Robert Wedderburn and “the cause of humanity”

Abstract

In 1817 Robert Wedderburn (1762–1835) published in his Spencean Philanthropist newspaper The Axe Laid to the Root, or a Fatal Blow to Oppressors “A Hodge Podge Effusion Produced by Reading Cobbett’s Register, Vol. 32, No. 34,” an issue William Cobbett addressed to William Benbow, then imprisoned indefinitely for his radical political activities. Cobbett’s paper was read aloud at gatherings of the Society of Spencean Philanthropists,1 a group committed to the abolition of private property and universal suffrage. In the issue dated November 29, 1817, to which Wedderburn refers, Cobbett defended the freedom of the ultra-radical press against charges of “sedition and blasphemy” and of being “very cheap” and the political genius and grammar of the poor.2 Wedderburn’s “Effusion,” signed R.W, begins with Burst forth, my soul, and with the breath of truth blow in a flame the fire kindled by Cobbett, never to be extinguished. Burn up the hay, straw, stubble, wood, yea, every thing that cannot stand the refiner’s fire. The cocatrice is discovered, her eggs are exposed, her nest is composed of materials qualified for burning. The witch of Endor cannot prevent it.