of iniquity was to be stormed, we have seen nothing but a puny assault upon heaps of the scattered rubbish of the fortress; nay, for the most part, on some accidental mole-hills at its base.  I do not speak thus in disrespect to the Right Hon. Gentleman who headed this attack.  His mind, left to itself, would (I doubt not) have prompted something worthier and higher:  but he moves in the phalanx of Party;—­a spiritual Body; in which (by strange inconsistency) the hampering, weakening, and destroying, of every individual mind of which it is composed—­is the law which must constitute the strength of the whole.  The question was—­whether principles, affecting the very existence of Society, had not been violated; and an arm lifted, and let fall, which struck at the root of Honour; with the aggravation of the crime having been committed at this momentous period.  But what relation is there between these principles and actions, and being in Place or out of it?  If the People would constitutionally and resolutely assert their rights, their Representatives would be taught another lesson; and for their own profit.  Their understandings would be enriched accordingly:  for it is there—­there where least suspected—­that the want, from which this country suffers, chiefly lies.  They err, who suppose that venality and corruption (though now spreading more and more) are the master-evils of this day:  neither these nor immoderate craving for power are so much to be deprecated, as the non-existence of a widely-ranging intellect; of an intellect which, if not efficacious to infuse truth as a vital fluid into the heart, might at least make it a powerful tool in the hand.  Outward profession,—­which, for practical purposes, is an act of most desirable subservience,—­would then wait upon those objects to which inward reverence, though not felt, was known to be due.  Schemes of ample reach and true benefit would also promise best to insure the rewards coveted by personal ambition:  and men of baser passions, finding it their interest, would naturally combine to perform useful service under the direction of strong minds:  while men of good intentions would have their own pure satisfaction; and would exert themselves with more upright—­I mean, more hopeful—­cheerfulness, and more successfully.  It is not therefore inordinate desire of wealth or power which is so injurious—­as the means which are and must be employed, in the present intellectual condition of the Legislature, to sustain and secure that power:  these are at once an effect of barrenness, and a cause; acting, and mutually re-acting, incessantly.  An enlightened Friend has, in conversation, observed to the Author of these pages—­that formerly the principles of men wore better than they who held them; but that now (a far worse evil!) men are better than their principles.  I believe it:—­of the deplorable quality and state of principles, the public proceedings in our Country furnish daily new proof.  It is however some consolation, at this