20 FEBRUARY 1830, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

ECONOMY. \Tun first, second, and third duty of a member of Parliament, in the (present conjuncture, is Economy. The ;. e financiers, t orators, the hoteliers of bad laws, speculative statesmen, practical statesmen, are but tricksters and pretenders in so far as their plans are disconnected 'from this cardinal virtue. We apply this test to all that take to themselves the name of patriot—Do they vote for retrenchment ? If on any shallow pretence they refuse or abstain from doing so, they are a parcel of dishonest quacks. It is not by speeches upon beer and bank-notes that they can hope to deceive us. We care not what they say, but what they do. If they oppose an honest Ministry in an attempt to relieve the burdens of the people, or if they abet a dis- honest one in an attempt to continue them, they will in vain appeal to their county meetings. We care nothing about their conduct out f doors: there we are as influential as they. It is to their acts in "the House" that our attention is directed. (present conjuncture, is Economy. The ;. e financiers, t orators, the hoteliers of bad laws, speculative statesmen, practical statesmen, are but tricksters and pretenders in so far as their plans are disconnected 'from this cardinal virtue. We apply this test to all that take to themselves the name of patriot—Do they vote for retrenchment ? If on any shallow pretence they refuse or abstain from doing so, they are a parcel of dishonest quacks. It is not by speeches upon beer and bank-notes that they can hope to deceive us. We care not what they say, but what they do. If they oppose an honest Ministry in an attempt to relieve the burdens of the people, or if they abet a dis- honest one in an attempt to continue them, they will in vain appeal to their county meetings. We care nothing about their conduct out f doors: there we are as influential as they. It is to their acts in "the House" that our attention is directed.

We are told that large reductions are impossible—Liey are only 1 inconvenient. Impossible !—you may as well tell us that it is impossi- . ble for the plunderer to abstain from robbery. Their talk is idle who speak thus; such impossibilities are got over every session. Who oppo- ses economy? The Ministry? Dare they ?—They stand by public opi- nion. It is as the air they breathe—withhold it and they die. They have no party but what their good conduct has gained. Their character 40st, their_ allis lost... They will not keep it, they may rest assured, by the recollections iil the Emancipation Act. Do the Opposition pro- nounce reduction impossible ?—There is no Opposition. The House no longer moves in masses. Its debates and votes have ceased to he managed on the old principle of combination. We are glad of it. Personal responsibility has been augmented by the disintegrating effects of "the great measure." Every member must in future be content to rest on his own deeds his claim to his constituents' appro- bation : and what question will his constituents put to him when he next meets them ?—" Did you vote against the Catholics ?"—No The pseudo-bigots must bring forward some better claim of merit than that poor service can purchase. If the memory of victory will not support the Duke, the memory of defeat will not support his opponents. "Did you clamour for one-pound notes ? Did you speechify about free trade ?"—The whale has mumbled those tubs too long to be amused with them. The question will be—"Did you vote for retrenchment ?" Let not the most powerful presume on his power unless he can answer that question in the affirmative. lithe suggestions of reason, the pleadings of the wise, the sympathies of friends, the feelings of country, do not awaken voters to a sense of their duty, the workings of interest will. The pressure of the taxes has at last made it a matter of common policy to be honest. The bribe of one year will no longer defray the burdens of seven. The declamation of the Ultra Tories has done more than the strongest Radical arguments perhaps ever aimed at. It has dissolved the charm which its long standing and mahy cherished prejudices had cast over the Legislature. It was in yam that the Reformers went round it and beleaguered it ; it defied their assaults. But when the High Church party blew their horns, the walls tumbled at the sound. No one now approves the House of Commons, but in so ar as it merits approval by its deeds. It has lost for ever all meta- physical claims to our veneration. It is no longer a mysterious and 1 unapproachable essence. It has dwindled into an assembly of mere Imen, brought together for various purposes, and by various means,— some of them fools.(we quote the new-fashioned Tory representation), , some of them knaves, a few wise enough to see the good, a very few honest enough to desire it. The House is on its good behaviour as i well as its members. If it continue to lag behind the intelligence and i honesty of the age, the age will select a more effective instrument for \ eita...porpos.es. _ This is, indeed, a subject of distant anticipation; the 1"-- trial of the members is at hand.