31 JULY 1858, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

IT is necessarily a characteristic of a Government which has an incomplete hold over the Legislature, that those who are under it should not have so orderly an idea of their duties as usual, and that amongst other public bodies the two Houses of Parliament should fall to loggerheads. Both houses at present are on the whole, well disposed, and it has not been very difficult to recon- cile them ; but we are inclined to think, under correction, that few sessions have passed in which topics so little exciting to the public mind have been discussed with so much conflict between the two Houses. On many subjects which have been before Parliament the Lords and Commons have been diametrically opposed to each other. On the India Bill they have disagreed as much as Lord Ellenborough and Lord Stanley, or, it may be said, as Lord Stanley and Lord Derby. This week the Lords have been obliged to " consider " the disagreement of the Commons with the amendments of the Upper House ; and on various points the dis- agreement has been rather serious, not only as a sign of unsettled opinion with regard to important points, but also as a sufficient evidence that the bill which passes does not receive the really complete and consentaneous approbation of the two legislative regiments which are together nearly a thousand strong and give a moderately fair representation of English society. The most important of these disagreements is that which occurred on the scientific corps clause of the India Bill, the Lords having rendered competitive examination optional on the part of the Executive. Lord Stanley did his best to defend his father and colleagues from the charge of tampering with the pledges of the Government or the conscientious opinions of Lord Stanley himself; and he declared that the principle of the unrestrietive competition was equally safe, and equally certain of being carried out, what- ever might be the language of the clause. Some Members ad- mitted their confidence in the present Secretary of State ; but what of any future Government ? On the motion of Lord John Russell the amendment was negatived by 73 to 60; rather a serious de- feat of Ministers. Nor the less serious, because it was impossible not to discern that Lord Stanley, who declared that he would give up office sooner than competition, really agreed with the majority of the Commons ; while, in the other House, Lord Derby proclaims that he would sooner abandon the bill than re- tain the Stanley clause ! And, be it observed, the final conse- quence of this disagreement, to the relations of the two Houses, and to the position of the Ministers, a few hours before the ad- journment, depended on the turn which a Palmerston or Russell vote might take, in signifying or refusing acquiescence.

It is to be noted, that in the Commons' debate Lord John Russell acted as leader of the Liberal party.

It was a matter of course that he should do so in carrying out his plan for the admission of Baron Lionel de Rothschild. He moved a set of resolutions reciting the foots of the case and recent legislation, and then he moved a "Sessional Order" au- thorising any member professing the Jewish religion to take the oath omitting the words, and "I make this declaration on the true faith of a Christian." Lord John met with some resistance which was also a matter of course. The impatient Warren put in his protest almost against raising the subject, and then offered a direct denial of that preamble which simply recited the facts ; Mr. Spooner and his friends renewed their obstructive vote ; and Mr. Walpole the Home Secretary was so indiscreet as to raise the "thole question, religious and political, and to declare that it was

"not yet closed." The Baron, however, took his seat, and voted on the same evening.

The annual speech of Lord Lyndhurst—may the close of the series be long distant !—was devoted this year to a question not of party but of public law. He delivered a spoken essay on the right of visit and search, clearing up the obscurity which has been introduced as to the actual state of the public law, by the suggestions of the English Government at various times, the formal surrender of the claim through Lord Ashburton in 1843, the renewal of the claim, in practice if not in form, by Lord Pal- merston's Government, through the British squadron in various parts, and finally by Lord Malmesbury's resurrender of the claim through Lord Napier. During the time of peace, as Lord Lynd- hurst showed, the right has never existed at all ; and the gene- ral concurrence of various Peers on the matter of law,—though there were some very strange questions as to the matter of fact —will perhaps assist in clearing away any temporary doubts on the subject. Lord Malmesbury endeavoured to sweeten this les- son on public law, by announcing the willingness of the Ameri- can Government to consider any measures for preventing a fraudulent use of the American flag. Perhaps Lord Lyndhurst might devote one of his lectures to a glossary, giving us the popular meaning of the official dialect, and he might begin by telling us the true import and force of the word "Con- sider."

On some other measures of more domestio importance the Lords have proceeded with bills as a matter of course. Thus the Metropolitan Local Amendment Act went through its second reading with the form of a Ministerial speech. The Corrupt Practices Bill passed its second reading almost in silence on the part of Ministers ; several Liberal peers, however, doing the duty which the Commons had but half-done, in attempting to make a final stand against the clause which authorizes the payment of expenses under some form of disguise.

Amongst the new bills is one to confirm the value of crossed cheques., Originally Sir Fitzroy Kelly introduced a simple bill constituting the crossing of a cheque an essential part of the document. An amendment however, was intended, exonerating the banker who should pay the cheque to a wrong party, if the crossing had been erased ; and the Lord Chancellor appears as at least the patron of that "amendment." It is a clause which virtually nullifies the value of the bill, besides introducing the principle that bankers are to be exonerated for payment of forged documents. A more simple and effectual bill, therefore, must be set down amongst the list of measures for that fertile period—" next session."

