As the Register was in 16 pages 8vo, with occasional supplements, the weekly circulation must have been nearly six thousand at this period. Very soon after this change, the price was raised to 1s. from 10d., at which figure it had stood since its commencement. The price of paper had risen from 24s. to 43s. a ream, and the newspaper stamp from a halfpenny to 3½d.; besides that, other expenses had proportionally augmented. Great must have been the hold which Cobbett had obtained, over a large number of readers, for his journal to have been able to keep its place under such circumstances.
The threatened prosecution hung so long over Mr. Cobbett’s head, that some of his friends began to hope that nothing would come of it. He probably thought, for his own part, that the Government were not unmindful of the sort of antagonist he would make, when driven to bay; and that they would think twice before going into the contest without the minutest preparation, and the best possible opportunity. In a letter to Mr. Swann, dated 28th November, he says,—
“You have, I suppose, heard of the dead set which the Attorney-General is making upon us. My opinion is that it will come to nothing at all. But, if it does, we must beat them, if there be either spirit or honesty left in England.”
There will be no lack of preparation, however:—
Wm. C. to J. Wright.
“Dear Sir,—As I am to have the pleasure of seeing you on Wednesday, I shall say the less here. But, as to the now most interesting subject, I cannot help saying a few words, as they may be usefully communicated to Mr. Bagshaw and Mr. Hansard, in confidence. My resolution is to plead my own cause, if I am well in health. Nothing upon earth, illness excepted, shall make me forego this resolution. I am also resolved to defend; that is, to justify; and to render the affair a great public question. The sooner we begin, the sooner we shall be well prepared, and the more likely to secure a favourable issue. You will know how and where to get me the authorities, or facts, for showing,—
“1. That the ministers, or their partisans, have been employed for more than six months in publishing libels against me; atrocious falsehoods (such as the 4000l. story) for the purpose of exciting, in the public mind, an evil opinion of me; and thus pave the way for this state prosecution.
“2. That the ministers themselves (or, at least, Canning, &c.) have written libels, if these be libels; and, upon this point, to get together all the accusations, and all the nicknames, used by the Anti-Jacobins against Moira, Nichol, &c.
“3. That there were caricatures prepared under the eye of Canning, &c., and of whom, and how they were to be represented as traitors.