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LIBERTY OF THE PRESS, PLACEMEN,
PENSIONS.

THE IMPARTIAL OPINION OF WILLIAM COB-
BETT, ON THE "PRESS," "PLACES,"

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[From the Morning Chronicle.]

"I never was factious, I never appealed to the "Mob; never to the ignorance and discontent, "but to the sense and loyalty of my readers."Vide Cobbett's Register, vol. I. page 542.

"We have before declared it, as our decided "opinion, that the destruction of what is called "the Liberty of the Press, would be a good act, by whomsoever it might be performed.”—Cobbett's Register, vol. II. page 281.

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"Far be it from us to rail against Places and "Pensions! they are the rewards which govern"ment bestows, and ought to bestow, on those "who render services to the nation. Nay, we go farther, and allow that it is perfectly proper not only to entail such rewards on widows "or children, but for the support of the Aristo

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cracy of the kingdom to bestow emoluments, "in certain extraordinary cases, on persons who "have rendered no services at all to the State!!! "This is a prerogative which belongs to a king, "and without which a crown would not be worth having. The writer of this article" (William Cobbett)" has witnessed the fatal effects of a niggardly system of economy, and is well

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5.

"convinced

"convinced that no part of the public money is, "generally speaking, better employed than that "which goes to answer the demands of national gratitude, generosity, and munificence."-Vide Cobbett's Register, vol. II. page 55.

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Mr. Cobbett's Reply to the above Attack.

The Morning Chronicle has quoted, from the Register of four years back, a passage wherein I express a wish, that "what is called the liberty of "the press, may be annihilated." But, the candid writer forgot to take in the context, which would have shewn, that I had then been complaining of the same base partiality in the press that I so justly complain of now; that I had been observing upon the pernicious consequences of a press, bought up with the public money, and sending forth falsehoods instead of truths; that I had been complaining of a press which was free only so far as it tended to deceive the people by its misrepresentations, but was completely enslaved as to all other purposes; a press, the main, and, indeed, the only object of whose conductors was, to get places or pensions, or pay, by their publications: such liberty of the press I wished to see destroyed then, and I wish to see it destroyed now; though, while taxes can be collected, this wish will not rise into any thing like expectation.-The daily papers, without a single exception, have been leagued together against Mr. Paull and his cause. There is no species of partiality; of base and scandalous misrepresentation and falsehood, of

But, sup

When the

which they have not been guilty. It has cost him and his friends a hundred pounds to procure publicity to contradictions of the sheer calumnious falsehoods, promulged against them in these venal journals. And, as to the proceedings at the Hustings and elsewhere, relative to the Election, their subaltern hirelings seem to have attended for the purpose of hearing and seeing what was said and done, only that their employers might be enabled to make a representation as near as possible the exact contrary of the truth. They have, as was before observed, all along carefully suppressed the circumstance of Mr. Paull being drawn home every evening by thousands of the people. pression is amongst their trifling sins. elder Sheridan has been hissed, hooted and groaned off the Hustings; when he has been cruelly spit upon in his passage to and fro; when even the children in the streets, of six or seven years of age, have, like wicked little rogues, pelted him with orange peel and dirt; after a scene like this, the hireling prints, have, the next morning, represented him as having been received with rapturous applause! So that, were it not for the weekly-newspapers, some of which are conducted with perfect impartiality, it would be impossible for the truth, respecting this election, to find its way to the other parts of the kingdom.-But, there is one particular and marked instance of the partiality of the daily press that I must notice a little in detail.-The public saw Mr. Whitbread's letter to Sir Francis Burdett in all the daily papers.

Of the nick of time when that letter was inserted, and of the evident motives of the writer, notice has before been taken. To this letter major Cartwright wrote an excellent answer, [see the end of this volume.] This answer was sent for insertion to every daily paper in London; because one object of it was, to counteract the effects which Mr. Whitbread obviously wished his letter to produce against sir Francis Burdett. At all the papers, except two, it was positively refused admission upon any terms. An obscure print, called the British Press, demanded ten guineas for the admission; and the Oracle, after having kept it back several days, did, at last, insert it. Such is the London Daily Press; and, is there one good man upon the face of the earth; is there one man, who loves truth and fairdealing, that does not wish to see such a press annihilated? The mischiefs that this press have done to the country, are indescribable. Not only is no man in power afraid of a press which he can at all times bribe; but, such a press is his best ally. The people, taught by this press, seldom have an opinion of their own. They reject the evidence of their senses; and, thus, is the nation led along from calamity to calamity without ever having a true notion as to the cause of those calamities. In short, as the press, in the hands of free and independent men, is one of the greatest of national blessings, so, in the hands of slaves and hirelings, it is the greatest of al national curses.

PAULL

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To keep the game going, I've scribbled a song;
All fun is afloat when Elections come on:

Some write against HooD, some against SHERRY Scrawl;
ut I scorn all abuse, so I'll praise JEMMY PAULL.

2.

Pray, is it abuseful to tell of his Birth;

Fal de ral.

That he sprang from a Cucumber planted at Perth?
He lay snug in a dung-heap, not heard of at all,
Till a cursed old Monk thought of hatching of PAULL.

3.

HORNE TOOKE a political tinder-box bought,

And amongst the burnt rags he a Candidate sought;
With a match came in BURDETT, without fuss at all;
With a posterior puff he produc'd little PAULL.

A brass Kitchen-candlestick Bosville's hand grac'd,
They lighted, and into the socket PAULL plac'd;
But the Coventry member, whom Peter they call,
With a one-handled vessel extinguish'd poor PAULL.

5.

Now whom would you seat in the Parliament-house;
A brave man, a wise man, or one not worth a louse?
One who to the living's of no use at all,

For there's none but the dead that have use for a Pall!

6.

Let our canvass be stout, as our motives are good;
For SHERIDAN canvass as well as for HooD:
Leave no stone unturn'd 'gainst the little Save-all,
Excepting Old Nick, who's a Plumper for Paull.

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