THE 



MONTHLY MAGAZINE, 



OF 



POLITICS, LITERATURE, AND THE BELLES LETTRES. 



VOL. XVI.] SEPTEMBER, 1833. [No. 93. 



THE MINISTRY. THE ARISTOCRACY. AND THE 

 PEOPLE. 



EVERY day furnishes additional evidence that the present admi- 

 nistration, however highly gifted, many of its individual members are, 

 is, as a whole, unfit to cope with the difficulties with which it is sur- 

 rounded, or to avert from the country those dangers with which it 

 is now threatened. No one, indeed, thinks of denying, the com- 

 manding intellect of a Brougham, the noble consistency of a Grey, 

 the eloquence of a Stanley, or the honesty of an Althorp ; but what 

 matters it to the nation, that these eminent men are distinguished by 

 such qualities, if the ministry, of which they form a part, pursue so 

 weak and vaccillating a policy, and continually departs from resolu- 

 tions on which it has professed to stake its existence and reputation. 

 Far be it from us, however, to assert, that the task imposed upon 

 ministers is one of easy accomplishment, or that any thing but an 

 energetic resistance, to the clamours of prejudice, and faction, and a 

 pure and disinterested regard, to the welfare of the great body of 

 the people, can enable them to gain the present confidence, arid 

 secure the lasting gratitude of the country. But while freely ad- 

 mitting, that the situation in which ministers are placed, is an ardu- 

 ous and embarrassing one ; we are at the same time of opinion, that 

 it was only a reasonable expectation, which led the people to believe, 

 that these men, who had formerly sacrificed so much in defence of 

 liberal principles, would be eager to carry them into full effect, when 

 by doing so, they would procure unbounded popularity, and be 

 enabled to defy all the efforts of their bitterest and most powerful 

 enemies. Strange and lamentable, however, as the fact is, it appears 

 undeniably certain, that ministers have yielded to the most dangerous 

 snare which beset them ; and have resolved to adopt, a temporary 

 policy, and to act as mediators between the Conservatives, and the 

 Reformers. That such a course, besides being scarcely reconcileable 

 with that purity, and integrity, which ought to guide the measures 

 of every government, is also at variance with the true interest of the 

 ministry and the nation, cannot, we think, be doubted by any one, 

 who is at all acquainted with the situation of the country, and with 

 the state of parties. No man, who is conversant with the state of 



M. M. No. 9?. 2 I 



