with the momentary success of his little scheme, the noble lord never troubled himself to look beyond its momentary consequences--he never once recollected that the time might come when the falsehood would be detected, and its originator exposed -dazzled by the glitter of the emoluments of office, he never once thought of its inconveniences-his whole soul was asborbed in reflections upon the magnitude of the prize at which he grasped, and the triumph of the anticipation of the Home Secretary's place, be never once remembered that when he and his accomplices had succeeded, upon the strength of their unfounded representations, in displacing honester and abler men, the country would expect them to verify their statements by producing those measures for the preparation of which they took so much credit to themselves.

was

Sir Robert Peel, however, was displaced the Melbourne cabinet reconstructed just as it was constituted in November, with the exception of the only individual who appeared to be in ignorance of their glorious measures of reform. With the solitary omission of Lord Brougham, the members of it have been reinstated in place they again receive their salaries, and bestow the patronage of the crown. Lord John Russell's statement is now subjected to an inconvenient test.Those measures which were ready in November, ought surely to be forthcoming in April. But, alas, for the veracity of the noble lord-alas, for the credulity, real or pretended, of the House of Commons, that acted on his word-it is now discovered that the measures which were absolutely ready in November, are still to be thought of and prepared. The house adjourns for an unprecedented space of time, to meet the convenience of the new cabinet-and in this awkward emergency, hasty and bungling measures are prepared, to meet the exigencies of the case-principles taken up without consideration, are blundered out into details prepared without care; and, after many procrastinations and excuses, the leader of the House of Commons lays upon the table an illconsidered and a worse digested bill for the reform of municipal corporations in England and Wales.

It cannot but seem strange, that the principle which Lord John Russell thought most important while in opposition, in office he comparatively forgets-the appropriation of the revenues of the Irish church was the great object for which he struggled--to effect this sacrilegious project, he obtained his place. But scarcely has he been placed in his office, when he unac countably changes his mind. The reform of corporations, upon which no vote of the House of Commons had been passed, which never had been brought forward in the party struggle that disgraced the commencement of the present session, becomes suddenly magnified into the first importance, and viewed from the position in which the noble lord is now placed, those objects, which but a little while ago appeared so vast, have dwindled into comparative littleness and insignifi

cance.

To those who honestly seek the good of the nation, the objects which were of importance in April are surely of the same importance now. The statesman who is convinced of the national utility of a great measure, will steadily pursue it; and, whether in office or in opposition, his efforts will be directed to the same end. But while the interests of the nation are permanent, those of a party may be very changeable and uncertain; and thus, while the conduct of the patriot is steady and consistent as the object which he seeks, the policy of the partizan is vacillating and variable as the interests which he serves. The one has nothing to embarrass his calculations, as he has nothing to consider but his country's good, while the other must take into his account all the perplexing chances of party contingencies, and be guided by all the debasing considerations of party selfishness, altering his course, and changing his tactics, as the poor and paltry interests of party may require.

We believe that the only object of the Whigs is to retain office-the desire of place is the only motive that actuates them. We have long been led to this conclusion, and recent events have confirmed our belief. Ever since the assembling of parliament, the whole tactics of the party have had reference to this single end.

It may be worth while to review the course which they have pursued.

Sir Robert Peel took office with the declared intention of endeavouring to remove every abuse that might exist in the institutions of the country-to do everything to adapt them not only merely to the advanced intellect of the age, but to the new state of society which was created by the Reform Bill -everything that in his honest judgment he could believe calculated to improve the efficiency of our institutions, he pledged himself to support. Nor did he confine himself to professions. All these commissions which, under the Whig government, had been proceeding at so sluggish a pace, were quickened into new activity-measures were put in train for a more equable distribution of the revenues of the English Church, a reform in which his opponents had never moved a single step, and Sir Robert Peel set himself in good earnest to effect those alterations which might promote the utility without endangering the existence of our institutions. The Whigs determined to prevent him from laying his measures before the country-they first declared that the dissolution had interrupted the progress of reform, a declaration which has been proved to have no foundation in fact; but which, at best, could answer no practical end. They then proceed to occupy the time of the legislature with one of the most absurd resolutions that ever was submitted to a deliberative body-a resolution dealing altogether with abstract, not to say imaginary, existtences; and which never would have been brought forward if it had not been in the anticipation of its being opposed, and thus, by a series of manoeuvres, dictated by an utter recklessness to everything but the one object of gaining place--they succeeded in driving from the head of affairs the ministers of their sovereign's choiceand resumed the position for which all parties in the country had long since pronounced them unfit.

