The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-02-26 00:00:00

erbe Eiberpool Otanbarb._
TUESDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 26, 1833.
-Mr: MINH AND THE NOirrnEnN LIMITs.—It is an
agreeable relief from our more more plodding editorial
labours to turn to the occasional sallies of our sage
rulers in the reformed House of Commons.—Leaving,
-therefore, to our future numbers, the consideration of
those measures for the discussion of which, a few days
hence, we hear the "-dreadful note of
.preparation" on
. every side, ire have to thank
.the hon. member for
Middlesex for the timely relaxation of our risible mus-
eles;afForded by the perusal of the little debate of Thurs-
day last upon his question of lights. Now, of all things
in the world, the last we should have expected from the
hon. gent. would have-been an attempt to deprive us of
lights; seeing how much need we have of all that can
be obtained, to assist us in penetrating the dense mass
of matter daily brought under our view in his own
speeches, motions for papers, and other parliamentary
proceedings.. Would our readers believe it, that Mr.
Hume is not only contemplating the pulling down of
half the light-houses round the coasts, to the great ad-
vantage andconvenience of our shipping, but, from some
motiVe which we are unable to divine, he also compasses
the destruction of the laudable undertaking which is just
carried into effect for ascertaining the fate of the brave
Captain Ross and his companions in the polar re-
gions. For within a week after the sailing of the in-
dividuals engaged in that expedition from our port, up
ininps the hon. gentleman in his place in parliament, and
declares, that he will "extinguish the northern lights."
Poor Captain Backl we wonder much what dire offence
he has been guilty of towards the hon. member, to draw
upon himself this declared act of vengeance ! We ap-
peal to the hon. gent. to retire his threat, considering
how important it is to that gallant officer and 'his party to
have the benefit of those lights during the long nights of
the regions to which they are going.
Then, upon Mr. Harvey's motion :to publish officially
the divisions in the House of Commons. What a treat!
Why we would have given the best piece of money in
our purse to have been able to join. in those hearty bursts
'of laughter which accompanied Sir Robert Peel's apology
for the hon. member for Middleiex not supporting the
motion. " Suppose,"
_said Sir Robert, that a member
voted that black was white and that white was black upon
some Russo-dutch loan question, and avow that he did
so contrary to his conviction, in order to continue a par-
ticular administration in office, it mightbe Convenient to
such a member that his• constituents might know why lie
so voted to prevent them from turning him out. God
forbid that the constituent body. should judge of the
general conduct of a representative on an individual
vote." The bursts of laughter that accompanied this
kind apologetic sentence of the Right Hon. Bart., would
help any moderate man over the tedium of a long debate
—aye, even that which accompanies a speech of the Hon.
member for Middlesex himself. But to those who know
the cut of the Hon. Gent's countenance, its expression
(we avail ourselves, here, of the exception to the nega-
tive rule) when the Right hon. bait. sat down, must have
been a high treat. Perhaps since the celebrated descrip-
tion by.the late lamented Statesman Mr. Canning of the
" journey by the heavy Falmouth coach" to Join the
Spanish Patriots, of a certain Noble Lord who now gives
weight to the measures of His Majesty's Government
among the no-pirates of Greece, nothing so nearly its
parallel has occurred in the House of Commons.
But, as our friend Joseph stammered out-on that occa-
sion, that " speaking was one thing and voting another,"
so we say "preaching is one thing and practising
another"—and, therefore, after enjoying ourselves with
what we have related,.we will ask him to point out to us
the consistency of his conduct in one other little matter;
and we tell him that we have actually been bitten by his
own fancy; and sat down to figures, and pounds, shillings
and pence calculations. We have given ourselves the
trouble of computing how much paper, time, and money
are occupied or expended upon the motions of the Hon.
Member ; and the result is, that, within the first fort-
night of a reformed and economical Parliament, the
printing of the Heads or Titles alone .of the Hon.
Member's motions has occupied 11,909
:sheets of. super-
fine foolscap; and, upon a moderate:computation, "the
tottle of the whole," when the Returns are printed, will
. .
form a snug little library Of 2306 ;folio volumes ; in pre-
paring which about:fifty. clerks will be
.occupied for nearly
a month. Here we will leave the calculation ; begging
the Hon.. Member to carry the -estimate on for the re-
mainder of the Session, and to tell us how much less it
will amount to than ':.the aggregate " pension's and
sinecures to Naval and Military officers," his motion for
the annihilation of which, to the honour of. the house,
they refused by a large majority.
Whilst we are on the, subject of consistency, we are a
little disposed to be inconsistent with ourselves, by ask-
ing the hon. member to' make one other • little metion—
but ours is quite a peccadillo in its. way. If the hon. gent.
has any disposition to render us a service, we would ask
him to move for a Return of all the O'Connells that
sit in the'House of Commons, specifying their several
ages, respective degrees of relationship, and qualifica-
tions; and farther skewing the various counties, cities,
and boroughs, for which they severally 'sit. in' Parliament."
Such a return might enable us to judge, in some degree
Whether the modesty and consistency of the honourable
and learned member for Dublin were equal to that of the
Hon: Member for Middlesex. himself. Without 'going
here into the question of' the Irish Disturbance bill, it is
really amusing to hear the learned Gent.-'s bewailings
aver the threatened fate, of his uprearimsS countrymen,
who, be says, are to be brought before "five military
.....
officers who have been two years in the service and have
attained the age of 21."--L-Nilhether it is quite as hard as
-he says for "the -finest pisantry in the world," if not the
most peaceable, to lie brought before live officers thus
-described, wewl,ll not pretend to determine. But for us,
the staid people of England, to be legislated for. by a
maiddlepagedQ-entleinen, with his four sons.and nephews,"
•