ON THE EVE OF WAR WITH THE U.S.
A key to the orders in council.
London.
Printed for John Murray, 1812.
First edition.
19pp, [1].
[Bound behind:] Cobbett's Oppression!! Proceedings on the trial of an action between william burgess, A poor Labouring Man! and william cobbett, A Patriot and Reformer!! for employing william aslett , and john dubber, To Assault, and Falsely Imprison the Plaintiff... London. Printed and published by T. Gillet, 1809. First edition. 26pp, [2]. With a terminal leaf of publisher's advertisements.
8vo. Bound by Ramage of London in later gilt-ruled black half-calf, marbled paper boards, contrasting red morocco lettering-pieces, T.E.G. A trifle rubbed. Scattered spotting.
[Bound behind:] Cobbett's Oppression!! Proceedings on the trial of an action between william burgess, A poor Labouring Man! and william cobbett, A Patriot and Reformer!! for employing william aslett , and john dubber, To Assault, and Falsely Imprison the Plaintiff... London. Printed and published by T. Gillet, 1809. First edition. 26pp, [2]. With a terminal leaf of publisher's advertisements.
8vo. Bound by Ramage of London in later gilt-ruled black half-calf, marbled paper boards, contrasting red morocco lettering-pieces, T.E.G. A trifle rubbed. Scattered spotting.
The first edition of politician and sometime secretary of the Admiralty John Wilson Croker's (1780-1857) explication of the orders concerning trade with French ports issued by the Privy Council from January 1807 to April 1812. The pamphlet, published anonymously, is in essence an impassioned piece of political propaganda that pleads with the United States to recognise the French as the primary threat to their commercial interests. Issued in a tumultuous period marked by strained diplomatic interactions between Britain and America, interactions that would ultimately culminate in the outbreak of the War of 1812, Croker's entreaty is both sagacious and vehement:
'There are now but two free nations on the face of the globe, Great Britain and America - let the latter beware how she raises her parricidal hand against the parent country; her trade and liberty cannot long survive the downfall of British commerce and British freedom...America is too wise, is too honest, is too strong, to suffer herself to be dragged by any internal faction, or external force, into such a warfare; her causes of complaint against England are trivial when compared with the dangers with which the insatiable ambition and gigantic despotism of France threaten the civilised world'.
£ 450.00
Antiquates Ref: 32130
'There are now but two free nations on the face of the globe, Great Britain and America - let the latter beware how she raises her parricidal hand against the parent country; her trade and liberty cannot long survive the downfall of British commerce and British freedom...America is too wise, is too honest, is too strong, to suffer herself to be dragged by any internal faction, or external force, into such a warfare; her causes of complaint against England are trivial when compared with the dangers with which the insatiable ambition and gigantic despotism of France threaten the civilised world'.
