I was not entirely aware that Fox was no
believer in religion. Mrs. Fox was very anxious to have prayers
read, to which he consented, but paid little attention to the
ceremony, remaining quiescent merely, not liking, as Lord Holland
said, to refuse any wish of hers, nor to pretend any sentiments
he did not entertain.

January 1st, 1839 {p.154}

[Page Head: DISTURBED STATE OF THE COUNTRY.]

Another year gone, taking along with it some particles of health,
strength, and spirits, but it is to be hoped making us something
wiser and better, and giving an increased power of passive
resistance to bear up against the accumulating ills or sorrows of
life. But I will not--here at least--plunge into a moralising
strain. As to public matters the year opens in no small gloom and
uncertainty. On the surface all is bright and smooth enough: the
country is powerful, peaceful, and prosperous, and all the
elements of wealth and power are increasing; but the mind of the
mass is disturbed and discontented, and there is a continual
fermentation going on, and separate and unconnected causes of
agitation and disquiet are in incessant operation, which create
great alarm, but which there seems to exist no power of checking
or subduing. The Government is in a wretched state of weakness,
utterly ignorant whether it can scramble through the session,
unable to assume a dignified attitude, to investigate with calm
deliberation the moral and political condition of the country,
and to act upon its convictions with firmness and resolution,
tottering and staggering between one great party and one fierce
faction, and just able to keep on its legs because both are, for
different reasons, willing to wound but afraid to strike. It does
not fulfil the purpose of a Government, and brings the function
itself into contempt by accustoming men to look at it without any
feeling of attachment or respect. Wild notions of political
grievances and political rights have been widely disseminated
among the masses, and these are not engendered or fostered by the
prevalence of distress or that want of employment which not
unnaturally turns the thoughts of the idle and unoccupied to the
most desperate expedients for bettering their condition, but they
are the mere aspirings of a fierce democracy who have been
gradually but deeply impregnated with sentiments of hatred and
jealousy of the upper classes, and with a determination to
'level' all political distinctions a