Yet if the shape of his thinking was determined by some mythic metaphysic, we are still Marxist enough to want to 'materialise' it and see his ideas about the 'economic' structure as a reflection of a
particular type of society. This is important in view of the fact, mentioned before, that Cartwright and most of his Radical contemporaries had no conception of economic problems. Cartwright, we are told, lacked any "comprehension of economic issues"; and had a "general non-involvement in economic problems". At the same time, there is some recognition that economic difficulties were "blamed upon the political system". Cartwright is held to be not only myopic but wrong to see political institutions at the root of "the large national debt and high taxes". Disregarding this question for the moment, what needs to be shown, and has already to some extent, is that Cartwright, in common with Obadiah Hulme and a host of other Radical pamphleteers, was very much concerned with economic issues
8 6.
Drinkwater-Lunn, "John Cartwright", 133, 151, 607, 715; Cartwright, Abridgement, frontispiece; Cartwright, Life, Vol..I, 54.
through taking as a central problem in nearly all his writings the taxation question. Like Paine he was not against taxation as such. He was only against "unconstitutional taxation" which occurred when "the few" had "the power of taxing the many", resulting in a large public debt. But the ultimate cause of the high level of the National Debt was war: "WAR has been the cause of all our debt". Hugh debts were needed to pay for the cost of the standing army,
"which must be our ruin". Up to a point, it is equally valid to see his love of the militia merely as a means of avoiding the nation's economic ruin. It was a cheap form of defence, although again it needs to be emphasised Cartwright was not so much concerned with limiting the powers of the state as ensuring taxation was kept at reasonable levels. Equally, economic conditions had an effect on "the morals and habits" of the people and economic explanation was determined by moral and political considerations. For this reason, general prosperity was crucial and it was the state's role to promote this prosperity.
It could do this by not protecting but promoting trade. Again, trade rather than manufacture was central to Cartwright's thinking and mental
87
horizons. To this end, the navy rather than the militia assumed a crucial significance.
In order to establish this it is necessary to turn to a close examination of Cartwright's strangest or most 'archaic' production, The Trident. This work is usually dismissed as Cartwright's greatest eccentricity and is only given a cursory glance by scholars. The contents are barely mentioned and if referred to at all, The Trident is seen as an example of his 'classical' turn of mind. Yet in reality it is a celebration of Anglo-Saxon democracy and Englishness and brings together in one piece, as it were, nearly all the themes and ideas
explored above. For these reasons, The Trident deserves close analysis, reading and description.*
So what has been learned about Cartwright's thought in the light of the questions posed at the start of this chapter? Some
8 7
Osborne, Cartwright, 70; John Cartwright, The Trident: or the National Policy of Naval Celebration . . ., (London, 1802), 6, 208; Cartwright, Life, Vol.I, 287, 300, 305, 306; Vol.II, 190, 350;
evidence has been given to suggest the extent of Cartwright's 'influence'. His class, position, if that is what it is, has been shown to be ambiguous to a certain extent. And he was less afraid of the violence of the working class than many who shared his social background; he was also not as condenscending. Yet he was no out- and-out egalitarian, French style. In this sense his thinking is pre-Revolutionary. His 'moderation' and 'archaism' comes out in his views on property and tax. His concern for law is Harringtonian or Country, but he is not against commerce, and not against taxes on real property because they do not fall on the poor or because they are not taxes on consumption. Yet political rights, and even
more, representation are based on land (virtue Harrington, Machiavelli), but on personality, too (natural law, Locke). Also, land ought to
be more equally divided. Cartwright, as I have said, saw himself as an ultra-Radical reformer, but not a Jacobin. He wanted manhood universal suffrage and annual parliaments, the grounds of which were founded in the English constitution and history. In this light his attitude towards the monarchy and republicanism has been shown to be equally complex. A country's form of government depended, to some extent, upon its historical experience, and for England he favoured an elective a constitutional monarchy based on the historical model of the Anglo-Saxons.
Out of this came his concept of a patriotism. Consequently, my analysis denies an Enlightenment universalist patriotism, in favour of an idea that is closer to Burke. Yet neither is it
nationalism, in the 19th century sense. It is as much, as I have said, "an internal mode of political conduct" as anything else. Like liberty it is drawn from the lessons of English history. So, although
there are 'Lockeian' natural law elements in Cartwright's thought, as I have shown in a chronological appreciation of the texts, the Gothic or "customs' side of Cartwright's view of liberty is both continuing and vital. There is custom and common law as well as natural rights, although there is also the 'Machiavellian' militia as an upholder of libertarian values and institutions. And on the last point, there is further Cartwright's criticism of luxury and corruption. Likewise there is virtue.
