Public opinion, and not Parliament, is omnipotent; it is that which has effected all the good which has been accomplished, and it is that alone which must effect the remainder. Unfortunately Government can never be better constituted than it is for the profit of those who share in its administration; they have no interest in change, and their great maxims of rule are,-first, to concede nothing, so long as it can with safety be refused; secondly, to concede as little as possible; and, lastly, only to concede that little when every pretext for delay and postponement has been exhausted. Such are the arcana of those from whom reform is to proceed, and it is unnecessary to suggest the watchfulness, unanimity, and demonstrations by which they must be opposed. Some of the Ministers are honest-they are all ingenious, and, no doubt, will have an ingenious plan, with many ingenious argument for its support, concocted for our acceptance, -a plan with many convolutions, cycles, and epicycles-and, perhaps, endeavour to substitute the shadow for the substance! But it will avail them nothing; the balance is deranged, and it must be adjusted by a real increase of democratic power. The remedy, too, must be one of immediate action, not of gradual incorporation; it must not be patch-work—no disfranchising of non-resident voters-the transfer of the right of voting to great towns-the lessening of election expenses-and stuff of that sort. Such tinkering will not merit discussion, and will leave the grievance precisely in its original state. We have fully stated our views on the subject in the concluding article of our work: our chief points are the Ballot; the entire abolition of all existing rights of suffrage; the substitution of an uniform elective qualification; the shortening the duration of Parliaments; and the number of representatives returned by each town or district to be proportioned to the number of electors. These conditions granted, a real reform would be obtained, and all good would follow in their train. Our last wishes are, that the PEOPLE, to whom we dedicate our labours, will be firm-united-and persevering, and, rely upon it, we are on the eve of as great a social regeneration as the destruction of feudality, the abasement of Popery, or any other of the great epochs which have signalized the progress of nations. February 1st, 1831. INTRODUCTION:-Conduct of public men in respect of religious England-the only country to which ecclesiastical reform has not The un-Christian conduct of the clergy-supporters of aristocratic Effect of the new disposition of ecclesiastical property at the Church property proved to be public property from legislative acts Tenure of the clergy-same as other public functionaries..... Clergy, tenants-at-will, may be ejected by their parliamentary Jews and Infidels may select persons for the gospel ministry Patronage divided among the bishops, the king, aristocracy, and Examples of perversion of patronage by bishops Sparke, Sutton, Singular division of parochial benefices into pluralities Examples of increase in value of church property Church of England without poor clergy, unless it be curates Proportion in which revenues are divided among the several orders Ireland, an illustration of oligarchical government Presents a more revolting spectacle of ecclesiastical abuse than |