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Untitled Article
Whigs . They have endeavoured to make everything turn on th& comparatively ambiguous distinction of ministerial and anti-ministerial , instead of the infinitely mdre important difference of reformer and conservative . Some of their most devoted adherents
affirm that in getting the Reform Bill the people have got enough . As if the erection of the machine was everything , and the production of the manufacture nothing . In many cases their friends are in conflict with reformers of the highest ability and principle . The requirement of pledges from candidates has been abused and fidicule ^ i in the absurdest manner ; with success we al low , for such
bewilderment has been created that few people seem to know what a pledge means . They have a vague notion of its being something like a pair of handcuffs . Some follies took this form , as folly takes all forms ; but generally the proposers of pledges have only intended that a candidate should commit himself , as a man of honour , to do his best to carry into effect certain great principles , on which they had made up their minds , and expected their would-be representative to have made up his mind . With some men certainly this might not be necessary ; with none has it been
proposed to be made a substitute for the requisite knowledge , ability , and character . Seldom ( and then indefensibly ) has it related to matters requiring , as to the principle , any further inquiry or deliberation : and why honest legislators should object to , and repudiate , as an insult , the having their hands strengthened for good by the declaration of the public mind and will on such topics as economical reform , judicial reform , freedom and
frequency of election , slavery , national education , and one or two others of similar importance , we cannot imagine . The confidence reposed-in them is still large enough for any moderate lover of responsibility . In our opinion , they most deserve the people ' s confidence who tell them to have confidence in themselves . The name of Whig has long ceased to be the exciting cause of agreeable and grateful recollections . It were as well for it now to sink into oblivion . L-et the last Whig ministry approve itself the first reforming ministry ; let it cease to think so much of conciliating Tory opinion , and so little of alienating Radical
attachment ; let it beware of the temporizing policy which may humble it before a faction , and yet not rally the people round it ; let it fearlessly lay the axe to the root of corruption and misgovernment ; let it aim consistently , and avow itself plainly , in all things to consult the greatest good of the greatest number ; let the recollection of its own mistakes be balanced against any supposed deficiency in the people ' s gratitude ; and let it bestow the best benefit it can upon the people , by enabling them and
encouraging them to benefit themselves : let them do this , —and it is yet perfectly and easily within their grasp , —and history has no glory like that with which its futufls pages will surround their . names ; ' . , r . t . . i ..
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$ 4 d yPhig Qwernment .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1832, page 848, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1826/page/56/
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