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WILLIAM COBBETT. 
 
 A BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
LONDON : 
 GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, 
 
 ST. John's square. 
 

 
 
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 M"inLl,JlAM COBBETT. 
 
WILLIAM COBBETT: 
 
 A BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 By EDWARD SMITH. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 HonHon : 
 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, 
 
 CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 
 1879. I Y 
 
 \All rights reserved^ ; y 
 
" It is not by his faults, but by his excellences, that 
 we measure a great man." 
 
 G. H. Lewes {On Actors, &-c.). 
 
 " Fear never but you shall be consistent in whatever 
 variety of actions, so that they be each honest and natural 
 in their hour. For of one will, the actions will be har- 
 monious, however unlike they seem." 
 
 R. W. Emerson {Essay on Self-reliance). 
 
 " My good blade carves the casques of men. 
 My tough lance thrusteth sure, 
 My strength is as the strength of ten. 
 Because my heart is pure ! " 
 
 Tennyson {Sir Galahad). 
 
NOTE TO THE PRESENT EDITION. 
 
 The acknowledgments which have been made of the value 
 and utility of this book, in spite of its numerous defects, are 
 very gratifying. One cannot help feeling extreme pleasure 
 at being told that he has performed a public service, in the 
 endeavour to put into a better light the sayings and doings 
 of William Cobbett. 
 
 In the belief that this story needed no preliminary thrusting 
 forth of the author's own ideas, I relinquished the idea of 
 furnishing a Preface. But I now see that an author must 
 always make provision for a large number of careless and 
 ignorant readers ; who, evolving from their inner conscious- 
 ness some rapidly-generalized notions of what an author 
 ought to say, have neither time nor inclination to discover 
 what the author really does say. I am led to this observation 
 for the following reason : — 
 
 Several persons have been so considerate as to remind 
 me that Lord Bailing was already in the field. Now, I had 
 no wish to enter into competition with Lord Dalling. ' He 
 wrote several very brilliant essays concerning Cobbett and 
 others ; and it would be difficult to find their superior in 
 polish, in animation, in their power over the reader's mind. 
 There, however, we must stop. Lord Dalling did not, and 
 could not, understand William Cobbett. His aristocratic views 
 of things, and the highly-cultivated tone of his mind, kept 
 
him in a sphere whence it was almost impossible to emerge. 
 He could not sympathize with' Cobbett. And all the mis- 
 taken ideas current in the minds of his class concerning the 
 non-Whig reformers, are reproduced in full by Lord Dalling. 
 His point of view, and his motives, are different from mine ; 
 I repeat, therefore, that I am not in competition with him. 
 
 Coming, however, to matters of fact, the case is different. 
 In matters of fact concerning Cobbett's life and doings, I 
 would respectfully beg the reader to believe that the following 
 pages must supersede those of any clever essayist who is 
 content to derive his materials from impeachable sources. 
 There are many such second-hand " essayists." There is a 
 deal of trash put forth now-a-days under the heading of 
 " Sketches," and " Lectures," and so forth. It is abundantly 
 clear, from the experience of this generation, that your 
 popular "sketcher" may say just what he likes ; and as, 
 according to the familiar fable, an audience once possessed 
 of an idea of the inestimable talents of a mimic is often in no 
 mood to listen to a genuine squeak, there is something of 
 temerity in the attempt to counteract erroneous impressions, 
 however derived. The conflict of statement between myself 
 and the sketchers is sometimes great enough ; but I never 
 wished to make capital out of other people's fallacies. It is 
 only under provocation that this kind of protest is now 
 uttered. The objects aimed at, from the first, were to place 
 fairly upon record, — first, the circumstances under which 
 this singular character was evolved; and, secondly, the 
 work which Cobbett ultimately did for his country's benefit. 
 
 And, with reference to that work, let me remark that it is 
 idle for traditional politicians to repeat their stale inquiry as 
 to the tangible results of Cobbett's life. The simple answer 
 is, that he was the barometer of popular opinion, more or 
 less, for thirty years. 
 
 E. S. 
 London, October, 1879. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 1762-1784. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 " I LOOKED BACK WITH PRIDE TO MY WaGGON- 
 
 DRiviNG Grandfather" . . . . i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1 784-1 79 1. 
 
 " When I had the honour to wear a Red 
 
 Coat " -30 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 1792. 
 
 " I HAVE ALWAYS SHOWN MY EnMITY TO EVERY 
 
 Species of Public Fraud or Robbery" . 56 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1793-1794. 
 " I lived in Philadelphia " . . . .94 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 1794-1795. 
 
 ' PAGE 
 
 " Hearing my Country attacked, I became her 
 
 Defender through thick and thin " . 107 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1796-1797. 
 
 " Peter Porcupine, at your service ! " . . 146 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1797-1799. 
 
 "At last got the better of all Diffidence 
 
 IN MY own Capacity" . . . .180 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1799-1800. 
 
 "■WThen I left them I certainly did shake 
 
 the Dust off my Shoes". . . . 197 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1 794-1800. 
 
 "My Fame had preceded me" . . .231 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1800. 
 
 "I resolved never to bend before them" . 247 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 1800-1801. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 " I TOOK THE LEAD, IN SINGING THE PraISES OF 
 
 Pitt". 267 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1802. 
 
 "The Thoughts of the Nation are like a 
 
 Cork in the Middle of the Ocean" . 284 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 1803-1805. 
 
 " I SAW THINGS IN ANOTHER LIGHT " . . . 308 
 
WILLIAM COBBETT 
 
 A BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " I LOOKED BACK WITH PRIDE TO MY WAGGON- 
 • DRIVING GRANDFATHER." 
 
 William Cobbett was born in the parish of 
 Farnhain, in the county of Surrey, on the 9th of 
 March, 1762. 
 
 The town of Farnham is a hop-garden. It had, 
 in olden days, one of the most important corn- 
 markets in the south of England. Before that, it 
 was a great clothing mart ; and, early in Parlia- 
 mentary history, was called upon to send repre- 
 sentatives to the "Collective Wisdom." But, at 
 last, the mercantile spirit proper, as was the case 
 with many towns in Surrey, Kent, and Sussex, 
 fled from Farnham; granaries took the place of 
 
 VOL. L . B 
 
-2 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 workshops; and manufactures declined. With 
 the extinction of the iron-furnaces of the Weald 
 expired the once-flourishing trade of the south 
 of England ; and agriculture became the staple 
 pursuit of the still-prosperous people, all over the 
 fertile country which lies between the Thames and 
 the English Channel. Corn-fields took the place of 
 extensive sheep and cattle pastures ; new grazing- 
 downs succeeded to the burnt-up forests, whilst hops 
 took the pick of the land, upon which they throve 
 in a hitherto-unexampled manner. And Farnham, 
 with its deep, rich, light-brown soil, found itself 
 with a title to give to the best hops grown in 
 England. 
 
 So Farnham is, to this day, a big hop-garden, 
 In spite of a railway-station and 10,000 inhabitants, 
 and the proximity of a garrison, the impression is, 
 all around, the same. You enter the town from 
 London, and the first church you come to is nearly 
 surrounded with vines; the last building, at the' 
 other end of the long street, is an oast-house. 
 You may take a lodging down by the river-side, 
 and find a forest of hop-poles immediately outside 
 your window, in the morning ; or taking stand 
 on any elevation, you will see all the uplands 
 around, either in their luxuriant summer dress of 
 vine, or else, so many square miles of poles placed 
 
FARNHAM. 3 
 
 tent-wise, taking their winter rest, looking like 
 nothing so much as the encampment of a mon- 
 strous army. 
 
 They must have been clever enough in their 
 generation, who planted and built hereabouts 
 nearly two thousand years ago ; but he who did 
 the most on behalf of this part of Surrey was he 
 who planted a small field of hops on the upland 
 towards Crondell, somewhere about the year 1600. 
 By the middle of the eighteenth century the hops 
 of Farnham were already distinguished — "always 
 at the top of the market ;" and the agricultural 
 writers of that day wax eloquent over the praises 
 of the pleasing, fertile vale, and its "hazel- 
 coloured," loamy soil, and the yearly-increasing 
 number of acres given up to hop-culture. Arthur 
 Young calls the district between Farnham and 
 Alton the finest in England. 
 
 The scenery around Farnham is not, in itself, 
 unique ; so far, that any well-cultivated English 
 river-valley is like almost any other, with its low 
 hills crowned along their summits with the evi- 
 dences of prosperous farming. But, from the top 
 of one of these eminences, the eye soon discovers 
 certain characteristics, which compel a deep im- 
 pression upon the mind of singularity and beauty. 
 The best view is, perhaps, to be obtained from 
 B 2 
 
4 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 Hungry Hill, near Aldershot ; the most prominent 
 object being Crooksbury Hill, rising from above 
 the woods of Moor Park and Waverley Abbey. A 
 very odd-looking hill, covered with tall Scotch firs, 
 the like of which it would be difficult to name ; a 
 wide expanse of sandy heath, now partly cultivated, 
 stretches for many miles beyond, until broken up 
 into a tumultuous range of heath-clad hills ; and 
 these, again, succeeded by the distant blue out- . 
 lines of the Sussex and Hampshire downs. The 
 river Wey courses down the vale, passing through 
 the lower part of Farnham town ; and after 
 spinning merrily through the meadows and hop- 
 fields below, bends abruptly round in the direction 
 of Guildford. 
 
 The inhabitants of this district, one hundred 
 years ago, were almost out of the great World. 
 The turnpike-road* to Winchester and the south- 
 west bounded their earthly aims ; upon it was 
 situated the weekly goal for the produce of their 
 farms ; and along it was, at a toilsome distance, 
 either the great metropolis at one end, or Ports- 
 mouth and her marines at the other. With strong 
 native prejudices, and a character for inflexible 
 honesty, the farmers (generally speaking) lived 
 remote, " equal enemies to improvements in agri- 
 culture and to relaxations in morals ;" the smallest 
 
FARNHAM FOLK. 5 
 
 occupiers sharing the hardest toil with their 
 labourers. 
 
 Before the great scarcity and dearness set in, 
 in the last quarter of the century — when the clocks 
 and the brass kettles began to disappear from the 
 parlours, and the visions of general pauperism 
 began to appear — the spirit of the peasantry in 
 the remoter parts of Surrey was high and in- 
 dependent — chill penury was then uncommon with 
 the able-bodied. In the receipt of only seven or 
 eight shillings a week of average money wages, 
 such was the cheapness of food, and so light were 
 the burdens which Prudence had to bear, that the 
 labourer was healthy, cheerful, and contented ; 
 whilst he could often explain clearly enough, from 
 his own observation and reflection, the merits or 
 demerits of the different systems and practice upon 
 the neighbouring farms. 
 
 Of this class was the grandfather of William 
 Cobbett. 
 
 " With respect to my ancestors, I shall go no further 
 back than my grandfather, and for this plain reason, that 
 I never heard talk of any prior to him. He was a day- 
 labourer, and I have heard my father say, that he worked 
 for one farmer from the day of his marriage to that of 
 his death, upwards of forty years. He died before I was 
 born, but I have often slept beneath the same roof that 
 
6 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 had sheltered him, and where his widow dwelt for 
 several years after his death. It was a little thatched 
 cottage with a garden before the door. It had but two 
 windows; a damson-tree shaded one, and a clump of 
 filberts the other. Here I and my brothers went every 
 Christmas and Whitsuntide, to spend a week or two, 
 and torment the poor old woman with our noise and 
 dilapidations. She used to give us milk and bread for 
 breakfast, an apple-pudding for our dinner, and a piece 
 of bread and cheese for supper. Her fire was rnade of 
 turf, cut from the neighbouring heath, and her evening 
 light was a rush dipped in grease." 
 
 George Cobbett, son of this old couple, appears 
 to have much improved his condition in life ; and 
 he lived to see all his boys gradually rising in the 
 world. William was the third (out of four), and 
 he gives vivid sketches of their daily course of 
 existence. 
 
 "My father, when I was born, was a farmer. The 
 reader will easily believe, from the poverty of his parents, 
 that he had received no very brilUant education: he 
 was, however, learned, for a man in his rank of life. 
 When a litde boy, he drove the plough for twopence a 
 day, and these his earnings were appropriated to the 
 expenses of an evening school. What a village school- 
 master could be expected to teach, he had learnt, and 
 had besides considerably improved himself in several 
 branches of the mathematics. He understood land 
 
HOMELY JOYS. 7 
 
 surveying well, and was often chosen to draw the plans 
 of disputed territory : in short, he had the reputation of 
 possessing experience and understanding, which never 
 fails, in England, to give a man, in a country place, some 
 little weight with his neighbours. He was honest, in- 
 dustrious, and frugal ; it was not, therefore, wonderful, 
 that he should be situated in a good farm, and happy in 
 a wife of his own rank, like him, beloved and respected. 
 
 " So much for my ancestors, from whom, if I derive no 
 honour, I derive no shame. 
 
 " A father like ours, it will be readily supposed, did not 
 suffer us to eat the bread of idleness. I do not re- 
 member the time when I did not earn my living. My 
 first occupation was driving the small birds from the 
 turnip seed, and the rooks from the peas. When 1 first 
 trudged a-field, with my wooden bottle and my satchel 
 swung over my shoulders, I was hardly able to climb the 
 gates and stiles, and, at the close of the day, to reach 
 home was a task of infinite difficulty. My next employ- 
 ment was weeding wheat, and leading a single horse at 
 harrowing barley. Hoeing peas followed, and hence I 
 arrived at the honour of joining the reapers in harvest, 
 driving the team and holding the plougL We were all 
 of us strong and laborious, and my father used to boast, 
 that he had four boys, the eldest of whom was but fifteen 
 years old, who did as much work as any three men in 
 the parish of Farnham. Honest pride, and happy 
 days! . . . ." 
 
 " I have some faint recollection of going to school to 
 an old woman, who, I believe, did not succeed in teach- 
 
8 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 ing me my letters. In the winter evenings my father 
 taught us all to read and write, and gave us a pretty 
 tolerable knowledge of arithmetic. Grammar he did 
 not perfectly understand himself, and therefore his en- 
 deavours to teach us that, necessarily failed ; for, though 
 he thought he understood it, and though he made us get 
 the rules by heart, we learnt nothing at all of the prin- 
 ciples." 
 
 No, the book-learning was not to come yet. 
 That vsfas to be left until the little world of his 
 birthplace had become too small to hold him. 
 Nearly sixty years after these simple times, Mr. 
 Cobbett is riding in the neighbourhood, accom- 
 panied by one of his sons, and the two go out of 
 their way to visit the spot where he received " the 
 rudiments of his education." 
 
 " There is a little hop-garden in which I used to work 
 when from eight to ten years old ; from which I have 
 scores of times run to follow the hounds, leaving the hoe 
 to do the best that it could to destroy the weeds; but 
 the most interesting thing was a sand-hill, which goes 
 from a part of the heath down to the rivulet. As a due 
 mixture of pleasure with toil, I with two brothers, used 
 occasionally to disport ourselves, as the lawyers call it, 
 at this sand-hill. One diversion was this : we used to 
 go to the top of the hill, which was steeper than the 
 roof of a house ; one used to draw his arms out -of the 
 sleeves of his smock-frock, and lay himself down with his 
 
EDUCATIONAL CRUMBS. 9 
 
 arms by his sides; and then the others, one at head 
 and the other at feet, sent him rolling down the hill like 
 a barrel or a log of wood. By the time he got to the 
 bottom, his hair, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, were all full 
 of this loose sand ; then the others took their turn ; and 
 at every roll, there was a monstrous spell of laughter. I 
 had often told my sons of this while they were very little, 
 and I now took one of them to see the spot. But, that 
 was not all. This was the spot where I was receiving 
 my education ; and this was the sort of education ; and 
 I am perfectly satisfied that if I had not received such 
 an education, or something very much like it ; that, if I 
 had been brought up a milksop, with a nursery-maid 
 everlastingly at my heels, I should have been at this 
 day as great a fool, as inefficient a mortal, as any of 
 those frivolous idiots that are turned out from Winchester 
 and Westminster School, or from any of those dens of 
 dunces called colleges and universities. It is impossible 
 to say how much I owe to that sand-hill ; and I went 
 to return it my thanks for the ability which it probably 
 gave me to be one of the greatest terrors, to one of the 
 greatest and most powerful bodies of knaves and fools, 
 that ever were permitted to afflict this or any other 
 country." 
 
 In such manner the merry, sturdy, little life went 
 on. At tying hop-poles, or scaring birds, almost as 
 soon as he could barely stand, a trifling share was 
 given to the family efforts ; whilst the vigorous, 
 healthy senses were already open to the keenest 
 
10 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 enjoyment of nature, and to the unexpected 
 moments of fun which enter into the days of boy- 
 hood. Look at this, for example (written at 
 nearly seventy years of age). 
 
 " When I was a very little boy, I was, in the barley- 
 sowing season, going along by the side of a field, near 
 Waverley Abbey; the primroses and blue-bells be- 
 spangling the banks on both sides of me ; a thousand 
 linnets singing in a spreading oak over my head ; while 
 the jingle of the traces, and the whistling of the plough- 
 boys saluted my ear from over the hedge ; and, as it 
 were to snatch me from the enchantment, the hounds, 
 at that instant, having started a hare in the hanger on 
 the other side of the field, came up scampering over it 
 in full cry, taking me after them many a mile. I was 
 not more than eight years old; but this particular scene 
 has presented itself to my mind many times every year 
 from that day to this. I always enjoy it over again, 
 &c." 
 
 Cobbett's political writings, during his whole 
 career, were largely illustrated by the incidents and 
 occurrences of his life. This was the line taken 
 by his own peculiar egotism, and we are indebted 
 to it for numerous pictures similar to the above. 
 Of this particular period there is only space here 
 for the following capital story : — 
 
 " When I was a boy, a huntsman named George Brad- 
 
" NA TURAL JUSTICE. " 1 1 
 
 ley, who was huntsman to Mr. Smither, of Hale, very 
 wantonly gave me a cut with his whip, because I jumped 
 in amongst the dogs, pulled a hare from them, and got 
 her scut, upon a little common, called Seal Common, 
 near Waverley Abbey. I was only about eight years 
 old ; but my mind was so strongly imbued with the 
 principles of natural justice, that I did not rest satisfied 
 with the mere calling of names, of which, however, I 
 gave Mr. George Bradley a plenty. I sought to inflict 
 a just punishment upon him ; and, as I had not the 
 means of proceeding by force, I proceeded by cunning 
 in the manner that I am presently going to describe. 
 I had not then read the Bible, much less had I read 
 Grotius and Puffendorf ; I, therefore, did not know 
 that God and man had declared, that it was laudable to 
 combat tyranny by either force or fraud ; but, though I 
 did not know what t)T:anny meant, reason and a sense 
 of justice taught me that Bradley had been guilty of 
 tyranny towards me ; and the native resources of my 
 mind, together with my resolution, made me inflict 
 justice on him in the following manner :— Hounds 
 (hare-hounds at least) will follow the trail of a red 
 herring as eagerly as that of a hare, and rather more 
 so, the scent being stronger and more unbroken. I 
 waited till Bradley and his pack were trailing for a hare 
 in the neighbourhood of that same Seal Common. They 
 were pretty sure to find in the space of half an hour, 
 and the hare was pretty sure to go up the common and 
 over the hill to the south. I placed myself ready with 
 a red herring at the end of a string, in a dry field, and 
 
12 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 near a hard path, along which, or near to which, I was 
 pretty sure the hare would go. I waited a long while ; 
 the sun was getting high, the scent bad ; bat, by and 
 by, I heard the view-halloo and full cry. I squatted 
 down in the fern, and my heart bounded with the 
 prospect of inflicting justice, when I saw my lady come 
 skipping by, going off towards Pepperharrow ; that is to 
 say, to the south. In a moment, I clapped down my 
 herring, went off at a right angle towards the west, 
 climbed up a steep bank very soon, where the horsemen, 
 such as they were, could not follow ; then on I went 
 over the roughest part of the common that I could find, 
 till I got to the pales of Moor Park, over which I went, 
 there being holes at the bottom for the letting in of the 
 hares. That part of the park was covered with short 
 heath ; and I gave some twirls about to amuse Mr. 
 Bradley for half-an-hour. Then off I went, and down a 
 hanger at last, to the bottom of which no horseman could 
 get without riding round a quarter of a mile. At the 
 bottom of the hanger was an alder moor, in a swamp. 
 There my herring ceased to perform its service. The 
 river is pretty rapid, I tossed it in, that it might go back 
 to the sea, and relate to its brethren the exploits of the 
 land. I washed my hands in the water of the moor ; 
 and took a turn, and stood at the top of the hanger to 
 witness the winding up of the day's sport, which ter- 
 minated a little before dusk in one of the dark days of 
 November. After overrunning the scent a hundred 
 times, after an hour's puzzling in the dry field, after all 
 the doubles and all the turns that the sea-borne hare 
 
ESCAPE FROM DRO WNING. 13 
 
 had given them, down came the whole posse to the 
 swamp ; the huntsman went round a mill-head not far 
 off, and tried the other side of the river : <■ No I d— 
 her, where can she be i ' And thus, amidst conjectures, 
 disputations, mutual blamings, and swearings a plenty, 
 they concluded, some of them half-leg deep in dirt, and 
 going soaking home at the end of a drizzling day." 
 
 The little life, that was destined to be such a 
 cruel thorn in the sides of Authority, was very 
 near being summarily extinguished about this time; 
 on occasion of William getting out of his depth 
 while bathing in the river Wey, and from which 
 he was " pulled out by the foot, which happened to 
 stick up above the water." 
 
 By the time of his reaching ten or eleven years 
 of age he is already getting useful, in his way, 
 and he takes his turn with his brothers of going the 
 annual visit to Weyhill Fair with their father. 
 The fair at Weyhill, though still considerable, is not 
 what it was then ; the hop-growers now run off to 
 Worcester, or Burton-on-Trent ; but in those days, 
 long before the railways, Weyhill in October was 
 the grand centre for sheep, hops, &c. There the 
 yearly hirings took place, and there the bucolic 
 gathering from all the neighbouring counties had 
 an annual dissipation. We shall presently see 
 that it was at one of these trips Cobbett made his 
 
14 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 first acquaintance with American politics. But the 
 following incident — which has often been told, 
 but cannot on that account be omitted here — pre- 
 sents his first recorded look-out upon life. 
 
 " At eleven years of age, my employment was clipping 
 of box-edgings and weeding beds of flowers in the garden 
 of the Bishop of Winchester, at the Castle of Famham, 
 my native town. I had always been fond of beautiful 
 gardens ; and a gardener, who had just come from the 
 King's Gardens at Kew, gave such a description as made 
 me instantly resolve to work in these gardens. The next 
 morning, without saying a word to any one, off I set, with 
 no clothes except those upon my back, and with thirteen 
 halfpence in my pocket. I found that I must go to 
 Richmond, and I accordingly went on, from place to 
 place, inquiring my way thither. A long day (it was in 
 June) brought me to Richmond in the afternoon. Two 
 pennyworth of bread and cheese, and a pennyworth of 
 small beer, which I had on the road, and one halfpenny 
 that I had lost somehow or other, left threepence in my 
 pocket. With this for my whole fortune, I was trudging 
 through Richmond, in my blue smock-frock, and my red 
 garters tied under my knees, when, staring about me, my 
 eye fell upon a little book in a bookseller's window. 
 ' Tale of a Tub,' price 31/. The title was so odd, that 
 my curiosity was excited. I had the 3^., but then I 
 could have no supper. In I went, and got the little 
 book, which I was so impatient to read, that I got over 
 into a field, at the upper corner of Kew Gardens, where 
 
FOND OF BOOKS. 15 
 
 there stood a haystack. On the shady side of this, I sat 
 down to read. The book was so different from anything 
 that I had ever read before ; it was something so new to 
 my mind, that, though I could not at all understand some 
 of it, it delighted me beyond description ; and it produced 
 what I have always considered a birth of intellect. I 
 read orttill it was dirk, without any thought about supper 
 or bed. When I could see no longer, I put my little 
 book in my pocket, and tumbled down by tlie side of the 
 stack, where I slept till the birds in Kew Gardens 
 awaked me in the morning ; when off I started to Kew, 
 reading my little book. The singularity of my dress, the 
 simplicity of my manner, my confident and lively air, 
 and, doubtless, his own compassion besides, induced the 
 gardener, who was a Scotchman, I remember, to give me 
 victuals, find me lodgings, and set me to work. And it 
 was during the period that I was at Kew, that the present 
 King (Geo. IV.), and two of his brothers laughed at the 
 oddness of my dress, while I was sweeping the grass-plat 
 round the foot of the pagoda. The gardener, seeing me 
 fond of books, lent me some gardening books to read ; 
 but these I could not relish after my ' Tale of a Tub,' 
 which I carried about with me wherever I went; and 
 when I, at about twenty [24] years old, lost it in a box 
 that fell overboard in the Bay of Fundy, in North America, 
 the loss gave me greater pain then I have ever felt at 
 losing thousands of pounds." 
 
 How long the employment at Kew lasted, and 
 how he got home again, does not appear.. The 
 
i6 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 life at Farnham was probably resumed 'before the 
 approach of winter ; for, either the year before this, 
 or that immediately succeeding, he mentions being 
 sent down from Farnham to Steeple Langford, in 
 Wiltshire, with a horse ; remaining at the latter 
 place " from the month of June till the fall of the 
 year." 
 
 Cobbett must have been about fourteen years 
 of age at the time alluded to in the following 
 incident : — 
 
 " My father used to take one of us with him every year 
 to the great hop-fair at Weyhill. The fair was held at 
 Old Michaelmastide, and the journey was to us a sort of 
 reward for the labours of the summer. It happened to 
 be my turn to go thither the very year that Long Island 
 was taken by the British, h, great company of hop-mer- 
 chants and farmers were just sitting down to supper as 
 the post arrived, bringing in the ' Extraordinary Gazette,' 
 which announced the victory. A hop-factor from London 
 took the paper, placed his chair upon the table, and 
 began to read with an audible voice. He was opposed, 
 a dispute ensued, and my father retired, taking me by 
 the hand, to another apartment, where we supped with 
 about a dozen others of the same sentiments. Here 
 Washington's health, and success to the Americans, were 
 repeatedly toasted, and this was the first time, as far as I 
 can recollect, that I ever heard the General's name 
 mentioned. Little did I then dream that I should ever 
 
SOME RESULTS OF WAR. 17 
 
 see the man, and still less that I should hear some of his 
 own countrymen reviling and execrating him. 
 
 Although we have learned, not only to look with 
 complacency upon the results of the attempt to 
 coerce the Colonies, but, also, to wonder that 
 there could have ever been English statesmen so 
 deluded as to expect anything but disaster from 
 the contest ; it has not been sufficiently observed, 
 that the immediate effect was the partial ruin of 
 the labouring poor in this country ; that it is from 
 that period that their prosperity has declined, and 
 their comforts have become fewer and fewer. And 
 what is more, before their impoverishment made 
 it obvious to everybody, the common people and 
 the tradesmen showed, by their abhorrence of the 
 war, that they were, for once, gifted with a truer 
 political sagacity than their precious rulers ; and 
 that there must have been some vague general 
 anticipation of the consequences to them,, and to 
 their families. Prices rose, whilst wages remained 
 stationary ; and, from the very outset, the priva- 
 tions of the poor were aggravated to an intense 
 degree. But from that date arose the thirst of 
 the labouring classes for political information, which 
 has since resulted in their possessing so general a 
 share in representation. 
 
 VOL. I. C 
 
i8 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 So, down at quiet Farnham, the people had 
 hitherto been, " like the rest of the country people 
 in England," neither knowing nor thinking much 
 about politics. The "shouts of victory or the 
 murmurs at a defeat," would now and then break 
 in upon their tranquillity for a moment ; but after 
 the American war had continued for a short time, 
 the people began to be a little better acquainted 
 with subjects of that kind. Cobbett says, that 
 opinions were pretty equally divided concerning 
 the war, at first ; whilst there grew up a good deal 
 of pretty warm discussion, sometimes : — 
 
 " My father was a partisan of the Americans : he used 
 frequently to dispute on the subject with the gardener of 
 a nobleman who lived near us. This was generally done 
 with good humour, over a pot of our best ale ; yet the dis- 
 putants sometimes grew warm, and gave way to language 
 that could not fail to attract our attention. My father 
 was worsted, without doubt, as he had for antagonist 
 a shrewd and sensible old Scotchman, far his superior 
 in political knowledge ; but he pleaded before a partial 
 audience : we thought there was but one wise man in the 
 world, and that that one was our father. He who pleaded 
 the cause of the Americans had an advantage too, with 
 young minds : he had only to represent the King's troops 
 as sent to cut the throats of a people, our friends and 
 relations, merely because they would not submit to 
 oppression, and his cause was gained." 
 
SHORT AND SIMPLE ANNALS. 19 
 
 Old George Cobbett remained a staunch Ameri- 
 can in politics ; but, as to whether he was right 
 or wrong, his son admits that he never, at that 
 period, formed any opinion. His own notions were 
 those of his father, which would have been as 
 warmly entertained if they had been all on the 
 other side. The short autobiography of which the 
 above forms a part, was written during the early 
 part of his pamphleteering career in the United 
 States ; at which time he found it necessary to 
 explain that he had not been nursed in the lap of 
 aristocracy, and that he did not imbibe his then 
 "principles or prejudices from those who were the 
 advocates of blind submission." The story of this 
 pamphlet will come in its proper place, when its 
 ;author was upwards of thirty years of age. 
 
 Here we have, then, probably as much as we 
 shall ever know, of William Cobbett's early years. 
 The utter obscurity of his father's social status is, 
 of itself, sufficient reason why there were no ad- 
 miring friends to detect precocity, and to record 
 its achievements : until the age of twenty his life 
 was made up of the ordinary occupations of a 
 country lad. Fairs, cricket-matches, and hare- 
 hunts filled up the joyous periods of recreation ; 
 and it was not till the year 1782, that an incident 
 C 2 
 
20 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 occurred, which, bringing him into the bustling 
 activity of town-life, had the same effect upon him, 
 that a similar change of scene has had upon many 
 an ardent, healthy spirit; and which estranged 
 him from the sequestered vale of life, for ever. 
 
 There can be little doubt, however, that a very 
 great mental stimulus was acquired by the trip to 
 Kew, and the reading of Swift's wonderful satire.' 
 The poor ploughboy, very probably, read and re- 
 read the laughable story of Peter and Martin 
 hundreds of times without understanding the real 
 drift of it ; but there was enough in the book, 
 with its entertaining accounts of grotesque fashions 
 and weak-minded characters, to furnish such an 
 impressionable spirit as Cobbett's with an inex- 
 haustible store of odd ideas concerning the world 
 outside him. Readers of his works will notice his 
 frequent quotation of Swift : " The celebrated Dean 
 of St. Patrjck somewhere observes, &c., &c." is 
 the opening sentence of the autobiographical 
 sketch; and the " Political Register," in after-years, 
 
 ' It is a noteworthy circumstance that Moor Park and "my 
 grandmother's cottage " should be almost within hail of each other ; 
 for it was among these very scenes that Swift spent some of his 
 earliest and best years — a nice little item for any ingenious believer 
 in "aflSnities." 
 
 When Cobbett wrote "The Life and Adventures of Peter Porcu- 
 pine," he was not aware of this coincidence, otherwise his humour 
 would have happily played around the topic. 
 
HIS LITERARY PARENTAGE. 21 
 
 continued to manifest evidences of the source and 
 character of Cobbett's early reading. Cobbett's 
 literary style, however, was not exactly that of 
 Dean Swift ; of which the former's ignorance, and 
 even contempt, of Latinity is sufficient explanation. 
 But his alternations of sweetness and acrimony, — his 
 ever-ready images, — the picturesque manner of his 
 describing individual characters, — his constant ten- 
 dency to satire, — cannot but be ascribed, in great 
 measure, to the little book whose loss " cost him 
 greater pain than losing thousands of pounds." 
 
 So there is, now, some difference. A head and 
 shoulders above the average of his mates, his mind 
 is, likewise, on a higher level. Not so high, but as 
 yet to be infinitely dark as to any purpose : a 
 healthy spirit in a healthy body, there stood, 
 working as hard and as cheerily as ever ; but ready 
 for the first impulse — which impulse came, in no 
 uncommon way ; in no more romantic style than 
 that which sets a ball rolling, upon the impact ot 
 the foot. 
 
 "Towards the autumn of 1782, I went to visit a rela- 
 tion who lived in the neighbourhood of Portsmouth. 
 From the top of Portsdown, I, for the first time, beheld 
 the sea, and no sooner did I behold it than I wished to 
 be a sailor. I could never account for this sudden 
 impulse, nor can I now. Almost all English boys feel 
 
22 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 the same inclination: it would seem that, like young 
 ducks, instinct leads them to rush on the bosom of the 
 water. 
 
 " But it was not the sea alone that I saw ; the grand 
 fleet was riding at anchor at Spithead. I had heard of 
 the wooden walls of Old England; I had formed my 
 ideas of a ship and of a fleet, but what I now beheld so 
 far surpassed what I had ever been able to form a con- 
 ception of, that I stood lost between astonishment and 
 admiration. I had heard talk of the glorious deeds of 
 our admirals and sailors, of the defeat of the Spanish 
 Armada, and of all those memorable combats that good 
 and true Englishmen never fail to relate to their .children 
 about a hundred times a year. The brave Rodney's 
 victories over our natural enemies, the French and 
 Spaniards, had long been the theme of our praise, and 
 the burthen of our songs. The sight of the fleet brought 
 all these into my mind ; in confused order, it is true, 
 but with irresistible force. My heart was inflated with 
 national pride. The sailors were my countrymen, the 
 fleet belonged to my country, and surely I had my 
 part in it, and all its honours ; yet, these honours I had 
 not earned; I took to myself a sort of reproach for 
 possessing what I had no right to, and resolved to 
 have a just claim by sharing in the hardships and the 
 dangers. 
 
 " I arrived at my uncle's late in the evening, with my 
 mind full of my sea-faring project. Though I had walked 
 thirty miles during the day, and consequently was well 
 wearied, I slept not a moment. It was no sooner day- 
 
WOULD GO TO SEA. 23 
 
 light than I arose and walked down towards the old 
 castle on the beach at Spithead. For a sixpence given to 
 an invalid I got permission to go upon the battlements ; 
 here I had a closer view of the fleet, and at every look 
 my impatience to be on board increased. In short, I 
 went from the Castle to Portsmouth, got into a boat, and 
 was in a few minutes on board the ' Pegasus ' man-of-war, 
 commanded by the Right Honourable George Berkeley, 
 brother to the Earl of Berkeley. 
 
 " The Captain had more compassion than is generally 
 met with in men of his profession ; he represented to me 
 the toils I must undergo, and the punishment that the 
 least disobedience or neglect would subject me to. He 
 persuaded me to return home, and I remember he con- 
 cluded his advice with telling me, that it was better to be 
 led to church in a halter, to be tied to a girl that I did 
 not like, than to be tied to the gang-way, or, as the sailors 
 call it, married to Miss Roper. From the conclusion of 
 this wholesome counsel, I perceived that the captain 
 thought I had eloped on account of a bastard. 
 
 " I in vain attempted to convince Captain Berkeley,' 
 that choice alone had led me to the sea ; he sent me on 
 shore, and I at last quitted Portsmouth, but not before I 
 had applied to the Port-Admiral, Evans, to get my name 
 enrolled among those who were destined for the service. 
 I was, in some sort, obliged to acquaint the Admiral 
 with what had passed on board the ' Pegasus,' in conse- 
 
 2 Afterwards Admiral Sir George Berkeley. He entered the 
 navy at twelve years of age, and saw a good deal of service, includ- 
 ing the glorious 1st of June. Died 1818, set. sixty-five. 
 
24 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 quence of which my request was refused, and I happily 
 escaped, sorely against my will, from the most toilsome 
 and perilous profession in the world. 
 
 " I returned once more to the plough, but I was spoiled 
 for a farmer. I had, before ray Portsmouth adventure, 
 never known any ^other ambition than that of surpassing 
 my brothers in the different labours of the field, but it 
 was quite otherwise now ; I sighed for a sight of the 
 world ; the little island of Britain seemed too small a com- 
 pass for me. The things in which I had taken the most 
 delight were neglected; the singing of the birds grew 
 insipid, and even the heart-cheering cry of the hounds, 
 after which I formerly used to fly from my work, bound 
 o'er the fields, and dash through the brakes and coppices, 
 was heard with the most torpid indifference. Still, how- 
 ever, I remained at home till the following spring, when 
 I quitted it, perhaps for ever. 
 
 "It was on the 6th of May, 1783, that I, like Don 
 Quixote, sallied forth to seek adventures. I was dressed 
 in my holiday clothes, in order to accompany two or three 
 lasses to Guildford Fair. They were to assenible at a 
 house about three miles from my home, where I was to 
 attend them ; but, unfortunately for me, I had to cross 
 the London turnpike-road. The stage-coach had just 
 turned the summit of a hill and was rattling down towards 
 me at a merry rate. The notion of going to London 
 never entered my mind till this very moment, yet the 
 step was completely determined on, before the coach 
 came to the spot where I stood. Up I got, and was in 
 London about nine o'clock in the evening. 
 
A LONDON WAIF. ' 25 
 
 " It was by mere accident that I had money enough to 
 defray the expenses of this day. Being rigged out for the 
 fair, I had three or four crown and half-crown pieces 
 (which most certainly I did not intend to spend), besides 
 a few shillings and half-pence. This my little all, which 
 I had been years in amassing, melted away like snow 
 before the sun, when touched by the fingers of the inn- 
 keepers and their waiters. In short, when I arrived at 
 Ludgate Hill, and had paid my fare, I had but about 
 half-a-crown in my pocket. 
 
 " By a commencement of that good luck, which has 
 hitherto attended me through all the situations in which 
 fortune has placed me, I was preserved from ruin. A 
 gentleman, who was one of the passengers in the stage, 
 fell into conversation with me at dinner, and he soon 
 learnt that I was going I knew not whither nor for what. 
 This gentleman was a hop-merchant in the borough of 
 Southwark, and, upon closer inquiry, it appeared that he 
 had often dealt with my father at 'Wey Hill. He knew 
 the danger I was in ; he was himself a father, and he felt 
 for my parents. His house became my home, he wrote 
 to my father, and endeavoured to prevail on me to obey 
 his orders, which were to return immediately home. I 
 am ashamed to say that I was disobedient. It was the 
 first time I had ever been so, and I have repented of it 
 from that moment to this. Willingly would I have 
 returned, but pride would not suffer me to do it. I feared 
 the scoffs of my acquaintances more than the real evils 
 that threatened me. 
 
 " My generous preserver, finding my obstinacy not to 
 
26 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 be overcome, began to look out for an employment for 
 me. He was preparing an advertisement for the news- 
 paper, when an acquaintance of his, an attorney, called 
 in to see him. He related my adventure to this gentle- 
 man, whose name was Holland, and who, happening to 
 want an understrapping quill-driver, did me the honour 
 to take me into his service, and the next day saw me 
 perched upon a great high stool, in an obscure chamber 
 in Gray's Inn, endeavouring to decipher the crabbed 
 draughts of my employer. 
 
 " I could write a good plain hand, but I could not read 
 the pot-hooks and hangers of Mr. Holland. He was a 
 month in learning me to copy without almost continual 
 assistance, and even then I was of but little use to him ; 
 for, besides that I wrote a snail's pace, my want of know-^ 
 ledge in orthography gave him infinite trouble : so that 
 for the first two months I was a dead weight upon his 
 hands. Time, however, rendered me useful, and Mr. 
 Holland was pleased to tell me that he was very well 
 satisfied with me, just at the very moment when I began 
 to grow extremely dissatisfied with him. 
 
 " No part of my hfe has been totally unattended with 
 pleasure, except the eight or nine months I passed in 
 Gray's Inn. The office (for so the dungeon, where I 
 wrote, was called) was so dark, that on cloudy days, we 
 were obliged to burn candles. I worked like a galley- 
 slave from five in the morning till eight or nine at night, 
 and sometimes all night long. How many quarrels have 
 I assisted to foment and perpetuate between those poor 
 innocent fellows, John Doe and Richard Roe ! How 
 
QUILL-DMIVJNG. 27 
 
 many times (God forgive me !) have I set them to assault 
 each other with guns, swords, staves, and pitch-forks, and 
 then brought them to answer for then: misdeeds before 
 our sovereign Lord the King seated in his Court of West- 
 minster ? When I think of the saids and soforths, and 
 the counts of tautology that I scribbled over ; when I 
 think of those sheets of seventy-two words, and those lines 
 two inches apart, my brain turns. Gracious Heaven ! if I 
 am doomed to be wretched, bury me beneath Iceland 
 snows, and let me feed on blubber ; stretch me under 
 the burning line and deny me thy propitious dews; 
 nay, if it be thy will, suffocate me with the infected 
 and pestilential air of a democratic club-room; but 
 save me, O save me from the desk of a pettifogging 
 attorney ! 
 
 " Mr. Holland was but little in the chambers himself; 
 He always went out to dinner, while I was left to be 
 provided for by the laundress, as he called her. Those 
 gentlemen of the law, who have resided in the inns of 
 court in London, know very well what a laundress 
 means. Ours was, I believe, the oldest and ugliest of 
 the ofScious sisterhood. She had age and experience 
 enough to be Lady Abbess of all the nuns in all the 
 convents of Irish-Town. It would be wronging the 
 witch of Endor to compare her to this hag, who was 
 the only creature that deigned to enter into conversation 
 with me. All except the name, I was in prison, and 
 this Weird Sister was my keeper. Our chambers were 
 to me, what the subterraneous cavern was to Gil Bias : 
 his description of the Dame Leonarda exactly suited 
 
28 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1762-84] 
 
 my Laundress ; nor were the professions, or rather the 
 practice, of our masters altogether dissimilar. 
 
 " I never quitted this gloomy recess except on Sundays, 
 when I usually took a walk to St. James's Park, to feast 
 my eyes with the sight of the trees, the grass, and the 
 water. In one of these walks I happened to cast my 
 eye on an advertisement, inviting all loyal young men, 
 who had a mind to gain riches and glory, to repair to a 
 certain rendezvous, where they might enter into his 
 Majesty's marine service, and have the peculiar happi- 
 ness and honour of being enrolled in the Chatham 
 Division. I was not ignorant enough to be the dupe of 
 this morsel of military bombast ; but a change was what 
 I wanted ; besides, I knew that marines went to sea, 
 and my desire to be on that element had rather in- 
 creased than diminished by my being penned up in 
 London. In short, I resolved to join this glorious corps ; 
 and, to avoid all possibility of being discovered by my 
 friends, I went down to Chatham, and enlisted into the 
 marines as I thought, but the next morning I found 
 myself before a captain of a marching regiment. There 
 was no retreating : I had taken a shilling to drink his 
 Majesty's health, and his further bounty was ready for 
 my reception. 
 
 " When I told the captain (who was an Irishman, and 
 who has since been an excellent friend to me) that I 
 thought myself engaged in the marines : ' By Jasus, my 
 lad,' said he, 'and you have had a narrow escape.' He 
 told me that the regiment into which I had been so 
 happy as to enlist was one of the oldest and boldest in 
 
WILL CEOSS THE SEA. . 29 
 
 the whole army, and that it was at that moment serving 
 in that fine, flourishing, and plentiful country. Nova 
 Scotia. He dwelt long on the beauties and riches of 
 this terrestrial Paradise, and dismissed me, perfectly 
 enchanted with the prospect of a voyage thither." 
 
30 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1784-91] 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 "WHEN I HAD THE HONOUR TO WEAR A 
 RED COAT." 
 
 From the point of view which Englishmen usually 
 take, in speaking of success in life, it may remain 
 an open question as to whether the hero of this 
 story ever really attained it. But let such question 
 be narrowed down to a point, from which is excluded 
 all notions of wealth, and personal aggrandizement : 
 the placing of one's feet upon a given spot from 
 which others have been ousted — the thing becomes 
 clearer. The attainment of objects upon which 
 one has set the heart, from time to time, can alone 
 be called Success. 
 
 Now, this reflection is hazarded, because it is 
 necessary for the reader of William Cobbett's his- 
 tory to observe a leading feature in his character, 
 from this stage onward ; consisting in what may be 
 called the instinct of discipline. Money-making 
 
THE SOLDIER. 31 
 
 (as such) was ever with him a process which he 
 treated with contempt ; the whole future, as it stood 
 before him year after year, was to promise only the 
 comfort of his family, and the welfare of his coun- 
 trymen. All the blunders which he committedj in 
 the untiring pursuit of this twofold object, were the 
 result of undue impetuosity, the rashness of the 
 soldier in the heat of strife : the temporary derange- 
 ment of discipline, in the rear of a discomfited 
 enemy. But in spite of ridicule and opposition, and 
 long-deferred anticipation, and, besides, slanders of 
 the foulest character, one after another were the 
 dearest wishes of his heart fulfilled ; and at seventy 
 years of age he could write : — 
 
 " I HAVE LED THE HAPPIEST LIFE OF ANY MAN 
 THAT I HAVE EVER KNOWN. NEVER DID I KNOW 
 ONE SINGLE MOMENT WHEN I WAS CAST DOWN ; 
 NEVER ONE MOMENT WHEN I DREADED THE 
 FUTURE." 
 
 So, if we think of the soldier's career ; what it is 
 for the idle and the devil-may-care ; what it is to 
 the mere adventurer ; what it is to the drudge ; and 
 what it is, as a last resource, to the outlaw ; and, then, 
 what it is to him who deliberately makes it a school 
 of self-discipline, then we shall have some likelihood 
 of understanding why this man, only twenty years 
 
32 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1784-91] 
 
 after leaving the plough-tail, had become the 
 Mentor of English statesmen, and wielded a pen so 
 powerful that no price could buy it. - 
 
 It cannot be said, however, that there had been 
 any want of parental control in the little household 
 at Farnham. In the foregoing chapter are clearly 
 to be found traces, on the part of Cobbett's father, 
 of his duty in this respect ; and to the gentle dis- 
 cipline of home must be ascribed the readiness, with 
 which the sterner apprenticeship of army life was 
 undertaken. All the sons of George Cobbett did 
 well in after-life. Whilst this William, going into 
 a rougher school than his brothers, and submitting 
 for a term to its rough lessons, not only with a good 
 grace, but with a happy foresight, distances them all. 
 
 His own testimony to the quality of his early 
 moral training is, by-the-bye, worth quoting : — 
 
 " When in the army I was often tempted to take up 
 the cards. But the words of my father came into my 
 
 mind, and rescued me from the peril During 
 
 this part of my life I lived amongst, and was compelled 
 to associate with, the most beastly of drunkards, where 
 liquor was so cheap, that even a soldier might be drunk 
 every day; yet I never, during the whole time, even 
 tasted of that liquor : my father's, and especially my 
 mother's precepts were always at hand to protect me." 
 
 But there is one other factor to be taken into 
 
A FRIEND'S COUNSEL. 33 
 
 account. It seems that among his few acquaint- 
 ances in London, was a young man who could give 
 him friendly counsel, from a superior social stand- 
 point ; and consequently, with a far better know- 
 ledge of the world upon which they were both 
 emerging ;i and Cobbett declares that it was to his 
 advice that he owed all that he ever possessed 
 beyond the lot of a common soldier. For after the 
 enlistment, — 
 
 " Upon being informed by me of what I had done, he 
 began his answer to me in somewhat these words: — 
 ' Now then, my dear Bill, it is for you to determine 
 whether you shall, all your life, yield an abject sub- 
 mission to others, or whether you yourself shall be a 
 guider and leader of men. Nature has done her part 
 toward you most generously ; but her favours will be of 
 no avail without a knowledge of grammar. Without 
 that knowledge you will be laughed at by blockheads ; 
 with it, you may laugh at thousands who think them- 
 selves learned men.' The letter was long, full of urgent 
 recommendation, and seasoned with the kindest of ex- 
 
 ' This was Mr. Benjamin Garlike, who aftei-wards became envoy 
 to two or three foreign courts. He died in 1815, unmarried, 
 setat. forty-nine. For a notice of him, vide Gent. Mag. Ixxxv. 564. 
 Cobbett met him again, when in the full tide of fame, and says that 
 "he had lived so long in courts, had so long had to do with 
 superior power, and had so long lived in submission to the mandates 
 of others, that he became nervous when he heard my ordinary talk, 
 about men in place and authority." 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1784-91] 
 
 pressions, all which I knew to be sincere. I was, at 
 that time, much more intent upon the beauty of my 
 cap and feathers, than upon anything else; but, upon 
 seeing my friend afterwards to take leave of him, he 
 renewed his advice in such a strain as to make a 
 thorough impression upon me ; and I set about my study 
 in good earnest." 
 
 Not, then, of mere chance, nor even because he 
 possessed certain advantages in the shape of a 
 robust, elastic frame, and a healthy mind therein 
 dwelling, did this man eventually put such a power- 
 ful shoulder to the wheel of liberty. Without the . 
 personal influence of his noble peasant-father, the 
 affectionate firmness of his friend, the soldier's round 
 of duty cheerily performed, and supplemented by 
 self- discipline, these natural advantages were value- 
 less ; and he no leader and guider of men ! 
 
 The year 1784 opened, with England at peace. 
 The American States had achieved independence, 
 or as it is sometimes euphemistically put. King 
 George had granted it to them. Soldiers were 
 getting their discharge, or were being sent out to 
 colonize New Brunswick. Recruiting was compara- 
 tively sluggish work, and there was little need to 
 complement the full strength of regiments on 
 foreign stations. The 54th, that in which William 
 
AT CHATHAM. 35 
 
 Cobbett found himself, was then serving in Nova 
 Scotia, whilst the depot was in garrison at Chat- 
 ham ; and here he remained about a year. Of this 
 life at Chatham, learning his drill, &c., there are 
 abundant materials for a picture, as Cobbett never 
 tired of referring to this period, when in after-years 
 he would, again and again, point a moral from his 
 own career. The story was told at seventy years 
 ofage, tothe young men of England, as it had been 
 told to his irritated American neighbours, in 1796. 
 
 "My leisure time, -H-hich was a very considerable 
 portion of the twenty-four hours, was spent, not in the 
 dissipation common to such a way of life, but in reading 
 and study. In the course of this year I learnt more 
 than I had ever done before. I subscribed to a circu- 
 lating library at Brompton, the greatest part of the books 
 in which I read more than once over. The library was 
 not very considerable, it is true, nor in my reading was I 
 directed by any degree of taste or choice. Novels, plays, 
 history, poetry, all were read, and nearly with equal 
 avidity.' Such a course of reading could be attended 
 
 ' Some clever lecturer has said that " he had but little knowledge 
 of books, and even less of other men's thoughts. " We find, how- 
 ever, in " Porcupine's Works " (1794 — 1800), quotations from, or 
 references to, Swift, Shaftesbury, Pope, Sterne, Butler, Dryden, 
 Shakespeare, Somerville, Racine, Montesquieu, Le Sage, Cervantes, , 
 Congreve, and Bishop Watson, besides minor names. But such 
 is the way of these clever historical lecturers — cooking a man's 
 reputation in their own pot, and taking the skimmings for truth. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1784-91] 
 
 with but little profit : it was skimming over the surface 
 of ever)rt:hing. One branch of learning, however, I went 
 to the bottom with, and that the most essential branch 
 too, the grammar of my mother-tongue. I had experi- 
 enced the want of a knowledge of grammar during my 
 stay with Mr. Holland ; but it is very probable that I 
 never should have thought of encountering the study of 
 it, had not accident placed me under a man whose friend- 
 ship extended beyond his interest. 
 
 " Writing a fair hand procured me the honour of being 
 copyist to Colonel Debbieg, the commandant of the 
 garrison. I transcribed the famous correspondence 
 between him and the Duke of Richmond, which ended 
 in the good and gallant old colonel being stripped of the 
 reward bestowed on him for his long and meritorious 
 servitude.' Being totally ignorant of the rules of 
 
 ' Colonel Debbieg was himself no ordinary man, and had seen 
 active service in various parts of the world. He entered the army 
 in 1746, at the age of fourteen, served in the Low Countries, and 
 afterwards in North America under General Wolfe, whose friend- 
 ship and entire confidence he soon acquired. He was gazetted ' 
 Colonel-Commandant of the Engineers early in 1783, but retired in 
 a year or two ; gazetted Major-General, 1798, General 1803. He 
 died in 1810, at an advanced age, having employed his retirement in 
 ingenious studies in fortification. The circumstance in the text 
 refers to certain letters of Debbieg (who was a high-spirited fellow) 
 which were addressed to his superior officer, the Duke of Richmond, 
 then Master-General of the Ordnance. The Duke took offence, and 
 demanded a court-martial on Debbieg, " for using indecent and dis- 
 respectful expressions towards him, and injurious and groundless 
 expressions imputing partiality and oppression in the discharge of 
 his duty." The Colonel was found guilty, and reprimanded in open 
 court, and ordered to apologize to the Duke, which he did, and his 
 arrest w.is then tenninated. It is pretty clear that this affair, how- 
 
STUDY. 37 
 
 grammar, I necessarily made many mistakes in copying, 
 because no one can copy letter by letter, nor even word 
 by word. The colonel saw my deficiency, and strongly 
 recommended study. He enforced his advice with a 
 sort of injunction, and with z. promise of reward in case 
 of success. I procured me a Lowth's grammar, and 
 applied myself to the study of it with unceasing assiduity, 
 and not without some profit, for, though it was a con- 
 siderable time before I fully comprehended all that I 
 read, still I read and studied with such unremitted atten- 
 tion, that, at last, I could write without falling into any 
 very gross errors. The pains I took cannot be described; 
 I wrote the whole grammar out two or three times ; I 
 got it by heart ; I repeated it every morning and every 
 evening, and, when on guard, I imposed on myself the 
 task of saying it all over once every time I was posted 
 sentinel. To this exercise of my memory I ascribed the 
 retentiveness of which I have since found it capable, 
 and to the success with which it was attended, I ascribe 
 the perseverance that has led to the acquirement of the 
 little learning of which I am master. This study was, 
 too, attended with another advantage : it kept me out of 
 mischief I was always sober and regular in my attend- 
 
 ever, did him no injury ; and it is not unlikely that there was some 
 ground for the " expressions " which he had used. No doubt the 
 members of the court felt bound to protect the iJuke in his official 
 character, even if they thought that Colonel Debbieg had right on 
 his side ; and Cobbett must have very early learnt that military 
 discipline did not always go along with even-handed justice. The 
 sequel will show what opinion he acquired concerning the impartiality 
 of military courts. 
 
38 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1784-91] 
 
 ance ; and not being a clumsy fellow, I met with none 
 of those reproofs which disgust so many young men with 
 the service." 
 
 These efforts at self-education would be won- 
 derful enough, in a person surrounded with the 
 comforts of life, but when we recollect what the life 
 of a private soldier was, until very recently, with 
 the temptations presented by poverty, and by dis- 
 solute associates, and by the almost utter want of 
 sympathy between the soldier and his aristocratic 
 superiors, the extreme difficulty of the case is 
 evident. 
 
