Oh! "Dick's scarce old enough," you mean? 's a ripe age for a long-tail'd Coat. What! would have him sport a chin To figure in a long-tail'd Coat? Suppose he goes to France-can he Unless he's got a long-tail'd Coat? Why Louis Philippe, Royal Cit, There soon may be a sans culotte; Things are not now as when, of yore, A corselet for a long-tail'd Coat. Then ample mail his form embraced, "Cribb'd and confined" about the waist, With beamy spear, or biting axe, To right and left he thrust and smoteAh! what a change! no sinewy thwacks Fall from a modern long-tail'd Coat! For stalwart knights, a puny race Worse changes still! now, well-a-day! Prates of "The march of intellect"- Alack! Alack! that every thick- But lo! my rhymes begin to fail, Thus rhyme and time cut short the tale, PARLIAMENTARY SAYINGS AND DOINGS. No. IV. THE REFORM BILL. SINCE the close of our last record of Parliamentary proceedings, the subjects discussed have been various and important; but as public attention is at present almost wholly devoted to the Reform Question, we shall content ourselves with a very brief notice of what preceded it, in order that we may dwell more at large upon the all-engrossing subject. 66 There was a discussion on the affairs of Belgium, in which Mr Hume displayed his accustomed freedom from the trammels of accurate statement and correct reasoning. Lord Palmerston spoke like a Whig Minister acting on Tory principles; and Sir Robert Peel shewed that the air of the opposition side of the House, had a marvellously bracing effect upon his powers as a parliamentary speaker-he put us in mind of young Peel," who won golden opinions some sixteen or seventeen years ago. A new measure, touching the Game Laws, was brought forward by Lord Althorpe, which is to be regretted, as the Game Laws require amendment, and my Lord Blunder is not the man to amend any thing. Mr Perceval brought forward his motion respecting a General Fast, and delivered a speech which we would advise every one who has the time to spare, to read in the Mirror of Parliament; as, not being suited to the taste of the newspaper reporters, it was contemptuously treated by their high mightiAlderman Waithman proposed his "string of resolutions" respecting Imports and Exports. The worthy Alderman has a glimmering of a right notion in his head upon these matters, but his "string" was so dreadfully tangled and perplexed, that no living man could clearly perceive the thread of his argument. The quantity of value, and value of quantity, were so mixed up in his arithmetical calculations, that the honourable House, like Milton's council of the fallen angels, could nesses. 66 -find no end, in wandering mazes lost," and rejected the "string" altogether. Burke, or some other worthy, makes obscurity an essential of the sublime; if this be true, the worthy Alderman possesses at least one quality towards making up sublimity of genius. Mr Hobhouse brought forward a measure to regulate the hours and mode of employment in cotton factories, which, as it happened to be recommended by the sound sense and humanity of its object, was consistently opposed by " the honourable Member for Middlesex," as Mr Joseph Hume is now almost exclusively called, though the honest old Whig gentleman Mr Byng, his colleague, has been member, we believe, ever since the flood, or, at all events, since leather breeches were invented, which is no modern occurrence. That " huge pile" of national extravagance and architectural folly, or something worse than folly, Buckingham Palace, came under discussion. A committee was appointed, and if they do their duty, we shall hear more of this in due season. The Irish Union (O'Connell's folly), and the alterations of the Budget (Althorpe's folly), took up considerable time, and caused the taking down of many speeches. The Poor Laws were discussed for the eleven hundred and fifty-fifth time. Evesham Borough Disfranchisement, of which we shall probably hear much again, and the Steam-boat Tax, of which we shall probably not hear much again, were both debated. Greek affairs were mentioned, upon which (incredibile dictu !) Mr Hume could not keep silent. Our relations with Portugal were discussed in the House of Lords, and Lord Strangford incurred the high displeasure of Ministers, by shewing the palpable infraction of treaties which the precious budget scheme of the Chancellor of the Exchequer involved. In the same House, the details of a reform in the Court of Chancery, were stated by the Lord Chancellor Brougham. The rankness of the job at which this reform aims, begins now to be pretty well understood. The learned lord must have had great reliance on the stolidity of the public, when he supposed that such barefaced cupidity of power and patronage would pass current for moderation and self-denial. To return to the Commons-the Sugar Duties were discussed, and Charley Grant played the independent, and differed from his colleagues, while Sir James Graham bridled up like a pompous old lady, and talked big, and Sir Robert Peel feeling that the time was not yet come, refrained from turning out the Ministers by a division. The Army Estimates were brought forward, in which Sir Henry Hardinge exposed a tricky omission, to make the amount appear less than it really was; and the Navy Estimates also came before the House, when Sir James Graham, not having any thing to say for what he had done himself, attacked the financial arrangements of his predecessors. Lord Howick brought for ward a bill for the Encouragement of Emigration, which is likely to repose in the silence of contempt; and fastly, and on the last of the month, Mr O'Connell once more exhibited himself as a poor shuffler, who, while he bullied in public, sued for mercy in private. We now come to the "absorbing question." In commencing a review of the debate on the bringing in of the Reform Bill, we must confess to some fear, that our theme will be wanting in the excitement that belongs to novelty, for so much has been said about it, both in and out of Parliament, and so few can have avoided giving some consideration to a subject so momentous, that the Reform debate seems already as a twice-told tale; but it is essential that our pages should bear record of so vitally important an event of contemporary history; and we really think there is still much to be said upon this great argument," ere it is thoroughly understood, and the rather, as a large quantity of the words spoken in Parliament, had but little application to the practical question, and served rather to bewilder than to convince. In the metropolis, there did not appear to be that intense