NEWS OF THE WEEK.
FLAT as the last half-hour before dinner, the last week of the re- cess presents little in the way of substantial movement for notice, still less that bears directly on the meeting of Parliament. The Irish Members have as yet been the only section to show any cor- porate life ; and in them it has been faint. Mr. Grattan sum- moned a meeting in Dublin, to consult on the course for the ses- sion, and especially on the Poor-law ; but only ten met; and there were as many opinions as men. Mr. Grattan himself promises to oppose every Ministry, bad or good, that does not attend to Irish affairs"; as if every Ministry, bad or good, were not con- stantly " attending " to Irish affairs above all others : with scanty success, it must be owned, but that misfortune the Ministers share in common with the. Irish Members themselves. Even on the tipic of the Poor-law, the Members differ as much with one an- other as they do with the Government.
On this side of St. George's Channel we have but a small show of political activity. The Chartists have been summoned to meet, but left Mr. Feargus O'Connor in the lurch. The friends of Joseph Sturge, in their capacity as advocates of universal peace, have held a meeting at Sheffield, to listen to one of the good man's speeches, and " resolve " in favour of an "arbitration-clause." The paper-makers of Scotland have assembled to revive a move- ment for abolition of the excise-duty on paper—that wasteful im- pediment in the way of industry and mischievous tax on know- ledge. We scarcely know of any other gathering worth mention as a political movement. The discussion on Mr. Charles Pearson's plans for improving our prison discipline is of a larger scope and more enduring in- terest than any merely political agitation. It has brought the subject of correctional discipline before the public in the most animated form ; has exhibited the leading reformers acting in concert ; and has helped in some degree to supply a want—a po- pular exposition of the rationale of discipline according to the new lights.
Of the same nature is the annual meeting of the Lancashire School Association ; which makes decided progress in the dis- semination of practical and rational doctrines on the subject of public education.
Both these movements show how little there is of true stagna- tion in the political dulness of the moment. On the contrary, a vast accession has been made to the intellectual activity of the country' which must have its influence on the political discus- sions of the approaching session. The popular mind "out of doors" is advancing so rapidly, that it will tax more and more the legislative mind to keep pace with the progress and preserve any degree of credit. The greater movements of a political kind are but reflected in the irregular discussions of the press. While the Free-traders are preparing to celebrate the total abolition of the Corn-laws on the 1st of February, by a banquet in the Free-trade Hall of Man- chester, the Protectionists are positively discussing the feasibility of maintaining "a moderate fixed duty on corn," and speculating on the probability of a Ministerial compromise on that head ! The Protectionists certainly are not the section of legislators who Will vindicate the advanced state of intelligence in Parliament. Perhaps there never was a more striking instance of incapacity to estimate probabilities and practicabilities than this notion of reviving a duty on corn : it shows that the politicians of that Class totally misunderstand the genius of the English people, Which is netver -inclined to go back upon a thing that is done With; and tobilly miscalculate the position of the Minister, who would onlylnake himself ridiculous by such solemn trifling as that now proposed for him. We have not been among Lord John Russell's flatterers, but certainly we never rated his intellect at ao very infantile a grade as the expectants of a Ministerial com- promise on the defunct Corn-duties must do. In one form or other, finance is the chief subject of the general attention. There are rumours of Ministerial concessions on a large scale, in the shape of naval and military reductions. The naval measures probably are embodied in Mr. Ward's minutes, for reorganization of the dockyards ; which tend more to efficiency than to reduce expenditure as the primary object. Perhaps Mr. Cobden will dismiss the project as a "red herring." The military reductions are as yet only described by the licentious tongue of Rib. mour ; and while we should hesitate to prophesy on the steps to which Ministers might resort in the endeavour to fortify their pre- carious position, we cannot forget that it is more easy to invent ru- mours than to learn anything authentic about the official inten- tions on such matters. Ministers may be going to disband the Army, though the question of peace or war is not yet settled in Europe or in Lord Palmerston's mind ; but we do not see how such intention can as yet be known. Meanwhile, the papers teem with suggestions from all quarters, for reductions here and there, particularly in the military depart- ments; and Mr. Rigby Wason has contributed a third " budget " for public consideration, which altogether distances not only Mr. Macgregor's but even Mr. Cobden's in the magnificence of its promises of relief, while it spares the efficiency of the public ser- vice, and maintains revenue equal to the needful expenditure ; and it offers to do all this by a measure as simple as it is comprehen- sive and clearly stated. Mr. Wason proposes to strike off some twenty-eight millions from the annual burdens, by paying off the National Debt out of the realized property of the country : and, wild as such a project may seem on the bare enunciation of it, he has the knack of making it look rather like common sense, in the little tract of which we reprint a considerable portion among our miscellaneous news. In its outward aspect, Mr. Wason's scheme is at once vaster, more sublime, yet almost more prac- ticable, than Mr. Cobden's project for disentombing "the expen- diture of 1835."
