"To William Wilberforce. On the State of the Cotton Factory Labourers, and on the Speech of Andrew Ryding, who cut Horrocks with a Cleaver. In "Cobbett's Weekly Register."

COBBETT, William. "To William Wilberforce. On the State of the Cotton Factory Labourers, and on the Speech of Andrew Ryding, who cut Horrocks with a Cleaver. In Cobbett's Weekly Register, London, vol 47 no. 9, columns 513-576 (or 32pp), 30 August 1823. Bound in a sturdy and thick library cloth. Very useful and readable, if not pretty-- [++] William Cobbett in an open letter castigates William Wilberforce ("and other abolitionists") and "berates the abolitionists, in general, and Wilberforce in particular for their 'cant' and 'hypocrisy.'" He accuses Wilberforce of "real situation of the blacks" and refers to the Lancashire working class as 'white slaves'" (-- Quotes from "An Analysis of Slave Abolitionists in the North-West of England", thesis by Brian Richard Howman for Ph.D. University of Warwick, 2006.) Cobbett writes: "You talk a great deal about the partiality of the laws in the West Indies. What you say about the inhumanity of these laws is right enough; but have you Wilberforce, have you ever done anything to mitigate the laws which exist in this country with regard to those free British labourers of which you so cantingly talk? Never have you done one single act, in favour of the labourers 56 of this country; but many and many an act have you done against them."--from the article. …