ABSTRACT
At the close of the first reign since the peace, it is easy to see that a great improvement in the national welfare had taken place, though the period was in itself one of gloom and agitation. The old Tory rule was broken up, like an ice-field in spring, and the winds were all abroad to prevent its re-uniting. There were obstacles ahead; but so many were floating away behind, that the expectation of progress was clear and strong. Its chief misfortune, perhaps, is, that it introduced a method, which some consider a principle of government, – which cannot, from its nature, be permanent, and which no one would wish to be so. Now began, with the Catholic-relief measure, that practice of granting to clamor and intimidation what would not otherwise have been granted, which has ever since been the most unfavorable feature of our political history.
