LETTERS OF A REPRESENTATIVE TO HIS CONSTITUENTS.

THE plan of rendering a periodical account of the Parliamentary stewardship, through the local newspapers, commenced at the opening of the Reformed Parliament by the late Mk. KINLOCH of Dundee, has been ably and amusingly filled up by Colonel PER- RONET THOMPSON, II worthy successor of ANDREW MARVEL in

the representation of Hull. And, if the practice should not be absolutely required by constituents of their Members, it yet ap- pears to us worthy of general adoption. A weekly summary of legislative doings—a concentrated account of the sayings and be- haviour of party leaders and politicians of mark—as well as a preliminary and friendly talk over the coming measures—would be useful in a variety of ways. It would sharpen the interest of the less prominent Members in all public questions, by compelling the study of them, not in order to make a humdrum speech upon the subject to a weary and ignorant or inattentive audience, but to write, to shrewd and sensible but unexcited persons, a plain and pithy letter, containing the points of the question, and the reasons that were to determine the writer's course of conduct. The plan, in fact, would make legislation a business pursuit, and not an optional engagement,—a " light employment" for roues or dandies, to he toyed with, or neglected altogether, as they happen to feel inclined.

Its effects on the constituency would also be highly beneficial. It would give many of them, though in a less degree, the same

kind of interest that it would excite in their Member ; whilst the direct, and, as it were, personal discussion it would occasion, must stir the minds of all. Great questions would be settled with more of temper and searching scrutiny. The opprobria of English gislation — the mechanical parts of all acts, both public and private—would be greatly improved ; for any thing egregiously

mischievous or absurd would not be likely to pass undetected, when the attention of many minds practically interested in it was brought to bear upon the working of the subject. In short, it would tend to raise the character both of Members and consti- tuents, and make perhaps the nearest possible approach to that which some political writers have deemed the theoretical perfection of government—the actual presence of each individual in the gene- ral assembly.

The Letters of et Representative to his Constituents, at present before us, have a character of their own, both in matter and man

nor, which would not easily be attained by many members of " the Collective Wisdom." In addition to narrative, commentary,

and reasoning on affairs, Colonel THOMPSON often touches off the

description of a scene, or the bearing of a person, in a graphic style, which brings the whole before us with the vividness of reality. He intermingles with his accounts of facts, and his ar-

guments upon pressing subjects, the two-sided reflections of a sensible and experienced man of the world, or the sharp censure of a friendly surgeon, who cuts to cure. And when Parliament affords him no theme for discourse, be returns to his moutons— dilates upon the Corn-laws and Free Trade, and lectures the

Hullites upon political economy. In all this, the peculiarity of his manner and the quaintness of his style stand him in good stead—not when he speaks to listless hearers in the House, but writes to willing and admiring readers at Hull,—by enabling him to impart an air of interest and of novelty to common topics.

This combination of circumstances gives to the THOMPSON Correspondence something more than a temporary interest. It is

amusing for its pictures and quaint remarks, useful as a refresher of the memory, and still more as furnishing Ministers and Mem- bers on the Liberal side with hints that may be turned to account.

In the present dearth of politics, news, and new books, we may employ a part of our space in much worse ways than in gathering together a few Thompsoniana, and furnishing our readers with

some of the elixir of the last session,—a word, says the Colonel, "which in Arabic is al ikslr, the fraction that contains the strength."

THE KING'S SPEECH.

I have just heard the King's Speech ; and as there were some unusual cir- cumstances attending its delivery, you will perhaps be interested in receiving my account upon the spot, for the purpose of comparing it with any others that may he given. In consequence of the total absence of accommodation for the Members of the House of Commons beyond what is afforded to the crush out- side the rail at an Assize, and my being, as you know, like Zaccheus, short of stature, it was vain for me to attempt to see any thing at a lower elevation than the tops of the Peeresses' feathers in the galleries. But I heard the King read, in a slow, distinct, old-gentlemanly voice, with something of the sonorous tone that is acquired by reading in a cathedral. He frequently hesitated,. in the manner of one who sees imperfectly what he is to read ; and the place, in spite of the hour, was considerably obscure. On arriving at the conclusion of the Speech, the King said. with peat plainness and simplicity, and in the same voice and manner as before, "1 am afraid, my Lords and Gentlemen, I have not been able to read the Speech in a manner that claimed your attention ; and therefore I will read it to you again." Whereupon a candle having, as I am told, been brought and held before him, he read the Speech again, with gre at clearness' and much less of hesitation than before. The effect on the vsk,ok was striking ; and exceedingly favourable to the feeling of personal attachramt, in which the strength of monarchy so extensively resides. The readir,E was not once interrupted by cough ; and I heard some of the bystanders say, it was frequently interrupted from that cause on the last occasion. Little as our trade at Hull lies in flattering monarchs, I apprehend there are few, in, the actual situation of the country, who would wish the King's coughs to last..

