NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE breath of life still lingers in the Ministerial body. On Mon- day lagt, a respite, until the further pleasure of the Tory Lords shall be known, was received at the Treasury for Earl GREY and his colleagues. The courage of his Grace the Duke of WELLINGTON, it seems, could not be screwed up to the sticking-point. He was prepared to dictate to Ministers—to denounce their policy, and mutilate their measures—to bluster and to bully ; but the old soldier was not prepared for action. When, therefore, he found that Ministers were reallygettiteready to resign, and putting their houses in order for a fresh set of occupants,—and that the threat of resigna- tion was no sham this time,-:—to the infinite mortification of his more needy and reckless folloSts, he refused to lead them on to tbe assault.
Ministers, however, are by no means safe. As Lord ALTHORP remarked in the House of Commons, " the storm is not yet blown over." They have carried the second reading of the Irish Church Bill, but they stand the chance of a defeat in the Committee upon all or any one of the clauses. It is not certainly known, for in all probability the Carlton Terrace conclave is itself in doubt upon the subject, what the ultimate fate of the Bill may be ; but as long as the Duke of WELLINGTON and Sir ROBERT PEEL stand aloof, to throw it out would be small gain to the Opposition.
Sir JOHN WaorrasLay's motion for a call of the House was re- jecter' on Monday, by a majority of 35. It was opposed by Go- vernment, and a strong body of Tories, who together mustered )60 votes against 125. Assurances, deemed worthy of credit at the Treasury, Had been received, which, in the opinion of Ministers, rendered the intended demonstration unnecessary : but the large naluority prthd, that although Lord ALTHORP was willing to be- lieve in Conservative promises, the independent members of the House of Commons regarded them with distrust.
The second reading was carried at four o'clock this morning, after a debate of three nights. The majority was 59; the num- ber of Peers present for the bill being 104, and against it 68 ; the Ministers held 53 proxies, their opponents only put in 30. It was clear from the commencement of the debate, that the Opposition were divided as to the policy of rejecting tiee bill at once. The Earl of WicaLow took the lead in advocating the propriety of allowing it to go into Committee ; and the Duke of WELLINGTON, actuated, as he declared, by the feeling, that he " considered them, as men of honour, bound to send the bill to Committee, and make eut of it a bill which would afford some relief to the Clergy of Ireland," followed the same course. Lord FIARROWBY voted in the same way, for the same reason. Three English Bishops, LONDON, lixasFoan, and BATH and WELLS, with the Archbishop of DUBLIN, also supported Ministers; while the Archbishop of CAN- TERRITRY and the pamphleteering prelate of Exeter strenuously opposed them.
If any reliance is to be placed on the speeches of the Conserva- tives, they intend to make such alterations in the bill, while it is in Committee, as to place its rejection by the Commons and the Ministry beyond doubt!.. The week was not destined to elapse without the (now not unusual) occurrence of a' inisterial defeat in the Commons. Mr. RUTH TEN, on Tuesday, moved a resolution declaring the propriety of
being economical in the expenditure of public money, and of abolish- ing unmerited sinecures,—as if the taint inherent in the principle of sinecures could be washed away by any degree of merit in the re- ceiver. The absurd wording of the resolution might have furnished a decent excuse for declining to vote in favour of it. Lord ALTHORP did not take that ground; but made a speich illustrative of the
Ministerial achievements in the way of economy, and then divided the House against Mr. RUTHVEN'S motion, which simply affirmed the propriety of what he professed to have done. To give a vote, however, which might be construed into a sanction of sinecures,
when we are possibly on the eve of a dis,:olution of Parliament, proved to be too serious a matter for the majority of those pre- sent ; and his Lordship found himself in a minority of 81 to 90. The Ten Hours Factory Bill has been crushed to death. Lord ASHLEY struggled hard in its defence ; and then, finding all resist- ance vain, left it to its fate, with a prayer and a sigh. A majority of 238 to 93 agreed, on Thursday, on the motion of Lord ALTHORP, to restrict legislative protection to the age of thirteen instead of eighteen years, as proposed by Lord ASHLEY. Lord ALTHORP has now got the management of the question into his own hands, and has announced his intention of embodying in the bill the ream; mendations contained in the Report (not the Evidence) published by the Central Board of Commissioners. The system of relays, then, is to be tried, in the teeth of the declaration of almost every practical man who has given evidence on the subject, that it is quite impracticable. No children under the age of thirteen are to be al- lowed to work more than eight hours per day ; although the same evidence proves that the subtraction of two hours out of twelve would cause a diminution of about 25 per cent in the amount of. their wages, and that with such diminution they will scarcely be able to get their bread. If this be true, what will be the consequence of reducing the period of daily labour by four hours instead of two?
