class 
 of the nation ; at the same time the number was not in»
 
 WILLIA M COBBETT. 113 
 
 considerable of those who held firmly to the maintenance 
 of laws which were regarded as the palladium of English 
 liberty. The termination of these disputes threw a de- 
 gree of discredit upon the ministry, who, by the em- 
 ployment of spies, seemed to aggravate the discontents 
 which were already too prevalent among the inferior 
 ranks of the people. 
 
 On the 24th of February, a bill for the suspension of 
 the Habeas Corpus Act was moved in the House of 
 Lords. It was introduced by Lord Sidmouth, who be- 
 gan his speech bv an eulogy upon the manner in which 
 the secret committee had laid its discoveries before the 
 House, There were three principal features to which he 
 would advert : 1. That no doubt was left in the minds 
 of the committet, that a traitorous correspondence ex- 
 isted in the metropolis, for the purpose of overthrowing 
 the established government: 2. That the committee 
 are deeply concerned to report their full conviction, that 
 designs of this nature have not been confined to the capi- 
 tal, but are extending widely through the most popu- 
 lous and manufacturing districts i 3. That such a state 
 of things cannot be sufiered to continue without hazard, 
 ing the most imminent and dreadful evils. 
 
 After descanting on these points, his lordship pro- 
 ceeded to set in a strong light the dani^er into which 
 the public Avelfare was brought ; and he touched upon 
 the riot in the capital on December 2nd, and upon his 
 own active services in suppressing it. He was thence 
 led to take into consideration certain provisions of former 
 legislatures, to guard against public evils ; and he inti- 
 mated the intention of the present ministers to renew 
 some measures of this kind. In fine, he came to the 
 direct point of the suspension of the Habeas Corpus, 
 of which he said he was sincerely grieved to be the in- 
 strument, especially in a time of profound peace. " But 
 it was one extraordinary quality of the British con- 
 stitution, — (we quote his lordship's own words) that the 
 powers of the executive government could be enlarged 
 if by such means that constitution would be better se- 
 cured. He required the suspension of the Habeas 
 Corpus Act, in pity to the peaceable and loyal inhabi- 
 tants of the couutry, for the protection of the two Houses 
 
 L 3
 
 114 LIFE OF 
 
 of Parliament, for the maintenance of our liberties, and 
 for the security of the blessiiigs of the constitution. It 
 was not merely the lower orders which had united in 
 these conspiracies; individuals of great activity, resolution t 
 and energy, xvere engaged in the contest.'*'' 
 
 This proposition was supported by the Marquis of 
 Wellesley, the Earl of Liverpool, and Lord Grenville, 
 but was strenously opposed by Earl Grey, and a few 
 others of the liberal Peers ; after which the House di- 
 vided, when there appeared Content 84, Pfoxies 66, 
 Total 150 ; against, Not Content 23, Proxies 12, Total 
 35. Majority in favour of the suspension of the Habeas 
 Corpus Act, 115. 
 
 A protest was then entered upon the" Journals to the 
 following effect : " Dissentient. Because it does not 
 appear to us that, in the report of the Secret Committee 
 there has been stated such a case of imminent and press- 
 ing danger as may not be sufficiently provided against 
 by the powers of the executive government under the 
 existing laws, and as requires the suspension of the most 
 important security of the liberty of the country." It 
 was signed by eighteen Peers. 
 
 On the same day, February 24, Lord Castlereagh 
 moved for leave to bring in a Bill on the same subject, 
 which was granted by 190 votes against 14. The Bill 
 was then introduced, and in a few days it was hurried 
 through both Houses of Parliament, and received the 
 assent of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent. 
 
 In March, ]8t7 we find Mr. Cobbett involved in an 
 att'air of some difficulty and danger. On the 11th of 
 that month a public meeting had been convened at 
 AVinchester by the Sheriff, for the purpose of present- 
 ing an address to the Prince Regent. In the course of 
 the proceedings Mr. Cobbett proposed an amendment 
 to the address, by inserting after the word " Constitu- 
 tion," as " established by Magna Charta, the Bill ol" 
 Rights, and the Act of Habeas Corpus, for which our 
 forefathers fought and bled." Previous to putting this 
 amendment Mr. liOckliart, (a gentleman well known for 
 liis connection with the Quarterly Itcview) came forward 
 and declared that, if the meeting adopted Mr. Cobbctt's 
 amendment, they M'ould declare against loyalty, and for
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 116 
 
 everything that was seditious and wicked. Upon which 
 JNIr.C. came forward again and exclaimed: — "Gentlemen, 
 I am happy to say, that however we have been misled be 
 our passions this day to express our difference in so vio- 
 lent a manner, upon one point I am sure we shall be 
 perfectly vmanimous, and that is that Mr. Lockhart has 
 been guilty of the foulest vihrejpresentaiion that ever was 
 made by mortal man." 
 
 In consequence of the severity of this expression, on 
 the same evening, after the meeting broke up, Mr. 
 Lockhart waited on Mr. Cobbett at his inn, accompanied 
 by two gentlemen. What followed is thus related by 
 Mr. C— " I told him that I would have no communica- 
 tion with him except it was in writing. They wanted 
 tojsit down in the room where Mr. Goldsmith, Mr. Hunt, 
 and other gentlemen were with me ; but this I told them 
 I would not sufler, and bade them go out of the room. 
 They did so, and then a correspondence took place, 
 which I insert here word for Avord and letter for letter, 
 and if the Learned Friend should feel sore at seeing his 
 agiiatioH exposed in his illiterate notes, let him thank 
 his own folly and imprudence for the exposure." 
 
 Sir, — As you requested me to put in writing the 
 object of my requesting a meeting with you, I beg to 
 inform you it was with a view to your retracting the 
 word foul which you applied to me, by stating I had 
 been guilty of " foul misrepresentation." I did not hear 
 whether you said " of your language or intentions." 
 I am. Sir, your obedient Servant, 
 
 J. J. Lockhart. 
 
 Winchester 11th March, 1817. 
 Sir, — I did not say that it was " a foul misrepresen- 
 tation" which you had made, but " the foulest misrepre- 
 sentation that ever was made by mortal man," an opi- 
 nion which I still entertain, and always shall, until you 
 shall fully express your sorrow for the effects of that 
 mortification which I hope, led your tongue beyond the 
 cool dictates of your mind. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 Your most humble and obedient Servant, 
 Wm. Cobbett.
 
 116 LIFE OF 
 
 Sir,— I have received your answer, which leaves no 
 alternative except that of my insisting on that satisfac- 
 tion which you owe me as a gentleman, and which I 
 wish you would empower some friend to arrange this 
 evening. 
 
 I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, 
 
 March 11, 1817. J. J. Lockhart. 
 
 X shall remain in Winchester this evening for this 
 purpose until eight o'clock, and a friend will deliver this 
 letter to you, to accept your arrangement. 
 
 To Wm. Cobbett, Esq. 
 
 To this hostile communication Mr. Cobbett returned 
 the following pithy reply :— 
 
 Winchester, March 11, 1817. 
 
 Sir, — If I could stay here another day, I would 
 amuse myself with some fun with you, but having busi- 
 ness of more importance on hand, I must request of you 
 to renew your pleasant correspondence, upon our arrival 
 iii town. In the meanwhile, I remain 
 
 Your most obedient, 
 
 and most humble Servant, 
 
 AVm. CoBBETr. 
 
 Now a few plain facts will enable the reader to form a 
 perfectly correct judgment of the case between these two 
 parties, — First, Mr. Lockhart knew that Cobbett had 
 written many essays reprobating, in the strongest terms the 
 pnu^tice of duelling. — Second, he knew that the person 
 lie had thus challenged, had ever held it as a species of 
 suicide, for a man in his situation, to fight a duel, seeing, 
 thjit if one missed him, another would be found, till 
 !-omo one should kill him. — Third, (and this was Mr. 
 Lockbart's rork of safety) he knew well that if Cobbett 
 accepted of his clialleiigc^, he must instantly forfeit five 
 thousand pounds. Ife knew that the man he had thus 
 challenged had been boutul in recognizances for seven 
 years from the year 1812.— In this then, we see the
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 117 
 
 safety of this political wrangler. Mr. Cobbctl wisely 
 refused to give the required meeting, and we think the 
 reader must be perfectly satisfied tliat his refusal did 
 not in any way compromise his character or fair fame. 
 
 In a few days after this affair a r(>port was industriously 
 circulated by some injudicious friends, that Mr. Cobbett 
 had been horsewhipped by Lockliart, wliile retiuning from 
 a Mr. Brown's at Peckham, where he (Mr. C. ) had slept 
 the previous night. To this allegation Mr. Cobbt;tt promptly 
 replied, and in the next number of the Register appeared 
 the following denial. 
 
 " Now, who, at a distance from London, would not 
 belive this to be true'^ Who would not believe that there 
 was, at least, truth in some part of it? Who w^ould not 
 believe, that, at any rate, I was xxt Mr. Brown'' s on Stmday^ 
 AV^lio would believe, that it was u<}iolly false? Nevertheless, 
 I was not within several miles of Peckham last Sunday i 
 1 slept at No. 8, Catiierinc Street on tiiat night ; 1 never 
 was out of that house on the Monday; and 1 have never 
 seen Lockhart the Brave since he came to me, with his two 
 witnesses, at the Black Swan at Winchester." Thus then 
 were tlicir lies refuted by a few plain facts, and Mr. Cob- 
 bett was never again troubled by these retailers of foul 
 inventions. 
 
 The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, as has been 
 already mentioned, on the 4th of March, 1817. Mr. 
 Cobbett, therefore, secretly determined to fiy from a 
 power which had thus trampled upon the only law 
 to which he could appeal for protection. In the 
 meantime, however, and while he was preparing for 
 his departure, he published his Political Register of 
 the 8th March, *' On the Habeas Corpus Suspension 
 Act — on the Sedition and Treason Bills — and On the 
 state to which we are reduced." This was followed 
 by the Political Registers of JMarch 15th and 22nd, the 
 former addressed" To the Good and true Men of Hamp- 
 shire," on the •' Meeting at AVinchester," &c., and the 
 latter " A Letter to the dclndedVeo^le,'" in which he ex- 
 poses the despotism under the gloom of which the country 
 was then placed. 
 
 At length he set off for Liverpool, to take shipping for 
 America. The following description of his journey trom
 
 lid LIFE OF 
 
 London, though short, is exquisitely beautiful and 
 touching. Few men, even of those endowed with the 
 necessary faculties and qualifications, could have main- 
 tained a state of mind fit for observing and feeling the 
 beauties of the scenery through which Mr. Cobbett pass- 
 ed, under the trying circumstances that had driven him 
 from a country which he evidently loved so well, and 
 during his actual flight from the dangers with which he 
 was threatefted. 
 
 *' I and m}^ two sons, William and John, set off' from 
 London early in the morning of Saturday, the 22nd of 
 March. We reached Litchfield that night, and Liver- 
 pool the next night about ten o'olock. Of the whole 
 country through which we passed (and all of which v/as 
 very fine) we were most delighted with ten miles from 
 Dunchurch to Coventry, in Warwickshire. The road 
 very wide and smooth ; rows of fine trees on the sides 
 of it ; beautiful white- thorn hedges, and rows of ash and 
 elm dividing the fields ; the fields so neatly kept ; the 
 soil so rich ; the herds and flocks of fine fat cattle and 
 sheep on every side ; the beautiful homesteads and nu- 
 merous stacks of wheat ! Every object seemed to say — 
 Here are resources ! Here is wealth ! Here are all the 
 means of national power, and of individual happiness ; 
 And, yet, at the end of these ten beautiful miles, cover- 
 ed with all the means of affording luxury in diet and 
 in dress, we entered that city of Coventry, which out of 
 twenUj thousand inhabitants, contained at that very mo- 
 ment upwards of eight thousand miserable paupers ; a fact, 
 which we well knew, not only from the petition just 
 presented to Parliament, but also from a detailed offi- 
 cial account in manuscript, which I had in my posses- 
 sion amongst my papers in London ; and one of the 
 members for which formerly public-spirited though now 
 miserable city, (Butterworth,) had voted for all the recent 
 measures of government, and had been one of the most 
 active though the most silent enemies of the cause of 
 Reform ! 
 
 *'As we proceeded on through Staftordslurc and Cheshire, 
 all the same signs of wealth and of sources of power, on 
 tlie surface of the earth, stru(;k us by day, and by night, 
 those more sublime signs, which issued from the furnaces
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. UV 
 
 on the hills. Tlje causeways for foot-passengers, paved. 
 in some instances, for tens of miles together, as well, and 
 more neatly, than the streets of London arc paved; the 
 beautiful rows of trees shading those causeways ; the c;i- 
 nals winding about through the valleys, conveying coal, 
 lime, stone, merchandize .of all sorts; the immense and 
 lofty woods on the iiills ; and the fat cattle and sheep 
 every where : every object seemed to pronounce an eulo- 
 gium on tlic industry, the skill and perseverxance of the 
 people. And, tvhy, then, are those people in a state of 
 such misery and det:;radation i We knew the cause before, 
 and so did you. The fat cattle and corn do not remain in 
 bufticiimt quantities amongst those who, by their various 
 toil, produce them. Tlie farmer, instead of giving to his 
 labourer a sufficient share of what is produced, is com- 
 pelled to give it to the tux-gatherer; the tax-gatherer 
 hands it over to the government; the government hands 
 it over tolhe Fund-holder, the Sinecurist, the Pensioner, 
 the INlilitary Department, the Placemen, &c. It is the 
 same with the master manufacturer and the master trades- 
 man, who, instead of giving their work-people a sufficient 
 quantity of money to enable them to share in the fat cattle 
 and sheep, arc compelled to give that share to the tax-ga- 
 therer, llencc it is, that the far greater part of these 
 tilings go away from the spot and the neighbourhood where 
 they are raised, to be eaten hj those who receive the taxes ^ 
 and by those who attend upon them. The taxes are carried 
 away in the pockets of the taxing people; and tlie wag- 
 gons and barges carry the corn, the butter, the cheese, and 
 their own legs carry the cattle, pigs, and sheep, after the 
 taxes. Accordingly, we met, every few miles, droves of 
 fat oxen, pigs, and sheep, marching up towards the grand 
 resort of tlio Fund-liolders and Boroughmongers, and 
 othcTs who live upon the taxes." 
 
 Having thus conducted Mr. Cobbett to Liverpool on 
 his way to the far distant sliores of America, we will now 
 pause for the purpose of casting a summary glance over 
 the late and most active period of his life. Talk of diffi- 
 culties, in theshapcof rocks and breakers,, and quagmires, 
 and quicksanfl;^, wiio ever escaped from so many as lie did'/ 
 Thrown, (by his own will, indeed,) on the wide world, at 
 a very ea.ily age, without money to support, without
 
 120 LIFE OF 
 
 friends to advise, and without "book-learning" to assist 
 him; passing a few years dependent solely on his own 
 labour for his subsistence ; then becoming a common 
 soldier, and leading a military life, chiefly in foreign parts, 
 for eight years. Quitting that life after — really for him 
 high promotion — and with, for him, a large sum of money, 
 (about 15CI.) ; marrying at an early age, going at once to 
 Fi'ance to acquire the French language ; thence to Ame- 
 rica, passing eight years there ; becoming bookseller and 
 author, and taking a prominent part in all the important 
 discussions of the interesting period from 1793 to 1799; 
 during which tliere was, in- that country, a continuef' 
 struggle carried on between the English and the Frencli 
 parties; conducting himself in the same active part he 
 took in that struggle, in such a way as to call forth mark"^ 
 of unequivocal approbation from the Government at home. 
 Returning to England in 1800 ; resuming his labours here ; 
 suffering two years of imprisonment, heavy fines, and, in 
 fact a total breaking up of fortune, so as to be left witii- 
 out a bed to lie on, and, during all tliat time of difficulty 
 and of punishment, writing and publishing,, every week of 
 his life, whether in exile or not, a few weeks only ex- 
 cepted, a periodical paper, containing more or less of 
 matter worthy of public attention; writing and publish- 
 ing during the same time a vast number of well-written 
 books; all of them of great and continued sale, and some 
 of the greatest circulation in the whole world, the Bible 
 only excej)tcd; having, during the same period of troul^l;> 
 and embarrassment, always, whether in exile or not, sus- 
 tained a sho[) of some size; liaving, during the same 
 period, never employed less, on an average than ten per- 
 sons, in some capacity or other, exclusive of printers, 
 bookbinders, and others, coimected with papers and 
 books ; and having, during all this time of troubles, em- 
 barrassments, prisons, fnios, and banishments, brought up 
 a large family of children in a manner most creditable to 
 himself. If such a man, we say, be not a fitting example 
 to the rising generation of Englishmen, we know notwhor<' 
 to look for on(! who has iialf tlic claims poor Cobbett had 
 lor our esteem and veneration. 
 
 Returning from this digiession, into which we i)avc 
 been almost unconsciously led by our sincere admiration
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 121 
 
 of the man, we must now turn to a subject which we dare 
 say is fresh in the minds of a good many of our older 
 readers; — we mean his impressive and solemn leave- 
 taking of his countrymen at the moment when he was 
 about to depart, (as lie then believed for ever,) from the 
 much-loved land of his birth, and when he was obliged to 
 sever himself, without even a moment's preparation, from 
 all that he held to be most dear and estimable. 
 
 This extraordinary and remarkable document, — extra- 
 ordinary for the cause of its production, and remarkable 
 for the nature of its contents, is dated " Liverpool, March 
 28th, IS 17.'' As soon as the publisher in London was as- 
 sured that Mr. Cobbett had actually set sail, it was pub- 
 lished under the title of *' Mr. Cobbett's taking leave of 
 his countrymen." It was extensively circulated through- 
 out the kingdom, and was universally read, — by the au- 
 thors and supporters of public abuses with open exulta- 
 tion and seeming triumph, though with secret shame, the 
 self-abasing consciousness of degradation and guilt, — by 
 the friends of Mr. Cobbett, the reformers, the advocates 
 and adherents of liberty, with deep and unfeigned regret, 
 and undisguised though short-lived dismay. For a time 
 the most determined of the reformers were astounded 
 and paralyzed. The flight of Cobbett necessarily gave 
 rise to exaggerated notions of the dangers under the 
 mere apprehension of whicli his daring and mighty 
 spirit, pre-eminent as it was in its audacity, was 
 tiiought to have quailed. His farewell to his oppressed 
 country was heard as the knell of her departed Free- 
 dom. Despair accompanied tlie news of his flight, as 
 it was gloomily spread througliout the laud, and the 
 hope of liberty heavily declined and nearly died in the 
 stoutest heart of England. Time, however, confirmed the 
 truth of Mr. Cobbett's declaration, that he fled through 
 policy, not from fear, — and that he iiad no alternative but 
 that of submitting to be silent, at a time when his cheering 
 voice and courageous bearing were more than ever neces- 
 sary to sustain the fortitude, and to reanimate the hopes 
 and exertions of his countrymen.
 
 188 LIFE OF 
 
 The Farewell Address begins as follows :— 
 
 "My Beloved Countrymen, 
 
 Soon after this reaches your eyes, those of the writer 
 will, possibly, have talfcn 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, wliom lie shall to his last 
 breath love and esteem beyond all tlie rest of mankind. 
 
 "Every one, if he can do it witliout wrong has a right to 
 pursue the path to his own happiness ; as my happiness, 
 however, has long been inseparable from the hope of assist- 
 ing in restoring the rights and liberties of my country, no- 
 thing could have induced me to quit that country whilethere 
 remained the smallest cliance of my being able, by remain- 
 ing, 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 pre- 
 sent 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 inter- 
 est, 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 have urged our claims 
 with so much truth ; we have established tiiem so clearly 
 on tlie ground of botli 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, I not only degrade myself, but I do a 
 great injury to the rij^hts of the nation by appearing to 
 abandon them. IT I remain here, 1 must, therefore, fta^e 
 to 'write, either from compulsion or from a sense of d^ty
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. \n 
 
 to my countrymen ; therefore, it is impossible to do any 
 good to the cause of ray country by remaining in it ; but, 
 if I remove to a country where I can write with perfect 
 freedom, it is not only possible, but veiy probable, that I 
 shall, sooner or later, be able to render that cause impor- 
 tant and lasting sei-vices. 
 
 *' Upon this conclusion it is, that I have made ray deter- 
 mination; for, though life would be scarcely worth pre- 
 serving with the consciousness that I walked about ray 
 fields or slept in my bed merely at the mercy of a Secre- 
 tary of State ; though, under sucli circumstances, neither 
 the song of the birds in spring nor the well-strawed home- 
 stead 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 otlier 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, when 1 
 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 quenclied ? Shall I make no effort 
 to preserve even the chance of assisting to better the lot of 
 my unhappy country? Shall that mind, which has commu- 
 nicated its warmth to millions of other minds, now be ex- 
 tinguished 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 for- 
 ever secm'e from tliat pen, by the efforts of which they 
 feared being overwhelmed ? Shall truth never again be 
 uttered ? Shall her voice never again be heard even from 
 a distant sliore?" 
 
 "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 parts, 
 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 provoca- 
 tions that I have received, or that I may receive; never 
 
 m2
 
 124 LIFE OF 
 
 shall there drop from my pen any thing, 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 1 follow their base 
 example. 
 
 "Tliough I quit my country, far be it from mc to look 
 upon her cause as desperate, and still farther be it from 
 me to wish to infuse despondency into your minds. / 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 unna- 
 tural, and so violent, that it must triumph in tlie 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 till now been amongst our most decided adversaries, 
 will be very soon compelled, for tiieir own preservation, 
 to become our friends and fellow-labourers. Not a frag- 
 ment of their proj)erty 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, tliat 
 it will afford them the only chance of escaping both. The 
 wonder is, that they do not sec 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 spe- 
 cies of vindictive exercise of power. There has come into 
 the heads of these people, 1 cannot very well tell how, a 
 notion, that it is proper to consider the labouring classes 
 as a disihict caste. They are called, now-a-days, by these 
 gentlemen, ''Hhe Peasantry.'''' This is a new term as applied 
 to Englishmen. It is a French word, whidi, in its literal 
 sense, means, country folks. But, in the sense in which 
 it is used in France and (jerniany, it means, not only coun- 
 try peoph^ or country folks, but also a distinct and degraded 
 class of persons, who have no pretensions whatever to look 
 upon themselves, iu any sense, as bclongingto the same
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. lf« 
 
 society, or community, as the Gentry; but who ought 
 always to be '•''kept down in their proper placed And, it 
 has become, of late, the fashion to consider the labouring 
 classes in England in the same light, and to speak of them 
 and treat them accordingly^ which never was the case in 
 any former age. 
 
 " The writings ofMalthus, who considers men as W2^r6' 
 animals, may have had influence in the producing of this 
 change ; and, we now frequently hear the working classes 
 called '■Hhe population,'''' just as wc call the animals upon 
 a larm "the stock" It is curious, too, that this con- 
 tumely towards the great mass of the people should havf; 
 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 stript of the means of 
 keeping up that hospitality for which England was once 
 so famed, and of whicii there remains nothing but the 
 word in the dictionary ; they see themselves reduced to 
 close up theii* 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 of 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 singu- 
 larly enlightened. Not enlightened in the manner that 
 the sons of Cant and Corruption would wish them to be. 
 The couceitckl creatures in what is called high life, and 
 who always judge of men by their clothes, imagine tliat 
 the working classes of the people have their minds suffi- 
 ciently occupied by the reading of what are called ^^religiout 
 and maral tracts''' — simple, insipid dialogues and stories, 
 calculated for the minds of children seven or eight years 
 
 m3
 
 196 LIFE OF 
 
 old, or for those of savages ju?t beginning- to be civilized. 
 These conceited persons liave no idea that the minds of 
 the working classes over presume to rise above this infan- 
 tine level. But these conceited persons are most grossly 
 deceived : they are the " deluded'''' part of the community ; 
 deluded by a hireling and corrupt press, and by the conceit 
 and insolence of their own minds. The working classes 
 of the people understand well what they read; they dive 
 into all matters connected with politics ; they have a re- 
 lish not only for interesting statement, for argument, for 
 discussion; but the powers of eloquence are by no means 
 lost upon them; and, in many, many instances, they have 
 shown themselves to possess infinitely greater powers of 
 describing and of leasoning, than have ever been shown 
 generally by that description of persons, who, with Mal- 
 thus, regard them as mere animals. In the i-eport 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, ^Hheir character seems to be 
 wholly changed.'''' I believe it is indeed ! For it is the natu- 
 ral effect of enlightening the mind to change the character. 
 But, is not this change for the better? If it be not, why 
 have we iieard so much about the efforts for instructing 
 the children of the poor? Nay there are institutions for 
 teaching full-grown persons to read and write ; and a 
 gentleman upon whose word I can rely, assured me, that 
 in a school of this sort, in Norfolk, he actually saw one 
 woman teaching another woman to read, and that both 
 teacher and pupil had spectacles upon their noses I What 
 then! Has it been intended, that these people, when 
 taught to read, should read nothing but Hannah Moore's 
 '■^Sinful iS'«%," and Mrs. Trimmer's Dialogues? Faith, 
 the working classes of the |>eople have a relish for no such 
 trash. Tlicy are not to be amused by a recital of the 
 manifold blessings of a state of things, in which they l)ave 
 not half enougli to eat, nor half enough to cover tlu^r na- 
 kedness by d.iy or to keep them from perishing by night. 
 They are not to be amused witli the pretty stories about 
 " the hoiinty of Providence in making bramhlcs for tiie pur- 
 pose of tearing off pieces of tlic shei-p's wool in order that 
 the little birds may come and get it to line tlieir nests with 
 to keep their young ones warm ! " Stories like these are
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. I37 
 
 not sufficient to fill the minds of the working classes of the 
 people. They want something more solid. Thej' have 
 had something more solid. Their minds, like a sheet of 
 paper, have received the lasting impressions of unde- 
 niable fact and unanswerable argument ; and it will 
 always be a source oftiie greatest satisfaction to me to 
 reflect, that 1 iiave 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. 
 
 "Do those, who pretend to believe that the people are 
 deluded, and wlio say these laws are not aimed against the 
 people, but merely against their 5a7«cc?\y ,• do those persons 
 really imagine, that the people are tlms to be deceived? 
 Do they imagine, for instance, that the people wlio read 
 ray Register, will not in this case, regard any attack upon 
 me, as an attack upon themselves? It is curious enough, 
 to observe how precisely the contrary the reasoning of 
 these persons is in all other cases. An attack upon the 
 clergy is always deemed by them to be an attack upon 
 religion. An attack upon the King is always deemed 
 by them to be an attack upon the Nation. And it is 
 very notorious, that in all criminal cases, the language 
 of the law is that the offence has been committed 
 against the peace of tlie realm, and in contempt of 
 the king, his ci-own and dignity. Yet in the present 
 case, the leaders of the reformers are to be sup- 
 posed to have no common interest witli the reformers 
 themselves; and it appears to be vainly imagined, that 
 millions of men, all united in petitioning in the most 
 peaceable and orderly manner for one particular object, 
 will be easily persuaded to believe, that those ti'ho have 
 taken the lend amongst them may be very properly sacri- 
 ficed, and that, too, "without any injury at all to the cause ! 
 What should we tliink of an enemy in the field, who were 
 to send over a flag of truce, and propose to us to give up 
 our Generals? Only our Generals! That is ail! The 
 enemy has no objection to 11s: it is only our Generals 
 that he wants; and, then we shall have peace with him at 
 once. There was once, the fable tells us, a war between 
 the Wolves and the Sheep, the latter being well protected 
 by a parcel of brave and skilful Dogs. The Wolves, set 
 on foot a uegociation, the object of wliich was everlasting
 
 198 LIFE OF 
 
 peace between the parties, and the proposition was, on 
 the part of the Wolves that there should be hostages on 
 both sides; that the Wolves should put their young ones 
 into the hands of the Sheep, and the Sheep should put 
 their Do^-* into the hands of the Wolves. Inanevil hour the 
 Sheep agreed to this compact ; and the very first oppor- 
 tunity, the Wolves, having no longer any Dogs to contend 
 with, flew amongst the fleecy fools and devoured them and 
 their lambs without mercy and without mitigation. 
 