 " Of my sixpence nothing like fivepence was left to 
 purchase food for the day. Indeed not fourpence. For 
 there was washing, mending, soap, flour for hair-powder, 
 shoes, stockings, shirts, stocks and gaiters, pipe-clay and 
 several other things, all to come out of the miserable 
 sixpence ! . . . . The whole week's food was not a bit 
 too much for one day. It is not disaffection, it is not a 
 want of fidelity to oaths, that makes soldiers desert, one 
 time out of ten thousand ; it is hunger, which will break 
 through stone walls ; and which will, therefore, break 
 through oaths and the danger of punishment. We had 
 several recruits from Norfolk (our regiment was the West 
 Norfolk) ; and many of them deserted from sheer hunger. 
 They were lads from the plough-tail. All of them tall ; 
 for no short men were then taken. I remember two 
 
STUDY. 
 
 39 
 
 that went into a decline and died during the year; 
 though when they joined us they were fine hearty young 
 men. I have seen them lay in their berths, many 
 and many a time, actually crying on account of 
 hunger. 
 
 "The edge of my berth, or that of the guard-bed, was 
 my seat to study in ; my knapsack was my book-case ; a 
 
 bit of board lying on my lap was my writing-table 
 
 I had no money to purchase candle or oil ; in winter- 
 time it was rarely that I could get any evening light but 
 
 that of the fire ; and only my turn even of that 
 
 To buy a pen or a sheet of paper I was compelled to 
 forego some portion of food, though in a state of half- 
 starvation : I had no moment of time that I could call 
 my own ; and I had to read and to write amidst the 
 talking, laughing, singing, whistling, and brawling of at 
 least half a score of the most thoughtless of men, and 
 that, too, in the hours of their freedom from all control. 
 Think not lightly of the farthmg that I had to give, now 
 and then, for ink, pen, or paper. That farthing was, 
 alas ! a great sum to me. I was as tall as I am now ; I 
 had great health and great exercise. The whole of the 
 money, not expended for us at market, was twopence a 
 week for each man. I remember (and well I may !) that 
 upon one occasion I, after all absolutely necessary ex- 
 penses, had, on a Friday, made shift to have a halfpenny 
 in reserve, which I had destined for the purchase of a 
 red-herring in the morning ; but, when I pulled off my 
 clothes at night, so hungry then as to be hardly able to 
 endure life, I found that I had lost my halfpenny ! I 
 
40 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1784-91] 
 
 buried my head under the miserable sheet and rug, and 
 cried like a child." 
 
 And yet the life had its amenities. Tender 
 recollections come up, when he visits Chatham 
 again, nearly forty years after, of the pretty girls of 
 his " cap-and-feather days." How they evinced a 
 sincere desire to smooth the inequalities of life ; and 
 particularly to serve out the beer more fairly than 
 their masters or husbands. His superior officers, 
 too, inspired him with a certain amount of respect 
 and affiection ; whilst the Colonel's discovery of the 
 willing horse was, undoubtedly, a fount of pleasure 
 and gratification to the young recruit. 
 
 Cobbett tells, somewhere, of a poor little 
 drummer-boy who gambled. He gambled away 
 all his pay, his shirts, his stockings, and all his 
 necessaries, even to his loaf, which was served out 
 to him twice a week. At last, to prevent him from 
 begging through the streets of Rochester and Chat- 
 ham, the men were compelled to take his loaf from 
 him, to serve it out a slice at a time, and to see that 
 he ate it. Here is about the lowest depth of 
 degradation to which a private soldier could 
 descend ; but the moralist will see, in this anecdote, 
 only one other instance in which the weight or the 
 deficiency of moral stamina is dependent, whether 
 in private soldier or in prince, upon the habit of 
 
LEAVES ENGLAND. 41 
 
 mind acquired in childhood. Beneath the parental 
 roof must the parental duty be done; no "prayer," 
 and no idle talk of reliance on providence (so very, 
 very often put forth, when only a plea for laziness 
 and indifference) will avail, unless the dictates of 
 common prudence are heeded, and a straight- 
 forward principle, in example, daily shown. The 
 riff-raff of society, in all grades, is composed of those 
 whose childhood was neglected. 
 
 Early in 1785, a detachment from the dep6t at 
 Chatham was forwarded to head-quarters, and the 
 event is thus described in the autobiography : — 
 
 " There is no situation where merit is so sure to meet 
 with reward as in a well- disciplined army. Those who 
 command are obliged to reward it for their own ease 
 and credit. I was soon raised to the rank of corporal ; 
 a rank which, however contemptible it may appear in 
 some people's eyes, brought me in a clear twopence per 
 diem, and put a very clever worsted knot upon my 
 
 shoulder too As promotion began to dawn, I 
 
 grew impatient to get to my regiment, where I expected 
 soon to bask under the rays of Royal favour. The happy 
 day of departure at last came : we set sail from Graves- 
 end, and, after a short and pleasant passage, arrived at 
 Halifax in Nova Scotia. When I first beheld the barren, 
 not to say hideous, rocks at the entrance of the harbour, 
 I began to fear that the master of the vessel had mis- 
 
42 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1784-91] 
 
 taken his way ; for I could perceive nothing of that 
 fertility that my good recruiting captain had dwelt on 
 with so much delight. 
 
 " Nova Scotia had no other charm for me than that 
 of novelty. Everj'thing I saw was new : bogs, rocks, 
 and stumps, mosquitoes and bull-frogs. Thousands of 
 captains and colonels without soldiers, and of squires 
 
 without stockings or shoes We stayed but a few 
 
 weeks in Nova Scotia, being ordered to St. John's, in 
 the province of New Brunswick. Here, and at other 
 places in the same province, we remained till the month 
 of September, 1791, when the regiment was relieved, 
 and sent home." 
 
 Cobbett repeatedly declared, in after-life, that 
 during these eight years he was never accused of 
 the slightest fault. As his numerous opponents, in 
 all their violence and unscrupulousness, never suc- 
 ceeded in raking up anything, in the smallest 
 degree, derogatory to his high character as a 
 soldier, the statement is, probably, as perfectly true 
 as need be. But he also boasts that he never wil- 
 fully disobeyed his father or his mother. These 
 two things are so interdependent (in the mind of 
 the biographer), that the reader must once more be 
 recalled to the idea presented in the early part of 
 this chapter, of the prominence due to the illustrious 
 results of self-discipline. An idea, which is only an 
 idea with the great majority of mankind, to their 
 
FRUITS OF SELF-DISCIPLINE. 43 
 
 latest hour. An idea, which gains prominence in 
 some minds only just in time to enable them to warn 
 their younger fellows, of the certain consequences of 
 its neglect. An idea, which is eagerly embraced by 
 some few, who, by a happy inspiration, note that 
 the world has been led and guided, and governed, 
 by the men who first put the bit and the bridle upon 
 their own unruly selves. 
 
 So William Cobbett goes to his regiment. And 
 while others are swilling, or gambling, or idling, he 
 is continually training. Rapid promotion is the 
 result. At the end of little more than a year, he is 
 Sergeant-Major, having been placed in that proud 
 position over the heads of fifty other sergeants. 
 
 While, however, he was only corporal, he was 
 made clerk of the regiment, a post which brought 
 him in an immensity of labour, a great deal of which 
 was due to the ignorance or unworthiness of his 
 superior officers. The studies, too, were not neg- 
 lected : — 
 
 " I was studying at one and the same time, Dr. Lowth's 
 Grammar, Dr. Watts's Logic, the Rhetoric of some fellow 
 whom I have forgotten, a book on Geometry, .... 
 Vauban's Fortifications, and {ex-officio) the famous Duke 
 of York's Military Exercise and Evolutions, explaining 
 these latter by ground-plans Never did these 
 
44 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1784-91] 
 
 cause me to neglect my duty in one single particular ; 
 a duty of almost every hour in the day, from daylight 
 till nine o'clock at night." .... "When I was sergeant- 
 major .... I found time to study French and Forti- 
 fication.. My chef-d'ceuvre in the latter was the plan of 
 a regular sexagon with every description of outwork. 
 When I had finished my plan, on a small scale, and in 
 the middle of a very large piece of drawing-paper, I set 
 to work to lay down the plan of a siege, made my line 
 of circumvallation, fixed my batteries and cantonments, 
 opened my trenches, made my approaches, covered by 
 my gabions and fascines, — at last effected a mine, and 
 had all prepared for blowing up the citadel." .... 
 " When I was in the army, I made, for the teaching of 
 young corporals and sergeants, a little book on arithnietic; 
 and it is truly surprising in how short a time they learned 
 all that was necessary for them to know of that necessary 
 department of learning. I used to make each of them 
 copy the book." 
 
 Those were days when a man might rise above 
 the rank-and-file." Cobbett himself had the pro- 
 
 * " When I was in the army, the Adjutant-general, Sir William 
 Fawcett, had been a private soldier ; General Slater, who had 
 then recently commanded the Guards in London, had been a private 
 soldier ; Colonel Picton, whom I saw at the head of his fine regi- 
 ment (the I2th, at Chatham) had been a private soldier ; Captain 
 Green, who first had the command of me, had been a private 
 soldier. In the garrison of Halifax there were no less than seven- 
 teen officers that had been private soldiers. In my own regiment 
 the quarter-master had been a private soldier; the adjutant, who 
 
REGIMENTAL CLERK. 45 
 
 mise of an ensigncy, when he came to make 
 application for his discharge. As a matter of 
 course, such officers, through their skill, prudence, 
 and general knowledge, became the crack men of 
 their regiments ; the best practically-instructed 
 men, perhaps, in the army. For the rest, the 
 average officer must have been a curious make-up ; 
 sent into the army, often as early as fourteen years 
 of age — without any special training — he was there 
 for his social position ; and, except when on active 
 service, passed a frivolous sort of existence ; often 
 so ignorant of his professional duties (i. e. every- 
 thing beyond daily routine) that they were 
 habitually shirked, excepting when the colonel was 
 a Tartar, or when a clever factotum could be found 
 among his subordinates. 
 
 Such a factotum was the new clerk to the 54th 
 regiment : — 
 
 " In a very short time, the whole of the business, in 
 that way, fell into my hands ; and at the end of about 
 a year, neither adjutant, paymaster, or quartermaster, 
 could move an inch without my assistance. The military 
 part of the regiment's affairs fell under my care in like 
 manner. About this time, the new discipline, as it was 
 
 was also a lieutenant, had been a private soldier. No man of 
 sense need be told what powerful motive there was here for good 
 conduct in the soldiers." 
 
46 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1784-91] 
 
 galled : (that is to say, the mode of handling the musket, 
 and of marching, &c., called Dundas's System) was sent 
 out to us, in little books, which were to be studied by 
 the officers of each regiment, and the rules of which 
 were to be immediately conformed to. Though any old 
 woman might have written such a book, though it was 
 excessively foolish from beginning to end, still it was to 
 be complied with ; it ordered and commanded a total 
 change, and this change was to be completed before the 
 next annual review took place. To make this change 
 was left to me, who was not then twenty [24] years of 
 age, while not a single officer in the regiment paid the 
 least attention to the matter; so, that when the time 
 came for the annual review, I, then a corporal, had to 
 give lectures of instruction to the officers themselves, the 
 colonel not excepted; and, for several of them, if not for 
 all of them, I had to make out, upon large cards whic h 
 they bought for the purpose, little plans of the position 
 of the regiment, together with lists of the words of com- 
 mand, which they had to give in the field. . . . There 
 v/as I, at the review, upon the flank of the grenadier 
 company, with my worsted shoulder-knots, and my great, 
 high, coarse, hairy cap, confounded in the ranks amongst 
 other men, while those who were commanding me to 
 move my hands or my feet, thus or thus, were, in fact 
 uttering words which I had taught them ; and were, in 
 everything excepting mere authority, my inferiors, and 
 ought to have been commanded by me." 
 
 Several references to this period are made in 
 the " Advice to Young Men ; " and need not be 
 
REGIMENTAL CLERK. 47 
 
 reproduced here. But the following racy story (from 
 the " Political Register" of Dec. 1817) must be laid 
 under contribution to illustrate this period of 
 Cobbett's life. 
 
 "The accounts and letters of the Paymaster went 
 through my hands, or, rather, I was the maker of them. 
 All the returns, reports, and other official papers were 
 of my drawing up. Then I became the sergeant-major 
 to the regiment, which brought me in close contact at 
 every hour, with the whole of the epaulet gentry, whose 
 profound and surprising ignorance I discovered in a 
 twinkling. But I had a very delicate part to act with 
 these gentry ; for, while I despised them for their gross 
 ignorance and vanity, and hated them for their drunken- 
 ness and rapacity, I was fully sensible of their /cw«r; 
 and I knew also the envy which my sudden rise over 
 the heads of so many old sergeants had created. My 
 path was full of rocks and pit-falls ; and, as I never 
 disguised my dishkes or restrained my tongue, I should 
 have been broken and ilogged for fifty different offences, 
 given to my supreme jackasses, had they not been kept 
 in awe by my inflexible sobriety, impartiality, and in- 
 tegrity, by the consciousness of their inferiority to me, 
 and by the real and almost indispensable necessity of 
 the use of my talents. First, I had, by my skill and by 
 my everlasting vigilance, eased them all of the trouble 
 of even thinking about their duty; and this made me 
 their master, — a situation in which, however, I acted 
 with so much prudence, that it was impossible for them. 
 
48 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1784-91] 
 
 with any show of justice, to find fault. They, in fact, 
 resigned all the discipline of the regiment to me, and I 
 very freely left them to swagger about, and to get roaring 
 drunk out of the profits of their pillage, though I was, at 
 the same time, making preparations for bringing them to 
 justice for that pillage, in which I was finally defeated 
 by the protection which they received at home. 
 
 " To describe the various instances of their ignorance, 
 and the various tricks they played to disguise it from me, 
 would fill a volume. It is the custom in regiments to 
 give out orders every day from the officer commanding. 
 These are written by the adjutant, to whom the sergeant- 
 major is a sort of deputy. The man whom I had to do 
 with was a keen fellow, but wholly illiterate. The orders, 
 which he wrote, most cruelly murdered our mother 
 tongue. But, in his absence, or during a severe drunken 
 fit, it fell to my lot to write orders. As we both wrote 
 in the same book, he used to look at these. He saw 
 commas, semi-colons, colons, full-points, and paragraphs. 
 The questions he used to put to me, in an obscure sort 
 of way, in order to know why I made these divisions, 
 and yet, at the same time, his attempts to disguise his 
 object, have made me laugh a thousand times. As I 
 often had to draw up statements of considerable length, 
 and as these were so much in the style and manner of a 
 book, and so much unlike anything he had ever seen 
 before in man's handwriting, he, at last, fell upon this 
 device : he made me write, while he pretended to dictate! 
 Imagine to yourself me sittting, pen in hand, to put upon 
 paper the precious offspring of the mind of this stupid 
 
REGIMENTAL CLERK. 49 
 
 curmudgeon ! But here a greater difficulty than any 
 former arose. He that could not write good grammar, 
 could not, of course, dictate good grammar. Out would 
 come some gross error, such as I was ashamed to see in 
 my handwriting. I would stop ; suggest another arrange- 
 ment ; but this I was, at first, obliged to do in a very 
 indirect and delicate manner. I dared not let him per- 
 ceive that I saw, or suspected his ignorance ; and, though 
 we made sad work of it, we got along without any very 
 sanguinary assaults upon mere grammar. But this course 
 could not continue long, and he put an end to it in 
 this way : he used to tell me his story, and leave me to 
 put it upon paper; and thus we continued to the end 
 of our connexion. 
 
 " He played me a trick upon one occasion, which was 
 more ridiculous than anything else, but which will serve 
 to show how his ignorance placed him at my mercy. It 
 will also serve to show a little about Commissioners sent 
 out by the Government. There were three or four Com- 
 missioners sent out to examine into the state of the 
 provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Their 
 business was of a very extensive nature. They were to 
 inquire into the number of the people, the extent of 
 their settlements, the provisions expended upon them, 
 and a great variety of other matters. Upon all these 
 several heads they were to make a Report, and to subjoin 
 to it a detail in figures. It required great ingenuity to 
 frame these tables of figures, to bring the rude and un- 
 digested materials under general heads, dividing them- 
 selves into more particular sections, and then again 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
50 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1784-9^] 
 
 subdividing themselves, and so on, and showing, at last, 
 a sort of total, or result of the whole. To frame this 
 appendix to the Report, and to execute in any moderate 
 space of paper required a head, an eye, and a hand ; and 
 to draw up the Report itself ^z& a task of a still superior 
 order. The Commissioners, the name of one of whom 
 was Dundas. . . . who or what he was besides, I know 
 not ; and I have forgotten the names of the rest. But 
 they closed their work at Fredericton in New Brunswick, 
 where I was with my regiment. As the arrival of every 
 stranger was an excuse for a roaring drunk with our 
 heroes, so this ceremony now took place. But the 
 Commissioners had their Report to make. And what did 
 my ass of an adjutant do, but offer to do it for them ! 
 They, who in all likelihood, did not know how to do it 
 themselves, took him at his word ; and there was he, in 
 the sweetest mess that ever vain pretender was placed 
 in. He wanted to get some favour from these Commis- 
 sioners, and relied upon me, not only to perform the 
 task, but to keep the secret. But then, the part he^ had 
 to act now was full of difificulty. The Report of these 
 fellows was no concern of mine. It could not, by any con- 
 trivance, be hooked in amongst my duties. He therefore 
 talked to me, at first in a sort of ambiguous manner. He 
 said that the Commissioners wanted him to do it, — and, 
 
 d n them, he would not do it for them. Then, when 
 
 I saw him again, he asked me something about it, 
 showing me their rude mass of papers at the same time. 
 I now began to find what he would be at ; but I affected 
 not to understand him, turned the matter as soon as I 
 
REGIMENTAL CLERK. 51 
 
 could, and so we parted. At this time I had long been 
 waiting to go and see an old farmer and his family, and 
 to shoot wild pigeons in the woods ; and, as the distance 
 was great, and a companion on the journey necessary, 
 I wanted a sergeant to go with me. The leave to do 
 this had been put off for a good while, and the adjutant 
 knew that I had the thing at heart. What does he do 
 now, but come to me, and after talking about the Report 
 again, affect to lament, that he should be so much 
 engaged with if, that there was no hope of my being 
 permitted to go on my frolic, till he had finished the 
 Report. I, who knew very well what this meant, began 
 to be very anxious for this finishing, to effect which 
 I knew there was but one way. Tacked on to the 
 pigeon-shooting the report became an object of im- 
 portance, and I said, ' Perhaps I can do something, sir, 
 in putting the papers in order for you.' That was 
 enough, Away he went, brought me the whole mass, 
 and tossing them down upon the table : ' There,' said 
 
 he, 'do what you like with them; for, d n the 
 
 rubbish, I have no patience with it !' Rubbish it really 
 was, if we looked only at the rude manner of the papers ; 
 but the matter would to me, at this day, have been very 
 
 interesting. I d d the papers as heartily as he did, 
 
 and with better reason ; but they were to bring me my 
 week's frolic; and, as I entered into everything with 
 ardour, this pigeon-shooting frolic, at the age of about 
 23 [27], was more than a compensation for all the toil 
 of this Report and its appendix. To work I went, and 
 with the assistance of my shooting-companion sergeant, 
 E 2 
 
52 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1784-91] 
 
 who called over the figures to me, I had the appendix 
 completed in rough draft, in two days and one night. 
 Having the detail before me, the Report was short work, 
 and the whole was soon completed. But before a neat 
 copy was made out, the thing had to be shown to the 
 Commissioners. It would not do to show it them in my 
 handwriting. The adjutant got over this difficulty by 
 copying the report ; and having shown it, and had it 
 highly applauded, — ' Well then,' said he, ' here ser- 
 geant-major, go and make a fair copy.' This was the 
 most shameless thing that I ever witnessed. This report 
 and appendix, though I hated the job, were, such was 
 my habit of doing everything well, executed with so 
 much neatness and accuracy, that the Duke of Kent, 
 who afterwards became Commander-in-chief in those 
 provinces, and who was told of this report, which was 
 in his office at Halifax, had a copy of it made to be 
 kept in the office, and carried the original with him to 
 England as a curiosity ; and of this fact he informed me 
 himself. The duke, from some source or other, had 
 heard that it was I who had been the penman upon 
 this occasion, though I had never mentioned it to 
 anybody. It drew forth a great deal of admiration at 
 Fredericton, and the Lieutenant-governor, General Car- 
 leton,' asked me in plain terms, whether it was I who 
 had drawn up the Report. The adjutant had told me 
 
 ' General Carleton, a "very wise, mild, and just man," as Cob- 
 bett said of him. The General, many years afterwards, renewed 
 acquaintance with his quondam subaltern. He was created Baron 
 Dorchester in 1786. 
 
REGIMENTAL CLERK. 53 
 
 that I need not say but it was he, because he had promised 
 to do it himself. I was not satisfied with his logic ; but 
 the pigeon-shooting made me say, that I certainly would 
 say it was done by him if any one should ask me. And 
 I kept my word with him ; for, as I could not give the 
 question of the governor the go-by, I told him a lie at 
 once, and said it was the adjutant. However, I lied in 
 vain ; for, when I came to Halifax, in my way from the 
 United States to England, ten years afterwards, I found 
 that the real truth was known to a number of persons, 
 though the thmg had wholly gone out of my mind ; and 
 after my then late pursuits, and the transactions of real 
 magnitude in which I had been concerned, I was quite 
 surprised that anybody should have attached any im- 
 portance to so trifling a thing." 
 
 It appears that the Duke of Kent, who vv^as 
 Commander-in-chief at that station a fewr years 
 later, vs^as one of the "persons" who got wind 
 of this affair; and in 1800, when Cobbett was 
 returning to England the second time, the Duke 
 saw him, and showed that he had kept the 
 veritable copy as a curiosity, having had it tran- 
 scribed for the use of the Governor. Further — 
 
 " When I told him the whole story, he asked me Jiow 
 much the Commissioners gave me ; and when I told him 
 not a farthing, he exclaimed most bitterly, and said that 
 thousands of pounds had, first and last, been paid by 
 the country for what I had done." 
 
54 WILLIAM COBBETT: [1784-91] 
 
 It must be noted, too, that there were individual 
 cases of benefit arising from the example of our 
 very smart sergeant. Several men caught the 
 " grammar "-fever, whilst an increasing zeal ap- 
 peared, in the performance of duty, on the part of 
 many of his comrades. So far, indeed, that his 
 services to the regiment were at last recognized in 
 public orders. When the regiment was relieved 
 and sent home in the autumn of 1791, Cobbett 
 applied for his discharge ; which he obtained, ac- 
 companied by a flattering testimonial from his 
 major," to his " good behaviour, and the services he 
 had rendered the regiment." 
 
 And, with all his duties, Cobbett found time for 
 his share of sports ; skating, fishing, shooting, and 
 even gardening, took some portion of his hours of 
 liberty. He could work, and he could play, but 
 could never be idle for a minute. 
 
 It must have been in the year 1787, when 
 Cobbett was about twenty-five years of age, that 
 he first saw his future wife. She was the daughter 
 
 ' Major Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Cobbett declared that Fitz- 
 gerald was a really conscientious and humane man. He makes 
 repeated testirnony to this effect. In point of fact, he was one of 
 the most amiable of men, besides a very promising young officer. 
 His unfortunate end, a few years after this period, is matter of 
 history. {Vide his " Life," by Thomas Moore.) 
 
HIS SWEETHEART. 55 
 
 of an artilleryman, and then only about thirteen, 
 and, although so very young, won the heart of our 
 sergeant in a twinkling. Her character, too, had 
 been moulded by careful and untiring parents ; 
 and when the lover came by, there was the promise 
 of a genuine helpmeet for one, who required in 
 that respect a woman of unquestioned propriety, of 
 great industry, and of unfailing discretion. How 
 quickly he prospered, and the whole story of his 
 courtship, with the one great risk that it ran of being 
 annulled, is all told in the " Advice to a Lover ;" 
 suffice it to say here, that not only was there never 
 a moment's regret, but that Cobbett, to the last 
 day of his life laid all his fame and all the earthly 
 prosperity which he had enjoyed, to the happy 
 choice which he had made in his wife. The first 
 trial came, early enough in the history of the affair, 
 to be a real trial, when the artillery were sent 
 home, and carried the sergeant's hopes along with 
 them, besides 140 or 150 guineas of his savings in 
 the girl's pocket. 
 
S6 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 "I HAVE ALWAYS SHOWN MY ENMITY TO EVERY 
 SPECIES OF PUBLIC FRAUD OR ROBBERY." 
 
 Seven years of army-life had completed the drill 
 of William Cobbett. Master of himself, in every 
 sense of the word, his campaign was now to begin. 
 Putting off his red-coat, of which he had been 
 proud enough withal, he entered upon the last 
 stage of that educational process which, sooner or 
 later, was to bear some fruit. He had studied men 
 in the world of books, and he had seen something 
 of them in the circumscribed arena of one class, 
 viz. the military. . But of mankind as a whole he 
 knew almost nothing : and he would blunder on, 
 for long years, before getting that sort of wisdom. 
 
 However, he came back from Nova Scotia with 
 two closely-linked ideas uppermost in his mind — an 
 intense affection for the soldiery and for the classes 
 from which they were drawn, and the deepest 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND. 57 
 
 disgust at the peculation which added to their 
 natural privations. He had never read the news- 
 papers, and was ignorant of politics ; he did not 
 know that the public service was at that period 
 eaten into by corruption as far up as the Treasury 
 Bench, and that the specimens of venality that he 
 had witnessed were only examples of a system that 
 pervaded all classes of officialism. In point of 
 fact, he did not know that returning to England 
 and obtaining his discharge, with the determina- 
 tion to expose peculation, he had set his foot upon 
 a track which would in after-years give him the 
 distinction of having mainly contributed to the 
 disgrace, the utter confusion, of "the race that 
 plunder the people." Beyond all, he did not know 
 that, far from getting any credit from any soul 
 upon earth, the sure reward for raking up the 
 misdeeds of the "public plunderers" was con- 
 tumely and malignity to the bitterest degree. 
 
 The first thing, of course, which Cobbett at- 
 tended to upon reaching England in December, 
 1 79 1, was his love affair with ANN Reid. He 
 found her in service, with his money unbroken ; 
 and "admiration of her conduct, and self-gratula- 
 tion on this indubitable proof of the soundness of 
 my own judgment, were now added to my love of 
 
S8 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 her beautiful person." So that matter was settled, 
 from that moment, and on the Sth of February, 1792, 
 they were married at Woolwich. They appear to 
 have lived in London for a few weeks. Here is one 
 anecdote of the period — 
 
 " I was about two months in London ; and some one 
 led me to spend two or three evenings in the week at 
 Coachmakers' Hall, where there was a debating society' 
 that held its regular sittings. The ' Cruelties of the Slave 
 Trade' was the standing subject; it was the fashionable 
 cant of the day ; the country was in peace and in great 
 prosperity, and this was a sort of overflowing of the idle 
 feelings of the nation. The hall used to be crowded to 
 excess, and with as many women as men. It did not 
 require much talent to be eloquent upon such a subject, 
 especially as there was perfect freedom as to facts, and 
 as to contradiction, that was nearly as much as a man's 
 
 life was worth In consequence of the intense 
 
 oratory of the Coachmakers' Hall, and of little lying 
 books, and delightfully-disgusting pictures . . . my wis- 
 dom decided that my wife and I should never more use 
 sugar or coffee, these being, as the orators assured me, 
 highly impregnated with the sweat and blood of the poor 
 blacks." 
 
 The young couple adhered to this resolve until 
 some time after they had settled in Philadelphia. 
 
 1 Tliis was The .Society of Free Debate, one of several which 
 had just been set on foot. For some interesting particulars of these 
 societies vide " Memoirs of John Thelwall" (London, 1837). 
 
LONDON TOPICS IN 1792. 59 
 
 The debating societies in London had other 
 subjects, too, to occupy their minds ; the progress 
 of the French Revolution having strongly excited 
 the popular mind. In May a proclamation was 
 issued against meetings and seditious writings, and 
 as the year went on there was increasing ferment. 
 Although the country was at peace, His Majesty's 
 ministers were really contemplating war against 
 France ; and the Government had enough on its 
 hands, endeavouring, at one and the same time, to 
 quell these feelings and to humour the military 
 and naval forces. It was found necessary, early 
 in the year, to make some important changes in 
 the Navy Victualling Department, in conse- 
 quence of wholesale corruption, and prostitution 
 of the public money, being unexpectedly brought 
 to light.' The sister service had also its griev- 
 ances, a stringent warrant having been issued 
 regulating the soldiers' equipment, and repro- 
 bating extravagance and waste.' In February, 
 a curious item appeared in the discussion on the 
 estimates of the year, in the shape of an additional 
 allowance to the soldiers' pay, which was distinctly 
 a bait thrown out to humour the private soldier, 
 victim of the said extravagance or something 
 
 ^ Public Advertiser, April lo, 1 792. 
 ' Scots Magazine, Jan., 1792. 
 
6o WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 worse. — Concerning which item in the estimates we 
 shall see presently. 
 
 Meanwhile, William Cobbett was spending his 
 honeymoon in completing the plans he had designed 
 several years before, for bringing certain officers of 
 the 54th Regiment before a court-martial. And, 
 as to the history of this affair, we must have full 
 details, because we cannot otherwise see very 
 clearly how he came to fail in this his first on- 
 slaught upon public fraud. 
 
 Rapid writers have been content to say that he 
 was bought off; that he carefully avoided all 
 reference to the affair ; that no trace of any allusion 
 to it occurs in his subsequent writings ; that there 
 was something unpleasant which would tell 
 against himself, and so he stopped short, &c. 
 Indeed, the paragraph-monger began it ; for the 
 London Chronicle of the 28th March, after men- 
 tioning the holding of the court-martial, adds that 
 " the person who was to have prosecuted the above 
 officers was formerly sergeant-major of the regi- 
 ment. It is said that he has fled to France on 
 account of some misconduct." 
 
 No such thing at all, paragraph-monger ! And, 
 no such things at all, ye rapid writers ! You don't 
 know this man. You don't know how he retires 
 from the unequal conflict with money, prescription, 
 
" CORRUPTION." 6 1 
 
 aristocratic influence. Let him flee from anti- 
 cipated vengeance, and see him return one day, 
 himself always incorruptible, with such a budget, 
 such a quiverful ! — come back and tell you, with 
 absolute calmness, that he lays his account with 
 " being calumniated, and with being the object of the 
 bitterest and most persevering malice." And why } 
 Because he has made the war upon CORRUPTION 
 his own particular business, and has found out that 
 the cruelties which wounded his earnest soul, in 
 those hapless Nova Scotia days, were just part of a 
 system which was sapping his country's strength. 
 No part nor lot would he have in it. And, rather 
 than seem to support it, he has spurned brilliant 
 offers, which would have made him rich and high- 
 stomached ; and has chosen the part, the reward of 
 which is calumny and annoyance of every descrip- 
 tion. See how he glories, at last, in the conflict, 
 and how fully he knows the nature of his foe : — 
 
 " No sooner does a man become in any degree for- 
 midable to her ['corruption'], than she sets to work 
 against him in all the relationships of life. In his pro- 
 fession, his trade, his family ; amongst his friends, the 
 companions of his sports, his neighbours, and his ser- 
 vants. She eyes him all round, she feels him all over, 
 and if he has a vulnerable point, if he has a speck, 
 however small, she is ready with hfer stab. How many 
 
62 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 hundreds of men have been ruined by her without being 
 hardly able to perceive, much less name, the cause ; and 
 how many thousands, seeing the fate of these hundreds 
 have withdrawn from the struggle, or have been deterred 
 from taking part in it ! " 
 
 In the year 1809, Mr. Cobbett was at about the 
 zenith of his fame. Completely emancipated from 
 the aristocratic influence under which he had, 
 several years before, appeared as a political writer 
 in England, his eyes were thoroughly opened to 
 the need of Parliamentary Reform. Early this 
 year his energies had been principally directed on 
 behalf of this popular cause, but he had also dealt 
 hardly with certain notorious scandals. When 
 our history comes to that period, we shall see the 
 various means made use of by his opponents in the 
 endeavour to silence him ; but it is necessary now 
 to refer to that year, because one of those means 
 was the circulation of a pamphlet with the following 
 title :— 
 
 " Proceedings of a General Court Martial held at the 
 Horse Guards, on the 24th and 27th of March, 1792, for 
 the trial of Captain Richard Powell, Lieutenant Christo- 
 pher Seton, and Lieutenant John Hall, of the 5 4th Regi- 
 ment of Foot, on several charges preferred against them 
 respectively, by William Cobbett, late Sergeant- Major of 
 
A COURT-MARTJAL. 63 
 
 the said regiment ; together with several curious letters 
 which passed between the said William Cobbett and Sir 
 Charles Gould, Judge- Advocate-General ; and various 
 other documents connected therewith, in the order of 
 these dates." [London, 1809.] 
 
 Copies of the pamphlet were distributed broad- 
 cast over the country, and in Hampshire, where 
 Cobbett was then living, carriage people threw 
 them out to the passers-by as they drove along. 
 A very great number must have got into circula- 
 tion ; and, as pamphlets go, it is not now a par- 
 ticularly rare one. Of government pamphleteering 
 we shall have more to say anon ; for the present, 
 we will confine ourselves to Cobbett's full and com- 
 plete answer as given in an address to the people 
 of Hampshire, in the " Political Register " for June 
 17, 1809. Full, complete, and satisfactory it was ; 
 nobody referred to the matter again. Even the 
 pamphleteering system itself fell into desuetude for 
 several years. Other and more arbitrary means 
 were adopted, in the attempt to stifle this voice — to 
 shut this mouth. 
 
 The pamphlet consisted chiefly of a selection of 
 letters, which passed between the accused officers, 
 the Judge-Advocate-General, and William Cobbett; 
 and concluded with an account of the trial. The 
 three officers appeared perfectly willing to meet 
 
64 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 the charges ; and as for the prosecutor there could 
 be no doubt as to the earnestness of his intention/ 
 up to within about a week of the date first appointed 
 for the court-martial. That date was the 24th of 
 March ; and, on the court assembling, no prosecutor 
 appeared, the result being a postponement to the 
 27th. On that day, the court having re-assembled, 
 the Judge-Advocate-General was himself sworn, 
 and deposed that he had made ineffectual efforts to 
 discover the prosecutor, whilst the landlady at 
 whose house Cobbett had lodged stated that he 
 had removed the previous week. This witness also 
 produce'd the three last letters of the Judge- Ad- 
 vocate-General to William Cobbett, unopened ; 
 which letters stated (i) that an important witness 
 for the prosecution was not likely to be well 
 enough to attend, (2) that the day of the trial was 
 fixed, and (3) that the trial was postponed. The 
 
 * " I have placed myself in London, sir, and have continued here 
 ever since the z6th December last, for no other purpose than the 
 prosecution of this affair" (Letter of 23rd February). 
 
 "I must beg leave, sir, once more to request that you will be 
 pleased to lay my representation of this matter [locale of the court- 
 martial] before the King, and that as soon as possible " (4th 
 March). 
 
 " If my accusation is without foundation, the authors of cruelty 
 have not yet devised the tortures I ought to endure " (nth March). 
 
 The letter of the l6th March expresses the astonishment of the 
 writer that the greatest part of the charges were to be left out ! — which 
 throws much light on the subject. 
 
STOMY OF A COURT-MARTIAL. 65 
 
 charges were then read, to the effect that the 
 accused had made false musters, mustered persons 
 who were not soldiers, made false returns to the 
 Brigadier-general commanding at New Brunswick, 
 misapplied work-money earned by the non-com- 
 missioned officers and men^ deducted firewood from 
 the allowance, and disposed of it for their own 
 purposes, disposed of clothing belonging to the 
 men, and obliged them (whilst they were clothed 
 in rags) to accept of an inadequate sum in lieu of 
 the said clothing, signed false certificates respect- 
 ing the clothing, and defrauded the men of 
 bread. After the " acquittal," a memorandum was 
 submitted to the law officers of the crown, upon 
 the whole case. Their opinion was, that, unless 
 there were proof of conspiracy with others, 
 Cobbett could not be criminally prosecuted ; but 
 that the parties injured by his conduct, which was 
 certainly most highly blamable, might maintain 
 actions upon the case against him. 
 
 Such was the offending pamphlet: on the 3rd 
 of June, 1809, a notice appears in the "Political 
 Register," of its publication, evidently under the 
 sanction of Government ; also, that Mr. Cobbett 
 will take the earliest opportunity of giving a full 
 account of the matter. He repudiates positively 
 every insinuation of having acted, at any time of 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
66 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 his life, dishonestly or dishonourably ; at the same 
 time, had the whole of the papers connected with 
 this affair been published without misrepresentation 
 he never would have noticed the thing at all, but 
 have left the documents to speak for themselves. 
 A fortnight later a double number of the " Register " 
 contains the full account, with a great deal more in 
 the shape of commentary, touching the topics of 
 the day ; — it occupies the fifth of a series of Letters 
 to the people of Hampshire, which Cobbett was 
 then writing, on the subject of Parliamentary 
 Reform. And it is necessary, in order to do justice 
 to the whole story, to reproduce a great portion of it 
 here. 
 
 After repeating the tale of his honourable dis- 
 charge from the army, he proceeds to say : — 
 
 " The object of my thus quitting the army, to which I 
 was, perhaps, more attached than any man that ever lived 
 in the world, was to bring certain officers to justice for 
 having, in various ways, wronged both the public and the 
 soldier. With this object in view, I went straight to 
 London the moment I had obtained my liberty and se- 
 cured my personal safety, which, as you will readily 
 conceive, would not have been the case if I had not first 
 
 got my discharge This project was conceived so 
 
 early as the year 1787, when an affair happened that first 
 gave an insight into regimental justice. It was shortly 
 
STORY OF A COURT-MARTIAL. 67 
 
 this : that the quarter-master, who had the issuing of the 
 men's provisions to them, kept about a fourth part of it to 
 himself. This, the old sergeants told me, had been the 
 case for many years ; and they were quite' astonished and 
 terrified at the idea of my complaining of it. This I did, 
 however ; but the reception I met with convinced me 
 that I must never make another complaint, till I got safe 
 to England, and safe out of the reach of that most curious 
 of courts, a court-martial. From this time forward 
 I began to collect materials for an exposure, upon my 
 return to England. I had ample opportunities for this, 
 being the keeper of all the books, of every sort, in the 
 regiment, and knowing the whole of its affairs better than 
 any other man. But the winter previous to our return 
 to England, I thought it necessary to make extracts from 
 books, lest the books themselves should be destroyed. 
 And here begins the history of the famous court-martial. 
 In order to be able to prove that these extracts were 
 correct, it was necessary that I should have a witness as 
 to their being true copies. This was a very ticklish 
 point. One foolish step here would have sent me down 
 to the ranks with a pair of bloody shoulders. Yet it was 
 necessary to have the witness. I hesitated many months. 
 At one time I had given the thing up. I dreamt twenty 
 times, I daresay, of my papers being discovered, and of 
 my being tried and flogged half to death. At last, how- 
 ever, some fresh act of injustice toward us made me set 
 all danger at defiance. I opened my project to a cor- 
 poral, whose name was William Bestland, who wrote in 
 the office under me, who was a very honest fellow, who 
 F 2 
 
68 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 was very much bound to me for my goodness to him, and 
 who was, with the sole exception of myself, the only 
 sober man in the whole regiment. To work we went, 
 and during a long winter, while the rest were boozing and 
 snoring, we gutted no small part of the regimental books, 
 rolls, and other documents. Our way was this : to take 
 a copy, sign it with our names, and clap the regimental 
 seal to it, so that we might be able to swear to it when 
 produced in court. All these papers were put into a 
 little box, which I myself had made for the purpose. 
 When we came to Portsmouth there was a talk of search- 
 ing all the boxes, &c., which gave us great alarm, and 
 induced us to take out all the papers, put them in a bag, 
 and trust them to a custom-house officer, who conveyed 
 them on shore to his own house, whence I removed them 
 in a few days after. 
 
 " Thus prepared, I went to London, and on the 14th 
 of January, 1792, I wrote to the then Secretary at War, 
 Sir George Yonge, stating my situation, my business with 
 him, and my intentions ; enclosing him a letter or petition 
 from myself to the King, stating the substance of all the 
 complaints I had to make ; and which letter I requested 
 Sir George Yonge to lay before the King. I waited from 
 the 14th to the 24th of January without receiving any 
 answer at all, and then all I heard was that he wished to 
 see me at the War-office. At the War-office I was shown 
 into an antechamber amongst numerous anxious-looking 
 men, who, every time the 4oor which led to the great 
 man was opened, turned their eyes that way with a 
 motion as regular and as uniform as if they had been 
 
STORY OF A COURT-MARTIAL. 69 
 
 drilled to it. These people eyed me from head to foot, 
 and I never shall forget their look, when they saw that I 
 was admitted into paradise, without being detained a 
 single minute in purgatory. Sir George Yonge heard, my 
 story ; and that was apparently all he wanted of me. I 
 was to hear from him again in a day or two, and after wait- 
 ing for fifteen days, without hearing from him or any one 
 else upon the subject, I wrote to him again, reminding 
 him that I had from the first told him that I had no 
 other business in London ; that my stock of money was 
 necessarily scanty ; and that to detain me in London was 
 to ruin me. Indeed, I had in the whole world but about 
 200 guineas, which was a great deal for a person in my 
 situation to have saved. Every week in London, espe- 
 cially as, by way of episode, I had now married, took at 
 least a couple of guineas from my stock. I therefore 
 began to be very impatient, and, indeed, also very sus- 
 picious that military justice, in England, was pretty nearly 
 akin to military justice in Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 
 wick. The letter I now wrote was dated on the loth of 
 February, to which I got an answer on the 15th, though 
 the answer might have been written in a moment. I was, 
 in this answer, informed that it was the intention to try 
 the accused upon only part of the charges which I had 
 preferred ; and from a new-modelled list of charges sent 
 me by the Judge-advocate, on the 23rd of February, it 
 appeared that, even of those charges that were suffered 
 to remain, the parts the most material were omitted. But 
 this was not all. I had all along insisted that, unless 
 the court-martial were held in London, I could not think 
 
70 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 of appearing in it ; because, if held in a garrisoned place 
 like Portsmouth, the thing must be a mere mockery. In 
 spite of this, however, the Judge-advocate's letter of the 
 23rd of February informed me that the court was to be 
 held at Portsmouth or Hilsea. I remonstrated against 
 this, and demanded that my remonstrance should be laid 
 before the King, which, on the 29th, the Judge-advocate 
 promised should be done by himself; but, on the 5th of 
 March, the Judge-advocate informed me that he had laid 
 my remonstrance before — whom, think you ? Not the 
 king, but the accused parties, who, of course, thought the 
 court ought to assemble at Portsmouth or Hilsea, and 
 doubtless for the very reasons that led me to object to its 
 being held there. 
 
 " Plainly seeing what was going forward, I, on the 7 th 
 of March, made, in a letter to Mr. Pitt, a representation 
 of the whole case, giving him a history of the obstacles 
 I had met with, which letter concluded thus: 'I have 
 now, sir, done all a man can do in such a case. I 
 have proceeded regularly, and I may add, respectfully, 
 from first to last ; if I am allowed to serve my country 
 by prosecuting men who have injured it, I shall do it ; 
 if I am thwarted and pressed down by those whose office 
 it is to assist and support me, I cannot do it ; in either 
 case, I shall be satisfied with having done my duty, and 
 shall leave the world to make a comparison between me 
 and the men whom I have accused.' This letter (which, 
 by-the-bye, the public robbers have not published) had 
 the effect of changing the place of the court-martial, 
 which was now to be held in London; but, as to my 
 
STORY OF A COURT-MARTIAL. 71 
 
 other great ground of complaint, the leaving of the regi- 
 mental books unsecured, it had no effect at all ; and it 
 will be recollected that, without those books, there could 
 be, as to most of the weighty charges, no proof adduced 
 without bringing forward Corporal Bestland, and the 
 danger of doing that will be presently seen. But now, 
 mark well as to these books : as to this great source of 
 that kind of evidence which was not to be brow-beaten, 
 or stifled by the dangers of the lash. Mark well these 
 facts, and from them judge of what I had to expect in 
 the way of justice. On the 22nd oi January I wrote to 
 Sir George Yonge, for the express purpose of having the 
 books secured ; that is to say, taken out of the hands 
 and put out of the reach of the parties accused. On the 
 24th of January he told me that he had taken care to 
 give directions to have these documents secured. On 
 the 1 8th of February, in answer to a letter, in which I 
 (upon information received from the regiment) com- 
 plained of the documents not having been secured, he 
 wrote to me — and I have now the letter before toe, 
 signed with his own hand — that he would write to the 
 colonel of the regiment about the books, &c. : ' although,' 
 says he, ' I cannot doubt but that the regimental books 
 have been properly secured.' This was on the i8th of 
 February, mind; and now it appears, from the docu- 
 ments which the public-robbers have put forth, that the 
 first time any order for securing the books was given was 
 on the -i^thof March, though the Secretary told me he had 
 done it on the 34^/% of January, and repeated his assertion 
 in writing on the xZth of February. There is quite enough 
 
72 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 in this fact alone, to show the public what sort of a chance 
 I stood of obtaining justice. 
 
 Without these written documents nothing of import- 
 ance could be proved, unless the non-commissioned 
 officers and men of the regiment should happen to get 
 the better of their dread of the lash ; and, even then, 
 they could only speak from memory. All, therefore, de- 
 pended upon those written documents, as to the principal 
 charges. Therefore, as the court-martiil was to assemble 
 on the 24th of March, I went down to Portsmouth on the 
 20th, in order to know for certain what was become of the 
 books ; and I found, as indeed I suspected was the case, 
 that they had never been secured at all ; that they had 
 been left in the hands of the accused from the 14th of 
 January to the very hour of trial ; and that, in short, my 
 request as to this point, the positive condition as to this 
 most important matter, had been totally disregarded. 
 There remained, then, nothing to rest upon with safety 
 but our extracts, confirmed by the evidence of Bestland, 
 the corporal, who had signed them along with me ; and 
 this I had solemnly engaged with him not to have re- 
 course to, unless he was first out of the army ; that is to 
 say, out of the reach of the vindictive and bloody lash. He 
 was a very little fellow, not more than about five feet high, 
 and had been set down to be discharged when he went 
 to England ; but there was a suspicion of his connexion 
 with me, and therefore they resolved to keep him. It 
 would have been cruel, and even perfidious, to have 
 brought him forward under such circumstances ; and, as 
 there was no chance of doing anything without him, I 
 
STORY OF A COURT-MARTIAL. 73 
 
 tesolved not to appear at the court-martial, unless the 
 discharge of Bestland was first granted. Accordingly, on 
 the 20th of March, I wrote from Fratton, a village near 
 Portsmouth, to the Judge-Advocate, stating over again all 
 the obstacles that had been thrown in my way, complain- 
 ing particularly that the books and documents had been 
 left in the possession of the accused, contrary to my 
 urgent request and to the positive assurances of the 
 Secretary at War, and concluding by demanding the dis- 
 charge of a man, whom I should name, as the only con- 
 dition upon which I would attend the court-martial. 
 I requested him to send me an answer by the next day, 
 at night, at my former lodging ; and told him,' that un- 
 less such answer was received, he and those to whom my 
 repeated applications had been made, might do what 
 they pleased with their court-martial ; for that I confi- 
 dently trusted that a few days would place me beyond 
 the scope of their power. No answer came, and as I had 
 learned in the meanwhile that there was a design to pro- 
 secute me for sedition, that was an additional motive to 
 be quick in my movements. As I was going down to 
 Portsmouth I met several of the sergeants coming up, to- 
 gether with the music-master ; and as they had none of 
 them been in America, I wondered what they could be 
 going to London for; but, upon my return, I was told 
 by a Captain Lane, who had been in the regiment, that 
 they had been brought up to swear that at an entertain- 
 ment given to them by me before my departure from the 
 
 ' This accounts for the paragraph in the London Chronicle; a 
 thing which is inexplicable till one comes to this sentence. 
 
74 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 regiment, I had drunk ' the destruction of the House of 
 Brunswick.^ This was false; but I knew that that was 
 no reason why it should not be sworn by such persons, 
 and in such a case. I had talked pretty freely upon the 
 occasion alluded to ; but I had neither said nor thought 
 against the King; and, as to \!as House of Brunswick,! 
 hardly knew what it meant. My head was filled with the 
 corruptions and the baseness in the army. I knew no- 
 thing at all about politics. Nor would any threat of this 
 sort have induced me to get out of the way for a moment, 
 though it certainly would if I had known my danger, for 
 glorious 'Jacobinical' times were just then beginning. 
 Of this, however, I knew nothing at all. I did not know 
 what the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act meant. 
 When you have a mind to do a thing, every trifle is an 
 additional motive. Lane, who had enlisted me, and who 
 had always shown great kindness toward me, told me 
 they would send me to Botany Bay ; and I now verily 
 believe, that if I had remained, I should have furnished 
 a pretty good example to those who wished to correct 
 military abuses. I did not, however, leave England from 
 this motive. I could not obtain a chance of success, 
 without exposing the back ofmy poor faithful friend Best- 
 land, which had I not pledged myself not to do, I would 
 not have done. It was useless to appear, unless I could 
 have tolerable fair play ; and, besides, it seemed better 
 to leave the whole set to do as they pleased, than to be 
 made a mortified witness of what it was quite evident 
 they had resolved to do. 
 
 " Such is the true history of this afifair, which had the. 
 
STORY OF A COURT-MARTIAL. 75 
 
 public-robbers given it as it stood, unmutilated, not a 
 word should I ever have published, by way of defence or 
 explanation." 
 
 Cobbett then proceeds to show the hoUov/ and 
 tricky nature of the attack, by summing up the 
 points which tend obviously to show that the whole 
 is a trumped-up charge against his honour and his 
 reputation ; first stating that the five letters from 
 himself, which appear in the pamphlet, were the 
 least important of twenty-seven which he actually 
 wrote, including one to Mr. Pitt, and one, in the 
 shape of a petition, to the King. He then reminds 
 his readers that he would have scarcely put himself 
 to the expense of two or three months' living in 
 London, and to the trouble of writing so many 
 letters and of dancing attendance at the Horse 
 Guards, if he hadn't a good case and were not in 
 earnest about it ; that nine years had elapsed since 
 his return to England, and no process had been 
 taken upon the opinion of the Attorney-General 
 and his colleague ; that his " Life and Adventures 
 of Peter Porcupine " was reprinted in London, in 
 1796, at the express desire of Mr. Canning, i. e. 
 only four years after the incident, and yet nothing 
 had been done to supply the omission (in that 
 publication) of the court-martial story ; that he 
 
76 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 had, when dining with Mr. Pitt in August, 1800, 
 talked freely about Fitzgerald and about the army 
 " for the express purpose of leading him on to talk 
 about the court-martial, but it was avoided. In 
 fact, they all well knew that what I had complained 
 of was true, and that I had been baffled in my 
 attempts to obtain justice only because I had 
 neither money nor friends." That General Carle- 
 ton (late Governor of Nova Scotia) had visited him 
 in England, since his return, and that the Duke of 
 Kent had talked to him in Halifax about the 
 regiment and its affairs in the year i8ooj yet 
 both these distinguished officers must have known 
 all about the court-martial, the Governor's name, 
 in point of fact, having occurred in one of the 
 "charges." Besides this, there could be little 
 doubt that the whole facts were not put before Sir 
 John Scott and Sir John Mitford, or their opinion 
 would have been very different from what it 
 was. 
 
 Finally, he reminds his readers that he had, in 
 the year 1805, himself given the cue. Which was 
 certainly the case, as may be seen by referring to 
 his writings of that date : — 
 
 " In the printed account of my life, there is a small 
 chasm. When I published that account I was in the 
 
STORY OF A COURT-MARTIAL. 77 
 
 midst of the revilers of England, and particularly of the 
 English army ; or, I should have then stated, that the 
 primary cause of my leaving the army, that the circum- 
 stance which first disgusted me, and that finally made 
 me resolve to tear myself from a service, to which my 
 whole mind and heart were devoted, was, the abuses, 
 the shocking abuses as to money-matters, the peculation, 
 in short, which I had witnessed in it, and which I had, 
 in vain, endeavoured to correct. What those abuses 
 were, by whom they were committed, and how, after I 
 quitted the army, I failed in obtaining redress, it would 
 not now, after many of the parties are dead, be proper 
 for me to state ; but, if the ' Society of Gentlemen' have, 
 as it is more than probable they have, access to the 
 records of the War Office, and can obtain leave to 
 publish the correspondence upon the subject, the public 
 will then see that I have all my life, and in all situations, 
 been the enemy of peculation. It is, however, incum- 
 bent upon me to state, that I have good reason to believe 
 that my failure upon that occasion was in no way to be 
 ascribed to Mr. Pitt, who, as far as a person in so 
 obscure and perfectly friendless a situation as I then 
 was, could judge, was, as to the matter in question, the 
 friend of fair inquiry and of justice." 
 
 We may safely dismiss this matter. Should the 
 reader find it worth his while to rake up this old 
 pamphlet, and compare it with Cobbett's "full 
 account," he may find a stray divergence of date 
 or of trifling fact ; but nothing more than, as a 
 
78 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 careless omission, will serve to establish the good 
 faith of the man — a class of evidence which is 
 often as serviceable as a statement clear and 
 unfaltering to the minutest detail. Why the affair 
 went off as it did is obvious to any one who knows 
 the world, and the rules of society, better than 
 Cobbett did : it was a hopeless task, from the very 
 first, to undertake it upon his own responsibility, 
 without professional assistance. A mistake, how- 
 ever, which he seldom corrected through life ; and 
 the consequence being that he as seldom succeeded 
 in gaining a cause : he persisted, to the very last, 
 in being his own advocate — and with the pro- 
 verbial result. 
 
 Let us turn, then, to another incident of this 
 year. An incident which has given the biographer 
 a good deal of trouble ; as it presents an occasion 
 upon which it has seemed difficult to reconcile 
 two statements which, at first sight, seem to vary. 
 
 For this purpose, we must again refer to a later 
 date in the history. In the year 1805, Mr. Cobbett 
 made himself very offensive to the Government 
 over the unfortunate difficulties of Lord Melville. 
 The whole contest, between the Government and 
 its opponents, was of the hottest ; and the choicest 
 Billingsgate passed between them. One periodical, 
 inspired by the Pitt and Melville party, made it 
 
THE SOLDIERS FRIEND. 79 
 
 its business to assail Cobbett in particular ; and, 
 on the 27th of July of the above-mentioned year, 
 the following passage occurred : — 
 
 " As Mr. Cobbett can hardly fail to read this review, 
 I beg leave, through its medium, to ask that worthy 
 patriot if he knows who was the author, and industrious 
 circulator through the army, of a pamphlet entitled 
 The Soldier^ Friend, published about the same time, 
 but fraught with ten times more mischief than Paine's 
 'Rights of Man'? A pamphlet calculated to render 
 soldiers discontented with their situation, and incite them 
 to mutiny and rebeUion ; a pamphlet which, in short, I 
 have no hesitation in saying, was a considerable source 
 of the naval mutiny at the Nore." 
 
