The Sun.
London, England, 1819-12-28 00:00:00

COBI3ETTS HONESTY.

Extract ofCobbett's Letter to Sir francis nurdett,
dated Long Island, Ivoti. 20, 1817.
enclose von the copy of a Lepf.i• to Mr.'
Tpper, which I beg you to have the, goodness to
read, and to consider the contents of it, as far as
t he'•' relate to !'.e. ofFFrt Juv
a.;tlrVSSt(l youris'elf."
Extract of Cobbott's Letter to Tipper above referred

. . . _
. • to, same date.
" I hold it to be perfectly, just, that Lshon(d
never; in sny way whatever, give up one single
farthing of my future earnings to the payment of
any debt' in ,Englanil,

Bat from the great desire which I have, not
only to return to my native country, bt►t also to
prevent the infamous acts levelled against me from
injuring those persons with whom 1 have pecu-
t►iary engagements, and some of Whom have be-
con►e my credit Ors twin !exlings of friendship and
a desire to se, vent.., I eagetly wave all claim to
ihii-principle,, and I sh,►ll neglect no means with-
in my power fully to pay and satisfy every de-
mand, as tar as that catr' be done go nsistendy
with that duty which. calls on
.tne to take care
that my family have the means of fairly exerting
their indnstry, amid of leading that sort of life to
which they have a jos! claim.
" 1 am, you will ,perceive, getting' ready a
Grammar of the English Language.

• " 1 believe it to be,(pri,e impossible that this
work should not have a very extensive circulation
in Inland and Arneric.,.; avid that it should nor
be of many yeals duration in point of profit,—
Whatever part of
.this profit can, without. endan-
gerjng the well-buing of my beloved and exem-
plary, a ffesetiosia:-ei and virtuous family, be allotted
to the.discharge of my- debts "o! • incntnhrances,
shall, with scrupulous fidelity he so allotted ; but
as to this particular object, and tt4 to other sour, es
of grin, I will first take care that the acts of
tyrannical confiscation which have been put in
fiace against me, shall.not deprive this family of
the means, not only of comfortable existence,
_hut that it shall not deprive. this family: of the
►mans df sucking fair acod honourable distinction
in the wdrici." •

The Reply to Sir Francis Burdett :
TO MR. WILLIAM comivrr..
St. James's-place, Jan. 31, 1818.
_ _

SIR-4 have lost rec,,i,veo voors of :be `20:11 of
November, an►l carefully, and :according to your
perused-the enclosed to Mr;Tipper.

• It is not my intention to enter into arty con-
troveisy respecting the honesty or dishonesty of
paying or not paying debts according to 'the con-
veioeuce of the party owing. it seems that it
should ever suit your convenience, and take no-
thing horn the comforts and enjoyments of your-
self and fiiinity, such comforts and enjoyments,
and means too of distingoishing themselves, as
you think they are entitled to, all this being Pre-
viously secured, then,you think yourself bound to
pay your debts: it, on the cotorat y, that cannot
be, egerted, without 'sacrifices on your and their
part, in that, case your credit oyshave nu claim to
prefer and you on duty to perform. You then
stand absolved, rectus foro censcientice, and for
this singular reason, because those who_ lent you
their money. when you were in :difficulty and dis-
tress, in order to save you and your family from
ruin, were and are unable to protect you either
againSt Our own.fears, or the power of arbi-
',ratty Government, under which they have the
misfortoue to live, .and to which 'they are equally
exposed. These principles, which are laughable
in theory, are detestable in practice. That you
should nut only entertain .aiol act upon, but openly
avo W them, and laid your own undetstanding,
or think to blind that of others, .by such flimsy
pretences; is one more melancholy pro-of 6f the
facility with which self-interest can assume the
mask of hypocrisy, alit! by means of the we,rkest
sophisfty, overpo,ver the strongest understand.'
hug. flow trite is our conimon law maxim, that
no 'man is upright judge in his own cause ;
how truly and prettily said by the French, " La
Nature se pipe i" nor less. truly, though mote
grOssly in Engl.sh, Nature's her o..en bawd."
lu axpressing my abhorrence of the principles
you lay down for your conduct, and concerning
which you challenge my opinion a little unfairly,
considering the ridicule with which you at the
same time threatened to.ovcrwhelm the unfortu-
nate wight who presumes to differ from them, I do
not desire that you should act upon any other
with regard to me : I should be sorry your
'family'
were put to any inconvenience on Inv
account : should' your circumstances 'ever prove
so prosperous as to' enable you to discharge your
debts without -infringing upon those new princ.i.,
pies Of moral obligation you have adopted, and
which for rice first lime since the.conitnencement
of the world have, 1 believe, been, though •fre-
qtreotly acted on, openly promulgated. As to
complaint or reproach, they are'the offspring
of weakness and folly ; disdain should stifle
them vbut nothing can or ought to stifle the
expiession of disgust erery
,honest mind Must
feel at Zbe avant integiity in the-principles.

yon prochim, and of feeling ac►d geherositY in
the sentiments express.

