27 JUNE 1846, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

In its last stages, the Corn Bill met with no serious obstruc- tion. The Protectionist Lords saw the detriment to dignity in- volved in protracting defeat by struggling, and the old idol fell with decency. Lord Ashburton,' indeed, moved a resolution Condemning the immediate admission into the market of the corn now in bond. Taken with the mover's explanation, the proposal was inconceivably ludicrous : he did not mean to stop the pro- gress of the Corn Bill; he did not move his resolution as an amendment on that bill; so that he asked the House of Lords formally to record a lament over the first effect of the law which it was about to pass ! Of course the House declined this.

On the same evening, (Monday,) Lord Stanley declared that no further resistance would be offered to the progress of the bill with a view to mere delay.- Accordingly, the last de- bate, on Thursday, was a brief recapitulation of. speeches tedious though not long, with amendments formally recorded but not pressed ; and finally, Lord Stanley laid a protest of stale argu- ments among the archives of the House. The Customs Bill had to go through more stages, and it was more canvassed in detail than the other bill had been. Before the Houae went into Committee on Monday, the Duke of Richmond presented a petition from the Spitalfields weavers to be heard by counsel against the reduction of the duties on foreign silks ; and he made a motion for giving effect to the prayer. The result raised a question strangely mooted. The motion was negatived by a gross majority that included proxies ; but the majority of Peers present were in favour of the petition; and there was at once a great outcry among the Tory Peers against the practice of voting by proxy! Sufferers are always reformers. Let the worthy Peers abolish the practice, for it is an ugly one ; but until they do abolish it altogether, it s silly to grumble on a single occasion when it happens to tell i

ell against themselves.

The House having gone into Committee, the bill had to run the gauntlet for two nights, through a series of attempts to re- move divers items from the list of reduced duties: Lord Stanhope wished to omit brass and talc • Lord Hardwicke, butter and cheese; the Duke of Richmond, 'hops, and then silk ; Lord Stan- hope again, stained paper. The Duke of Richmond excited some expectation that he was about to appear as a barrister: he brought the " brief " prepared for counsel to the table, as though he were going to take the place of the lawyers whom the House had re- fused to admit ; but his heart perhaps roisgave him, for he did not attempt a barrister's speech. All the amendments failed. The repeatedly adjourned debate on the Coercion Bill was brought to a close on Thursday. On that last evening some re- markable speeches were delivered, especially by Mr. Cobden and Mr. Charles Buller. Mr. Sheil spoke, and did not suffer his character for brilliant eloquence to flag; but the subject was ex- hausted, and so was the attention of the House. Mr. Cobden's speech was notable for the distinction which he drew between his opposition to the bill on its merits, and his general admiration of Sir Robert Peel's recent services to the country.; which he ex- pressed in language emphatic by its plainness and heartiness: he altogether disclaimed community of object with those who voted agamt the bill merely to oust the Minister. He spoke out too on the "fusion of parties," evidently looking beyond the next Minis- try. The idea is growing, and the words of a man like Mr. Cobden i go far to realize t. Mr. Buller sketched the programme of a policy for Ireland, bold, practical, and direct ; marking, in fact, the very qualifications wanted for the Irish Secretaryship : but Mr. Buller is in favour of a real Poor-law in Ireland, from which the Premier ex- pectant shrinks; how then could they act together? Mr. Buller's declaration on the subject of Ireland, no leas than that which hese recently made on the subject of Colorual and Colonial Office Reform? seems to shut him out from the hext Ministry ; though it marks him as a member of the nextdficient Ministry. The debate closed in the defeat of the second reading, by 292 to 219. The majority presents a curious combination—of men opposed to the measure on its merits, but not to the Minister; of those who formerly advocated such a measure, hut for whom its defeat seemed now' to open the way back to Office; and of those who detest the ex- pectant Ministry, to be let in by the vote, but who will risk any 'consequences to have their revenge on Peel because he has passed. the Corn Bill. If he had not puled the Corn Bill, he would have passed the Coercion Bill as a matter of course : it is the Corn Bill after all, therefore, that causes his defeat, though the other is the pretext. One consolation is, as Mr. Buller remarked, that this combination of parties to damage Peel, incidentally establishes the fact that the sera of coercion for Ireland has passed. It is strange that Sir Robert Peel should be the last Minister found defendiag that policy; espeCially as he so uniformly accommo- dates himself to the *ogress of opinion. But in truth lie had committed himself to Ms actual position before the recent change was manifest : a new light has suddenly broken upon the Whigs; another equally new light upon the Protectionists. Very god': mere 'coercion for Ireland is for ever abolished. Lord John Rus- sell will be the first Prime Minister responsible for the due vindi- Cation of the law in Ireland while a prohibition of coercion acts is recorded on the journals of Parliament ; and while he has de- barred himself, byhis declaration against a poor-law, from an im- portant part of the pelicy, which must be the substitute for coer- cion. We must doubt whether this extraordinary turn of affairs will not throw ,a new light also on other minds—whether Sir Robert Peel may not after all prove the Minister to carry out the anti-coercive policy.

The fate of some minor measures falls to be noted.

The Commons have given a final repulse to Mr. W atson's Relief Bill, which was meant to correct some faults in the Catho- lic Emancipation Act. Sir De Lacy Evans's bill for extending the time to pay rates, in boroughs, imder.the Whig Reform Act, has also failed. Ministers resisted it, on the plea that it would break down the suffrage established by-that act; and Sir James Graham was very solemn in his refusal to concede the rate-paying clauses. No sound ar- Foment, however, was to be found against the measure. To be in arrears with taxes and rates, is to be in debt ; it makes no difference as to the conduct of the debtor, whether his creditor a private person, or the Crown, or a parish ; yet the Reform Act establishes this absurd distinction:' a man' may Mae ten thousand polinds to private creditors, and retain his vote ; but if he owe ten shillings of taxes, he is disfranchised! But the reason why the Government so easily set the motion aside was, that no public attention is now directed. to the matter. Sir De Lacy, no doubt, is acting for some Westminster busybodies. When the na- tion again takes to handling Reform Bills, in earnest, it will be on a scale very different from this parish-business mode. As we predicted, Sir Robert Peel has seen the necessity of le- gislating on the subject of New Zealand this year, and steps are. in progress towards furnishing- the colony with the machinery of self-government. Sir Robert says that the new view, is based upon the altered cirmuistances of the war with the Aborigines ; victory over whom is to be followed by better institutions for the colonists. We do not see the "exquisite reason" Of-the connexion between the two things : the "war" Was a mere mutiny of savages against the authority of a very weak Governor, and it has been put down for the nonce by a stronger Governor. But the "colony "—the real body of British settlers—is hundreds of miles away from the scene a the rebellion; and the savages had no hand in denying civil institutions to the settlers. Iv was not Heki that needed conquering, but the prejudice and arrogance of the officials. However, the reason is good enough" which brings about desirable ends; and we are glad to find that the victory over Heki and his " pah" has made the Government of the Mother-country more paternal in its demeanour. The question of the Sugar-duties is postponed "for a month"; Ministers continuing the present duties by a temporary bill. Meanwhile, the Cabinet will resign ; and the' subject will be handed over for Lord John Russell to settle, not as leader of Oppo- sition, but as responsible Minister. From his late Vague language on the matter of amendments, his ideas on the subject seemed open to further conviction : why not extend his regard to the whole West India question?—he might recover some credit in that field.