On this page

• Departments (1)
  • 
• Text (3)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    THE TRUE SPIRIT OF REFORM.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• 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

    MONTHLY REPOSITORY , FOR 1835 .

    The True Spirit Of Reform.

    THE TRUE SPIRIT OF REFORM .

    It is evident that what Wordsworth calls ' the mighty stream of tendency / is flowing in the direction of Political Reform , with a force and steadiness which cannot be resisted . The mistakes of the late Administration could not divert its current ; and the present Government , thrown up like a breakwater in its course , will only serve for a while to measure its calm rapidity , and then be washed away . There is more in this state of things than meets the eye of those very superficial persons who are fancying themselves the arbiters of the nation ' s destiny and the directors of its energies ; more than enters into the comprehension of the bustling champions of ? contending parties . Every reflective mind must have noticed the almost total absence from

    Parliamentary debates and political publications , of statesmanlike and philosophical views of the condition of society , the moral influences which are acting upon it most powerfully and extensively , and the changes which may be expected to result from their agency . And yet there are not wanting abundant materials for this noble and useful species of speculation , without which , we are but groping along in the dark , trying in succession the

    nostrums of empirics , or clinging with the tenacity of fear to the customs of our forefathers . We should rejoice to see this subject thoroughly discussed ; the phenomena classed ; the principles indicated ; and , which might then be done , the future predicted . The ablest intellect our country , or the world can boast of , would be well employed upon it . Would we could stimulate such a mind to the undertaking . The few slight thoughts we have now to offer may serve as hints to our readers , of its importance and

    interest . The popular exertions which obtained the Reform Act , and the craving which exists for further legislative reforms , are only symptoms on the surface , prominent ones though they be , of a moral power which lies much deeper . The Whigs did not create the desire , nor can the Tories repress it . The tricks of party have been , and will be , powerless in this matter . There is a spirit at work too potent for its petty spells , and baffling all its short-sighted calculations .

    Whatever of ridicule may have been made to attach to such phrases as the € march of intellect / the ' schoolmaster abroad , '

    Untitled Article

    No . 97 . B

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1835, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2641/page/1/