 Now, by the time this effusion appeared in public, 
 Cobbett had begun to incur the severest displeasure 
 of his opponents ; he had created mortal enemies 
 by the development of his warfare upon "cor- 
 ruption." Caricature was at work, keeping pace 
 with the most virulent attacks on the part of the 
 ministerial press. For all which he did not care a 
 pin, but this charge of sedition was more than he 
 could stand. Perfectly happy (as his letters of 
 that date will show), both in his domestic pursuits 
 and in the general public appreciation which he 
 was then possessing, he enjoyed fair fight ; but 
 this beginning of dark insinuation roused him ; 
 
8o WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 and, for the first time since his return to England, 
 he entered upon a proud and energetic boast of 
 the services which he had rendered to his country. 
 The part with which we have at present to do 
 is the answer to the charge of sedition, which is 
 as follows : — 
 
 " During the interval of my discharge and of my de- 
 parture for France, a propositioii, preceded by a speech 
 of the Secretary at War, was made in parliament to 
 augment the pay of the amiy. Some parts of the speech 
 contained matter which a person, with whom I was 
 acquainted, and to whom I had communicated my in- 
 formation upon such subjects, thought worthy of remark 
 in print Hence arose a little pamphlet, entitled the 
 Soldieri Friend. Of this pamphlet I was not the 
 author ; I had nothing to do either with the printing or 
 the publishing of it ; and I never had in my possession, 
 or ordered to be sent to any person, or to any place, 
 three copies of it in my life ; and I do not believe that 
 500 copies, in the whole, ever went from the bookseller's 
 shop ; a fact, however, that may easily be ascertained by 
 application to Mr. Ridgway, who was the publisher of it." 
 
 Here, then, is a distinct disavowal : a circum- 
 stance that is calculated to worry the impartial 
 biographer, anxious to be fair toward a good 
 (though sometimes ill-advised) man ; the reason 
 for its being a disturbing factor lying in this, that 
 
THE SOLDIERS FRIEND. 8i 
 
 the Soldier^ Friend is enumerated, on two dis- 
 tinct occasions during the closing years of Cobbett's 
 life, among the writings by which he had helped 
 to benefit his fellow-men. Let us have his own 
 words (June, 1832) : — 
 
 " The very first thing I ever wrote for the press in my 
 life was a little pamphlet entitled the Soldieri Friend, 
 which was written immediately after I quitted the army 
 in 1 79 1, or early in 1792. I gave it in manuscript to 
 Captain Thomas Morrice (the brother of that Captain 
 Morrice who was a great companion of the Prince of 
 Wales) ; and by him it was taken to Mr. Ridgway, 
 who then lived in King Street, St. James's Square, and 
 Mr. Ridgway (the same who now lives in Piccadilly) 
 pubhshed it. I do not know that I ever possessed the 
 pamphlet, except for a week or two, after it was pub- 
 lished, &c., &c." 
 
 Now these two statements cannot, on a superficial 
 reading, be easily reconciled ; and they form, to- 
 gether, an instance which may be eagerly seized 
 upon, on the part of those who would continue to 
 represent Cobbett as a man who would wilfully 
 utter contradictory things. But, upon examining 
 the matter somewhat more closely, we know, even 
 better than Cobbett himself, something of the 
 actual circumstances. In the first place, the great 
 probability is that Cobbett was not the originator 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
82 WILLIAM COBBETT. ■ [1792] 
 
 of the pamphlet; that this Captain Thomas 
 Morrice, or somebody else (still more interested in 
 awakening the public mind on army-frauds) had 
 instigated him to put his ideas upon paper. The 
 speech of the Secretary-at-War, above referred to, 
 occurs in a debate upon the army estimates, on the 
 15th February, 1792 — a debate in which Mr. Fox, 
 among others, took part ; and the item of an 
 additional allowance to the soldiers was that which 
 was the immediate inspiration of the pamphlet; 
 besides being, in all likelihood, productive of some 
 little excitement in military circles generally/ 
 
 Secondly, it will be observed that the Sting of 
 the charge against Cobbett lay in this : that he had 
 been instrumental in spreading sedition in the naval 
 and military services. Now, this was totally false. 
 It if a fact that the " Soldiers' Friend " was after- 
 wards circulated largely, and provoked antagonism ; 
 but of this Cobbett knew nothing, and could 
 not know anything, for he had long been safe in 
 Philadelphia, far away from English domestic poli- 
 tics, and much ' more concerned in earning his 
 bread-and-cheese by hard work, than in spreading 
 
 • Nist to interrupt the thread of the narrative, we will append to 
 this Chapter one or two extracts from the " Soldiers' Friend " — a 
 course which will at one and the same time tell the whole story of 
 the grievance ,aod introduce us to the first essay of Cobbett's pen. 
 
THE SOLDIERS' FRIEND. 83 
 
 the principles of the French Revolution. Those 
 who made it their business to circulate clever and 
 spicy pamphlets, saw the merit of this one, and 
 reprinted it for their own objects. 
 
 How we come to be satisfied upon this point is 
 this : the pamphlet published by Ridgway (8vo, 
 6d) was mentioried among "new publications," in 
 the "Scots Magazine" for June, 1792; and re- 
 viewed by the " Monthly " and the " Critical " of 
 the same month. Although the "Critical Review" 
 professes to know the person who had been dis- 
 tributing it " on the parade in St. James's Park," 
 this sixpenny pamphlet did not long continue to 
 burden Mr. Ridgway's shelves. It is possible that 
 there is now no copy in existence. But, in the 
 following year, a cheap reprint appeared, without 
 printer's or publisher's name — which had an ex- 
 tensive circulation; for it was answered by anti- 
 reform tracts, such as "A Few Words to the 
 Soldiers of Great Britain," "The Soldier's and 
 Sailor's Real Friend," &c. 
 
 So, the matter seems clearer. Cobbett is in 
 London, preparing for the grand exposure ; he has 
 sympathizers, who durst not, however, show them- 
 selves. This Captain Morrice (or somebody) thinks 
 that the speech on the army estimates contains 
 " matter worthy of remark in print." William 
 G 2 
 
84 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 Cobbett not only agrees with him (somebody), but 
 he is burning with the desire to set right certain 
 cases of practical injustice, with which he is only 
 too familiar : (of the quarter-master of the regiment 
 defrauding the men of their rice and peas by means 
 of short weights, and so forth, — to the tune of un- 
 utterable meannesses.) William Cobbett has the 
 pen of a ready writer, and a grasp of hard facts 
 withal. Hence arises a " little pamphlet ;" a little 
 pamphlet, published in respectable octavo form, by 
 a highly respectable house ; addressed to the aristo- 
 cratic and well-to-do section of society, and pub- 
 lished at their very doors. With this printing and 
 publishing W. Cobbett has " nothing to do ; " 
 and he never sees it again after a week or so. But 
 there's some real stuff in it ; and, next year, real 
 stuff is much in vogue ! . 
 
 Those were lively times, in 1792. The extreme 
 "horrors" of the French Revolution had not yet 
 been displayed ; and the news from France, with 
 the new and glorious doctrines of Liberty and 
 Equality, were being eagerly embraced by a large 
 section of the English people. Besides the Society 
 of Free Debate, there were others established in 
 London, which soon caused alarm on the part of 
 the Government ; for their influence and conse- 
 quence rapidly grew, on account of the frequency 
 
WILL VISIT FRANCE. 85 
 
 and publicity of their meetings, and the readiness 
 with which all persons were invited to come and 
 deliver their sentiments. Of course, ministerial 
 alarm soon took action. The king's proclamation 
 appeared in May : new life was put into the magis- 
 terial ofiSce ; the trumpery police force of that day 
 was reorganized ; and prosecutions for libel be- 
 came frequent. " Not a pamphlet or paper was 
 published, in which any measure of government 
 was animadverted on or disapproved of, but pro- 
 ceedings were immediately commenced against the 
 parties who either wrote, edited, printed, or pub- 
 lished it."' 
 
 So, London is no place for our ex-sergeant, even 
 if his plans are not already formed. With all his 
 loyalty, he is beginning to think there must be 
 something in republicanism. And he will carry 
 out his notion of going to the United States of 
 America ; after having visited France, with the ob- 
 ject of perfecting himself in the language of that 
 country : — 
 
 " From the moment that I resolved to quit the army, 
 I also resolved to go to the United States of America, 
 the fascinating and delusive description of which I had 
 read in the works of Raynal. To France I went for 
 
 1 " Memoirs of John Thelwall," i. 89. 
 
86 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 the purpose of learning to speak the French language, 
 having, because it was the language of the military art, 
 studied it by book in America. To see fortified towns 
 was another object; and how natural this was to a young 
 man who had been studying fortification, and who had 
 been laying down Lille and Brisach upon paper, need 
 not be explained to those who have burnt with the 
 desire of beholding in practice that with which they have 
 been enamoured in theory." 
 
 As matters stood, then, in March, 1792, there 
 was no longer any occasion for delay ; and it 
 appears that he landed in France before the month 
 was out : very much startled and amused, by the 
 way, at seeing written up over a shop-door in 
 Calais,— "/«' Von a des Assignats, dks cent francs d 
 un sour He settled at Tilq, a little village near 
 St. Omer, and remained there for about five 
 months. He found the people so unexpectedly 
 kind and hospitable, to a degree that he had never 
 been accustomed to, that all those prejudices, with 
 which Englishmen, at that time, regarded their 
 brave and impulsive neighbours, and which preju- 
 dices were fully developed in his own breast — were 
 dispelled in a few weeks. What with his newly- 
 married bliss, and his perfect health, and his 
 zealous reading and study, this must have been the 
 very happiest period of Cobbett's life. He did 
 
WILL VISIT AMERICA. 87 
 
 intend to go to Paris for the winter, but the 
 troublous times prevented that purpose : — 
 
 " I perceived the storm gathering : I saw that a war 
 with England was inevitable, and it was not difficult to 
 foresee what would be the fate of Englishmen in that 
 country, where the rulers had laid aside even the appear- 
 ance of justice and mercy. I wished, however, to see 
 Paris, and had actually hired a coach to go thither. I 
 was even on the way, when I heard at Abbeville that 
 the king was dethroned and his guards murdered. This 
 intelligence made me turn off towards Havre-de-Grice, 
 whence I embarked for America." 
 
88 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 [APPENDIX TO CHAPTER III.] 
 
 Extracts from 
 
 " The Soldier's Friend ; or, Considerations on the late 
 
 pretended Augmentation of the Subsistence of the private 
 
 Soldiers. 
 
 "[Motto] 'Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.' — 
 Goldsmith. 
 
 "Written by a Subaltern. Price Twopence, or one 
 hundred copies, xos. 6^. 1793. 
 
 " Amongst the many curious manoeuvres of the present 
 administration, I do not recollect one that marks more 
 strongly its character than the late alteration in the pay 
 and establishment of the army. The augmentation (as 
 they would insinuate it is) of the pay of the British 
 soldiers is represented as arising from a consideration 
 of the wretchedness of their situation ; and the pretended 
 reduction of the foot forces is held out to the public as 
 an act of oeconomy. The people, I am much afraid, are 
 satisfied with this. . , . The situation of the privates in 
 our marching regiments of foot was really so miserable, 
 
THE SOLDIERS' FRIEND. 89 
 
 that every one endued with the least compassion, must 
 rejoice to find that a morsel of bread has been by any 
 means added to that scanty meal ; and the enormous 
 load of taxes, that press out the very vitals of the people, 
 ensures a favourable reception to every reduction, or 
 pretended reduction, of public expense, let it be ever so 
 trifling or absurd 
 
 " I propose to make a few observations on the altera- 
 tion that has taken place in the soldiers' pay ; in doing 
 which, although I shall be very concise, I have the 
 vanity to think I shall discover a little better information 
 on the subject than the Secretary at War did at his 
 opening of it in the House of Commons ; when he 
 observed (after having stated the saving that would arise 
 from the reduction in the infantry) that 'against this 
 saving he had to mention an increase that had been 
 made to the pay of the private soldiers to the amount 
 of 23,000/. The situation of the privates had long been 
 admitted to have been extremely hard. It had m. former 
 years been the regulation that a soldier should receive 
 three shillings a week for his subsistence. It has of late 
 years so happened that he had not had for that purpose 
 above eighteenpence or two shillings. This was evidently 
 too little for the bare purpose of existence. By the late 
 regulation his pay was to be made adequate to the sub- 
 sistence the common soldier formerly enjoyed, an object 
 which he was confident would meet with the warm 
 approbation of every man.' .... 
 
 " As the Secretary observed, ' the situation of the 
 privates had long been admitted to have been extremely 
 
9° WILLIAM COBBETT. [1792] 
 
 hard / but people had not the least notion that it ' had 
 so happened of late years, that the soldier had only 
 eighteenpence or two shillings a week for his subsist- 
 ence.' Men of humanity thought the soldier's situation 
 hard, but every one thought that he received three shillings 
 a week for his subsistence j and why any man unac- 
 quainted with the abuses of the army should think 
 otherwise I cannot imagine, seeing that there is an Act 
 of Parliament, a law of the land, that declares it shall 
 be so." 
 
 [After reciting the regulations that existed, and which 
 were yearly renewed in each Mutiny Act, he proceeds : — ] 
 
 " It has so happened! and for years too ! astonishing ! 
 It has so happened that an Act of ParUament has been 
 most notoriously and shamefully disobeyed for years, to 
 the extreme misery of thousands of deluded wretches 
 (our countrymen), and to the great detriment of the 
 nation at large ; it has so happened that not one of the 
 offenders has been brought to justice for this disobedi- 
 ence, even now it is fully discovered; and it has so 
 happened that the hand of power has made another dive 
 into the national purse, in order — not to add to what 
 the soldier ought to have received; not to satisfy his 
 hunger and thirst; but to gratify the whim or the 
 avarice of his capricious and plundering superiors." 
 
 [After a good deal more, to the same effect, the writer 
 reverts to the new demand upon the national purse by 
 the Secretary at War : — ] 
 
 " This is certainly the most curious mode of rectifying 
 abuses that ever was heard of; and it points out in the 
 
THE SOLDIERS' FRIEND. 91 
 
 clearest light the close connexion that exists between 
 the ruling Faction in this country and the military 
 officers; and this connexion ever must exist while we 
 suffer ourselves to be governed by a Faction. If any other 
 body of men had thus impudently set the laws of the land 
 at defiance, — if a gang of robbers, ornamented with red 
 coats and cockades, had plundered their fellow-citizens, 
 what would have been the consequence ? They would 
 have been brought to justice, hanging or transportation 
 would have been their fate ; but, it seems, the Army is 
 become a Sanctuary from the power of the law. Nor 
 shall we be at all surprised at this, if we consider that a 
 standing army is the great instrument of oppression, and 
 that a very numerous one may in a little time be neces- 
 sary. I am not, therefore, blaming the ministry for this 
 proceeding. I really think they have acted with a great 
 deal of prudence in procuring the 23,000/. for their 
 supporters ; but (as it was all amongst friends) I think 
 the business might have been opened in a more un- 
 equivocal manner ; as thus, in the language of truth : — 
 
 " ' The situation of the privates has long been ad- 
 initted to be extremely hard. It is a law (whidi in 
 former years was obeyed) that a soldier shall receive 
 three shillings a week for his subsistence. It has so 
 happened that of late years the officers have thought 
 proper to despise this law, and to give the soldier only 
 eighteenpence or two shillings. This is evidently too 
 little for the bare purpose of existence ; and though he 
 has subsisted on it of late years, and might with our 
 good will have done so to the day of judgment, as there 
 
92 WILLIAM COBBETt. [1792] 
 
 now is a necessity to humour the wretch a little, for 
 reasons best known to ourselves ; we have, by a late 
 regulation, made his pay adequate to what he always 
 ought to have enjoyed : an object that we are confident 
 must meet the warm approbation of our majority in this 
 House. The public burden will, indeed, be increased 
 by this, but it is certainly much better to' tax the people 
 to their last farthing than to wound the honour of our 
 trusty and well-beloved, the officers of the army, by any 
 odious and ungentlemanlike investigation of their con- 
 duct.' 
 
 "It particularly becomes you, the British Soldier, to look 
 upon this matter in its proper light. The pretended ad- 
 dition to your subsistence is, in fact, no addition at all ; 
 you will now receive no more than you always ought to 
 
 have received If you should have the fortune to 
 
 become a non-commissioned officer, and were to deduct 
 but a penny from a man unlawfully, you know the con- 
 sequences would be breaking and flogging, and refunding 
 the money so deducted ; but here you see your officers 
 have been guilty of the practice for years, and. now it is 
 found out not a hair of one of their heads is touched ; 
 they are even permitted to remain in the practice, and a 
 sum of money is taken from the public to coax you withj 
 now it seems likely that you may be wanted 
 
 "Soldiers are taught to believe everything they receive 
 a gift from the Crown, Cast this notion from you 
 immediately, and know that there is not a farthing you 
 receive but comes out of the public purse. What you 
 call your King's Bounty, or Queen's Bounty, is no bounty 
 
THE SOLDIERS' FRIEND. 93 
 
 from either of them : it is izs. 2d. a year of the public 
 money, which no one can withhold from you ; it is 
 allowed you by an Act of Parliament, while you are 
 taught to look upon it as a present from the King or 
 Queen ! — I feel an indignation at this I cannot describe — 
 I would have you consider the nature of your situation, 
 I would have you know that you are not the servant of 
 one man only ; a British soldier never can be that. You 
 are a servant of the whole nation, of your countrymen, 
 who pay you, and from whom you can have no separate 
 interests. I would have you look upon nothing that 
 you receive as Favour or a Bounty from Kings, Queens, 
 or Princes ; you receive the wages of your servitude ; it 
 is your property, confirmed to you by Acts of the 
 Legislature of your country, which property your 
 rapacious officers ought never to seize on, without meet- 
 ing with a punishment due to their infamy." 
 
 "Finis." 
 
94 WILLIAM COBBETT. [i 793-4] 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "I LIVED IN PHILADELPHIA." 
 
 The Quaker city may well be the pride of the 
 American nation. Founded by William Penn, 
 shortly after his settlement of Pennsylvania in the 
 year 1682, it has become, after the lapse of two 
 centuries, the most important town in the United 
 States. Second to New York only in the matter 
 of population, it is, at present, the first manu- 
 facturing city in the whole country ; whilst it has 
 long held supremacy as the centre of literary and 
 philosophical activity. In the centenary year of 
 1876, Philadelphia possessed no less than 146 
 daily and weekly newspapers, and twenty public 
 libraries : no bad sign of the state of intellectual 
 advancement of a town containing about seven 
 hundred thousand inhabitants. The population 
 consists largely of members of the Society of 
 Friends, or of their descendants ; but there is 
 
PHILADELPHIA. 95 
 
 always a considerable foreign element in the city : 
 the Irish numbering about one-seventh, the Ger- 
 mans one-thirteenth, and the English one-thirtieth. 
 There are at least 400 churches and chapels, and 
 more than 400 public schools ; and 100 hospitals 
 and asylums. 
 
 The causes of the prosperity of Philadelphia are 
 not difficult to be discovered. It is noticeable, that 
 all flourishing capitals are marked by strong cosmo- 
 politan features, with a background of national 
 characteristic. The characteristic basis of the 
 Pennsylvanian is his Quaker ancestry ; and upon 
 this has been grafted, in varying proportions, the 
 religious and political notions, the manners, cus- 
 toms, and national prejudices, of English, Scotch, 
 German, Irish, Welsh, Swedish, and other emigrants, 
 ever since the middle of the last century. The 
 capital of the state took the full-flow of this tide 
 of immigration ; further augmented during and 
 after the war of independence, by a number of 
 French people seeking for that peace and security 
 which was denied them in their native land. With 
 all these varying elements, however, the frugal, 
 patient, industrious Quaker spirit has pervaded 
 the place ; and reduced all this complexity to some 
 sort of harmony. Of party spirit there has, 
 naturally, been much activity ; indeed, at the 
 
96 WILLIAM COBBETT. [i 793-4] 
 
 period of our history, it prevailed more extensively 
 than in almost any other town in the United 
 States ; but the cultivation of knowledge, of the 
 useful arts, and of commercial enterprise, have 
 been the agents in producing the prosperous and 
 beautiful capital of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The city of Philadelphia would appear to have 
 been the pole, one hundred years ago, which 
 attracted alike the inquiring traveller and the 
 political fugitive. The Abbd Raynal had collected 
 and published, in 1770, an account of the American 
 colonies,' which produced a profound sensation in 
 Europe. It was translated into almost every 
 
 * " Histoire philosophique et politique des ^tablissements et du 
 commerce des Europ^ens dans les deux Indes." The author was 
 assisted by Diderot, and others ; and, at last (about 1780) the work 
 was forbidden in France. Raynal lived to regret the extreme notions 
 which he had advocated, and actually appeared at the bar of the 
 National Assembly (in the month of May, 1791), there, to the sur- 
 prise and displeasure of his audience, boldly to expostulate with them 
 on their rash and ruinous courses ; the principal charge being that 
 they had too literally followed his principles, and reduced to practice 
 the reveries and abstracted ideas of a philosopher, without having 
 previously adapted and accommodated them to men, times, and 
 circumstances ! Raynal exercised a great deal of influence upon his 
 generation, and may be considered as having contributed largely to 
 the uprooting of institutions which resulted from the French Revo- 
 lution ; and this singular piece of moral courage was displayed at 
 an advanced period of his life, when he had little to fear from any 
 possible violence ; the usual cohsequence, in those days, of reaction in 
 opinion. 
 
PHILADELPHIA. 97 
 
 European language. The literary characteristics 
 of the book were great animation and plausibility ; 
 and, although it excited many strictures, from the 
 political facts being largely ixed up with rhetori- 
 cal allusions to the wrongs and errors of past 
 generations, the work was, for a time, exceedingly 
 popular, and furnished a basis for much of the 
 cotemporary information on America. The un- 
 fortunate Jean Pierre Brissot, who was at Phila- 
 delphia in or about the year 1788, declared that 
 Raynal had exaggerated everything ; and Cobbett 
 always qualified any allusion to the Abba's writings 
 by some expression or other, to a similar effect. 
 Brissot adds, however, his own impressions of 
 the city, which were high enough, both with reference 
 to the beauty of its situation and of its public 
 buildings, and to the prosperity of its inhabitants. 
 
 An English traveller,^ who visited the States in 
 1795-6, gave some curious particulars of the con- 
 dition of society in Philadelphia at that period. 
 Quakers appeared to number about one quarter of 
 the whole population. The average Philadelphian 
 was represented as being deficient in hospitality and 
 politeness towards strangers : — 
 
 » Isaac Weld. See his "Travels through the States of North 
 America, and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, during 
 the years 1795, 1796, and 1797" (2 vols., London, 1800), 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
98 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1793-4] 
 
 " Amongst the uppermost circles in Philadelphia, pride,, 
 haughtiness, and ostentation are conspicuous. ... In 
 the manners of the people in general, there is a coldness 
 and reserve, as if they were suspicious of some designs 
 against them, which chills to the very heart those who 
 come to visit them. In their private societies a tristesse 
 is apparent, near which mirth and gaiety can never 
 approach. It is no unusual thing, in the genteelest 
 houses, to see a large party of from twenty to thirty 
 persons assembled, and seated round a room, yithout 
 partaking of any other amusement than what arises from 
 the conversation, most frequently in whispers, that passes 
 between the two persons who are seated next to each 
 other. The party meets between six and seven in the 
 evening ; tea is served with much form ; and at ten, by 
 which time most of the company are wearied with having 
 so long remained stationary, they return to their own 
 homes. Still, however, they are not strangers to music, 
 cards, dancing, &c." 
 
 Until about 1779 no public amusements were 
 suffered in the city ; but, after a few years later, 
 Philadelphia would seem to have got a little gayer,' 
 at least in the winter time — when the Congress 
 and the State Assembly were sitting, and Presi- 
 dent Washington made his annual stay of some 
 weeks. The President's birthday became a special 
 
 ' According to Brissot, even the Quakers were getting less strict, 
 some of them being inclined to lapse Into luxury, and have carpets ! 
 
PHILADELPHIA. 99 
 
 anniversary, when all the citizens (except Quakers) 
 would make a point of paying him a visit. Con- 
 certs and public assemblies were held, and two or 
 three theatres, even, were started. The great 
 political revolution, in point of fact, produced a 
 social one of quite as definite, a character, even in 
 prim Philadelphia. As concerning the manners 
 of the lower classes, Weld records a sad deficiency : 
 they would return impertinent answers to ques- 
 tions couched in the most civil terms, and would 
 insult a person bearing the appearance of a gentle- 
 man, on purpose to show how highly they esti- 
 mated the principles of liberty and equality. 
 Hostlers and servants always appeared to be 
 "doubtful whether they ought to do anything for 
 you or not ;" civility was not to be purchased with 
 money ; it seemed incompatible with freedom, and 
 with the ideas which would convince a stranger 
 that he was really in a land of liberty. 
 
 Now, Mr. William Cobbett, late of his Majesty's 
 54th Regiment, had heard of this new country. 
 Kis reading, hitherto, had been purely literary ; 
 but, plunged into the world of London — a novice 
 in politics — ^he imbibes the then popular notions of 
 republicanism, and is an enthusiastic admirer of 
 the new ideas. The eloquent pages of Tom Paine, 
 H 2 
 
100 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1793-4] 
 
 — unanswerable in themselves, yet, at that day, 
 rigorously proscribed, — help to intoxicate ; and, 
 boiling with indignation (as he says) at the abuses 
 he had witnessed, he has, indeed, become a re- 
 publican. That is, a theoretical republican : for, 
 when he soon comes to see all sides of repub- 
 licanisnl, he reverts to his intrinsic love for the 
 constitution under which he was born. 
 
 And to this new land of liberty he will go. 
 
 He landed in Philadelphia in October, 1792, 
 and, for a short time, took up his residence at 
 Wilmington, a little port* on a creek of the 
 Delaware, about twenty-eight miles below Phila- 
 delphia. Here Cobbett found the very thing to 
 give him a start in life ; for the place was swarm- 
 ing with French emigrants, who wanted, above all 
 things, to learn the English language. After a 
 little time it appears that he found Philadelphia 
 itself a better field for his energies ; and, accord- 
 ingly, having removed thither, he soon had as many 
 pupils as he could attend to. This occupation was 
 the occasion, also, which produced the "English 
 Grammar for Frenchmen : " — 
 
 " When I afterwards came to teach the English Ian. 
 guage to French people in Philadelphia, I found that 
 
 < Now a flourishing town, with several newspapers, and extensive 
 manufactures. . 
 
MAITRE lyANGLAIS. loi 
 
 none of the grammars, then to be had, were of much use 
 to me. I found them so defective, that I wrote down 
 instructions and gave them to my scholars in manuscript. 
 At the end of a few months, this became too trouble- 
 some ; and these manuscript instructions assumed the 
 shape of a grammar in print, the copyright of which 
 I sold to Thomas Bradford," a bookseller m Philadelphia, 
 for loo dollars (or 22/. ws. 6d.) ; which grammar, under 
 the title of MaUre d! Anglais, is now in general use all 
 over Europe." 
 
 Cobbett seems to have held a rather qualified 
 opinion upon this French grammar : for he else- 
 where says it was " a very hasty production," and 
 that it was so defective that he was almcst ashamed 
 to look into it [1829] ; but that it had the great 
 merit of " clearness, and of making the learner see 
 the reason of the rules." Yet the book still holds 
 
 ' Thomas Bradford, a leading Philadelphian of the period, was 
 one of the members of a family that exercised a good deal of 
 influence in the city for a long course of years. He died in 1838, 
 at the advanced age of ninety-four. His fatherwas Colonel William 
 Bradford, a hero of the Revolutionary War, and his great grand- 
 father William Bradford, one of the fellovir-emigranfs of Penn. This 
 founder of the family was the first printer in Pennsylvania, and he 
 lived to see some of his descendants amongst the most useful and 
 esteemed citizens of Philadelphia. The Bradfords, during an 
 entire century (1719 — 1819), published and conducted a newspaper 
 in the city. Thomas Bradford was among the founders of the 
 American Philosophical Society. His son, Thomas, became a 
 judge of the United States. 
 
102 WILLIAM COBBETT. [i 793-4] 
 
 its own ; and it has been repeatedly reprinted in 
 France, Belgium, &c.° 
 
 Besides the teaching of English to the emigrants, 
 there was some translating done for the booksellers. 
 
 6 The actual title, at first, was "LeTuteur Anglais, ou gram- 
 maire reguli^re de la langue Anglaise, en deux parties, &c. (i Phila- 
 delpliie, chez Thomas Bradford, 1795)." 
 
 The 35th Edition (Paris, 1861 : Baudry) has the following remarks 
 in the preface, after alluding to the original success of the work : 
 " La clarte de sa methode I'a fait accueillir en France avec un plus 
 vif empressement encore qu'en Amerique ; ce qui s'expUque par- 
 faitement, car cette grammaire ^tant k I'usage des Fran9ais, il 
 fallait que son merite fut bien reel pour obtenir dans un pays 
 etranger un succJs qui n'a fait que grandir depuis. Sa superiorite 
 incontestable sur les autres ouvrages du in6rae genre ne pent done 
 faire doute, et ce qui le prouve, c'est que le public et la plupart des 
 professeurs les plus en renommee parmi ceux qui ont conserve leur 
 libre arbitre n'ont cessd de se servir de cette grammaire." 
 
 A republication of this grammar was undertaken by Mons. L. H. 
 Scipion, Comte Du Roure, who made large additions, with critical 
 emendations, to Cobbett's book (sth Edit. Paris, 1816). This gen- 
 tleman adds his testimony to the general estimation in which the 
 work was held, both in America and Europe, and says, "Cequi 
 distingue avantageusement le travail de M. Cobbett, c'est qu'il 
 raisonne souvent, et oblige, plus souvent encode, le lecteur k raison- 
 ner." But he must needs give currency to a report which he had 
 heard, that Cobbett was not the real author of the MaUre 
 d' Anglais: — " Plusieurs personnes, bien dignes de foi, m'ont 
 assure qu'il ^tait tres-eloigne, surtout en 1 795, de possdder suffisam- 
 ment la langue Frangaise pour pouvoir ecrire dans cette langue ; et 
 que d'ailleurs M. Cobbett, trte-celtbre ecrivain politique sans doute, 
 n'avait pas fait dans sa jeunesse toutes les etudes classiques que la 
 composition d'une Grammaire rend indispensables. Peut-ltre ai-je 
 6tl malinforme" ! A little bit of national pique, let us suppose. 
 Of course we know more about Mons. Cobbett's classical studies. 
 And Mons. Du Roure got a little wiser on that point, if he read the 
 No. of the " Political Register" for Feb. 21, 1818. 
 
TRANSLATING. 103 
 
 The first of any importance, and which Cobbett 
 alludes to somewhere as his " coup d'essai in the 
 authoring way," was the work of Von Martens on 
 the "Law of Nations;" at that date a book of 
 considerable authority : — 
 
 " Soon after I was married, I translated, for a book- 
 seller in Philadelphia, a book on the Law of Nations. A 
 member of Congress had given the original to the book- 
 seller, wishing for him to publish a translation. The 
 book was the work of a Mr. Martens, a German jurist, 
 though it was written in French. I called it Martens's 
 Law of Nations. . . . I translated it for a quarter of 
 a dollar (thirteenpence halfpenny) a page ; and, as my 
 chief business was to go out in the city to teach French 
 people English, I made it a rule to earn a dollar while 
 my wife was getting the breakfast in the morning, and 
 another dollar after I came home at night, be the hour 
 what it might ; and I have earned many a dollar in this 
 way, sitting writing in the same room where my wife and 
 only child were in bed and asleep." 
 
 Another task of similar character was the 
 translation of "A Topographical and Political 
 Description of the Spanish part of St. Domingo," 
 the author of which was Moreau de St. Mdry/ 
 
 ' Mederic Louis Elie Moreau de St. Mery, a Frenchman of good 
 family. He had passed a somewhat distinguished career as a 
 legislator, in his native country, until the period of the Revolution; 
 
104 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1793-4] 
 
 one of the more distinguished of the French 
 emigrants. This worthy man's shop, at No. 84, 
 South Front Street, was probably a favourite 
 resort of the literati, as he was a person of con- 
 siderable attainments, and a iriember of the Philo- 
 sophical Society of Philadelphia ; whilst the bulk 
 of his expatriated fellow-countrymen consisted, 
 without doubt, of a cultivated class of men. Louis 
 Philippe and his brothers were there. Talleyrand 
 was there for a time,' and Cobbett recalls the fact, 
 
 when he had to flee from Robespierre. Having safely reached the 
 United States with his family, he became a merchant's clerk for a 
 short time, and eventually opened a bookseller's' shop, to whicK 
 was afterwards added a printing office. He wrote and published 
 several works in Philadelphia, and returned to France in 1799. 
 Died 1819, Eetat. sixty-nine. 
 
 ' The residence of Talleyrand in America is an obscure period in 
 his history. We may learn more of it when the long-expected 
 memoirs are published. The first part of his exile was spent in the 
 neighbourhood of New York, and time hung heavily on his hands, 
 for his pecuniary resources were scanty; and, indeed, this period 
 was afterwards one of the most painful memories of his life. There 
 does not appear any foundation for the suspicion that Talleyrand 
 was a spy in the pay of the French Government, although it is pro- 
 bable enough that he kept his eyes open on his own account. At 
 last he determined (as he wrote to Madame Genlis) to try and 
 retrieve his fortunes with mercantile speculations ; and in this he 
 was successful. Towards the close of 179S, he sent a petition for 
 the revocation of his banishment, which was ultimately granted, 
 and he returned to France in the course of the following year. 
 {Vide "Biographie Universelle ;" also Touchard-Lafosse : "Hist. 
 Polit. de Talleyrand.") 
 
 A singular contribution to Talleyrand's history occurs in " Men and 
 Times of the Revolution, " by Elkanah Watson (New York, 1 856, pp. 
 
TALLE YRAND. 105 
 
 many years after, of having met him in St. Mary's 
 house. 
 
 Several of Cobbett's best anecdotes of Philadel- 
 phian life are associated with Frenchmen ; here is 
 one : — 
 
 "A Frenchman, who had been driven from St. Do- 
 mingo to Philadelphia, by the Wilberforces of France, 
 went to church along with me one Sunday. He had 
 never been in a Protestant place of worship before. 
 
 387, 388). It will serve to refute the notion that he had any particular 
 mission. "In the years 1794 and 1795, I resided in the northern 
 suburbs of Albany, known as the Colonie. Monsr. Le Contaulx, 
 formerly of Paris, a very amiable man, was my opposite neighbour. 
 His residence was the resort of the French emigrants. During that 
 period. Count Latour Dupin, a distinguished French noble, made a 
 hair-breadth escape from Bordeaux with his elegant and accom- 
 plished wife, the daughter of Count Dillon. They were concealed 
 in that city for six terrible weeks, during the sanguinary atrocities of 
 Tallien, and arrived at Boston with two trunks of fine towels, con- 
 taining several hundred in each, the only property they had been 
 
 able to save from the wreck of an immense estate They 
 
 purchased a little farm upon an eminence nearly opposite Troy. 
 Here they were joined by Talleyrand, who had arrived about the 
 same time in Albany, also an exile and in want. I became intimate 
 
 with them They avowed their poverty, and resided together 
 
 on the little farm, suffering severe privations, bringing to Albany 
 the surplus produce of their land, and habitually stopping, with 
 their butter and eggs, at my door. They yielded with a good grace 
 to their humiliating condition. In the year following, I was sur- 
 rounded in my office by a group of distinguished Frenchmen ; the 
 Count, Talleyrand, Volney, the philosophical writer and traveller, 
 Mons. Pharoux, . . . and Desjardins, a former Chamberlain of Louis 
 XVI." This intercourse at length terminated, through the avowed 
 dislike of the hnigris to American institutions, habits, and customs. 
 
io6 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1793-4] 
 
 Upon looking round him, and seeing everybody comfort- 
 ably seated, while a couple of good stoves were keeping 
 the place as warm as a slack oven, he exclaimed, ' Fardi! 
 on se sert Dieu Men a son aise ici / ' " 
 
 It need not be imagined, however, that he had 
 no American friends. On the contrary, as we 
 shall see in the sequel, he made some friendships 
 that lasted through life. 
 
WILL DEFEND HIS COUNTRY. I07 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 "HEARING MY COUNTRY ATTACKED, I BECAME 
 HER DEFENDER THROUGH THICK AND THIN." 
 
 Nearly two years had elapsed, before Cobbett's 
 life was disturbed by any greater excitement than 
 would be furnished by his daily pursuits as a 
 teacher of the French language. Even in Phila- 
 delphia, where party spirit was strong, and anti- 
 pathy to England was particularly manifest, a 
 busy, hard-working man, with his bread to earn, 
 and who had no natural taste for politics, had no 
 need to interfere — and Cobbett would not have 
 interfered, probably, had not the occasion been 
 brought about almost by accident. The little 
 republicanism which had leavened his mind, whilst 
 in London, had disappeared, when he came to see 
 more of human nature in his new country ; and the 
 municipal contests, and the flaring speeches and 
 writings, which excited less industrious minds, had 
 
To8 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-5] 
 
 no charm for him. " Newspapers," he says, " were; 
 a luxury for which I had little relish, and which, if 
 I had been ever so fond of, I had not time to 
 enjoy." 
 
 But a circumstance occurred, about the middle 
 of the year 1794, which aroused Cobbett's native 
 spirit ; and offered, at the same time, an opportunity 
 for its exercise : — 
 
 " One of my scholars, who was a person that we in 
 England should call a coffee-house politician, chose, for 
 once, to read his newspaper by way of lesson; and, it 
 happened to be the very paper which contained the 
 addresses presented to Dr. Priestley at New York, to- 
 gether with his replies. My scholar, who was a sort of 
 republican, or at best, but half a monarchist, appeared 
 delighted with the invectives against England, to which 
 he was very much disposed to add. Those Englishmen 
 who have been abroad, particularly if they have had time 
 to make a comparison between the country they are in 
 and that which they have left, well know how difficult it 
 is, upon occasions such as I have been describing, to 
 refrain from expressing their indignation and resentment ; 
 and there is not, I trust, much reason to suppose, that I 
 should, in this respect, experience less difficulty than 
 another. 
 
 " The dispute was as warm as might reasonably be 
 expected between a Frenchman, uncommonly violent 
 even for a Frenchman, and an EngHshman not rer 
 
WILL. DEFEND HIS COUNTRY. 109 
 
 markable for sang-froid; and, the result was, a declared 
 resolution, on my part, to write and publish a pamphlet 
 in defence of my country, which pamphlet he pledged 
 himself to knswer ; his pledge was forfeited ; it is known 
 that mine was not. Thus, sir [he is addressing Mr. 
 Pitt], it was, that I became a writer on politics. ' Happy 
 for you,' you will say, ' if you had continued at your verbs 
 and your nouns.' Perhaps it would : but the fact absorbs 
 the reflection ; whether it was for my good, or otherwise, 
 I entered on the career of political writing ; and, without 
 adverting to the circumstances under which others have 
 entered on it, I think it will not be believed that the pen was 
 ever taken up from a motive more pure apd laudable. I 
 could have no hope of gain from the proposed publica- 
 tion itself, but, on the contrary, was pretty certain to 
 incur a loss ; no hope of remuneration, for not only had 
 I never seen any agent of the British government in 
 America, but was not acquainted with any one British 
 subject in the country. I was actuated, perhaps, by no 
 very exalted notions of either loyalty or patriotism ; the 
 act was not much an act of refined reasoning, or of 
 reflection ; it arose merely from feeling, but it was that 
 sort of feeling, that jealousy for the honour of my native 
 country, which I am sure you will allow to have been 
 highly meritorious, especially when you reflect on the 
 circumstances of the times and the place in which I ven- 
 tured before the public. 
 
 " Great praise, and still more, great success, are sure to 
 operate, with young and zealous men, as an encouragement 
 to further exertion. Both were, in this case, far beyond my 
 
no WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-5] 
 
 hopes, and still farther beyond the intrinsic merits of my 
 performance. The praise was, in fact, given to the bold- 
 ness of the man who, after the American press had, for 
 twenty years, been closed against every publication rela- 
 tive to England, in which England and her king were not 
 censured and vilified, dared not only to defend but to 
 eulogize and exalt them ; and, the success was to be 
 ascribed to that affection for England, and that just 
 hatred of France, which, in spite of all the misrepresen- 
 tations that had been so long circulated, were still alive 
 in the bosoms of all the better part of the people ; who 
 openly to express their sentiments, only wanted the occa- 
 sion and the example which were now afforded them." 
 
 Joseph Priestley was one of the most 
 estimable of men. Among those who have thrust 
 back the barriers of Ignorance, he holds no mean 
 place, whether as a student of natural philosophy, 
 or as a Christian teacher. But he belongs to a period 
 when the Pioneer had to suffer for his opinions. 
 
 Born in 1733, he early evinced the qualities of a 
 thorough student, mastered several European and 
 Eastern languages, spent his spare cash in scientific 
 instruments, and entered the ministry as an in- 
 flexible opponent of the cruel notions of " eternal 
 wrath." He was a man rather inclined to take al- 
 ways the heterodox side of things, as one who had 
 discovered that most popular doctrines, in politics 
 
DOCTOR PRIESTLEY. iii 
 
 and religion, were founded on baseless traditions. 
 Priestley's contributions to science brought him 
 within the fold of the Royal Society ; and he was 
 pursuing his studies at the same time that he had 
 charge of an important dissenting congregation at 
 Birmingham, when the French Revolution broke 
 out, in 1789. By this time he was known as an 
 ardent and honest controversialist, and had nu- 
 merous warm friendships among the advanced 
 Liberals of London and Paris ; and his position at 
 Birmingham was becoming hazardous, on account 
 of the denunciations he underwent on the part of 
 the orthodox in Church and State. Matters came 
 to a crisis in the summer of 1791 ; when, a feast 
 being held for the purpose of celebrating the fall of 
 the Bastille, a mob assembled, highly strung with 
 loyalty ; which, after disturbing the diners, broke 
 the windows of the hotel, proceeded to demolish 
 Priestley's and another meeting-house, his dwelling, 
 and the houses of several other influential dissenters. 
 In short, there was a genuine riot, for which the 
 county had to pay. 
 
 And Dr. Priestley had to leave Birmingham. 
 Nor did three years of London life, with the fierce 
 controversies of the day, serve to console him. 
 Having succeeded his friend, the celebrated Dr. 
 Richard Price, as pastor of a meeting at Hackney, 
 
112 WILLIAM- COBBETT. ■ [1794-5] 
 
 he fought alternately with French sceptics and with 
 English " divines ;" but age was creeping upon 
 him ; his beloved scientific pursuits were being 
 neglected ; and he looked wistfully to the new 
 land of liberty and toleration. His domestic 
 hearth was a happy one, and he could at least take 
 that with him wherever he went. So, in the spring 
 of 1794, he set sail for America. 
 
 His departure, however, was the signal for a 
 good deal of affectionate demonstration. .Ad- 
 dresses were presented to him, and he left his, 
 native shores with the good wishes and the regrets 
 of thousands. But, flattering as this was, it was 
 nothing to the reception Priestley experienced on 
 his arrival at New York. He found hiniself wel- 
 comed to " a country worthy of him ;" to a land 
 where reason had "successfully triumphed over the 
 artificial distinctions of European policy and 
 bigotry;" by those who had "beheld with the 
 keenest sensibility the unparalleled persecutions " 
 which had attended him in his native country. 
 
 So, the Philadelphia newspapers of June, 1794, 
 published these addresses — ^the most noted of which 
 were from the Tammany Society of New York, 
 the Democratic Society of the same, the Re- 
 publican Natives of Great Britain and Ireland 
 resident in the City "of New York, the Medical 
 
DOCTOR PRIESTLEY. 113 
 
 Society of New York, and the American Philo- 
 sophical Society of Philadelphia. The Phila- 
 delphia newspapers, ready for all sorts of fiery 
 attack upon England, printed these addresses in 
 full, along with Dr. Priestley's grateful replies. 
 One of Mr. Cobbett's intelligent pupils, in his 
 studious zeal, produces such a newspaper, that his 
 English exercises may be presented in the English 
 of the day. As one of his own omelettes, he will 
 have his English served up fresh ; no musty Addi- 
 son nor dry Delolme for him ; no stale oligarchical 
 stufif, ready for hatching into villainy and oppres- 
 sion ; but the sweet, new-laid principles of liberty, 
 equality, and fraternity. Which principles, as ex- 
 emplified in their latest fruits. Monsieur le Maitre 
 d' Anglais abhors, with all his heart and soul. 
 
 Accordingly, there forthwith appeared an anony- 
 mous pamphlet, under the title of " Observations 
 on Priestley's Emigration ; " consisting of a re- 
 view of the circumstances which had driven the 
 Doctor from Birmingham, and eventually from 
 England ; and a running commentary upon the 
 republican addresses which had been . presented to 
 him. The whole tenour of the tract, however, con- 
 sisted in its expressed horror of the ruin and 
 desolation which the theorists had brought upon 
 France, and in pointing out what would be (in the 
 VOI-. I. I 
 
114 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-5] 
 
 mind of the writer) the logical result of the new 
 ideas being disseminated in England. Priestley's 
 emigration, in point of fact, was made the peg on 
 which to hang an anti-revolution tirade. Certain 
 sound principles, however, were enunciated : an 
 extract or two will serve to show this, and, by the 
 felicitous terms in which they are conveyed, to 
 display the wonderful command which Cobbett 
 had already acquired over his native tongue. 
 
 "System-mongers are an unreasonable species of 
 mortals ; time, place, climate, nature itself, must give way. 
 They must have the same governments in every quarter 
 of the globe ; when, perhaps, there are not two countries 
 which can possibly admit of the same form of government 
 at the same time. A thousand hidden causes, a thousand 
 circumstances and unforeseen events, conspire to the 
 forming of a government. It is always done by little and 
 little. When completed, it presents nothing like a 
 system ; nothing like a thing composed, and written in a 
 book. It is curious to hear people cite the American 
 government as the summit of human perfection, while 
 they decry the English ; when it is absolutely nothing 
 more than the government which the kings of England 
 established here, with such little modifications as were 
 necessary on account of the state of society and local 
 circumstances. If, then, the Doctor is come here for a 
 change of government and laws, he is the most disap- 
 pointed of mortals. He will have the mortification to 
 
DOCTOR PRIESTLEY. 115 
 
 find in his ' asylum ' the same laws as those from which 
 he has fled, the same upright manner of administering 
 them, the same punishment of the oppressor, and the 
 same protection of the oppressed. In the courts of 
 justice he will every day see precedents quoted from the 
 'English law-books ; and (which to him may appear won- 
 derful) we may venture to predict, that it will be very 
 long before they will be supplanted by the bloody records 
 of the revolutionary tribunal." 
 
 " Even supposing his intended plan of improvement 
 had been the best in the world, instead of the worst, the 
 people of England had certainly a right to reject it. He 
 claims as an indubitable right, the right of thinking for 
 others, and yet he will not permit the people of England 
 to think for themselves. ... If the English choose 
 to remain slaves, bigots, and idolaters, as the Doctor calls 
 them, that was no business of his ; he had nothing to do 
 with them. He should have let them alone ; and, perhaps 
 in due time, the abuses of their government would have 
 come to that ' natural termination,' which he trusts, ' will 
 guard against future abuses.' But no, said the Doctor, 
 I will reform you — I will enlighten you — I will make you 
 free. — You shall not, say the people. — But I will ! says 
 
 the Doctor. By , say the people, you shall not ! 
 
 ^ And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not fed- 
 lowed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his 
 house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged 
 himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his 
 father: " 
 
 " I am one of those who wish to believe that foreigners 
 
 I 2 
 
ii6 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-S] 
 
 come to this country from chpice, and not from necessity. 
 , . , . The most numerous, as well as the most 
 useful, are mechanics. Perhaps a cobbler, with his 
 hammer and awls, is a more valuable acquisition than a 
 dozen philosophi-theologi-politi-cal empirics, with all 
 their boasted apparatus." 
 
 Mr. Thomas Bradford was again his publisher. 
 The circumstance is fully related in the American 
 autobiography : — 
 
 " When the ' Observations ' on the Emigration of this 
 ' martyr to the cause of liberty ' were ready for the 
 press, I did not, at first, offer them to Mr. Bradford. I 
 knew him to retain a rooted hatred against Great 
 Britain, and concluded, that his principles would pre- 
 vent him from being instrumental in the publication of 
 anything that tended to unveil one of its most bitter 
 enemies. I therefore addressed myself to Mr. Carey.' 
 This was, to make use of a culinary figure, jumping out 
 
 ' Matthew Carey, an Irishman, bom in Dublin, 1760. At a. 
 very early age he was prosecuted for a "libel" on the Government, 
 and retired to Paris for a time, where he made the acquaintance of 
 Franklin and Lafayette. He emigrated to Philadelphia in 1784, 
 and in the following year started the Pennsylvania Herald. In 
 1793 he commenced the bookselling and printing business, which 
 he continued prosperously for thirty years. Carey was a public- 
 spirited citizen of Philadelphia for more than half a century. At 
 his death, in his eightieth year, his remains were followed to the 
 grave by thousands who recollected with gratitude his philanthropic 
 labours. Carey's family is still represented among the leading 
 Philadelphians. 
 
MATTHEW CAREY. 117 
 
 of the frying-pan into the fire. Mr. Carey received me 
 as booksellers generally receive authors (I mean authors 
 whom they hope to get but little by) : he looked at the 
 title from top to bottom, and then at me from head 
 to foot. — ' No, my lad,' says he, ' I don't think it will 
 suit." — My lad ! God in heaven forgive me ! I believe 
 that, at that moment, I wished for another yellow fever 
 to strike the city ; not to destroy the inhabitants, but 
 to furnish me too with the subject of a pamphlet, that 
 might make me rich. Mr. Carey has sold hundreds of 
 the ' Observations ' since that time, and therefore I 
 dare say he highly approved of them, when he came to 
 a perusal; At any rate, I must not forget to say, that he 
 behaved honourably in the business; for, he promised 
 not to make known the author, and he certainly kept 
 his word, or the discovery would not have been reserved 
 for the month of June, 1796. This circumstance, con- 
 sidering Mr. Carey's politics, is greatly to his honour, 
 and has almost wiped from my memory that contume- 
 lious ' my lad.' 
 
 " From Mr. Carey I went to Mr. Bradford, and left 
 the pamphlet for his perusal. The next day I went to 
 him to know his determination. He hesitated, wanted 
 to know if I could not make it a little more popular, 
 adding that, unless I could, he feared that the publish- 
 ing of it would endanger his •windows. ' More popular,' 
 I could not make it. I never was of an accommodating 
 disposition in my life. The only alteration I would 
 consent to was in the title. I had given the pamphlet 
 the double title of ' The Tartufife Detected ; or, Observa- 
 
ii8 WILLIAM COBBETT. Ii794-Sl 
 
 tions,' &c. The former was suppressed, though, had I 
 not been pretty certain that every press in the city was 
 as little free as that to which I was sending it, the 
 ' Tartufife Detected ' should have remained ; for the 
 person on whom it was bestowed merited it much better 
 than the character so named by Molifere. 
 
 " These difficulties, and these fears of the bookseller^ 
 at once opened my eyes with respect to the boasted 
 liberty of the press. Because the laws of this country 
 proclaim to the world, that every man may write and 
 publish freely, and because I saw the newspapers filled 
 with vaunts on the subject, I was fool enough to imagine 
 that the press was really free for every one. I had not 
 the least idea, that a man's windows were in danger of 
 being broken, if he published anything that was not 
 popular. I did, indeed, see the words liberty and 
 equality, tlie rights of man, the crimes of kings, and such 
 like, in most of the booksellers' windows ; but I did 
 not know that they were put there to save the glass, 
 as a free republican Frenchman puts a cockade tricolor 
 in his hat to save his head. I was ignorant of all these 
 arcana of the liberty of the press. 
 
 ***** 
 
 " The work that it was feared would draw down 
 punishment on the publisher, did not contain one un- 
 truth, one anarchical, indecent, immoral, or irreligious 
 expression; and yet the bookseller feared for his 
 windows ! For what ? Because it was not popular 
 enough. A bookseller in a despotic state fears to pubr 
 lish a work that is ' too popular,' and one in a free stat? 
 
"PUBLISHING TOGETHER." 119 
 
 fears to publish a work that is not 'popular enough.' T 
 leave it to the learned philosophers of the ' Age of 
 Reason ' to determine in which of these states there is 
 the most liberty of the press ; for, I must acknowledge, 
 the point is too nice for me : fear is fear, whether inspired 
 by a Sovereign Lord the King, or by a Sovereign People. 
 
 "The terms on which Mr. Bradford took the 'Ob- 
 servations,' were what booksellers call publishing it 
 together. I beg the reader, if he foresees the possibility 
 of his becoming an author, to recollect this phrase well. 
 Publishing it together is thus managed : the bookseller 
 takes the work, prints it, and defrays all expenses of 
 paper, binding, &c. and the profits, if any, are divided 
 between him and the author. — Long after the ' Observa- 
 tions ' were sold off, Mr. Bradford rendered me an 
 account (undoubtedly a very just one) of the sales. Ac- 
 cording to this account, my share of the profits (my 
 share only) amounted to the enormous sum of one 
 shilling and sevenpence half -penny, currency of the State 
 of Pennsylvania (or, about elevenpence three farthings 
 sterling), quite entirely clear of all deductions whatsoever t 
 
 " Now, bulky as this sum appears in words at length, 
 I presume, that when \s, 'j\d. is reduced to figures, no 
 one will suppose it sufficient to put a coat upon my 
 back. If my poor back were not too broad to be clothed 
 with such a sum as this, God knows how I should bear 
 all that has been, and is, and is to be, laid on it by the 
 unmerciful democrats. Why ! is. i\d. would not cover 
 the back of a Lilliputian ; no, not even in rags, as they 
 sell here." 
 
I20 WILLIAM COBBETT. [i794-5j 
 
 The allusion to the coat was occasioned by a 
 report, which Cobbett thought fit to notice, that Mr. 
 Bradford had provided him with the means of pro- 
 curing one. Whether the " Observations " proved 
 remunerative or not, it is certain that the tract was 
 immediately reprinted in London, by Stockdale, 
 and noticed in the magazines ; and we will pre- 
 sently refer to the comments which were raised in 
 England by the new politician. 
 
 Meanwhile the pamphlet was read, and became 
 notorious ; and its author had discovered where 
 his strength lay. He would prepare another on- 
 slaught upon the anti-federalists. 
 
 In order, however, that we may understand the 
 position which Cobbett soon came to occupy as a 
 politician, it will be necessary to take a glimpse, 
 of the leading questions which were agitating the 
 public mind of America. The chief cities of the 
 United States, receiving, as they did, the overflow-: 
 ings of European ebullition, had also their own 
 internal squabbles, and were become so many cen- 
 tres of revolutionary intrigue ; and the perils and 
 the strife thus engendered opened the field of political 
 adventure to many an aspiring mind. It was a 
 period of terrible personal animosities, both in 
 Europe and America : men's friendships, and men's 
 
AMERICAN "INDEPENDENCE." 121 
 
 reputations, never had a harder lot, in the face of 
 differences of opinion. 
 
 The Revolution, which culminated in the Decla- 
 ration of Independence in the year 1776, did not, 
 in all respects, ultimately suit the tastes of the 
 whole American people. A numerous section, 
 after the immediate cause of the quarrel with the 
 mother country had been despatched, remained 
 " loyal ;" and would have been well pleased to see 
 re-union with England. Others, again, satisfied 
 with Independence, were yet desirous that the 
 Constitution should be as near as possible on a 
 monarchical plan, with a basis of government cen- 
 tralized at the capital. A still larger class, — 
 daily augmented, too, by the arrival of English, 
 Irish, and French refugees, — were for republicanism 
 pure and simple. 
 
