Volume 59: Archdeacon Scott letters, 1822-1844: No. 169

[Page 169]

impossible in the present state of our affairs - no one is competent & no one has time to become competent to undertake it whilst so many pressing subjects nearer home so strongly press -

I do not relax in my opinions on reform because our ministers have not courage to use the instrument placed in their hands to crush for ever the hydra wh. has [indecipherable] this country & all Europe for nearly a century -  far from it, I deeply regret there are not to be found amongst our aristocracy characters sufficiently bold & honest at once to shake off the load & restore the nation to a healthy state - This may make for unreflecting & unread persons who do not take the trouble of thinking to talk of the rabble.  It is the rabble I wd. put down by crushing the monster of corruption which the principles of Toryism, Whiggism & radicalism all engender - not one of them look for a change but with the hope of plunder, patronage, profit & power  - all to be used for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many - The Tories have not courage to undertake the Govt. - the Radicals have not either ability, numbers or strength - the Nation only submits amidst loud expressions of discontent to a weak & spiritless Whig administration because hard as it is, it is not so hard as either of the two former - James if you read our debates will see this plainer perhaps than most of us - The rejection of the Local Courts Bill deserves the curses of the country & the extinction of so hard a body