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meats utterly alien from his nature . ( Loud ^ heeifc . ) And why , $ ask , has mSr Bight rlouomrafble FViendbeen subjected to these attacks ? Because , Sir , with an industry and intelligence never exceeded , and rarely equalled , he has devoted his daily labour and his nightly toil to the improvement of the commercial system of his country . ( Cheers . ) Sir , when this attack was made , the House felt , as
one man , the injustice done t » my Right Honourable Friend ( cheers ) ; and if , in addition to the conscious rectitude of his own mind , and to the gratifying acknowledgment by this House , of his splendid exertions , he wished for another gratification , he had it in the universal feeling of indignation at the attempt so wantonly made to lower him and his measures in
the public opinion . ( Oheers . ) And then , forsooth , came the assertion , that nothing personal was meant . Nothing personal , Sir ! Did we not hear mention made of hard-hearted metaphysics , and of the malignity of the devil ? Nothing
personal 1—certainly nothing personal to the devil , ( laughter , ) who , by the way , and it is a curious coincidence , is , according to an old proverb , the Patrou Saint of the city ( Lincoln ) which the Honourable and Learned Gentleman
represents . ( Much laughter *) But could any one fail to understand , that the fiendlike malignity , the coldness of heart , the apathy of feeling , that all these abstract qualities , which the Learned Gentleman had described as distinguishing features of those who indulged in abstract speculations , were intended by the Learned
Geutleman to be embodied in the person of my Rteht Honourable Friend ; qualities especially calculated to render a man contemptible in the performance of his public duties , and odious in the eyes of his fellow-citizens , for whose benefit those duties are discharged ? ( Hear . ) These topics , Sir , are as vulgar as they
are u % just . ( Hear , hear . ) Why is it to be supposed that the application of philosophy— ( for I will use that odious word )—why was it to be supposed , that to apply the refinement of philosophy to the affairs of common life , indicates obduracy of feeling or obtuseness of sensibility ? We must deal with the affairs
of men on abstract principles , modified , however , of course , according to times and circumstances . Is trot the doctrine and the spirit which now animate those who persecute my Right Honourable Friend , the satrfe whieH in former times , sti
rred up persecution against the best benefactors of iwatikfiid ? 'fa it hot the same doctrine 4 H 8 mph-ft which embittered the Mft ^ otf Tttfgae ?* ( Cheers . ) Is * t not w dbcWilietanti' 3 sjtttft # uch as this , which % * u ^ c&i : QbUto <> ttf -HMJ , dMge ' ons
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of the Inquisition ? ( Cheers . J l $ . 'it hot a doctrine ^ au / 4 a ^ rit ^^ i ^ l . ^ ' . ? tt ^ which have , ' at all ' times ^ beei f I iirw&ik to stay public adVancement ^ , & n < ¥ Wrtfll back the tide of cMlizatfou ? ( Chtieftf . ) A doctrine and a spirit actuating llSfle mindswho of the
, , incapable reaching heights from , whicn ^ UtJne extended views of human nature can be tateeuv ctmsble and reven ue themselves by calumniating and misrepresenting those who hstVe torled to thosfc heights , for the advantage of mankind . ( Cheers . )
< c Sir , I have not to learn that there fe a faction in the country , ( ar cry of * No , No ! ' from the opposite Benches ) - —I mean not a political faction—I should , perhaps , rather have ^ saiti a sect » small in
numbers and powerless in might , who think that all advances towards improvement are retrogradations towards Jacobinism . ( Cheers . ) These persous seem to imagine that , under no possible circumstances , can an honest man
endeavour to keep his country upon a line with the progress of political knowledge , and to adapt its course to the varying circumstances of the world . Such an attempt is branded as an indication , of mischievous intentions , as evidence of a design to sap the foundations of the greatness of the country . ( Cheers . )
iC , I consider it to be the duty of a British Statesman , in internal as well as external affairs , to hold a middle course between extremes ; avoiding alike extra * vagancies of despotism , or the licentiousness of unbridled freedom- —reconciling power with liberty : not adopting hasty or ill-advised experiments , or pursuing
any airy and unsubstantial theories ; but , not rejecting , nevertheless , the application of sound and wholesome knowledge to practical affairs , and pressing , with sobriety and caution , into the service of his country , any generous and liberal principles , whose excess , indeed , may be dangerous , but whose foundation is in
truth . ( Loud cheering . ) This , Sir , in my mind , is the true conduct of a British Statesman ; but they who resist iudi . s ^ criminately all improvement as irinova ^ tion , may find themselves compelled at last to submit to innovations , although they are not improvements . ( Cheei'S , cMm ! cries of ' hear , hear ' /)
" My Right Honourable Friend ; tjias been actuated by the spirit which I have endeavoured to describe . Convinced iu his own mind of the justice and expediency of the measure which he has proposed for the improvement of ,-our © omr * mercial system :, he tos- ^ i ^ watfe ^ tbp House to / legisjaje kkfthftfe #£ ««*** &wkii&& t $ e > fpjdfa qf , ti ^ r l ^ p i ^ atfaii ^ jiift ^ jici ^^ t ^ incr , < mUw l ^^?^ M ^ 4 ^^ Wk ^^^«? lgt * tO thl , * <^ mfUyW'A / yt- (^ fe ^|^ j ^ jr fi ., 7 O »! V * ' r ~ - ' . . ' fp ' I , i'Wf ( T (/< ' \ r- ' 1 ( 1 ? , ' ' - > . - — ?• ., *
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InteUigence }> sr-Perliarhentary < 183
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1826, page 183, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2546/page/55/
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