4 THE NEW TORY REFORM GOVERNMENT. 



greedily imbibed by his followers this dogma, borrowed from the 

 reign of Chaos, in whose limited monarchy chance is the prime mi- 

 nister, is but poor evidence of the treatment which the Reform Bill 

 is likely to meet with at the hands of the present Ministers. We are, 

 indeed, told that they are content to abide by the letter of the Reform 

 Bill, and that they purpose acting in its spirit. If we suspect them 

 to have been dishonest all along, what faith can be placed in their 

 professions that they will uphold the Reform Bill if we consent to 

 believe them honest, how can we suppose that they will govern in 

 its spirit ? It is too much to expect that men will carry our princi- 

 ples which they have denounced as ruinous ; and that they will go- 

 vern in a spirit which they do not feel, or understand, or sympathize 

 with. No, we firmly believe that it is their intention to neutralize 

 and stultify the Reform Bill at starting if possible ; if that should 

 be found impracticable in the first instance, then to concede just as 

 much as will save, or barely preserve, appearances ; if this will not 

 do, then, as a last resort, to lay the dust with another little sprinkle 

 of blood, as at Manchester j merely to avert confusion, anarchy, and 

 bloodshed. For it is impossible to conceive a measure of degradation 

 meted out by their worst enemies, more ample than that of compel- 

 ling these men to work out the Reform Bill, both letter and spirit, so 

 far as in justice to the people it can be carried. Can we suppose, then, 

 that they would voluntarily subject themselves to this degrading 

 drudgery ; or rather, is it not necessarily to be inferred that their 

 ulterior designs are in direct hostility to the best interests of the na- 

 tion ? It is a wretched mockery on the part of Sir Robert Peel to 

 take the word tf reform" into his mouth, and to attempt to make us 

 believe that he has not only sw allowed, but digested it. Le thim be once 

 soundly seated (which he never will be) in Downing-street, and we 

 may venture to tell him in the language of the proverbs " The mor- 

 sel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet 

 words:" It is, in the meanwhile, no common cause of triumph to the 

 Reformers of England that they have compelled their adversaries to 

 chew this obnoxious leek that they have made them swallow this 

 hated word, reform. It is the first decisive evidence of the recovered 

 power of the people, that their would-be rulers must at least, although 

 at last, affect to govern in accordance with their expressed wishes ; 

 and to run in the groove, as the Times call it, which the Reform Bill 

 has laid down for them. 



