NEWS OF THE WEEK.
PARLIAMENT on its first night of assembly presented parties in a position suddenly shifted.. It was fully anticipated, that on re- suming after the Easter recess, the Liberals- with their leader would be prepared to make a decisive attack upon the Treasury bench, if not at the first meeting, at all events within a short time. But scarcely had the House met, and certain formal mea- sures been transacted, ere a wholly unexpected manceuvre was accomplished. It has been said that the movement was con- certed, but the report lies under the strongest doubt, and it is to a certain extent negatived ; since the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer made announcements respecting the course which he should, pursue with the Budget, and the second reading of the Inclia Bill, incompatible with the idea of prearrangement. Almost as soon as his statement was closed, on a formal report from the Committee of Supply, Lord John Russell rose, " with very considerable doubt and hesitation," to suggest a course rarely adopted. He proposed not to proceed at once with the India Bill of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, nor with-the Aid bill of Lord Palmerston, but to take resolutions in Committee of the whole House, and thus practically to ebtais a consultation between her Majesty's Executive and the Representative Chamber °tithe principles and bases of the future Government of India. Lord John proved to be a " dens ex machine " for the Conservative Ministry ; and Mr. Disraeli snatched at the skirts of his " delis" with all the eagerness of a drowning savage to whom an idol should be held out, by way of plank. He wanted Lord John in- deed to move his resolutions, but from that assumption of au- thority the Member for London shrank ; and it is obvious that the rescue is quite sufficient without any such personal inter- vention. The members of the late Government instantly ex- claimed against this crossing of their path, and solemnly pro- tested against that abdication of the Ministerial functions. Sir Charles Wood headed the protesters ; the veteran Edward Ellice countersigned the protest ; it was afterwards indorsed by Lord Palmerston and by Mr. Bonverie ; and Sir Benjamin Hall pointed out difficulties in the course. But Mr. Horsman appeared as the seconder of Lord John Russell in this novel and important counsel ; the Ministers adhered to a plan which shielded them from many approaching troubles ; and in accepting Lord John's suggestion, it is understood that they have deferred the Minis- terial crisis which impended over them. It is far too early in the day to anticipate what may be the result of such a proceed- ing, but undoubtedly it has effected a material change in the re- lative position of parties.
This remarkable scene was followed by another scarcely less pregnant with instruction, both as to the present situation of af- fairs and the probable tendencies of the future. Sir John Pakington brought forward the Navy Estimates, showing a net increase of more than half a million over the Estimates of his predecessor, which was itself the largest peace estimate ever produced. In doing so, Sir John only complained that certain reductions had been effected by the late First Lord,—reductions which tended to impair the permanent character of the naval force in commission, of the men enlisted, and of other parts of the establishment. His zeal for the service betrayed him into censure upon the late Government ; though almost in the same breath his candour forced him to confess that, as an Opposition
man, he had helped to drive Ministers into those mischievous re- ductions. The late First Lord instantly retorted upon him for fresh reductions, which Sir John was now making without any pres- sure ; such as abatements in the amount of funds and the number of hands employed in the dockyards, where the hard work of the Navy is done. Thus the two great parties in the state were ful- filling their popular duty, not by demanding reductions, but by denouncing them. Both agreed in the confession, that the safety of the country needed a navy enlarged even beyond that which is to exceed all former peace establishments ; and by im- plication; Sir John Pakington claimed the merit of a course which he had imitated from his predecessors and censured as a member of Opposition. Is it possible to imagine a more vigor- ous satire' than party has pronounced upon itself ?
The other questions in Parliament have not been of such great interest, but they still have their political point. Sir John Tre- lawny invited the House to come to a decision upon the case of Mr. Isaac Butt and the Ameer Mourad All Khan—an affair upon which a Select Committee has given its dictum, while the House has left it without note or comment. For the moment the House declined to proceeding any further, or to renew the force of its resolutions against corrupt payment of Members. - Mr. Maguire has performed suit and service for his Irish popu- larity by a Wednesday debate upon his Tenant-right Bill, which was to give tenants a property in the improvements that they have effected in the past as well as the future. The property,was to be appraised, with power to screw the landlord into an imme- diate adjustment ; and was to pass from tenant to tenant by sale. The tone of the House was an instant and final condemnation of any such project ; yet the Irish Members are allowed to have a certain shareholding right in the debating time of Parliament, and accordingly the discussion was adjourned.
Lord Bury has done his best to bring Malacca, Singapore, and some minor ultra-Oriental settlements, under the effective control of the Colonial Office ; which would incidentally have the result Of placing them in the road to self-government, instead of leaving them to mere administrative rule as parts of the East Indian territory. He was answered, that the settlements were originally penal settlements ; that they are only appendices to India, peopled by aliens and money-making traders, not colo- nies, nor to be colonized. And the pressure of the status quo against the reform was too strong for Lord Albemarle's son to -contend against it.
Lord Clarence Paget has done good service by calling atten- tion to the costliness and pecuniary management of lighthouses. In all extensive subjects, mistakes may be made in figures, and Lord Clarence was not above such errors, any more than his op- ponents. But Lord Palmerston put the matter in its most dis- tinct aspect, when be said, that persons who traverse the streets of London are not called upon to pay for their lighting, since it is to the interest of everybody that the streets should be lighted, and so it is with the pathways of the ocean. Instead of a pro- mise of immediate action, Lord Clarence obtained what is likely to be more effectual, a Royal Commission to examine and report upon the subject.
