POLITICAL SELECTIONS.

WANT OF MORAL POWER IN PARTIEti.

[From the Weekly True Si]R.

The worst evil in the present condition of our country is, that no one of its political r trtits po,,esses any high degree of moral power. Their influence is in their numbers, or their position; and not in the respect which they attract, or the confidence which they command. Were it otherwise, the balance, of which we hear so much, would soon be disturbed, and one or the other be made to I; I k the beam without more ado.

The Tories stand forth as the champions of religion. Did any body believe them, they would carry every thing before them. the English are eminently a religious people. They are essentially, by natural and national character, a Protestant prople. Their sectarianism is the direct result of their tendency to Protestantism. If the party clamour of "No Popery " had reason for its ite-

ration and honesty for its impulse, it would be a national outcry. Instead of that the Tories have all the noise themselves. They pipe, and none dance, they wail, and none lament. Their voice falls dead. There is no echo. Here and tI ere eyes are uplifted and shoulders shrugged at the abominable din ; and then people turn away in disgust as they do from the hired blackguards that brawl around the hustings at an election. There can be no moral power in a lie; and the zeal of Toryism for the Protestant religion is the moat thumping offspring that ever the father of lies engendered. By the most cruel oppression and the most nefarious extortion, they have confirmed the Irish—confirmed a growing:population of seven millions in their hatred of Protestantism.

In England, Toryism defends the corrupt use of Ecclesiastical funds by the Clerical Corporation. It resists every extension of political right to the Dis- senters—it sacrifices public peace and religious decency to the petty object of a compulsory contribution—it strives hard to nullify the national advantages of a civil registration, of which no other country pretending to enlightment us desti- tute—it brings odium on the Established religion in every possible way ;. all for the sake of the pence. And then, steeped to the lips in worse than Papistical dogmatism, hypocrisy, extortion, and intolerance, it vainly seeks for influence over the national mind by the yell of " No Popery." Had the Whig Government any considerable portion of that moral power which springs from public confidence, they would only have to march onwards, and their opponents would be as dust beneath their tread.. But they are frightened at the noise which clear and strong principle would teach them to despise. They have no faith in truth, right, and humanity, in the People, or in themselves. Their great anxiety is to persuade the Tories not to shout so loud, lest a few old women of both sexes should be frightened: Yet, on the other hand, 'they must show themselves Reformers to obtain any support at all, so they nibble at institutions to accommodate them to principles, and nibble at principles to accommodate them to institutions. They are for the Church privilege, so far as it does not interfere with religious equality, and for religious equality so far as it does not interfere with Church privilege. One of their daily organs describes it as essential to a ministry that it should have "the confi- dence of tine neutrals ;" not perceiving that the possession of that is the for- feiture of all other confidence. There can be no moral power in negations, compromises, and the alternation of undefined expectancies with palpable &Sap. poinunents. The people hate the Tories. That is the only power of the

Whigs, By power based on a negatitn, no impottitot good to the community can be realized.

O'Connell is himself a party and a power. He is Ireland. He Might have been more; be might have been the Reform Union of Ireland and Great Bri- tain ; but he has tied Ireland to the tail of the Whigs, without tieing the Whi even to the tail of Reform. He has thereby, in England, damaged both him- self and them, so far as moral power is concerned. He has sunk himself into the greatest of partisans. The Whigs even yet wince under the reproach of a support which is the condition of their existence. It gives them numbers on a division ; and it gives them little more, except—and let not the exception to their credit le ever forgotten—the honour of having practically so governed Ireland as to transform rebellion into willing submission.

• But no moral power can belong to the leader, or the party, consisting though it may of tnillions, whose first priociple of action is to keep certain persons in office. In England, the name of Sharman Crawford is not less potent than that -of Daniel O'Connell.

The English Parliamentary Radicals have again the opportunity, which they have hitherto neglected, of creating and wielding a moral power in the country, i which must eventually triumph over all other influences. They have only to act, indeperalently of others but united amongst themselves, as men banded 'together for declaring and upholding the principles of good government. Their doing so cannot endanger any Liberal Administration, unless through its own absent timidity or base treachery ; and then it ought to be endangered, come what may.

