LEGISLATIVE INABILITY.
IT is certain that many persons expect wonders from the Reformed Parliament. Many are strongly impressed with the notion, that, hecaase commercial and agricultural distresses have been coex- istent with a corrupt state of the representation, they are therefore solely attributable to it, and consequently, that the purification of the one will speedily effect the removal of the other. Indeed, ' thereappears to be a considerable sect of believers in the doctrine of legislative omnipotence,—men whom the history of past times and their own dailyexperience have taught no useful lesson. These are the persons who would fain induce the candidates for seats in the next Parliament, to promise their support to measures and schimes the most impracticable and visionary that can possi- bly be conceived. It may be as well, therefore, just to remind those who are led away by honest enthusiasm, or entrapped by in- sidious argnments, that there are limits to legislative power ; and that there are many plans of improvement which at first sight ap- pear desirable and efficient, and yet are such as an honest Govern- ment cannot possibly sanction or promote. An act of Parliament, for example, cannot confer real value on what is intrinsically worthless. The essential distinction between paper and gold would still remain, though both Houses should unanimously decree that it had ceased to exist. The coin of the realni may be clipped, the circulating medium depreciated, the .pub- lie creditor may be forced to take less than is due on his bond, and this proceeding may be termed an " equitable adjustment" or "an action on the currency ;" but it would, in reality, be an act of plunder, which no vote of the Legislature could convert into a'fair transaction between man and man. When the depreCiation of tlie currency had reached its maximum, the truth of the old saying, that " honesty is the best policy," would be acknowledged as re- gards national as well as individual concerns ; and it would at length appear, that the character of the country had been lost in a miserable attempt to grasp unreal prosperity. Let the electors then beware of men whose schemes to diminish the pressure of public and private burdens rest upon so rotten a foundation. It is not necessary for the true understanding of this subject, that they should be skilled in political economy or the mysteries of banking. It is sufficient to bear in mind, that plans whose true object is to transfer their neighbours' property into their pockets, without merit or exertion on their part, must necessarily have something dishonest in their origin or mode of working, and are therefore fit only to be scouted by the people of England. Again: the Legislature cannot interfere with effect to regulate the hours or wages of labour. It is, we fear, in one sense a mis- fortune, and a source of constant disquietude to a country, to have a large proportion of its inhabitants dependent upon mining and manufacturing for their daily bread. The vast improvements in our machinery seem to have rendered frequent gluts in the mar- ket unavoidable ; and the profits of the master and the wages of his workmen are consequently always uncertain, though occa- sionally high. It is evident, that more can be effected towards re- moving these evils, by the moderation and forethought of the trad- ing community, than by any ingenious legislative enactments : and it is to be hoped, that the wretched result of the speculations of 1824 and 1825 may have taught a lesson to the nation at large which it will long remember. It has become evident, we trust, to persons of ordinary sagacity at least, that in a country where money abounds as it does in England, it is extremely hazardous to interfere, by the forcible introduction of extraneous capital, with the existing possessors of any particular branch of trade. It may be laid down as a rule which admits of very few exceptions, that the accumulation of profits made in the regular way of business, forms a fund amply sufficient to, supply any increased demand which may arise. We have no doubt, for instance, that the capi- tal invested in the iron trade previously to 1824, was quite as large as could be employed in it with advantage. Yet we saw lords and gentlemen, who knew no more of iron mines and blast furnaces than of Timbuctoo or Japan, eager to invest all their surplus cash in these subterranean speculations. The consequences of their folly are painfully felt at the present day ; and may serve to prevent a repetition of it. But in the mean while, we wish it to be remem- bered, that it is impossible even for a Reformed Parliament to compel men to purchase iron which they do not want, or employ workmen whose labour yields no profit. There can be no doubt that slavery in our West Indian Colonies might be immediately abolished by act of Parliament. In this instance, therefore, we allow that the Reformed House of Com- mons would not be expected or required to perform an absolute impossibility. Nevertheless, the passing of such an act is utterly out of the question. The slave population has hitherto been co- erced by laws and regulations expressly formed to render them fit for servitude and unfit for freedom. Until some effectual measures shall have been taken to enable them rationally to enjoy liberty, and to prevent them from abusing it to the destruction of them- selves and others, no prudent man can vote for their immediate emancipation. The enthusiastic Abolitionists should concede this extreme point, and coalesce, before it be too late, with the more guarded and moderate friends of the Negroes, who will otherwise soon be disgusted by the violent measures of these ardent phi- lanthropists. The course of proceeding adopted in some places evidently tends to produce a division in the Anti-Slavery party. The pacification of Ireland, the reform of the Church, the aboli- tion of the Corn-laws, and the establishment of liberty on the Continent, are among the many glorious projects which it is hoped will be accomplished by the wonder-working energy of a Reformed House of Commons. It would be no difficult matter to prove that the obstacles which impede the attainment of most of these desir- able objects, are such as may bathe, perhaps for many years, all the efforts of the most determined, able, and disinterested states- men. But we find, that to touch upon only the more important matters in which public expectation will probably be disappointed by the proceedings of the new Parliament, and to suggest, however briefly, some of the causes which will render such disappointment inevitable, would occupy more space than is at present at our disposal. In the mean time, we would by no means depreciate the bene- fits which may reasonably be expected from the working of the new Charter. We firmly believe that they are various and vast. Our object is merely to guard against the danger of future discon- tent, to which the enemies of-popular rights are already looking forward with malignant exultation.
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