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    Untitled Article

    Vesting Ahoefa xrfVany siiki ^^ r-Wer ^ lyuth ^ M ^ i ^ JieT ^ i ? m \ j $ t ^ fcnla ^ gpe Hvbichrtit ' is desirabte for the ? inJ | i *« hce i ^ fr gW ? erptn * e * it / IOrfill ; | in > r i 9 < i <; 'ea $ y to say-Mda ^ ne- ^ ts iekpan ^ on should b ^ stayed- Wheto our author < adverts * o the feet- t hat gdvcwnments , r have 1 the means in their hands < of instituting a system of universal instruction ^ he 'makes' a gigantic- exception to his own theory , aa

    exception large- enough to swallow the rule . Nor can we allow to him , although backed by the authority of Benthanl , * that the eare ~ ef his enjoyments ought to be left almost entirely to the individual . ' 'There are vast stores of pleasure of which gorern ^ ment keeps the key . A wise government would open a thousand sources of enjoyment , —works of art , national galleries > public promenades and gardens , —which can never be equally realized by individual efforts or subordinate associations . The social union

    is surely destined to do something more than just prevent our breaking one another ' s heads , and picking one another ' s pockets . It does more , even in the worst hands , and when it is controlled by the few , with no other regard to the many than what may- be suggested > by occasional personal apprehension * But when , the power ai' government shall cease to be the object of constant

    jealousy , and be viewed with confidence , there seems no reason why it should not be directed to the creation of positive good , and produce it to an incalculable extent . Lais $ ez ~ nous faire is very proper language to such rulers as nations have been- plagued with hitherto ; but why should we employ it to a body in which we recognise the concentrated intelligence of a people , as w ^ lLas the supreme authority ? The more they do , the better .

    • The second chapter assigns the ' grounds of preference for , a representative government . ' These are resolvable into the fact of its tending to secure legislators who shall be identified in iaterest with the community , and yet superior to it in intelligence . The author seems to us to have overrated the force of , or rath > er > perhaps , to have misplaced , the objection , that the electors nuiy aot be

    determined in their choice by their interest in the proceedings of the legislative body . So far as that is the case , the government is not representative . An appointment purchased by a bribe , or extorted by intimidation , only shows the imperfection of the machinery , its incapacity for producing representation , and

    applies not at all to that mode of government when it i& realized . The third chapter treats of the representative body , in the following sections : —1 . Its province ; 2 . The process of legislation ; 3 . The relation of representative and constituent ; 4 . Publicity ; 5 ; The number of members ; 6 . Their qualifications ; and ; 7 . The duration of the trust .

    The first section argues very conclusively for the establishment of . subordinate and local W ^ latu re s : to condudt merely local aQwra , leaving only matters of geratraA intere&t for \ h » aJteiUiau of the * tipretax tegialature . TU # swcond J ^ bows totfe the \ * dvaiiUures

    Untitled Article

    TJb \ Aaiiti ^ MPotiticttl J&ttitf * mfe& 6 * . &tf

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1835, page 321, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2645/page/29/