NEWS OF THE WEEK.
MoomooTH is again the prominent topic of the week, both in and out of Parliament. Public meetings against the Endowment Bill have been held in all quarters; the product has been made manifest in formidable heaps of petitions thrown into the House of Commons ; the debate on the second reading, still unfinished while we write, has been adjourned night after night, with an un- flagging vivacity in the disputation, proving, the determined spirit of the disputants; and reports have spread abroad, with fluctua- ting. confidence, that "Peel is in danger." That something .was really the matter, appeared to be implied in the scene that might he witnessed in the House every night—the pouring in of peti- tions, with some preliminary squabble or other. On the first night of the debate Mr. Ferrand delivered a most extravagant denunciatory petition from the Dublin Protestant Operative As- sociation, praying for the impeachment of the Premier ; and on Tuesday the same excited Member moved that the petition be printed with the Votes, in order to some motion upon it. Did he mean, asked the leaders on both sides, to move the impeach- ment? Even Mr. Ferrand was not so far gone as that ; and after some display of his peculiar temperament, he withdrew his mo- tion. There was generally some such skirmish to dispose of be- fore the great battle of the evening. When that began, all seemed confusion; so completely were the usual divisions of party set aside, and the hosts redivided into conflicting bands : but a little attention is soon able to detect a method in the temporary mad- ness.
The most eager and violent opposition came from among Sir Robert Peel's own followers ; and here we see two bands arrayed against him. In the first place, there is the class of Ultra-Pietosts, of whom Sir Robert Inglis is faoik princeps .; Mr. Colquhoun this time taking the lead. Their battle-cry Is "Protestantism in danger." To this band, though holding a kind of free commis- sion, Lord Ashley belongs. Then there is the company of old Irish Orangemen, the Shaws the Grogans, and the Gregories ; who resist the boon to the Roman Catholics with as despairing a ferocity as if the Premier had actually adopted Mr. Ward's ameEd- xnent and proposed to take the money out of the funds of the Irish Protestant Church. Mr. Shaw was exasperated to such a de- gree, that he uttered a kind of threat that all parties in Ireland would unete as Repealers; forgetful that the union he supposes -with the Catholic Repealers would be to defeat the very thing which they desire, and that Conciliation Hall is growing Minis- terial in its gratitude almost faster than he is growing rebellious. Another section vehemently opposed to the measure was the Anti- Peel party, consisting of Mr. Disraeli ; who spent a great deal of cleverness in showing off his malice. Similar internal divisions were to be noted in every party. The Whigs were divided. One section, headed by the Scotch Free Church Member, Mr. Fox Maule, took the Ultra-Protestant view ; foreseeing the actual endowment of the Roman Catholic Church, and invidiously comparing such an anticipated favour with the treatment of the Free Church in Scotland. It is to be doubted whether all the Scotch Members fulfilled their own conscientious convictions, or rather had an eye to the se- curing of seats at the expense of stretching conscience. Even if the real constituencies may not have assumed a threatening attitude, in some cases, those active persons about boroughs who manage elections and Whig agitations have taken a fancy adverse to the Popish grant ; and they are the creatures most dreaded by Members. The English Whigs accepted the measure, with some attempt to disparage its author. Sir Robert Peel, ared Mr. Macaulay, was brought into office on principles of I‘ Protection to Agriculture" and No-Popery " : he has doubly deceived his supporters, in his Free-trade tendency and his con- cessions to Romanism ; and good as the measure is, hA is not the
an to have offered it. Who then, asked Mr. Gonlburn, with
strict pertinence, should have done so? Mr. Macaulay imagined a "fix." The Whigs, who ought to have done it in (Ace, dared not, for fear of their "Voluntary principle" friends ; and the Tones, who dared, ought not, for a punctilio imagined for them by the Whigs This balancing of substantial concurrence and theoretical blame was an ingemous device of the Whigs, to avoid the odium of opposing a measure they envy, and yet to beg it as their own should the failing Minister leave it for theor inheritance. Still, the Premier had their votes ; they could not well help that.
The Radicals were not undivided. Mr. Bright, the Quaker, joined at once the No-Popery party and the Voluntaries ; while Mr. Roebuck, Mr. Hawes and many others, supported the more creditable tactics of Mr. Ward; who votes for the bill, but, as a matter of detail, attempts to provide for the endowment out of the ecclesiastical funds of Ireland.
The Irish Liberals were hearty in their acceptance of the boon; and one of them, Mr. Sergeant Murphy, did good service by putting Mr. Fox Maule out of the field. The Member fox Perth had been indiscreet enough to quote Mr. Grant, the gossip, as an authority for sayino. that Maynooth needs no improvement : Mr. Murphy read aloud from one of the gossip-books, personal de- scriptions of Members in that House, to show how accurate Mr. Maule's authority: is •' and the singular absurdity of the silly and vulgar prattle raised shouts of laughter. At one passage de- scribing Colonel Sibthorp, the House "laughed consumedly ; wherefore the gallant Colonel thought that they must be laugh- ing at him,—solemnly unconscious that the House laughed not at his beard but at the describer.