Notwithstanding the mass of evidence which has been collected and published on this subject, we seem to be still too much in the dark to legislate upon it with prudence. Allowing that no more information worth having can be scraped together, most as- suredly sufficient time has not been allowed for the due examina- tion and digestion of that which lies before us. The subject
may be viewed in a great variety of lights, and ought to be care- fully scrutinized in each of them. It is only just beginning: to be understood. We have ascertained with tolerable eer- thinty the existence of a primii fade case for legislative inter- fer nce . but what the precise nature of that interference ought to bc, and how far it may be judicious to extend it, none seem qualified authoritatively to pronounce. Neither is there any absoltzte necessity for coming to an immediate and hasty decision upon these • delicate points. To pass any. new law on the subject this session, may indeed be a cruel and ruinous proceeding towards the parties whom all profess a wish to befriend. The best thing that could be resolved on at present, would be, to refrain from lawmaking until the matter has been thoroughly sifted. We would say to our legisla- tors, and more especially to Lord ALTHORP, who is preparing to push his bill through the House in all the plenitude of Ministerial ignorance and influence, "Gentlemen, go back to your studies; your lesson has been imperfectly learned; come betterprepared next session, and then perhaps the country will place more reliance upon any plan you may adopt." In the course of the debate on Lord ALTHORP'S motion, Mr. FRYER, the member for Wolverhampton, hit a hard blow at the Tory aristocracy,who to answer their own party purposes have taken up the Ten Hours Bill. His opinion was, that if the provisions of the bill which Lord ALSHORP intends to carry are not evaded, they will prove ruinous to the manufacturers ; who will then be driven to make common cause with their workmen, and demand cheap bread from the Government, or in other words, the abolition of what Mr. FRYER calls " the cursed and damnable Corn-laws." There is no doubt that this would be the most effectual mode of en- abling our manufacturers to defy foreign competition. Were the necessaries of life to cost as much on the Continent and in America : as in Glasgow and Manchester, there would scarcely be a cotton or silk mill to be found out of England. It may yet come to this; and the Tories may yet rue the day when they first swelled the cry for the Ten Hours Bill.
Mr. WARBURTON has excited some attention to a very irregular and somewhat curious transaction, connected with the long-de- layed distribution of the Deccan prize-money, in which the Duke of WELLINGTON and Mr. ARBUTHNOT are implicated. The story runs, that on the 22d of June 1825, these two personages signed a letter, as Lords of the Treasury, recommending that the prize- money should be divided among the army of the Deccan, and a Treasury minute to that effect now exists. This letter, however, was withdrawn at a period long subsequent to that at which it was written, and another of the same date substituted, in which the whole army, not the army of the Deccan only, are stated to be entitled to shares of the prize-money. The original Trea- sury minute,- now at variance with the letter to which it refers, remains unaltered. The subject certainly calls for investigation; and, as it has fallen into Mr. WARBURTONS hands, is likely to receive it. It is very possible that it may turn out ' T it though informal transaction, but that remains to be riN At length we have decisive news from Portugal. The whole of the Miguelite fleet, with the exception of lwd brigetand a cor- vette, has been captured by the Queen's squadron under the com- mand of Captain NAPIER. The battle was knight-cif tape St. Vincent, on the 5th „Instant. NAPIER left the Bay of Lagos on the 1st, and fell in with the enemy on the morning of the 2d. Their squadron consisted of the following vessels—the Rainha, 80 guns ; the Don John, 74 ; the Princesa Real, 56 ; the Freitas, or store-ship, 48; the Princesa, a corvette, 24; with three smaller vessels, carrying altogether 360 guns and 3,250 men. The Queens squadron consisted of three frigates, two of which are named the Don Pedro and the Donna Maria (the name of the third, the Admiral's flag-ship, is not given); one corvette, the Portuense; one brig, the Villa Flor ; and a schooner; in all six vessels, carry- ing 278 guns and 2,500 men. Owing to the weather being rough, NAPIER found it impossible to attack the enemy before the 5th, when it became calm, and he sent for his steamers to come to his assistance. The commanders of these vessels, however, refused, unless 2,0001. each• was promised them, alleging that it was no part of their contract to go into battle. In the mean time, a breeze sprung up, which soon carried the three frigates into close quarters with the Miguelites ; the smaller vessels, being dull sailors, lagged behind. The following particulars are ex- tracted from a letter published in the Times.
