Democratic Judge or the Equal Liberty of the Press

by William Cobbett

"I KNOW it has been thought, that I was afraid to publish an account of the prosecution carried on against me by the State Government of Pennsylvania, at the instance of the Spanish Minister. I can readily excuse people for entertaining this opinion, because the American press is become the most tame, the most humbled, the most abject upon the face of the earth; and because I count it no dishonour not to be thought a match for the dangers to which I am exposed. The opinion will, however, be found to be eroneous. I have, in the following sheets, exhibited this unparalleled proceeding to the world in its true colours; and I take this opportunity of declaring my fixed determination to persevere in rendering equally notorious, every fact, of which such like proceedings shall put me in possession.My daily occupations leave me but little time for undertakings of this sort; but my just resentment, though slow in its operation, shall not be less sure in its effects."
This is an edition of a classical book first published in the eighteenth century.

102 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

William Cobbett (1763-1835) was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly. He was also against the Corn Laws, a tax on imported grain. Early in his career, he was a loyalist supporter of King and Country: but later he joined and successfully publicised the radical movement, which led to the Reform Bill of 1832, and to his winning the parliamentary seat of Oldham. Although he was not a Catholic, he became a fiery advocate of Catholic Emancipation in Britain. Through the seeming contradictions in Cobbett's life, two things stayed constant: an opposition to authority and a suspicion of novelty. He wrote many polemics, on subjects from political reform to religion, but is best known for his book from 1830, Rural Rides, which is still in print today.