SIN. ROBERT PLAUSIBLE ON THE ADDRESS.

After the mover and seconder, Sir Robert Peel opened the 11.ebate. His man- lier struck me as unwontedly feeble ; so much so as to sur,est the idea that he was suffering under some physical infirmity. He appeases, to be tossed upon a sea of doubt, between an intense desire to avoid an ernes dnient and an irrepres. Bible wish to be the mover of one himself. As I was informed, (for I did not at the instant notice it myself,) some communicatiosi was made to him, which had the effect of composing the struggle in his wind ; and his ideas arranged themselves collectedly in favour of an amendmenS The calculation of times and distances suggests that the purport of the cola munication was that an amend-

ment had just passed the Lords, agreeing rd-for word with that afterwards proposed by the orator.

THE COLONEL ON FeAEIGN POLITICS.

Last night, there was a long debate eat Russia, Poland, and Turkey, arising Out of a motion for papers by Lord Dudley Stuart. The House was very thin, and the proceedings languid on the whole. The Member for Birmingham, Mr. T. Attwood, was all for actise measures; and his speech would have been received thirty years ago wit.1 immense applause as a specimen of the "truly British spirit." The ablest speech of the night was that of the Member for Bath, Mr. Roebuck, who was all for peace: but went, in any estimation, as much tocfar in one direction as the Member for Birming- ham in the other. It 'Telly does not seem difficult to trace the proper line between the two, by a sknple reference to the duties of private life. A man is not to go out "colonening," and run his head into scrapes in search of remote wrongs and dubious grievances. But neither is he to sit at home in his ve- randa, with his hookah luxuriously before him, and hear the cries of " nnirder " and the rest of the "five pleas of the law," contenting himself with what he

calls his "moral influence," and trusting to the height of his garden.wall and the difficulty the ill-favoured ones without might find in making an inroad on his particular person. Nations, like individuals, are, within certain limits, bound by a common interest on this point of tepressing injustice. If England luckily has a high garden-wall, or what is better, a deep fishpond all around, the inference is that England is bound to apply these advantages to the general good—to be the citadel and last reserve of European freedom and to view all distant struggles for liberty as so many battles fought upon the out-posts of her own security. Happily the contest need not be one of arms : the extension of the principles which make Britain strong, is the true weapon with which the mixture of barbarism and civilization the world calls Russia, is to be baffled and kept down. Whatever Russia may boast, she will not long prevent the ap- parition of these principles within her borders.

A FREE CONFERENCE, CONVERTED INTO A "FREE AND EAST."

On Thursday, we had the entertainment of one, nay two Free Conferences with the Lords,—things interesting, like the flowering aloes from time to time advertised in the newspapers, principally as having appeared only once in a hundred years. The last Free Conference is understood to have been in 1740; and so free it was, that either the Lords or the Commons drew their swords upon the other ; whereupon an order ensued, that at any future Conference the Sir Charles Grandisons of the day should leave their toasting-irons in another room. The first of our two Conferences HU considered a dull affair; as nothing took place but an interchange of reading lessons. But the second was enlivened by positive speeches, delivered, sotto core, with great judgment and discretion by the various champions on both sides in turn, till the list was nearly exhausted. If "lords are lordliest in their wine," it is well they come to a Conference before they have well drunk ; for as it is, their ideas of good manners are, that they are to plant themselves on a seat with their hats on, while the "rude and rascal Commons," as the Church of England kindly expresses it in her Head- lies,• are to stand before them bareheaded till they sink to the ground with fatigue. For my own part, happening to have had more exercise than ordinary in the course of the day, I sat down on the floor from pure weariness, as did several other Members ; and close beside me sat a Master in Chancery in his gown, who to diminish the burlesque, had taken off his wig and held it in his hand. I have been present at many conferences with semi-barbarous chieftains; but never saw their visiters greeted with a reception so hoggish. The Tory newspapers are scandalized because some of the COMIDOOS were so uncivil as to put on their hats; but they forget to state, that there was before them a line of men no i way visibly not of the same flesh and blood

ed with themselves, care-

fully ensconced their hats of the dimensions of a Lord Mayor's footman's, and seated with an easy dignity like that of King Arthur in Tom Thumb, which they certainly would not have assumed if they had found themselves in their own housekeeper's-room. But this is the aristocratical part of our constitu. tion ; and the King can raise any man to the dignity of doing unhandsomely before his fellows. On a former occasion, as I informed you, the Lords lapsed into decorum. But a council has been held upon the matter, and they have determined to relapse since.

