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Untitled Article
You will follow the example of Lord North , only that , instead I of the consistent despotism of a Tory , you will earn the lesss enviable repute of being an enemy to your friends , and of acting ^ in direct hostility to your own principles .
The principle , my Lord , must be comprehensive which i embraces in its scope changes of policy and fluctuations ofF integrity so great as those which oscillate in the ministerial i career of this session ; reminding one less of the wisdom of a , minister than of " the ominous ' vibration of a pendulum . " In vain do your followers seek for any one stable rule of action in your conduct . You have recently talked very frequentl y about " the Constitution . " You could not consent to relieving the Bishops from secular legislation , because it would be " unconstitutional . " On the same ground then you ought to advocate Triennial Parliaments ; seeing that they are " constitutional , " and Septennial an infraction of the " Constitution . " But on the contrary , you are preparing to oppose them ! Is it then , my Lord , your principle to stand by the Constitution whenever it is
at variance with the popular will , and to desert it only when in accordance with that will ? I am sorry to say your conduct admits of no other conclusion . On Municipal Corporations and Church Rates alone , you have been the advocate of the rights of liberty and conscience . On Canada and the Ballot , on Military Flogging , and the Extension of the Suffrage , you have emulated , if not excelled , the worst examples of the despot dynasties of your predecessors .
I am very far from subscribing , however , to the fallacy that large assertions of good principle , with the smallest possible application in practical legislation , will suffice to impart validity to reform , or stability to your government . On the contrary , this has been the second error whereby you have attenuated your own power , and emboldened your enemies . Beyond the mere name of justice , what have you given to the people to strive for , to vivify their hopes , or to inspirit their energies ? There has been no substance worth a strugjgle to
secure ; whilst the means they have asked for rendering their exertions effective , you have refused to advocate . Of this your foes have reaped the full benefit ; they have so far leavened your House of Commons as to render it impossible for you td pass reforms now , in that fulness which would have ensured their success in 1833 . If , however , the desire of the House of Commons for reform has sensibly diminished , gigantic is its increase out of doors . The denial of what is just now ever
generates an increased demand hereafter . The progress of reform has been in an inverse ratio with the popular desire * In 1831-2 the masses were undeniably with the Whig government ; they are now as unquestionably against it . I am con-
Untitled Article
Hints to the Home Secretary . 2655
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 1, 1837, page 265, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1831/page/10/
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