THE TORIES STRENGTHENED BY THE REFORM ACT. [From the Courier.] Stone of the Radicals complain bitterly of the disappointment they have suf. fered from the Reform Act. We should like to know what they expected from it? It cut off a considerable number of rotten borroghs ; it enlarged the fran- chise in some places; it gave Representatives to som elarge towns which before bad them not ; it increased the number of County Members, and seduced, by

taking the town population out of the county voters, the number of electors for the counties. Why the Radicals should expect that such a measure should an- nihilate the Tories, or why they should complain that it has not, surpasses our comprehension. It was not so intended ; if it had been it would not have sue. .ceeded, and it would not have deserved to succeed. Those who have suffered disappointnicut on this ground have only themselves to blame, for they funned unreasonable hopes. The Reform Act did not remove from office one friend to corruption. It lessened in no degree the attachment of individuals toabuses, nor did it diminish to any great extent the number of those who profited by them. The power formerly possessed Lv a few freemen, and by the owners of the rotten boroughs, was certainly distributed by it amongst new possessors. It lessened the power of the monied interest over the Parliamentary representation, and compelled it to incur greater expense to obtain the same or an equal number of seats; but the monied interest was not exclusively the Tory interest, though it has been stated that the great majority of wealthy men belong to that patty. The Re- form Act cc; tinily gave the power of electing the Representatives, more then before, into the hands of the bulk of the middle classes ; but it neither lessened their respect for wealth, nor their veneration for rank, and left the Tories, with all the influence they derive from these dispositions, fully as influential as they were before. It left them, too, in possession of all the offices they had previ- ously filled—of the Church and of the Universities, and of the great bulk of the situations in the Army and Navy, and the civil service of the State. During the progress of the bill, the Tories cried out bitterly against it ; but their alarm, which naturally excited the hopes of those who hated them the most, was groundless, and the history of five years has convinced the world, if it have not convinced them, that they did Earl Grey's Administration and the people of England a gross injustice, when they predicted in 1832 that the Re- form Act was the beginning of a violent revolution. In fact, it stayed the re. volution which really threatened us, and instead of annihilating the Tories it saved them from destruction. Of the two parties, the Tories, we believe, have been more deceived than the Radicals in their estimate of the consequences of the Reform Act ; but the delusion has been all for their advantage. If they had any disposition to do justice to their political opponents, they would, ou this peiut, acknowledge that they had committed a great %meg, and would at once confess that the Whigs neither framed the Reform Act iu any party-spirit, nor injured the Tories in particular by carrying it into execution. But such an admission would carry with it a condemnation of the heated abuse which they at present pour out on the Ministers, for entertaining, as they say, designs similar to those they before accused them of entertaining, and the 'furies will neither be just nor condemn themselves. Such a statement is, we think, calculated to damp the furious hostility which some of our Radical Contemporaries now direct against the Ministers. It is plain that these must have a greater power to contend against than had Earl Grey ; and yet the Radicals blame them for not being equally energetic. It is equally plain too, that the Reformers must be weaker and less numerous than they were, and yet the Radicals, by their demand fur extreme measures and organic changes, and by the abuse of the Whigs, stein anxious to drive from the ranks of Refurmets all the members of the Ministry and their numerous friends. To follow out extreme opinions may be very consistent, very upright, very honourable, very manly, very boll in individuals, but it is not prudent in public men, nor is it the way iu which public affairs can be managed. They must be regulated by the conjoint opinion of all ; and to insist that any one opinion, or the opinion of any one person or party, should domineer over the opinions of every other, is only to carry into politics the hated intolerance which disgraces some religions. For this there is now less occasion than ever, for the very circumstance which has disappointed the Radicals reconciles many doubtful and timid men to further ream in. It has produced peace and tran- quillity, not Revolution. Even the Tories, though they may have sinister object* in view, are obliged to confess that Itclorm is not ruinous to the State, and they seek power on the pretence of desiring to use it to promote Reform. The example of Sir Francis Burdett, of Lord Stanley, of Sir James Graham, and several other persons, ought at once toconvince the Radicals that the Re- form Act has really strengthened the Tories. It satisfied many Reformers, and

made them oppose further changes. How many Burdett', Stanleys, and Gra- hams, there may be in the country, and how many persons they may influence, and so strengthen the Tories, it is impossible to say, but the number is not inconsiderable.

