Page:A Few Plain Observations Upon the End and Means of Political Reform.djvu/39

 discretion, oppose and reject every measure which may be suggested, (for this has already been the case in more than one instance); or that he will not on the other hand blindly consider himself as bound in honour to support the question under any possible modification.

But allowing that he will act from a sincere wish to perform his promise according to the true spirit of it (and this is surely allowing a great deal), I would still much rather trust to the general good character and general good sense of a respectable man, who in the first instance might be decidedly, nay even suspiciously, adverse to the question, and whose concurrence, if at length obtained, would be the result of mature deliberation and honest conviction, than I would confide in one whose conduct and principles in private