mony" of the late Cabinet? Why, my dear North, if they had had the least sense of the ridiculous, the universal crowd would have laughed until the sound would have swept across the sea, and was reverberated in a thou sand echoes from the rugged shore of the Hill of Houth-Unanimity and cordiality, indeed!-But the thing is too ridiculous to write or speak about; one can only laugh.

There is nothing more like serious truth than irony, when one does not happen to have the key to it; and, as the reporters could only give Mr Huskisson's words, without imparting the joking manner, which, doubtless, would have set the matter right with all but the Liverpool people, a great deal of misapprehension went abroad, and a good many, with more simplicity than vous, actually supposed that he meant something when he spoke about a guarantee. The Duke, how ever, soon cleared their notions on this head, by opening a point-blank battery of a heavy shot, called negatives, upon this same guarantee, which in the space of three minutes demolished it utterly and for ever.

That really pleasant and clever old gentleman, Mr Tierney, the same who, when lately in the Cabinet, and having no business of his own to mind, went about fidgeting and gossiping in his usual good-natured manner, and setting his colleagues by the ears-he promised to call Mr Huskisson to account, nominally, for his bad behaviour in serving under the Duke, but really, for turning up his nose at the Whigs in Liverpool. When he came to the scratch, however, the gallant old George fought shy, to the very great astonishment of everybody; for no one suspects the veteran's courage, and to this day he is a cleaner and a cleverer hitter than any one of his party. Whatever may have been the cause, the House unexpectedly broke up on the appointed evening, without the challenge having been given; and it was reserved for Lord Normanby, a cleverish, but rather coarse sort of person for a lord, to call for and obtain these much-expected explanations.

All the world that reads the newspapers knows what followed; they received a most edifying history of the "unanimity and cordiality" of the late Cabinet, and, I trust, have been duly thankful to Providence, which

has rescued the country from such silly and dangerous guidance.

It is really wonderful that greater misfortunes than did take place should not have happened, when public affairs were in the hands of such a cabinet-When the Master of the Mint goes to the Colonial Secretary to chat with him about the Finance Commit tee, and the clever hit it would be to gain Lord Althorp's influence in the House of Commons, by making him its chairman-when the same Master of the Mint makes another call upon the Premier, who, good easy man, has no objections, and then forthwith he

still the Master of the Mint, who ought to have been at the Tower coining sixpences-negotiates with, and appoints Lord Althorp chairman, and tells what he has done about the streets in his own good-humoured chatty manner-while all the time the Chancellor of the Exchequer in particular, or the Cabinet in general, knows nothing at all about the matter. When such a thing as this could be done, what is there so absurd or so childish that we might not expect to follow? In this case, the conduct of Mr Herries was such as one might have expected from his knowledge of business, and his feelings as a Tory and a gentleman; it would have been worse than folly in him to have retained his place in a Cabinet where such proceedings were tolerated; and he therefore determined not to remain. Members of both Houses, who were members also of the late Cabinet, have asserted that his resignation, or what amounts to the same thing, a difference which the acceptance of this resignation would have put an end to, was the cause of the dissolution of the late Cabinet-Mr Huskisson implicit ly, and Mr Herries expressly and emphatically, says it was not; and the public, or that part of the public which troubles itself about such matters, is left to the painful alternative of choosing between the statements of men who state things apparently contradictory, and yet whom one is bound to believe are incapable of stating anything untruly. Mr Herries, very plainly and simply, and, as it appears to me, very naturally, says, that the contradictory of his statement is incredible. He has asked, what reason can there be that the resignation of a person so unimpor➡ tant as himself should cause the com

plete breaking up of the Government? and instead of an answer, he received coarse abuse. Mr Thomas Duncombe (he about whom the Times newspaper has been making such a pompous bother, while all the rest of the world have been laughing) bullied and stammered mighty words. Lords Milton and Normanby threatened and talked big-Sir James Macdonald scolded with all his might, and Mr Brougham tried to cross examine Mr Herries, as if he had been a witness at the Old Bailey; but none of them answered his simple question, which he put again and again, with a mildness which was thrown away upon them, for they neither understand nor appreciate the calm and unruffled deportment of a man who is armed so strong in honesty, that their loud threats pass by as idle wind, which he regards not. By the by, these are the men who, but a few months since, talked in so lachrymose a manner about the violent language of the Tories, and even charged them with having murdered a late lamented statesman with coarse scurrility; yet I will venture to say, that if all the severe things which were said by all the Tories in the whole of the last session were put together, it would appear a mild and gentle harangue, when compared with the quantity of coarse abuse which was heaped upon Mr Herries on the evening of the 21st February.

