ber.. H. I have been son and a little from it, i. e. to the opinions of re. One thing er interfere with Register and all, kely to do that. happy; it is like pacities for work. the notion of my I hang happily et to spear at. N. by, March 20, 1831. n I heard of the din the sudden I admiration and is loss privately exceedingly anmade me think of und to be so enccounts of Italy ports of disturb sh that you and try, or at least, ons, you might ould be amongst We were and the first int-master at the The circum stances under which I first heard of it, will never, I think, depart from my memory. We had been enjoying the most delightful summer weather throughout our tour, and particularly in all the early part of that very day; when, just as we arrived at Bludenz, about four or five in the afternoon, the whole sky was suddenly overcast, the wind arose violently, and every thing announced the approach of a complete Alpine storm. We were in the very act of putting up the head of the carriage and preparing for the coming rain, when the post-master, in answer to an observation of mine about the weather when I had passed through France a few weeks before, seemed to relieve himself by telling me of all the troubles that were then raging. His expression was, "Alles ist übel in Frankreich," the mere tumult and violence of political quarrels seeming to the inhabitant of a Tyrolese valley, as something shocking, because it was so unpeaceful. Hearing only indistinct accounts of what was going on, we resolved not to enter France immediately, but to go round by the Rhine through Wirtemberg and Baden; a plan which I shall now ever think of with pleasure, as otherwise I never should have seen Niebuhr. I was very glad, too, to see something more of Germany, only it was rather vexatious to be obliged to pass on so quickly, for I could not wait at Heidelberg long enough to see Creuzer, and my stay even at Bonn was only one afternoon. I had the happiness of sitting three hours with Niebuhr, and he introduced me to his poor wife and children. His conversation completely verified the impression which you had given me of his character, and has left me with no recollections but such The news of the as are satisfactory to think of now. Duke of Orleans' accession to the French throne reached Bonn while I was with Niebuhr, and I was struck with the enthusiastic joy which he displayed on hearing it. I fully expected that the Revolution in France would lead to one a See Extracts from Journals, in 1830, in the Appendix. VOL. I. U on the part of the And I think nearly Reform would now, in Belgium; and indeed, we passed through Brussels t s, that you will orm Bill now be ses now, "Felix acy still retain a ay be done; but the old career stic abuses may ious struggle of enchman on the pollutions to her neral feeling in he whole power strangle in the I was at a party I met Thierry, warlike spirit which I perceived, even then, in the French liberals, made a deep impression on me. XXVIII. TO JOHN WARD, ESQ. (Co-Editor with him of the Englishman's Register.) Rugby, April 27, 1831. Your own articles I have carefully read over; and, in style, they more than answer all my expectations. Still, as we are beginning a work which must take its character chiefly from us two, I will fairly say that, considering for whom we are principally writing, I think the spirit too polemical. When I speak of the aristocracy of England bearing hard upon the poor, I always mean the whole class of gentlemen, and not the nobility or great landed and commercial proprietors. I cannot think that you or I suf fer from any aristocracy above us, but we ourselves belong to a part of society which has not done its duty to the poor, although, with no intention to the contrary, but much the reverse. Again, I regard the Ministerial Reform Bill as a safe and a necessary measure, and I should, above all things, dread its rejection, but I cannot be so sanguine as you are about its good effects; because I think that the people are quite as likely to choose men who will commit blunders and injustice as the boroughmongers are, though not exactly of the same sort. Above all, in writing to the lower people, my object is much more to improve them morally than politically; and I would, therefore, carefully avoid exciting political violence in them. . . Now so far as the Register is concerned, I care comparatively little about the Reform Bill, but I should wish to explain, as you have done most excellently, the baseness of corruption on one hand, and as I think you might do, the mischief of party and popular excitement on the other. I should urge the duty of trying to learn the merits of the case, and that an ignorant vote is little better than a corrupt one, where the ignorance. U 2 could in any degree be helped. But in such an address I would not assume that the Reform Bill would do all sorts of good, and that every honest man must be in favour of it: because such assertions, addressed to ignorant men, are doing the very thing I deprecate, i. e. trying rather to get their vote, than to make that vote, whether it be given for us or against us, really independent and respectable. Again, with the Debt. It is surely a matter of importance to shew that the greatest part of our burthens is owing to this, and not to present extravagance. It affords a memorable lesson against foolish and unjust wars, and the selfish carelessness with which they were waged. This you have put very well, and have properly put down the nonsense of the "Debt being no harm." Urge all this as strongly as you will, to prevent any repetition of the loan system for the time to come. But the fundholders are not to blame for the Debt; they lent their money; and if the money was wasted, that was no fault of theirs. Pay the debt off, if you will and can, or make a fair adjustment of the advantages and disadvantages of different sorts of property, with a view of putting them all on equal terms; but surely the fundholder's dividends are as much his lawful property as a landholder's estate, or a merchant's or manufacturer's capital, liable justly, like all other property, to the claims of severe national distress; but only together with other property, and by no means as if it were more just in the nation to lay hands on the fundholder's dividends than on the profits of your law or of my school. Nor can the fundholders be fairly said to be living in idleness at the expense of the nation in any invidious sense, any more than your clients who borrowed my money could say it of me, if they had borrowed £10,000 of me instead of £300, and then choose to go and fool it away in fire "Woe be to that genera a On this he felt at all times strongly. tion," he would say, "that is living in England when the coal mines are exhausted and the National Debt not paid off." -uch an address I would do all sorts and respectable. ust wars, and the erent sorts of pro- but only together be living in idle- it away in fire be to that generaand when the coal paid off." works and illuminations. If they had spent the principal, no doubt they would find it a nuisance to pay the interest, but still, am I to be the loser, or can I fairly be said, if I get my interest duly paid, to be living at their expense? Besides, as a mere matter of policy, we should be ejected at once from most of the quarters where we might otherwise circulate, if we are thought to countenance in any degree the notion of a sponge." The "tea monopoly," as you call it, involves the whole question of the Indian charter, and in fact of the Indian empire. The "timber monopoly" involves far more questions than I can answer, about Canada, and the shipping interest, and whether the economical principle of buying where you can buy cheapest, is always to be acted upon by a nation, merely because it is economically expedient. Even about the Corn Laws, there are difficulties connected with the question, that are not to be despised, I and I would rather not cut the knot so abruptly. wish to distinguish the Register from all other papers by two things that politics should hold in it just that place which they should do in a well regulated mind; that is, as one field of duty, but by no means the most important one; and that with respect to this field, our duty should rather be to soothe than to excite, rather to furnish facts, and to point out the difficulties of political questions, than to press forward our own conclusions. There are publications enough to excite the people to political reform; my object is moral and intellectual reform, which will be sure enough to work out political reform in the best way, and my writing on politics would have for its end, not the forwarding any political measure, but the so purifying, enlightening, sobering, and, in one word, Christianizing men's notions and feelings on political matters, that from the improved tree may come hereafter a better fruit. With any lower views, or for the sake of furthering any political measures, or advocating a political party, I should think it wrong to engage in the Register at all, and certainly would not risk my money in the attempt to set it afloat. |