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Untitled Article
grumblings and vituperations of their subordinates will , in spite of their angry loudness , be drowned in the roar from without of the thunders that will utter their voices responsively . If the Reform Members of the House of Commons will take their stand on such ground as this , they will do more for their
country than has ever before been accomplished , even by the noblest patriots of the most trying periods ; more than by the Parliamentarians of 1641 , for they will head the people in the warfare , not of brute force , but of enlig htened opinion . ; more than by the Revolutionists of 1688 , for they will establish , not the ' reign of Influence / but that of Representation .
Such an Address must be followed , either by the resignation of Ministers , or the dissolution of Parliament . Preparation should be made for either event . The constituencies should hold themselves in readiness for the latter by permanent committees , which , like skeleton regiments , can at short notice recruit their ranks ,
and be fit for action . The other alternative is ably discussed in a pamphlet , of which the second edition has just been published , and which we earnestly recommend to the attention of our readers , * as full of sound political philosophy .
' It appears , therefore , that , under any combination of circumstances , the present Administration cannot stand . It can stand only on these suppositions : First , that the present Ministers are willing to sacrifice all the reputation and self-respect which alone can render the toils of office endurable . Secondly , that the country is willing to sanction a
degree of political profligacy , which even the tools of a despotism would not venture . And , thirdly , that the monstrous doctrine is to be admitted , that no one is responsible for the most dangerous of all possible exertions of the Royal prerogative , the unforeseen and total , and , unless indeed its popular measures were the provocation , the unprovoked , dismissal of a popular Administration . Any one of these objections would be fatal . What , then , must be the effect of their combination ? The
arduous question is , therefore , forced upon us , On what terms are their successors to take office ? k It is obvious that they cannot accept it simpliciler , without pledge or condition , subject to be summarily ejected , while apparently possessing the full confidence of \\\ e Crown and of the people , without even a pretext that will bear a moment's discussion . Some pledge must be given , and it must be more than a mere nominal pledge ; it must
consist of something morn than mere words , which four months after may be forgotten , or explained away , or disowned . It must be a pledge , deriving its force , not from the gi \ er , but from the thing given . It must be a pledge , not merely promising the means of good government , but actually affording them . c leaders must at once acknowledge that only one such pledge is possible , and that is , a majority in the House of Lords . '—p . 70—72 .
The writer proposes to conform the House of Lords to its * On National Property , and on the Prospects of the present Administration ftnd of their Successors . London : Fellowes .
Untitled Article
The Elections . 77
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1835, page 77, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2641/page/77/
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