William Cobbett: A Biography in Two Volumes, Vol. 2
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Title: William Cobbett: A Biography in Two Volumes, Vol. 2
Author: Edward Smith
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILLIAM COBBETT: A BIOGRAPHY IN TWO VOLUMES, VOL. 2 ***
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: Volume I is available as Project Gutenberg ebook
number 49844.
WILLIAM COBBETT.
A BIOGRAPHY.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,
ST. JOHN’S SQUARE.
WILLIAM COBBETT:
_A BIOGRAPHY_.
BY EDWARD SMITH.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
London:
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON,
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET.
1878.
[_All rights reserved._]
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER XIV.
1805-1806.
“I NEVER SAT MYSELF DOWN ANYWHERE, WITHOUT MAKING THE FRUITS
AND FLOWERS TO GROW” 1
CHAPTER XV.
1806-1807.
“I DID DESTROY THEIR POWER TO ROB US ANY LONGER WITHOUT THE
ROBBERY BEING PERCEIVED” 24
CHAPTER XVI.
1807-1809.
“THEY NATURALLY HATE ME” 45
CHAPTER XVII.
1808-1809.
“THE OUTCRY AGAINST ME IS LOUDER THAN EVER” 63
CHAPTER XVIII.
1809-1810.
“COMPARED WITH DEFEATING ME, DEFEATING BUONAPARTE IS A MERE
TRIFLE” 88
CHAPTER XIX.
1810.
“THE FOLLY, COMMON TO ALL TYRANTS, IS THAT THEY PUSH THINGS
TOO FAR” 114
CHAPTER XX.
1810-1812.
“TO PUT A MAN IN PRISON FOR A YEAR OR TWO DOES NOT KILL HIM” 127
CHAPTER XXI.
1812-1816.
“THE NATION NEVER CAN BE ITSELF AGAIN WITHOUT A REFORM” 149
CHAPTER XXII.
1816-1817.
“BETWEEN SILENCE AND A DUNGEON LAY MY ONLY CHOICE” 173
CHAPTER XXIII.
1817-1821.
“WHATEVER OTHER FAULTS I MAY HAVE, THAT OF LETTING GO MY
HOLD IS NOT ONE” 198
CHAPTER XXIV.
1821-1826.
“THEY COMPLAIN THAT THE TWOPENNY TRASH IS READ” 229
CHAPTER XXV.
1821-1831.
“I HAVE PLEADED THE CAUSE OF THE WORKING-PEOPLE, AND I SHALL
NOW SEE THAT CAUSE TRIUMPH” 249
CHAPTER XXVI.
1832-1835.
“I NOW BELONG TO THE PEOPLE OF OLDHAM” 275
CHAPTER XXVII.
1835.
“I HAVE BEEN THE GREAT ENLIGHTENER OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND” 291
APPENDIX: BIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST OF WILLIAM COBBETT’S
PUBLICATIONS 305
INDEX 321
WILLIAM COBBETT: A BIOGRAPHY.
CHAPTER XIV.
“I NEVER SAT MYSELF DOWN ANYWHERE, WITHOUT MAKING THE FRUITS AND
FLOWERS TO GROW.”
The summer of 1805 finds Mr. Cobbett again at Botley with his family.
A letter to Wright, dated 5th July, says, “I have found here a most
delightful house and a more delightful garden.” Preparations are being
made for a prolonged stay, and for the occasional entertainment of his
correspondent: “I have given you a deal of trouble, and hope that you
will find hereafter some compensation during the time you will spend at
Botley.” The carpets are to be taken up (in Duke Street), and all the
bedding, &c., to be “removed upstairs, packed in mats or something.” On
the 28th of July Cobbett writes--
“I am glad that you are like to close your labours so soon,
for I really wish very much to see you here, and so do all the
children and their mother, all of whom have delightful health;
and Mrs. Cobbett is more attached to Botley than I am--one
cause of which is, she has made her servants humble, and she
bakes good bread. I shall have made it a delightful place
before you will have finished your volume.”[1]
There is a good deal about Botley and its neighbourhood to charm the
tastes of men like Cobbett. A fine open country, which was then to a
great extent unenclosed--it was a genuine agricultural and sporting
district, of which the little town was the centre. It was quiet enough,
not being on the road to anywhere; and the people were as quiet as the
village.
“… Two doctors, one parson. No trade, except that carried on
by two or three persons, who bring coals from the Southampton
water, and who send down timber. All the rest are farmers,
farmers’ men, millers, millers’ men, millwrights, publicans who
sell beer to the farmers’ men and the farmers; copse-cutters,
tree-strippers, bark-shavers, farmers’ wheelwrights, farmers’
blacksmiths, shopkeepers, a schoolmistress; and, in short,
nothing but persons belonging to agriculture, to which, indeed,
the two doctors and the parson belong as much as the rest.”
As Cobbett himself described them a few years later. The creek of the
little river Hamble touches the end of the principal street; and here
was a tiny wharf, and a miller’s house. On the farther side of the
creek stood the “delightful house and more delightful garden,” which
promised such bliss. Here is one of the first resulting joys:--
“Now, I am going to give you a commission that you must do us
the favour to execute with the least possible delay. It is
to find out where fishing-nets are sold, and to buy us a net
called a Flue or Trammel net. It must be five feet deep, and
fifteen yards long; with plenty of linnet, and not too coarse.
We have a river full of fish sweeping round the one side of
our little lot of land; but for want of such a net, we catch
comparatively but few. It will not cost above three or four
pounds, and we shall gain that in fish in a month. But the
salmon-peel are now coming up with the spring tides, and we
hope you will be able to send us the net by the Southampton
night coach of Monday, to be left at the coach-office till
called for. If you should miss that coach pray get it off by
the next after; for this is a subject with regard to which
none of us have any patience. The net is for jack, trout, and
salmon-peel, &c.”
“… The net is excellent. Plenty of fish. Nobody has such an one
in this place!”
“… Since last Saturday morning we have caught nearly as many
fish as would sell in London for as much as the net cost you.
We have, indeed, famous sport; and I wish to know if Mr.
Windham be in town, that I may send him some of this excellent
fish. When you come yourself we will show you what we can do;
and I really hope that you will be able to get here soon.”
Now, quiet Botley began to rub its eyes. Here was a new neighbour who
kept the wheels of life well greased. Visitors came to and fro; and
the coach, or the waggon, had more parcels to carry. The precious
scribblings from Botley House augmented the weight of the post-bag.
As autumn drew nigh, the bucolic pulses were quickened by the rumoured
revival of English rustic sports. So, quiet Botley was awakening into
something like fame.
One of Mr. Windham’s well-known fancies was the noble art of
self-defence. Cobbett was entirely with him there; and it so happened,
about this time, that a fatal case of pugilism had brought the matter
before the public. Mr. Cobbett defended Boxing in the _Register_, and
resolved to promote all kindred manly exercises.
Accordingly, a festive gathering was prepared, for this very first
autumn. Here is a copy of the handbill:--
“SINGLE-STICK PLAYING AT BOTLEY, NEAR SOUTHAMPTON.
“On Friday, the 11th of October, 1805, being Old Michaelmas
Day, will be played in the village of Botley, a grand match at
single-stick. The prizes will be as follows:--
“1st prize, Fifteen guineas and a gold-laced hat.
“2nd “ Six guineas and a silver-laced hat.
“3rd “ Four guineas.
“4th “ Two guineas.
“The terms, as to playing the ties, &c., will be announced upon
the spot. Those who have played for and lost the first prize,
will be allowed to play for the second; those who have lost the
second will be allowed to play for the third; and those who
have lost the third will be allowed to play for the fourth. The
playing will begin at eleven o’clock in the morning; and, if
possible, all the prizes are to be played for on the same day.
For any further information that may be required, application
may be made, either in person or by letter, to Mr. RICHARD
SMITH, of Botley.
“Gentlemen coming from a distance will find excellent
accommodation of every kind at and in the neighbourhood of
Botley, which is situated at only about five miles from
Southampton, and at less than four miles from Bishops Waltham.
The distance from London, through Farnham, Alton, and Bishops
Waltham, is a short day’s journey, being barely sixty-eight
miles.
“_Botley_, _23rd September, 1805_.”
This announcement, scattered over Hampshire and Wiltshire, brought a
good company together, and was the precursor of future successes of the
same character. As a matter of course, however, Envy made of it another
nail for the coffin of Mr. Cobbett’s reputation;--these things were
_so_ demoralizing.
The revels being over, preparations for extensive planting were made,
the month of October being largely taken up with the transfer of
apples, pears, rose-trees, &c., to the newly cleared ground. A letter
of the 4th November says,--
“I have almost got my trees planted, and shall have done
completely in one week from this day. Excuse all this gardening
plague, and look forward to the time when you are to find a
compensation in the fruit.”
The following, dated Botley, 1st December, 1805, throws much
interesting light on then current prospects:--
“DEAR SIR,--On the other side you will find letters for William
and Nancy, which you will be so good as to cut asunder and give
to them respectively.
“Mrs. Cobbett and I have now fixed upon our plan and scale
of living, and we mean to carry it into effect directly.
We intend to live here from the 1st of May to the Queen’s
birthday in every year; to take a lodging in town for the
three winter months; to put three of the children to school
almost immediately; and, of course, to get rid of the house
and furniture in Duke Street, as soon as I can get to town and
put up the curtains, so as to make the house look neat and
handsome. Of this you are to speak to nobody. I tell it you for
your own information, and that you may be thinking of a place
for a store-house. Suppose a winter lodging for thirteen weeks
to cost us three guineas a week--that is 40_l._ Suppose my
coach-hire to cost 20_l._ a year (ten trips between London and
Alton)--that makes 60_l._ Suppose 20_l._ a year for store-room
(it will not be above half that)--that makes 80_l._ a year.
Very well: the house-rent, the taxes, the water-duty, and the
interest of money upon goods and wear and tear of goods in Duke
Street (besides the interest upon what I paid for the lease),
amounts to more than 240_l._ a year. The garden-stuff here is
worth 25_l._ a year, exclusive of fruit of all sorts. The milk
will not cost us above a third part of what it costs in town;
bread is one-ninth cheaper (an immense sum in the year); the
meat about an eighth cheaper. In short, I am fully convinced
that exclusive of the consideration of health, and taking into
the account postage, &c., &c., attendant upon this distant
situation, that the saving would be at least 300_l._ a year.
Fuel at Botley is little more than half the price of fuel in
London. So much for that.
“Now, as to the present, my intention is to go to town as
soon as this job shall be safely over. Then to let the house,
and settle all about that matter. In the meanwhile, pray go
on with your preparations. I like the type very well indeed;
and, having now done with my improvements and planting (which
has been most fortunately finished) I shall set myself about
the prospectus, and shall, in short, make every preparation
for most strenuous exertions. The post of to-day is not yet
come in: it may bring me something. My present intention is to
_fill_ the next sheet with an address to the people of England,
calculated to make a deep and lasting impression upon them. I
shall endeavour to show them what has been the cause of all
their present dangers; and shall tell them that, in a future
sheet, I will endeavour to convince them that such and such are
the means of salvation. The time is most favourable for making
such an impression; and, please God, I will not let it slip.
The crisis, which I have always foreseen, is approaching, fast
approaching; and it will require all our vigilance and all our
courage to save our country, and at the same time to maintain
the throne of our beloved and gracious old king.…
“… The post is come. Thank you for your attention. The
Bulletins may be set up for another number; but I shall, if I
live and am well, _fill_ the next in the manner I tell you.
Adieu. Thank you very kindly for the hare. Watch the papers
well. Pray take care of the children. Thank you for William.
“WM. C.”
The newly projected great work is “The Parliamentary History,” which
is to contain a full report of all the recorded proceedings, from the
earliest times to 1803, when “The Debates” were commenced. A prospectus
appeared in the ensuing February. This valuable collection was
completed in sixteen volumes, and has long since been an indispensable
adjunct to a respectable library. Yet the name of its projector has,
unaccountably, become dissociated from it.
* * * * *
There is reason to believe that these enterprizes were entailing
pecuniary embarrassment. The increasing sale of the _Register_ was
producing a splendid income; but so much new printing--a greater
part of which would require time for it to fructify--along with the
settlement and extensive improvements at Botley, could not but exhaust
Cobbett’s resources for the time. In fact a purchase of premises at
Droxford (a few miles from Botley), about this time, was made with
borrowed money. Another scheme, early in 1805, had been a downright
failure: this was “Cobbett’s Spirit of the Public Journals for 1804,”
being letters, essays, &c., taken from the English, American, and
French journals; a work of inestimable value to the student of history
and politics, but unattractive to the general reader. The following
extract from a letter to Mr. Wright, dated October 16th, 1805, makes
ominous reference to the money question:--
“… I have this one caution to give you, which I beg you will
observe; and that is, never speak nor hint, in the presence of
Mrs. Cobbett, anything relative to my pecuniary concerns, or
concerns in trade, of any sort or kind. She has her own ideas
about such matters, which cannot be altered.
“I have never mentioned the Spirit of the Public Journals to
her; and there is no occasion for it. She knows I have lost so
much by printing, &c., that she is fearful of everything of the
kind. I cannot blame her anxiety; but as I cannot remove it, it
is better not to awaken it. Always reserve these matters for
_tête-à-tête_ opportunities.”
And, on the 29th December, in a letter to Mr. Wright, thanking him for
his editorial labours, and expressing pleasure at having been the means
of giving him another lift in the world, there is some sensitiveness
upon money-matters:--
“My wishes, my wants too, and your own taste, turn of mind,
and talents, have all conspired towards placing you beyond the
reach of anxiety. But you should now look further. You should
economize as much as possible.… A horse, a cow, a house, is
soon gone in even trifling things, which we give into from mere
want of thought, and not from our love of things themselves.”
A more interesting message occurs a day or two later:--
“Mind the twelfth-cake. A good large one!”
The plan proposed, of spending three months of the year in London
lodgings, does not appear to have been carried out. During the spring
of 1806, Cobbett was living for a short time at Parson’s Green, Fulham;
and in June he returned to Botley, permanently, only going up to London
when occasion needed.
* * * * *
The year 1806 was pregnant with importance concerning the future of
this country. The accession of “All the Talents” to power, after the
death of Pitt, marked its commencement; and the nation was alive with
hopes. Another abortive attempt was made to negotiate peace with
Napoleon. The affairs of India, Military Reform, Lord Melville’s
Impeachment, filled the public mind. But one matter, above all, which
now came to the front: and which, after many years of lagging, now had
a fair start,--was that of Parliamentary Reform.
And that which, at length, furnished the motive power to the wheels
of Parliamentary Reform, was no other than the invincible _Weekly
Political Register_ of Mr. William Cobbett. Fitful had hitherto been
the progress made. Few persons of position had been in earnest about
it. Very few had dared to give definiteness to their opinions; and
the number of those who could be called advocates of Reform, could
be counted on the fingers. The most prominent of these was Major
Cartwright.[2]
So, upon Mr. Cobbett’s wit and energy being devoted to the discussion
of public abuses, and the only real remedy for them, he found himself
surrounded by a new class of friends. Cartwright, Burdett, Bosville,
and others, no longer singly held their cry, but rejoiced in their
new exponent. Here was a man who had been learning all his lifetime,
and who could manfully confess his political errors, not only in
mere general terms, but to points of detail;--a man who had acquired
the high privilege of being maligned, misrepresented, and threatened
for the odious crime of speaking the truth in clear and unfaltering,
although sarcastic, terms:--one “to whom the public eye turned for
light and information.” That was the view, at least, taken by many of
the correspondents of the _Register_. So, if Mr. Cobbett was heaping up
wrath in one quarter, his name and his talents were being recognized in
another. The people were looking to him,--not the “swinish multitude”
of Mr. Burke, nor the “lower orders” of Mr. Wilberforce, but the people
who paid the taxes and wanted to see where the money went to.
There was a Mr. Robson, M.P. for Honiton, who particularly “wanted to
know,” and insisted on knowing, the truth about certain abuses in the
Barrack Department. The truth came out, with a story very much akin
to a dead-and-buried affair, in which a former Serjeant to the 54th
regiment was concerned. Mr. Cobbett took it up, and even assisted,
by interviews with the parties concerned, in helping to expose the
matter. The incident is chiefly noticeable, in this history, as being
the occasion, alas! of a divergence of sentiment between himself and
Windham; who, as Secretary at War, had not met Robson’s motions for
inquiry in a spirit according with the professions of his out-of-office
days. “Surely there is something in the air of the offices that lowers
the minds of men!” was the exclamation of Cobbett; “it was with still
better reason than I thought, that I recommended a clean sweeping and a
fumigation of the haunts of the Pitts and the Roses!”
At this juncture, Mr. Cavendish Bradshaw, the second member for
Honiton, accepted an office which required him to vacate his seat. Upon
seeking re-election he found an unexpected opponent in the person of
Mr. Cobbett, who hastily issued an address to the electors, offering
his services, in the event of no other public-spirited man coming
forward. At the last moment, Lord COCHRANE appeared, having in the
meantime read Cobbett’s letter to the electors; and the latter withdrew
in Lord Cochrane’s favour.[3] Mr. Cobbett, however, made a long speech
at the hustings, in temperate but most eloquent terms; ridiculing the
claims of a sinecure-placeman upon the constituency. Mr. Bradshaw’s
remarks were short; but they included the instructive information
that the last speaker was a “convicted libeller.” Well, the people of
Honiton couldn’t afford to throw away their two-guineas-a-head; so, Mr.
Bradshaw was re-elected.
A dissolution of parliament was now imminent, and the new forces
promised themselves a glorious time of it. The following letter, dated
Botley, 7th July, points to the increasing prominence of Mr. Cobbett’s
share in the campaign:--
“… As to Mr. Robson’s re-election, I verily believe he would
carry it for Westminster; and I would go up and aid him with
all my might if he would stand upon my principle. He would
surely carry it. Let me know when the dissolution is to take
place. Give me, in your next letter, the very best intelligence
you can get upon the subject, for I must begin without loss of
time, to address the electors all over the kingdom.
“Between you and me, my opinion is, that _I should not come
forward now_, unless some body of electors were to call me
forward.[4] Most men like me have been ruined in reputation by
their haste to get forward. If the great objects which I have
at heart could be accomplished without my being in parliament,
I should greatly prefer it. I should first attend to my own
family. I am perfectly sincere in all my public professions.
But I will flinch from nothing that may tend to effect the
great purpose of saving the country, which is now, every day,
in more and more danger.… I wrote to Mr. Paull yesterday. I
highly approve of his activity and zeal; but he is, be assured,
too fond of the Bond Street set--has too great a desire to
live amongst _the great_, to aim at the only objects that can
save the throne and the liberties of the people.
“P.S.--We have at last got some rain, which was wanted to
prevent my trees from being totally burnt up.”
And, on the 17th:--
“… I hope Mr. Robson will come down here this summer, and he
and I will then settle upon a general scheme for an examination
into the public expenditure. We will leave no branch untouched.
Pray give my best respects to him, and tell him to take care of
his health. Tell him that if he intends to stand for Honiton,
he shall have my aid in preference to all other men upon earth
and my aid is something, after all. I think him the most
valuable man in parliament, and I hold it my duty to assist him
in all his endeavours.”
The following extracts from letters of July-October, will illustrate
several incidents and opinions:--
“… You opened my nephew’s letter, which I have before told
you I have an objection to. This is what you would not like;
and, in short, it is what I must say that I cannot permit.…
You opened a letter from Mrs. Cobbett’s brother to her; and I
did hope that my remark at the time would save me the pain of
making a direct injunction like this. I am in no anger, and I
wish to have no answer. The thing is now gone from my mind, and
there, I hope, it never will return.”
