The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 03 (of 12) — Reading Notes

A Pamphlet's Uncommon Survival

The editorial note to Free Thoughts on Public Affairs records that the original 1806 pamphlet is 'exceedingly rare,' with only one copy known to Alexander Ireland—that belonging to W. C. Hazlitt. The present text is based on a reprint from 1885, and the editors note they could not collate it with either the original or Ireland's transcription. This scarcity underscores the pamphlet's status as a fugitive piece, rescued from near oblivion. Hazlitt's opening address to 'a Member of the Old Opposition' immediately establishes a rhetorical stance: he appeals to love of country through admiration for Shakespeare and Milton, and a 'constitutional stubbornness of temper' against oppression. The pamphlet thus frames patriotism not as jingoism but as a defense of liberty and genius.

Economic Satire and the Cost of War

Hazlitt deploys a striking economic analogy to attack unproductive public expenditure. He imagines a canal lined with gold-leaf that would be washed away as soon as water enters—'this is what we should call unproductive labour.' The satire sharpens when he cites a nobleman who built a brick wall to employ the poor, then suggests employing them to pull it down for double the benefit. Hazlitt's target is the 'fashionable doctrines of political economy' that measure value solely by cost. He insists on asking what labour produces and for whom. The war with France, he calculates, cost five hundred millions in taxes, yielding only 'spiked cannon, rotten ships, gunpowder blown into the air, heaps of dead men's skulls.' The glories of Trafalgar and Waterloo, he concludes, 'will pay no scores.'

The Eloquence of the British Senate

The volume's third section reprints advertisements and extracts from Hazlitt's earlier compilation The Eloquence of the British Senate. This work collects parliamentary speeches, and Hazlitt's editorial selections reflect his own political sympathies. The inclusion of this material alongside his original pamphlets and essays allows readers to see Hazlitt as both critic and curator of public discourse. The notes section (pages 427 onward) provides bibliographical details and occasional textual clarifications, though the editors acknowledge limitations in collation. Together, these pieces form a coherent body of political argument that spans the Napoleonic era, revealing Hazlitt's consistent preoccupation with the gap between official rhetoric and material reality.

Readers approaching this volume should attend to the interplay between Hazlitt's direct political essays and his editorial work on parliamentary eloquence. The excerpts show a writer who grounds his moral outrage in concrete economic reasoning, avoiding abstract declamation. The rarity of the original pamphlet adds a layer of historical texture: these are arguments that barely survived their own moment. For those interested in the development of English radical prose, this volume offers a concentrated dose of Hazlitt's voice at its most urgent and specific.

For years I have sat with Hazlitt’s Reading Notes, listening to him grumble against the waste of human effort in war. His anger always felt oddly tender, a protective instinct for craft. That same quiet concern lingers in Studies and Essays: Censorship and Art — Key Ideas to Explore, where the artist’s necessary freedom is weighed gently against the public’s comfort. Two books, breathing the same worried air.