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invidious & inauspicious an errand — to make for such a
purpose a perambulation round the environs of the Metropolis:
to make a statistical survey of a peculiar kind,
with a table of Villas and their inhabitants in his hand,
and with a calculation, as it will be said, of political
leanings and degrees of influence in his bosom: to draw
around each favoured abode a circle of so many miles
radius (for one of a mile or some such matter is protested
against as too narrow) within which no such ignoble
foot as that of a reformer of those by whom the peace
of society is disturbed should presume to penetrate: to avoid
the estate of a leading and well-affected Member of Parliament,
with much more care than a waste where not a
drop of water was to be found, and that of a Member of
the Cabinet with much more sollicitude than a marsh,
the certain seat of pestilence: in a word, to look over the
four Counties for some desert (since deserts within the
four Counties still exist) where nobody would ever be offended
by the nuisance, since nobody would ever see it.
Yes, my Lords; it was precisely for the sake of shutting
the door against all such scenes of irreversible temptation
and unfathomable intrigue, of unregulated choice, of
private or political favour, & undue preference, that the
original Act wisely called in to its aid, the very collection of
persons, the least exposed to temptation & to suspicion,
that the Country affords, and these are the persons whose
opinions you Lordships have been sollicited to set aside.
But
Identifier: | JB/118/118/004 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 118.
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118 |
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118 |
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004 |
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copy/fair copy sheet |
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recto |
d21 / d22 / d23 / d24 |
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see note to letter 988, vol. 5 |
39172 |
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