non, and the rebuilding and re-uniting, matters of no consequence. He is the friend of liberty, who makes a people intelligent, virtuous, orderly, and obedient, who gives them the form of government and laws most suitable for them, and who places the reins of power, in the hands of patriotic, upright, able men. If we apply this test to the Whigs, they have been among the worst enemies that liberty has had. If the forms of government they have contended for had been generally established, the men they have supported had been made rulers, and the "liberal opinions" they have advocated, had been generally embraced; nothing but the power of heaven could have preserved Europe from coming under the yoke of military despotism. It would, we think, be of prodigious benefit to liberty, civil and religious, if it were destitute of friends like these. Reform has long been the cornerstone of the Whig creed-Well, what is Reform? A word, as we have already said, without a meaning. A vital change is to be made in the Constitution; but what this change shall be, not one Whig in the whole squad can tell us. The House of Commons is to be pulled to pieces, before any plan is agreed upon for rebuilding it; and then the whole nation is to go to loggerheads touching the form it shall take for the future. Were the Tories to remain neutral, no single Whig could produce a scheme of reform that would not be vigorously opposed by nine-tenths of the body, on the ground of its going too far, or of its halting too soon. The men who attempt to make a vital change in a form of government, while they are irreconcilably at variance with each other touching what this change shall be, act the part of patricides and madmen; and this part the Whigs have acted. They kept the country for years in a state of convulsion, bordering on revolution, for that, which barely went to the pulling to pieces of what existed, and to the production of chaos and anarchy. They would overthrow, and then those might rebuild that could.

Every one save the populace, could. see that it had no other tendency than the establishment of slavery. What little character it left to the Whigs, was effectually destroyed by their other conduct. Their clamour against the Church could deceive no one; it was

evidently a repetition of the stale, nauseous opinions of the revolutionists of France, Spain, &c. regarding church functionaries, and property. Then their patronage of Hone, Carlile, &c. and the false, seditious, and inflammatory speeches which they addressed from the hustings throughout the kingdom, disgusted and opened the eyes of all who were capable of reflection. It was clear that they were copying, as closely as circumstances would permit, the deeds and objects of the continental revolutionists.

What gave the finishing stroke to the character of the Whigs was, not merely their destitution of patriotism, but their absolute contempt of the interests of their country. The thing which filled them with exultation, was the defeat of England; that which saddened them, was her triumph. Shift about as they would, they were eternally fighting against the interests of their country, and for those of her rivals and enemies. To support their doctrines, and their foreign confederates, they lately wished us to go to war with France, although they knew that it would involve us in war with all the great powers of Europe, and the vast mass of the Spanish people likewise. Fanaticism-the most intense hatred of their country-could not have gone farther than this.

Of course the independent and intelligent part of the community left them; the Tories might be opposed, but still the Whigs were not to be supported. At one time they were supported by the majority of literary men, but the talented portion of these forsook then. No young man of honour and ability would join them, because he could not embrace their opinions, and adopt their schemes. The more upright and able of their parliamentary members went over to the ministry whenever opportunity permitted. The Whig body was reduced until it consisted only of the old Whig families, their dependents, the adventurers who had got inextricably entangled with them, the religious sects who make Whiggism a part of their religious creed, and a few crack-brained political fanatics. It was without talent, without numbers, without moral, as well as physical strength, without intrinsic power; and it could not stand against the tremendous array which appeared against it, in any other cha

racter than as the auxiliary of the enemies of the empire. While Buonaparte was powerful, the Whigs were powerful by being his allies; he fell, and they sunk into momentary ruin. While the Radicals were formidable, the Whigs made themselves formidable by assisting them; the former retired from the contest, and the latter were trampled in the dust. While the revolutionary factions abroad were powerful and successful, the Whigs were again potent as their auxiliaries; the former were crushed, and the blow that destroyed them reduced the latter to impotence.

The nation saw that if the Whigs obtained office it must have a ministry composed of men destitute of talent, experience, wisdom, and integrity;-if this could have been overlooked, it saw that with such ministers it must take their opinions and schemes; that "liberal opinions" must become its creed; and reform, church robbery, &c. must be carried into effect;-if this could have been overlooked, it saw that it must have ministers, not merely destitute of patriotism, but filled with scorn towards the institutions and general interests of the empire;-if this could have been overlooked, it saw that it must have for ministers men who regularly corresponded with, and who were the furious friends of the revolutionary factions of the continent;-if this could have been overlooked, it saw that it must have for ministers men who personally detested our allies and the continental governments generally, and who were detested by these in return. The nation saw all this-it saw that with a Whig ministry its best interests would be sacrificed to false and visionary doctrines ; it would have nothing but alterations, licentiousness, and disorder at home, and nothing but ruinous connexions, quarrelling, and war abroad; therefore, not only the Tories and the Independents, but the better part of the Whigs themselves, protested against the formation of a Whig ministry.

If the worthy Whigs of Cheshire will read this again and again, it will enable them to discover, if they possess the smallest possible share of sagacity, what kind of a creed they ought to have drawn up, and what steps they ought to have taken.

The creed should have been to the following purport.

