affects their own interest, the loss of an island, or the stopping up of a port, is found immediately to threaten the ruin of the country. Their fears are as rash and groundless as their confidence. Every thing in which they themselves are concerned is viewed through a magnifying medium, and demands all our vigilance and attention, while every thing else dwindles into insignificance. I therefore think there ought to be as little connection as possible between the measures of government and the maxims of the Exchange, and that the interests of a great empire ought not to be managed by a company of factors. I have thus expressed the sentiments which occurred to me on the present situation of our affairs, and some of the steps which led to it. I have done this as freely and unreservedly as I could, because if they are wrong, it is not likely that they will be much attended to; but if they are right, they may be of some use. And I conceive that even they who may think the view I have taken of the measures of the last administration, and the application of particular observations to our own conduct altogether unfounded, will not deny the truth of the general principles on which they are built. Or that the sentiments of justice, of honour, of reason and liberty, by which I think our views and conduct _ought_ to have been regulated, can be too deeply impressed on our minds. End of FREE THOUGHTS ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS POLITICAL ESSAYS, WITH SKETCHES OF PUBLIC CHARACTERS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE This work was published in 1819 with the following title-page:—‘Political Essays, with Sketches of Public Characters. By William Hazlitt. “Come, draw the curtain, shew the picture.” London: Printed for William Hone, 45, Ludgate Hill. 1819.’ A ‘Second edition,’ with the same title and motto, ‘published by John Templeman, 39, Tottenham-Court-Road; and Simpkin and Marshall, Stationers’-court,’ appeared in 1822, but was probably a mere re-issue. The text of the 1819 edition is here reprinted. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Dedication 29 Preface 31 The Marquis Wellesley 47 Mr. Southey, Poet Laureat 48 Mr. Southey’s New Year’s Ode 49 Dottrel-catching 51 The Bourbons and Buonaparte 52 Vetus 57 On the Courier and Times Newspapers 58 Illustrations of Vetus 63