Lord Russell's resolution concerning the Treaty, which we dis- cussed
in our last number, is not to be brought forward till the 12th of June, before which date the Treaty, as ratified by the American Senate, will probably have reached this country, and have received the ratification of the Queen. This was the sub- ject of a discussion raised in the House of Lords on Monday, Lord Salisbury and Lord Russell maintaining that the ratification should be withheld till after the Treaty had been discussed by Parliament, while Lord Granville, who declined to give any pledge of the sort, asserted, with Lord Grey and Lord Cairns, that the proper course was for the Ministry to take the sole responsibility of treaties, and leave the Houses of Parliament to censure them if they pleased. We have given our reasons elsewhere for approving what is undoubtedly the constitutional practice on this head.
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