106 THE ELECTIONS. 



distant, when the public characters involved in the dissension must 

 vindicate their conduct, and stand or fall by the opinions of the 

 country. Lord Melbourne's cabinet, according to the former state of 

 parties, should have bound together the stupendous strength of Lords 

 Brougham and Durham, of Lord Stanley and Sir James Graham. Their 

 union was dissolved (we trust that it is not irreconcileable) on consci- 

 entious grounds upon a minimum of difference on quotas of reform. 

 The vital principle must naturally suffer by so serious a dismemberment. 

 The eminent abilities of Lord Brougham, his indefatigable prowess in 

 the work of reformation, are beyond the adequacy of eulogium. He 

 may shake the slanders of impertinence from his prodigious reputa- 

 tion, like dew-drops from the lion's mane. Lord Durham's manly and 

 distinct professions challenge the implicit confidence of England. It 

 would be idle to expatiate on his lordship's talents they are proved 

 and known. He has been the steady champion of democracy. His 

 lordship's creed may be erroneous or correct it is decidedly sincere. 

 The declarations of Sir James Graham* are unanswerable facts, to 

 which the skill of enmity itself cannot oppose one solitary ground of 



* " The test and corporation acts have been repealed ; Catholic emancipation 

 has been carried ; negro slavery has been abolished ; the trade to China has been 

 opened ; the public expenditure has been effectually reduced ; the taxes most 

 affecting the great body of the people have been remitted ; a peace of an unex- 

 ampled duration has been preserved ; and a full, free, and fair representation of 

 the people in Parliament has been obtained, and fixed on the basis of that mea- 

 sure of reform, which is, in my humble judgment, an ample security for future 

 good government, and which we, who supported it, ought never to forget excited 

 by its extent the incredulous ridicule of our opponents, and more than realized the 

 most sanguine expectations of our friends ! * * * True to the principles from 

 which I have never deviated, I know no bound to the progress of temperate 

 and rational improvement in all our institutions, ecclesiastical as well as civil, 

 provided the proposed reforms be consistent with the maintenance and the in- 

 tegrity of the institutions themselves. Fixed in my determination to uphold 

 the established church, I advocate the commutation of tithes, on terms which 

 shall be just to the receiver, yet beneficial to the payer, and, therefore, entitled 

 to the cheerful acquiescence of both parties ; and while I admit the necessity of 

 such an amended distribution of the revenues of the church as may extend the 

 sphere of usefulness of the parochial clergy without diminishing the aggregate 

 means of the establishment, my opinion is decided that the income enjoyed by 

 the ministers of the established religion should continue to retain its indepen- 

 dent character." Sir James Graham's Address to the Electors of the Eastern Divi- 

 sion of the County of Cumberland. 



