The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-06-23 00:00:00

DEATH' OF, WILLIAM 'COBI3ETT.

• (From Cobbett's Register.) •
CLIFITOTtIYs'INN; FRIDAY MOH,N*O, JOIE 19.—1 t is
my mournfal duty to. state that the forebodings above are
realized, and that the hand which has guided this. work'
for,thirty-three-y.ears has ceased to move! The readers
of the Register,will,• of- course, look-fo this number' for
some particulars of the clOse of iny poor father's life;
but they lam sure; .be forgiving if they find them
shartlYstated.. e A. great, inclination to inflammation •of
the throat had caused him annoyance from time to time,
forseveral years,-and; as he grew older, it enfeebled hint
more.- He was • suffering front on'e of these attacks
ring the late, spring, and it will be recollected that when
the-Marquis'of
.Chanclos brought on his motion' for the
repeal-of .themalt.tax, my father attempted to' speak;but
could nut make his. -voice audible beyond the' few mem-
ber* Whosat round him.- He reniained to 'vote on, that
motion, and increased his- ailMent ; but on the voting of
supplies on the nights of Friday, the.lsth, and Monday,
the 18th of May, he exerted hiniself 'SO' much, and sat so
late, that he laid himself up. He.determined; neverthe-
less; to attend the house again 'on the evening of, the
Marquis of Chandos's.motion on agricultural distress; on
the 25th -of .May, and the exertion. of -speaking' and re.
maining late to vote 'on that occasion were too much -for
one already.severely unwell. He Went down to his farm.
early on the morning after his last debate, and had re-
solved to rest thoroughly, and get rid of his hoarseness
and inflammation. On Thursday night last he felt unu-
sually well, and imprudently drank tea in' the operiair ;
but he went to bed -apparently in better health. In the
early. part of the night he' was taken violently ill` ;.and on
Friday and Saturday_ was considered. in a •dangerous.
state by the medical attendant. On Sunday he rev ived-
again, and on Monday gave us hope that he *mild "yet be
well. He talked feebly, but in the most-collected and
sprightly manner, upon politics andfarrninir; wished for
" four days' rain," for 'the Cobbeit-corn arid root crops;
and on Wednesday he could remain no lOnger shut up
from the fields, but desired to be carried round the farm;
which being done, he" criticiiedllie work that had been
going on in his 'absence and detected some little devia-
tion. from his orders, with all `the- quickness that was .so.
remarkable in him. On Wednesday night be grew *ire
feeble, and was ,evidentlrsinking; bat he continued to
was
put with perfect clearness every question' that
put to him. In the last half4rourilia eYe*'becante
and at ten m inntes after one P.m: lie leatedtack, closed
thent'as if to sleep, and died without a gasp. He was 73
years old ; but, as he -never appeared to-us-to be certain
of his own age, we had some -time ago procured an ex-
tract from the register of:Farnham parish, in which it
appears that the four sons' of my grandfather; Qedrge,
Thomas, William, and 'Anthony; were christenednif the
Ist-of April, 1163, and; as Anthony, was the Younger
son, and %Villiam was the third, we inter that he was born
one year before he was christened, that is; on the9th of
March, 1762.'• He might, therefore; have been older; but
not witch. JOHN M. COEHttf.
(From the Times-of Saturday.)
otiein and progress in the world—his habits- and
charaOter, public as well as private—his- ierrOrs,lcontra-
diction's, prej udiceri, hatreds, nnblushingeffrontery, shame-
less disregard of truth for its own sake, and matchless
power of illustrating orconfounding it, as might'suit the
temper of the moment—all these. have for a quarter of a
century been so familiar-to the'minds of men; that long
before 'his death they had.ceailed to in§pire 'any lively in,
terest, or to draW any activeattention.

