NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Conservatives obtained a decisive victory in the House of Commons on Monday last. They gained two very material points. THE Conservatives obtained a decisive victory in the House of Commons on Monday last. They gained two very material points. In the first place, they rescued their darling Pension-list from the rough handling which the real Reformers in the house are anxious to give it; and secondly, which is of greater importance, they induced the Whig Ministers to degrade themselves and their amhappy adherents still more deeply in the eyes of the nation. The Pension-list is safe for the present, and the Ministry is ir- retrievably disgraced. Well may the Tories triumph; well may they sneer at the results of Reform.
The history of this affair is instructive. The Ministers were -perfectly an are, that if the House of Commons were left to itself, the motion of' Mr. HARVEY would be carried by an immense majority. There is no question whatever as to the feeling of the nation in regard to the abuses of the Pension-list; and there is as little doubt, that the interest and inclination of the great majority of the Members of the House of Commons would lead them truly to represent that feeling by their votes. It was evident, therefore, that steps must be taken to induce Members to vote contrary to their own sense of right and duty ; and, accordingly, there was a grand muster in Downing Street on Saturday last, at Lord ALTHORP'S residence. The old threat, which though stale is still potent, was again pressed into the service: Ministers de- clared that they would resign, if a majority refused to vote with them in behalf of the Tory Pen Sionlist ; which, as the price of office, they had pledged themselves to the King to keep sacred and secret. What should have been the reply of Independent Repre- sentatives to the Ministerial threat? Should it not have been after this fashion: " We are no parties to your bargain, your private arrangement with the Crown : it was one which you had no right to make, and which we will not assist you to keep : look to your own good faith ; we must preserve inviolate our implied if not express engagements to our constituents, and abate this Tory nuisance." We do not know that such language as this was held at the meeting in Downing Street, but the sentiment it expresses must hive been that of many : Mr 150 Members voted for Mr. HARVEY'S motion against 392; and 232' against 313 in favour of Mr. Srauris amendment, which, 'though unwisely diluted, and the result of a sad blunder in Parliamentary tactics, was deemed equally objectionable by Ministers, and was proved to be so by Sir
ROBERT PEEL.
From these numbers, it appears that Ministers were saved from the dire necessity of resignation, by a majority of 81. The list of the Members who voted with them is not published as yet; but the Tories claim to have reinforced the Ministerial ranks by upwards of ninety consistent defenders Of abuses, long inured to vote in fa- vour ofjobs and pensions. Had Sir ROBERT PEEL and his friends remained neutral, and left Ministers to be dealt with by the pro- fessedly Reforming Members of the House, there would have been an end of the Whig Government,—supposing the threat of going out upon so worthy a ground to have been sincerely made. As it is, Earl GREY is still in office, and Parliament is not dissolved. The evil day, on which the Representatives of South Lancashire, of the West Riding of Yorkshire, of South Warwickshire, of Devon- shire, and of more than one Metropolitan district, will have to meet their disappointed constituents, is again put off—but only for a season. We can easily comprehend the influence which the probability of a speedy dissolution, in case of the defeat of Minis- ters, exercised upon many Of those who voted to preserve the abo- minations of the Pension-list on Monday night. The same po- tent reasons which induced the partisans of the Whigs to vote as they did on that occasion, will doubtless have their weight on Thursday next, when Mr. TENNYSON' S motion to repeal the Sep
tennial Act comes on. But sufficient for the week is the evi thereof'. The arguments which the Whig Ministers shall adduce ill favour of Long Parliaments will be examined in due time.
The aproximation of the Tory section of the Cabinet, of which the Globe is supposed to be the organ, to Sir ROBERT PEEL, was manifested again on the Pension-list debate. Sir ROBERT
made the cause of' Ministers his own,—as, indeed, in reality it was : he took the lead in defending the position from which their
own natural allies deserted : nay, as the Times truly observes, " the Whig Ministers were no more than auxiliaries (subsidized by their enemies to remain pro tempore in, office?) for the sole
purpose of fighting through this essentially Tory battle." It can-
not be that Sir ROBERT will not claim, and does not expect his reward; and Mere are those in the Cabinet who would re-
ceive him with open arms,—the same who deem Sir Gramm!:
MURRAY'S PeT111S1GTe victory a proof (to use the curious phras...o. logy of the Globe) "that no small portion of public opinion is
beginning to be operated upon by the sweeping and impatient nature of much Ultra-Radical advocacy, and of the headlong course of change which it proposes to substitute for a political
improvement by calm and progressive stages." Which being translated into honest English, means, that a coalition be- tween the Miaisterial Tories and the trading politiciars of the Conservative party would be agreeable to the nation. Yet, how that is proved by the rejection of the nominee of the Ministry, which is daily miving in the course so much approved of by the Globe, does not very clearly appear. We have no doubt that the contrary is the fact; and that the nation, seeing no essential dif- ference between Moderate Tories and the Conservative Whigs who cling to such Ministers as Lord PALMERSTON " and Co." re- fuses on that account to give its hearty support to the latter. The self-styled Reformers, who voted with Ministers and Sir ROBERT PEEL, are aware of this, whatever Lord PAnstaasrosr and the Globe may think. They never imagined that they were giving a popular vote, but one which would postpone their day of account with their constituents.
