TOPICS OF THE DAY.
HELP FROM THE PEOPLE WANTED.
THE Chronicle is in great dismay about a Tory Plot. It seems that a parcel of Royal Dukes and others ere likely to turn out the Ministry, by means of what is called a collision between the Houses. The Chronicle thereupon warns these conspirators against the fate and fortunes of certain persons who were roughly handled ilT the reigns of the Ca AR LESES ; and threatens them with the dire vengeance of the People, who will not " again suhtnit, without enforcing retribution from the authors of such calamities, to a repetition of the scenes and the dangers which distinguished the insane attempt of the Duke of Wellington and Mr. Baring to assume the Go- vernment on the temporary defeat of the Reform Bill."
This cry of " the People! the People !" sounds all very fright- ful, and perhaps some of the parties threatened may be alarmed : spirits may be called fl.om the vasty deep, but will they come when they are called ? "The People" seem to be kept by the Chronicle and its friends as a sort of old Towler, to growl off rough cus- tomers; but when the said old Towler growls for himself and wishes for a full meal, he gets nothing but kicks and other me- mentos of his curhood. It is mighty fine thus to halloo old Tow- ler on to the rescue one day, and then, when he has clone due dog- service, curtail the poor beast of all his privileges, tie his chain shorter, and in case of his barking unseasonably, thrust him into his den.
The People did the work of the present Ministry when they thought the Ministry was doing theirs. But the Chronicle is mightily miStaken if it fancies the said People are to be whistled off and whistled on to suit the purposes of any set of men who no longer enjoy the People's confidence. Confessedly, the Ministry is unpopular now : what a poor cry, then, is this, for the People to come and save the Ministry from the jaws of the Duke and his Peers! The fact is, the People will laugh at both the parties whom the Chronicle is setting against each other in such fearful array. The impotence of the Tories, and the imbecility of the Ministerialists, are only formidable t.) each other. The Ministry is tolerated, but the Tories are intolerable-this is the distinction the People make : but it by no means follows that they are ready to swallow up either party at the bidding of the other.
As for any folly the Courtier-folk may be guilty of, we must say they have been encouraged in it by the Government, which has humoured and flattered them at the expense of the People,- nay, has positively given up designs some of them avow they have held for years near their hearts, for the sake of trimming a dirty balance. They made their election between their sense of right and their sense of place, between courting the Tories and heading the People; and we wish them joy of their choice.
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