NEWS OF THE WEEK.

ANOTHER busy week has shown Parliament active in the public service. With the second reading of the new Corn-importation Bill, in the House of Commons—carried by a majority of 284 votes to 176—it is to be hoped the superabundant talk upon the matter has ceased for the present. Were any thing wanting, Wednes- day's debate alone would have proved how exhausted is the topic. Lord HOWICK, who has been kept from the earlier portion of

the discussion by his detention abroad with the bereaved children of his sister, now brought to the discussion all his vigorous pains-

taking ; yet even be, fresh as be came to it, could not do more than make an imposing muster of respectable commonplaces. Mr. CHARLES BULLER contributed an item of novelty in the shape of an extract from Mr. HORNER'S newly-published Report on

the Factories, showing the terrible amount of compulsory idle- ness in once busy Manchester, and the effect of distress in stimu- lating the very over-production which assists in producing it ; but the mass of the debate consisted of the identical stuff that has been used on every possible occasion now for some years.

Sir ROBERT PEEL converted that fact to his purpose, auguring

from the dulness of the debate that his opponents knew him to have beaten them, and to have gained to his side the opi- nion of the moderate : it did not suit him to make allowance for the physical impossibility of saying something new on the same thing a hundred times over. That process would produce dulness, whatever were the state of parties. It would be difficult to find a flatter debate than Wednesday's, the crowning night of the series. How glad even the professed talkers were to have got rid of the

subject, was shown on Thursday night, when Mr. WARD could not obtain a House to listen to a motion on a very proper point, the inquiry into the special burdens pleaded by the landed interest.

The passing of the Army Estimates, on Monday, gave occasion to a few of the usual sallies ; and among them, Mr. BUSPIELD FER- RAND, who manfully charges the Anti-Corn-law League at large with fraud against the public and tyranny to their workpeople, re- newed his disclosures of trade-secrets. A statement more germane to the matter was one by the Secretary to the Admiralty, that no difficulty has been found of late in manning ships of' war.

s In a showy, speech, bristling with curiously-collected details, Mr. DISRAELI exposed the anomalies of our Consular system, for

the purpose of proving that Consular offices ought to be blended

with offices Diplomatic. His searching scrutiny visited every quarter of the globe,—tracked the wanderings of Colonel HODGES ; ferreted out the unconscious Sir ROBERT KERR PORTER, who is very harmlessly enjoying leave of absence at St. Petersburg; displayed Mr. ROBERT STEUART, the late Lord of the Treasury, ludicrously

at fault for a Spanish tongue in a Spanish American colony ; and

casting the last opprobrium, his compassion, upon the unfortunate ELLifyr, who was appointed to be Consul-General at Texas be- cause he elaborated such complicated absurdities in China for the employment of Sir HENRY POTTINGER and a fleet. Of all these stirring materials Mr. DISRAELI composed quite a "revolutionary epic"; but he failed to establish, or indeed to describe, what con-

nexion there was between his data and his conclusion. He showed that Consuls were sometimes employed in Diplomatic duties, and diplomatists in Consular labours ; but he produced a lively im-

pression that that confusion of offices was detrimental to the public service—and yet the remedy which he proposed was to confound them still further. He furnished Lord PALMERSTON with an ex- cellent opportunity for making, more two, a most positive use of an enemy's negation : Mr. DISRAELI failed to evince a complete mastery of his subject ; and Lord PALMERSTON fastened upon his points of failure, made much of them, held them up for laughter ; took a brick or two out of Mr. DISRAELI'S structure and exposed their bad make, and then, throwing them away, made the willingly- amused House believe that the rest were almost as bad as the sample. Sir ROBERT PEEL gravely told Mr. DISRAELI, that, though he could not concur in his motion, he would profit by his admonition, and "blend" all the offices he could! and, touched by that kindness, Mr. DISRAELI said that "of course" he would not trouble the House to divide. Meanwhile, he has given a telling hint to the public, that our Consular establishment is a tissue of

confusion, disorder, and inefficiency. Consular, like Colonial appointments, are ready receptacles for the broken meats of the

political world, the damaged candidates for Ministerial favour. If a man is fit for nothing else, why he can " represent " commercial Britain.

A matter of graver, though of a more familiar interest, was Lord FRANCIS EGERTON'S motion for a bill to permit certain marriages

within the prohibited degrees, whereof the marriage of a husband with his deceased wife's sister is principally in view. A question so delicate, so difficult to treat without offending prejudices and yet without letting it slip through for want of courageous handling, could hardly have been managed with more tact and good taste. It is to be believed that the question is one involving the feelings of a numerous class as far removed from immoral aspirations as it is possible to be: in fact, the very craving for amended legislation on the subject indicates the high moral tone of those who are ag- grieved by the existing law. The relationship in question, which is not one of blood, while yet admitting the most intimate inter- course, is precisely the one to promote in many cases the purest incentives to a closer union in the remaining links of a circle which death has broken, to beget affection before passion, and to make it possible that a bereaved husband and father can find a living repre-

sentative of his loss. Of course the motion called up Sir ROBERT INGLIS, whose assumption of Parliamentary piety provokes the prpfane remark that he seems to have elected himself" Member for Heaven," so glibly does he answer for the law of God and the opinion of the Universal Church. His denunciation, however, did not so terrify the lay Members, but what Sir ROBERT PEEL joined Mr. CHARLES BULLER in recommending the adjournment of the debate for a week, in order to a deliberate judgment.

Marriage also—the sweeping doubt recently cast upon a point in the Irish law of marriage—received the attention of the Lords ; who have dealt with that ease better than the Commons, for, under the guidance of the Lord Chancellor, they have referred the bill for cobbling the flaw just discovered in certain mixed marriages, already consummated, to a Committee who will consider the general question as it affects the future.

Other matters oflaw have likewise had the benefit of their Lord- ships' deliberation; an improved mode of administering the care of Lunatics, and a reform in the admission of Evidence. Lord DEN-

MAN has brought in a bill to admit, for what it is worth, the testi- mony of interested witnesses and witnesses who have hitherto been

disqualified by conviction for crimes and misdemeanours not at all affecting their credibility ; with some other amendments in the law excluding evidence. A more important investigation could not engage ." the highest judicial tribunal" : it is only to be regretted, that instead of balancing between this or that arbitrary distinction and removing a special restriction here and there, the legislative judges do not take into consideration the rationstle of evidence, its credibility, and the guards against falsehood—the sole points for consideration. At present, a man whose word is his bond, and known to be so, may be excluded because he dares not act the lie of taking the oath which he believes to be wicked or nugatory ; while the hardened rascal, who will as soon kiss a book before lying

as not, is introduced to the jury as a man under some moral re- sponsibility. A penal law of perjury applies equally to the oath- breaker and the liar on affirmation. Lord DENNAN, however, does not venture beyond smaller improvements.