13 JULY 1878, Page 2

The Criminal Code, although so well received, is not to

pass this year. The majority in the Commons might have been induced to pass it without discussion, and so give the country some compensation for the enormous expenditure they have inflicted on it, but the Law Lords were determined on a debate. The Lord Chancellor therefore announced on Monday that the Bill would be withdrawn, and would be submitted to a Royal Commission, consisting of Lord Blackburn, Mr. Justice Lush, and Sir James Stephen, who will revise it carefully, and reduce it to a form in which it is hoped Parliament will pass it without protracted discussion. That is a good plan, as the Commission is small enough to be effective ; but we regret that the Government did not for once turn their " fine brute votes" to a great use, and force the measure through. The Law Lords could not have made speeches of more than one night each, and they are not good at sitting up more than twenty- four hours at a time.