On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
Among modern statesmen , at least in England , the wisdom of the serpent seems even more infinitely rare than the innocence of the dove . The curse of a highly civilized state of society , * are the half-honest * the men of feeble purposes- Scarcely any one has character enough to he either good or wicked , Give us rather a ' bold bad man' a villain as villains were of old , with a
strong intellect and a strong will . Give us for a ruler one who could and would do right whenever it was his interest ; who could and would prevent all wrong , but such as he chose to promote : not men who , for want of courage to do either good or harm , fold their hands and let harm come . If the vessel is merely to scud before the wind , what need of a steersman ? We do not support a Government that we may
ourselves redress our own grievances . We want rulers who do not wait to be told by us how we wish to be governed ; men who can teach us what we should demand , who can at least anticipate our demands , not slowly and grudgingly obey them . We want men from whom it shall not be necessary to extort all they give , men who shall not , instead of gaining , actually lose popularity by every fresh concession .
We want , in short , men who on every great , question will act as the present Ministers have acted on the Reform Bill , and on that alone . The people were anxiously waiting for the propositions of the Ministry on Municipal Corporations , on the Poor Laws , and on the abuses in the Church . The speech says , that the reports ol the Commissioners on these several subjects will be laid before Parliament , and will afford them * much useful information ,
whereby they will be enabled to judge of ' the nature and extent of any existing defects and abuses , and in what manner the necessary corrections may in due season be safely and beneficially applied / Not even a promise to propose anything . They may have something to propose , but their minds are not yet made up . When are such minds ever made up ? It is literally true , that the only two things to which the speech either directl ' y
or by implication pledges the Ministry , are , first to propose a final adjustment' of Irish tithes , ( the extinction of which was announced by Mr . Stanley two years ago , ) and this ' without injury to any institution in Church or State ; ' secondly , not to consent to a repeal of the Union with Ireland . On this latter point , indeed , the speech is as explicit , and as emphatic , as heart could wish . They will resist Mr . O'Connell even to the death .
The collective energy , courage , and determination of the entire Cabinet , have been all thrown into this one act of what they doubtless deem antique heroism and magnanimity . The debate which ensued , and which , as those say who were present , was as flat and dull as if the Session had already lasted six months , made no further disclosure of the purposes o \
Untitled Article
162 Notes on the Newspapers .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1834, page 162, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2631/page/2/
-