 France had given support to the infant republic, 
 from the first ; having recognized " Independence " 
 in 1 778, and, from that date, continued to give aid 
 in the shape of food supplies and war material, 
 during the progess of the conflict. The treaty of 
 peace being concluded with Great Britain, in the 
 year 1783, and the States settling down to consider 
 their future, it was soon discovered that the Con- 
 stitution, which had first been hastily framed, was 
 
T23 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-s] 
 
 inadequate for the purposes of good government ; 
 there was no power to compel individual states, 
 where unanimity, or, at least, general consent, 
 was desirable.* A new Constitution was therefore 
 promulgated, by which absolute power was lodged 
 in a central Federal Congress of the States. From 
 that date the two prominent political parties came 
 into existence : the one, known as the Federalist, 
 strongly in favour of centralization ; the other, the 
 anti-Federalist or Democratic party, which was for 
 independent state sovereignty, and which was too 
 deeply republican in its nature not to fear the 
 risks, which centralized power would entail upon 
 the new-born liberties of the nation. The leading 
 partisans on the former side were Washington, 
 John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay ; 
 whilst Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were 
 the most eminent among the Democratic leaders. 
 It must be noted, however, that the statesmen of 
 both parties were unanimous on the point of re- 
 publicanism/^?- se: their aim was one object, about 
 
 ' As Cobbett himself very correctly says, "The war once ended, 
 and the' object of that war obtained, .... the Congress became 
 an inefficient body, and each State, having carefully retained its 
 independent sovereignty, looked to its particular regulations, and 
 its separate interests, which were often (not to say always) opposed 
 to the regulations and the terests of all the other States. — 
 " P. P. Works," i. 38. 
 
A TRIAL CONSTITUTION. 123 
 
 which there could be no further question ; their 
 differences consisted in the consideration of the 
 best means of attaining it. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson had been minister to France ; and 
 returned to America in 1790, to take a part in the 
 administration. He has left upon record his ex- 
 perience, upon resuming his place in society, of the 
 reaction against extreme republicanism which had 
 already taken place ; ^ other testimony, of similar 
 bearing, could be adduced, but it is hardly necessary 
 
 ' ' ' Being fresh from the French Revolution, while in its first 
 and pure stage, and consequently whetted up in my own republican 
 principles, I found a state of things, in the general society of the 
 place (New York), which I could not have supposed possible. 
 Being a stranger there, I was feasted from table to table, at large 
 set dinners, the parties generally from twenty to thirty. The Revo- 
 lution I had left, and that we had just gone through in the recent 
 change of our own Government, being the common topics of con- 
 versation, I was astonished to find the general prevalence of 
 monarchical sentiments, insomuch that in maintaining those of 
 republicanism, I had always the whole company on my hands, 
 never scarcely finding among them a single co-advocate in that 
 argument, unless some old member of Congress happened to be 
 present. The furthest that any one would go, in support of the 
 RepubUcan features of our new Government, would be to say, 
 'The present Constitution is well as a beginning, and may be 
 allowed a fair trial ; but it is, in fact, only a stepping-stone to 
 something better.' Among their writers, Denny, the Editor of the 
 Portfolio, who was a kind of oracle with them, and styled the 
 Addison of America, openly avowed his preference of monarchy 
 over all other forms of government, prided himself on the avowal, 
 and maintained it by argument freely and without reserve, in his 
 publications."— T. J. to Wm. Short, Jan. 8, 1825 : Jefferson's 
 "Writings," vii. 390 
 
124 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-s] 
 
 for our purpose, considering the amount of support 
 which Cobbett received during the whole period 
 of his residence in America. There seems to have 
 been, in point of fact, a Federal itlajority from the 
 very first, — and, when the European war broke 
 out, early in 1793, this section of the nation sym- 
 pathized, generally speaking, with the English. A 
 strong anti-British feeling prevailed, however, 
 among the Democrats, which was displayed in the 
 most fiery and intemperate language,* and found 
 particular vent in a hearty enthusiasm for the 
 French cause. The first outbreak of the French 
 revolution was hailed with joy by the extreme- 
 republicans ; and, at last, when Mr. Pitt came to 
 think that England was called upon to declare 
 war against France, in defence of the old European 
 doctrines, this hatred of England was naturally 
 intensified. Washington's proclamation of neu- 
 
 * " In the year 1 704, or 5, a Mr. Rutledge, who was a judge in 
 , South Carolina, made a speech, in which he besought his country 
 to join itself with the Republic of France in a mortal war against Eng- 
 land. ' She will, ' said he, ' never forgive us for our success against 
 her, and for our having established a free constitution. Let us, there- 
 fore, while she is down, seize her by the' throat, strangle her, 
 deliver the world of her tyranny, and thus confer on mankind the 
 greatest of blessings.' As nearly as I can recollect them, these 
 were his very words. I am sure that I have the ideas correct. I 
 and many more cried aloud against the barbarity of such sentiments. 
 They were condemned in speeches and pamphlets innumerable." — 
 " Political Register," xxvL 422. 
 
CITIZEN GENEST. 125 
 
 trality was in vain, to check the ardour of the pen- 
 and-ink warriors ; and the constant arrival of pro- 
 scribed persons was just so much fuel added to 
 the flames. Another outbreak of war, between 
 England and America, was even apprehended ; 
 and would have taken place, but for the moderate 
 counsels which prevailed in the minds of Washing- 
 ton and his advisers. 
 
 At this juncture, there arrived as ambassador to 
 the United States, one Genest,' a man eminently- 
 fitted for the useful task of stirring up strife ; and 
 it is, indeed, difficult to believe that the man was 
 not selected with this object in view. Of the 
 strongest republican principles, he thoroughly 
 scorned the traditions of diplomacy ; and landed at 
 Charleston [April 1793] more with the air of a 
 newly-appointed provincial governor than with 
 that of envoy from a friendly nation. Several 
 weeks elapsed before he presented his credentials 
 to Washington : meanwhile, he was actually en- 
 gaged in superintending the fitting-out of priva- 
 
 ' Edmond Charles Genest, bom 1765, died 1834. He possessed 
 remarkable abilities from his youth, and early entered the diplo- 
 matic service. After four years in Russia as Charge d' Affaires, he 
 was sent to America, as related in the text ; and, having been 
 eventually superseded, he elected to remain and become naturalized. 
 His life was thenceforth occupied in promoting improvements in 
 agriculture and in the arts and sciences. (Vide " Biog. Universelle," 
 also Drake's " American Biography. ") 
 
126 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-5] 
 
 teers ! And on his arrival at Philadelphia there' 
 were festivities and congratulations, and speeches, 
 to be attended to, before he could condescend . to 
 wait upon the President. His subsequent conduct 
 was all of a piece with this ; till, the President 
 having found it necessary to repudiate a French 
 vice-consul on account of his gross infractions of 
 neutrality, Genest's high-toned appeal upon the 
 matter obliged Washington, at last, to consider 
 the question of demanding his recall. This was 
 effected in the following year.* 
 
 But all this did not happen without largely 
 affecting the temper of the American people. 
 Although Washington generously distinguished be- 
 tween the conduct of the minister and "the friendly 
 spirit of the nation which sent him ;" although, as 
 Jefferson records, the Government were " deter-, 
 mined to see, in these proceedings, but the 
 character of the individual, and hot to believe 
 that they were by instructions from his employers," 
 yet it was undoubtedly a new spur to the active 
 spirit of democracy. The Philadelphia politicians, 
 especially, raved and stormed over the iniquities 
 of Britain and the virtues of France. 
 
 » For full details of this curious episode, see Jefferson, 
 "Writings," iv., pp. 32—46; Cobbett, "P. P. Works," x. loi, 
 et seq. ; also the " Annual Register," for 1793-94. 
 
AMERICA, FRANCE, AND ENGLAND. 127 
 
 A more serious trouble to the American Govern- 
 ment arose, soon after the war between England 
 and France had continued some time. As, when 
 the young Republic was fighting for its life, they 
 had been assisted by the French, so they now 
 shipped large aids, chiefly in the shape of pro- 
 visions, to the French ports. These cargoes were 
 unquestionably contraband ; and the British Go- 
 vernment, holding that view, ordered that all Ame- 
 rican vessels be detained, — those laden with corn to 
 be seized, — and a reasonable price to be paid for the 
 cargoes and freights. Later on, another order was 
 issued, directed against American cargoes which 
 consisted of provisions and stores for the French 
 colonies. All this naturally irritated the Ameri- 
 cans ; they considered it simply an infraction of 
 their independence ; and they were not disposed 
 tamely to yield to a power which, in the eyes of many^ 
 was not unlikely to dream of future reconquest. 
 
 Some alarm was also aroused by the conduct 
 of the British troops in Canada, who retook pos- 
 session of certain frontier forts, which had been 
 ceded to America at the treaty of peace. At the 
 same time, public attention was directed to a 
 conference held between Lord Dorchester, the 
 Governor of Canada, and several Indian tribes ; 
 on which occasion language was held by the 
 
128 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-5] 
 
 Governor, which seemed to carry with it a willing- 
 ness on the part of England to proceed to 
 hostilities, upon a given contingency. 
 
 Fortunately, however, the disposition of tlie 
 American Administration was such, that the fury 
 of the Democrats was powerless to disturb its 
 equanimity ; and the only serious step, which the 
 Government was induced to take, was to lay an 
 embargo upon the British shipping in American 
 ports, for the space of thirty days.' It was 
 necessary, however, to come to an understanding ; 
 accordingly, an envoy, in the person of Mr. Jay, 
 repaired to England with full powers, in the hope 
 that existing difficulties might be removed, and a 
 proper feeling of amity be secured, between the 
 two nations. 
 
 Mr. Jay's mission was eminently successful, as 
 regarded the two Governments ; but the Treaty in 
 which it resulted only served to make the breach 
 wider, that existed between the Democrats and 
 their opponents. His return to America was 
 signalized by an unexampled storm of invective 
 and abuse ; and Jay had, in fact, to retire from 
 public life.' The principle that the flag does not 
 
 1 Vide "Annual Register," 1794, for the interesting state papers 
 on these topics. 
 ' Mr. Jay was a genuine patriot. He was moderate in politics, 
 
THE BRITISH TREATY. 129 
 
 cover the merchandise was the feature which gave 
 the greatest offence ; but the real objections were 
 sentimental, and were, in fact, brewing as soon as 
 Jay's appointment as envoy became known.' The 
 treaty was the work of the Washington administra- 
 tion, the members of which were known to be 
 favourably disposed towards England ; and it was 
 considered likely to injure the relations existing 
 between America and France. Its opponents 
 maintained, from the first, that the disposition of 
 Great Britain being naturally hostile to the United 
 States, there could be no prospect of real reci- 
 procity ; and, when the document arrived, their 
 first thought was that its ratification would give 
 umbrage to the French. That, if the United States 
 could convert the evil disposition of England into 
 one of amity and peace, the projected treaty would 
 
 but no trimmer. After his retirement he devoted himself to ques- 
 tions of social improvement, especially the abolition of slavery. 
 
 ' For a complete analysis of the opposition viewrs on the British 
 Treaty, vide "Life of A. J. Dallas," pp. 160 et seq. As a speci- 
 men of the mad and vindictive feelings then current, see a letter to 
 the editor of the New York Argtis, signed "An Individual," and 
 dated Jan. 17, 1796, in which he informs the editor that the 
 Treaty meets with his entire disapprobation; and continues, "I 
 have come to a solemn resolution, that I will not hereafter Import, 
 sell, or consume any goods, wares, or merchandise, the produce or 
 manufacture of Great Britain and her dependencies. I leave others 
 to act as they please, but this is my firm determination with respect 
 to myself whilst the said Treaty continues in force." 
 
 VOL. 1. K 
 
130 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-5] 
 
 be too high a price to pay for the change ; and if 
 there must be war with either Great Britain or 
 France, it were "more politic for the state, and 
 more congenial with the sentiments of the people, 
 to engage the former," as France would give aid 
 " with all the energy of her triumphant arms ; " 
 whilst, in the case of a war with France, the 
 Americans could neither count upon the affections, 
 nor rely upon the power, of Great Britain. 
 
 But what served, much more, to augment the 
 numbers and vehemence of the Radical party, and 
 to foment bad feeling between the two countries, 
 was the constant stream of refugees from the 
 United Kingdom. Mr. Pitt's repressive measures 
 were in full force ; and the year 1794 witnessed 
 some of the most glaring instances of tyranny that 
 had been displayed in England since the days of 
 James the Second. Frequent trials for " sedition " 
 only served to inflame and to energize the spirit 
 of free inquiry; and men boldly talked of revo- 
 lution. Some suffered imprisonment, many more 
 managed to escape ; and of those who escaped, 
 many found a free asylum in Pennsylvania. Some 
 of these men were of good education and great 
 natural ability ; and all were inspired with the hopes 
 of the day : an imminent deliverance of mankind, 
 generally, from all kinds of despotism whatsoever. 
 
ANTI-JACOBINISM. 131 
 
 So, this is how it was in Philadelphia, in these 
 lively times. The most enlightened and philo- 
 sophical city in the United States was, at the 
 same time, the hot-bed of democracy : the home of 
 all that was aspiring in the human heart and mind. 
 Thus, we can understand something of the feelings 
 which animate the breast of Mr. William Cobbett, 
 ardent Loyalist. He knows little of theoretical 
 politics ; his short experience of republicanism has 
 only, at present, served to show him that man is 
 little better off as the subject of a sovereign people, 
 than as a subject of a sovereign king ; provided that 
 similar constitutional principles prevail. His recol- 
 lections of Tom Paine's animated book, and his for- 
 mer enthusiasm for republicanism, are — as in the 
 minds of thousands of his cotemporaries — crushed 
 and buried beneath the torrent of blood and tears 
 which has been shed in France. A natural reaction 
 has set in : his native land, with all her faults, 
 comes back to his memory as a land of average com- 
 fort and well-being ; and the thought is uppermost 
 that, perish "liberty and equality," if all their 
 results are to consist in a murdered king, and in 
 the home of his childhood desolated by the blood- 
 thirsty apostles of progress. 
 
 One of these emigrants was Mr. James Thom- 
 son Callender. His reading of English history 
 K 2 
 
132 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-5! 
 
 had caused his mind to dwell, somewhat heavily, 
 upon the underhand means which ministers and 
 parties had used, to carry their points, during the 
 last century. Abuses in Church and State : this is 
 the sort of pabulum for the public taste, and Mr. 
 Callender, accordingly, undertakes to put them all 
 into a popular form, under the title of "The 
 Political Progress of Britain." ' The result is, that 
 
 ' " The Political Progress of Britain ; or, An Impartial History 
 of Abuses in the Government of the British Empire, in Europe, 
 Asia, and America. From the Revolution in 1688 to the present 
 time : the whole tending to prove the ruinous Consequences of the 
 popular System of Taxation, War, and Conquest, " It was a little 
 too violent for its purpose ; and, although it contained a good deal 
 of truth, the tract was malevolent and unpatriotic, and the author 
 deserved to be prosecuted (from a ministerial point of view). 
 
 The preface to the American edition is worth reading, as telling 
 some of the story of the times : — "Advertisement. — The first edi- 
 tion of ' The Political Progress of Britain ' was published at Edin- 
 burgh and London, in autumn, 1792. The sale was lively, and the 
 prospect of future success flattering. The plan was, to give an 
 impartial history of the abuses in government, in a series of 
 pamphlets. But, while the author was preparing for the press a 
 second number, along with a new edition of the first,' he was, on 
 the ,2nd of January, 1793, apprehended, and with some difficulty 
 made his escape. Two booksellers, who acted as his editors, were 
 prosecvlted, and, after a very arbitrary trial, they were condemned, 
 tlie one to three months, and the other to six months of imprison- 
 ment. A revolution will take place in Scotland before the lapse of 
 ten years at farthest, and most likely much sooner. The Scots 
 nation will then certainly think itself bound, by every tie of wisdom, 
 of gratitude, and of justice, to make reparation to these two honest 
 men for the tyranny which they have encountered in the cause of 
 truth. In Britain, authors and editors of pamphlets have long con- 
 
/. T. CALLENDER. 133 
 
 he is a fugitive before many weeks are over his 
 head, and any further attacks which he has to 
 make, upon the government of Mr. Pitt and his 
 predecessors, must be offered from the other side 
 of the Atlantic. The pamphlet, republished in 
 Philadelphia, comes under the eye of our neophyte 
 politician, and Mr. Cobbett sniffs war. The " Poli- 
 tical progress " presented just the sort of topic 
 which would serve as provocation : here was an- 
 other villain maligning his country, and the wretch 
 must be made an example of 
 
 Accordingly, on the 8th of January, 1795, Mr. 
 Thomas Bradford has for sale, " A Bone to Gnaw 
 for the Democrats ; " consisting of a review of 
 Callender's book, followed by a still more daring 
 
 ducted the van of every revolution. They compose a kind of 
 forlorn hope on the skirts of battle ; and though they may often 
 want experience, or influence, to marshal the main body, they yet 
 enjoy the honour and the danger of the first rank, in storming the 
 ramparts of oppression. 
 
 " The verdict of a packed jury did not alter the opinions of those 
 who had approved of the publications. Five times its original 
 price hath, since its suppression, been oflfered in Edinburgh for a 
 copy. At London, a new edition was printed by Ridgway and 
 Symonds, two booksellers, confined in Newgate for publishing 
 political writings. They sell the pamphlet, and others of the same 
 tendency, openly in prison. It is next to impossible for despotism 
 to overwhelm the divine art of printing," &c., &c. 
 
 Mr. Callander eventually became a newspaper editor at Rich- 
 mond, Va., and distinguished himself as an uncompromising 
 opponent of the Federalist administrations. 
 
134 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-5] 
 
 attack upon the democratic press and upon the 
 numerous clubs connected with the party. 
 
 The " Bone to Gnaw " was a distinct advance 
 upon the " Observations." The writer had evi- 
 dently begun to discuss, and to wrangle. And the 
 discovery that he had the power to wield a very 
 vigorous pen soon brought the inclination to use it. 
 There is a good deal of coarseness, as we should 
 look at it now-a-days, but that was the temper of 
 the times. The pamphlet raised up a host of 
 enemies, whilst the number of Cobbett's admirers 
 proportionately increased ; and readers were found, 
 both in England and America, to give their 
 warmest approbation. 
 
 But, among others, was " one Smith, a malig- 
 nant democrat," who had started an "American 
 Monthly Review." In reviewing "A Bone to 
 Gnaw," he endeavoured to weaken the writer's 
 nerve- by attacking his grammar and composition. 
 To very little purpose, except to bring Mr. Cobbett 
 up, smiling, with a rejoinder. For, in February, 
 was published "A Kick for a Bite," consisting 
 principally of a humorous lesson in the art of criti- 
 cism, addressed to the editor of the Review ; and 
 in March, Part II. of "A Bone to Gnaw for the 
 Democrats." 
 
 It was about this date, January or February, 
 
"PETER porcupine:' 135 
 
 ^795) when some newspaper correspondent likened 
 the new federalist writer to a porcupine. The idea 
 was instantly adopted ; and Cobbett announces 
 himself to the editor of the "American Monthly 
 Review/' as "Peter Porcupine, at your service." 
 Thus arose one of the most famous of pseudonyms." 
 It was a long while before the bearer of it was gene- 
 rally known, i. e. beyond a very small circle of 
 acquaintances ; yet it appears that the " British 
 Critic," as early as Dec. 179S, had discovered the 
 owner of the name. But the publication of a name, 
 pseudonymous or otherwise, furnished as it were a 
 handle for opponents ; one insisted on calling him 
 " Mr. Hedgehog," another styled him " the pork- 
 patriot," and so on. Beyond the play upon words, 
 however, and fresh showers of Billingsgate upon 
 the British name, there was very little talent in 
 these early attacks upon Mr. Cobbett. One of 
 them, which has survived, is excessively tame, 
 although the writer undertakes to wring Porcu- 
 pine's nose, and humble his vanity and pre- 
 sumption ; and proceeds to insinuate, that he 
 conceals himself through fear of the horsewhip ; 
 and that he is neither more nor less than an 
 
 ' It cannot be said that the title of " Porcupine " was altogether 
 appropriate. The vulgar notion (derived from Pliny) that this 
 harmless animal had the power of shooting its quills at an adversary 
 was probably the origin of the appellation. 
 
136 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-5] 
 
 obscure pedagogue, whose moral rectitude would 
 not bear the test of scrutiny beyond the Atlantic," ' 
 " A Bone to Gnaw, Part II.," is taken up by a 
 denunciation of the Society of United Irishmen, a 
 democratic club in Dublin, which had published an 
 account of its proceedings ; and of the acts of the 
 French Convention at Lyons, where unheard-of 
 cruelties had just been perpetrated. The following 
 bit of humour conveys so many ideas, illustrative 
 of the prevailing topics of controversy, that it is 
 worth while reproducing here : — 
 
 " It would have been unpardonable in a society like 
 that of the United Irishmen, if, among their numerous 
 addresses, none was to be found to the firebrand philo- 
 
 ' "A Rub from Snub; or, a Cursory Analytical Epistle; ad- 
 dressed to Peter Porcupine, author of the Bone to Gnaw, Kick for 
 a Bite, &c., &c. Containing Glad Tidings for the Democrats, and 
 a word of comfort to Mrs. S.-Rowson, wherein the said Porcupine's 
 moral, political, critical, and literary character is fully illustrated. " 
 (Philadelphia, 1795.) Here is a little specimen of the style : — 
 " Nature must have had the hysterics when you were bom ; mastiffs 
 howled, and owls sang anthems to congratulate you into existence, 
 and your jaws must have been furnished with indissoluble tusks 
 expressive of the disposition that was inspired within you." 
 
 Mrs. Rowson was an English emigrant, who had arrived in 
 Philadelphia in 1793, and soon blazed forth as an actress and 
 novelist, and enjoyed great popularity. One of her novels is still 
 reprinted. Cobbett had made a review of the " roma-drama-poetic 
 works of Mrs. S. Rowson " the object of some humour in " A Kick 
 for a Bite." 
 
UNITED IRISHMEN. 137 
 
 sopher, Priestley. ' Farewell,' say they, in their conso- 
 latory address to him,^' farewell, great and good man ! 
 Your change of place will give room for the matchless 
 activity of your genius ; and you will take a sublime 
 pleasure in bestowing on Britain the benefit of your 
 future discoveries.' Every honest man ought to wish that 
 this were true; for the doctor has already made some 
 discoveries of the utmost importance to future chemical 
 emigrants, if he could be prevailed on to publish them. 
 He might let his brethren into the secret of buying land 
 (or rather rock) at a dollar an acre, and selling it again 
 at ninepence-halfpenny. This is a sort of anti-chemistry, 
 by which copper is extracted from silver; and the pro- 
 cess by which it is accomplished must certainly be a 
 desideratum in the learned world. The doctor might 
 also favour curious foreigners with the feats of those 
 American magi, vulgarly called land-surveyors, whose 
 potent art levels the mountain with the valley, makes the 
 rough way smooth, the crooked straight ; whose creative 
 pencil calls into being nodding woods and verdant lawns; 
 and, like the rod of Moses, makes rivulets gush from 
 the solid rock. 
 
 " ' Farewell,' continue the United Irishmen, ' farewell, 
 great and good man ; but, before you go, we beseech a 
 portion of your parting prayer' (down upon your marrow- 
 bones, reader) 'for Archibald Hamilton Rowan, Muir, 
 Palmer, Margarot, and Gerald, who are now, like you, 
 preparing to cross the bleak ocean. Farewell ! soon 
 will you embrace your sons on the American shore, 
 Washington will take you by the hand, and the shade 
 
138 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-5] 
 
 of Franklin look down, with calm delight on the first 
 statesman of the age, extending his protection to its first 
 philosopher.' Here is certainly some mistake in the 
 close of this farewell. What do they mean by the shade 
 of Franklin looking down ? To look down on a person 
 one must be in an elevated situation ; and I fancy it is 
 pretty generally believed, by those who understand the 
 geography of the invisible world, that Franklin's shade, 
 as it is termed, has taken a different route, &c." 
 
 Meanwhile, the ferment of the public mind over 
 the British Treaty was now so intensified, that the 
 people were becoming frantic with rage. Jay was 
 hung in effigy, and the democratic press poured 
 forth upon his head an untiring volley of misrepre- 
 sentation and abuse. In Virginia, there was an 
 open threat of secession, in case of the treaty .being 
 ratified. At Boston, there were riots. The treaty 
 reached America in March, but was not presented 
 to the Senate till early in June ; but its articles 
 got wind, in some way or other, and were 
 fully discussed by the press and the radical 
 clubs long before being entertained by the Legis- 
 lature. 
 
 An opportunity soon occurred, for Mr. Cobbett 
 to produce another apology for Anti-Gallic prin- 
 ciples. A pamphlet appeared, in the course of the 
 summer, under the title of " The Letters of 
 
" A LITTLE PLAIN ENGLISH:' 139 
 
 Franklin," dealing with the treaty question, in a 
 strongly dissuasive manner/ 
 
 In August, therefore, Mr. Bradford had another 
 work, at the hands of the now-celebrated Peter 
 Porcupine, entitled, "A Little Plain Enghsh, ad- 
 dressed to the People of the United States, on 
 the Treaty, &c., in answer to 'The Letters of 
 Franklin.' " This is, in some respects, one of the 
 best of Cobbett's writings. It is almost purely 
 argumentative, and there is a sobriety of tone, and 
 a seriousness about its logic, which contrast well 
 with the humour, and even buffoonery, in which 
 he had previously indulged. There was less to 
 joke about. His opponents (and especially this 
 " Franklin ") were becoming illogical in their rage. 
 Mr. Madison wanted to force all the nations of 
 Europe, and especially Great Britain, into the ac- 
 ceptance of a commercial treaty ; and this one, 
 alas ! was positively being carried through in a 
 friendly spirit. England was noted for her perfidy 
 
 * It does not appear to be known who was the author of these 
 anonymous "letters." Cobbett charged A. J. Dallas with the 
 
 . authorship ; and they certainly have the same stamp as Dallas's 
 " Features of the English Treaty. " But it must be left to conjec- 
 ture. Cobbett gives his reason for selecting the "Letters" to 
 
 ■write down, out of all "the volumes, or rather bales" that had 
 already appeared, because these seemed to him the fairest sample of 
 the opinions and language of the opposers of the treaty. They 
 had originally appeared in the Aurora newspaper. 
 
140 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-5] 
 
 and double-dealing, and they therefore could not 
 make a treaty with her ; but, as Mr. Cobbett 
 pointed out, her bad character was rather a reason 
 for binding her hands, and controlling her over- 
 reaching ways. And, as to the magnanimity of 
 the French Republic, and its desire to " protect " 
 its sister, it was clear that little could be hoped for 
 on that score, seeing that she was losing part of her 
 own colonies and making war upon the remainder ; 
 besides that it was notorious that French privateer- 
 ing was quite as bad as English, as far as it could 
 go, in its depredations on American commerce. In 
 reality, Cobbett's aim was to deter the Americans 
 from a French alliance, as " Franklin's " desire was 
 to secure it. And " Franklin," so ridiculous as to 
 urge the impeachment of the President, for not 
 having courted the French, and for having sent 
 " the slave, the coward, the traitor " Jay (of all 
 men) as envoy to Great Britain, is fairly, but merci- 
 lessly exposed. 
 
 "A Little Plain English" soon appeared in 
 London, being reprinted by Rivington, and was 
 instantly welcomed with the applause it deserved. 
 It was considered to prove, to every impartial 
 mind, that the engagement entered into between 
 the two countries was honourable to both. The 
 eloquent and sparkling language, in which his ideas 
 
"A LITTLE PLAIN ENGLISH^ 141 
 
 were conveyed, raised the author into the first rank 
 of English writers. And, on account of his loyal 
 sentiments, with their anti-revolutionary bias, Mr. 
 Cobbett was declared, by people at home, to have 
 rendered inestimable services to his native land. 
 
 The British Treaty was, however, in far greater 
 peril than could be averted by the soundest argu- 
 ments or the warmest loyalty. Whilst the treaty 
 was being discussed throughout the States, an in- 
 cident occurred which eventually laid bare the real 
 source of the danger which threatened the amicable 
 negotiations ; that danger proved to be French 
 intrigue. 
 
 The incident alluded to was one of that class 
 which furnish the sensational parts of a melodrama, 
 where a fortunate chance renders nugatory the 
 craftiest of plans, and buries your villain beneath 
 the ruin of his own devices. One Captain Goddard 
 (the hero of the piece, and, of course, a British Tar) 
 has the ill-luck to fall into the hands of a French 
 privateer. The latter, proceeding homeward from 
 the American shores, and in charge of despatches 
 from Fauchet, the French envoy at Philadelphia, 
 is herself obliged, in turn, to strike her colours to a 
 British frigate, almost within sight of home. Her 
 captain, pursuant to instructions, goes below to 
 
142 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-s] 
 
 secure Fauchet's despatches ; and, as the frigate's 
 boat approaches, commits the precious documents 
 to the waves. But there's a British Tar aboard, 
 who, with instinctive readiness understanding the 
 situation, plunges into the sea, and secures the 
 packet, is picked up by the boat, and checkmates 
 " Mossoo." And Captain Goddard, as he stands 
 dripping on the deck, little knows what a prize has 
 fallen to his turn ! 
 
 For, these intercepted despatches contained 
 highly-compromising matter. A certain member 
 of Washington's administration, Edmund Ran- 
 dolph,* Secretary of State, was a thorough-paced 
 Radical, and an opponent of the President's policy.. 
 Up to the end of July, or the beginning of August, 
 1795, he had led the opposition to the treaty; and, 
 although the Senate and the people had become 
 not only reconciled to its provisions, but desirous 
 that the affair should be settled, Washington still 
 felt unable to conclude it, on account of the dis- 
 sensions in his Cabinet. But, on the 14th of 
 August, Randolph being absent from the council, 
 the treaty was ratified. The surprise of the latter 
 was great, when he heard of this sudden delibera- 
 
 * Edmund Randolph, sometime governor of Virginia, and a very 
 eminent lawyer of his day. He supported the Revolution, and was 
 disinherited by his father for deserting the royal cause. He was 
 Secretary of State 1794-5. ^om '753) clied '813. 
 
EDMUND RANDOLPH. 143 
 
 tion ; and, on learning the cause, his only resource 
 was to resign his appointment, and to go home and 
 consider his future. For it actually appeared, that 
 one of the French Minister's letters thus inter- 
 cepted described an interview with Randolph, in 
 which the latter, and two or three other persons, 
 expected pecuniary assistance in return for their 
 support of French ascendancy. So, when the 
 English Embassy produced these precious docu- 
 ments, just received from London, and urged the 
 immediate ratification of the treaty, there was only 
 one course for Washington to pursue, viz. to accede 
 to thre request. Mr. Randolph was in sufficient 
 disgrace ; but he was foolish enough to make it 
 widely known, by devoting more than a hundred 
 pages of octavo to full details of the circumstances 
 which led to his abrupt departure from office.'' 
 These pages were given to the public about the 
 middle of December ; and among that eager 
 public was Mr. William Cobbett, — who saw his 
 opportunity. 
 
 So, on the ist of January, 1796, is announced 
 
 6 "A Vindication of Mr. Randolph's Resignation." (Phila- 
 delphia, S. H. Smith, 1795.) Mr. Smith advertises afterwards 
 {Aurora of Eeb. 17, 1796) that a copyright had been taken out for 
 the " Vindication," so that as many entire copies might be diffiised 
 as possible ; also to cover the cost of printing. Also, he novir gives 
 permission to all the printers in the United States to republish it if 
 they like. 
 
144 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-5] 
 
 " A New Year's Gift to the Democrats ; or, Ob- 
 servations on a Pamphlet, entitled, ' A Vindication 
 of Mr. Randolph's Resignation,' by Peter Porcu- 
 pine ;" which turns out to be a very smart piece 
 of writing, calculated to disturb the equanimity of 
 every French sympathizer in the States. 
 
 The preface to "A New Year's Gift," &c. is 
 worth giving in full : — 
 
 " The Democrats and I have long been in the friendly 
 habit of making presents to each other ; and, this being 
 a season of the year when an interchange of civilities 
 of this kind is more particularly looked for, I was just 
 turning about me for a subject that might serve as some- 
 little mark of my attention, when the vindication of 
 Mr. Randolph's resignation made its long-looked-for 
 appearance. 
 
 "If the reader knows anything of the Democrats, he 
 will allow that this" vindication is most eminently calcu- 
 lated to furnish me with the means of making them a 
 grateful offering : and I was the more anxious to be 
 prompt in the performance of this duty of etiquette, as, 
 from their present formidable situation, it was to be 
 feared, that they might have the will as well as the 
 power to turn their vengeance against me, in case of the 
 slightest neglect. 
 
 " When we take a view of their affairs for a year 
 past, it is impossible not to perceive that they are 
 wonderfully improved. They have had address suffi- 
 cient to stir up the mob to burn the greatest part of the 
 
A NEW YEAR'S GIFT. 145 
 
 Federal senators in effigy; they have dared publickly 
 and vilely to traduce the President of the United States ; 
 their own President has been elected a member of the 
 legislature of Pennsylvania ; the legislature of Virginia 
 has declared in their favour; and a fresh importation 
 of thieves and traitors from Ireland is daily expected 
 to arrive. These are great and solid advantages, and 
 when we add to them the 'precious confessions' which 
 they may, by the help of ' S07ne thousands of dollars,' be 
 able to draw from their new and communicative brother, 
 we cannot help regarding their club as the rising sun 
 of this country. 
 
 " To this great luminary, then, I kneel ; not to ask a 
 boon, but to offer one ; and such a one as I hope will 
 be acceptable, as its great object is to commemorate 
 actions flowing from the purest principles of democracy." 
 
 As for the pamphlet itself, it was in Porcupine's 
 best style ; running through the items, seriatim, to 
 which Randolph had inconsiderately given needless 
 publicity. Mr. Bradford himself admired it, and 
 showed it gleefully to his leading customers; 
 several of whom stated that it had been intended 
 to answer Randolph's "Vindication," but that it 
 was now unnecessary, seeing that Peter Porcupine 
 was in the field ; also that the officers of govern- 
 ment were exceedingly delighted with his publica- 
 tions. 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
146 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 "PETER PORCUPINE, AT YOUR SERVICE!" 
 
 Mr. Thomas Bradford's Political Book Store, 
 No. 8, South Front Street, is furnished with all the 
 latest publications. The works of Paine, Volney, 
 Godwin and others, fill his shelves, and those of the 
 new Federal light enliven his counter. He is doing 
 a roaring trade ; senators look in and gossip, and 
 laugh over Porcupine ; members from the House 
 of Representatives come in and flatter the writer, 
 and want to be blessed with a sight of him — " one 
 wanted to treat me to a supper, another wanted to 
 shake hands with me, and a third wanted to 
 embrace me." 
 
 But Mr. Cobbett is getting too independent. 
 On the next proposal to publish, he actually wants 
 to have a voice in the matter, over some detail ; 
 and, early in 1796, their engagements are sundered. 
 
 The plan for opening the new year was a com- 
 
HIS PUBLISHER. 147 
 
 mentary on the debates in Congress, under the 
 title of " The Prospect from the Congress Gallery." 
 The first number appeared at the end of January. 
 The circumstances under which Cobbett broke off 
 with his publisher are thus given in the American 
 autobiography (published in the ensuing August): 
 
 " My concerns with Mr. Bradford closed with " The 
 Prospect from the Congress Gallery ;" and, as our sepa- 
 ration has given rise to conjectures and reports, I shall 
 trouble the reader with an explanation of the matter. I 
 proposed making a mere collection of the debates, with 
 here and there a note by way of remarks. It was not 
 my intention to publish it in numbers, but at the end of 
 the session, in one volume ; but Mr. Bradford, fearing 
 a want of success in this form, determined on publishing 
 in numbers. This was without my approbation, as was 
 also a subscription that was opened for the support of 
 the work. When about half a Number was finished, I 
 was informed that many gentlemen had expressed their 
 desire, that the work might contain a good deal of 
 original matter, and few debates. In consequence of 
 this, I was requested to alter my plan ; I said I would, 
 but that I would by no means undertake to continue the 
 work. 
 
 " The first Number, as it was called (but not by me) 
 was published, and its success led Mr. Bradford to press 
 for a continuation. His son offered me, I believe, a 
 hundred dollars a Number, in place of eighteen ; and, I 
 should have accepted his offer, had it not been for a 
 L 2 
 
,148 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 word that escaped him during the conversation. He 
 observed, that their customers would be much dis- 
 , appointed, for that, \i\% father had promised 3. continua- 
 tion, and that it should be made very interesting. This 
 slip of the tongue opened my eyes at once. What ! a 
 bookseller undertake to promise that I should write, and 
 that I should write to please his customers too ! No ; 
 if all his customers, if all the Congress with the President 
 at their head, had come and solicited me ; nay, had my 
 salvation depended on a compliance, I would not have 
 written another line. 
 
 " I was fully employed at this time, having a transla- 
 tion on my hands for Mr. Moreau de St. Mdry, as well as 
 another work which took up a great deal of my time ; 
 so that, I believe, I should not have published the 
 Censor had it not been to convince the customers of 
 Mr. Bradford, that I was not in his pay ; that I was not 
 the puppet and he the showman. That, whatever merits 
 or demerits my writings might have, no part of them fell 
 to his share." 
 
 The " Prospect " was pretty successful ; and it 
 w^as resolved to continue it occasionally. The next 
 number was not published, however, till the end of 
 March ; and the title was changed to " The Political 
 Censor." But we now find on the title-page the 
 name of Benjamin Davies, at No. 68, High Street 
 — so it appears that the dissatisfaction with Mr. 
 Bradford had some meaning in it. Between the 
 first and second numbers of the " Censor," Peter 
 
THE PROFITS OF AUTHORSHIP. 149 
 
 Porcupine produced a little book on French 
 " horrors," which had a great sale both in America 
 and England, under the name of " The Bloody 
 Buoy, thrown out as a Warning to the Political 
 Pilots of all Nations : or, a faithful Relation of a 
 Multitude of Acts of Horrid Barbarity, such as the 
 Eye never witnessed, the Tongue expressed, or the 
 Imagination conceived, until the Commencement 
 of the French Revolution," &c. This was published 
 at Davies' Book-store, and its announcement in the 
 papers was probably the first intimation that Mr. 
 Bradford had of the impending loss of Porcupine's 
 custom. 
 
 The later transactions between Cobbett and 
 Bradford are thus disposed of in the auto- 
 biography : — 
 
 " After the ' Observations,' Mr. Bradford and I pub- 
 lished together no longer. When a pamphlet was ready 
 for the press, we made a bargain for it, and I took his 
 note of hand, payable in one, two, or three months. 
 That the pubhc may know exactly what gains I have 
 derived from the publications that issued from Mr. 
 Bradford's, I here subjoin a hst of them, and the sums 
 
 received in payment. 
 
 Dollars. Cents. 
 
 Observations . . . . o 21 
 
 Bone to Gnaw, I St part . -125 ° 
 
 Kick for a Bite .... 20 o 
 
ISO WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 Dollars. Cents. 
 Bone to Gnaw, 2nd part . . 40 o 
 Plain English . . . .100 o 
 New Year's Gift . . .100 o 
 
 Prospect 18 o 
 
 Total 403 21 
 
 " The best way of giving the reader an idea of the 
 generosity of my bookseller is, to tell him, that upon my 
 going into business for myself, I offered to purchase the 
 copyrights of these pamphlets at the same price that I 
 had sold them at. Mr. Bradford refusing to sell, is a 
 clear proof that they were worth more than he gave me, 
 even after they had passed through several editions. 
 Let it not be said, then, that he put a coat upon my 
 back." 
 
 Upon Mr. Bradford finding that " The Political 
 Censor " was to be carried on without his assistance 
 and patronage, he wrote to Cobbett requesting him 
 to fulfil the contract, which, he alleged, existed 
 between them by the sale of the first " Prospect," 
 and threatened an " applycation " to the laws of 
 Ijis country, &c. Mr. Cobbett, remarking on this, 
 says, — 
 
 " It is something truly singular, that Mr. Bradford 
 should threaten me with a prosecution for not writing, 
 just at the moment that others threatened me with a 
 
BENJAMIN F. BACHE. 151 
 
 prosecution for writing. It seemed a little difificult to 
 set both at open defiance, yet this was done, by con- 
 tinuing to write, and by employing another bookseller. 
 Indeed, these booksellers in general are a cruel race. 
 They imagine that the soul and body of every author 
 that falls into their hands is their exclusive property. 
 They have adopted the birdcatcher's maxim: 'A bird 
 that can sing, and won't sing, ought to be made sing.' 
 Whenever their devils are out of employment the driidg- 
 ing goblin of an author must sharpen up his pen, and 
 never think of repose till he is relieved by the arriva 
 of a more profitable job. Then the wretch may remain 
 as undisturbed as a sleep-mouse in winter, while the 
 stupid dolt, whom he has clad and fattened, receives the 
 applause." 
 
 An influential and respectable citizen of Phila- 
 delphia, at this period, was Benjamin Franklin 
 Bache ; ' a strong Democrat, and particularly 
 
 ' His father, Richard Bache, was a zealous revolutionist who 
 had emigrated from Settle, in Yorkshire, and settled in America as 
 a merchant. He married Sarah Franklin, and succeeded her dis- 
 tinguished father as Postmaster-General of the United States. 
 Died at Settle, Penn., in 1811. Sarah Franklin Bache was long 
 remembered for her patriotic services during the revolutionary war. 
 Their son, Benjamin Franklin Bache, accompanied his grandfather 
 to Paris, gained a knowledge of printing at Didot's, and returned to 
 America in 1785. Five years later, he started the General Adver- 
 tizer, subsequently called the Aurora, which paper exercised con- 
 siderable influence in opposition to the administration of Washington 
 and Adams. Bom 1769, died 1798, of the fever which was then 
 devastating the city. 
 
152 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 zealous on behalf of French opinions. He con- 
 ducted a daily newspaper, the Aurora, and kept 
 a political book-store. The Aurora was one of the 
 ablest and most influential journals on • the 
 American Continent ; besides being, in its general 
 appearance, a newspaper which put to shame even 
 the London ones of that day. And the Editor and 
 publisher of the Aurora, in his capacity of chief- 
 whipper-in to the Democrats of Pennsylvania, 
 among other matters, thought proper to allow 
 his paper to become the vehicle for abusing Peter 
 Porcupine. This newspaper, having escaped the 
 usual fate of ephemeral publications, will furnish 
 us with the means of judging exactly what Peter's 
 opponents thought of him. 
 
 As a specimen of the opposing factions, however, 
 we will, at present, only refer to two New York 
 papers. 
 
 Minerva, Jan. 15, 1796. Argus, Jan. 18, 1796. 
 
 " Peter Porcupine has " An impartial corres- 
 
 given an excellent key to pendent desires us to say, 
 
 Mr. Randolph's Vindica- that of all the vulgar catch- 
 
 tion. Never was a present pennies that ever he saw 
 
 better timed, than his New in print, the late one of 
 
 Year's Gift to the Demo- Phineas Porcupine bears 
 
 crats. Every man who has off the bell ! This Porcupine 
 
 read the Vindication, should or Hedgehog, after having 
 
HE OPENS A BOOK-SHOP. 
 
 153 
 
 read Peter's explanations 
 and comments upon it, es- 
 pecially all Whigs, to whom 
 the Argus recommends the 
 perusal of the Vindication. 
 We recommend Peter's gift 
 to the Democratic Society, 
 and trust that, at their next 
 meeting, they will publish 
 resolutions expressing their 
 approbation of the work, 
 as they have lately done 
 with respect to the presi- 
 dent's answer to the French 
 minister." 
 
 fled (on account of his vile 
 treachery to this his native 
 country) for mere bread, 
 became a garreteer writer 
 for the refugees in London, 
 and a clerk to an Old 
 Bailey solicitor there ; and 
 it was through the interest 
 of those refugees that this 
 Hedgehog was returned 
 upon us, in the character 
 he now sustains! His 
 views manifestly are to 
 get himself tarred and 
 feathered, that he may go 
 back howling to England, 
 for further promotion ; but, 
 from this hint, it is hoped' 
 that he will be disap- 
 pointed by the democratic 
 Philadelphians." 
 
 Mr. Cobbett's design of opening a shop of his 
 own wras, probably, formed very early in this year, 
 1796, and it may be set dov^n as one result of the 
 discovery that Bradford was making capital out 
 of him. The plan appears to have been delayed 
 for some months, and it was not until July that it 
 was carried out. Meanwhile, several numbers of 
 the " Censor " appeared, at the shop of Mr. Davies, 
 
IS4 WILLIAM C0BBE:TT. [1796-7] 
 
 and obtained considerable popularity. The original 
 idea was a review of the political transactions of 
 the past month ; with an " account of every demo- 
 cratic trick, whether of native growth, or imported 
 from abroad." All of which meant, a defence of 
 Great Britain with vigorous Federal partisanship.' 
 Here is one extract from the first number, which 
 will illustrate one of the leading topics that occu- 
 pied the public mind. It must be recollected that 
 the French Government were now more anxious 
 than ever to court American alliance, they having 
 been specially exasperated at the happy result of 
 the treaty negotiations with England. They ac- 
 cordingly instructed Adet, their envoy, to begin 
 the new year by presenting the national colours 
 to the United States. Washington received the 
 attention very graciously, and informed the minister 
 that the colours would be deposited with the 
 archives of the States. But he also considered it 
 right "to exhibit to the two houses of Congress, 
 these evidences of the continued friendship of the 
 French republic." This was accordingly done, on 
 the 5 th of January ; and here is Porcupine's 
 account of the proceedings : — 
 
 ' "The Censor, a work by Peter Porcupine, administers his 
 monthly correction to our disorganizers. The author is said to be 
 an Englishman who has kept a school in this city." — Letter from C. 
 Goodrich to Oliver Wolcott, printed in ' ' Memoirs of the Adminis- 
 trations of Washington and Adams," by O. W. 
 
PROCEEDIJSIGS IN CONGRESS. 155 
 
 " I was rather late in my attendance in Congress this 
 day J a circumstance the more distressing, as I found 
 not only the gallery, but even the passage also, full of 
 spectators. . . . Every person within the walls of this 
 House seemed to be waiting for the development of some 
 great and important mystery. The members were paired 
 off, laying their heads together, whispering and listening 
 with great eagerness ; while the Speaker, seated with his 
 chin supported between his right finger and thumb, and 
 his eyes rivetted to the floor, appeared lost, buried alive, 
 as it were, in profundity of thought. Never did wisdom 
 appear more lovely in my eyes. . . . The seriousness 
 of the members of the House naturally produced the 
 most anxious expectation in the minds of the good 
 citizens in my quarter. A thousand ridiculous inquiries 
 were made, in the twinkling of an eye, which were 
 answered by a thousand still more ridiculous conjectures. 
 One said that a law was going to be read to oblige the 
 Virginians to free their slaves and pay their just debts ; 
 but another swore that was impossible. A third declared 
 a second embargo was to be laid ; and a fourth observed 
 that it was to hinder the cruel English from carrying off 
 our poor horses, to eat them in the West Indies. . . . 
 To tell the reader the truth of my opinion, I was afraid 
 that some new confiscating or sequestrating project was 
 on foot; and when Mr. Dayton, the Speaker, awoke 
 from his reverie, and began to speak, — ' Lord have 
 mercy,' said I, 'upon the poor British creditors.' My 
 fears on this account were soon dissipated. The Speaker 
 told us that this message was of the most solemn and 
 serious nature, and he therefore requested both the 
 
iS6 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 members of the House and the strangers in the gallery 
 to observe the profoundest silence. 
 
 " The reader will easily imagine that a warning like 
 this increased the torture of suspense. It was now that 
 we felt the value of the hearing faculty. I observed my 
 neighbours brushing aside their matted and untutored 
 locks, that nothing might impede the entrance of the 
 glad tidings. We were, as the poet says, 'all eye, all 
 ear.' But there was a little man down below, whose 
 anxiety seemed to surpass that of all the rest. He crept 
 to within a very few paces of the leeward side of the 
 chair, and, turning himself sideways, lifted up the left 
 corner of his wig, placing the auricular orifice open and 
 extended, in a direct line with the Speaker's mouth, so 
 that not a single breath of the precious sounds could 
 possibly escape him. His longing countenance ■ seemed 
 to say, in the language of his countryman, Macbeth : — 
 ' Speak ! Speak ! had I three ears, by heaven I'd hear 
 thee.' .... 
 
 " All at once, as if by the power of magic, the doors 
 flew open, ' grating' on their hinges harsh thunder,' and 
 the President's secretary was introduced with an American 
 officer bearing a flag, which I took to be a representation 
 of the day of judgment. It had a thunderbolt in the 
 centre, with a cock perched upon it ! the emblems of 
 Alm'ighty vengeance and of watchfulness. At two of the 
 corners the globe was represented in a flame. The staff 
 was covered with black velvet, sad colour of death, and 
 crowned with a Parisian pike, — fatal instrument, on 
 which the bleeding and ghastly heads, nay, even the 
 
PROCEEDINGS IN CONGRESS. 157 
 
 palpitating hearts of men, women, and children, have so 
 often been presented to the view of the polite and 
 humane inhabitants of that capital. 
 
 "Curiosity now gave way to another passion, that 
 of fear. For my part, I am not ashamed to confess, that 
 I never was in such trepidation since I first saw the 
 light of day. Nor were my companions in a more 
 enviable state. I looked round, and beheld the af- 
 frighted group huddled up together, like a brood of 
 chickens waiting the mortal grip of the voracious kite. 
 In this general picture of consternation one -pbkct 
 attracted particular notice. It was a democrat, who' was 
 so fully persuaded that the flag was the harbinger of fate, 
 that he began to anticipate the torments of the world 
 to come. Never did I before behold such dreadful 
 symptoms of a guilty conscience. He was as white 
 as paper, his knees knocked together, his teeth chattered, 
 he wrung his hands, and rolled his eyes, but durst not 
 lift them towards heaven. His voice was like the yell 
 of the inhabitants of the infernal regions. ' Oh, Franklin 
 Bache ! Franklin Bache ! Oh ! that infernal atheistical 
 calendar ! ' This was all we could get from him ; but 
 this was enough to assure me that he was one of those 
 unhappy wretches, who had been led astray by the pro- 
 fligate correspondents of Mr. Bache, and by the atheis- 
 tical decadery calendar ; which that gentleman has, with so 
 much unholy zeal, endeavoured to introduce amongst us, 
 in place of the Christian one we, as yet, make use of. 
 
 " My attention was called off from this terrific picture 
 of despair by a voice from beneath. A tall spare man. 
 
158 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 dressed all in black from head to foot .... was be- 
 ginning, in a hollow voice, to read (as I expected) the 
 decrees of fate, but to my agreeable surprise I found it 
 was a decree of the National Convention : it was in the 
 following words, &c." 
 
 It was soon after this date that Cobbett made 
 the acquaintance of Monsieur Talleyrand. The 
 notion that the latter was a spy, was at once 
 formed in Cobbett's mind ; and he long continued 
 to have that idea, on the ground that Talleyrand 
 was received with open arms, very soon after his 
 return to France, by the very men who had pro- 
 scribed him. There is no real basis for the suspicion 
 (which, indeed, has been entertained in other 
 quarters), but Mr. Cobbett gives very colourable 
 reasons for his belief : — 
 
 "First he set up as a merchant and dealer at New 
 York, till he had acquired what knowledge he thought 
 was to be come at among persons engaged in mercantile 
 affairs ; then he assumed the character of a gentleman, at 
 the same time removing to Philadelphia, where he got 
 access to persons of the first rank, — all those who were 
 connected with, or in the confidence of, the Government 
 Some months after his arrival in this city, he left a 
 message with a friend of his, requesting me to meet him 
 at that friend's house. Several days passed away before 
 the meeting took place. I had no business to call me 
 
TALLEYRAND. 159 
 
 that way, and therefore I did not go. At last this 
 modern Judas and I got seated by the same fireside. I 
 expected that he wanted to expostulate with me on the 
 severe treatment he had met with at my hands. I had 
 called him an apostate, a hypocrite, and every other 
 name of which he was deserving ; I therefore leave the 
 reader to imagine my astonishment, when I heard him 
 begin with complimenting me on my wit and learning. 
 He praised several of my pamphlets, the ' New Year's 
 Gift ' in particular, and still spoke of them as mine. I 
 did not acknowledge myself the author, of course ; but 
 yet he would insist that I was; or, at any rate, they 
 reflected, he said, itifimte honour on the author, let him 
 be who he might. Having carried this species of flattery 
 as far as he judged it safe, he asked me, with a vast 
 deal of apparent seriousness, whether I had received my 
 education at Oxford or at Cambridge t Hitherto I had 
 kept my countenance pretty well ; but this abominable 
 stretch of hypocrisy, and the placid mien and silver 
 accent with which it was pronounced, would have forced 
 a laugh from a quaker in the midst of meeting. I don't 
 recollect what reply I made him, but this I recollect well, 
 I gave him to understand that I was no trout, and con- 
 sequently was not to be caught by tickling. 
 
 " This information led him to something more solid. 
 He began to talk about business. I was v^q flour mer- 
 chant^ but I taught English ; and, as luck would have 
 it, this was the very commodity that Bishop Perigord 
 
 * Certain mysterious flour-contractors are heard of in Randolph's 
 "Vindication," and Porcupine used the term afterwards to signify 
 persons who could take French money. 
 
i6o WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 wanted. If I had taught Thornton's or Webster's lan- 
 guage,* or sold sand or ashes, or pepper-pot, it would 
 have been just the same to him. He knew the English 
 language as well as I did j but he wanted to have dealings 
 with me in some way or other. 
 
 "I knew that, notwithstanding his being proscribed 
 at Paris, he was extremely intimate with Adet ; and this 
 circumstance led me to suspect his real business in the 
 United States. I therefore did not care to take him as 
 a scholar. I told him that being engaged in a translation 
 for the press, I could not possibly quit home. This 
 difficulty the lame fiend hopped over in a moment. He 
 would very gladly come to my house. I cannot say but 
 it would have been a great satisfaction to me to have 
 seen the ci-devant Bishop of Autun, the guardian of the 
 holy oil that anointed the heads of the descendants of 
 St. Louis, come trudging through the dirt to receive a 
 lesson from me ; but, on the other hand, I did not want 
 a French spy to take a survey either of my desk or my 
 house. My price for teaching was six dollars a month ; 
 
 * Thornton's language — this is an allusion to a prize dissertation 
 on written and printed language, by one Wm. Thornton, M.D. It 
 was published in Philadelphia in 1 793, and introduced some new 
 symbols. Cobbett's objection to it was, that it was an attempt to 
 make an American language, as an improvement on English. , For 
 the curious in such matters, the title of the Essay is " Cadmus ; or, 
 a Treatise on the Elements'of Written Language," &c. 
 
 Noah Webster, long before th& great Dictionary made him 
 famous, had written "Dissertations on the English Language" 
 (1789), which included an Essay on Spelling Reform, a capital 
 advantage of which reform would be the "making a difference 
 between English and American orthography." {Vide AUibone ; 
 also Duyckinck's "Cyclo. Amer. Lit.") 
 
