are demanded, by portions of the public, for this new road or that new railway, or for some indispensable bridge or jetty, "Gentlemen, we cannot afford it—we must check the growth of our enormous liabilities. We must limit our expenses, and dispense with the services of many public servants. We have reduced the salary of our Governor, and our own salaries as responsible ministers, from nine hundred pounds a year to seven hundred pounds.'"
'Very praiseworthy of them, too,' said the Doctor.
'Yes, and they should continue: "We are entrusted by the public at large with the management of their financial affairs, and it would be gross malversation in us to spend their money, which the majority of them find it very difficult to procure, with undue extravagance, and so add to their burdens. We are, in fact, the paid servants of the community, and we are bound to protect our employers."'
'There is sound sense in that.'
'There are truth, justice, and mercy in it, sir. It ought to be the invariable governing principle of every Parliament, but it is not. Overwhelming desire for office, for patronage, for the pleasure of spending money, and so purchasing popularity, are always rising to the surface, and must be gratified whenever opportunities occur. I do not condemn improvements that are shown to be necessary and advisable, but I do condemn reckless and wasteful expenditure of borrowed capital. I do not constitute myself the judge of our Government—the newspapers, and some members of Parliament, tell me enough about it. My abilities, whatever they may be, shall not be devoted to the thankless task of exposing every public abuse. Our Home Rule Parliament intends, doubtless, that we should all be happy and rich, yet it passes Acts which command what I must call tyranny and robbery. Tyranny, my dear sir, is the ruin of our world—the tyranny of wealth, of creditors, of
