The National Register. — London, England, 1809-07-09 00:00:00

1 ,__ a Our Vials, CanOttrution, ILatoo. No. SO. PRICE 9:1, SUNDAY, JULY 9, 1909. TO WILLIAM COBBETT.---LETTIM VI. Stit, IF the subject with Which yon 'have endeavoured to identify yourself, were as barren of utility a. by that cir cumstance, it i rendered destitute of dignity, I would cease 'to trouble the .public with any more observations for I cannot be ignorant that the question enevases in extent snore thin it grows in importance, and that the multiplicity of personal circumstances which you have introduced, ra ther encumber than elucidate, and annoy by their multi plicity more - than they relieve - by their variety. lam not, however, without hope that the discussions which have already taken .place, have been productive of some advan tage. The eyes even of the lower classes •begirt to be open ed, and since the heroes of your panegyric :•;ir F. BUR DETT, and Mr. WARM./ have moulted their borrowed plumage, they have been turned with no small share of derision and contempt towards -the croakiNg bird, who lent his own feathers to ornament these political Jack-dawn. I have perused your letters in vain for reasoning, or ar . - gmnent, a desultory style adapted to catch the vulgar, by administering to their prejudices and passions, surplies the want of one and betrays your deficiency in the other, 1 have, therefore, been under a sort of neces.;ity to adopt 'something of your own mode, and have rather pelted you with hail than blasted you with a thunderbolt— , solidity May be crushed, but imbecility can only be annoyed. The noisy flutter of your vanity has only enabled me to mark with more precision, the unavailing struggles of your weakness. The public, as you have doubtless discovered from the docmaiorg sale of your Register, begid to want 'something more piquant th an the weekly abuse emitted by Mr. Conne.rr, and you arc fast dwiudling to that insigni ficance, from 'which even the pl.rishable infamy of your character cannot redeem you. When you first revolted from the maintenance a n d de fence of good government and order in society, the abo minable effrontery of your apostacy, and the bold defiance of your language procured you many readers; but the same dull and malignant abuse, again and again set before the public, tired and fatigued, you were silently Counter acted by au unsatisfied craving for novelty, and were ulti mately defeated by your Satirical opponents, not less ma lignant, perhaps, but more practised in the use of offensive weapons. Besides, the bulk of the nation are loyal ; the greater proportion of the people is enlightened, and there is a large fund of good sense widely diffused among them, without any teal sympathy therefore, and without any etpectation of real instruction your works were even at first read with a vague inquisitiveness—are continued to be read with an increasing indifference, and they will ulti mately cease to be read—with a real satisfaction. The candid have long since given you up—even the prejudiced begin to waver—for you no longer convince—the indolent ire wearied by the sameness of your invective—and the malevolent will cease to be gratiAed by a tale ten times re 4 • told, and again repeated with more vehemence perha::s, but unaccompanied with any thing new, even in the way of abuse, to allure a reader, or to provoke an oppoi cut. I would mot - continue to employ myself in directing the pub lic attention towards von,lf it were not that t am al xiol!s , during the recess of parliament, to counteract the poison you are so insiduonity endeavouring to dissemin%te, and to place before the eves and understandings of the people, the real objeJs of your labour; which it. requires, " ne thing but daylight and their senses" to develope. Deco rated with the prismatic colours -of popular feelings, and partial 'prejudices, your works may do incalculable mis chief, your fancy is under no restraint horn morality, and you throw the viel of enchantment over fictitious re presentations to captivate the ignorant, to delude the un wary, and to lead on the dissatisfied to their ruin. Before I enter upon the Plan of Reform proposed by Sir F. Beam:TT, I have to express my disappointment at not having been favoured with your Plan. For a man of your genius, your superiority of understanding, your mind, your intellect— for a man whom nature designed for a Leader, it seems a little extraordinary that you should be content to act merely as a Subaltern, or in the Ranks, and confine yourself to the mere registering and commenting upon the plans of another. Even the science of political economy is only to be bcne fitted by the casual observations, or the weekly summary of this great constellation, this Ursa 3fajor of the political hemisphere. But you have not to learn that " discretion is the better part of valour." It is more prudent to retreat, or even abscond, ill the mom ent. of daoger, than risk a defeat which nothing but a miracle can avert. So fir as the have yet seen theui, your Letters to the People of Hampshire, have only been the vehicles of low scurrility ,and personal abuse, the very dregs and carats of an under standing which coutaminates every thing it meddles with.— You have addressed yourself not to the respectable part of the County, but to the very lowest classes of the people, and. through them to the populace of the country at large. YOU have endeavoured to create anenthusiasm of public opinion, and to direct it to one point, in a way that must inevitably lead (if your projects were adopted) to that state, by which the nation Would be tossed off its base into the air, without its being at all certain which side would be left uppermost when it fell back again. Your language is that of a theorist who has no stake in the country, but who is goading on the nation to hazard the much which it does possess, for the probability of a small addition, which it can only attain by blood, even if it be attained at all, but which, it may shed its blood without attaining. The dog who lost the substance in pur suit of the shadow only lost what he possessed, but a nation acting in the way you wish, might superadd to its loss, a pow sitive and important injury. That 1 may not appear to imi• tate you by dealing in vague assertions, and unfounded decla. rations, I will endeavour to apply history to its bed purpose —that of making us wise by the experience of those who have gone before. This it phi,losophy teachipg by eb", _ o•. . - 7 weapons. Your language is that of a theorist who has no stake in Besides, the bulk of the nation are loyal ; the greater the country, but who is goading on the nation to hazard proportion of the people is enlightened, and there is a the much which it does possess, for the probability of a large fund of good sense w idely diff use d among them, small addition, which it can only attain by blood, even without any teal sympathy therefore, and without any if it be attained at all, but which, it may shed its blood etpectation of real instruction your works were even at without attaining. The dog who lost the substance in pur- first read with a vague i nq uisitiveness —are continued to suit of the shadow only lost what he possessed, but a nation be read with an increasing indifference, and they will ulti- acting in the way you wish, might superadd to its loss, a pow mately cease to be read—with a real satisfaction. The sitive and important injury. That 1 may not appear to imi• candid have long since given you up—even the prejudiced tate you by dealing in vague assertions, and unfounded decla. begin to waver—for you no longer convince—the indolent rations, I ►ill endeavour to apply history to its bed purpose ire wearied by the sameness of your invective—and the —that of making its wise by the experience of those who malevolent will cease to be gratiAed by a tale ten times . have gone before. This is philosophy teachipg by ems, Voi l l iA i --jfoaAXTA . • , . , 0 • . : ;:-'''• _ .