NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Foreign Office is indisputably the worst filled of all our great offices of state. Eqindly unfettered with his colleagues by the high Principles and generous sentiments which have at least been Assumed to be characteristic of English statesmen, the Foreign Secretary transcends them all in incompetence. Thrice has Par- litiment in the course of one week seen him humiliated to a degree seldom experienced by any of his predecessors. In the House of Lords he hal himself given the coup-de-grace to his own monstrous Extradition Bill; admitting the truth of all that has been ad- vanced against it, and pleading the inadmissible excuse of igno- rance of recent penal legislation in France. In the House of Commons, the ignorance of his duties, and readiness to compromise the national honour, aggravated by neglect to read a despatch in the matter of the Florentine outrage, have been severely casti- "gated ; and he has only escaped exposure in the ease of the Scotch missionaries expelled from Hungary by the device of having the House counted out. There is no security for the national honour, or for the safety of any one individual citizen in foreign parts, so long as the Earl of Malmesbury is Foreign Secretary. His colleagues, however do their best to keep Lord Malmesbury in countenance. It was edifying to see the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer objecting to the reception of a petition from the Legislative Counoil of New South W ales presented by another Minister, the Secretary for Ireland,—objecting. on the ground that it contained expressions disrespectful to the Crown ! The apology for this indecorous collision was the same as in the case of Mr. Wal- pole's precious franchise-extension notice—want of previous com- munication. The Secretary of State for the Colonies remained silent though the petition related to his department : he was sup- pressed for the occasion. Not one of our Ministers appeared sen- sible-of the importance of the document, or the perilous future of which it affords a glimpse. Sound in the political, more than ques- tionable in the economical principles it enunciates, it is a solemn protest against the vaunted constitution bestowed on the Austra- lian Colonies, and has an ominous resemblance to some of the re- monstrances transmitted from our old colonies in America imme- diately liefore the.revolt. The general conduct of Ministers during the week has also been of a nature to accelerate their downward course in public estima- tion. The damaging abandonment of the Extradition Bill in the Lords was not worse than the shabby suppression of the Anti- Maynooth motion" in the Commons ; a motion which, though not avowedly originated by them, was winked at and dallied with in a way that has made them morally answerable for it. They have also so timed the issue of a proclamation against Roman Catholic processions as to give it the appearance ota de- vice for covering their ignominious retreat on the Maynooth ques- tion. They can indeed say that the proclamation is warranted by law, in strict consistency with their professed principles, and even perhaps that the obtrusive parade of Romanist processions tends to breaches of the peace, in the same way as Orange processions. There is no doubt that the Romish priesthood• have lately evinced an aggressive spirit—a disregard of the laws against ostentatious publicity of their ministrations, which would not be tolerated from Protestants in Roman Catholic countries. But the prudence of the proclamation is not less questionable than that of the celebrated Durham Letter : it may give undue importance, and even fresh stimulus, to these petulant acts of insubordination ; and, viewed in connexion with other acts of the Ministers, it does look sus- piciously like an electioneering ruse. By his partial opposition to the bill for facilitating the Disfran- chisement of Corrupt Boroughs, Lord Derby has managed to in- volve his " order" m an unwise interference with the.privileges of [LATEST EDITION.]
the Commons. By mutilating the bill, the Lords obstruct the attempts of the Commons to correct the growth of political corrup- tion; and the notorious influence of some of the Peers over various obscure boroughs, imparts to this obstruction the character of as- serting a right to do wrong. The best friend of Ministers—their most efficient ally in repair- ing their blunders—continues to be Lord John Russell. Like pigs attempting to swim, they have been cutting their own throats ; but Lord John has not been satisfied to leave them in that plight. Apparently for no better reason than to assert his indefeasible leadership, he tagged to the end of an inculpation of Ministers on the Tuscan question, a review of their sessional campaign, which enabled Mr. Disraeli to gloss over some of their most egregious faults and of his own tamperigilpith consistency and truth. Lora. Palmerston embraced the opportunity, in his character of inde- pendent chief, to attack both parties for their conduct in the Tuscan negotiatiOns. He spoke, as usual, with animation and smartness, but with questionable soundness ; for he would have availed himself of the Florentine misunderstanding to fasten a quarrel on his old unfriends at Vienna, instead of keeping fast hold of the responsible party, the Tuscan Government. One success Ministers have enjoyed—their Militia Bill has passed the ordeal of the House of Lords. The debate on the second reading would have been featureless but for the racy speech of the Duke of Wellington. It was striking and impressive, like everything from that quarter ; and yet a severe critic might remark, that what the Duke calls a " peace establishment" is in fact an establishment sufficient to enable this country to wage war while professing to be at peace. It is curious that so clear- sighted an admilistrator as the Duke of Wellington should argue that the ill-trained Militia of the Ministerial measure would prove efficient, because the thoroughly drilled and disciplined
Militia of the Napoleonic war,- who had been permanently under arms for years, were found as reliable as regular troops. They were in fact. regular troops in all but the name—as effective as any soldiery can be when brought under fire for the first time.
For one good deed, though 'tardily and ungraciously performed, credit must in fairness be allowed to the Lord Chancellor. Upon second thoughts, the opposition of the Lords to the Copyholds En- franchisement_ Bill is abandoned ; and the bill will be allowed to pass—it is understood, without modifications impairing its effi- ciency. The Commons have passed the Metropolitan Water Sup- ply Bill through Committee; and the Metropolitan Burials Bill has been read a second time. So there is some chance of a little advancement in Sanitary Reform even this session, after all.
