Mr Pitt, at the beginning of his career, was the greatest of the great, the saviour of Europe, the most magnanimous of statesmen; lately, his readers have only heard of him under the appellation of that shallow-brained boaster,'-that patron of peculation,-that poor, hollow, bombastic declaimer, &c. Of Mr Fox, he said in 1802, that he never thought him a person of any political importance, or one who could ever have any weight in the councils of the nation, (vol. ii. p. 338); he is even guilty of the atrocious absurdity of averring, with all the seriousness and animosity which he can muster for the occasion, that he believes the only object of that illustrious person's journey to Paris, in 1801, was to make himself mini-> ster of this country by the help of Bonaparte. (p. 343.) He thanks heaven, that of all his manifold sins, that of ever having, either in thought, word or deed, been an adherent of Charles Fox, is not among the number; and that he only breaks through the silence of disdain, on account of the consequence which he derives from the friendship of the First Consul, (p. 714.) He more than insinuates his affection for rebels, regicides, and traitors; resents his 'loathsome calumnies' on the House of Stuart, and his miserable attempts to defend the characters of Russel and Sydney;' and concludes with asking, Where, Sir, shall I find, in all the cumbrous volumes of harangues which you have uttered during the last ten years of treasons and conspiracies against the throne and the life of your Sovereign, one single sentence or phrase expressive of your abhorrence of those diabolical machinations?' (p. 719.) To this despicable, disloyal, detestable statesman, Mr Cobbett has himself stated (vol. vi. p. 515.) that he afterwards went over; he calls him repeatedly, public-spirited and magnanimous,' and declares, that, out of the five great questions to which his life had been devoted, there never had been but one on which they disagreed. In a Number published since his death, he speaks of the departed statesman in the following terms. who was in his nature kind and indulgent to a fault; who was wonderfully gifted in the faculty of perceiving and of judging; whose heart and mind were always disposed to the right side; and who only wanted, as Major Cartwright observes, the resolution to say nay to bad men.' (vol. xi. p. 593.) The truth of this character might atone for much hastiness or error; but nothing can expiate the base scurrility with which it stands contrasted; nor was it fit that an encomium on Mr Fox should be pronounced by lips polluted with libels which only atoned for their malignity by their gross and contemptible absurdity.

• He

The minor characters are treated in the same manner. Mr Sheridan is a very eloquent and patriotic person, while he is opposed to Mr Addington; when he stands against Sir Francis

Burdett,

Burdett, he is a peculator,-a player,—and a tool of corruption. Horne Tooke is branded through many volumes, as a republican, Jacobin, and demagogue. He is even accused pretty distinctly of having been guilty of high treason; and yet we find, in a late Number (vol. xi. p. 872.), a most gracious and polite invitation to him to come forward for the public service; nor do I believe' says Mr Cobbett that if the gentleman who is represented as having such absolute power over Sir Francis Burdett were once more to stand forward in public life, he could in a short time hence meet with any of the prejudices which have heretofore existed against him.' Even Mr Bowles, who is now the constant object of Mr Cobbett's scorn and derision, was once considered by him in the light of a respectable coadjutor. In the second volume we hear of his valuable pamphlets, and of Mr Cobbett's entire acquiescence in the sentiments they contain. The sentiments of Mr Bowles, for which we certainly entertain no great respect, were always, we believe, the same which he now professes.

Now, what is it that we infer from this strange alternation of praise and blame in the pages of Mr Cobbett? Why, that nobody should care much for either; that they are bestowed from passion or party prejudice, and not from any sound principles of judgment; and that it must be the most foolish of all things, to take our impressions of the merit of any individual, from a man whose own opinions have not only varied, but been absolutely reversed, within these four years. The consideration of this versatility in Mr Cobbett's likings and dislikings, has, we will confess, been a considerable encouragement to us in the task of reviewing his lucubrations. When we first felt it to be our duty to point out the pernicious parts of his tenets, we were a little appalled by the prospect of the weekly abuse with which we lay our account with being rewarded; but when we discovered, in the course of our reading, how kindly he repays the victims of his occasional reprobation, we grew quite easy upon that subject ;tisfied that, if he should abuse us for a month or two to come, he will make us ample amends in the long-run, and end by being the most devoted of our admirers.

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Hitherto we have only spoken of Mr Cobbett's opinions of men; and though they are opinions of public men, and delivered on public principles, we are willing to admit the plea, that they may have been influenced by the caprices of personal affection, and that the charge of inconsistency is not completely made out, unless it can be shown that his opinions have undergone as great a change with regard to the substantial measures of policy which he has always been occupied in discussing, as with regard to the

merits of the individuals by whom they have been proposed. And here it may be proper to remark, that it is no test of consistency at all, for a writer to be able to say, I have always been an enemy to peculation; or, I have uniformly been a friend to the constitution. No man in this country ever pretended to defend peculation, or to impugn the constitution in direct terms; nor have any parties ever been arrayed against each other, who were not perfectly agreed as to these and other general propositions. It is not then in his uniform professions of attachment to the constitution, or of hostility to those who endanger it, that we are to look for the evidence of Mr Cobbett's political consistency. It is in the specific measures which he has succesively held out as necessary for its defence, and the views and arguments by which he has at different times affected to support it. After having been himself, for ten years, by far the loudest and most violent of those who endeavoured to terrify us with the dangers of Jacobinism, and the example of the French revolution, Mr Cobbett could sit down coolly, on the 11th of July 1807, and write these words. For the last fourteen years, ⚫ alarms referring to the French revolution, have from time to time 'been played off upon this nation, and that too with woeful and ⚫ disgraceful success. To these alarms, artfully excited and kept · up, the country owes almost the whole of her present difficulties; for, had it not been for the fear men entertained of the ' overthrow of all order, law, and religion, Pitt never could have ⚫ held so long that power, by the exercise of which he entailed such train of curses upon us. Let the people look to this. Let them take care not to be alarmed again into an approbation of seven years suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. Let them take special care not to be persuaded, that the only way to have their ⚫ liberties secured, is to have them taken away from them.' (vol. xii. p. 36.) This is pretty well for a general specimen of consistency; but it is better to be somewhat more particular.

