“You are represented in the newspapers as having entered, during an important discussion in Parliament, into a comparison between certain passages in the Quarterly Review, and the opinions which were held by the author of Wat Tyler three and twenty years ago. It appears farther, according to the same authority, that the introduction of so strange a criticism, in so unfit a place, did not arise from the debate, but was a premeditated thing; that you had prepared yourself for it by stowing the Quarterly Review in one pocket, and Wat Tyler in the other; and that you deliberately stood up for the purpose of reviling an individual who was not present to vindicate himself, and in a place which afforded you protection.
“My name, indeed, was not mentioned; but that I was the person whom you intended, was notorious to all who heard you. For the impropriety of introducing such topics in such an assembly, it is farther stated that you received a well-merited rebuke from Mr. Wynn, who spoke on that occasion as much from his feelings towards one with whom he has lived in uninterrupted friendship for nearly thirty years, as from a sense of the respect which is due to Parliament. It is, however, proper that I should speak explicitly for myself. This was not necessary in regard to Mr. Brougham: he only carried the quarrels as well as the practices of the Edinburgh Review into the House of Commons. But as calumny, Sir, has not been your vocation, it may be useful, even to yourself, if I comment upon your first attempt.
“First, as to the Quarterly Review. You can have no
| APPENDIX. | 371 |
“The Quarterly Review stands upon its own merits. It is not answerable for anything more than it contains. What I may have said, or thought, in any part of my life, no more concerns that journal than it does you or the House of Commons; and I am as little answerable for the journal as the journal for me. What I may have written in it is a question which you, Sir, have no right to ask, and which certainly I will not answer. As little right have you to take that for granted which you cannot possibly know. The question, as respects the Quarterly Review, is not who wrote the paper which happens to have excited Mr. William Smith’s displeasure, but whether the facts which are there stated are true, the quotations accurate, and the inferences just. The reviewer, whoever he may be, may defy you to disprove them.
“Secondly, as to Wat Tyler. Now, Sir, though you are not
acquainted with the full history of this notable production, yet you could not
have been ignorant that the author whom you attacked at such unfair advantage
was the aggrieved, and not the offending person. You knew that this poem had
been written very many years ago, in his early youth. You knew that a copy of
it had been surreptitiously obtained, and made public, by some skulking
scoundrel, who had found booksellers not more honourable than himself to
undertake the publication. You knew that it was published without the
writer’s knowledge, for the avowed purpose of insulting him, and with the
hope of injuring him if possible. You knew that the transaction bore upon its
face every character of
| 372 | APPENDIX. |
“For the book itself I deny that it is a
seditious performance; for it places in the mouths of the personages who are
introduced nothing more than a correct statement of their real principles. That
it is a mischievous publication, I know; the errors which it contains being
especially dangerous at this time. Therefore I came forward to avow it, to
claim it as my own property, which had never been alienated, and to suppress
it. And I am desirous that my motives in thus acting should not be
misunderstood. The piece was written under the influence of opinions which I
have long since outgrown, and repeatedly disclaimed, but for which I have never
affected to feel either shame or contrition; they were taken up conscientiously
in early youth, they were acted upon in disregard of all worldly
considerations, and they were left behind in the same straightforward course,
as I advanced in years. It was written when republicanism was confined to a
very small number of the educated classes; when those who were known to
entertain such opinions were exposed to personal danger from the populace; and
when a spirit of Anti-Jacobinism was predominant, which I cannot characterise
more truly than by saying that it was as unjust and intolerant, though not
quite as ferocious,
| APPENDIX. | 373 |
“When, therefore, Mr. William Smith informed the House of Commons that the author of Wat Tyler thinks no longer upon certain points as he did in his youth, he informed that Legislative Assembly of nothing more than what the author has shown during very many years in the course of his writings,—that while events have been moving on upon the great theatre of human affairs, his intellect has not been stationary. But when the Member for Norwich asserts (as he is said to have asserted) that I impute evil motives to men merely for holding now the same doctrines which I myself formerly professed, and when he charges me (as he is said to have charged me) with the malignity and baseness of a renegade, the assertion and the charge are as false as the language in which they are conveyed is coarse and insulting.
