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    often inaccurately . On this occasion , the ' Chronicle' has an article , in the main , excellent ; l ) ut in which much greater stress is laid than we can see any reason for , upon the importance of mere regularity of attendance . We yield to no one in the rigour with which we would hold a legislator to the discharge of his duty , but we protest against considering the constancy of his bodily

    presence as a test of it . So long as the people of Great Britain do not see fit to give salaries to their representatives , and so loner as talents and energy are of scanty growth among those who arc born to riches , the people must either renounce being served by men of talents and energy , or consent to their withholding from Parliamentary business as much of their time as is necessary for

    gaining their subsistence . A member , indeed , who is in independent circumstances , owes all his time to his constituents ; but he does not owe it to them to waste that time in listening to the floods of meaningless , pointless , endless talk , which are poured forth in tenfold profusion under the excitement of a numerous audience . The real business of Parliament is all

    transacted in thin houses , and could not be got through if the members attended regularly . A representative of the people , it is said , should be always at his post . His post ! As well mi ght it be said that a good soldier should be always mounting guard . The post of a good and wise legislator is his own stud y : it is

    there that all good laws are made , all improvements in human affairs really elaborated . To look at the present practice , one would imagine that the government of a great nation was performed by talking and hearing talk . It is performed by thinking . If ( not to mention Committees ) seven or eight hours out of the twentyfour , as large a portion of time as what are called the respectable classes usually devote to gaining their livelihood , are to be

    passed in hearing bad speeches—of all occupations ( if occupation it can be called ) the most deadening and dispiriting ; what time remains for reading , what for meditation , for conversing with persons of appropriate knowledge , for preparation , either by studying the great questions , \> r by carrying on that general mental culture , which renders a person ' s opinion worth having , even on what he has not studied ?

    Were there any concert , or mutual understanding , among the faithful delegates of the people , all the objects which it is sought to compass by exacting attendance , would be provided for , without the endless waste that now takes place of valuable time , which , for the interests of constituents , might be far more profitably bestowed . There would always be a certain number of members standing sentinels , to stop any unforeseen mischief , by denouncing it to . the public , or , if necessary , by counting out the House . There are some , such as Mr . Hume , to whose tastes and

    faculties this mode of serving the people is so congenial , that their * post' would really be at the outposts , and they would attend constantly . When occasions arose on which public duty re-

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    168 Notes on the Newspapers .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1834, page 168, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2631/page/8/