 "The flocks of reformers in England are not to be '^de- 
 luded'" in this manner. They will well know, that every 
 blow, which is aimed against the men who have taken the 
 most prominent yn.t in the cause of reform, is aimed 
 against that cause iUelf and at every person who is at- 
 tached to that cause, just as much, just as effectually, 
 as a blow aimed at the liead of a man is aimed at his 
 fingers and his toes. 
 
 "The countiy gentlemen, therefore, will never see the 
 day when tiie working classes will again be reconciled to 
 them, unless they shall cordially take the lead amongst 
 those working classes. This, I am in hopes, they will do? 
 for every day of their lives will make their own inevitable 
 ruin more and more manifest. But whether they do this 
 or not, the consequences of the present measures will, I 
 am convinced, be the same. They will only tend to 
 make the catastrophe more dreadful than it would other- 
 wise have been. The funding system will go regularly 
 on producing misery upon the back of misery, and irrita- 
 tion upon the back of irritation. It is that great cause 
 which is constantly at work. Notliing can stop its pro- 
 gress, short of a reduction of the interest of the debt; and 
 as that measure seems to be rejected with obstinacy as 
 persevering as are tlio destroying effects of the system 
 itself, nothing can reasonably be expected but a violent 
 dissolution. 
 
 "Tlie nation will recollect how confidently the ministers 
 spoke last your of a speedy restoration to ])rospt'rity. Mr. 
 Vansittart talked in a very gay and flippant style about the 
 raising of fourteen millions in taxes, in order to keej) up 
 the Sinking Fund, which fourteen millions, he said, would 
 return back to the country to enliven manufactures, com- 
 merce, and agriculture. The words were hardly out of
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 129 
 
 bis mouth, when I told you, that, if the fourteen million^ 
 did return back to the country, it would only be for the 
 piuTpose of transferring fourteen millions worth more of 
 the property of tlie land-owners, the ship-owners, the ma- 
 nufacturers, the farmers, and the traders, from them to 
 the pockets of the fund-holders and the sinecure placemen 
 and pensioners, together with all those who lived upon 
 the taxes. But all the former classes are now become so 
 reduced in point of property ; all their property has so 
 fallen in value, that they have now nothing to offer in 
 pledge for the money which the fundholders have to lend 
 them ; and the consequence of this is, that we now behold 
 the curious spectacle of o loan made by the fundholders to 
 the Government of France. The loan is stated at ten mil' 
 lions sterling. And now, my friends, pray observe what a 
 traffic is here; going on ! These ten millions of money have 
 been raised in taxes upon us to pay the interest of the 
 debt, or part of it. The fundliolders having got this 
 money into their possession, lend it to the Government of 
 France, because we, who pay the taxes, are become too 
 poor; our property is fallen too low in value for the fund 
 holders to lend it to us; and thus ten millions' worth of 
 the income of tiie gentlemen and of the fruits of the labour 
 of the people, are conveyed over to another nation, which 
 must tend to give life to agriculture and trade and ma- 
 nufactures in that nation, in just the same degree tliat the 
 operation tends to depress and ruin our own country. To 
 make this as clear as day-light, let us suppose the Isle of 
 Wight to be cut off from all trade and all interchange of 
 commodities with the rest of the kingdom. Let us sup- 
 pose that all the people in the Isle of Wight are compel- 
 led to pay a great portion of their incomes and of the fruit 
 of their labour every year to be sent over and expended 
 in the rest of the kingdom ; and that no part of what tliey 
 thus pay is to go back again to the Isle of Wight, except 
 the interest of it. Is it not evident, tiiat the Isle of Wight 
 must become most wretchedly poor and miserable? Will 
 not the proprietors there get rid of their property as fast 
 as tiiey are able, and will not they get away into the 
 other parts of the kingdom? Yes! and this is wliat the 
 people of England are now doing with regard to France. 
 The property of England is now going away, and all those
 
 m LIFE OF 
 
 who are able and do not live upon the taxes, are follow- 
 ing the property as fast as they can. To take a single 
 instance ; suppose me to be living in the parish of Botley, 
 or rather, to suppose something nearer the reality, sup- 
 pose Mr. Eyre, who does live there, and who, having a 
 landed estate, to the amount, perhaps, of two or 
 three thousand a year, and who, being a very good 
 master, very hospitable and kind to all his neigh- 
 bours, employing great numbers of them and expending 
 the greater part of his clear income amongst them, were, 
 instead of so expending his income, to lend it to the go- 
 vernment of France, and to receive from that Government 
 the interest only every year : it is clear, that instead of 
 two thousand pounds a year to expend among his neigh- 
 bours, he would have only two hundred pounds to expend 
 amongst them. Here would be a falling off of eighteen 
 hundred pounds a year, which, at thirty pounds per family, 
 would take away the means of living from sixty families. 
 If this mode of disposing of Mr. Eyre's income would de- 
 prive sixty families of the means of living, the loan which 
 has been made to the Government of France hy the fund- 
 holders^ through the agency of the Barings and others, 
 must deprive of the means of living thirty-three thousand 
 three hundred and thirty-three families ! And this is a truth, 
 my good and perisliing countrymen, Avhich 1 defy the 
 William Giffords, the apostate ^outheys, and all the herd 
 of sinecure and hired writers, to contravert. The interest, 
 you will perceive, will come back again to England, and 
 may possibly be expended amongst the people of England, 
 but all the principal will be expended in France to ani- 
 mate French manufactures, commerce, trade, and agri- 
 culture, all of which will be fed hy the ruin of England. 
 
 ** The same will be'going on, in other shapes, M'ith regard 
 to other foreign countries, and especially with regard to 
 America. For can it be believed, that men, in the fann- 
 ing and trading line, will remain here to give their last 
 shilling to the fundlioldcrs, and to sec their ftimilies 
 brought to the workhouse, while a country of freedom 
 extends its arms to aflord protection to their property as 
 well as to their persons? At this very moment hundreds 
 of farmers arc actually preparing to remove themselves 
 and their property to America, and many arc now upon
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 181 
 
 the voyage. Now then, let us see what will be the effects 
 of operations of this sort. A man who rents a farm, we 
 will suppose, determines not to remain any longer under 
 such a state of things. He sells off his stock, amounting, 
 we will say, to five thousand pounds. He turns the stock 
 into money, and he carries the money to America. In 
 England he gave employment and paid in poor-rates the 
 means of supporting about twelve or fourteen families. 
 Whence are to come the means of supporting these fa- 
 milies when he is gone? There is no one to supply Ms 
 place ; for there are thousands of farms now lying waste. 
 These families must go to augment the already intoler- 
 able burden of the poor-rates ; they must go to add to the 
 immense mass of misery already existing, while the farmer 
 himself, though he has lost, by the low price of his stock, 
 two-thirds of his fortune, carries away the remainder, to- 
 gether with his valuable industry and skill, to add to 
 the agriculture of America; to give employment to fami- 
 lies there; to add to the population and power of that 
 country ; and to congratulate himself on his escape from 
 ruinous taxation, and his family on their escape from the 
 horrors of a poor-house. And who can Uavie such a man ? 
 He must still love his couutry ; but the first law of nature, 
 self-preservation, imperiously calls on liim to abandon it 
 for ever ! 
 
 [Mr. Cobbett then goes on to say, that from these and 
 'other causes, the country must, as long as the same state 
 of things continued, go on " declining and perishing,"— 
 with its means daily diminishing, — and having no remedy 
 for the evil but that of nearly annihilating the National 
 Debt, and of reducing nine-tenths of the expenses of 
 maintaining the army, for which army, indeed, there would 
 be no occasion but for the debt. The great question was 
 whether the boroughmougers should carry on the military 
 and suspension system after the funding system should be 
 destroyed. This order of things, — an immense standing 
 army, with corps of yeomanry all over the country, with 
 the press under the superintendance of the magistrates, 
 and with the personal safety of every man. taken from him, 
 he called the Boroughmongering System; notoriously 
 adopted for the purpose of crushing the Reformers. The 
 funding system could not last long. No measures, no
 
 182 LIFE OF 
 
 powers, no events, could save it from destruction at the 
 end of a few years. Tiie vital question was, whether the 
 boroughraongering system coukl support itself amidst all 
 the uproar and turmoil of the breaking up of the funding 
 system, and whether it could consolidate itself in this 
 country, — a question wliich would settle the fate of Eng- 
 land, but the solution of wliich appeared to be more dif- 
 cult than any other that had ever presented itself to his mind. 
 — A change had already taken place in the tone of those 
 Avho talked so boldly about the endless resources of the 
 country. They began to faulter, and were frightened at 
 the work of their own hands. Though surrounded witli 
 all the securities of an army and of the absolute power of 
 imprisonment act, still they trembled within, and were 
 scared at the desolation they had brought upon the country. 
 They were compelled to smile upon the fundholders, and 
 yet they would fain that there were no such people in ex- 
 istence; and, being baffled in all their projects and pros- 
 pects, they knew not Avhich way to turn themselves. It 
 had been their project to cause the Bank to pay again in 
 specie : but it appeared to be now their project to get 
 fresh quantities of paper afloat. Tins, however, would be 
 difficult if not impossible of accomplishment, seeing that 
 the proprietors of lands and of goods had nothing to offer 
 in security for it ; and besides, if it were effected, it would 
 be equal to reducing the value of the currency one-third, 
 and would in fact bo a proportionate breach of all con- 
 tracts. The discredit of the paper money would become 
 so notorious, that the i)cople of all foreign nations would 
 keep aloof from it, and would exclaim, '■'Bahylon the great 
 has fallen .'" 
 
 After some more observations on the question of the 
 currency, and after reiterating his reasons for quitting 
 England for America, and cautioning the people as to the 
 calumnies which would be published against him in his 
 absence, Mr. Cobbett concludes his farewell address 
 as follows] : — 
 
 "A mutual affection, a powerful impulse, will, 1 hope, 
 always exist between me and my hard-used countrymen; 
 an affection, which my heart assuies me, no time, no dis- 
 tance, lu) new connections, no jiew association of ideas, 
 however enchanting, can ever destroy, or, in any degree,
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 133 
 
 enfeeble or impair. The sight of a free, happy, well fed, 
 and well clad people, will only tend to invigorate iny 
 efforts to assist in restoring you to the enjoyment of those 
 rights and of that happiness, which are so well merited, 
 by yoiu' honesty, your sincerity, your skill in all the use- 
 ful arts, your kind-heartedness, your valour, and all the 
 virtues which you possess in so supereminent a degree. 
 A splejidid mansion in America will be an object less dear 
 to me than a cottage on the skirts of Waltham Chace or 
 of Botley Common. Never will I own as my friend him 
 who is not a friend of the people of England. I will never 
 become a gichject or a citizen in any other state, and will 
 always be k foreigner in every country but England. Any 
 foible that may belong to your character, I shall always 
 willingly allow to belong to my own. All the celebrity 
 which my writings have obtained, and which they will 
 preserve, long and long after Lords Liverpool and Sid- 
 mouth and Castlereagh are rotten and forgotten, I owe 
 less to my own talents than to tliat discernment and that 
 noble spirit in you, whicli 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 re- 
 nown, of England; and hatred of their corrupt, hypocriti- 
 cal, dastardly, and merciless foes. * * # 
 
 ' ' The beautiful country through which I have lately tra- 
 velled, bearing, upon every inch of it, such striking marks 
 of the industry and skill of the people, never can be des- 
 tined to be inhabited by slaves. To suppose such a thing 
 possible would be at once to libel the nation and to blas- 
 pheme against Providence. 
 
 "Wm. CoBBETr." 
 
 ''Liverpool %Wt MarcJi, 1827." 
 
 Whilst this farewell address was being read by his nu- 
 merous friends and admirers in England, Mr. Cobbett 
 was proceeding as a fugitive and a wanderer towards tliose 
 shores which he had quitted a few years before with dis- 
 gust and indignation. Now, liowever, his political opi- 
 nions had undergone a most important change, — he was no 
 longer an admirer of extravagant monarchies and heartless
 
 134 LIFE OF 
 
 and dishonest ministers. He had learned to look upon the 
 free institutions of America with a less prejudiced eye, 
 and, hasty as his natural temperament was, he thus suddenly 
 resolved to take up his future abode in that land whose 
 civil and religious liberty he now admired with all the 
 ardour of a Franklin or a Washington. He sighed indeed, 
 for the land he had left, probably for ever, but, when he 
 thought of the wrongs that^ he had endured, and of the 
 persecutions that iiad for years past haunted him, his 
 patriotism gradually subsided, and he looked for- 
 ward with something of hope to days that should 
 afford him more happiness in that country to which he was 
 flying for refuge. It is true that his tenderest feelings 
 were yet turned towards the comfortable home he had just 
 left, and his mind was ever fondly fixed upon his wife and 
 children, the partners in all his griefs, with an affection 
 that neither time nor intervening distance could efface 
 from his mind, yet, looking forward to happier days, he 
 hoped soon to have them with him in whatever place he 
 might fix upon for his future residence. He was, however, 
 too pmdent to wish them with him till he should have an 
 opportunity of providing for them all those comforts 
 which he had always made it his chief pride to share with 
 them. He knew that he should have many difficulties to 
 contend against at first, and therefore wisely resolved that 
 they should not follow him to America until he had made 
 smooth the rugged path that was before him, and had pro- 
 vided those comforts in the land of the stranger which 
 they had known in the country of their home and birth. 
 Besides, he himself still had a lingering desire to return at 
 some future period or other to England — he believed tliat 
 the malice of his enemies would not endure for ever, and 
 he resolved, should an opportunity ever arrive, to return 
 and wear out the remainder of his days in the clime where 
 he had first drawn the breath of life. 
 
 This, to many persons wlio knew not Cobbett's charac- 
 ter tlioroughly, may appear an erroneous assertion on our 
 part. Tliey may imagine, that his mind was not suscep- 
 tible of these tender emotions — that, in fact he was too 
 much a citizen of tlie world to (tare anytlhng about where 
 he might be placed, so long as the locality answered his 
 expectations and held out fair promise for the future
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 185 
 
 Cobbett was not a man of this kind — his manners might 
 appear rough and somewhat unconrteous to those who 
 knew him not most intimately — but it was his manner and 
 not his disposition to be so. He had been brought up in 
 tlie rough school of adversity — had experienced more diffi- 
 culty and trouble than usually falls to the lot of mankind, 
 —and had felt in its fullest force the rod of vengeance 
 that had been so frequently applied by his merciless and 
 unfeeling enemies. That his temper and feelings were of the 
 best order we have numerous instances both in his domestic 
 relations and tiiose of the more active scenes of his life. 
 But why need we urge the point ? the fact is known to all 
 who had the honour of his acquaintance, and in their hands 
 we leave the task of confirming our assertion. 
 
 Having seen him embarked ibr America, we will now 
 pause in the narrative and give a vivid picture of this man 
 from his own writings. 
 
 *'I wrote for fame, says Mr. Cobbett in after life, and 
 was urged forward by ill-treatment, and by the desire to 
 triumph over my enemies; but, after all, a very large 
 part of my nearly a hundred volumes may be fairly ascribed 
 to the wife and children. 
 
 I might have done something: but, perhaps, a thousandth 
 part of what 1 have done ; not even a thousandth part ; 
 for the chances are, that I, being fond of a military life, 
 should have ended my days ten or twenty years ago, in 
 consequence of wounds, or fatigue, or more likely in con- 
 sequence of some haughty and insolent fool, whom nature 
 had formed to black my shoes, and whom a system of cor- 
 ruption had made my commander. Love came and rescued 
 me from this state of horrible slavei-y ; placed the whole 
 of my time at my own disposal ; made me as free as air ; 
 removed every restraint upon the operations of the mind, 
 naturally disposed to communicate its thoughts to others; 
 and gave me for my leisure hours, a companion, who, 
 though deprived of all opportunity of acquiring what is 
 called learning, had so much good sense, so much useful 
 knowledge, was so innocent, so just in all her ways, so 
 pure in thought, word and deed, so disinterested, so gen- 
 erous, so devoted to me and her children, so ivoc from all 
 disguise, and withal so beautiful and so talkative, and in a 
 voice so sweet, so cheering, that 1 must, seeing the health
 
 136 LIFE OF 
 
 and the capacity which it had pleased God to give me, 
 have been a criminal, if I liad done much less than that 
 which I have done ; and I have always said, that, if my 
 country feel any gratitude for my labours, that gratitude 
 is due to her full as much as to me. 
 
 " Care! What care have I known ! I have been buffeted 
 about by this powerful and vindictive Government ; I 
 have repeatedly had the fruit of my labour snatched away 
 from me by it; but I had a partner tliat never frowned, 
 that was never melancholy, that never was subdued in 
 spirit, that never abated a smile, on these occasions, tliat 
 fortified me, and sustained me by her courageous example, 
 and that was just as busy and zealous in takhig care of the 
 remnant as she had been in taking care of the whole ; just 
 as cheerful, and just as full of caresses, when brought down 
 to a mean hired lodging, as w hen the mistress of a fine 
 country house, -with all its accompaniments ; and, whether 
 from her w ords or looks, no one could gather that she re- 
 gretted the change. What ** cares" have I had then ? What 
 have I had worth the name of " cares''' ? 
 
 "And, how is it nowl How is it when the sixty-fourth 
 year has come ? And how should 1 have been without this 
 wife and these children? I might have amassed a tolerable 
 heap of money ; but what would tliat have done for me? It 
 might h^iYQlought me plenty of professions of attachment ; 
 "plenty of persons impatient for my exit from the world ; 
 but not one single grain of sorrow, for any anguish that 
 might have attended my approaching end. To me, no 
 being in this world appears so wretched as an Old Batehelory 
 Mr. Cobhetfs habits of Living. — The reader may form a 
 tolerable idea from the follow ing account extracted from his 
 own works, — " Wiio, what man, over performed a greater 
 quantity of labour than I have performed ? What man ever 
 did so much? Now, in a great measure, I owe my capability 
 to perform this labour to my disregard of dainties. Being 
 shut up two years in Newgate, with a fine on my head of 
 a thousand pounds to the king, for having expressed my 
 indignation at the flogging of Englishmen under a guard 
 of German bayonets, I ate, during one year, one mutton 
 chop every day. Being oni-.c in town, with one son (then 
 a little boy) and a clerk, while my family was in the 
 country, I had during some weeks notliing but legs of mut-
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 187 
 
 ton ; first day, leg of mutton boiled or roasted : second' 
 cold ; third, hashed; then leg of mutton boiled : and so on* 
 When 1 have been by myself, or nearly so, I have always 
 proceeded thus : give directions for having every day the 
 same thing, or alternately as above, and every day exactly 
 at the same hour, so as to prevent the necessity of any 
 talk about the matter, I am certain that, upon an average 
 I have not, during ray life, sjjcnt more than thirty-Jive 
 minutes a day at table, including all the meals of the day. 
 1 like, and I take care to have, good and clean victuals : 
 but, if wholesome and clean, that is enough. If I find it, 
 by chance, too coarse for my appetite, I put the food aside, 
 or let somebody do it, and leave the appetite to gather 
 keenness. But the great security of all is, to eat little and 
 to drink nothing that intoxicates. 
 
 Of the Education of his Children. — He gives a description 
 which we should be glad to be followed by parents in 
 general; these are his own words: — " But, to do 
 the things I did, you must love home yourself; to 
 rear up children in this manner, you must live with 
 them; you must make them, too, feel by your con- 
 duct, that you prefer this to any other mode of passing 
 your time. All men cannot lead this sort of life, but 
 many may : and all much more than many do. INIy occu- 
 pation, to be sure, is chiefly canned on at liome ; but I 
 had always enough to do, 1 never spent an idle week, or 
 even day, in my whole life. Yet I found time to talk 
 with them, to walk, or ride about with them ; and when 
 forced to go from home always took one or more with 
 me. You must be good-tempered too with them; they 
 must like your company better than any other person's ; 
 they must not wish you away, nor fear your coming 
 back, nor look upon your departure as a lioliday. When 
 my business kept me away from the scribbling-table, a 
 petition often came, that I would go and talk with the 
 group, and the bearer generally was the youngest, being 
 the most likely to succeed. When I went from home, all 
 followed me to the outer gate, and looked after me, till 
 the carriage, or horse was out of sight. At the time ap- 
 pointed for my return, all were prepared to meet me ; and 
 if it were late at night, they sat up as long as they were 
 able to keep their eyes open. ' This kind of parents and 
 n3
 
 136 LIFE OF 
 
 this constant pleasure at home, made them not even think 
 of seeking pleasm-e abroad ; and they, thus, were kept 
 from various playmates and early corruption. 
 
 "This is an age, too, to teach children to be trust-wofthy 
 and to be merciful and humane. We lived in a garden of 
 about two acres, partly kitciien-garden with walls, partly 
 slii-ubber}^ and trees, and partly grass. There were the 
 peaehes, as tempting as any that ever grew, and yet aS 
 safe from fingers as if no cliild were ever in the garden. 
 It is not necessary to forbid. The blackbirds, the thrushes, 
 tlie whitethroats, and even that very sliy bird the gold- 
 finch, had their nests and bred up their young ones, in 
 great abundance, all about this little spot, constantly the 
 play place of six children; and one of tiie latter had its 
 nest, and brought up its young ones, in a raspberry bush, 
 witliin two yards of a walk, and at the same time that we 
 were gathering the ripe raspberries. We give dogs, and 
 justly, great credit for sagacity and memory ; but the fol- 
 lowing two most curious instances, which I should not 
 venture to state, if tiiere were not so many witnesses to 
 the facts, in my neighbours at Botley, as well as in my 
 own family, will show, that birds are not, in this respect, 
 inferior to the canine race. All comitry people know that 
 tlie skylark is a very shy bird ; that its abode is the open 
 fields : that it settles on the ground only ; that it seeks 
 safety in the widencss of space; that it avoids enclosures, 
 and is never seen in gardens. A part of our ground was a 
 grass-plat of about forty rods, or a quarter of an acre, 
 which, one year, was left to be mowed for hay. A pair of 
 larks, coming out of the fields into the middle of a pretty 
 populous village, chose to make their nest in the middle 
 of this little spot, and at not more than about thirty-five 
 yards from one of the doors of the house, in which there 
 were about twelve persons living, and six of those children 
 wiio had constant access to all parts of the ground. There 
 we saw the cock rising up and singing, then taking his turn 
 upon the eggs; and by-and-by, we observed him cease to 
 sing, and saw them both constantly engaged in bringing 
 food to the young ones. No iiuintolligible hint to the fathers 
 and mothers ol'thchuinan race, who might before marriage, 
 liave taken delight in music. But the time came for mow- 
 ing tlie grass ! 1 waited a good many days for the brood to
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 139 
 
 get away; but, at last, I di'termined on the day; and if 
 the larks were tliere still, to leave a patch ol' grass stand- 
 ing round them In order not to keep them in dread longer 
 than necessary, I brought tln-ee able mowers, who would 
 cut the whole in about an hour; and as the plat was nearly 
 circular, set them to mow round, beginning at tiie out- 
 side. And now for sagacity indeed ! The moment tiie men 
 began to \vhet their scythes, the two old larks began to 
 flutter overtlie nest, and to make a great clamour. When 
 the men began to mow, they flew round and round, stoop- 
 ing so low, when near the men, almost to touch their 
 bodies, making a great clattering at tlie same time; but 
 before the men had got round witli the second swarth, 
 they flew to the nest, and away they went, young ones and 
 all, across the river, at the foot of the ground, and settled 
 in the long grass in my neighbour's orchard. 
 
 " The other instance relates to a house-martex. It is 
 well known that these birds build their nests under the 
 eaves of inhabited houses, and sometimes under those of 
 door porches ; but we had one that built its nest in the hovie, 
 and upon the top of a common door-case, the door of 
 which opened into a room out of tlie main passage into 
 the house. Perceiving the marten had begun to build its 
 nest here, we kept the front-door open in the day time : 
 but were obliged to fasten it at niglit. It went on, had 
 eggs, young ones, and the young ones flew. I used to 
 open the door in the morning early, and then the birds 
 carried on their affairs till night. The next yea7- the 
 MARTEN came again, and had another brood iu the same place. 
 It found its old nest; and having repaired it, and put it in 
 order, went on again in the former way; and it would, I 
 dare say have continued to come to the end of its life, if 
 we had remained there so long, notwithstanding there were 
 six healthy children in the house, making just as much 
 noise as they pleased. 
 
 "Now what sagacity in these birds to discover that those 
 were places of safety ! And how happy must it have made 
 us, the parents, to be sure that our cliildren had thus deeply 
 imbibed habits the contrary of cruelty ! For be it engraved 
 on your heart, \oung max , that whatever appearances may 
 say to the contrary, c;wg% is always attended with cow- 
 ardicey and also yi\X\\ perfidy ^ when that is called for by the
 
 140 ^^^^ O^ 
 
 circumstances of the case; aiid that habitual acts of cruelty 
 to other creatures, will, nine times out of ten, produce, 
 when the the power is possessed, cruelty to human beings. 
 The ill-usage of horses, and particularly asses, is a grave 
 and just charge against this nation. No other nation on 
 earth is guilty of it to the same extent. Not only by hlows, 
 but privation, are we cruel towards useful docile and pa- 
 tient creatm-es ; and especially towards the last, which is 
 the most docile and laborious of the two, while the food 
 that satisfies it, is of the coasest and least costly kind, and 
 in quantity so small ! In the habitual ill-treatment of this 
 animal, which, in addition to all its labour, has the milk 
 taken from its young ones to administer a remedy for our 
 ailments, there is something that bespeaks ingratitude 
 bardly to be described. In a Register that I wrote from 
 Long Island, I said, that amongst all things of which I had 
 been bereft, I regretted no one so much as a very diminu- 
 tive mare, on which my children had all, in succession, 
 learned to ride. She was become useless for them, and, 
 indeed, for any other purpose ; but the recollection of her 
 was so entwined with so many past circumstances, which 
 at that distance, my mind conjured up, that I really was 
 very uneasy, lest she should fall into cruel hands. By 
 good luck, she was, after a while, turned out on the 
 wide world to shift for herself; and when we got back, 
 and had a place for her to stand in, from her native forest 
 we brought her to Kensington, and she is now at Barn- 
 Elm, about twenty-six years old, and I dare say, as fat as 
 a mole. Now, not only have I no moral right (considering 
 my ability to pay for keep) to deprive her of life; but it 
 would hQimjust &.uA ungrateful, in me, to withliold from her 
 sufficient food and lodging to make life as pleasant as 
 possible while that life lasts. 
 
