Title page from Paper against Gold and Glory against Prosperity, vol. 1 (1815)

Part of: Paper against Gold and Glory against Prosperity (1815) Paper against Gold and Glory against Prosperity, vol. 1 (1815)

Cobbett wrote the first volume of 28 Letters while in prison for two years (1810-11) for opposing the flogging of some militia men. It it a history of how Britain funded the war effort against Napoleon by increasing the national debt, suspending the use of gold, and using paper money. Cobbett also chronicles the economic hardships imposed on ordinary working people by the disruption of trade, war taxes, and inflation of the currency.

Key Quotes

Money & Banking

These conferences will not, I trust, as some persons appear to suppose, lead to any application of the public money, that is to say, of the taxes, to the assisting, as it is called, of these Loan-holders. The Loan-holders, or Loan-makers, have never been known to return to the people any part of…