REFORM IN POLITICS. CCCclxix 



As a statesman his first wish was, in the true spirit of Reform as 



T . T ., i ,1 statesman. 



his philosophy, to preserve ; the next, to improve the consti 

 tution in church and state. 



In his endeavours to improve England and Scotland 

 he was indefatigable and successful. He had no sooner 

 succeeded than he immediately raised his voice for op 

 pressed Ireland, with an earnestness which shows how 

 deeply he felt for her sufferings. &quot; Your majesty,&quot; he 

 said, &quot; accepted my poor field fruits touching the union, 

 but let me assure you that England, Scotland, and Ireland 

 well united, will be a trefoil worthy to be worn in your 

 crown. She is blessed with all the dowries of nature and 

 with a race of generous and noble people ; but the hand of 

 man does not unite with the hand of nature. The harp 

 of Ireland is not strung to concord. It is not attuned 

 with the harp of David in casting out the evil spirit of 

 superstition, or the harp of Orpheus in casting out 

 desolation and barbarism.&quot; 



In these reforms he acted with his usual caution. He 

 looked about him to discover the straight and right way, 

 and so to walk in it. He stood on such an eminence, 

 that his eye rested not upon small parts, but compre 

 hended the whole. He stood on the ancient way. He saw 

 this happy country, the mansion house of liberty. He 

 saw the order and beauty of her sacred buildings, the 

 learning and piety of her priests, the sweet repose and 

 holy quiet of her decent sabbaths, and that best sacrifice 

 of humble and simple devotion, more acceptable than the 

 fire of the temple which went not out by day or by night. 

 He saw it in the loveliness of his own beautiful description 

 of the blessings of government. &quot; In Orpheus s theatre 

 all beasts and birds assembled, and forgetting their several 

 appetites, some of prey, some of game, some of quarrel, 

 stood all sociably together, listening to the airs and accords 



