1823.} 
country to them,—retired. at once 
from office and from the world; and, 
by accessions and promotions,’ the 
cabinet gained in talent, and, it was 
hoped, in liberality. The state of the 
Continent, too, was such as naturally 
led us to believe that a new line of 
policy would be pursucd. Spain and 
Portueat had formed for themselves 
representative constitutions; and they 
had made at least an attempt at break- 
ing the fetters of their mental slave- 
masters. These changes were some- 
what of an approach toward the Con- 
Stitution ef this country ; and, as our 
ministers, had always the-word ‘ Con- 
stitution” in their mouths, joined to all 
the epithets of love and admiration, it 
was very natural to suppose that both 
the people of those countries and of 
this would regard them as friendly to 
those scions from that tree, of which 
theobject of their professed regard was 
the parent stock. 
While it was bclieved that these 
dawnings of the light of liberty in 
the south of Liurope would have 
been hailed as something kindred and 
dear to our ministers, it was as fondly 
believed, that the clouds which had 
been lowering and gathering in the 
north would have been objects of their 
hatred and aversion. It was not 
_ exactly supposed that. they would 
have gone to war on the Continent; 
but it really was hoped, that they 
would have used to the instigators 
and: the tool of the aggression upon 
Spain the very strongest language of 
remonstrance that the diplomatic vo- 
ceabulary permitted ; but the event has 
showed that this hope, too, was wrong, 
—lor the language which they used, if 
it deserved at all the name of dissua- 
jon, certainly did not amount to any 
ting in the form of aremonstrance. , 
— ~While there was thus danger to this 
country from the conduct of the Con- 
_ tinental powers, it was concluded 
‘that every means would be taken to 
‘conciliate the people at home ; that all 
‘those religious fetters and restrictions, 
which fend to alicnate the minds of 
Tumerous classes of the British peo- 
ple, and which, at this time of day, 
appear to be very absurd in them- 
selves, would have been removed; 
that a reasonable improvement would 
have been made in the representation ; 
and that the burdens of the people 
would have been lightened and 
equalized. ‘ 
- 
| Topic of the Month.’ —~ v4 
Such were the hopes which it was 
but reasonable to entertain at the 
opening of the session, and each‘of 
those hopes has but led to disap- 
pomtment at its close. With regard 
to our for¢ign policy, there is. stil! 
either a fear of the Holy Alliance, or 
a leaping to their views... Not ene 
measure which could have tended in 
the least to fan the new fire of liberty, 
or scare away the cold extinguishing 
hand of the despots, has been earried 5. 
not one has been named but has been 
resisted by the ministry; ard on the 
partofthe opposition, though Brougham 
opened the session with a thunder of 
promise, Mackintosh closed it by .a 
cold fog of disappointment. «With 
regard to religious disqualifications, 
nothing has been done in the way of 
removal ; and the Catholics of Ireland; 
and the Dissenters of England, are 
really in a worse situation than they 
were before. ‘The debates and divyi- 
sions in beth Houses kave shown that 
they will not, and the case of the 
sheriff of Dublin has perhaps shown 
that they dare not, be liberal upon 
those matters. In the repeal of taxes, 
they have done litile, considering: the 
length of time that the country has 
now been at peace; and in the article 
of retrenchment, they haye done abso- 
lutely nothing. Looking, in short, at 
the foreign relations and internal 
State of the country at the beginning 
and end of the session, we find them 
so very much the same, that it looks 
as if the existence of Parliament had 
been a mere chimera. Still the walls 
of St. Stephen’s have rung, and the 
press has groaned, with abundance of 
words. We have had motions of 
mighty promise debated for whole 
nights, and then withdrawn; we have 
had long speeches about the holy state 
of wedlock, and heavy ones in defence 
of usury ; and when there appeared to 
be no other subject upon which much 
could be said, and nothing done, then 
we have had Ireland—Ireland—Ire- 
land! ue 
a . 
To the Editor of the Mouthly Magazine. 
SIR. i 
iv is to be regretted that machinery 
has nearly superseded the employ- 
ment of females in this country; and 
they are, in consequence, siffering 
considerably more than men. Thou- 
sands used to be employed ia the). 
process of spinning and weaving lace, 
which 
ap 
