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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
fMftifatfpqf in , the Jap 4- the one for , and the other agaimt the people . Of these you are compelled to make your choke . Wffti jtiie one or the pther , . Government must take its stand . Thefce is no longer a resting place between them . The ground for-fi middle party is daily disappearing beneath your feet ; and he who alternately seeks a footing on either side will inevitably f $ fl between both .
Nevertheless , has this not been the exact tenor of your conduct during this Session ? Your policy of Government has within the last two months vibrated between the extremes of Democracy and Despotism * The practical benefit of the Municipal Corporation Bill for Ireland was minute ; but the principle enunciated by you i { i its defence was of a magnitude and import which it is impossible to exaggerate .
The ( speech , my Lord , with which you introduced the Munjcipal Corporation Bill for Ireland was among the first efforts of oratory . It was pregnant with that eloquence which a good cause can alone inspire . It was lofty ; for truth and justice were the elements with which you wrought ; and it wa £ cogent , for you felt that the object was worthy of your best energies ,
jaad their exercise was unencumbered with the trammels qf sophistry . That speech gained you golden opinions from the peopW ; it drew largely on the esteem of your friends ; earned you the tribute of the malice of faction ; and , if I mistake not , yielded you ah inward satisfaction , immeasurably dearer than the loudest plaudit ^ of party . ' .
In that speech you assumed the . only basis of just government . With manly and determined courage you adopted the democratic principle , sanctioned by Charles Fox , of moulding the government of a people by the people's will . My Lord , there are bi | t two principles of Government—the Oligarchic and Democrat )^; vainl y have timid statesmen sought a third . The golden mediujn remains , like the philosophers stone , among the elegant theori es of fiction . Your noble defence of popular Governments ^ on the occasion to which I have alluded , created an impression , of >^ hich your conduct towards Canada has , I fear , wholly deprived Voii ' df
the benefit . The people , my Lord , an ill understand how , if y ^ u )> e sincere that the popular . will shall be the rule of Govenukeitt ^ you cannot find aught in the relation of a colony to the mothfe ) : country which exempts it from participation in this law . Jf' ilie Iriah subjects of Great Britain have a ri g ht to further exten $ oft pf the principle of self-government than they now possess , | iow is it that the Can adian subjects of Great pritiain have iibt la ri ^ t Tt <> ^ at t ^ ey Wve ? IJow cpmes it that you fove a rfcM ; % * i $ sl p
Untitled Article
jfj fftfa . tchthp . J&rm pewefafiy . 36
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 1, 1837, page 263, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1831/page/8/
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