 "In meanwhile the book-learning crept on of its own ac- 
 cord, by imperceptible degrees. Children naturally want 
 to be like their par(-nts, and to do what do they : the boys 
 following their father, and the girls their mother; and as 
 I was always writittg or reading, mine naturally desired to 
 do something in the same way. But, at the same time, 
 they heard no talk I'vom fools or drinkers: saw me with no 
 idle, gabbling, empty companions; saw no vain and affected 
 coxcombs, and no tawdry and extravagant women ; saw no
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 141 
 
 nasty gormandizing; and lieard no gabble about play-houses 
 and romances and the other nonsense that fits boys to be 
 lobby-loungers and girls to be the ruin of industrious and 
 frugal young men. 
 
 *' We wanted no stimulants of this sort to keep our spirits 
 up: our various pleasing pursuits were quite sufficient for 
 that ; and the book-learning came among the rest of the 
 pleasures, to wliich it was, in some sort, necessary. I re- 
 member that, one year, I raised a prodigious crop of fine 
 melons, under hand-glasses ; and I learned how to do it from 
 a gardening book ; or, at least, that book was necessary 
 to remind me of the details. Having passed part of an 
 evening m talking to the boys about getting this crop, 
 *' Come," said I, " now, let us read the book*'' Then tlie 
 book came fortl), and to work we went, following very 
 strictly the precepts of the book. 1 read the tiling but 
 once, but the eldest boy read it, perhaps, twenty times 
 over; and explained all about the matter to the others. 
 Why here was a motive ! Then he had to tell the garden 
 labourer lohai to do to the melons. Now, I will engage, 
 that more was really learned by this single lesson, than would 
 have been learned by spending, at this son's age, a year 
 at scoool : and he happy and delighted all the while. When 
 any dispute arose among them about hunting or shooting, 
 or any other of their pursuits, they, by degrees, found out 
 the way of settling it by reference to some book ; and when 
 any difficulty occmu-ed, as to the meaning, they referred to 
 me, who, if at home, always instantly attended totJiem, iw 
 these matters. 
 
 " They began writing by taking words out of printed 
 books; finding out which letter was which, by asking me, 
 or asking those who knew the letters one from another ; 
 and by imitating bits of my writing it is surprising how soon 
 they began to write a hand like mine, very small, very 
 faint-stroked, and nearly plain as print. The first use 
 that any of them made of the pen, was to write to me, 
 though in the same house with them. They began doing 
 this in mere scratches, before they knew how to make any 
 one letter; and as I was always folding up letters and di- 
 recting them, so were they ; and they were sure to receive 
 a prompt answer, with most encouraging compliments. 
 All the meddlings and teasing of friends, and, what was
 
 U3 LIFE OF 
 
 more serious, the pressing prayers of their anxious mother, 
 about sending them to school^ I witlistood without the 
 slightest eflfects on my resolution. As to IViends, prefer- 
 ring my own judgement to theirs, I did not care much; hut 
 an expression of anxiety, implying a doubt of the soundness 
 of my judgment, coming, perhaps, twenty times a day from 
 her whose care they were as well as mine, was not a matter 
 to smile at, and very great trouble it did give me. My 
 answer at last was, as to the boys, I want them to be tike 
 me; and as to the girls, in whose hands can they be so safe 
 as in yours ? Therefore my resolution is taken, go to school 
 they shall not^ 
 
 After reading the preceding extracts from his own 
 writings, who will be found bold enough to assert that 
 Cobbetts feelings were not of the highest and most re- 
 fined order ? Who will say that he was not a good hus- 
 band, a good father, and a most excellent citizen ?— 
 "Why his whole writings abound with instances that 
 would prove his excellence to the satisfaction of all per- 
 sons, except his most violent political enemies who most 
 uncharitably endeavour to cry him down, by propa- 
 gating the basest calumnies that ever were invented 
 against any man. And why do they this ? — marry, 
 because he differed with them on all those subjects in which 
 they are mostly bigoted — because he took a liberal view 
 of the rights and privileges of mankind, and because 
 he had the temerity to expose the evil doings of disho- 
 nest men, when no other writer could be found bold 
 enough to execute the task. But he lived to see his 
 own reward — part of the evil fabric that had been raised 
 by bad ministers fell before him, and each day that he lived 
 he could easily foresee the quickly approaching downfall 
 of the whole system against which he had worked so long 
 and patiently^ 
 
 As to another charge, — the imputation of Mr. Cobbett 
 having been intiuenced throughout his life by selfish and 
 mercenary motives, is almost too vague to be grappled 
 with, but we may ask, if such had been his governing 
 feelings— if sordid gain had been his object, or courtly- 
 applause and honour his ambition, is it credible that 
 he would have failed to secure them ? His political 
 hostility was as dangerous as his advocacy was useful.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 143 
 
 None could afford to despise his attacks, and none 
 were so short-sighted as to undervalue his services. 
 "VVe have already spoken of the testimony borne to the 
 value of his writings by Mr. Windham, from his place 
 in the House of Commons ; and is it too much to persume 
 that if a single article from his pen was deemed to be 
 worth" a statue of gold," he might have sold his pen 
 in perpetuo for a profusion of riches ? Surely, those who 
 estimated so highly the literary services of Burke as to 
 confer upon him and his descendants an anuual pension, 
 would gladly have purchased the powerful support of 
 such a writer as Cobbett — Mr. Cobbett always averred 
 that he sought nothing for himself— that he would accept 
 nothing for himself; and the unceasing toil to which he 
 was compelled to submit, through a long course of years, 
 to sujiport his family and maintain a decent independence 
 demonstrably frees him from the imputation of ever 
 having taken a bribe. 
 
 In his early education, and in the circumstances of his 
 after-life, will be found enough to explain the temper, 
 as they explain the direction of his political course. 
 There is undoubtedly, a discipline which strengthens 
 the genius, while it polishes the manners, but this is 
 the reasoning discipline ; it is the regimen which, from 
 childhood, teaches to control our passions and dispo- 
 sitions — not under the influence of fear, but from a sense 
 of what is virtuous and becoming. Men trained in this' 
 discipline acquire an art of self-government, which 
 qualifies them to exercise any power which they may 
 possess over others, with a gentleness, and consideration 
 lor human weakness, which no teacher but the early 
 liberalized self-love can impart. There is, however, a 
 discipline of another kind, which often breaks, though 
 not always, intellectual power, but which is sure to unfit 
 him who has been subject to it for the exercise of power; 
 this is the discipline of force. To this last discipline 
 Mr. Cobbett was unfortunately subjected during that 
 whole period in which the formation of character is com- 
 pleted. There is no reasoning in the obedience of the 
 farm yard ; there is no reasoning in the discipline of the 
 barracks; and up to his thirtieth year, Mr. Cobbett 
 suffered one or other of these forms of slaverv. The
 
 144 LIFE OF 
 
 very same cause which renders the harshly-reared 
 orphan a domestic tyrant — the foremast man or the late 
 private, a harsh officer — the military man of any class a 
 functionary almost too severe for civil life — the eman 
 cipated slave the cruellest of slave-drivers; this same 
 cause would, naturally, give to the polemics of a pow- 
 erful disputant, all the intolerant asperity with which 
 Mr. Cobbett's writings have been charged. 
 
 Having entered thus into the character and habits of 
 My. Cobbett, we will now take him to the end of his 
 voyage and land him once more in America, after an 
 absence from that qountry of about seventeen years. 
 
 It was on the 5th of May 1817 that Mr. Cobbett 
 landed at New York in the neighbourhood of which city 
 he had determined to settle himself. Here, however, 
 he did not long remain in idleness, for, notwithstanding 
 the fatigue he had lately undergone, he went over on 
 the following day, where meeting with a farm that ex- 
 aetly answered his views, he immediately engaged it 
 and, within a short time afterwards was once more com- 
 fortably settled in that business of life which seems so 
 happily to have accorded with his nature and disposition. 
 At this period his life seems to have been devoted to 
 his agricultural pursuits ; he appears almost to have 
 dropped the character of politician, though now and then 
 throughout hisJournal, which ho kept,and afterwards pub- 
 lished, we find occasional remarks on by-gone and pass- 
 ing event. As this Journal contains much curious in- 
 formation as to his habits at this period, we will glean 
 from it some of the passages that will best serve to con- 
 tinue our narative of this extraordinary man. The first 
 paragraph we shall take bears the date of 
 
 July 10, 1817. Fine hot day. I work in the land 
 morning and evening, and write in the day in a north 
 room. The dress is now become a very convenient, or, 
 rather, a very little inconvenient, affair. Shoes, trou- 
 sers, shirt and hat. No plague of dressing and un- 
 dressing. 
 
 July 21. Fine hot day; but heavy rain at night. 
 
 Flies a few. Not more than in England. My son John, 
 who has just returned from Pennsylvania, says they 
 are as great a torment there as ever. At a friend's house.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 115 
 
 ( I farm house) there, two quarts ofjlies were caught in 
 -ne house in one window in one day ! 1 do not believe 
 liat there are two quarts in all my premises. But then 
 
 cause all wash and slops to be carried forty yards from 
 vhe house, I suffer no peelings or greens, or any rubbish, 
 to lie near the house. I suffer no fresh meat to remain 
 more than one day fresh in the house. I proscribe all 
 fish. Do not suffer a dog to enter the house. Keep all 
 )igs at a distance of sixty yards. And sweep all round 
 about once every week at least. 
 
 July 27. — Some friends from England here to day. 
 We spent a pleasant day ! drank success to the debt, and 
 destruction to the Boroughmongers, in gallons of milk 
 and water. 
 
 August 1. — Very, very hot. I take off two shirts 
 a day wringing wet. I have a clothes horse to hang 
 them on to dry. Drink about twenty good tumblers of 
 milk and water every day. No ailments. Head always 
 clear. Go to bed by daylight very oflen. Just after 
 the hens go to roost, and rise again with them. 
 
 August 17 — Fine hot day. Yer}-- hot. I fight the 
 Borough villains, stripped to my shirt, and with nothing 
 on besides but shoes and trousers. Never ill ! no head- 
 aches ! no muddled brains. The viilk and water is a great 
 cause of this. I live on salads, other garden vegetables, 
 apple puddings and pies, butter, cheese, eggs and bacon. 
 Resolved to have no more fresh meat till cooler weather 
 comes. Those who have a mind to swallow, or be swal- 
 lowed by flies may eat fresh meat for me. 
 
 October 7 — Beautiful day, sixty-one degrees in the 
 shade. Have not put on a coat yet. Wear thin stock- 
 ings or socks, waistcoat with sleeves, and neckcloth. 
 
 January 10, 1818 — I am now at !New York, on my 
 way to Pennsylvania. N. B. This journey into Penn- 
 sylvania had, for its principal object, an appeal to the 
 justice of the legislature of that State for redress for 
 great loss and injury sustained by me, nearly twenty 
 years ago, in consequence of the tyranny of oneM'Keaii, 
 wh(i was then the Chief Justice of that State. The 
 appeal has not yet been successful ; but, as I confidently 
 expect that it finally will, I shall not, at present, say 
 anything more on the subject. 
 
 o
 
 146 LIFE OF 
 
 January 15. — The question eagerly put to me by every 
 one in Philadelphia is : — Don't you think the city greatly 
 improved?" They seem to me to confound augme7itaiion 
 with improvement. It always was a fine city, since I first 
 knew it ; and it is very greatly augmented. It has, 1 
 believe, nearly doubled its extent and number of houses 
 since the year 1799. But, after being so long a time 
 familiar with London, every other place appears little. 
 After living within a few hundred yards of Westminster 
 Kail, and the Abbey Church, and the Bridge, and look- 
 ing from my own window into St. James's Park, all 
 other buildings and spots appear mean and insignificant. 
 I went to day to see the house I formerly occupied. 
 How small ! It is always thus : the words large and 
 small are carried about with us in our minds, and we 
 forget real dimensions. The idea, such as it was re. 
 ceived, remains during our absence from the object. 
 When I returned to England in 1800, after an absence 
 from the country parts of it, of sixteen years, the trees, 
 the hedges, even the parks and woods, seemed so small ! 
 It made me laugh to hear little gutters, that I could 
 jump over, called rivers ! The Thames was but a creek. 
 But, when, in about a month after my arrival in London 
 I went to Farnham, the place of my birth, what was 
 my surprise! Everything was become so pitifully 
 small ! I had to cross in my post-chaise, the long and 
 dreary heath of Bagshot. Then, at the end ot it to 
 mount a hill, calLd Hungry HiiU and from that hill I 
 knew that I should look down into the beautiful and 
 fertile vale of Farnham. My heart fluttered with im- 
 patience, mixed with a sort of fear, to see all the scenes 
 of my childhood ; for I had learned before, the death of 
 my father and mother. There is a hill, not far from the 
 town, called Crooksbury Hill, which rises up out of a 
 fiat, in the form of a cone, and is planted with Scotch fir 
 trees. Here 1 used to take the eggs and young ones of 
 crows and magpies. This hill was a iiimous o])ject in the 
 neighbourhood. It served as the superlative degree of 
 height *-' As high as Crookshury Ilitl" meant with us the 
 utmost degree oC height. Therefore the firyt object 
 that my eyes sought was this hill. I could nut believe my 
 eyes? Literally speaking, 1, for a moment, thought the
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 147 
 
 famous hill removed, and a little heap put in its stead ! 
 for I had seen in New Brunswick, a single rock, or hill 
 ot" solid rock, ten times as big, and four or five times as 
 high ! The post boy, going down hill, and not a bad 
 road, whisked me, in a few minutes to the Bush Inn 
 from the garden of which I could see the prodigious 
 sand hill, where I had begun my gardening works. What 
 a nothing ! But now come rushing into my mind, all at 
 once, my pretty little garden, my little blue smock frock, 
 my little nailed shoes, my pretty pigeons that I used to 
 feed out of my hands, the last kind words and tears of 
 my gentle and tender-hearted and affectionate mother ! 
 I hastened back into the room. If I had looked a mo- 
 ment longer, I should have dropped. When I came to 
 reflect, what a change ! I looked down on my dress. 
 What a change ! What scenes I had gone through ! 
 How altered my state ! I had dined the day before at a 
 Secretary of State's, in company with Mr. Pitt, and had 
 been waited upon by men in gaudy liveries ; I had had 
 nobody to assist me in the world. No teachers of any sort. 
 Nobody to shelter me from the consequence of bad, and 
 no one to counsel me to good behavioui*. I felt proud. 
 The distinctions of rank, birth and wealth, all became 
 nothing in my eyes; and from that moment (less than 
 a month after my arrival in England) I resolved never 
 to bend before them. 
 
 January 22.— My business in Pennsylvania is with 
 the legislature. It is sitting at Harrisburgh. Set oft' to- 
 day by stage. Fine country, fine barns, fine farms. 
 Got to Lancaster, the largest inland town in the Uni- 
 ted States. 
 
 January 25 — Harrisburgh is a new town, close on the 
 left bank of the river Susquehannah. 
 
 January 27 — Tired to death of the tavern at Harris- 
 burgh, though a very good one. The cloth spread three 
 times a day. Here we meet together : senators, judges, 
 lawyers, tradesmen, farmers, and all. I am v.'eary of 
 the everlasting loads of meat. Weary of beinsr idle. 
 How few such days have I spent in ray whole life! 
 
 January 28 — My business not coming on, I went to 
 a country tavern, hoping there to get a room to my- 
 self, in which to read my English papers, and sit down 
 
 o2
 
 148 LIFE OF 
 
 to writing. I am now at M'Allister's tavern. Great 
 enjoyment here. Sit and read and write. My mind 
 is again in England. Mrs. M'Allister just suits me. 
 Does not pester me with questions. Does not cram me 
 with meat. Lets me eat and drink what I like, and 
 when I like, and gives mugs of nice milk. I find her a 
 very agreeable companion in Mr. M'AUister the elder. 
 
 February 4. — This day thirty-three years ago, 1 en- 
 listed as a soldier ; I always keep the day in recollection. 
 
 February 12.' — Not being able to bear tlie idea of danc- 
 ing attendance, came to Lancaster, in order to see more 
 oi" this pretty town. A very fair tavern, room to myself, 
 excellent accommodations; the eating still more over- 
 done than at Harrisbmg ; never saw such a profusion. 
 I have made a bargain with the landlord, he is to give me 
 a dish of Chocolate a day, instead of dinner. 
 
 February 16.' — Lancaster is a pretty place, no fine 
 buildings, but no mean ones ; nothing splendid and nothing 
 beggarly. The people of this town seem to have had the 
 prayer of Hagar granted them; "Give me, O Lord, 
 ncithev poverty nor riches.^'' Here are none of those poor, 
 wretched habitations, which sicken the sight at the out- 
 skirts of cities and town in England ; those abodes of 
 the poor creatures wlio have been reduced to beggary by 
 the cruel extortions of the ricii and powerful. And this 
 remark applies to all the towns of America that I have 
 ever seen. This is a line part of America ; big barns and 
 modest dwelling houses. Barns oi stone a hundred feet long, 
 and forty wide, witii two floors, and raised roads to go 
 ^nto theffli so tliat the waggons go into i\\o. first floor ?/j?- 
 i^aj/.s.'^. Below arc stables, stalls, pens, and all sorts of 
 I'onvenienccs. Up-stairs arc rooms for threshed corn and 
 grain; for tackle, for meal, for all sorts of things. In the 
 front (south) of the barn is the cattle yard. There are 
 vciy fine buildnigs, and then all about them looks so com- 
 fortable, gives sudi manifest proofs of ease, plenty and 
 happiness. 
 
 February 17. — Went back to Marrisburgh. 
 
 February If). — Quitted Ilarrisburgii, very muclj dis- 
 pJeased ; J)ut, on tliis .subject, I shall, if possible, keep 
 silence, till n(^\t year, and until the people of Pennsyl- 
 vania have had time to reflect; to clearly understand my
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 149 
 
 caflfaic, and when they do understand if, 1 am not at all 
 afraid of receiving justice at their hands, whether I am 
 present or absent. Slept at Lancaster. 
 
 February 20. — Hard frost. Arrived at Philadelphia 
 along with my friend Ilulmc, they are roasting an Ox on 
 the Delaware. The fooleries of England are copied here, 
 and every where in this country, with wonderful avidity ; 
 and I wish I could say, that some of the vices of our 
 *^ hiffher orders,''^ as they have the impudence to call them- 
 selves, were not also imitated; however, I look prinei 
 pally at the mass of farmers; the sensible and happy 
 farmers of America. 
 
 March 1. — Dined with my old friend Severne, an ho- 
 nest Norfolk man, who used to carry his milk about the 
 streets, when I first knew him, but who is now a man of 
 considerable property, and like a wise man, lives in- the 
 same modest house where he formerly lived. Excellent 
 roast beef and plum pudding. At his house 1 found 
 an Englishman, and from Botley too ! I had been told 
 of such a man being in Philadelphia, and that the man said, 
 that he had heard of me, '■'■heard of such a gentleman, hut 
 did not knoxv much of him. This was odd! I was desirous 
 seeing this man. iSIr. Severne got him to liis liouse. His 
 name is Vere. I knew him the moment 1 saw him ; and 1 
 wondered tohy it was that he knew so little of me. I found 
 that he wanted work, and that he had been assisted by 
 some society in Philadelphia. He said he was lame, and 
 he might be a little, perhaps. / offered him xvork at once. 
 No: he wanted to have the c«re of a farm! "Go," said 
 I, "for shame, and ask some farmers for taork. You 
 will find it immediately, and with good wages. What 
 should the people in this country see in your face to induce 
 them to keep you in idleness. They did not send for 
 you. You are a young man, and you come from a country 
 of able labomers. You may be rich if you will work. 
 This gentleman who. is now about to cram you witli 
 roast beef and plum pudding came to this city nearly as 
 poor as you are ; and, I first came to this country in no 
 better plight. Work and I wish you well ; be idle and 
 you ought to starve." He told me then that he was a 
 hoop-maker; and, yet, observe, he wanted to h^ve the 
 care of a farm. 
 
 o8
 
 160 LIFE OF 
 
 March 11. — I am now at Trenton, in New Jersey, 
 waiting for sonietliing to carry me on towards New York. 
 Yesterday Mr. Townsend sent me on, under an escort of 
 Quakers, to Mr. Antliony Taylor's. Here my escort left 
 me ; but luckily, Mr. Newbold, avIio lives about ten miles 
 nearer Trenton than Mr. Taylor does, brought me on to 
 his house. But my velhcle is come, and now I bid adieu 
 to Trenton, which I should have liked better, if I had not 
 seen so many young fellows lounging about the streets, 
 and leaning against door-posts, with quids of tobacco in 
 tljcir mouths, or segars stuck between their lips, and with 
 dirty hands and faces. Mr. Birkbeck's complaint, on this 
 bcore, is perfectly just. 
 
 Brimswick, New Jersey. — Here I am after a ride of about 
 tiiirty miles since two o'clock, in wliat is called a Jemey- 
 waggon, through siich mud as I never saw before. Up to 
 the stock of the wliecl ; and yet a pair of very little horses 
 have dragged us througli it in the space of Jive hours. The 
 best horses and driver, and the worst roads I ever set ray 
 eyes on. This part of Jersey is a sad spectacle after leaving 
 the brightest of all the bright parts of Pennsylvania. 
 My driver, who is a tavern keeper himself, would have 
 been a very pleasant companion, ifhe had not drank so 
 much spirits on the road. This is the great misfortune 
 of America! As we were going up a hill very slowly, I 
 could perceive him looking very hard at my cheek for 
 some time. At last, he said: "I am wondering, sir, 
 to see you look so fresh and so young, considering what 
 you have gone through in the world." Though I can- 
 not imagine how he had learnt who 1 was. " I'll tell 
 you," said I, ** how I have contrived the thing — I rise 
 early, go to bed early, eat sparingly, never drink any- 
 thing stronger than small beer, shave once aday, and 
 wash my hands and face three times a day at tlie very 
 least." lie said that was too much to think of doing. 
 
 March 13. — A fine open day, came to New York by the 
 steam boat. Over to this Isl.-ind, (Long Island) by 
 another, took a light waggon that wliisked njc home 
 over roads as dry and as suiooth as gravel walks in an 
 English Insliop's garden in th(! month of .Inly. Great con- 
 twist with the b<)ttomh\ss nuid of New Jersey! 
 
 In this iii'ppy, easy manner Mr. Cobbett continued to
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 161 
 
 pass liis ever active life at his farm calJed Hyde Park, on 
 Hampstead- Plains, Long Island. At length however, 
 misfortune once more pursued him ; on the 00th of May, 
 1819, a fire broke out in his mansion liouse, and tlie whole 
 building was burnt to the groimd, thus rendering him 
 houseless, and almost broken in spirits in a land far dis- 
 tant from that of his birth, and to which his thoughts had 
 ever been turned during tliis period of his self banishment, 
 with the feelings of a child who has been forced from the 
 parents whom he has reverenced and almost worshipped. 
 To poor Cobbett this was a bitter trial, indeed ! — He had 
 lived, in some degree, to triumph over the most invete- 
 rate malice of his enemies. — He had seen them quail at the 
 thunder of his voice when he raised it to denounce bad 
 men and their evil actions. — He had, it is true, been made 
 to suffer heavily both in purse and person for the boldness 
 of these attacks, yet still his courage forsook him not 
 even in tlio hour of his deepest affliction. The present 
 affliction, however, seems to have occasioned him more 
 grief than had ever before fallen to his share. In a few 
 hours he had seen his comfortable home reduced by the 
 flames to a heap of ashes. The picture of happiness that had 
 been lately presented to his view, had suddenly vanished. — 
 His home was destroyed, and with it a great part of the 
 farming stock, corn, hay, &c. were reduced to a heap of 
 mouldering ashes. Cobbett looked around hhu, and his 
 heart was chilled at the black scene of desolation that 
 presented itself. America had lost the charm that once 
 captivated him ; — iiis home was gone, and his thoughts re- 
 curring once more to England, he immediately began to 
 entertaii; serious thoughts of returning to the land of his 
 birth, which he still ardently loved in spite of the fierce 
 persecutions that had ever followed him there. 
 
 In forming tliis resolution a tiiousand lurking dangers 
 that miglit there await him, arose in his mind. He knew 
 full well tlie powerful enemies he would have to cope 
 with in this country, and the extent to which their vin- 
 dictive feelings would probably lead them. But he also 
 knew that since he had left England a very great change 
 had taken place. The Reformers had every where mus- 
 tered in great number^;, and, confident in the justness of 
 their demands, had assumed an appearance of boldness
 
 162 LIFE OF 
 
 that had terrified the members of the govc vr-iient and 
 more than hnlf ensured their own ultimate succi \ In all 
 the northern provinces of England these patriots had ex- 
 hibited themselves iu great strength, and though the minis- 
 ters had succeeded in arresting and punishing some of 
 the boldest among the advocates of Reform, it was now 
 become apparent to all, — even to those who had been 
 most adverse to it — that the day was not far distant when 
 some measure must be introduced to satisfy the loud and 
 incessant demands that M'ere being made for a more just 
 and equitable representation in Parliament. With this 
 cheering prospect before him, Cobbett at once resol- 
 ved to return to England, where he hoped his own pre- 
 sence and influence might hasten a consummation most 
 devoutly to be wished. 
 
