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Untitled Article
the kn « ves which a large portion of the community believe * then they come under a denomination not less mischievous to the cJommumty—imbeciles . They lack the knowledge which gives courage , the wisdom which gives decision , and the earnest energy , which , when directed to good purposes apart from calculating selfishness , takes hold on all men ' s hearts , and carries
conviction to their minds . Men are willing to be led onward to truth , but they must , as an indispensable condition , have confidence in their leaders . The army which trusts not its general , or believes that the general has sold it to the enemy , falls into confusion till such time as it elects another general , whose talents and honesty may warrant its confidence : and such might be the case with the British nation , but fortunately the chances of confusion are small , owing to the pervading good sense of the community , and the fact , that the men fitted for rulers are to be found whenever they shall be diligently sought for , whenever the present over-excitement shall lessen , and the same attention shall be paid to secure the best working system of government , on which so much depends , as people are accustomed to pay to the management of their private concerns , in order to render them prosperous .
The union of the qualities requisite for the first class legislators is extremely rare . The self-poised , self-collected nature , is at variance with the earnest enthusiasm which loves to think with other men ' s thoughts , which loves to draw closer the bonds of sympathy . Not a man at present in power possesses the former quality ; is there one who possesses the latter ? Let those answer who can speak with their own knowledge ; the public suffrage will reply in the negative . The public generally are not prejudiced
against truth ; when it is obvious , they receive it with open hearts and willing ears ; they know that upon knowledge depends the bettering of their condition , but the rulers generally are disposed to try truths by the ordeal of their own interest , or apparent interest , for they are not profound reasoners , and wherever they see e certain good to the public , accompanied by the chance of a contingent evil to themselves , they take what they consider the sure side , and refuse to acknowledge the truth . They possess not the
self-poised nature , the equable temperament , which constitutes judgment in the highest degree , and as they are inordinately elevated by all that seems favourable to their power , and thereupon assume the aspect of the bully , so are they proportionately depressed by any thing unfavourable , and they sink into cowardice . People of this class are peculiarly unfitted to grapple with the time , they can do nothing but in the track of custom , of dull routine ; they exclaim against theory , and practice is all in all with them , simply because their minds have not been trained to theorize
justly . Ihey take a false theory , and rinding that it cannot be reduced to practice , they thereupon exclaim against all theories , forgetting that a true theory must be the germ of a true practice ,
Untitled Article
4 M On the MtnUUruxl Plan for the
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1833, page 454, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2618/page/14/
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