excitement of the populace regarding the bring ing forward of the measure, which those at a distance may have calculated upon as probable, or believed to have existed, in consequence of the inflated descriptions of the journalists. It is usual, when questions of very great public interest are to be discussed, to find a restless crowd in the neighbourhood of the House, watching the arrival of the members, as though they could read in their countenances the part they were to take-and lingering about the walls as though the sound of the discussion could ooze through them; but, on the evening of the first of Marc!, the numbers around the House were few, and of a description that made me wonder what interest they could take in an abstract political question, or why they should have taken that particular place to spend their idleness. Small groups of unwashed artificers were scattered here and there, in aprons and woollen jackets, who seemed as if they had just left their work to indulge in half an hour's political relaxation, while a few with long coats, which had long since bade adieu to their high and palmy state, and with faces which certainly did not indicate either prosperity or contentment, stood gazing on "With folded arms and melancholy hat." But there was no bustle, no strife, nor no noise, which was the more remarkable, as a considerable part of the people in waiting were women. It is quite certain, however, that that class of the community who generally concern themselves in politics, looked forward with a longing curiosity and intense anxiety to this evening, which was well justified by the event. The government was known to have miserably failed in fulfilling the expectations which it had encouraged; and even the friendly member for Middlesex had, with his accustomed blandness, assured the Ministers, that of the three pledges under which they had obtained power they had failed to fulfil two, and the trial of the third was yet to come, in the Reform question-it was therefore known to be the last resort of the Ministry-the final cast upon which their political existence was hazarded; but very few prognosticated the desperate boldness of the throw, which, in this extremity, they determined to make. The attendance of 656 members was as great as it could be -the House would not have held more-and every place to which those not members of the House are allowed access, in order to hear the debates, was more than fully occupied. At the hour of six, as punctual as the postman's bell, uprose the Lord John Russell, the mouthpiece of the British Cabinet, upon the subject of Reform. Never was a great subject intrusted to an orator of more miniaHe is to a great orature powers. tor, what a little French musical box is to a cathedral organ. He seems to be wound up for his task-the spring is touched, and away he goes, tinkle, tinkle, with a voice like that of conscience," still and small." He speaks like one repeating memoriter, à language of which he does not understand the meaning, and thus the most astounding announcements drop from his lips, in precisely the same tone, and with the same manner, as if he were moving "that the candles be now lighted"-to this, as well as to the incredible extravagance of some of the alterations which he announced, must be attributed the peals of laughter with which matters of such serious importance were occasionally received. After the usual commonplaces concerning his apprehension in entering upon so important a subject, and so forth, he ventured upon rather an extraordinary wish for a popular reformer, namely, that Earl Grey had a right, by some law of Parliament, to come into that House and explain his measure himself. Now we, who by no means pretend to such abhorrence of aristocratic influence in the House of Commons, as the noble member for Tavistock affects to entertain, could by no means endure this, and our gorge rises at the very imagination of such an interference of a peer, with the business of the people's house; but as boroughs lose their atrocity in the pure sight of Lord John Russell, when they chance to bear the fortunate names of Malton, Calne, or Tavistock, so the name of Earl Grey has a magic influence to make the sound of his patriotic Lord John-loving voice, agreeable, even were it thrust upon the independent House of Commons. The noble mover further stated, that Ministers wished to place themselves" be When the population was scanty, Michel-Gemote, or Wittena-Gemote, Those they should keep themselves from sin, should live in quiet, and should receive right." If Mr Perceval were to rise in the House, and argue that he proposed nothing but a return to the ancient Constitution, in recommending that such should now be the business of the House, what a quantity of contemptuous derision would not the newspapers pour upon him? And yet, when Lord John Russell, and others, use this kind of argument for resuming the rule of representation alleged to have prevailed with regard to these councils, they are lauded as having uttered words of wisdom, founded upon learning. In the next place, Lord John wishes to shew the evil of the present system, and lacking better matter, he favours us with a dramatic scene. He supposes a stranger acquainted with the wealth, industry, and civilization of this mighty kingdom, examining with his own eyes into the nature of the representation under which the legislature is formed, and, says Lord John, if he were taken to a ruined mound in one place, and some stone walls in another, and informed that each of these returned two members to Parliament, would he not be greatly astonished? Perhaps he would, Lord John,-and what then? Astonishment is, for the most part, the consequence of ignorance, or imperfect knowledge, and so it would be in this case. If you, Lord John, or any other reforming zealot with contracted mind, were his Cicerone on the occasion, he might remain in astonishment that a country which, by the hypothesis of the illustration, he knows to be a prodigy of wealth, industry, and civilization, should have become so under such a mode of representation; but if a person of sense and honesty accompanied this enquiring stranger, he would say to him," These were once places with some inhabitants, to whom the King gave the right of sending Members to Parliament; they have undergone the common vicissitude of time, and their local importance has passed away. But while they were decayIn ing, concerns of a greater magnitude were growing up, which, though they have a name, such as the Banking interest-the Colonial interest-the Mercantile and Shipping interest, and |