I am, Sir,
Your must obedient and most humble rvant,
f. BAJIIDLTY.
• ,

COIII3ET r's ACCOUNT
OF Tikit #4,TTESIPT TO i'lZoqucts A RECONCILIATION
BETnEEN SIR F. BURDETT AND

" Yon will have seen; in some of the News-
papers, ;the folloWing artiele':—
SrlO'llatqcts Butwarr AND COBBETT.,I—TI:c
frieuds:*Cobbett. a few days since. waited on
Sir F. Brirdett in order to effect, if possible, i recon-
ciliation between them. The Baronet' was, how-
ever, ieexorable. He said Mr. Cobbett conld on'
forget 'Le many falsehoods published in the Two-
penny Register, which the wt.iter must have known
if true or false; if true, no honest man wonk
wish /11Y renew • tth acquaintnnee witit him- (Sit
Frane;,;;L
,and if talse, what could he thought of
fte ponprlifating sueliatrocions galt.,trt- ,
tV mttr > knowieJge of their
the convt.tsation ended, and the persons retired.'
" When I 'ens at Liverpool, I was most strong-
ly urged in private, and even by 'a speech, and a
very eloquent speech, of one of the gene,emen at
a dinner given to we there,- to unite with Sir
Francis Burdett. A similar request, and front
persons on whose judgment I set great value, was
made to tne at New York. As I -came on to
London I perceiver) that the wish was very gene-
ral. While at New York, 1 bad read Sir
Francis's letter to the Electors of Westminster,
upon the Manchester tragedy, of which letter I.
very mach approved. 1 had read also an account
of the proceedings:ln Palace-ya'rd, relative to the
.Manchester transactions, and, in those proceed-
ings I thought 1
,perceived what .amounted to a
proof of Sir Francis's desire to co-operate with
511`r. Hunt. My determination, from the moment
I read of those proceedings, was this, that when
1 came to England, I would bury e. NI regard to
the Baronet, all the past in oblivion ; and that, if
he were disposed tO exert himself to hie ittniost in
behalf Of the people, to co-operate cordially with
him. At the dinner at Liverpool, 1 declated niy
readiness to' he the first Co move, and to go to
and, in the hingoage of scripture, to say,
Is it peace ?' When I came to London, a Gen-
tleman' from the country, in a day or two after
the dinner at the Crown and Anchor, asked me
whether there were no- means of. producing a re-
conciliation between Sir Francis Burdett and Me.
After some conversation upon the subject, 1-gave
this'•Getitleman his commission in the following
words

Dec. 3, 1819.

• lam ready to tender my hand to Sir Francis
Burdett, and to tender my whole heart and mind,
to be exerted, in co-operation with him, 'for the
purpose at endeavouring to rescue nor country,
Not-n*om Errigs of ire.oppres;ors:' • I aur-ttady to
bury all private consitlerations in oblivion;l
have seen, all through the country, proofs of .14
most ardent.,desire, that an union should take
place ; and I am resolved the. no private teelings
of nine shall obstruct"that union.

WILLIAM COBBETT.'