 In the course of his present short residence in America he 
 had conceived the idea that it might be possible to culti- 
 vate and rear the locust tree, and the corn plant in this 
 country. To effect this desirable object he was at any 
 rate, to try his best and the success he met with is now 
 known to the whole of our readers. -His introduction into 
 this country of the corn-plant and the locust-tree, and the 
 invention for plaiting and making articles of clothing of 
 English grass, should, of themselves cause him to be re- 
 membered with gratitude as a benefactor of his coun- 
 try. While the wise men of England despise the advan- 
 tages Mr. Cobbett alleges to be derivable from some of 
 these, tlie Americans, who are" wiser in their generation," 
 are making the most of them, especially of the locust-tree. 
 But we must here let Mr. Cobbett speak. The following 
 is so characteristic that our readers will not be displeased 
 to see it reprinted from the Register of a week or two since : 
 " Curious, that while our snorting, groping, grasping, 
 conceited, jack-ass like managers of Royal woods never 
 have been able to perceive that it was their duty to j)ay 
 attention to wliat I said about locust trees: curious, that 
 wliile 1 have a(;tually caused a million or more of tliese 
 trees to be planted in England ; and in going through the 
 country sec beautiful phuitations of them : curious, that 
 while my book called tlie "Woodjands," would have 
 tauglit these nasty snorting creatures how to furnish tlic 
 English navy with pins (or trunnels as they arc vulgarly
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 163 
 
 called), long and long ago; and a thousand times as good 
 the best oak that.they can find : curious, that they while these 
 nasty snorting things have been totally disregarding this 
 very important matter, the Americans themselves should 
 have their attention stirred up by my exertions in England ; 
 as will appear by the following article, which I take from 
 a New England newspaper, and which I request my readers 
 to peruse with attention. There requires, however, an ob- 
 servation or two upon the subject. The reader will 
 wonder at the necessity of encouraging people to plant 
 this tree in a country which he will think full of them. 
 In the first place, it is a rare tree all along the sea coast 
 of America; and when you get as far south as Maryland, 
 it will not grow near the sea at all. You must go back 
 pretty nearly a liundrcd miles before the trees grow freely 
 and finely ; and even there, tiiey do not grow so finely as in 
 England. The reader will see mention of a worm that is in- 
 jurious to this tree. There is such a worm in America. 
 It gets into the joints of the shoots, and they canker and 
 die. There is no such worm in England; and, in every 
 respect, the tree is finer here than in America. Yet our 
 snorting Government, who understands ' heddekashun ' 
 so well, who has found the art (see Duke of Richmond's 
 scale) of making an Englishman live upon fifteen ounces 
 of mutton a week, weighed before cooking, and including 
 bone ; who miderstands how to lay out, in time of peace, 
 thirty-eight thousand pounds a yeay. in secret service 
 money; who beats all the turnkeys upon earth, in its 
 knowledge of ' prison discipline ;' who well understands 
 the art of making farmers and labourers drink at the ditch, 
 instead of turning their own hops and barley into beer ; 
 and yet I say, in spite of tliesc facts from America; in 
 spite of the proofs that this most essential timber of all 
 might be supplied to our navy from our own public forests ; 
 in spite of all this, this snorting Government, sleepy-eyed, 
 and ever grasping at the same time, cannot take even the 
 trifling precaution necessary to this great end 1 But in 
 this, as in everything else of its acts and its manners, we 
 sec proofs of a downward march : we see proofs that it is 
 destined to come down. The miserable wretches who 
 have tiie management of its affairs are, in the first place, 
 destitute of all knowledge that can be of any use in the
 
 J 54 LIFE OF 
 
 sustaining of a State. Tiicy have been tv/ftuty years at 
 peace ; and they now tremble at the bare thought of war. 
 They have expended, during this peace, three hundred 
 millions of pounds sterling on a navy and an army ; they 
 liavc four hundred and fifty generals, and two hundred 
 and fifty admirals, and yet they tremble at the thoughts 
 of war ; and tremble they well may ; for, unless there be a 
 total change in the system of taxing the people and carry- 
 ing on the Government in England, driven off the face of 
 tiie ocean to a certainty they will be, by the United 
 States alone, if they dare to utter towards that famous 
 Republic one of those insolent expressions with which it 
 was so long their fashion to treat the different nations of 
 the world. So much in the way of preface to an article 
 on Locust Trees ; but it was a good opportunity to exhibit 
 their snorting manner of going on. Their conduct is the 
 same with regard to all other matters of real interest to 
 the people; and so it will be, until the end shall come. 
 
 '* Extract from the ' Netv Englajid Palladium a7id Com" 
 mercial Advertiser'' of March 21, 1835. 
 
 " 'Premium ox Locust Trkes. — The ^Slassaciiusetts 
 Society for Promoting Agriculture have awarded tp Mr 
 William Clarke, farmer, of this town, a premium of 
 twenty dollars, as an expression of the estimation in which 
 they hold his exertions in rearing a plantation of locust 
 trees. The Committee states that the importance of this 
 tree can hardly be over-rated, either for purposes of tim- 
 ber or fuel, and tiiat it combines rapid growth with great 
 durability. Posts of this wood will last half a century 
 and more. The ravages of the borer for a long time have 
 laid waste this tree, but the insect is said to be fast dis- 
 appearing. It is easily cultivated, attains a sufficient 
 growth in ten or fifteen years, and brings a great price for 
 shi]) timber. Some trees in this vicinity have within a 
 few years been sold at sums which wovdd surprise those 
 who have (Considered them good for nothing but shade." 
 
 Quitting this subject, however, Mr. Cobbett had no 
 sooner deternuiied on returning once more to Loudon, than 
 he con(;(Uved tiie somewhat extravagant notion of dis- 
 intening the mortal remains of his old adversary, Tom 
 Paine, and conveying them with him to England, for the
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 156 
 
 purpose of laying them in the land of his nativity. With 
 Cobbctt, first thoughts were generalJy conclusive, and such 
 was the case in the present instance ; the coffin containing 
 the bones of Thomas Paine was exhumated, when the 
 lattei*, after iiaving been carefully placed in a box, were 
 put on board the vessel in which he had taken his passage 
 for the shores from which he had been self-exiled. 
 
 It will not be necessary to give any tiling like a detailed 
 narrative of his voyage homewards ; suffice it to say that he 
 endured all the various vicissitudes that belong to a sea life 
 — storms, whirlwinds, contrary gales, &c. and that it was 
 not till tile 20th of November, 1819, that he found himself 
 lying offthe town of Liverpool, from which he had embarked 
 imder so much apprehension about two years previously. 
 
 As soon as it was known at Liverpool that Cobbett was 
 among the passengers of the American vessel, a great 
 number of his friends, antl political adherents hastened to 
 the shore, in order to greet him on his return once more 
 amongst them. On landing ho was received by them with 
 all the fervour that men can express when they behold 
 once more a friend whom they had deemed lost to them 
 for ever. The bones of Tom Paine, deposited in their 
 wooden box, were lodged at the Custom House, and when 
 Mr. Cobbett afterwards exibitcd them to some of his 
 cViends, lie observed feelingly : '"There, gentlemen, are 
 the mortal remains of immortal Thomas Paine. The scull 
 was shown and the coffin plate exhibited, but all that could 
 
 be distinguished of the inscription was '* Paine, 180 — 
 
 Aged 74 years. In the evening, accompanied by Mr. Eger- 
 ton Smith, he visited several of his friends, by whom he 
 was received with the greatest enthusiasm. 
 
 As it was soon untk'rstood that his stay iti Liverpool 
 would not exceed a very few days the Reformers announced 
 their intention of given him a public welcomeon his return 
 to England. To effect tlieir purpose and to ascertain his 
 own opinion upon the subject, a letter, signed by some of 
 the most influential of the party, was addressed to him, 
 requesting an answer as to his acquiescence oi- refusal to 
 meet them on the occasion. To this letter I\Ir. Cobbett 
 retuaned an answer of some length, together with the fol- 
 lowing brief note :—
 
 156 LIFE OF 
 
 TO THE PEOPLE OF LIVERPOOL. 
 
 Liverpool, Nov. 24, 1819. 
 On the day of my landing here, I promised my friends 
 who were anxious to see me, that 1 would give them an 
 opportunity of doing it before my departure. In fulfilment 
 of this promise, I intend to be at a public meeti a in 
 Clayton Square, on Friday, the 26th instant, att\ -fv 
 o'clock. 
 
 (Signed) W. Cobbe 
 
 Tlie morning appointed for the meeting provec 
 ceedingly unfavourable, yet, so great was the ardo of 
 his friends and followers, that long before the appo n.ted 
 hour the ground was tilled with a dense multiiiul" 
 About half past twelve Mr. Cobbett entered the square 
 through Parker Street. He came in an open landau, 
 accompanied by his son William, Mr. Smith, and o \f^ or 
 two other friends. On arriving at the appointed pla :e, h 
 was received with reiterated and tremendous shout ? 
 it was not without considerable difficulty, that 
 length made his way towards the soutii-west corner 
 square, where it was his intention to address the a rsetr 
 bled multitude. This lie did in a speech of great rorce 
 and eloquence, which he concluded by requesting that all 
 who had assembled to do him so much honour on this i : ' ;>v 
 occasion, "^would return home peaceably and order -o 
 that their enemies might be deprived of the oppon 
 of revenging themselves on those whom they hopec 
 to have drawn into a snare from which there would . .u 
 retreat. 
 
 In the evening, the dinner given to Mr. Cobbett i 
 nour of his arrival in England, took place at the C ■ 
 Inn, Lord Street. The company who sat down to 
 ceedcd sixty. Mr. Tliomas Smith was in the Chai 
 was a truly Radical dinner — nothing but the radic;. 
 verage, water being on the table. After the clot.a ii.d 
 been removed and several toasts drank, Mr. Co*^b( tt 
 addressed himself to the company in a long and eloquent 
 speech, of wliicli tlie following is a brief outline : He 
 first noticed the slanders which had been heaped upon 
 him during his absence from Englaud, and which, he said,
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 157 
 
 were not only false, but atrocious and unmanly ; but he 
 had to thank the good sense of the country for havinjf ren- 
 dered them of no eflfect. He then proceeded to the sub- 
 ject of Parliamentiiry Reform, upon the then corrupt state 
 t,f the representative system; and upon the necessity, mo- 
 t .ve, and extent of Reform, he descanted at some length, 
 le then adverted to the subject of the bones of Thomas 
 •.^aine, and entered into a long justification of his motives 
 jr disinterring and bringing them to England. He then 
 proceeded to defend himself from the charge of inconsis- 
 tency whicli had been brought against him, in having once 
 abused the very man whose bones he now intended to 
 honour. This he did by urging the plea of immaturity of 
 judgment and want of experience at the time he attacked 
 "'aine, and because Paine was then supporting the enemies 
 •>f his country. Conscious that he had done Paine an in- 
 justice in his early days, he was willing on his return to 
 America, to listen to a suggestion of Mr. Benbow's, to 
 '". ing his bones to England. His remains had been dis- 
 'Aoured in America, though he was the founder of her in- 
 ' judence; for he was the first man to propose the decla- 
 ,\on against England, tliough the proposal was opposed 
 jy the celebrated Dr. Franklin. With respect to the object 
 of his bringing these bones to England, it was, (he said) 
 to have them cxliibited in London to as many persons as 
 might choose to come and see them. He intended to do 
 every thing he could to raise a sufficient sum, in order tliat 
 a colossal statue miglit be erected to Paine's memory ; 
 and, if he lived lie hoped to execute his purpose. Having 
 cmcluded tlie festivities of the evening, Mr. Cobbett 
 r;*tired followed by a great number of liis friends. 
 
 On the 28th of November Mr. Cobbett left his kind 
 fi'iends at I^ivorpool, for the purpose of visiting a number 
 ol his acquaint;inces at Manchester. At Irlam, a place 
 abodt ten miles from the last named town, he stopped for 
 a short time to take some refresliment, and before he could 
 again start on his journey, a messenger arrived from Man- 
 chester with a letter from the Boroughreeve and Con- 
 stables, urging upon him the impolicy of his entering a 
 town which had recently been the scene of a dreadful con- 
 flict between the Cavalry Yeomanry and the people who 
 had assembled with Mr. Hunt for the purpose of petition- 
 
 p
 
 168 LIFE OF 
 
 ing for Parliamentary Reform. The following is the let- 
 ter to wiiich we have alluded : 
 
 " Manchester, Nov. 28th, 1819. 
 
 " Sir — having reason to believe that your introduction 
 into the town of Manchester, on Monday, the 29 instant, 
 is intended to be public, and to be accompanied by an 
 unusual procession and mnltitude of people, as well 
 strangers as inhabitants, we, the undersigned, being Bo- 
 roughreeves and constables of the towns of Manchester 
 and Sal ford, bog to inform you that we consider such an 
 assemblage of a great mass of the population of this dis- 
 trict, in the present situation of the country, is necessa- 
 rily attended with considerable danger to the public peace. 
 We do, therefore, caution you against making any public 
 entry into the town of Manchester, and, if you persist in 
 so doing, or if you adopt any other proceedings, whereby 
 the public peace may be broken or endangered, we shall 
 feel it our indespensable duty immediately to interfere. 
 We are. Sir, your obedient Servants, 
 
 Thomas Sharp, Boroughreeve 1 
 
 JohnOrford, 1 Constables }- Manchester. 
 
 Richard Smith, / constables, j 
 
 J. E. Scholes, Boroughreeve \ 
 
 T. Harriot, ") r'.^^etoKU., J-SaUbrd. 
 
 S.Mathews. ) Constables, f 
 
 Upon receiving this letter, Mr Cobbett immediately re- 
 plied to Mr. Boroughreeve and Constables in the following 
 terms : — 
 
 "Irlam, Nov. 29th, 1819. 
 
 ■•'Gentlemen. — If it luid come from any other person 
 in this world, tlio notification which 1 have just received 
 from you would have surprised me. Coming from you, 
 it excites no surprise, nor any sort of feeling towards you, 
 which was not l)ef()re entertained by every just man, in 
 eveiy pnrt of thi^ world where your deeds and character 
 have been liejird of. 
 
 " But, {icntltincn, is it really come to this, that a man 
 npon returning to his country, or upon moving from one 
 part of England to another, is to be stopped on his way 
 
 by threats of interference on tlie part of officers appointed
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 150 
 
 to keep the peace) lest the concourse of people which his 
 mere presence may dviiw togethar, sliould produce danger 
 of a breach of the public peace ? Is it really como to this? 
 Is tliis the state of England ? Is tliis the law 9 Is this one 
 of the effects of that system which we are told is 
 so excellent that it requires no reform? The laws of 
 England secure to us the right of loco-motion ; that is to 
 say, the right of moving our bodies from one place to 
 another. Now if your notification be any thing more 
 than a mere empty putting forth of words, it presumes 
 that you have a right to prevent mo from enjoying this 
 liberty of loco-moiion. For you tell me you shall inter- 
 fere if 1 persist in my intention of making a public entry 
 into your town; and alas! we know too well what you 
 mean by interference ! And what do you mean by public 
 entry ? What do you mean, I say, by public entry ? How 
 am I to make any other than a public entry, if I enter it 
 at all? Likeotlier persons, my intention must have been 
 to enter your town in a carriage, or on horseback or on 
 foot. Are not these the ways in whi^ch all other persons 
 enter? And have I not a right to enter as other persons 
 do? Either, therefore, you must mean to forbid me to 
 enter at all, or you must mean that I shall move like the 
 women of tlie Seraglio of the Dey of Algiers, shut up in 
 a box, with large air-holes in it — or ride upon a horse, my 
 body and head being covered with a species of tub. This 
 is the state, is it, to which the system has brought once free 
 and happy England? 
 
 " To what a pitch must men have arrived, when they 
 could sit down and look at one another in the face, while 
 they wrote and signed a paper, such as tiiat you sent me ! 
 This paper was addressed to a man having no power an<f 
 no inclination to disturb the puplic peace ; a man who, 
 with the knowledge of the recent events daily impressed 
 upon his mind, has taken the precaution to beseech the 
 people, not to mix up a reception of him with even an 
 allusion to those events. It appears manifest that the 
 public peace couid not have been endangered from my 
 entrance into Manchester. But to see such multitudes of 
 people assembled together to show their respect for me, 
 appeared to have been more than you could endure. We 
 read accounts of the Prince of Saxe Coburg,the Marquis of 
 
 p 2
 
 160 LIFE OF 
 
 Anglesea, the Duke of Wellington, s-nd other great per- 
 sonages moving here and there amidst public plaudits. 
 Infinite pains, at any rate are taken to make us believe 
 that this is the case. What right, therefore, have you to 
 make any attempt, either directly or indirectly to prevent 
 the people from bestowing their applause upon me in per- 
 son ? Is not my right to move from place to place as perfect 
 as that of any of the three men tliat I have just mentioned ? 
 Aye, but then the assemblages that they cause are so 
 sfuall ! 
 
 *' Suppose I were at this moment living at an inn in 
 Manchester. It is pretty clear, I believe, that an assem- 
 blage of persons would take place at any time that I chose 
 to walk out to the spot where the dreadful scenes of the 
 I6tli of August were exhibited. What, then, Mould you 
 expel me your towns, or compel me to keep myself shut 
 up in a room ? And if the people presumed to come to show 
 me marks of their respect, would you visit them with your 
 awful interference? Gentlemen, we shall live to see the 
 day, and that day I believe is not distant, wljen I shall 
 be able to visit the excellent people of Manchester, and 
 its neighbourhood, without you daring to step in between 
 us witli threats of interference, 
 
 " Let me call on you to think a little on the figure you 
 now make in tlie world. Here am I, at ten miles from 
 Manchester ; there are the peo])le whom'you call an unusual 
 multitude, ready to receive me, and to bestow upon me all 
 possible marks of respect ; and there are you, sending me 
 threats of interference and preparing all sorts of means for 
 making that interference effectual, in order to intercept a 
 verbal expression of popular approbation, intended to be 
 bestown U])on a man destitute of every species of means of 
 obtaining that approbation, other than the means naturally 
 arising from his integrity and liis talents, liis well known 
 love for his country, and liis well known zeal in her cause, 
 during the whole course of his life, under all circumstances, 
 whether abroad or at home, whetlier in prosperity or ad- 
 versity. 
 
 " Thus the parties stand before the world. I disdain 
 to tell you what my intentions are; wlietlur I intend to enter 
 Manchester or not. 1 have? math; this connnent upon your 
 communication, in order that the nature of your conduct
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 161 
 
 may be the bettor understood; and, even in doin^ this, 
 I have condescended to bestow on you too great an honour. 
 "With feelings such as a real friend of the people, a real 
 lover of his country, and faithful subject of the King, must 
 ever entertain towards men like you. I am, 
 
 "William Cobbett." 
 
 Having despatched this severe reply to the worthy Borough- 
 reeves and Constabli-s of Manchester and Salford, Mr. 
 Cobbett began to think more calmly upon tlie subject, and 
 to place thiiigs in a truer light before liis own mind. He 
 now foresaw tlie greatest danger lurking behind him if he 
 should unwittingly throw himself witliin the power ofthosc 
 who would gladly have proved themselves tiic instruments 
 of his destruction. Millions of eyes were anxiously fixed 
 upon his every movement, in order to seize upon the first 
 opportunity of fixing liim with some vamped up charge of 
 sedition or treason, that would be sufficient to throw him 
 entirely on the tender mercies of those wlio had hitherto re- 
 garded him with a hatred the most profound. They only hoped 
 for some such opportunity, and had Cobbett been a man of 
 less judgment or penetration, tlie natural warmtli of his 
 temper would undoubted ly have led him into the commission 
 of some act or other that would have been twisted and 
 tortured into a treasonable attempt against the life of our 
 sovereign King, his crown and dignity. 
 
 On first receiving the above named polite note or warning 
 from tlie worthy officials of Manchester, the natural obsti- . 
 nacy of his disposition prevailed, and he determined, let 
 the consequences to liimself be what they might, to visit 
 his friends at Manchester, and tims prove to his vile as- 
 perseis that he could, by his own influence, gather together 
 a large assemblage of persons — restrain them from a^ts oi 
 violence, and eventually disperse eacli man to liis home 
 without the commission of even a single outrage. A little 
 reflection, however, changed this hastily formed resolu- 
 tion; — his carriage was at the door, and stepping into it, he 
 desired the driver to take a more circuitous route, and 
 thus avoid Manchester and the evil consequence that might 
 have arisen had he ventured to carry his original design 
 into execution. 
 
 On arriving at Coventry lie drove to the Craven Arms 
 Hotel, intending to stay there that night. He then im- 
 
 p3
 
 162 LIFE OF 
 
 mediately sent for a Mr. Lewis, wbo priiitetl the Coventry 
 Recorder, but being told lie was in London, lie sent for Mr. 
 James Grant, at that time one of the priiiiMpal leaders 
 among the Radical Reformers, who shortly waited upon 
 him, and the evening was passed together t;i Iking over 
 the then threatening aspect of the political horizon. In the 
 morning, after having partaken of his breakfast, per- 
 ceiving that a large concourse of persons had assembled 
 round the house for the purpose of welcoming him upon 
 his arrival among them, he threw up the window sash, and 
 began addressing the concourse, whom he promised to 
 meet at the end of the town, when he would address them 
 in a speech that should enlighten their understandings as 
 to the dreadful state the country was in. He then closed 
 the window, but scarcely had he done so, when the land- 
 lord (a purse-proud Tory, of course) sent him the follow- 
 ing insolent note:— - 
 
 "Sir — you have taken an unwarrantable liberty in 
 addressing the populace from the windows of my house, 
 and I hereby request your immediate departure from it. 
 " To Mr. Cobbett." " Wm. Whitlock." 
 
 Immediately upon receiving this impertinent epistle, 
 Mr. Cobbett sent for the landlord, and, asked hira if he 
 had written it; he told him he had, and the sooner he 
 quitted his house the better. To this gentlemanly re- 
 quest, of course Mr. C. could offer no resistance — heat 
 once ordered his chaise, and during the time it was getting 
 ready, a large placard was fastening to the window by 
 the same officious personage, stating that the bones of 
 Cobbett and Tom Paine are ordered to quit this honse. Cob- 
 bett then mounted the bar of the chaise, and, with his hat 
 in his hand, was driven to the extremity of the city of 
 Coventry, where he addressed an assemblage of persons, 
 who not having their skins and purses so well fdied as had 
 this insolent tavern keeper, were well pleased to hear tile 
 exposition he then favoured them with. 
 
 On arriving in London Mr. Cobbett was greeted by his 
 numerous friends iti a most enthusiastic manner. His 
 return to England se(!med to revive the hopes of the al- 
 most despairing Reformers, and they now looked for- 
 ward with a degree of hojpc they had never experienced
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 16S 
 
 before, tbat the justice tliey had so long and ineffectually 
 demanded of the ministers, was almost within their grasp. 
 A dinner in honour of his arrival was given to him at the 
 Crown and Anchor, on IVIouday the 13th December 1819 
 at which all tlic leading men of liis party were in atten- 
 dance. Tlie festival passed off happily enough, but the 
 close of it was marked with a circumstance tiiat proved 
 the bitter malignity of those who had ever sought to in- 
 jure him. At the close of the meeting, when he was just 
 about to leave the Crown and Anchor, he was arrested by 
 one of the Middlesex officers, for a debt contracted pre- 
 vious to his departure from this country. He was, how- 
 ever, subsequently bailed by Mr. Henry Hunt, and Mr. 
 Thomas Dolby, the publisher of his Register. 
 
 This incident serves to provo how constantly his ene- 
 mies were at work to annoy, nay even to ruin him. It 
 was hoped that a gaol would now be his future doom, and 
 that being thus, in some degree, separated from the other 
 Reformers, he would become more pliant to the will of the 
 government, and if not an advocate of their unjust mea- 
 sures, that lie would at least cease to annoy them with 
 his perpetual abuse of their infamous policy. 
 
 The situation of the country at the commencement of 
 the year 1820 was more tranquil than the violent popu- 
 lar agitation of the preceding months would have given 
 reason to expect. That agitation, though it had produced 
 little actual mischief, had been in a high degree appalling. 
 Foreign nations regarded us as on the eve of a revolution; 
 and even the wise and experienced among our own nation 
 were not without apprehension with respect to the possible 
 result. The tumult was now hushed; and, in a country 
 like England, external tranquillity is a decisive proof, 
 whatever discontent may exist, of the absence of any in- 
 tention of breaking out into open violations of the law. 
 
 This charige must be ascribed, in part, to the rigorous 
 measures pursued by government, and, in part, to the 
 natural course of events. The manufacturing population 
 had been deluded into a line of conduct inconsistent with 
 civil order; all their passions had been excited; all their 
 wildest prejudices and caprices had been flattered; and 
 they had been taught that they might, by their violent 
 proceediugs, regulate the coiu-se of public events. They
 
 164 LIFE OF 
 
 had followed, to a certain point those who had presented 
 themselves as leaders. Of course wo cannot allude to 
 Mr. Cobbett, because at the time he was not in England, 
 and, if he had wc are very sm'e that he would use all the 
 interest lie possessed to suppress those outrages to which 
 we allude. Tliey found that tlicir distress was not in any 
 way alleviated by their disorderly conduct. Work was 
 not thereby more easily prociu'cd ; v/agcs were not higher ; 
 nor was a greater quantity of the necessaries of life 
 placed within th^ir reach. Far from bettering their 
 condition by their threats of insurrection, they felt their 
 miseries aggravated by the very alarm which their insubor- 
 dination had spread. From the state of Ingh exultation, 
 therefore, into which tliey had been brought, and in 
 which tliey had been for some time maintained, they 
 naturally fell back into listlessness and languor: not 
 perha])5 positively approving the political constitution, 
 but contemplating it at least with sentiments approaching 
 to indifference, and occupied witli their own distress, and 
 its immediate proximate causes, more than withithe dreams 
 of political speculation. 
 
 The dogged firmness with which the govertmient had 
 acted, contributed much to bring about this state of pas- 
 sive obedience. With what liope could the Violently 
 disposed prosecute machinations which met with coun- 
 tenance from only the very lowest orders of the people, 
 which were regarded with abhorrence by all the upper 
 classes, and which the wliolc power of the state was ar- 
 rayed to resist? The military force of the country has 
 been augmci\ted with the declared and exclusive object 
 of repressing every tendency to intestine disorder; and the 
 disj)leasure of government had been strongly marked against 
 such as even with pure intentions liad lent the weight of their 
 names and characters to meetings calculated to encourage 
 the ill-disposed. Ministers, it must be candidly confessed, 
 though they acted with extreme severity, acted at least 
 an open, perhaps wc may add, even a manly ])art. They 
 showed plainly that they would tolerate neither avoAVcd 
 disallection nor any thing tiiat tended to inspire the dis- 
 alTecti'd with flattering liDpes, 
 
 As it was chiefly among the crowded population of the 
 manufactiu-ing districts, that the spirit of insubordination 
 liad manifested itself, it was a peculiarly fortunate clr-
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 165 
 
 cumstance that, from the latter end of 1819, the commer- 
 cial embanassments of the country ceased to increase, or 
 ratiier began to decline. In 1819 both our exports and 
 imports had fallen considerably below their previous 
 amount. Though this diminution was no symptom of any 
 permanent retardation of the progress of national opulence, 
 since it might be accounted for sufficiently by temporary 
 causes, and, in a great measure by the unusually largo 
 amount of the exports and imports of the immediately 
 preceding year ; yet the stagnation that was thereby occa- 
 sioned in every branch of industry, brought severe priva- 
 tions upon the labouring classes, and these privations ren- 
 dered them the more disposed to lend a willing ear to the 
 preachers of sedition. As the extraordinary amount of the 
 commercial transactions of 1818 had, in a considerable de- 
 gree, provided for the demands and slackened the opera- 
 tions of the commercial world in 1819; so the comparative 
 stagnation of the latter period gave scope for a more 
 active employment of capital in the year 1820. Other 
 more permanent causes co-operated with this casual cir- 
 cumstance in promoting the partial revival of oui" trade. 
 In consequence of recent alterations in the channels of com- 
 merce, arising from the altered situation of the world, 
 many merchants and manufacturers had, for some time, 
 found their old sources of gain altogether unproductive, 
 and, as time and experience are always necessary for the 
 discovery of new modes of employing capital profitably, 
 few of them had been able to hit upon untried paths of 
 lucrative industry. The alteration, too, which, since the 
 termination of tlie war, had been gradually taking place 
 in the value of money, had necessarily been most ruinous 
 in its operation upon all capitalists wlio were holders of 
 commodities whicli fell in price. This circumstance may 
 be regarded as having, in a great measure, ceased to ope- 
 rate upon our manufacturers by the end of 1619. That 
 year saw the crisis of our manufacturing and commercial 
 embarrassments: the loss and destruction of commercial 
 capital, occasioned by the altered circumstances of the 
 world, had nearly finished its course, and the intercourse 
 of nations was beginning to take tlie direction most com- 
 patible with the natural advantages and legislative enact- 
 ments of each particular country.
 