“Upon this subject I must be heard
farther. The Edinburgh Review has
spoken somewhere of those vindictive and jealous writings in which Mr. Southey has brought forward his claims to
the approbation of the public. This is one of those passages for which the
editor
| 374 | APPENDIX. |
“It will not, therefore, be imputed to
any habit of egotism, or any vain desire of interesting the public in my
individual concerns, if I now come forward from that privacy in which both from
judgment and disposition it would have been my choice to have remained. While
among the mountains of Cumberland I have been employed upon the Mines of
Brazil, the War in the Peninsula, and such other varieties of pursuit as serve
to keep the intellect in health by alternately exercising and refreshing it; my
name has served in London for the very
| APPENDIX. | 375 |
“That I should ever be honoured by such a delicate investigation of my political opinions was what I never could have anticipated, even in the wildest dreams of unfledged vanity. Honour, however, has been thrust upon me, as upon Malvolio. The verses of a boy, of which he thought no more than of his school-exercises, and which, had they been published when they were written, would have passed without notice to the family vault, have not only been perused by the Lord Chancellor in his judicial office, but have been twice produced in Parliament for the edification of the Legislature. The appetite for slander must be sharp-set when it can prey upon such small gear! As, however, the opinions of Mr. Southey have not been thought unworthy to occupy so considerable a share of attention, he need not apprehend the censure of the judicious if he takes part in the discussion himself, so far as briefly to inform the world what they really have been, and what they are.
“In my youth, when my stock of knowledge
consisted of such an acquaintance with Greek and Roman history as is acquired
in the course of a regular scholastic education,—when my heart was full
of poetry and romance, and Lucan and
Akenside were at my tongue’s
end, I fell into the political opinions which the French Revolution was then
| 376 | APPENDIX. |
“It is a fair and legitimate inference,
that no person would have selected this subject, and treated it in such a
manner at such a time, unless he had in a certain degree partaken of the
sentiments which are expressed in it: in what degree he partook them is a
question which it requires more temper as well as more discretion to resolve
than you, Sir, have given any proof of possessing. This can only be ascertained
by comparing the piece with other works of the same author, written about the
same time
| APPENDIX. | 377 |
“It so happens that sufficient specimens
of Mr. Southey’s way of thinking
in his youth are before the world, without breaking open escritoires, or
stealing any more of his juvenile papers which he may have neglected to burn.
The poem to which, with all its faults, he is indebted for his first favourable
notice from the public, may possibly have been honoured with a place in
Mr. William Smith’s library,
as it received the approbation of all the dissenting journals of the day. It is
possible that their recommendation may have induced him to favour Joan of Arc with a perusal, and
not improbably, in a mood which would indulge its manifold demerits in style
and structure, for the sake of its liberal opinions. Perhaps, too, he may have
condescended to notice the minor poems of the same author, sanctioned as some
of these also were at their first appearance by the same critical authorities.
In these productions he may have seen expressed an enthusiastic love of
liberty, a detestation of tyranny wherever it exists and in whatever form, an
ardent abhorrence of all wicked ambition, and a sympathy not less ardent with
those who were engaged in war for the defence of their country, and in a
righteous cause,—feelings just as well as generous in themselves. He
might have perceived also frequent indications, that in the opinion of the
youthful
| 378 | APPENDIX. |
“Do not, however, Sir, suppose that I shall seek to shrink from a full avowal of what my opinions have been; neither before God or man am I ashamed of them. I have as little cause for humiliation in recalling them, as Gibbon had, when he related how he had knelt at the feet of a confessor: for while I imbibed the republican opinions of the day, I escaped the Atheism, and the leprous immorality which generally accompanied them. I cannot, therefore, join with Beattie in blessing
‘The hour when I escaped the wrangling crew, |
| APPENDIX. | 379 |
“I know, Sir, that you were not ignorant of this circumstance: the project, while it was in view, was much talked of among that sect of Christians to which you belong; and some of your friends are well acquainted with the events of my life. What, then, I may ask, did you learn concerning me from this late surreptitious publication? Nay, Sir, the personal knowledge which you possessed was not needful for a full understanding of the political opinions which I entertained in youth. They are expressed in poems which have been frequently reprinted, and are continually on sale; no alterations have ever been made for the purpose of withdrawing, concealing, or extenuating them. I have merely affixed to every piece the date of the year in which it was written,—and the progress of years is sufficient to explain the change.
“You, Mr. William Smith, may possibly be acquainted with other persons who were republicans in the first years of the French Revolution, and who have long since ceased to be so, with as little impeachment of their integrity as of their judgment; yet you bring it as a heinous charge against me, that, having entertained enthusiastic notions in my youth, three-and-twenty years should have produced a change in the opinions of one whose life has been devoted to the acquirement of knowledge.
