“Since you last heard from me I have taken a round of about 300 miles,—by way of Liverpool to Shrewsbury, and by way of Manchester home; and, among all the persons with whom I fell in, in stagecoaches and at inns, there was but one reformer, and he a Londoner. The others generally wanted a little encouragement to draw them out, but, when I had spoken boldly, were glad to declare themselves.
“Manchester* was perfectly quiet when The Times described it as being in a state of dreadful excitement. There was alarm enough on the day of the meeting, but the Radicals, having routed the Whigs to their heart’s content, spent the evening in jollity instead of mischief. The Whigs called the meeting, the
* “The borough-reeve of Manchester tells James White that if that town were rid of about thirty fellows, who are the notorious movers of all political mischief there, it would be as quiet and as well-disposed as any place in England. Does that government deserve the name of government which has no power to keep such fellows in order?”—To J. Rickman, Esq., Oct. 25. 1831. |
| Ætat. 57. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 163 |
“Among the means which have occurred to me for lessening the power of the newspapers, one is that the debates should be officially published and sold at a low price, so that their comparative cheapness might carry them into circulation. I would have also, whether connected with the debates or not, a paper as official as the Moniteur, and as authentic as the Gazette, in which Government should relate as much news as can possibly be related, never deceiving the people. This, if ably conducted, might prevent much delusion and consequent mischief. . . . .
“God bless you!