" The Admiral's intention was to board the Rainha on the starboard side, the Don Pedro to run up on her larboard side, to board, and carry her. Our .ftssels carrying a stress of sail, soon run down on the enemy. When about musket-shot off the Rainha, the store-ship and the frigate commenced a very heavy fire on the Rainha and Don Pedro and also the Don John commenced _Sting her stern guns, and whole broadsides from the corvettes and brigs to leeward. Our brave Admiral took no notice of their firing, but ran close down, poured two well-aimed broadsides into the Rainha, and laid the ship alongside, and boarded. Admiral Napier being the first to mount, sword in hand, sup- ported by his officers, notwithstanding a brisk fire of musketry and the cutlasses of the enemy, through which he made his way, after struggling for nearly seven minutes, suspended by the cordage, and having received a blow on the side with an iron bar, when two or three of his officers jumped on board the Rainha, and Ire followed. The Don Pedro kept firing into the store-ship and Princesa Real, and carried away the store-ship's fore-top-mast, leaving her forecastle strewed with wreck. The Donna Maria fired several well-aimed broadsides into the Princesa Real frigate. At 4. 30. the Don John hoisted sail, and made off; the corvettes and brigs followed their Commodore's example. The Rainha de Por- tugal sheered off from the Rainha to give chase to the Don John, the Don Pedro standing across the Rainha's stern, raking her, and then gave her a broadside on the larboard quarter, when she surrendered, and the Don Pedro made after the Don John."
The Don John in about an hour and half surrendered, and the Princesa Real soon hoisted the Queens colours. The Freitas or store- ship had in the mean while been engaged by two of NA PIERS smaller vessels, but surrendered upon their being joined by the flag-ship after the capture of the Don John. The five prizes we recarried in triumph into Lagos, by NAPIER, on the 6th instant. His loss is said to be 35 men killed and 100 wounded. Among the killed are Captains GOBLET and GEORGE, and Lieutenant WOOLDRIDGE. About twenty officers are wounded. The ships were but little damaged.
This victory—which was won by English valour, the comman- ders and crews being with scarcely any exceptions all Englishmen —will probably decide the struggle. Before the news had arrived in the interior, it appears that PALMELLA and VILLA FLOR were making rapid progress ; that numerous desertions had taken place from the Miguelites; and that several small towns and villages in Algarves and Alentejo had declared in favour of the Queen. A Guerilla force, under Don MANUEL DE MARTINI, a distiller of Punhete, was rapidly augmenting in numbers, and was said to amount to 1,500 men. This troop was very active in annoying the Miguelites. The whole force of PALMELLA'S army, now march- ing upon Lisbon, is estimated at 10,000 men.
Another unsuccessful attack was made by the besiegers upon Oporto on the 5th instant. Their loss is stated at six hundred men in killed and wounded. The inhabitants of Oporto are said to have seconded the garrison in repelling the attack, with great spirit. The latest news from Oporto is contained in a letter dated the 5th instant, in which it is said that the whole town was illumi- nated, in consequence of information having been received by the Miguelites on the opposite side of the river, that Lisbon had sur- rendered. This news wants confirmation.
The Paris correspondent of the Standard states, in a letter dated the 17th instant, that no doubt was entertained of the intervention of Spain in behalf of Don MIGUEL, and that a Spanish army had crossed the frontiers. It may be too late.
The vessels engaged in this country for the service of MIGUEL, and which were ready to leave the Thames, have received orders to stay where they are. Had they gone they would have fallen into NAPIER'S hands. He is believed by this time to be in the Tagus.
An official notification of the blockade of Lisbon and the other Portuguese ports not under the authority of the young Queen, has been transmitted from the Foreign Office to Lloyd's; and our Miguelite party in Parliament have been talking foolishly on the subject, after their usual fashion.