I have lately observed, with great regret, many attempts to try upon the Whigs the efficacy of that which those who have the care of mad people call "the soothing system."All such attempts must be grounded upon great misapprehension. To be sensible of kindness, is the characteristic of a noble nature, and therefore does not at all belong to the nature of the Whigs. The Whig is an animal, that though you should feed him with your own hand every day, and stroke his back as he turns about in his den, yet you cannot at any moment be sure that he will not suddenly snarl and snap at you; it is the unhappy nature of the creature, and there is no use in striving against it. It is passing strange that Mr Peel, in general so remarkable for solid judgment, and to which he adds so much experience, should have ever thought of managing the

Whigs in this way. I should think the sample he got of Lord Milton's courtesy on the second evening of the discussion on the Corporation and Test Acts, must have shown him that the best method he could pursue would be that mentioned by old Diogenes, in Lucian's pleasant Dialogues, name ly, "to show them that it is not in vain he carries a staff." As it is, however, Mr Peel comes down to the House every night, with his eloquence wrapped in a robe of softest velvet, that, while it hits it may not hurt "the gentlemen opposite;" he seems to have determined that

"From his prudent lips shall flow Words as light as flakes of snow." But I can assure him that he will only breed himself trouble by this mildness; for his words, that

"Fall as soft as snow on the sea, Are lost on the Whigs as instantly." They will think that he is either friendly to them, or afraid of them; which two things are about equally disgraceful; and by and by, when they find out that he is neither, then will he experience all the coarse abuse which is sure to flow when Whigs get into a rage of disappointment.

"Sævitque animis ignobile vulgus."

It is the fate of many things which are very surprising, to be not at all important; but certainly the list of names which Mr Peel placed upon the Finance Committee was both, and caused more astonishment, and less satisfaction, to the country, than perhaps any other act of the Government, of which he was the organ, ever did. In the present situation of the country, the duties of a Finance Committee are of an unusually great and important nature. It is manifest that there is something wrong in our system at present-that the internal affairs of the nation do not prosper as they ought, considering the wonderful benefits wherewith Providence has blessed this country. In the regulations which now govern the immense trade, and manufactures, and agriculture of the country, we have departed from the principles which our ancestors, in their simplicity, thought were best; and we have seen the poor multiplied, and the revenue diminished. It is highly worthy, and indeed imperiously necessary, that these matters,

upon which our revenue depends, should be diligently and deliberately investigated by the very ablest men that can be picked out of the able men of Great Britain. This is no time for petty paltry inquiries about whether thirty-eight clerks would do instead of forty; or whether a man that exists on a hundred pounds ayear, could not be made to starve on ninety. The country does not want men on the Finance Committee who are only fit to "sweep the house, and light a candle, and seek for the piece of silver which is lost;" it wants men who can go to the root of the matter, and examine the impaired sources of our revenue, and shew how it may be built up again with judgment. Does any man in his senses expect this from Sir Henry Parnell, or Mr Maberly, or Mr Hume? Is it not evident that the effect of putting such men on the Committee will be to make it a mere commission of inquiry into the public accounts, and the expenses of certain offices? In the grand question of exploring the financial strength of this nation, these men could give no assistance; and the men who could, will desist from the task while they are encumbered with such auxiliaries.

Our country presents the extraordinary anomaly of financial difficulty, or at least the apprehension of finan cial difficulty, while it abounds with the materials of almost immeasurable wealth, which lie unemployed and useless. The bowels of the earth teem with the most useful minerals-iron, and copper, and lead, and tin; which require but labour to dig up, and some more labour to fashion into those things which, by the common consent of mankind, are most valuable and costly. Huge tracts of land lie uncultivated and unproductive, which almost seem to cry aloud for the assistance of man's labour, that they may become covered with flocks and herds, or thick with standing corn. Labour is all that is wanted to produce this great riches, and yet there are hundreds and thousands of labourers pining in idleness and poverty, because they can get no employment! Here indeed is matter for politicians of sound and enlarged mind to investigate. Here is the real subject for men of finance to grapple with; for if they can once devise the

means by which the profitable employment may be thrown amongst those who now live in penurious idleness for want of it, an immense ac cession of wealth will immediately follow, of which the Government may, by taxation, take to themselves what is necessary for the public service. I am very much afraid, however, that until men get a good deal further advanced in the contempt which is already pretty generally commencing, for the audacious quackery of political economists, and return once more to the guidance of plain common sense, this most desirable object will not be accomplished. As long as men will be so drunk with mystical theories, as to believe it for their interest to manufacture a small quantity, and exchange it with a foreign agriculturist for a given quantity of corn, while the agriculturist at home must be sup ported in idleness, rather than manufacture a larger quantity, and by exchanging it for the same portion of home produce, enable the agriculturist to support himself, while the manufacturer's profit, per yard or per pound, is as much on the larger quan tity manufactured as on the smalleras long as political economy Doctors teach this, and men are so besotted as to believe them, little amendment can be expected. But perhaps some pert young disciple of Doctor M'Culloch may say, "It is impossible the profit, per yard or per pound, can be so much, when a larger quantity of goods is given to the home agriculturist for the given quantity of corn." Hold a mo ment, young gentleman, you are conversant only with Dr M'Culloch's books; while the manufacturer's books

his journal and his ledger- are a thousand times better evidence on the subject-look you at the figures.

Let it be supposed that a manufac turer of calico can sell his goods at a shilling a-yard, of which one penny is profit-Well, if he sell to the foreign corn-merchant 1000 yards, and debit his account with L.50, he gets back 20 quarters of wheat at 50s., which balances the account, and his profit is 1000 pence, or L. 4, 3s. 4d. But suppose he should deal with farmer Giles at home, not being allowed to import foreign corn at 50s.; in that case, as wheat is then 60s. and the given quantity 20 quarters, he'debits Giles