 166 LIFE OF 
 
 In consequence of the partial revival of commerce, our 
 manufacturing population foimd it more easy to obtain 
 employment than in the preceding years, and received a 
 more liberal remuneration for their labonr. At tlie same 
 time the price of grain sustained a considerable diminution. 
 The average prices of wheat, which in 1819 had been 
 generally above 72*. per quarter, and often approached to 
 SO*, fluctuated during the first iialf of the year 1820, between 
 60*. and 703. per quarter, and, towards the end of that 
 year to between 50s. and 60s. Animal food, and the other 
 productions of agricultural industry participated in this 
 fall. In the course of the last-named year, therefore, the 
 situation of the manufacturing labourer was doubly im- 
 proved ; he earned more, and the same amount of earningi 
 gave him a greater comman(i of the necessaries of life. 
 
 Though, therefore, it cannot be denied tiiat distress did 
 exist in the country at the beginning and throughout the 
 course of the year 1820, and though there was even reason 
 to apprehend, that among one important class of the com- 
 munity it would go on increasing, yet it was of a nature 
 which by no means indicated any decay of general pros- 
 perity. It arose from a change which the natural course 
 of events was gradually bringing about in tlie distribution 
 of wealtli among us, and from circumstances which placed 
 us in a more advantageous relation to the other nations of 
 Europe than had for some time subsisted between us and 
 them. 
 
 It will be perceived that we have pursued this subject to 
 a rather greater length than perhaps the lin)itsof this work 
 will allow, yet, as this was about the period when the 
 Radical Reformers liad attained so mucli strength and in- 
 fluence in the country, we trust the reader will pardon the 
 digression upon the consideration tliat it will at any rate 
 jiervc to give liim a tolerable idea of the state of parties 
 at tliat important period. 
 
 From Mr. Cobbett's return to England, November 1810 
 to Ui« rnd of 1H20, no event of auy great consequence 
 occurred in the lilo of this extraordinary man. It is true 
 tliat he liad to sustain actions for slander, brought by two 
 parties, and to bo tried at about the same time. But 
 Cobbett possessed too much nerve to be daiuited by these 
 violent attacks made upon him, and preparing himself for
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 167 
 
 the coming contest, he determined to defend them both in 
 person. The first of them was tried in the Court of King's 
 Bench, December 5th, 1820, on which occasion Mr. (now 
 Lord) Brougham appeared in behalf of the plaintiff. The 
 libel complained of was this: — upon the lOtli of April, 
 1808, tile defendant William Cobbett, wrote a letter to 
 Mr. James Wright, containing certain reflections upon the 
 character of Mr. Henry Hunt. The letter so written was 
 read upon the public hustings by Mr. Cleary, (the plaintiff 
 in this action) at the Westminster election in 1818. The 
 defendant then, notwithstanding his having written the 
 letter, publisiied in his Register of the 6th September 1818, 
 a certain libel upon the plaintiff, intimating that th6 letter 
 which the plaintiff liad read as liis (Cobbett's) letter, liad 
 not been written by him ; but that it was in truth a forgery, 
 and that the plaintiff liad been concerned in forging it. 
 There were other counts for general aspersion of the plain- 
 tiff^s character, and the damages were laid at 3,000/. After 
 an admirable speech from Mr. Brougham, Cobbett rose and 
 commenced his defence, which he did in an address of mas- 
 terly eloquence, and which we cannot help feeling some 
 mortification at being obliged to omit. We will, however, 
 give the concluding paragraphs as showing the admirable 
 style that pervaded all the efforts of his mind. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett at length proceeded to animadvert with 
 great severity, on tlie characters of the witnesses brought 
 against him, describing Messrs. Wright and Jackson, in 
 particular, as men whom he had rescued from the deptlis of 
 misery, and who now sought to wound, after having be- 
 trayed, their generous and unsuspecting benefactor. He 
 ridiculed the absurdity of setting up his former praise of 
 one of them as a counter-balance to that censure which his 
 subsequent conduct had deserved. Wlio amongst them 
 had not, in his experience of life, met with servants who 
 had disappointed his expectations? Othello praised lago 
 at the commencement of tlie drama, but he exclaimed in 
 the last act, "cursed, damned lago!" and yet wiio pre- 
 tended to say that Sliakspeare was wrong or that Othello 
 was inconsistent? — He (Mr. C.) iiad been reproached with 
 versatility; all he could say was that he had endeavoured 
 to go from good to better, or, at least from bad to good ; 
 perhaps there were some at that bar whose versatility was
 
 168 LIFE OF 
 
 equally notorious, and consisted not in any regular progress, 
 but in going backwards and forwards, and in perpetual 
 shifting and changing. The plaintiff had been called a 
 mild inofifensive fellow, but he (Mr. C.) would wish to guard 
 the jury against mistaking feebleness for mildness. He 
 trusted the jury would not consent to be made the instru- 
 ments for plundering him and his family of the little which 
 yet belonged to them, although he would work to tlie last 
 before he would knuckle one moment to the autliors of as 
 black and treacherous a conspiracy as ever disgraced th'j 
 human character. He looked to them (the jury) as to 
 Englishmen, in whose hearts there yet survived a hatre4^ 
 of baseness and espionage, however some persons might r^ 
 joice in the latter. The evil genus of the learned counS'jl', 
 (Brougham) could alone have led him into this cause, and 
 he should sit down satisfied that an honest jury would not 
 only do him justice, but by their verdict stamp with in- 
 famy every man who should violate tlie sanctity, by 
 betraying the confidence, of friendship. The Lord Chief 
 Justice summed up, and the jury, after having retired 
 three quarters of an hour, returned a verdict for tlie 
 plaintiff — Damages 40s. 
 
 Now this trial, terminating as it did with merely nomi- 
 nal damages far the plaintiff, one would have thought 
 sufficient to quiet all the other yelping curs that were so 
 constantly annoying Mr. Cobbett — But no, there was yet 
 further interest secretly working behind to urge tiiem for- 
 ward in their work of destruction, and the consequence 
 was, that a few days afterwards, viz. i on the 11th of 
 December, the other trial came on in the same court, and 
 against the self-same defendant, for a second charge of 
 libel, in which, in reality, the same parties were concerned 
 who constituted tlie plaintiffs in the former action. The 
 cause b(ung called on, Mr. Cobbett rose and intimated to 
 the court that he intended to withdraw his plea of jus- 
 tification. 
 
 Mr. Chitty then opened the pleadings. Tlie libels 
 charged were three in nuinbei", and consistetl of certain 
 paragraphs j)nblisliecl in tlie PolUical Register of the 4th of 
 January 1817, 9th M:irch 1819, and 0th January 1820. 
 These paragraphs severally charged the plaintiff, Mr. 
 Wright, with forgery and fraud, antl describing him as an 
 individual to be held up to the horror and detestation of 
 maukiad.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 169 
 
 Mr. Scarlett stated, that the plaintiflf, Mr. Wright, was 
 known to the worJrl as the editor of the Parliamentary 
 History, the Parliamentary Debates, and of other works 
 of great learning and utility. Those works which liad 
 been originally introduced to the public under the shelter 
 Mr. Cobbett's name having been conducted, in fact, en- 
 tirely by the plaintiff. To introduce the defendant to the 
 jury would scarcely be necessary. During many years no 
 nerson had been more the object of public notice than 
 •Villiam Cobbett. By his M'ritiugs that individual liad 
 made himself known in every part of the globe where the 
 'nglish language was known or spoken; and far was he 
 Mr. Scarlett) from wishing to insinuate against a man of 
 undoubted talent more than his duty to the plaintiff abso- 
 lutely demanded. This he would say, that he possessed 
 such talents for writing as during a long term of years had 
 been unparalleled in the history of the literature of the 
 comitry. Need the learned gentleman remind the jury in 
 how perilous a situation that individual was placed, who 
 became the subject of attack by such a writer. 
 
 In the course of a long connexion in their literary specu- 
 lations, a bill trade, to the extent of sixty or seventy 
 thousand pounds, iiad taken place between the plaintiff and 
 defendant. 
 
 Between the years 1805 and 1811 the accounts, as would 
 commonly be found the case when accommodation paper 
 was employed, became extremely intricate between INIr, 
 Wright and Mr. Cobbett, and, in short, they were in such 
 a state, that to use the very forcible language employed 
 by the defendant himself when an arrangement of the 
 business was proposed, "they were in such a state that 
 the devil himself could not unraA'el them." Things were 
 in this situation when Mr. Cobbett was called upon to de- 
 fend himself against the charge of libel, and upon that 
 charge was convicted (1910). Upon that conviction the 
 question arose as to M-hat steps should be taken to avert 
 the impending- calamity of judgment, and those measures 
 • onducted Mr. Scarlett to the first of the libels which he 
 had to state to the jury. Mr, Cobbett proposed to a 
 gentleman who would presently be called as a witness, 
 to make a bargain for him with government that he should 
 not be called up for judgement, and, upon that condition
 
 170 LIFE OP 
 
 he would give up his Register. The negociation did not 
 succeed. The disputed accounts were arranged by the 
 award ot Mr. William Cooke. Mr. Cobbett claimed about 
 ^12,000, and received about d06,OOO, and the effect of 
 this curtailment of his claim was an inveterate hostility 
 conceived against Mr. Wright. The passage which led to 
 the lirst libel charged, was contained in an article entitled 
 " A New Years Gift to Old George Rose," and appeared 
 as follows : " Walter says I made apropositioji to Govern- 
 ment to* this effect — that if proceedings were dropped 
 against me, I would never publish another Register or any 
 other thing. If I did so, no one could condemn me, and 
 therefore I might allow the charge of Walter to be true; 
 but the charge is absolutely lalse, for no such proposition 
 was ever made from me, or by my juithority." And 
 Ml*. Cobbett then went on to tell a story of his having 
 certainly gone down to Botley with such an idea, Avorked 
 upon by the tears and entreaties of his family ; but that he 
 had withdrawn this proposition on subsequent reflection. Un- 
 fortunately, however, (continued Mr. Scarlett) Mr .Cobbett 
 had transmitted to Mr. Wright the farewell number of his 
 Register, which would iiavebeen the concludhig number, if 
 his proposition to goverr.ment had been carried into effect. 
 Now tiie first of the libels in question arose out of a sus- 
 picion that it was by Mr. Wright that the fact had been 
 communicated to the Times; and in expressing his opinion 
 that such had been the course of communication, the De- 
 fendant spoke of Mr. Wright as "a wretch unequalled in 
 the annals of infamy, and whom lie would hold up to the 
 horror of mankind." 
 
 Mr. Scarlett then proceeded to advert to the second libel 
 upon the record, wliich originated out of the conduct of 
 Mr. Cleary in reading at the Westminster election of 1818, 
 Mr. Cobbett's letter of 1 808, in which he spoke of Mr. Hunt 
 with feelings very different from those which he subse- 
 quently expressed" towards that gentleman. Mr. Cobbett 
 in his plea npon the present record, had pledged himself 
 to prove those assei tions to be true. The paragraph iu 
 which he described the big drop of sweat — Mr. Scarlett 
 would read the paragraph : — 
 
 " You, my dear sir, know the history of this Wright; 
 you know all his tricks, all his attempts. The public do 
 not, and I will not now trouble the public with a detail
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 171 
 
 which, if put in a suitable form, would make a romance 
 in the words of truth, far surpassing anything that ever was 
 imagined of moral turpitude. I will execute this task one 
 day or other. If the caitiff should put forth anything by 
 way of palliation in the mean time, there is Mr. Walker, 
 there is Mr. Margrave, there is my attorney, there is Mr. 
 Swann, there is Sir Francis Burdett himself; there is my 
 son John, who, though he was then a child, will never 
 forget the big round drops of sweat that in «n cold winter's 
 day rolled down tlie caitift'^s forehead when he was detected 
 in fabricating accounts; and when I took Johnny by the 
 hand (who had begun whimpering for poor Wright) and 
 said, ' Look at that man my dear! These drops of sweat 
 are the effect of detected villany! Think of that my dear 
 child, and you will always be an honest man!" Mr. Peter 
 Walker and Mr, Swann were present at this scene, which 
 took place in my room in Newgate in 1811. 
 
 The contents of this paragraph Mr. Cobbett undertook 
 to prove the truth of. 
 
 The publication by the defendant was proved by a num- 
 ber of witnesses. 
 
 The libels in question were then put in and read, and 
 and the case for the prosecution being thus concluded. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett entered upon his defence. He began by 
 observing that the proverb forbidding the cobbler to go 
 beyond his last, might be extremely ajjplicable, as well as 
 useful to lawyers. If Mr. Scarlett had not gone beyond 
 his brief, a great deal of time would have been saved to 
 the jury. Mr. Cobbett then remarked upon the evidence 
 which had been adduced by the plaintiff, and intimated 
 to the jury the ground upon which he proposed to rest his 
 defence, that ground was simply this : — that it was his son 
 son William, and not himself who had been the pub- 
 lisher of the libels in question, and that a considerable 
 portion of the matter complained of in the Register of the 
 6th of March, 1819 had been written by his sons William 
 and John. 
 
 William Clement and Charles Preston proved, that 
 William Cobbett the younger, was the publisher of the 
 Register. 
 
 William Cobbett, jun. was next called. The witness 
 swore, that the property of the paper was made over by 
 
 a 2
 
 172 LIFE OF 
 
 his father to him, and that his tathcr received from him 
 a salary as editor. That salary varied from time to time 
 from 35 or 40 guineas a week to £3o0 per month. Wit- 
 ness was honajide proprietor of the paper. He frequently 
 made alterations in the matter transmitted by iiis father, 
 and made most material alterations in that part of the 
 Register of the 6th of March, 1819, which alluded to the 
 plaintiff. 
 
 Mr. John Gobbett, another of the defendant's sons, de- 
 posed principally to some alterations by him, and by his 
 brother, in the article of the 6th of March 1819 which re- 
 garded Mr. Wright, the plaintiff. The alterations were 
 made, because tlie article was not sufficiently bitter. 
 
 Mr. Scarlett, in reply, contended that the wliole course 
 of Mr. Cobbett's defence had been an aggravation of the 
 injury which he had done to tlie plaintiff. 
 
 The Lord Chief Justice, in smnming up, held that 
 Mr. Cobbett, either as the bona Jide proprietor, or as the 
 editor of the Political Register, would be liable for its 
 contents. The jury retired, and after a short consultation 
 found a verdict for the plaintiff— Damages 1,000/. costs 40s. 
 
 The trial occupied the Court from half-past nine in the 
 morning till a quarter past ten at night. 
 
 Thus was Mr. Cobbett once more condemned to pay a 
 heavy fine for speaking that wliich as an honest man, he was 
 obliged, injustice to liimself to do. How the case exactly 
 stood between the parties we of course eannot take upon 
 ourselves to explain, but this we know, and so does every 
 one else, that has ever had any thing to do with law, that 
 whenever such cases came before a jury the utmost ex- 
 aggeration is had recourse to by both parties. Mr, Wright 
 might probably feel himself aggrieved by certain ex- 
 pressions in the libel, but on the other hand are we not to 
 acquit Mr. Cobbett on the ground that he had been com- 
 pelled to endure much deprivation and lasting injury from 
 the supposed conduct of parties implicated in the transac- 
 tion. For our own part we believe Mr. Wright to have 
 been an lionourablo straight-forwanl man — tliat is om- im- 
 pression — but how tiu; affair stood between him and Mr. 
 Cobbett we, of course, eannot in any way explain to the 
 reader. 
 
 In the year 1820, Mr Cobbett made his first attempt
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 173 
 
 to get into Parliament, and as the constitencj of Coven- 
 try seemed to be sufficiently Radical to aiFord him some 
 hope in that quarter, it was determined to start there. 
 Accordingly, an active canvass was carried on in his behalf, 
 and, in order to further the object in view, he proposed a 
 subscription for that purpose on a small work which he in- 
 tended for gratuitous distribution. By this means he con- 
 trived to raise about seventy pounds, and in addition to 
 which he expended out of his own pocket, a further sum of 
 upwards of one hundred pounds. The result, however, 
 proved unfortunate, and he lost his election, so that he 
 was, in fact, considerably out of pocket by a transaction, 
 in which his enemies have endeavoured to make out a 
 case against him of sordidness, and an attempt to draw 
 money out of the pockets of those who were willing to 
 risk any thing in the hope of bringing him into the 
 House of Commons. But let us even suppose that the 
 sum subscribed had been to a much larger amount, 
 and that there had been no consideration given — which 
 there was, — would not the reformers — had they suc- 
 ceeded, have reaped an abundant advantage by havhig 
 thus placed him in a sphere where his powerful influence 
 and gigantic intellect would have done so much in the 
 cause which was dearest to his heart ? Would he not 
 have pleaded the Avrongs of an oppressed people with ten- 
 fold advantage could he but have taken his stand among 
 those who were most interested in withholding from a 
 nation that justice, which, once granted, would, they 
 well knew, prove the utter destruction of the unjust 
 power they had so long usurped ? And would not, we 
 ask, the paltry sum advanced have been amply repaid, 
 had he thus attained the object for which all men who 
 really love their country, had most sincerely at heart ? 
 The answer to this question is too evident to be doubted, 
 and thus the charge of sordidness brought against 
 Mr. Cobbett, is, we hope, set at rest for ever. 
 
 In the year 1823, the agricultual distiess of this coun- 
 try had diminished considerably, but the effects in the by- 
 gone change in the circumstances of many owners and 
 cultivators of the soil were still felt in a degree strong 
 enough to give a plausible pretext for complaint. These 
 complaints were uttered most loudly in various county 
 
 Q 3
 
 174 l^IFE OF 
 
 meetings, held immediately before, or shortly after, the 
 meeting of parliament, at which the necessity of dimi- 
 nishing the taxes and of reforming the constitution of 
 the legislature was sometimes insinuated, and sometimes 
 boldly avowed. Among the counties which voted peti- 
 tions were Norfolk, Somerset, York, Berks, Hereford, 
 Middlesex and Surrey, In the meeting held at Norwich, 
 on the 3rd of January 1823, the Whigs, who had convened 
 it and meant it to be a vehicle for their own opinions, 
 were completely defeated by the unexpected appearance 
 of Mr. Cobbett, on the stage ; who, after having exposed 
 the fallacy and incoherence of the resolutions proposed 
 by them, moved an address of his own, which was carried 
 triumphantly by the acclamations of the assembled thou- 
 sands. This petition, after the usual complaints against 
 sinecures, taxes, the church and the national debt, prayed 
 an efficient reform of Parliament, in order that such Par- 
 liament might adopt the measures necessary to effect the 
 following purposes : — 1. An approprication of a part of 
 the property of the Church to the liquidation of the debt. 
 2. A reduction of the standing army, including staff", 
 bairacks, and colleges, to a scale of expence as low as that 
 of the army before the last war. 3. A total abolition of 
 all sinecures, pensions, grants and emoluments, not me- 
 rited by public services : — 4. A sale of the Crown lauds, 
 and an application of the money towards the liquidation 
 of the debt : — 5. An equitable adjustment with regard 
 to the public debt, and also with regard to all debts and 
 contracts between man and man. But, as to effect these 
 purposes might require a lapse months, the petitioners 
 further prayed, that Parliament, in order to afford im- 
 mediate protection against ruin, would be pleased:— 
 
 1. To suspend, bylaw, for one year, all distresses for 
 rent, and to cause distresses already issued to be set aside. 
 
 2. To suspend all processes for tithes for the same period. 
 
 3. To suspend, for the same period, all processes arising 
 out of mortgage, bond, annuity or other contract affecting 
 house or land. 4. To repeal the whole of the taxes on 
 malt, hops, leather, soap and candles. 
 
 The Whig aristocracy of Norfolk, indignant that such 
 principles should be supjwsed to emanate from their coun- 
 try, caused petitions to bo prepared and numerously
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 175 
 
 signed in distinct hundreds, reprobating the petition 
 aaopted at Norwich, but complaining bitterly of agri- 
 cultural distress, and calling loudly lor Parliamentary 
 reform. The original petition and also the counter- 
 petitions were presented to the House of Commons, by 
 Mr. Coke, who, on that occasion, declared his dissent 
 from Mr. Cobbett's conclusions, and ascribed that gen- 
 tleman's triumph to the confusion of the meeting, and 
 to the ignorance, in which the individuals composing it 
 were, of what was really said by the speakers. Mr. 
 James was the only member of the opposition, who ex- 
 pressed any approbation of the doctrines adopted at 
 pforwich. Yet the only essential difference between 
 Mr. Cobbett and his adversaries appears to have been, 
 that, both setting out from the same assumptions, Mr. 
 Cobbett pushed his premises to their utmost conse- 
 quences, while Mr. Coke and his party, preferring pru- 
 dence to logic, adopted the principles acceptable to their 
 querulousness, and yet disavowed the inferences to 
 which these principles, if fairly followed up, necessarily 
 led. Mr. Cobbett's success at Norwich, induced him to 
 attempt to play the same part at Hertford : but there 
 the country gentlemen were prepared to meet their an- 
 tagonist ; and, instead of carrying his point, the violent 
 and ignorant mob would not even grant him a hearing. 
 
 Leaving these busy scenes of political strife, we have 
 now to record an eventwhich reflects the highest honour, 
 upon the ingenuity and skill displayed by Mr. Cobbett 
 in the useful arts. On the 28th May 1823, the anni- 
 versary meeting of the Society for the Encouragement 
 of Arts, &c. was held in the King's Theatre, Hay- 
 market, for the purpose of distributing the rewards ad- 
 judged to the candidates for their proficiency, im- 
 provements, and inventions in arts, manufactures and 
 commerce. The chair was taken by his Royal Highness 
 the Duke of Sussex, who, among many of the prizes 
 which he distributed, bestowed one, a silver medal, upon 
 Mr VVm. Cobbett, for plat from English grass, resem- 
 bling in its texture and manufacture that imported from 
 Leghorn. 
 
 From this period to the year 182(j, no event of any 
 particular interest occurred to which we shall refer in
 
 17S LIFE OP 
 
 the life of Mr. Cobbett. At the general election in the 
 month of June, in that year, however, he had the cou- 
 rage to offer himself to the electors of Preston, when he 
 found amongst them a good many kindred hearts. That 
 Cobbett should have polled nearly a thousand votes in 
 Preston is not a matter of surprise even in the then 
 unreformed Parliament, since that town enjoyed almost 
 universal suffrage, and the fact affords an admirable in- 
 stance of the effects of that mode of distributing the 
 elective franchise. On its termination, though un- 
 successful, he addressed the assemblage as follows : 
 
 Gentlemen : — 1 have done much good to you by com- 
 ing; I have sweated your tyrants — I have bled them. 
 I have made the silly honourable (Mr. Stanley, now 
 Ijord Stanley, and then his opponent) throw 15,000/. 
 among you, and that's no joke; for though these lords 
 have too much land, they have not too much money. I 
 have tickled the captain too ; I have made him dance to 
 some tune ; he must have pledged his half pay to keep 
 open house for j'ou, and now, like the ether half-pays in 
 London, he must live on plates of beef and goes of gin 
 for the next seven years. As to Mr. Wood, I could 
 not draw any money out of him, for the poor devil had 
 none to spend; but his father, Otty Wood, the miserly 
 old sugar-baker of Liverpool, I have extracted from 
 his pocket what a hundred-horse-power steam engine 
 could not draw from him — I have made him spend 
 7,000/. These are what I have done for you, gentlemen. 
 But 1 have done more — I have kept out the Tory Cap- 
 tain Barry; not that 1 like Wood either; I only dislilce 
 him least of the two; but you shall not be cursed wiih 
 either one or other of these gentlemen. The election 
 is not worth a straw. I'll have it set aside next April, 
 when I'll bleed our opponents again, and you'll elect me 
 for your representative — the only man who has the wish 
 and the ability, the heart and tlic head to serve you and 
 his country — myself, gentlemen, myself." 
 
 Mr-. Cobbett punctually kept his promise to petition 
 against the return; but circumstances compelled him 
 to neglect entering into his required recognizances, 
 and the petition was consequently discharged. To his 
 honour, be it said, however, we have heard it confessed 
 by those who were assisting him at this election, that
 
 WILIJAxM COBBETT, 177 
 
 a hundred pounds worth of ale would have carried him 
 in ; but to his credit we are anxious to make it known, 
 that Mr. Cobbett indignantly scouted the proposition, 
 and spurned the debased wretches who required it. 
 
 In 1827 there was great activity displayed in Dublin 
 and various other parts of Ireland, in establishing Orange 
 Associations under the name of Brunswick Clubs. The 
 chief club was held at Morrison's, one of the principal 
 hotels and taverns of Dublin. In the counties ofDerry, 
 Cavan, Cork, &c., the organization of these clubs pro- 
 ceeded with equal activity. At Sligo, Armagh, Derry, 
 Antrim, Enniskillen, &c., initiatory proceedings were 
 commenced. Indeed it was intended, if possible, 
 to establish a Protestant rent. These clubs were 
 also ramifying in various parts of England. One was 
 formed in the county of Bucks, under the denomination 
 of the Brunswick Constitutional Club of the County of 
 Buckingham, in which a number of the nobility and 
 gentry quickly enrolled their names. One of the largest 
 meetings ever held in Kent took place at the same time 
 at Maidstone, to take into consideration the best means 
 of expressing the determination of the Protestants of that 
 county to uphold the principles which placed the House 
 of Brunswick on the throne of these realms ; — that is to 
 say, to exclude the Catholics from>ll the benefits that 
 should reward good citizens, and add, if possible another 
 link to the heavy chain that then galled them. 
 
 There were present at this meeting, (besides the 
 chairman the Hon. Colonel Wingfield Stratford,) the 
 Earl of Winchelsea, "Viscount Sydney, Lord Teynham, 
 Lord Bexley, the Hon. Mr. Harris, eldest son of Lord 
 Harris, Sir John Bridges M. P, Sir Egerton Brydges, 
 Mr. AVells M. P. for Maidstone, Sir Edward Dering, 
 Gen. Mulcaster, Sir Edward Knatchbull, M. P. and a 
 vast number of thick and thin Tories and Anti-Catho= 
 lies. The tirst resolution, which went to the establish- 
 men of the Brunswick Club, was proposed by the Earl 
 of Winchelsea, and seconded by Sir John Brydges, and 
 passed unanimously. The meeting was subsequently 
 addressed in support of the resolutions by Lord Sydney, 
 Lord Bexley, Sir Edward Dering, and others, and the 
 same strong and bigoted tone of high Protestant feeling 
 pervaded the entire assemblage.
 
