NEWS OF THE WEEK.
l'HE House of Commons has assembled after its adjournment to allow time for the reelections, and Sir ROBERT PEEL has reentered it in the character of Prime Minister. Sir GEORGE CLERK pro- mised for him, that as soon as he returned he would make a state- ment as to the course which he should pursue ; and Sir ROBERT certainly made a speech on Thursday night, the one probably to which Sir GEORGE alluded. It coincides with the promise in point of time, and Sir ROBERT did not announce any further communi- cation for the present ; so that it is only fair to assume, though one would not suppose it, that he has actually made his statement. The oracle bath spoken, and it hath said—nothing. The im- pression which the conqueror of Waterloo made upon a Parisian dame is said to have been, that he displayed "a great talent for silence." Sir ROBERT exhibits a higher talent than his illustrious colleague, for he contrives to make speech perform the office of silence, and to utter plenty of words which tell nothing. He fulfilled the promise which he made vicariously through Sir GEORGE CLERK, in characteristic style. He first introduced his statement a-propos of chimnies for the new Parliament building; and upon that subject he was remarkably explicit. Then b* said that he should adopt the Whig Miscellaneous Estimates, 'which were to come on last night. Next he explained the course which he should take with election-petitions—do nothing, and trust to the Election Committees to help him in doing so for the present. Then with respect to the laws about to expire, he should continue them for the nonce; and especially with respect to the Poor-law- upon that he was very distinct—the House might prolong it by a general continuance bill, or by an express enactment, so long as it gave him time to make up his mind. Then he came to the defi- ciency in the revenue : he was careful to explain that there would be two classes of remedies ; one temporary—Mr. GOULBURN would explain that ; and one permanent—he would explain that himself, next session. And lastly, with respect to other perma- nent measures of importance, those too he would explain—next session.
So the sum of all that Sir ROBERT told the House was, what he should do with certain small Estimates on the very next evening, and that he should make arrangements to enable him to tell them nothing more.
Now there iS nothing in this procedure but what might have been expected ; for it is precisely in accordance with what Sir ROBERT PEEL said that he should do on taking office, so long ago as the debate in May : he said that he should claim the confidence of the House, and ask for time to consider the measures to be adopted. There is therefore no new cause of complaint ; only the longer time Sir ROBERT takes for consideration, the better prepared must we expect him to be in February, when a strict account will be required of his progress in cogitation. If there was any disap- pointment at Sir ROBERT'S silence on Thursday, it was occasioned by Sir GEORGE CLERK, who had been instructed to make an announcement for Sir ROBERT which caused those who forgot the very peculiar nature of his explicitness to be disappointed; and Sir ROBERT himself enhanced that disappointment by making a show as if he really were about to tell something. Lord JOHN RUSSELL was so tantalized that he could not bear it, and he threatened to make a speech on the posture of public affairs and Sir ROBERT'S backwardness in dealing with them. The result will be seen in our Postscript.
There is one hint lurking among the Premier's words, too 'vague as yet to found any opinion upon, which is still not unwel- come. The Whigs, in dealing with "the deficiency," admitted that they had no scheme for reducing the expenditure—their only plan was to increase the revenue. Sir ROBERT PEEL seems to per- ceive the possibility of clOing both. Is a Tory Government going to begin the work of economy ? It looks like it : Colonel PEEL plainly told his constituents at Huntingdon, that Lord ABERDEEN is about to reduce the war expenditure, which Lord PALMERSTON did so much to augment. JOSEPH HUME will turn" Tory!"
