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intentions are the . very best , according to the views which circumstances , in him as in other men , dispose him to think best , we feel bound to shew him
in what respect we agree with him in the spirit of his declaration , and in what others , for the sake of that spirit , we have objections to make to the letter .
Lord Durham says , — " I wish to rally as large a portion of the British people as possible around the existing institutions of the country—the Throne , Lords , Commons , and the Established Church , I do not wish to
make new institutions , but to preserve and strengthen the old . Herein lies the difference between me and my opponents . Some would confine the advantages of those institutions to as small a
class as possible ; I would throw them open to all who had the ability to comprehend them , and the vigour to protect them . Others , again , would annihilate them , for the purpose of forming new ones on fanciful and untried principles . I would , I repeat , preserve them ,
but increase their efficiency , and add to the numbers of their supporters . I have often stated the modes by which , as I imagine , that efficiency can be most readily produced ; but I have ever accompanied those declarations , as I do now , with the announcement of my determination never to force them
peremptorily or dogmatically on the consideration of the Government or the Parliament . If they are ( as in my conscience I believe them to be ) useful and salutary measures—for they are based on the most implicit confidence in the loyal and good feeling of the peo-
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ple—the course of events , and the experience of every day , will remove the objections and prejudices which may now exist , and ensure their adoption , whenever they are recommended by the deliberate voice of the people .
" This , in a few words , is my political creed ; and no one can look for my co-operation or support on any other grounds . It has been my ruling principle throughout my political life to endeavour to bring all classes—especially the middle
and lower—within the pale of the true , not the spurious Constitution . I have ever wished to give the latter an interest in the preservation of privileges which exclusion would no longer render obnoxious to them ; to make them feel that
whilst the Crown enjoyed its prerogatives , and the upper classes their honours , they also were invested with privileges most valuable to them ; and , moreover , that all , separately and collectively , rested on the common basis of
national utility *' These passages , which contain all that is to the present purpose in his lordship ' s letter to the electors of North
Durham , may be divided into three portions ; first , where he speaks of the existing institutions ; second , of his measures for securing and rendering them efficient : third , of the distinctions
between the existing classes , and the " national utility" upon which all are based . To begin with the last . — Those two words , " national utility / ' comprise the whole question ; and we are glad that his lordship , whether in a spirit of intended or involuntary climax , concluded with them .
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- Lord Durham ' and the Reformers * 75
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 1, 1837, page 75, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1834/page/3/
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