2947. Robert Southey to Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, [written by 19 March 1817]⁠* 

March 19th, 1817.

Feeling as I do upon the state of the country, I venture to offer for your private consideration some reflections which cannot be made publick, nor need I apologise for addressing you on the subject

The danger must be looked fairly in the face. I am of course entirely ignorant of what farther measures may be had in view for checking the course of those opinions which the Press, by every imaginable means, is at this time disseminating throughout the remotest parts of England; even among these mountains. But I am certain that the great Body of the manufacturing populace are not merely discontented with the Government, but absolutely abhor it with a deadly hatred; & that in the Metropolis this temper is so prevalent that if the fear of the Military were withdrawn, four & twenty hours would not elapse before the tri-coloured flag would be planted upon Carlton House. [1]  You have passed Laws to prevent men from tampering with the soldiers; [2]  but can such Laws be effectual? Or are they not altogether nugatory while such Manifestoes as those of Cobbett, Hone, & the Examiner, [3]  &^c. are daily & weekly issued, fresh & fresh, & read aloud in every Ale House where the men are quartered, or where they meet together? Sir W^m Temple observes that when a people are generally discontented you may as well attempt to subdue pestilence by a military force, the military being as liable to one contagion as to the other. [4]  I beseech you, consider what the consequences would be if these writers, instead of abusing the soldiers, were steadily to pursue the system of flattering them, – which they have more than once begun, but have wanted temper to pursue! [5]  You must curb the Press, or it will destroy the constitution of this country.

The question is, whether it be possible to keep off Revolution till the moral & physical condition of the populace shall be so far improved that they will cease to desire one, – feeling that they have more to lose than to gain. – We must not be blind to the signs of these perilous times: The spirit of Jacobinism which influenced men in my sphere of life four & twenty years ago (myself & men like me among others) has disappeared from that Class & sunk into the Rabble; – who would have torn me to pieces for holding those opinions then; & would tear me to pieces for renouncing them now. [6]  – Concessions can only serve to hasten the catastrophe. Woe be to the garrison who hoist a white flag to an enemy that gives no quarter!

The main thing needful is to stop the seditious press. I did hope that the first measure upon the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act [7]  would have been to place the chief incendiary writers in safe custody, – a measure in which the sound part of the nation would bear you out. Doubtless it is far better to imprison them in consequence of the verdict of a jury; – but whilst prosecutions are going on against them, the mischief is going on also. If they are convicted, let their imprisonment be such as will prevent them from carrying on their Journals. But if Juries, either from fear or faction (as in Hooper’s case the other day) give their verdict in the very face of facts, [8]  I beseech you do not hesitate at using that vigour beyond the Law which the exigence requires, & which your own personal safety requires as much as the vital Interests of the country. It is in vain to dissemble the nature of the contest. It is no struggle for place & power. “Turni de vitâ et sanguine certant.” [9]  Unless these men are silenced, & unless the press is diligently watched & curbed, the spirit which now exists will be kept alive it will spread in secret, after the present alarm has subsided. Upon the next Season of dearth or commercial Embarrassment, it will break out again, – and sooner or later we shall have all the horrors of a Bellum Servile. [10]  – No means can be effectual for checking the intolerable license of the Press, but that of making transportation the punishment for its abuse.

It is of infinite importance to secure the attachment of the army; – not merely of the men whom you retain, but of those also whom in evil hour your poverty consents to disband. If the disbanded men should join the rioters there is always a possibility that their former comrades might be unwilling to act against them; & and there are moments in which the defection of a single company may decide the fate of a kingdom. – So also with the Sailors. Is it too late to give them a medal for Algiers, & even for Trafalgar? [11]  No man who wears one will ever be found in a mob against the Government which has thus distinguished him. But I would look to something more than this. –

– There is a person now in town soliciting Ministers with his plans, & regarded by them, no doubt, as a madman: - Owen of Lanark.  [12] He is insane upon some points: But if you pare off the crazy parts of his scheme, I cannot but think that much which is useful & practicable would remain; & that he is, like my old friends D^rs: Bell and Clarkson, a great moral Steam-Engine, who might be put into action with wonderful effect. Is it not possible for Government to form an experimental establishment with some of its disbanded soldiers & sailors, upon a tract of waste land, aiding them till they should be fairly settled, & then giving them a life-hold interest in the ground upon an equitable rent? If the thing succeeded it might be extended: - Government would prevent men from becoming dangerous to itself, or burthensome to the community; - it would have them at its’ call in time of need; - and a new & unexceptionable source of Revenue would arise from such national lands. – I sincerely wish that Owen were encouraged to make his experiment in any parish which might be persuaded to try it.