The most influential organ of radical political dissent in late Georgian England, William Cobbett’s Political Register set important precedents for future political journals. Initially patriotic in tone, the weekly gravitated toward exposure of corruption and agitation for social justice and parliamentary reform. A broadsheet version, dubbed Cobbett’s Twopenny Trash, was the first English political periodical aimed at the working class.
In January of 1802, a new weekly journal called the Political Register appeared on the streets of London. The journal’s editor and principal writer was William Cobbett, a self-educated farm boy. Cobbett had recently returned from the United States, where he had established himself as an incisive political commentator under the pen name Peter Porcupine
The lively, provocative writing and independent spirit of the Political Register made it an instant success. Its circulation began at three hundred copies and grew to more than three thousand copies by the end of 1804, despite the fact that its ten-and-one-half-pence price meant that no ordinary working person could afford a personal subscription. Indeed, Cobbett pointed with pride to the fact that the cost of his publication ensured that it had only a respectable readership.
Early issues of the journal included complete transcripts of parliamentary debates;
In 1804, Cobbett toured rural southern England, seeing at first hand how enclosures, wartime prices, and land speculation were devastating the lives of rural laborers. In the quarter century since he had left his family farm, large landholdings operated as businesses had prospered, while rural unemployment skyrocketed and most farm laborers became dependent on parish relief. Cobbett now saw war fever as a smokescreen for wartime profiteering, and he ascribed the nation’s economic woes to oppressive taxation, excessive indebtedness, and government corruption. The solution, he concluded, was a radical reform of Parliament.
After 1804, the editorial stance of the Political Register moved toward the radicalism of Sir Francis Burdett
Another feature of the Political Register distinguishing it from many contemporary radical publications was its respect for the Church of England
The Political Register faced its first major challenge in 1810, when the government prosecuted Cobbett for publishing an impassioned piece on soldiers who had refused to obey orders in the town of Ely. Troops from Hanover
While Cobbett raised money to pay his fine and cover the substantial costs that would be necessary to live in comfort in prison, he discovered that his business manager had mishandled the finances of the Political Register and cost him six thousand pounds. By selling the Parliamentary Register to Hansard
The end of the war with France in 1815 brought hard times. Sales of all periodicals dropped. Cobbett’s accusation that the government had engineered Napoleon’s escape from his exile on Elba
Responding to widespread rioting, the government suspended habeas corpus
The trial of Queen Caroline
William Cobbett.
In 1821, Cobbett began the series Rural Rides,
By the late 1820’s, English reformers were concentrating on urban problems. In 1828 and 1829, the Political Register resounded with warnings that deteriorating conditions in rural England were likely to result in insurrection. When the so-called Swing riots broke out in southern England in 1830, the authorities suspected Cobbett of more than accurate prophecy. Brought to trial for sedition in 1831, he defended himself ably and was acquitted. He continued writing and publishing his weekly Political Register until his death on June 18, 1835. His journal, which was again in financial difficulties, soon ceased publication.
In retrospect, the Political Register looms larger as a literary than a political force. Of the causes it so eloquently advocated, only Roman Catholic emancipation
Cobbett skillfully identified and dramatized the multiple economic woes that characterized Britain in his day, but he was no economist. Had the government taken his advice and reduced taxes by defaulting on the national debt, the results would surely have been disastrous. Cobbett’s preoccupation with government corruption made for entertaining reading, but he exaggerated the impact of the problem and proposed cures far worse than the disease.
The Political Register failed to catalyze a political revolution, but it did represent a revolution in journalism. Especially in its broadsheet form, it was the first English-language periodical to put political and social controversy into the hands of working people in language to which they could relate. Other contemporary reformers tended to be patronizing, claiming to speak for the unrepresented masses but seldom listening to those masses or explaining clearly how the proposed remedies could be expected to effect reform. Cobbett respected his audience. He addressed them directly, on their own level. Two hundred years after the founding of the Political Register, his lively, hard-hitting prose is still read and still resonates.
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Burton, Anthony. William Cobbett, Englishman: A Biography. London: Aurum Press, 1997. A balanced treatment that discusses the background and context of key political treatises. -
Dyck, Ian. “William Cobbett and the Rural Radical Platform.” Social History 18, no. 2 (1993): 185-204. Emphasizes Cobbett’s rural roots; offers a detailed treatment of the role of the Political Register during the Swing riots. -
Green, Daniel. Great Cobbett: The Noblest Agitator. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1983. Good coverage of Cobbett’s two trials for libel, Twopenny Trash, and the trial of Queen Caroline. -
Thompson, Noel, and David Eastwood, eds. The Collected Social and Political Writings of William Cobbett. Reprint. London: Routledge/Thoemmes Press, 1998. Seventeen volumes in facsimile, with an extensive introduction. Includes all of the widely cited articles from the Political Register. Arranged partly by topic and partly chronologically.
Luddites Destroy Industrial Machines
British Parliament Passes the Six Acts
London’s Cato Street Conspirators Plot Assassinations
Wakley Introduces The Lancet
British Parliament Passes the Reform Act of 1832
Wilson Launches The Economist
William Cobbett; Francis Place.