 178 LIFE OF 
 
 As might have been expected, the establishment of 
 these Bruns\vick Clubs excited a strong spirit of oppo- 
 sition on the part of the supporters of Catholic Eman- 
 cij)ation, and perhaps no one felt more indignant at 
 the course the Protestants had adopted than did Mr. 
 Cobbett, and from that moment he exerted all his, 
 talents and influence to circumvent them in their places 
 for thus crushing tho hopes of their Catholic brethren. 
 On the 24th of October 1828, another meeting of the 
 Brunswick Club was held on Penenden Heath, Kent, 
 under the sanction of the individuals we have just men- 
 tioned, and" the High Sherilf of the county. The object 
 of the meeting was to pass a series of resolution, "pray- 
 ing that the Protestant constitution of the United King- 
 dom may be preserved entire and inviclable." The re- 
 solutions were violently opposed by the Marquis of 
 Camden, Lord Darniej^ l)r. Doyle, Mr. Shiel, Mr. 
 Cobbett, JNIr. Hunt, and other friends to a liberal sys- 
 tem of government. An amendment was moved by 
 Mr. Hodges of Rochester, proposing that the subject of 
 the present discussion should be lelt to the discretion of 
 Ministers, and that the meeting should adjourn. The 
 amendment was seconded by the Earl of Hadnor, but 
 on being put, was negatived by a majority of about two- 
 thirds of the meeting. The original motion for agree- 
 ing to the resolution was then carried Avithout further 
 opposition. On this occasion Mr. Cobbett endeavoured 
 to obtain a hearing, but numbers and intolerance were 
 against him, and alter an ineffectual attempt to reason 
 with the swinish multitude, he was obliged to yield to 
 the power of those who carried every thing by force and 
 not by lair argument. 
 
 Itwillnodonbt bein the recollection of our readers, that 
 in the course of the yearl830, a great number of incendiary 
 fires brc-ke out in almost every part of England. There 
 were niunerous causes assigned for this unequivocal 
 demonstration of popular discontent, such as agricultural 
 distress — a desire to expedite the progress of a Eeformin 
 the Constitution. Whatever the cause might have been, 
 is not a question that we can be expected to answer at this 
 moment, and it is merely alluded to in reference to the 
 part taken under the circumstances by Mr. Cobbett, and
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 179 
 
 the result which it led to, namel}' a trial for sedition in 
 having spoken somewhat too openly on the subject in his 
 PolUkalJicffisier of December 11th 1830. 
 
 After a lon^ and vexations delay, Mr. Cobbett was 
 tried on the 7th of July, 1831, in the Court of King's 
 Bench, Guildhall, before Lord Tenterden and a special 
 Jury, upon the prosecution of the Attorney-General 
 Denman, for the publication of a seditiousand malicious 
 libel, tending to excite the agricultural labourers to acts of 
 sedition, insurection, arson, &c. This was, to say the 
 ]east of it, a most indiscreet proceeding on the part of 
 p^overnment. It gave to ]Mr. Cobbelt an opportunity of 
 animadverting upon their weak and wicked policy 
 awards the agricidtural labourers, and of indulging in a 
 
 rain of irony and sarcasm, which he could not otherwise 
 • ave had the opportunity of doing, their departure from 
 -Lose principles they had professed when in opposition, 
 md upon the credit of which they had been borne into 
 OiHce. 
 
 This was an indictment against Mr. William Cobbett, 
 charging him with the publication, on the 11th of 
 December preceding, of a libel with intent to raise dis- 
 content in the minds of the labourers in husbandry, and to 
 incite them to acts of violence, and to destroy corn, ma- 
 chinery, and other property — at least this was the lan- 
 guage of the indictment, hut to the charges therein pre- 
 ferred the defendant pleaded not guilty. 
 
 When he attended the Court, attended by his sons, 
 his attorney, and two friends, some persons in thegallery 
 immediately greeted him by clapping their hands, and, 
 on proceeding to take his seal, they gave tiiree loud 
 huzzas. The defiendant seemed highly gratified, and 
 turning round and looking towards the gallery, said, 
 " If truth prevails, we shall beat them. ?' 
 
 The Attorney General (Denman) then stated the 
 case for the Crown, adverting to the system of riot, fire- 
 raising, and breaking machinery, which had spread 
 destruction thmugh so manv counties in the end of the 
 last, and the beginning of that year. It was, (he said) 
 at this particular time, when S|)ei;ial commissioners were 
 issued for the investigation of crimes of this description, 
 that the defendant published the number of the Weekly
 
 180 LIFE OF 
 
 litical Register, on which the indictment was founded 
 The paper was ushered in with a heading taken froDi 
 another paper by the same author, published on the 24th 
 of October, 18i5, in the following terms: — "At last 
 it will come to a question of actual starvation, or fight- 
 ing for food ; and when it comes to that point, I know 
 that Englishmen will never lie down and die by hun- 
 dreds by the way side." 
 
 Following up the idea in the motto, (continued tbo 
 Attorney General) there was a paper called the Rural 
 ^Far, as if those vmhappy persons were banded togethe' 
 to commit nets of violence, like troops carryirg on 
 war against those who withheld from them provisic 
 Then the " Special Commission" came, as the next p 
 neral title, and a letter appeared, addressed to those ve^ 
 people who were likely to be called upon to take thei 
 trials for the offences with which they were chargef' 
 The first paragraph related to the Commission; the 
 there was an observation about some clergyman who hf 
 written a paper which had given great offence to M: 
 Cobbett. Mr. Cobbett made some severe remarks no, 
 only upon the conduct of the clergyman who publishe' 
 that paper, but on the conduct of the clergy in genera.. 
 He also made some strong observations upon the title t- 
 tithes, with which it was not necessary for him, (th • 
 Attorney '.General) to trouble the jury. The particula, 
 paragraph to which he was bound to allude, as seditious 
 was the following: — "In the meantime, however, th 
 parsons are reducing their tithes with tolerable degre? 
 of alacrity! It seems to come from them like drops c 
 blood from the heart ; but it comes, and must all come , 
 or England will never again know even the appearanc • 
 of peace. " Out of evil comes good." We are not, indee '; 
 upon that mere maxim " to do evil that good may com 
 from it." But without entering at present into tli 
 motives of the working people, it is unquestionable tha 
 their acts have produced good, and great good too. The 
 have been always told, and they were told now, and b 
 the very parson that 1 have quoted above, that their act . 
 of violence, and particularly their biu'nings, eandothei 
 no good, but add to their wants by desti-oying thefoo ! 
 that they would have to eat. Alas ! they if now better •,
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 181 
 
 they know that one threshing machine takes wages from 
 en men ; and they also know that they should have none 
 if this food, and that potatoes and salt do not burn ! there- 
 ore, this argument is not worth a straw. Besides, they see 
 and feel that the good comes, and comes instantly too. 
 They see that they get some bread in consequence of the 
 destruction of part of the corn ; and while ihey see this, 
 ou attempt in vain to persuade them that that which they 
 ■ave done is wrong. And as to one effect, that of making 
 ■le parsons reduce their tithes, it is hailed as a good by 
 ■^ety-nine hundredths, even of men of considerable pro- 
 ty ; while there is not a single man in the country who 
 not clearly trace the reduction to the acts of the 
 arers, and especially to the fires ; for it is the terror of 
 ,e, and not the bodily force, that has prevailed. To 
 tempt to persuade either farmers or labourers that the 
 nes do not do them any harm, is to combat plain common 
 ^^e. They must know and they do know, that whatever 
 received by the parson is just so much taken from them, 
 cept that part which he may lay out for productive labour 
 . the parish ; and that is a mere trifle compared with what 
 lie gives to the East and West Indies, to the wine countries, 
 to the footmen, and to other unproductive labourers. In 
 short, the tithe owners take away from the agricultural 
 p-irishes, a tenth part of the gross produce, which, in the 
 present state of abuse of the institution, they apply to pur- 
 i:'0ses not only not beneficial, but generally mischievous to 
 the people of those parishes. 
 
 " In another passage," continued the Attorney-General, 
 " the defendant expressed his opinion that the criminals 
 ought not to be made to suffer for any thing they had done; 
 and, speaking of the probability of some of them losing their 
 lives, this language was used : — 
 
 "No; this will not be done. The course of these ill- 
 used men had been so free from ferocity, so free from any 
 thing like blood-mindedness I They have not been cruel 
 even to their most savage and insolent persecutors. The most 
 violent thing that they have done to any person, has not 
 amounted to an attempt on the life or limb of the party ; 
 and in no case but in self defence, except in the cases of 
 the two hired overseers in Sussex, whom they merely 
 trundled out of the carts which those hirelings had had con- 
 
 R
 
 189 LIFE OF 
 
 structed for them to draw like cattle. Had they been hloody, 
 had they been cruel, then it would have been another matter ; 
 had they burnt people in their beds, which they might so 
 easily have done ; had they beaten people wantonly, which 
 has always been in their power ; had they done any of these 
 things, then there would have been some plea for severity. 
 But they have been guilty of none of these things ; they have 
 done desperate things, but they were drivento desperation : all 
 men, except the infamous stock-jobbing race, say, and loud 
 say, that their object is just; that they ought to Have that 
 for which they are striving ; and all men except that same 
 hellish crew, say that they had no other means of obtain- 
 ing it." 
 
 The Attorney-General said, after reading these passages, 
 that he should think if a waste of time if he pursued the 
 ar<Tument further. He could not conceive that there would 
 be a doubt in any reasonable unbiassed mind, that there 
 was a tendency not to be mistaken — an inference of an in- 
 tention not to be resisted — with regard to the conduct which 
 these persons were taught to pursue, by a reference to the 
 success of those offences which they had committed. What 
 was the tendency of all these things ? to excite a suffering 
 people, but at all events a people whose minds were inflamed 
 to a repetition of crime. 
 
 The publication of the libel complained of having beoi 
 proved, 
 
 Mr. Cobbett addressed the jury in a long speech, arguing 
 against the criminal intent and tendency imputed in the 
 indictment to the publication, but principally employing 
 himself in an exposure of the government which had pro- 
 secuted him, and more especially the Attorney-General. 
 He referred to the language which had been held regarding 
 him in parliament, and complained that his trial had been 
 going on there since the beginning of the session, one 
 meiniber after another "falsely, maliciously, and scan- 
 dalously," imputing to him, his lectures and publications, 
 the crimes which had been committed in the agricultural 
 countiec. He next aUuded to " the vast affection which 
 our present whig government entertain for the liberty of the 
 the press. They never proceed by information! O, no; 
 and then their Attorney-Gencral, Sir Thomas Denman, he 
 also had a particular affection for the liberty of the press.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 18S 
 
 O yes, Den man was an honest fellow, and would not, on 
 any account, touch the liberty of the press. Yet it so 
 happened that their Whig government, with their Whig 
 Attorney-General, had carried on more state prosecutions 
 during the seven months that they had been in office, than 
 their Tory predecessors had in seven years. The Tories— 
 the haughty and insulting Tories — shewed their teeth to 
 be sure, but they did not veuture to bite. IS'ot so with 
 the Whigs. If they should happen to remain in office a 
 twelvemonth, all the gaols in the kingdom must be enlarged, 
 for they would not contain room enough for the victims of 
 this V/hig government. The government itself, he (Mr. 
 Cobbett) maintained, and its organs, were now the most 
 atrocious of all libellers. Their newspapers libelled right 
 and left — but libelled on their own side, and therefore were 
 allowed to libel with impunity. He referred to the abuse 
 which the Times (then a Whig paper,) for instance, was 
 every day pouring on the House of Commons, not only 
 with the tendency but with the loudly proclaimed purpose 
 of bringing that branch of the legislature into utter horror 
 an dcontempt. Did Sir Thomas Denman prosecute ? No, 
 no. That was his side — and instead of prosecuting, when 
 Sir R. Inglis, brought the Times before the house, he 
 maintained that the libel was true, and should be passed 
 over. Not even the judges had escaped. Not two months 
 before, the Tim^s put forth, that Mr. William Brougham, 
 a candidate for South wark, said to the electors, in regard to 
 the Reform Bill, "Among the devices to defeat the mea- 
 sures of ministers, a canvass is going on by the judges of 
 the land, who have degraded themselves and their station." 
 This was pretty well coming from a brother of the Lord 
 Chancellor, the first judge in the country. Then came 
 the Times — a paper in close connection with the govern- 
 ment, and after stating that the dignified neutrality which 
 the judges had observed since the last days of Charles, 
 were now at an end, added : " these judges expect a re- 
 formed parliament to ask, why they should receive ^5,500 
 a-year each, these hard times :" thus imputing to those 
 learned personages the basest motives. 
 
 Next day came the Courier^ the heir-loom of all admi- 
 nistrations, saying that there had been a total disregard of 
 decency on the part of the judges ; that such men were not 
 
 II 2
 
 184 LIFE OF 
 
 fit to preside on trials of a political nature ; and then they 
 asked, " What chance has a reformer, if tried before one 
 of these judges ? How is he to expect a fair trial J We 
 almost wish that the judges did not hold their officer for 
 life!" 
 
 Then came on the Morning Chronicle, stating that the 
 conduct of Mr. Justice Park, who was one of the judges 
 who had acted so shamefully, was to be made the subject 
 of some parliamentary proceedings, perhaps even some 
 motion for an impeachment. As the Attorney-General 
 had taken notice of the observations the judges — as he 
 had left them to defend themselves, to pufFoft' themselves, 
 and to pay for newspaper paragraphs if they pleased — he 
 ought not to have called upon him to answer for what he 
 had published. There was a person who had written, 
 " Down with kings, lords, and priests." That person 
 entitled his paper The Republican, and his advice to the 
 people was, to put down kings, lords, and priests. The 
 Attorney-General had said in Parliament that he thought 
 it better to leave such things to the good sense of the people. 
 Then why did he not leave his publication to the good 
 sense of the people ? Was this partial selection to be en- 
 dured ? Would the jury allow themselves to be degraded 
 into the mean tools of such foul play ? The Attorney- 
 General himself, might recollect the circumstance of a per- 
 son, who was never a hundred miles distant from Sir 
 Thomas Denman, comparing the late king to Nero, and 
 calling the present king a " royal slanderer." But all 
 these things were nothing ; you might publish as many 
 libels as you chose, but only don't touch the faction. 
 " That," (continued Mr. Cobbett,) " is my whole offence. 
 For years I have been labouring to lop off useless places 
 and pensions, and that touches the faction. These Whigs, 
 who have been out of office for five-and-twenty years — these 
 lank Whigs— lank and merciless as a hungry wolf — are 
 now filling their purses with the public money, and I 
 must be crushed, and to-day, gentleman, they will crush 
 me, unless you stand between me and them." 
 
 " In regard to the tendency of the publication (said 
 Mr. Cobbett), the indictment charged that he published, 
 contriving and intending to incite the labourers in hus- 
 bandry to outrages — to various acts of violence, by break-
 
 WILLIAM GOBBETT. 185 
 
 ng of machinery and setting lires. Now the juiy must 
 be satisfiedj not from what was set out in the indictment, 
 containing, as it did, garbled extracts, but they must be 
 satisfied from the whole context — from the whole scope 
 and tenour of the article — that the intention was that which 
 the indictment charged it to be, before they could lind a 
 verdict of guilty. They had a right to look not only to 
 what was stated in other parts of the publication, but even 
 to other writings of his. The Attorney-General knew this 
 — somebody had taught him law enough to know, that if 
 he set forth in the indictment the whole of the publication, 
 he v/ould at once burn his lingers. The jury must be 
 satisfied that he (Mr. Cobbett) put forth this publication 
 for the purpose of inciting the labourers to do that which 
 was charged in the indictment ; that was ' to set fire to 
 ricks, to pull down houses, to break machinery, and to 
 commit outrages.'" 
 
 The defendant then proceeded to comment on the article, 
 and to read several other passages, which had not been 
 set out in the indictment, and he argued that the tendency 
 of he whole article was the reverse of that which had been 
 ascribed to it by the Attorney-General, and which the 
 partial extracts might lead some persons to suppose. He 
 said in one passage, that "out of evil came good." But 
 was that evil ? But he had also said, that he did not wish 
 people to do evil that good might come from it. Hav- 
 ing cautioned them against any such conclusion, he went 
 onto say that the outrages had done good, and he gave his 
 reason for that ; but it did not follow, because he thought 
 good had arisen, that he approved of the evil ; much less 
 that he intended to incite the people to commit them, when 
 he said just the contrary. Would the jury lind a fiilse per- 
 fidious Whig, who would not tell them that the revolution 
 was a glorious revolution, and yet it was the overturning of 
 a king, and the downfal of his dynasty ? A flash of lightning 
 which set fire to a barn or a rick, might do much good. 
 This trial would do a great deal of good ; it had done a 
 great deal already, as it had enabled him in the presence 
 and hearing of this great audience, to cast oft' those vile 
 slanders which had been circulated against him. In 
 one of the articles there was a petition to parliament signed 
 by himself. The jury would take that petition and read
 
 186 LIFE OF 
 
 it, for they were bound to take the whole publication to- 
 gether, and judge of its effects accordingly. In that peti- 
 tion he stated the case of the wretched labourers, their 
 sufferings, and the causes of those sufferings. In that 
 petition he had defended the farmers, and showed it was 
 not they who were in fault. How then could it be the 
 tendency of the publication to stir up the labourers to 
 destroy the property of the farmers, when it showed that it 
 was not they who had caused the distress ? Nay, it even 
 referred to Lord Melbourne's circular, a document of a con- 
 ciliatory nature, and the only one of that character which 
 had emanated from the Whigs ; it had referred to that 
 circular to show the labourers that they need not despair, 
 as the government sympathised with their sufferings, and 
 directed its attention to the causes of them ; yet now it was 
 contended that his object was to incite them to acts of 
 violence. 
 
 He now came, he said, to the great and obvious object 
 of the article, and he would put it to the jury, when they 
 should have carefully read it all through, whether they 
 could entertain the slightest doubt that his object was, to 
 save the lives of those who were convicted under the special 
 commission. When that commission went out, he antici- 
 pated great shedding of blood, and he therefore felt himself 
 called upon to endeavour to prevent it. Now let the jury 
 read the article in question, from beginning to end, and 
 say whether they could possibly come to any other con- 
 clusion, than that it was written for the express purpose of 
 preventing blood from being shed. Let that fact then be 
 borne in mind. Now the object being to save the lives of 
 these unfortunate men, was it possible to suppose that he 
 (Mr. Cobbett) would incite them to acts of outrage, which 
 would of course be the means of defeating his object ? He 
 repeated that his only object was to save the lives of these 
 men, and for that purpose he had availed himself of the 
 licence allowed by Paley, and had had recourse to every 
 means in liis power to accomplish his object; he had invited 
 all parts of the country, tlic parishes of the metropolis, to 
 petition on this behalf. iSuch was his object; such the 
 tendency of the article for wliich this foul, malicious, scan- 
 dalous, and wicked indictment had been preferred against 
 him.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 187 
 
 The defendant here read over various parts of the publi- 
 cation containing the allefred libel, and again i)ut it to the 
 jury whether it was possible to come to any other conclu- 
 sion, than that his object in publisliinir it was what he now 
 stated ; and if so, then he was perfectly satisfied that they 
 would pronounce him not guilty, although he admitted ' 
 that in so doing they would at the same time be pro- 
 nouncing a verdict of guilty on this Whig government. 
 Mr. Cobbett now referred to his other publications, such 
 a^ " Rural Economy," to show that he was an encourager 
 of the solid and peaceful comforts of the labourer, not 
 an instigator to crimes ; and told the jury that he would 
 give them, to that effect, the evidence of no less a man 
 than the Lord Chancellor of this very Whig govern- 
 ment. 
 
 In the year 1816, he (Mr. Cobbett) had published a let- 
 ter to the Luddites in Nottinghamshire. Towards the 
 close of the last year, the Lord Chancellor applied to him 
 for leave to re-publish that letter, in a work called the 
 " Library of Useful Knowledge," in order that it might be 
 circulated amongst the very labourers whom he (the de- 
 fendant) was now charged with inciting to acts of vio- 
 lence. What times were these ! Would the Lord Chan- 
 cellor come to Cobbett's sedition shop to get something 
 wherewith to quiet the labourers? Nay, the Attorney Ge- 
 neral himself was another member of the same society 
 that -wished to publish his letter. When the Lord Chan- 
 cellor made the application, he asked, at the same time, on 
 what terms I would consent to the re-publication. Now, I 
 disliked the use of the word " terms/' but replied, I would 
 consent to its being re-published on this condition, that it 
 should be published altogether, and not garbled by extract- 
 ing any portions of it, because I would not allow those parts 
 which set forth the rights of the labourer to be left out, 
 whilst all that was calculated to throw censure upon the 
 violence which their wrongs had goaded them on to com- 
 mit, should go forth to the world. Upon this condition 
 I gave my consent to the re-publication, and lent him a 
 copy of the book. By so doing the learned judge will 
 tell you 1 re-published the letter. J do not know what 
 the Lord Chancellor did with it, but I shall ask him by 
 and bye, as 1 intend to put him into the box. What then
 
 18S LIFE OF 
 
 has the Lord ChanceHor done ? As an author, he takes my 
 book to re-publish ; as Lord Chancellor, he applies to his 
 colleague, with whom " he had stood together in their 
 chivalry," to institute a proceeding against me, to punish 
 me as the author of a libel, calculated to excite the la- 
 bourers to outrage and disorder. Here then is the 
 Lord Chancellor in November borrowing my book, in the 
 next month prosecuting me for libel, and a false, ma- 
 licious, and seditious person, to be robbed of property, 
 and of life too, if the Whigs were to have the pov/er of 
 causing it. I have lived twenty-one years under a Tory 
 administration, and under six Tory Attorney-Generals, 
 but have never been prosecuted, although, if the pre- 
 sent were considered a libel, 1 have written plenty of a 
 similar description. The country has been ruled with 
 rods by the Tories, but the Whigs scourged them with 
 scorpions." 
 
 The defendant concluded by declaring, that whatever 
 might be the verdict of the jury, if he were doomed to 
 spend his last breath in a dungeon, he would pray to God 
 to bless his country 5 he would curse the Whigs, and 
 leave his revenge to his children and the labourers of 
 England. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett then sat down amidst loud demonstrations 
 of applause by numerous persons, which the officers with 
 difficulty suppressed. 
 
 Mr. CoiiBETT. I will thank your Lordship to let Henry 
 Brougham be called. — Lord Brougham then entered the 
 court from the judges private room, and was sworn by 
 the officer of the court. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett. Does your Lordship recollect ever ap- 
 plying to me for a copy of my letter, addressed to the 
 Luddites, against the breaking of machinery? 
 
 Loau Brougham. I recollect making some applica- 
 tion, I believe through the secretary, to a society to which 
 f belong, for a copy of a paper written by you some 
 years ago, the date of which we could not recollect, and 
 also applying for permission to make use of it by re- 
 publication. I have no recollection of the mode of ap- 
 plication ; it is possible I applied through the medium of 
 your son. I think I had some intercourse with your son, 
 respecting his admission to Lincoln's-inn.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 189 
 
 A letter was handed to his Lordship, who admitted it 
 to be in his hand-writing. It was read as follows : — 
 
 " Dear Sir— Though 1 could not attend myself at the 
 Bench when you called, being engaged in the House of 
 Lords, I took care all should be done correctly. 1 want 
 )'0U to ask your father about the date of a letter he has 
 written against the breaking of machinery, as a society 
 with which I am connected, is working on the same 
 grounds, and he might perhaps, on proper terms, give us 
 the benefit of his labour." 
 
 Lord Melbourne was then called and sworn. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett. Does your Lordship recollect a man 
 named Thomas Goodman, who was sentenced to suffer 
 death ? 
 
 Lord Melbourne. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett. Upon what grounds did he receive his 
 Majesty's pardon ? 
 
 The Attorney General objected to so irregular an 
 inquiry, and the Lord Chief Justice decided that such a 
 question could not be put. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett said, as that was his Lordship's opinion, 
 he had no further questions to put to this witness. 
 
 Lord Radnor sworn and examined by Mr. Cobbett. 
 Had known him (the defendant) upwards of thirty years, 
 and, during that period, had been a constant reader of 
 his writings. From what he (witness) had seen of him, 
 and read of his works, he did not think he was a person 
 likely to excite the working classes to outrage against 
 their masters, or any one else, but quite the reverse. 
 
 The examination of this witness having closed the de- 
 fendants case 
 
 LordTenterden, in summing up the evidence, stated 
 that the language of the article in question seemed cer- 
 tainly strongly calculated to affect the purpose charged 
 against the defendant, but that was a question exclu- 
 sively for the jury. 
 
 The jury retired about a quarter past six o'clock, and 
 shortly afterwards his Lordship retired to his private 
 room. After sending to inquire two or three times 
 if the jury were likely to agree, and being answered 
 in the negative, his Lordship left the court at half- 
 past nine o'clock. About one o'clock the jury sent
 
 m LIFE OP 
 
 out several notes to their friends, apprising them that 
 there was no probability of their coming to a decision, 
 and that, therefore, they need not expect thera home all 
 idight. 
 
 At eight o'clock on the following morning Lord Ten- 
 terden arrived at the court. At a quarter past nine the 
 jury entered the box, and were asked whether they were 
 agreed in their verdict. The Foreman of the jury said 
 they were not agreed, nor was it likely that they should 
 come to a conclusion one way or the other, and it was 
 evident they would not yield. The jury had now been 
 locked up for fifteen hours, ai;d many of them were so 
 fatigued, that if they were to be locked up again, serious 
 consequences might follow. Lord Tenterden inquired on 
 what ground they differed ? — The jury intimated that, 
 two jurymen had declared their sentiments so strongly 
 that it was impossible to expect them to yield. 
 
 Lord Tenterden. Then, gentlemen, you are dis- 
 charged. 
 
 Thus did Mr. Cobbett escape the dreadful vengeance 
 that had been prepared for him by his Whig persecutors. 
 That his innocence of any guilty intention to excite the 
 agricultural labourers to acts of lawless violence, was 
 clearly proved must be evident to any one who has care- 
 fully read his able defence. Nay, even Lord Brougham's 
 evidence goes at once to dcsiroy every charge that 
 had been brought against him, for if he really had been 
 the seditious and restless spirit represented in the in- 
 dictment, surely his Lordship would have been the last 
 parson to have been in treaty with him for the re-publica- 
 tion of a work written by the defendant, at a period when 
 his political opinions were exactly the same that they were 
 when the alleged libel was sent out to the world. But 
 the whole charge was too trumpery to be maintained ; 
 the honest portion of the jury resolved to stand between 
 an oppressed man and the vengeance of the law, and Mr- 
 Cobbett escaped the heavy doom that the malice of his 
 enemies had prepared for him. 
 
 In the following year (1832) the Bill for the Reform of 
 Parliament having passed the two houses, and obtained 
 the assent of the King, it was a natural consequence that 
 a dissolution sliould take place, and a seat in the Legisla-
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. Idi 
 
 ture, the great object of Mr. Cobbctt's ambition, now 
 seemed certain. After the rising of Parliament, the re- 
 gistration of the new constituency under the Reform Bill, 
 and the other preparations for a general election, were 
 proceeded with. Mr. Cobbett and other candidates 
 were already in the field, and their canvasses concluded 
 while the registration was going on. Although numerous 
 indeed were the questions which arose on the interpreta- 
 tion of the act, and the difficulties which occurred in 
 proving value, the professional gentlemen, to whom this 
 judicial duty was entrusted, made it in general a rule to 
 decide doubts in favour of the claimant. They chose to 
 run the chance of admitting a man who had no franchise, 
 rather than exclude a man who at bottom might have a 
 good one. ft was only in cases where an election was to 
 be contested, that the particular claims were exauuned 
 with much accuracy. The opposing candidates then be- 
 came opposing litigants, and the process of rcgistratioii 
 was in some instances drawn out to a great length. 
 
