Critical and Historical Essays, Volume III (of 3)Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron
History
Critical and Historical Essays, Volume III (of 3)
Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron
English literature -- History and criticism; Great Britain -- History
"We are," says he, "well aware that the privileges of the people,
the rights of free discussion, and the spirit and letter of our
popular institutions must render--and they are intended to
render--the continuance of an extensive grievance, and of the
dissatisfaction consequent thereupon, dangerous to the tranquillity
of the country, and ultimately subversive of the authority of the
state. Experience and theory alike forbid us to deny that effect of
a free constitution; a sense of justice and a love of liberty
equally deter us from lamenting it. But we have always been taught
to look for the remedy of such disorders in the redress of the
grievances which justify them, and in the removal of the
dissatisfaction from which they flow--not in restraints on ancient
privileges, not in inroads on the right of public discussion, nor in
violations of the principles of a free government. If, therefore,
the legal method of seeking redress, which has been resorted to by
persons laboring under grievous disabilities, be fraught with
immediate or remote danger to the state, we draw from that
circumstance a conclusion long since foretold by great
authority--namely, that the British constitution, and large
exclusions, cannot subsist together; that the constitution must
destroy them, or they will destroy the constitution."
It was not, however, of this little book, valuable and interesting as it
is, but of the author, that we meant to speak; and we will try to do so
with calmness and impartiality.
In order to fully appreciate the character of Lord Holland, it is
necessary to go far back into the history of his family; for he had
inherited something more than a coronet and an estate. To the house of
which he was the head belongs one distinction which we believe to be
without a parallel in our annals. During more than a century, there has
never been a time at which a Fox has not stood in a prominent station
among public men. Scarcely had the checkered career of the first Lord
Holland closed, when his son, Charles, rose to the head of the
Opposition, and to the first rank among English debaters. And before
Charles was borne to Westminster Abbey a third Fox had already become
one of the most conspicuous politicians in the kingdom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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