The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-07 00:00:00

TO THE SECRETARY OF. THE
ME 11t0 POUT t`LN REF° R A SSOC lATIO N.
Sir.-0,1 Monday the kb, the most attractive por-
tion of the price gs of tee House was what related to
Mr. Milner Gibson's motion for limiting the speeches of
Members to an hour. The position of the question ap-
pears to be something like the following. The men of
business, consisting of the members of the Government
ononot:and, and those who from having been members
of form-r Governor ents or other causes, hold similar
ank upon the othe.r, are unexceptionable in their way,
and can hardly ever be said to need or to invite
any law fur the regulation of their speeches. The ac-
cidental speakers also,--whom connexion with the sub-
ject in hand or strong individual feeling occasionally
calls up; are not sof volume sufficient to call for re-
pressive legislation. But between these two classes
stand up what may, for brevity, be called the bores;
men of an unlimii,d power of utterance, and bent upon
talking themselves into such notoriety and eminence as
their line ot exertion, may lead to. They are not in ge-
neral remarkable fi)r devotion to any particular cause; not,
tor instance, the preachers in season and out of season who
indoctrinated the national heart with the truths of Free
Trade, nor the active exciters of the working classes-to
look into their own interests and to stand up fur them.
They appear to act from no- strong passion or unma-
nageable impulse, except the instinct of establishing that
they can and will speak without limits in the House of
Commons. And their example is infectious; for many a
well-meaning Member has been seduced by it into a be-
lief, that he must be lightly held by the constituency of
his love, if he does not demonstrate at least the occasional
power of wearying with a two-hours' speech.
At the same time it must not be concealed, that a bore
sometimes rises into something better, and that there
are Members 'whose loss the public would sorely feel,
who began by being bores. There must therefore be no
direct attempt to proscribe the race; but self-defence
suggests the desirableness of something that shall tend
to check.-•. The division of last night,—an unexpectedly
strong one, being in its proportions half as good again
as that which" the great Country Party" made the night
beforeo-:Will ho ope-rative to a considerable 'extent, and
must be followed up by others. One improvement
which it struck me might have been introduced
into the motion, would have been to insert words leaving
a latitude to the House, as, for instance, that speeches
should be limited t) one hour " unless with the consent
of the Howe," or " unless no notice be taken by the
House." Something approaching to a precedent, though
not every close one, exists in the rule
.which demands
the presence .of forty Members. Any Member can
put a stop to proceedings with a smaller 'num-
ter; but if no notice be taken, the House goes
on, and in fact a large proportion of the rou-
tine business is so transacted. It would be very
undesirable that the restraining of a too. prolix orator
should be dependent on notice by a single Member; but
the principle of allowing the rule to be in abeyance till
notice of some kind be taken, is as much there as ever.
The way to convey the House's hint, would be by crying
" Time," or if that be vulgar, " Chair." A friend to
whom I mentioned my notion in the House, said, " You
would have duels." He must have misapprehended my
intention. The act of rising to ask to have the House
counted, is Much more annoying to the orator
who is condemned to instant silence, than would
be the warning calls of a number of Members,
hinting, but not too peremptorily, that the speaker would
do well to wind up his matter into a graceful peroration.
But no duels have been known to arise out of the harsher
course; and could not out of the milder.
One argument in contradiction is worth noticing. It
is urged "that to limit to any given time, is only to intro-
duce a greater number in exact Proportion. The answer
to which is, that the introduction-of the greater number
in the place of the smaller is itself a good. The very
object of desire is to take the consumption of time out
of the hands of professed talkers, and divide it among
those who satisfy some laudable wish, exercise some
struggling talent, or gratify some honest constituency.
On the 6th, the Secretary, for the Home Department
made his -motion for prolonging the suspension of the •
Habeas Corpus Act in- Ireland. The strong portion of
his argument was, that the Government had used their
powers hitherto with so much advantage to all parties,
that it was a reason for acceding to their request for
prolongation. A less happy part, was where he did
something like ri questing to be allowed the suspension
for SIX awnths now, in order that the Government might '
see whether they could -do without it afterwards.
This is like the Irish servant in the caricature, who .
being asked with which of two fiery liquors he will
excite his stomach, replies that he will take one
while the other is getting ready. I suppose, on the
whole, the Ministerial proposal must be agreed to; for
the case from the beginning was one in which there was
hardly an alternative, between taking the field with the -
Irish or taking it against them. But it ought to be
accompanied with intimations that the proposed
repetatur haustus roust be dispensed with, or, at all
events,- that no recognition of its propriety is included in
any admission of the present draught.
It was observable that the discussion on the One
Hour motion was not without its effect last night. The
debate was concluded at half-past twelve, by a division
of 221 to 18, against Mr. Grattan's amendment.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
AN OLD REFORMER.

London, Feb. 7, 1849

COURT CIRCULAR.