Authors, English -- 19th century -- Biography; Clergy -- England -- Biography; Smith, Sydney, 1771-1845
(_Loud cries of hear! hear!_) I profess myself, Sir, an
honest and upright member of the British Parliament, and I am not afraid to
profess myself an enemy to all change, and all innovation. I am satisfied
with things as they are; and it will be my pride and pleasure to hand down
this country to my children as I received it from those who preceded me.
The Honourable Gentleman pretends to justify the severity with which he has
attacked the Noble Lord who presides in the Court of Chancery, But I say
such attacks are pregnant with mischief to Government itself. Oppose
Ministers, you oppose Government; disgrace Ministers, you disgrace
Government; bring Ministers into contempt, you bring Government into
contempt; and anarchy and civil war are the consequences. Besides, Sir, the
measure is unnecessary. Nobody complains of disorder in that shape in which
it is the aim of your measure to propose a remedy to it. The business is
one of the greatest importance; there is need of the greatest caution and
circumspection. Do not let us be precipitate, Sir; it is impossible to
foresee all consequences. Every thing should be gradual; the example of a
neighbouring nation should fill us with alarm! The honourable gentleman has
taxed me with illiberality. Sir, I deny the charge. I hate innovation, but
I love improvement. I am an enemy to the corruption of Government, but I
defend its influence. I dread reform, but I dread it only when it is
intemperate. I consider the liberty of the press as the great Palladium of
the Constitution; but, at the same time, I hold the licentiousness of the
press in the greatest abhorrence. Nobody is more conscious than I am of the
splendid abilities of the Honourable Mover, but I tell him at once, his
scheme is too good to be practicable. It savours of Utopia. It looks well
in theory, but it won't do in practice. It will not do, I repeat, Sir, in
practice; and so the advocates of the measure will find, if, unfortunately,
it should find its way through Parliament. (_Cheers_.) The source of that
corruption to which the Honourable Member alludes, is in the minds of the
people; so rank and extensive is that corruption, that no political reform
can have any effect in removing it. Instead of reforming others--instead of
reforming the State, the Constitution, and every thing that is most
excellent, let each man reform himself! let him look at home, he will find
there enough to do, without looking abroad, and aiming at what is out of
his power. (_Loud Cheers_). And now, Sir, as it is frequently the custom in
this House to end with a quotation, and as the gentleman who preceded me in
the debate has anticipated me in my favourite quotation of the 'Strong pull
and long pull,' I shall end with the memorable words of the assembled
barons--_Nolumus leges Angliae mutari_'"--_Review of Bentham's "Book of
Fallacies" in the Collected Works_.
APPENDIX C
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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