a fortnight from the party with which they had enlisted.

Mr. FREDERICK DOUGLAS concurred in the ob. servations made in favour of the Deserter Corps, and was encouraged by what had dropped from others to recommend the Corps of Voltigeurs to the favour of the Meeting. The rest of the army, he thought, might safely be extirpated.*

Lord SEFTON, though but lately admitted to such deliberations, hoped he should be forgiven if he strongly protested against any reduction in the Driver Corps; he also set great value upon a good Commissariat Establishment.

Mr. PONSONBY had not given any opinion hitherto, that he might not appear to dictate to the Meeting; but the short view he had taken was to reduce all that part of our Establishments which might be termed active, but to be indulgent to the superannuated list.

* Mr. Douglas in the House of Commons had talked of extirpating the French Army.-E.

Mr. GORDON differed with Lord Althorpe about the Artillery, he was for getting rid of the Field Trains, to which his Noble Friend seemed partial, and for maintaining no Ordnance whatever but Bombs.

Mr. CURWEN hoped the Commissioners would reduce the number of Chaplains; but he would not have them touch the Flotilla on the Lakes. He begged, however, to observe on the danger that there was from the numerous Ordnance depôts scattered through the country: he himself knew an instance in which a spark had caused an explosion, which had excited the greatest alarm in a part of the country; indeed, one young woman was said to have been lost on the occasion, and several respectable families were thrown into a state of the greatest distress.*

Lord STANLEY was only sorry that the motion

• Here and in other places there are allusions to a story of a strange piece of gallantry, which, whether true or false, had certainly made Mr. C. very unpopular.

went no further; he would give the Commissioners a general control over every branch of expenditure; and particularly the Civil List, which they had all of them done their utmost upon all occasions to diminish. He could not bear to see public money lavished in providing the Sovereign with the splendid magnificence of Thatched Cottages. If the Sovereign wanted a temporary residence in the country, were there not abundance of excellent houses all along every great road, which by the ostentatious display of the Royal Escutcheon, seemed as it were peculiarly set apart for such purposes ?—(Hear, hear, hear!)

Lord FOLKESTONE, who had just come in from Mr. Brougham's, concurred in thinking the motion much too limited; the Commissioners should have far ampler powers, and should be authorized to act in some degree as Censors, to check the military spirit which pervades all ranks from the highest to the lowest. Why, he would ask, since we were at peace, did the Royal Liveries continue

now

scarlet? He thought it a dangerous symptom; it was an innovation, he believed, first introduced by the Hanoverian family, and a practice wholly unknown in the good times of Harry VIII. and Elizabeth. Why, too, were our soldiers tricked out in the foppery of red uniforms in time of peace, as if brown coats would not keep their backs just as warm and dry? He should never think the Constitution safe till he saw the Foot Guards exchange their gaudy equipments for the modest garb of Special Constables, and what was termed in the modern phrase, the Household Cavalry, assume the appearance of the Surrey Patrole.

Lord MILTON entirely agreed with every thing which had fallen from his Noble Friend, and could not help wishing that the attention of the Commissioners might be specially directed to those well-known Personages Gog and Magog. Their present warlike appearance must have a great tendency to keep up military ideas among the otherwise peaceably disposed citizens, and both as a matter of taste and of

constitutional principle, he thought their martial costume should be exchanged for a Common Councilman's gown, and a full-bottomed wig.

Lord GEORGE CAVENDISH thanked his friends for their attendance, but observed, that as there seemed unfortunately to be a considerable difference of opinion among them, he trusted that in the Debate they would confine themselves to the most general topics, and not descend into particulars. A doubt having been started whether Mr. Bennet would be able to spare time from his prison inspections, to act as Commissioner, it was agreed that Mr. Creevey should be appointed in his stead. Some further conversation passed in a mysterious manner, which our Reporter, who was obligingly posted by Lord Duncannon behind one of the Elgin Metopes,* could not distinctly hear, and the Meeting soon after broke up.

* The Elgin marbles were still at Burlington House.-E.

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