Peace has indeed come; but do they who deprecated the continuance of the war, and clamoured for its close, on any terms, rejoice heartily in a triumph by which their prophecies were belied?
Did they lend their voices to swell the hymn of transport, that resounded through our Land, when the arch-enemy was overthrown?
Are they pleased that inheritances have been restored, and that legitimate governments have been re-established, on the Continent?
And do they grieve when those re-established governments act unworthily of the favour which Providence has shown them?
Do not too many rather secretly congratulate themselves on every proof of imbecility or misconduct there exhibited; and endeavour that attention shall be exclusively fixed on those melancholy facts, as if they were the only fruits of a triumph, to which we Britons owe, that we are a fearless, undishonoured, and rapidly improving people, and the nations of the Continent owe their very existence as self-governed communities?
The Party of Opposition, or what remains of it, has much to repent of; many humiliating reflections must pass through the minds of those who compose it, and they must learn the hard lesson to be thankful for them as a discipline indispensible to their amendment.

Thus only can they furnish a sufficient nucleus for the formation of a new Body; nor can there be any hope of such Body being adequate to its appropriate service, and of its possessing that portion of good opinion which shall entitle it to the respect of its antagonists, unless it live and act, for a length of time, under a distinct conception of the kind and degree of hostility to the executive government, which is fairly warrantable.
The Party must cease indiscriminately to court the discontented, and to league itself with Men who are athirst for innovation, to a point which leaves it doubtful, whether an Opposition, that is willing to co-operate with such Agitators, loves as it ought to do, and becomingly venerates, the happy and glorious Constitution, in Church and State, which we have inherited from our Ancestors.
Till not a doubt can be left that this indispensible change has been effected, Freeholders of Westmoreland! you will remain--but to _exhort_ is not my present business--I was retracing the history of the influence of one Family, and have shewn that much of it depends upon that steady support given by them to government, during a long and arduous struggle, and upon the general course of their public conduct, which has secured your approbation and won for them your confidence.

Let us now candidly ask what practical evil has arisen from this preponderance.

Is it not obvious, that it is justified by the causes that have produced it?
As far as it concerns the general well-being of the Kingdom, it would be easy to shew, that if the democratic activities of the great Towns and of the manufacturing Districts, were not counteracted by the sedentary power of large estates, continued from generation to generation in particular families, it would be scarcely possible that the Laws and Constitution of the Country could sustain the shocks which they would be subject to.

And as to our own County, _that_ Man must be strangely prejudiced, who does not perceive how desireable it is, that some powerful Individual should he attached to it; who, by his influence with Government, may facilitate the execution of any plan tending, with due concern for _general_ welfare, to the especial benefit of Westmoreland.
The influence of the House of Lowther is, we acknowledge, great; but has a case been made out, that this influence has been abused?
The voice of gratitude is not loud, out of delicacy to the Benefactor; but, if all who know were at liberty to speak, to the measure of their wishes, the services which have been rendered by the House of Lowther to Westmoreland, its Natives, and Inhabitants, would be proclaimed in a manner that would confound detraction .-- Yet the Kendal Committee of the 26th of January--without troubling themselves to inquire how far this preponderance is a reasonable thing, and what have been its real and practical effects--are indignant; their blood is roused; 'and they are determined to address their Brother Freeholders, and call upon them to recover the exercise of the elective Franchise, which has been withheld from them for half a century.'-- _Withheld_ from them! Suppose these Champions, in this their first declaration of hostility, had said, 'to recover the elective Franchise _which we have suffered to lie dormant_.' But no!--Who would take blame to himself, when, by so doing, he is likely to break the force of the indignation, which, whether deserved or not, he hopes to heap upon his adversary?
This is politic--but does it become professing men?
Does it suit those who set forward with a proclamation, that they are select spirits, free from Party ties; and, of course, superior to those artifices and misrepresentations--to those groundless or immoderate aversions--which men who act in parties find it so difficult to keep clear of?
What degree of discernment and consistency, an assembly of persons, who begin their labours with such professions and publish such intentions, have shewn, by making choice of the Individual whom they have recommended, as eminently entitled to their confidence and qualified to assist them in attaining their end, may become the fit subject of a future enquiry.
SECOND ADDRESS.
GENTLEMEN, Much of my former Address, originated in deference to that sense of right, which is inseparable from the minds of enlightened Patriots.
Passing from local considerations, I wrote under a belief that, whatever personal or family leanings might prevail among you, you would be moved by a wish to see the supporters of his Majesty's Ministers and their opponents--possessed, relatively to each other, of that degree of strength which might render both parties, in their several capacities, most serviceable to the State.