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
are " ftehtmg for glory , their country , their religion , and their homes . Devoutly is it to be hoped that the embers of national hos * tility are dying away , and that brotherhood between nations may be amongst the results of the changes that are coming upon us .
Our remarks upon kingly , priestly , and aristocratic power must be brief . Of the first we will only observe , that to prejudice and mental indolence , to ignorance , and the long somnolence of reason it is ( m common with the other two ) chiefly indebted for its continuance . In countries where the natives
think , and where knowledge is advancing , the old orthodox veneration for the kingly office continues to decline in proportion ; and from those countries the spirit of liberal philosophy shall go forth and spread itself abroad until despotism shall be no more . England made a mighty effort to free herself
from the shackles of monarchical tyranny , but the principles upon which it was conducted were fanatical , and in their way , prejudiced and despotic . It failed , and monarchy was restored . The time had not come . Englishmen were not ripe for the change . France has acted similar scenes . Those were revolutions
characterized by war and carnage , spoliation and torture . But a revolution more mighty is coming on— - the revolution of the human mind , the change of public opinion—a moral force which nothing can resist : —before it , tyranny and its minions must quail , and imperial purple be humbled to the dust . Amongst the " signs of the times / ' let it be remarked , that men of fen inferior rank in life—the same classes who a few
years ago reverenced the name of King with a blind and superstitious , an unreasoning and meaningless veneration- —no longer possess as a body that inexhaustible bank of loyalty , which might formerly be drawn upon in exigences to any amount , even to the sacrifice of life . These men are now thinking ; they are beginning to discern the childish folly of gilded coaches , hosts of footincn , regiments of guards in armour , withdrawn swords .
and nobody to fight with ! They are no longer dazzled by State pageantry , but look with as much interest at Punch . They are very likely to ask the simple question , " Is this mummery necessarv to the happiness of myself and brother men V and to require a very convincing answer indeed before they will be satisfied . The exercise of common sense amongst
the middle and lower classes , bodes no good to the " privileged orders . " Education and intellect in the former are the powers before 'which the latter mu&t fall . Let the prejudices of the people be tetttoved , and the superstructures which have been built upcm thtettt , as on secure rovmdations , must crumble into atoms , Catub .
( To be Concluded next month . )
Untitled Article
Ht Cntory Remarks on Prejudice .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1836, page 322, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2657/page/58/
-