I have added a new post to the Copy Book, An Englishman in Exile. It comes from a letter written in July 1817 by firebrand radical William Cobbett, now living in exile in the USA, to his legion of supporters back home. With characteristic directness, Cobbett faces up to his divided loyalties, and sets out clearly what he owes to the Government and people of the United States, and what he owes to the country of his birth.
The passage is only the more relavant today as war, economic insecurity and political repression force millions of people to migrate. What does the migrant owe to his adopted country? What does he do if the interests of the country of his birth clash with those of his new home, even to the point of war? Cobbett met these difficult questions head on.