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The points upon which Mr Cobbett has descanted with the greatest zeal and animation for the last four months, are, 1st, The necessity of a reform in the representation; 2d, The benefit of frequent elections; and, 3d, The necessity of removing all placemen as well as pensioners from the houses of Parliament. Now, upon each of these subjects, we have had the benefit of perusing his opinions some years ago; and the comparison of those opinions with the doctrines which he now maintains with so much zeal and confidence, furnishes a contrast, we are happy to say, not less instructive and amusing than that which has been already presented in his judgments of individuals.

Upon the subject of parliamentary reform, we have a pretty

VOL. X. NO. 20.

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decisive

decisive diatribe in an angry letter to Mr Wilberforce in January 1803. The leading accusation against that gentleman is, that he had once patronized that detestable cause. Of the clamours for 'parliamentary reform,' says he, first begun by you and your associates, how numerous and how great have been the evils! No small portion of the discontents and dangers which have existed in England and Ireland, arose from the doctrines promulgated by the parliamentary reformers; whose wild notions, incoherent plans, and nonsensical phrases, were adopted by all those seditious and treasonable combinations which,' &c. He then falls foul, in still stronger terms, of the reform societies of 1782 and 1785; and after stating, in italics, that Horne Tooke, who was prosecuted for high treason, pleaded, in defence, that his 'society had in view no other object than that which had been 'pursued by you and your coadjutors,' he goes on to conclude, that the principles broached and promulgated by you and your associates, were such as led to the commission of high treason, the most heinous of all earthly offences-the compassing and imagining the death of the King.' vol. III. p. 35. There are many other passages in which the same principles are delivered; and not only the rebellions in Ireland, but the revolution in France, referred to the pernicious example of those among us who first set on foot those wild and presumptuous projects' for parliamentary reform.

After this, it is really edifying to hear Mr Cobbett exclaiming, in the bitterness of his heart, the people know very well how the House of Commons is chosen; and actually quoting the words and resolutions of the very reformers of 1782, in order to ask Mr Perceval whether, in such a state of the representation, it be not a mockery to call an election an appeal to the sense of the people, or whether men ought to be reviled, and punished as traitors and seditious libellers, because they are discontented with such a state of things,-because they wish for, and seek, an improvement in the representation. And I put it to your reason," he adds, whether the upholding such a state of things, and such revilings and punishings, be the likely means of calling forth the zeal of the people in defence of 'the government.' vol. XI. p. 863. Throughout all the later numbers, indeed, his main ground of accusation against the Whigs, as well as the followers of Mr Pitt, is, that none of them took any measures, while in power, for carrying into effect those great plans of parliamentary reform, for which they had affected so much zeal while in opposition..

Upon the same important subject, combined with the consideration of the effects of frequent election, we have a still fuller and more elaborate picture of Mr Cobbett's original sentiments,

in his summary of politics for June 1802. He there observes, on occasion of a recent dissolution of Parliament, that the peo*ple had been told, in two factious addresses, that they are not represented in the House of Commons; that that assembly is no ⚫ longer what it used to be; and that, until it be reformed, it is in vain for them to hope for any good from that quarter. How exactly those factious addresses coincide with Mr Cobbett's own sentiments in his late letters to the Electors of Westminster, none of his readers can fail to perceive. In 1802, however, he not only calls them factious, but goes, on to state, that the "words representation and elective franchise, have done much to'wards confusing the brains, and corrupting the hearts of his Majesty's subjects; and though he has not the power of dissipating the fatal delusion, it is yet his duty to contribute his mite to the ' attempt.' In the prosecution of this laudable endeavour, he presents his readers with a picture of the miserable state of the repre→ sentation in one of the states of America, where the elective franchise was as universal as even Sir Francis Burdett could have wished it ;' and assures them that the choice frequently fell upon bankrupts, swindlers, quacks, atheists, &c. The rationale of all which he gives very much at his ease as follows. • The cause of their preposterous choice is this. The mass of the people of all nations are so fond of nothing as of power: Men of sense know that the people can in reality exercise no power which will not tend to their own injury. Hence it is, that in states where the popular voice is unchecked by a royal, or some other hereditary influence, that voice is, nine times out of ten, given in favour of those fawning parasites, who, in order to gratify their own inter ⚫est and ambition, profess to acknowledge no sovereignty but that of the people, and who, when they once get into power, rule the poor sovereign with a rod of scorpions,' &c. He then quotes an American pamphleteer in proof of the shocking state of the legislatures in that republic; and concludes, Such, Englishmen, is the description of a legislative assembly, where: " equal representation" prevails; where almost every man has a vote at elections; and where these elections do annually occur. The ambitious knaves, who flatter you with high notions of rights and privileges, who are everlastingly driving in your ears the blessings of what they call the elective franchise, wish to add to the number of electors, because they well know that they would thereby gain an accession of strength,' &c. vol. I. p.795. Compare, with these passages, the whole tenor of the author's late addresses to the electors of Westminster, and, in particular, his late anticipation of another Westminster election, which, he says, will be a great good,-an unmixed good;--a good indis

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putable,