BOOKSELLER. i6i 
 
 he offered me twenty, but I refused ; and before I left 
 him, I gave him clearly to understand that I was not to 
 be purchased," 
 
 Preparations were now being made for opening 
 the bookselling business ; and after midsummer 
 the house was ready. The shop was opened on 
 the nth of July, and Mr. Cobbett took advantage 
 of the opportunity thus furnished to make a grand 
 demonstration. The account of this new start in 
 life is better told in his own words : — 
 
 " Till I took this house I had remained almost entirely 
 unknown as a writer. A few persons did indeed know 
 that I was the person who had assumed the name of Peter 
 Porcupine ; but the fact was by no means a matter of 
 notoriety. The moment, however, that I had taken the 
 lease of a large house, the transaction became a topic of 
 public conversation, and the eyes of the Democrats and 
 the French, who still lorded it over the city, and who 
 owed me a mutual grudge, were fixed upon me. 
 
 " I thought my situation somewhat perilous. Such 
 truths as I had published, no man had dared to utter in 
 the United States since the rebellion. I knew that these 
 truths had mortally offended the leading men amongst 
 the Democrats, who could, at any time, muster a mob 
 quite sufficient to destroy my house, and to murder me. 
 I had not a friend to whom I could look with any reason- 
 able hope of receiving efficient support ; and as to the 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
1 62 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 law, I had seen too much of republican justice to expect 
 anything but persecution from that quarter. In short, 
 there were in Philadelphia about ten thousand persons, 
 all of whom would have rejoiced to see me murdered ; 
 and there might probably be two thousand who would 
 have been very sorry for it ; but not above fifty of whom 
 would have stirred an inch to save me. 
 
 " I saw the danger, but also saw that I must at once 
 set all danger at defiance, or live in everlasting subjection 
 to the prejudices and caprice of the democratical mob. 
 I resolved on the former, and as my shop was to open on 
 a Monday morning, I employed myself all day on Sun- 
 day in preparing an exhibition that I thought would put 
 the courage and the power of my enemies to the test. 
 I put up in my windows, which were very large, all the 
 portraits that I had in my possession of kings, queens, 
 princes, and nobles. I had all the English ministry, 
 several of the bishops and judges, the most famous ad- 
 mirals, and, in short, every picture that I thought likely 
 to excite rage in the enemies of Great Britain. 
 
 " Early on the Monday morning I took down my 
 shutters. Such a sight had not been seen in Philadelphia 
 for twenty years. Never since the beginning of the 
 rebellion had any one dared to hoist at his window the 
 portrait of George the Third 
 
 " I had put up a representation of Lord Howe's victory 
 in a leaf of the ' European Magazine ; ' but a bookseller 
 with whom I was acquainted, and who came to see how 
 I stood it, whispered me, while the rabble were gazing 
 and growling at my door, that he had two large repre- 
 
DEFYING THE MOB. 163 
 
 sentations of the same action. They were about four feet 
 long and two wide : the things which are hawked about 
 
 and sold at the farm-houses in England The 
 
 letters were large ; the mob, ten or twenty deep, could 
 read, and they did read aloud too, 'Lord Howe's 
 Decisive Victory over the French Fleet;' and, 
 therefore, though the price was augmented from sixpence 
 to two dollars each, I purchased them, and put one up at 
 the window. .... The other I sold to two Englishmen, 
 who were amongst the numbers that went to America 
 about the years 1794 and 1795, -misled by the repre- 
 sentations of Paine and others, and being, as they frankly 
 acknowledged to me, enemies of their country when they 
 left it. They had mixed amongst the crowd, had taken 
 the part of their country, and had proposed to maintain 
 their words with their fists. After the quarrel had in 
 some degree subsided, they, partly, perhaps, by way of 
 defiance, came into the shop to purchase each of them a 
 picture of Lord Howe and his victory. Finding that 
 I had but one for sale, they would have purchased that ; 
 but as it amounted to more money than both of them 
 were possessed of, they went and, in their phrase, which 
 I shall never forgot, kicked their master, — ^that is to say, 
 
 got money in advance upon their labour Having 
 
 thus obtained the two dollars, each of them took an end 
 of the print in his hand, displayed it, and thus carried it 
 away through the mob, who, though they still cursed, 
 could not help giving signs of admiration." 
 
 The result of all this was just what was to be 
 
 M 2 
 
i64 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 expected. Threats of personal violence, with 
 plenty of abuse in the newspapers, at once ensued. 
 On the i6th of July, Cobbett's landlord, John 
 Oldden, received a threatening letter, to the effect 
 that that "daring scoundrell," his tenant, was 
 about to be punished ; and with a view of pre- 
 venting Mr. Oldden's feeling the blow designed for 
 Porcupine, his correspondent addresses him ; as, 
 when the time of retribution arrives, " it may not 
 be convenient to discriminate between the innocent 
 and the guilty," and his property may suffer. As 
 a friend, therefore, he advises him to save his pro- 
 perty by either compelling Mr. Porcupine to leave 
 his house, or at all events oblige him "to cease 
 exposing his abominable productions or any of his 
 courtly prints at his window for sale." On the 
 same day, a correspondent of the Aurora informs 
 the readers of that paper that the " hireling writer 
 of the British Government " has just refused to pay 
 his taxes, and was behaving very saucily ; until the 
 tax-collector began to bully him, and call him a 
 
 d d rascal, and threaten to break every bone 
 
 in his skin. At which display of spirit, Peter was 
 cooled, &c. 
 
 In vain all this. Before the week is out, all 
 this is brought before the Philadelphia public. A 
 pamphlet appears on the 22nd, entitled " The 
 
HIS "LIFE AND ADVENTURES:' 165 
 
 Scare-Crow ; being an infamous letter, &c., with 
 remarks on the same," in which Mr. Cobbett 
 makes fun of the affair, has another fling at the 
 French and the Democrats, and announces that 
 his taxes are paid up to January, 1797. 
 
 The charge of being in British pay had now 
 been cropping up for some time, and it was neces- 
 sary to take some notice of it, if only for the 
 sake of British credit. At length, a very abusive 
 paragraph having appeared in the Aurora about 
 this time, presuming to identify the agent who was 
 supplying Peter with the gold of Pitt, the matter 
 became imperative. Accordingly, Cobbett took 
 the opportunity of publishing the history of his 
 life ; ' — a thing which he says he had determined 
 to do, whenever a fair occasion offered. 
 
 The communication to the Aurora newspaper 
 stated, among other things, that Porcupine had been 
 " obliged to abscond from his darling old England 
 to avoid being turned off into the other world 
 before his time ; " that his usual occupation at 
 home was that of a "garret-scribbler" (excepting a 
 little " night-business " occasionally, to supply un- 
 avoidable contingencies) ; and that he had to take 
 
 ' This is the short autobiography from which some of the pre- 
 ceding information as to Cobbett's early life has been derived : — 
 "The Life and Adventures of Peter Porcupine." [Philadelphia, 1796.] 
 
1 66 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 French leave for France ; that he was obliged as 
 suddenly to leave that Republic, and figured some 
 time in America as a pedagogue ; " but as this 
 employment scarcely furnished him salt to his 
 porridge, he having been literally without hardly 
 bread to eat, and not a second shirt to his back, 
 he resumed his old occupation of scribbling, having 
 little chance of success in the other employments 
 which drove him to this country." He is a fugitive 
 felon ; but his sudden change of condition shows 
 that secret-service money has been liberally em- 
 ployed ; " for his zeal to make atonement to his 
 mother country seems proportioned to the magni- 
 tude of his offence, and the guineas advanced." 
 And so on. 
 
 The first announcement of " The Life and Ad- 
 ventures of Peter Porcupine " appears in the Gazette 
 of the United States ^ of the 9th August ; and its 
 publication was the signal for a fresh outburst 
 of spleen on the part of Peter's opponents. And 
 no wonder; for, as a mixture of artlessness and 
 cool impudence, the "Life and Adventures" has 
 seldom been equalled. Gaily daring, he begs his 
 opponents to come on, and fire away at his reputa- 
 
 ' A Federalist evening paper, edited by John Fenno.. This 
 newspaper was not so distinctively political as the Aurora ; it dealt 
 much more with mercantile affairs. 
 
SUCCESS. 167 
 
 tion " till their old pens are worn to the stump," 
 and expresses his extreme sorrow that lies and 
 threats will be all in vain, for he is " one of those 
 whose obstinacy increases with opposition." In 
 point of fact, Peter was just now somewhat in- 
 toxicated with success. The applause of friends, 
 and of that-large class in every community that is 
 ready to worship successful impudence — along 
 with the virulence of his opponents, and the con- 
 sciousness of honourable and patriotic motives — 
 had their natural results in the mind of an ardent 
 and earnest man who has recently emerged from 
 obscurity, and who has suddenly learnt how 
 easy it is to become famous — in a country, too, 
 where a spade might be called a spade without 
 fear of an Attorney-General — in a land where 
 existed (at that period) the only semblance of 
 liberty in the whole world. 
 
 And, as.it turned out, years after, this daring 
 " scoundrell " was the only man found worthy — 
 because the only one with pluck enough — to do 
 good work when he got face to face with his 
 country's enemies at home. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett's reply to the charge of being in 
 the pay of the British Government was easy 
 enough :— 
 
i68 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 " It is hard to prove a negative ; it is what no man is 
 expected to do ; yet I think I can prove that the accu- 
 sation of my being in British pay is not supported by one 
 single fact, or the least shadow of probability. 
 
 " When a foreign Government hires a writer, it takes 
 care that his labours shall be distributed, whether the 
 readers are all willing to pay for them or not. This we 
 daily see verified in the distribution of ' certain blasphe- 
 mous gazettes, which, though kicked from the door with 
 disdain, fly in at the window. Now, has this ever been 
 the case with the works of Peter Porcupine ? Were they 
 ever thrusted upon people in spite of their remonstrances? 
 Can Mr. Bradford say that thousands of these pamphlets 
 have ever been paid for by any agent of Great Britain ? 
 Can he say that I have ever distributed any of them ? 
 No ; he can say no such thing. They had, at first, to 
 encounter every difficulty, and they have made their way 
 supported by public approbation, and by that alone. 
 Mr. Bradford, if he is candid enough to repeat what he 
 told me, will say that the British Consul, when he pur- 
 chased half a dozen of them, insisted upon having them 
 at the wholesale price ! Did this look like a desire to 
 encourage them ? Besides, those who know anything of 
 Mr. Bradford will never believe that he would have lent 
 his aid to a British agent's publications ; for, of all the 
 Americans I have yet conversed with, he seems to enter- 
 tain the greatest degree of rancour against that nation. 
 
 " I have every reason to believe that the British Con- 
 sul was far from approving of some at least of my pub- 
 lications. I happened to be in a bookseller's shop, 
 
"THE GOLD OF PITT." 169 
 
 unseen by him, when he had the goodness to say that 
 I was a ' wild fellow.' On which I shall only observe, 
 that when the king bestows on me about five hundred 
 pounds sterling a year, perhaps I may become a tame 
 fellow, and hear my master, my countrymen, my friends, 
 and my parents, belied and execrated, without saying one 
 single word in their defence. 
 
 " Had the Minister of Great Britain employed me to 
 write, can it be supposed that he would not furnish me 
 with the means of living well, without becoming the 
 retailer of my own works ? Can it be supposed that he 
 would have suffered me ever to have appeared on the 
 scene ? It must be a very poor king that he serves, if he 
 could not afford me more than I can get by keeping a 
 book-shop. An ambassador from a king of the gipsies 
 could not have acted a meaner part What ! where was 
 all the ' gold of Pitt ' ? That gold which tempted, ac- 
 cording to the Democrats, an American envoy to sell his 
 country and two-thirds of the Senate to ratify the bar- 
 gain — that gold which, according to the Convention of 
 France, has made one half of that nation cut the throats 
 of the other half — that potent gold could not keep Peter 
 Porcupine from standing behind a counter to sell a pen- 
 knife or a quire of paper. 
 
 " Must it not be evident, too, that the keeping of a 
 shop would take up a great part of my time — time that 
 was hardly worth paying for at all, if it was not of higher 
 value than the profits on a few pamphlets ? Every one 
 knows that the ' Censor ' has been delayed on account of 
 my entering into business ; would the Minister of Great 
 
I70 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] . 
 
 Britain have suffered this, had I been in his pay? No ; 
 I repeat that it is downright stupidity to suppose that 
 he would ever have suffered me to appear at all, had he 
 even felt in the least interested in the fate of my works, 
 or the effect they might produce. He must be sensible 
 that, seeing the unconquerable prejudices existing in this 
 country, my being known to be an Englishman would 
 operate weightily against whatever I might advance. I 
 saw this very plainly myself ; but, as I had a living to get, 
 and as I had determined on this line of business, such a 
 consideration was not to awe me into idleness, or make 
 me forego any other advantages that I had reason to 
 hope I should enjoy. 
 
 " The notion of my being in British pay arose from my 
 having now and then taken upon me to attempt a defence 
 of the character of that nation, and of the intentions of 
 its Government towards the United States. But have 
 I ever teazed my readers with this, except when the sub- 
 ject necessarily demanded it ? And if I have given way 
 to my indignation when a hypocritical political divine 
 attempted to degrade my country, or when its vile calum- 
 niators called it ' an insular Bastile,' what have I done 
 more than every good man in my place would have done? 
 What have I done more than my duty — than obeyed the 
 feelings of my heart ? When a man hears his country 
 reviled, does it require that he should be paid for speak- 
 ing in its defence ? 
 
 " Besides, had my works been intended to introduce 
 British influence, they would have assumed a more con- 
 ciliating tone. The author would have flattered the 
 
SCORN FOR SCORN. 171 
 
 people of this country, even in their excesses ; he would 
 have endeavoured to gain over the enemies of Britain by 
 smooth and soothing language ; he would ' have stooped 
 to conquer ; ' he would not, as I have done, have 
 rendered them hatred for hatred, and scorn for scorn. 
 
 " My writings, the first pamphlet excepted, have had 
 no other object than that of keeping alive an attachment 
 to the Constitution of the United States and the in- 
 estimable man who is at the head of the Government, 
 and to paint in their true colours those who are the 
 enemies of both ; to warn the people, of all ranks and 
 descriptions, of the danger of admitting among them the 
 anarchical and blasphemous principles of the French 
 revolutionists — principles as opposite to those of liberty 
 as hell is to heaven. If, therefore, I have written at the 
 instance of a British agent, that agent must most certainly 
 deserve the thanks of all the real friends of America. 
 But, say some of the half Democrats, what right have you 
 to meddle with the defence of our Government at all ? — 
 The same right that you have to exact my obedience to 
 it, and my contributions towards its support." 
 
 It does not appear that Porcupine had the battle 
 entirely on his own hands. Mr. Fenno's Gazette 
 occasionally ventured into the arena ; and the 
 presidential following was still strong, even in 
 democratic Philadelphia. Still, Peter seems to 
 have borne the brunt of it for a few months, 
 before others dared to follow. That others did, 
 after a time, he expressly states. But the position 
 
172 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 he occupied, in the public mind, for a short period 
 in 1796, is almost unexampled. Scarcely a week 
 passed, in the months of August and September, 
 without some new attack upon him, on the part 
 of the y4«<^(?^« newspaper ;' and there is one day 
 
 •f The reader will be entertained, no doubt, by a specimen or 
 two : — 
 
 ' ' An outcast e'en in hell, and order'd thence. 
 The skulking Peter hides," &c. 
 
 " Mr. Bache, — You will excuse me for expressing my regret on 
 seeing a character who styles himself Peter Porcupine so often 
 noticed in your paper. What have the people of the United States 
 to do with this man? .... What importance can a British 
 sergeant-major acquire in this country by traducing the heroes and 
 counsellors of our late revolution? .... His pamphlets are a 
 
 libel upon common decency and common sense Is such a 
 
 man worthy of being noticed in your paper, Mr. Bache ? The best 
 and only way would be to treat him with a silent contempt." 
 
 " Anecdote of Peter Porcupine. — The British renegado was met 
 one day by a French gentleman, who asked him if he was not 
 Peter Porcupine. The question disordered the nerves of this 
 assassin exceedingly, and with trembling accent he declared he was 
 not. The French gentleman told him he doubted him ; however, 
 said he, ' I will whip you, and you whip Peter Porcupine ;' and he 
 horsewhipped him severely. This must have been trifling as to its 
 effect upon Peter's back, who had been used to a cat-o'-nine-tails 
 when he served in the ranks in the British army, and before he 
 deserted, &c." 
 
 " Such a contemptible wretch as Peter Porcupine, who never 
 gave any specimen of his philosophy, but in bearing with Christian 
 patience a severe whipping at the public post, &c. " 
 
 " The infamous Peter Porcupine, whose life has been one con- 
 tinued series of disgraceful crimes." 
 
 But the most outrageous piece of " sarcasm " was this : the Aurora 
 of Sept. 13th inserted a pretended communication from Cobbett, in 
 
ANTI-COBBETT. 173 
 
 in September upon which that great "public 
 instructor " had two anti-Porcupine paragraphs, and 
 several advertisements of such productions as these: 
 
 the following terms : — " Whereas it has been falsely asserted in the 
 Aurora that I had suffered the lash for certain misdemeanours, I 
 beg leave, through the same channel, to deny the assertion, and to 
 invite those who may still be tempted to place confidence in the 
 calumnies of my enemies to favour me with a visit at any time 
 between nine in the morning and one in the afternoon, or from 
 three to six In the evening, when I shall be able to afford them 
 ocular demonstration that the charge is unfounded, and to prove 
 Mr. Bache's correspondent a liar. — (Signed) P. Porcupine." The 
 next evening, in Fenno's Gazette, appears the following, evidently 
 to show merely that Cobbett has seen the above, and affects con- 
 tempt for it : — "Mr. Fenno, — I see that poor Richard's grandchild 
 published a notice yesterday morning, signed Peter Porcupine. 
 Pray, sir, inform your readers that this wayward splinter from old 
 lightning-rod never published an advertisement for me, and never 
 will. — I am, &c., Peter Porcupine." Mr. Bache, however, thinks 
 he has started too good a joke, and proceeds, in his paper of the 
 l6th, to inform his readers that "Peter Porcupine's levee yesterday 
 and the day before, it is said, was more crowded than that of the 
 President's generally is. All his visitors, however, are not satisfied 
 with the proofs he has exhibited of his never having been scourged 
 a la militaire; some indeed appear to be fully convinced that his 
 s!;in is absolutely whole. Some pretend to have perceived on his 
 back slight transversal marks, which they think resemble old scars ; 
 but he assures that, if any such are to be observed, they must have 
 been the eflfects of the trifling flagellation he received in this city 
 from the Frenchman. His considering that accident as a trifle 
 strengthens the belief that he speaks from experience and by com- 
 parison. Others of his visitors cannot see the marks observed by 
 the first ; but, in the stubborn spirit of determined unbelievers, 
 declare that they have heard of a chemical preparation which, by 
 persevering application, will remove the largest scars, and they 
 maliciously surmise that Peter Porcupine must be in possession of 
 the secret." 
 
174 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 " A Pill for Porcupine ; being a specific for an obsti- 
 nate itching, which that hireling has long contracted for 
 lying and calumny, containing a vindication of the 
 American, French, and Irish characters, against his 
 scurrilities." 
 
 " Porcupine, a print ; to be had at Moreau de St. 
 Mary's book-store." 
 
 " The Blue Shop, or Impartial and Humourous Obser- 
 vations on the Life and Adventures of Peter Porcupine ; 
 with the real motives which gave rise to his abuse of our 
 distinguished patriotic characters; together with a full 
 and fair view of his late Scare-Crow. ^^ This is inte- 
 resting to all parties." 
 
 " The Impostor Detected, or a review of some of the 
 writings of Peter Porcupine. By Timothy Tickletoby. 
 
 " ' He is a monster of such horrid mien. 
 
 As to be hated needs but to be seen.' — Pope." 
 
 " This day is published, price one quarter of a dollar, 
 embellished with a curious frontispiece, — 
 
 " The Adventures of Peter Porcupine, or the Villain 
 Unmasked ; being the Memoirs of a. notorious Rogue 
 lately in the British Army, and ci-devant member of an 
 extensive light-fingered association in England. Con- 
 taining a narrative of the most extraordinary and unex- 
 ampled depravity of conduct perhaps ever exhibited to 
 the world, in a letter to a young gentleman in New York. 
 
 " ' These things are strange, but not more strange than true.' 
 To which is added a postscript to Peter Porcupine, 
 
ANTI- COBBETT. 1 7 5 
 
 being remarks on a pamphlet lately published by him, 
 entitled his ' Life and Adventures.' By Daniel Detector. 
 
 " ' I'll tell the bold-faced villain that he lies.' 
 
 " ^S" As this pamphlet was hurried through the 
 press, several mistakes were unavoidable : particularly, 
 in the first three hundred which were sold, the word 
 England instead of France appeared in the first line of 
 the paragraph beginning in the forty-fifth page." 
 
 Mr. Bradford was the publisher (if not the 
 author) of one of these, viz., "The Impostor 
 Detected ; " and it seems that Cobbett had, when 
 " The Bone to Gnaw, part ii." appeared, written a 
 letter to the editor of the A urora (as an indirect 
 puff), running down the pamphlet. But Mr. 
 Bradford omitted to state that the bookseller had 
 instigated the author. Cobbett, however, acknow- 
 ledges the fact, in the " Political Censor " for 
 September ; and, after duly spitting Mr. Bradford 
 for the breach of confidence, proceeds to justify 
 the " puff indirect " by appealing to precedents, 
 instancing Addison and Pope as persons who had 
 done that sort of thing. 
 
 Here is a bit on the Porcupine side, from Mr. 
 Fenno's Gazette: — 
 
 " The enemies of the President of the United States, 
 and of the Federal Government, pretend to be aflfronted 
 
176 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 that a man born in England should presume to say a 
 civil thing of the character of George Washington. The 
 consistency of this will appear when the public are 
 assured that very few of the abusive scribblers who 
 slander his reputation have one drop of American blood 
 in their veins." 
 
 Which of course brings up the Aurora, the 
 editor of which is desirous of assuring the public 
 that his contributors are all native Americans. 
 
 But this is, perhaps, enough for our purpose, in 
 showing the acrimonious feelings which existed at 
 the period. Suffice it to say that any person who 
 defended George Washington was certain of getting 
 the foulest abuse from his opponents ; whilst the 
 idea of a discharged British non-commissioned 
 officer entering the lists was not to be borne. As 
 one correspondent of the democratic newspaper 
 said, "While I am a friend to the unlimited free- 
 dom of the press, when exercised by an American, 
 I am an implacable foe to its prostitution to a 
 foreigner, and would at any time assist in hunting 
 out of society any meddling foreigner who should 
 dare to interfere in our politics." These writers, 
 however, did not allow their principles to govern 
 them so far, that they could deny themselves the 
 duty of interfering in foreign politics, especially 
 those of England. Rounds of abuse follow, from 
 
ANTI-COBBETT. 177 
 
 day to day, upon everything that is not revolu- 
 tionary and anti-monarchical. As for Mr. Pitt's 
 new notion of uniting Ireland with Great Britain, 
 a more " atrocious and diabolical project " never 
 entered the mind of man. 
 
 Peter Porcupine, however, stands all this with 
 calm audacity. The advertisements of his new 
 business appear in the Gazette of the United States ; 
 and he announces, — among " New Drawing Books 
 from the Best Masters," Watson's "Apology for 
 the Bible," &c.,— "The Blue Shop," "The Im- 
 postor Detected ; " besides a full supply of all " the 
 Grub-street pamphlets vomited forth from the lungs 
 of filth and falsehood against Peter Porcupine." 
 And this game was carried on, more or less, for 
 a month or two longer ; but its very violence was 
 fatal to its continuance, and the combatants seemed 
 to get weary of throwing so much dirt at each 
 other. At the end of September, the "Political 
 Censor," No. 5, was devoted, partly, to a review 
 of some of the anonymous pamphlets * against 
 
 ' For the use of any possible bibliographer, it may be well to 
 name other squibs which appeared, besides those already enume- 
 rated : — 
 
 " The History of a Porcupine." 
 
 "The Little Innocent Porcupine Hornet's Nest." 
 
 "The Last Confession and Dying Speech of Peter Porcupine, 
 with an Account of his Dissection." 
 
 "A Roaster ; or, A Check to Political Blasphemy : intended as 
 
 VOL. 1. ■ N 
 
178 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1796-7] 
 
 Porcupine, and to a brisk rejoinder to the mis- 
 representations of Bradford and his son, relative 
 to his pecuniary transactions with Cobbett. The 
 number concluded as follows : — 
 
 " I now take leave of the Bradfords, and of all those 
 who have written against me. People's opinions must 
 now be made up. concerning them and me. Those who 
 still believe the lies that have been vomited forth against 
 me are either too stupid or too perverse to merit further 
 attention. I will, therefore, never write another word 
 
 a Brief Reply to Peter Porcupine, alias Billy Cobbler. By Sim 
 Sansculotte." 
 
 " The Political Massacre ; or, Unexpected Observations on the 
 Writings of our present Scribblers. By James Quicksilver, Author 
 of the 'Blue Shop.' " 
 
 " British Honour and Humanity ; or, American Patience, as 
 exemplified in the Modest Publications, and Universal Applause, of 
 Mr. William Cobbett, &c., &c. By a Friend to Regular Govern- 
 ment." 
 
 On the other side we find, — 
 
 " Tit for Tat ; or, A Purge for a Pill. Being an Answer to a 
 scurrilous pamphlet lately published, entitled ' A Pill for Porcu- 
 pine,' &c." 
 
 There was also a temperate answer to "The Bloody Buoy:" — 
 " Reflections on French Atheism and on English Christianity. By 
 William Richards, A.M., Member of the Pennsylvania Society for 
 Promoting the Abolition of Slavery." 
 
 Besides the straight hits above-mentioned, Mr. Cobbett complains 
 (Porcupine's Gazette, 7th March, 1797) of an attack on Christianity 
 which had been published some months before, entitled ' ' Chris- 
 tianity contrasted with Deism. By Peter Porcupine ;" the thing 
 being no work of his, and his assumed name being placed on the 
 title-page, either to discredit his own performances, or for the more 
 innocent purpose of promoting the sale of the work. 
 
PACHYDERMATOUS. 179 
 
 in reply to anything that is pubhshed about myself. 
 Bark away, hell-hounds, till you are suffocated in your 
 own foam ! Your labours are preserved, bound up 
 together in a piece of bear-skin with the hair on, and 
 nailed up to a post in my shop, where whoever pleases 
 may read them gratis." 
 
 Besides, other matters wanted attention : the 
 French Embassy was again becoming a disturbing 
 factor, and Washington had announced that he 
 should retire from public life at the approaching 
 close of his second term of office. 
 
 N 2 
 
i8o WILLIAM COBBETT. [i797-9] 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 "AT LAST GOT THE BETTER OF ALL DIFFIDENCE 
 IN MY OWN CAPACITY." 
 
 The popular clamour against the Government 
 of Great Britain was now at its height. The very 
 name of England was such a by-word, that even 
 immigrants learnt to evade a direct confession that 
 that was their native land, — unless it so happened 
 that the vengeful Pitt, by the advice and verdict 
 of twelve good men and true, had been the cause 
 of expatriation. The marble statue of Chatham 
 had been hanged and afterwards beheaded, and 
 the effigies of King George II. had been solemnly 
 desecrated. The name of George III. was seldom 
 heard in Philadelphia without being graced by 
 some contumelious epithet. 
 
 But there were not wanting signs,'at the close 
 of the year 1796, that the tide was turning in 
 favour of reconciliation with the old country. The 
 insolence of each successive French envoy was 
 
DISTRUST OF FRANCE. i8i 
 
 becoming too apparent — •too ridiculous — for any 
 but the blindest partisans to overlook ; and the 
 present representative of the French Convention, 
 Adet, having announced that the Directory were 
 highly incensed at the ratification of the British 
 treaty, many reflecting Americans began to con- 
 sider that " fraternity " was one of those good things 
 of which they might have, on occasion, too much. 
 The best of it was, that French privateering did 
 quite as much harm as English, whilst the 
 American prize-courts persisted in dealing fairly 
 and impartially with all cases brought to their 
 knowledge, irrespective of nationality. 
 
 A certain estrangement naturally grew between 
 the two republics, and the high-toned conduct 
 of Adet — more like that of a spoiled child than 
 anything worthy of his dignified office — was highly 
 characteristic of the then rulers of the French 
 nation. The American administration was first 
 startled by reading, in the newspaper, a note from 
 the French Convention which had not yet been 
 submitted to the Secretary of State — a document 
 which, indeed, it was in their discretion to publish 
 at all. The ground of complaint being the new 
 position of English and American merchant -vessels 
 flowing from the new treaty, the answer of the 
 Secretary of State was by no means conciliatory. 
 
i82 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1797-9] 
 
 After a few days' consideration, therefore, Mens. 
 Adet informed the American Government (and the 
 public by means of an advertisement ' in the Atc- 
 roral) that he "suspends himself from his func- 
 tions" as minister-plenipotentiary of the French 
 Republic. This measure, he subsequently adds, is 
 "not to be considered in the hght of a rupture, 
 but as a mark of the sense of injury " felt by the 
 Convention. . . . "which is to last until they can 
 obtain satisfaction." 
 
 Now, a jealousy of British supremacy, and a 
 watchful eye upon the dealings of that perfidious 
 nation, were a very proper state of consciousness 
 for a patriotic Frenchman ; but the attempt to 
 enforce, time after time, French dictation, was 
 quite another thing. And when, a few months 
 after, the fact came out that three American 
 envoys to Paris were refused the usual diplomatic 
 courtesies, because they refused to pledge the 
 present of a large sum of money to the impecunious 
 Directory, it is no wonder that coolness and in- 
 difference began to spread, on the part of Ameri- 
 cans generally, toward the sister Republic' In 
 
 ' An act justly stigmatized by Oliver Wolcott as "the grossest 
 insult ever offered to a nation not yet subjugated." — "Memoirs, 
 &c.," i. 380. 
 
 2 In July, 1797, the French treaties then existing were solemnly 
 repudiated by Act of Congress. 
 
DISTRUST OF FRANCE. 183 
 
 the course of two or three years, •contrariwise, 
 England began to occupy that place in the hearts 
 of the American people from which she had 
 been excluded for a quarter of a century. 
 
 There were many circumstances which con- 
 tributed to heal the differences between the two 
 countries ; but the failure of French intrigue, and 
 the steady consistency of the Federalist statesmen, 
 were the leading factors. It is clear that Washing- 
 ton had great suspicion of the motives of France, 
 and was anxious to control the tendency of many 
 of his fellow-citizens to be led away by the delusive 
 fancies of that regenerated country. His farewell 
 address to the people of the United States (one 
 of the noblest papers of the kind ever penned) 
 counsels them to steer clear of pernianent alliances 
 with other nations, especially with those of Europe, 
 as their interests could have but a remote relation 
 one with another. He adds, — 
 
 " Foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes 
 of republican government. . . . Excessive partiality for 
 one foreign nation, and excessive dislike of another, 
 cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on 
 one side, and serve to veil and even to second the arts 
 of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist 
 the intrigues of the favourite, are liable to become sus- 
 pected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the 
 
1 84 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1797-9] 
 
 applause and confidence of the people to surrender their 
 interests." ' 
 
 So, from this period, the Federal press began to 
 gain upon its opponents, and one of its acknow- 
 ledged leaders was Mr. William Cobbett. 
 
 The " Political Censor" was continued to the 
 eighth number, being published monthly, excepting 
 when interrupted by a pamphlet with some distinc- 
 tive aim. One of these latter was a collection of 
 Adet's notes and proclamations above alluded to, 
 under the title of " The Diplomatic Blunderbuss." 
 The " Censor," besides a running commentary on 
 the debates in Congress, was occupied by violent 
 attacks on Tom Paine (including a reproduction 
 of George Chalmers's biography of that worthy), 
 and upon the French sympathizers ; one whole 
 number being devoted to " Remarks on the Blun- 
 derbuss." 
 
 But the tardy publication of a monthly protest 
 against his opponents was not enough for the now 
 full-fledged powers of Peter Porcupine. He feels 
 his feet : he knows his strength. Friends and 
 admirers are flocking to his shop, urging him to 
 the fray. 
 
 ' For this and other interesting State papers the student may 
 consult the Annual Register, where they are printed in full. 
 
"PORCUPINE'S GAZETTE." 185 
 
 The political part of the daily press which pos- 
 sessed the best literary talent was, in Philadelphia, 
 mainly on the side of the Democrats ; whilst many 
 Englishmen were there, disinclined to be known 
 as such, and none daring (except this "daring 
 scoundrell") to utter a word in public in defence 
 of his native country. There must, therefore, be 
 a daily Federal paper, of most distinctive princi- 
 ples, established in the camp. 
 
 Accordingly, an announcement appears, in Mr. 
 Fenno's Gazette of the ist of February, 1797, as 
 follows : — 
 
 "Proposals by William Cobbett, opposite Christ 
 Church, Philadelphia, for publishing a newspaper, to be 
 entitled, — 
 
 " Porcupine's Gazette and Daily Advertiser. 
 
 " Methinks I hear the reader exclaim : ' What ! have 
 we not gazettes enough already ? Yes, and far too many ; 
 but those that we have are, in general, conducted in 
 such a manner that their great number, instead of 
 rendering mine unnecessary, is the only cause that calls 
 for its establishment. 
 
 " The gazettes in this country have done it more real 
 injury than all its enemies ever did, or can do. They 
 mislead the people at home, and misrepresent them 
 abroad. It was these vehicles of sedition and discord 
 that encouraged the counties in the west to rebel; it 
 
i86 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1797-9] 
 
 was they that gave rise to the depredations of Britain, by 
 exciting the people to such acts of violence against 
 that nation as left no room to doubt that we were 
 determined on war; and it was they, when an accommo- 
 dation had been happily effected, that stirred up an 
 opposition to it such as has seldom been witnessed, and 
 which was overcome by mere chance. These gazettes 
 it was that, by misrepresenting the dispositions of the 
 people, encouraged the French to proceed from one 
 degree of insolence to another, till at last their minister 
 braves the President in his chair, and a bullying com- 
 mander comes and tells us that his only business is to 
 seize our vessels, in violation of a treaty, in virtue of 
 which alone he claims a right to enter our ports : and it 
 is these gazettes that now have the impudence to defend 
 what their falsehood and malice have produced. 
 
 " I shall be told that the people are to blame ; that 
 they are not obliged to read these abominable publica- 
 tions. But they do read them ; and thousands who read 
 them read nothing else. To suppress them is impossible ; 
 they will vomit forth their poison; it is a privilege of 
 their natures that no law can abridge, and therefore the 
 only mode left is to counteract its effects. 
 
 "This must be done, too, in. their own way. Books, 
 or periodical publications in the form of books, may be 
 of some service, but are by no means a match for their 
 flying folios. A falsehood that remains uncontradicted 
 for a month begins to be looked upon as a truth, and 
 when the detection at last makes its appearance, it is 
 often as useless as that of the doctor who finds his 
 
"PORCUPINES GAZETTE." 187 
 
 patient expired. The only method of opposition, then, 
 is to meet them on their own ground; to set foot to 
 foot ; dispute every inch and every hair's breadth ; fight 
 them at their own weapons, and return them two blows 
 for one. 
 
 " A gazette of this stamp is what I have long wished 
 to see, but I have wished and expected it in vain. 
 Indignation at the supineness of others has at last got 
 the better of all diffidence in my own capacity, and has 
 determined me to encounter the task. People have 
 heard one side long enough ; they shall now hear the 
 other." 
 
 Then follow the conditions of publication, sub- 
 scription, &c. Sufficient support was given to the 
 project to enable the publisher to issue the first 
 number on the 5 th of March ; indeed, there were 
 more than one thousand subscribers' names on his 
 books by that date. 
 
 John Adams had just succeeded to the Presi- 
 dential chair, and Mr. Cobbett determined that his 
 paper should be the means by which all the 
 assistance in his power might be rendered to the 
 new administration. It was to be a rallying-point 
 for the friends of Government. The editor's intro- 
 ductory address announced that he was not going 
 to be a mere newsmonger ; although he certainly 
 expected, from the encouragement he had received, 
 to be behind no other in the early possession of 
 
1 88 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1797-9] 
 
 intelligence, whether home or foreign. It was to 
 be an unmistakably partisan paper, and to be at 
 the service of all correspondents who were disposed 
 to assist him. 
 
 Poraipine's Gazette had a course of nearly three 
 years. It was consistent in its principles from 
 beginning to end of its career, but it was violent 
 toward its adversaries — too violent, in point of 
 fact, for many of Peter's friends ; and there were 
 some, indeed, who believed him to be really hostile 
 to American politics altogether — many considered 
 him a dangerous ally ; and, in those days of 
 terrible political animosity, a friend might be 
 turned into a foe at a moment's notice. 
 
 In truth, Mr. Cobbett's determination was to 
 take the side of England, whatever happened, in 
 all the international questions which were at that 
 time constantly arising ; and he meant to make 
 his paper the vehicle of his passionate feelings on 
 such topics. According to his own account, often 
 repeated in after-years, he was mainly instrumental 
 in preventing America from joining France in the 
 war then raging ; and it is probable that he really 
 had a very considerable share in restoring the 
 bonds of good feeling between America and Eng- 
 land. The proof of this lies, to a great extent, in 
 the evidences of opposition which have survived. 
 
HIS OPPONENTS. 189 
 
 It was, indeed, far into the nineteenth century, 
 before the democratic newspaper-writers of Ame- 
 rica ceased to defame the " pensioned " British 
 corporal.'' 
 
 It is not necessary, however, to dwell any longer 
 upon the stormy events of that era. Suffice it to 
 say that even Americans themselves recommend 
 
 * One of the most violent of Cobbett's adversaries was no less a 
 person than Matthew Carey. The latter was at this time a hot- 
 headed young Irishman, and would not have his toes trodden upon. 
 He seems to have taken particular offence at the story of his having 
 refused to publish Cobbett's first pamphlet ; and afterwards, when 
 J. W. Fenno had included his name among a list of the United 
 Irishmen, and Cobbett had reproduced it with sarcastic reference 
 to the " O'Careys," he burst out into a fearful display of ill-tem- 
 per. His Billingsgate was terrible. He produced ' ' The Porcu- 
 piniad : a Hudibrastic Poem," and "A Plumb Pudding for the 
 Humane, Chaste, Valiant, Enlightened Peter Porcupine." The 
 latter is embellished with a vignette, exhibiting a porcupine 
 suspended from a street lamp-post ; and it would be impossible to 
 exceed the virulence of its style or the vileness of its language, 
 whilst, in truth, Cobbett had endeavoured to avoid falling foul of 
 Carey. But time healed all this. Thirty years later, Cobbett and 
 Carey were corresponding in their old age as if there had never 
 been anything of the sort. 
 
 Another opponent was William Duane, also an Irishman of some 
 talent, who had succeeded Bache as editor of the Aurora. And 
 there are some curious effusions among the poems of Philip 
 Freneau, a man whose writings breathe the most virulent hatred, 
 not only against Great Britain, but against the Washington and 
 Adams administrations. 
 
 The poet of the other side was William ClifFton, who died at an 
 early age in 1799. He was a warm admirer of Cobbett, ajid a hearty 
 Federalist. When Gifford's " Baviad and Mseviad " was repubHshed 
 in America, he composed, at Cobbett's request, an Epistle Dedi- 
 catory, addressed to Mr. Gififord. 
 
igo WILLIAM COBBETT. [1797-9] 
 
 the study of Cobbett's writings, in order to under- 
 stand the history of parties. 
 
 Amid all this exciting warfare, Mr. Cobbett's 
 life in Philadelphia was full of amenities of one 
 kind or other. He did not like the Americans : 
 their republican insolence was too much for him ; 
 but among the families of the older settlers he 
 found much excellence of character. " A part of 
 the people of the United States," he says, " always 
 appeared to me to be among the best of mankind. 
 Scrupulously upright, hospitable, kind and gene- 
 rous to excess, and most nobly steady in their 
 friendships." But the riff-raff, composing many of - 
 the newer emigrants, disgusted him with repub- 
 licanism ; and he would meet their violence with 
 manifold vigour. The coarseness which too often 
 disgraced his writings in later life — after his tem- 
 per had been soured by outrageous tyranny — is to 
 be traced back to this period, when threats of 
 being murdered, or tarred-and-feathered, poured 
 in upon him ; and when slander after slander was 
 invented, and which did not even spare his wife, 
 in order to induce him to give up British advo- 
 cacy. 
 
 Some of the friendships he made in America 
 lasted till death. His landlord, Oldden (already 
 
AMERICAN FRIENDS. 191 
 
 mentioned), wanted him to take the house off his 
 hands as a free gift. James Paul, another Quaker 
 and a farmer, gave a name to Cobbett's second 
 son. Several men followed him to England, and 
 had some share in his future fortunes. And, as 
 time went on, the members of the British Embassy- 
 were not ashamed to honour him with their ac- 
 quaintance. As early as 1798, Mr. Liston,^ who 
 was then envoy, informed Cobbett that the Govern- 
 ment at home were fully sensible of the obligations 
 which the country owed him —that they were pre- 
 pared to advance his interests, or those of his 
 relatives. To all such offers he persisted in a firm 
 and honourable refusal — a- conduct which naturally 
 served to produce feelings of respect and admira- 
 tion on their part. Lord Henry Stuart, another 
 member of the Embassy, was likewise a great 
 Supporter of Cobbett, besides having certain 
 sporting sympathies, which were revived in after- 
 years. Business relations were also commencing 
 with several London booksellers. 
 
 Several good anecdotes might be reproduced 
 here, to illustrate the manner of Cobbett's life in 
 
 5 "A gentleman for whom I entertained a very high respect, and 
 whose conduct constantly evinced that he was not merely a receiver 
 of the public money, but one who had the interest and honour of 
 his king and country deeply at heart." — Political Register, viii. 548. 
 
192 WILLIAM COBBETT. [i797-9l 
 
 Pennsylvania. He was always ready to recall, in 
 his later years, the incidents of that period, when 
 he would point a moral or adorn a tale. Here, for 
 example, is a " shooting " story : — 
 
 " I was once acquainted with a famous shooter, whose 
 name was William Ewing. He was a barrister of Phila- 
 delphia, but became far more renowned by his gun than 
 by his law cases. We spent scores of days together a- 
 shooting, and were extremely well matched — I having 
 excellent dogs, and caring little about my reputation as a 
 shot — his dogs being good for nothing, and he caring 
 more about his reputation as a shot than as a lawyer. The 
 fact which I am going to relate, respecting this gentleman, 
 ought to be a warning to ypung men how they become 
 enamoured of this species of vanity. We had gone about 
 ten miles from our home to shoot where partridges were 
 said to be very plentiful. We found them so. In the 
 course of a November day, he had, just before dark, shot, 
 and sent to the farm-house, or kept in his bag, ninety-nine 
 partridges. He made some few double shots, and he 
 might have a miss or two, for he sometimes shot when 
 out of my sight, on account of the woods. However, 
 he said that he killed at every shot; and, as he had 
 counted the birds, when we went to dinner at the farm- 
 house and when he cleaned his gun, he, just before sun- 
 set, knew that he had killed ninety-nine partridges, every 
 one upon the wing, and a great part of them in woods 
 very thickly set with largish trees. It was a grand 
 achievement j but, unfortunately, he wanted to make it 
 
A SHOOTING STORY. 193 
 
 a hundred. The sun was setting, and in that country 
 darkness comes almost at once ; it is more like the going 
 out of a candle than that of a fire ; and I wanted to be 
 off, as we had a very bad road to go ; and as he, being 
 under petticoat government — to which he most loyally 
 and dutifully submitted — was compelled to get home that 
 night, taking me with him, the vehicle (horse and gig) 
 being mine. I therefore pressed him to come away. ... 
 No, he would kill the hundredth bird ! In vain did I 
 talk of the bad road and its many dangers for want of 
 moon. The poor partridges, which we had scattered 
 about, were calling all around us ; and, just at this 
 moment, up got one under his feet, in a field in which 
 the wheat was three or four inches high. He shot, and 
 missed. ' That's it,' said he, running as if to pick up the 
 bird. ' What ! ' said I, ' you don't think you killed, do 
 you ? ' ' Why, there is the bird now, not only alive, but 
 calling, in that wood,' — which was about a hundred 
 yards distance. He, in that form of words usually em- 
 ployed in such cases, asserted that he shot the bird and 
 saw it fall; and I, in much about the same form of 
 words, asserted that he had missed ; and that I, with my 
 own eyes, saw the bird fly into the wood. This was too 
 much! To miss once out of a hundred times! To lose 
 such a chance of immortality! He was. a gpod-humoured 
 man ; I liked him very much ; and I could not help 
 feeling for him when he said, ' Well, sir, I killed the bird 
 and if you choose to go away and take your dog away, so 
 as to prevent me from finding it, you must do it ; the dog 
 is yours, to be sure.' ' The dog,' said I, in a very mild 
 VOL. I O 
 
194 WILLIAM COBBETT. [i 797-9] 
 
 tone, ' why, Ewing, there is the spot, and could we not 
 see it upon this smooth green surface if it were there ? ' 
 However, he began to look about, and I called the dog, 
 and affected to join him in the search. Pity for his 
 weakness got the better of my dread of the bad road. 
 After walking backward and forward many times upon 
 about twenty yards square, with our eyes to the ground, 
 looking for what both of us knew was not there, I had 
 passed him (he going one way and I the other), and I 
 happened to be turning round just after I had passed 
 him, when I saw him, putting his hand behind him, take 
 a partridge out of his bag and let it fall upon the ground I 
 I felt no temptation to detect him, but turned away my 
 head, and kept looking about. Presently he, having 
 returned to the spot where the bird was, called out to 
 me, in a most triumphant tone, ' Here, here ! Come 
 here ! ' I went up to him, and he, pointing with his 
 finger down to the bird, and looking hard in my face at 
 the same time, said, ' There, Cobbett ; I hope that will 
 be a warning to you never to be obstinate again ! ' 
 ' Well,' said I, ' come along ; ' and away we went as merry 
 as larks. When we got to Brown's, he told them the 
 story ; triumphed over me most clamorously ; and, 
 though he often repeated the story to my. face, I never 
 had the heart to let him know that I knew of the im- 
 position, which puerile vanity had induced so sensible 
 and honourable a man to be mean enough to practise." 
 
 One of Mr. Cobbett's warmest adherents, in 
 Philadelphia, was the Rev. James Abercrombie, 
 
THE BRITISH FACTION. 195 
 
 minister of the American Episcopal Church, and 
 incumbent of Christ Church, opposite which was 
 situated Porcupine's shop. He was a man held in 
 great esteem as a preacher, and as a teacher of the 
 young.' But he got into disgrace with the Demo- 
 crats, who called him " one of Peter Porcupine's 
 news-boys." A correspondence was kept up be- 
 tween Cobbett and the doctor, for soine time after 
 the return of the former to London. It must be 
 noted, by the way, that, soon after Porcupine had 
 set up the defiant British standard, there were not 
 wanting many to support him ;' but, as he says, 
 they kept suitably in the rear. A complaint of the 
 Aurora newspaper speaks for itself, as to the power 
 and number of its opponents : — " The British 
 faction, composed of apostate Whigs, old Tories, 
 toad-eaters of Government, British riders and 
 runners, speculators, stock-jobbers, bank-directors, 
 mushroom merchants, &c., &c." ' There is no doubt, 
 however, that Mr. Cobbett's boast, of being the 
 forlorn hope to less adventurous spirits, was true 
 enough ; and that his admiring fellow-country- 
 men, both at home and in America, considered 
 that his undaunted British advocacy merited 
 
 5 Dr. Abercrombie died in 1841, at a very advanced age. 
 7 "By the month of August, 1797, the Gazette had more than 
 2500 subscribers. 
 
 O 2 
 
196 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1797-9] 
 
 the highest encomiums and rewards. What they 
 did say in England may be reserved to another 
 chapter. 
 
 Meanwhile, we must now consider the circum- 
 stances which ultimately led to Mr. Cobbett's 
 return home. He persisted, from the first, in being 
 looked upon as an alien ; rightly thinking that the 
 taking out letters of naturalization would impair 
 his right to defend his native country. But the 
 intention to return to England was, at this time, 
 very distant from his mind. 
 
"LIBEL." 197 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "WHEN I LEFT THEM, I CERTAINLY DID SHAKE 
 THE DUST OFF MY SHOES." 
 
 As a champion of the liberty of the press, Mr. 
 Cobbett holds a place among the very foremost ; 
 and, indeed, a minor object of the biographer, in 
 this history, is to establish his claim to that place. 
 But it may still remain -open to question how far 
 that liberty is to go : perhaps it will always vary, 
 according to each particular judge and jury,' as to 
 what is "liberty" and what is "libel." It is certain 
 that the two cases in which Cobbett was involved, 
 while a newspaper-writer in America, were decided 
 without much consideration of their real merits. 
 One went in his favour, the other against him ; and 
 both the prosecutions were undertaken, instigated 
 
 1 " Is he a man I choose to punish ? — I make it a libel. Is he a 
 man I choose not to punish ? — I make it a non-libeL" — Bentham : 
 Works, V. 281. 
 
198 WILLIAM COBBETT. [i 799-1800] 
 
 by political rancour. We have got the better of 
 this sort' of thing, at last, in England ; but only- 
 after much shame. And we are not perfect yet. 
 
 Mr; Cobbett's career of "crime," during these 
 tumultuous days in Philadelphia, consisted in his 
 being a genuine satirist. In this respect he was 
 unapproachable by any of his scribbling brethren ; 
 and there lay the fundamental reasons for the 
 hatred of those who were amongst his opponents. 
 He had imported into the arena of political con- 
 troversy the squibbing propensities of his great 
 master, Jonathan Swift ; and, armed with the 
 results of his laborious study of grammar and logic> 
 it was useless for any one to expect successfully to 
 contend with him on his own ground. The 
 weapons, therefore, to which they resorted were 
 lies and filth of most abominable character. The 
 phlegmatic, practical, native Pennsylvanian could 
 sit and laugh over Porcupine's hard hits, for they 
 did not, as a rule, touch him. But the hot-blooded 
 importations since the Revolution — soured with the 
 mortified feelings occasioned by unwilling expa- 
 triation — rendered more and more violent by the 
 intoxicating influence of French principles, and, to 
 some extent, made reckless by the exigencies of 
 change, were a different class. The vocabulary of 
 personal abuse formed their resource. It is not 
 
THE RISKS OF LAMPOONING. 199 
 
 very surprising, then, to find after a time some dis- 
 position, on the part of Cobbett, to yield to a 
 similar indulgence in coarse language. Upon the 
 whole, however, a perusal of his American writings 
 does not justify the calumnious epithets which 
 have been bestowed upon them. All true hu- 
 mourists, from Rabelais downwards, have suffered 
 a similar penalty. The knave, even more than the 
 fool, both fears and hates your lampooner, and 
 can only resort to base imputations in the expecta- 
 tion that a part of his slime must stick. We, in 
 these later days, will take to heart the maxim of 
 Montesquieu : To judge justly of men, we must over- 
 look the prejudices of their times. We know Mr. 
 Cobbett to have been an earnest, honest, high- 
 spirited man, whose whole life, both public and 
 private, was governed by principles of conduct 
 which were far in advance of his times ; an un- 
 corrupt politician, who may be placed by the side 
 of Andrew Marvel ; a husband and a parent, whose 
 example cannot be excelled ; in a day when most 
 public writers had their price, and when the bonds 
 of family ties were exceptionally loose. 
 
 The Chief Justice of the State of Pennsylvania, 
 at this date, was one Thomas M'Kean : a violent 
 democrat, and a somewhat unscrupulous character. 
 
200 WILLIAM COBBETT. [i 799-1800] 
 
 Every democratic state, in the early stages of its 
 history, is much like a simmering pot ; and it is 
 not improbable that Mr. M'Kean belonged to 
 that portion of its contents which floats on the 
 surface. Cobbett's account of him is so bad, and 
 the freedom with which he denounced him to his 
 face was so uncompromising, that the historian 
 would naturally hesitate to make any needless 
 reference to the chronic feud which existed be- 
 tween them. At the period of the Revolution 
 M'Kean had distinguished himself by cruelty to 
 all political opponents, and particularly to any 
 Quakers who ran foul of him.'' Besides being 
 hated for his partiality, he is alleged to have been a 
 notorious drunkard ; he had been horsewhipped by 
 a fellow-citizen ; and it was stated that a number 
 of members of the bar had signed a memorial to 
 the effect that " so great a drunkard was he that, 
 after dinner, person and property were not safe in 
 Pennsylvania." According to Oliver Wolcott, a 
 leading member of the Washington and Adams 
 
 * There is one incident of the Revolutionary War (for the catas- 
 trophe of which M'Kean is held responsible) which arouses the old 
 Adam in the breast of the Pennsylvanian Quaker to this very day. 
 John Roberts and Abraham Carlisle, two very worthy members of 
 the Society of Friends, were arraigned, condemned, and hanged, 
 ostensibly for having given assistance and comfort to the British 
 troops when occupying Philadelphia — a perfectly groundless charge. 
 The thing was done to "save the country," d, la Frangaise, 
 
THOMAS M'KEAN. 201 
 
 administrations, Peter Porcupine's exposure of 
 M'Kean was not by any means undeserved ; and 
 that he openly supported the seditious clubs 
 which were ever seeking to undermine the Federal 
 Constitution.' It is certain that Cobbett spared no 
 pains to remind the public of the little defects in 
 M'Kean's character. The Chief Justice, therefore, 
 made it his business to attend closely to the say- 
 ings and doings of Peter Porcupine. 
 
 He was not long in finding an opportunity which 
 might serve to bring the latter within his power. The 
 Chevalier D'Yrujo, envoy from Spain, had written 
 a dictatorial letter to Pickering, Secretary of State, 
 after the pattern of the French, and tending, likewise, 
 to reduce the independence of the United States 
 to a mere shadow. Mr. Cobbett at once undertakes 
 to keep a vigilant eye upon the affair ; and his 
 Gazette gleams forth with such paragraphs as this : 
 
 " We hear that Don Sans-Culotta de Carmagnola 
 MINOR* is preparing another Diplomatic Blunderbuss. 
 Forewarned, forearmed; — but, whether armed or not, 
 it is to be hoped that nothing discharged from that most 
 contemptible quarter will ever scare the people of 
 America." 
 
 At length, the editor receives two or three com- 
 
 8 Vide Wolcott's " Memoirs, &c.," i. 231, ii. 388, &c. 
 * " Dansons la Carmagnole " was one of the French revolutionary- 
 songs. 
 
202 WILLIAM COEBETT. [1799-1800] 
 
 munications, which he prints : being strong appeals 
 against foreign interference, and reflecting too 
 plainly upon the persons who were causing the 
 liability to that danger. That danger, however, is 
 not so great, in the eyes of Chief Justice M'Kean, 
 as the danger of allowing Britishers to interfere in 
 American politics. Accordingly, the printer and 
 publisher oiPorciiphi^s Gazette is served with a bill 
 of indictment ; charging him with defaming His 
 Catholic Majesty the King of Spain, his envoy, 
 and the Spanish nation, with the object of alien- 
 ating their affections and regard from the Govern- 
 ment and citizens of the United States. 
 
