The Ministry have very nearly sustained a sharp defeat. Mr.
Disraeli feels it is getting hot, wishes to get part of his host of donkey-carts through Temple Bar before August, and despises Private Members, so he resolved to annex the Tuesdays, the only days left them for their complaints. Mr. Hardy was told to make the motion, and made it on Tuesday as if it were a motion of course, but both parties rose in revolt against him. Lord Hartington asked for an explanation of the state of public business ; Mr. Forsyth com- plained of the sudden intrusion of a great Bill like the Judicature Bill into the Orders for the Day ; Mr. Fawcett said Members' days had been surrendered in May, in order that they might not be asked for in June and July ; Lord Eslington showed the unendurable burden placed upon Members who worked in morning Commit- tees, and Mr. Newdegate affinned that the Order Book was "like a waste-paper basket turned upside down." If it had not been for Mr. Forster, who, unwilling to snatch such a victory, suggested an adjournment, the Government would have been defeated, and Mr. Disraeli on Thursday found it necessary to retreat. He should never, he said in his most conciliatory manner, have made such a proposal, if he had not thought the Private Members would be unanimous in making the concession. As they objected, he had only to withdraw it at once. The matter is of no consequence, as it does not matter a straw whether the Government Bills are passed or not, but it shows that Members are getting tired of the increasing mismanage- ment of daily business.
