GOOD BEHAVIOUR OF THE HOUSE OF. COMMONS.
THE Globe is quite delighted with the good temper and industry displayed by the Members of the House of Commons during the few days it has been in session. " What," exclaimed our con- temporary on Wednesday, "might not have been effected in the course of the last session, had the same spirit and application to business been manifested, instead of that-eagerness for talk and idle display which indicates personal vanity rather than trueima- triotism 1" Was it personal vanity, or true patriotism, that dic- tated the violent attack upon O'CONNELL and the Repealers on the opening of last session ? We need not decide that point ; but this may be safely asserted, because it is indubitably true,—that the Ministers and their partisans were the aggressors in the quarrel which consumed so much of the valuable time of the first session of the Reformed Parliament. They began the attack, and are answerable for the waste of time and patience which the re- sistance to it occasioned. Had the same policy been pursued on Tuesday week, had Mr. LEFRVRE imitated Lord ORMELIE, or Mr. LirrtaTorr exhibited as much heat of temper as Mr. STANLEY, it was easy to see that the Irish Members were quite ready for an- other row. But the mover and seconder of the last Address made calm and conciliatory speeches. There was nothing in them to gall or provoke the Irish Opposition; and the statesmanlike tone and language of the Secretary for Ireland, in replying to the acri- monious harangues of Messrs. GRATTAN and O'CONNELL, fell like oil upon the waters, which were beginning to swell and roll. To the discretion of Ministers and their supporters, are we beholden for the peaceful commencement of the present session : to their unjustifiable and impolitic spirit of aggression, must we attribute time long and stormy debate on the Address of last year : the slovenly fashion in which their principal measures were got up was the cause of the almost interminable discussions which fol-
lowed, and so wearied and disgusted the country. •
The Globe proceeds, with amusing simplicity, to invite time Members of the House of Commons, " to reform themselves, and endeavour to assist the Ministry, instead of' perplexing them, and requiring them to throw away precious time in mere idle recrimi- nation:' This is admirable ! To convert the Representatives of the People, who were especially elected to keep a vigilant eye upon the motions of Ministers, into time obsequious lacquics of those whom it is their province to control, is indeed a notable idea in these days of Reform. Why, even Lord CASTLEREAGII professed to think his Majesty's Opposition of some use. But our contem- porary would dispense with it altogether; such is his confidence in the superhuman purity of the Whigs.
Previous page
