to vote against him whose presence, a few days before, would have
set the bells of their parish churches jingling. Nay, such was
the violence of this new enmity that the old enmity of the Tories
to Whigs, Radicals, Dissenters, Papists, seemed to be forgotten.
That Ministry which, when it came into power at the close of
1828, was one of the strongest that the country ever saw, was, at
the close of 1829, one of the weakest. It lingered another year,
staggering between two parties, leaning now on one, now on the
other, reeling sometimes under a blow from the right, sometimes
under a blow from the left, and certain to fall as soon as the
Tory opposition and the Whig opposition could find a question on
which to unite. Such a question was found: and that Ministry
fell without a struggle.

Now what I wish to know is this. What reason have we to believe
that any administration which the right honourable Baronet can
now form will have a different fate? Is he changed since 1829?
Is his party changed? He is, I believe, still the same, still a
statesman, moderate in opinions, cautious in temper, perfectly
free from that fanaticism which inflames so many of his
supporters. As to his party, I admit that it is not the same;
for it is very much worse. It is decidedly fiercer and more
unreasonable than it was eleven years ago. I judge by its public
meetings; I judge by its journals; I judge by its pulpits,
pulpits which every week resound with ribaldry and slander such
as would disgrace the hustings. A change has come over the
spirit of a part, I hope not the larger part, of the Tory body.
It was once the glory of the Tories that, through all changes of
fortune, they were animated by a steady and fervent loyalty which
made even error respectable, and gave to what might otherwise