NEWS OF THE WEEK.
MR. MANNERS SUTTON has announced his intention of retiring from his arduous duties as Speaker of the House of Commons ; and his retiring honours have been the subject of brief delibera- tion in that assembly over which he has for sixteen years so ably and acceptably 'presided. He will receive from the Nation a pen- sion of 4,0001., with a reversion of 3,000/. for his son; and from the King he will receive, as a matter of course, a peerage. Few Speakers that have' occupied the chair will have descended from it with more undivided approbation than Mr. SUTTON. The office does not require for its discharge the highest .abilities ; but it de- mands a union of firmness and- gentleness, of dignity and affa- bility, which is no every-day quality. Mr. StrrroN had the know- ledge of forms and precedents that was requisite for his of- flee; and with the capacity, he united a disposition to instruct; which being always accompanied by kindliness of manner, has won him the personal regard of every shade and denomination of party in the House. In the chair; he was a very pattern of meek- ness and of long-suffering. No tediousness of speech ever lulled him into negligence ; no fretfulness or irritation ever called from him an angry retort. His impartiality WIS consummate. Whig or Tory, • right hand or left, .rich,or poMtled or common, his ready attention was never denied. In keeping the often conflicting elements of the House within The bounds of Parliamentary order, his great secret lay in the kind and soothing appeal to the offend- ing member, with which the annunciation of the trespass was ac- companied. It was impossible to deny obedience to a command which bore so much the appearance of a fatherly entreaty. Perhaps, also, a little of the ready submission of the House was due to the Speaker's magnificent voice. The broad deep roll of it was irresistible. Three -gentleman have been mentioned as the probable succes- sors of Mr. SUTTON in the chair,—Mr. LITTLETON, MT. ABER- . colomny (the candidate for Edinburgh), and Sir THOMAS DEN- MAN. They are all good men and true. Any speculations, how- ever, concerning the next Speaker, are premature—they must be Members of the House before they can ascend the chair. , The Speaker of the other House has also been one of the ques- tions of the week. Lord BROUGHAM'S salary, after long delay, has been fixed at 14,0001.; of which 10,000/. is assigned to him as Chancellor, and 4,000/. as Speaker of the House of Lords. - The average ammint of Lord . LYNDHURST'S salary, and. of that of Lori ELDON, was 14,500/. exclusive of patronage. The sinecure patronage Lord BROUGHAM abandons altogether; the clan; e patronage, by the Bankruptcy regulations, he has greatly abridged. For neither the abolition of the one branch nor the abridgment of -.the other does he -receive the smallest asidera- tion direct or indirect.. The salary even yet is great; but so are the labour and expOnse of the office. Lord BROUGHAM has sacrificed a certain income of eight or tell thousand a year, and the simple and unexpensive, establishment of a private gentle- man, for an office :Which, in return' for its uncertainty of tenure, and the demands 'Which it splendour and dignity create, offers him an addition at most of four. or five thonsand pounds. • If the Chancellorship were. disconnected. from -polities, and rendered permanent, like the other Judgeships, as it ought to be, a much smaller salary might Suffice for its honmirable-maintenance.
The resolutions of the Diet of Frankfort were the subject of a
long conversation Thy.- It is curions,. that the article on which the Diet grounds the 'resolutions which go to abolish the Press'. of Germany; was -.originally framed for the..protection and encouragement Of the Press. • - CHARLES the Tenth, it may be recollected, grounded his attack upon 'the liberties of the French on an article of the Constitutional Charter. There is danger as well as error in generas.: The niost 'important piece of in-
formation elicited by the discussion of Thursday, . is the com- plete and absolute duality of will, purpose, and understanding, proved by Lord PALMERSTON to exist in 'WILLIAM the Fourth as King of England and King of Hanover. We are perfectly content that it should be so. We are persuaded that the more entire is the separation that is made between Eng- land and Hanover, in all things, the better it will be for the for- mer. We only wish that means could be fallen upon for effecting' - a separation of persons in the rulers of the two kingdoms, as well as of interests. We hope a Reformed Parliament will take care, when the possession is once vested in his .Grace of CUMBERLAND, that no contingency shall reunite it to the British Crown again. . In the mean time, let us make of a bad bargain what we best can; and instead of calling on England to interpose ill the affairs of . Germany, as Mr. BULWER does, bacause the King of Enp,daral and the King of Hanover are one person, let us call most strenu- ously on England to leave Hanover and Germany to settle their differences as they best may, because the King of Hanover and the King of England are two natures.
We mentioned last week, that the Irish Reform Bill would pass , on Monday ; it has passed. Lord WYNFORD wished to make a stand on the third reading of the Irish Boundaries Bill ; but he happened to be the only Opposition Peer in the House that night, and he had no proxy. The Russian Loan Bill has also passed. Lastly, the Irish Composition Bill has gone through COmmittee; . and in a day or two more, it will have passed also. What remains is mere pro fornzu business; which, if delayed, will be delayed by form, and not by discussion. In a week or ten days, then, the curtain will fall on Old Sarum for ever.
