The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-01-07 00:00:00

THE

ConcloskM 4 my first Wier is Laird
fished*: May 1819.
„
1. Ng Lord,l will trouble you no more. Our road'
"is clear as the bright sun,in heaven. It is to arcons
"'Mate orrrefteoge to num; mina menus ewe eefiel
" age. The first duty of the Legislature is to peptide;
" Bread for the people. The second. is to securejustice
" and peace, and order in society. - If we are to neglect'
" the warnings of experience; if we eve to contract all
" the transsetions, of life within the range of an anti
" ouated maximum; if we are to force all tfie wants,and
" modes, and means of man, into as arbitrary conformity
" with Bold, we must re-organise oar armies, and don-
" ble their pay ; for it is only
"through slaughter and
" anarchy that we shall succeed.
The following is another extract from a note in this
last pamphlet, which was published whilst you were in
America. I have treated you rather cavalkrly as yon'
will perceive. Bu: you have not treated me much better
upon some occasions. And besides, you must observe,
that I was bred up a thorough Pittite, and that a few
years ago, I uas accustomed to look upon you, with
pretty much the same eyes, as you used to look with
upon the Jacobins and Reformers of 1798. ':1 did not
absolutely believe, that you had a "cloven find." But 1H
suspected many bad things in you : more
experience of you, and your oppoisesito; has latterly
tended very touch to correct. •
" 1 wish COlthCit tens among them now. It would
prolong his life at least 20 years, to see how the thee-
" rises would be pulled on the one hand, by the difllcalty
"of fee the and employing the labourers ; and, on the
-" other, by the utter impossibility of collecting the
necessary taxes for the payment of the army, and of
41 the dividends of the natiemal debt. But to speak
" seriously ; 1 solemnly believe, that if the Secret Com-
" mittees, had been sitting for the express purpose of
"forwarding the ends of Coblvett, and his hosts of lee's-
" lators, they could not possibly, have devised any thing
" more truly to their hearts' content, than the reports
"which the Committees have agreed upon"!
Why this was written in Eng/await, whilst you were
sitting in Long Island, like a lion watching for'his,
prey ! The words were scarcely printed. before ybor
notes of triumph resounded from the other aide of the ,
Atlantic! I knew that your prey was ready. I knew
that the Boroughinex were lost for ever. if they payed
and persevered in, Mr. Peel's Bill. I stood by their.
side through fair, and through fool; I warned them at
every step. 1 proved to them again and again, that it
would " be easier to govern a nation of fiends, the*
"to govern England under their measures.", I literally
dinned them with proof upon proof, .that the Act whichl
they were committing was felo de se. They refused to
listen to me, who was their freed. They refused to lisle!
to you who were their exesny.Vragged on by • fate,wbieb
we sometimes witness, in men, " whom hoar is •come."
they have persevered in their course of error; and 90w
their ruin is secure. Whether they adopt your remedies,
or mine Sir, or adopt no remedy at all, they will be for-
tunate indeed, if they escape that RADICAL Rumex in
the Representation of the People, from the want of
which all our sufferings an all our dangers proceed.
But, although it is evident from these extracts, that I
have always advocated the adoptiew of a just and prat
tirattc Metallic Standard of value, yet, I (reedy ac•
knots ledge, that In all my writings, I bawinclined
more to the restoration oldie paper systemmeder propel
limitations and obligations; or to the estahllelsment of
some other papersystem, which might Mae all tiro
advantages, without any of the di "which
bare attended Ai circulation orbitiFfsottifi I mere
the paper. But 1 have not the feat objection to the
Bold. All that 1 have desired is, to such a Metallic
Standard adopted as shall be feat and practicable. 'fhb
standard which we are sow attempting to enforce, is
neither: It is ontrageonslysinjuse so 99 cases ost.of a
hundred. his absolutely impossible so be carried into
effect. I know that in this latter opieihn, you disagree
with me. You think it possible to be carried Info ef-
fect, by the aid of " concondtant measures." 1 think it
utterly impossible, by the dof any human means.
The difference between your mode of proceeding, and
mine, is this: you would cut down the things measured,
to the level of the measure. I would cut down the mea-
sure, to the level of the things measured. You would
leery change into every head, and a sense of injury into
every heart, in order to accomplish the very same ob-
ject. which 1 would accomplish, without altering the
calculatiost of say head, or so mach as touching the
feelings of iv hcart.. You would act by open, *Went,
and direct mesas, lactating and tigitattag every class,
and every indiVidual of community in succession.
I would act a way, quiet, silent, unseen, and
unknown, dispensing justice, and the means of
prosperity to ail, without the possibility of do-
log either real or imaginary wrong to any. Four made
of proceeding assumes that the Metallic Standard has
already nearly completed its edit" and that the great
hulk of all the existing relations of Society, are already
accommodated to its level. Aline bores upon the posi-
tion, that the Metallic Standard has scarcely yet com-
menced it: mortal operations; and that at least nine
tenths of all the existing contracts in the Mims, are yet
formed upon the IVar Prices, or founded upon the
War habits and calculations. In my judgment, your
mode of proceeding, would compromise the safety of
all Interests, and endanger the very foundations of So-
ciety ; but mime would reconcile and harmonise all In-
terests, and secure them all, in their just and equitable
rights, and in their due relations with each other.—
With the mere assistance of an optional release from
contracts formed since 1818. sad a general revision of
the Robberies which have taken place since that period,
anklet) yon yourself,areoae victim amonguthousands. I t
would render justice to every human being as far as it
.is possible too human 1040909411 I. Dada it. Togo
back beyond the year 1818, to miss the injuries done
in 1797 and 1793, would be about as useful, and about
as practicable, and about as necessary for the present
g tion of men, as to wand, r over passages of our
musty Law Books, in the vain attempt to redress the
injuries which were occasioned by either nacaraary or
unareentary reductions of the 3letallio Standard, in the
days of Ilarry the Eighth, or Edward the Third. Let
us leave the dry bones of our Ancestors, to moulder
amidst the errors and the crimes, the effects of which
have long since passed away ; and let us take care that
the preseut generation of living men, is not precipitated
to an early tomb by measures which are far more un-
just. and infinitely more ruinous, than any which the
maddest of Tyrants, have ever attempted or devised be-
fore. I am with sincere respect,
Sir,

Your obedient huruble servant,
THOS. ATTWOOD.

Mr. Cobbott,

P. S. The Postscript to my last letter in the Farmer's
Journal, was not sent after the letter was printed, as
you conclude, but it was sent at the saute time with the
letter itself, as you may see noticed in the Notice* to
Correspondents in the Farmers Joirnal, on the day the
letter was printed. I have never been desirou.ssto
tract in any way, from the merits which attach to yowl.
self personally, in the discussion of this great question.
1 have known many men who, in my opinion, have al.
ways understood the subject, quite as well as yourself;
but ! bare known none, whose labours have been so va-
rious, so able, and so indefatigable, or have bad such
important and extensive effects upon the public mind.