30 MARCH 1833, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE real business of the Parliamentary session appears at length to have commenced.

Sir JAMES GRAHAM on Monday brought forward the Navy Es- timates; which are less than those of last year by 220,500/. The number of Seamen, notwithstanding an attempt by Mr. HUME to reduce it, is still to be 27,000 including Marines. Sir JAMES made a very satisfactory statement relative to the stock of building- materials and stores of all descriptions which are deposited at Portsmouth and other naval stations. He completely refuted the charge made by the Duke of WELLINGTON and Captain YORKE of the unfurnished state of our dockyards. In almost every article, the stock on hand is larger now than it was when the Duke quitted office. The amount expended in fresh stores, during the last three years, is larger by about 150,0001., than it was in the three previous years of Conservative rule. The Duke is therefore driven to account for the great reduction which Sir JAMES GRAHAM has 'effected in the cost of the Navy—a reduction amounting to no less than 1,212,417/. in two years—upon some other supposition than that of an improvident neglect to purchase the necessary stores. We wish that we had as favourable an account to give of Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE, as of his colleague at the Admiralty. But instead of a reduction in the number of soldiers and the expense of maintaining them, there is an increase in both as compared with the estimates of the WELLINGTON Adminis tration,—al though, as compared with the last year of the GREY economy, there is a saving of 206,0001.; of which, however, 187,000/. is in the Non- effective service, and is owing to deaths and casualties. There is no prospect whatever of a voluntary reduction to any consi- derable extent being made by Ministers in the expenditure of the Army. -Let the Representatives of the People take it in hand. Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE was triumphant in stating the small propor- tion which the expense of the Army in this country bears to the amount of our whole revenue, as compared with that of other na- tions: but if he had been asked to state what proportion it bore to our di,sposable income, we suspect that his calculations would have shown a different result—that instead of our Army being made to appear to cost less than that of the Continental powers and the United States, it would, on the contrary, according to our means of payment, turn out to cost a great deal more. But the Estimates are not passed; and we yet hope to see them reduced before they are got through the Committee.

It is evident that approaches are making towards the substitu- tion of a Property-tax for those imposts which fetter industry and reduce wages and profits. Mr. ROBINSON brought the sub- ject fairly before the House on Tuesday. Several good speeches were made; and it seemed to be universally admitted, that as we cannot lessen the amount of taxation by any very extensive re- duction of expenditure, the wise and politic plan would be to shift it from property in motion to that which is dormant—to tax fixed incomes instead of the law material of our manufactures and the produce of trade. But the Minister shrinks from the imposition of a Property-tax: he is evidently. afraid of so bold a measure, though he must see the necessity for it augmenting daily. He must make up his mind to offend—in a reasonable degree—both the landowner and the fundholder. "To tax and to please, any more than to love and be wise, is not given unto men." Strike high or low, still flogging is a disagreeable operation to the sufferer. Mr. ROBINSON'S motion, which was for a Committee to revise our system of taxation, was supported by a strong minority of 155 members, in opposition to 221.

[LATEST EDITION.]

Lord BROUGHAM is recommencing his Law Reforms. Will he complete theta also? His bill to put an end to the miserable and evasive technicalities of special-pleading has passed through the Committee of the Peers, after a characteristic but ineffectual at- tempt, by Lords ELDON and WYNFORD, to render it valueless. He has also reintroduced his bill for establishing local judicatures in England. It is to be tried first in a few districts, and then to be extended throughout the country if it answers expectation. Ser-

geants-at-law and barristers of ten years' standing are to preside in these courts. All actions for debt or damage not, exceeding twenty pounds are to be subject to their decrees. They are also/

to act as courts of reconcilement, where parties may come and sub- mit their differences without incurring the expenses of suits at law. Weare rejoiced to find Lord BROUGHAM once more employed in his proper sphere—usefully for his country and honourably for

himself. Why should he waste his, time and tarnish his reputa-

tion by political intrigues? Supposing, which is not very likely., that he should even attain to the Premiership—how deplorably blin&

he must be to imagine that he could hold it for a twelvemonth ! -

There is another lawyers-Sir ,Jonst CAMPBELL, the present Solicitor-General—who appears to gseat advantage in Parliament,

where few of his profession have shone as reformers of abuses: The possession of ,otlice does not seem to have narrowed his mind, or brought on the forgetfulness of former principles. It would be

difficult, we think, to point out any law-officer of the Crown in whose praise so much can be fairly said, since the time when Sir SAMUEi. RONIILLY, eight-and-twenty _years ago, held the office

of Solicitor-General. • . Almost every man at one period or another of his life has, been put to inconvenience by the confused and shameful state of our parochial registers. , The Dissenters more especially are aggrieved by the refusal to receive the registers kept by their Ministers as evidence in a court of justice of the birth or death of

the members of their congregations. A remedy is about to be ap- plied to these evils. Mr. Wisws has obtained a Select Committee to inquire into the state of our system of parochial registration, and a bill is shortly to be introduced to make it Simple and' effective.

We observe that three petitions have been presented during the week urging Parliament to pass the Irish Suppression Bill with- out delay. Mr. ESTCOURT, on Thursday, presented one to this effect from certain traders in Dundee, which was strongly supported by Mr. HORATIO Ross. The petitioners, it appears, are astonished

and angry at the resolute opposition which the Irish members-

make to this bill. They would have them, forsooth, lie down quietly and suffer Mr. STANLEY to ride rough-shod over their prostrate

necks,—just as their own countrywoman, in the feudal times- when the chieftain's privilege of "pit and gallows" existed, called upon her husband to come down quietly from his fastness and be

hanged, for fear he should "anger the laird." So the Irish, we- presume, were expected to take the Suppression Bill with thank- fulness, and pass it in a 'hurry, lest a worse thing should befall them. Truly the impudence of these cold-hearted traders is mar- vellous!

The Bill, however, such as it is, has been recommitted ; some additional clauses have been tacked to it, and some recently dis- covered blunders corrected—all of them unimportant. It was- read a third time last night, by a majority of 345 to 86; and will be sent back to the Lords for their "most sweet voices"—their opinions may be dispensed with, in consideration of the approach- ing holydays. Sir FRANCIS VINCENT has introduced a bill to amend the law of libel,—a law which certainly requires amendment as much as any on the statute-book. He proposes to do away with ex offlcia informations—to exempt all booksellers or publishers from penal- ties for inadvertently selling a libel—to leave the justice of the allegations in all cases to the sole judgment of a Jury—to repeal that part of one of the Six Acts which compels persons publish- ing newspapers to enter into bonds themselves and to find securi- ties for good conduct—with several other provisions all tending te mitigate the severity of the law. The proposed bill seems to be a good one as far as it goes.