"A."
As heroes in the days of chivalry sometimes retired from the battle to have a little private fight of their own, so Mr. WAKLEY and Mr. Wean retreated the other night from the great Poor-law contest to wage a little single combat. Mr. Wean happened to say that some anonymous Poor-law Guardian had expressed a horror lest there should be" a Mr. Wakley" at every Board ; and Mr. WAKLET was straightway wild with rage at the" calumny." He demanded the name and address of the Guardian—whether to seek satisfac- tion or not, he did not explain : he threatened, awful menace ! to sift the matter to the bottom ; and, bitterest jest of all, he dis- claimed any hostility towards Mr. Wear*, a " political opponent." In what lay the essence of the" calumny" does not appear : pos- sibly it was in the implication that there could be a general horror among Poor-law Guardians of "a Wakley"; more probably the sting lurked in the indefinite article, and the Mr. We Klan" felt it a degra- dation to be called "a Mr. Wakley." Undoubtedly, the implication is calumnious: as Mr. WAKLEY justly remarked, if the House allowed that, there was no defence for private character. The reputation of every the Mr. So-and-so may be blasted by the reckless use of the indefinite article. The frightful lengths to which the system might be carried are sufficient to appal the stoutest heart : there is nothing to prevent any honourable Member calling any other honourable Member, through the mouth of some imaginary Guardian, " one" : by this evasion of Parliamentary rules, the Mr. WAKLEY might be called "one Wakley"! Mercy should temper justice, or else stern equity might take a hint from that supposition : two can play at indefinite articles ; Mr. WAKLET said that he might be compelled to resort to the same weapons in self-defence : let him then get up a story, how some unknown corn-dealer expressed a horror lest "one Ward" should appear in the market. Depend upon it, Mr. WARD would never call him "a Mr. Wakley" again, even under shelter of some secret Poor-law Guardian, whom, like Demogorgon, he would not "dare to call by name."
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