Two essays on constitutional reform Author:John Collins Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE ASPECT OF SOCIETY. Few persons, who reflect at all, can have failed to observe one thing in the changing phases of the world's political fashion:—and that... more » is, the growing intensity with which the consideration of moral questions, that are allied to politic, is viewed by all classes of the public outside the legislative and representative bodies; and the growing intimations of felt incapacity, on the part of the members of these bodies, to deal with questions of the sort—an incapacity which does not belong to these individuals as members of the general public, but as representative members of the public. Hence, the Legislator has become, in self-defence, the moral agitator; and he has trenched upon the ground and the domain (all practically abandoned by its own professors) of the Church, the organs of Academical Institution, and of Literature. It is profitable to examine into the causes of these things:—for it will be seen that we are, none of us, enough aware, that a mighty change has come over the spirit of our Constitution; and a duty has fallen upon thoughtful men to register their honest experiences,away from political bias or its action, if the enduring interests of the world may be furthered by it. It is plain, that we are not as we were—that the mighty revolution which the publicity of Parliamentary debate, and a free Press through the country, have produced, has in reality transferred the supreme power of the Commons of the Realm outwards to the people. The voice of the people no longer speaks through its representatives. They speak now, and are obeyed, as mouthpiece rather, by their representatives—the public voice is representative of itself. This is a pregnant fact—mighty in its pregnancy— since the womb of the Revolution brought forth the startling fact...« less