 The heat of the judge's resentment was, perhaps, 
 intensified by the feelings of a father-in-law ; for 
 his daughter, one of the belles of Philadelphia, had 
 espoused the distinguished Chevalier. It was several 
 months before the case was brought to trial ; but, 
 at length, at the November sessions (1797) the bill 
 of indictment was presented to the Grand Jury, 
 and Chief Justice M'Kean proceeded with his 
 charge. He began with a "definition of the several 
 crimes which generally fall under the cognizance 
 of such a court, as treason, rape, forgery, murder, 
 &c., &c. But these his honour touched slightly 
 upon. He brushed them over as light and trifling 
 offences, or, rather, he blew them aside as the chaff 
 
" THE REPUBLICAN JUDGE." 203 
 
 of the criminal code, in order to come at the more 
 solid and substantial sin of LIBELLING," and pro- 
 ceeded to attack the defendant with the greatest 
 bitterness. It was in vain, however. The Grand 
 Jury threw out the bill, to the judge's great discom- 
 fiture. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett, with his usual alacrity and fearless- 
 ness, at once proceeded to draw up a statement of 
 the whole affair, and produced a pamphlet under 
 the title of the " The Republican Judge ; or the 
 American Liberty of the Press, as exhibited, ex- 
 plained, and exposed, in the base and partial 
 prosecution of William Cobbett, for a Pretended 
 Libel against the King of Spain and his Am- 
 bassador." On reading the judge's charge, it is 
 difficult to believe how an honest man could have 
 selected the comparatively mild eff"usions of Porcu- 
 pine's Gazette for prosecution ; seeing that his own 
 partisans had used with impunity the vilest 
 epithets toward the " The Father of his country ; " 
 one paper, indeed, charged Washington with mur- 
 der. Here is one passage from M'Kean's speech, 
 for example : " Libelling has become a national 
 crime, and distinguishes us not only from all the 
 states around us, but from the whole civilized 
 world. Our satire has been nothing but ribaldry 
 and Billingsgate ; the contest has been, who could 
 
204 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1799-1800] 
 
 call names in the greatest variety of phrases ; who 
 could mangle the greatest number of characters ; 
 or who could excel in the magnitude or virulence 
 of their lies," &c., &c. And Mr. Cobbett showed 
 pretty plainly, by a judicious selection of recent 
 anti-federal blackguardisms,'' what was the real 
 nature of the fight. For himself, he writes in his 
 best manner, as the following will show : — 
 
 " As to my writing, I never did slander any one, if the 
 promulgation of useful truths be not slander. Innocence 
 and virtue I have often endeavoured to defend, but I 
 never defamed either. I have, indeed, stripped the close- 
 drawn veil of hypocrisy ; I have ridiculed the follies, 
 and lashed the vices of thousands ; and have done it 
 sometimes, perhaps, with a rude and violent hand. But 
 these are not the days for gentleness and mercy. Such 
 as is the temper of the foe, such must be that of his 
 opponent. Seeing myself published for a rogue, and my 
 
 ' Both Mifflin, the Governor of Peraisylvania, and M'Kean him- 
 self, had many a time committed themselves to the foulest asper- 
 sions against Britain, as well as their own country, on occasion, 
 "after ihe cloth was removed." But Mr. Bache, whether at a 
 civic feast, or in the columns of the Aurora, was a real professor of 
 venom. Britain is a "perfidious nation;" its people are "bloody 
 savage islanders ;" the Government '" a mixture of tyranny, profli- 
 gacy, brutality, and corruption ;" and he would heartily rejoice if 
 the Royal family "were all decently guillotined." And concerning 
 Spain, for several years preceding the new amicable arrangements, 
 we read of the "slaves of Madrid," the "most cowardly of the 
 human race;" the "ignorant soldiery of the infamous tyrant of 
 Castile ! " &c. 
 
ON HIS DEFENCE. 205 
 
 wife for a * * * * *; being persecuted with such in- 
 famous, such base and hellish calumny in the philan- 
 thropic city of Philadelphia, merely for asserting the 
 truths respecting others, was not calculated, I assure 
 you, to sweeten my temper, and turn my ink into honey- 
 dew. 
 
 "My attachment to order and good government, nothing 
 but the impudence of Jacobinism could deny. The 
 object, not only of all my own publications, but also of 
 all those which I have introduced or encouraged, from 
 the first moment that I appeared on the public scene to 
 the present day, has been to lend some aid in stemming 
 the torrent of anarchy and confusion ; to undeceive the 
 misguided, by tearing the mask from the artful and 
 ferocious villains, who, owing to the infatuation of the 
 poor, and the supineness of the rich, have made such a 
 fearful progress in the destruction of all that is amiable, 
 and good, and sacred among men. To the Government 
 of this country, in particular, it has been my constant 
 study to yield all the support in my f>ower. When either 
 that Government, or the worthy men who administer it, 
 have been traduced and vilified, I have stood forward in 
 their defence; and that, too, in times when even its 
 friends were some of them locked up in silence, and 
 others giving way to the audacious violence of its foes. 
 Not that I am so foolishly vain as to attribute to my 
 illiterate pen a thousandth part of the merit that my 
 friends are inclined to allow it." 
 
 There was, however, another string to the bow, 
 
2o6 WILLIAM COBBETT. [i 799-1800] 
 
 in the hand of Mr. Cobbett's enemies — which bow, 
 being handled with dexterity and resolution, eventu- 
 ally sent its weapon home. 
 
 It would appear, from an insight into the local 
 and personal history of these stormy times, that a 
 man's reputation depended entirely upon the 
 nature of his political leanings. There was not 
 a single public character, then living, who did not 
 suffer the penalties of partisanship. In all pro- 
 fessions, the man who emerged ever so slightly 
 from obscurity found himself, on one side or 
 another, involved in a stupendous party conflict — a 
 conflict in which no feelings were spared by his 
 opponents, and no fulsome praise left out by his 
 friends. His faults exposed, his weaknesses magni' 
 fled, and his best actions distorted— he, in turn, 
 heaped upon his adversaries similar contumely. 
 To take by itself (if it were possible) the general 
 sum of abuse, one would conclude that society was 
 a collection of base ruffians, aiming at mutual 
 extermination ; on the other hand, ignoring all 
 that opponents said, it would be easy to prove that 
 everybody was a truly disinterested patriot. And 
 Americans have such a strong tendency to eulogize 
 the departed, that, strange to say, the grave no 
 sooner closes over one of their statesmen or poli- 
 ticians, and his part in the struggle for place aind 
 
DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS. 207 
 
 power is no more, than his name is at once 
 purged. 
 
 There is no doubt at all, that many unscrupulous 
 men were in the front, at the time in which we are 
 now interested — many who, having once made 
 their influence felt, were enabled with the as- 
 sistance of fortune and audacity to hold their own ; 
 in spite of public exposure, their vigour and native 
 abilities made them necessary to their party." This 
 was the class of men that Cobbett loved to fight — 
 a class unknown in the land whence he came : in- 
 deed, unknown to the world of men which he had 
 himself created ; for it must be noted that Mr. 
 Cobbett had a very limited acquaintance with 
 human nature in its depths. The reading and 
 study, which he had gone through some years 
 before, were all of too abstract a character to make 
 a man of the world (as it is called). Mankind from 
 books he knew well, an ideal Mankind, which the 
 self-educated are especially liable to conjure up, 
 and by means of its gigantic and perfect form, to 
 hide that subtle, wayward, self-absorbed creature of 
 many motives, called MAN. In this superficiality, 
 
 ' There was one William Blount, for example, who was expelled 
 the Senate, on account of intrigue, or downright treachery, went 
 home to Tennessee, was received with acclamations, and re-elected 
 Governor of the State ! 
 
2o8 WILLIAM COBBETT. [i 799-1800] 
 
 as regards the hidden springs of human action, and 
 the consequent inability to transfer himself, men- 
 tally, into the standpoint of his antagonist, lies the 
 key to Cobbett's frequent failure, just when a little 
 considerate yielding to the 'feelings of that anta- 
 gonist would have produced conviction. There were 
 certain rough notions of perfectibility about his 
 conceptions of Humanity which did not admit of 
 the smallest incline toward what he thought to be 
 wrong. In short, he was a Soldier, from beginning 
 to end ; and as a soldier he lived, and worked, and 
 wrote, and fought, with his face to the enejhy ; 
 — which enemy must needs be dealt with uncom- 
 promisingly, if it meant fighting at all. 
 
 The city of Philadelphia, with all its native and 
 acquired advantages, at last got an unenviable 
 distinction, toward the close of the last century, 
 as a plague-spot. As in all such capitals, increasing 
 almost too rapidly, the population crowded to- 
 gether in limited space ; and the dissolute and the 
 very poor, as those classes always do under similar 
 circumstances, began to be a detriment to the 
 health of the city. Sluggish drainage and in- 
 different water-supply did their fell work. Nearly 
 half of the children born in the city died under two 
 years of age, with stomach or bowel complaints. 
 
YELLOW FEVER IN PHILADELPHIA. 209 
 
 At last, in 1793, the yellow fever, which had not 
 visited the city for thirty-one years, reappeared, 
 and carried off 4000 inhabitants in the course of 
 about three months. 
 
 And with the yellow fever came the doctors, of 
 course ; who, amongst themselves, roused one of 
 those curious disputes for which the history of 
 medical, science is somewhat famous. A yellow- 
 fever literature sprang up; statistics were bran- 
 dished about ; wonderful and novel remedies were 
 suggested ; and one of the more ingenious of the 
 doctors came to the front in the person of Ben- 
 jamin Rush. 
 
 Dr. Rush is one of the highly-eulogized. His 
 benevolence was unexampled, and he was 
 " honoured and esteemed, both at home and 
 abroad. It was his constant object to popularize 
 and render attractive the principles of medicine." ' 
 
 ' Duyckinck, i. 294. See also "An Eulogium upon Benjamin 
 Rush, M.D.," by David Ramsay, M.D. (Philadelphia, 1813), for 
 some particulars of his life and career. He died in April, 1813, 
 aged sixty-nine. Several members of his family attained distinction, 
 the most notable being his son Richard, who was ambassador to 
 London in 1821, and who filled that office with great dignity and 
 credit. His " Recollections of a Residence at the Court of Lon- 
 don " has been several times reprinted. Dr. Rush and his systems 
 had much opposition to contend with, in England as well as in 
 America ; vide, inter alia, a pamphlet by Dr. William Rowley, a 
 London physician, who calls him the celebrated professor of singu- 
 
 VOL. L P 
 
2IO WILLIAM COBBETT. [1799-1800] 
 
 He gave away his Sunday fees in charity ; — and 
 had a more intimate acquaintance with the human 
 pulse than any man living ! 
 
 After several attempts to master the yellow fever, 
 of which violent purging formed the leading idea, 
 Dr. Rush hit upon the plan of copious bleeding ; 
 and so successful was it (according to his own 
 account) that ninety-nine out of every hundred of 
 the cases he treated recovered ! The other doctors 
 said that Rush's treatment was certain death. 
 And so on. 
 
 The yellow fever went away for that time, but 
 returned in 1797 with similar fatal results. Phlebo- 
 tomy became again the rage, and the doctors still 
 disagreed. Dr. William Currie implored his fellow- 
 citizens to " open their eyes." A Scotch physician, 
 passing through Philadelphia, wrote a long letter to 
 Porcupine's Gazette, in which he argued strongly 
 against this artificial hemorrhage, and declared 
 that the physicians of the city had sunk from a 
 position of eminence to " a condition bordering on 
 contempt." 
 
 But Dr. Rush had other merits, for he was a 
 zealous republican, and a member of the Demo- 
 cratic Society of Philadelphia. He had supported 
 
 larities, &c. : "Treatise on Putrid, Malignant, Infectious Fevers" 
 (London, 1804). 
 
DR. RUSH. 211 
 
 Independence from before the Revolution, and was 
 now one of that set of politicians who opposed 
 Federalism ; and, having thus incurred the dis- 
 pleasure of the British Corporal, that eminent 
 writer resolved to have a fling at the doctor— a 
 matter which was not so difficult, seeing that Rush 
 had already inspired some amount of ridicule on 
 the part of his fellow-citizens. Cobbett's reading 
 enabled him at once to find a parallel to the. 
 zealous phlebotomist " Gil Bias " had already- 
 furnished him with many a happy stroke of humour, 
 and, now that a rash bleeder was to be taken to 
 task, where could be found anything so appropriate 
 as the character of Dr. Sangrado, who would draw 
 from a patient several porringers of blood in one 
 day, who would bleed in a dropsy, who thought 
 bleeding the proper means for supplying the want 
 of perspiration, and who stood alone in his strange 
 opinions ? The picture was complete ; and when 
 to this jest was added the epithet of " quack," 
 besides an insinuation that Dr. Rush killed and 
 tortured with purgatives more patients than he 
 cured, the latter found it necessary to speak out, 
 lest his fame and practice should be irretrievably 
 damaged. 
 
 Besides Cobbett, another editor made himself 
 obnoxious to Dr. Rush. This was Mr. J. W. 
 P 2 
 
212 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1799-1800] 
 
 Fennp, who had succeeded his father in the pro- 
 prietorship of the Gazette of the United States, and 
 who was firing away against bleeding in much the 
 same spirit as Peter Porcupine. Also, " many 
 gentlemen of Philadelphia (not physicians) ex- 
 pressed to me their dread of the practice and their 
 indignation at the arts that were made use of to 
 render it prevalent. They thought, and not with- 
 out reason, that it was lawful, just, and fair to 
 employ a newspaper in decrying what other news- 
 papers had been employed to extol. In fact, I 
 wanted very little persuasion, to induce me to 
 combat the commendations of a practice which I 
 had always looked upon as a scourge to the city in 
 which I lived ; but this practice and the wild 
 opinions of the inventor and his followers really 
 appeared to me to be too preposterous, too 
 glaringly absurd, to merit serious animadversion ; 
 while, therefore, I admitted the sober refutations 
 of those medical gentlemen who thought Rush 
 worth their notice, I confined myself to squibs, 
 puns, epigrams, and quotations from ' Gil Bias.' 
 In ^\^ petite guerre I had an excellent auxiliary in 
 Mr. Fenno, Jun. Never was a paper war carried 
 on with greater activity and perseverance, or 
 crowned with more complete success." 
 
 So, in October, 1797, the fever being at its worst, 
 
" libel:' 213 
 
 Dr. Rush makes the following communication to 
 the Philadelphia Gazette : — 
 
 " Mr. Brown, — Having brought actions against John 
 Fenno, junior, and William Cobbett, for their publica- 
 tions against me in their papers, I request you not to 
 insert anything in your paper which may be offered, in 
 answer to those publications, or in defence of my cha- 
 racter. 
 
 "Benj. Rush." 
 
 Well, this was " libel," certainly. A man who was 
 compelled to ask his friends to desist from repartee 
 must be suffering either in his sensibilities or in 
 his income ; and whatever justification there may- 
 have been, it is always held that a charge of libel 
 can be entertained in such cases. 
 
 The suit against Fenno was never heard of more. 
 Mr. Fenno was an American, although a political 
 opponent. Not so, however, with Peter Porcupine's 
 case ; for there were others behind Dr. Rush who 
 wanted some old scores paid off. But the trial 
 was put off from time to time, until two years had 
 elapsed. 
 
 "At last, on the 13th December, 1799, it was resolved 
 to bring it to an issue. The moment I saw the jury- 
 list, ' Ah,' said I to a friend that happened to be with me. 
 
214 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1799-1800] 
 
 ' the action of Rush is to be tried this time.' — We looked 
 over the list again and again, and, after the most mature 
 consideration, we could find but seven men out of the 
 forty-eight whom we thought fit to be trusted on the 
 trial ; but, as I had the power of rejecting no more than 
 twelve, there were left, of course, twenty-nine whom I 
 disapproved of; and, as every one of these seven was 
 struck oflf by Rush, there remained not a single man on 
 the jury in whose integrity I had the slightest confidence." 
 
 Meanwhile, Peter Porcupine had been for some 
 time considering a plan for removal from Phila- 
 delphia. The Chief Justice M'Kean was a can- 
 didate for governorship of the State, and Cobbett 
 openly stated his determination not to remain, in the 
 case of his election, any longer a resident of Penn- 
 sylvania. The event proved that the Democratic 
 element was the stronger, for M'Kean was elected 
 by a small majority over his Federal opponent. 
 Accordingly, Porcupines Gazette having been dis- 
 continued at the end of October, Mr. Cobbett 
 made preparations for transferring his business to 
 New York. It would almost appear that advantage 
 was wilfully taken of his temporary absence from 
 Philadelphia to bring the cause to an issue ; " it 
 was known that my books, furniture, &c., &c., were 
 already sent off to New York, but I remained ifi 
 the neighbourhood of the city (where I was seen 
 
RUSH V. COBBETT. 215 
 
 every day) in order to be present at the trial, if it 
 should come on. On the 7th of December there 
 was no prospect of the cause being brought to 
 trial ; on the 8th, therefore, I came off for New 
 York, where my affairs required my presence. On 
 the nth, my correspondent wrote me that the 
 cause Was put off to another court ; but the very 
 next day it was all at once resolved to bring it to 
 trial immediately." He attributes this sudden 
 decision to the advertisement in the newspapers, 
 signifying his arrival in New York, and his resolu- 
 tion not to revive his Gazette. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett's leading counsel was Edward 
 TiLGHMAN, a gentleman who had acquired dis- 
 tinction at the bar, and whose name is still re- 
 membered with honour. He had been recently a 
 candidate for representing the state in Congress, 
 but was beaten by John Swanwick, Democrat. Mr. 
 Tilghman took up Cobbett's side co7i amore ; but 
 there is no record of his speech." Claypoole's 
 Advertiser goes so far as to say that " the plead- 
 ings on both sides were lengthy, ingenious, and 
 eloquent," but does not reproduce them. Mr. 
 
 ' It was usual at that time for the offices of attorney and counsel 
 to be united in one person. The practice is not even now discon- 
 tinued ; and there must be some advantages connected therewith 
 which would recommend it in England. 
 
2i6 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1799-1800] 
 
 Harper, however, another counsel for the defendant, 
 is stated by Brown's Gazette to have spoken as 
 though he had a bad cause in hand, and "appeared 
 resolved not to defend it at the sacrifice of his 
 honour and character as a gentleman." The' 
 judge's summing-up has not, likewise, gone into 
 oblivion ; for Mr. Cobbett took pains to preserve 
 it, and it appears among his reprinted American 
 publications. 
 
 The judge (Shippen) dwelt strongly upon the 
 imputation of personal malice, which had been 
 advanced by the prosecution, and urged that no 
 attempt had ever been made to combat the 
 doctor's arguments with regard to the system he 
 had pursued with his fever-patients. To call the 
 plaintiff a quack and an empiric — to charge him 
 with intemperate bleeding, and the injudicious 
 administration of mercurial purgatives, and with 
 "puffing himself off," besides calling him the 
 Samson of medicine, for he had "slain his thou- 
 sands^' — ^was slander, and a pernicious abuse of 
 the liberty of the press. He concluded with re- 
 minding the jury that offences of this kind had, for 
 some time past, too much abounded in the city, 
 and it was high time to restrain them ; and, to 
 suppress so great an evil, it would not only be 
 proper to give compensatory, but exemplary 
 
THE VERDICT. 217 
 
 damages ! Which the jury did, to the tune of five 
 thousand dollars, and to the dismay of the defendant. 
 The court was crowded with the plaintiff's friends, 
 and the announcement of the verdict was received 
 with great applause. Outside there was also much 
 rejoicing, although the newspaper-men heard the 
 news with mingled feelings. They professed to 
 " derive pleasure and satisfaction " therefrom, and 
 behaved very tenderly to each other for several 
 days. Mr. Duane's paper, the Aurora, which had 
 been fifty times as bad as Porcupine's Gazette, was 
 subdued and silent ; its old opponent, the Phila- 
 delphia Gazette ironically observed that " not a 
 single sally of wit or sprightliness, and, what is 
 more surprising, not many lies or much impudence, 
 have appeared in it since this memorable verdict 
 was given. . . . No wonder Master Duane looks 
 pale, &c., &c." But the same paper was somewhat 
 rash to continue in the following strain, referring 
 to Dr. Priestley : — 
 
 "The repose-seeking philosopher of Northumberland 
 [Pennsylvania] will hardly exult at the late verdict He, 
 too, may be the subject of future litigation; and, 
 although his grey hairs should rise in frightful hostility 
 with the infamy of his pen, justice insulted, violated 
 justice, may alight upon the head of the venerable 
 Jacobin." 
 
2i8 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1799-1800] 
 
 In a week or so, however, thepapers recovered their 
 tone ; Brown's Gazette reviled Governor M'Kean ; 
 the Aurora abused the British Embassy ; whilst 
 Mr. Woodward, of 17, Chesnut Street, advertised a 
 full report of the trial, price 2s. g^d. 
 
 As for the benevolent plaintiff, he obtained im- 
 mediate execution ; for the Sheriff was disposing 
 of Mr. Cobbett's goods nine days after the verdict 
 was given.' And Mr. Cobbett himself made 
 further advertisement that he would, in a few days, 
 recommence his bookselling business, at New 
 York, " with an assortment which his late importa- 
 tions from London have rendered even more 
 extensive and elegant than that which he usually 
 kept in Philadelphia." 
 
 The oddest thing of all was, that George Wash- 
 ington departed this life during the time the trial 
 was proceeding, having been bled and purged to 
 
 ' Advertisement from the Aurora of Dec. 24 : — "Philadelphia, 
 Dec. 20, 1 799. — By virtue of a writ of Fieri Facias to me directed, 
 will be sold by public vendue, on Tuesday, the 24th of Dec. inst., 
 at one o'clock in the afternoon, at the house lately occupied by 
 William Cobbett, editor of Porcupine's Gazette, &c. A quantity of 
 books, types and type-boxes, two printing-presses, sundry books in 
 sheets ; also i mahogany desk, i dining do. , i octagon card-table, 
 I walnut book-case, 8 pictures, 14 Windsor chairs, sundry pine- 
 tables and old chairs, 2 writing-desks, and printing-stands. Also a 
 smoke-jack and spit, one ten-plate stove and pipes, &c. Seized 
 and taken in execution as the property of said Cobbett, and sold by 
 Jonathan Penrose, Sheriff." 
 
TALKS OF AN APPEAL. 2 1 9 
 
 death on the Rush system ! According to the 
 medical certificate, published in the New York 
 Daily Advertiser of the 30th of December, several 
 doses of tartar emetic were administered, and up- , 
 wards of forty ounces of blood drawn, between 
 Friday night and Saturday night, the 13th and 14th 
 of that month! The reputed cause of his death 
 was inflammatory sore throat. 
 
 Several letters are extant, written by Cobbett to 
 his counsel, which the biographer is enabled to 
 present to the reader.' The first is dated from 
 Bustleton, a small place (at that date), a few miles 
 out of Philadelphia, where Cobbett had for some 
 time past occasionally dwelt, when business would 
 let him get out into the fields to ruralize, 
 
 Wm. C. to Edward Tilghman (Dec. 9, 1799). 
 
 " Sir, — I am this moment setting off for New York. In 
 case of a decision against me, in both or in either of the 
 cases," you and the other gentlemen will please to remove 
 the causes into the High Court of Errors and Appeal, 
 where I think I shall stand a better chance of justice. 
 If Quack Rush should obtain a verdict for any sum less 
 
 1 Through the courtesy of Mr. William M. Tilghman, a grandson 
 of the great lawyer. 
 
 ' " Both of the cases :" there is no trace of anything to explain 
 this. 
 
220 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1799-1800] 
 
 than four hundred dollars, you tell me, that sum must 
 immediately be paid, — and you will please, sir, to apply 
 in that case to Mr. John Morgan, No. 3, So. Front Street, 
 who will provide the money without delay. If security be 
 wanted, the same gentleman will be my security ; he is 
 worth more than ten times the sum, and will cheerfully 
 pay attention to anything you request of him in my name. 
 The other gentleman, of whom I spoke to you, I could 
 not see, and, as I was obliged to leave town, another 
 friend was necessary to be applied to. All you will have 
 to do will be to give Mr. Morgan timely notice, and 
 explicit instructions, and he will fail in nothing that you 
 may desire him to perform for my service. 
 
 " I am perfectly well assured that, by leaving my 
 causes in such hands, I have taken all the precaution 
 that can be taken ; but if he should finally prevail against 
 me, I shall not be much disappointed; and, let the 
 matter go how it will, I will most honourably discharge 
 every demand my counsellors shall make, and I shall 
 for ever retain a due sense of the obligations I am under 
 to them. — I am, &c." 
 
 The following is dated New York, and was 
 written, apparently, as soon as the news of the 
 verdict came : — 
 
 Wm. C. to Edward Tilghman (Dec. 18, 1799). 
 
 " Sir, — If anything, done by a Philadelphia Court and 
 Jury, could astonish me, the decision in Rush's case cer- 
 
IS ADVISED TO FLEE. 221 
 
 tainly would. It is, liowever, in vain to complain .... 
 My friend North will tell you that I at once resolved not 
 to flee from the worst. It was, doubtless, your anxiety 
 for my welfare that led you to advise me to this step, and, 
 therefore, I sincerely thank you for it, more especially as 
 it was, on your part, a striking proof of disinterestedness ; 
 but, sir, it would never do. No, the republicans may 
 rob me, and probably they will, of everything but my 
 honour, but that is, in these degenerate times, too scarce 
 a commodity to be sold for 5000 dollars. In a sovereign 
 citizen, flight from a writ might be very becoming ; but 
 in me, who have the honour to be an Englishman, and 
 the greater honour to be a subject of George the Third, 
 it would be esteemed a most cowardly and disgraceful 
 act. It would indicate a consciousness of guilt ; it would 
 blast the fair reputation which I have hitherto preserved, 
 and which it is my duty to transmit untarnished to my 
 children. 
 
 " North tells me that you say they wiU come here and 
 seize my body. Blessed be God, the villains cannot 
 seize my soul. Let them come. Imprisonment in such 
 a cause has no horrors for me. Were I to be put to 
 death, I should only share the fate of Roberts and 
 Carlisle. 
 
 " It cannot be many days, ere every man of sense will 
 be convinced that I am not mulcted in this shameful 
 manner for being a libeller, but for being an alien, an 
 Englishman, a royalist, and for having had the ' audacity,' 
 as it is termed, to come into a republican country and 
 swear that I still retained my allegiance to the sovereign. 
 
222 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1799-1800] 
 
 whose paternal arm protected me in my infancy, and 
 nursed me to manhood. This is my great crime ; and 
 that an attempt to ruin me has been made for this, and 
 for this alone, I shall not fail to prove to the conviction 
 of every impartial mind. 
 
 " In the meantime, sir, I earnestly request that you 
 will be pleased to forward me (under cover to Mr. 
 Thomas Roberts, No. 134, Pearl Street, New York) the 
 following papers duly authenticated : — 
 
 " I. A transcript of the declaration. 
 
 " 2. A copy of the petition and affidavit, presented for 
 the purpose of removing the cause into the Federal Court, 
 with the decision of the Court hereon. 
 
 " 3. A transcript of the judgment, as soon as 
 recorded. 
 
 " 4. A minute of the motion (which North says you 
 will make) for a new trial, with the decision hereon. 
 
 "5. A list of the jury. 
 
 " From the account I have received from my friend 
 North, I think myself under great obligations to you for 
 your exertions in my behalf. I ' wish I could say the 
 same with respect to the conduct of Mr. Harper. — I am, 
 &c." 
 
 Wm. C. to E. TiLGHMAN (30//% Dec). 
 
 " Sir, — I wrote you some time ago, but have as yet 
 received no answer, which I impute to the time which it 
 requires to get the papers. I now take the liberty to 
 trouble you for advice on the following points : — 
 
 " I. Morgan was in advance to me in a much greater 
 
WILL NOT BUDGE AN INCH. 223 
 
 sum than all the property in his hands amounts to. 
 Cannot he dispose of that property before the Court 
 meets ? 
 
 "2. By now selling my debts (in Pennsylvania) to 
 some one here, cannot the person whom I sell them to 
 have them collected there, without being subject to any 
 annoyance ? 
 
 " 3. Having an article of considerable value in Penn- 
 sylvania, suppose I sell it to some one here, cannot this 
 person go and claim it and bring it away (if he finds it 
 not already attached) without accounting for it to any 
 one? 
 
 " I mean not to budge an inch, but to stand and face 
 everything that can be done against me ; and the more 
 injustice that is committed against me, the better I shall 
 like it ; but I want to hamper them as much as possible, 
 in order to obtain as many facts against them as I can 
 get. 
 
 " They have not brought Fenno's affair to trial, you 
 see ! But he is not an Englishman; he is a citizen ; he 
 has not avowed his allegiance to King George. 
 
 " I hear that the rascally sovereign people hissed you 
 while you were pleading on my behalf; you, undoubtedly, 
 understood this as a very high compliment, and trust 
 that the day will yet come when you will have no need 
 to be afraid of such base miscreants. 
 
 " Be assured that, though I may be embarrassed a little 
 for a few months (by being obliged to be prepared for 
 the worst), I will not fail to discharge to the full every 
 demand you may have against me. My business here is 
 
224 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1799-1800] 
 
 very flourishing, and my reception, in every respect, 
 forms a striking contrast with what I experienced at 
 Philadelphia. In hopes of hearing from you soon, — I 
 remain, &c." 
 
 E. TiLGHMAN to Wm. C. 
 
 "I have yours of yesterday. My answer to your 
 other letter is in the post-ofBce, and was written imme- 
 diately on the receipt of it. 
 
 " I. Mr. Morgan may pay himself out of any partner- 
 ship property, for whatever he is in advance to you in 
 consequence of such partnership. Other property of 
 yours in his possession, and not appropriated by you to 
 the payment of him, is liable to attachment, unless he 
 turns it into money and carries it to his own credit before 
 an attachment comes. 
 
 "2. A bon&-fide sale for a full consideration of your 
 debts in Pennsylvania to a person in New York will 
 certainly be good. Such person may compel your 
 debtors to pay the money to him, unless an attach- 
 ment has been laid in the hands of the debtor previously 
 to such sale. 
 
 " 3. What has been said (2) applies to the third query. 
 It is to be understood that the sale must be a real one, 
 for a full value, and not with intention to defeat a creditor 
 of his debt. A court and jury will judge what was the 
 intention. 
 
 " I do not believe I was hissed by the gods. Such 
 gods I have never either feared or worshipped, from my 
 youth upwards, nor shall my grey hairs be disgraced by 
 
DAMAGES AND COSTS. 225 
 
 either. There was a clap when the verdict was given. 
 It was rather a faint one, and the court declared its dis- 
 approbation of it. — I am, &c." 
 
 Mr. Cobbett was not ruined by the verdict. The 
 enforced sale of the few effects left in Philadelphia 
 fetched a trifling sum ; and was the cause of un- 
 necessary annoyance, in that a large quantity of 
 newly-printed matter, in sheets, was thus disposed 
 of at a sacrifice. But the damages ' were discharged 
 by voluntary subscription. 
 
 " The decision was, in America, regarded as unjust ; 
 and, that I was regarded as a person most grossly injured, 
 was fully proved by the offer that was made me at New 
 York, to pay the damages in my stead. This offer I did 
 not accept of, a similar offer having been before made by 
 some of my own countrymen in Canada and the United 
 States, of which offer I had accepted." 
 
 The expenses of the trial, however, were some 
 three thousand dollars more ; and this liability 
 hampered his efforts for a time. But Mr. Cobbett 
 seems, at the end of the year, to have begun to 
 think of revisiting England, at least for a time. 
 The following (unpublished) letter is evidently 
 written in haste, in reply to one from London : — 
 
 ' According to Duyckinck, Dr. Rush is said to have distributed 
 the 5000 dollars amongst the poor (i. 294). 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
226 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1799-1800] 
 
 «Wm. C, New York, 
 to John Wright, Bookseller, Piccadilly (Jan. 4, 1800). ' 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I have but two moments to tell you of a 
 very infamous affair. You heard, about two years ago, 
 of a villainous quack, by the name of Rush, having sued 
 me for scandal. The trial has been studiously put off 
 till since I came here, and the villains have sentenced 
 me to pay 5000 dollars damages ! Never mind. They 
 cannot ruin me, while I have my soul left in me. Be not 
 uneasy. We have given bail here, where I have good 
 friends. They will get the money from us in April next. 
 I shall, if I live, be in London in June. You will have 
 many things from me next packet. Washington is dead. 
 Adieu. 
 
 " P.S. — When you tell Mr. Gifford this news, assure 
 him that I am not cast down. I will fight as I retreat to 
 the very water's edge. North and the things came safe. 
 Another packet is in, and will leave this in about two 
 weeks. Then you will get the things that I am pre- 
 paring. Continue my monthly supply, but confine your- 
 self in your letters to mere matters of business. The 
 Wodrop Sims is not yet arrived, and, of course, I have 
 not those things. I shall leave an agent here, and a 
 good one ; a good, honest Englishman. Expect to hear 
 from me next packet, and to receive several valuable 
 things, with the plan of my future operations." 
 
 From the energy with which Cobbett was laying 
 the foundation of a new business in New York, one 
 is inclined to believe that he did not meditate a 
 
AT NEW YORK. 227 
 
 permanent return to England. Sundry advertise- 
 ments appear, which show that he was desirous of 
 extending his American connexion. But the idea 
 of resuscitating Porcupines Gazette was finally 
 abandoned, and a farewell number was distributed 
 to the subscribers in January, 1800, in which he 
 gave an account of recent events, and of his plans 
 for the future. In February, he commenced a new 
 periodical under the name of the Rushlight, which 
 was much relished by the public, and had a very 
 large sale.* This was, however, a not very credit- 
 able publication, being so full of the editor's 
 personal grievances against the Philadelphians that 
 there was scarce room for anything else. 
 
 In point of fact, the severity of the verdict upset 
 Mr. Cobbett ; he did not recover his equanimity 
 again. The invitations from England, to come 
 home, were pressing ; there seemed to be far 
 better prospects for him here, and it is probable 
 that he found a good deal in New York to make 
 him dissatisfied with his equivocal position as a 
 Royalist. 
 
 One of the great plans, interrupted by the 
 
 breaking up of his Pennsylvanian business, was a 
 
 collected edition, of his American writings. As 
 
 far back as February, 1799, Cobbett had issued a 
 
 * Vide Duyckinck, i. 294, art. Rush. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1799-1800] 
 
 prospectus, announcing the republication of "a 
 new, entire, and neat edition of PORCUPINE'S 
 Works," and its preparation was going on during 
 the whole of that year.^ But the seizure of his 
 goods, by order of the sheriff, included the prin- 
 cipal portion of this new " edition," in sheets ; and 
 all this was sacrificed. An announcement, there- 
 fore, appears on the cover of Rushlight, No. II., 
 that Porcupine's Works would be published, in 
 London. 
 
 Orders for English books were invited, and 
 subscription lists opened for the leading maga- 
 zines and periodicals, during the early part of the 
 
 ^ A copy of the original circular has fallen into the hands of the 
 present writer. It is dated Feb. 5th, 1799. The volumes were 
 expected to reach sixteen in number, and the price (to subscribers) 
 was to be twenty dollars, or four and a half guineas. The following 
 extracts from this prospectus will give some idea of the extent to 
 which Cobbett's writings had been already circulated : — 
 
 " Of each pamphlet, published under my assumed name of Peter 
 Porcupine, about six thousand copies, upon an average, have been 
 printed and sold in America, The sale of those which have been 
 honoured by a republication in England has probably been much 
 greater. All of them, I believe, have passed through three or four, 
 and some, in an abridged state, have attained to ten, twelve, and 
 even seventeen editions. ... As to the Gazette, such has been the 
 increasing demand for it that, though for a long time I laid by a 
 hundred files for sale, I can at this moment make up but three com- 
 plete for the first year. Thus situated, the orders which I have 
 received from all parts for complete ssts of the pamphlets and com- 
 plete files of the paper have been a mortification to me rather than a 
 pleasure," &c. 
 
WILL RETURN TO ENGLAND. 229 
 
 year. But it was quite clear that Porcupine was 
 finding himself out of his element. The loss of his 
 immediate neighbours helped to unsettle him, and 
 his best friends were left behind in Philadelphia. 
 That he was making money, and getting a business 
 together once more, is evident from the following 
 note. 
 
 "Wm. C. to John Wright, London (May 9, 1800). 
 
 " Dear Sir,— I have had the good luck to be able to 
 fulfil my intention of making you another remittance by 
 this packet (which is to sail to-night) in good bills of 
 exchange, which I enclose in this letter, to the amount of 
 93/. 9^^. /^\d. sterling. I have written you a good deal 
 this time, but I cannot .... [torn] without once more 
 requesting you not to forget our order, because .... 
 pends upon its immediate execution. I remain, &c. 
 
 " P.S. — If I have not mentioned Welds Travels in my 
 order, send twenty of them, neatly bound." 
 
 However, in the course of this month Mr. Cob- 
 bett issued a farewell address to the American 
 public ; and, on the ist of June, set sail for England, 
 taking Halifax on his way. 
 
 It was not many years before Cobbett found 
 that his affections were bound up in transatlantic 
 memories. And, although he despised republi- 
 
230 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1799-1800] 
 
 canism to the last day of his life, he very soon 
 came to admire much of the American character, 
 and to follow with deep interest the fortunes of the 
 republic. A few short years after this date his ex- 
 perience of mankind was getting riper; and his 
 political education was beginning to, enlighten his 
 mind concerning those objects which are most worth 
 the struggles of a people. 
 
 In a letter to the people of the United States of 
 America, February, 1803, he says, — 
 
 " With some few exceptions, I have long forgiven and 
 forgotten all the injuries, with which the worst of you, in 
 your folly and your madness, endeavoured to load me; 
 while, on the other hand, I cherish the remembrance of 
 all those acts of indulgence and of friendship which I 
 have, in greater abundance than any other person, ex- 
 perienced at American hands If no man ever had 
 
 more enemies, no one ever had half so many friends, and 
 these the warmest and most sincere. Never, therefore, 
 does America, and Pennsylvania in particular, come 
 athwart my mind unaccompanied with the best wishes 
 for their prosperity and happiness." 
 
" MY FAME HAD PRECEDED ME." 231 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " MY FAME HAD PRECEDED ME." 
 
 The reader is probably aware, that your " public- 
 instructor " who, at the close of the last century, 
 essayed to lead his fellow-men, had no hold upon 
 the daily press. An occasional jerky paragraph, 
 or covert insinuation, was all that the newspaper 
 ventured upon, when its feelings impelled it to 
 break through the traditions of its calling. Indeed, 
 things were changing at this period, although not 
 so extensively in London as in France and in 
 America ; but the self-constituted leaders of public 
 opinion were, as yet, restricted to the pamphlet, or 
 to the periodical review. The student of history 
 will notice, at least as regards the last quarter of the 
 eighteenth century, that current opinion on politics 
 is fully represented only in these journals. Their 
 influence, however, speedily waned soon after the 
 commencement of the nineteenth century; and, 
 
232 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-1800] 
 
 although the popular review, weekly or monthly, 
 still supposes itself in the van, in our own days, its 
 thoughts and ideas are appropriated, and often 
 superseded, on the morrow of their publication. 
 
 The " Monthly Review," redolent of GOLDSMITH 
 and of Griffiths ; the " British Critic," and the 
 " Gentleman's Magazine," of high Tory principles : 
 and the "Analytical Review," organ of modern 
 enlightenment, — were the principal publications of 
 this kind, which had the ear of the public, at the 
 period of our history. And we shall be unable to 
 proceed properly with the study of Mr. Cobbett's 
 life, without having first traced, from these sources, 
 the rise and progress of his reputation, ere his 
 return to England. 
 
 The " Observations on Dr. Priestley's Emigra- 
 tion," appears to have been reprinted in London 
 immediately after its publication in Philadelphia. 
 Matters were especially troublesome to the ministry 
 just then, and the partisans of loyalty eagerly, 
 frantically, seized upon anything new, in the shape 
 of argument or of declamation, with which to bind 
 up their rotting timbers. Yet, mark the wonderful 
 inconsistency of human affairs ! The author of 
 this poor plank, groping after political justice 
 (according to his light), was also the author, or part 
 author, of a pamphlet which was said to be doing 
 
HIS RE VIE WERS. 233 
 
 infinite mischief among the soldiers and sailors, 
 — a pamphlet against which, at this very time, they 
 were actually writing and printing loyal antidotes. 
 The " British Critic," then, appears to have been 
 the first to draw public attention to the new writer. 
 The number for November, 1794, dedicated several 
 pages to a review of the " Observations," beginning 
 with these appropriate remarks : — 
 
 " We sometimes elevate a pamphlet, on account of its 
 importance, to a rank among our primary articles, and 
 this honour is peculiarly due to a stranger, who comes 
 forward to give his decision as an umpire, on points 
 wherein the passions of Englishmen may be supposed 
 sufficiently interested to bias their judgment. Of this 
 nature is the acute and well-written American pamphlet 
 here announced, in which the author, while he addresses 
 himself to Dr. Priestley, as a new settler in the country, 
 speaks very forcibly on many subjects respecting England 
 and its public sentiments and conduct. We do not, 
 therefore, consider the tract as an attack on an individual, 
 but as a decision upon principles." 
 
 The writer proceeds to express his opinion that 
 the pamphlet is indeed of American origin, and not 
 fabricated in London. He considers the fable of 
 the pot-shop [introduced into the Observations, 
 being an account of the various articles in a 
 crockery-shop, some formed to honour and others 
 
234 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-1800] 
 
 to dishonour, falling out with each other, and hav- 
 a general smash] as "strongly in the style of 
 Swift." He concludes with a pious hope that the 
 time was coming when, to " excite discontent and 
 rebellions against government will be universally 
 considered as a crime too atrocious to be palliated 
 by any speciousness of theory." 
 
 The " Gentleman's Magazine " followed suit in 
 its number for January, 1795. 
 
 The "Monthly Review," well-known for the 
 flexibility of its opinions, was just then on the side 
 of toleration, and considered that there could be 
 no justification for such abuse of Dr. Priestley ; it 
 did not admire the vulgar fable of the pitcher 
 haranguing the pans and jordans; and concluded : — 
 
 "We have no doubt that London has the honour of 
 being the native place of this production ; although it is 
 pretended, at the bottom of the title-page, that it was 
 originally printed at Philadelphia." 
 
 The notice taken of the " Observations," on the 
 part of the "Analytical Review," was in a tone 
 of the severest condemnation. The writer, also 
 considering that this was no American production, 
 but " engendered at home in some murky brain," 
 justly remarked that it was unfair to continue the 
 persecution of Dr. Priestley, after he had left his 
 
HIS REVIEWERS. 235. 
 
 native shores. With much ingenuity, the writer pro- 
 ceeded to point out that no American would extol 
 the English constitution, nor speak of reformers as 
 regenerated politicians, nor display such jealousy 
 for the Church of England, nor discourage the 
 emigrating spirit, — as the author of the "Obser- 
 vations " had done ; and he proceeds to insinuate 
 that George Chalmers must be the culprit : — 
 
 " From the similarity of spirit and style, which we 
 observe between this production and Oldys's ' Life of 
 Thomas Paine,' were we to indulge ourselves in conjec- 
 ture, we should conclude these two pieces to have come 
 from the same pen. But, whoever be the author of such 
 gross scurrility, and malignant calumny, it is much to be 
 wished that he were known to the public, that every 
 honest man might be able to say to his neighbour, — 
 " Hie niger est : hunc tu, Romane, caveto." 
 
 The " Critical Review," another respectable " de- 
 fender of morality and taste," did not condescend to 
 notice Peter Porcupine for several years ; and it was 
 not tilt October, 1798, that the " Observations " (4th 
 Edition) found occupation for its discriminating 
 pen, — the reviewer having taken up this pamphlet 
 " to observe scurrility throwing off all disguise." 
 
 Of all these public guides, the "Analytical" 
 appears to have possessed the most talent, and the 
 
236 WILLIAM COBBETT. [i 794-1800] 
 
 " Monthly " to have been the most independent ; 
 but all were, more or less, ranged on party lines. 
 According to the political leanings of each writer, 
 so would go his indulgence toward Peter's forcible 
 expressions, or his contempt for Peter's vulgar 
 comparisons. 
 
 The " Bone to Gnaw," when republished in 
 London, was supported by a long preface : " A 
 Rod for the Backs of the Critics, containing a 
 Historical Sketch of the present state of pohtical 
 criticism in Great Britain, as exemplified in the 
 conduct of the Monthly, Critical, and Analytical 
 Reviews, &c. Interspersed with anecdotes. By 
 Humphrey Hedgehog.' 'Melius non Tangere.'" 
 The Historical Sketch (so-called) was a general 
 attack on revolutionary principles, and their sup- 
 porters in the press, — with especial reference to 
 the publications named, which had " reviewed, or 
 to speak more correctly, reviled " the " Observa- 
 tions." It is not particularly elegant ; and as to 
 any power, it is milk-and-water against strong ale, 
 compared with the work to which it is prefixed. 
 But that was the conceit of this Hedgehog ; who, a 
 feeble scarabaecide, had just wit enough to fancy 
 that his little spines gave him a sort of relationship 
 to him of the quills. 
 
 " I.e. John Gilford. 
 
HIS REVIEWERS. 237 
 
 Peter Porcupine was more fortunate in the ad- 
 vocacy of the " British Critic." That journal, 
 albeit highly prejudiced, was a formidable oppo- 
 nent of the ideas of the day. Intense horror 
 of infidelity, united to warmest loyalty to the 
 Throne and to the Church, pervaded all its articles. 
 It is no wonder, then, that the editor of this review' 
 made it his business to patronize the trenchant 
 pen of Peter. On the occasion of noticing "A 
 Little Plain English/' the writer records the 
 struggles he has had, to maintain that the new 
 politician was from America, — how " We " were 
 assailed, both in public and private, for "our" 
 supposed credulity. And when the " Life and 
 Adventures " appeared, the satisfaction of the re- 
 viewer was complete. He continued, from time 
 to time, to congratulate himself and the public 
 that he had been the first to discover Peter's 
 merits ; and was by no means disposed to lose 
 sight of him. 
 
 "&' 
 
 " They who chose at that time to doubt of his exist- 
 
 ' The British Critic was the joint undertaking of Archdeacon 
 Nares and the Rev. William Beloe, Prebendary of St. Paul's. 
 Both these gentlemen were staunch supporters of Pitt, and received 
 their due reward in this. life. They were also accomplished biblio- 
 graphers and literary students, and rendered great service to literary 
 history. The British Critic lived far into the nineteenth century. 
 
238 WILLIAM COBBETT. [i 794-1800] 
 
 ence, would be very glad, if they could, to disprove it 
 now; but to their annoyance, and to the vexation of all 
 Jacobins, he undoubtedly exists ; and has done more 
 towards the subversion of the French interest in America, 
 and consequently towards restoring the ancient cordiality 
 between that country and Great Britain, than could 
 possibly have been expected from the efforts of any 
 single writer. Truth, — Truth was with him ; and what 
 can long subsist against the powers of Truth and 
 Honesty?" &c., &c. 
 
 As to his style, the reviewer is indulgent : — 
 
 " That this writer is occasionally a little coarse in his 
 style and expressions, cannot be denied; but, perhaps, 
 he could not easily attain more refinement except at the 
 expense of some strength; his object also appears to be 
 to write in a popular and familiar manner." 
 
 On the other hand, the independent and radical 
 reviewers noticed Peter with severe animadver- 
 sions : — " To look into the writings of this author 
 iox facts would be a waste of time." — " We meet 
 with a strange farrago of petulance, abuse, false 
 reasoning, and absurdity, into which it would be 
 disgusting to enter." — "Absurd comments, gross 
 misrepresentations, and impudent attacks, both 
 upon the dead and the living." — "A writer so weak 
 and infatuated as Peter Porcupine." 
 
HIS REVIEWERS. 239 
 
 But it must be said, that these despisers of Peter 
 had little of argument wherewith to withstand 
 him. His positions were generally just, though 
 sometimes exaggerated ; and his violence was 
 thoroughly consistent from beginning to end, — 
 excepting in this : that he as yet knew nothing 
 of the wicked oppressions which were going on, 
 in some quarters, at home. The "Analytical" 
 justly called him to account for his unfortunate 
 allusions to the freedom of the press in England : — 
 "He complains that he was allowed only an hour 
 and a half to go out and iind bail. Here, under a 
 similar prosecution, he might have been arrested, 
 and detained for several days, until his Majesty's 
 servants found time to inquire into the securities 
 offered:" with further comparisons of the American 
 and English procedures, very disadvantageous to 
 the latter. But this is almost a solitary example 
 of fair argument ; and it looks very much, upon a 
 reperusal of the various comments which appeared 
 from time to time, that it was only a question 
 of the richness of one's vocabulary, as to who could 
 be the most foul-mouthed in dispute. 
 
 But, seeing that sober and respectable Sylvanus 
 Urban could uphold Peter thus : " This lively 
 and animated writer, offensive to some of our 
 brethren because he tells the truth." — " Concerning 
 
240 WILLIAM COBBETT. [17 94-1 800] 
 
 the writer as the truest patriot in his own country, 
 and the truest friend to honesty and integrity." — "If 
 the mercenaries in England and their employers 
 can confute these just and animated assertions, we 
 will give them leave to heap harsher abuse than 
 they have yet done on their natural enemy, Peter 
 Porcupine : " — we may be fully justified in be^ 
 lieving that his vigour and courage were admired, 
 on all hands, not less by his adversaries than by 
 his friends. As long as he appeared to support a 
 Party this was natural enough ; they could not do 
 less, at the same time, than attack him with all 
 the force at their disposal. 
 
 There does not appear to be any record of the 
 actual, direct, means by which Porcupine^s writings 
 were introduced to the British public. The earlier 
 tracts were printed for John Stockdale, and for the 
 Rivingtons. The " Life and Adventures " are said 
 to have been republished at the express desire 
 of Mr. Canning ; it is probable, therefore, that it 
 is due to the zeal and acumen of Mr. John Gifford,' 
 
 ' This gentleman (whose original name was John Richards 
 Green) had got rid of his patrimony, with the assistance of the Jews, 
 at an early age. To avoid his creditors, he toojc the surname of 
 Gifford ; and, having discovered acuteness and talent in writing, he 
 soon found himself under the wing of Pitt, and became one of that 
 statesman's ablest supporters in the press. Having been bred to the 
 bar, -Mr. Pitt was enabled to reward his services by the magistracy 
 of a London police-court, which he held for many years. Gifford 
 
ANTI-JACOBIN FRIENDS. 241 
 
 that Cobbett's writings were discovered to be of 
 incalculable value to the supporters of monarchy. 
 Mr. Gifford was Canning's right-hand man, as 
 editor. On the upper floor of the house of Mr. 
 Wright, publisher, of Piccadilly, a room was rented 
 by the celebrated contributors to the " Anti- 
 Jacobin ; " and here sat Mr. Gifford, conducting the 
 mechanical part of that undertaking. Mr. Upcott, 
 Wright's assistant, was here occupied in tran- 
 scribing the writings of Canning, Frere, and Ellis, 
 so that their incognito might be preserved. And 
 Mr. Wright's bookshop was the constitutional 
 book-shop of the day. 
 
 So it came to pass that Mr. Gifford wrote a 
 lengthy preface to " A Bone to Gnaw " (as already 
 mentioned), and henceforward attended to the 
 reproduction of Porcupine's tracts, which were, of 
 course, published at the shop of the monarchical 
 bookseller, at 169, Piccadilly. After the "Anti- 
 Jacobin" was discontinued, Mr. Gifford commenced 
 the pubhcation of the " Anti-Jacobin Review ;" 
 which, supported by Bowles,^ Whitaker, Dr. Bisset, 
 
 wrote, besides several other historical works, a biography of his 
 distinguished patron : — " A History of the Political Life of the Right 
 Honourable WHliam Pitt, including some Account of the Times in 
 which he lived" (3 vols. 4to, London, 1809). 
 
 < John Bowles, barrister, was the author of several anti-gallican 
 pamphlets. In one of these he warmly praises the author of " The 
 
 VOL. I. R 
 
242 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1794-1800] 
 
 and other Tory writers of the day, became the 
 leading party journal during the remainder of Mr. 
 Pitt's career. The very first article in the new- 
 magazine was an elaborate review of Cobbett's 
 anti-republican struggles, founded upon one of his 
 later tracts; and it was succeeded, from time to 
 time, by frequent references to "this staunch 
 friend of social, order." The second volume bears 
 the imprint of " W. Cobbett, Philadelphia." 
 
 Another celebrity of that day, John Heriot,' 
 editor of the Tnie Briton, had some interchange 
 of civilities with Cobbett, the latter having desired 
 him to supply his paper regularly to Philadelphia. 
 Here is an extract from Heriot's answer to the 
 application : — 
 
 " Permit me now, sir, to return you my best acknow- 
 ledgments for the numbers of your political work, which 
 you did me the favour to transmit. Of the great merits 
 
 Bloody Buoy," wlio had executed a " useful and benevolent, though 
 a most painful and disgusting task." 
 
 ' Mr, Heriot was a Scotchman of greai native ability. He had 
 held a commission in the Marines, and subsequently produced a 
 novel and some poems. When the Pitt Ministry resolved to set up 
 a newspaper, the Sun and the True Briton were established, and 
 Mr. Heriot was chosen editor, and under his management the 
 papers soon reached a brilliant circulation. After his retirement 
 from the press, Mr. Heriot held a valuable appointment in Bar- 
 badoes, and subsequently became Comptroller of Chelsea Hospital, 
 where he died in 1833. 
 
SUNDRY PROJECTS. 243 
 
 of Peter Porcupine I was not before ignorant. I had 
 read some of his political works with very high satis- 
 faction. I shall be at all times happy, sir, through the 
 medium of my papers (for I am proprietor of two), to 
 recommend writings so deserving to the notice of the 
 British pubUc, and you will, perhaps, admit I can do this 
 with some success, when I inform you that the circu- 
 lation of my two papers extends to nearly 6000 per day. 
 I had an opportunity lately of making some inquiries 
 respecting you of a gentleman in my office here, and who 
 formerly held a high diplomatic mission in America. He 
 seemed to know you well, and spoke very highly both of 
 your probity and talents. I have only to repeat, sir, that 
 I shall think myself highly honoured by your corre- 
 spondence, and you may at all times rely upon the best 
 wishes and services of, sir, your most obedient, humble 
 servant, John Heriot." 
 
 From a letter to Mr. Nichols, printed in the 
 "Gentleman's Magazine" for September, 1835, it 
 appears that Cobbett also sought business relations 
 in that quarter. The letter (dated August i, 1797) 
 encloses a file of Porcupinis Gazette, and pro- 
 poses to have a monthly exchange of their respec- 
 tive publications ; adding that the w^riter would be 
 willing to promote the sale of the " Gentleman's 
 Magazine " in America, if he could come to any 
 arrangement with his correspondent. 
 
 The following (unpublished) letter to Mr. T. J. 
 R 2 
 
244 WILLIAM COBBETT. [i 794-1800] 
 
 Mathias ° will also be of great interest to the 
 reader, as tending to show the authoritative posi- 
 tion which he had acquired as a bookseller and 
 publisher : — 
 
 "Wm. C. to the Author of 'The Pursuits of Lite- 
 rature : ' — 
 
 "Philadelphia, 12th Mar. 1799.— Sir,— The 'Trans- 
 lation,' with your obliging note in the blank leaf, is come 
 safe to hand. Nothing that I can address to you can 
 possibly be looked upon as flattery ; you will therefore 
 be assured of my sincerity when I say that a testimony 
 of approbation under the hand and seal of the king him- 
 self could not have given me greater satisfaction. 
 
 "Your matchless poem on the pursuits of literature is 
 become very fashionable in the libraries of the Americans; 
 and, amongst my ' public services,' as you are pleased to 
 think them, I regard my having been the first to intro- 
 duce this work as one of the greatest. But neither your 
 awful voice nor that of an angel, were one to descend, 
 can save America from another revolution ! Your words 
 will, indeed, be like bread thrown upon the waters; but 
 they will produce no immediate effect here. 
 
