The National Register.
London, England, 1808-03-27 00:00:00

MARCH 27,

" DEA it
Your last letter to me contains so much important intelli-
gence with regard to your views in life, and so many interroga-
tories upon a thousand great Matters, that I really aid lwd
to answer it satisfactorily, either to'you or to myself. Twenty
epistles would hardly suffice to give you the information you ask
fur, and how can I do it in One? Bat if you will he comented
to take a letter from me once in a few days, as I can snatch time
to write, I will try to answer your demands.
" Newspapers, as you very justly observe, give no idea at all,
or at• least a very erroneous one, concerning the nature and
habits of our constitution, of its members, and of its jobbers:
and as you are likely to pass many years in the country, you
desire me to tell you something about the state of affairs in the
Huuses of Parliament, In ordet that *hen you shad succeed to
your father's peerage yott may have some notions of the t harac-
ters and customs of your colieagttes and associates.
" People who, like you, have spent all their lives in the
simplicity of the country, are apes when they first come to
town, and pay a visit to the !louses of rarliament, to expect
a great deal that shall strike them with reverence and awe.
" Your plain Mau, jitst imported from the fields, walks Into
the House of Lords, as he would into St. Paills ; and instead of
the grave instruction that he hopes to hear in the Cathedral or
the Senate, he finds in both alike a few boys trying to out-squall
each other, and a few old women sitting patiently to listen to
them. lie expected in the highest public council of the nation,
to have beheld senators decked in all the majesty of hereditary
honour--and he secs a few careless loungers, with boots and
horsewhips, scattered among cheerless bencliesl Ile fancied
himself about to catch the gathered wisdom of centuries, dif-
fusing Itself in unaffected eloquence front the mouths of sages—
he hears a few angry partisan? broaching new notions on the
immulable principles of nature, exposing some their ig-
norance, sometimes their incapacity, and sometimes only their
spite ; and If at last by any accident, amid the quarrels of place
hunters, and the mutual recritninations of past and present
ministers, he hears one or two noble lords connecting candour
and moderation with natural good sense, he wanders how they
chanced to resist the established mischief, and rather regrets the
rule than hails the exception !

-" Here, as in the House ot Commons, the art of making
speeches constitutes a great part of the art of politics ; but as
this particular branch of the art of politicS, is. not carried to
such perfection in the House of Lords as in thd House of Com-
mons, l shall not let you into its arcana, till I give you an
accottet of the Declahe.ers among those who represent the
people. Perhaps you will wonder ss by it happens that the Com-
mons have more good sreakers, even iu proportion to their num-
bers, than the Right Ilonourables or the upper llouse. The rea
son, my dear It—, seems to me to be .his Men are often put into
the House of Commons for their talents, and the thing is a mat-
ter of selectitin ; but in the I !ppr !louse there is no choice as to
talent, for the whole is a matter of birth. if a nobleman hap-
pens to be horn clever, Very well—if not, he still has his seat.
Now as the Frees do not amount, in number, to above three or
four hundred, all of whom have seats, while the Commons can
select their six or seven hawked members front among millions,
It is ant likely that there should be so great a proportion of
tnen .)f genius among the unsolected th tee or four hundred Lords,
as among the slk or seven hundred selected Commons. In short
a seat in the House of Commons is the consequence of talent :
bat talent is not the consequence of a scat in the House of
Lords. Their cleverest men are called up from the Lotter
How, I and even these, after their political transplantation,
fur the mwt part Follow the order that nature has established
In the ph”ieal world, and cease to fluurlsh when they leave
their parent still.

" But though the Peers in general Carnet declaim .o
es the Representatives oft the People, :et lbany Of th,.ai do de-
claim, (mil that behind the scenes, as wall us before the Curtain.