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Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin: Comprising the Celebrated Political and Satirical Poems, of the Rt. Hons. G. Canning, John Hookham Frere, W. Pitt, the Marquis Wellesley, G. Ellis, W. Gifford, the Earl of Carlisle, and Others.

History

Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin: Comprising the Celebrated Political and Satirical Poems, of the Rt. Hons. G. Canning, John Hookham Frere, W. Pitt, the Marquis Wellesley, G. Ellis, W. Gifford, the Earl of Carlisle, and Others.

English poetry; France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Poetry; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1789-1820

Aware of his danger, our author thought the best means of averting
  it was, by seeking for some standard, as a safe rule for his conduct
  in respect to the liberty of this press. “The English press was said
  to be _enslaved_; but, when I came to consult the practice of this
  enslaved press, I found it still to be far too free for me to
  attempt to follow its example. Finally, it appeared to me to be the
  safest way, to form to myself some rule founded on the liberty
  exercised by the _American press_. I concluded that I might without
  danger go as great lengths in attacking the enemies of the country
  as others went in attacking its friends: that as much zeal might be
  shown in defending the general government and administration as in
  accusing and traducing them: and that as great warmth would be
  admissible in the cause of virtue, order, and religion, as had been
  tolerated in the wicked cause of villainy, insurrection, and
  blasphemy” (p. 21). Alas! Peter, at this time, knew but little of
  the “spirit and temper,” as MR. BARRISTER ERSKINE would express it,
  of democracy and Jacobinism. He knew not that the men who profess
  those principles are for the most part vindictive, malignant,
  oppressive, and intolerant; and that under the mask of liberty they
  exercise the most insupportable tyranny over their families and
  dependents, and that in their general conduct to their
  inferiors—unless when impelled by interest or urged by ambition,
  they irritate their passions with toasts and flattery, from a
  tavern-chair, or influence their minds by seditious discourses and
  treasonable insinuations, from a tribune or a scaffold—they are
  supercilious, arrogant, insolent, and overbearing. He knew not, it
  would seem, that those whose whole duty is to defend the laws often
  _sleep on their posts_, while their enemies are ever vigilant,
  active, and alert; that when the former are attacked, a tardiness of
  zeal, amounting nearly to torpor, secures, with few exceptions,
  impunity to the assailant; whereas any exposure of the latter draws
  forth a malignity of revenge which is the certain fore-runner of
  persecution. Indeed, the inveteracy of the discontented, of that
  class which includes all those who aspire to the possession of place
  and power, and are little scrupulous about the means of attaining
  them; and all the determined revolutionists or subverters of
  established institutions, may be traced to a natural source. Unable
  to support by reason a cause which reason disavows, unable to
  strengthen by arguments positions which set all argument at
  defiance, it becomes their business to inflame by passion and to
  dazzle with sophistry. Hence arises an extreme facility of exposing
  their weakness and detecting their infamy, and not having the means
  of resisting such exposure, being wholly destitute of the sentiments
  which are necessary for a successful reply, they are reduced to the

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin: Comprising the Celebrated Political and Satirical Poems, of the Rt. Hons. G. Canning, John Hookham Frere, W. Pitt, the Marquis Wellesley, G. Ellis, W. Gifford, the Earl of Carlisle, and Others.

English poetry; France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Poetry; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1789-1820

Aware of his danger, our author thought the best means of averting
  it was, by seeking for some standard, as a safe rule for his conduct
  in respect to the liberty of this press. “The English press was said
  to be _enslaved_; but, when I came to consult the practice of this
  enslaved press, I found it still to be far too free for me to
  attempt to follow its example. Finally, it appeared to me to be the
  safest way, to form to myself some rule founded on the liberty
  exercised by the _American press_. I concluded that I might without
  danger go as great lengths in attacking the enemies of the country
  as others went in attacking its friends: that as much zeal might be
  shown in defending the general government and administration as in
  accusing and traducing them: and that as great warmth would be
  admissible in the cause of virtue, order, and religion, as had been
  tolerated in the wicked cause of villainy, insurrection, and
  blasphemy” (p. 21). Alas! Peter, at this time, knew but little of
  the “spirit and temper,” as MR. BARRISTER ERSKINE would express it,
  of democracy and Jacobinism. He knew not that the men who profess
  those principles are for the most part vindictive, malignant,
  oppressive, and intolerant; and that under the mask of liberty they
  exercise the most insupportable tyranny over their families and
  dependents, and that in their general conduct to their
  inferiors—unless when impelled by interest or urged by ambition,
  they irritate their passions with toasts and flattery, from a
  tavern-chair, or influence their minds by seditious discourses and
  treasonable insinuations, from a tribune or a scaffold—they are
  supercilious, arrogant, insolent, and overbearing. He knew not, it
  would seem, that those whose whole duty is to defend the laws often
  _sleep on their posts_, while their enemies are ever vigilant,
  active, and alert; that when the former are attacked, a tardiness of
  zeal, amounting nearly to torpor, secures, with few exceptions,
  impunity to the assailant; whereas any exposure of the latter draws
  forth a malignity of revenge which is the certain fore-runner of
  persecution. Indeed, the inveteracy of the discontented, of that
  class which includes all those who aspire to the possession of place
  and power, and are little scrupulous about the means of attaining
  them; and all the determined revolutionists or subverters of
  established institutions, may be traced to a natural source. Unable
  to support by reason a cause which reason disavows, unable to
  strengthen by arguments positions which set all argument at
  defiance, it becomes their business to inflame by passion and to
  dazzle with sophistry. Hence arises an extreme facility of exposing
  their weakness and detecting their infamy, and not having the means
  of resisting such exposure, being wholly destitute of the sentiments
  which are necessary for a successful reply, they are reduced to the

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin: Comprising the Celebrated Political and Satirical Poems, of the Rt. Hons. G. Canning, John Hookham Frere, W. Pitt, the Marquis Wellesley, G. Ellis, W. Gifford, the Earl of Carlisle, and Others.

Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin: Comprising the Celebrated Political and Satirical Poems, of the Rt. Hons. G. Canning, John Hookham Frere, W. Pitt, the Marquis Wellesley, G. Ellis, W. Gifford, the Earl of Carlisle, and Others.

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