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Untitled Article
educational advantages ; his knowledge that the custom , however disguised , is in . violation of the professed object of the law , if not of its letter ; and the sinister motives which induce him to employ means so demoralizing for the attainment of his purpose . He shows himself utterly unworthy of the honour , unfit for the office , and , by anticipation , unfaithful to the trust of a legislator . The reformed
Parliament will ill deserve that name , if such delinquency bring not after it a heavier punishment than has heretofore been inflicted . The purchase of a close borough is purity itself in comparison with the corruption of the population of a town or city . It would be hard to prove that this evil is done , that good may
come to any bat the evil-doer . He who vitiates a district , that he may get hold of the purse-strings of a nation , has surely a strong presumption against his intentions . There would seldom be an exception to the expediency of the general rule of rendering a bribing candidate for ever incapable of legislative , judicial , or magisterial functions .
But those whom we most condemn are the respectable members of society , who either actively assist in this unholy work , or take not the most efficient me ^ ins to prevent its recurrence . If the middle classes would but do ( heir duty , we do not believe that it would be difficult to reform the most abandoned constituency in the kingdom . Why has no Conservative dared to attempt the purchase of a seat from the men of Birmingham ?
We all know why . The Union still exists ; and the security would be greater , and more permanent , if , not merely during the crisis in May last , but generally , a larger proportion of the intelligent and propertied people of Birmingham had been enrolled in that body . Dr . Priestley would have been on its council ; and we can imagine how earnestly and clearly he vvould have shown the class of society to which he belonged , that they best consulted
their own interests and useful influence , the good of those in a lower station , the peace and order of the town , and the liberties of the country , by joining its ranks . That class has chosen to leave it , as a powerful machine , in the hands of a few , who merely by belonging to it , became its leaders . We are not prescribing political unions as a specific for the cure of corruption ; they are in lm < l odour just now . Many would think the remedy worse than the disease . They became popular in the excitement of the
struggle for reform , and with that excitement they , generally , died away . But we believe that their prominent features—viz ., the bringing together the middle and the working classes ; the production of a mutual good understanding and confidence between them ; the public discussions of important subjects by a body of intelligent men , indiscriminately chosen , or in equal numbers , from both : and the establishment , at almost a nominal rate of
admission , of reading rooms well furnished with the best standard and periodical publications—we believe that these and a few similar ingredients may be combined into a recipe which shall
Untitled Article
The Elections . 43
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1833, page 43, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2606/page/43/
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