 " It is with much regret I see the pirating booksellers of 
 Ireland carrying offthe profits which, from this country, 
 ought to return into the pocket of your bookseller. They 
 send out cheap editions, by which means they obtain a 
 
 * From a collection of letters received by the publisher of " The 
 Pursuits of Literature," which was formerly in the possession of 
 Mathias, and now in the British Museum (Addl. MSS. 22,976). 
 
GOVERNMENT OFFERS. 245 
 
 preference ; and the worst of the business is, they 
 disgrace the work by pubHshing it incorrectly. 
 
 " If you have seen my papers for a twelvemonth past, 
 you will not require from me any additional proof of my 
 respect ; the file of papers, which I take the liberty to 
 send you, I therefore beg you to receive as mere vehicles 
 of intelligence. Nothing from this country can be a 
 proper return for your present, unless you will have the 
 goodness to regard as such, the unfeigned thanks of, sir, 
 your most obliged, &c." 
 
 Allusion has been made, in a previous page, 
 to the offers made, on the part of the Govern- 
 ment at home, to advance Mr. Cobbett's interests. 
 One of his own frequent references to that sub- 
 ject will help to illustrate the subject of this 
 chapter : — 
 
 " Mr. LiSTON, our minister in America, informed me, 
 in the year 1798, I think it was, that the ministers at 
 home were fully sensible of the obligations due to me 
 from my country, and that, if I would accept of nothing 
 far myself, they wished me to point out any of my rela- 
 tions, in the army or elsewhere, whom they might serve. 
 To which I answered, as nearly as I can recollect, in the 
 following words : — 
 
 " ' As to my relations in the army, I can ask for no 
 promotion for them, because I have no opportunity of 
 knowing whether such promotion would be consistent 
 
246 WILLIAM CdBBETT. [i794--i8ooJ 
 
 with the good of the service ; and, with respect to my 
 relations out of the army, a sudden elevation might, 
 perhaps, be very far from contributing to their happiness, 
 besides which, though it would be my duty to assist them 
 by means of my own earnings, I should not think it just 
 in me to be instrumental in throwing them as a burden 
 upon the nation.' 
 
 " I may now have expressed myself with more perspi- 
 cuity and conciseness than I did then ; but this was the 
 substance of my answer ; and, if I may judge from what 
 I have since witnessed amongst public writers, I must 
 suppose that Mr. Liston was utterly astonished. It should 
 be observed, too, that, if there was a man in the world, 
 through whom such an offer could have had a chance of 
 success, that man was Mr. Liston — a gentleman for whom 
 I entertained a very high respect, and whose conduct 
 constantly evinced that he was not merely a receiver of 
 the public money, but one who had the interest and 
 honour of his king and country deeply at heart. I had 
 been a witness of his zeal, of his real public spirit, of his 
 unremitted attention to his duty, of the great mischiefs 
 he prevented, and of the great good which he did ; and 
 I respected him accordingly ; but neither that respect, nor 
 any other consideration, could induce me to depart from 
 that line of perfect independence which 1 had at first 
 chalked out to myself, and from which I never have, to 
 the best of my recollection, for one moment deviated." 
 
ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND. 247 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 "I RESOLVED NEVER TO BEND BEFORE THEM." 
 
 The Times newspaper for July 8th, 1800, an- 
 nounced, under date of Falmouth, July 4th, the 
 arrival of the Lady Arabella packet from New 
 York, vid Halifax ; adding that, " on the 20th, in 
 lat. 50.30, long. 28.10, she was chased by a large 
 vessel, which gained so much on her that she 
 found it necessary to heave her guns, shot, lumber, 
 &c., overboard, by which means she was consider- 
 ably lightened, and on the following day got so 
 much ahead that the pursuer gave up the chase." 
 Among the passengers, who thus escaped the 
 rigours of a French prison, were " Mr. and Mrs. 
 Cobbet." 
 
 The following note is to Mr. Wright, the book- 
 seller in Piccadilly, dated Falmouth, 8th July : — 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I arrived here, with my family, last Friday, 
 
248 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800] 
 
 by the Lady Arabella packet-boat, and shall set oif for 
 London to-morrow morning, travelling by the way of 
 
 Bath, &c in a post-chaise, with Mrs. Cobbett and 
 
 my two children, so that you may expect to see me in 
 town on Saturday or Sunday next. 
 
 " I have taken the liberty to give a draft on you for 20/. 
 I brought off only 50/. in cash ; and, as I have remained 
 here and at Halifax much longer than I thought there 
 would be any occasion for, I was apprehensive I should 
 fall short. Mr. Pellew, of this place, who, by-the-bye, is 
 a brothee of the gallant Sir Edward Pellew, offered me 
 whatever I might want, and I gave him the above- 
 mentioned draft. Do not fail to accept it, and I will be 
 careful to lodge the cash with you before the time of pay- 
 ment arrives. Indeed, I will do it immediately upon my 
 arrival. 
 
 " Pray make my most respectful compliments to Mr. 
 William Gifford, and believe me, though in haste, your 
 very sincere friend and most obedient servant, 
 
 "William Cobbett. 
 
 "P.S. — That part of my baggage, which I am not able 
 to carry with me, I have sent to a waggon warehouse, 
 directed to your care. I shall, undoubtedly, be in town 
 before it, but if, by some accident, I should be detained 
 longer on the road than the 17th instant, I beg the favour 
 of you to go and claim the things (two trunks, one bale, 
 one deal box, and one band-box) at the Swan-and-two- 
 Necks, Lad Lane." 
 
 Mr. Cobbett's arrival in England was early sig- 
 
" public-money:' 249 
 
 nalized by an opportunity of carrying out his 
 principles, long since determined on, concerning 
 the disposal of the public money : — 
 
 " From my very first outset in politics, I formed the 
 resolution of keeping myself perfectly independent, what- 
 ever difficulty or calamity might be the consequence of 
 it. . . . With the same resolutionin my mind I returned 
 to England. The first opportunity of putting it in prac- 
 tice was in a little matter with which Old George Rose ' 
 had something to do. I had brought home with me 
 books, printed in America, enough to fill a couple of 
 large trm:iks ; and, having been informed by Mr. Pellew, 
 the collector at Falmouth, that as to books not for sale, 
 it was usual, upon an application made to the Secretary 
 of the Treasury, to obtain a remission of the duties, I 
 wrote to Old Rose, informing him of the circumstance, 
 and stating to him the ground upon which my claim was 
 founded. George did not admit the claim ; he made 
 
 • The Right Hon. George Rose, M.P., a Government official, 
 and one of the luckiest sinecurists of Iiis day. His "success" in 
 life aroused, alternately, the ridicule and the wrath of his cotem-— 
 pqraries : — 
 
 "George Rose, Esq., Secretary to the Treasury, &c., &c., &c., 
 &c., &c., &c., &c"— Mathias : " Pursuits of Literature." 
 
 "Greedy: — George Rose's moderation, and not satisfied." — 
 Pigott's " Political Dictionary" (1796). 
 
 " Who in his lifetime held situations worth IO,CX30/. per annum, 
 and whose family, it has been calculated, received in principal and 
 interest, nearly two millions of the public money." — ' ' Black Book ; 
 or Corruption Unmasked" (1820). 
 
 Mr. Rose was, nevertheless, one of the best public servants this 
 country ever possessed. 
 
250 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800] 
 
 some difficulty about it ; but, finding that I had, at once, 
 paid the duty, amounting to about ten pounds, perhaps, 
 he caused it to be notified to me that the money should 
 be returned to me. This offer I would not accept of, 
 not perceiving how, except byway oi 2, Treasury gift, such 
 a return could be made." 
 
 Cobbett has made several references to Mr. 
 Pellew, the collector of customs, who appears to have 
 lodged and entertained him, with much attention. 
 
 Upon his arrival in London, in the middle of 
 July, Mr. Cobbett took a lodging in St. James's 
 Street, and began to deliberate upon his future. 
 He had scarcely, when everything was counted up, 
 five hundred pounds with which to begin the world 
 anew. But he had not to wait long for a certain 
 sort of encouragement. His fame was very widely 
 spread among the adherents of Government ; 
 besides that, numerous gentlemen of Tory prin- 
 ciples sought him out. Others, of independent 
 politics, but admiring his talents and his daring, 
 came to pay court. The Government press hailed 
 him, and congratulated their countrymen " on the 
 arrival of an individual .... whom no corruption 
 can seduce, nor any personal danger intimidate 
 from the performance of his duty." 
 
 Among these visitors were Baron Maseres ; Dr. 
 
WINDHAM AND OTHER FRIENDS. 251 
 
 Ireland (shortly afterwards Dean of Westminster), 
 who was especially gracious to him ; the Rev. 
 G. H. Glasse, rector of Hanwell, a well-known 
 pamphleteer of the day, a good scholar, and chap- 
 lain to the Earl of Radnor ; the Rev. William 
 Beloe ; Mr. John Penn, Sheriff of Buckinghamshire 
 (who " took me by the hand the very week I came 
 to England ") ; &c. So that, along with the im- 
 mediate officials of Government, there was quite 
 enough to turn Mr. Cobbett's head, had he not 
 been possessed of supreme self-command. At that 
 moment, together with his native and acquired 
 capacities, he had the means and the opportunity, 
 if so disposed, of carving out an easy fortune. 
 
 But, of all his admirers, no one seems to have 
 equalled Mr. WiNDHAM, in the warmth and eager- 
 ness with which that gentleman courted Cobbett's 
 friendship. 
 
 The Right Hon. William Windham ("the first 
 gentleman of the age .... the ingenious, the 
 chivalrous, the high-souled," according to one of 
 Macaulay's juster judgments) was an enthusiast ; 
 and, in the eyes of those persons who shrug their 
 shoulders when a man acts as though he had some 
 faith in his own opinions, whimsical. Deeply 
 reverential toward the memory of Mr. Burke, his 
 own genius was not unfitted to bear forth, to an- 
 
252 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800] 
 
 other generatioij, the name and the principles of 
 that great man. Windham was beloved and ad- 
 mired by all persons of refinement and sensibility ; 
 and if he has left a name not so widely known as 
 some of his cotemporaries, it must be laid to the 
 account of an extreme self-consciousness, and an 
 honourable delicacy, which prevented him from 
 serving always in the ranks of party with unreason- 
 ing devotion. 
 
 Mr. Windham's peculiar scare was French Jaco- 
 binism ; and he, along with the leaders of the party 
 who held similar views, thought that there could be 
 no lasting cessation of hostilities with Buonaparte, 
 whilst the ascendancy of the latter involved the 
 spread of Democratic principles. Mr. Windham 
 was, naturally, a zealous admirer of that arch anti- 
 Jacobin, whose writings had so distiirbed the bile 
 of American Democrats ; and, upon Porcupine's 
 arrival in London, he immediately sought his ac- 
 quaintance. With Windham was associated Dr. 
 French Laurence, another intimate friend of the 
 lamented Burke, who also ably represented in Par- 
 liament the opinions of that statesman. 
 
 Mr. Windham was, at this time, Pitt's Secretary- 
 at-War ; and, according to the entry in his diary,' 
 
 ' "Council dinner: Hammond, Canning, Frere, Malone ; Cob- 
 bett, alias ' Peter Porcupine,' wliom I saw for thS first time j Pitt, 
 
DINES WITH THE PREMIER. 253 
 
 he appears to have met Cobbett for the first time 
 on the 7th of August, 1800 (probably at Windham's 
 official residence). Mr. Cobbett's references to this 
 occurrence represent Mr. Pitt as having been very 
 polite to him on the occasion, and as having in- 
 spired him with great admiration for his person 
 and manners. He was altogether pleased and 
 gratified by his reception, and by the ready con- 
 descension with which the company present con- 
 versed with him. But, of course (as he said more 
 than thirty years afterward), "it was natural for 
 Pitt and his set to look at me a little, to see what 
 they could make of so efficient a piece of stuff." 
 Mr. Pitt's habitual austerity and hauteur pretty 
 generally disappeared at the dinner-table ; and 
 Cobbett saw him, for the first time, at one of these 
 happy moments. So that, what with his very 
 natural pride at the invitation, and his satisfaction 
 at finding that the King's ministers were such 
 highly- agreeable fellows, he felt more than ever 
 disposed to use his talents in the support of 
 monarchy. He resolved to set up a daily paper ; 
 and left Mr. Windham's dinner-table with that 
 resolve uppermost in his mind. 
 
 That Mr. Pitt miserably erred, in the prosecution 
 
 and George Ellis ; Canning's cousin^" — "Diary of the Right Hon. 
 William Windham " (Longmans, 1866), p. 430. 
 
254 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800] 
 
 of the European war, has long since been estab- 
 lished, with all minds not wedded to the notion 
 that our rulers are of Divine appointment. What 
 opposition there was to his ideas, in his own day, 
 was considered to proceed only from the partisans 
 of revolution ; and it was easy to apply the term 
 "disaffected" to humanitarians who hated war, or 
 to the suffering poor who wanted bread. But, 
 notwithstanding that the Government expenditure 
 was over fifty millions per annum,^ and that the 
 ordinary expenses of housekeeping had increased 
 300 per cent, in seven years, the war was popular 
 with all classes that had anything to fear from 
 modern doctrines. The political ignorance of even 
 the majority of the House of Commons of that 
 day would put to shame the very students of our 
 time. And it is not too much to say that, had 
 Lord Grenville been anything of a statesman be- 
 yond the name, he would scarcely have treated 
 Napoleon's overtures for peace, made at the close 
 of the year 1799, with mere contempt, and allowed 
 a fair opportunity for a general pacification to pass 
 away because he must have, as a basis, the re- 
 instatement of the Bourbons upon the throne of 
 France. Ministers wanted to come out of the 
 
 ' The total population, at the same time, being less than eleven 
 millions. 
 
THE HE A VEN-BORN MINISTER. 2 5 5 
 
 contest, in point of fact, with GLORY ; and any 
 peace, which did not involve the attainment of the 
 objects with which the war was, professedly, being 
 carried on, was certain also to involve their prestige, 
 if not their places. This may be said without any 
 disparagement to their honour. Mr. Pitt, Mr. 
 Windham, Lord Grenville, — ^all of them and their 
 supporters, honestly believed that their mission 
 was, not only to keep French principles out of 
 England, but to smother them throughout Europe. 
 Sternly, earnestly, they kept to their purpose ; for- 
 getting, or, more probably, never having taken 
 to heart, the prodigious expansion which the 
 eighteenth century had produced in the human 
 mind, and the certainty of its development in the 
 line of liberty ; whilst confounding, in one hetero- 
 geneous estimate, the unstable Gaul, the restless 
 Pole, the high-spirited Celt, and the conservative 
 Briton. 
 
 So Mr. Pitt's supporters in the press, reflecting 
 the fearsome notions of their chief, and dreading, 
 as from the Evil One himself, the faintest breath of 
 democracy, could only regard the "masses" as 
 unfit for more than the mere semblance of political 
 rights. The impossibility of phlegmatic JOHN 
 Bull ever permitting, on his own soil, such follies 
 
2s6 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800] 
 
 and excesses as the French Jacobins had per- 
 petrated never entered their nainds. " Law and 
 Order," as personified in George III. and his 
 ministers, was the only antithesis to " Anarchy." 
 Some of these writers lived to see the perilous 
 consequences of the repressing system ; and a few 
 survived to note the blessings which flowed from 
 general political enlightenment. Some, to the 
 very last, shut their eyes to the inevitable, and 
 could prognosticate only decay ; others, sooner or 
 later, discerned the signs of the times, and served 
 worthily in the van of progress. Of these latter, 
 one of the first, one of the most earnest, one of the 
 bravest, was Mr. William Cobbett. 
 
 And it is not uninteresting to note that, on the 
 very morrow of Mr. Windham's dinner-party, the 
 dimness began to clear away from Cobbett's mind. 
 Better and nobler hopes for the future of England, 
 founded upon something more solid than class- 
 prescriptions, unfolded themselves ; the veil began 
 to part, behind which was hidden the framework of 
 misgovernment alike with the skeletons of its 
 framers ; a glimmer of dawn, the expansion of 
 which was soon to light up a path, so startlingly 
 and unexpectedly distinct from his previous con- 
 ceptions, appeared, — a path, not upon the mossy turf 
 of favour and privilege, leading on to other mossy 
 
SEEING THINGS ANEW. 257 
 
 turves, but one trending up-hill, among stones and 
 briers — which stones would, at last, beaten down 
 into the earth by later footsteps, provide a firm 
 foot-hold — which briers, refreshed by successive 
 showers, would yet emit a sweet and blessed 
 odour ! 
 
 Here is his own account; and the man, or the 
 woman, who can read it without emotion, need 
 scarcely go on with this history : — 
 
 "When I returned to England, in 1800, after an 
 absence from the country parts of it of sixteen years, the 
 trees, the hedges, even the parks and woods, seemed so 
 small 1 It made me laugh to hear little gutters, that I 
 could jump over, called rivers ! The Thames was but a 
 creek ! But when, in about a month after my arrival in 
 London, I went to Farnham, the place of my birth, what 
 was my surprise ! Everything was become so pitifully 
 small ! I had to cross in my post-chaise the long and 
 dreary heath of Bagshot ; then, at the end of it, to 
 mount a hill, called Hungry Hill ; and from that hill I 
 knew that I should look down into the beautiful and 
 fertile vale of Farnham. My heart fluttered with im- 
 patience, mixed with a sort of fear, to see all the scenes 
 of my childhood ; for I had learnt, before, the death of 
 my father and mother. There is a hill, not far from the 
 town, called Crooksbury Hill, which rises up out of a 
 flat, in the form of a cone, and is planted with Scotch 
 fir-trees. Here I used to take the eggs and young ones 
 VOL. I. S 
 
2S8 WILLIAM COBBETT. |i8oo] 
 
 of crows and magpies. This hill was a famous object in ' 
 the neighbourhood. It served as the superlative degree 
 of height yAs high as Crooksbury Hill' meant, with us, 
 the utmost degree of height. Therefore, the first object 
 that my eyes sought was this hill. I could not believe 
 my eyes ! Literally speaking, I, for a moment, thought 
 the famous hill removed, and a little heap put in its 
 stead ; for I had seen, in New Brunswick, a single rock, 
 or hill of solid rock, ten times as big, and four or five; 
 times as high ! The post-boy going down hill, and not 
 a bad road, whisked me in a few minutes to the Bush 
 Inn, from the garden of which I could see the pro- 
 digious sand-hill where I had begun my gardening works. 
 What a nothing ! But now came rushing into my mind, 
 all at once, my pretty little garden, my little blue smock- 
 frock, my little nailed shoes, my pretty pigeons that I used 
 to feed out of my hands, the last kind words and tears 
 of my gentle and tender-hearted and affectionate mother. 
 I hastened back into the room. If I had looked a 
 moment longer, I should have dropped. When I came 
 to reflect, what a change I I looked down at my dress — 
 what a change ! What scenes I had gone through ! 
 How altered my state 1 I had dined the day before at a 
 Secretary of State's in company with Mr. Pitt, and had 
 been waited upon by men in gaudy liveries ! I had had 
 nobody to assist me in the world — no teachers of any sort 
 — nobody to shelter me from the consequences of bad, 
 and no one to counsel me to good, behaviour. I felt 
 proud. The distinctions of rank, birth, and wealth, all 
 become nothing in my eyes ; and from that moment (less 
 
WILL START A PAPER. 259 
 
 than a month after my arrival in England) I resolved 
 never to bend before them." 
 
 The determination to start a daily paper was 
 wise on the part of Mr. Cobbett, as far as his 
 experience in Philadelphia had shown how possible 
 it was for him to entertain a large circle of readers ; 
 but unwise, in that he had scarce capital enough 
 with which to print the numbers for a single week. 
 Yet the opportunity for carrying out his plan 
 without risk was placed at his disposal ; and there 
 are few incidents in Cobbett's whole career which 
 redound so greatly to his credit as the refusal of 
 this offer. The pride with which, in after-years, he 
 told and retold the story, may be estimated very 
 differently by different minds ; but the spirit with 
 which the refusal was made is unexceptionable. 
 There was no other way out of it, if he meant 
 Independence. If glimpses of grandeur had 
 really not contaminated that honest heart, nor 
 weakened the impulses of that patriotic soul, how 
 should he live, and move, and work, and fight, with 
 his hands not free ? 
 
 And this is the story [he is addressing Mr. George 
 Rose] : — 
 
 " John Heriot was at that time the proprietor of two 
 S 2 
 
26o WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800] 
 
 newspapers, called the Sun and the True Briton — the 
 former an evening and the latter a morning paper. I 
 had heard that these two papers had been set on foot by 
 you, who were then one of the Secretaries of the 
 Treasury, and that, when set on foot, the profits of them 
 had been given to Heriot. Now mark, that Mr. Ham- 
 mond, who was then Under-Secretary of State m the 
 Foreign Department, offered to me the proprietorship of 
 one of those papers as a gift; and I remember very well 
 that he told me that this offer was made in consequence 
 of a communication with you, or your colleague Mr. 
 Long, I forget which. This was no trifling offer. The 
 very types, presses, &&, were worth a considerable sum. 
 Mr. Hammond, who was a very honest as well as a very 
 zealous and able man, had behaved with great kindness 
 to me ; had invited me frequently to his house, where I 
 dined, I recollect, with Sir William Scott, with Lord 
 Hawkesbury (now Lord Liverpool), and several other 
 persons of rank ; and, in short, had shown me so much 
 attention, that I felt great reluctance in giving the 
 following answer to his offer : — ' I am very much obliged 
 to you, and to the gentlemen of whom you speak, for 
 this offer ; but, though I am very poor, my desire is to 
 render the greatest possible service to my country, and I 
 am 'convinced that, by keeping myself wholly free, and 
 relying upon my own means, I shall be able to give the 
 Government much more efficient support than if any 
 species of dependence could be traced to me. At the 
 ^me time, I do not wish to cast blame on those who 
 are thus dependent ; and I do not wish to be thought 
 
INDEPENDENCE BEFORE ALL. 261 
 
 too conceited and too confident of my own powers and 
 judgment to decline any advice that you, or any one 
 in office, may at any time be good enough to offer me ; 
 and I shall always be thankful to you for any intelligence 
 or information that any of you may be pleased to give 
 me.' Mr Hammond did not appear at all surprised at 
 my answer ; and I shall always respect him for what he 
 said upon hearing it. His words were nearly these : — 
 ' Well, I must say that I think you take the honourable 
 course, and I most sincerely wish it may also be the 
 profitable one.' I ought not, upon this occasion, to omit 
 to say that I always understood that Lord Grenville, who 
 was then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, was not 
 one of those who approved of the baseness and de- 
 pendence of the press." 
 
 He also ventured to remind Mr. Hammond 
 
 " of the fable of the wolf and the mastiff, the latter of 
 which, having one night, when loose, rambled into a 
 wood, met the former all gaunt and shagged, and said to 
 him, ' Why do you lead this sort of life ? See how fat 
 and sleek I am ! Come home with me and live as I do, 
 dividing your time between eating and sleeping.' The 
 ragged friend having accepted the kind offer, they then 
 trotted on together till they got out of the wood, when 
 the wolf, assisted by the light of the moon, the beams of 
 which had been intercepted by the trees, spied a crease, a 
 little mark, round the neck of the mastiff. ' What is your 
 fancy,' said he, ' for making that mark round your neck? ' 
 
262 WILLIAM COBBETT, [1800] 
 
 ' Oh ! ' said the other, ' it is only the mark of my collar 
 that my master ties me up with.' ' Ties you up ! ' ex- 
 claimed the wolf, stopping short at the same time ; ' give 
 me my ragged hair, my gaunt belly, and Toy freedom ;' — 
 and, so saying, he trotted back to the wood." 
 
 Opportunities for reflecting upon the compara- 
 tive states of dependence and independence 
 crowded apace. He could scarcely turn, among 
 his new circle of friends, without discovering some 
 new Government parasite, some new candidate for 
 ministerial favour, some new ofjfice-hunter or 
 aspiring sinecurist. Mr. Pitt disdained the society 
 of newspaper-people, but was only too willing to 
 pay them for their praises. And it must not be 
 left unnoticed that the practice of liberally re- 
 warding this class of writers has often been justified 
 by circumstances. The case in point, viz. the fight 
 which was going on against democracy, required 
 that the enemy should be fought with his own 
 weapons ; only it very unfortunately happened 
 that all the talent was on the other side, and, 
 where quality was lacking, the fight must needs be 
 kept up with the aid of gold and silver. Mr. 
 Cobbett would, indeed, have been worth buying, if 
 his price could have been named ; while there was 
 a Paine, or a Thelwall, or a Godwin to be with- 
 stood. 
 
ANTI-JACOBIN WRITERS. 263 
 
 The following brilliant and humorous passage of 
 Cobbett's, written in his old age, will complete 
 our illustration of this topic : — 
 
 "At the time of my return, the great Government 
 writers and political agents were John Reeves, who had 
 been chairman of the Loyal Association against Re- 
 publicans and Levellers; John Bowles ; John Gifford ; 
 William Gifford ; Sir Frederick Morton Eden, Bart. ; the 
 Reverend Mr. Ireland, now Dean of Westminster ; the 
 Reverend John Brand ; the Reverend Herbert Marsh, 
 now Bishop of Peterborough; Mallet Du Pan; Sir 
 Francis D'lvemois; and Nicholas Vansittart. These 
 were all pamphlet-writers, supporting Pitt and the war 
 through thick and thin. They, looking upon me as a 
 fellow-labourer, had all sent their pamphlets to me at 
 Philadelphia ; and all of them, except Marsh, Vansittart, 
 and the two Frenchmen, had written to me laudatory 
 letters. All but the parsons called themselves 'Squires 
 in the title-pages of their pamphlets. Look at me now ! 
 I had been bred up with a smock-frock upon my back ; 
 that frock I had exchanged for a soldier's coat ; I had 
 been out of England almost the whole of my time from 
 the age of [twenty]. We used to give in those times the 
 name of 'Squire to none but gentlemen of great landed 
 estates, keeping their carriages, hounds, and so forth : 
 look at me, then, in whose mind my boyish idea of a 
 'Squire had been carried about the world with me : look 
 at me, I say, with letters from four 'Squires and from 
 Reverends on my table ; and wonder not that my head 
 
264 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800] 
 
 was half turned ! Only think of me (who, just about 
 twelve years before, was clumping about with nailed 
 shoes on my feet, and with a smock-frock on my back) 
 being in literary correspondence with four 'Squires, two 
 Reverends, and a Baronet ! Look at me, and wonder 
 that I did not lose my senses ! And if I had remained 
 in America, God knows what might have happened. 
 
 " Luckily I came to England, and 'CcyiXsteadied'axyh.taA 
 pretty quickly. To my utter astonishment and confusion, 
 I found all my 'Squires and Reverends, and my 
 Baronet too — all, in one way or other, dependents on 
 the Government, and, out of the public purse, profiting 
 from their pamphlets. John Reeves, Esquire, who was ' 
 a barrister, but never practised, I found joint patentee of 
 the office of Kin^s Printer — a sinecure worth, to him, 
 about 4000/. a year, which he had got for thirty years, 
 just then begun. John Bowles, Esquire, (also a briefless 
 barrister) I found a Commissioner vf Dutch Property ; and 
 the public recollect the emoluments of that office, as 
 exposed in 1809. John Gifford, Esquire, I found a 
 Police Magistrate, with a pension of 300/. a year besides. 
 William Gififord, Esquire, I found sharing the profits of 
 Canning's anti-Jacobin neswspaper (set up and paid for 
 by the Treasury), and with a sinecure of 329/. a year 
 besides. My Baronet I found with rent-free apartments 
 in Hampton Court Palace, and with what else I have 
 forgotten. My Reverend John Brand I found with the 
 living of St. George, Southwark, given him by Lord 
 Loughborough (then Chancellor), he already having a 
 living in Suffolk. My Reverend Ireland I found with 
 
ANTI-JACOBIN WRITERS. 265 
 
 the living of Croydon, or the expectancy of it, and also 
 found that he was looking steadily at old Lord Liverpool. 
 The Reverend Herbert Marsh I found a pension- 
 hunter, and he soon succeeded to the tune of 514/. a 
 year. Mallet Du Pan I found dead, but I found that he 
 had been a pensioner, and I found his widow a pensioner, 
 and his son in one of the public offices. And Nicholas 
 Vansittart, Esquire, who had written a pamphlet to 
 prove that the war had enriched the nation, I found, O 
 God ! a Commissioner of Scotch Herrings 1 Hey, dear ! 
 as the Lancashire men say j I thought it would have 
 broken my heart ! 
 
 " Of all these men. Reeves and William Gifford 
 were the only ones of talent — the former a really learned 
 lawyer, and, politics aside, as good a man as ever lived 
 ■ — a clever man; a head as clear as spring water; con- 
 siderate, mild, humane; made by nature to be an 
 English judge. I did not break with him on account of 
 politics. We said nothing about them for years. I 
 always had the greatest regard for him ; and there he 
 now is in the grave, leaving, the newspapers say, two 
 hundred thousand pounds, without hardly a soul knowing 
 that there ever was such a man ! The fate of William 
 Gifford was much about the same : both lived and died 
 bachelors ; both left large sums of money ; both spent 
 their lives in upholding measures which, in their hearts, 
 they abhorred, and in eulogizing men whom, in their 
 hearts, they despised ; and, in spite of their literary 
 labours, the only chance that they have of being remem- 
 bered, for even ten years to come, is this notice of them 
 
266 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800] 
 
 from a pen that both most anxiously wished to silence 
 many years ago. Amongst the first things that Reeves 
 ever said to me was : ' I tell you what, Cobbett, we have 
 only two ways here ; we must either kiss, — or kick them ; 
 and you must make your choice at once.' I resolved to 
 kick. William Giflford had more asperity in his temper, 
 and was less resigned. He despised Pitt and Canning 
 and the whole crew; but he loved ease, was timid ; he 
 was their slave all his life, and all his life had to endure 
 a conflict between his pecuniary interest and his con-' 
 science. 
 
 "As to the rest of my ^Squires and other dignified 
 pamphleteers, they were a low, talentless, place-and- 
 pension-hunting crew ; and I was so disgusted with the 
 discoveries that I had made, that I trembled at the 
 thought of falling into the ranks with them. Love of ease 
 was not in me ; the very idea of becoming rich had never 
 entered into my mind ; and my horror at the thought of 
 selling my talents for money, and of plundering the 
 country with the help of the means that God had given 
 me wherewith to assist in supporting its character, filled 
 me with horror not to be expressed," 
 
WILL SUPPORT MR. PITT. 267 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 "I TOOK THE LEAD, IN SINGING THE PRAISES 
 OF PITT," 
 
 Mr. Cobbett's facile pen could not remain com- 
 pletely at rest, whilst the project of a newspaper 
 was yet only in the bud. On the 30th August he 
 issued a sixth (and final) number of the Rushlight, 
 wherein he reviewed the circumstances of his career, 
 and the tenor of his writings in the United States. 
 This fugitive number is not only very temperate in 
 style, but elegant, unless exception be taken to 
 its strong anti-gallican spirit; calling, as it does, 
 \ipon the Americans to shun " all connexion with 
 that den of monsters, France." With reference to 
 his own war-whoop, he says, — 
 
 " I studied the interests of my country. To make the 
 name of Englishmen a friendly sound, to recommend an 
 imitation of our Government, our fashions, our pro- 
 pensities, and finally to make them pay a tribute to 
 
268 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800-1] 
 
 England, through the medium of her manufactures, was 
 the object nearest my heart.'' 
 
 At last, in the course of the ensuing month, an 
 advertisement appeared of the projected news- 
 paper ; and the public were invited to ask for 
 a prospectus at the house of William Cobbett, 
 at No. 18, Pall Mall. It was to be called THE 
 Porcupine, and to appear every morning at the 
 office. No. 3, Southampton Street, Strand. 
 
 The prospectus of the Porcupine was on the lines 
 of anti-Republicanism. The editor confessed that 
 it was with the utmost astonishment and indig- 
 nation that he found a portion of the press endea- 
 vouring to bring down upon his native country the . 
 calamity and disgrace attendant on revolution ; 
 still preaching fanaticism and infidelity, and "still 
 bawling for that change which they have the 
 audacity to denominate Reform." It was not for 
 him to fold his hands and tamely listen to the 
 insolent eulogists of republican governments, who 
 had seen republican officers of state offering to sell 
 their country for a few thousand dollars, who had 
 seen republican judges become felons, and felons 
 become judges, &c., &c. The paper should- be 
 distinctly anti-gallican : — 
 
 " The intrigues of the French, the servile, the insidious, 
 
ANTI-GALLICANISM. 269 
 
 the insinuating French, shall be an object of my constant 
 attention. Whether at war or at peace with us, they still 
 dread the power, envy the happiness, and thirst for the 
 ruin of England. .... Had they the means, they would 
 exterminate us to the last man ; they would snatch the 
 crutch from our parents, the cradle from our children ; 
 and our happy country itself would they sink beneath 
 those waves on which they now flee from the thunder of 
 our cannon. . . . While we retain one drop of true British 
 blood in our veins, we never shall shake hands with this 
 perfidious and sanguinary race, much less shall we make 
 a compromise with their monkey-like manners and tiger- 
 like principles." 
 
 The Porcupine would also resist the mischievous 
 portion of the press, and pay much less regard to 
 the feelings and interests of fanatical and factious 
 booksellers than to the cause of religion and 
 loyalty. The editor held it to be the duty of men 
 in power to employ the pen, as well as the sword, 
 in defence of Government, yet, — 
 
 "The peculiar circumstances, under which I now. 
 come forward, demand from me an expUcit and solemn 
 assertion of my independence. My undertaking is my 
 own ; it was begun without the aid, without the advice, 
 and even without the knowledge, of any person either 
 directly or indirectly connected with the ministry; if, 
 therefore, I hope to yield some trifling support to that 
 ministry, it is not because I have received, or ever shall 
 
270 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800-1] 
 
 receive, any gratification at their hands ; but because 
 I am most sincerely persuaded that, next to the virtues 
 of His Majesty and the general loyalty of his subjects, this 
 country owes its preservation to the wisdom and integrity 
 of Mr. Pitt and his colleagues." 
 
 But all this should never make the Porcupine 
 "the blind instrument of party, the trumpet of 
 indiscriminate applause." The prospectus con- 
 cluded with further references to the writer's long- 
 continued solicitude for the happiness and glory of 
 England. 
 
 The first number of the Porcupine appeared on 
 Thursday, Oct. 30th, and the price was 6d, It 
 bore the motto — Fear God, Honour the King. 
 The proprietor had received five columns of adver- 
 tisements, notwithstanding a previous announce- 
 ment that the " obscene and filthy boastings of 
 quackery" would, on no consideration whatever, 
 be admitted. So the paper had a very fair start. 
 In the third week, the early numbers were being 
 reprinted ; and on the 9th December, the circulation 
 had reached 1500. Also, — 
 
 "The Porcupine cannot boast of being seen in the 
 numerous pot-houses of this metropolis : but we have the 
 superior advantage of being generally read by persons of 
 property, rank, and respectability.^'' 
 
THE LONDON PORCUPINE. 271 
 
 This was probably the case, for \h.^ Anti- Jacobin 
 Review condescended to back up Mr. Cobbett 
 thus : — 
 
 " .... A daily paper, under the title of the Porcupine, 
 has been most deservedly admitted as a desirable appen- 
 dix at the breakfasting-table of every true friend to their 
 king, to their country, and to decency." 
 
 Mr, Pitt's resignation of office, early in 1801, 
 although ostensibly caused by his difference with 
 the king upon the Catholic question, had for its 
 object, more probably, the substitution of a minister 
 who could consistently negotiate with Buonaparte; 
 This was suspected by many ; and it appeared con- 
 clusive, upon the almost incredible announcement 
 that Mr. Addington was to take the helm of affairs. 
 That arch-mediocrity, owing his promotion entirely 
 to royal favour, had filled the Speaker's chair 
 with tolerable- credit, but was without any of the 
 gifts entitling him to rank among statesmen ; and, 
 until it was discovered that Mr. Pitt was still chief 
 wire-puller, the nation could hardly credit the 
 appointment ; and, as far as can now be judged, 
 it was the beginning of a more widely-.spread dis- 
 trust of Pitt. 
 
 The Porcupine had consistently praised the 
 "heaven-born" minister, and continued to do so. 
 
272 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800-1] 
 
 more or less, during its whole career. It began to 
 diverge in opinion on the day of the above an- 
 nouncement. It was high time "for air true 
 Englishmen to rally round the Throne," for the 
 granting of the proposed concessions to the Catho- 
 lics "would undermine and finally overthrow," 
 &c., &c., according to the long-buried tenets of 
 High-Toryism. A few weeks afterward, some 
 sarcasm, directed toward Pitt's paper-financing, 
 appeared, but was disavowed next day by the 
 editor, who had not seen the paragraph before it 
 appeared in print, and who continued to entertain; 
 " in common with a vast majority of the nation, the 
 highest opinion of that gentleman's talents as a 
 financier." Upon a report that Mr. Pitt was 
 intending [July] to sell Holwood, he remarked that 
 " we shall ever continue to think that to suffer a 
 man, who has rendered such services to his country 
 in particular, and to Europe in genera), to feel the 
 consequences arising from a confined income, is to 
 incur a national disgrace." But, by the end of the 
 year, Mr. Cobbett was in opposition, along with 
 the new party under Mr. Windham's leadership. 
 
 Before dismissing the Porcupine newspaper, the 
 reader will be entertained with a few characteristic 
 illustrations. The editor very early began to dis- 
 
THE LONDON PORCUPINE. 273 
 
 play his pugnacity toward the opposition press. 
 Not that he was singular, but that he excelled all 
 his cotemporaries . in the art of hitting straight 
 when attacked. The newspapers: of that day were 
 largely occupied in throwing dirt at one another;' 
 and one column was often taken up by a string of 
 paragraphs, containing laboured sarcasms directed 
 toward public men or the other public prints. The 
 True Briton was especially industrious in this way. 
 But here is Porcupine : — 
 
 "The Detector. — Under this title, it is our intention 
 to devote a column or two of our paper, once a week at 
 least, to the detecting and exposing of the ignorance, per- 
 verseness, and falBehood of the Jacobinical and stock- 
 jobbing prints, which, to the great scandal and reproach 
 of the nation, are not only tolerated, but read. From 
 our experience, acquired in a country where the spirit of 
 Jacobinism is, if possiblfej stilt more daring and violent 
 than in England, we are convinced that, to succeed in a 
 warfare such as we have commenced; defensive measures 
 will not do," &C. 
 
 " The Times calls the Chronicle the 'leading- print of 
 
 1 A practice which lasted, however, until a recent generation ; 
 e.g. see the following tit-bits from the Times of July 26th, 1838 : — 
 Of \!as. Morning Post — "this kitchen-stuff journal;" "this cockney 
 out of livery ;" "flippant and foolish as its brother blockheads.'' 
 And of the Courier — "that abject slave and unprincipled tool of 
 the Ministers." The Slist is also said: toi '"proceed the entire 
 swine," &c. 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
274 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800-1] 
 
 Opposition,' which compliment the Chronicle returns by 
 styling the Times the 'leading print of Government.' 
 .... What can entitle them to the epithet ' leading^ we 
 are at a loss to discover, except it be their superiority in 
 point of turpitude .... if falsehood and hypocrisy ad- 
 mit of degrees of comparison, we are rather disposed to 
 give the Times the scandalous pre-eminence." 
 
 " The Morning Chronicle was yesterday seized with the 
 horrors," &c. 
 
 "To Correspondents. — Nimrod is surprised that we 
 should have condescended to notice the Oracle, arid 
 advises us to pursue a nobler game ; but he should do us 
 the justice to recollect that, when game are not to be 
 found, sportsmen sometimes amuse themselves by de- 
 stroying vermin." 
 
 " Ignorance and perversity : For these two amiable 
 qualities the Morning Post and the Times are eminently 
 distinguished." 
 
 (The Observer) : " The occupation of this print is to 
 scrape together the orts of the week, and hash them 
 up," &c. 
 
 " The Monthly Magazine, a periodical miscellany, which 
 we have already mentioned with due abhorrence." 
 
 " The Morning Herald, in the delirious enjoyment of 
 its puns and conundrums." 
 
 "Profound Morning Post I poor innocent! what does 
 it know of the existing differences between this country 
 and America ? No more, we dare engage, than do the 
 footmen and chambermaids who read its conundrums 
 with such delight We would indeed earnestly 
 
THE LONDON PORCUPINE. 275 
 
 recommend the Morning Post to avoid politics altogether. 
 Its company will always be welcome in the kitchen, and 
 sometimes in the nursery." 
 
 The Porcupine had the smaller difficulties to 
 contend with ; as when several country subscribers 
 complained of "other papers being foisted on 
 them ;" and " the flagrant imposition of some of the 
 hawkers in Wimpole Street, who have charged 
 eightpence for the Porcupine" In fact, there was 
 a little too much communicability on the part 
 of the editor toward his correspondents, at the 
 same time that correspondents were permitted to 
 be very plain-spoken. One of them suggested that 
 satire would be more keen if conveyed in the most 
 polished language : he thought that " the com- 
 parison, some days ago, of the dog returning to his 
 vomit, or any ideas or expressions bearing upon 
 coarseness, offend the more refined inhabitants of 
 this kingdom." 
 
 In inviting correspondence for his paper, Mr. 
 Cobbett adopted a course which is not usually 
 taken, viz. that of requesting that communications 
 be not accompanied with the real name of the 
 author. He was, besides, much plagued with un- 
 paid letters — a circumstance which he had often to 
 complain of both before and after this period. 
 T 2 
 
276 WILLIAM C0BBET2. [1800-1] 
 
 Some of his correspondents were people of real 
 distinction, among them being Lord Grenville, 
 who wrote letters under the name of SULPICIUS. 
 Jeremy Bentham, also, contributed a long article 
 upon the projected Population Bill ; which appears 
 in the Porcupine of Dec. ist, 1800, and is reprinted 
 in Bentham's collected writings. 
 
 Toward the close of the Porcupines career, the 
 negotiations for peace came to a conclusion, and 
 that paper stood almost alone in opposition. The 
 perilous task of boldly attacking the First Consul 
 was pursued : — 
 
 "W.e request our readers to observe that henceforth 
 we shall be very particular in what we say about the most 
 illustrious sovereign, Consul Buonaparte. Oh, how we 
 shall extol him ! We shall endeavour to give our readers 
 the earliest information when he rises, breakfasts, dines, 
 sups, and spits." 
 
 And, as all this was in direct violation of the 
 popular feeling of the moment, a catastrophe 
 occurred which, in all probability, contributed to 
 bring the Porcupine and Anti-gallican Monitor to 
 an untimely end. Mr. Cobbett was repeatedly 
 urged to bend before the blast, but that was not in 
 him. 
 
 The story appears to be this. Lauriston, the 
 
THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 277 
 
 bearer of the despatches containing the prelimi- 
 naries of peace, received an ovation from the 
 mob, immediately upon his landing. On his reach- 
 ing London, " a vile, degraded rabble, miscalled 
 Britons, took the horses out of the carriage," and 
 dragged the vehicle round the parks and the West- 
 end in triumph. 
 
 The Porcupine was horrified : this was all in 
 the French style, and the nation was prostrate at 
 the feet of Buonaparte. But, among all reflecting 
 politicians, the peace was derided ; and, several 
 persons declining to light up their windows in token 
 of rejoicing, had the mortification of seeing them 
 broken. On the 7th October, all the windows on 
 the east side of Berkeley Square were damaged ; 
 and Bond Street and the neighbourhood displayed 
 similar evidences of popular displeasure. On Satur- 
 day, the loth, a general illumination took place ; 
 and there were few who dared to run the risk of being 
 counter to that displeasure. Among those few, 
 however, was the publisher of the Porcupine, who 
 had in the morning's paper reiterated his objections 
 to the proposed treaty ; and now, in the evening, 
 resolutely kept the windows in darkness, both of the 
 house in Pall Mall, and of that in Southampton 
 Street. Of course, both houses were sacked, the 
 cheerful rabble keeping up a siege of six or seven 
 
278 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800-1] 
 
 hours' duration, — the person in charge, at the news- 
 paper office, narrowly escaping with his life. 
 
 There was a great demand for this Saturday's 
 paper. On Monday, however, the editor was 
 " under the necessity of apprising his readers that 
 the publication of the Porcupine must cease until 
 the ' delirium of joy ' shall have subsided." This 
 interregnum lasted two days. On Thursday com- 
 menced the publication of a series of letters, ad- 
 dressed to Lord Hawkesbury, " on the peace with 
 Buonaparte." They were signed William Cob- 
 BETT, and continued to appear at intervals until 
 the 4th of November. 
 
 But the Porcupine vfdi.a doomed. In spite of an 
 increasing circulation, the paper was a financial 
 failure ; it was interfering with the bookselling 
 business in Pall Mall, and the proprietor was 
 getting dissatisfied with the annoyances entailed 
 upon him. "He who has been the proprietor of 
 a daily paper for only one month wants no Romish 
 priest to describe to him the torments of purga- 
 tory." So, in the course of November, the paper 
 became the property of Mr. John Gifford ; and on 
 the 1st of January, 1802, it finally disappeared, 
 being merged in Heriot's paper, the True Briton. 
 
 The " Letters to Lord Hawkesbury " have been 
 highly extolled, and not without reason, for they 
 
JfflS BOOKSHOP IN FALL MALL. 279 
 
 contain arguments against the peace of Amiens, 
 which were very shortly after their publication 
 completely justified by events. The " Letters " 
 were immediately collected into a volume (together 
 with three letters to Mr. Addington on the same 
 topic), and ran through more than one edition. 
 And the historian of the period, when that genius 
 arrives among us, will regard them as classic 
 writings, as well for their eloquence as for the 
 clearness and cogency of their reasoning. 
 
 Among the personal matters of this year must 
 be mentioned the opening of Mr Cobbett's shop in 
 Pall Mall. On the 23rd of March, a notification 
 was made in the Porcupine to the effect that Mr, 
 Cobbett had 
 
 " formed a partnership with Mr. John Morgan, late of 
 Philadelphia, to whom he has been long attached by a 
 friendship founded on a concurrence of political principles, 
 and on a similarity of conduct at a time when few 
 Englishmen were to be found loyal and bold enough 
 openly to defend the character of their king and 
 country." 
 
 This was accompanied by an advertisement of the 
 new business,^ and another announcing the forth- 
 
 2 "Cobbett and Morgan, Booksellers and Stationers, at the 
 
2«D WILLIAM COBBETT. [i 800-1] 
 
 coming publication of Porcupine's works -in 12 
 vols. 8vo. 
 
 The re-crystallization of parties, which took 
 place in consequence of the proposed peace, drew 
 together a band of gentlemen under the leadership 
 of Lord Grenville and Mr. Windham. This clique 
 was known as the " New Opposition ; " and they 
 became separated from their former colleagues on 
 the ground that Mr. Pitt had violated his solemn 
 delaration not to make peace with France until the 
 political balance of Europe should be restored. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett, then, believing in his heart that 
 England was falling into the grasp of France, and 
 that the nation, besides, was in great peril on 
 account of the increase of the national debt, found 
 himself in the ranks of this new opposition party 
 — not as a party man, however, but solely from his 
 own independent standpoint. They believed in 
 his sincerity, they applauded his wonderful courage 
 and the fine power of his pen, but did not exercise 
 any dictation. They " agreed, and sometimes dis- 
 crown and Mitre, Pall Mall, having commenced business under the 
 patronage of their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, the 
 Dukes of Clarence, Kent, and Cumberland, and Prince Augustus, 
 beg leave to express a hope that by their earnest and constant en- 
 deavours to render their undertaking not altogether unvforthy of the 
 protection of their Royal Patrons, they shall not fail to obtain some 
 degree of encouragement from the nobility and gentry, and the 
 public in general," &c., &c. 
 
THE "NEW OPPOSITION." 281 
 
 agreed, but never attempted to thwart " the course 
 of his mind/ 
 
 The need for a new organ in the press was 
 manifest ; and the project of a weekly review — 
 " something between a newspaper and a magazine," 
 which should give easy instruction on political 
 topics, not only to the multitude, but also to those 
 who lead the multitude — was submitted by Cobbett 
 to Mr. Windham. 
 
 "Such a publication," (he continues) "conducted 
 with great diligence and care, some talent, unwearied 
 perseverance, and an inviolable attachment to truth, will, 
 if anything can, awaken the dormant spirit of the nation, 
 and form a rallying-point for the now scattered friends of 
 the king and the country." 
 
 The scheme will require 600/. to start it with. 
 But he has already sunk too much in the Porcupine, 
 
 ' A squib of the time (from the Morning Post, reproduced' in 
 Spirit of the yournals, 1802) illustrates this topic and the influence 
 which Mr. Cobbett then had with the Windham party : — 
 
 " Plan of the Campaign. From our Head-quarters in Pall Mall, 
 April I, 1802. — General Orders. — The army to be formed into two 
 
 divisions ; the first, commanded in person by General L d 
 
 G e, to occupy the heights ; the other, under the orders of 
 
 Lieut. -General W m, to attack the enemy in his lower position. 
 
 The ground to be taken by either division to be previously marked 
 out by Quartermaster- General Cobbett. A copy to be given to 
 each officer, to whom the command of a column may be entrusted ; 
 the Quartermaster-General's advice to be taken, and studiously 
 observed in every operation," &c., &c. 
 
282 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1800-1] 
 
 and he cannot draw any considerable sum from the 
 new promising partnership with Morgan. How 
 the money is to be raised it is not for him to say ; 
 yet, should a subscription be set on foot, his own 
 emolument must not be regarded as the object : — 
 
 " I disclaim all desire to derive pecuniary advantage 
 from the proposed undertaking, and all idea of personal 
 obligation towards any one who may think proper to con- 
 tribute towards it. I ask for nothing for myself. I my- 
 self want neither remuneration for the past nor aid for 
 the future ; I have a business quite sufficient to satisfy 
 all my wants and all my wishes ; I ask not for encourage- 
 ment even in that business. Its success is so certain, and 
 so perfectly independent of every one in England, that I 
 might, without the least injury thereto, shut up my shop, 
 and retire to the country, only taking a ride to London 
 twice a week. . . . Self-interest was never a pecuniary 
 consideration with me ; and I have so long exerted myself 
 for my king and country — I have endeavoured to do, 
 and have really suffered, so much for them, in almost 
 every way that a man can act or suffer, that to desire to 
 promote their interest and their honour is become the 
 leading propensity of my mind. I am, therefore, willing 
 — I am even anxiously desirous — to conduct the publica- 
 tion now proposed j but that desire, great as it is, will 
 not suffer me to do, or to accept of, anything that shall 
 in the smallest degree work a forfeiture of that in- 
 dependence—to preserve which I have all my lifetime 
 
PROPOSED WEEKLY JOURNAL. 283 
 
 practised, and I still do practise, industry and economy 
 to their utmost extent." 
 
 This plan was communicated to Dr. Laurence, 
 and to several other gentlemen of the new opposi- 
 tion, by Mr. Windham. It was warmly adopted ; 
 the money was immediately raised, and the new 
 jpurnal started. The first number appeared in 
 January, 1802, and bore the title of "Cobbett's 
 Political Register." 
 
284 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1802] 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 "THE THOUGHTS OF THE NATION ARE LIKE A 
 CORK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN." 
 
 William Cobbett was now in his fortieth year,' 
 in the prime of life, blessed with unfailing health, 
 unimpaired talents, and habits of industry, and a 
 sturdy sense of his independence. At this be- 
 ginning of the year 1802, he could command any- 
 thing he chose — not the least matter being the ear 
 of thousands of ready listeners. It is very easy to 
 understand and account for the immediate success 
 of the Political Register. The plan had long been 
 in Cobbett's mind. It partook of the qualities of 
 his Philadelphia Censor, joined to those of a weekly 
 newspaper: parliamentary debates, public official 
 
 • A portrait (pide Frontispiece), engraved by Bartolozzi, appeared 
 at the close of 180 1. Cobbett appears in the surtout and neckcloth 
 of the period, and has sufficient dignity of mien, notwithstanding his 
 light hair and round face, and one's impression that he would look 
 as well in a smock-frock. 
 
THE "POLITICAL REGISTER:' 285 
 
 documents, foreign intelligence, weekly prices- 
 current, and diary of the weather, &c., along with 
 the editor's summary of politics, made up such a 
 journal as was wanted— not only for periodical 
 instruction, but that might furnish a ready means 
 of reference. As projected and as carried out for 
 the first two years, the Register was far in advance 
 of anything that had been hitherto attempted. 
 About three hundred subscribers were found, to 
 start with, the price being \od. per number, fort- 
 nightly. But the two numbers for January were 
 so far successful, that February 6th saw the com- 
 mencement of a weekly issue. 
 
 From this date until June, 1835 (excepting a 
 break of three months, April — June, 181 7), the 
 famous Register appeared uninterruptedly. Its 
 form changed from time to time ; but its valiant, 
 its unconquerable editor was the ruling spirit and 
 the chief contributor during the long period of 
 thirty-three years. Its readers, its patrons, its 
 friends, its enemies, its own views upon public 
 characters, its own assertions as to the tendency 
 of events, its own beliefs — all changed from time 
 to time. But, with the vicissitudes amid which 
 its intrepid career was run, there was one 
 principle underlying the whole — one foundation 
 from which it was never removed. That was a 
 
286 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1802] 
 
 strong conservative attachment to the constitution 
 of the country, allied to deep affection for its 
 people — sentiments which were never more ne- 
 cessary to be proclaimed than during the hideous 
 misgovernment of the first quarter of this century, 
 and sentiments which were never more constantly 
 proclaimed than through the lips, or by the pen, of 
 William Cobbett. The reader may, in the course 
 of this entertaining history, be able to satisfy him- 
 self how true — how very true — is this standpoint. 
 
 Meanwhile, let us take a few soundings at the 
 outset ; let us see what bottom the lead brings up • 
 steering will then be an affair of confidence — such 
 perplexities as do arise depending mainly upon the 
 conditions of wind and storm, tide and current, and 
 not upon unknown conditions existing beneath the 
 waters. Here, then : — 
 
 [1802] "The throne on which God has placed our 
 Sovereign, and our own prosperity, freedom, and public 
 happiness, which have no other basis but that throne, are 
 our first and greatest care. ..." 
 
 [1817] "A thousand times over have I said that we 
 wanted nothing new. I say so still. We want the laws 
 of England. We want no innovation. We want to 
 destroy neither Kings, Nobles, nor Church. We want 
 the laws of England, and the laws of England we will 
 have." 
 
"MY PRINCIPLES^ 287 
 
 [1820] " My principles, then, are as follows : — I hold 
 that it is the duty of us all to do our utmost to uphold a 
 Government in King, Lords, and Commons. That, as 
 to religion, opinions ought to be left as God has made 
 them in our minds, perfectly free, and that persecution 
 on account of religious opinions is of the worst and most 
 wicked kind. That no man ought to be taxed but by 
 his own consent, agreeably to the law of the land. That 
 elections ought to be free. . . . That the aifairs of the 
 nation ought to be so managed that every sober and 
 industrious and healthy man ought, out of his own 
 wages, to be able to support himself, wife, and family, in 
 a comfortable and decent manner. . . . That it is the 
 weight of taxes which produces all the miseries which 
 this nation now suifers. . . . That the Debt and other 
 fixed expenses are a mortgage on the labour of every 
 man, woman, and child, in the country. . . . That, 
 unless a great change speedily take place, this nation will 
 become feeble and contemptible as well as enslaved; 
 and that its capital will be conveyed away to enrich and 
 to give power to rival nations." 
 
