"Turn where we may,—within,—around,—the voice of great events is proclaiming to us, Reform, that you may preserve. Now, therefore, while every thing at home and abroad forebodes ruin to those who persist in a hopeless struggle against the spirit of the age,—now, while the crash of the proudest throne of the continent is still resounding in our ears,—now, while the roof of a British palace affords an ignominious shelter to the exiled heir of forty kings,—now, while we see on every side ancient institutions subverted, and great societies dissolved,—now, while the heart of England is still sound,—now, while the old feelings and the old associations retain a power and a charm which may too soon pass away,—now, in this your accepted time,—now in this your day of salvation,—take counsel, not of prejudice,—not of party spirit,—not of the ignominious pride of a fatal consistency,—but of history,—of reason,—of the ages which are past,—of the signs of this most portentous time. Pronounce in a manner worthy of the expectation with which this great Debate has been anticipated, and of the long remembrance which it will leave behind. Renew the youth of the State. Save property divided against itself. Save the multitude, endangered by their own ungovernable passions. Save the aristocracy, endangered by its own unpopular power. Save the greatest, and fairest, and most highly civilized community that ever existed, from calamities which may in a few days sweep away all the rich heritage of many ages of wisdom and glory. The danger is terrible. The time is short. If this Bill should be rejected, I pray to God that none of those who concur in rejecting it may ever remember their votes with unavailing regret, amidst the wreck of laws, the confusion of ranks, the spoliation of property, and the dissolution of social order."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Speech in the House of Commons (2 March 1831) in favour of the Reform Bill
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Babington_Macaulay
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Thomas Babington Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a nineteenth century British poet, historian and Whig politician.
208 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Thomas Babington Macaulay →
Related Quotes
"But the time will come when New England will be as thickly peopled as old England. Wages will be as low, and will flu…"
"It is our deliberate opinion that the French Revolution, in spite of all its crimes and follies, was a great blessing…"
"He William Temple] was merely a man of lively parts and quick observation,—a man of the world amongst men of letters,…"
"The conformation of his mind was such that whatever was little seemed to him great, and whatever was great seemed to …"
"'It is scarcely possible to calculate the benefits which we might derive from the diffusion of European civilisation …"
"It may be that the public mind of India may expand under our system till it has outgrown that system; that by good go…"
"An acre in Middlesex is better than a principality in Utopia. The smallest actual good is better than the most magnif…"
"To sum up the whole, we should say that the aim of the Platonic philosophy was to exalt man into a god. The aim of th…"
"A life of action, if it is to be useful, must be a life of compromise. But speculation admits of no compromise. A pub…"
"Such night in England ne'er had been, nor ne'er again shall be."