Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 70, No. 431, September 1851Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 70, No. 431, September 1851
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
country was undeniably in your favour, and you finally carried your
point. Still, in consequence of that struggle, years elapsed before
the heart-burnings and jealousies which were occasioned by it were
allayed. Even now it is not uncommon to hear the reminiscences of
the Reform Bill appealed to on the hustings by candidates who have
little else to say for themselves by way of personal recommendation.
A most ludicrous instance of this occurred very lately in the case
of a young gentleman, who, being desirous of Parliamentary honours,
actually requested the support of the electors on the ground that
his father or grandfather--I forget which--had voted for the Reform
Bill; a ceremony which he could not very well have performed in
his own person, as at that time he had not been released from
the bondage of swaddling-clothes! I need hardly add that he was
rejected; but the anecdote is curious and instructive.
In a country such as this, changes must be looked for in the course
of years. One system dies out, or becomes unpopular, and is replaced
by a new one. But I cannot charge my memory with any historical
instance where a great change was attempted without some powerful
or cogent reason. Still less can I recollect any great change being
proposed, unless a large and powerful section of the community had
unequivocally declared in its favour. The reason of this is quite
obvious. The middle classes of Great Britain, however liberal they
may be in their sentiments, have a just horror of revolutions. They
know very well that organic changes are never effected without
enormous loss and individual deprivation, and they will not move
unless they are assured that the value of the object to be gained is
commensurate with the extent of the sacrifice. In defence of their
liberties, when these are attacked, the British people are ever
ready to stand forward; but I mistake them much, if they will at any
time allow themselves to be made the tools of a faction. The attempt
to get up organic changes for the sole purpose of perpetuating the
existence of a particular Ministry, or of maintaining the supremacy
of a particular party, is a new feature in our history. It is an
experiment which the nation ought not to tolerate for a single
moment; and which I am satisfied it will not tolerate, when the
schemes of its authors are laid bare.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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