 At length the registration of the new constituency 
 having been completed all over the kingdom, Parliament, 
 which had been prorogued by commission on the 10th of 
 October, was dissolved on the 3d of December ; and the 
 first general election under the Reform Act took place. 
 The writs were made returnable on the 29th of January, 
 1833. In regard to the mere machinery of the measure, 
 it worked much more smoothly than had been anticipated. 
 Even in the most populous places, the polling was con- 
 cluded within the two days allowed by the act ; and no 
 time was expended in examining votes. The name was in 
 the register, and that was sufficient. 
 
 At this time there were three parties in the field. First 
 came the ministerial candidates; next came the Tories, 
 now called Conservatives, who thought ministers had 
 already gone too far ; and last, but not least, were the 
 Radicals, who were deterinined to spur ministers on to 
 go a great deal further in their task of reforming public 
 abuses. 
 
 The elections went of course in by far the greater 
 number of instances, in favour of the ministerial can- 
 didates, or of candidates who professed th- same ge- 
 neral views, and declared their adherence to a reform"
 
 192 LIFE OF 
 
 ing ministry. Thus the minisierial candidates obtained a 
 majority which, if increased by the radical members, who 
 were willing to go all lengths with them in one direction, 
 was overwhelming, and which, even without them, seemed 
 to be as decisive a majority as a minister could wish. Tht 
 professed radicals stood principally for the new-created 
 boroughs, v.^here a large constituency seemed to ofFei 
 them the best safeguard against the bribery and corruption 
 of the vanquished Tories. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett started for Manchester, but having failt 
 there was returned by the honest men of Oldham, an 
 thus, after years of labour and toil in behalf of the people 
 he at length found himself placed in that honourable 
 situation to which he had so frequently aspired. He no 
 felt that he could serve the cause for which he had '.. , 
 boured so incessantly and resolving to suffer no op. ^ 
 tunity to pass by that might prove his ardent love to*, 
 liberty and free institutions, he prepared to take his seat 
 In the reformed House of Commons. 
 
 There is little doubt, however, that his death is in some 
 measure attributal)le to the additional fatigue and labour 
 devolved upon him in the discharge of his parliamentary 
 duties. In the House of Commons he has somewhat dis- 
 appointed the expectations that most of liis admirers formed 
 of him. He despised the conventionalities that are held 
 sacred in the representative assembly, and had neither 
 the temper nor the tact necessary to constitute a ready 
 and effective debater. Beyond two or three good set 
 speeches upon the Stamp Duties, the Excise, the Assessed 
 Taxes, and the horrible spy system in the Metropolitan 
 Police force, his parliamentary career has been a com- 
 parative blank. Not that he has not said many good 
 things at the table of the House, that no one else could 
 or would have said, but that they were altogether un- 
 adaptid for the assembly in which they were spoken. 
 They excited our admiration of his talent, and our regret 
 that he had not had a seat in the house some thirty years 
 earlier. How different he was as a lecturer many of our 
 readers well know. The ease of his manner, the mastery 
 over his subject, the purity and strength of his diction, the 
 power of his argumentation, and the felicity of his illus- 
 trations, rendered hira, in this order of public speaking,
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 193 
 
 the greatest man since the time of Demosthenes. We are 
 not sorry, however, that he has been tried in Parliament, 
 nor are we disappointed that the trial was a failure as to 
 iiny influence of the House of Commons. The house was 
 not pure enough, nor Mr. Cobbett young enough, to conform 
 \imself to their somewhat eccentric modes of proceeding. 
 
 As the meeting of the first reformed Parlament ap- 
 proached, public attention was directed with some anxiety 
 owards its probable temper and deliberations. The result 
 ' the general election, as we have already seen, was de- 
 dedly in favour of the Whig ministry. The great majority 
 tf the house consisted of members inclined to follow and 
 support them ; and as there seldom could be an occasion 
 ■* which the two divisions of the opposition, differing 
 - -e from each other than eitJier of them did from the 
 jtry ; could be expected to unite, every thing seemed 
 .0 promise that tlie government would be omnipotent in 
 Parliament. Their measures might fall far short of what 
 was expected and desired by the lovers of yet more rigid 
 reforms, and might go far beyond what the conservatives 
 deemed safe or convenient ; but the ministers were sure of 
 being joined by the one of those parties to overcome the 
 resistance or check the fervour of the other. To one danger, 
 indeed, ministers were exposed — their performances must 
 either fall greatly short of what they had promised, and 
 produce disappointment, or they must throw themselves, to 
 support their popularity, into a career of indiscriminate 
 change, on which they did not wish voluntarily to enter. 
 
 The public agitation which had been created and fos- 
 tered in the great mass of the people, while urging on the 
 Reform Bill, had produced extravagant expectations, that 
 the meeting of a reformed Parliament would necessarily 
 be followed by the redress of every thing evil — that all 
 taxes complained of would forthwith disappear — that the 
 Corn-laws would fall to make cheap bread that the 
 wages of labour would be increased, while the price of 
 all things necessary to the support, or comfortable enjoy- 
 ment of life would be reduced. 
 
 The Parliament about which so much expectation had 
 been raised, was opened by commission on the 29th of 
 January, 1833, when the election of the Speaker having 
 vvken place, the King's speech and the usual address to 
 
 •
 
 194 LIFE OF 
 
 his jMajesty came under the consideration of the house. 
 To the one which immediately emanated from the ministers, 
 a violent opposition was raised by many of the more 
 radical members, which terminated with Mr. Cobbett's first' 
 effort in Parliament. On the bringing up of the report, h 
 moved that the whole of the address should be rejected, and 
 that another which he proposed, to the following effect, 
 should be adopted : "assuring his Majesty that the House 
 of Commons would direct its most serious attention to the 
 papers which his Majesty had directed to be laid on the 
 table of the house relating to Portugal and Holland, and 
 would anxiously consider the questions relating to the 
 charters of the Bank of England and the East India Com- 
 pany ; thanking his Majesty for having suggested a very 
 great alteration with respect to the temporalities of the 
 church, and assuring his Majesty that the house would 
 enter into the examination of that subject v/ithout passion 
 or prejudice, thanking his Majesty for having directed the 
 estimates to be prepared with all due economy, and ex- 
 pressing regret that his Majesty had not been advised to 
 suggest the propriety of lessening the burdens of the suffer- 
 ing community, and assuring him that the house would in- 
 vestigate the causes of distress, and institute measures to 
 produce effectual and permanent relief; informing h"^ 
 Majesty, that the house was ready to adopt every consti=. 
 tutional mode of controlling and punishing the disturbers 
 of the public peace in Ireland, and of strengthening those 
 ties which connected the two counties ; deeming that their 
 separation would be fraught with destruction to the peace 
 and welfare of his Majesty's dominions, and assuring His 
 Majesty that the house was determined to go into a full 
 consideration of the manifold grievances under which the 
 Irish people laboured. 
 
 This amended address was of course not approved of 
 by niinisters, but being pressed to a division, there were 
 23 ayes, and .323 noes — thus rejecting Mr. Cobbett's 
 address by a majority of 300. 
 
 Thus defeated in the outset of his parliamentary career, 
 Mr. Cobbett only resolved the more vehemently to urge 
 a variety of motions, which, had they been successful, would 
 have tended greatly towards the extended freedom and 
 happiness of the people. As it was, however, he was
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. id* 
 
 obliged to content himself with merely bringing them for. 
 ward, with the certainty of seeing them rejected by 
 large majorities of that house which had so lately been 
 reformed. But even under all these disadvantages Mr. 
 Cobbett's consistency and manliness of purpose was dis- 
 tinctly seen by those who were not blinded by prejudice 
 against a man who thus dared to stand alone in a virtuous 
 cause. 
 
 Whenever members, to whatever party they might belong, 
 brought forward measures that they considered would be 
 beneficial to the great mass of the people, William Cob- 
 bett's name was always to be fOund aniosig their most 
 ardent supporters. For the Whigs we know he had no 
 great partiality, and towards the Tories he entertained a 
 feeling of the most sovereign contempt. At the head of 
 his own small party, he stood boldly to resist their bad 
 measi. es, and gallantly to support those which were 
 calculated to increase the privileges of his oppressed coun- 
 trymen. He loved the good cause he had so long cherished, 
 and his watchful eye was ever directed tov/ards that point 
 from whence he hoped justice might at length be obtamed 
 for those whom he advocated. 
 
 On the 27th of June, 1833, Mr. Cobbett presented a 
 petition to the House of Commons, from a large number 
 <i the inhabitants of Camberwell and Walworth, being 
 members of a political union in those villages. The peti- 
 tioners complained that one William Popay, became a 
 member of their union about fifteen months previously ; that 
 he attended their meetings, and frequently urged the mem- 
 bers to adopt the most violent course against the existing 
 government ; that he dressed himself in plain clothes the 
 inore readily to deceive and lead them on to his infamous 
 designs, and that they (the petitioners), were in the utmost 
 peril of falling into the evils he had designed, when chance, 
 led to the discovery of his motives, and the dreadful fate 
 he had prepared for them. 
 
 Having read the whole of the petition to the house, Mt. 
 Cobbett proceeded to animadvert with the utmost severity On 
 ^he baseness of the policeman, Popay, in the course he had 
 pursued towards those unsuspecting victims of his evil 
 designs. He even accused government with being privy 
 to the whole undertaking, and concluded by praying that
 
 196 LIFE OF 
 
 a committee should be appointed to investigate the whole 
 aflFair. This, after some opposition, was finally acceded 
 to, and after a vast mass of evidence bad been heard, 
 the committee declared that the charges brougiit against 
 Popay bad been clearly proved, and that they had detected 
 many instances in which he had disguised himself ia 
 plain clothes for the purpose of misleading those parties 
 whom he had joined and professed to agree with. The 
 result was, that Popay was discharged from the Police 
 force, and there, for the present, the matter rested. 
 
 After this exposure of an infamous system of espion- 
 age, Mr. Cobbett brought forward many motions of the 
 utmost importance with varied success. AVe have not, 
 however, space even to enumerate them in this brief me- 
 moir of the illustrious deceased. 
 
 We are now brought to the period of Mr. Cobbett's last 
 illness and death, which took place on Thursday, June 
 18th, at Normandy Farm, Surrey, whither he had retired 
 from the fatigue of his parliamentary duties, in the hope 
 of recovering and re-establishing his health, which had 
 latterly become much impaired. This melancholy event 
 is thus described by his son, James Paul : — 
 
 " A great inclination to inflammation of the throat had 
 caused him annoyance from time to tinse, for several 
 years, and, as he got older, it enfeebled him more. He 
 was suffering from one of these attacks during the late 
 spring, and it will be recollected, that when the Mar- 
 quis of Chandos brought on his motion for a repeal of 
 the malt-tax, my father attempted to speak, but could 
 not make his voice audible beyond the few Members 
 v.'ho sat round him. He remained to vote on that mo- 
 tion, and increased his ailment ; but, on the voiiii:^- of 
 supplies, on the nights of Friday, the loth, and Mon- 
 day, the 18th of May, he exerted himself so mucti, and 
 sat so late, tliat he laid himself up. He determined, never- 
 theless, to attend the house again on the evcnii)^ of the 
 Marquis of Chandos's motion on agricultural distress on 
 the 25ih of May; and the exertion of speaking and re- 
 maining late to vote on that occasion, were too much 
 for one already severely unwell. He went down to his 
 farm early on the morning after this labt debate, and had
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. i&T 
 
 resolved to rest himself thoroughly, and get rid of hi« 
 hoarseness and inflammation. On Thursday night last 
 (June 11th) he felt unusually well, and imprudently drank 
 tea in the open air; but he went to bed apparently in 
 better health. In the early part of the night, he was 
 taken violently ill, and on Friday and Saturday was con- 
 sidered in a dangerous state by the medical attendant. 
 On Sunday he revived again ; and on Monday gave US 
 hope that he would yet be well. He talked feebly, but in 
 the most collected and sprightly manner, upon politics 
 and farming ; wished for * four days rain' for the Cob- 
 bett corn and the root crops ; and, on Wednesday, he 
 could remain no longer shut up from the fields, but de- 
 sired to be carried round the farm ; which being done, he 
 criticised the work that had been going on in his ab- 
 sence, and detected some little deviation from his orders, 
 with all the quickness that was so remarkable in him. 
 On Wednesday night (June 17th) he grew more and more 
 feeble, and was evidently sinking ; but he continued to 
 answer with perfect clearness, every question that was 
 put to him. In the last half hour his eyes became dim ; 
 and at ten minutes after one, p.m.y he leaned back, closed 
 tbem as if to sleep, and died without a gasp." 
 
 Mr. Cobbett's personal appearance was somewhat ec- 
 centric, but prepossessing. Hazlitt has described it so 
 well that we shall quote him. " The only time I ever 
 saw him," be remarks, " he seemed to me a very pleasant 
 man — easy of access, f.ffable, clear-headed, simple, and 
 mild in his manner, deliberate and unruffled in his speech, 
 through some of his expressions were not very qualified. 
 His figure is tall andfportl)'. He has a good sensible f;ice— 
 rather full, with little grey eyes, a hard, square fore- 
 head, a ruddy complexion, with hair grey or powdered, 
 and had on a scarlet broadcloth waistcoat, with the 
 flaps of the pockets hanging down, as was the custom for 
 gentlemen-farmers in the last century, or as we see it 
 m the pictures of Members of Parliament in the reign of 
 George I. I certainly did not think less favourably of him 
 for seeing him." Mr. Cobbett's appearance underwent 
 little change, at least little that was apparent to casual 
 observers, towards the close of his life, He was less erect 
 
 s 3
 
 198 LIFE OF 
 
 in his posture, and more feeble and slovenly in his gait. 
 But he still retained the appearance of a hale and cheerful 
 farmer. His costume, when he went to the House, was 
 generally a suit of woollen clothes, of a very light mix- 
 ture in colour, approaching to a dead white ; and when 
 he rose at the table to address the House, those who had 
 not seen him previously, although they could not repress a 
 smile at the singularity of his appearance, experienced an 
 involuntary feeling of veneration for the person before 
 them. 
 
 We should only be repeating what all persons, compe- 
 tent to judge, whatever their political opinions may be, 
 concur in admitting, were we to say that Mr. Cobbett was 
 one of the most extraordinary men of his day. Thrown 
 upon the world at a very early age, without "book learn- 
 ing," witliout money, without a friend to direct iiis course, 
 and habituated only to Ijabits of rural industry, he at once 
 procured for himself the confidence of all persons with 
 whom he had intercourse, and gradually made his way 
 from the stool in a " dungeon" called an attorney's office; 
 or, as he himself said, at the close of the Oldham election, 
 " from a plough-boy in a smock-frock, and clogs well 
 nailed," to the most honourable post which an English 
 gentleman can fill — that of representing a populous and 
 intelligent borough in the British Parliament. 
 
 As a writer, Mr. Cobbett was unrivalled. No man has 
 written so miu^h, and so well. To appropriate the lan- 
 guage of a contemporary, liis very antipodes in politics 
 (the Standard) " Mr. Cobbett was by far the first politi- 
 cal writer of his age. In the attributes of a severely cor- 
 rect and unaffected, a clear and a vigorous style, Mr. 
 Cobbett was wliolly without a rival, we venture to 
 affiru), since the day of Swift ; \ior did this necessary sta- 
 ple of good wi iting want the ornaments of copious and 
 striking illustration, or strong and well connected argu- 
 ment. From the immense magazine of Mr. Cobbett'g 
 voluminous compositions may, without difficulty, be col- 
 lected samples of the highest eloquence to be found in our 
 language; wiiile it would be nearly impossible for the 
 most malignant jealousy to winnow Irom the mass a single 
 dull or feeble article ! And let it be remembered that
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT, 199 
 
 nearly hU was improvisation; the laboui* ol" a mind eon- 
 stautly employed in pouring fortli its thoughts, without, 
 during forty years, a day's perhaps an hour's opportunity 
 for ])riJiminary rumination or subsequent review ! This 
 must have been a great mind; and, undoubtedly, Mr. 
 Cobbett was a great man." — In stating a case, Mr. Cob- 
 bett was unequalled. He at once seized on the circimi- 
 stances which favoured the views he wished to support, 
 and seldom failed to produce the impression at which he 
 aimed. Wliat he could not eli'ect by direct statement, he 
 attained by ineundo. He was sluewd beyond most men, 
 and he coiild detect and expose a subterfuge more readily 
 than most men. Mr. Cobbett's mind, however, was not 
 of great gra; j) or comprehensiveness. He was not capable 
 of embracing and glancing at once into all the parts of a 
 vast or complicated subject, or of generalising from spe- 
 cial facts. Of an iusolated case, however, lie could make 
 tlic most. His descriptions were striking and vivid, and 
 his illustrations apt and forcible. He wi'ote upon all mat- 
 ters to be understood by all ; and we do not recollect a 
 single instance in whicii he has failed in his pnrpose. In 
 DO otiier writer can we find so much of bitterness, and 
 abuse towaids and of individuals, as in the writings of Mr. 
 Cobbett. He was unforgiving of the offences of public 
 men, and michanging in his enmity towards them. Let him 
 but once detect a lurking disposition to political insin- 
 cerity, or a covert predilection for anti-popular measures, 
 and no subsequent abjuration of former admitted errors — 
 no apparent ardour in prosecuting an opposite policy, 
 could restore the oft'ender to his favour or confidence. He 
 ever afterwards looked upon him as hollow of heart, and 
 vented his spleen in bitter, and not unfrequently in the 
 coarsest and foulest language. Let om* readers take a 
 specimen from the Register of Oct. 5th, 1833. — Those 
 familiar with that work Avill recollect many passages 
 equally bitter and powerful. The first article in this 
 Register is an answer to an attack which appeared upon 
 Mr. Colibett hi the Morning Chronicle of the 21st of the 
 preceeding September, and is addressed to the " Base 
 Editor" of that paper, to whom the writer says, " I do 
 not name you; I cannot legally name you ; because accor- 
 ding to the practice of all depredating reptiles, you keep
 
 S60 LIFE OF 
 
 out 6f sight; you hide your base carcase, while you poke 
 out your poisoned stabber. I ^vill not name your master, 
 for the same reason that I lately withdrew an action 
 against him, namely, because he once not only acted a just 
 but a generous part towards me, and tliat, too, at a time 
 when wretches like you though I was down never to rise 
 again. I must, for the present, at least, content myself 
 With you, creeping, and venomous, and nameless reptile 
 as you are." After inserting the article from the Chronicle, 
 Mr. Cobbett, proceeds to comment upon it, which he does 
 in his most bitterly-powerful style. One of the accusa- 
 tions was, that he wished to prevent a reform in the cor- 
 porations. This he denies, tiid refers to what he had 
 formerly urged in favour of sucli reform. Then comes the 
 following touch, >vhich no other writer could pen without 
 exciting disgust. In Mr. Cobbett's waitings it opens a 
 source of positive enjoyment and mirth:— 
 
 "My readers will all remember this. I am sure I re- 
 ceived applause enough for it at the time, from crowds of 
 my fellow-citizens of London. This vagabond remembers 
 it, too ; for he, as far as he dared, took part with the 
 spoilers ; and yet, the tax-hunting wretch has now the au- 
 dacity to represent me as an enemy to corporation reform. 
 * Ah !' the hungry vagabond will say, * what do I care 
 for this? — what I mean by corporation reform is, a lazy life 
 and a good parcel of public money for roaring Rushton and 
 pis-allcr Parkes, and plenty of guttling and guzzling for 
 me along with them. Wc want to put an end to the 
 turtle-eating at Guildhall, and to the luoney put under 
 the plates after the dinners of the Companies; but we 
 want to guttle and guzzle ourselves, and to have money 
 put under our plates.' This is the real language of the 
 heart of this vagabond, and as I cannot prevent this new 
 race of guttlers and guzzlers from being filled, I am pulling 
 them out, at any rate, and letting people see them and 
 their devourings. This is what lias stirred the gall of 
 this fellow, and of the crew that is urging him on." 
 
 Having disposed of his accusations, Mr. Cobbett thus 
 addresses the editor of the Chronicle : — 
 
 " And now, wretched caitiff; hungry, gaimt, cadaverous 
 looking devil, you who predict that the end of my life, po- 
 litcal and natural, is approaching, what have you to say
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 301 
 
 in your defence ? What reparation ; no not reparation, for 
 offering your worthiesscarcass to be flung on my land, to be 
 used as manure for my cabbages, would not be reparation; 
 but, what excuse iiavc you for putting forth this string of 
 calumnies and abuse! I have attacked you ; that is to say, 
 you mean, that I have knocked you away wlien you were 
 coming at me with your nasty, rusty, and blunt old 
 old knife. It was you attacked me : I had not dragged 
 you out by the ears: it was roaring Rushton, pis-aller 
 Parkcs, and Wood called John, that I had dragged out. 
 l\saw you, to be sure at your murderous work upon the 
 poor old CJIu'onicle: 1 would have gladly beaten you away; 
 but if Ik r owner chose to have her murdered, it was no 
 affair of mine. But, when you began raising your old 
 jagged knife at me, it was high time to look about me, 
 having no fancy for a cutting and slashing, more like a 
 sawing, such as you had been performing so long upon my 
 poor old acquaintance, the Chronicle. I know, that in 
 answer to these interrogatives of mine, you will come with 
 a syllogism, thus : — 
 
 •' 1. It is necessary that I should live, and, of coui'se, 
 necessary that I should eat. 
 
 " 2. In order to be able to cat, I must slander you. 
 
 *'S. Therefore, it is necessary that I slander you. 
 
 *' This is the way that a libellous poet reasoned with a 
 French miiiister, whom he had lampooned. The minister 
 answered him, as I might at once answer you, hy denying 
 your major : and I do deny that it is at all necessary that 
 you should live. Necessary to whom and for what, I should 
 be glad to know ? Are you doing any good in the world ? 
 Are you of any use upon this earth? If you were to go 
 under it to-morrow morning at daylight, would it be said 
 by any human being, in the evening, any thing had been 
 lost to the world, and particulary to the poor old Chro- 
 nicle, in consequence of your demise? Do yon convey any 
 instruction, which can be of practical good to any human 
 being? Do you till the land and cause any thing to grow ? 
 Do you assist to make the clothing or the houses, to cook 
 the victuals, to turn the barley into drink ; to make those 
 articles of furniture which are for the use, ease, or pleasure 
 of man ? Do you curry the horses, or milk the cows (except 
 as a rural policeman)? Do you polish the knives, or turn
 
 Sds LIFE OT 
 
 the brown into black on the shoes ? No i none of these ; 
 no earthly thing do you do, that tends at all to those 
 purposes which conduce to the ease and happiness of a 
 people. You are a mere consumer of food, clothing, houses 
 and other things which ought to be kept for the use of those 
 who produce them, or who possess the lands, ships, or 
 factories, or workshops, out of which they all spring. 
 How, then, do you attempt to maintain the affirmative of 
 your major proposition ; namely, that it is necessary that 
 you should live ? I ara arguing, if the case were not sO 
 plain, at great disadvantage, because the proof ought tO 
 rest with you, not the disproof with me." 
 
 For power, raciness, and coarseness, this is unparalleled ; 
 afid if the reader has any faculty for perceiving the ludi- 
 crous or the humorous, he cannot pursue it without a roar 
 of laughter. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett has been charged with insufiferable egotism, 
 but nothing but sheer stupidity or pure malignity could 
 induce such a charge. Hazlitt has truly said, when speak- 
 ing of his style, — " His egotism is delightful, for there is 
 no affectation in it. He does not talk of himself for lack 
 of something to write about ; but because that some cir- 
 cumstance had happened to himself which is the best pos- 
 sible illustration of the subject ; and he is not the man to 
 shrink from giving th^ best possible illustration of the 
 subject, from a squeamish delicacy. He likes both hira- 
 s«»lf and his subject too well. He does not put himself 
 before it, and say — ' admire me first' — but places us in 
 the same situation with himself, and makes us see all that 
 he does. There is no blind-man's-buff, no conscious hints, 
 no awkward ventriloquism, no testimonials of applause, 
 no abstract, senseless self-competency, no smuggled ad- 
 miration of his own person by proxy; it is all plain and 
 above-board. He writes himself plain William Cobbett, 
 Strips himself quite as naked as any body would wisli — in 
 a word, his egotism is full of individuality, and has room 
 for very little vanity in it." — The writer of this well under- 
 Stood thecharactcr of William Cobbett. 
 
 We have already enumerated some of Mr. Cobbett's 
 publications. The following works are omitted, some of 
 them having been published since 1829; — Paper against 
 Crold, the Poor Man's Friend, the English Gardener, the
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 90S 
 
 Emigrant's Guide, Advice to Young Men, Manchester 
 Lectures, Tour in Scotland, French and English Diction- 
 ary, Stepping Stone to the English Grammar, Geogra- 
 phical Dictionary, Twopenny Trash, the Life of President 
 Jackson, Rural Rides, the Regency and Reign of George 
 IV. a Legacy to Labourers, and a Legacy to Parsons. 
 
 From these two lists of Mr. Cobbett's books it will be 
 seen that much as he has written upon politics, in his 
 Register, and other publications, he has by no means con- 
 fined himself to that description of writing. The first and 
 greatest object of his life was to ameliorate or improve 
 the condition of the agricultural labourers; and in bis 
 " Poor Man's Friend," his" Cottage Economy," and his 
 " Advice to Young Men," will be found a body of sound, 
 practical, and valuable instruction, not to be met with in 
 the works of any other writer. 
 
 We believe that Mr. Cobbett's character, as to kindli- 
 ness, disinterestedness, and generosity, has been very ill 
 understood by tlie public. It is true, that he has not 
 laboured gratuitously: and why siiould he have done so? 
 Has such been the custom with tliose who represent him 
 as a selfish and mercenary man ? It is mighty consistent 
 in those who live upon the fruits of other people's indus- 
 try — and svich is the mode of living with many of his 
 assailants — to hold him up as sordid and selfish, because 
 he received what was deemed to be the marketable value 
 of his labours. Why sliould the novel writer or the dra- 
 matist be free from reproacli while he exacts the highest 
 amount that he can procure for his productions; while 
 Mr. Cobbett, whose genius and talents were second to 
 those of no man, and wliose labour and industry were pro- 
 digiously beyond those of all, is to be set down as desti- 
 tute of all the higher and more generous qualities of man- 
 kind, for doing merely the same thing, in regard to pro- 
 duction, not simply adapted to afiFord rational amusement, 
 but to promote the liberty and enlarge the happiness of 
 mankind ?
 
 904 LIFE OF 
 
 FUNERAL OF THE LATE WM. COBBETT, ESQ. 
 M.P. 
 
 SOME ACCOUNr OF HIS BIRTH-PLACE ANT> FARM. 
 
 We shared in the common error of supposing that Mr 
 Cobbett died at the place where he was born, Farnhati 
 in Surrey; such, however, was not the case. He had 
 farm of about one hundred and twenty acres, at a pi. 
 called Normandy, about seven miles from Farniiam. '"^'^ 
 •state he rented from Colonel WoodrofFe, and there hV 
 pired. The house is a plainly furnished homely dwe 
 with no remarkable points but extreme cleanliness '^^ 
 the possession of a few of the " Cobbcjtt stoves," ^'^ j 
 the invention of which Mr. Cobbett some years sim' 
 tained a patent. 
 
