THE 



MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



OF 



POLITICS, LITERATURE, AND THE BELLES LETTRES. 

 VOL. IX.] MARCH, 1830. [No. 51. 



THE OPENING OF THE SESSION OF PARLIAMENT. 



ON Thursday, the 4th of February, the Parliament was opened by 

 Commission. On this mode of commencing the public business, we have 

 no inclination to involve ourselves in extent of remark. But we believe 

 that a more acceptable mode of declaring the royal opinion on national 

 affairs might be discovered, and that this is the seventh or eighth 

 commencement of the session which has exhibited the Hibernian anomaly 

 of his Majesty being in two places at once, and speaking to his faithful 

 subjects the Lords and Commons at Westminster assembled, while, 

 at the same moment, he is listening to the polished pleasantries of Sir 

 Andrew Barnard; or giving a solemn ear to the grave wisdom of Sir 

 Edward Nagle, in his boudoir at Windsor. When King Charles of 

 facetious memory was asked, why, instead of speaking his speech, he 

 read it, the monarch, fc who never said a foolish thing, nor ever did a 

 wise one," replied, that " By'r Lady, he had so often asked Parliament 

 for money, he was ashamed to look them in the face." We are far from 

 presuming that any such declaration will be made by our illustrious 

 Sovereign. But we wish that we could enjoy the advantage of seeing 

 him oftener. We give him full credit for the due fitness for his exalted 

 functions, and for the corresponding zeal. But still, Windsor is twenty- 

 two miles from Westminster, and the most loyal telescope will find a 

 difficulty in penetrating so far. A day spent on the road between Hyde 

 Park Corner and the Castle-gates, may be but a pastime to Ministers, 

 who are, we honestly believe, much more harmlessly employed while 

 counting donkeys or dandelions along the road, than counting boroughs, 

 or scribbling despatches in the showily-furnished rooms of Whitehall : 

 but to humbler men, the distance interposes a formidable barrier 

 between his Majesty and public recollection; and, not being of the 

 opinion of some important persons, that royalty may be fairly left beyond 

 the visible horizon, so long as the country is blessed with a stirring 

 Cabinet, we say, let us have no more Speeches by Commission. 



We utter those sentiments from unfeigned respect for the monarchical 

 portion of the Constitution. In the struggles which will unquestionably 

 rise, we cannot afford to cast away any part of that great defence which 

 our ancestors erected for the freedom of the people. The weight of the 

 attack has, within our time, shifted from quarter to quarter of that triple 

 bulwark, which, if ever wisdom, virtue, and piety hallowed a work of 

 man, hallowed the Constitution of the British Empire. To what has been 

 done, we shall advert no more, until we can return with a hope of reno- 



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