THE PARLIAMENTARY TIME-BILL.
THE electioneering intelligence received from all parts of the coun- try, places beyond doubt the gratifying fact, that the Reformed Parliament will contain at least twice as many useful and labo- rious members as the present. We do not wish by any means to underrate the importance of liberal opinions in a candidate, upon subjects of general policy; but our late researches , into the Work- ing of the House of Commons have strongly impressed us with the necessity of choosing representatives who, to a love of free institutions, and a determination to secure and improve them, unite activity, perseverance, and experience in the real business of life. There are but few such in the House at present ; and the labour and annoyance which these gentlemen undergo, are as inordinate, as the benefits which they confer on their country arc incalculable. In fact, we spur on these willing steeds with merciless rigour,— we load them till their sinews crack, and their wind is broken ; while, at the same time, there arc hundreds of ambling palfries whom we suffer to live in clover, and rarely take out even for a gentle canter. We shall have more bone and muscle, though perhaps rather less blood, in the Parliamentary mews which are now building. But, to quit the language of the turf,—for it is of human beings, after all, that we are discoursing,—every one recollects instances of men of first-rate talent, industry, and integrity, who have either fallen a sacrifice to their exertions for the public good, or who have been driven into privacy by their physical inability to endure the enormous fatigue consequent upon a faithful discharge of Par- liamentary- duties. For there are certain members upon whom the whole weight of national business seems to fall—men who make short speeches and draw up pithy reports—who move for returns and collect information upon the statistics and commerce of the coun- try; while others are betting at Tattersall's, or lounging over new novels and periodicals at White's or the Athenmum. These latter personages, however, though they may be classed among the most contemptible of the "puff and patty portion of mankind,"—inas- much as they neglect pressing duties, and violate shamefully the most solemn pledges, expressed or implied,—still, we say, these are harmless beings if compared with those insufferable prosers of the old school, or flippant witlings of modern days, who consume the time, health, and patience of the real representatives of the • people, by their interminable harangues and petulant altercations odthe most trivial matters.
If we were in possession of a table which would enable us to contrast the time occupied by questions of little or no import- ance—such as abusing the Press, or wrangling upon Irish petitions—with that consumed in voting away the public money by millions, we should be able to place in a striking point of view the gross neglect of duty with which the majority of the House of Commons may be charged with too much reason. Some table of this description might, we think, be formed without much difficulty. All of our readers who have experienced the delight of travel- ling by the Mail or the Wonder, getting gaily over the ground at the rate of eleven or twelve miles an hour, must have noticed a certain paper which ever and anon the guard draws from his ample pocket, and then either returns thereto with a look of silent satisfaction, or else, leaping like a wild cat from one scarcely visible projection of the coach to another, whispers words of deep -- Import to the Mill on the box; whereupon, this latter function- ary, with an understanding nod, snaps the whistling whipcord on the neck of his off-leader, spanks his wheelers smartly on the flank, and makes her (that is, the coach) spin along the road in double-quick time. The mystical.document above mentioned is denominated a Time-Bill----the right hour and minute of arrival at every stopping-place on the ros.d being therein accurately spe- cified. Now we would recommend that a Parliamentary Time- Bill should be kept by the reporters for the instruction of the public. It would not prove any very burdensome addition to the duties of these gentlemen, just to note at what hour certain discussions commenced and terminated, and what por- tion Of time each speaker consumed in enlightening or stupify- ing the legislative faculties of his brother members. We can easily conceive that the exposure which such a table must pro- duce, would be of the greatest service in curtailing many of the speeches and silencing many of the most prolix orators. The pub- lic might then see at a glance in what a slovenly and hurried style business of great-consequence is transacted in the House of Com- mons,—how many valuable hours are wasted in bandying about personalities, which would have been better taken up in the real -simple innocence of doing nothing. The workers would be no longer confounded with the talkers ; and Ministers would be ashamed to postpone the discussion of the Army Estimates or the Civil Contingencies to the sleepy hour of one or two in the morn- ing, when all decently-conducted people are quietly at home and in bed.
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