A HISTORY of the Whig party since the famous coalition between Mr. Fox and Lord North, would be one of the most amusing productions in the whole catalogue of English political narratives. In days of yore when Mr. Pitt, long before the commencement of the French war, endeavoured to increase the trade with France, how loudly did Mr. Fox declare that country "the natural enemy " of England! When Mr. Pitt went on in the execution of his plans of economical reform, how boldly did the Whigs attack him, and how mournfully they lamented the sad decay of Ministerial patronage, and the abolition of private jobbing in the public loans ! When Mr. Pitt was in his early days a reformer, Mr. Fox, Lord Rockingham, Mr. Burke, and many more openly stood up not only against the bill and the whole bill," but even against the slightest amendment of the representative system. More recently the Whig friends of liberty hailed joyfully the despotism of Napoleon, and ridiculed the absurb attempts of the Duke of Wellington to emancipate degraded Spain; and more lately still Lord John Russell, Lord Melbourne, Lord Palmerston, Lord Glenelg, and a majority of the rest of the present Cabinet denounced nearly every single measure-whether of church spoliation or Irish " "justice -which they have subsequently been the instruments of carrying through Parliament. Honest Lord Althorp once candidly avowed, when pressed to repeal the house and window taxes, that he could not do so as a Minister, though for party purposes he had endeavoured to effect that object while in opposition. We need not then

marvel to find that the men who now rule this country are quite unscrupulous as to consistency, and quite deprived of all power of recollecting their past opinions and proceedings. For instance, if Lord Althorp could thus factiously act, we cannot be surprised to find that the extravagant Whigs of 1806 became a dozen years afterwards when the loaves and fishes were in other hands, great sticklers for economy; nor can we wonder if again these rigid economists of twenty years back have now become the authors of corruption, and the humble imitators of Walpole's extensive profligacy. But if at these things there be little cause to marvel, it must be owned that the Conservatives have some right to complain of them, when it is remembered that all the odium heaped upon the Duke of Wellington's Government during the reform mania, was nothing but the effects of the artful hypocrisy of designing men pretending to a purity they never intended to practise. It is to be hoped that the people now know how complete the delusion was under which they then acted. It is high time that honest men should acknowledge that the Reform Bill was intended for nothing but securing the supremacy of the Whig orligarchy; and that all the clamour about Tory corruption was designed for nothing but to blind the people, while the hungry tribe of Whig-Radicals fattened on the hardwon money of the poor. If however this acknowledgment be still withheld, we will undertake to extort it from every man who seeks only the ascertainment of the truth; we undertake to prove that under the Whigs since

1830, patronage has been more increased and more scandalously abused, and that the public money has been more lavishly and suspiciously squandered, than at any period during the past fifty years. Of course we do not mean to commence a crusade, like the Radicals, on the prerogatives of the crown, or to picture in exaggerated colours the influence and corruptions of the Court. We leave those themes to others, confining ourselves to the point contained in our extract from Lord John Russell's book-namely, the aggrandisement of Ministerial power as distinguished from or perhaps opposed to the just authority and influence of the Sovereign. It will be no difficult matter to show that the Whigs have struggled for an_imperium in imperio, and that they have recently, as oftimes they did a hundred years ago, endeavoured to close round the monarch on every side, so that neither the wishes of the people nor the advice of the ablest statesmen can find access or acceptance. Lord Chatham first struck down this great conspiracy, and trampled on the Newcastles and the other "great Whig families" then dominant in the country. His illustrious son struck the second blow after the notorious India bill; and from that time till 1830 the Whig party languished in distress, and was crippled by the lasting operation of merited popular distrust. But from 1830 till the present time, no effort or no energy had been spared to consolidate the faction's strength; no exertion or display of ingenuity has been wanting; no scruples have stood in the way. In 1834 so much success had attended this system, that when the late king dismissed the first Melbourne Ministry, the Whigs resolved on revenge, and determined to force themselves back into his Council. This also will be no matter of surprise when we have accomplished the proof we have taken of the augmented corruption of the present Ministers.