WHIG FALLACIES AND FINE WRITING. (From the Glasgow Argus.]

This paragraph may be taken as a practical exercise in connexion with the course of lectures we are delivering on fallacies in general. The subject is the Whig modification of the fallacy, " attack us, you attack Government." In Ridgway's exposition of " the sentiments of men in office" (now disclaimed) we read- " There is not one question—no, not one—which is not secondary to the great object of maintaining Lord Melbourne's Cabinet free from every speeiesr

O. hin a There is no measure necessary to the perfection of the HeMrm system. either in Church or State, which will not be eventually carried if that system be permitted—pet mitted by its friends—to develop itself in the order of reasuoable progress. It is now in a con- dition to withstand the efforts of its enemies, but not wit hunt forbearance. temper, aud good management, on the part of those who profess to be its friends. They are not sincere frleials of the system who Ittatirt to force it beyond its actual energies--ener- errs as yet in a state or growth—or grorth scarcely approaching to puberty. Hercules, when eight months old, u as strong enmigf!', it Is sand, to destroy the snakes sent by Juno to dei our him. But it teas ,iot until he &Mid press on his head the helmet of Minerva, trace on his arm the shield ip•opiter, and bend the bow of Apollo, that he was enabled to routbat with success the Lemma* hydra. To remove a maiden Queen from the inter. course of society is hall she has choseu for herself—society in every way suited to those principles in which she has beeu educated—participating in all her sentimimb. and re- flecting her bates eren to the most minute print upon which her wind can be senraire and to force her into the bands of persons whose sentiments upon all great questions are the reverse of her clan. and that too at an age when even a throne can offer no compensa• lion for the sacrifice of personal priableetions, would be of itself a serious evil, if not a national calamity."

The whole of this passage strikes us as the beau ideal of the style called " nernby-painby : " the passages we have marked in Italics are very particu- larly fine indeed. Lord Melbourne's Cabinet, as an eight-month Hercules, is strong enough "to destroy the snakes sent by Juno to devour him" (Sir Robert Peel and Lord Lyndhurst, backed by the Queen): lent it must be able " to press upon his head the helmet of Minerva" (put on Lady Blessington's• nightcap), '• brace on his arm the ehietd of Jupiter" (secure the aid of Mr. E.L. Bulwer), and "bend the bow of Apollo" (shoot with the long-bow of the Examiner), before it be able to " combat with success the Lernaan hydra (drub the Spectator). In the other Italicized passage we think we can trace the hand of Tom Moore: ' participating in all her sentiments, and reflecting her tastes, even to the minutest point upon which her mind can be sensitive,' is merely a prose version of

" No flower of its kindred, No rose-bud is nigh, To reflect back Ps blushes, Or girt sigh for sigh."

Think, too, how ;cruel it would be to " remove a maiden Queen from the intercourse of society she has chosen for herself: " that society consisting of a Cabinet with " energies as yet in a state of growth—of growth scarcely ap- proaching to puberty"—in short, of a " Hercules when eight months old." We wonder where the Chronicle's " men in office" picked up such an ineffable penny-a-liner to set him " speaking their sentiments."

So much for the fine writing : now for the fallacy. It was less flowery, but more intelligibly, expressed by Mr. Steuart, at the Lauder dinner-