“… I greatly approve of what you are about to do with respect
to Mr. Finnerty, to whom I beg you to present my best
respects. As to Westminster, I hope Fox will live long yet;
for I am always afraid, that if he were dead, tyranny, sheer
unmixed _tyranny_, would be let loose upon the land. I am in
no haste to become anything but what I am; and never will
I be anything else by the usual base means resorted to by
candidates. The time must come, when either such principles as
mine will prevail, or when no principles at all will be of any
use.”
“… Last Friday, I caught a very bad cold indeed, a-fishing,
which I have not yet got rid of, though I rode ten miles this
morning.…
“Lauderdale is off, I hear, but I do not believe there will
be any peace. It is not the least consequence, however, to
anybody. Our affairs in this country will march on steadily
towards the great point at which, sooner or later, they must
arrive.
“I want to know, by return of post, whether Mr. Robson intends
to stand for Honiton; for if he does not, another person has
asked me to write thither in _his_ favour. This is of great
importance; for, I have told the person that I will so write,
if Mr. Robson does not stand; but, if he does, I am decidedly
for him in preference to any other man. Pray get me the
necessary information upon this head.
“Lord and Lady H. Stuart come here to-morrow; Mr. Paull will
come on Friday and stay till Sunday most likely; and on Sunday
comes another person for two days; so that you had better
come on the 12th or 13th [August] instant; for we shall have
no leisure at all if anybody is here.… Your pain in your side
should be taken care of. I am sure country exercise is the
thing. I speak from experience. A jolting upon the coach-box is
excellent.”
“… I am particularly interested by what you say about Mr.
Robson’s views with regard to the next parliament; and I
think with you, that for him to be safely returned is an
object of the very first consequence.… But, proportioned to my
anxiety for his election, is my hope that what I have heard
suggested is not true, viz., that he has an understanding
with Bradshaw. That were disgrace, indeed! Disgraceful in
all manner of ways; for how could he raise his voice against
pensions and sinecures, after having acted in conjunction with
a sinecure-placeman? This would be so shamefully bad, that I
cannot think of it without shuddering. Surely Lord Cochrane and
he could carry it for Honiton:[5] but then, Mr. Robson must,
and without loss of time, make his declaration both to the
borough and to Lord Cochrane, or else, he may depend that the
whole force of the Cochranes will be brought to bear against
him.”
“… I have put off what I intended to write until to-morrow. To
this I have been moved, in part by a desire to see the _Morning
Post_ before I begin; but, in truth, much more by a desire to
go and see a new pointer of Farmer Hoad’s hunt. This, viewed in
the abstract, is very bad; but, when it is considered that this
exercise gives me health and nerves, and that these produce
_Registers_, the time is not thrown away.…”
“… The _Morning Post_ man labours hard.[6] But it will nought
avail him. He must give us a good reason _why_ the Princess
does not publish the report and evidence, or he had better hold
his tongue.
“I had forgotten the HATS. Get them from the same man:--
(gold-laced)
[Illustration: Single-stick prize, won at Botley, 8th
September, 1806. 20 guineas.]
And one silver-laced, the same words, only 10 guineas in the
centre. The city of Salisbury has advertised that a match will
take place there on the 17th instant, ‘similar to that at
Botley.’ The hats must be here on Saturday at farthest. They
need not be very good. A hat at a guinea will do very well; and
as to the lace, I am sure that it need not cost more than about
a guinea-and-a-half. However, do the best you can.
“Lord Cochrane is here, hard at work a-shooting, but Mr.
Johnstone is not yet arrived.”
“We shall be in town to-morrow night, and I wish you could come
to me about 10 o’clock at Col. Johnstone’s in Harley Street.
“A glorious match have we had! A fine day, and a company of
people not less than six thousand in number. The whole of the
village was full. Stages, in the form of amphitheatres, were
erected against the houses, and, perhaps, seats let to the
amount of thirty or fifty pounds! Every gentleman round the
country was here. The subscription pays the whole of all the
expenses, without throwing any more than my single guinea and
the price of my dinner upon me. The city of Salisbury will
not equal this, take my word for it. There were twenty-three
players. The first prize went to Somersetshire, and the second
to Wiltshire. But the great contest was between the former
county and Hampshire.”
“… The little mare went off on Friday. Keep her well, use her
regularly and gently, and I hope she will prove of use. William
followed her with his eyes as long as he could get a glimpse of
her; and the poor dear fellow could not speak a word all the
evening after she went off. He was made somewhat more happy by
my assuring him that she was not sold, and that she was gone to
you. Fit her well with saddle and bridle, and have a curb, for
she is apt to run off, though _your weight_ will be a tolerably
good curb. The main thing is to see her well fed upon good hay
and oats.”
“… The little dogs came very safe; and they are both (having
been new named Tipler and Daisy) at Steeple Court Farm, there
to be reared up to dog-hood. I was yesterday at Meon Stoke,
where we had some very fine coursing. We found five hares. Two
stole off; three we coursed, and killed two. There was one
large greyhound dog; but my little bitches beat him hollow.
They go like the wind.… Lord Northesk, who lives at Rose
Hill, near Winchester, has been here again to invite me there
a-coursing; and I shall go next Saturday, if I am alive and
well.”
“… As to your coming down, when you do come, I wish you to stay
a week or ten days. You must go with us a-coursing; and I will
take care to have a good field for sport provided.… If you
never saw any coursing, you have a great pleasure to come; and
you will see William ride his pony and leap over the ditches.”
Amongst new acquaintances of this year was no less a person than Dr.
Mitford, probably introduced to Cobbett by Sir William Elford, who was
a vigorous Windhamite. The Doctor’s passion for coursing consolidated a
friendship which lasted for several years; and we find Cobbett visiting
him in December, 1806, at Bertram House, near Reading, from which place
several articles in the _Register_ are dated. Miss Mitford has several
pleasing recollections of Cobbett, for whom she had considerable
esteem.[7]
But, of all his Hampshire friends, there was none so staunch as
Viscount Folkestone,[8] a rising whig politician of the day; a man
who endeavoured to carry the principles of his pretentious Party into
practice, and honestly believed that Mr. Cobbett was, with all his
untamable vigour, one of the best exponents of the current political
aspirations. Although the time came when, in 1834, their opinions
diverged on the Poor Law question, their mutual regard lasted to the
very end.
FOOTNOTES
[1] The Parliamentary Debates.
[2] John Cartwright (1740-1823) was the boldest and the bravest
champion of free speech, for forty years or more, during the reign of
George the Third. Indeed, he was not unjustly styled “the Father of
Reform.” In early life he was in the navy, but left it after a short
period of service, and became an officer in the militia. He produced a
number of pamphlets, advocating all those ideas of popular rights which
have since his time been generally accepted in England, the first one
being in support of American Independence, published in 1774. But his
writings were heavy in style, and could not live beyond his own times
and the occasions which they served.
Major Cartwright’s personal character was lofty and amiable, and
Cobbett appears to have regarded him with peculiar affection. On one
occasion of the Westminster Anniversary Dinner, in 1816, an opportunity
occurred, under the following circumstances, of entering upon a
protest, against the Major being overlooked among the new men who
were finding it worth their while to pin their faith to the cause of
Reform:--After the two members were toasted, as usual, there appeared
the name of Brougham! Mr. Cobbett’s wonder at this was changed into
indignation upon finding Major Cartwright’s name at the bottom of the
list; and he declared he would not sit any longer at the table unless
an alteration was made. So Brougham’s name was taken out, and the
Major’s put in its place.
[3] “When I went as a candidate to Honiton, in the year 1806, I
began by posting up a bill, having at the top of it this passage of
Scripture, ‘Fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.’ After
this I addressed myself to the people of the place, telling them how
wicked and detestable it was to take bribes. Most of the corrupt
villains laughed in my face, but some of the women actually cried out
against me in the streets, as a man that had come to rob them of their
_blessing_!” (_Register_, xlviii. 500.)
[4] The following advertisement, to the Electors of Westminster, was
addressed to them in September, and appears in the _Morning Post_ of
the 19th:--
“Gentlemen,--Having, some time ago, publicly stated that, at the
General Election then looked for, and in the case then supposed, it
appeared to me that I ought to offer myself to you as a candidate;
having now been informed that, in consequence of that statement, a very
general expectation has been entertained that, upon this accidental
occasion, I should so offer myself; and having, by many individuals
of your respectable body, been pressingly urged to fulfil that
expectation; thus situated, I think it my duty, _first_, explicitly
to declare that, for the present, I relinquish the honour intended
me, and for this sole reason, that at this time I find it would be
next to impossible for me to devote myself wholly and exclusively to
the discharge of the great duties which, by your suffrages, would
necessarily be imposed; and, _secondly_, to warn you against the
calamity, the shame, the deep disgrace, that await you and your country
if, yielding to the venal solicitations of the stewards and butlers of
noblemen, you condescend to become the menials of menials, the laquies
of laquies,--and suffer the popular, the industrious, the enlightened
and public-spirited city of Westminster, hitherto considered as the
ever-burning lamp of the liberties of England, to be handed to-and-fro
like a family borough. Confidently trusting that you will, with
indignation, resent any project for thus extinguishing the fame of your
city and degrading the character of her electors; confidently trusting
that, when you consider that it is to you all other free cities and
boroughs look for an example, you will tear in rags the gaudy livery
now tendered for your backs; confidently trusting that, when the
question is _freedom_ or _bondage_, you will suspend all animosities
and differences, and act with a degree of energy and unanimity that
shall at once and for ever blast the hopes of all those who would make
you the instruments of your country’s ruin; thus trusting, and with a
mind full of gratitude for the goodwill which many of you have taken
occasion to express towards myself,--I remain, &c., WILLIAM COBBETT.”
Oddly enough, this advertisement precedes a highly abusive paragraph on
“this low-bred man.” The _Post_ was a good hater of the lower orders.
[5] In the end, Bradshaw and Cochrane were elected, and Mr. Robson
found a seat as representative for Oakhampton.
[6] This is with reference to a glorious newspaper squabble, especially
entertaining on account alike of the circumstances which aroused
it and of the combatants engaged. The first attempt to defame the
Princess of Wales had just been made, and the _Morning Post_ took up
the illustrious lady and the “infamous calumny” into its protecting
breast. The fulsome style, and the dark insinuations conveyed, aroused
Mr. Cobbett, and he, while asserting his indifference to the question
until there was really some charge, on one side or the other, upon
which to comment, wanted to know what the _Post_ meant by stating that
the Princess had been guilty of _no levities, but such as no woman in
the land was free from_. Ever the champion of the sex, he begged for an
explanation. Week after week the question was put, and reiterated with
new zest. There was no answer; but only column after column of abuse
upon the head of the “gross and abominable writer,” “this low-bred
man,” this “modern Jack Cade,” &c. “This gross and abominable writer
is exposed to the merited detestation of all classes, especially
the more elevated, whom this writer has, in his revolutionary cant,
described as the well-dressed rabble of the readers of the _Morning
Post_. _We hope the Attorney-General will look to this._” A very
silly and abusive pamphlet followed, under the wing of the _Post_:
“Strictures on Cobbett’s Unmanly Observations relative to the Delicate
Investigation; and a Reply to the Answer to an Admonitory Letter to
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, containing an Account of the True Cause why
the Commissioners’ Report has not yet been Published, and many other
Additional Facts, &c.” (London, 1806). Here is one of the additional
facts:--“Vain, contemptible slanderer! where in all thy calumnious
pages is one unanswerable argument.”
[7] Among other references to Cobbett, Miss Mitford records a visit to
Botley (“Recollections of a Literary Life,” chap. xvii.):--
“Sporting, not politics, had brought about our present visit and
subsequent intimacy.… He had at that time a large house at Botley, with
a lawn and gardens sweeping down to the Bursledon river.… His house,
large, high, massive, red, and square, and perched on a considerable
eminence, always struck me as being not unlike its proprietor. It was
filled at that time almost to overflowing. Lord Cochrane was there,
then in the very height of his warlike fame, and as unlike the common
notion of a warrior as could be--a gentle, quiet, mild young man.…
“There was a large fluctuating series of guests for the hour or guests
for the day, of almost all ranks and descriptions, from the earl and
his countess to the farmer and his dame. The house had room for all,
and the hearts of the owners would have had room for three times the
number. I never saw hospitality more genuine, more simple, or more
thoroughly successful in the great end of hospitality--the putting
everybody completely at ease. There was not the slightest attempt at
finery, or display, or gentility. They called it a farmhouse, and
everything was in accordance with the largest idea of a great English
yeoman of the old time. Everything was excellent, everything abundant,
all served with the greatest nicety by trim waiting-damsels; and
everything went on with such quiet regularity that of the large circle
of guests not one could find himself in the way. I need not say a word
more in praise of the good wife, … to whom this admirable order was
mainly due. She was a sweet motherly woman.…
“At this time William Cobbett was at the height of his political
reputation; but of politics we heard little, and should, I think,
have heard nothing, but for an occasional red-hot patriot, who would
introduce the subject, which our host would fain put aside, and
got rid of as speedily as possible. There was something of _Dandie
Dinmont_ about him, with his unfailing good-humour and good spirits,
his heartiness, his love of field sports, and his liking for a foray.
He was a tall, stout man, fair and sunburnt, with a bright smile, and
an air compounded of the soldier and the farmer, to which his habit of
wearing an eternal red waistcoat contributed not a little.…
“Few persons excelled him in the management of vegetables, fruit, and
flowers. His green Indian corn, his Carolina beans, his water-melons,
could hardly have been exceeded at New York. His wall-fruit was
equally splendid; and, much as flowers have been studied since that
day, I never saw a more glowing or a more fragrant autumn garden than
that at Botley, with its pyramids of hollyhocks, and its masses of
china-asters, of cloves, of mignonette, and of variegated geranium.
The chances of life soon parted us, as, without grave faults on either
side, people do lose sight of one another; but I shall always look back
with pleasure and regret to that visit.”
[8] Afterwards 3rd Earl Radnor. He died in 1869, at a very advanced
age, after a life of real usefulness. Had there been more such men
as he, the domestic history of England, in our century, would be a
different tale.
CHAPTER XV.
“I DID DESTROY THEIR POWER TO ROB US, ANY LONGER, WITHOUT THE ROBBERY
BEING PERCEIVED.”
In September, 1806, Mr. Charles James Fox died, and left one of the
seats for Westminster at the disposal of the Whigs. For several
years there had been a truce between the Whigs and the Tories, over
this celebrated constituency, and each party was represented there.
Accordingly, Earl Percy was quietly suffered to succeed to Mr. Fox.
The Whig nominee was no sooner elected, however, than a dissolution,
which had been for some time imminent, took place, and the two
factions, in their mutual consent, put up Mr. Sheridan and Admiral
Hood, Lord Percy having declined to come forward again. Sheridan was
a man who was for the winning side, whichever it might be, and he now
laid claim to the mantle of Mr. Fox, whose name and whose party had
been steadily growing into favour.
During the summer and autumn, Mr. Cobbett had been lecturing the
electors of Westminster upon their duties. He pointed out that, with
such traditions as theirs, there was less excuse for “base conduct”
than in any other body of electors; yet, that the constituency was
sinking to the level of a nomination-borough. _Base conduct_ meant:
clamouring against “peculators and depredators,” and then being led
by the nose by men who not only “clamoured,” but pledged their word
to reform, and to inquire into abuses; and who, immediately they got
a snug office, found ready excuses for the non-fulfilment of their
promises. The case in point was that of Mr. Sheridan, who, now that
he was treasurer to the navy, declined to bring forward charges which
he had threatened, “lest he should thereby create divisions in the
ministry, that is to say, lest he should lose his place.” Mr. Cobbett
was requested by a small section to come forward himself; but he
refused. The advertisement in the _Morning Post_ of 19th September,
announces his determination (vide note, p. 14). But he was actually
proposed, on the hustings, by a Mr. Hewlings.
Mr. Cobbett’s candidate was James Paull:--
“A Scotchman who had been in India, who had been in Parliament
during two sessions, who had brought articles of charge against
the elder Wellesley for his conduct while Governor-General of
India, who was a little man in point of size, who talked pretty
well, who wrote better than half of the 658, who was perfectly
honest and disinterested, and who was brave to the backbone,
and persevering beyond any man. The Whigs had all along been
deceiving this Mr. Paull, as they always have done every one
else who has trusted in them. They, by leading him to believe
that they would support his charge against old Wellesley,
induced him to go on with the charges until they themselves got
into power, and _then they turned against him_, and set all
their whispering myrmidons to work to spread about that he had
been a tailor, and that he was only accusing Lord Wellesley in
order to get some money from him. I became acquainted with Mr.
Paull, from his having been introduced to me by Mr. Windham,
who strongly urged me to render him any assistance in my power
in his undertaking against Wellesley; and I can truly say, that
a more disinterested and honourable man I never knew in my life.
“At this election, therefore, Mr. Paull was fixed upon for us
to put forward, in order to break up the infamous combination
of these two factions, and to rescue Westminster from the
disgrace of submitting to them any longer. This was _my
work_:[1] it was my own project: I paved the way to it by my
addresses to the people of Westminster.… Hood was the Tory
candidate; Sheridan the Whig candidate, having Whitbread and
Peter Moore for his bottle-holders. They beat the people, but
it was such a beat as pronounced their doom for the future, as
far as Westminster was concerned. At the close of the election,
Hood and the base Sheridan slipped away from the hustings into
the Church of St. Paul, Covent Garden, just opposite the porch
of which the hustings stood, and there they were locked up
nearly all the night, with constables and policeman to guard
the church.… Being in November, there was a plentiful supply
of mud, with which the honourable representatives were covered
all over from the forehead down to their shoes. I never shall
forget them. They looked just like a couple of rats, raked
up from the bottom of a sewer; and the High Bailiff, and his
books, and his clerks, and his beadles, were all covered over
in the same manner.”
Mr. Paull had started at the top of the poll. But as the days wore on,
the others gained slowly upon him, until, at the close, he was left
in a small minority. It was found, however, upon an analysis of the
voting, that Paull had polled 3077 plumpers, against Sheridan’s 955,
and Sir Samuel Hood’s 1033, whilst the coalition of the two latter had
given them each 3240 split votes. Paull’s total was 4481. These figures
were solemnly put upon record by the friends of reform (as they now
called themselves), in order to show “the manner in which Mr. Paull had
been defeated.”
An interesting conflict ensued, between Cobbett and Sheridan, which
must not go unnoticed. When the former was attacked by Sheridan in
parliament, in August, 1803 (as before related), it was a wilful and
unnecessary throwing down of the gauntlet. Mr. Sheridan was not the
man who should find fault with another’s popularity-hunting, much
less another’s inconsistency; and Mr. Cobbett proceeded to give him
the inevitable “Series of Letters,”[2] with which he usually favoured
the objects of his animadversion. Mr. Sheridan, now crowing on the
Westminster hustings, imputes _low birth_ to his opponents; Mr. Paull’s
father was only a tailor, and, as for his bottle-holder, why all the
world knows his story. And all the world (except Mr. Sheridan) might
have guessed what would have come of that. “Whence came the Sheridans?
From a play-actor! from a member of that profession, the followers of
which are, in our wise laws, considered and denominated _vagabonds_.”
And Mr. Cobbett proceeds further, and wants to know what are the public
services of these persons, Sheridan and his son Thomas, that they
should be receiving between seven and eight thousand pounds of the
public money? So Tom Sheridan offers to fight, according to a speech of
his own at a Sheridan dinner:--
“This man, for his roughness and vulgarity towards my father
(whom I think I may fairly describe as the person in whom
eloquence may be said to preside), I had intended to thrash,
and for that purpose I went down to his house with a cane, but
he was not at home. I afterwards thought it best to offer him a
pistol, and wrote to him for the purpose, but this valiant Mr.
Cobbett answered me by saying that he never fought duels.”