 Cobbetfs character in his own neighbourhood we 
 deavoured to ascertain from the poor around him, r 
 *' the best man that ever lived," was the weakest of the ,,. .^ 
 logiums universally bestowed upon him. To the labourrsii? 
 class he appears to have been a generous master ; he wouk 
 never suffer any man to work for him imder half-a-crowr 
 a-day. A wortliy farmer informed us " that Cobbett hac 
 spoiled every labourer in the place." He spoiled them, 
 however, by kindness, not severity. It seems, tliat in the, 
 year 1776, lie was a labourer and servant with one parson 
 Forde, and this period of life is distinctly remembered by 
 many in Farniiam, and places adjacent, where some of the 
 family still live. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett promised his servants that, on the 24th of 
 June, they should have a treat, and celebrate his birth in 
 the house in which he was born, a large room for convivial 
 purposes having been just built there. He expired six 
 days before the project<^d festival. 
 
 The Grave of Cobbetf. — It was Mr, Cobbett's wish tc 
 be buried in the same grave as that in whic^h his father and 
 grandfatlHM- were; deposited. Mr. Cobbett's friends were 
 anxiotis that his remains shoidd lie in the most con- 
 spicuous part of Farnham churchyard, so that a mo- 
 nument to his nu'uiory might niei't tlie eye of the tra- 
 veller; both these objects liave been attained. The grave 
 of the grandfather is just opposite the great entrance to 
 the church, and it is impossible to approach or leave that
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 206 
 
 building without seeing the spot. Tlie old tombstone of 
 Mr. Cobbett's ancestor was cleared of its incumbrance of 
 clay, but time has done its works upon it; we could, how- 
 ever, distingush the words — 
 
 " In memory of George Cobbett, who died on the 13th 
 
 'December, 1760, aged (we think) 59." The latter part 
 
 ./the inscription is nearly obliterated. When we arrived 
 
 ,^ ae church on Friday afternoon the funeral service was 
 
 .irraing over an inhabitant of Farnhani, and the grave of 
 
 ^^^tt, which liad been just dug, wastlien being bricked 
 
 '^ as to form a sort of vault. Round the last chamber 
 
 "^ talented man were standing many old and poor in- 
 
 ^ .its, each of whom had a particular recollection, or a 
 
 ; V, respecting him. From these, however, we ga- 
 
 only that he was a subject of general interest and 
 
 rd in Farnham and its vicinity. As a farmer he 
 
 IS to have been deemed eccentric ; it was his custom 
 
 ow wheat in strips, some four feet apart, and between 
 
 < of these to plant cabbages, &c. 
 
 -vlr. Newenham and Mr. Gibson, of Farnham, were the 
 edical attendants of Mr. Cobbett in his last illness. The 
 imediate cause of death was water on the chest, unac- 
 ^rapanied by any other complaint. He suffered consider- 
 able pain with firmness and resignation, only discovering 
 mpatience at being, as he frequently said, "stived up in- 
 loors." The arrangements of the funeral were confided to 
 Mr. George Johnson, undertaker, of Farnliam, who po- 
 litely obliged us with a few particulars. The body was 
 little attenuated, and measured in the coffin six feet one 
 inch. It was the desire of Mr. Cobbett's friends that the 
 funeral should be conducted in the plainest manner, 
 consistent with the character and station of the de- 
 ceased, and that was also his own wish. The son of the 
 landlord ofthe "Jolly Farmer," a young man whom Cob- 
 bett often noticed, having been both born in the same 
 house, was apprenticed to a plumber, and has had the 
 melancholy task of incasing the mortal remains of his late 
 patron in lead. 
 
 Arrangements for the Funeral. — The rain poured down 
 incessantly during Friday, and many who were expected 
 to follow in the procession had not arrived ; all that was 
 known up to ten o'clock on that night was, that Mr.
 
 «0e LIFE OF 
 
 O'Connell bad called in Bolt-court, and intimated his in- 
 tention of following Cobbett to tlie grave. Mr. O'Con- 
 nell's name, however, appearing in the evening papers, as 
 chairman at a public meeting to be held on Saturday 
 morning, threw considerable doubt upon the report. It 
 was rumoured, that if Mr. O'Connell did attend, he would 
 speak over the grave. John Leach, Esq. late M.P. for ' ^ 
 western division of Surrey. Mrs. Mollish, and K ^<. 
 bankers, of Godalraing; and Mr. Cobbett's four r ^ 
 William, John, James, and Richard, were the onl 
 sons that it was positively known would attend. 
 
 Farnham Church and Churchyard. — Farnham churh 
 commodious building of some antiquity ; one tablet, ' 
 memory of a Mr. Gwynne, bears the date of 1570. ' 
 
 are a number of tombstones in the churchyard to tht? 
 mory of aged persons, several exceeding ninety ye 
 and that the town is altogether a healthy one, may b 
 ferred from the fact tliat, many persons are living in 
 approaching the centurian epoch : one, an old hop-plantc, 
 named Mathew, is said to have passed that patriarch; !. 
 age. Farnham is a neat town, with a population of about 
 five thousand, described in the "Domesday Book," as the 
 *' land of the Bishop of Winchester." Farrnham Castle is 
 one of the residences of the present bishop, who arrived 
 on Friday. From nine o'clock until twelve on Saturday 
 morning, visitors from all places, and persons of all sta- 
 tions, visited the church and churcliyard, the grave lying 
 open for its occupant. 
 
 A hearse and four, and two mourning coaches and four, 
 were the only vehicles provided at Farnham. It was ar- 
 ranged that the other mourning coaches should join the 
 procession as they fell into the line of road from London. 
 The bell tolled out heavily at intervals. Mr. Alderman 
 Scales and many personal friends of the deceased arrived a 
 little before noon. 
 
 OSnBR OP THE PROCESSION FROM NORMANHV. 
 
 THE HEARSE 
 
 (drawn by four liorses). 
 
 Mourning coach, with four horses 
 
 (Mewrs. Cobbett, FielUen, and John Leach).
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 20? 
 
 Second mourning coach, \vithfour horses 
 
 (Messrs. E. Leach, M. Knowles, Donnelly, Gutsell, 
 
 Oldfield, and another). 
 
 Third coach, holding six, was from London. 
 
 At the Greyhound, between Ashchurch and Famhara, 
 the procession was joined by a postchaise from London, 
 followed by private carriages, in which were D. O'Connell, 
 Esq., M. P., and D. W. Harvey, Esq. M.P. Then three 
 chaises, and Mr. Leach's private carriage. 
 
 At about twelve o'clock the movement had been made 
 at Normandy. At the White Post, about a quarter of a 
 mile from the town, where the old Guildford road com- 
 mences, Mr. Gibson and some otlier gentlemen of Farn- 
 ham were collected, intending to fall into the procession 
 on foot. 
 
 As the coaches were seen approaching the town, many 
 of the inhabitants, wearing hat-bands, hastened to meet 
 and join in the procession, which entered Farnham church 
 as follows; — 
 
 Mr. O'Connell, (standing outside.) 
 
 Mr. George .Johnson (undertaker.) 
 
 Three Bearers, THE BODY. Three Bearers. 
 
 William Cobbett (the eldest son), John, James, and 
 Richard Cobbett. 
 D. W. Harvey, Esq., M.P. John Leach, Esq. 
 
 — Knowles, Esq. E. Leach, Esq. 
 Captain Donnelly — Fielden, Esq. 
 
 — Gutsell, Esq. — Oldfield, Esq. 
 
 — Faithful, Esd. ^ Elliman, Esq. 
 
 — Beck, Esq. — Grey, Esq. 
 
 — Coppin, Esq. — Mellish, Esq. (of 
 
 Godalming.) 
 T. Wakley, Esq., M.P. — Complin, Esq. 
 
 — Swaine, Esq. — Rogers, Esq. 
 
 — Stares, Esq. (of Titchfield) — Lutchins, Esq. 
 Samuel Wells, Esq. Alderman Scales. 
 
 Many other gentlemen joined the procession at the door; 
 it became, therefore, impossible to take the names in the 
 order they entered, the crowd pressed so vehemently for- 
 ward as to obscure the view and impede one another. 
 
 The Rev. John Menzies then read the 39th and 90th 
 
 t2
 
 a08 LIFE OF 
 
 Psalms, with the usual portion of the chapter from St. 
 Pnul's Epistles, and then led the way to the grave. The 
 coffin, which was exceedingly heavy, was lowered slowly 
 into its earthly home, and the burial service was read ; 
 during which we were surprised to observe Mr. O'Connell 
 put on his cap, which, being of green, and having a gold 
 band, was the more remarkable. During the service, Mr. 
 John Cobbett with difficulty sustained himself on Captain 
 Donnelly's arm. He wept bitterly, and was, not without 
 some difficulty, removed from the grave. His brothers, 
 James and Richard, who were also deeply afifected, bore 
 him into the vestiy. As the mourners left the grave the 
 multitude rushed forward, so as to make it a task of diffi- 
 culty to see the coffin. The inscription was simply — 
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT, 
 
 M.P. FOR OLDHAM, 
 
 AGED 73, 
 
 DIED 18th JUNE, 1836." 
 
 The mourners, with the exception of the Messrs. Cob- 
 bett, did not return to their carriages. Mr. O'Connell, 
 and some portion of the party, walked to the Bush Inn, 
 some of the others to Mr. Grove's, the Lion and Lamb. It 
 was impossible to compute the number present with any 
 degree of accuracy. Along the line of road persons had 
 placed themselves in groups on all the elevations, and sub- 
 sequently followed in the train In the churchyard every 
 flat monument held a little knot of persons, and the 
 church was filled in body find galleries. 
 
 A great number of ladies were present, but the majority 
 were of the other sex. 
 
 Previous to filling the grave a singular ceremony took 
 piace. Three flat stones were lowered upon the coffin (ap- 
 parently wedges of slate or iron stone) so as to intervene 
 between that and any coffin that may hereafter be placed 
 upon it. Hundreds pressed forward for the last look; 
 some picked up portions of the earth, or plucked a little 
 of the herbage around the grave ; and the coachrs that 
 arrived from Southampton about four o'clock stopped an 
 extra quarter of an hour in clianging, to enable the pas- 
 sengers to step to the churcliyard, and see the last of Wil- 
 liam Cobbett. The funeral and all bearing relation to it
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. ffid 
 
 was conducted in a style of simplicity and propriety quite 
 in keeping with him to wliose honom* it was performed. 
 
 Some scattered anecdotes of Cobbett's family, &c , we 
 subjoin ; it is roadside matter, but obtained generally 
 from those whom we have reason to believe knew him 
 well, and who have shown an interest at his funeral highly 
 honourable to him and to themselves. Many members of 
 Mr. Cobbett's establishment were in attendance, among 
 others Mr. Dean and Mr. Marshall (the William Marshall 
 named in his letters from Ireland). 
 
 Mrs. Cobbett and her daughters were in the town of 
 Farnham, and of the personal friends and admirers of the 
 man we could furnish a long list. 
 
 Mr, Cobbett has left seven children; of the four sons, 
 three arc at the bar; the fourth, Richard, is articled to an 
 attorney (Mr. Faithful). The daughters (Ann, Ellen, and 
 Susan) arc unmarried, and we believe all his sons are so too. 
 
 Cobbett's grandfather lived next door to the Queen's 
 Head, a little roadside inn, about a mile from Farnham, 
 on the road to Waverley. A cousin of Mr. C.'s, (Mr. 
 Caesar, a pastry-cook) lives in that town, and some other 
 relatives are scattered about the adjacent places. 
 
 Mr. O'Connell, whilst standing beside the grave, was 
 asked some questions, which we could not hear, by Mr. 
 Harvey and Mr. Mellish, the honourable gentleman's reply 
 as we caught it, was to this effect ; — "No ; I would have 
 spoken, but his family seem to think it had better not be 
 done ; and, of course, it rests with them — they know best." 
 At an inn in the town Mr. Micliael Scales had expressed 
 his intention of following Mr. O'Counell's speech by a few 
 remarks, and some persons affirmed M. D. W. Harvey 
 would pronounce an eulogium upon the deceased. These 
 rumours proved to be wholly unfounded. After the bu- 
 rial service any oration would have been superfluous, and 
 any eloquence, however sparkling, must fall flatly upon 
 the ear which has drank in the words of that sublime com- 
 position. 
 
 The grave has now closed for ever on the mortal remains 
 of William Cobbett, wlio, during, a long active, and la- 
 bourious life, has engrossed, by the mere force of natural 
 genius, unaided by scholastic education, a far larger share 
 of public notice than any man of past or present times. 
 
 t3
 
 a 10 LIFE OF 
 
 Lord NortiJ, whose estimate of meutaJ power none •vviU 
 venture to dispute, described Cobbett as the greatest 
 '* political reasoner" he ever knew. He was so. It may, 
 perhaps, fall to the lot of few to be so highly gifted, yet 
 the same means for the cultivation of natural capacity are 
 within the reach of those who are inclined to profit by them. 
 In person, Mr. Cobbett presents the beau-ideal of an Kng- 
 lish farmer of the wealthier class. His frame is cast in a 
 rough manly mould, with which his gait is in thorough 
 keeping; tliere is much liandsomcness about his features, 
 and an expression of firmness and fearlessness strongly in- 
 dicative of his chraacter. It is at once amusing and in- 
 teresting to see him in Bolt Court, surrounded with bags 
 of seeds, and other evidences of his skilful and speculative- 
 spirit. Something, perhaps, occurs to excite him, and he 
 rises from his chair, and paces up and down the room with 
 ponderous steps, ejaculating denunciations and " helping 
 out his energies" with frequent oaths. This last unseemly 
 habit, his early pursuits, as farmer's boy and soldier, may 
 both account for and excuse. 
 
 He has been set down as a lover of money, and there 
 can be no doubt that he properly appreciates the qualities 
 of that essential agent; but we happen to know, that when 
 engaged with company, or otherwise occupied, and appli- 
 cations have been made to him for money, he has many a 
 time handed his purse of uncounted gold to a servant, and 
 continued his conversation or employment. This is no 
 proof of an undue love of lucre ; and it is a proof of the un- 
 bounded confidence which he places in those about him. 
 Extravagance in living, and foppery in dress, he de- 
 nounces both in public and private; and in these matters 
 his practice comes in aid of iiis precepts. Temperate in 
 an extraordinary degree himself, he nevertheless delights 
 to sec his dependents in tlie enjoyment of plain "plente- 
 ousness." 
 
 The Register is the first business of tlie day with Mr. 
 Cobbett. Wiiilst he is dictating, and his secretary writing, 
 the iloor, is fastened, and no intrusion of any kind allowed. 
 The work completed, the door is instantly unlocked, and 
 access to this extraordinary man is no longer difficult. It 
 may be interesting to state, that the office of secretary was 
 for some time filled by one of his daughters.
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 211 
 
 In conversation lie is remarkably fluent, animated, and 
 inforraini^; he overflows with anecdote, and details the 
 events oi" a long and varied life, with a spirit of enjoyment 
 and unreserve, wijicli enchants his hearers. 
 
 In addition to the political labours of Mr. Cobbett, 
 which amount to nearly a hundred volumes, he has written 
 works on Gardening, and on Grammar; a Dictionary and a 
 Gazetteer; " Cottage Economy," abounding with such 
 fresh and attractive pictures of rural occupations and en- 
 joyments, as to make it painful reading to lovers of nature 
 who live in cities ; and — not to attempt anything like an 
 accurate list of his productions — he has given to the world 
 thirteen Sermons, a Spelling Book, the Life of George IV. 
 and a History of the Reformation! His " Rural Rides" 
 can never be forgotten by those who have once perused 
 them. Avoiding the highways whenever it is practicable, 
 he carries us rejoicingly into fields, green lanes, and farm- 
 houses, pointing out as he goes along vaiieties of soil, and 
 comparing modes of culture; nature animate and inanimate 
 lies before him, and he reads both with an instructed, ob- 
 servant, and reflecting eye. His description^ — always 
 felicitous — always evincing a raciness and truth imattain- 
 able by any other writer, are here peculiarly admirable. 
 What he would have his readers look at with himself, is 
 reflected as in a glass — fresh, sparkling, accurate. 
 
 Twelve of the Sermons are beautiful compositions, and 
 may bo read with advantage, by persons of any age or 
 rank. We cannot say as much for one which he has re- 
 cently added, ami which he entitles " Good Friday; or the 
 iNiurder of Jesus Christ by the Jews." What vain and un- 
 profitable notions sometimes insinuate themselves into the 
 most acute and powerful minds! The bigoted and pre- 
 posterous hatred which has clouded the author's better 
 judgment, which deforms this production, is of a piece 
 •with his senatorial opposition to the same class of persons. 
 He condemns them en masse as usurers ! forgetting that 
 usurious practices are as connnon among Christians as 
 Jews, and tliat the former are without the excuses which 
 ciiarity and justice find for the latter. To admit Jews 
 into Parliament, he says, would be to legalize blasphemy 
 and unchristianize a country. To encounige liberal feel- 
 ing, and take off the degrading shackles of intolerance, is,
 
 912 LIFE OF 
 
 we conceive, to act in the true spirit of the divine teacher 
 of Christianity, and must lead to anything but the conse- 
 que noes which Mr. Cobbett so gratuitously prophecies. 
 He would bind wlmt Christianity would set free, and keep 
 in darkness what Christianity would enlighten. Cer- 
 tainly he is here seen to no greater advantage than the 
 blind and furious partizans to whom he has been so long 
 and so successfully opposed. To resist Catholic Eman- 
 cipation, and the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, 
 to uphold the enactments which opened tlie doors of the 
 legislature to the unprincipled, whilst they barred out the 
 conscientious — all this was professedly done to support 
 true religion — to upliold genuine Christianity. Ignorant 
 and one-sided as were these views, they were natural and 
 consistent in the men who adopted and advocated th(j|p | 
 but what do they look like in a Cobbett; Is it to some 
 *' constitutional warp" that we are to attribute this and 
 some other errors which have occasionally made the " long 
 and strong arm" of wliich he boasts, so puny and power- 
 less — tliat "arm," but a reed against it, and it is beaten 
 down? 
 
 The History of the Reformation has all Mr. Cobbett's 
 customary cleverness and plausiiiility ; and he proves that 
 industry was better rewarded, and poverty more carefully 
 averted, before the Reformation than since. Farther we 
 cannot go with him : we agree rather with an eloquent 
 writer that "' the man who denies the value of that great 
 impulse ; who says that wc ought not to keep up the pro- 
 gress which it aided, but to go back to the point at whicli 
 it found us , who maintains that mankind is in a less hope- 
 ful condition now, when thousands of eager and searching 
 minds arc feeling round them on every side, to seize the 
 hem of the garment of Truth, than when no man was per- 
 mitted to do anything but kiss the robes of the priest- 
 hood; when the world is evidently wrestling with the 
 throes of a mighty pregnancy ; than when, in tumult and 
 passion, it conceived, three centuries ago, the longborne 
 burthen of promise ; — the man who, without being misled 
 by sectarian prepossession, and with an obvious party 
 purpose, can at this day prefess this doctrine, is to be 
 classed, not with the lovers of wisdom, or with the Re- 
 formers of their kind, but with the noisy hounds of faction,"
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 213 
 
 It is not by turning back our e\ ts to the bigotries of the 
 past, that we are to learn charity fur the future ; it is not 
 by imitating the barbarian tribes, which defied their an- 
 cestors, that we are to nourisli into the imago of God the 
 generations of our descendants ; it is not in short, by vin- 
 dicating the sectarianism of a sect, be it Roman Catholic, 
 Protestant or Hindoo, that we must teach ourselves uni- 
 versal toleration ; but by looking at all men, not as mam- 
 hers of sects, but as partakers of a common humanity, xvhoni 
 it leill be better for us, than even for tJiemy to bind ourselves 
 ly cords of love.'''' 
 
 The same writer supplies us with a just and admirably 
 written summary of tlie character of Mr, Cobbett, vv^itli 
 some extracts from which we will conclude this memoir. 
 " There is one great meritinMr. Cobbett — and one only — 
 which is perhaps peculiar to him among the party-writers 
 of the day. There is not a page of his that had ever lias 
 come under our notice, wherein there does not breathe 
 throughout, amid all his absurdities of violence and incon- 
 sistency, the strongest feeling for the welfare of the peo- 
 ple. Many persons will be ready to maintain, because he 
 has shown himself at various times as not very scrupulous 
 for truth, that he has no real and sincere good quality 
 whatsoever, and that he merely writes what is calculated 
 to be popular. But we confess we are inclined to think, 
 from the tone and spu'it of his works, that he commonly 
 persuades himself he believes what he is saying, and feels 
 deeply at the moment what he expresses strongly. It is 
 obvious to us, that while he puts forth against his oppo- 
 nents the most measured malignity, there is a true and 
 hearty kindness in all that he writes about, or to, the 
 people. And it would be useful, therefore, to peers and 
 parliamentary orators, and university dogmatists, if 
 theywould now and then read the books they always 
 rail at. They would find in them a portrait thiilling 
 with all the pulses of animation ; of the thoughts and 
 desires of a class, the largest, and therefore the most 
 important in society ; among w4iom, that which is 
 universal and eternal in our nature, displays itself under 
 a totally different aspect from that wiiich it was among 
 us. Mr. Cobbett's personal consciousness of all which is 
 concealed from us by grey jackets and clouted shoes, has
 
 214 LIFE OF 
 
 kept alive his sympathy with the majority of mankind ; and 
 this, indeed, is a merit which can be attributed to but few 
 political writers. And far more than this, it is a merit 
 which belongs to no one we remember but himself and 
 Burns, among all the persons that have raised themselves 
 from the lowest condition of life into eminence." 
 
 In alluding to the numerous charges that have been 
 from time to time brought against the subject of our 
 memoir, an intelligent writer in Tait's Edinburgh Ma- 
 gazine for the present month, August, thus remarks : — 
 
 •' Cobbett has often been chjirged with mconshtency ; 
 but no reasonable man calls Luther or John Knox inconsis- 
 tent cT apostate, because, being bred Roman Catholic 
 priests, each became converts to Protestantism, and mar- 
 ried. Cobbett had a principle of consistency of his own. 
 Find the key to his resolute, self-willed, and obstinate 
 character, and you solve the whole mystery. He would 
 not be in the wrong, or, at least, he would not be con- 
 victed. But his good sense, and the candour, which, 
 though not his distinguishing quality-, he was not abso- 
 lutely without, finally trivimphed over his infallibility. 
 Nor should it ever be forgotten, that renouncing very flatter- 
 ing prospects, his conversion was be the untJu-iving, the 
 militant^ the losing side, or what for many a year was so; 
 and that, however misled for a time by a crotchet, a ca- 
 price, or by violent personal feelings, he never once really 
 flinched from the cause of the People. From the moment 
 of conviction, he stood firmly and undauntedly by his 
 Order, and encountered persecution, contumely, and hard- 
 ship, that would have crushed ten times over, any less re- 
 solute spirit. The oppression and injustice which he en- 
 dured, looks light, because he bore it so well, or resented 
 it so fiercely. In one of his lectures, delivered at Man- 
 chester in 1831, Cobbett speaks so frankly of his earfy 
 darkness and error, that to persist in the charge of incon- 
 sistency, upon this score, becomes almost ungenerous. We 
 Lave, indeed, very little doubt tliat much of his early anti- 
 Jacobinism, arose from tlie sheer spirit of contradiction, 
 and pugnacity of temper. He was lecturing in Manchester 
 upon tlu! Debt, and his favourite topic of adjustment, when 
 he incidently used the following words: — " When I was 
 in America, the first time, I was a mere zealous prater of
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT. 215 
 
 politics. Finding the whole people railing against my 
 own country, 1 espoused its cause right or wrong; and the 
 bank having stopped payment in 1797, I defended bank- 
 notes. But 1 had not been in England three years, before 
 I clearly saw the wickedness and mischievous tendency of 
 the whole system of debts and paper money. So that 
 these arc no new notions of mine, at any rate ; I have con- 
 tinued to promulgate them for twenty-eight years. In 
 1806, when the Whigs and Grenvillites came into power, I 
 might have been Under Secretary of State to Mr. Wind- 
 ham, who was then Secretary for the Colonies" — and he 
 tells a story highly honourable to himself, and to the con- 
 sistency of his opinions, for which we shall refer to the 
 printed lectures. 
 
 In his tour in Scotland, during which period the Whig 
 press took great and bitter pains to inflame the public 
 mind against him, by daily reminding the people of his 
 offences against the Scottish nation, and, in former days 
 against the cause of freedom, he indignantly, and some- 
 times humourously, adverts to these abortive and con- 
 temptible attempts to run him down. Approaching the 
 bridge of Berwick, he says " I descend to tlie Tweet), and 
 now for the 'antullact.' As 1 went over tlie bridge, ray 
 mind tilled with reflecting on those who had crossed it 
 before me, saying to myself, * This has been the pass of all 
 those pestiferous feelosophers whom 1 have been com- 
 bating so long, and who have done so much mischief to 
 their own country as well as mine' — saying tliis to myself, 
 and thinking, at the same time, of the tlreadful menance 
 of the Scotsman, and of that " national debtof revenge," 
 that he said Scotland owed me; with my mind thus filled, 
 1 could not help crossing myself as I passed this celebrated 
 bridge." 
 
 It did, indeed, require some courage in a veteran of 
 seventy to come alone to the country lie had so long ridi- 
 culed, and that in the face of all its "leading journals" 
 yelping in chorus against him, and reciprocating abuse 
 with those of England. The real power of the press is 
 distinctly revealed at such times. That power is now, 
 thank Heaven! only felt when allied with right. Cobbett's 
 errors of forty years, raked up, and duly set forth, did him 
 no injui-y with the people.
 
 216 WILLIAM COBBETT. 
 
 The scenery, the manners, the cattle, the crops, the gar- 
 dens, the women, "the pretty girls," the little children, 
 the pigs, and all those other natural objects for which he 
 had so sharp an eye, that chanced to be immediately before 
 him, are ever the finest, the best, the most beautiful that 
 ever he had seen, or that were to be seen in the world ! 
 We can never believe that this is the temper of a harsh, 
 cold, or savage man. It is this overflowing of kindly 
 sympathies which makes much of Cobbett's miscellaneous 
 writings so delightful; and this is the true source of much 
 of his egotism, and, at any rate, of all tiiatis amiable in it. 
 Like Dr. Johnson, he had been abusing Scotland and the 
 Scots all his life, from pure no-meaning, or a humorous 
 spleen; and, like the great leviathan of literature, when 
 be came, he was charmed with all he saw and heard in that 
 country; nor was there the least insincerity or affectation 
 in the one case more than in the other. 
 
 We now hasten to the conclusion of our task. That it 
 has afforded us some gratification thus to have assisted in 
 rescuing his name from the obloquy of interested parties, 
 we cannot but confess. His errors and his Virtues have 
 been alike laid before our readers, and we now leave them 
 to form that opinion of Cobbett's character which the facts 
 we have brought forward may induce them to adopt. 
 That the opinion thus formed of the illustrious deceased 
 will be a favourable one, we cannot doubt. He has 
 laboured long and arduously in the cause of mankind and 
 surely we should not hesitate to award him that meed of 
 praise that he so well merits at our hands. 
 
 THE ENn. 
 
 ^^' 
 
 Printed by J. Dlncojibe & Co. 10, Middle-Row, Holborn.
 
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