The preamble should have declared, that as the overwhelming mass of the community was hostile to reform, and as the Whigs found it impossible to frame a scheme of reform which they could support as a party, they were determined to abandon it altogether. That as no practicable and plausible plan could be produced in any quarter for the improvement of the constitution, they were resolved to attempt no longer to make changes in this constitution. That as it was undeniable that public morals formed the basis of society, and of all the best possessions of the nation, they would countenance no longer "liberal opinions." That as liberty could only flow from good principles and feelings, suitable laws and institutions, and wise and upright rulers, they would seek its establishment in other countries by these means alone, and there fore they would have no further connexion with foreign Liberals. That as it was not less disgraceful than injurious to delude the lower orders with false representations, and to fill them with hatred of the constitution and government, they would abandon this for ever. And that as it was the sacred duty of every Englishman to uphold the interest and honour of his country, and to resist its enemies with all his might, they would never again attack the former, or assist the latter.

The substance of the creed might have been this.-They would support, with all their might, those things which constitute the source of civil and religious liberty-they would watch most vigilantly the conduct of every branch of the general government-they would endeavour to root up, with an unsparing hand, every real abuse they could discover-they would steadily withstand all attempts at visionary change and innovation-

they would endeavour to remove and redress every proved grievance and wrong-they would protect, to the utmost, the constitution and laws, the interests and honour of the nation-they would contribute everything in their power to the benefit of religion and public morals-they would zealously, but in a manly and constitutional way, oppose the ministry-and they would, as soon as they could, in an honourable manner, drive the Tories from office.

The dinner speeches ought to h

exulted over the prosperity and happiness of the nation-to have vehemently panegyrized our glorious constitution-to have rejoiced that revolutionary faction had nearly vanished from among us to have inculcated ardent love of British liberty, and, of course, everything that produces it-to have fanned that manly independence which holds sycophancy to a mob, and sycophancy to a monarch, in equal scorn -to have reprobated anti-national feelings, and political mountebankism -to have called forth that enthusiasm which ranks old England among the first objects of its reverence-and to have proclaimed, that although the ministers were so imbecile-so prodigiously inferior to the Whigs in everything-they still ought only to be opposed by means worthy of faithful subjects, and honest, honourable, and patriotic men.

This would have rallied numbers round the standard of the Cheshire Whigs; this would have enabled them to raise prostrate Whiggism; this would have tended to make the Whigs once more a constitutional party. An association that pledges itself to endeavour to obtain triennial elections, to render the constitution infinitely more democratical in its nature, to protect "liberal opinions," in a word, to make a vital change in the laws and the working of the Constitution, and the principles and feelings of the community, is, even though Lord Grosvenor and Sir John Stanley be among its members, neither more nor less than a FACTIOUS, REVOLUTIONARY ASSOCIATION.

before long be divided between the Benthamites and the Tories. Even now they can hardly be said to have a press; the Papers opposed to the government scarcely ever mention the Whigs or the Opposition; the Morning Chronicle is decidedly with the Benthamites; and many of the other Opposition prints have taken the same side. If Whiggism be not reformed— brought back to what it was in 1688, the dust in which it now lies must be its death-bed.

Such associations can have no other effect than to destroy Whiggism altogether. The promise of change will not even delight mobs any longer ;the hackneyed, wretched, abominable stuff, which was lately so powerful with the populace, at Whig hustings and dinner oratory, is now universally laughed at. The Whigs must become loyal-well affected to the Constitution as it now exists-hostile to change and innovation-friendly to public morals-sensible, intelligent, practical, moderate, and upright, or they must cease to exist as a party. The Benthamites are assuming something like shape as a distinct sect; and if the Whigs persevere in their late conduct, the greater part of their remaining moral and numerical strength must

We have said that Lord Belgrave's letter does him honour. It would have been still more honourable to him, if he had declared that he never would support any motion for Parliamentary Reform, until he could see clearly what change ought to be adopted. We will tell him that nothing could be more unstatesmanlike and pernicious, than for him to vote day after day that the House of Commons was corrupt and unprincipled, and that a vital alteration ought to be made on its construction; and then, at the same time, to declare himself ignorant touching what this alteration should be. We will tell him, that the man is but miserably qualified for assisting to pull state-institutions to pieces, who confesses himself to be incapable of building them up again. The Times" states, that his lordship seems weary of being a Whig: we can readily suppose that he is, for what well-principled, high-minded Whig, is not ?—and yet we do not wish him to be so. The Tories are powerful enough, perhaps they are too powerful; at any rate, they have more than sufficient of half-and-half members, and we presume Lord Belgrave would be one of these if, he came over. It would perhaps be of great benefit to the Tories, if they were more weak, and less compromising; if they had fewer half-Whigs among them, and were more unanimous and firm in principle. The dangers which now beset the body flow almost altogether from its bulk and unwieldiness. We wish the nobility to be pretty fairly divided; it is by nature exceedingly prone to political intermeddling and intrigue. Whenever it has been tolerably unanimous, it has been extremely factious; it has laboured to place the Crown under one foot, and the body of the people under the other; and to monopolize things which it was never intended to possess. The Whig nobles

have been always especially actuated by this spirit. If, however, the Whigs be determined to make no change in their creed and conduct-if the declaration of the Cheshire ones be to be taken as expressing the general feelings of the body,-then we hope that not only Lord Belgrave, but all the better portion of their nobility, will

join the Tories. If the choice before us be, the evils that would flow from this, or such terrible ones as the Whigs have heaped upon the nation since the peace-and not upon this nation only, but upon all Europe-we can have no difficulty in making our decision.

Y. Y. Y.

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VOL. XVI.

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