Of course, the only utility of this sort of thing, was to provide
material for satire; and Cobbett, on his part, never failed to remind
Sheridan of his foibles, nor ceased to look upon his “statesmanship”
with the contempt it deserved.
* * * * *
The result of this general election was promising enough, to the
increasing band of reformers. But, another dissolution, in the
following spring, gave a still greater impulse to the popular
feeling. Sir Francis Burdett and Lord Cochrane headed the poll at
Westminster, leaving Elliott (a Windhamite), Sheridan, and Paull out
in the cold. It was as early as this that Mr. Cobbett began to suspect
Burdett’s sincerity concerning Reform; and he refused, on account
of Sir Francis declining to act with Paull,[3] to interfere in this
election, although Lord Cochrane begged him to do so. But the powerful
_Register_ was as active as ever in the contest of principles which was
being waged.
* * * * *
We may now glance at some of the correspondence of this winter, 1806-7.
“… This last expression puts me in mind of what I thought to
mention to you in my last; and that is, my intention to _insure
my life_. A small sum annually will be well laid out this way;
and I feel that I ought to do it. My family is now large, and
it is my bounden duty to do all I am able to provide for them
in the manner that least exposes them to chance. Pray inquire
about this, and let me know the result of your inquiries in a
few days.
“We send you by the waggon of to-night a fine hamper of garden
things, two fowls, and a chine included, which we think will
be acceptable. Pray send us back the hamper by the waggon, and
also a hamper from Mr. Paull’s. There is a box at Mr. Paull’s
with flower-roots in it. You may as well send it too.
“Ellen is to be christened on Thursday. Mrs. Cobbett begs you
will send off by to-morrow night’s mail-coach a good lusty
twelfth-cake for the christening.… Your letters are very
cheerful, and, I can assure you, they come to a very healthy
and happy house.
“I propose, in future, to write to you only upon Fridays, and
that you shall write to me only upon Tuesdays, except upon
particular occasions.… In order that I may profit as much as
possible from your correspondence you should begin a sheet and
fill it up as thoughts or facts occur.”
A chronic complaint of Cobbett’s, throughout his life, was being
exposed to the payment of unfranked letters. A renewed notice to
friends and correspondents appears in January, 1807, informing them
that he will not take in such letters. A message to Mr. Wright, about
this time, gives him directions on the subject, and mentions that
12_s._ a week would not pay the postage of letters, of no use at all,
and many of them sent merely for persecution.
“… The whole world united would not shake my resolution to
_reside in the country_. The opinions of ‘friends,’ experience
has taught me not to prefer, upon all occasions, to my own;
and you know as well as I do, that those ‘friends’ generally
speak as convenience or interest dictate. As I know you are
perfectly sincere in the regret that you express at not having
an opportunity of seeing me and mine oftener, so you may be
assured that the loss of the pleasure of frequently seeing
you, my Lord Folkestone, Sir Francis Burdett, and one or two
more, is the greatest, and indeed the only, drawback from
the stock of comfort and of pleasure which this domestic and
rural life affords me. It will be very convenient to us for
you and Mr. Murphy to come at any time. We have had no company
since my return from town, and we expect none; but I am sure
that none that could come would render your and Mr. Murphy’s
company at all inconvenient. The time you mention will be as
good as any. The sooner the better; but you must stay a whole
week. And bring good boots with you, for we shall make you
ride a-coursing. The children talk of you every day of their
lives. William has been out with us this morning, and we have
had a course worth all the balls and routs and operas that the
whole town ever saw. Hares are hard to find. We sometimes go
out without seeing one; but, when we do find, upon these lofty
hills and open commons, you can have no idea of the beauty of
the course. It lasts but a minute or two or three; but in one
minute these beautiful animals go more than a mile.
“… We intend putting William to a school at Salisbury; but I
am resolved he shall waste none of his precious time upon the
‘learned languages.’[4] He reads and writes very tolerably
well now; and, if I live so long, I hope to see him able to
do something in the way of usefulness, in the space of five
years from this. He has learnt to course already. To-day again
(for we catch every fine open day) we had a course surpassing
anything I ever saw in all my life. We were hardly upon the
common when we found a hare _sitting_ (a very rare thing upon
heath). All the rest, namely William, Frederick, and my man,
took their stations in such places as enabled them to follow
the dogs, and to see the course, whichever way she might take.
I then went and started her. We had a course of thirty turns
at least, and, after a very long and most beautiful course, we
had the pleasure to see her save her life by darting to the
copse with Princess not twelve feet behind her. The dogs were
terribly cut and strained, but they will be well again before
you and Mr. Murphy come.”
There is a great importation of American trees early this year, which
gives Mr. Wright some trouble to attend to, out of his ordinary line;
in return for which he is to have a farm some day, and American trees
to beautify it with. He is expected at Botley again in March, and is
to bring, amongst other matters, “two quarto blank books, with a good
stiff cover, for Nancy to copy her grammar lessons in. I am teaching
her; she learns very fast,” &c. And, they “all go to church of a
Sunday.”
An impending duel between Mr. Elliott and Mr. Paull is alluded to in
the following:--
“… The third is an article about Paull and Elliott. Leave
out the words _manly_ and _excellent_ as applied to Paull’s
letter; and, observe, soften every phrase that I have used in
commendation of him or his conduct, if any such you find; for I
now see that he has been challenging; and I will have nothing
more to do with him, until I see a total change of conduct in
this respect.”
“… I am glad Mr. Paull is exposed to no prosecution. I trust
he will take great care. I have a hundred times warned him of
his danger. They would imprison him as sure as he is alive.… I
shall always defend Mr. Paull and his cause; but you know how
I abhor anything covert; and, upon my word, I cannot say that
a man who would consent to be sent to a hiding-place, ought to
be believed upon his oath. Those that are used to such devices
may look upon them calmly; but this is not, and I hope in God
it never will be, the case with, yours, &c.”
A petition against Sheridan’s return for Westminster, on the part of
Paull, now provided matter for discussion; and this, along with the
unceasing campaign against sinecures, and the sudden dispersion of
the _lost sheep_ (as “All the Talents” were now called), kept the
ready writer going merrily. Too merrily, indeed; a little cloud was
gathering. Lord Grenville confided to somebody, that Cobbett was
destroying the characters of all public men. Lord Howick[5] became
unfavourably impressed with his vehemence, and threatened prosecution.
Above all, the anonymous press had no mercy upon him, although it
prudently avoided fair discussion. In March, Wright is asked for his
opinion as to men’s feelings, in town.
“As to the result, I fear nothing. And the way to fear nothing,
is to act always fairly and honestly.”
Only let him have open ground to go upon, and a good sight at the enemy.
Early in April, Mr. Cobbett writes:--
“What you told me about Mitford’s report has given me some
uneasiness, on account of the trouble that prosecutions would
give me; but as to the House, the d---- House, I set it at
defiance, if it will only confine its vengeance to its own
villainous powers. It is not, however, worth while to make
any inquiries. It would be a good jest for the Whigs to begin
to prosecute now. I’ll assure you, I was most cursedly afraid
of them before. Howick is a perfect Bashaw; and apostates are
proverbially persecutors. God knows I need say no harm of
either party. They furnish me with ample quantities of good
and true censure of one another. I am deeply impressed with
the necessity of caution; but if they are resolved to plague,
plague they may. Should anything of this sort happen, I am
determined to plead my own cause, be the consequence what it
may.… This talk of prosecution has exasperated me against them
beyond measure; and my own safety shall be the only standard of
my vengeance. Villains! They profess liberty; they set their
hired scoundrels to write me and truth out of countenance; and
the moment they feel the weight of my lash, they talk of the
law, that law against which they have so much enveighed, which
they know to be so unjust, and the administration of which they
know to be so basely partial.
“Cultivate Lord C[ochrane] and Colonel J[ohnstone]. They are
good and true friends to us, and, what is more, to their
country.
“Pray send the _Chronicle_, when there is any violent or
severe attack upon ministers or Parliament. Green[6] has been
complaining to Reeves. The mean dog! Reeves begs me to spare
him. I shall tell Reeves the provocation. If the rascal thus
smarts at a parenthesis, what would he do at a sentence such
as I could treat him with? As to the line of politics, _safe_
is the word.… I hear that my friend Finnerty’s 100_l._ is
coming out. Oh what a d---- thing this writing for hire is! The
motion[7] has cost me more labour than I thought for, wishing
to work in many interesting facts.…”
The new elections are coming on in April, and Mr. Cobbett is determined
not to interfere, unless positively compelled. As soon as the election
is over, he will “set about writing sober essays of _exposure_: quote
from official documents, state the bare facts, and lament, as I most
sincerely do, the inevitable consequences.” He foresees the inutility
of Mr. Paull contesting Westminster again, and the event proves that
he is right. But he continues his unasked-for advice to the electors.
And he does keep to facts, facts which all who have eyes may see.
Seats in Parliament are being openly advertised for sale in the daily
papers,[8]--in _Whig_ papers; and this villainous scribbler presses for
an explanation, particularly from that party which is always flaunting
the flag of 1688, and which yet rails at him, and abuses him, and
calls him nicknames, for trying to hold them to their principles.
As for his own writings, conscious though he be of their power and
clearness, and of the admiration excited by them in the minds of all
who are not the recipients of his lashing, he will be more than ever
guarded in expression:--
“… I see the fangs of the law open to grasp me, and I feel the
necessity of leaving no hold for them, and even no ground for
silly cavillers, upon the score of coarseness or violence. I
am armed with undeniable facts, and my reasoning (at least in
my own opinion of it) shall be as undeniably conclusive. The
times are auspicious to us, and we have nothing to fear but the
effects of ungovernable indignation.”
“… As to the ‘large pamphlet that is coming out against us
all,’ the larger it is, the better it will be for the author;
for the fewer people will read it, and the fewer the readers,
the fewer those who will despise him. That any creature upon
two legs should be so foolish!”
In the early part of this history, allusion was made to the growing
impoverishment of the labouring classes. A quarter of a century was now
elapsed, since the Hereditary Pauper started into being; and his race
was now numbered by the million. The parishes were raising six millions
sterling, for purposes of relief; and the recipients were going
steadily down, down, down. They were becoming practically enslaved. The
average rural labourer was now feeding upon bread, vegetables, and
water. His children were uneducated; his wife was in rags; his dwelling
was either a ruin or a hovel.
And, it is very curious matter for reflection, to note how ready the
comfortable classes were to acquiesce in tolerating this state of
things. Schemes of amelioration were broached by a few, but they were
generally based upon a total ignorance of first-cause. Your social
tinker,--amiable, bland, and very serious,--caught a glimpse of the
poor wretches so far beneath him; and, straightway recollecting the
words of Scripture, that the poor should “never cease out of the land,”
opened his purse-strings, exhorted his friends to do the like,--and
left matters worse than before.[9] Your local authority, and your
parson-pluralist, deeply impressed with the need of preserving the
“indispensable gradations of society,” in their full integrity,
refused a cow to the cottager, lest he should be thereby rendered too
independent! absolutely ignorant of the fact, that forty or fifty
years previously, the rural labourer not only had his cow,--but his
pigs, his geese, his beer, and his bacon, and a tolerable share of
the comforts of life: his outward condition, in point of fact, being
scarcely inferior to that of the farmers, and even the clergy, around
him.
Now, in this year of grace 1807, there was no man living who was a
better authority on this topic, than the hero of these pages. And, what
is more, there was no living being, who had a tenderer sympathy with
the wants and the wailings of the meanest fellow-creature; be it a
skylark, or be it a ploughboy.
And the tinkers, and the tailors, solemnly going to work with new
patches, the only end of which must be the further enslavement and
degradation of the poor; and the end of which could not possibly be the
healing of their stomachs, or the mending of their breeches and their
gowns; he now bursts out,--
“I, for my part, should not be at all surprised, if some one
were to propose the selling of the poor, or the mortgaging
of them to the fund-holders. Ay! you may wince; you may cry
Jacobin and Leveller as long as you please. I WISH TO SEE THE
POOR MEN OF ENGLAND WHAT THE POOR MEN OF ENGLAND WERE WHEN I
WAS BORN; AND FROM ENDEAVOURING TO ACCOMPLISH THIS WISH NOTHING
BUT THE WANT OF MEANS SHALL MAKE ME DESIST.”
Mr. Whitbread’s Poor Law Bills[10] of 1807 were the present occasion
of the subject being before the public.
The income-tax was ten per cent., and the quartern loaf averaged
eleven-pence, at this period; whilst the wages of the rural labourer
were so low, that the parish universally supplemented them in the form
of relief. This practice, indeed, had become such an abuse, that the
farmer would refuse to employ men at fair wages--throw them upon the
workhouse,--and then take their labour upon the reduced scale paid
out of the rates; thus entailing upon his neighbours a share of the
expenses of his own establishment. In many parishes _every_ labourer
was a pauper.
At the same time, capitalists and stock-jobbers were amassing wealth,
in an unprecedented degree; whilst more than a million sterling,
annually, was diverted from the public resources, into the pockets
of sinecurists. All the idleness and luxury, thus created, helped
to augment the price of the necessaries of life; and the inevitable
consequences of unproductive expenditure ensued, in a continued
diminution of the resources of those persons who earned their living.
And what was the _bolus_, proposed to be applied for the cure of this
alarming cancer? _Educate the children of the poor!_ Positively! As
though the children of the poor (at least, of the rural poor) did not
pick up their education day by day, from the moment that they could
crawl out into the fields to scare away the rooks; as though ploughing,
mowing, threshing, and reaping,--loading a waggon, and guiding a
team, could not be better acquired, on the old lines, than by having
the unreceptive bucolic brain first gorged with reading, writing,
and arithmetic! And this new reforming agency, mark you, was to be a
further expense to the rate-payers; already at their wits’ end to know
how, themselves, to keep the wolf from the door. Is it any wonder,
then, that persons who, like Mr. Cobbett, not only knew the real wants
and temptations, and difficulties of the labourer, raised their voices
indignantly?
That it should be imputed to the poor, that it was their IGNORANCE and
VICE which had brought them low: that any other cause, but the increase
of luxurious idlers, and the draining of the national resources
by exorbitant taxation, could lie at the root of the evil: that a
generation of plutocrats should have grown up, who looked upon the
“lower orders” as of less consequence than their horses, their dogs,
and their poultry, was not to be borne in silence, whilst the pen of a
ready writer was at hand to defy such thoughtless misrepresentation.
From this time, then, until the period of his death, Cobbett’s voice
was raised on behalf of the suffering Labouring Classes of England.
An adequate return for their labour, and some respect toward them as
fellow-creatures, he was determined to get; and he would suffer no
opposition, no ignominy, to hinder his endeavours.
* * * * *
But, what was his own practice; and what was the condition of the
labourers in his own service?
Precisely that, which could alone render them independent and
prosperous. He would have no paupers; and, although they were,
generally, married men with families, no one was allowed to remain in
his service who required parish assistance. As he gave high wages, and
provided them with a free dwelling, the need of this stipulation is
obvious. But, they had to work for it all: Mr. Cobbett would have a
day’s work for a day’s pay; and so have no obligation left, on either
side, when they came to eventide. Men might be independent, and they
might be saucy, too; but better these, a thousand times, than cringing
hypocrisy,--than the enslavement of idleness at starvation-pay.
Not only this: Mr. Cobbett’s was a measure full and running over;--
“My house was always open to give them victuals and drink
whenever they happened to come to it, and to supply them with
little things necessary to them in case of illness; and in case
of illness their wages always went on just as if they had been
well.”
Seventy years will pass away, and carry off with them most direct
evidence, leaving little beyond shadowy traditions. But there are,
yet living at Botley, aged persons who were long in Mr. Cobbett’s
service, as gardeners and farm-labourers. And these persons, one and
all, represent his days at Botley as a time of exceptional comfort
and well-being; and his service as one of well-paid, hard-working
earnestness. Hated and envied by some of his neighbours, he was
maligned, and abused, and misrepresented, as earnest people always
are;[11] but there were a far greater number, who welcomed the current
of joy, and freedom, to which he had given rise. And the recollection
of his name will still restore a transient smile to the withered
features of a man, whose lengthened span of life may be due, in great
measure, to the habits of industry and thrift and independence acquired
in the service of William Cobbett.
FOOTNOTES
[1] All this sketch (in Cobbett’s own words, written in 1832) is as
faithful as it is graphic. The event provided ample resource for the
witlings of the day. See, for example, “A History of the Westminster
Election in November, 1806,” with its coloured picture of the hustings;
also, “The Rising Sun; a Serio-comic Satiric Romance,” vol. ii., in
which Paull’s bottle-holder appears as _Mr. Cobwell_, a man of great
talents and strength of mind,” &c.
[2] Afterwards collected into a volume, under the title of “The
Political Proteus: a view of the Character and Conduct of R. B.
Sheridan, Esq.,” &c., and published by Budd and others. Sheridan’s
“dramatic loyalty” (as it was happily expressed), was a constant
theme of the caricaturists of the day. Cobbett makes a note, in one
of his “summaries,” of twenty-five public pledges which Sheridan had
abandoned, and promises that they shall be “detailed one of these days.”
[3] The misunderstanding between Burdett and Paull culminated in a
duel, in which both were wounded. The affair was a rather silly one,
and brought out some wit. Mr. Paull was a little, fiery man, or he
would have succeeded better as a politician. Mr. Horne Tooke said to
him one day, “You are a bold man, and I am certain you’ll succeed;
only, as Cobbett says, _keep yourself cool_.”
[4] “The Learned Languages” was the title of a controversy which arose
in the _Register_ early in 1807. Mr. Cobbett was out of his sphere on
this topic, and his correspondents (who were at all humorous) saw a
ready application of the fable concerning a fox who had lost his tail.
Others were more serious, and thought that the knowledge of the Latin
and Greek classics “kept together the higher orders of society, and
separate from the lower orders.”
[5] Afterwards Earl Grey, who carried the Reform Bill of 1832.
[6] Otherwise John Gifford. Cobbett had made an allusion to his change
of name, parenthetically adding, “for cogent reasons, no doubt.”
[7] Mr. Robson’s renewed motion on the Barrack-office. Cobbett prepared
and wrote out these motions for him.
[8] “Seat in a Certain Assembly.--Any gentleman having the disposal of
a close one may apply,” &c., &c.--_Morning Post_, May 1, 1807.
“A Certain Great Assembly.--Fourteen hundred guineas per annum will be
given for a seat in the above Assembly. Letters addressed to,” &c.,
&c.--_Morning Chronicle_, May 21, 1807.
[9] Even Mr. Wilberforce, busied with the wrongs of distant races,
had remarkably low and narrow views concerning the _lower orders_ of
his own country, as he called them. In 1801, he “nearly resolves” to
move in Parliament for a grant of one million for their relief! At
another time he thinks Government should relieve, privately, some of
the distress, “and afterwards allege that they did not do so publicly
for fear of producing a mischievous effect abroad.” And one’s patience
is almost exhausted at hearing him call the people “tainted” with
disaffection, when everybody knows they are starving. _Vide_ his “Life,
&c.,” iii., 3, 6, 13.
[10] Samuel Whitbread (1758-1815) had entered Parliament in 1790, and
became an adherent of Mr. Fox, after whose death he was one of the
principal leaders of opposition. A genuine philanthropist, guided by
deep religious impressions, he spent a large portion of his wealth in
endeavouring to ameliorate the condition of the poor, in and around his
Bedfordshire estates.
[11] On one occasion, in the summer of 1809, there was a grand
field-day over “Cobbett, the Oppressor of the Poor,” &c., &c. A boy in
his service had absconded, after having received his wages beforehand;
and, being brought before the magistrates at Winchester, was sent to
prison for a week. But, through some informality on the part of the
constable who arrested him, the relatives of the boy were induced to
bring an action against Cobbett, the constable, and another local
officer, the damages being laid at one thousand pounds! The papers
were, instantly, full of the affair; several columns appeared in the
_Post_, to the exclusion of important war news; Gillray had a picture
of the oppressor thrashing the naked boy tied to a post; women of
fashion came to see the poor creature in prison. The three defendants
had to pay ten pounds between them; and the fact of _a conviction_
was sufficient for exulting detractors. The boy afterwards admitted,
however, that he ran away from Mr. Cobbett’s because he had to get up
as early as his master.
