Sir D. Wedderbum is supposed to have made a speech
to the Scottish Law Amendment Society in favour of Home Rule,— rather an absurd proposal for a country which not only rules itself, but generally rules its neighbours too,—but his actual idea was much more moderate. He thinks Scotch affairs have of late been somewhat neglected in Parliament—which is quite true, as true as it is of English affairs—and attributes it partly to the absence of a responsible Minister for Scotland, partly to want of time, and partly to the need for a legal embodiment of Scotch Members as a Grand Committee of the House, with certain powers of legislation on Scotch local affairs. That proposal will require consideration ; but supposing debates in the Committee to be public, and the byelaws to be laid on the table of the whole House for six weeks before they are valid, we do not see any strong objection. We only wish our Irish friends would consent to any- thing so practical ; but they want something to enliven Dublin, and the good Edinburgh folk find sermons quite lively enough.
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