Macaulay.

Few people have less right than ourselves to throw stones at our neighbours who may chance to entertain strong political opinions. Our own views upon these subjects are sufficiently well known. Let us thank Heaven, whatever may be the uncertainties of modern times, no one can entertain any doubt as to the principles of Maga. ¹ Our trumpet has never given forth an uncertain sound; and from our golden age, with its Ambrosial Nights, ² unto this ordinary to-day, which has only political articles, and knows not the inspiration either of Christopher or his Shepherd, ³ our worst enemy cannot accuse us of indifference to the affairs of the State. Far be it from us to detract from the glory of political writers. Politics perhaps, of all other pursuits, has the greatest certainty of attracting minds of superior power and superior training. A great poet, a great philosopher, a great man of science, is, in most cases, the one man of his time; but in the political world – let us speak without partiality, forgetting for once both jobs and the discoverers of the same – every age of English history has found a little circle of the best men of their generation. Her Majesty’s Ministers and Her Majesty’s Opposition, even when there happens to be no single man of genius amongst them, are still invariably good representatives of the highest intelligence of their time: so far from objecting to political writing, do we not give the sanction of our pages, the warmth of our applause, to the same? But to be a politician of high celebrity – to hold a special retainer for a special party, and to have an undenied and undeniable bias – are not, in our opinion, first requisites, or even desirable qualifications for a historian.