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Untitled Article
brought into action could possibly prevent the prevalence © f trudi and knowledge . Triennial Parliaments , with a provision against dissolution ^ would prevent that advantage which a faction may-now take of a moment of general excitement or delusion ; and by which the evil i » extended , not only over the seven long years for which thtf Parliament may perhaps last , but , in the legislative conseqiumoe » » may become absolutely irreparable . Elections would scarcely to
more frequent than at present ; they would only be more regular , and more likely to elicit the permanent opinion of the community . Such are the chief points by which the Radicals have hitherto been distinguished from those who took their stand on the Reform Act as a final measure of organic improvement . They all bear the same character . There is no question about the
substitution of any other power for that of enlightened opinion . Cfertain means are indicated which will tend to secure opinion from the suppression or perversion to which it is now liable , which supply strong motives for furnishing the great moss of the constituency with the materials for forming ai correct opinion , which provide for its free expression when so formed , and which deprive faction of the opportunity for rendering permanent the
consequences of a momentary delusion ; and to these measures your Lordship is opposed , under the plea of relying oft public opi * nioiu You think the end infinitely desirable , and therefore you argue that the means should be encountered by determined hostility . Will you say that the present means are sufficient ? That is simply to prefer a less complete collection of opinion , a lass free expression of it , an inferior plan for its formation , and a coti *
start ! source of irregularity in its influence , to its full , deliberate , and constant agency . ' I think I like a speckled axe bert / said the man who was tired of holding his tool to the grindstone f but Franklin , in telling the story , does not fix on him the absurdity of stopping whfcn the axe became speckled , under the pretext of admiring a bright axe more than anything in the work ! : he left the incongruity for your Lordship . The only consistent op *
position to organic changes is that founded on the allied good of aristocratic influence , and the unde&ireablenesft of allowing public opinion to be the ruling principle . Those who take suon ground do really like the speckled axe best ; except that they would yet more rejoice to have it rusted and buried * But Jhen
they do not pretend / like your Lordship , to regard opinion as the only weapon with which the people ' s rood to improvement caiv be cleared . As you trul y remark , they have confessed'that , although darkness was still to be desired , light was no longer to be excluded / Why should you help them Co keep the hotne wit If the shutters only half opened ? ' < - • Recent occurrence * ha * e mute * not only those who yew hohm *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1835, page 703, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2651/page/11/
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