226 OUR SITUATION AND PROSPECTS. 



differeth the power of a king, whose government over his people is 

 politic ; for he can neither change laws without the consent of his 

 subjects, nor yet charge them with impositions against their wills,'' &c. 

 The disposition of the Lords is well known. They, at least, do not 

 mince the matter. Their shameless disregard of the demands of the 

 people is only equalled by their wanton recklessness of their own 

 danger. Lord Melbourne, over and over again, with a straightforward 

 honesty which cannot be sufficiently admired, has warned them of the 

 fate which must ensue from their blindness and obstinacy. What a 

 contrast do the speeches of the noble viscount present to the flippant 

 ebullitions of Tory lords and lordlings ! Having, by a disgraceful ruse, 

 deceived him on the proposal for admitting evidence on the Municipal 

 Corporation Bill, how nobly does the Premier comport himself ! No 

 one could discover the least symptom of personal mortification. There 

 was no attempt to retaliate, save by a solemn denunciation of such 

 deliberate fraud a denunciation from which even the conspirators 

 themselves shrunk back aghast, and which must ring in their ears to 

 the last moment of their existence. Even as lately as the 12th of 

 August the noble lord addressed them in the following strain : 



" It was impossible not to feel that it was a great misfortune when the 

 three branches of the legislature did not act in union when they were not 

 actuated by a community of feeling ; for their alienation long continued must 

 make every one entertain the most lively apprehensions for the state of the 

 constitution and the country. Their lordships, it was clear, were not in 

 unison with those who constituted the majority of the other House of Parlia- 

 ment, who had passed the Bill after it had undergone the scrutiny of the 

 Committee, and after all the amendments had been negatived in the Com- 

 mittee. Their lordships would therefore consider (he did not speak this by 

 way of menace or intimidation, or to fetter their lordships' judgment on the 

 principle and provisions of the Bill) that, if they refused to go into Committee, 

 they were setting themselves in opposition, not only to the majority that sup- 

 ported Ministers, but almost to the whole House of Commons they were 

 setting themselves in opposition to the opinions of the people of England, 

 collected not from public meetings or petitions, to which objection might be 

 made, but declared through the legitimate organ of their Representatives in 

 Parliament." 



Such sentiments so boldly avowed reflect great credit on the first 

 minister of the crown, and cannot fail to attract not only the admiration 