“You are pleased, in your candour, to
admit that I might have been sincere when I was erroneous, and you, who are a
professor of modern liberality, are not pleased
| 380 | APPENDIX. |
“And what, Sir, is the change in the
opinions of Mr. Southey, which has drawn
upon him the ponderous displeasure of William
Smith? This was a point upon which it behoved you to be
especially well informed before you applied to him the false and insolent
appellation which you are said to have used, and which I am authorised in
believing that you have used. He has ceased to believe that old monarchical
countries are capable of republican forms of government. He has ceased to think
that he understood the principles of government, and the nature of man and
society, before he was one-and-twenty years of age. He has ceased to suppose
that men who neither cultivate their intellectual nor their moral faculties can
understand them at any age. He has ceased to wish for revolutions even in
countries where great alteration is to be desired, because he has seen that the
end of anarchy is military despotism. But he has not ceased to love liberty
with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his strength; he has
not ceased to detest tyranny wherever it exists, and in whatever form. He has
not ceased to abhor the wickedness of ambition, and to sympathise with those
who were engaged in the defence of their country and in a righteous cause; if,
indeed,
| APPENDIX. | 381 |
“Many were the English who wished well to the French at the commencement of their Revolution; but if any of those Englishmen have attached the same interest to the cause of France through all the changes of the Revolution,—if they have hoped that Bonaparte might succeed in the usurpation of Portugal and Spain, and the subjugation of the Continent,—the change is in them, in their feelings and their principles, not in me and in mine. At no time of my life have I held any opinions like those of the Bonapartists and Revolutionists of the present day; never could I have held any communion with such men in thought, word, or deed;—my nature, God be thanked! would always have kept me from them instinctively, as it would from toad or asp. Look through the whole writings of my youth, including, if you please, Wat Tyler,—there can be no danger that its errors should infect a gentleman who has called upon the Attorney-general to prosecute the author; and he would not be the worse were he to catch from it a little of the youthful generosity which it breathes. I ask you, Sir, in which of those writings I have appealed to the base or the malignant feelings of mankind; and I ask you whether the present race of revolutionary writers appeal to any other? What man’s private character did I stab? Whom did I libel? Whom did I slander? Whom did I traduce? These miscreants live by calumny and sedition; they are libellers and liars by trade.
“The one object to which I have ever
been desirous of contributing according to my power, is the removal of
| 382 | APPENDIX. |
“And now, Sir, learn what are the opinions of the man to whom you have offered this public and notorious wrong,—opinions not derived from any contagion of the times, nor entertained with the unreflecting eagerness of youth, nor adopted in connection with any party in the State; but gathered patiently, during many years of leisure and retirement, from books, observation, meditation, and intercourse with living minds who will be the light of other ages.
|
* I quote my own words, written in 1809. |
| APPENDIX. | 383 |
“Greater changes in the condition of the country have been wrought during the last half century, than an equal course of years had ever before produced. Without entering into the proofs of this proposition, suffice it to indicate, as among the most efficient causes, the steam and the spinning engines, the mail coach, and the free publication of the debates in Parliament: hence follow, in natural and necessary consequence, increased activity, enterprise, wealth, and power; but, on the other hand, greediness of gain, looseness of principle, half knowledge (more perilous than ignorance), vice, poverty, wretchedness, disaffection, and political insecurity. The changes which have taken place render other changes inevitable; forward we must go, for it is not possible to retrace our steps; the hand of the political horologe cannot go back, like the shadow upon Hezekiah’s dial;—when the hour comes, it must strike,
“Slavery has long ceased to be tolerable
in Europe: the remains of feudal oppression are disappearing even in those
countries which have improved the least: nor can it be much longer endured that
the extremes of ignorance, wretchedness, and brutality should exist in the very
centre of civilised society. There can be no safety with a populace half
Luddite, half Lazzaroni, Let us not deceive ourselves. We are far from that
state in which anything resembling equality would be possible; but we are
arrived at that state in which the extremes of inequality are become
intolerable. They are too dangerous, as well as too monstrous, to be borne much
longer. Plans which would have led to the utmost horrors of insurrection have
been prevented by the Government, and by the enactment of strong, but necessary
laws. Let it not, however, be supposed that the disease is healed, because the
ulcer may skin over. The remedies by which the body politic can be restored to
health must be
| 384 | APPENDIX. |
“The Government must better the condition of the populace; and the first thing necessary is to prevent it from being worsened. It must no longer suffer itself to be menaced, its chief magistrate insulted, and its most sacred institutions vilified with impunity. It must curb the seditious press, and keep it curbed. For this purpose, if the laws are not at present effectual, they should be made so; nor will they then avail, unless they are vigilantly executed. I say this, well knowing to what obloquy it will expose me, and how grossly and impudently my meaning will be misrepresented; but I say it, because, if the licentiousness of the press be not curbed, its abuse will most assuredly one day occasion the loss of its freedom.
