horse flesh, to billiards and bets. Younger sons, for we refer to that unhappy class, are generally remarkable for the possession of limited means, and expensive tastes. What can these do? What, under similar circumstances, would other men do? Would they be the foremost to cut down national expenditure? Would they smile approvingly on Cobden? Would they be very eager to support Joseph Hume? Certainly not. A regard for self would soon dictate a little claptrap, in favour of national honour, and a large standing army; equally easy would it be, to demonstrate the intimate connexion between the efficiency of the navy and the prosperity of commerce.

"What makes all doctrines plain and clear?
About two hundred pounds a year."

This is precisely how the majority in the House of Commons have acted. The army estimates have just been voted. Mr. Hume having moved an amendment that 100,000, being a reduction of 23,000, was sufficient for all military purposes, the house divided, when there appeared,

Upon Sir William Molesworth's moving, that the number of men be reduced by 5,449, being the number returning from India; the House again divided. The numbers were,

It was in vain that Mr. Cobden attempted to show how worthless was the navy to our commerce; that Mr. R.Osborne demonstrated that we had more officers now, in a time of profound peace, than we had even during the French or American wars; or that Mr. Hume called attention to the fact, that the cost of the army and navy, and ordnance department, had gradually increased from £14,127,000, its cost in 1835, to £23,580,000., in 1847; while, at the same time, to diminish the necessity for increasing the army, we had increased the defensive force of the country by 12,000 additional police in Ireland, and by fitting for service 10,000 pensioners, and 10,000 of the workmen em

ployed in the dockyards at home. It was in vain that other members argued the necessity of economy in the public service, inasmuch as the nation had gone through a season of pecuniary embarrassment and suffering, and had not yet recovered from the stroke. Their arguments availed but little. Thirty-nine members recorded their votes in their favour, and by immense majorities, the hour of economical reform has yet been for a season delayed.

Nor is it very difficult to perceive why this was the case, why the efforts of Joseph Hume and his companions should have been labor in vain. The " Daily News" published a list of the gentlemen who voted with the majority against Mr. Hume, and who are either officers in the army themselves, or have relations who are. The list contains 115 names. They are as follows:

Abdy, T. N.-Son of a naval captain, by the daughter of an admiral.
Adair, R. A. S.-Married to the daughter of a general.

Anson, Hon. G.-A lieutenant-colonel in the army.

:

Archdall, M.-Captain of dragoons, nephew of a general, and grandson of a colonel. Arundel and Surrey, Earl of.-Has been an officer in the Royal Horse Guards. Baldwin, C. B.-Son of a colonel.

Baring, Right Hon. F. T.-Married first to the daughter of a general; second, to the daughter of a captain in the navy.

Bateson, T.-An officer in the Light Dragoons.

Beresford, W.-A major in the army.

Berkeley, Hon. M. F.-A captain in the navy.

Berkeley, Hon. F. H.-Brother to a captain in the navy.

Blackall, S. W.-A major in the army.

Blandford, Marquis of.-Had an uncle a general; has two brothers officers in the

army.

Boldero, H. G.-A captain in the army.

Bowles, W.-An admiral in the navy.

Boyle, Hon. R. E.-A colonel in the army.

Bramston, T. W.-Married the daughter of an admiral,

Bruce, C. L. C.-A major in the army.

Busfield, W.-Married the daugher of a captain in the navy.

Castlereagh, Viscount.-Son of a general in the army.

Chichester, Lord J.-Was a captain in the army.

Childers, J. W.-Son of a colonel in the army.

Coke, Hon. E. K. W.-An officer in the army.

Cowper, H. W. F.-An officer in the army.

Cubitt, W.- -" In early youth served a short time in the navy."-Dodd's.

Currie, H.-Married a sister of several officers in the army, and niece of an admiral. Dawson, T. H. V.-An officer in the army.

Denison, W. J.-Brother-in-law to a general.

Denison, J. E-Married a sister of one officer in the army, and niece of several. Douglas, Sir C.-Married a sister of an officer in the army.

Douro, Marquis of.-A colonel in the army.

Drummond, H.-Married the granddaughter of an admiral, and is a nephew of the first Lord Melville.

Duckworth, Sir J.-Son of an admiral.