In 1822 Lord Brougham brought forward in the House of Commons a resolution to the following effect :— "That the influence now possessed by the Crown is unnecessary for maintaining its constitutional perogatives, destructive of the independence of Parliament, and inconsistent with the well government of the realm." was alleged, in support of this resolu

It

tion, that there were then 87 placemen in the House of Commons, but in order to make up that number there were included all the King's Sergeants and King's Counsel, and others holding honorary offices on both sides of the House; so that in fact, the real number of placemen directly or indi rectly under the influence of the crown or in receipt of pay was reduced to 47. Now, without further preface, we will enumerate the persons in the House of Commons-the reformed House of Commons-who are similarly situated at present, mentioning only those in the actual receipt of salaries, and under the direct influ ence and command of the Administration:

Sir Charles Adam, Lord of the Admiralty.

Sir George Anson, Surveyor-General of the Ordnance.

Colonel Anson, Storekeeper of the Ordnance.

Nicholas Ball, Attorney-General of Ireland.

Francis F. Baring, Secretary to the Treasury.

G. C. Berkeley, Lord of the Admiralty.

Charles Buller, Member of Lord Durham's Canada Council.

G. S. Byng, Comptroller of the Household.

Sir John Campbell, Attorney-General.

W. F. Cowper, Secretary of Lord Melbourne.

William Curry, Prime Sergeant of Ireland.

Lord Dalmeny, Lord of the Admiralty.

T. S. Duncombe, attached to Lord Durham's Mission.

Edward Ellice, jun., Secretary to Lord Durham.

Cutlar Ferguson, Judge-Advocate General.

Robert Gordon, Secretary to Board of Control.

Sir George Grey, Under Secretary to the Colonial Department.

Sir John Hobhouse, President of Board of Control.

Edward Horsman, Scotch Church
Commissioner.

Lord Howick, Secretary at War.
H. Labouchere, Master of the Mint.
James Loch, Arbitrator for Govern
ment under the Railway Bill.

Mr Kennedy, appointed Chief Commissioner at Cuba.

Mr O'Dwyer, Stipendiary Magistrate in Ireland.

Mi Fitzsimon, Clerk of the Irish Hanaper Office.

Lord Belfast, appointed Vice-Chamberlain to the Queen.

Dr. Bowring, appointed Foreign Agent to the Foreign Office.

Mr H. L. Bulwer, Secretary of Lega-
tion at Constantinople.
Mr Brady, Solicitor-General of Ire-
land.

Mr Crompton, Judge in Ireland.
Mr Perrin, Baron of the Exchequer in
Ireland.

Mr Blamire, appointed Tithe Commissioner for England.

Mr D. Browne, elevated to the Irish Peerage.

Mr Lefevre, appointed Poor Law Commissioner.

Colonel Fox, appointed Clerk of the
Ordnance.

Sir John Newport, appointed Controller
of the Exchequer.
Admiral Elliot, appointed Admiral on
African Station.

Of this tribe we could easily discover dozens more, but it is unnecessary; the specimens above will show that many a pure and patriotic member in the House of Commons, who has not hitherto deigned to take place or pay, may nevertheless have some pleasures of hope to console him for his rigid independence. Others who have nothing given to themselves, who probably also expect nothing, are sufficiently enchained to the Ministry by the employments or honours enjoyed by their relatives. At the risk of fatiguing our readers we subjoin a few of these gentlemen, with a designation of their mode of indirect dependence on the Government.

Lord Acheson.-His father created an

English Peer by the Whigs. Mr Baines. His son made Recorder of Hull.

Mr H. Berkeley, brother to a Lord of the Admiralty, and to a new Whig

peer.

Mr C. Berkeley, ditto.

Lord Duncan.-His father created an
Earl by the Whigs.
Lord Dundas, ditto.
Hon. Mr Dundas, ditto.
Lord Leveson, ditto.
Hon. Mr Moreton, ditto.
Lord Worsley, ditto.

Lord Ebrington.-His nephew Lord
King made an Earl by the Whigs.
Mr Lambton.-His brother made an
Earl by the Whigs.

Mr

Mildmay. His brother-in-law made a Peer by the Whigs.

Mr G. Byng. His brother created a
Peer by the Whigs.

