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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
conflict ; ibr the tern jwsaitung antagonists of equitable honours and w « rft-eanifcd iiappiness , already blush , and are prepared to bend before the power of a people , firm , informed , fitted too lamwe influence and hold it , < < It cannot be too continually and forcibly impressed tipo * a people , that the work of their improvement , independence , and happiness , depends upon themselves . Let them deserve poirer , and who will , who can , dare deny it to them ? Such a
circumstance is impossible . They have put their hands upon the old fabric of abuse , and it alread y shakes ; let them bring- their moral strength to bear upon it , and it falls ! When a people understand the strength of union , the sweets of unanimity , and that the controlling power of moral feeling is indispensable to the right
direction of every kind of force , they cannot be enslaved . The nume rical power of a people is in itself a great power ; aided by knowledge and its ri g ht application , it is impossible but that its incumbent force must be felt . In such a case the aggregation of wisdom and virtue must govern ; not , as heretofore , the aggregation of craft and coin .
There is a breadth and strength in English nature , calcu ~ lated to form a base for the noblest structure of human character . If less impressible than that of our continental neighbours , it has a singular tenacity for retaining impressions when they are on * made . To such a material let us brine the graver of radical reform , and what must be the result ? That we shall strike an
imperishable plate , from which proof impressions may be taken worthy of such an empire . From the cameleon character which a 'breath can make / little permanent good can be derived- it is a moral kaleidescope , 'Everything by turns , and nothing long / But the English , I fear no imputation of partiality when I declare
it to be ray conviction , may be cultivated into the finest people upon the face of the earth . Oil ! that they could immediatel y be made to feel that this may be , —to resolve that it shall be- that the omnipotence of unconquerable will would wake within them . ' For a nation to be \ YeeS said Lafayette , it is sufficient that she wills it . * Let the echoes of every home catch the sentence and
repeat it again and again , until men , aye , and women , too , risk , Why are we not free ? Why ! Because you have nut willed it . Will consists not in the word . Will is the impelling povrer ' pF action—and what have hitherto been the actions of the mass of ra eii ? A blind subject ton of their moral capacity to their animal propensities . Vainly were the sloug h spread , did not mep go and roll themselves in the mire . This they have done , am ) , to a
great extent , are still doing ; and thus they furnish their oppressors with pretences for the harness ii \ which they hold humanity , add tfo j « ph beue ^ fh \ vfckh they m a ^ e it smart ;
Untitled Article
P&oer and ike People . 49 S
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 1, 1835, page 493, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2647/page/57/
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