“In private life Mr. Cobbett is an exceedingly pleasant companion,
and an excellent husband and father. It has been asserted that he is
harsh to those who are in his service, but this appears to me to be
a calumny. That he expects his labourers to perform their duty is
certain, and in this he is truly their friend. Industrious himself, he
hates idleness in others. But he is willing to pay them liberally, and
to contribute to their happiness. I have been more than once at Botley,
and must say that I have never anywhere seen such excellent cottages,
gardens, and other comforts appropriated to the labouring class as
those which he erected and laid out on his estate.”--(From “Public
Characters of All Nations,” Sir R. Phillips, Lond., 1823).
Alexander Somerville once met with a former Botley servant of
Cobbett’s, who declared that he “would never wish to serve a better
master.” (“The Whistler at the Plough,” p. 263, Lond., 1852).
CHAPTER XVI.
“THEY NATURALLY HATE ME.”
There was a Mr. Homan, M.P., a friend of Sheridan’s, and a defender of
his reputation, who came down to the House of Commons, one day in the
Session of 1807, and announced that a friend of his had just called
upon Mr. Cobbett, at Botley; and found him living in a “pig-stye.”
Now, this gentle sally, on the part of a jocular senator, may be
selected (out of many, more or less serious) in order to indicate the
prominent place now occupied by Cobbett in men’s minds. Addressing
with familiarity the leading characters of the day, (always in the
first-person-singular, be it remembered), he is herding with, and
advocating the cause of, the lowest of the low. Occupied with such
vulgar pursuits as gardening and planting, and tending dogs and pigs,
he is actually daring to instruct and to lead the successors of Burke
and of Pitt. One of the “swinish multitude” is here, having poked his
nose through the crowd, strutting along cheek-by-jowl with cabinet
ministers, and positively claiming a share of the foot-way!
The worst of it all is, that this presumptuous fellow is not in the
wrong. Nobody can convict him of a misstatement of facts; no one can
answer his arguments; no one can match his brilliant language. Yet,
people won’t leave him alone: they will put their pop-guns into range;
they will throw dirt, unmindful of the consequences of handling dirt.
And, these failing,--as the passionate schoolboy, unable to wreak his
vengeance openly, for just castigation, sneaks;--they sneak. They watch
his footsteps, if so he can be tripped-up.
But the intended victim learns wariness as he proceeds. Who should
be tripped-up, that plants one foot securely before the other is
raised? that gives chapter-and-verse for his facts? that dreads no
bogy whatsoever? and who still wants to know so many interesting
little secrets, which he has a perfect right to know, and which he is
determined to know?
* * * * *
Several opposition papers had already been tried, previously to this
date. The Addington ministry set up _The Pilot_, and the _Royal
Standard_; but these soon died
“Unwept, unhonour’d, and unsung,”
and are, probably, only rescued from utter oblivion by this
sternly-truthful page. An imitation _Register_, edited by Mr. REDHEAD
YORKE,[1] had a longer lease of life;--known as _Yorke’s Weekly
Political Review_, the first number appeared in November, 1805, and ran
to several volumes. But it never attained to any authority. _Flower’s
Political Review and Monthly Register_, printed at Harlow, lasted
several years. This journal gave a mild sort of support to reform,
without extravagance of tone; and reprinted, from time to time, such
works as “Locke on Government,” and Bolingbroke’s “Patriot King.”
Later on, appeared the _National Register_, with the openly-avowed
object of producing “candid, but intrepid strictures” upon Mr. Cobbett
and the political pamphleteers. And in 1809, a very grand show was
made, in the prospectus of BLAGDON’S _Weekly Political Register_:--
“This new political paper will be printed in the same manner as
COBBETT’S REGISTER.
“In every number will be inserted an exposition of the daring
libels and audacious falsehoods promulgated by COBBETT.
“All who are acquainted with the paper of COBBETT, may
perfectly understand the nature of the one here proposed, &c.,
&c.
“The history of the political life and writings of WILLIAM
COBBETT will be commenced in the first number, and continued
every week, till concluded.”
Such a very funny prospectus: such a marvel of self-sufficiency,
ignorance, and malignity: really should have been supported better.
But, no! people didn’t want to be told afresh, that misgovernment ought
to be hushed up for the sake of great reputations; and Mr. Blagdon
disappeared, along with all the other political dolphins, that must
need display their back-fins for one transient moment, with no other
end than to whet curiosity or excite wonder.
Some of the pamphlets fared better. But then, they were freely
distributed by the agents of Government. The story of the
Court-Martial, published in 1809, was understood to be an open effort,
on the part of ministers and their adherents, to damage the honour
of Mr. Cobbett: indeed, it could not have been otherwise, seeing the
amount of official matter which the thing contained.[2] Besides a
half-crown edition, it was issued in a cheap form for distribution.
Then there was “Cobbett Convicted, and the Revolutionist Exposed:”
a task of no great difficulty, of course,--seeing that it was
“The Parliamentary Reformer” brought face to face with old “Peter
Porcupine,” the hater of demagogues and the denouncer of revolution.
A kindred publication was “Elements of Reform,” sold at sixpence, and
largely distributed amongst the people; so that they might see for
themselves how excessively wrong, how truly inconsistent, it was, for
any person to change his opinions when he got older and wiser.
One of the most curious evidences of the spirit of persecution, which
was abroad among ministerialists, is furnished by Lord Colchester,
under date May 7th, 1809.[3] He was at that time “Mr. Speaker,” and was
walking home after church with Mr. Perceval. The latter, communicating
his thoughts on various topics, at last comes to Cobbett:--
“He thought Cobbett had at last committed himself in his
paper upon the House of Commons’ vote (for rejecting Lord
Folkestone’s motion for a Committee to inquire into the sale
of all places in the State, &c.), but, when he showed me the
paper, it did not so strike me that the libel was more violent
than what all the opposition papers contained every day; nor
was it such as could usefully be proceeded upon.”
What Mr. Cobbett had said, you will find in the _Register_ of the
previous day. And, if you think that the word “libellous” applies to
his remarks, you have leave to bring a charge of assault and battery
against that man, who has violated the sanctity of your mouth, in
withdrawing therefrom the tooth which distressed you, and which
embittered your existence.
* * * * *
The foregoing notes, somewhat anticipatory in point of time, will
enable the reader to understand the danger which was now attending Mr.
Cobbett’s footsteps. He was running the gauntlet of all those who had
anything to fear from too much light; and they naturally hated him. Not
that he was alone: the Reformists were increasing in number. But Mr.
Cobbett was the most daring of the lot; inspiring all the rest with
pluck and animation. Even in the House of Commons, the division lists
showed how a feeling of shame was growing upon a greater number of its
members. As early as 1807, a Reversion Bill passed the Commons, the
object of which was to prevent the future granting of sinecure places
_two or three deep_; this was, however, thrown out in the Lords.
* * * * *
And all this did not interrupt the joys down in Hampshire:--
“… I have the finest melons, Indian corn, and Carolina beans
that ever were seen.”
“We are just setting out to meet Mr. Bagshaw,[4] and as a proof
of our having anticipated your hopes about amusing him, we have
made all the preparations for taking him with us to Morn Hill
Fair to-morrow, which is upon the heights above Winchester,
and which is the greatest fair, for one day, that is known in
England. There are several scores of acres of ground covered
over with bacon, cheese, hops, leather, &c. About Wednesday he
will go to Portsmouth.”
“I hope soon to send hares to everybody. I have killed some,
and have, as usual, given them away. I take my young bitch
to Everley, where she is to run a match that Dr. Mitford has
made; but I shall leave betting and matches to others, though I
cannot say but I should like to see my dogs win.”[5]
“Hares and post-offices do not congregate together, I find.
There is none of the latter nearer to Everley than this place
[Andover, November, 1807].… I am now starting for Everley with
Nancy, Mrs. Cobbett having declined the trip. She will go to
Dr. Mitford’s. I saw William at Winchester, who is grown very
much, and who behaved just as a son of mine ought to behave. So
cleanly, so orderly, so attentive, so punctual, and so manly,
just as I was at his age; I hope the qualities will be more
durable with him.”
“… Almost all the money I draw is expended in preparations for
planting, and in making a new footpath along the side of my
farm, in order to stop up the one that passes through it, and
which is an injury to the estate. These pecuniary pinches give
me great uneasiness, at times; but they will cease before it
be long; and if it please God to preserve my life, they will
cease much about the time that my grand planting scheme will
be actually completed. There is here a little coppice, which I
think will be to be sold; and which I intend you shall have.…
I am very desirous that you should have an inch of land that
you might set your foot upon, and say, ‘this is mine.’ But pray
never talk to any one about these matters.”
Mr. Wright is particularly requested not to lend the little mare, but
to make use of it himself:--
“I hope you ride a good deal. I wish to God you would rise
early. It is the finest thing in the world for health. I am in
my coppice by six o’clock in the morning; but then, I am in bed
by ten at latest.”
The following occurs, as a postscript, on the back of a letter to
Wright:--
“My dear little James,--your little dog is very well, and the
rabbits are in their new house. God bless you.--Wm. C.”
An old acquaintance turns up, one day in the spring of 1808:--
“This day the most wonderful thing, which I have met with in
my whole wonderful life, has happened to me. A gentleman came
to me this morning from London, to show me, and to consult
me upon, the publication of a work upon _Metaphysicks_. He
appeared to be a very learned and very accomplished man, and
so I find him, upon some hours of conversation; and, would
you believe it, he then discovered himself to me; and I found
him to be the same whom I left in England, twenty-three years
ago, a fifer, in the recruiting party that I belonged to! This
has occupied me the whole day. He was about two years younger
than myself, and I have thought and talked of him ten thousand
times, having had a most affectionate regard for him.… You
shall see my old acquaintance when I get to town.”
The letters of this period are filled with cautions, that every means
be taken to avoid occasion of real offence. “Copy” for the _Register_
is to be carefully scanned, and communications from sympathizing
correspondents are to be softened in their tone, before committal to
the printer. Some of these latter are far too plain-spoken. An awakened
public opinion, too liable to rush to extremes, must be kept within
proper limits, as regards its expression. There is no disposition to
go to jail for the sake of brilliant periods and caustic paragraphs.
The “villains” could be lashed vigorously enough without any need of
departing from facts.
Questions of libel were by no means infrequent, during these years.
And, with Lord Ellenborough’s severe opinions on that topic, there was
plenty of reason to fear any conflict with authority. An action brought
by an offended author against Messrs. Hood and Sharpe, in July 1808,
for a skit upon a certain book of travels, brought Mr. Cobbett forward,
in several letters upon the subject of libel law; in which he pointed
out very clearly, that principles had retrograded since the days of
Pope and Swift, who certainly had no idea that to write and publish
truth was any crime:--
“The whole tenor of their works proves, that, so long as they
confined themselves to the stating of what was _true_, they
entertained no apprehensions as to the consequences.… They
were afraid of no constructive libels; nor, if they chose
to express their disapprobation of the conduct of kings and
princes, did they fear the accusation of _disloyalty_. And
what would they have said, had they been told that, in their
country, it would become a crime to wound men’s feelings by
holding them up to ridicule? Ridicule is a thing that will not
attach _where it ought not_,” &c., &c.
His own idea (which, however, he did not always put into practice)
was to live it down; and, as for calumny, he had advised Mr. Paull,
and he had so advised others, to let falsehood come to the inevitable
over-reaching of itself.
As for caricatures,--
“Caricatures are things to laugh at. They break no bones.
I, for instance, have been represented as a bulldog, as a
porcupine, as a wolf, as a sans-culotte, as a nightman, as
a bear, as a kite, as a cur; and, in America, as hanging
upon a gallows. Yet, here I am, just as sound as if no
misrepresentation of me had ever been made.”
This was no idle boast. The Anti-Cobbett squibs and caricatures were
a standing source of amusement, even with the little boys and girls,
at Botley house. The articles, above alluded to, had produced a fresh
crop. He writes to Mr. Wright upon “our friends the satirists:”--
“They seem half-distracted. How angry they are, that I did not
take notice of what they said of myself! All those who know
anything of me, know their assertions or insinuations to be
false; and, as to those who know nothing of me, they are of no
consequence to me, or to anybody else.”
But, the jealousy of the press was beyond everything.[6] Unfairness
and malignity marked all references to Cobbett, who was really doing
them better service than any one individual, beside, could be credited
with. It is true, he never spared his cotemporaries, when in fight;
but let them be for a moment in trouble, and his shield was at once
raised, by his proclamation of the Liberty of the Press; and of his
doctrine that there was nothing so mean, “nor so truly detestable,” as
that of seeking, through the law, vengeance for a literary defeat. No
such generosity, however, could be remembered in the midst of party
fights; and, even where there was real ability and talent, as with the
_Morning Chronicle_ under James Perry, newspaper polemics of that day
were marked by misrepresentation and abuse.
* * * * *
The inquiry into the conduct of the Duke of York, brought about by the
discovery of corrupt influence in the disposal of promotions, &c., kept
society amused for several months, during the year 1809; and, indeed,
threw everything else into the shade, not excepting the new tide of
affairs in the Peninsula. Mr. Cobbett was in the front, as might have
been expected.
The circumstances were these. The Duke of York had now been the
Commander-in-Chief for several years, to the great benefit of the
service. It was generally acknowledged that increased efficiency and
discipline had been introduced into the army since his appointment.
Yet, whispers had begun to be circulated, conveying grave insinuations
against his Royal Highness; and there were those who openly predicted
his speedy dismissal.
All this was, however, treated by “the loyal” as wicked conspiracy,
libel, Jacobinism, and so forth. And the Duke might have escaped
exposure, had it not been for a brave Irishman, who ventured upon
publishing his grievances,[7] and risking the inevitable dangers. As it
happened, Major Hogan’s pamphlet came just in the nick of time, gave
the Duke’s enemies an opportunity, and the Reformists a grievance. Here
is Mr. Cobbett’s first short reference, directing public attention to
it:--
“This, I scruple not to say, is the most interesting
publication that has appeared in England for many years. It
should be read by every individual in the nation. Oh, what a
story does this gentleman tell! What a picture does he exhibit!
What facts does he unfold! If _this_ produce no effect upon the
public, why, then, we are so base and rascally a crew, that it
is no matter what becomes of us. We are unworthy of the name of
men, and are beneath the beasts that perish.”
The facts being, in short, that Major Hogan found he could get the
promotion he wanted by paying 500_l._ to the Duke’s mistress, Mrs.
Clarke; after he had waited long and hopelessly for it, on direct
application to the Duke himself.
There was some hesitation in accepting Major Hogan’s statement;
meanwhile, Finnerty, who had edited the pamphlet, and the publisher,
Bagshaw, were prosecuted. Mr. Cobbett, himself, thought the story
far too gross to be true,--that a “peculating pimp,” (as he called
her), had gone round to the major’s hotel with hush-money: had been
refused: and that such doubtful personage could be no other than the
artful mistress of the Prince. However, light came upon the matter from
another quarter, which laid the whole thing before the public gaze;
and, in the end, caused the temporary retirement of the Duke from his
office.
Mr. Gwyllym Lloyd Wardle[8] was the agent of inquiry. He brought the
matter before the House of Commons, in January, 1809, supported by
several clear instances; in which it was shown that Mrs. Clarke was
having a large share in the patronage of the War Office, and was
making a good deal of money over it; besides, that several clergymen
owed their advancement to her. So, there was a Committee of the whole
House; many witnesses were examined,--
“Thaïs led the way,--”
and the faithful Commons could attend to nothing whilst this was going
on. Corunna faded into insignificance, and became a mocking sound; and
no one seemed to think that the war was of any consequence, until this
interesting affair was disposed of.[9]
The upshot of all was, that the Duke of York was exculpated from any
guilty participation in these malpractices; but he at once resigned the
office of commander-in-chief, and dismissed the author of his troubles.
Colonel Wardle was publicly thanked for his disinterested service, in
all the principal towns in the kingdom. He did not escape malignity
however; and his popularity on the one hand was balanced by persecution
on the other, headed by Mrs. Clarke herself. After the lapse of a year
or so, she produced a very naughty, brazen-faced book, under the title
of “The Rival Princes;”[10] in which most of the gentlemen who had
aided in exposing her were more or less libelled. It was a book that
could only have been produced by a courtesan, and it, probably, did not
do any harm either to Colonel Wardle, or to any of those whose names
were involved. Mr. Cobbett’s name appears in it, as having been incited
to anger against the Duke, on account of the latter having thought it
prudent not to receive Cobbett at dinner, as an opposition writer.
Mr. Cobbett thereupon informed his public that he had been introduced
to Mrs. Clarke, and was invited to dine with her; but that his wife
disapproved of any such questionable acquaintance, and he didn’t go.[11]
It is exceedingly probable that the Royal Family were getting offended
with Mr. Cobbett, in spite of his professions of loyalty to the
constitution, and his really affectionate references to the king; and
it would surprise no one, at this distance of time, to learn that the
Prince of Wales and Mr. Perceval were putting their heads together
with a view to silencing him. That which brought Mr. Cobbett into the
one great trouble of his life happened soon after the above-mentioned
events.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Mr. H. Redhead Yorke was a barrister with a love for politics and
some ability in political disquisition. He had been imprisoned in York
Castle, on account of his writings, in 1794; but had now, in maturer
years, become more “loyal.”
[2] Brougham, in his partial way, thought the business “much against
him,” and insinuated that the story might have been made to look worse.
_Vide_ “Memoirs,” i. 437.
The _British Critic_, doing penance for its former sins, says, “This is
merely a report of certain facts, which it has appeared useful to bring
forward at this time,” &c.
[3] “Diary and Correspondence,” ii. 183.
[4] The well-known newsman of Bow Street, Covent Garden. He had been
the publisher of the _Register_ since its commencement.
[5] Here are reminiscences of Everley, written nearly twenty years
after:--
“Not far above Amesbury is a little village called Netheravon, where I
once saw _an acre of hares_. We were coursing at Everley, a few miles
off, and one of the party happening to say that he had seen _an acre
of hares_ at Mr. Hicks-Beach’s at Netheravon, we who wanted to see
the same, or to detect our informant, sent a messenger to beg a day’s
coursing, which being granted, we went over the next day. Mr. Beach
received us very politely. He took us into a wheat stubble close to his
paddock; his son took a gallop round, cracking his whip at the same
time; the hares (which were very thickly in sight before) started all
over the field, ran into a flock like sheep, and we all agreed that the
flock did cover an acre of ground.”
“This is the most famous place in all England for coursing. I was here,
at this very inn, with a party eighteen years ago; and the landlord,
who is still the same, recognized me as soon as he saw me. There were
forty brace of greyhounds taken out into the field on one of the days,
and every brace had one course, and some of them _two_. The ground is
the finest in the world: from two to three miles for the hare to run to
cover, and not a stone, nor a bush, nor a hillock. It was here proved
to me that the hare is by far the swiftest of all English animals; for
I saw three hares in one day _run away_ from the dogs. To give dog and
hare a fair trial, there should be but _one_ dog; then, if that dog
got so close as to compel the hare _to turn_, that would be a proof
that the dog ran fastest. When the dog, or dogs, never get near enough
to the hare to induce her to turn, she is said, and very justly, to
run away from them; and, as I saw three hares do this in one day, I
conclude that the hare is the swifter animal of the two.”
[6] The first genuine piece of criticism upon Cobbett’s writings,
which had any real talent, was an article by Francis Jeffery in the
_Edinburgh Review_ for July, 1807. But it had the same conspicuous
failure which attended all partisan writers, and Whigs above all, in
their efforts to define political consistency.
This article furnished the material out of which all subsequent attacks
upon Cobbett’s alleged “tergiversation” would seem to have been
founded. While, however, there was abundant material for comparison,
there was no impugning the justness of his reasons for a change of
views; nor, indeed, was any attempt made to do so. Both Jeffery and
his copiers studiously avoided arguing out Cobbett’s conclusions. It
was all-sufficient, in the eye of a party writer, to wreck a man’s
reputation who had once openly forsaken a cause.
And yet, the reviewer, near the opening of his article, says the
_Register_ “can only be acceptable to men of some vigour of intellect,
and some independence of principle.” That was the very root of the
matter. Imagine the _Edinburgh_ of that day being acceptable to men
of any independence of principle! The very number in question has
an article on Catholic Relief, which not only contains sentiments
differing from Jeffery’s, but the very opposite to those enunciated by
the same review only three years before.
But there was one leading difference between the Whig writer and
Mr. Cobbett--they were place-hunters and he was not, and no awkward
“comparisons” could wipe out this notorious fact.
[7] “An Appeal to the Public and a Farewell Address to the British
Army, by Brevet-Major Hogan, who Resigned his Commission in consequence
of the Treatment he experienced from the Duke of York, and of the
System that prevails in the Army respecting Promotion” (London, 1808).
[8] Mr. Wardle was a man of fortune, a native of Cheshire, who had
served in Ireland during the rebellion; he entered Parliament, as
Member for Oakhampton, in the year 1807. This affair of the Duke of
York brought him vast popularity.
Francis Place says that Colonel Wardle was a weak and timid man,
without the capacity to estimate either his own powers or resources,
and that, had he foreseen the trouble and vexation his motion would
have occasioned him, he would not have made it. Mr. Brooks (another
Westminster politician) raised a subscription of 4000_l._ for Wardle.
See Place MSS. in the British Museum (Addl. 27,850).
[9] The details of this inquiry are accessible, in the _Annual
Register_ of the year; and Lord Colchester’s Diary, vol. ii., gives
some outline of the plans of Ministers concerning the Duke’s defence.
Cobbett’s _Register_ was, of course, very entertaining over the matter.
[10] “The Rival Princes; or, A Faithful Narrative of Facts relating to
Mrs. M. A. Clarke’s Political Acquaintance with Colonel Wardle, Major
Dodd, &c., &c., who were concerned in the Charges against the Duke of
York.” 2 vols., London, 1810.
[11] This book brought out a good deal of humour and some imitations.
One which will interest us is, “The Rival Impostors; or, Two Political
Epistles to two Political Cheats. The first addressed to G. L.
Wardle, Esq., M.P.; and the second to William Cobbett, &c., &c.” The
latter’s share was an “Analysis” of the Court Martial. The argument is
worthless, and the language fearfully gross. Here is a mild specimen:--
“Now blush, thou unparalleled liar![A] if not at thy wickedness,”
&c., &c.
[A] “Gentle reader, pardon this coarse expression; none other in the
English language is sufficiently strong to express my horror and
contempt of the miscreant to whom it is applied.”
CHAPTER XVII.
“THE OUTCRY AGAINST ME IS LOUDER THAN EVER.”
The little estate, which was being formed on the banks of the Hamble,
was now beginning to wear a face of its own, in the spring of 1808.
The consolidation of two or three small farms, and the replanting of
a large portion of the ground, with oak, thorn, ash, acacia, &c., was
the outline of a plan, which now showed some promise of a return. Mr.
Cobbett’s favourite notion had been, that a fair provision for his
family might be thus made. And now, after three full seasons, the new
plantations had entirely fulfilled the expectation.[1] They were
flourishing and healthy, and a large supply of material for the London
stick-makers appears as part of this year’s cropping. In May, there is
another large parcel of land added, containing sixty-seven acres of
wood, besides arable land and water-meadow.
All this makes the need of any visit to London still more irksome; and
Mr. Wright has to do the honours for his leader. There is talk of a
grand demonstration at Westminster, to celebrate the anniversary of
Burdett’s election; but Mr. Cobbett doesn’t care to be dragged away
from his beloved fields into “the cursed smoke,” as he calls it:--
“… Go to the committee by all means. Let us suffer no little
slights to interfere with our public duty. That is the way with
those only who are actuated by selfish motives. I shall be in
town on Thursday night next, or on Saturday night.… If I find
all to be good men and true, we will make such a stir as has
not for sometime been made. All the gentlemen whom I meet with,
are loud in Sir Francis Burdett’s praise. The motion about the
cashiering of offices has gained him thousands of valuable
friends. So bent was I upon calling for a purgation of that
d---- House, that I was resolved to petition alone, if any one
would have presented my petition. The nation is heart-sick of
it. It is impossible for both factions united to calumniate
our motives, if we proceed as we ought, and do not mix with
men of bad character. There is one Hunt,[2] the Bristol man.
Beware of him. He rides about the country with a * * the wife
of another man, having deserted his own. A sad fellow! Nothing
to do with him.
“P.S.--I will write to Sir J. Astley. I am very sorry for his
misfortune indeed. I want very much to see some man who has
planted upon a large scale. Cutting upon a large scale is the
order of the day here.”
* * * * *
“… Now, as to the dinner, it is dreadfully distressing for
me to go; for, the season being so backward, has thrown the
oak-cutting into this week and the two succeeding ones, and
you will easily guess how necessary my personal attendance is,
while it lasts. Yet I will go, if alive and well; but I must go
up on the Sunday, and come back on the Tuesday, for I cannot
be longer absent. I have many reasons for going as well as for
staying; but the former prevail.
“I have not sold my second lot of timber that I had marked
while I was in London. When I come to see it again, and to
consider that the 300 that would have sold for a thousand
pounds were gaining in growth above 150_l._ a year, I could
not bring myself to commit such flagrant murder of property.
The new purchase has upon it about 6000 trees, that now cost
me from a shilling to two-and-sixpence apiece, and that in
twenty years’ time will be worth 3_l._ apiece, at the very
least. This, I think, is the best way of insuring a fortune for
children.”
“Only the day before yesterday, I was bent upon going to town
for the 23rd, and had written to Mr. H---- of Fontington, to
meet me there about the farm. But now I find that it cannot
be, without an inconvenience and risk which, I am sure, no
friend would wish me to incur, especially as my journey would
produce little more than my own gratification at witnessing the
assemblage of so many public-spirited men. You know very well
that this is my harvest, and that this year I have a tenfold
harvest. I allude to the oak-tree cutting, which must be done
while the sap is in the flood of its spring, or not at all;
and the bark, you will observe, is of the little thinners that
I am cutting upon my own account, worth three times as much
as the timber. In the average of years, this sap season lasts
a good month; but the very extraordinary backwardness of this
spring, and the very rare hot weather that has come on after
it, has made the season last only three weeks, a fortnight of
which has already passed. Owing to this, I, who waited till the
several companies of fellers had finished the great timber, am
obliged to fall to work on Saturday, instead of waiting till
next Tuesday. I am compelled to set sixty men on at once, and
as mine is a work of thinning, it will require my constant
attendance from the time the men begin till they leave off.
I must be with them to mark the trees; to see the effect of
taking out some, before we take out others; and, in short,
the health and growth, as well as the future beauty, of 100
acres of the finest woods in England depend upon my personal
attendance between Saturday and Wednesday next. Nothing ever
was more pointedly perverse; but I trust that all those who
wished me to attend the dinner will be convinced that I ought
not to leave home at this time.
“I am of opinion, too (and I should like to hear what the Major
says of the matter), that I am of most weight as a _spectator_
and _comment-maker_. This way my word and opinion pass for a
good deal; but I am not clear that whatever good I could do as
an _agitator_, would not be more than counterbalanced by the
loss of weight in the other character. I know it is the opinion
of Sir Francis, that to put me in parliament would be to lessen
my weight; and, really, I think that the same reasoning will
apply to the other case. In fact, we cannot _act_ and _write_
too, with so much advantage. The way in which I am most able to
aid the cause of the country is to sit quietly here, and give
my sincere and unbiased opinions upon all that passes which
appears worthy of particular notice.
“In the copy last sent you, there is the phrase ‘_old_ G.
Rose.’ Upon second thoughts, it may as well be left out. It is,
perhaps, right to cease to use that, and the like phrases. One
puts them down under the influence of indignant feelings, but
they probably do more harm than good.”
Although he does not go up to the festival at the “Crown and Anchor,”
Mr. Cobbett does justice to the opportunity as a “comment-maker.” In
supporting Burdett’s views, as expressed at the meeting, he remarks:--
“I am persuaded that if the nation were polled, leaving out
those who have an interest in corruption, there would appear
a majority of a thousand to one in favour of the reform,
which he recommends, and which, in their better days, had
been recommended by Mr. Pitt and Mr. Wilberforce.… A minister
may desire to do that which is for the good of the country;
he may have an anxious desire to promote its happiness (and,
his errors aside, I do think that Mr. Perceval is such a
man); but, before he can stir an inch, he has the feelings
and interests of the borough-mongers to consult; he has party
to counteract, and faction to mollify. How much more at his
ease must such a man feel: what a load would be removed from
his mind, if he could step into a House of Commons freely
chosen, and having no object in view but that of agreeing to
what they thought good, and opposing what they thought bad! A
House of Commons in which there would be no strife for office
or emolument, and in which, nine times out of ten, truth would
prevail.”
There is an excursion to Cornwall, in August, on occasion of the
trial of Sir Christopher Hawkins and others, at Penrhyn, for corrupt
practices at a past election. The electors of Westminster are forthwith
treated to a new lecture, upon the prevalence of the “vile traffic”
in seats; and Mr. Wright is favoured with an account of the aspect of
things and people as they appear from behind the scenes. One remark is
interesting: “Notwithstanding all I have said about the lawyers lately,
the whole of them have treated me with distinguished civility.”
* * * * *
The following, dated 17th September, 1808, is worth preserving, as
upon a subject concerning which Mr. Cobbett had some real practical
knowledge:--
“The essay upon planting, which you sent me some time ago, is
very well done, and is particularly interesting to me. It
establishes, from experience, what I had before made up my mind
to, in theory. Certainly, there is no way in which the very
best lands are to be employed to so much ultimate advantage.
If your friend should be actually about planting himself, my
experiments, in a year or two, may be of great use to him. Of
two things, however, I can now speak with positive certainty;
viz., that to obtain quick produce, the trees planted should
be small; deciduous trees from the seed-bed, and firs not
above a foot or eighteen inches high. And, that all deciduous
trees, of whatever size, should be, after planting, cut down
to the ground. Last year (March, 1807), I planted ten planes,
about eight feet high. Some of them shot very well, others not,
their tops dying, and the new shoots breaking out some distance
from the branches. One of them, in the month of May, 1807, we
thought was dead; but my man, thinking that there was some life
in the root, cut it off within two inches of the ground.… This
tree is now twelve feet high, a beautiful straight stem, with
proper side-branches, while the highest of the others (with
heads too large for their bodies) is not more than ten feet
high. I have proved the same with all sorts of deciduous trees.
Those who want, quickly, fine plantations about their houses,
should plant and cut down to the ground; and of course those
should do it who plant for profit. If this were done, you would
not see so many acres of poor, sickly, dead-topped things,
called shrubberies, about new-built houses. A tree planted
large, and its head left on, is a continual eyesore, until it
be rooted up. I transplanted some American walnuts last March;
they were three feet high in the seed-bed. Some I cut down
before I planted them, the rest not; and the former are now as
high as the latter, with fine straight stems, while the others
are top-heavy, and must be cut down at last, in order to make
them grow freely.…
“The rascals in Portugal have made a pretty mess of it! To be
sure, one cannot say how they have been criminal; but to me
it appears that both our admiral and our general ought to be
hanged.…”
This last paragraph refers to the convention at Cintra, by which the
French army was permitted to retire from Portugal in British ships.
This advantage, granted to the ubiquitous enemy, caused a great popular
outcry in England. The Hampshire people had a grand demonstration at
Winchester, in November; in which occasion Mr. Cobbett took a prominent
part.
Another useful scheme is now in preparation. In his reading,
necessitated by the production of the “Parliamentary History,” Mr.
Cobbett had found the need of an accessible edition of the State
Trials; and he resolved to supply the want by reproducing them, with
additional matter, in the belief that other students of history would
find it of advantage. Mr. Wright entered warmly into the notion,
and procured the services of a gentleman to act as editor. This was
Thomas Bayly Howell, whose name has sometimes been associated with the
work.[3] But there seems to have early arisen some dissatisfaction
with him, and the engagement went very near to be cancelled. The
following has the first of several references to this matter:--
“Enclosed is a letter for you to read, and then send. I cannot
consent to a partnership. Upon reading my letter, you will
see what difficulties it must lead to. Only think of having
another person invested with a right, a legal right, to make us
account,--_us_, whose accounts the devil himself would never
unravel. I would not take such a weight upon my mind for all
the profits of all the books in the universe. No, no: you and
I were never made to have our accounts examined by anybody but
ourselves. Besides, you know what _all_ authors are. They are
all impatient for sale. But I need say no more. My letter will
adjust everything, I am certain.…
“… I thank you for the caricature. One would suppose that I
had given the hint myself, and, indeed, I am afraid the town
will say so. But, d---- the town! I care not what it says or
thinks of me.… We shall have, I think, a blazing meeting at
Winchester, and I have written to Finnerty to come down. Mind
Deverell. Never say anything to him that you do not wish the
world to know. He is a trading politician,--a mere party agent.
I have several letters from very respectable men in the county
intimating their wish to join me; particularly from Mr. Lowth
(a son of Bishop Lowth), a man of great property, and not less
respectability.…
“… William writes me a letter every week, copies a page of the
history of England every day, reads my part of the _Register_
every week, and is to get as far as the Rule of Three,
complete, by Christmas. He rode from school to Weyhill Fair,
and back, in a day; and he frequently rides to Winchester by
himself, puts his horse up at the inn, and, when he has done
his business, goes off home again. He is not yet ten years
old. What a base thing it would be to put such a boy to have
outlandish words flogged into him by an old dotard in a big
white wig! Why, if you were to put one of these * * * upon a
horse, he would fall off into the dirt! I will, if I live,
teach William to shave himself, and that will be much more
useful to him than Latin and Greek. I think of sending Nancy
for a year to the nuns at Winchester, where they teach people
to talk French and make puddings.”
“… We have had a good meeting, and Mr. Finnerty[4] will be
with you with the account of it, some time early to-morrow. I
missed by a mere hair carrying a petition, upon independent
grounds, against both parties … the Whigs, with their lords and
baronets, had been a week preparing their address; mine was
done in Finnerty’s room, while he was getting his breakfast;
and in I went to the hall without knowing any soul on my side
but Mr. Smith, Farmer Mears, about ten other yeomen who went to
dine with me, and Mr. Baker, who very boldly and well seconded
my motions.”
“… I have had letters from all parts of the country beseeching
me to persevere.…”
Concerning the forthcoming “State Trials:”--
“I must confess that I am less pleased with this thing than I
should have been, if it had remained solely in your hands. I
very much question whether Mr. H.’s taste is so good as your
own; and I am quite sure that we shall derive no comfort from
any connexion with an author.
“But it is too late to reflect; we will go on as well as we
can. Only mind to be always upon your guard against letting
him assume anything like a dictatorial tone. Keep up your
own consequence; for I know that your modest merit is not
very well calculated to resist the encroachments of conceited
importance.… Be sure to tell him none of our political secrets.
Suffer no inquiries into our affairs. Let him see no copy of
mine, or my correspondents. Tell him of none of our intentions
about anything. I know how easy it is for any one to worm
himself into your unsuspecting breast; and, therefore, I give
these cautions. I think I perceive, in his letters, a rather
consequential air. But I am resolved to have no partner, nor
any one to give me advice, except yourself. We have gone on so
happily, and so advantageously, by ourselves, that I am really
in a state of alarm at the prospect of admitting anything like
an associate. It must not be.…”
A vacancy in the representation of Hampshire brings another county
assemblage at Winchester; on which occasion Mr. Cobbett requires each
candidate to take a pledge, that, if elected, he would never accept
the public money as long as he lived; and would, moreover, use every
endeavour to obtain redress of the public grievances, especially that
trying one of having their money “voted away by those, amongst whom
there are many who receive part of that money.”
“… The meeting at Winchester was very large, and consisted of
almost the whole of the people of considerable property. Rose
and his son were deterred from appearing at the castle. The
speech was infinitely better than the _report_. I made use
of no notes, except as far as related to the sums. Not the
smallest hesitation from beginning to end; and, owing to the
strength of my voice and the clearness of my articulation,
every word I said was heard by the man the most distant from
me. The effect was very great. I spoke three-quarters of an
hour with very little interruption indeed, notwithstanding I
spoke to a party assembly, hostile to me, as far as party could
influence men. I wish you could have seen how _little_ the
_great_ looked after the speech had been made! They went up to
the castle swaggering, and in crowds; they came sneaking back
in ones and twos. Many of them had the meanness to compliment
me upon my speech. I was invited to dinner by several; but I
went to my inn and dined with Mr. Baker, another neighbouring
clergyman, and Dr. Mitford, and then set off home.
“No, be in no alarm about my hazarding my reputation and
happiness by standing as a candidate for this county, or
for any other place. That I never will be. If any body of
electors, anywhere, have a mind to choose me, without giving
me any trouble, I will serve; but at this time, I have not the
least desire for that; on my own account, I should wish not;
but I am, in such a case, not to consider myself only. I feel
that I should have power to serve with great effect; and I
shall never, I hope, be backward to make any useful sacrifice.
But I never will ask anybody to elect me.
“The boys have met me at Winchester sometimes; and it is no
bad school for them. While I was speaking, I saw in the crowd
several persons from Farnham, whom I had never seen before,
since I was their playmate. I saw many to whom I used, when
a boy, to make a very low bow. Lord Temple came and shook
hands, even after the speech. And I must say that I think
Mr. Herbert[5] a very modest young man. In one part of my
speech, an attorney of the Rose party, who stood just under
the window, made an attempt to excite a clamour; but I fixed
my eye upon him, and, pointing my hand downright, and making a
sort of chastising motion, said, ‘Peace, babbling slave!’ which
produced such terror amongst others, that I met with no more
interruption.…”
That Mr. Cobbett was unwilling to join in a cry against a public
character, without reason or justice, was often manifest. His entire
freedom from party bias, as such, accounts for the frequent distrust
which he inspired, at the same time that it helped to keep away from
him the temptation to hunt a man down merely because he was an
opponent. For example, he did not readily give ear to the charge made
against the Duke of York on the part of Major Hogan, although he was,
at the very time, raising the question of the Duke’s exorbitant income.
Mr. Cobbett could be just, and loyal too. This story of Hogan’s might
suit the tribe of malignant, unreasoning scribblers; but he has no idea
of weakening his own writings by an appeal to what looks uncommonly
like an invention. The _Register_ holds out several warnings to the
Major; and Cobbett tells Mr. Wright more plainly that he believes
“Major Hogan has certainly told a d---- lie, and ought to be exposed.…
As for Hague,[6] he really seems to have courted a jail.”
He presently adds:--
“They are fools, however, for touching him. But thus they will
go on to the end of the chapter. _Force_, _force_, that is all
their reliance. How much better to do as I do--let slander work
itself dead!
