Introduction
In 1835 the USA stood for strict public economy (that year the national debt hit zero for the first and last time), military restraint, and wise investment of taxpayers’ dollars. These things, Richard Cobden believed, England could usefully copy; but not republicanism. A British republic, he said, she would merely replace one kind of aristocracy with a much less noble one.
THEY who argue in favour of a republic, in lieu of a mixed monarchy, for Great Britain, are, we suspect, ignorant of the genius* of their countrymen.
Democracy forms no element in the materials of English character. An Englishman is from his mother’s womb an aristocrat. Whatever rank or birth, whatever fortune, trade, or profession may be his fate, he is, or wishes, or hopes to be an aristocrat. The insatiable love of caste that in England, as in Hindostan,* devours all hearts, is confined to no walks of society, but pervades every degree, from the highest to the lowest.*
Of what conceivable use then would it be to strike down the lofty patricians that have descended to us from the days of the Normans and Plantagenets, if we, of the middle class, who are more than any other enslaved to this passion, are prepared to lift up, from amongst ourselves, an aristocracy of mere wealth, — not less austere, not less selfish, — only less noble than that we had deposed.
* ‘Genius’ here (in accord with the original Latin word) means an inborn spirit or instinct.
* Hindostan or Hindustan was originally a Persian term for what is now Pakistan and northwestern India. In English, it was often applied to those areas of British India which were predominantly Hindu rather than Muslim.
* In a footnote, Cobden recalled reading about a Bow Street court case in which a knife-grinder and chair-mender named Solomon Lovell had begged the court to intervene after his wife of just three days, Desdemona Cocks, aged forty-three, was spirited away to a garret in Charles Street, off Drury Lane, because her haughty friends thought she had married beneath her station. They themselves were ‘in the costermongering line’, i.e. they were mobile street vendors selling groceries from a cart.
Précis
Writing in 1835, Richard Cobden warned advocates of republicanism that what so worked well in the USA would not work in England, where everyone from the highest to the lowest is addicted to snobbery of some kind. Any egalitarian revolution would simply create a rather grubby alternative class system based on money rather than family. (55 / 60 words)
Writing in 1835, Richard Cobden warned advocates of republicanism that what so worked well in the USA would not work in England, where everyone from the highest to the lowest is addicted to snobbery of some kind. Any egalitarian revolution would simply create a rather grubby alternative class system based on money rather than family.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, despite, if, must, otherwise, since, until, whether.
About the Author
Richard Cobden (1804-1865) was the son of a bankrupt Sussex farmer. By a mixture of talent and audacity, Richard rose from sweeping his uncle’s warehouse floor to become a Manchester mill-owner and then Liberal Party MP for Rochdale in Lancashire. He came to prominence in the late 1830s as a vocal critic of London’s panicky and greedy policies towards Russia and later China. Soon afterwards, he emerged as the leader of the Parliamentary rebellion against economic protectionism, i.e. the policy of using sanctions and trade tariffs to ring-fence the profits of domestic corporations and cripple the economies of foreign countries. The Corn Laws, the flagship protectionist policy that had brought thousands close to starvation, were repealed in 1846. The campaign almost ruined him financially, but he recovered and his final triumph was the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty of 1860, a landmark free-trade agreement between Britain and France which put centuries of mistrust behind us. Richard married Catherine Anne Williams, from Wales, in 1840 and they brought up five daughters together.
Archive
Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Descend. Heart. Middle.
2 Fate. Monarchy. No.
3 Form. Whatever. Wish.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Subject and Object Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in two sentences, first as the subject of a verb, and then as the object of a verb. It doesn’t have to be the same verb: some verbs can’t be paired with an object (e.g. arrive, happen), so watch out for these.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1. Lift. 2. Profession. 3. Day. 4. Suspect. 5. Society. 6. Wish. 7. Birth. 8. Class. 9. Form.
Variations: 1.use your noun in the plural (e.g. cat → cats), if possible. 2.give one of your sentences a future aspect (e.g. will, going to). 3.write sentences using negatives such as not, neither, nobody and never.
Confusables Find in Think and Speak
In each group below, you will find words that are similar to one another, but not exactly the same. Compose your own sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between them, whether in meaning, grammar or use.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
Your Words ()
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