Mr Brodie.-His brother created a
Baronet by the Whigs.
Mr Craig.-His father ditto.
Sir W. Clayton.-His brother ditto.
Mr O'Callaghan.-His father created a
Peer by the Whigs.
Mr J. Westenra, ditto.
Colonel Westenra, ditto
Lord A. Conyngham, brother to the
Lord Chamber lain.
Mr Denison, uncle to ditto.
Mr J. E. Elliot, brother to the First
Lord of the Admiralty.
Lord Melgund, son to ditto.
Mr E. Ellice, father to Lord Durham's
Secretary.

Mr Evans, brother-in-law of Sir H.
Parnell.

Sir R. Ferguson, brother to the new Lord-Lieutenant of Fife.

Lord Fitzalan, son to the Treasurer of the Household.

Mr Fitzsimon, brother to the Clerk of the Hanaper Office.

Mr O'Connell, brother to the new Governor of New South Wales, &c. &c. Mr M. O'Connell, son of the former Mr O'Connel.

Mr J. O'Connell, ditto. Mr M. J. O'Connell, nephew of the member for Dublin.

Mr Maurice O'Connell, son of ditto. Lord B. Grosvenor.-His father made a Marquis by the Whigs. Mr Cavendish.-His grandfather made an Earl by the Whigs.

Mr Hobhouse, brother of the President of Board of Control.

Mr Hurt, brother of the new Governor of South Australia.

Sir C. Lemon, brother-in-law of Lord Lansdowne.

Lord Clements, ditto.

Peer by the Whigs.

Mr Ponsonby, ditto.

Seal.

Mr. Lefevre, brother of the Poor-Law Commissioner.

Besides these individuals, a more diligent search would discover fully fifty more whose relatives have potent motives for supporting Whig-Radical Government. Many members have sons in the navy, and a glance at the navy list will show how these gentlemen prosper; others have connections in the army, and even there they are not quite unheeded.* Some have brothers or cousins in the Church, and if so, stray deaneries or bishopricks may fall to their lot as they did to Doctor Denison Bishop of Salisbury, Doctor Stanley of Norwhich, and Dr Howard, dean of Litchfield, who were well represented in Parliament; like Dr Longley, Bishop of Ripon, brotherin law of Sir Henry Parnell; Dr Allen, Bishop of Ely, tutor of Lord Althorp; and Dr Otter, Bishop of Chichester, the father-in-law of a Liberal member for Derby. Other members may happen to have friends in the colonies, or relations who have no peculiar dislike to visiting remote settlements. If so, dozens of places are constantly to be had in every quarter of the globe. There is something good ready for every one who

wants; just as in the child's game of "open your mouth, and shut your eyes and see what God will send you." But certainly the shutting of the eyes is the main point in the Whig proceeding.

With such lists before them as we have here produced, how does it happen that no jealous Whig opponent of the influence of the Crown now makes

a

motion like Lord Brougham's? There is more provocation than ever, more corruption, and there are more placemen in Parliament. But in truth the influence of the crown is not increased; nothing is augmented but the public expenditure, and the influence of the Whig-Radical faction. We find among the votes of the current year, charges which clearly denote the creation of a very large number of new places throughout the country. In Ireland there is a charge of L.66,700 for the expenses of criminal prosecutions, the chief part of which goes in the payment of salaries, and not a small number of those entirely new ones. In England, there is an item of L.24,000 a year for Poor-Law Commissioners, all which is spent in the payment of newly created officers. Further on, we find 1.14,700 a-year for Slave Commssioners who enjoy almost absolute sinecures; L.9055 ayear for the new Superintendants of Factories; L.6000 for new inspectors of Prisons; L.5000 a-year for the Steam Navigation from Egypt to India; L.5100 for the Criminal Law Commissioners; L.4213 for the Record Commissioners; L4000 for the Scotch Church Commission; L.2500 for the Ecclesiastical Commission; L.4010 for the Hand-loom Weavers' Commission; L.700 for the Irish Charity Commis sion; L.7000 for the Irish Boundary Survey; and L.12,700 for the Irish Railway Commission.