“… Bagshaw’s way is to be very quiet: when any one mentions
the matter to him, to say that he did as others do, sold the
book because it was called for. This prosecution is the very
foolishest thing that the Duke of York ever was advised to
do. Had he not begun this, Hogan would have gone nearly to
whitewash him.… Poor Finnerty! what the devil did he suffer
himself to be so provoked for? I hope he will not incur a
prosecution for Hogan.…
“As to Howell, I always was afraid of him. I know that he is
what the French call ‘_un homme à grandes pretensions_;’ as,
indeed, all your authors are.… They think that every book that
is printed is so much money coined. They take the price, the
full retail price, of a volume, say a guinea-and-a-half, then
they take the number of copies, and hence they reckon that the
bookseller has so many guineas and halves in his drawer, the
moment the book is printed. You cannot beat this out of their
brains. They will have it so. Then they are full of their
college conceit, which is so intolerable.… With such people,
a partnership would be, for you and me, a most uncomfortable
thing. I greatly approve of the scheme of a ‘fag;’ and as to
expense, four guineas a week would be cheap. But he must work
and be obedient.… I would sooner give an additional guinea
a week on the score of _obedience_, than on the score of
_talent_: though there must be considerable talent too. If you
can get rid of H., I shall be very happy. I know what your
college gentlemen are. They always have, and will have, the
insolence to think themselves our betters; and our superior
talents, and industry, and power, and weight, only excite their
envy. I am heartily sorry we ever had anything to do with H.
All this may blow off; but I shall never have confidence in
him.…
“I will write to the major,[7] and to Holt White, upon the
subject of the Trials. Two better men there are not in all
England. The major is the very best writer that I know, though
he has scarcely a drop of blood in his veins. Oh, that my mind,
at his age, may be like his!
“Be sure to send off _Register_ to Lord Cochrane, up to this
time. He is not come home. And no one can tell when he will.
Pray do not neglect this a day. I should like him to see that I
did justice to him in this country. He, after all, is the best
member for Westminster.
“Nancy will copy the manuscript of which you spoke lately. She
copied the whole of the Winchester proceedings, with only three
errors.”
The dissatisfaction with Mr. Howell would appear to have arisen
partly from an extreme slackness in providing “copy;” and, with
this, a disposition to consider his own remuneration as of the first
importance. The difficulty, however, did blow over.
The following refers to a letter of Major Cartwright’s on the affairs
of Spain:--
“… Now, as to the major’s letter. Room I am ready to spare him
for four or five columns. But, if you have the smallest doubt
upon the libel subject, do not put it in. Mark well every
word relating to the Parliament. Ferdinand, mind, must not be
libelled; and _anything is a libel_. If you can, by leaving
out, or altering, or adding, or qualifying, make it quite safe,
put the letter in; but not else.…”
This one appeared in the _Register_, but with reference to a succeeding
letter:--
“… Upon looking at the major’s last letter, page 944, I am
induced now to tell you not to put in his letter, if there be
the smallest thing doubtful in it. It may suit him to accuse
the judges, and the Attorney-General: _me_ it does not. I
should be more afraid of that letter than of anything I ever
published in my life. They would never touch a hair of _his_
head. Therefore, mind!”
The fatal news of Corunna came, and routed up the nation once more, in
the course of January. Two of Mrs. Cobbett’s brothers were with the
forces there, and no tidings had come from them:--
“Mrs. Cobbett and all of us join in best thanks to you for
your kindness and anxiety, in which you are never wanting, and
which, at this horrible hour, are so peculiarly acceptable and
grateful.… Poor Palmer! I can easily conceive what he must
feel, having myself held a dying son in my arms. Mrs. Cobbett
and Ellen, both of whom love their brothers very dearly, are
almost bursting with grief and apprehension. Indeed, I feel
most sensibly myself. The whole nation will be in mourning.”
The two brothers, Tom and Frederick Reid, are safe, however. Little
Nancy writes thus to Mr. Wright:--
“DEAR SIR,--My papa being very busy, he has desired me to write
to you and thank you for the trouble you have respecting my
uncles, and to tell you he went yesterday afternoon in a great
hurry to Portsmouth, thinking they might be there, where he met
with Colonel Harding, commander of the artillery; who told him
that they were gone to Plymouth, and that they were both well
at Corunna when he came away, and that they were not in the
action, neither have they been much engaged in active service,
as some have. And, indeed, mama and papa feel very much
surprised and indignant at not having heard from them at all,
knowing that they have been at Corunna almost all the time,
and having had so many opportunities (which they must have
had) of writing either to papa or mama. Papa is so much vexed,
that he says now, if he had known they had been at Corunna all
this time, he would not have gone to Portsmouth after them as
he did. The colonel, he said, told him, if they came there,
he would send them over to Botley directly. While papa was
there, he found out some officers of the 10th dragoons: he went
directly, and sent in his name by a waiter, and begged to know
whether Major Palmer was there, or whether he was safe. Upon
hearing their major’s name, two or three came to him and told
him he was safe at Plymouth, which was good hearing. Mama will
be very much obliged to you if you will have the goodness to
send her down a box of the biscuits you have gotten several
times; they are to be got at the corner of Bond Street, in
Piccadilly. She is quite ashamed to trouble you; but a lady,
one of the Miss Boxalls, is coming here to stay some time next
week, and she never eats bread, always those biscuits; and
there are none to be got in Southampton. Mama and papa desire
to be very kindly remembered to you. Excuse haste. I remain,
&c.,
“ANNE COBBETT.”
The very interesting inquiry into the private affairs of the Duke
of York was perilous to editors and pamphleteers. Mr. Wright
sends word down to Botley of his increasing fears lest his chief
should be compromised; and not without reason. The exasperation of
ministerialists was at its height. Their writers brought forth wild
imputations against the opposition scribblers, and twisted and tortured
their language and their meaning. In vain, however; facts could not be
gainsaid, and upon facts alone they relied. The _Examiner_ which was
then young, got into trouble over Major Hogan; the _Morning Chronicle_
was in danger. But nothing could stop the ball which Colonel Wardle had
set rolling.
And, just as Mr. Cobbett had hesitated over Major Hogan, he is still
as cautious as ever concerning Wardle; and wants to know, first, his
correspondent’s opinion as to Wardle’s capability to bring forward
proof of his charges, before entering the lists himself. Yet, the game
being started, he laughs away fear; and, acknowledging the kindness
of Mr. Wright’s expressions of anxiety, he says he “must stand the
brunt. No flinching would either be honourable or politic.” He will
defy prosecution, rather than give up the fight, much as he “loves his
fields and woods.”
One singular incident of this period is the case of Miss Taylor; a
lady who had, unfortunately for herself, to give evidence of her
acquaintanceship with Mrs. Clarke. She, with her sister, had kept a
school, and the two were earning a respectable livelihood. There was
not the slightest ground for tainting her character; but, having to
admit, upon a very unnecessary and malicious cross-examination, that
she was not born in wedlock, the fathers and mothers of that moral,
that highly-toned age, could not brook the notion of their children
being educated by a ----, whatever name offended society chose to give
her. Her appearance in the inquiry was the prelude to immediate ruin,
for her pupils suddenly vanished; and, as the affair got into the
papers, it was felt by some of the new “patriots” that, to some extent,
she was a martyr to the cause. So they got up a subscription:[8] Mr.
Cobbett leading the way; and she was eventually provided for. They
should get husbands, he says in one of his letters, “in spite of the
_Morning Post_.” But with his characteristic pertinacity, he will have
the money invested in no treacherous “Scrip.” Lord Folkestone suggests
India Bonds as a mode of investment; but Cobbett’s answer is that not
one farthing of money, the disposal of which lies with him, shall ever
be laid out, for one hour, in any India or Government security.
“I am fixed as a rock never to have any hand in doing
anything that shall tend to keep the Funds and the Nabobs in
countenance. It would be a pretty thing indeed for me to
appeal to the compassion of the public, in order to raise the
means of supporting these infernal impostures. No, I will do no
such thing, and besides, I do not believe that the money would
be secure.”
* * * * *
“… From the article which appeared in the _Courier_ of
Saturday, it is beyond a doubt that one of two things must have
taken place; either a copy of the Register, or of proofs, must
have been gotten out of Mr. Hansard’s office; or my ‘copy’ must
have been read and copied at the post-office, previously to its
going to you. This latter would not at all surprise me; and,
indeed, I believe it to have been so. But I wish you to speak
of it to Hansard, and ask him for answer, positively, whether,
to his knowledge or belief, my copy did prematurely get out of
the printing-office. Because, this is a thing to state. It is
another striking instance of the desperateness of our opponents.
“The news from the continent[9] is not quite so good as
we thought it. That rogue, Boney, will certainly put an
extinguisher upon another venerable order of things, and we
shall (Lord have mercy upon us!) have another gang of kings
and princes to keep. It is odd enough that we never get a
queen here. We may have the Queen of Naples anon, perhaps.
‘The Archduke Charles and George Rose’ is, I hear, a toast
at Southampton, which really does make me hesitate before I
decidedly pray for the archduke’s further ‘success,’ and before
I draw out my handkerchief again to weep for the capture of
Vienna. If George Rose wishes success to the Austrians, it
is, I think, a pretty good proof that their success does not
tend to _our_ good. The sheep must necessarily have wishes
in opposition to those of the wolf. I must confess that this
toasting of old Rose along with the archduke has tended to
make me somewhat more reconciled to the fate of the continent.
What is good for the wolf must be bad for the sheep; and _vice
versa_, as the learned say, what is good for George Rose must
be bad for us. No matter what it is: if it be good for George
Rose, it must be bad for us. Whatever makes the public-robbers
weep ought to make us laugh; and it does make me laugh. Every
blow that aims at their execrable power is a blow to be
applauded by us, and by the king too, who is as badly treated
as we are.
“I have a fine jackass, some pointers, and some beautiful
merino sheep, sent me from Spain; and they are safely arrived.
As I am very desirous of stinging the robbers, I wish it to be
said in some of the newspapers that Mr. Cobbett has received a
present ‘from Seville, of a jackass of the real royal blood,
two brace of Andalusian pointers, and some merino sheep; the
whole of which are said to be the most perfect of their kind of
any that have ever been seen in this country.’ I should like
very much to have this inserted in a paper or two, merely to
enrage the rascals.
“The ass and the pointers I must send to London, for they were
carried round by mistake. The sheep I have here, and most
beautiful little things they are. I intend to breed from them.”
The “rascals” were now at work over the Court-Martial. As related in
an early chapter of this history (vol. i. p. 63), a garbled account of
the affair was being circulated broadcast over the country. Thousands
of copies were sent into Hampshire; and bales of them were brought
down by people from London, in their carriages, and tossed out to the
passers-by.
For once in a while, then, Mr. Cobbett thinks it proper to notice the
current calumny. Although it is obvious that the object of the attack
is to discredit him, and thus endeavour to destroy the effect of his
weekly writings, the story can be told in a different way when it is
discovered that part of it has been suppressed; whilst the motive can,
at the same time, be exposed and expounded. Here are Mr. Perceval and
Lord Castlereagh conniving at the sale of seats in Parliament,[10]
and being exposed to the world: is it any wonder that they should
retaliate? Is it any wonder that they also find a story to tell?
But the _Weekly Political Register_ having devoted twenty columns to a
version of the story, which has truth and manliness in every sentence,
and which throws still more light upon the meanness of its opponents:
the thing drops out of sight and hearing! If anybody does bring it up
again, it is only the exulting accused himself, who has found one more
opportunity, at their own hands, of disconcerting his antagonists.
He is urged to pursue the matter; but he protests his unwillingness to
take up his time, and that of his readers, with personal matters. He
has only done it now because it gives him an opportunity of showing
up the “incomparable baseness” of Corruption; and the futility of her
resistance to the impending Reform: the blind and passionate course
which she is taking, in order to stifle inquiry.
One letter from Botley, referring to this matter, is worth quoting:--
“… As to the twenty-two letters, I have full copies of all
the principal ones, and memorandum copies of all the others.
But, is it not evident, internally evident, that letters were
suppressed? Does the thing begin with my charge? No, I cannot
take your advice in keeping the thing up. Those who like the
fun of seeing me on my defence, have either very little regard
for my reputation, or very little taste. It is useless to write
any more about it. What! do you really think I would condescend
to answer any one, who should call upon me to _produce_
letters, from which I make extracts, and which I say I have
before me? Why, don’t you see that even already the _Post_
calls my extract from my letter to Pitt a ‘fabrication’? What
nonsense is it, then, to talk of producing the letters! Would
not they be called fabrications too? Oh, no! there may be just
a sentence or two; but there must be no more _defences_, take
my word for that.… I will, at any time, show Finnerty, Power,
or any friend, the original letters from the Secretary-at-War
to me, and mine to him; and also my letter to Pitt, and all
the charges. But I cannot condescend to do this to the public;
indeed, it is impossible. They must believe me, or let it
alone.”
Again:--
“As to the public-robbers, one _must lose_ by a continuation of
the warfare with them. It is impossible to answer fellows who,
in their very signature, call ‘_Scoundrel_.’ Seriously to sit
down to answer such fellows would be to degrade oneself in an
obvious manner. That will never do. Besides, the thieves are
beaten.…”
Lose: indeed! the day had come, at last. On the very morrow of these
swaggering lines being penned, the _Political Register_ had committed
itself.
As, when the heated pursuer, sure of his game as far as will, and
equipment, are concerned, is brought to the ground by some mean and
unconsidered obstacle: so this eager one, at the very heels of his
adversaries, finds himself suddenly prostrate. And the now-exulting foe
stands over him; while cries of _Habet! Habet!_ sound upon his ears.
FOOTNOTES
[1] This enterprise attracted the notice of the Surveyor to the Board
of Agriculture:--“Mr. Cobbett has been most particularly fortunate in
raising, chiefly from seed, a vast nursery of almost all the different
sorts of forest trees known on the Atlantic side of the middle states
of North America. The vast variety of strong and flourishing plants
which his seed-bed of oaks exhibited in the course of the last summer
bids fair to render his success on this occasion of much importance
to our country,” &c., &c. _Vide_ Vancouver’s “Agricultural Survey of
Hampshire,” 1808.
[2] _I.e._ Henry Hunt, who had recently entered into public life, with
an address to the electors of Wilts. This note (dated 10th April) got
Mr. Cobbett into trouble many years after, when he had long forgotten
this his first impression of Hunt, and dreamed not of the possibility
of such old confidences ever seeing the light of day.
[3] Mr. Howell was a barrister, and a very fair lawyer, but had no
taste for practice at the bar. He pursued this task with the State
Trials until his death in 1817, after which date it was carried on to
completion by his son. It eventually reached thirty-four volumes in
royal 8vo. The enterprise passed into the hands of Hansard, about the
year 1810.
[4] Peter Finnerty, whose name occurs several times in these pages, was
an Irishman, and had been brought up as a printer. In consequence of
a press prosecution in Dublin, he came and settled in London, when he
became Parliamentary reporter on the _Morning Chronicle_, and a popular
character in the journalistic world. He died in 1816, aged fifty-six,
some time after the close of a term of imprisonment for “libel” in
Lincoln jail.
[5] The Hon. William Herbert, one of the candidates. He afterwards
“took the pledge,” as far as regarded pensions and sinecures, but would
not bind himself to decline the offer of _a place_.
[6] Author of another attack on the Duke.
[7] Cartwright.
[8] The inevitable pamphlet appeared--a very funny one in this case.
For the information of the curious, the title is, “Caution against
Future Subscriptions for Prostitutes and their Associates, with Free
Animadversions on several Political Gentlemen who have been Prominently
Active in Promoting Subscriptions for Miss Taylor; with Particulars of
the Duke of York and Mrs. Clarke” (London, 1809).
[9] The Austrians had just suffered two serious defeats.
[10] Mr. Madocks had brought forward distinct charges of corruption
against these two ministers, but the House negatived his motion for
inquiry. This case of “stifling” was one of the most bare-faced of even
that dark age, the debate going off on the dangers of Parliamentary
reform, and the “blessings we derive from the present order of things.”
One thing is certain, that not a soul in that House doubted Madocks’s
case. The “factious” minority numbered eighty-five, of whom Sir Samuel
Romilly was one. He thought it impolitic of the ministry, on their own
account, to try and screen themselves, and justly concluded that the
debate and decision would powerfully act upon the cause of Reform.
(_Vide_ his “Life,” ii. 116.)
CHAPTER XVIII.
“COMPARED WITH DEFEATING ME, DEFEATING BUONAPARTE IS A MERE TRIFLE.”
If there is one thing, more than another, characteristic of the British
soldier, it is his attachment to home. Home, that is to say, in the
hearts of his countrymen, as well upon the hearth of his parents. You
cannot make a hireling of him; nor is he a mere worshipper of glory.
The links that bind him to his comrades are the same with those, which
remain unsevered between him and the civilian-class whence he sprang.
This is obvious enough, when we consider the general demeanour of
the people toward his profession. You may see it, plainly, when the
soldier is “in trouble;” or, when two red-coats are quarrelling in the
street;--but, specially, on that supreme occasion when the band is
playing “_The girl I left behind me!_”
But there have been times where there was danger of these affections
being sundered. Notably, during the later days of the Regency, when
army-legislation went far to make the soldiery a distinct class, with
interests hostile to those of “the mob.” And, during the great war, the
employment of German mercenaries for purposes of home defence (whilst
the English forces were shedding their blood on the soil whence those
had been deported) was naturally productive of some ill-feeling toward
the military profession.
Of the popular sentiment, concerning this topic, there was never
a better exponent than Mr. William Cobbett, late of the 54th. His
constant boast was, that he had been a soldier, and knew soldiers “as
well as any man that ever breathed.” His appeals on their behalf,
whether addressed to the legislature or to the people, breathe
unfaltering affection toward them. He would defend them, would support
them, would animate and would advise them, as his brethren. And, while
inculcating a spirit of respect and affection toward them, on the part
of the people, he constantly objected to everything likely to tend to
the degradation of the military character and calling. Did a company
pass through Botley, he would superintend the billeting; and could not
rest until men and officers were suitably entertained. His army plan,
published in 1806, was entirely upon these lines: that the military
should be bound to their country by the same ties with the rest of
the nation. His anecdotes of soldier-life would, alone, fill a large
volume; and, throughout his long life, there was no source from which
he could so readily draw a pointed illustration of virtue, of energy,
or of loyalty.
* * * * *
During the year 1809, his Majesty’s ministers had much to harass them;
and not the least of their anxieties was the conduct of the liberal
part of the newspaper press, concerning Flogging in the Army and Navy.
They were all condemning the tortures of the lash: the abuse, itself,
being then as bad as it could be. Such was the outcry against it, that
it became evident that there would have to be a struggle over the
matter; and, in the fight which did ensue, may be traced some of those
elements which eventually gave greater freedom to the press of this
country. It was known, at this period, that newspaper-writers had been
warned, and that a severe example would be made of the first offender.
* * * * *
The Attorney-General, then, is on the watch; and woe betide the wretch
who defies Sir Vicary Gibbs!
And who is to be the victim? Shall it be James Perry or Redhead Yorke?
or those daring young brothers, whose _Examiner_ is slashing away at
everything and everybody they choose to disagree with, and who have
just had such a narrow escape over Major Hogan? or one or other of
those provincial editors, who would cut off a little finger for the
sake of publicity and a wider circulation? Perhaps one of these. But
there is game that must be brought down, if possible: the “must” being
so urgent, that the game shall be started by our very best dogs. No
inefficient pointing here, if you please.
Accordingly, ministerial newspapers make ostentation of flogging-cases.
The interests of the country demand: and so on. The exigencies of
the nation require: and so forth. The naval and military forces are
hot-beds of sedition, and nothing was ever known to cure that, but the
cat-o’-nine-tails. And we shall lie at the mercy of the enemy, if the
entire nation is not sound on the subject of mutiny: let us not, then,
be mealy-mouthed in the stern path of duty!