" At'the,same time that I delivered this paper,
I -told the Getttleman- Who was the bearer of it,
what I had told all my Eoglish friends at New
Yotk, awl. what 1 had told to particular friends at
Liverpoid, that • I never be the
.uoder•
worker of Sir F. Burdett again, and that I would
have nothing to do with .him.any more than with
any other common person.; that Tneyei vv.ciold
cf-fttsolt with hint ; and iii short, that I would
havt nothing in the shape of co,operatiou with
him:except asrotie of a public meeting, perhapA,
unless he would immediately and not of his own
purse, furnish the means-of, facili:ating, as soon
as the occasion should offer, the entrance of Mr.
Hunt and myself into the House of Commons.
And this I told the Gentleman Wlio was, .the
hearer of the paper, that be had my full liberty
to state to any person whatever., either in conver-
sation or in print.' This Gentleman expressed•his
wish that these terms Might be commtmicaied to
Sir Francis by myself, to which 1 had no ohjec-,
lion ; and I told him I should give the terms in
writing, with permission to their being published
as soon as Sir Francis chose, and with a deelarra-
tion on my parr, that I should make them known,
to the public without loss of time.
The reasoning oti' which I proceeded Was
thisi Sir Francis Burdett has now no influence,
no weight of character more than a common nom.
He is unable to give tne any support or aid ; I can
derive no assistance from his nitre name or coun-
tenance ; can gain nei weight of character, no
powerto do gout) by the mere circutos•ance of in-
timate co-operation with hitn, But he has the
power to pia to:i in a sittratiort—where I sh4l be
able to (10 for the good of the country,. ten 'thou.
sand times as lunch as I ant, able to do'with toy
pen only. He has ample means to effect this ob-
ject.- To him it would be a sacrifice, it a sacrifice
at all, not worth a moments thought. lf, there-
fore, he will not do this, I shall litse, in pOint of
consegnence.and influence, by any intimate cow-
municatiou that shall be known to take place be-
t Ween him and toe ; and, thcAgh. I ant not re-
quested to tender any such terms on the cart of
Mr. Hunt, I think his services to the public give
him a fair claim to be included the negocia-
tion. I observed at the saute time, that I could
perceive no, ground fOr pleferring Sir F. Burdett
before any outer common wan, of ordinary talent,
unless the preference were given on the 'score of
His fortune, and that this fortune &ight to be no
ground of -roeference toilets the forttme were
to be brought into action in favour of the canse:
Suppose there are two men, alike in all other re•
speets, both friends to Reform, butte zealoos,in
the cause; their talents equal and their courage

equttl; only the one has -;treat' heaps of mooey,
and the other has 00n9. Nov, what .hise
ness is it to pretend that the poor., man is
not of equal value to the rich mai), the
rich than phi IfiS band into one of his hags in or--
der to tninish the means of surpassing, the poor
tuall.Bsin;!le exertions.- This was the ground that
I proceeded Upon ; and I anS very certain that
this grown! Will be reg,i-rtli-i°-a's iterfe,:tly ;' nod by
every ooe Who is servile enough to say that
mere tr.pney ought to be.preferred to every Ottng
else.

" On tlae 9.h of Deremb r, I received the fol-
lowing note horn the Gentleman who Matt been
the hearer of lite Payer above inserted)
DVAR Sett---14'rom a conversation I hnve just
bad wlth Sir Francis Bartlett, 1 am persuPtied
the inclosed cannot be rendered avilable
nis causes the .regret ; . bat 1 have thought it
hez.t to teturn it to ypn Ni.th [Hy assurance, that it
105 not been used or seen.' "".

•' This was:the-whole th'at took place with any
4i,il,,letige of •Illittc."

.

The Public will rein ~k, that in tile foregoing
account which COBBETT 4 as givvn of hi, efforts,
to be reconciled to Sir FaAtsICIS BURDETTHIC
passes over all. the jusi.complaiots of the Baronet,
and ittinrediately proceeds to
_state 'that he had
been repeatedly urged to attempt_ the reconc;lia-
tion which the Baronet so properly rejected.—
COBBBTT iS also equally silent as to the pecti-
niary claims of the Baronet, and has the
shameless audacity to .expect more money from
him. For what purpose? why this pure Politician,
who; with his virtuous colleague, that mirror of
'matrimonial fidelity, Mr. IIuNT, lately had a
Meeting for the promotion of Mdrality. Wants the
Baronet to advance mote money for bribery, to
wocnre.himself and HUNT a Seat in the /louse of
,Com.mons. Is it possible that trnpudence can go.'
beyond this proposition ? . Finding, however+,
that Sir FitsNM knetv him too well to renew any
intercourse with him; !re declares that the Baronet

" has no influence—no weight of charactei•—
unable to give any support or except.by
opening his purse strings. It the Baronet were
indeed so insignificadt, why should POISB[STT'S
friends (it lie has any) he so solici:ous to-effect
reconciliati9n ?—But there is no cud to his in-

consistencies I • and it is really wasting reproof
and Argime.nt upon a man so utterly disdainful of
charticier and so universally contemned.