As every one may see who can see beyond his nose, matters in politics and commerce are looking dubious enough, and the very reverse of dubious in agriculture, which is food. The dis- pensations of Nature can be charged on no one, although nations in distress are apt to lay their sufferings to the account of their rulers; but, as in the body natural, a healthy constitution will esist shocks that would destroy an ill-atternpered habit, so, a con- fiding and satisfied people will bear patiently what would goad a discontented one to outbreak : and this is a point for our rulers to regard. The convulsion that now seems to threaten the com- mercial world, is greatly traceable to that measure which such foolish Whiglings as Mr. HALIFAX WOOD make a topic of boast —the renewal of the Bank Charter; for whatever mischief arose from the monopoly of the currency, Lord ALTHORP preserved to the Bank, whilst he deprived them of their power of regulating it. The political ills which threaten us are, in a principal degree, to be traced to the weakness of Lord MELBOURNE, in undertaking the Government without the requisite means of carrying it on, or, in plain English, without securing the power of carrying his mea- sures, This Whig vice of sacrificing duty to delicacy, extended fur- 'Homily on Rebellioe, Part 4,1 3, Oxford edition of 1899. the'., and, like all bad master passions, has vitiated the whole ci tkieir policy. See its 'effect on flogging, and the reason of their perseverance.

On Wednesday, the question of Military Flogging was brought before the House of Commons, and with the very unexpected result of the Ministry tak-

ing the most decided part in insisting on the cootiuuance of the practice ; pro- ducing thereby a majority of 212 to 95 in favour of keeping lie what Mr. Cobbett denominated "a flogged people." To us who remember how bitterly the mere inactivity of the Governmeut on this question was thrown in the faces of the Liberals at the last election, the fact must seem peculiarly do- plorable; and my constituents at Hull will probably all join in the feeling which induced me to tell the Ministers, in as plain terms as I was uhle, that I believed the section of the Liberals in our part of the country, whom we some- times distinguish by the name of Whigs, would be heartily ashamed of the way in which their nominal leaders hail fallen behind the spirit of the times on this occasion.

But there is some secret. It is not in the nature of things that meu of good families and decent education should exhibit themselves hour alto hour, pour- ing out the obsolete commonplaces which their party has li-en to power by exploding, risking the attachment of their followers, and running at every moment against the memory of some great MO among theii predecessors, who lives in the heart of the community for having trampled on the Ivey absurdi- ties to which they are now contented to appeal,—without soine reason, gross, palpable, and capable of being defined. Shall 'attempt the definition? They have submitted to a compact which it would not be difficult to bring within the limits of what in the cases of unprospeous men is denominated treason, for excepting the regulation of the AI my from the constitutional responsibility and direction which apply to the other branches of the Government. They have consented to unite take a fragment of the Administratiou, and to allow the re- maining fraction to lapse into the state of irresponsibility in which it may have existed under the Tudors and the Plantagenets. Instead of a responsible ad- ministrator of the Army, the Ministers (with my ears I heammi them say it) are to be responsible for the se'ection of the irresponsible; and with this kind of "responsibility once removed," and next of kin to no responsibility at all, the people are to be cheated of a fraction of the constitutional monarchy they thought they had secured The Army is to be a cases ontissus ; it is to be out of the constitution, or to be a constitution to itself. The British Government is to be a party to the Quadruple Treaty ; save always St. James's and the Horse Guards, and they are to be with the camp of Don Carlo.. We have not a Government, or we have two Governments. We have an ostensible Ministry producing themselves on certain benches of the Houses of Lords and Commons; and we have a cumarilla sitting God knows where, intending God knows what, and educating the army in such habits and expectation sits may be best suited to their purpose. This is a state of things which cannot last ; but it is the state, and it is as well to know it.

One great fault of the Radical party in Parliament, is their want of organization ; which fritters away their force, breaks their strength, and renders combined operations almost impossible. The small vices of the Ministers are legion. Forgetful of the remark, that though a man in authority may do almost what he pleases, he should be cautious what he says, they are constantly talking foolishness, to show their wit. 'When tempted by enemies, their infirmity of purpose is conspicuous : they will quarrel with their friends for a straw ; and what is worse, they will quarrel in an offensive and irritating manner,—a fault which the Tories are rarely guilty of either to friend or foe. These points are noticed, and well brought out in the collection before us; and although too scattered to afford matter for extract, were too important to be passed in silence. The following criticism demands the attention of the First Commoner, because Colonel THOMPSON is not solitary in similar complaints of Mr. ABERCROMBY, and because this habit, or rather a less offensive display of it, was the only valid objection to MANNERS SUTTON. The Colonel has just been exposing a misrepresentation of the Quarterly Review— This imposes on me the duty of referring you to my letter of the 30th Julys- to show that two Radical Members did all in their power to resist the OlitIISIVe and unpopular introduction, which filially the Lords could not swallow ; and that their recording the resistance by dividing the House, was prevented solely by the act of the Whig Speaker, who refused to let them divide, on the ground that the mover, a man advanced in Years, was not quick enough in saying "the Ayes have it." It is within the cognizance of every Member of the House, whether it is not the constant practice to put the question a second time, wheo suggestion is made that anybody has been taken by surprise; and I should be glad if Members of experience would convey to us the knowledge by post or otherwise, of any existing precedent for a division being refused upon the plea that the Speaker won the race. And now see the consequences of a party submitting to a wrong in the sprsons of any of its Members. The Radicals are prevented by the Speaker from recording a division on an abuse ; and then comes the House of Lords and removes the abuse, while the Tories tell our constituents that not a whisper of objection was made to it in the Commone. Not that 1 believe the Speaker did it with the malice prepense of men that Solomon appears to have known, who said "Let us lurk privily for tba innocent without cause." I believe that he was sleepy and ill-humoured; but he would no more have done it to the Whigs who are his own party, nor to the Tories whom they are afraid of, than a man will yawn. before his mistress or Lis enemy.

