Note 2 — Chapter XXVI · “I NOW BELONG TO THE PEOPLE OF OLDHAM.”
Reading edition
“With respect to the measures which ought to be adopted, I have no hesitation in saying that my decided opinion is that, for the safety of the State, the eternal peace of the country, the well-being of the people, the preservation of property, and the maintenance of anything like liberty, measures must be adopted to the full extent of any that have ever as far as I recollect been proposed by Mr. Cobbett. I am persuaded that he has all these objects sincerely at heart. I wholly acquit him of any personal ambition, except probably that anxious desire for fame, and that wish to live in the grateful recollection of his countrymen, which are the signs of an exalted and of a noble spirit. Sordid views of interest he certainly has none—no petty ambition. The good of the people is what he seeks; his fame—the mere fact of his being thought of to represent Manchester—is the assurance that he has the means of promoting it.”
This extract is of no mean value, as testimony from a man who had known him personally for thirty years. The Committee at once printed the letter in broadside.