MINISTERIAL REPRESENTATIVES.
WE never had much dotaas to the facility with which the va- rious members of the Government would obtain seats in the new, Parliament; though, upon the whole, we think it would be prefer- able to assign them nfileial seats. The possession cf place almost always confers a great advantage in electioneering contests Large number,s Of-f worthy and independent"- electors are influenced hy " the hope offavour and expectutiohofieWarda" which a Minister of State has so many opportunities of conferring at the public ex- pense.' •At one time, indeed, Lord PALMERSTON appeared to be hard driven ; but as soon as it beanie evident that the Borough elections Would terminate in favour of thellinistry; and that his LordShip would in all probability remain Secretary for Foreign Affeirs, his election for Hampshire was as Secure as if he had been a candidate for a rotten borough of hi g own purchase.. All the prophecies and rejeicings of the -Conservatives, on the anticipated defeat of Ministers, were about as 'rational as their backing of oldCIAssE,with his four or five thousand Dutchmen, to drive the French army of 60,000 of the best troops in Europe' from before the walls of Antwerp. Conservatives and Dutchmen, their predic- tions and boastings, are now•at a discount. .If any sane person for the future puts faith in either, he deserves to he as grossly cheated and as thoroughly beaten, as the worthies above mentioned have lately been at home and abroad.
Every one remembers the insolent style of exultation in 'which the defeat of Mr. POULETT THOMSON'WRS foretold at Manchester. Yet he was triumPhantly 'returned,—far ahead of the Wavering Mr. JONES LOYD, the Tory Mr. HOPE, and the Radical Mr. CoimErr. This latter facetious gentleman,- however, has been - more fortunate than the other defeated candidates for Manchester —he has secured a seat for Oldham. Indeed, Mr. COBBETT seems to Congratulate himself on having escaped Manchester; whose re- presentative certainly *ill have no sinecure of his post, if the an- ticipations expressed in the following humorous extract from the last Register are only partially realized.
"Mr. Phillips, if he do his duty (and I have no reason to think that he will not), • will have plenty of work to do; but the Lord have mercy upon poor Poulett Thomson ! There will be Baxter boring hint with his pompous in- anity ; there will be the Potters with their broad shoulders and broad simper, pestering hint for measures to save the .kingdom by enlarging the improved system of banking' and 'cotton buying,' carried- on at the three golden balls ;' there will be that remorseless Yankee, Dyer, plaguing him to death with his cal-ding-machines and his patents, and swearing, in the usual Connecticut tWarig, that to make the kingdom uerfeetiv secure, there is nothing like giving hint a share in the profits of the flank of -England ; and there will he Shuttle- worth, oiled and scoffed and coughed out of Manchester' hurrying away to London, and rapping everlastingly at his door, calling upon hint for the 'exten- sion of trade' and the limitation in the breeding on the part of the women. Poor Mr. Thomson will have to muffle his knocker. and tolay.straw in the street opposite his door.. Ile will have to listen to all the euhiglums on their sons and relations ; and to hear them-pointed out as persons extremely capable, and also extremely desirous, to assist in saving the kingdom. His house will be besieged by them : the instructions which Pope gave to his porter, Say I am sick, I am deed,' will not avail poor Thomson. Shuttlewurth and Dyer will -insist upon scatty -the body ; which, they now, at this mement, look upon as their property, as much as the man in the fable looked upon his wooden god as Ida property. If I were Thomson, I would have these fellows painted—tell them that he had a desire to have their likenesses, Oil account of this their grand achievement. Painter never performed an easier task ; for a group to resemble them, human nature has not provided. Having their pictures, I would hang them up in tuy.hall, and then take the porter, and say to him—' There! you see those fine metures : and if you let in over the-sill of my door any one of -the fellows -whom those pictures resemble, not a Whole Ilene shall beleft in your .skin, in one hour after that.' Chey will try to catch him in the street : they will hunt hint to his country-seat, if he be not as wily as a hare is in taking her form. As to their letters, of which he will soon have half a (Ivan volumes, as long as there is fire in the world there is a remedy for them. Dyer said in one of his published papers, that Manchester stood in need of a Minister for one of its members, that well-informed !lemon+ in the town might he in constantemn- munication with him ! Dreadful 'intimation ! However, forewarned, fore- armed : and I dare say that Thomson, who is not destitute of common sense, whatever whims he may have about emigration and surplus population, has already beg MI to think of the insaris by which he shall protect himself against the impertinent babble, written as well as vethal, of this group of vulgar and .concel tett men."
Itis almost impossible to write seriously after reading such a passage' as this. But-the duties of a representative, after all, are no proper subject for jesting ; and however annoying they may be to an idle or incapable man, we hope that Mr. Pouts:Tr l'Homsces will not shrink from the performance of his, but 'encourage his Manchester friends to communicate With him freely and often. That there should .b.e a ready and constant Access, and muttfal .confidence, bet%icen the various constituent bodies' in the empire cud their representatives, is highly desirable. Every individual member would thus be enabled, to bring his quota of information to the geneial fund, in order that the 4eneral good might be con- sulted in all legislative enactments. l'or a member of Parliament is only justified in forwarding local interests (putting individual interests altogether aside) when they eh arlv do not militate against the general prosperity • or advantage. Now there is tio better mode cf ascertaining how the national interests May best he pro- moted, than by a' patient investigation of distinct facts, and a ready Attention to the eomplaints or suggestions of well-informed ir.divi- (hails, who are practically acquainted with details, though very pos- sibly net qualified to decide upen the expediency of comprehensive and sweeping measures. We trust, therefore, that Messrs:SHUTTLE- worern and Ds'ia: will find ready access to their new member; and that men as active and intelligent _will. be forthcoming from all parts of the country, to stimulate and instruct their respective representatives.
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