NEWS OF THE WEEK.
Fsw nuisances last for ever ; and the PEEL Parliament came to an end on Monday. First, the Queen went in state, and closed the session; and then an Extraordinary Gazette, proclaiming the dis- solution, was published. Writs for the election of Members to serve in the new House of Commons were sent off in all directions by the mails of Monday night : they are made returnable on the 11th of September, but it is not probable that the legislative session will commence before November.
The speech which Lord MELBOURNE made for the Queen on the prorogation is worthy of the session just closed. Her Majesty refers to "some useful measures brought to maturity," but can only call to mind the Criminal Law Bills; which bills merely give the sanction of the Legislature to the universal practice of the Judges, and abrogate laws too barbarous 4,r enforcement. The session lasted nearly sin months; and behold all that Ministerial ingenuity could find worthy of notice in the maiden speech of the maiden Queen to her Parliament! Of the Irish Municipal Bill, which. was to have been pushed with such vigour, we hear nothing; of the Irish Church Bill, nothing ; of the English Church-rates Bill, nothing ; of the Imprisonment for Debt Bill, nothing : the catalogue of measures introduced for rejection might be enlarged, but the re- sult would be still the same—namely. nothing . Oje,itundred and fifty-eight gentlemen, besides lords, icer(i le...tignind kept toge- ther for nearly six months; and except Private Bill legislation-- that is to say, except multifarious jobbing—they did nothing worth notice even in Ministerial judgment, except passing bills whose actual operation had been anticipated by public opinion, by the good sense and kindly feeling of the people. Bygone deficiencies, however, might have been pardoned and overlooked, if it had suited the Government to hold out cheering promises of Attire benefits—to announce the intention of carrying some of those measures to which the present Ministers are pledged, and others of practical improvement, which an honest Government, comprehending its proper functions, would eagerly produce. But the speech is more meaningless, as regards mea- sures, than any which has been delivered from the throne since the WELLINGTON expulsion in 1830. It is an index of the Whig policy past and present. To do as little as possible in the way of improvement, has latterly been, and, judging from the ordi- nary manifestations of their wishes, is still to be their plan; and they have no longer the assurance to promise reforms which they probably never intended to carry. Review their course of action since the ejectment of PEEL in the spring of 1835, and it will he found that their first performances were by far the best. There has been nothing attempted comparable to the English Municipal Bill, which they carried when scarcely warm in their seats. Their measures have been since growing " Small by degrees and beautifully less; " till at length, even the Irish Tithe Bill lost both its Appropriation- clause and the principle of apportioning salary to service. It is now avowed that the intention of Ministers was to " dump" Re- form. Had this been previously known—had the results of the last three sessions been anticipated—never would Lord MEL- BOURNE have been borne back into office on the shoulders of the people. He may now retain, and perhaps augment his majority ; but it will not be, as before, by genuine popular enthusiasm ; and though he may fancy himself strong in the favour of the Court, his " damping," do-nothing policy, will never secure to him the real power which he enjoyed when the energy of the People's will raised ABERCROMBY to the Speaker's chair, thrust PEEL from office, and carried the Reform of the English Municipalities. It is now manifest—nay, boasted—that the spirit of Reform has retrograded, under Viscount MELBOURNE'S guidance, even further than under Earl GREY'S. The existence or dissolution of the Whig Ministry is a very secondary consideration. The miserable results of the late session point out the necessity of some more searching reform than any which can be made by merely changing the individuals who compose a Government. The' instrument of legislation is a failure. No doubt, Government is much to blame for the unsatisfactory conduct of public Wetness its the defunct Par- liament. As " leader," Lord JOHN e.ussELL is too languid— what is worse, be lacks method: even those bills which he wished to carry, and which were not mere make-believes got up in pursuance of the " rubbing-on" policy, lingered in the House till their existence was almost forgotten; and they were at last huddled up amidst hundreds of others, full of blunders, in the very last week of the session. But it was the duty of Parliament to control the Government. It is a most pernicious notion that Ministers are to " lead" the House. The duty of the People's Representatives is to take care that Ministers attend to the busi- ness of the country. This duty scarcely anybody attempted to discharge. Members saw that the gentlemen on the Treasury bench coolly allowed week after week to pass away, and the House to be " counted out" repeatedly, while the Imprisonment for Debt Bill, and other measures introduced by members of the Govern- ment, required regular and close attention. It is no excuse for this negligence, that the session was unexpectedly cut short by the King's death. Why were five months permitted to be wasted? An accident is only a valid apology when proper use has been made of the time and means at our disposal. The disgrace which falls chiefly upon Ministers attaches also to most of the Indepen- dent Members, and to the whole Tory Opposition. There were no strenuous and reiterated appeals to the Ministers to attend to their duty. Important measures which the Ministers professed to take charge of, but did not, should have been adopted by other Members in earnest. Even the mere office-seekers were lazy, and neglected the policy sagaciously chalked out for them by their organs in the press. Why did not Sir ROBERT PEEL bring in a bill to abolish imprisonment for debt, the principle being approved of by himself mid his party ? He would have had the assistance of Sir FREDERICK POLLOCK, and the votes of a large, majority on the Government side of the House : at any rate, he might have shamed the Attorney-Geairal into honest activity. But there sat Sir ROBERT at the hetet of three hundred Members, setting the example of carpingrat the Ministerial attempts at legis- lation, but never essaelrificeay thing useful himself. Good measures which ho e:ghtatsrword would undoubtedly have been carried through both Houses. He bad an opportunity, which will probably never return, of proving that in Opposition he could do more than the Government in the way of practical reform. But Sir ROBERT PEEL was as idle as the great majority of the House : he did nothing himself, and never aided the praiseworthy attempts of a few industrious Members to effect something really useful. A grosser fault in party tactics never was committed. PEEL might have gone to the country and said, "This good measure is mine, and so is this—your Ministers have done no- thing." But the strongest Opposition ever mustered in Par- liament has wasted its strength in miserable party displays, and attempted nothing practically beneficial. The consequence is, that contempt of the House of Commons universally pre- vails. The constituencies—such of them as happen to be intelli- gent and honest—disappointed and disgusted, ask why they should be harassed by exertions to reelect a new House, or to support this or that Ministry ? The Legislature, as at present constituted, is seen to be incompetent for the performance of its functions. To elect 658 men, at the cost of much money, time, anxiety, neglect of the common business of life, loss of friends, loss of employment, (equivalent in some cases to a loss of bread,) for such a legislative harvest as the country has reaped from the performances of the last Parliament, appears worse than a waste of time. In bidding adieu, however, to the stupid old Parliament, we are grateful for ono thing, the advantage of which will be sen- sibly felt by the country in the course of the next week. The elections in the boroughs, under Mr. ELPHINSTONE'S Act, will be completed in one day. What a mass of riot, drunkenness, lying, canting, and immorality of the basest kind, will be got rid of by that simple enactment! Shortening the time of elections stands out as the one unquestionable and self-acting good in the imper- fect and abused measure of Parliamentary Reform.
