10 OCTOBER 1885, Page 3

We would call attention to the letter in another column

de- scribing the business methods of the American Congress. It is from an Englishman who has resided for years in the Union, and is greatly interested in the mechanism both of Ameri- can and English politics. His statements are most instruc- tive. American examples are of little use here, because in America all the real work of legislation is devolved on the separate States ; but it will be seen that in. the House of Repre- sentatives, the system of Standing Committees is carried to its last logical extreme. All business goes before them, and the House will listen to nothing that they have not considered. The result is not encouraging. Business is excessively delayed, and in fact, never would get done at all, but that the Committees sit in secret, and that opinion allows the most drastic form of cloture we ever heard of. If in the House of Commons every Bill which two-thirds of its Members approved, passed without debate, Mr. Parnell would not matter much.