Out of office they had directed all their energies to gain it-in office they frame all their plans with the single view to keep it. They found that the subject they had taken up in opposition would not answer their ministerial tactics-the people of Eng

land were not yet prepared for the sacrifice of the Irish Church-they then satisfy their new allies the Irish agitators, by surrendering into their hands the official patronage of that country, and the grievance of the Irish Church is to be left untouched, while they may invent some measure of reform upon which they may force the Conservatives to oppose them, and then brand them as the supporters of abuse. This was the object with which Lord John Russell prepared his measure of municipal reform. He took up the subject for a party purpose, and he commenced to legislate upon it in a party spirit; and though he has been disappointed in his design-though the Conservative opposition, which he so anxiously expected, has not been provoked, or the popular clamour on which he calculated, been raised-though one party look upon his measure without alarm, and the other regard it with a mortifying indifference, this may shew the erroneousness, but it never can disprove the selfish factiousness of his calculations.

It may be worthy the attention of all thinking men in the country, to calculate the real gain to the cause of reform effected by the factious expulsion of Sir Robert Peel. The only two measures which the new ministry will introduce this session, are the measures of Corporation Reform and a bill for the settlement of the Irish Church question. It seems now uncertain whether the latter will be brought on this session at all;-but, first, of Corporation Reform, some measure of this nature will undoubtedly become law-not indeed the crude and illdigested measure of Lord John Russell, but a bill embodying its principles and avoiding its many and grievous errors. Now this is precisely what would have taken place had Sir Robert Peel continued in office, except that his measure would have been better arranged, than it is probable the present one will be, even after all the amendments and modifications, which in its passage through the houses it will unquestionably receive. In the matter of Corporation Reform has clearly gained nothing. Then as to the Irish Church, it is more than probable that this question will also be postponed until a more convenient time, but if it is not, Lord

others the most shameless and corrupt. Peculation indeed, appears to be regarded as the prerogative of the demagogue. Those who have won the favour of the populace by flattering them, are, of all others, the most likely to consider themselves privileged to take liberties with their pockets.

The uniformity of Lord John Russell's measure is a strong presumption against its usefulness; with the exception of the division of the larger towns into wards, the provisions are the same for the largest city, and the most inconsiderable borough in the kingdom-and yet few will say, that the measures adapted for the one will be equally well calculated for the other. But even leaving out of the question the difference of circumstances between a great commercial city and a small venal borough, we apprehend, that it will be found, that there are not merely local interests and local circumstances, but local acts of parliament, that must exercise a very perplexing and disturbing influence upon the particular application of any general measure of municipal arrangement. But this is ever the evil of hasty legislation, that circumstances are overlooked until the mischief, which a little caution might have obviated, is practically felt, when the remedy becomes, perhaps, more cumbersome and complicated than the inconvenience it re

moves.

Lord John Russell's bill enacts into burgesses all inhabitants of the borough who have been three years rated for the relief of the poor. Whether this be not too extensive a franchise we will not now stop to inquire; it seems, however, strange in those who profess to remove all anomalies from our constitution, to form enactments of which the effect is in every borough to create three different constituencies at onceeach exercising functions which would seem to belong to the mass of the inhabitants the vestry regulating the poor-rates-the ten-pound householders returning the members to parliament, and the burgesses managing the municipal affairs.

The burgesses elect a common council consisting of members of which the number is to vary from fifteen to ninety-the common council annually elect a mayor-a third of the common

council go out each year-so that annual elections will take place under the provisions of the bill.

The mayor and burgesses are to be the incorporation-the common council the directing and deliberating body besides these, there are to be a town treasurer, town clerk, and in some boroughs a recorder, all to be elected by the common council, with the exception of the recorder, who is to be nominated by the crown-and to be a barrister of not less than five years' standing.

