NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Lord Mayor entertained her Majesty's Minsters at the Mansion House on Saturday, and in proposing their health, stated that he could speak from actual observation in saying that Mr. Gladstone had surpassed all his previous efforts ; a state- ment which Lord Hartington, with his usual ample generosity, confirmed, by declaring that when the history of the Session was written, it would be found to be mainly a "record of the achievements of one man,"—" a record of the energy and the resolution, the knowledge and the resource, with which one man has conducted one great measure through the House of Commons, under singular difficulties." Mr. Gladstone, in his speech, referred emphatically to the condition of the House of Commons, as "disabled, and, to some extent, dishonoured," by the tactics of a small minority. The weapons intended for the House of Commons' defence against external foes had been turned against itself, by "some ungrateful, or at least erring Members." Mr. Bright added, in his speech on the subject, that "changes will have to be made by which Bills will not have to go through so many stages ; that the debates will, by some means, have to be shortened ; when some have said enough, or as much as the House wishes to hear, there should be some mode of requesting them to be silent ;" and finally, that there must be some mode of putting down men who endeavour to block the practical work of Parliament.