To understand how all these things connect up, I looked at the role of reason;at country and nature as concrete
expressions of natural rights and at the role of religion or deism and millenarianism in Cartwright's thought. To take the last first, I have suggested that "Country' (and natural rights) should be looked at not only as a political concept but as a way of living. In country life, in the simple life, is found the sources of virtue and liberty. They are also to be found in destical, millenial religion. This provided radical reform with its divine inspiration and Providential blessing. Millenial deism also extolled the virtues
of simplicity and oneness. A party, complex reform was, therefore, for Cartwright not only a political mistake or error but a political sin. And religious discourse is also about morality, about purity and pollution. Starting from the body through the mind and on to society and then the government, the Anglo-Saxon constitution is seen as a model of political purity. Ultimately then, Cartwright's political enlightenment is a religious or mythical enlightenment. This is reinforced in an appendix in my analysis of Cartwright's Trident in which heavy symbolisation or 'concrete' and allegorical thought is used as political argument. Yet all this has a material or "mercantilist' basis and the Trident is a celebration of the
navy (light on taxes) as a protector of trade rather than manufacture. It is also a ritualistic celebration of Anglo-Saxon democracy.
The argument is, then, that interpretation of John Cartwright's thought or mind is advanced by looking not at one or two concepts
that he uses but at all the concepts together. That is, to look at the wider structure or language. In one sense Cartwright is the embodiment of this language-structure or paradigm that is developed in the last chapter. The other writers chosen tend to emphasise or elaborate this or that aspect of the structure.
THOMAS BEWICK
The questioning or 'interrogation' of Thomas Bewick's Memoirs must therefore necessarily follow a similar pattern. But there is little in the way of critical historiography on Bewick. Yet,
because of Marat's stay at Newcastle, by association, one interpretation sees Bewick as something of a revolutionary. Another aspect of
investigation will be Bewick's class or status position, especially his relationships with the gentry. Connected with both these
things is his understanding of equality. For the first time, that is, I have posed the question of hegemony and the class nature of Gothic thinking. In this respect, close attention is given to Bewick's notion of independence. The Memoirs, as will be shown, are a good source for discovering the cultural foundations of Gothic mentality or Anglo-Saxonism. Included in this are
questions about the role of cultural heroes, and the relationship between political belief, religion or myth and popular culture. Out of this come questions about political 'philosophy', about political rectitude and social life. Related to this, in turn, is Bewick's belief, like Cartwright, in the role of political knowledge. Lastly, I look briefly at Bewick's political economy.
At first glance it may seem odd to place Bewick alongside Cartwright, especially since Bewick's friend, Thomas Spence, is left to the next chapter. In terms of class origins, Spence and Bewick have a lot in common. But Spence had much greater contact with the more popular or 'lo\jer' forms of political radicalism, and his ideas found a receptive audience among the "lower sort of people". Thomas Bewick's Radicalism, both in tone and content, was more moderate and more respectable. So, although he never came from the gentry classes, his ideas are closer to Cartwright's. In fact, he was even less radical than Major Cartwright. He rejected Cartwright's "unqualified scheme for universal suffrage". Despite this, emphasis is usually placed on Bewick as a supporter "of new ideas both technical and social"; that is, if his ideas are considered at all. Usually Bewick is considered as an engraver, as an object of artistic criticism. Yet his memoir is stuffed full, if on a pragmatic or 'practical' level, of the kind of ideas discussed in previous pages; they are open to the same kind of analysis. As with some other writers considered it is useful and informative to begin with a discussion of reading 'influences', friends and so on, although not in this case the question of circulation since he was not a political theorist or pamphleteer.
Bewick's connection with Thomas Spence has already been alluded to. It was a friendship of long standing; as early as 1776 he mentions "his friend Thomas Spence", and the friendship is said to have been "one of the most significant and dearest to Bewick to the end of his days". Bewick and Spence were both members of the same "Philosophical Society" at Newcastle from which Spence was expelled for breaking the Society's rules by publishing one of his lectures. Bewick did not oppose the expulsion and later had a physical fight with him. The quarrel did not last and Bewick
thought of Spence as "sincere and honest". It has been said Spence's "general philosophical and political ideas" influenced Bewick "a great deal". The basis of this judgement is a number of books, pamphlets and tokens produced by Spence and known to have been in Bewick's possession. Yet Bewick refers to Spence's ideas as "mistaken" and clearly disagrees with Spence with regard to the control and ownership of land. There would seem to be some sort of
'philosophical' correspondence, and, leaving aside the question of 88
influence, this will be brought out later. Another important influence and a source of Bewick's Enlightenment frame of mind is said to be the French revolutionary Jean Paul Marat. Marat lived in Newcastle, practising as a doctor, during the years 1770 to 1773. He became a member of some of the patriotic or reform societies in the area and an edition of his Chains of Slavery was published in 1775 and sold in Newcastle. It has been said Bewick's life-long defence of the French Revolution and his social and political ideas in general "show that he had deeply absorbed the ideas Marat
propagated". Yet there is not a shred of evidence Bewick met Marat or read his book. Bewick's ideas seem to be an amalgam of English intellectual components combined with personal and cultural
experience. One of these native intellectual components was derived from Thomson's Seasons, "one of the best-loved and most significant books of the 18th century" and "a lifelong favourite of Bewick's". Thomson's celebration of nature, liberty and Whiggish political philosophy and their interconnection would have appealed to Bewick's
Ray Watkinson, Thomas Bewick, Artist, Naturalist & Radical 1753-1825, (Our History Series, No.25), 14; reprinted in
The Luddites & Other Essays, (London, 1971), (ed.) Lionel Munby. 88
intuition and helped shape his thoughts. In terms of agrarian sentiment and nostalgia, Cobbett "of whose Political Register" Bewick was "a
89 faithful reader" is a similar sort of 'influence'.
