A Parliament, one would say, which proclaims itself elected and
eligible by bribery, tells the Nation that is governed by it a
piece of singular news. Bribery: have we reflected what bribery
is? Bribery means not only length of purse, which is neither
qualification nor the contrary for legislating well; but it
means dishonesty, and even impudent dishonesty;--brazen
insensibility to lying and to making others lie; total oblivion,
and flinging overboard, for the nonce, of any real thing you can
call veracity, morality; with dexterous putting on the cast-
clothes of that real thing, and strutting about in them! What
Legislating can you get out of a man in that fatal situation?
Nonce that will profit much, one would think! A Legislator who
has left his veracity lying on the door threshold, he, why verily
_he_--ought to be sent out to seek it again!

Heavens, what an improvement, were there once fairly, in Downing-
street, an Election-Office opened, with a Tariff of Boroughs!
Such and such a population, amount of property-tax, ground-
rental, extent of trade; returns two Members, returns one
Member, for so much money down: Ipswich so many thousands,
Nottingham so many,--as they happened, one by one, to fall into
this new Downing-street Schedule A! An incalculable improvement,
in comparison: for now at least you have it fairly by length of
purse, and leave the dishonesty, the impudence, the unveracity
all handsomely aside. Length of purse and desire to be a
Legislator ought to get a man into Parliament, not with, but if
possible _without_ the unveracity, the impudence and the
dishonesty! Length of purse and desire, these are, as intrinsic
qualifications, correctly equal to zero; but they are not yet
less than zero,--as the smallest addition of that latter sort
will make them!

And is it come to this? And does our venerable Parliament
announce itself elected and eligible in this manner? Surely such
a Parliament promulgates strange horoscopes of itself. What is
to become of a Parliament elected or eligible in this manner?
Unless Belial and Beelzebub have got possession of the throne of
this Universe, such Parliament is preparing itself for new
Reform-bills. We shall have to try it by Chartism, or any
conceivable _ism,_ rather than put up with this! There is
already in England 'religion' enough to get six hundred and
fifty-eight Consulting Men brought together who do _not_ begin
work with a lie in th