PUBLIC OPINION. 415 



discord." This declaration of his Lordship displays much sound 

 sense, and is about the best political speech he ever made. It con- 

 tains the opinions of a man who has himself held the highest office in 

 a ministry which he acknowledges to have been based on popular 

 opinion and which he acknowledges also to have been ruined 

 by the unstable nature of its support. This ruin too followed 

 upon the modification of the Cabinet, after the secession of its 

 most intelligent and influential political members and after an in- 

 fusion into it of men of ultra-liberal principles, avowedly for the 

 purpose of making it more palatable to popular feeling. 



So far as it is possible to collect public opinion at this moment, it 

 appears to branch itself into three divisions : first, a determination 

 not to submit to oligarchical rule : second, a condemnation of the late 

 Whig Ministry : and third, a dissenting and radical party, that 

 looks forward to a political millennium under the auspices of my Lord 

 Durham Reform being the general basis of the whole. 



The present is a time of political excitement, in which men merge 

 principle in faction one of those social crises in which party-spirit 

 usurps the place of judgment and reasoning. The cause of Reform is 

 perfectly safe the moral power of an enlightened people is the 

 guarantee for this ; but its prospects are clouded by its own most 

 strenuous partisans. It is not so easy to guide the storm as to raise 

 it and we would earnestly urge caution to t.he leaders of a majority 

 of the House of Commons. We should urge caution on many 

 accounts one of which is, that the majority is made up of such 

 heterogeneous and conflicting elements, that it is sure to fall into 

 different and adverse sections and thus they may find themselves 

 powerless, when their very existence depends on a display of power. 

 Another reason for caution is, that by driving the Tories to despera- 

 tion, they may hold office, reckless of occasional majorities against 

 them determined, come what will, to retain the reins of government. 

 But by far the most important ground for caution is, the influence of 

 their conduct upon popular opinion. If the watchword of " Reform" 

 is to occupy the place of the " Marsellois" in our streets if it be 

 meant as a stimulant to make men forget that they are subjects of 

 civil order we say let the word perish ! Reform and anarchy have 

 no such connexion in our mind. Let the extreme party however 

 consider to what their proceedings must tend. There must be a line 

 of demarcation laid down a point where concession must end, or 



