WHIGS, TORIES, THE COURT, AND THE PUBLIC.
WHIGS have waxed vehetn. ently " From GEORGE the Third's to Queen VICTORIA'S accession, they found small opportunity for the exercise of the cardinal virtue of good subjects. It is their turn now. Nevertheless, it is not a little amusing to witness the ebullition of their affection for the person and attributes of royalty. A silly fellow at a Tory dinner forgets in his cops that reporters are present, and that the company is not Confined to his Carlton Club cronies ; he spouts nonsense, which the Whigs vow is " treason ; " and all at once Mr. James BRADSHAW becomes a man of mark. Another M.P., who happens to be a Colonel in the Army, exhibits as small discretion as the chosen of the Canterbury Conservatives. The Regicide's namesake is menaced with the statute of Edward the Third, and the Colonel with martial law. But the Attorney-General stirs not to prosecute Mr. BRADSHAW and the Tory Colonel Tnosias is safe at the Horse Guards. luoth the Morning Chrriele " When the Tories were in office, it is totorious that officers, including even those on half-pay, whatever their sentiments, carefully abstained from attending meetings of Liberals. It is true, that harum-scarum personage Sir Robert Wilson was an exception ; but he paid for his rashness by lesinghis halfpay, which was only restored on his promise of future good behaviour, In those days the officers of the Army abounded with discretion."
No doubt of it ; but why ? Because the Tories knew better
than to put picked men of the enemy's camp at the head of the Army ; and because Whig officers felt that instead of threats in a newspaper, deprivation of rank and pay would have speedily followed such exhibitions as Colonel THOMAS'S at Ashton. Likewise, the Whig BRADSHAWS were convinced that the law in the hands of a Tory Attorney-General would not be a dead letter : and they restrained the expression of their hatred against the two GEORGES accordingly. The Tories in office dared to exercise the power they held, and therefore they seldom had occasion to threaten vengeance. But the vigour of the Whig Government is displayed in the Morning C1ronit7le and the Globe, while the Tory objects of Whig newspaper wrath safely: spout as much "treason" as they list. So Whig loyalty evigiorates in bluster. But Whigs are not the only blusterers. Read the pot-valiant speeches delivered at Tory dinners. The allusion to Sir ROBERT "want of pluck," and hints of all the fine things Tories would perform if leave were granted, are very droll, proceeding from men who cannot conceal their fear of PEEL, and whose helplessness without him would be pitiable. The Conservative leader knows too well, that though these afterdinner heroes talk loudly.and would doubtless vote as commanded, upon him would rest the toil, the responsibility, the risk of governing the British empire in circumstances of almost unprecedented difficulty. When, therefore, the place-seeking and the headlong Tories, whom the Quarterly Review has spirited up, boast of what they would do, let it be remembered that they are mere spouters of froth, who lack the means of working out their own policy, and the wit to perceive the superior wisdom of him who is and must be their leader, despite of sneers and disaffection in his ranks.
Meanwhile the public regard these squabbles of parties with
provoking inhference ; and the Court scarcely attracts more interest or attention. It matters little where the Queen moves ; loyal crowds no longer follow, and even the devotees of fashion have learned to be happy in her absence. A considerable change has occurred in this respect, and lately. Last autumn, when the Queen went to Brighton, the aristocracy flocked after her : the rent of lodgings was raised from five to fifteen guineas a week. The Court remained for a brief period only at the Pavilion, and Brighton was speedily deserted by the fashionable crew. This autumn, her Majesty has not gone to Brighton, and is not expected there ; but see what the Brighton Gazette of last Thursday reports " We are happy to say that the town continues unpreeedently full of company. Such a season has never been known before in Brighton."
These are noticeable signs of the times. The aristocracy cease to be courtiers, and the people take no interest in the struggles of political parties for place. Yet there is no inactivity in the public mind: attention is fixed upon a different class of objects from those which formerly engrossed it. There is a disposition to throw off the trammels of party politics, and a growing conviction that much more is needed than what would come of the substitution of one set of officials for another in Downing Street.
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