EXTRACTS FROM MR. COBBETT’S WRITINGS.History of George IV.
Extract 1.—Of Mr. Perceval’s harshness.
“But there now came a man amongst them who soon surpassed all the rest in power, as well as in impudence and insolence towards the people. This was that Spencer Perceval of whose signal death we shall have to speak by and bye. This man, a sharp lawyer, inured, from his first days at the bar, to the carrying on of state prosecutions; a sort of understrapper, in London, to the attorneys-general in London, and frequently their deputy in the counties; a short, spare, pale faced, hard, keen, sour-looking man, with a voice well suited to the rest, with words in abundance at his command, with the industry of a laborious attorney, with no knowledge of the great interest of the nation, foreign or domestic, but with a thorough knowledge of those means by which power is obtained and preserved in England, and with no troublesome scruples as to the employment of those means. He had been Solicitor General under Pitt up to 1801, and Attorney General under Addington and Pitt up to February, 1806. This man became the adviser of the Princess, during the period of the investigation and correspondence of which we have just seen the history; and, as we are now about to see, the power he obtained, by the means of that office, made him the Prime Minister of England to the day of his death, though no more fit for that office than any other barrister in London, taken by tossing up or by ballot.”
Extract 2.—Of Perceval’s illiberal, factious, and crooked policy.
“We have seen that the King was told that the publication” (the publication of the Princess of Wales’s justification) “would take place on the Monday. That Monday was the 9th of March. In this difficulty what was to be done? The whig ministry, with their eyes fixed on the probable speedy succession of the Prince, or at least, his accession to power, the King having recently been in a very shakey state; the whig ministry, with their eyes fixed on this expected event, and not perceiving, as Perceval did, the power that the unpublished book (for ‘The Book’ it is now called) would give them with the Prince as well as with the King, the whig ministry would not consent to the terms of the Princess, thinking, too, that in spite of her anger and her threats, she would not throw away the scabbard as towards the King.
“In the meanwhile, however, Perceval, wholly unknown to the Whigs, had got the book actually printed, and bound up ready for publication, and it is clear that it was intended to be published on the Monday named in the Princess’s letter; namely, on the 9th of March, unless prevented by the King’s yielding to the wishes of Perceval. He did yield, that is to say, he resolved to change his ministers! A ground for doing this was however a difficulty to be got over. To allege and promulgate the true ground would never do; for then the public would have cried aloud for the publication, which contained matter so deeply scandalous to the King and all the Royal family. Therefore another ground was alleged; and herein we are going to behold another and another important consequence, and other national calamities proceeding from this dispute between the Prince and his wife. This other ground that was chosen was the Catholic Bill. The Whigs stood pledged to grant a bill for the further relief of the Catholics. They had in September, 1806, dissolved the parliament, though it was only four years old, for the purpose of securing a majority in the House of Commons; and into this new house, which had met on the 19th of December, 1806, they had introduced the Catholic Bill, by the hands of Mr. Grey (now become Lord Howick,) with the great and general approbation of the House, and with a clear understanding, that, notwithstanding all the cant and hypocrisy that the foes of the Catholics had, at different times, played off about the conscientious scruples of the King, the King had now explicitly and cheerfully given his consent to the bringing in of this bill.
“The new ministry had nominally at its head the late Duke of Portland; but Perceval, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer, was, in fact, the master of the whole affair, co-operating, however, cordially with Eldon, who now again became Chancellor. The moment the dismission of the Whigs was resolved on, the other party set up the cry of “No Popery.” The walls and houses, not only of London, but of the country towns and villages, were covered with these words, sometimes in chalk and sometimes in print; the clergy and corporations were all in motion, even the cottages on the skirts of the commons, and the forests heard fervent blessings poured out on the head of the good old King for preserving the nation from a rekindling of the “fires in Smithfield!” Never was delusion equal to this! Never a people so deceived; never public credulity so great; never hypocrisy so profound and so detestably malignant as that of the deceivers! The mind shrinks back at the thought of an eternity of suffering, even as the lot of the deliberate murderer; but if the thought were to be endured, it would be as applicable to that awful sentence awarded to hypocrisy like this.”
Extract 3.