Cobbett and Mill. 481 



munities of which their particular class comprises an important 

 part. The picture of the small society of shipwrecked mariners, 

 who have to start a fresh economy with but a bag of wheat 

 and a little flax seed in a fertile but deserted isle, was open to an 

 understanding of the lowest type. The misery of the unfortu- 

 nate sailors is related in the fewest and simplest of words, and 

 the delightful change of scene when implements and machinery 

 are opportunely tossed up by the fickle sea out of a second 

 wreck, would have done more to impress upon the rustic mind 

 the importance of mechanical invention to the human race, than 

 even a long acquaintance with its profitable results. Then he 

 goes on to show how inconsistent his Luddite friends had been. 

 They destroyed a threshing machine, but spared a flail. To 

 effectually carry out a purpose based on their reasoning, they 

 ought to abolish every kind of implement which replaces the 

 appliances of nature. Corn could be rubbed with the hands, 

 and winnowed with the breath, and, therefore, " away with 

 the flail." Even the teeth themselves are a species of grinding 

 machine, and by Luddite laws should be extracted.^ 



Like the bull dog, too, he could be faithful, and in 1806 he 

 retires from the canvass of the Honiton electorate in favour of 

 his friend. Lord Cochrane. AVhen finally he got into Parlia- 

 ment he calmed down, and became a different person. No one 

 could recognise in the ruddy face, with its smallish features, 

 and peculiarly cynical mouth and sharpish eyes, erectly set on 

 the tall, strongly-built, elderly frame of Cobbett the M.P.,^ the 

 blustering and rough exterior of Cobbett, the stump orator. 



Leaving for a space the study of this singular person, let us, 

 by way of contrast, examine the various steps by which Mill 

 led up to some conclusion antagonistic to landed interests. 

 Chiefly connected with his name is the doctrine of the " un- 

 earned increment." 



He contended that when the value of land increased by 

 circumstances not dependent upon the capital or labour of its 

 proprietors, the community was entitled to a share in the 

 profits. This principle, under the name of Betterment, has 



1 Pol. Register, Nov., 1816. 

 ^ Lord Balling's description. 

 II. I I 



