TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE HOPELESS SESSION.
WHAT a change has come over the public within these few years! Where be all the eager conjectures regarding the great measures with which the coming session of Parliament was supposed to be pregnant ? People do not even take the trouble to guess what may be coming. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. They will see the debates when they begin. Public curiosity is as lan- °mid at the opening of St. Stephen's as it has long been at the opening of the patent theatres. No new pieces are announced as in preparation. Some leading actors have retired, and no new ones are advertised. Nobody asks who is to succeed Lord Stan- ley in the Tybalt line, or Mr. Gladstone in the heavy tragedy. There are to be rehearsals on Monday at Sir Robert Peel's (in full dress) and the Duke of Wellington's; but the names of the pieces in preparation are not asked. The Premier has invited his friends to be early in their attendance ; but the Opposition Leader seems to doubt whether it is worth the while of his friends to come, and Mr. O'Connell whether it is worth the while of his to stay away. The tradesmen evince some animation in furbishing up the Houses, and the grooms in exercising the cream-coloured horses of the state- carriage ; but with these exceptions, apathy and languor pervade both actors and spectators. Never before did the public appear to expect so little from a session : will it be possible to disappoint that little ? Our faith in the disappointing powers of Parlianient is great, but on the present occasion they will be severely tried.
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