Duff, G. S.-Son of a general.

Dundas, J. W. D.-An admiral.

Dundas, J.-Formerly an officer in the Rifle Brigade, and grandson of an admiral. Dunne, F. P.-A colonel in the army.

Ebrington, Viscount.-Married the daughter of a colonel.

Egerton, W. T.-Married the sister of an officer in the army.

Ellice, E.-Married the sister and widow of officers in the army; brother of a captain in the navy.

Ellice, E. jun.-Nephew of a captain in the navy; married the daughter of a general.

Elliott, J.-Nephew and brother of sundry officers in the army and navy.

Emlyn, Viscount.-Nephew of a captain in the navy; married the daughter of å colonel in the army.

Evans, Sir D. L.-A major-general.

Ferguson, R.-A lieutenant-colonel in the army.

Ferguson, Sir R. A.—Brother-in-law to a colonel in the army.

Forbes, W.-Married the sister of an officer in the army.

Fordyce, A. D.-A commander in the navy.

Fortescue, C. S.-Son of a colonel in the army.

Fortescue, J. W.-Was formerly in the army.

Fox, R. M.-Married the daughter and granddaughter of admirals.
Freestun, C.-A colonel in the army.

Fuller, A. E.-Grandson of a general.

Gibson, T. M.-Son of major in the army.

Grey, Sir G.-Son and brother-in-law of officers in the navy.

Hallyburton, Lord G. F. G.-A captain in the navy.

Hamilton, Lord C.-Married the daughter of an admiral.

Harris, E. A. J.-A captain in the navy.

Hay, Lord J.-A captain in the navy.

Hervey, Lord A.-Brother and nephew to officers in the army.

Hood, Sir A.-Son of a captain in the navy, and grandson of an admiral.

Hill, Lord M.-Has a brother, and had a nephew, officers in the army.

Hope, Sir J.-Father of sundry officers in the army and navy.

Hotham, Lord.-A colonel in the army.

Howard, E. G. G.-A captain in the navy.

Jervis, Sir J.-Second cousin of the late Earl St. Vincent, and promoted by his interest.

Jocelyn, Viscount-An officer in the army.

Jones, Sir W.-Son of an officer in the Royal Engineers.

Keppel, G. T.-A colonel in the army.

Langston.-Married to a sister of officers in the army and navy.

Lewis, Sir T. F.-Grandson of an admiral.

Lewis, G. C.-Son of the preceding.

Lindsay, J.-A colonel in the army.

Lockhart, A. E.-Married to a near relation of General Sir David Dunbar.

Lockhart, W.-Has served in the Indian army.

Lushington, C.-Married the daughter of a colonel in the army.

Magan, W. H.-Has been an officer in the army.

March, Earl.-Son of the Duke of Richmond, an officer in the Guards.

Mattheson, A.-Nephew of a lieutenant colonel in the army.

Mattheson, J.-Brother of a colonel in the army.

Mattheson, T.-A colonel in the army.

Maule, F.-Has been an officer in the army.

Melgund, Viscount.-Married the daughter of a general; has numerous relatives in

the army.

Morpeth, Viscount.-Brother of officers in the army and navy.

Morison. A general in the Indian army.

Mulgrave, Earl.-An officer in the army; married the daughter of an officer in the

army.

Mure, W.-A colonel in the army.

Newry and Morne, Viscount.-Married the daughter of an officer in the army.

Norreys, Lord.-Brother of an officer in the Guards.

Norreys, Sir D. J.-Son of a lieutenant-colonel in the army.

Nugent, Sir P.-Sen of a commander in the navy.

Paget, Lord A.-Son of the first Marquis of Anglesey; an officer in the Guards.

Paget, Lord G.-Son of the first Marquis of Anglesey; a colonel of Dragoons,
Pennant, E. G. D.-A colonel in the army.

Pigott, F.-Married the daughter of a lieutenant-general in the army.
Rawdon, J. D.-A lieutenant-colonel in the Guards.

Ricardo, O.-His brother married the daughter of a general in the army.

Rich, H.-Son of an admiral.

Russell, Lord J.-Brother, nephew, &c., to officers in the army and navy.
Russell, E. S.-Son of a captain in the navy.

