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LONDON-EXPULSION OF REPORTERS.

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duct in this instance, merely because they think them upon the whole the best ministers that can be had. Their power remains, however, much shaken; and if they should send Sir Francis Burdett to the Tower to-morrow, serious consequences may follow.

The members of Parliament seem to feel singularly relieved by the final termination of this Walcheren question. I have heard some of them speak with terror of a certain great book, where the evidences on the case were recorded, and which was the text of so many heavy and tiresome speeches. Their despair was at its height, when, at seven o'clock of the morning of the last day, after a whole night of debate, Sir Home P. was seen coming forwards with this same great book under his arm! But this depression gave way to sudden mirth, on his introducing in his speech some remarks about bombs going to the Roompot.

The affair of the reporters of speeches in Parliament seems to me deserving of attention; as it serves to throw much light on the nice mechanism of this government, and its peculiar constitution and character. A certain body of lawyers (benchers of Lincoln's Inn), in order to shew their zeal against what one of the parties calls the liberty of the press, and the other, the unbridled license of the press, had, pending the late debates on the subject, passed a resolution, by which any person convicted of having ever written for the newspapers for hire, should be excluded from their body. The persons thus excluded presented a petition to Parliament praying relief. This gave rise to debates, in the course of which Mr. Sheridan said, that he was ready to produce a long list of men, eminent, not only in the law and other professions, but some of

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them eminent in Parliament, who had begun their career as writers for the newspapers. He named Mr. Burke, and several others; and he added, that of twenty-three gentlemen now employed in taking notes in the gallery of the House, eighteen had, to his own knowledge, been educated in the Universities; most of them had graduated, and several of them had obtained premiums, and other literary distinctions. He recalled the well-known anecdote of the celebrated Dr. Johnson: Two admired speeches of Lord Chatham having been compared to those of Cicero and Demosthenes, Johnson was asked which of the two manners, the Greek or the Roman, these speeches resembled most? I do not know, he answered; but this I can say, I wrote them both.* Would it then have been a disgrace for the benchers of Lincoln's Inn to have received Dr. Johnson among them? Mr. Stephens, another distinguished member of Parliament, rose to con demn this exclusion, as unjust, illiberal, and impolitic; adding Hawkesworth, Steele, and Addison to the list of celebrated men who had written for the newspapers; and he who has the honour of addressing you, he continued, interrupted by universal applause, was one of those guilty persons thirty years ago! It is thus that talents and genius, and the turbulence of faction itself, find here, in the different ranks of society, some outlet,-some door half open, some narrow avenue to honours and distinctions, which recompense those who obtain them; occupy and sooth with hopes even those who do not; and prevent those political explosions, which, by a dreadful, but a natural and almost just

*Wrote means here reported for the newspapers, not composed to be spoken.

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revolution, replace, in other countries, amidst the wrecks of social institutions, men where they ought to be, in the order of their abilities and their courage; and where it is better they should be allowed to arrive peaceably and by degrees, than suddenly, and over the heads of the imbecile crowd crushed under their feet. In the gradual order of advancement, virtues tell for something; but in the scramble of a revolution they are of no avail, and talents themselves owe much to chance.

The minority in the House of Lords blames the ministry very much for communicating some private correspondence with individuals in Spain, which may endanger their safety, and is, they allege, a cruel, impolitic, and abominable breach of faith. In doing this, they (the opposition) give the real publicity to these papers, which otherwise might have remained as effectually hidden on the table, as if they had been still in the porte-feuille. The fact is, that ministers, in their eagerness to shew the difficulties they had to encounter in Spain, care not whom they may injure; and the opposition equally eager to render ministers odious, care as little about faith and humanity."

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Were we to believe the reformers, and even the whigs, a man capable of conducting the affairs of the state with honour and success, cannot possibly remain long at the head of them. Instead of appli cation in the cabinet, and solid qualities, an English minister, to remain minister, must have, essentially, dexterity in debate, and the talent of intrigue; qualifications which do not imply that moral reputation necessary to obtain and preserve the confidence of foreign powers; and frequent wars are the consequence. The opposite party says, on the contrary, that the necessity of defending day by

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day in Parliament each ministerial measure, requires so much talent, and so much knowledge of a certain sort, that it is impossible that he who possesses them should have no other; that these perpetual debates oblige them to consider the affairs confided to their care thoroughly, and in every possible light, in order to secure themselves from disgrace and ridicule, the fear of which is the most powerful of stimulants. That a minister thus employed has, it is true, but little time left for any of the details of his department; but those are entrusted to inferior officers, fitter for them, who are not removed at every change of ministry, and have for a number of years followed the routine of their business. I prefer a minister who can spare only one hour a-day to do the business of the state, but who is obliged to think of it and debate on it the rest of the day and half the night, to the ministers of some other countries, who, to use the expression of a man who knew them well, "se renferment pour tailler des plumes," and when they came out of their retirement thought only of their pleasures. When the savages of North America bury their chiefs up to their necks in an ant-hill, make them undergo hunger and thirst and other torments, it is not to give them the qualities necessary for their station, but in order to ascertain that they possess them already.

This system of trials and combats applies no less to the legislative branch of the government. The exaggeration of the debates, the obvious want of candour,-the waste of time,-the imprudent disclosures, cannot fail to shock an indifferent spectator. A difficult question cannot be investigated properly in a numerous assembly, and is always considered with reference to party views, rather

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than with a sincere and unmixed desire of truth; but unfortunately, was it not for party views, the investigation would not be attended to at all. The most inconsiderable individual of such an assembly might in all probability decide on the business be fore them better, and more expeditiously, if he pleased, but the danger is, he would not, for want of sufficient inducement. It is thus that the spirit of system in science is useful, however extravagant it may be; the egotistical zeal it inspires leads often to the discovery of new facts; establishing not exactly the particular system of the author, but something much better, which had never entered into his imagination.

The judicial branch of government is, like the others, placed in the arena, or on the stage. Examinations of witnesses,-statement of the case, law arguments, charge of the judge to the jury, verdict,-judgment, all is done audibly and publicly. There is not a doubt that the judge could inform himself of the merits of the case much better in his closet than amidst the noise and bustle of a court, where so many things distract his attention, on written statements of facts and documents, than on vague and desultory pleadings. But, in that case, it is but too likely that, instead of the judge, it might be his secretary who would have to do all this; and that, instead of examining witnesses, he would examine the parties themselves. As to the jury, it is clear that they are not half so able as the judge to decide either on the fact or on the law; and I would much rather trust to him than to them, if these were the only qualifications required; but the twelve men composing the jury are placed in a situation of which habit has not blunted the sense of importance and of moral

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