NEWS OF THE WEEK.
Ir the proceedings in Parliament lack interest, they excel in number. Our Representatives are disposing of' the business be- fore them with railroad speed. The morning sittings work won- passing the Government bills through their different derfully well in
stages without discussion : Mr. Ilnurnimorox might turn the ffict to good account in his arguments against midnight legislation. During the two hours of extra sitting on Saturday last, sixty dif- ferent subjects were brought on the tapis, and no fewer than nine public bills were, as the Votes of the House inform us, duly " considered?' The number of matters to which the attention of the House has been directed in less than a week—we quote from the Votes before us, beginning with Saturday and ending with Thursday—amounts to 342. °Now that the pitched battles of party are at an end for the session, the )l embers who remain in town are struggling to show the country that they can do some- thing as well as talk much.
The Regency Bill is going through its regular stages in the w House of Lords; h i ere t might ha,s pessed without exciting the
leant remark, lead not the Doke of little piquancy to the subject by an ex:tibiiion of di ;satisfaction at being over- tlw noree•enucest and by calling on various Peers at the battle time to bear witness that he is not ambitious.
The sticklers for oaths have endeavoured to make a stand against P swEs's Affirmation Bill. Sir Roemer Ixons was unusually w on the subject : he went so far as to lay it down as a Kiwi, , that no man can be a good Churchman who is not a good swearer : the united power of Sovereign, Lords, and Commons, lie maintained, is not competent to alter so important a tenet of the Church. But the zealous representative of Oxford University (swill not persuade the House of Commons to agree with him in this test of orthodoxy ; a step was taken towards relieving the scruples of conscientious nonjitrors. That part of the plan, however, which requires the certificate of two .Justices to a man's character before he can be permitted to avail himself' of the relief' afforded, was propedy exposed by Sir Ronmer Pent.; so that even the propounder of the measure seemed heartily ashamed of it, and desired to throw the responsibility on " influential advisers."
The only party conflict of the week, was a trilling skirmish on Foreign Policy. Lord SAN DON took occasion of the House going into Supply, to as's Lord PA:: as.ro,N Whether he woe prepared to give sone str eee.so essasonve sone greater security to Britib commerce than the general .!:,:!:ese.ions that hed hitherto been made by him ? This gtc4;.i m was :Reed by a spece!1 ()I' some length, m winch t' .11eml.er 1;.er leverpoel undertook to show that the export cf Britisss: h 11101ectures and British shipping had been materially affected by the misleanagenient of the Foreign Office. He dwelt plum the delay lo eNt/e *lei!, rep:11'311011 trout .Mexico (Or Iiapoinn 11:!,;1-1 (1,:ies upon _British wiLimut the notice of six Tf101haiS wen- entitled by the teriff; upon the acqui-
escence of the British f;oveeinieet in the Teener) blockade of
tunes • eson le"- e ''' the dillies:Attie' duties
re-
cently : • .1 lig:11 .t of goods eoming in Portuguese
vessels fron, !' 71 pests :n:‘ :a the unsatisfactory state of
commercial re'rdions-..vith MAcia....‘x and himarioN TENN ENT went over nearly the some grounds ; the former adding to 'pi-trade with Porten.iie, awl our commercial relations Willi meow ; the butter adverting to the Braxils. Dist; n, after regretting, that the v.hols foreign policy et' the country had not. been brought under consideretien, proceeded to blame the policy of Lord Pmemns:rox for the first few years of his holding office under the Whigs, but rather praised his recent policy of drawing closer our connexion with Austria. The attack of the Opposition was deficient in weight of metal, and extended over too wide a line of operations : it was a mere flourish of trumpets. l'he defence of Ministers, as conducted by Lordp MERSTON and Mr. Smuts, was
infinitely more damaging, to them. The noble Viscount intimated that this country had no right to protest against the blockade of Buenos Acres by France: as if' neutrals, in the event of their com- merce being interrupted by a blockade of some years' duration, had no right to remonstrate, supposing no sufficient ground of war and no previous declaration of war. 1 I e said that we had no right to force treaties of commerce upon independent nations: does this entitle hint to dispense with all proof that the delay he is accused of in the ne- gotiations with Spain has not existed ?lint the nnin topic both with
Lord PALMERSTON Mid Su Elle was. the increase of our exports. It is not unwed), however, to tell us that our exports On the whole have increased, Wally branch of trada can be Slit) \tit to be labouring under disadvantages from Ministerial neglect of ditty. And what is worse, it has been so often demonstrated, in the eoursa of the Corn-law discussions, that the increased veal of exports has been occasioned by the losses of the maunfamurers, that this appeal to figures is manifestly and disgraeefolly delusive. Mr. limes en- deavoured to come to the rescue of Gov/mina by uttering some very sound doctrine regarding commercial policy ; to which the main objection is, that it 11:1(1 no bearing on the question immedi- ately in hand. Whether ina•Ivertently or with "malice prepense," we know not, but the Member for Landeth contrived to deal the Foreign Secretary a severe backliantled hlow—" As to retaliatory duties, that question had been ably met in a pithy sentence of the late Member fbr Bath, Mr. Roebuck : it was this, 'Why should we practice folly because other nations lack wisdken's '" 'Phis is good sense; but, unfortunately, Lord Pm.smesrox, in stating that the President of the Board of Trade had "not q, t" issued any retali- atory orders against the shipping of Spain, wished it to be under- stood that they were only "delayed." On the whole, the discussion was characterized by a want of earnestness and concentration, that betrayed want of inffirmation and of sincerity, on both sides.
There has been a good deal of chalieg and wrangling about a Church question "in little," which has been struggling to swell
itself into the- iieportnnee of a perty measure. The Farnham. Rectory Bill succeeded in attaining the honour of an adjourned de- bete : and, in the nleenOe of all 1epieS, it was contested with more spirit and closeness than its inherent merits may seem to deserve. The Ministerial papers wcre in high glee because Ministers succeeded in obtaining a majority of !as? on this question. The circumstance of' being in a majority at all is become an im- portant point with them ; so they make much of it—blind to the obvious inference the public will draw from their exultation at a victory in which it is difficult to determine whether the subject of debate or the majority is the more insignificant.
Among the :142 matters transacted as already mentioned, we ob-
serve a new entry in the Votes, and a new sign of the times. "Queen's Ministers, petition for their dismissal"—this stands under
the date ofWednesday the 22d, followed by the names of five places from which petitions with that prayer have been sent. Next day the entry again occult's, " Queen'a Ministers, petitions for their dismis-
sal "—and this time the prayer comes trout twenty places; in some instances more than one petition being forwarded front the same tow n.
An instance of Ministerial manceuvering occurred in the House of Commons on Tuesday, highly charneteristic of' the favourite mode of escaping from instead of ilwing difficulties. By the pre- sent regulations of the Ifonse, Tuesday is the only day of the five or six in the working week on which independsse `.Icinbers call cxiginate any motion; the officials of the Treasury-bench having precedence on all the rest. Lord Mr. GROTE, and other lembers, had precedence of the Government on Tuesday, for s
the discussion of SRI ;jells S,1111e were
hmrtance, but such as the Ministers: disrelis • . these, it morning sitting was appointed ; at wit:v:1 ti,o imsiness was forwarded, out of its order : the Homo adjourned. till the usual hour of meeting; taken that time arrived, the Nii;•;,- ters and their supporters kept away, and "no House" was the consequence. By this creditable trick, th.2 troubles,:me business slandth among the " dropped," and the evil day has beill put off.