Two very important arrangements are, the institution of charitable trustees, and of auditors of the borough; the funds left in trust to the corporation are very properly placed under the management of a separate board-we do not approve of the constitution of that board, but the principle is good; and all the accounts of the town treasurer and the charitable trustees are each year to be submitted to three auditors, two to be elected by the burgesses, and one to be nominated by the mayor.

In boroughs possessing the right of holding separate courts of session, the burgesses are all liable to serve as grand or petit jurors.

The parts of the bill which appear to us to be most objectionable we shall endeavour humbly to point out. We cannot enter at present upon anything like a full discussion of this great question, but we throw out the following observations, more as suggestions than

as comments.

We do not quarrel with the extension of the franchise, but we think it necessary, very necessary, that in bodies so popular and democratic as the new corporations will be, there should be provided some checks upon popular power; the bill does not even require any qualifications for a common council-man, or a mayor-a pauper may be made the first magistrate of a town, if he can find a constituency of paupers to elect him.

In the new corporation there will be no body analogous to the board of aldermen. It might be possible, by establishing a second rank of burgesses composed of the wealthier inhabitants of the boroughs, and giving to these the election of a board of aldermen from whom the mayor should be chosen

by the common council-to form a system democratic enough for all the useful purposes of popular control, and yet giving to property that just influence which would operate as a check upon popular licentiousness.

The indiscriminate confiscation of the rights of old freemen we altogether disapprove of; their rights might be retained, as they were in the reform bill, to those residing within seven miles of the borough. We are not quite sure that it is well to take from the inhabitants of the city the power of conferring, even upon strangers, the freedom of their city-the custom is a very ancient one, it is derived certainly from no aristocratic source-it belonged to the republican institutions of Greece and Rome; and even if an honorary freedom were to confer no civic right, it were a tribute worth paying sometimes to distinguished merit-a tribute, be it remembered, of which, in the new boroughs, the people would be the source.

The abolition of the exclusive rights of trading is a measure founded certainly on principles of equitable policy -the time is gone by when trade required the fictitious protection of monopolies at home; at the same time, however, it must not be forgotten, that on faith of these exclusive rights, large apprentice fees have been paid, and property vested in trade. These interests may not have all the sacredness of vested interests, but they may, perhaps, be worthy the attention of the legislature.t

The frequency of elections is a very great evil in the present arrangements of the bill—a third part of the common council are to be elected every year. We do not see that this frequency of election tends to any good end and we are very sure that it will produce much evil, by creating annually in the borough, all the confusion and dissension, and ill-will, that are inseparable from the almost personal excitement of the electioneering politics of a small town.

In the clause which regulates the method of taking votes, there appears to be some strange indefiniteness which will admit of much dispute, as its proper interpretation. We do not know whether the framers of the bill designed that the voting should be secret, but a construction might be very fairly put upon the enactment which would have this practical effect-a paper signed by the voter is to be handed to the mayor; there is no provision made that this paper shall be open to the inspection of any one else-this would be placing unlimited power in the hands of the mayor--we do not believe that this was the intention of the framers, but the clause is liable to this construction, and the instructions as to the mode of voting should be much more explicit.

The power of removing, at their pleasure, all the officers of the corporation, is one that certainly ought not to be intrusted, without some restriction, to the common council; nothing ever could be better calculated to give occasion for party manoeuvring and petty intrigue between needy adventurers and corrupt councillors-and certainly no provision could be more adapted utterly to destroy in the officers all sense of independence, and to minister in the councillors to that spirit of arrogance and pride, which is the besetting sin of all democratic communities.

The discretionary power of granting or withholding licenses for alehouses is one that certainly ought not be left altogether to the councillors-at least the recorder, who is the only corporate officer totally separate from local politics, and the only one too for whose respectability we have any security, should exercise over the matter some control.

The clauses for furnishing an efficient night watch, and municipal police, as well as we can form an opinion, upon a necessarily hasty perusal, seemed admirably calculated to secure these important objects.