“This is the first and most indispensable measure, for without this all others will be fruitless. Next in urgency is the immediate relief of the poor. I differ toto cœlo from Mr. Owen, of Lanark, in one main point. To build upon any other foundation than religion, is building upon sand. But I admire his practical benevolence; I love his enthusiasm; and I go far with him in his earthly views. What he has actually done entitles him to the greatest attention and respect. I sincerely wish that his plan for the extirpation of pauperism should be fairly tried. To employ the poor in manufactures is only shifting the evil, and throwing others out of employ by bringing more labour and more produce of labour into a market which is already overstocked.
“Wise and extensive plans of foreign
colonisation contribute essentially to keep a State like England in health;
| APPENDIX. | 385 |
“A duty scarcely less urgent than that
of diminishing the burden of the poor-rates, is that of providing for the
education of the lower classes. Government must no longer, in neglect of its
first and paramount duty, allow them to grow up in worse than heathen
ignorance. They must be trained in the way they should go; they must be taught
to ‘fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of
man.’ Mere reading and writing will not do this: they must be
instructed according to the Established religion,—they must be fed with
the milk of sound doctrine, for States are secure in proportion as the great
body of the people are attached to the institutions of their country. A moral
and religious education will induce habits of industry; the people will know
their duty, and find their interest and their happiness in follow-
| 386 | APPENDIX. |
“Never, indeed, was there a more senseless cry than that which is at this time raised for retrenchment in the public expenditure, as a means of alleviating the present distress. That distress arises from a great and sudden diminution of employment, occasioned by many coinciding causes, the chief of which is, that the war-expenditure of from forty to fifty millions yearly has ceased. Men are out of employ: the evil is, that too little is spent, and, as a remedy, we are exhorted to spend less. Everywhere there are mouths crying out for food, because the hands want work; and at this time, and for this reason, the State-quack requires further reduction. Because so many hands are unemployed, he calls upon Government to throw more upon the public by reducing its establishments and suspending its works. O lepidum caput! and it is by such heads as this that we are to be reformed!
“‘Statesmen,’ says
Mr. Burke, ‘before they
value themselves on the relief given to the people by the destruction (or
diminution) of their revenue, ought first to have carefully attended to the
solution of this problem—whether it be more advantageous to the
people to pay considerably and to gain in proportion, or to gain little or
nothing and to be disburdened of all contribution.’
| APPENDIX. | 387 |
| 388 | APPENDIX. |
“It is likewise incumbent upon Government to take heed lest, in its solicitude for raising the necessary revenue, there should be too little regard for the means by which it is raised. It should beware of imposing such duties as create a strong temptation to evade them. It should be careful that all its measures tend as much as possible to the improvement of the people, and especially careful nothing be done which can tend in any way to corrupt them. It should reform its prisons, and apply some remedy to the worst grievance which exists,—the enormous expenses, the chicanery, and the ruinous delays of the law.
| APPENDIX. | 389 |
“Machiavelli says, that legislators ought to suppose all men to be naturally bad;—in no point has that sagacious statesman been more erroneous. Fitter it is that governments should think well of mankind; for the better they think of them the better they will find them, and the better they will make them. Government must reform the populace, the people must reform themselves. This is the true reform, and compared with this all else is flocci, nauci, nihili, pili.
“Such, Sir, are, in part, the views of the man whom you have traduced. Had you perused his writings, you could not have mistaken them; and I am willing to believe that if you had done this, and formed an opinion for yourself, instead of retailing that of wretches who are at once the panders of malice and the pioneers of rebellion, you would neither have been so far forgetful of your parliamentary character, nor of the decencies between man and man, as so wantonly, so unjustly, and in such a place, to have attacked one who had given you no provocation.
“Did you imagine that I should sit down quietly under the wrong, and treat your attack with the same silent contempt as I have done all the abuse and calumny with which, from one party or the other, anti-Jacobins or Jacobins, I have been assailed in daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly publications, since the year 1796, when I first became known to the public? The place where you made the attack, and the manner of the attack, prevent this.
“How far the writings of Mr. Southey may be found to deserve a
favourable acceptance from after ages, time will decide: but a name which,
whether worthily or not, has been conspicuous in the literary history of its
age, will certainly not perish. Some account of his life will always be
prefixed to his works, and transferred to literary histories and to the
biographical dictionaries, not only of
| 390 | APPENDIX. |
