tion) by the Tories and
anti-Reform champions as undoubted proofs of the reaction of
public opinion, and they are thereby encouraged to persevere in
opposition under the false notion that this supposed reaction
will every day gain ground. I wish it were so with all my soul,
but believe it is no such thing, and that although there may be
fewer friends to _the Bill_ than there were, particularly among
the agriculturists, Reform is not a whit less popular with the
mass of the people in the manufacturing districts, throughout the
unions, and generally amongst all classes and in all parts of the
country. When I see men, and those in very great numbers, of the
highest birth, of immense fortunes, of undoubted integrity and
acknowledged talents, zealously and conscientiously supporting
this measure, I own I am lost in astonishment, and even doubt;
for I can't help asking myself whether it is possible that such
men would be the advocates of measures fraught with all the peril
we ascribe to these, whether we are not in reality mistaken, and
labouring under groundless alarm generated by habitual prejudices
and erroneous calculations. But often as this doubt comes across
my mind, it is always dispelled by a reference to and comparison
of the arguments on both sides, and by the lessons which all that
I have ever read and all the conclusions I have been able to draw
from the study of history have impressed on my mind. I believe
these measures full of danger, but that the manner in which they
have been introduced, discussed, defended, and supported is more
dangerous still. The total unsettlement of men's minds, the
bringing into contempt all the institutions which have been
hitherto venerated, the aggrandisement of the power of the
people, the embodying and recognition of popular authority, the
use and abuse of the King's name, the truckling to the press, are
things so subversive of government, so prejudicial to order and
tranquillity, so encouraging to sedition and disaffection, that I
do not see the possibility of the country settling down into that
calm and undisturbed state in which it was before this question
was mooted, and without which there can be no happiness or
security to the community. A thousand mushroom orators and
politicians have sprung up all over the country, each big with
his own ephemeral importance, and every one of whom fancies
himself fit to govern the nation. Amongst them are some men of
active and powerful