" It is only by the unshaken attachment of the people to the present Administration that all opposition can be over-ruled, and good government exist in this country." O'Connell, a more powerful painter, portrays the horrors inseparable from any other course- .. Need I Mil that it is the duty of every honest Irishman to abandon selfish cavil, and to use every exertion in his power to prevent the enormous evil of displacing the pros nt Ministry, and the still greater and unendurable misery of consigning Ireland to the cruelty and oppression—to the partial administration of the law. and the bigoted regulation of education of the Orange- Fors faction reeking with the blood of Cie p. ol-le, and once again proclaiming, as their organs have so often proclaimed, EXTER. MINA flON" We have called the fallacy common to these three extracts, a Whig modification of the fallacy," attack us, you attack Government." Under the Tory regime, a remonstrance against any Ministerial measure as impolitic or unjust, was met with a declaration that such an imputation, if persisted in, must overturn the Administration, and introduce anarchy ; under the Whig regime, we are told that it must overturn the Administration, and introduce the Tories. There is a poetical justice in converting the Tories into a scarecrow, to be substituted for their pet hobgoblin, Anarchy, that is pleasing enough. One can enjoy thair mortification at hearing naughty boys as effectually quieted by threaten- ing to hand them over to the Tories, as ever they were by telling them that Anarchy was corning. It must mortify their vanity a little. We would, how. ever, whisper in the ears of our Whig friends, that the device may be used too often. The sheplued boy cried Wolf, wolf !" so often, that no one believed him, or came to his assistance, when the wolf actually made his appearance. Something similar may be the consequence of too frequent an iteration of "The Turing are coining." The essence of this fallacy consists in representing all who express doubts of the propriety of Government measures, as helping to bring in the Tories. The cry reverse is more frequently the case. The surest way to frustrate the attempts of the Tories to regain office, is to diffuse hatred of Tory principles through the whole community. We know nothing better calculated to fami- liarize the mind with the complacent contemplation of Tory principles acrd per- sons, and thereby to facilitate the return of the patty to power, than the frequent use of language like the following, which we quote from Ridgway's pamphleteer : "The executive power has a very large sphere of action, in which it is of the utmost consequence to the Reform system that the true Re- firm spirit should preside. Bishops, peers, judges, lords-lieutenant, magis- trates, persons fulfilling the subordinate offices of the state, are not immortal. Many tithe latter are known to be busy enemies of Liberal gorernment. It would be expensive to superannuate them too soon—cruel to eject them without provision. Time will work them out. Great numbers of magistrates have openly or covertly resisted the progress of Reform. To strip them of their commissions would be to inflict a severe punishment upon a respectable order of society, beyond the urgent necessity of the case. A few years will change their sentiments or withdraw them from the active scenes of life." Because it is "of the utmost consequence to the Reform system that the true Reform spirit should preside" in the executive department, therefore NO CHANGE ought to be made in the persons " fulfilling" it. " Time will work them out ;" "a few years will change their sentiments." Anti then we are told, in the tree cant of Toryism, that to eject men who have scandalously perverted the powers intrusted to them for the general good, to serve the ends of a fiction, is "cruel," " a severe punishmeut beyond the emergency of the case." This is hided to further the filling of influential posts with Tories, to avow and dissemivase Tory principles. But there is a further fallacy lurking under these fauns of speech. I. M.. nisters think that by such means they can keep theinselvea iu (we say nothing at present of their ability or inability to do any thing while there), they indulge a fallacious hope. They have irrecoverably alienated the friends of the old system: " never can true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep." They must be supported by the people, or they have no chance. But the people will only support men who, by doing something, im- press them with a sense of their power. Promptitude and activity may cons- mend reluctant homage and obedience—

As waves beneath a vessel under sail.

So noun obeyed and fell behind his stern:" but for do-nothings they cannot feel, and will not bestir themselves. All this talk about waiting patiently till the Cabinet gains strength, passes in at the one ear and out at the other with the many. One or two decided actions would make them feel. Besides, it is a false metaphor to speak of energies "develop- ing" themselves: they meat be called forth and braced by exercise. The "infant Hercules" himself wrestled himself into strength. Permitting a i sr stein " to develop itself in the order of reasonable progress " is—with all re- verence we speak it—sound without sense. we protest that all this is written in :he most friendly spirit to Lord Meibiurne and his Government. We think we cannot do the Whigs better service than to show them what arrant nonsense their allies, underlings, sod hacks are writing and speaking; and to impress upon their minds the great moral lesson that—" FINE WORDS BUTTER NO PARSNIPS."