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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.
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Untitled Article
The Towfl » tiimWe to ^ rriye at a conplnsiofc by fefr travel , batejumped at One , and a most unlticky one iob . Wnen they dreamed of duelling down tiie Jiouse into ' submission , to their yoke , jtjiey forgot that there were some forty joints in [ Daniel O'Coiineirs tail , each joint as prone to fighting as the tails of tiie Kilkenny cats . Only think of « 0 uld ftuthven ready to blaze away till the iepale of the Vnion . And Maurish , * and the rest of the bold boys , sprung from the loins of Dan himself . And the redoubtable fearnought Feargus . Rre away honey ! leaden arguments for ever ! Sure and they are striking . arguments any how , and save a man a dale of breath . Patriotism made a » y to . the meanest capacity . Sure and the report of a pistol is shorter than a
report of the Honourable Jlouse , and stops a Tory mouth better than a apache . And this also seems to be partly the opinion of Spring Rice the crapulous debater , if we may judge from his answer to Mr . Roebuck on the subject of political duelling . Let the Tories make the most of the hornet ' s nest they have plunged themselves into . Oil the subject of honour , or honesty , or principle , or morality , or by whatever imme public conduct may be called , there requires a new standard to be set tip . It is sheer hypocrisy to attempt to divide a man ' s morality into two parts—public and private . Rules of morality , founded on the pure doctrines
of utility , and apart from all conventionality , either exist or they do not * If they do not exist independent of conventionality , then morality is whatever any set of men may choose to establish as a rule of conduct , at any time eft in any place , and it is subject to alteration at the caprice of the rule makers . The public morality of Robert Peel and his Tory associates is a very simple matter to understand . They are a party of men clubbed together , whose joint sinister interest it is , to prey upon the community at large ,
for which purpose they have so operated on the mind of the Chief Magistrate by sinister methods , that he has placed the office of Government in their hands . The rule of conduct they have adopted in treating with the public and their political opponents is , that all things are fair which they can get their opponents or trie public to believe or submit to , whether by fawning or bullying . Thus , it is sound conventional morality with them in their public ca ^ aeity ^ to say one thing when they mean another ; to profess themselves Reformers when they mean to crush all Reform ; to profess economy when
they * mean to extract all they can from the pockets of the public ; to profess ah indention of reforming the Church when they only mean the alteration of € simple ceremonial , or something equally frivolous ; to profess a regard for the freedoni of election , when they endeavour to counteract it by all the means in their power . They also consider "bloodshed for small matters perfectly warrantable , and think the lives of several human beings of less importance than the collection of a few shillings in the shape of tithes . In
short , lying , cheating , perjury , bribery , and murder , are no impeachment of the morality of any member of this clique , provided always , that the aforesaid acts be not enacted towards one of his own allies . The Tory conventionalists Would in such case call them by their right names , and expel the perpetrator from their association . They understand that a house divided against itself must fall , and that they could not hold together as a body if
they could not trust one another . This is merely a refinement of selfishness , for each one would deceive his neighbour if he could be insured against being deceived in turn . They would nave no objection against plundering the public in a private capacity , as their armoured ancestors did in days of yore , but they know this would not be a safe matter , and their exploits of tliis kind are confined to the petty larceny of cheating their tradesmen by running in debt , a matter whicn is by the clique considered neither immoral nor dishonourable . But for one of the clique to cheat another at gambling is considered the height of dishonour . Robert Peel thinks it no immorality to gull the public , but he is horror-stricken at the idea of any on 4 imagining him capable of doing tne same ia a private capacity . It is , per-
Untitled Article
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1835, page 222, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2643/page/78/
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