The reception of Mr. Horsman's motion touching the fortifica- tion
of our ports and arsenals was encouraging, and it would have been well had that gentleman abstained from pressing it to a division. It was evident that some of the most eminent mem. bers of the Government looked upon it with much favour, and considering that the plans are under revision, that the Govern- ment is fully sensible of its responsibilities, and that there are constitutional objections to the plan, it would have been better to have abstained from the attempt to exact a pledge.
The minor topics discussed in Parliament have considerable interest. The cruelties inflicted on seamen in merchant ships were the subject of a motion by Mr. Monckton Mil/ace. At present, the law cannot reach these offences. A crime committed on board an American ship, bound for England, or on board an English ship, bound to America, is almost sure to go unpunished. There is no jurisdiction in either country competent to deal with these crimes. If the Extradition Treaty of 1842 were enlarged, the grave objections to its cumbrous and costly machinery would still remain. The alternative remedies, therefore, are either to give the American Consuls jurisdiction in England, and the English Consuls jurisdiction in America, or to give the ordinary Courts of both countries reciprocal jurisdiction over crimes com- mitted on the high seas in the ships of either country. The United States Government favours the first proposition, to which our lawyers object. Mr. Monckton Manes has obtained the assent of the House to a resolution praying her Majesty to enter into negotiations with the United States for the prevention and punishment of these offences ; and there the matter rests for the present.
In Committee of Supply there have been some smart discussions and some execution done. The vote for the expenses of the Statute Law Commission has been refused ; but the opponents of
the management of our national galleries and art c.Alections generally have failed to strike out items providing for the pur- chase of portraits and the removal and temporary lodging of some of the pictures in the Na#onal Gallery; and have failed to prevent the disallowance of a vote to authorize the payment of 20001. for Sir George Hayter's picture of " The Reformed Par- liament," which Mr. Disraeli had bought and paid for, ex motn proprio, out of the fund for'civil contingencies. There has been a sharp skirmish between the Goths and Italians touching the designs for a new Foreign Office and India-house ; and the Government have pledged themselves to take no decisive step until the collective wisdom meets again. The last vote in Com- mittee of Supply was taken on Thursday—it was hailed with loud Cheers.
The execution dealt out among the Liberals by the Election Committees has not fulfilled the predictions of the Liberal chiefs that the greatest amount of corruption would be found in the Tory camp. Whether the latter have been more circumspect in their proceedings, or whether it is an accident that the Liberals come first, the fact remains that gross and disgraceful corruption has been practised on the Liberal side ; and some examples ought to be made. In the meantime the Committees are rapidly extinguishing Lord Palmerston's majority.
