60 Notes for the Month. [J ULY, 



'of Mr. Wakefield's enterprise. The fact attempted to be insinuated, 

 were it true, would have been no circumstance (at the time when it is 

 said to have occurred) of denial, or concealment ! if it were fact, it would 

 be capable, not of being hinted or asserted, but of distinct and satisfactory 

 proof. But, besides that the mere act of a man's coming voluntarily for- 

 ward as the utterer of a charge like that in question, deserves to stamp him 

 as unworthy of belief, there is still a stronger obstacle to credit in the 

 way of the accusation, as it is got up by Mr. Wakeficld ; - most men will be 

 of opinion that his word could have very little worth one way or the other 

 in the question, whether the statement was true ; but every man will know 

 that, if it were true, the occasion would never have arisen for its being 

 uttered. 



We abstained, as our readers will have noticed, from commenting upon 

 this case, until the last point m it was finally determined. We should, 

 probably, not have adverted to it at all, but from something like an attempt 

 at its extenuation, which has appeared (we do not very well understand 

 upon what principle) in a publication, where (to say the least for it) a 

 bolder and more manly style of policy and feeling had been commonly 

 displayed. It is unnecessary for us. after what we have already said, to 

 go into any expression of personal opinion upon the merits of the parties 

 concerned. But certainly, if it were possible to forget the disgust which 

 -one of the last circumstances connected with their case excites, the ridicu- 

 lous discomfiture which their "spirit and gallantry" has received through- 

 out the rest of it, would almost be entitled to our pity. 



Politics for the month have produced nothing either very entertaining, or 

 very important. Every measure proposed good or bad has been "put off," 

 lest " discussion should embarrass the New Ministry :" upon which lhe Exa- 

 miner, of Sunday, the 17th June, has some lively remarks. The likening 

 of the New Administration to the lady en famille, is carried a little too far 

 for good taste some people never can give up a tolerable thought till they 

 have ridden it to death, if once they get hold of it ; but the idea -among 

 other measures of tenderness and precaution of " the knockers being tied 

 up, and Joseph Hume being thrashed for making a noise in the street," is 

 comical. The general discussions which have taken place, have demon- 

 strated with singular felicity, the proposition which we took the liberty of 

 submitting last month, as to the very guarded assent which ought to be given 

 to the declarations of statesmen, while they are in opposition. Sir James Scar- 

 lett, the other night, in the House of Commons, having come (with his new 

 seat, as the King's Attorney General) to a cautious and constitutional mode 

 of thinking befitting that high office, defended, or, as Mr. Peel expressed it, 

 " did tardy justice to," one of the late Lord Londonderry's " Six acts ;" 

 and Mr. Brougham lets out the fact in his dinner speech at Liverpool 

 which certainly no one, who has been in the habit of listening to him for 

 the last five years, would ever have suspected that he has, all along, been 

 (notwithstanding his incessant attacks both on the private feeling and 

 public conduct of that noble and learned personage), most particularly 

 the personal and professional 'friend of Lord Eldon ! The scene which 

 followed the announcement of this truth, by the honourable and learned 

 Member, at Liverpool, was rather whimsical; and reminds us of the result of 

 an attempt that Mr. Listen, the actor, once made to play " high tragedy" in 

 London. When Mr. Liston appeared on the stage as Octaviau, the house, 

 almost before he spoke, was convulsed with laughter;- upon which he 