Affixed to the Letters written during the session, are some which treat of current affairs since the prorogation. The Peers are among the topics handled. Here is a plan for their reform, which, if not the best that might be proposed, is at least worth consideration. Perhaps the election of the Upper House for a. longer period than the Lower would be better than this idea of Colonel THOMPSON, especially if it were so contrived that the Houses should not be dissolved together. There is indeed no difficulty in working the suggestion ; but it is not simple in itself, nor obvious to the generality,—two great desiderata in eases like the present. Were the Lower House elected triennially, and the Upper septennially, the difficulty of momentary legislation would be met : the plan would be intelligible, and not obnoxious to the ridicule of the lot and rotation system, which failed so egregiously during the French Revolution. Lastly, "shall we have a House of Lords chosen from the Lords, by tbe same electors that choose the House of Commons?" This is the best thing yet. It has the advantage on the score of practicability, that it holds oat a this and its execution will probably be enough for collecting the improvements. The only substantial reason for having a Second Chamber where it can be avoided, is that by being independent of the momentary popular will, it may .somei ms act as a useful check, by combining the feeling of an aggregate of

years with the feeling of the present. When any great question arises, the Cat step in a government with any pretensions to popularity is, to (what is called) appeal to the sentiments of the People,—in other words, dismiss the existing First Chamber, and choose a new one. Hence, to make a Second Chamber of any use, the two points indicated are, that the members should sit for a period which, without taking away all responsibility, is still consi- derable; and that they should in no event be liable to be all disbanded together. The perception of this last desirableness has probably had considerable effect in causing Second Chambers to be framed with seats for life.

It certainly does not appear to be beyond human art to frame a plan by which the members of an elective assembly, holding their seats for a term of yeatR, should vacate their places with the same absence of effect on the conti- nuity of the assembly as if the vacancies were left to occur by deaths. And when we reflect on the multitude of muscles put into action daily by every man in putting on his clothes, ii does not seem impossible that at some time the public should come to this capacity. All that seems needed is, that on the first collection of the assembly the seats should be divided by lot into equal classes cf one, two, and so on, to as many years as make the perfect term : all seats afterwards, whether vacant by death or superannuation, to be elected to for the full term. Resignations not to he receivable in any case; nor votes by proxy.

Both these requisites of a Second Chamber might be attached to Mr. O'Con- arell'a plan, for Mr. O'Connell's it is. Let each constituency that now elects

two commoners to the Commons, elect one lord Co the Lords. And let such

as elect one to the Commons, be clubbed two and- two together to elect a lord ; a mode of election which exists now in some instances, without producing any

harm. Concede the point of their sitting for seven years, with provisions for the first time as specified ; and use it as an additional season for demanding the shortening of the time of sitting in the Commons. All this would make a Parliament, which would be as likely go on harmoniously for the l'eople's good as the old one for their evil. There can be no harm in thinking of the kind of shoe that would fit, what- ever the determination of other men that we shall not obtain it. Continue as we are, we cannot; the Lords have put themselves into a state of incompatibi- lity with continuance.

Another point touched upon in the Supplementary Letters, is the Marriage Act, whose repeal the Colonel gallantly wishes. In reality, however, royal personages who have patience to wait till five- and-twenty, may marry as they please, unless Parliament petition the Crown against it. When the Act passed, the King of course could secure a petition of this kind by willing it ; but times are altered since the early days of GEORGE the Third, and the most memorable thing about the law is the picture it gives us of that King's idea of the uses of a Parliament. France, we all know, was a despotism tempered by songs : the King of England, it would seem, was a despot working by means of borouglimungers.

Affixed to the Letters, is a reprint of the Running Commentary on Anti-Commercial Fallacies, which appeared in the Spectator during the first six months of 1834. That the papers exhausted the subjects which they handled, is pretty generally admitted. The best evidence we can give of their merit, is the space we de- voted to them in our columns, and that too during the busiest season of the year.