American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
Suppose the head of the Executive, or the Minister for the time being,
were to take it into his head one morning to abolish the Houses of
Parliament.—Suppose some of the members elected by large constituencies
were to think it a duty to go and take their seats, and were to be met at
the doors by swords and bayonets, and were to be wounded and taken off to
prison for the attempt.—Suppose the Minister, having been harassed by a
few Parliamentary debates and discussions, were to send off to Newgate or
the House of Correction a few of the most eminent members of the
Opposition, such as the Disraelis, the Grahames, the Gladstones, the
Barings, and a sprinkling of the Humes, the Wakleys, the Walmsleys, the
Cobdens, and the Brights.—Suppose the press having been found not to agree
with the policy of the Minister, he were to peremptorily stop the
publication of the _Times_, _Herald_, _Chronicle_, _Post_, _Advertiser_,
_Daily News_, _Globe_, &c., &c., and limit the organs of intelligence to
the Government _Gazette_, or one or two other prints that would write or
omit just what he, the Minister, might please.—Suppose, when it occurred
to the public that these measures were not exactly in conformity with the
law, the Minister were to go or send some soldiers down to Westminster
Hall, shut up the Courts, send the Lord Chancellor about his business, and
tell Lords Campbell, Cranworth, and all the rest of the high judicial
authorities, to make the best of their way home.—Suppose a few Members of
Parliament were to sign a protest against these proceedings; and suppose
the documents were to be torn down by soldiers, and the persons signing
them packed off to Coldbath Fields or Pentonville.—Suppose all these
things were to happen with a Parliament elected by Universal Suffrage, and
under a Republican form of Government[.]—And lastly—Suppose we were to be
told that this sort of thing is liberty, and what we ought to endeavor to
get for our own country;—Should we look upon the person telling us so, as
a madman, or a knave, or both? and should we not be justified in putting
him as speedily, and as unceremoniously as possible—outside our doors?
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In our last EASY chat with our readers, we sketched in an off-hand way the
current of the KOSSUTH talk; and we hinted that our enthusiasm had its
fevers and chills; so far as the talk goes, a chilliness has come over the
town since the date of our writing—an unworthy and ungracious chill—but
yet the natural result of a little over-idolatry. As for Congressional
action, no apology can be found, either in moderation or good sense, for
the doubtful and halting welcome which has been shown the great Hungarian.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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