TOPICS OF THE DAY.
HOW STANDS THE GAME?
THERE has been, during the week, not a little anxiety displayed among the friends- of Ministers and the Bill, and not a little crowing among the enemies of both. The latter have been .scat- tering all manner of rumours, about the refusal of the King to create Peers, the embarrassments of the Ministers in consequence, the loss of the Revolutionary measure (as they call it), and the coming in of the Bit-by-bits; while the former have been lament- ing the promulgation of these stories as lugubriously as if they wished the public to believe them. Under such circumstances, it is peculiarly the task of a Spectator, who, as the proverb goes, generally sees more of the game than those who are playing it, to state plainly how it now stands.
In the first place—not meaning to abstract one particle from that prudent jealousy with which all rulers ought to be viewed— we Must say, that there is not a shadow of reason for suspecting that the Ministry mean to ad otherwise than honourably and justly. And, what is of equal importance, they have in the Com- mons ample power to act justly. If there be a Reformer in the kingdom who fears that the slightest damage can or will come to the Bill while in the Commons' we write that man down an ass incontinently. We indeed admit, that, seeing as we see, there might be more speed in passing the Bill. But we are also bound to admit, that we see only in part. There are nu- merous difficulties in the way of the most zealous that do not come out. Perhaps, had we all these before us, and were they all duly weighed, we should not find the Ministry so lagging as they now appear to be. One thing, then, is clear—the Bill will pass the Lower House. We believe it will pass it soon. True, the Schedules A and B are yet to be discussed; but they will be discussed on different principles from those on which they were last discussed. We are secure of 56 for the one and of 30 for the other. Frailtown and Truckleborough may down the middle, up again, and change places—let their patrons look to that-141 no- mination Members are cut off without dispute. The fight, there- fore, if there be any fight about these Schedules, will be a struggle of Boroughmonger against Boroughmonger. There is not one Reformer who is not prepared to say to such combatants,
"Lay on!
And dainn'd he he who first cries hold."
Let us see how we shall stand in other quarters. Who are our friends? who our foes ?—We shall enumerate the latter first. There is the Queen : we speak it with sorrow—her Majesty has not wanner admirers in the empire than we are, but magna t Veritas, and we must obey its injunctions—the Queen, whose just pride it once was that she did not presume to interfere be- tween the King and his People in politics, is now marked by the Anti-Reform faction for its own : let us admit this claim, and set it down as a fact, that Queen ADELAIDE does, unhappily, now in- termeddle with politics, and that she is against the People's Bill. We pretend not to account for this fact—we only chronicle it, as the Anti-Reformers desire. Her Majesty may be swayed by ad- vice, or by reflection, or by the influence of that principle which, from Eve down to the latest wedded of her daughters, induces wives of every rank and condition in humanity to be of a different opinion from their husbands. Then, in addition to the Queen, we have the gentle Princesses AUGUSTA and SOPHIA of Gloucester the Prince of GLOUCESTER, gentle also, he whose clever acts and clever sayings have so often been recorded in the enduring co- lumns of the John Ball. There is the Duke of CumBERLAND- " full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard;" and a greater than either, the Duke of WELLINGTON, with his band of led cap- tains and old women, each of them longing more ardently than another for one draught more from the cup of official sweets, and the poor, old, broken-down ex-Premier, most earnestly of all.* Then there are white sticks, and yellow sticks, and black sticks, we know npt how many—all.men of soft tongues and gossiping withal, exceedingly fit either to make a tale or to fetch and carry one. There is, too, a certain Equerry, an old campaigner with the Duke, who, if he be not belied, played the same game against his quondam General, when the latter was engaged in settling the Catholic claims, as he is now playing against Lord GREY. These are the higher luminaries and their satellites. In the inner and inferior sphere, there is the anps diplomatique, including of course the Princess LIEVEN, and excluding Prince TALLEYRAND, who is bound by station, if not principle, to support liberal mea- sures; the Bit-by-bits, led on by Lord HARRONVBY ; the -Bishops, led on by one "we daurna name ;" and the gentlemen black- guards, commanded by the Member for Preston. These are the enemies of the Bill.
Now for its friends. There is the King—whose very name is a tower of strength—what, then, his understanding, his affections, Ins influence? The Ministers, of course. The People—" the source of all legitimate power," as they say at the Crown and Anchor. Weigh the two scales, and then say, is there any wen- grounded cause of fear?
The Standard .talked the other day of something that took place between the King and Lords WHARNCLIFFE and GREY, and expressed a mighty longing to hear Lord GnEv's version of it. Suppose ourselves to have been perched or the top of the great mirror, in the shape of a swallow, during this conversation, and. that, having listened to it, we should report it for our contempo- rary's comfort. Suppose that his Majesty delivered himself thus —" My Ministers must be supported. The Bill must pass. The rotten boroughs must be cut Off;. the large towns must be en- franchised; the suffrage must be opened wide. But I wish you all to agree about it, if possible; and that you may have the power to discuss your differences, the Bill must go into Com- mittee. If you won't let it go into Committee, there is a way to prevail on you." Suppose the King to have tints spoken—and suppose Lord WHARNCLIFFE, who knows that WILLIAM the Fourth is every inch g King, and that his word does not go forth in vain—to have replied,. that he would not oppose the Bill's going' into Committee, notwithstanding the advice of Mr. CROKER in the John Bull, and the obstinacy of the Duke; and that he would try how far his opinions and those of Earl GREY could be recon- ciled. And lastly—we are putting a case, as the gentlemen of the House of Commons say when they are speaking m the orders—suppose Earl GREY to say, as he needs must, that until that trial were made, he would not insist on any other means of passing the Bill. Suppose all this and where is the Standard's subject of boast? If' the Tories will pass the Bill with a good grace, why should they not ? We would truly rejoice to see them- do any thing with a good grace. If they will not—why Vice la Roi quand menze!—we'll pass it hi spite of them, and all that sup- port them—Queen, Prince, Duke, Bishop, Ambassadors, Ambas- sadress, Black Sticks, and Blacking. Here, then, we stand. The Bill will go into Committee in the Lords. If, in passing through the Committee, it suffer the slight- est damage in principle or in any important matter of detail, the remedy—the only one—will be applied on bringing up the report. We confess we like the short road best, although it is not always the nearest. But our grand object is to get the Bill. If we had our choice, we would go through the bush with it at once ; but if, to gratify whim in high places, to soothe opposition, to open a loophole for the devotee of petty consistency, we must go about it, always supposing we attain the same end, we will not grumble at going about. If the end is not attained in this way, let those who thwart us take the consequences.
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