NEWS OF THE WEEK.
TIIE lull in the political atmosphere continues. Nothing has cat- cared to ruffle the composure or stimulate the indifference with which parties and party questions are generally regarded. The revisions of Parliamentary voters' lists are going on, but nobody inquires how. The Tory journalists rail loudly at the Whigs, but nobody listens. There is in some quarters a sort of languid curiosity about certain appointments : now and then, it is asked whether Mr. MACAULAY has joined the Ministry, and whether Lord CLARENDON has been again implored to lend the Whig Cabinet the benefit of his name : but probably the answer is not retained in the inquirer's mind for half an hour. Lord MONTEAGLeS job provokes a sneer, and Lord LONDONDERRY'S squabble with the Clergy a laugh ; and then men turn their thoughts to matters of more importance. For in the midst of this lassitude and apparent carelessness as to the fate of factions and their adherents, there are subjects which command serious attention from all but the inveterately frivolous. The barometer is anxiously inspected ; the sky and the clouds are watched ; the reports of the harvest are weighed and considered ; and the situation of the Bank of England must " give us pause." These are practical matters affecting the subsistence and the fortunes of millions, and these are subjects uppermost in men's minds.
The accounts of the harvest confirm the now almost universal opinion, that a very large portion of the wheat crop has been irre- trievably damaged, while oats and barley are in jeopardy. Large orders have been sent to the Continent for wheat, and, as the reader has often been reminded in our columns, it must be paid for with gold. Trade is dull in the manufacturing districts. And— rejoice ye currency-doctors! ghost of CORBETT brandish the fatal gridiron !—the PEEL Bill of 1819 and the ALTI1ORP Charter of 1833 have failed ; another suspension of cash payments—a suspen- sion in the twenty-fifth year of peace !—is thought by the knowing to be inevitable on this side of Christmas. Such is the condition to which a nation has been reduced, possessing capital, industry, and intelligence in a degree unequalled by any people whom history mentions.
