But the mischief done to the temper of the people was irreparable. Those persons (of whom there must be some proportion, even among such a phlegmatic race as the English) whose reforming zeal was easily raised to fever heat, got into trouble; and several suffered the capital penalty for treason, during the years 1817-19. Their imprudence, however, could not delay, for long, the imminent Reform; the violence done to popular feeling, by a combination of cruelty and weakness, was bearing its fruit; and this is how, in spite of its natural claims upon the patriotism of Englishmen, Toryism came to bear undeserved opprobrium. We, who are of no party but that of Progress and Enlightenment, and who have long ceased to believe in traditional politics, whether Whig or Tory, will not fail to take to heart again the lesson: that violence, impatience, and selfish prescription are as much out of place in the political as in the moral world. We have had ample opportunities of noting this, during the last half-century; and if there is anything upon which we may congratulate ourselves, it is that we have had Melbournes and Peels, Russells and Palmerstons, during a period of European revolution, instead of such men as the favourites of George the Third. FOOTNOTES [1] _Keeping watch_, in the times of which we are speaking, was not exclusively from the constable’s point of view. The hand of intrigue was always prepared, in order to purchase silence, as it had been for a century past. When the Hunts were about to enter prison on account of their libel upon the Regent, they had the opportunity of refusing an immunity from punishment if they would consent to hold their tongues for the future. And an offer was sent to Cobbett to remit the 1000_l._ fine, just before his release in 1812, if he would promise not to support the cause of the Princess of Wales. [2] The _Courier_ was generally suspected of being a subsidized paper. The _Edinburgh Review_ characterized it thus:--“A paper of shifts and expedients, of base assertions and thoughtless impudence. It denies facts on the word of a minister, and dogmatizes by authority.” [3] One likes to hear both sides, when there is a trifling difference of opinion:-- “If Cobbett and Hunt were really honest men, and really wished well to the cause of Reform, they would abstain from meddling with it.… If a man wants to repair his mansion, and an adviser comes and tells him that he will do no good except he pull it altogether down and rebuild it, the owner immediately begins to think it better that he should continue to live in the old house as it is rather than run such risks.”--_Times_, Jan. 28, 1817. “Mr. Cobbett, whose sincerity in the cause of the country can no longer be questioned by any party,” &c., &c.