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130 THE EXAMINER
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enemy; we still see their skirmishers lurking in the ditches,
from which we must drive them; nor are there wanting
deserters of doubtful fidelity, who might stab their new
leaders in the back, should they find an unguarded opportunity.
On these we have our eyes—we will show no quarter
detecting treachery.

As fa as the Chancellor's plans are developed, they will
be best collected from his speech (of which we need not say
that it was luminous, eloquent, and powerfully sarcastic);
they resolve themselves into these heads: The substitution of
a judge of the superior courts of Westminster in certain
cases, for the commissioners of lunatics; the formation of a
board to secure the proper treatment of those unfortunate
wards of the crown; the substitution of ten judges for the
seventy commissioners of bankrupts, and the consolidation of
that jurisdiction in one court; the regulation of the Master's
offices, the Registers, and six clerks, with the general abolition
of fees, copy money, and gratuities; an appellate tribunal
in lieu, or improvement, of the Privy Council; and lastly, the
substitution of viva voce examination, for the present mode of
taking written depositions and affidavits in Chancery. It is
obviously possible to review these maters in detail, within
any ordinary space; we shall yet probably notice them, from
time to time, as they are dicussed in Parliament, especially
if any insidious attempt be made to mar the matter in
committee.

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THE QUARTERLY REVIEW ON REFORM.
"The cry is still they come."
It is recorded that when the Devil saw the building of Lincoln
Cathedral he was touched with a new concern for economy, and
rebukefully exclaimed, "Why all this waste?" In the darkness of his
lost soul he supposed cathedrals detrimental to his infernal interests,
and thus pretended marvel at the occasion for their construction. In
a similar spirit, but with more reason, a Quarterly Reviewer asks,
"Why all this clamour for Reform?" What can account for the all
but universal dissatisfaction with the present system of crruption?
Why is a new remedy sought for an old disease? Why do the people
unanimously demand a real representation, and why do men of
conflicting opinions concur as to the necessity of some change? Are
things worse than they have been before? Is there more jobbing, or
more expenditure? Is the House worse constituted now, that it
entertains the proposal of self-reformation, than it was when it declared
itself immaculate, and refused to consider of improvement? Is not an
Assembly that, with a view to beneficial objects, consents to amend
its constitution, as good as one actually amended to the degree
projected?

"What are those important measures for the relief and advantage of
the public which a Reformed Parliament will be able and willing to accomplish,
but which are beyond the competency of the Legislature as at present
constituted?"—"A Parliament willing to reform itself must à fortiori
be willing to do any other thing that the public voice requires of it."

By a parity of reasoning—Is not a man with a broken leg, who
desires to have it set and cured, as effective as if his leg actually were
set and cured—for what does he wish to do when sound which he
does not also wish to do when crippled? Further, is it not shocking
and surprising that unhappy dowagers and decayed scions of noble
families on the Pension List should be paraded before the country?
Is it not clearly no injury to the laborious millions of Britain that
little should be taken from each of them, and the amount divided in
heaps among a favoured few who employ coach-makers, wine-merchants,
tailors, and milliners, who would otherwise be unemployed—
while poor people, it must be supposed by the Quarterly Reviewer,
would give employment to no trades were the little drawn from
them in taxation left to them; for it is always assumed that the items
of the sums accumulated by taxation would not be applied to the
employment of industry by the tax-payers, and that ten thousand shillings
in ten thousand hands are as ten thousand pieces of dirt, while in one
hand they are good for trade. This argument is as fit for highwaymen
as for the State, and as appropriate to Jonathan Wild as to the
Quarterly Review.

Further, the reviewer shows a tender concern for rats; and is in
great horror at the enormity of Cobbett, who confesses a taste for
hunting that rapacious vermin. The article will, indeed, be made
perfectly intelligible by the writer's reception of the following
masterly picture by Cobbett:—

"'How many years have I been at these pensions, sinecures, and grants!
All my readers know how fond I am of country affairs. Country occupations,
country amusements, all things appertaining to country life, are
enticing to me. But, when even a boy, I had my scruples at some of its
amusements. Who has followed in a hare-hunt: seen her started from
her seat of tranquility and innocence, and flee before six-and-thirty
bloodthirsty and roaring dogs, and perhaps as many hallooing boys and men,
without thinking to himself, What has she done to deserve this? Who
has seen her, in the course of the hunt, soaked in mud and wet, stopping
and pricking up her ears to find if her double have defeated her pursuers,
her eyes starting from her head with terror every muscle quivering, and
her heart beating so as even to be heard three or four yards off; who
has seen this, without, at least, wishing her safe from her foes? But who,
on seeing her, after all her amazing exertions to save her life by flight, and
by many dexterous arts to deceive; who has seen her give up all hope, and
run half the length of the last field uttering the most appalling shrieks of
death; who has seen and heard this, and not felt that hare-hunting has its
alloy? I cannot; and were it not for the many things that can be said in
favour of field sports, I should think them sanguinary and unjustifiable.
But I never had this feeling about me at a rat-hunt. A rat-hunt is laudable

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Identifier: | JB/004/070/002"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 4.
Date_1	1831-02-27	Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	004	Main Headings	lord brougham displayed
Folio number	070	Info in main headings field
Image	002	Titles	the examiner / sunday, february 27, 1831 / no. 1204
Category	printed material	Number of Pages	8
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	(130-144)
Penner		Watermarks
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections	jeremy bentham	Paper Produced in Year
Notes public	[[notes_public::"john fonblanques eulogium on brougham" [note in bentham's hand]]]	ID Number	1991
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