A SPECIMEN OF SENATORIAL WORKMANSHIP. Mn. HUME, Agamemnon of the
Fifty-one, has not yet issued a programme of the great English Reform movement ; but he has volunteered a programme of Reform for Ireland. It is less re- markable for what it has of substance than for some peculiarities of its composition : they throw light on the capacity of the chosen leader to shape and enunciate large measures of state. The pro- gramme stands thus on the Notice-paper of the Commons- " Mr. Hume—To submit to the House, that the time is arrived when the in- terests of the United Kingdom urgently demand thate rompt and decisive mea- sures should be taken by this House for the removal of the causes on which just complaints on the part of the Irish people are foundea ; and with that view we propose- " lit. That an humble address be presented to her Majesty, praying that also will be graciously pleased to take into consideration whether the government of Ireland by a Viceroy is any longer necessary, and whether that office ought not to be abolished.
"2d. That amongst the most prominent of the grievances of Ireland is the law by which the whole ecclesiastical property of that country is assigned to the clergy of a small section of the population; and that this House pledges itself, after providing for existing rights, and for the claims of her ifajesty a Protestant subjects who are members of the Established Church, to cooperate with her Majesty in effecting such a settlement of Church property in Ireland as will give satisfaction to the Irish people. "3d. By placing the Parliamentary tmgrage on a basis by which an adequate constituency shall be secured, and by passing a satisfactory WI for electoral regi3.. tration.
"4th. By granting municipal institutions for the self-government of cities, boroughs, and towns in Ireland, on the same principle and to the same extent as the cities, boroughs, and towns of England enjoy municipal privileges. "5th. By amending the Grand Jury laws. Now, the first requisite for action is a distinct idea of the thing proposed to be done ; and we search this programme of Irish Re- form for a distinct idea of its several parts. In vain. It is not only the expression that is at fault, though that may stand for much. Mr. Hume volunteers to point out a peculiar opportune- ness in the present time and he characterizes the juncture : he needed not to do that, but might have introduced his programme without preamble ; he thinks, however, that the peculiar aptitude of the time fortifies his case. A "time has arrived" which is peculiarly suited to his project : what, then, is the peculiar cha- racteristic of the time? That it is a time when the interests of the United Kingdom demand the removal of causes on which just complaints are founded by the Irish I It is an odd phrase that—to found a complaint on a cause. However, "with that view," "we propose," that the Sovereign shall be asked to consider whether the Viceregal Government ought not to be abolished; "we propose" that the House pledges itself after providing for the existing claims of her Majesty's Protestant subjects who are members of the Established Church—[a wide provision !]— to cooperate in "such a settlement of Church property as will give satisfaction " ; " we propose" by securing an adequate [Parliamentary] constituency"; and "we propose" "by passing a satisfactory bill for electoral registration" &c. Now, what is it possible to make of this extraordinary composition ? Then as to the nature of the things. He proposes a settlement of Church property : what kind of settlement? "Such" a one as shall "give satisfaction" to the Irish people. What is that? If it be abolition, what become of the" claims" ? Yet What short of abolishing would give "satisfaction" to the Roman Catholics! There is only one sense in which the phrase has an universal ac- ceptation throughout Ireland—to "give satisfaction" means to fight a duel : is Mr. Hume going to settle Churchroperty by an "affair of honour"?
He next invites the House to make a very strange proposition. The House is to " propose" "by placing the Parliamentary suffrage on a basis by which an adequate constituency shall be secured." What is the House to "propose" " by " the means here indicated? A wedding? or a certain manceuvre in ecarte? Mr. Hume makes no mention of what he proposes by the means in question. And the means are in themselves curious. He wishes to place a suf- frage on a basis, the basis is to secure a constituency, and the con- stituency is to be " adequate" : adequate to what? what is the standard of equation ?
Then for another object he proposes "a satisfactory bill": what is a satisfactory bill? Certainly we never saw one. Did, Mr. Home? If be has, he should describe what is far less fa- miliar to Englishmen than a black swan. The traveller who sees a monster does nothing for his reader when he only names it. For example, if Mr. Hume, enjoying his September sports in the sequestered fields of Tothill, were to bring down, as it flew, a squalus terrestris, we should learn nothing by the information unless he were to describe the bird as well as name it. The de- scription of " a satisfactory bill" would be a valuable contribu- tion to political science. It is often said of imperfect schemes that they "look very well on paper ": Mr. Hume is a very well-meaning man ; but he has lived for two generations in the House of Commons without even having attained to that stage in the long pilgrimage towards per- fection. He has not yet got so far as to make his scheme look well on paper. And, we repeat, the real fault is not the bad syn- tax or a meagre vocabulary ; but it is a want of distinctness and substance in the ideas. Mr. Hume, we have no doubt, sincerely desires to make a beginning in Irish Reform; and to that end he invites the House of Commons to " propose " that it shall pass measures which will "give satisfaction," that it shall secure things that are "adequate," and exact "satisfactory" bills. And Mr. Hume is facile princeps—indeed, facillime princeps, for not a question has been made about his chieftainship—of the Fifty-one who have undertaken to regenerate the United Empire! We are not insisting on verbal criticism—errors of composition we might pass; but we are endeavouring to penetrate through the style to the ideas : we find that what stand for ideas are in fact nullities; that the resolutions, which are couched as if they suggested plans, suggest no plans, but only blank forms in which plans may hereafter be inserted. This comes under the head of "solemn trifling ": it tends to destroy faith in the sincerity of agitators who claim attention for such counterfeits, and thus also to pro- voke disgust at "Reform" generally, as a dull "humbug."
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