PROP. I.—PROBLEM.
To describe an Independent Member upon a given indefinite line of politics.
Let C R, or Conservative Reform, be the given indefinite line—it is required to describe on C R an independent member.
With the centre Reform, and at the distance of Conservatism, describe G B and M—or Graham, Brougham, and Melbourne—the extremes of the Whig Administration of 1834.
With the centre Conservatism, and at the distance of Reform, describe G B and P—or Graham, Buckingham, and Peel—the extremes of the Tory Administration of 1841.
From the point Graham, where the administrations cut one another, draw the lines Graham and Reform, and Graham and Conservatism.
Then Graham and Conservative Reform is an independent member.
For because Reform was the centre of the Whig Administration, Graham, Brougham, and Melbourne
Therefore Graham and Reform was the same as Reform with a shade Conservatism.
And because Conservatism is the centre of the Tory Administration, Graham, Buckingham, and Peel
Therefore Graham and Conservatism is the same as Conservatism with a shade Reform
Therefore Graham and Conservatism is the same as Graham and Reform
Therefore Graham is either a Conservative or a Reformer, as the case may require.
And therefore he is a Conservative Reformer—
Wherefore, having three sides, which are all the same to him—viz. Reform, Conservatism, and himself—he is an independent member, and has been described as a Conservative Reformer.
Quod erat double-face-iendum.