people reason to believe that the accomplishment of their wishes
is only deferred, if we declare our undiminished attachment to
the Reform Bill, and our resolution to support no Minister who
will not support that bill, we shall avert the fearful disasters
which impend over the country. There is danger that, at this
conjuncture, men of more zeal than wisdom may obtain a fatal
influence over the public mind. With these men will be joined
others, who have neither zeal nor wisdom, common barrators in
politics, dregs of society which, in times of violent agitation,
are tossed up from the bottom to the top, and which, in quiet
times, sink again from the top to their natural place at the
bottom. To these men nothing is so hateful as the prospect of a
reconciliation between the orders of the State. A crisis like
that which now makes every honest citizen sad and anxious fills
these men with joy, and with a detestable hope. And how is it
that such men, formed by nature and education to be objects of
mere contempt, can ever inspire terror? How is it that such men,
without talents or acquirements sufficient for the management of
a vestry, sometimes become dangerous to great empires? The
secret of their power lies in the indolence or faithlessness of
those who ought to take the lead in the redress of public
grievances. The whole history of low traders in sedition is
contained in that fine old Hebrew fable which we have all read in
the Book of Judges. The trees meet to choose a king. The vine,
and the fig tree, and the olive tree decline the office. Then it
is that the sovereignty of the forest devolves upon the bramble:
then it is that from a base and noxious shrub goes forth the fire
which devours the cedars of Lebanon. Let us be instructed. If
we are afraid of political Unions and Reform Associations, let
the House of Commons become the chief point of political union: