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Many disputes have existed , and still exist , respecting the character of Lord Durham ; some affirming him to be a thoroughgoing sound individual , while others assert that he is merely an ambitious Aristocrat , seeking popularity as a stepping-stone to £ 6 wer . Neither the one nor the other is true , if he maybe fairly judged by a volume of printed speeches , just put forth by his friends *
In looking through this volume , I have been struck with the remarkable consistency of the public career of Lord Durham , from the time he first entered Parliament , as John George Lambton , up to the present time . There is a tone of high , noble , chivalrous enthusiasm throughout , —a constant , unswerving upholding of the
oppressed against the oppressor , in all times and seasons , —a proud consciousness of unimpeachable honour , and undeviating rectitude t ) f purpose which carries conviction to the mind . Whether defending the freedom of a people or of an individual , whether Norway or Genoa , or a foreigner oppressed under the atrocious Alien Act ,
we find him ever the same . We find him denouncing the abettors and perpetrators of the Manchester massacre , and defending the oppressed aid-de-camp of Napoleon , Gourgaud . We find him defending the oppressed Queen Caroline , and avenging by the force of energetic words the tyranny exercised on Robert Wilson , whom men had not then looked through , and somewhat
prematurely deemed a patriot . At a later period we find him defending Mr . Buckingham , whom Tory oppression had hallowed with an importance nature never intended him to attain . Still later , after becoming a Lord , we find him to be the author of the Reform Bill , which gave so much peaceable power to the nation , and which he wbuld have made still more effective , had he not been under the
control of others , who were less fast friends to the people than he himself was . In his subsequent speeches , after His Majesty ' had restored the hated Tories to power , we find bold defiance hurled forth by him in his speeches in the cause of the people . At Glasgow he declared unequivocally his views as to the amount of power it was desirable to put into the hands of the people :
* In your address , there are three essential points on which you have taken your ground , viz . Household Suffrage , Vote by Ballot , and Triennial Parliaments . ( Cheers . ) On these points I will not conceal iny views . I have already in Parliament proposed Household Suffrage , and Triennial Parliaments , and my opinions are still the same . But , at the same
time , I am not prepared to press them obstinately against those of other Reformers : for , though I will not yield , under any circumstances whatever * to our enemiee , yet , I am not ashamed to say , that when true and teal Reformers differ from me , 1 give way to their particular views . As to Vote by Ballot , you are all aware , gentlemen , that considerable difference of opinion prevails upon this question . Some think it not advis-* ' Sketch of the Political Career of the Karl of Durham . ' John Reid and Co ., Qlajgow .
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£ 62 LoTd HnTTitoiti .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1835, page 262, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2644/page/38/
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