On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
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
tuted , does not represent the people ' s wilU but it does represent the fears of respectability . Sundry good men and true there are ; but there is no Hampden . There is no one man possessing the mingled qualities of sound judgment , strong will , high enthusiasm ,
invincible honesty and popular talents , who can wield the ' pressure from without * as a single mass ., and carrying conviction to the minds of the majority , enforce from their fears that compliance with his purposes which mi ght not be hoped from their honesty . There is no such man now in the national council , and some there are who thence draw the inference that no such man exists . But it
cannot be . Such men must exist , though overlaid by circumstances . If there be a coming time of peril , it will draw them forth ; and it were worth the peril to draw such men into a nation ' s service . Meanwhile the working classes must not be idle . Great wisdom is not required to conclude the struggle with the irresponsible hereditary legislators ; they are already scared , and
definite action is all that is required on the part of their opponents . The class of men from whoni legislators have-hitherto been taken will not do the people ' s work ; they will but promise , and dare not perform . They dare not encounter the obloquy of their social circle . They have not mind enough to conceive an original purpose , or to fulfil an acquired one . The working people
mult select representatives from their own body , ere they can expeet a responsible legislature . It cannot be too often repeated that the question is not one of making wise laws at present , but only of taking power out of the hands of those who have long abused it , and making it clearly comprehended that , whether the
Government is to be good or bad , the people are to be the masters , and not the slaves of that Government . Till this be done , no sound laws can be made ; but when once done , when responsibility is assured , the people can well afford to select the wisest men to make their laws for them , in the confidence that their trust will
not be abused . Our work is still to pull down , and not to build up ; we peed leaders for the strife , and not sages for the council chamber ; and one thing above all we still need—rations for our warriors . The best men are shut out from our service , because they are obliged to work elsewhere for their maintenance . When we shall resolve , like honest men , to pay our members for their service * , interest as well as inclination will link them to us . Who
can say that the apostate Lyndhurst would not have been through his life a consistent and valuable labourer in the cause of human freedom , had a competence been secured to him as a salaried Member of Parliament ? And let it not be said
that this would have been an unworthy motive for honesty . We nxust remember that we are not alike strong in our power ol resisting temptation ; and , if human nature be weak , it is a fitting thing taat it should be strengthened and helped in its better purposes .
Untitled Article
640 On ike Cio 9 e of the Session .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1835, page 640, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2650/page/12/
-