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BY THE AUTHOR Q ? DOUGLAS d ' aKCY . Careful observation of public events , and a tolerably varied knowledge of public men , have convinced "me that there is much more of error than of * wickednesa in all parties . Is this a truism ?
I shall be very happy when , men shall act as if it were ; which , however , I have never yet known them to do . We have no objection to reading that * charity hideth a multitude of sins ; ' but we have small charity for those who differ from us , more especially in matters political . Invective , objurgation , charges of idiotism in practice , and of rascality in principle , are far more commonly to be met with among politicians than a frank tolerance , a candour of discussion , or a- zealous and genuine philanthropy .
Having no connexion with any political party or partisans , I may be , perhaps , forgiven for pointing out to my contemporaries some facts to draw their attention to the silent but sure operation of party errors in producing * national sufferings . In performing this task , I shall as far as possible guard against alluding to individuals in such manner as to give theni pain . My object is not satire , but the developement of truth .
On looking through the < Memorials of Hampden , his Time , and Party , ' by Lord Nugent , it is impossible not to be very agreeably impressed with the candour which pervades the work . In saying that there is one case of departure from this equally valuable and honourable candour , I should say that which I do
not mean . The spirit of the noble writer is uniforml y candid : but in one portion of his work he has * I think , omitted to profit by an opportunity his materials afforded him of reading mankind a valuable , and , indeed , an almost inestimable lesson upon the errors of party .
It is to be observed that our noble author is so far from being unaware of or insensible to the evils of civil war , that in point of fact he himself , after reciting those of its evils which are commonly thou ght and spoken of , adds a sentence or two most touchingly eloquent both in fact and in manner : — 4
Even thing * inanimate / says his lordship , * which appeal to remembrance onlv , crowd in with their numberless associations to tell us how unnatural a state of man is civil war . The village street barri-^ uled ; the house deserted b y all its social charities , perhaps occupied M the stronghold of a foe ; the church , where lie oa * parenW bones ,
become a battery of cannon , a hospital for the wounded , a stable for horses , or a keep for captives ; the accustomed paths of our early youth beset with open menace or hidden danger ; its fields made foul with carnage ; # M imprecations of furious hate , pr the supplications of mortal agony , &ming to us in out t > wn language , haply in tile v « ry dialect of our peculiar province ; these are among the familiar and frequent griefs of cfalwar . ' * % + Memorials of XJampden , Jtc . vol . ii . pp . 163 , 164 ,
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HINTS ON THE ERRORS OF PARTY .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1834, page 763, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2639/page/17/
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