Seymour, Sir H. B.-Has served in the army.

Seymour, Lord-Has a brother an officer in the army.

Smollett.-A son of an admiral.

Somerville, Sir W.-Has a brother in the army.

Sturt, H. G.-Married to a daughter of an officer in the army.

Tenison, E. K.-Has been an officer in the army

Townsend.-A captain in the navy.

Trelawny, J. S.-Nephew of a colonel in the Royal Artillery.

Vane, Lord H.-Has a brother-in-law an officer in the army.

Verney, Sir H.-Has been in the army, is son of a general, and married the daughter of an admiral.

Vivian, J. H.-Son, brother, and nephew of officers in the army.

Vyse, R. H. R.-An officer in the Guards, and son of a colonel in the army.
Watkins, J. L.-A colonel in the army.

Wellesley, Lord C.-A colonel in the army.

West, F. R.-Married the daughter of a captain in the navy.

Upon looking through Dodd's Parliamentary Companion, we shall find that about seventy-five names of gentlemen similarly situated may be added to this class, so that we have nearly 200 gentlemen in the House of Commons who have a direct interest in voting increased supplies for the army estimates. To increase the national expenditure in that direction, is to increase their own emoluments, is to provide for themselves and their families that useful commodity, without which, in a country like ours, where, as Sydney Smith said, "poverty is infamous," gentlemen, even though they be sons of lords, cut but an indifferent figure. So long as this is the case, the cry for retrenchment must be in

vain.

Nor is this the only evil resulting from the presence of so many military men in St. Stephen's. Their education and modes of thinking unfit them to act the part of legislators for a great commercial country such as ours. Of matters connected with commerce, they are profoundly ignorant. With the people, they have no sympathy whatever. In the army they have learnt to look at men as machines. Their commands are implicitly obeyed; if not, the punishment of the offender is summary and severe. With them, as a contemporary has well remarked, the people are a mob, whose duty it is to work and pay taxes; when they neglect such duty, and petition, they are to be rebuked in the uncompromising spirit of the barrack and quarter deck. When, further, they demonstrate, by assembling together, a determined resolution to warn the Government of the discontent, the sense of injustice oppressing and weighing heavily

at the national heart, why then the professions think with heroic complacency of the invincible might of disciplined troops(brave loyal fellows! who, if commanded, would cut down their own brothers!)-charging a storming rabble. Those who read the letter of" a soldier" in the "Times," or recollect the profane brutality of Colonel Sibthorp in the House of Commons, will see how unfit such men are to deal with people who complain of political wrongs, and seek for political rights.

The Duke of Wellington, during a long political career, has constantly talked of his duty to stand by his Sovereign, but he has never yet shown the least sympathy for the men by whose labour he is supported in luxury and wealth, and whose brothers won for him the laurels of Waterloo. We are by no means admirers of Feargus O'Connor; we considered the convention in John Street very far from a model assembly, but the petition for the Charter was grave, argumentative, respectful; it was signed undoubtedly, by an immense number of serious and decided men; it was presented at a time, when almost every nation in Europe was seeking redress for political wrongs. But the mode of its reception in parliament was unmanly and unwise; unmanly, for gentlemen and officers might learn that it ill becomes a child of clay, though he be dressed in scarlet, to scorn the lowly and the weak; unwise, inasmuch as that petition was the expression of the will of a large class, who,

"Know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain."

Every man should know his place: the cobbler should stick to his last, the military man to his regimental mess. There he may indulge his attachment to the bulwarks of our country, and can despise all who do not follow to the field their warlike lord. Occasionally he may give utterance to the spirit of the barrack room, by publishing letters in the "Times," showing how Chartists may be either blown up or cut down, as may be most convenient at the time. There he can possibly become a very good soldier, certainly a very bad senator.

This is a serious subject; it is owing to this that public opinion is not represented, but misrepresented, in what ought to be the people's voice. Cobden and Bright represent public opinion, and yet they are left in miserable and disheartening minorities. There are nearly two hundred naval and military men ready, not to answer their arguments, but to swamp them with their votes. Some little pocket-borough may send its illustrious obscure to parliament, and may thus nullify the thousands of Manchester and Birmingham.