40 ULTRA RADICALISM, 



require them to buy their estates free from the reserved annuity 

 charge. The Radical questions not the absolute right of the Legis- 

 lature to do exactly what it will with the public portion of the tithes ; 

 but,, as they are nothing more than a permanent exception to the right 

 of private purchase and appropriation, and do not involve the 

 slightest injustice. Until it has been thoroughly ascertained that the 

 sentiment of religion does not require funds for its most befitting ex- 

 pression and influence over the public mind, the Radical withholds 

 his permission to seize upon public Church property, and substitute 

 a tax for it. He thinks a tax might justly be deemed a hardship and 

 injustice by Dissenters of all denominations ; whereas it is ridiculous 

 to view a reservation from the right of purchase in the light of a tax, 

 and preposterous in any individual to feel aggrieved in paying it,. 

 although he has an undoubted right to wish the payment otherwise 

 appropriated than it is. We think that enough ; and all that need be 

 has now been said to exhibit our beau ideal of prudent Radicalism in. 

 due distinctness. As instances of it in public characters, we do not 

 think fitter persons can be selected than Sir John Hobhouse and Mr. 

 Hume. Whatever may be plausibly argued to the contrary, we 

 maintain it is not quite possible for a man, in the predicament of the 

 former of these gentlemen, to be quite so plain spoken in debate, 

 and quite so independant, as if he were out of office ; and, as we 

 deem the plain speaking and independence of such a man as the 

 worthy Baronet to be of more consequence to us at present than his 

 influence with the Ministry, we regret, for his own sake and our's, 

 that he has taken office. We feel convinced that Hobhouse is at least, 

 and would at a pinch be, in word and deed, a Radical, to the extent 

 we have been describing. 



As for Mr. Hume, we never saw him j but we have acquired such 

 a respect for him, through his public conduct, as would make us 

 wish to uncover our heads before him in the street. Oh ! that he 

 would but ride his hobby, Retrenchment, with a little of that conside- 

 ration, without which we think he will make him a sorry beast at 

 last! But Mr. Hume, though well versed in figures, is, too, in matter 

 of fact, a man to render figurative language appropriate in speaking 

 of him. Mr. Hume's pervading fault is, we think, a too rigid eco- 

 nomy. His, and our own disgust at the former wicked profusion, 

 cannot, in our view, in the least justify the opposite extreme. We 

 cannot cease to wonder how a man of his good and shrewd sense 

 should deem cheap government essential to wealthy England ! We 

 hold niggardly payment of public officers, in any grade, not only 

 useless, but downright pernicious, and disgraceful. So do we the 

 retrenchment of working hands to a point, at which the public ser- 

 vice can be obstructed in execution and dispatch, or too severe labour 

 exacted from public servants. Oh ! that Mr. Hume would discard 

 the notion of cheap government, except as regards pensions and sine- 

 cures, and aim hereafter at nothing beyond open and explicit accounts 

 of expenditure. Oh ! that he would forbear to insist upon the odious 

 principle of cheapness, and not push retrenchment beyond what 

 might be deemed liberal economy, leaving the generosity of a reformed 