. - ---
Against Cobbett's moral character in domestic life,' as
we have no exact knowledge; we do not feel ourselves
justified in saying anything: 'Of' his'minagement on
points of: honour and fair dealing between man and man,
it has been reported' that-others, besides Sir Francis
Burdett, were qualified to speak with more certainty than
we can pretend to.
But take this self-tattglit'pea'sarit for in-all, be was,
perhaps, in some respects, a more extraordinary English-
man than any other of his time "Nitor in adversum"
was amotto to which none could lay equal claim • with
William Cobbett. Birth, station, employment, ignot-
ance, temper, character, in early life•were all against'
him. But he emerged front and overcame them all: By
masculine force of genius, and the lever of a Prond;lcon-
fidetrt, and determined will, he pushed aside..a mass-of
obstacles of which the least andslig,biest would have 're-
pelled the boldest or most ambitious of ordinary men,
He ended by burstinc, that formidable barrier which
separates the class of English gentlemen from all beneath
their!, and died a'member of pa:rliarrient, repreSentinta
large Constituency which had chosen him twice.
C-Obbett was-by farthe most voluminous writer that
has lived for centtiries. He'has'worked• with 'incessant
industry for'more than forty years, withotif.We
lieVe; the 'interruption 'Otso much as a single' Week'from -
languor of spirit, or even ftom physical weakness.
"The-first general charaeteristie of his. style-is; perspi
cuity ulnequailed and A second is- homey',
muscular vigotir. A third is.purity, alWhys'aiiripile; arid.
racinesioften elegant.
It we admit Cobbett to be the most-C6pions'arkrdili;
gent of writers; it is only to pronounce hint by fat-
most-inconstant and faithless that ever appeared.' befOre
his countrymen. 'He never was, in the proper sense,.a
party man ; that we acknowledge. His finctuating
praise, therefore, or, blame of individuals; being' inci-
dental to his support' or 'eorrdeymation of cetrain: dot_
trines, is not a groundirlierebpon it would be reasonable to reproach him.. But for- the'doctrines themselves, Tor ,
'be principles, the opinions, the -.measures, which from

1.-*;iotied;irwa,rm,

year to year he alternately wrote' up, and 'reprobated—
we speak not of the men,—in-atii point of view it is that
Oobbett's pretensions' to cotritriiin 'itonsisttney; or
niod honesty, or corntnOn. deceney; seem altogether not
so much untenable:as laughable.' The -Inart-wrote•as if
he was wholly unconscious of having' ever' written any;
thing before.- He not-only 'repeated himself, which 'was
his customs but" repeated,. with grave contempt for man-
kind, • his contradictions 01 himself as earnestly
.and'vehe-
tnently as- he had at first repeated the opinions which he
iv‘as now busy in 'abandoning... This, with his strange
OM solitary perverseness on particular questions, affixed
a levity to his name and character which long ago de;,
sfroyed all the influence hia unqueStiOned abilities must
otherwise have infallibly procured hith, and the. "satile•
spiiit betraying itgellafter he got 'into parhatrieht, pre
venteehts • acquiring any 'weight' or credit 'there at all
propottidnate to tlie sttength'idd vivacity oflikintellect,'•
if he 'had hot in'tnitehivoti§ly abitsed'it.

But we•take leave' of CobGett. For years thls journal
Was the •favouriteAveekly victim of :an' animosity which
We suspect to have 'been- on .his, part more affected than
real. • We never deliberately injured him, as he must
hive known, and in his grave we should be 'sorry to offer
him any, injustice. He was a man whom England alone
could have produced and nurtured up to such maturity
of unpatronized and self-generated power. Nevertheless,
though a vigilant observer of the age, and a strenuous
actor in it, he lay upon the earth as a lOose and isolated
substanCe. He was, incorporated with no portion of our
political or social frame; He belOncred neither to prin-
ciples; to parties; nor to -claSses. He and -his writings
formed a retnarkable phenortienbn. He 'wit an' English'
episode, and nothing'more,• as 'greater 'then 'hive'been ;
for 'what 'is Napoleon, while 'we write;' but an episode Y
As a portion. of history he is extinct; He has struck root;
no where,•not•in Europe; not even' in Franee, as Cobbett •
has-not.eitherin America,,where his intellect first sprung
to life; or in England,-where it ripened into almost un-.'
exampled vigour..