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841
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WHIG GOVERNMENT .
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i v .. . There are three kinds of rule—Tory government . Whig government , and Self-government—of which we hope the first may be regarded as the past , and the third as the future , of the political condition of the people of Great Britain . The second we all know to be the present ; and the question of its merits or demerits , and of its claims on public gratitude , having been raised by
its admirers , perhaps even by its members , we are disposed to make them the subject of a calm and temperate , though brief examination . Two ministerial manifestoes have been recently put forth : one a pamphlet under the title at the head of this article ; the other , a paper on the Working and Prospects of the Reform , in the Edinburgh Review , —the latter is commonly ascribed to no feebler a pen than that of the Lord Chancellor . It lacks
somewhat of his accustomed energy ; for its tone is as remarkable for querulousness , as is that of the pamphlet for boastfulness . Both are evidently designed to influence the now rapidly-approaching elections . The present administration has been , from the first , in a difficult position , and should be cautiously and kindly judged . The difficulties with which it has had to contend , and the benefits it has conferred upon the country , ought never to be forgotten .
Nor have they been disregarded . The people's support was ever ready for their struggles , —the people's confidence for their promises , —and the people ' s gratitude for their success . Still it is certain that they are not regarded altogether with such feelings , as might have been anticipated for the authors of a great reform in the representative system . They seem aware of this , and disposed to complain of suspicion , impatience , ingratitude , and want
of confidence . But such complaints are seldom made except by those who have committed errors which reflect blame on themselves . To gain the people ' s love is at least one of the first objects of an enlightened government . Not to possess it , is a failure ; and though it may be said that the failure is only limited and partial , yet is it no unfriendly task , nor shall it be attempted in aa unfriendly spirit , to point out the causes to which it may not unreasonably be ascribed . The most operative of these is , no doubt , to be found in the
complicated machinery and imperfect working of the Keform r > ill , so far as it has yet been acted upon , in the formation of a new constituency . They who expect gratitude for the bestowment of a great good upon a community ought not , in common prudence , to clog it with appendages which inflict trouble , vexation , and disappointment upon many thousands of the most active portion of the people . Th ^ Re form BUI was understood to confer the suffrage on 10 / ,
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No . 72 , 3 0
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1832, page 841, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1826/page/49/
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