The land of France is under a cloud of rumours, beneath which small facts occupy a people whose Government is giving a new turn to the dictum of Tacitus. If "those nations are the happiest whose annals are the dullest," Napoleon Imperator, we suppose, expects to make France happy by press-laws that make her annals as dull as possible. The most important subject with which the journals can occupy themselves just now is the work- ing of the enactment against usurped titles. It is a law which proceeds upon the exact reverse of another maxim, "de minimis non carat lox," for this law is making a rout amongst the smallest of society, and manifestly it was from the first in- tended to exempt the greatest of all personages enjoying a usurped title ; unless, indeed, M. Emile should indict Charles Louis Buonaparte under the act. The Ministerial press can find little more to do than endeavour to explain away for the time the importance of the Cherbourg demonstration ; while the Go- vernment is really killing itself with exertions to make that de- monstration so imposing that it shall stand as the festival of a century. And while trying to talk it down for the English market, the French papers cannot help connecting with it Count Cavour's sanitary visit to Plombieres.

The true bearing of the Cherbourg construction, however, is well understood in other places besides France or England. The Belgian Minister of War has just been in close consultation with the Belgian Chamber of Representatives on a proposed enlarge- ment of Antwerp ; while some of the Antwerp representatives are for works still more comprehensive than those which Go- vernment contemplates. Members openly allude to invasion of Belgium by France, with the example of Spain, Portugal, and Russia to show the probability. In feet, the "armed peace " the Emperor Napoleon has the result of keeping the whole of Europe up to high pressure armament. If he is the Napoleon of Peace, the peace is only that of a Napoleon.

The Indian news appears to be a shade more favourable. By the rapid concentration of troops from all sides, Sir Hugh Rose has recovered Gwalior ; the rebels are described as " flying " across the Chumbul, and they were followed by a part of his army. But, with unbroken resolution, they were making for Jeypore ; and General Roberts had been ordered up from Nusseerabad to meet them. These energetic steps show that the danger of the crisis was fully appreciated, and that our troops are freer for action than might have been anticipated ; but the temporary deposition of Scindia for fidelity to our rule is a se- rious fact, throwing much light upon our position. In Oude we have sustained another " victory " won by Sir Hope Grant on the north-east of Lucknovr, which is said to have relieved that city from all apprehension of attack, while in the south-west the death of the Moulvie in an obscure combat deprives the rebels of one of their ablest leaders. But there are still no very distinct signs of the settlement of Oude. Further eastward, our small forces shout Goruckpore have met with some successes ; but per contra again, the Jugdespore fugitives have scattered themselves to the north and south, and have marked their course by fire and mur- der. Still, on every side, except in northern Oude, the rebels become more and more bands of robbers.

Lord Fllenborough's despatch has met with that condemnation in India which it so generally received in England. It had, however, produced one effect : Lord Canning had proclaimed an amnesty to all rebels excepting those guilty of murder.

The united forces in China, after a long and vexatious delay, have made some progress. On the 20th of May they opened the Peiho river by capturing the forts. Admiral Seymour has officially reported that he was preparing to move up to Tiensin, —a town on the road to Pekin, and partially commanding its supplies. The Chinese had shown but slight disposition to ne- gociate.

The meeting of Australian colonists in the City ought not to be without practical results. It was held to consider the present state of mail-communication between Great Britain and Aus- tralia—a communication which has been exposed to many dis- turbing influences, and within the last three or four years has been cut off by the demands of war upon our larger steamers, or by insufficient resources in the bodies that have undertaken the business. Various routes compete for the Imperial favour, especially Panama and Suez ; but a decisive majority of Austra- lian gentlemen call upon the Government and the public to de- velop a mail-communication by way of Suez which shall be sufficiently frequent and regular to satisfy the wants of the mother-country and of the colonies. And they calculate that if this be done, the passenger-traffic developed by the existence of smell a communication will materially contribute to defray the cost.

It is not often that a case at law is at once so interesting to the public, so important in its legal bearings, and so memorable in its personal or political relations, as that of" Swinfen versus Swin- fen." It is a disputed will case, the lady having to contest with an heir-at-law the property devised to her by her father-in-law. Seldom indeed in modern times has a wronged lady had to en- counter so formidable a combination of circumstances, and con- quered at last. While her opponent was supported by the most powerful and zealous professional aid, the lady's counsel, against her authority, made a bargain to compromise her claims, at the price of an annuity making, with her jointure, a thousand a year, instead of estates yielding 1700/. a year. The success of a second trial confirming her property in the estates has placed the con- duct of her counsel in the strongest light ; and while Sir Frede- rick Thesiger, now Lord Chelmsford, will, it is understood, have to confront an action for damages on the ground of exceeding his authority, as counsel for Mrs. Swinfen, the case will now form a precedent to define the proper relation of counsel to client. The lady herself appears to have passed a blameless, a meritorious life. Her husband, who was said to have made a mesalliance, had been " wild" ; but her influence recovered him to a more regular life ; she won the esteem, if not the affection, of her father-in-law; she employed her increasing influence to reunite him with some of the children of a second marriage, from whom he had been estranged ; and she was re-paid by the attempt of the representa- tive of that second marriage to set aside the will in her favour. She has triumphed at last, over her husband's cousin and her own counsel.