Besides these two authors, the Memoir gives numerous examples of Bewick's reading. While at his master's house he read "the then new publication of 'Smollett's History of England'" and "for a long time afterwards" he "clearly remembered everything of note which it contained". At this time his reading was avid. Access was gained through Gilbert Gray's son William "a bookbinder of some repute" who often filled his workshop with "the works of the best authors".
Also read around this time were "waggon loads of sermons". As he puts it, "I got myself into a labyrinth - bewildered with dogmas, creeds and opinions". During this period, books were his only companions over which he spent his "mornings and evenings, late and early". Perhaps worthy of mention in the light of Bewick's religious readings is the "political theologican" James Murray, author of Sermons for A sses; Murray was the only member of the Philosophical Society against Spence's expulsion. Another batch of reading worth mentioning is the
90 natural histories, including "Gilbert White's History of Selbourne".
Men as well as books shaped Bewick's character and ideas. He describes one, Gilbert Gray, a bookbinder and formerly a shopman and bookbinder to Allan Ramsay poet and bookseller, as "the most valuable acquaintance and friend I ever met with". Grah seems to have made a
mark on Bewick through the puritanism of his personal habits and thoughts. Gray was remarkable for his "detestation of vice, his industry and his temperance". He lived life according to the dictates of nature.
Ignoring social conventions, he ate only when hungry, drank when thirsty, slept when tired and so on. According to Bewick, this "mode of life" enabled him to pursue a successful publishing career. Gray, besides training for a while as a priest, had had "a liberal education bestowed upon him" and "had read a great deal and reflected upon what he read". Bewick "lived in habits of intimacy with him
R. Watkinson, Thomas Bewick, 15, 18; Thomas Bewick, A Memoir of Thomas Bewick Written By Himself, (London and Newcastle, 1862), 110.
8 9.
9 0.
to the end of his life". Another friend was Nathanial Bales, a surgeon, who, among other things was "eminent for his learning .. a
tolerably good engraver and a good mechanic". Bales headed the
committee "of Burgesses" who opposed the magistrates appropriation
of the Town Moor or commons in Newcastle. There is also mention of
George Gray, another son of Gilbert, and William's half-brother. Although "eminent as a fruit painter", he "dipped into almost every art and science". George was also remarkable for his "genuine simplicity of manners". Matthew Prior "one of the best mechanics in the kingdom" who gave evidence before a house of Commons committee also gets a mention. So does "Major Bainbridge a local patriot" and his friend the divine who was also a schoolteacher and small
farmer. Not of least importance is his former master and eventual
partner Ralph Beilby towards whom, in his memoir, Bewick has ambivalent
feelings. In order to build up a proper picture of the collective
nature of Bewick's thinking, a close study of all these men and books would be desirable.^
They are certainly helpful in trying to draw a picture of Bewick's
class position and his attitudes or consciousness of class. Ray
Watkinson's summary of this position has a nice accuracy. Bewick's
background, he writes, is of "solid yeoman independence, of moderate comfort won by constant hard work, of country skills and earnest
education". His paternal grandfather was said to be a successful
farmer; his maternal grandfather a schoolteacher. His father was a
farmer who also employed "pitmen". Bewick's grandmother left him
£20 for an apprentice fee. The connection between craft and country
comes out in Bewick's uncle "Thomas Blackett, silversmith" who had been a foreman and his aunt who "being the widow of a freeman kept a
cow upon the Town Moor". In later life as a wood engraver Bewick would
have counted as a sort of "superior artisan". As a master engraver he employed a few men but engravers were below artists "Who ranked themselves as gentlemen" and "insisted that engravers wait upon them". They belonged to "a fairly independent trade", this independence perhaps being underlined by the lack of trade union activity among engravers.
Bewick, Memoir, 62-4, 68, 162-3; See also Bewick's own adoption
of a strict diet and his reading of "Lewis Cornaro and other books which treated of temperance". He also "greatly valued the advice given in the "Spectator" which strongly recommended all people to have their days of absence". 69.
The membership of the "Swarley Club" which Bewick joined around 1790 consisted of "merchants or respectable tradesmen". As E.P. Thompson has pointed out many of them expressed hostility to "the gentry, capitalists and large farmers" while at the same time they were
"intimidated", though perhaps deferential is a better description, by and to the aristocracy. Like Major Cartwright, Bewick's
condemnation and disregard of the gentry was just as conditional, and his contacts with the upper classes seem to have been both
92 friendly and profitable.
He had quite a few particular grudges against the gentry. Forgetting the "exertions of their forefathers", the gentry, during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars had let the people down through their apathy. Nowadays "there is not virtue enough left in