Amongst the business transacted by the Lords has been the shelving of Lord Campbell's bill to amend the law of libel. la brief, the purpose of his enactment was, to exempt newspapers, where no individual injury could be proved, from responsibility for libel conveyed in honest reports of proceedings at certain au- thorized public meetings---meetings of Parliament, of town-coun- cils, and of local bodies convened by public authority. Lord Lyndhurst proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the bill raised an important question without doing nearly enough ; but
the general voice of the press is in favour of the measure as " a step in the right direction "; and there can be no doubt that the party predilections of the stalwart Tory Lord Chancellor Chelms- ford assisted in shelving that bill, as much as they have con- tributed to assist in restoring a Tory character to some parts of the County bench.
Not indeed that all members of the present Government are anti-Reformers ; Sir Hugh Cairns has showed that he belongs to
the reforming order, by introducing a bill for making two great improvements in the. Court of Chancery—empowering it to award
damages, to take evidence, andtemploy the aid of a jury. These powers will enable the suitor to obtain juste in one court kta stead of being driven front one to another.
The debate upon the subjeet of passports is as luciferous an exposure of an abuse maintained by authority as we can re... member to have encountered. Everybody knows the trouble occasioned by the new regulations for obtaining passports—the French authorities in this country having discontinued their issue. The plan of giving Foreign Office passports to all who should apply for them with the attestation of some local au- thority has proved to be insufficient, and now passports are to be given on the attestation not only of mayors and magistrates, but solicitors and notaries, clergymen and ministers of the Dis- senting denominations, physicians, and surgeons—charge two shillings. These are facilities which evidently neutralize any use of the passport either- in identifying or restraining travellers. The passport system is treated contemptuously by Lord Malmes- bury, and scouted by Lord Clarendon, and they quote the opinion of the French Emperor against it ; but, it seems, there are vested interests, and travellers are put to trouble that pass- port officers may make their profits. We have already re- marked, how impossible it is for Government to take precau- tions against everybody, especially in this country, where that same powerful and widely connected Everybody can so readily neutralize all kinds of formal warrant or identification.
The youngest colony of England, Victoria, is teaching her how to improve her institutions ; and the gentlemen who support the annual motion for the Ballot have met this week for the twofold purpose of honouring Mr. Nicholson, late Premier in Victoria, and drinking " success to the annual motion of the Bal- lot,"--as if they desired that it should remain an " annual mo- tion." It seems to be tolerably certain that opinion in favour of the Ballot is extending. Vote by ballot is evidently not a principle, it is an arrangement ; and if the majority of voters find the- arrangement to their liking and convenience, there is no reason why it should be refused to them. The conduct of land- lords like Sir Henry Dryden, who declared the other day that a tenant had no right to use a landlord's land to vote against him, does more in favour of Ballot than a hundred lectures or public dinners.
Sardinia seems resolved to make her conduct stand in brilliant contrast with the behaviour of the other states who were parties to the treaty of Paris. All the others, save the pauper state Turkey, were " Powers," whose diplomatic representatives made European questions the pretexts for aiming at advantages for their sovereigns, courts, and bureaux. Sardinia, who had an equitable claim upon the Conference, was put off by an evasion ; but she was the first to undertake the moral responsibility of standing forth as the vindicator of European right. Amongst the principles distinctly and positively laid down by the treaty of Paris was the free navigation of the Danube ; but the signa- tories to that treaty arranged that Austria, Bavaria, the Da- nubian states, Turkey and Wurtemberg should appoint delegates to frame an act legalizing the navigation of the river. Their act, dated the 7th of November 1857, was noted at the time as being entirely at variance with the treaty ; it was an attempt to grasp the navigation for the benefit of the river-bordering states, es- pecially Austria. The first protest against this insidious at- tempt upon the treaty of Paris which has come to light is that issued by Count Cavour, in a vigorous letter to the Governments who were parties to that treaty. He points out the manner in which the act contradicts the treaty and transcends the powers of the Commission. The same view, it has been reported, has been taken by our own Government.
But while .Sardinia is thus taking the initiative in cham- pioning European rights, our country is rendering justice to Sardinia in a very feeble and inept manner. Mr. Erskine, the Secretary of Legation at Turin, has been punished for his disas- trous mistake by recalling him home, probably to receive a re- primand and pardon. Complete justice less demanded this cas- tigation of a servant, though his error is undeniable, than some reparationto Sardinia for the injury done to her by making her believe that England would stand forward more boldly against Naples than she has done. We have yet to learn, however, that Lord Malmesbury can rise above the merely technical construc- tion of his duties.
The telegraph this week brings us news which we had anti- cipated, but is not the less satisfactory. It announces the com - plete reduction of Lucknow : the last post of the enemy had been taken, the last man driven out; and Sir Colin Campbell was restoring order. Already the movements of the eying rebels appear to be thrown into greater confusion, and even panic, than we could have anticipated from their numbers ; and, although we cannot reckon upoo an immediate pactfleation of the dis- tricts which they will ()campy, there does appear to be some reason for hoping that they have lost heart and will be finally put 'low. with little Alliculty. . In the remaining outposts of the insurrection some progress also has been made by the British. Another mark of our advance towards the end of the conflicts in the East is the arrival of Yeh at Calcutta. A fur- ther sign which is satisfactory is a tendency in the commercial markets of India to improve : it shows what the .wealthier and better informed Blass of Natives think of the prestmt state of affairs.