 [1833] "I hold that this, which we have here, is the 
 best sort of Government in the world." 
 
 At the commencement of the year 1802, that 
 party represented by Mr. Windham and his friends 
 honestly believed that England was at the feet of 
 Buonaparte ; and, so strongly did they urge their 
 opinions, that the advocates of peace were begin- 
 ning to talk again of war, "should it be found 
 
288 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1802] 
 
 necessary," even before the definitive treaty arrived 
 in London, in April. Mr. Cobbett's view was that 
 we were " a beaten and a conquered people ;" that 
 John Bull was only a spaniel after all. Not that 
 " Boney " was so much to be feared, as the spirit 
 of the French Republic, which was sapping the 
 foundations of English loyalty. Anti-Gallicanism 
 seemed dying out. Noble sentiments were being 
 overpowered by effeminacy, cant, and the love of 
 money. Loyalty had become "a matter of ex- 
 pedience rather than what it used to be — a principle 
 of equal force with filialaffection or the love of life." 
 
 But Mr. Addington and his ministry are 
 pledged to peace, and peace must be tried, if only 
 to expose its inutility. So, while the ministerial 
 papers blow peace-bubbles, and leave off, for a 
 while, calling " Boney " wicked names, Mr. Cobbett 
 sighs to think how the paths of glory do indeed 
 lead but to the grave : for England is approaching 
 her final doom. 
 
 The first-fruit of all this is ruffianism in the 
 shape of newspaper abuse and of mob-tyranny. 
 For the time being, Mr. Cobbett is the most un- 
 popular man in London, and he. knows it — and he 
 defies it : — 
 
 " The alliterative words, /««« and plenty, sound well 
 
THE PEACE ILLUMINATIONS: 289 
 
 ill a song, or make a pretty transparency in the window of 
 an idiot ; but the things which these harmonious words 
 represent are not always in unison." 
 
 Which means, of course, that he will certainly 
 not illuminate his windows on the forthcoming 
 celebration of the signing of the Definitive Treaty. 
 His Register is occupied with more letters to Lord 
 Hawkesbury, written, too, in magnificent style, and 
 furnished with arguments which might be refused a 
 hearing, but could not be gainsaid. 
 
 So the peace-proclaiming cavalcade approaches ; 
 the order for illumination goes forth ; and the 
 windows of No. 11, Pall Mall, are once more 
 shattered, and the ornamental " Crown and Mitre " 
 once more dashed to the ground. 
 
 This time, however, it was a more serious matter 
 for the assailants. Cobbett had expected some- 
 thing of the kind, and removed his wife and family 
 to the house of a friend ; he gave notice to the 
 police, and was resolved to reach the culprits, if 
 possible — which he did, for " six of the villains " 
 were brought up to Bow Street next morning. 
 They were all in a respectable station in life, two 
 of them being clerks in the Post Office, and one of 
 these a son of the Rev. William Beloe, who had 
 formerly been one of Porcupine's warmest admirers. 
 
 VOL. I. U 
 
2 90 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1802] 
 
 In the end these young nxen were tried at the 
 sessions, and heavily fined. 
 
 But the incident furnished Cobbett with material 
 for sarcasm, which was freely dealt out at intervals. 
 He " would rather be compelled to illuminate than 
 have a choice, and so have his house demolished by 
 Government reptiles." On the king's birthday 
 (4th June) the people were not illuminating, as 
 "the practice seems discredited on account of recent 
 occurrences." And in the following year, when 
 things were going wrong again, and the decks were 
 once more being cleared for action, he ventures to 
 remind Lord Hawkesbury (who had " smiled " at 
 the affair) that there was a tipie to weep as well as 
 a time to laugh. 
 
 The alternations of tone, on the:ipart of public 
 writers and speakers of this period; with reference 
 to Buonaparte, are very amusing. They had called 
 him a tyrant, a despot, a cut-throat, a murderer, 
 an assassin, a poisoner, a monster, an infidel, an 
 atheist, a blasphemer, a hypocrite, a demon, a 
 devil, a robber, a wolf, a usurper, a thief, a savage, 
 a tiger, a renegade, a liar, a braggart, a cuckold, a 
 coward, and a fool. 
 
 They now extolled his character : " his courage, 
 his magnanimity, his wisdom, and even his piety." 
 
HE EXCITES ENVY. 291 
 
 A few months later, he was "the most abomi- 
 nable miscreant that ever breathed." 
 
 No wonder, then, that the man, who had been 
 consistent all through, and was found to be right at 
 last, must be put down. If there is anything the 
 average specimen of John Bull hates, it is the man 
 who has caught him tripping. Hence, from this 
 time, Mr. Cobbett found he had the bitterest 
 enemies on his native soil. Early in the year 1803, 
 Otto, the French ambassador, wanted the Govern- 
 ment to prosecute him, along with Peltier. Mr. 
 Windham was exhorted to disavow him. The 
 " British Critic," which had suckled Cobbett's infant 
 reputation, now felt " diffident " of much that it 
 had said on his behalf; and the Addington 
 ministry had their eye upon him. As for his rivals 
 in the press, it must be said that their conduct was 
 unhandsome. Here was the very first man who had 
 succeeded in obtaining an independent position for 
 the craft ; ° yet the mere fact of his having rejected 
 the arts of Treasury corruption was sufficient to 
 rouse their envy. There was Mr. Heriot, for ex- 
 ample, who was getting fat and rich, and was looking 
 forward to some snug berth to which he might 
 retire, could not bear to see Mr. Cobbett getting 
 
 2 I.e., independent, not only of subsidy, but of the shackles of 
 party. 
 
 U 2 
 
292 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1802] 
 
 fat and rich on independent principles. So far did 
 this feeling extend, that a very sad affair presently- 
 ensued. 
 
 There had been a debate in the House of 
 Commons upon the Defence Bill, on which occa- 
 sion Mr. Sheridan had taunted Windham with 
 his connexion with the Political Register, and in- 
 sinuated that the editor of that journal had incited 
 the sailors to mutiny. This latter was not only a 
 flat' misrepresentation, but such a thing was totally 
 contrary to Mr. Cobbett's habit of mind : if there 
 was a thing he was specially earnest about, it was 
 the condemnation of resistance to lawful authority 
 — more especially with regard to the military and 
 naval services. Mr. Windham answered with spirit, 
 and, for once, spoke with almost as much humour 
 as Sheridan himself; concluding in the follow- 
 ing terms : — 
 
 " As to the weekly publication to which the hon. 
 gentleman has alluded, I entertain all the sentiments of 
 respect which he supposes me to entertain, both for the 
 work and for its author, of whom I had a high opinion 
 long before I personally knew him. I admired the con- 
 duct which he pursued through a most trying crisis in 
 America, where he uniformly supported all those prin- 
 ciples upon which the happiness of mankind depend ; 
 where he uniformly opposed all those principles (in- 
 
DESERVES A STATUE. 293 
 
 eluding such as were formerly professed by the hon. 
 gentleman) which tend to sap the foundations of civil 
 society, and to spread misery and wickedness through 
 the world ; and where, by his own unaided exertions, he 
 rendered his country services that entitle him to a statue of 
 gold:' 
 
 This was too much. Aristocratic and plutocratic 
 animosity had been growing fast enough, and would 
 have been harmless, even with the aid of Mr. 
 Sheridan's gay disingenuousness ; but now, this was 
 too much for the journalists who were struggling 
 (where they were not subsidized) for ministerial 
 favour. So they echo Mr. Sheridan, and return to 
 the charge ; the True Briton going a little farther 
 than is needed, and indicating the appropriate 
 punishment : — 
 
 " Mr. Windham professes himself to be the Soldier's 
 Friend. We cannot suppose, however, that his attach- 
 ment to a certain American scribbler arises from his being 
 the writer of a work at the beginning of the French 
 Revolution, bearing that title, because that work had for 
 its object to excite the soldiery to mutiny, — to which, it 
 seems, the same patriotic writer now endeavours to insti- 
 gate the navy. We speak merely from what has been said 
 in the House of Commons, for we think no true Briton 
 can read the works of the person alluded to with any 
 kind of temper. The pillory or the gibbet we think a 
 
294 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1802] 
 
 more appropriate reward than that which Mr. Windham 
 has suggested for a writer of such a stamp." 
 
 Now, all through Mr. Cobbett's long life, there 
 was nothing roused his ire so much (in the way of 
 personality) as the charge of sedition ; and all 
 through his life he was justified in repudiating it. 
 It was not his way. He was a man for facing his 
 adversaries. And, to the end of his days, whatever 
 his other errors, he could never be reproached with 
 the arts of covert warfare. So Mr. Cobbett was 
 nettled ; and, — 
 
 " in less, than three hours after the libel was published, 
 the libeller, Mr. Heriot, received personal chastisement 
 in the very apartment where he had fabricated the libel." 
 
 The reader, who may feel interested in the full 
 details of this squabble, will find Heriot's version 
 in the True Briton of August 15 — 22, and Mr. 
 Cobbett's account in the Political Register for 
 August 20, 1803. It is sufficient to record here, 
 that Mr. Heriot brought an action for assault, and 
 did not appear to prosecute ; and that " focus of 
 accumulated infancy, the Political Register" went 
 on its way. 
 
 Just before the above incident occurred, circum- 
 
INVASION PANIC. 295 
 
 stances had led to the production of an article in 
 Cobbett's Register, which should now be mentioned, 
 as indicating, probably, the extremest point of time 
 at which he gave uncompromising support to the 
 Government. 
 
 War had been declared in May, and the nation 
 was again regarding the quality of its bayonets, 
 and the condition of its belts and its gaiter-buttons. 
 The fear of invasion was uppermost in the minds 
 of everybody who had anything to lose, so the 
 " people " must themselves be roused. Mr. Cobbett 
 therefore prepared a manifesto, and placed it 
 (through Mr. John Reeves) at the disposal of the 
 ministry. The paper was not only accepted, but 
 printed and sent round to all the clergy in the 
 kingdom ; accompanied by an ofScial circular, 
 directing them to post it on the church-doors, 
 and to "deposit copies in the pews, and dis- 
 tribute them in the aisles," and amongst the poor, 
 &c.' This appeal to the British nation is a grand 
 piece of writing, in Cobbett's best style. And no 
 reader will wonder at the power which he was 
 acquiring over the public mind, after perusing the 
 following extracts : — 
 
 ' It appears in the Political Register for July 30, 1803, and may 
 be found sometimes in old collections of pamphlets and broad- 
 sides. 
 
296 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1802] 
 
 " Important Considerations for the People of 
 THIS Kingdom. 
 
 " At a moment when we are entering on a scene deeply 
 interesting, not only to this nation, but to the whole 
 civilized world ; at a moment when we all, without dis- 
 tinction of rank or degree, are called upon to rally round, 
 and to range ourselves beneath, the banners of that sove- 
 reign under whose long, mild, and fostering reign the far 
 greater part of us, capable of bearing arms, have been 
 born and reared up to manhood ; at a moment when we 
 are, by his truly royal and paternal example, incited to 
 make every sacrifice and every exertion in a war, the 
 event of which is to decide whether we are still to enjoy, 
 and to bequeath to our children, the possessions, the 
 comforts, the liberties, and the national honours, handed 
 down to us from generation to generation by our gallant 
 forefathers ; or whether we are, at once, to fall from this 
 favoured and honourable station, and to become the 
 miserable crouching slaves, the hewers of wood and the 
 drawers of water, of these very Frenchmen, whom the 
 valour of our fleets and armies has hitherto taught us to 
 despise ; at such a moment it behoves us, calmly and 
 without dismay, to examine our situation, to consider 
 what are the grounds of the awful contest in which we 
 are engaged ; what are the wishes, the designs, and the 
 pretensions of our enemies ; what would be the conse- 
 
" IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONSr 297 
 
 quences, if those enemies were to triumph over us ; what 
 are our means, and what ought to be our motives, not only 
 for frustrating their maUcious intentions, but for inflicting 
 just and memorable chastisement on their insolent and 
 guilty heads." [Here follows an account of the events 
 which had brought Europe to its present disastrous en- 
 slavement, and Napoleon to his present height of power. 
 Concluding with an eloquent reference to the results of 
 the invasion of Germany in 1796-8, the writer winds up 
 with the following appeal.] 
 
 " Such are the barbarities which have been inflicted 
 on other nations. The recollection of them will never 
 be effaced : the melancholy story will be handed down 
 from generation to generation, to the everlasting infamy 
 of the RepubKcans of France, and as an awful warning 
 to all those nations whom they may hereafter attempt to 
 invade. We are one of those nations ; we are the people 
 whom they are now preparing to invade. Awful, indeed, 
 is the warning, and, if we despise, tremendous will be the 
 judgment. The same generals, the same commissaries, 
 the same officers, the same soldiers, the very same 
 rapacious and sanguinary host, that now hold Holland 
 and Switzerland in chains — that desolated Egypt, Italy, 
 and Germany — are at this moment preparing to make 
 England, Ireland, and Scotland, the scenes of their atro- 
 cities. For some time past, they have had little opportu- 
 nity to plunder: peace, for a while, suspended their 
 devastations, and now, like gaunt and hungry wolves, 
 they are looking towards the rich pastures of Britain. 
 Already we hear their threatening howl; and if, like sheep, 
 
298 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1802] 
 
 we stand bleating for mercy, neither our innocence nor 
 our timidity will save us from being torn to pieces and 
 devoured. The robberies, the barbarities, the brutalities 
 they have committed in other countries, though at the 
 thought of them the heart sinks and the blood runs cold, 
 will be mere trifles to what they will commit here, if we 
 suffer them to triumph over us. The Swiss and the 
 Suabians were never objects of their envy; they were 
 never the rivals of Frenchmen, either on the land or on 
 the sea ; they had never disconcerted or checked their 
 ambitious projects, never humbled their pride, never 
 defeated either their armies or their fleets. We have 
 been, and we have done, all this : they have long enter- 
 tained against us a hatred engendered by the mixture of 
 envy and of fear ; and they are now about to make a 
 great and desperate effort to gratify this furious, this 
 unquenchable, this deadly hatred. What, then, can we 
 expect at their hands ? What but torments, even sur- 
 passing those which they have inflicted on other nations? 
 They remained but three months in Germany : here they 
 would remain for ever ; there, their extortions and their 
 atrocities were, for want of time, confined to a part of 
 the people ; here they would be universal : no sort, no 
 part, no particle of property would remain unseized ; no 
 man, woman, or child would escape violence of some 
 kind or other. Such of our manufactories as are mova- 
 ble they would transport to France, together with the 
 most ingenious of the manufacturers, whose wives and 
 children would be left to starve. Our ships would follow 
 the same course, with all the commerce and commercial 
 
"IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS." 299 
 
 means of the kingdom. Having stripped us of every- 
 thing, even to the stoutest of our sons and the most 
 beautiful of our daughters, over all that remained they 
 would establish and exercise a tyranny such as the world 
 never before witnessed. All the estates, all the farms, all 
 the mines, all the land and the houses, all the shops and 
 magazines, all the remaining manufactories, and all the 
 workshops, of every kind and description, from the 
 greatest to the smallest— all these they would bring over 
 Frenchmen to possess, making us their servants and their 
 labourers. To prevent us uniting and arising against 
 them, they would crowd every town and village with their 
 brutal soldiers, who would devour all the best part of the 
 produce of the earth, leaving us not half a sufficiency of 
 bread. They would, besides, introduce their own bloody 
 laws, with additional severities; they would divide us 
 into separate classes, hem us up in districts, cut off 
 all communication between friends and relations, parents 
 and children, which latter they would breed up in their 
 own blasphemous principles; they would affix badges 
 upon us, mark us in the cheek, shave our heads, 
 split our ears, or clothe us in the habit of slaves ! And 
 shall we submit to misery and degradation like this, 
 rather than encounter the expenses of war ; rather than 
 meet the honourable dangers of military combat ; rather 
 than make a generous use of the means which Providence 
 has so bounteously placed in our hands ? The sun, in 
 his whole course round the globe, shines not on a spot so 
 blessed as this great and now united kingdom. Gay and 
 productive iields and gardens, lofty and extensive woods. 
 
300 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1802] 
 
 innumerable flocks and herds, rich and inexhaustible 
 mines, a ijiild and wholesome climate, giving health, 
 activity, and vigour to fourteen millions of people : and 
 shall we, who are thus favoured and endowed : shall we, 
 who are abundantly suppUed with iron and steel, powder 
 and lead : shall we, who have a fleet superior to the 
 maritime force of all the world, and who are able to 
 bring two millions of fighting men into the field : shall 
 we yield up this dear and happy land, together with all 
 the liberties and honours, to preserve which our fathers 
 so often dyed the land and the sea with their blood ; 
 shall we thus at once dishonour their graves, and stamp 
 disgrace and infamy on the brows of our children ; and 
 shall we, too, make this base and dastardly surrender to 
 an enemy whom, within these twelve years, our country- 
 men have defeated in every quarter of the world ? No ! 
 we are not so miserably fallen : we cannot, in so short a 
 space of time, have become so detestably degenerate ; we 
 have the strength and the will to repel the hostility, to 
 chastise the insolence of the foe. Mighty, indeed, must 
 be our efibrts, but mighty also is the meed. Singly 
 engaged against the tjrrants of the earth, Britain now 
 attracts the eyes and the hearts of mankind ; groaning 
 nations look to her for deliverance ; justice, liberty, and 
 religion are inscribed on her banners ; her success will be 
 hailed with the shouts of the universe, while tears of 
 admiration and gratitude will bedew the heads of her 
 sons who fall in the glorious contest." 
 
 The wonderful activity of Cobbett's pen, at and 
 
BEGINS TO STUDY FINANCE. 301 
 
 after this date, can only be appreciated by a 
 glance at the volumes of his celebrated journal. 
 On every topic that arose he had something to say. 
 Much of what he said was accepted by the reflecting 
 part of the public ; many of his predictions were 
 verified, and many falsified by events ; and many 
 of his opinions he learned to alter. But under- 
 neath the whole lies a burning desire for English 
 prosperity, unimpaired by the faintest token of 
 self-seeking. To enumerate the topics of the day 
 would involve the delineation of his opinions 
 thereon. They will have to be studied by the 
 future historian. 
 
 It will be sufficient for our purpose to note, 
 tiierefore, that the Political Register had already 
 become the vehicle for the ventilation of most of 
 the questions which were agitating the public mind, 
 from invasion down to vaccination. Often loaded 
 with prejudice, but very generally pervaded with 
 liberality, the views of his correspondents partook 
 of his own ardent spirit, contributing largely to the 
 enlightenment of the public mind. 
 
 That topic which most of all contributed to 
 revolutionize his relations with his early political 
 friends was the question of Finance. He began to 
 examine this subject in the year 1803, after having 
 read Adam Smith, Chalmers, and others in vain, 
 
302 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1802] 
 
 and at last lighted upon Mr. Paine's " Decline and 
 Fall of the English System of Finance." This 
 pamphlet, he says, was the means of opening his 
 eyes ; and from May in this year he began to urge 
 a reduction of the interest on the national debt, 
 and the policy of discovering some means of re- 
 distributing the wealth of the country. 
 
 But that which, for the time, influenced Cobbett's 
 career, was his unsparing criticism upon the 
 ministry of the day. Mr. Addington had been an 
 object of ridicule from the moment of the first 
 rumour of his appointment as premier ; and his 
 puerile efforts at statesmanship only served to 
 confirm the original verdict of the public. Narrow- 
 minded and presuming, he was utterly unfit for a 
 position of authority, in which he would have to 
 pass beyond the mere traditions of office. As a 
 personal favourite, however, of the king he was 
 endured for a while, until his obvious incapacity 
 rendered it imperative that the destinies of the 
 country should be entrusted to other hands. Tfee 
 want of decision and energy in the conduct of the 
 war, and the waste and mismanagement of the 
 military and naval resources of the country, were 
 highly disappointing to a people whose patriotism 
 for two whole years was artificially stimulated by 
 rumours of invasion. " Another inactive and in- 
 
MR. ADDINGTOJSrS FAILURE. 303 
 
 glorious year sunk the British nation in her own 
 eyes, and in those of Europe." ^ This is the 
 general verdict of the cotemporary chronicler, on 
 reviewing the circumstances which led to Mr. 
 Pitt's resumption of office in May, 1804. Until 
 near the period, however, when the crash came, the 
 self-conceit of this clever ministry was superior to 
 any free comments ; they seemed fated to bring 
 upon themselves overwhelming disgrace. It is true, 
 there was opposition in Parliament (as well as in 
 the press), but opposition was ascribed to anything 
 but its real cause, and was treated with disdain. 
 Upon the report of the address, when Parliament 
 reassembled in November, 1803, Mr. Windham 
 ventured to express his dissatisfaction with the 
 incompetency of the ministry, but " no reply was 
 made to him." ° 
 
 So the Weekly Political Register was in its glory. 
 The editor was determined to contribute his share 
 of effort toward relieving the country from the 
 benefit of Mr. Addington's services, and transmit- 
 ting his name to posterity " with all the contempt 
 it deserved." * 
 
 < "Annual Register," 1804. 
 
 ' Lord Colchester's "Diary," i. 463. 
 
 • A very funny pamphlet appeared about this time, which maybe 
 noticed as the first one of its kind, aimed at Cobbetfs Register. The 
 title is " Elements of Opposition " (Hatchard, 1803), and it consists 
 
304 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1802] 
 
 It is not surprising, then, that Mr. Cobbett was 
 now being closely watched, in order that an op- 
 portunity might arise for retaliation. Mr. Cobbett 
 was helping to ruin the king's ministers ; the 
 ministers would try and settle Mr. Cobbett. But 
 it must be on some side issue ; there was no need 
 for poor Mr. Addington's name to come in. There 
 would soon be rope enough, one way or other. 
 
 The affairs of Ireland were again in a muddle. 
 Robert Emmet's insurrection had just occurred, 
 and martial law was eventually proclaimed. Mr. 
 Fox protested in vain against the system under 
 which that country was governed, as also did the 
 Political RegisterJ A correspondent (Mr. Robert 
 Johnson, a Judge of the Irish Common Pleas) sent 
 some letters, signed "JUVERNAj" containing an 
 able, but rather bitter, series of comments upon 
 recent events, to which the editor gave a pro- 
 minent place in his journal (November — December, 
 1803). These letters opened the flood-gates of 
 
 of a series of rules, founded upon the opinions of Cobbett :—" How 
 to describe a prime minister ;" " How to be outrageous for the 
 public good ;" " How to talk of what you do not know," &c, &c. 
 The pamphlet went through several editions. 
 
 ' " It were Idle trifling to Impute the distractions and general 
 backwardness of that country to any other cause than the circum- 
 stances in which she has been placed, and the example or wish of 
 those to whose management she has been entrusted." — "Annual 
 Register," 1804. 
 
IRISH AFFAIRS. 305 
 
 wrath j and Mr. Cobbett was, accordingly, pro- 
 secuted in the following May for publishing 
 " certain libels upon the Earl of Hardwicke, Lord 
 Lieutenant of Ireland," and others. 
 
 "Juverna" had stated, among other matters, that 
 " the government of a harmless man was not 
 necessarily a harmless government ;" that Lord 
 Hardwicke "was in rank an earl, in manners a 
 gentleman, in morals a good father and a good 
 husband ;" that " he had a good library in St. 
 James's Square," and was " celebrated for under- 
 standing the modern method of fattening sheep as 
 well as any man in Cambridgeshire ;" and he 
 wanted to know if the Viceroy was " one of that 
 tribe who have been sent over to us to be trained 
 up here into politicians, as they train the surgeons' 
 apprentices in the hospitals, by setting them at 
 first to bleed the pauper patients .'' " 
 
 Against Mr. Justice Osborne (of the Irish King's 
 Bench) the insinuation of " Juverna " was that he 
 had wrongfully stated, in a recent charge, that 
 the progress of crime in Ireland had been 
 effectually checked by the " well-timed efforts and 
 strenuous exertions of a wise and energetic govern- 
 ment." 
 
 Lord Redesdale, the Irish Chancellor, was 
 sneered at in general terms ; and alluded to as " a 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
3o6 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1802] 
 
 strong chancery pleader," not entitled to claim one 
 particle of trust or confidence from the public. 
 
 The trial was like all the political trials in those 
 days : — imputations of the worst motives, insinua- 
 tions of motives undreamt-of, graced the Attorney 
 General's speech for the prosecution ; Lord Ellen- 
 borough anticipated the decision of the jury by 
 calling the worcjis libellous: what more was to be 
 expected than a verdict of guilty ? ' 
 
 The defendant's witnesses to character were all 
 eminent men : Mr. Liston, Lord Henry Stuart, 
 Mr. Windham, Mr. Charles Yorke, the Earl of 
 Minto, and Mr. John Reeves, successively testified 
 
 ' Jeremy Bentham, in an article on " The Elements of Packing, 
 as applied to Juries," comments on this affair. Had he been upon 
 the jury, he ' ' should not have regarded it as consistent with his 
 oath and duty to join in a verdict of guilty." Bentham, also, has a 
 capital note on the impunity of men of family, and the punishment 
 due to men of no family, called forth by a question of the Attorney- 
 General. It certainly ■vyas an unnecessary piece of meanness on the 
 part of Perceval to ask, "Gentlemen, who is Mr. Cobbett? Is he 
 a man of family in this country ? Is he a man writing purely from 
 motives of patriotism ? " &c. — "Works," v. 66, 80, 106, &c 
 
 The end of this affair was the prosecution of Judge Johnson him- 
 self, in the following year. Cobbett had delivered up the anony- 
 mous MS., with the admission that the envelope had the Dublin 
 post-mark. The hand- writing was then traced to the worthy judge. 
 The newspapers which were not slavish supporters of Government 
 greatly disapproved of the affair ; the Morning Chronicle being 
 especially bold in the expression of its contempt. The judge retired 
 in 1806, upon a pension of 1200/. a year. 
 
" A CONVICTED LIBELLER." 307 
 
 to his loyalty, and thereby practically supported 
 the non-libellous view of the matter. The defen- 
 dant's counsel, Mr. Adam, pointed out that the 
 avowed object of the writer was "the support of 
 good government in Ireland, and the removal of 
 the present administration." But in vain. 
 
 On the next day a civil action for damages 
 was tried in the King's Bench, brought by 
 Mr. Plunkett, Solicitor-General for Ireland, on a 
 passage in one of Juverna's letters ; the ground was 
 all gone over again, and with a similar result. Mr. 
 Erskine led the prosecution. 
 
 From this day Mr. Cobbett had a handle to his 
 name, which his unreasoning and malicious foes — 
 his envious, his beaten foes— could flourish at will. 
 He was now a " Convicted Libeller." And when 
 you can call a man a convicted libeller or a con- 
 victed anything, you may fill the office of ass to 
 the sick lion, not only with impunity, but with 
 credit and distinction to yourself. You will even 
 find many base admirers. 
 
 X 2 
 
3o8 WILLIAM COBSETT. [1803-5] 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " I SAW THINGS IN ANOTHER LIGHT." 
 
 The unmistakable success which had attended the 
 publication of " Mr. Windham's Gazette " (as the 
 Register was nicknamed) soon made a revolution 
 in Cobbett's plans for the future. It had been his 
 cherished thought to resume a semi-rural life, 
 visiting London once or twice a week, in the case 
 of being enabled to relinquish the bookselling 
 business. 
 
 It was not until 1805 that a permanent removal 
 was made out of London ; meanwhile, however, 
 the shop in Pall Mall had long been relinquished. 
 In March, 1803 (according to a notification in the 
 Register), it appears that Mr. Harding had just 
 taken the business over,' whilst John Morgan had 
 also returned to Philadelphia to recommence book- 
 
 ' Harding was succeeded by John Budd before the year was out. 
 
BOOKSELLING. 309 
 
 selling there. Besides the ordinary trade, the firm 
 had produced the long-promised " Selections from 
 Porcupine's Works," issued in May, 1801, and 
 dedicated to John Reeves. The list of subscribers, 
 printed in the first volume, includes the Royal 
 Princes, the chief supporters of Government, and 
 about 750 other names in England and America. 
 A second edition of his translation of Martens' 
 "Law of Nations" was also published in June, 
 1802, with the treaties brought down to the current 
 date. It is pretty certain, therefore, that the busi- 
 ness in Pall Mall was a flourishing concern. 
 
 Among other labours, independent of the Regis- 
 ter, were, a translation of " L'Empire Germanique," 
 a tract of the period,' accompanied by a memoir on 
 the political and military state of Europe ; and a 
 reproduction of the " English Grammar for French- 
 men." And, as though he were not yet fully 
 occupied, Mr. Cobbett must needs undertake one 
 more grand scheme. 
 
 This was nothing less than a plan for publishing 
 the parliamentary debates. The inadequacy of the 
 existing reports had long since attracted Mr. 
 Cobbett's notice, and he had endeavoured to sup- 
 ply the need by printing the bulk of the debates 
 in the early supplements to the Political Register. 
 ' Also printed in the Supplement to vol. ii. of the Register. 
 
310 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1803-5] 
 
 At last, toward the close of the year 1803, he 
 resolved to issue, periodically, full and accurate 
 reports, giving as his reason that the debates, " as 
 at present communicated to the world, reflect very 
 little credit on the nation." 
 
 Accordingly, on the 3rd of December, 1803, 
 appeared the first number, price one shilling, of 
 " Cobbett's Parliamentary Debates." ' The person 
 who was selected as reporter and editor was a 
 man very well qualified for the task — no other than 
 Mr. John Wright, formerly bookseller in Piccadilly. 
 He had failed in 1801, and his bankruptcy was 
 attributed by Cobbett, partly to taking " more de- 
 light in reading of books than in selling of them," 
 and partly to " the misfortune of being bookseller 
 to Messrs. Canning, Frere, Ellis, and the other 
 Anti- Jacobins, by whose works, though such a 
 puffing was made over them, he lost many hun- 
 dreds of pounds." .... "Seeing him once more 
 ready to begin the world afresh, I proposed to him 
 the editing of the parliamentary debates, of which 
 we have now [18 10] continued the publication since 
 the year 1803." 
 
 » This undertaking has long since made the name of Hansard 
 famous ; but this is the place to remind the reader, that its origin, 
 and successful issue for a number of years, is one of the long- 
 forgotten public services of William Cobbett. The original form is 
 still retained. 
 
MUST LIVE IN THE CO UNTR Y. 311 
 
 One more enterprise remains to be noticed. In 
 February, 1803, was published the first number of 
 "Le Mercure Anglois de Cobbett," containing a 
 " translation of such parts of the Register as may be 
 thought useful or interesting to politicians on the 
 continent of Europe." There does not appear, 
 however, any trace of the publication of more than 
 three numbers of this " Mercure." 
 
 Upon leaving Pall Mall, Mr. Cobbett took a 
 house in Duke Street, Westminster. His country 
 trips were few, for his work did not at present give 
 him opportunity to escape from town for any 
 lengthened period. But, in 1 804, the occasion of a 
 visit to Hampshire was prolonged so far as to 
 revive his ardent wish for a permanent rural life. 
 Mr. Wright (who occupied apartments at a tailor's, 
 ^t No. 5, Panton Square) was getting increasingly 
 useful to him, and their mutual confidence was now 
 of the closest character. And it is due to this friend- 
 ship, and its ultimate rupture, that we are indebted 
 for an ample insight into Mr. Cobbett's personal 
 and domestic history during the succeeding years.* 
 
 A letter, dated 9th August, from Lord Henry 
 
 ♦ Addl. MSS. 22,906-7, in the British Museum, is a collection, 
 formerly in the possession of the late Mr. Dawson Turner, from 
 which some of the interesting letters in the text addressed to 
 Mr. Wright are derived. The cause of their preservation will 
 appear in the sequel. 
 
312 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1803-5] 
 
 Stuart's seat, at the Grange, near Alresford, an- 
 nounces the arrival of the family there, and request- 
 ing attention to some business matters, particularly 
 the despatch of a parcel of London newspapers ; 
 then very full of the famous Middlesex election, in 
 which the contest lay between Sir* Francis Burdett 
 and Mr. George Mainwaring. On the 13th he 
 writes from Southampton : — 
 
 "... I received the newspapers and your letter 
 safe. By the enclosed you will perceive that I mean not 
 to go up for this next Register. The reason is, I have 
 not got Mrs. Cobbett and the children settled to my 
 mind ; and, besides that, I want to take them all to the 
 pony-races at Lindhurst, on Friday next. They have 
 begun to breathe. We have seen the school at Tw)rford. 
 The master is a noisy hawbuck. He is a Burdettite, 
 and so is his wife. I like the place very much, and none 
 the worse because it is that very identical school that 
 Pope first went to. Of this circumstance the master 
 failed not to apprise us. The boys are all very well, and 
 very desirous to see you — William in particular, who 
 says you must come and see him every Sunday. The 
 pony is an excellent bargain. I shall take the whole off 
 from here, bag and baggage, next Saturday, and go to 
 Wickham ; and on Sunday night, or Monday morning, I 
 shall leave Wickham for London, where I shall stay 
 during next week, and then set off to fetch home the 
 brood for the winter. I am in the midst of a pony 
 
IN HAMPSHIRE. 313 
 
 country, and I think I shall pick up another to take home 
 with me. I shall write to you again to-morrow with 
 another parcel, and again on Wednesday, so that you 
 will have all my copy by Thursday's post ; and that you 
 may know how to calculate, I now inform you that my 
 copy will make exactly twenty-five columns, or twenty- 
 six at most. I have several interesting articles, and they 
 all must come in. I shall touch the Middlesex election ; 
 the miscreants shall not escape. ... If there be any- 
 thing worth relating, pray give me a line upon it. My 
 address is at Mr. Harris's china warehouse, Southampton. 
 
 D the china ware ! William was out walking with 
 
 me by the beach yesterday morning, and after a long and 
 pensive silence, he said, ' Pa, why do you have a china- 
 shop in your house ?' He is by no means reconciled to 
 the crockery-ware yet. . . ." 
 
 This period (the summer and autumn of 1804) is 
 also to be noted as that during which Mr. 
 Cobbett's political opinions underwent a change. 
 Much twaddle has been written and uttered, 
 during the last seventy years, upon this celebrated 
 " change." The present biographer, heedless of all 
 that has been said, does not intend to argue out 
 any calumnies, from beginning to end of the story ; 
 but it is necessary here to note the first appearance 
 of the change in question, because the selection 
 from the correspondence, which will now be placed 
 before the reader, makes occasional reference to 
 
314 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1803-5] 
 
 Mr. Cobbett's growing animosity to " the race that 
 plunder the people," to the " court-sycophants, 
 parasites, pensioners, bribed senators, directors, 
 contractors, jobbers, hireling lords, and ministers of 
 state," whicli, he was now beginning to discover, 
 were not the people of England, in the strict sense 
 of the word. He had been leading the opposition 
 to Mr. Pitt for a year or two past, and was now for 
 the first time showing an inclination to break alto- 
 gether from the shackles of party. 
 
 During his absence, Mr. Wright acted as sub- 
 editor of the Register ; and it will be seen that 
 even his labours could not have been light. Nearly 
 every letter to him, enclosing copy for the Regis-' 
 ter, implores him to read the MS. carefully, and 
 " make corrections as to grammar or phraseology, 
 and supply omissions ; for I cannot read a word 
 of it." 
 
 [Wm. etc J. Wright.] ... "I thank you for sending 
 the selection of newspapers. They afford me excellent 
 matter for comment. I think I have posed them about 
 the car project.' They know not what to say. There 
 are some very good things in th& Chronicle upon this 
 subject. The little letter in Wednesday's paper is de- 
 
 • A curious device of Mr. Pitt's, by which 10,000 men could be 
 transferred, in a few hours, to any part of the coast. It provoked a 
 good deal of current satire. 
 
IN HAMPSHIRE. 3 1 5 
 
 licious. The Methodist meeting ' is not less so. That's 
 the tone to take. I cannot enough abhor the wretches 
 who would revive, at this critical moment, the hideous cry 
 of Jacobinism. This is a subject upon which the selfish 
 dogs ought to be incessant lashed, till all the nation 
 hates them — and the time is most proper for it. I wisE 
 you would endeavour to inculcate this notion with all 
 whom you know. Nothing would tend more to the sub- 
 jugation of the country than the revival of this most 
 mischievous cry. I shall not cease my endeavours ; but 
 do you use yours also. 
 
 " Before you come down, which will be about the 7th 
 of September, I suppose, I will tell you what we do 
 about leaving the house. I like your idea very well. 
 In order that you may be quite clear by Saturday, or the 
 Friday afternoon, you shall have the last of my copy for 
 next Register, on Wednesday morning. But you must 
 read the proofs. . . ." 
 
 " . . . I beg you not to be out in the evening, lest 
 some robbery should be committed. If anything should 
 be the matter of James, pray send to Mr. Teggart im- 
 mediately. . . ." 
 
 "... Urry received his money. And you will send 
 me another just such sum by next post. I have had 
 entrance money and fees to pay for seven children, 
 clothing, trunks, &c., &c., to pay for ; and we have been 
 obliged to buy table and bed linen for ourselves, to- 
 gether with a suit of clothes for John and another for 
 
 ' In support of Mainwaring's candidature for Middlesex. 
 
3i6 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1803-5] 
 
 me, lest people should take me for a heathen philosopher. 
 . . . We go to church here. I hope the saints will not 
 be jealous at this ! " 
 
 "... My articles do not make so much as I ex- 
 pected I should have time to write. I began yesterday 
 at nine o'clock, and I finish now at six for the post — 
 thirty-three hours, including eating, drinking, and sleeping 
 time. . . . Pray read the whole with great care, before 
 and after it is set up. 
 
 " We went our journey yesterday, and it is now fixed 
 that Nanny goes to school at Winchester, and the boys 
 at Twyford, on Saturday the 22nd instant. We shall 
 stay at Botley till about the 2nd or 3rd of October, and 
 then we shall go and cram ourselves into the cursed 
 smoke again. It is just possible, however, that we may 
 stay in the country till near the middle of the month. . . . 
 In addition to the things mentioned in my memorandum, 
 I request you to send the following by the mail-coach, in 
 a new parcel : — 
 
 " My famous breeches. 
 
 " A new pamphlet of Lord Lauderdale, in answer to 
 the Edinburgh reviewers, just advertised. 
 
 " Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws ; — in the bookcase, I 
 believe." 
 
 "... Now, as to the school project, it has failed. 
 William tells me that something is continually making 
 him cry. When he saw me, he was ready to burst. He 
 is going back, but the others will stay. You have helped 
 to make him so in love with home, and you must have 
 the teaching of him another year or two. His mother 
 
AT BOTLEY. 317 
 
 cannot live without him yet, and they must be humoured. 
 . . . Am I never to have my fine breeches, or did you 
 mean only to tantalize me ? " 
 
 "... I am alarmed that you have inserted Hiber- 
 Nicus ' without my seeing it. I hope there is nothing 
 violent or personal? Send me, in the parcel with the 
 population abstract, the letter firom Montrose ; and 
 pray put in nothing without my seeing it. A trip at this 
 time would be ruinous. I am very uneasy till I see 
 Hibernicus. ... As the air of Botley is so favourable 
 to the Muses, I shall write two more Registers in it. In- 
 deed, we cannot quit it sooner. I think I shall, in my 
 letters to the Grand Charlatan, make good ground for us 
 all to stand upon. The first point, the corner-stone, is 
 well placed. ° . . . Mrs. C. sends her compliments. The 
 boys want to see you again. There is, we think, a large 
 day-school mixed with boarders in Dean's Yard, West- 
 minster, for William — will you ask ? He is too young 
 and weak to be taken from our table to sup upon bread- 
 and-cheese and water ! " 
 
 "... Observe well, that two words in Mr. Bonney's 
 letter must be left out — ^the word 'excellent' in the 
 first sentence, and the word 'pensioned' in the last. 
 
 1 On the Irish Additional Force Bill, in Register of Sept. 29. 
 The letter was not absolutely free from provocable matter. 
 
 8 The first of a series of letters to Mr. Pitt, on the " Causes of 
 the Decline of Great Britain." Cobbett upbraids the heaven-born 
 minister with having deserted his own principles, and thus' exposed 
 his former staunch supporters (among whom is C.) to the charge 
 of having deserted him. 
 
3i8 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1803-5] 
 
 The word 'pensioned' would not be safe; the word 
 ' excellelit ' is an injury to B.'s letter, and is, on every 
 account, much better left out; as, indeed, compliments 
 to myself always should be, appearing as I do in my own 
 name, and not as an editor. Take care that they are 
 both left out. . . . Insert the article upon the stamp 
 duties, but be very careful of the words." 
 
 The foregoing extracts, from letters written in 
 September and October, 1804, throwr some light for 
 the first time on Cobbett's happy domestic circle ; 
 they are dated from Itchen and from Botley, at either 
 of which places the family were then visiting. The 
 affectionate tenderness towards his children is here 
 shown to have been an active principle, and we 
 shall have further glimpses as we proceed. But 
 the most striking thing here apparent is his sensi- 
 tiveness on the score of personal offence, on the 
 part of himself or his correspondents. The gallop- 
 ing pace at which he wrote, and his negligence as 
 to reviewing what he had written, were sufficiently 
 perilous ; and another " Juverna " affair was not to 
 be thought of. 
 
 Other extracts might be made ; but the refer- 
 ences to current politics would be too obscure, 
 without much detailed explanation. The following 
 will show, however, the general drifting of Cobbett's 
 views : — 
 
AT BOTLEY. 319 
 
 "... I am happy to think that I am likely to be of 
 some use in uniting men in support of the throne, the 
 Church, and the real liberties of the people, against the 
 conspirators of loan-makers and directors, directors of all 
 sorts, I mean ; East India as well as Bank . . . whether 
 I shall draw them out at last I know not. I wish I may. 
 But they have now such a load to toil against, that I am 
 apt to think they will desist, and by-and-by glance at 
 my present writing as a proof of my disafifection and 
 abandonment of principle. If it please God to give me 
 health, that shall not serve them, though. Pray keep a 
 good look-out, for, if they say only a word, I wish to meet 
 it instantly." 
 
 " . . . Is it really true that the cowards have given up 
 Malta ? Why, they went to war for Malta ! ' Malta,' 
 said Dundas, in his villainous brogue, ' Malta ! Malta ! 
 en parpatooaty, es tha trewly Breetush oabjuct of ware !' 
 And now he gives it up ! For God's sake look at his 
 speech, Reg., vol. iii. p. 1662. But be sure not to talk 
 of it to any one, as I should then be anticipated." 
 
 "... Have you seen Reeves ? I think I must come 
 to a plain understanding with him ; for I hate cold half- 
 friendships. I think my two last numbers must have 
 staggered such people." 
 
 Mr. Cobbett is in town in November to attend 
 Judge Johnson's trial ; but he is at Botley House 
 again in January. Mr. Wright pays them another 
 
320 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1803-5] 
 
 visit, too, having been desired to bring a fine large 
 twelfth-cake, also " the portfolio with all the boys' 
 pictures in it." 
 
 That some people were getting "staggered," as 
 Cobbett says, is by no means unlikely. He has 
 been publicly called upon to " defend himself from 
 the charge of not having joined the opponents of 
 Sir Francis Burdett ; " when, lo ! it is discovered 
 that an acknowledgment must be made, of at least 
 some claim, on the part of the latter, to represent 
 the Middlesex constituency, as against his oppo- 
 nent : — 
 
 " The former sentiments and expressions of Sir Francis 
 Burdett were not, for the most part, so wrong in them- 
 selves as in the season of their application. Some of 
 them, indeed, were such as no time or place would 
 justify. . . . His language, and many of his acts, during, 
 the former election, as well as previous to it, were sedi- 
 tious to a degree bordering upon treason ; they did, in 
 my opinion, totally incapacitate him as a member of 
 Parliament. ... He chose to disgrace himself and his 
 cause by an appeal to the worst passions pf the worst 
 part of the people. But if nothing of a seditious nature 
 has appeared in the conduct of Sir Francis Burdett since 
 that election, upon what principle will his opponents 
 justify their resentment against him, whilst they are so 
 ready to overlook the political sins of others?" 
 
SIR FRANCIS BURDETT. 321 
 
 A few months earlier in this year, the ministerial 
 part of the press had classed Burdett and Cobbett 
 together as "a party endeavouring to create despon- 
 dency/' This appears to have been the beginning 
 of it ; and Mr. Cobbett, on looking more dis- 
 passionately into Burdett's claims as a politician, 
 finds that the leading objects of both their minds 
 are the same, — 
 
 " It will be recollected that, on the 2nd of July last, 
 application was made to Parliament for a grant of 
 '591,842/., wherewith to pay off the arrears of the Civil 
 List ; ... Sir Francis Burdett took the liberty to say a 
 few words to the thirty or forty persons who were about to 
 grant this half-million of money, which was to be raised 
 upon the people. . . . He objected to the ground upon 
 which the minister had made this application, and could 
 not see, he said, why the rise in prices and the con- 
 sequent abridgment of every man's comforts should be 
 urged as a reason for augmenting the amount of the Civil 
 List. He complained that there was a waste of the public 
 money. ... He did not declaim against taxes, but 
 against their too great amount, and against the mis- 
 application of them. ..." 
 
 and protests that none but a contractor, a farmer- 
 general, a paper-money maker, or a hired author, 
 could find anything objectionable in the sentiments 
 VOL. I. Y 
 
322 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1803-5] 
 
 thus expressed. In short, Mr. Cobbett has dis- 
 covered that the advocates of parliamentary reform 
 are not, necessarily, a faction seeking to subvert 
 the throne. He has had his grievance, some ten 
 or a dozen years, against the " public-robbers ;" but 
 he has groped about, in pursuit of them, in crooked 
 bye-ways : has even rubbed shoulders with them 
 without knowing it : has now come in sight of 
 the highway along which are running other pur- 
 suers, whose distant shouts have, till now, been 
 unmeaning, because misunderstood. 
 
 He looks with abhorrence at the prospect of a 
 revival " of those political animosities which were, 
 during the last war and at the last peace, so fruit- 
 ful in national calamity and disgrace, which de- 
 stroyed all freedom of discussion and almost of 
 intercourse ; and which, while it sheltered all the 
 follies and faults of the minister even from inquiry, 
 exposed every word and act of every other man to 
 misrepresentation and suspicion." 
 
 Here, then, we have Mr. Cobbett fairly started 
 upon his mission. Parliamentary opposition, 
 hitherto, had meant a struggle for power and 
 place, with the biggest share in the nation's loaves 
 and fishes ; it would henceforth signify a determi- 
 nation to watch the grasping hand, to restrain the 
 thirsty leech. And Mr. Cobbett will, at any cost, 
 
CIRCUMSTANCES ALTER CASES. 323 
 
 keep the nation on the alert concerning the proper 
 disposition of its resources. 
 
 In the hope which Cobbett now indulged, of 
 arresting, if possible, the enormous growth of the 
 public debt, he began to advocate a union of the 
 two opposition parties. We find him, then, about 
 this time, obliged to defend himself from the 
 charge of supporting Mr. Fox, whose " seditious 
 ravings " it had once been " impossible to hear 
 without indignation." And the charge would 
 naturally be indefensible on the part of a hireling. 
 But the C. J. Fox that was now praised was not 
 the C. J. Fox who once coquetted with Jacobins. 
 In Cobbett's eyes. Jacobinism was now dead and 
 buried. The risk of anarchy had departed from 
 British shores. The peace of Amiens had proved 
 a failure ; and the Whigs, who had opposed that 
 treaty from one point of view, were beginning to 
 coalesce with the Windhamites, who had opposed 
 it from another. For some time past there had 
 been hopes of a union of all the great men of the 
 country, in a strong, " broad-bo ttom'd " administra- 
 tion, as the only means of restoring public con- 
 fidence. 
 
 So, although Mr. Cobbett is ready to admit the 
 claim of the heaven-born minister to a place 
 among the great, he now declines any longer to 
 Y 2 
 
324 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1803-5] 
 
 support him, as hitherto. Not only that : he pro- 
 ceeds to instruct Mr. Pitt on the causes of his 
 failure as a statesman. Rather cool, this, for the 
 quondam ploughboy ! But he must needs prove 
 that, Mr. Pitt has deserted his principles, in order 
 to justify his own new position. As to the charge 
 of versatility, he thinks that "inconsistency" means 
 " the difference between profession and practice," 
 The best exposition of this "difference" is found 
 in an article of the Register, toward the close 
 of the year 1 805 : — 
 
 " If I praised Mr. Pitt, it was Mr. Pitt the ' heaven- 
 born' minister, with regard to whose character I had 
 participated in the adoption of those notibns so prevalent 
 amongst the ignorant crowd about twenty years ago. It 
 was Mr. Pitt the corner-stone of the confederacy against 
 republican France : Mr. Pitt who had openly and 
 solemnly vowed never to make peace with France till- 
 the political balance of Europe should be completely 
 restored, and till safety and tranquillity could be obtained 
 for England ; it was this Mr. Pitt that I praised, and not 
 the Mr. Pitt who advised, who defended, and who ex- 
 tolled the peace of Amiens. The Mr. Pitt that I praised, 
 as a financier, was the Mr. Pitt who, in the year 1799, 
 declared that he would carry on the war for any length 
 of time without the creation of new debt ; and not the 
 Mr. Pitt who, in less than two years afterwards, justified 
 the peace as necessary for the husbanding of our re- 
 
HE CEASES PRAISING MR. PITT. 325 
 
 sources, having, in the interim, created new debt to the 
 amount of about seventy millions sterling. If I praised 
 Mr. Pitt, as an upright public man, as a real patriot, it 
 was the Mr. Pitt who began his career with professions 
 of incorruptible purity, and who, in the warmth of his 
 zeal, had proposed to reform the Parliament itself, rather 
 than not cut off the means of corruption ; and not the 
 Mr. Pitt who procured to be passed the bill relating to 
 the Nabob of Arcot's debts (of which bill I had never 
 yet heard) ; nor the Mr. Pitt who, notwithstanding the 
 information of Mr. Raikes, suffered the practices of Lord 
 Melville and Trotter to go on unchecked ; no, no ; not 
 the Mr. Pitt who lent forty thousand pounds of the 
 public money, without interest, to two members of Par- 
 liament — never making, or causing to be made, any 
 record or minute of the transaction, and never communi- 
 cating any knowledge of it even to the cabinet ministers. 
 .... The English Constitution that I extolled was that 
 Constitution which, to use the words of Mr. Pitt himself 
 (in his early days), carefully watches over the property 
 of the people; that Constitution which effectually pre- 
 vents any misapplication of the public money, or severely 
 punishes those who may be guilty of such misapplication ; 
 and which, above all things, provides that the money 
 raised upon the people, by the consent of their repre- 
 sentatives, shall not in any degree, or under any name, 
 be given to those representatives by the ministers of the 
 crown, and especially in a secret manner. This Consti- 
 tution I hope yet to see preserved in its purity ; and were 
 it not for that hope, neither hand nor pen would I move 
 
326 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1803-5] 
 
 in its defence. But it will be so preserved, or we are 
 the most base of mankind." 
 
 A number of persons were now ready to support 
 these views of Mr. Cobbett ; and a still greater 
 number, animated by fear, or by envy, assailed 
 him with the utmost virulence. His friends told 
 him that the circulation of the Register would 
 be diminished if he persisted in opposing Pitt ; 
 that the advocacy of Burdett would operate un- 
 favourably upon its reputation. He assured them 
 all, however, that he was receiving better support 
 than ever, and that the great majority of his cor- 
 respondents acknowledged, that conviction of the 
 truth of his reasonings, and of the rectitude of, his 
 motives, was stealing into their minds. 
 
 If there was one man who could stand up before 
 the country with pure hands, that man was William 
 Pitt. But it was not given to him to inspire other 
 men by his example in this matter. The system 
 of political corruption was too strongly holden for 
 the best-intentioned reformer to undertake its re- 
 duction, without risking his political existence. 
 The creed, common to Whigs and Tories, that the 
 king and the country were to be ruled for the 
 exclusive benefit of the " ruling " families, was the 
 basis of the system ; and only a SAMSON, who 
 
STANDING ALONE. 327 
 
 should himself perish amid the wreck, might essay- 
 its destruction. 
 
 As early as i8o3 Mr. Cobbett had ventured 
 upon a sarcasm with reference to the clerkship 
 to "the Pells." This celebrated sinecure, worth 
 3000/. a year, was in the power of Pitt to take to 
 himself without reproach : as is well known he 
 decHned, and it fell into the hands of Addington, 
 who bestowed it upon his son, then only twelve 
 years of age. Cobbett thought this was setting 
 decency at defiance ; seeing that the immaculate 
 minister, about this time, persecuted a poor trades- 
 man of Plymouth' for doing what everybody 
 around was doing. 
 
 A stray shaft or so was discharged from time to 
 time ; but not till three years after did the fight 
 really commence. At last, in 1805, with the ex- 
 posure of Lord Melville's naval mal-administration, 
 the whole matter was ripe for discussion ; and in 
 August of that year appears the first of those 
 curious pension-Hsts,' which were, for the ensuing 
 
 ' One Hamlin, a tinman, who had offered Addington a large 
 sum of money for an appointment in the Customs. He was prose- 
 cuted, fined, and imprisoned, although he solemnly declared his 
 ignorance of the crime, having seen for years Government places 
 publicly advertised for sale, besides having probably received money 
 for his vote from the agents of the Government itself. 
 
 1 After Cobbett's first list of pensions, &c., the plan was copied 
 
328 WILLIAM COBBETT. [1803-5] 
 
 quarter of a century, the stock-in-trade of radical 
 grievance-mongers. It was now open war. Mr. 
 Cobbett, for the second time in his life, found 
 himself standing alone. Aristocratic friends were 
 deserting him, whilst the new ones were yet only 
 gathering. As for the abuse, with which he was 
 favoured by his opponents, it was as unreasoning 
 as it was disgraceful. 
 
 by others, and the lists at last swelled, under different hands, to a 
 volume of several hundred pages : — "The Black Book; or, Cor- 
 ruption Unmasked. Being an Account of Places, Pensions, and 
 Sinecures, the Revenues of the Clergy and Landed Aristocracy ; 
 the Salaries and Emoluments in Courts of Justice and the Police 
 Department ; the Expenditure of the Civil List ; the Amount and 
 Application of the Droits of the Crown and Admiralty ; the Rob- 
 bery of Charitable Foundations ; the Profits of the Bank of England, 
 arising from the Issue of its Notes, Balances of Public Money, 
 Management of the Borough Debt, and other Sources of Emolu- 
 ment ; the Debt, Revenue, and Influence of the East India Com- 
 pany ; the State of the Finances, Debt, and Sinking Fund. To 
 which is added Correct Lists of Both Houses of Parliament, showing 
 their Family Connexions, Parliamentary Influence, the Places and 
 Pensions held by Themselves or Relations ; distinguishing also 
 those who Voted against Catholic Emancipation, and for the Sedi- 
 tious Meeting and Press Restriction Bills. The whole forming a 
 Complete Exposition of the Cost, Influence, Patronage, and Cor- 
 ruption of the Borough Government." (London, John Fairburn, 
 1820.) This interesting volume kept increasing in bulk until the 
 ffira of the Reform Bill. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE, LONDON. 
 
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 I