Cobbett and Usury

In William Cobbett's History of the "Reformation" in England and Ireland, after arguing strenuously that the original English "Reformation" of Henry VIII, " engendered in beastly lust, and brought forth in hypocrisy and perfidy, and cherished and fed in by rivers of innocent English and Irish blood" (p. 240), was as a root to the branches of the next "thoroughly godly Reformation", the following "Glorious Reformation" and the American "Reformation" and finally the French Revolution -- after arguing for hundreds of pages, detailing the crimes and injustices of the Protestant "reformers", the lies of our default history books, as in calling Queen Elizabeth "good Queen Bess" and Queen Mary, "Bloody Mary" let alone the above quoted titles of the "Reformations" following the original, indeed, after hundreds of pages detailing these flagrant injustices and abuses, continual and unabated, against Catholics specifically, though the violence, being so hateful and irrational didn't fail to take into its ambit many Protestants as well, as the "doctrines" shifted back and forth with every wind of plunder to be got here then there by the worshippers of mammon -- as I say, after hundreds of pages of evidence and argument put forth by the honor and integrity of William Cobbett in defense of his initial thesis -- about the original Reformation, and his next thesis, about the root and the branches of the other reformations, finally, Cobbett turns to the defense of his book's main thesis, namely, to wit, "that, before the event called the "Reformation," England was more powerful and more wealthy, and that the people were more free, l more moral, better fed and better clad, than at any time since that event," (p. 299) indeed, "that the event called the "Reformation" had impoverished and degraded the main body of the people of England and Ireland." (p. 316)

In preparing the way to defend his main thesis about the baneful and, it seems to me now, irreversible effects of the "Reformation" -- short of a real Reformation, actually coming from the Holy Spirit and not pretended to be so originated, which could reverse the devil's achievements -- Cobbett brings up the topic of usury, how before the war with France which was made necessary by the prior tyrannical, illegal, and unjust "glorious revolution" in which some in power succeeded in bringing a foreign ruler to be their "rightful" king (through supposed legal actions, actually ingenious political shenanigans), was entirely unheard of among Christian people.  This usury was made necessary to fund the war against France, and indeed, in the wake of its pressure and degrading effect, caused, unwittingly the ultimate break of the colonies of America, which, in their turn, became my own dear country.

In this discussion, Cobbett mentions the work of the Reverend Jeremiah O'Callaghan, a work which Cobbett himself published for O'Callaghan against the practice and dreadful consequences of the sin of usury.   Though I'm in the process of learning more about this O'Callaghan, I leave you to study Cobbett and this very topic, for it relates to our day and age, with its spiritual, moral, and economic troubles.

Here is a link to a short online essay about O'Callaghan
Here is one link and another link  and another link (to a book) about Cobbett and specifically his connection to Chesterton and Belloc and their own understanding of the history of the economic leviathan Chesterton attempted but failed to be understood in naming "Proletarianism", which is known as Crony Capitalism -- the only kind history has actually given us.