And the _Courier_, in its stern path, records (24th June, 1809):--
“The mutiny amongst the local militia, which broke out at Ely,
was fortunately suppressed on Wednesday, by the arrival of four
squadrons of the German Legion cavalry from Bury, under the
command of General Auckland. Five of the ringleaders were tried
by a Court-Martial, and sentenced to receive 500 lashes each,
part of which punishment they received on Wednesday, and a part
was remitted. A stoppage for their knapsacks was the ground of
complaint that excited this mutinous spirit, which occasioned
the men to surround their officers, and demand what they deemed
their arrears.”
Now, first, what is flogging--rather, what _was_ it?[1] Let us have a
few of Mr. Cobbett’s reminiscences before we proceed:--
“At the flogging of a man, I have frequently seen seven or
eight men fall slap upon the ground, unable to endure the
sight, and to hear the cries, without swooning away. We used
to lift them back a little way, take off their stocks, and
unbutton their shirt collars, and they came to after a little
while. These were as stout, hardy, and bold men as anywhere to
be found.”
“I, who was eight years in the army, who was a sergeant-major
six years of the time, have seen men receive their flogging at
_twice_, at _thrice_, and I remember a man, named Valentine
Hickey, who received his flogging at _four_ instalments.”
“… In addition to the pain of the flogging, the flogged man has
to pay the drum-major for the use of the cats!”
“The whip-cord may be large or small. Ours used to be as thick
as the very thickest twine made use of to tie up stout and
heavy parcels. The knots were about the size, as nearly as I
can recollect, of a dwarf marrow-fat pea; and the length of
the lash was, I think, about fifteen or sixteen inches.… The
drummers used to do the flogging; they were always stripped
for the work, and each, by turns, laid on his twenty-five
lashes, and then another came.”
Just so.
* * * * *
On Saturday, the 1st of July, the _Weekly Political Register_ takes for
its motto the above paragraph from the _Courier_, and begins with the
following comments:--
“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 his
soldiers. Well 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 of _no use_. _Five hundred
lashes each!_ Aye, that is right! Flog them! 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
duly!’ What! shall the rascals dare to _mutiny_? and that,
too, when the German Legion is so near at hand? Lash them!
lash them! lash them! They deserve it. Oh, yes! they merit a
double-tailed cat! Base dogs! What! mutiny for 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 flogging as quietly as so many
trunks of trees! I do not know what sort of a place Ely is; but
I really should like to know how the inhabitants looked one
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 in speaking of the means which Napoleon employs
(or rather, which they say he employs) in order to get together
and to discipline 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 Napoleon
and his Government_, assist _with reluctance in his wars_,
and would fain _see another revolution_. 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 restraint, 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 execrations against the French
for suffering themselves to be ‘chained together and forced,
at the point of the bayonet, to do military duty,’ I shall
just republish the passage, which I have taken for a motto
to the present sheet. I have _heard_ of some other pretty
little things of the sort; but I rather choose to take my
instance (and a very complete one it is) from a public print,
notoriously under the sway of the ministry.”
So much for your “comment-maker.”
* * * * *
What personage had the distinction of walking home from church with Mr.
Perceval, on the following day, history does not record: his comments,
then, remain in oblivion. No matter that, however. In about three weeks
after the above publication, Mr. Cobbett has news from London, which he
thus retails:--
“… I have a most serious business to impart to you, and that
is, that I hear from Mr. White, that the miscreants are about
to prosecute me for the article about the flogging of the local
militia. What I wish you to do is to go to Mr. White and ask
him,
“1. Whether the thing be _certain_?
“2. What is to be done in it by me, in the first instance?
“3. At what time it will be required for me to be in town to
give bail?
“4. When the trial will take place?
“5. Of what nature is the bail that I must give?
“It is quite useless to fret and stew about this. I must meet
it. They may probably confine me for two years; but that does
not kill a man; and may, besides, produce even good effects, in
more ways than one.
“But the main thing is to be prepared. There is a _possibility_
of acquittal, though they push their malice to its full
extent. Let us, therefore, be prepared; let us take all
proper precautions; and then wait the chapter of accidents.
Your better way will be to show this part of my letter to Mr.
White, and pray thank him most heartily, in my name, for his
kindness in giving me the information.… What I would do, in
case of imprisonment, is this. I would make F. Reid come and
take charge of my lands, &c. I will, even _now_, cut off all
expenses of horses, dogs, &c., so as to make up for the loss;
and I would have such a plan of economy as should enable me to
have my family near me, if possible. Thus, you see, my mind is
made up to the thing. I care for nothing that they can do. I
would certainly defend myself.…
“… Let me alone; if they will but leave me the use of the
press, I’ll beat them all, I warrant you.”
Mr. Reeves appears to have been sounded, by Mr. Wright, upon the
possibility of escape from prosecution. Cobbett expresses some
displeasure, however, on hearing of this, and adds:--
“… I am fully prepared for the worst, and therefore am no
longer under any anxiety. I would rather be gibbeted, than owe
my life to the intercession such as you speak of, and such
as I am afraid you half-solicited. I told you to keep very
quiet. Say nothing at all about the matter to any one. Ask no
questions; and only be sure to tell me precisely what you hear.
I am not afraid of them. Times are coming on when we shall all
have enough to do; but, in the meanwhile, I shall not worry
myself to death with apprehension.…”
Instead of any fear of the future, the look-out is rather toward the
welfare and increase of his estate. Some plots of land have just been
purchased, with the object of making freeholders of Wright, Finnerty,
and others. The prospects of harvest are very bad, for the rains have
been so incessant, that wheat is growing in the ear; but the trees are
coming on “delightfully.” Lord Cochrane arrives home, and comes to see
Botley with the tale of his grievances.
Mr. Cobbett pays his occasional visit to Lord Folkestone, at Coleshill;
and horses and puppies, and hares and pheasants, reappear in their
order, not at all as though the threatened danger would be anything
beyond a scare.
* * * * *
Among Mr. Cobbett’s friends was one who had become peculiarly bound up
in his affairs, through circumstances which must now be noticed.
Mr. John Swann, of Wolvercot and Ensham, in Oxfordshire, was an eminent
paper-maker of that day; his mills being the chief sources of supply
for the University of Oxford. He had supplied also the paper for the
_Register_ from a very early period; and it would appear that a strong
attachment existed between him and the Cobbetts. As far back as
September, 1805, when purchases of land were being made in Hampshire,
somewhat beyond Mr. Cobbett’s command of ready money, Mr. Swann had
assisted him by discounting accommodation bills. At the death of the
latter, in January, 1807, his brother James succeeded both to the
paper-mills and to the accommodation paper; and to the friendship thus
continued into another family, we are indebted to some further glimpses
of Cobbett’s happy domestic life. Mr. Swann is initiated into the
mysteries of planting: eels from the sluggish Oxford streams grace the
table at Botley, and game from Hampshire that of Ensham. And, as time
fled on, the perilous accumulation of “credit” seemed only to add new
links of love.
The following selection from correspondence belongs to the later months
of 1808:--
JAMES SWANN to JOHN WRIGHT.
“I am not at all surprised at the increased sale of the
_Register_; every one who reads it is astonished at the
wonderful extent of Mr. Cobbett’s abilities. God grant him
a long life, for the country’s sake!… Mr. Barwis has lately
been with Mr. and Mrs. Cobbett at Botley; they have kindly
promised to be sponsors to a son Mrs. Swann presented me with a
fortnight ago, whom I shall have named William.”
WM. C. to J. S.
“Mr. Barwis has communicated to me your wish respecting my
being godfather to your son, and I assure you, with perfect
sincerity, that I shall look upon it as doing me honour. I
never was yet a godfather to any child but one of my own, who
was born in a heathen country; and there are very few persons,
to a child of whom I would stand godfather; but one of yours I
shall with great pleasure. I hear it is to be after Christmas,
which will suit me best, as I have a great deal to do here
before, in the planting way, which I cannot possibly trust in
any hands but my own.…
“I have now a favour, in the sporting way, to ask of you. I
have had most lamentable luck with dogs, having lost almost the
whole of a fine and rare collection of spaniel and greyhound
puppies. Of the latter I shall not take much pains to get any
more, the places for coursing being at such a great distance
from me; but of the former I want many, because we live amongst
such covers as nothing can be moved out of without a plenty of
good spaniels. The sort we want is the short-legged, rather
coarse-haired, long-eared, and feathered down the legs to the
very tips of the nails. This is the most strong, true, and
resolute race. None other will do in endless covers like ours,
where the stuff is so very thick, and there are such quantities
of matted thorns as sharp as pins. Now, if you should happen to
know of a famous breed--some gentleman whose breed is famous
all over the country--I should like to have a brace; which may,
perhaps, be obtained by speaking time enough beforehand. But
there is another condition (for, when one is begging, one may
as well go the whole length), I wish not to have them till
they are at least four months old. Young puppies, if of a high
breed, will not live.…
“There is, I am told, a fine breed called the Woodstock or
Blenheim breed; but, if you will inquire, you will easily find
out a fine breed. _Every one’s dogs are the best in England_;
but there are some gentlemen and noblemen (a very few) of
standing reputation for their breed of spaniels, and a brace of
this sort it is that I want. Spaniels should have no spice of
_the hound_ in them. Tan colour over the eyes is, therefore, a
sure mark of reprobation. Such will hunt hares; and, when they
have moved one in a large thick cover, the sportsman may go
a-shooting by himself.
“After all, if the thing be attended with much trouble, pray do
not take it, for your time is too valuable to be wasted in the
gratification of my whims.”
J. S. to J. W.
“I duly received yours this morning. I was much amused with
the caricature, it is certainly a good one. I heard from Mr.
Cobbett a few days ago, and am endeavouring to procure him
some good spaniels. I do not expect our christening will be
till about or after Christmas, when I shall be glad to see you
here. I have another son to go through the ceremony besides
William, whom we shall name _John_, and shall beg you to be his
godfather.…”
This excursion did not come off till May, 1809, for some reason or
other. Mr. Wright was very nearly being entrapped into matrimony on the
occasion, with an interesting widow who was one of the visitors.
WM. C. to J. S.
“We got home in very good time; but had the mortification to
see the road drier and drier, as we advanced, till, when we
came to Botley, the dust flew, and we have not had one drop of
rain since. Nevertheless, all my plantations go on exceedingly
well. I am satisfied that, with some people’s planting,
half the trees would now have been dead. Get the books I
recommended, and in the _Profitable Planter_ see the articles
‘Willow’ and ‘Black Italian Poplar.’ The aspen is good, and I
prefer it. But be sure not to plant Lombardy poplar. It is not
fit even to burn.”
An important outward change came over the _Register_ at the beginning
of the year 1809. Mr. Cobbett had for some time been dissatisfied
with the printing of Messrs. Cox and Baylis; and it was therefore
transferred to Mr. T. C. Hansard. An improvement was manifest at once,
and the _Register_ took the position of those publications which were
discarding the antiquated types of the past. Some little notion of
the extent of the enterprise that was going on may be gathered by an
estimate furnished to Swann of the probable _monthly_ supply of paper
that would be required:--
“Register 60 reams.
State Trials 96 “
Parl. History 50 “
Parl. Debates 50 “
----
Total 256 reams.”
As the _Register_ was in 16 pages 8vo, with occasional supplements, the
weekly circulation must have been nearly six thousand at this period.
Very soon after this change, the price was raised to 1_s._ from 10_d._,
at which figure it had stood since its commencement. The price of paper
had risen from 24_s._ to 43_s._ a ream, and the newspaper stamp from a
halfpenny to 3½_d._; besides that, other expenses had proportionally
augmented. Great must have been the hold which Cobbett had obtained,
over a large number of readers, for his journal to have been able to
keep its place under such circumstances.
* * * * *
The threatened prosecution hung so long over Mr. Cobbett’s head, that
some of his friends began to hope that nothing would come of it. He
probably thought, for his own part, that the Government were not
unmindful of the sort of antagonist he would make, when driven to bay;
and that they would think twice before going into the contest without
the minutest preparation, and the best possible opportunity. In a
letter to Mr. Swann, dated 28th November, he says,--
“You have, I suppose, heard of the dead set which the
Attorney-General is making upon us. My opinion is that it will
come to nothing at all. But, if it does, we must beat them, if
there be either spirit or honesty left in England.”
There will be no lack of preparation, however:--
WM. C. to J. WRIGHT.
“Dear Sir,--As I am to have the pleasure of seeing you on
Wednesday, I shall say the less here. But, as to the now most
interesting subject, I cannot help saying a few words, as they
may be usefully communicated to Mr. Bagshaw and Mr. Hansard,
_in confidence_. My resolution is to plead my own cause, if I
am well in health. Nothing upon earth, illness excepted, shall
make me forego this resolution. I am also resolved to defend;
that is, to _justify_; and to render the affair a great public
question. The sooner we begin, the sooner we shall be well
prepared, and the more likely to secure a favourable issue. You
will know how and where to get me the authorities, or facts,
for showing,--
“1. That the ministers, or their partisans, have been employed
for more than six months in publishing libels against me;
atrocious falsehoods (such as the 4000_l._ story) for the
purpose of exciting, in the public mind, an evil opinion of me;
and thus pave the way for this state prosecution.
“2. That the ministers themselves (or, at least, Canning, &c.)
have written libels, if these be libels; and, upon this point,
to get together all the _accusations_, and all the _nicknames_,
used by the Anti-Jacobins against Moira, Nichol, &c.
“3. That there were _caricatures_ prepared under the eye of
Canning, &c., and of whom, and how they were to be represented
as traitors.
“4. That there are writers hired, or paid, by the Government.
“5. To get a good historical view of the state prosecutions
for libel, and show how they have originated with bad
Governments and wicked lawyers; and to show, in short, that the
Stuarts suffered more from this cause than from any other.
“6. To get collected, all the best speeches and strong sayings
of eminent men against an army of foreigners in England. You
will easily get me some good matter upon this subject, by
looking back into the _Parliamentary History_.
“7. Think of any of the poets who have written against
mercenary foreign armies.
“8. Have not the Swiss and Walloon Guards, in Spain, now joined
Buonaparte?
“9. I must have, from good authority, the particulars of the
contract made with the German Legion, about not being sent out
of Europe.
“It will be time enough to set about any part of this, after
you have been here; but you will turn your mind to the several
points in the meanwhile.
“Be particular in attending, now, to any publication whatever,
wherein mention is made of this prosecution, and especially if
it has for its object the prejudicing of the public against me.
When I get hold of such a thing, I shall begin my operations.
“Do as you please about mentioning my intention to defend
myself, to Hansard, or any of them; but be sure to tell them
from me, that I hold the thing in contempt; that I am no more
afraid of the rascals than I could be of so many mice. And,
really, if we have an _honest jury_, it will be a famous thing
altogether.
“I thank you very kindly for your news about my wife. I am a
great deal more anxious about her than about the prosecution.”
He continues to remind his correspondent that it will answer no purpose
to soothe his anxiety by flattering him with hopes of escape. At the
end of the year, there is, however, still no prospect of the trial
coming on. The following is dated 31st December:--
“What I want information about, relative to the approaching
trial, is, in the first place, a reference to all the debates
which you know anything of, against foreign troops.… You said
that Mr. Bosville had a list of instances of those countries
who had fallen under a defence by foreign troops. Can you get
it from him? It would do for a mere enumeration in a speech.
Arguments against a mercenary army apply equally well to
foreign troops. I shall think of other matter in my next. I
will prepare everything here against the 23rd, and, as soon
as we find that the cause _is_ to come on, I will set off for
London, and continue there till the cause be over. In the
meanwhile, I will arrange a defence in my own way. If we have
an honest, I mean an _impartial_ jury, I am no more afraid of
Vicary than I am of a fly.”
On the 8th January, he writes:--
“… I have read the trial of Tooke all through, and also his
other trial, in the case of Fox’s action against him.… What
villains he had to deal with! His life is a history of the
hypocritical tyrannies of this jubilee[2] reign. I shall
profit a good deal from this reading; but mine must be a
defence of a different sort; less of law knowledge, and more of
a plain story, and an appeal to the _good sense_ and _justice_
of my hearers.
“I do not know that I mentioned the following things to you
before:--
“1. That number of the _Courier_ which contained the article
that I took for a motto to the flogging article.
“2. Those numbers of the _Post_ and _Courier_ which, as you
told me, contained an exhortation to prosecute me.
“Indeed, we should have files of those papers for the last
eight months; for I must dwell upon the endeavours to excite
prejudice against me.”
The same letter proceeds to mention his plans for arranging his
pecuniary affairs--a matter of hardly-inferior importance, considering
their tangled condition. As soon as possible, he will then go up to
London to await events.
“… I do not know whether they have given a notice of trial,
formally; but I think they will.… They feel the deep wounds I
have given them; and they lose sight of everything but revenge.
I really do not know which I ought to wish for--a trial or a
_nolle prosequi_. My character and fame call for the former;
but then, my health and my dearly-beloved family call for the
latter, or for anything which shall preclude the chance of a
villainous sentence. However, I am rather indifferent about the
matter.…
“… God send us good luck; but if not, good _heart_, which I
trust I, at least, shall not want. My intention is to meet my
accusers in a manner worthy of the advocate of truth.”
Mr. James Perry was in trouble again, early in 1810. The
Attorney-General had filed information against the _Morning Chronicle_
and the _Examiner_, for a paragraph in which the Whig hopes of the day
were embodied. These hopes were to be fulfilled when the Prince of
Wales succeeded to the throne, and the obnoxious paragraph ended with
these words:--
“Of all monarchs, indeed, since the Revolution, the successor
of George the Third will have the finest opportunity of
becoming nobly popular.”
The interpretation put upon this by the “friends of order”[3] was, that
the life of George III. stood between his people and the blessings
in store for them! Mr. Perry conducted his own defence, and was
acquitted; and the record as against the _Examiner_ was forthwith
withdrawn. This occurrence was a subject of rejoicing to the whole
tribe of scribblers,--at least, of those who were not subsidized; and
the failure of the prosecution correspondingly inflamed the minds of
the administration. Peter Finnerty was another victim of this year.
And, after some further halting, it was determined to bring forward
the record against Mr. Cobbett, after his friends had begun to be
tranquilized with the hope that he would not be molested.
It is highly probable, but for the urging to prosecution, on the part
of the ministerial press, that he might have been let alone. But they
would not be true to the common cause. Bound in the fetters of party,
or of pence, the press was, as yet, ignorant of the latent force which
has since made of it a Fourth Estate. And, with respect to Mr. Cobbett,
it is impossible to withhold the conviction that the envy and the
injustice of his rivals had more to do with moulding his fortunes than
all other causes put together.
WM. C. to J. W.
“Your letter, this day got, contained the best and most
agreeable news.… We have all, I and my wife, six children, and
every soul in the house, drunk Mr. Perry’s health. I made even
little Susan lisp out the words. Pray give my kindest and most
respectful compliments to him; and tell him that I do not only
most heartily rejoice at his success (which, by the bye, does
not surprise me), but beg leave to present my sincere thanks;
in which, I trust, I only participate with the rest of the
gentlemen connected with the press. Nothing but the necessity
of attending to my concerns here this week would have prevented
me from returning to town immediately, in order to endeavour
to urge in person, what I request you to urge for me; namely,
a public dinner at the Crown and Anchor, of ‘the Friends of
the Liberty of the Press,’ at which we ought to pass a vote of
thanks to Mr. Perry, and to proclaim some principles that may
be of the utmost importance in future. Now is the time for us
to assert our rights, and the respectability of our profession
and character.[4]… Mr. Perry has done more good than any man of
his time, and it is for us to profit by it.…”
Another public incident, of this period, was the celebrated conflict
of Sir Francis Burdett with “Mr. Speaker.” Mr. Gale Jones had been
imprisoned by the House of Commons; and Burdett took occasion to
address his constituents,--by means of a long letter in Cobbett’s
_Register_--denying the power of the House to imprison any but its own
members. The letter was composed by Cobbett himself.
