stood to belong to royal bounties of this kind, which is as unbecoming in Ministers of the Crown, as it is embarrassing in its effects to individuals who neither supposed, nor had reason to suppose, that they were receiving allowances which the public at large were to examine and comment upon. It may be a very proper subject for discussion in the House of Commons, whether the monarch ought to have a large sum placed at his disposal, to be granted away by him in pensions to such persons as, from his own knowledge, or the recommendation of others, he may deem deserving of such bounty; but such a sum having been granted and disposed of by the King, it is scarcely fair now to drag before the public the names of all those among whom it has been shared. It is true that the King could only grant a pension on his civil list for his own life, and therefore, at the formation of a new Civil List, it may be proper to see whether the persons favoured in the former distribution ought to be continued in the receipt of money, to which, without the aid of Parliament, they have no further claim; but this is a matter in which they at least should be parties, and every pensioner should have had the option of saying "What I received hitherto, I received from the King, and I do not choose to submit my name to the public for a continuation of the bounty."

The document being now before the public, they have, we shall not deny, much reason to regret that the money which they placed at the King's disposal should have been appropriated as in many instances it has been; and we are free to confess, that many items in this paper cannot be read without disgust, while there are but few indeed attached to names which the public will recognise as being worthy of a special interference of royal bounty. The public should therefore take care that, for the future, a sum should not be thus placed, nominally in the hands of the King, but actually in the hands of his servants, to be wasted upon objects to which, from their profligacy, they have become attached. The power should be taken away from the King's Ministers to grant away annuities, as if they were a private do

nation from the King; and whatever pensions are not from the privy purse, should be on the consolidated fund, and come yearly before the public in the financial accounts.

It is not merely by the pensions on the civil list that the public is blinded to the sum actually spent by the country in this manner there is no source of revenue that has not pensions saddled upon it in its progress to the Exchequer-Customs, Excise, Stamps, Post Office, &c., &c., all have their deductions for pensions before they reach the consolidated fund, and then that general fund is loaded with another most formidable list. There are also lists of pensions on the four and a half per cent sugar duties, and on the shilling, and the sixpenny, pension duties. Everywhere there are pensions-and some names there are so fortunate, as to be found in almost all the lists. It is, therefore, very desirable that all pensions should be carried to one account-that all the branches of revenue should be paid in, without any deduction but the actual expenses of collection, and a sum be taken from the aggregate to defray the whole amount of the pension list.

The other subject of this evening's debate, with which we shall conclude our Parliamentary review for this month, was the adjournment of the House to the 3d of February. Upon the consideration of this motion, it seems natural to ask what the government had done since its appointment, or in what state of flourishing security had it left the country, that it should have been deemed reasonable or politic to take six weeks' holydays from Parliamentary labours, after about a month's exertion; and inevitably to deprive the country for all that time of the aid to be derived from Parliamentary control or advice, no matter what emergency might arise to call for it. Had the government shewn itself very powerful, or had its proceedings met with such undivided approbation as to warrant the supposition, that whatever it might be called upon to do, would be done in accordance with the views of Parliament and the people, there would have been-at all events in the popular view-some excuse for this long sus

pension of Parliamentary interference and control; but this has not been the case-on the contrary, in looking back at what the new govern. ment has done, we find nothing to give satisfaction to any party, except themselves, which does not consist in mere promises and pledges, while every act upon which they have ventured, has been productive of loud complaint, and has been decidedly despotic in its character, and inimical to the feelings of the people. They pledged themselves to peace, and increased the standing army by six thousand men; they pledged themselves to economy, and made new legal appointments in Ireland, which have saddled the country with a large unnecessary expense, while they have filled the bar of Ireland with indignation, and the people with rage. They pledged themselves to reform, and endeavoured to procure a new writ of election for a place which had just been convicted of gross bribery and corruption in the return of members of Parliament, and to crown all these, they abolish a tax laid on for the protection of a domestic manufacture, without asking the consent of Parliament, or any consent but that of their own absolute will.

On which of these acts, we should like to know, do they ground their claims for that perfect confidence which alone would justify them, in such times as these, in adjourning the parliament for six weeks? Is it the tranquillity of Ireland, the content of England, the settled state of affairs in France, or all these things together, that they rely upon for not requiring parliamentary advice for six weeks!

The truth is, that Whigs always have that enormously high opinion of their own abilities, which makes them essentially despotic in temper and inclination. Because they can talk with smartness, they suppose they can judge of every thing better than those who do not talk so smartly, and they would feel no diffidence whatever in setting about governing the country without any Parliament, if that, according to the constitution of the country, were possible. As far as it is possible, we find them endeavouring to do so, and as usual, with the cry of liberality and popular liberty in their mouths, tyranny and jobbing mark their acts. Happily, this overweening conceit, which makes a Whig government so odious, carries with it the principle of that government's dissolution. Each individual is so vain of himself, and his own plans, that no dozen of them can continue for any length of time to act in harmony together-their councils become disturbed by disagreements and bickerings, and they soon fall asunder, and find themselves again on the Opposition benches, where they may indulge themselves in saying that which, in government, they are incapable of doing.

We have not the least doubt that this would almost immediately be the fate of Lord Grey's Ministry, were there any party formed, ready and competent to take up the government in its place;-but old associations are dreadfully shaken in this country; political confidence has gone; hope has almost withered, and with a raging desire in the people for change, men shrink from political responsibilities.