THE ELKCTIONS. 



that every sordid artifice in politics, however suited to a momentary 

 exigence, is an accusing blot which no succeeding penitence can 

 totally expunge ; and that, though the errors of an honest mind are 

 readily forgiven by the generosity of candid adversaries, a derelic- 

 tion of public principles professed, unfits their violator for the con- 

 fidence of party and the conciliation of opponents. Had Mr. Peel 

 rejected the suggestions of an indiscreet ambition, Sir Robert Peel 

 would have presented to the country the commanding character of 

 firmness and consistency. Integrity would have atoned for the de- 

 fect of first-rate talent ; the virtues of a good mind would have 

 passed among the people as the qualities of a great one. Sir Robert 

 Peel would have ascended on the merit of his purity and honest per- 

 manence to the direction of the councils of his country, and of neces- 

 sity have had what, in the present state of piebald parties, and con- 

 flicting interest, and rational suspicion, he will seek in vain the will- 

 ing spirit of the country to strengthen and uphold him. The pre- 

 mier has, indeed, a task of no particular facility. He must possess a 

 superhuman influence on human principles, if he successfully invites 

 to his reforming doctrines, the incorrigible spirits that resisted and 

 denounced them. They are, not the less, the only grounds on 

 which the ministry can hope to find a footing for a day. If the 

 petulant invectives of conservatism were worth the trouble of reply, 

 the advocates of parliamentary reform might press upon the notice 

 of the party the novel and peculiar spirit of the late elections. The 

 spirit of the people was anticipated by the sagacity of some, and by 

 the fears of others. The country was divided into hundreds of poli- 

 tical judicatories. Where the letter of a patron formerly sufficed for 

 the return of some unquestioned minion of autocracy, the candidates 

 have undergone the searching proof of bold examination. Opinion 

 has resumed its empire, and vindicated its inestimable strength. 

 The abolition of a venal system, which excluded thousands from the 

 obvious, the almost abrogated birth-right of election, has evoked the 

 wholesome ardour of inquiry, which the fatal influence of nomination 

 boroughs had either utterly extinguished or proscribed. The people 

 feel the moral freshness of regeneration ; the honest pride annexed 

 to an inherent duty ; to the recovery of a suspended right ; and can- 

 didates for parliament are taught before the numerous tribunals of 

 constituency, that they must fail or triumph in their conflict, on the 