The thorough supporters of Ministers comprised a somewhat various class. First are the Ministers ; Sir lames Graham and his colleagues now stoutly asserting the necessity of the most considerate and liberal policy towards the Irish Catholics. Sir James set himself right with the House and Ireland about his memorable saying that "concession had reached its limits." It was uttered under circumstances that scarcely warranted the broad construction put upon it, and was explained soon after; but Sir James now avowed, with a manly candour which does him credit, that it was a wrong expression, and that he is very sorry for having uttered it. Such a disclaimer is far more memorable than the original mistake. Among the Ministers, were Lord Lincoln and -Lord Jocelyn, sons of the great Ultra- Protestant Peers the Duke of Newcastle and the Earl of Roden. In the same paper that contains their manful avowal of Libe- ralism will be found a second wail from. the forlorn old man the Duke of Newcastle, left alone " super antiques vies," and calling out to his "dear fellow-countrymen, in tearful earnestness, that we are hastening to destruction. Young England, shorn of its Hebrew-Caucasian Member, supported the endowment. Viscount Castlereagh and others proved "Conservatives" of the newest lights. To this group, too, belongs Mr. Pakington I Amidst all the confusion and cross-fighting, it will be perceived that Ministers had a large preponderance of actual support. Out of doors there has been less diversity of avowed opinion. " No-Popery " assemblages have gathered, under the auspices of Lord Mayor Gibbs, at the London Tavern ; also at Covent Garden Theatre, and in divers taverns and chapels about town and coun- try. The spirit of these meetings may be gathered in one remark by Dr. Croly, at the London Tavern : he observed that George the Fourth—" a popular King"—was removed from this world soon after he signed the Roman Catholic Relief Bill! The meet- ing of English Catholics stands almost alone to stem the flood of " No-Popery " zealotry. There is flagrant dissension between at least the part of the English people now active and their repre- sentatives : "the people" assert nothing in advance of the most sectarian austerity; the majority in the House of Commons is far ahead of its constituents.
In Ireland, the measure grows more popular on a closer ac- quaintance. O'Connell seems to have set in for a weekly lauda- tion of it. He makes a cunning but not quite an unfair use of the " No-Popery " agitation in England, as evincing the Anti- Irish spirit of the English people, and proving the necessity for repeal of the Union with such a hostile partner.
As the debate was adjourned again and again, as the petitions poured in, and the hubbub out of doors grew louder, the rumours of Peel's peril gained strength. Already there began to be talk of a Whig regime and a general election. But the ear grew used to the din ; the stream of petitions slackened ; speaker after speaker in Parliament rose with a more or less hearty defence; Peel continued firm, and the rumours grew fainter. "Discussion' has for once done good work. The lowering prospect with which
the week opened has cleared. Some, however, look out for breakers ahead; and exclaim, with hopes of a second storm, "Thank God, there is a House of laorde"I Iqdou5tqo this old Ton- exclamation borrowed by Whigs in the Dissenting interest. The manifeatations from the Upper House, however, promise nothing veer-grateful to the Obstructives the 'only sign as yet made by the Peers, is a declaration hy many of them, ConservativeLand /Liberal, that they adopt the measure. Throughout this' memorable struggle, Sir Robert Peel stands quite isolated from the old Tories both of England and Ireland: his supporters are the most truly liberal men on both sides of the House. There seems to be for once a growing disposition to think less of what will purchase votes for the next election, than of what is really desirable for the good of the country. If-it-be said that still the Minister does not go far enough,' it may be asked, who would or could go further ? 'Undoubtedly, it will be impossi- able to stop here : we are only on the threshold of an inevitable !progress in a similar spirit. It would be most imposing, and :possibly best in the largest consideration, if some political genius -were to arise taking a thoroughly searching and all-grasping view of the Whole relations involved in these controversies, and at once enunciating a completely-developed plan of just settle- ment ; rallying 'around him the highest understanding and intellectual morality of the country, and determined to stand or fall by the-system of action so devised and supported. And in- deed fall he would. We see by the temper which the Englishpeople :now exhibit, that no policy of that bold and prospective kind .could succeed till -after repeated efforts. More than one Cabinet is likely, to find Ireland still "the great difficulty" ; and there is :too much reason to fear that John Bull, sooner than part with his self-willed prejudices, would pay the price in rebellion and blood- :shed. Few men, if any of those now in public life, would incur the -.responsibility of the risks which would be run in thus hastening .events. Short of such an enterprise, the thing possible is the igradual adoption of good measures in detail, taking at each lime just what can be done. To carry on even that process the -cooperation of the most liberal men on-all sides would be needed, in order to outnumber the illiberal sections : but do we not al- ready see such a cooperation partially at work in the present -debate ? It has been approaching for some time past ; and it .has gone so far that you can scarcely take up a speech of Rus- sell's or Peel's but you must look for the name to tell which of 'the two spoke it. Party- is broken up. We live in .a state of change. A wide field of beneficent legislation lies before the 'really patriotic men who choose to partake in the joint labour. Success will stimulate endeavours - the coOperation, to be more 'efficient, will probably become closer--become a Coalition.
