6 COBBETT'S [No. 



4. Such being the language of the LAW, is it not 

 a monstrous state of things, when we hear it com- 

 monly and coolly stated, that many thousands of per- 

 sons in England are upon the point of starvation; 

 that thousands will die of hunger and cold next win- 

 ter; that many have already died of hunger; and 

 when we hear all this, unaccompanied with one 

 word of complaint against any overseer , or any jus- 

 tice of the peace ! Is not this state of things perfectly 

 monstrous ? A state of things in which it appears to 

 be taken for granted, that the LAW is nothing, when 

 \ it is intended to operate as a protection to the poor ! 

 Law is always law : if one part of the law may be, 

 with impunity, set at defiance, why not another and 

 every other part of the law? If the law which pro-- 

 vides for the succour of the poor, for the preservation 

 of their lives, may be, with impunity, set at defiance, 

 why should there not be impunity for setting at defi- 

 ance the law which provides for the security of the 

 property and the lives of the rich ? If you, in Lan- 

 cashire, were to read, in an account of a meeting in 

 Hampshire, that, here, the farmers and gentlemen 

 were constantly and openly robbed ; that the poor 

 were daily breaking into their houses, and knocking 

 their brains out ; and that it was expected that great 

 part of them would be killed very soon : if you, in 

 Lancashire were to hear this said of the state of 

 Hampshire, what would you say? Say ! Why, you 

 would say, to be sure, " Where is the LAW ; where 

 are the constables, the justices, the juries, the judges, 

 the sheriffs, and the hangmen? Where can that 

 Hampshire be ? It, surely, never can be in Old Eng- 

 land. It must be some savage country, where such 

 enormities can be committed, and where even those, 

 who talk and who lament the evils, never utter one 

 word in the way of blame of the perpetrators.' 5 And 

 if you were called upon to pay taxes, or to make sub- 

 scriptions in money, to furnish the means of protection 

 to the unfortunate rich people in Hampshire, would 

 you not say, and with good reason, "No : what should 

 we do this for? The people of Hampshire have the 