The adjourned debate on the second reading of the Irish Tithe Bill was a remarkable one, for several reasons. It was opened by a brawl; in which Mr. RONAYNE, Mr. O'CONNELL, and Mr. STANLEY each played a part. Mr. RONAYNE, who, as the Americans say, had possession of the floor, had scarcely com- menced his speech, when Mr. O'CONNELL started up, and moved that the House be counted—although there were evidently more than a hundred Members pretreat. The cause of this proceeding Mr. O'CONNELL subsequently explained. He came down to the House, itappeared, full of a plan for settlir'y, the Tithe question : but when the debate was about to commence, Members began logo to dinner, and the House was thinning fast. This apparent indif- ference to Irish affairs stung the Agitator, and he was determined to arrest attention by his unusual motion for counting the House. For some time there was nothing but snappily, and snarling; but at length Mr. O'CONNELL rose, and deliverer fa speech of surpas- sing beauty, which strongly affected every one present, and called forth encomiums' warm and sincere, from Mr. STANLEY, Lord JOHN RUSSELL, Sir FRANCIS BURDETT, and Mr. CUTLAR
Faa-
GUSSON, and others. It was the perfection without the appear- ance of oratory, and breathed a spirit of conciliation which was as delightful as unexpected BIBB O'CONNELL. He explained his project for the settlement of the Tithe question; which' however, was demonstrated by Mr. STANLEY to be ill calculated to attain the end in view.
The Tithe Bill, it will be recollected, has for its object the pre- servation, not the appropriation of the funds of the Irish Church. The latter is a distinct affair' and one upon which Lord ALTHORP admitted the Cabinet to be divided. No one, indeed, can doubt that fact, who reads Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S unpremeditated six ecb. on the subject ; in which he clearly intimated his readiness on a future occasion to redress the grievance of the Irish Church, and to vote for a different appropriation of its revenues—even although by so doing he shoild break off from his present colleagues. Lord JOHN RUSSELL may be sure that these words of his will not be f 'Totten. The con-slusion of .he debate witnessed some wrong ling between Mr. Lirrizrosr and the Orange-Tory Melaers, who were evidently alarmed as well as irritated at the p:ospect of a real Irish Church Reform. Mr. LITTLETON, however, success- fully defended himself from imputed incansistency in lIrs conduct of the measure, as he never gave the Hous's reason to innaine that his Tithe-bill was intended to prevent the future alienation from the Irish Church of some part of the property which it now holds. The second reading of the b 11 was finally carried, by the large majority of 248 to 52. Mr. BROUGHAM'S bill for establishing a Metropolitan, and Mt. CAYLEY'S for establishing County offices for the Registry of Deeds, were both rejected on Wednesday, by great majorities, It appears
to be indisputable, that to owners of real property, who have their title-deeds in their own keeping, the advantages offered by either or both of the bills would far outweigh the opposing inconveni- ences. But that men whose estates are deeply mortgaged, and whose creditors hold their most precious documents, should be wil- ling to risk even the probable exposure of their affairs, is not to be expected. Then, with very few exceptions, the whole body of lawyers are opposed to a measure which aims a serious blow at their profits. Until, therefore, the gentlemen of England shall have recovered from the effects of the war and high currency prices, and have escaped from the clutches of their "men of busi- ness,"—or till the sense of common advantage in the country be- come more than a match for sinister views,—we do not expect that general or local registry bills will pass the Legislature.
The examination of witnesses in favour of the Warwick Borough Bill proceeds slowly in the House of Peers. The whole affair is indeed a mere farce. It cannot be supposed that the inter- val of a few weeks can have altered the recollection of respectable witnesses as to facts which occurred eighteen months ago. If there should be any discrepancy, the evidence which was given at the earliest period ought to be preferred. Why then should not the House of Peers be satisfied, one way or the other, with the evidence given before the Committee of the Commons ? The only intelligible reply is, that their Lordships' decision will be made independently of the facts of the case. And yet, forsooth, the house is to deal with the Purification bills in its judicial capacity !
Petitions from the Dissenters continue to pour in upon the Rouse of Commons from all quarters. Mr.1VILKS on Monday presented one signed by deputies from a hundred difietrent cors- gregations, in London. The plan of MinistersfOr the future pay- ment of Church-rates, appears to have roused the Noncon- formist body throughout the kingdom. The Dissenters are quite at variance with their old champion, Lord JOHN RUSSELL; who gave it as his decided opinion on Monday, when commenting upon some remarks of Mr. Winws, "that it was neither expedient, nor wise, nor just, to insist that the Church should maintain itself out of the funds it already possesses, without the aid of Government." We shall see whether Lord JOHN and his colleagues will long ad- here to this opinion. The account of the great meeting held on Thursday in the Metropolis, which was attended by four hundred Deputations, may perhaps have some influence in inducing them to modify it. We observe that, last night, upon the pre- sentation of a petition from Walsall, Mr. STANLEY, hitherto the great champion of the Church in the Cabinet,denied that University property was Church property ; and said, that "if its clergy per- sisted in their opposition to the rightful claims of the Dissenters, the Establishment would become a practical grievance, and must be dealt with as such by the Legislature:" This is progressing,!
The second reading of the Poor-laws Amendment Bill was car- ried in the House of Commons last night, by a triumphant majo- rity, of 319 to 20. The value of the clamorous opposition to the -measure has found its level. It is a feeble subterfuge to set forth, however boastfully, that the principle of the bill merely is thus sanctioned, and that its main provisions may yet be altered. The essential provisions cannot be altered materially without destroy- ing the principle : and this fact the opponents of the measure were quite sensible of, a few days ago, when in the Times and tl:c Courier they called upon the House ofeommons on no account to allow the bill to be read a second time. No one, however, main tains the measure to be altogether faultless and perfect ; and Lord A LTHORP has declared his readiness to support all reasona- ble amendments.
Among the speeches delivered last night, that of Sir SAMUEL liVisstr.sy was preeminent for drivelling absurdity, and Mr. GROTE'S for sound and philosophical views of the subject, expressed in language at once forcible, perspicuous, and concise. Every speech that Mr. Game delivers augments our regret that he exerts himself so very seldom. His constituents, and the country at large, have a claim upon his time and talents, which he ought not to disregard.