Mr. Speaker walked home from church[5] with Mr. Perceval on the
following day. The latter proposed to move the House to commit Burdett
to the Tower, and order the attendance of Cobbett. And so, as every
one knows, the metropolis was upset, for the space of two or three
months, by an indecent squabble, which brought the House into great
disrespect, and made Burdett the idol of the populace. In the end, it
required 50,000 soldiers and militia to get him into the Tower; but
not all the king’s horses, nor all the king’s men, could rend away
the mantle of ridicule which the action of ministers had brought upon
themselves.
Mr. Cobbett was not ordered to attend the bar of the House. More the
pity: Cobbett in Newgate, illegally imprisoned by order of the House of
Commons, would have been a very different affair to Cobbett in Newgate
_ex_ The Attorney-General! Yet he was not forgotten.
WM. C. to J. W.
“So, then, the honourable House have, at last, resolved to have
the _Register_ read to them. That is one sign of amendment, and
if they do but follow it up by a similar motion every week, it
cannot fail to do them a great deal of good, if anything in
this world can do them good. If they call me before them, I
shall say that, as the Speaker himself sent me his speech to
publish, I, of course, thought it right to publish the speech
of any member of the House, especially when he put his name to
it.
“But what I am, at this moment, anxious about, is that Mr.
Madocks should again bring forward his last year’s motion.
You will perceive that the worry now making is about breaches
of privilege, tending to degrade and vilify the House. Now,
what can have so clear and strong a tendency this way, as the
having _sold seats in the House_, and the having turned out a
member for not being willing to vote against his conscience?
Why not punish those who were guilty of such offences? This
is the ground whereon to proceed; and what a fine, what a
striking, what a glorious effect it would have now, to renew
Mr. Madocks’s motion! What could they do? What could they
_say_? Good God! what an exhibition they would make before the
country!…”
“… So far so good! I am delighted with what has taken place,
and especially with the conduct of Lord Folkestone,[6] who,
as I always told you, is the truest man in all England. Don’t
you remember the eulogium that we pronounced upon him, at your
house, on Friday? That is the good of him: you may always
depend upon him for more than he promises you. Who would have
thought, some years ago, that he would have been the man to
answer the minister? And to beat him, too! His speech, even
as reported, is a master-piece; and there was no time for
preparation. I always told him what he was able to do, if he
could but muster up courage.…”
“… The decision upon the Walcheren affair is what was to be
desired, I think, looking to the only object which we ought
to have in view, a Reform of the Parliament. Now, then, what
will the Edinburgh Reviewers say? I shall now quote their own
words against themselves. Will they now openly join us, as they
said they would, or will they again shuffle? At any rate, the
honourable House, so far from agreeing with the country, have
approved of what the country has most unequivocally condemned.
This cannot fail to tell. Will the Whigs _now_ join the people?
They have no other rational course left, but will they not
rather sink into eternal oblivion?”
In the middle of May, the Attorney-General had made up his mind; and
Mr. Cobbett came up to London to the “naming” of the jury.
Upon his return to Botley, his hands are fuller than ever. Money has
to be provided, so that there shall be no tradesmen in Hampshire left
unpaid. “Since last January we have paid for everything, the butcher
excepted, as we have had it. No bills of any sort; and I must leave
here none at all, if I can help it, when I go up to the trial.”
Copy for the _Register_ goes up to London in undiminished quantity; and
there is, besides, the preparation for his defence. Friends furnish
hints, and supply him with books:--
“To-day has been devoted wholly (since seven o’clock) to the
reading of the volumes sent me by the coach. That sent by Mr.
Holt White is full of most excellent matter. In short, if those
who are to decide are not _baseness itself_, I am safe.”
Those who were to decide were, at length, brought together, and they
took two minutes over it.
FOOTNOTES
[1] “In after-life he [‘my father’] described the ‘Hydra’ as a hell
upon the waters, and the brutal flogging of the sailors for the most
trivial offences as something too horrible for contemplation. ‘Often,’
he used to say, ‘have I wondered that men, who were treated as if they
had neither hearts nor souls, should yet, in the hour of danger and of
duty, forget their wrongs and indignities, act like true heroes, and
pour out their heart’s blood with sublime unselfishness for a country
that treated them so detestably.’--Charles Mackay, “Forty Years’
Recollections,” i. p. 13.
[2] On the previous 25th of October, the occasion of the King’s
entering the fiftieth year of his reign, there had been great
“rejoicings.” The Parliamentary Reformists, however, did not approve of
it, holding that _the prosperity of the country_ was a hypocritical and
delusive cry. Mr. Cobbett boasted of his refusal to subscribe toward
giving the twelve hundred thousand paupers “that rarity, that luxury,
a bellyful,” and gave very good reasons for it. The Whig papers, too,
heaped much derision upon the affair. One of the incidents of the day
was a fellow sticking up a placard at Charing Cross, in these terms:
“May God disperse the votaries of Cobbett, as the clouds of this day!”
[3] The _friends of order_ were fairly proficient in the language
of the fish-market; e.g., “To the indignation and execration of the
British nation do we therefore consign this damning specimen of the
abominable and infamous sentiments by which the base faction are
impelled in their most unprincipled and diabolical pursuits,” was the
remark of the _Post_, at the close of its comments upon the wicked
_Chronicle_.
[4] The “profession and character” of the fraternity had just been
roughly assailed in Parliament by Mr. Windham. The question of
excluding reporters from the gallery of the House of Commons was one
which would come up at intervals, and it was one upon which most
public men changed their opinions, from time to time, according to
circumstances. Mr. Windham was now for shutting the gallery; and he
described the publishers of the Debates as bankrupts, lottery-office
keepers, footmen, and decayed tradesmen, and he had heard “that they
were a sort of men who would give into corrupt misrepresentations
of opposite sides.” As Mr. Wright was the only person among the
parliamentary reporters who could be put under the head of “bankrupts,”
the _Political Register_ gave Mr. Windham a castigation.
The venal writers of the day, of course, called this black treachery
and ingratitude. But then such writers had no interest in upholding
the craft--rather the other way. Of this class was the _Satirist,
or Monthly Meteor_, one of the foulest pieces of rubbish that ever
disgraced the periodical press. This paper recommended that Cobbett’s
article (which was in extremely temperate terms) should be framed and
glazed by every public man, as a warning never to trust this wretch, &c.
The _Satirist_ was one long-drawn libel. The editor must have been
utterly insusceptible of shame, or else must have been in the habit of
deadening his moral feelings by artificial means. Even the good and
patriotic Whitbread was represented as one who delighted in practising,
upon his own estate, that tyranny against which he declaimed in the
House of Commons. As for Finnerty, he is always “the miscreant,” and
Mr. Wardle, “the l----r.” Wright is described as “the poor devil who
now corrects Cobbett’s bad English, edits his Parliamentary History,
brushes his coat, puffs him in coffee-houses and debating-shops, and
does all his other dirty work,” &c.
It is very difficult to please everybody. The _Examiner_ presently
began to write down Mr. Windham, supporting itself with this affair
of the reporters, and howled at Mr. Cobbett for not doing the same.
The fact being that Cobbett was especially careful to avoid needless
animadversions upon his old friend.
[5] Lord Colchester’s “Diary and Correspondence,” ii. 240.
[6] Lord Folkestone had reminded the House, on the 26th March, that it
had been the practice of Andrew Marvel to write a full account of the
proceedings of the House of Commons to his constituents every week.
CHAPTER XIX.
“THE FOLLY, COMMON TO ALL TYRANTS, IS THAT THEY PUSH THINGS TOO FAR.”
On the 15th June, 1810, the Court of King’s Bench was at last prepared
to hear the Attorney-General’s story. Mr. Cobbett, Mr. Budd, Mr.
Bagshaw, and Mr. Hansard accordingly appeared, to answer the charge
of writing, printing, and publishing a seditious “libel.” Stern
Ellenborough presided within, and a deeply-interested public waited
without, the Court.
Withal,--Mr. Attorney-General, Lord Ellenborough, and the expectant
public, each and every one knew, in his heart, that Mr. Cobbett was
about to be tried for exposing the king’s ministers; for his sarcasms
over the Duke of Clarence and “Mother Jordan;” for showing up Mrs.
Clarke; for his discoveries in political corruption; aye, and for
quarrelling with the _Morning Post_.
Mr. Attorney-General’s story, however, dealt with none of these topics.
The burden of his tale was, that the defendant charged the Government
with cruelty, and suggested to the wicked mutineers the cruelty and
injustice of their punishment. That certain brave and honourable
men had been driven from their own land, and had “sought shelter in
ours;” and had offered their blood for the glory and safety of their
adopted country. That the defendant’s paper was a libel on the brave
and honourable men; while its obvious tendency was to deter the common
people from entering the militia.
The speech of the defendant was temperate, even to tameness. The
opportunity of accumulating fire and passion, in support of unwelcome
truth, was thrown away. But there is little doubt that Cobbett had some
faith left in the honesty of a jury; besides a fallacious belief that
the ostensible cause of the prosecution was the real one, and that the
matter would be decided upon its merits. Had he, rather, boldly scorned
the adversary, and dared him to disprove that the present was an
episode in political warfare, which gave undue advantage (for the time)
to the cause of might against right: at the same time, reiterating his
wish to excite the public indignation against amateur tyranny, had kept
up an attitude of defiance,--the foe would have been cowed, although,
perhaps, not made more relenting. There was no mercy in Vicary Gibbs,
nor in Lord Ellenborough, toward the champions of the press; and Mr.
Cobbett, as champion for the day, should have recollected that the
cause itself was again on its trial. The day would be certain to go
against him; it was notoriously a personal attack; but, had he chosen
to disregard his own personality, and to hurl back in the Attorney’s
face the persecuting character which that worthy had given to his
office,--he would have dealt that stroke at licensed hypocrisy which
was left for the task of William Hone.
* * * * *
One grave error was committed by Mr. Cobbett in his defence: it was
very weak for him to say that the words were written _in haste_.[1]
Otherwise, the general burden of his speech was: how atrociously he
had been calumniated, from his first appearance as an independent
writer, to the present moment, with the Attorney’s unjust imputations
on his loyalty and honesty; and how the Government was known to be
influencing the propagation of such calumny. That he had done good to
his neighbours and to his country, according to his measure. That the
Attorney’s forced construction of his words could not be borne out.
That his attachment to the British soldier could not be questioned.
That the so-called Hanoverian legion was composed, to a great extent,
of persons of no country; and that they were a nuisance, from their
general bad behaviour, in whatever part of England they happened to be
quartered.[2]
This last was, of course, a fresh libel, of which the Attorney-General
did not fail to make a new point. And he had the meanness to try
and prove that the delay in the prosecution was the defendant’s own
doing.[3] He thought, too, that the defendant had better consulted his
character and fame, by going along with the three other culprits, in
suffering judgment to go by default.
Lord Ellenborough went through the libel _seriatim_, making his own
comments; and concluded, after asking the jury whether its tendency was
not to injure the military service,--
“It is for you to say whether these be 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 now especially at this time, the safety of
the kingdom depends. If this latter be the case, surely the
defendant will meritedly fall under the character of that
seditious person, which the information charges him with being.
In cases like the present, the law requires me to state my
opinion to the jury; and, where I have held a different opinion
to that which I have of the present case, I have not withheld
it from the jury. I do pronounce this to be a most infamous and
seditious libel.”
It was now midnight, and the jury had nothing in the shape of a doubt
in their minds. Why should they have? They had no doubts when they
took their seats in the morning. Juries were juries in those days; why
should they have doubts, at the end of a drama, for the particular
conclusion of which they were particularly brought together?
So they “consulted” for about two minutes, and returned their verdict
of “_Guilty_.”
J. SWANN to J. WRIGHT.
“I learned the unfortunate result of the trial about two
o’clock on Friday, and immediately hastened to the hotel,
Covent Garden, to see if Mr. Cobbett would require any bail,
but I found he had left town. I need not tell you how much I am
concerned at the verdict.…”
WM. C. to J. W.
“I found Mrs. Cobbett very well, and quite prepared for what
had happened. She bears the thing with her usual fortitude;
and takes hourly occasion to assure me that she thinks I have
done what I ought to do. In this she is excellent. She is the
only wife that I ever saw, who, in such circumstances, did not
express _sorrow_, at least, for what the husband had done; and,
in such cases, sorrow is only another word for _blame_. Nancy
was a good deal affected, but she soon got over it. If I had
but about three weeks for preparation I should like it better;
but I must settle things here as well as I can. Dr. Mitford
will tell you _what has been suggested to me_, and what (if
anything) will be done in consequence of it.
“Send me by the coach to-morrow … Mother Clarke’s book, for I
must notice the contents of it this week. You will have, in
my writing, twenty-four columns, the greater part of it by
to-morrow’s and next day’s posts. The rest of the double-number
I should like to have made up of proceedings about reform,
such as have appeared in the _Times_ and other daily papers;
but, at present, the more harmless the things are the better.
I shall write as boldly as ever, but I will take care of my
subjects. The proofs of approaching scarcity can be no longer
disguised. It will be very great and complete indeed. I shall
be disappointed if the quartern loaf be not half-a-crown before
Christmas. I wonder whether it be true that Buonaparte has
stopped the exportation of corn from his dominions? If it be,
you will soon see the effect of it. You see, that no rascal of
a newspaper has touched upon the subject. It will come upon us
by-and-bye with a vengeance.”
_What had been suggested?_
The reader will recollect [_ante_, p. 96] that the notion of any
intercession on his behalf was warmly deprecated by Mr. Cobbett from
the very first; and no sign of a craven spirit had appeared during
all these twelve tantalizing months. His mind was made up. The
long-deferred prospect of a term in prison had been getting still more
remote, and its accompanying terrors would be unheeded. But, back
again among his beloved fields and woods, and surrounded by a little
family which could but dimly appreciate the situation; struck with
anxious cares that must result from his predicament, he listens to a
_suggestion_.
The form and the terms of that suggestion are unknown, and will
probably remain unknown; that is of little consequence, however.
Suffice it to say, that before a week was out, negotiations were going
on, through Mr. John Reeves, for some measure of indulgence, by which,
at least, the Attorney-General was to hold his hand, and not move the
Court for judgment. At the same time, a farewell article was prepared
for the _Political Register_; for Mr. Cobbett foresaw that he could not
continue it without softening his tone, if he were to be indulged; and
softening his tone was out of the question. Preparations were made for
disposing of the remaining sets of the work, and for renouncing his
profession of political writer, “until better days.”
This weakness did not last long. There would seem to have been a
suspicion that the Government were enticing him into making the
sacrifice before letting the law come down in all its force.
WM. C. to J. W.
“I will not sacrifice fortune without securing freedom in
return. It would be both baseness and folly. Your threat to
R[eeves] was good, and spoke my sentiment exactly. I have not
time for telling you my plan now; but let it suffice that,
really, from the bottom of my soul, I would RATHER be called up
than put down the _Register_.”
On the following day, Peter Finnerty posted up to London with full
powers to stop negotiation, and to see that the farewell article was
cancelled. Need it be said that the affair got wind? It was intended to
get it in the wind. No one can doubt that this was a final effort to
add to the discomfiture, and tarnish the reputation, of a really brave
man, by exposing him to the charge of having sold himself at last.
And the effort was, to some extent, successful. Absurd versions
of the story were circulated for years afterwards, and ridiculous
misrepresentations are still afloat: all of which have the merit
of being consistent, on one point, viz., in the exhibition of an
unquenchable hatred toward one of the bravest and faithfulest souls
that ever breathed.
After Finnerty’s departure, the spirits of the little household arose
once more. “Indignation and resentment took place of grief and alarm;”
Mrs. Cobbett and her little Nancy got their courage back again; and the
master wrote up to London--“The best way is to be as calm as possible,
and to wait with patience for better days.” Even Mr. Wright, inspired
with returning pluck, thinks there ought to be “something powerful”
sent up for next week’s paper.
On the 5th of July, the four defendants answered to their bail, while
the Attorney-General prayed the judgment of the Court. Fresh hypocrisy
was uttered, of course:--
“The army, against whom this libel is in a peculiar manner
directed, calls on the Court for judgment against its
traducer.… The Government calls for confirmation of its legal
powers.… The country calls for protection against the numerous
evils which the propagation of such publications was calculated
to engender.… Justice is called for; and justice, to be sure,
will be tempered with mercy. But the Court will not forget that
mercy is due to the public, as well as to the defendant at the
bar.”
The defendants were forthwith committed to the King’s Bench prison,
with directions that they be brought up on the following Monday to
receive sentence.
The _Register_, meanwhile, had been for two consecutive weeks without
any contribution to the topics of the day, on the part of the editor;
and now, again, he is compelled to apologize, for the third time,
for a similar omission.[4] He had not nearly completed his domestic
arrangements, before it was necessary to leave Botley for the last
time. And, as for sitting down to write for the information or the
amusement of the public, every one must feel the impossibility of his
being able so to divert his mind from the circumstances in which he was
now placed. He could not banish the thought, that exactly ten years ago
to the very day, he landed in England, “after having lost a fortune in
America solely for the sake of that same England;” yet his reflections,
he added, were “in some measure driven out by the contempt which I feel
for the venal slaves who have seized upon this (as they regard it)
moment of my depression, to misrepresent and insult me.”
Westminster Hall was crowded on the following Monday. Strangers were
ordered to be removed from the lower part of the Court; but the
order had to be disregarded, for fear of adding to the confusion.
Ellenborough, with three other judges, occupied the bench, of whom Mr.
Justice Grose was the one selected to pass sentence. After judgment had
been prayed, in the usual form, the judge proceeded to remark upon the
enormity of the offence:--
The libel 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 intentions
of the paper. The whole tendency of it was, in so many words,
to excite unwillingness and dislike to the service of the
country, amongst those who are to be its defence, and to
insult those foreigners who are in our service, to deprive
the country of their honourable assistance, and to paralyze
the energies of the State. The objects of the libel were too
palpable for doubt, &c.… “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 enfeeble
and embarrass the operations of Government, there can be no
ground 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 imputation upon you, the Court, as
protecting the purity and peace of the public mind, would have
felt itself called on to punish you severely. It is strange
that a man who mixes so much in general and private 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 terminate
in punishment on the guilty authors. 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 which you distorted in your libel? the whole
intention of which was to throw disgrace on the Government, and
to disgust and alienate the army. If you had anything to offer
in extenuation, you might have offered it; the Court would
have received it; and, at all events, impartial justice would
have been dealt to you. I now pass the sentence of the Court
upon you, William Cobbett, as the principal criminal amongst
those who now stand before the Court: the Court do accordingly
adjudge that you, William Cobbett, pay to our Lord the King
a fine of 1000_l._; that you be imprisoned in His Majesty’s
gaol of Newgate for the space of two years, and that at the
expiration of that time, you enter into a recognizance to keep
the peace for seven years--yourself in the sum of 3000_l._, and
two good and sufficient sureties in the sum of 1000_l._ each;
and further, that you be imprisoned till that recognizance be
entered into, and that fine paid.”
Mr. Hansard was then sentenced to three months’ imprisonment in the
King’s Bench, and to enter into recognizances for three years. Mr. Budd
and Mr. Bagshaw were each sent to the same prison for a period of two
months.
A smile[5] arose on Cobbett’s face as the terms of this dread sentence
were unfolded,--a sentence which must needs either crush its victim
into irrevocable ruin, or so press down upon an unknown and unsuspected
buoyancy, as to bring upon its authors a recoil from the effects of
which they would never escape.
From that hour, the sword which had been so near laying by to rust, had
its blade new tempered, whilst the scabbard was clean cast away for
ever.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Augustus de Morgan gives a story which he had from Francis Place.
Place was, with others, advising Cobbett as to the proper line of
defence. “Said Place, ‘You must put in the letters you have received
from
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