262 OMNIBUS POLITICIANS. 



taxes the last shovel of earth in the last receptacle of six feet by three, 

 all shared alike the censure of this man of words. 



Politics now became the engi'ossing subject, and to do this fellow 

 common justice he cared little about men or measures: Whigs, Tories, 

 Radicals, Reformers, all shared in turn his indignation. Even the good 

 features of our old constitution did not escape him, for she, though not 

 mentioned especially among the list of his hated objects, still held a 

 prominent place there. Of course, the rotten boroughs came first in for 

 their share, upon which he was more eloquent than usual, " These were 

 the ruin," he said, " of the country, — they did as much injury to the 

 body politic as the baker's aluin to the body corporate, (meaning, I sup- 

 pose, the human body) ; — nothing but corruption everywhere, — places, bo- 

 roughs, magistracies, majorities, the army, the navy, the cliurch, bench, 

 law, gospel — all, all bought." Here the old man could no longer remain 

 silent, and said, " Pray, sir, when was the country so prosperous ?" 

 " Fiddlesticks !" cried this fellow, " it is an unnatural state of things, and 

 assumed prosperity for the benefit of certain loan- contracting gentlemen. 

 A rattling war is what we want to set this country right. Talk of your 

 blessings of peace, look around you, and what do you see ? bankruptcies, 

 failures in every quarter. There is, sir, in this country an excess of popu- 

 lation, more mouths than you have bread for, — you must get rid of these 

 bv some means or other. If you are acquainted with the history of your 

 country, you must know that this is the longest peace for the last 150 

 years : 17 years is the average duration of peace, so in the natural course 

 of events, we must soon have war. Never was there such a glorious op- 

 portunity as our vaccillating (I have no doubt, he here meant vacillating) 

 ministers threw away, with Russia ; — a war, sir, with Russia would make 

 any ministers popular in this country. " Yes," said the man of drugs ; 

 " I believe a war would raise the price of corn, and be a God-send to 

 the farmers." A general laugh ran through the Bus, for it now 

 ?ippeared that the man of many words was really a man of grain. I 

 joined, I freely confess, in the laugh against this fellow, who from base 

 motives of self-interest was sapping the solidity of our national credit, 

 honour, and public tranquillity. " God bless the King," said the man of 

 drugs : " Amen with all my heart," cried I, putting in a word for the 

 first time. " Amen, say I also," said the man of many words :" he is as 

 good as most kings, but I don't love kings at all." A murmur ofdisap- 

 probation ran through the Bus, as he finished this last sentence. 

 ." Look at Europe," resumed the rogue in grain ; " what a pretty set of 

 kings ! I would not give a brass farthing for the whole batch of um. 

 There is Louis Phillip, King of the French, and his hungry son-in-law, 

 Leopold, a fellow what ain't ashamed to be drawing from this country, 

 with her load of taxes and debt, his 50,0001. a year ; and there is the 

 Emperor of Austria, and Frederick of Prussia — I think they calls him so ; 

 and last of all is the biggest of all villains, the Emperor of Russia, the 

 Auticrat, as they call him, of all the Russias, whose greatest delight 

 would be to upset every thing here, and then come in to settle things 

 for us, as he has done for Poland. Only look how he watches Greece 

 and the Turks. I tell you what, sir, that ere chap is a more slyer chap 

 than my Lord Melbourne, or Lord Palmerston, or Newspaper men, 

 think he is." The chymist, though his labour was only of a passive 



