4 DECEMBER 1852, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

IN the repose which has followed the exciting debate of last week, and in the suspense before the promulgation of Mr. Disraeli's budget, the most conspicuous topic in Parliament has been the ac- cusation against Major. Beresford, of complicity in a scheme to bribe the electors of Derby. On the first disclosure of the affair, Major Beresford declared the charge to be a vile conspiracy against him, and he stood pledged before his constituents to make good his counter-charge. But instead of showing that defying front in the House of Commons he with much greater discretion left the con- duct of. the affair in the hands of his colleague the Home Secre- tory; who suffered the case to proceed. In the ex-parte statement of Sfr .Alexander Cockburn, the narrative becomes sufficiently in- telligible, and sufficiently connects William Beresford with "W. B." and the Derby affair as a ease for the most unsparing scrutiny. We find William Beresford cooperating in the efforts to unseat Mr. Strad after the previous election, and then introducing to his correspondent 'in Derby his Shrewsbury friend and retainer, Mr. Frail, clerk of the course, thus described—" I hare an agent who is skilled in all election matters, and. understands every manner of scheme with regard to petitions. To this Mr. Frail, it would seem, he sent, at the general election, a request that he should despatch "a good safe man with judgment and quickness " to Derby ; and in Derby at the County Tavern, bribing electors with "horse-nails," was discovered Morgan, with that note in his pocket. After this statement had been made to the House of Commons, Mr. Wortley hinted a diversion' by suggesting that the inquiry ought not to be distinct-from the inquiry into the petitions which have been sent up from Derby against 'the elections in the usual form ; and the oily discussion took place on that suggestion. Mr. Walpole did not fall in with it, and a Special Committee was agreed to without opposition. At present the accusation seems complete, and the diseredit of it to the Ministry is only palliated by the facility

which they give to inquiry. - . -

' This Derby disclosure is opportune, for it helps to throw some light on a pinenomenon peculiar to the present session—the enor- mous number of election petitions. Of these by far the larger proportion emanate from the political party of Ministers and Mr. Beresford; and a simple mind might suppose that the Liberals had mostly attained their seats by corruption—with a corresponding inference as to the enormous balance of wealth on that side. Bat, from the specimens within our knowledge, it would seem that these petitions have not always much relation to facts. When a Liberal is elected, from some mysterious quarter in Lon- don comes the mandate, "petition against the return." Some Beresford class pays the expense ; some Flewker or Morgan class rockets the fees ; and the Liberal is worried, or the Liberal party la the constituency frightened into a compromise. Lord Derby has declined to ask a vote of the Peers on the resolution which was passed by a great majority of the Commons, with the concurrence of Ministers. This course on the part of the Premier is remarkable in two respects. Not only did. Ministers very strictly question the substance of the resolution in the House of Commons, but its terms also were anxiously scrutinized, before adoption as the Ministerial declaration. By his absolute refusal to adopt the expression thus deliberately adopted by Mr. Disraeli, Lord Derby shows not only that he does not share the sentiments professed in the Commons, but that he thinks it necessary, in. the Most public manner, to withhold his assent. Thus he justifies all doubts as to the reservations lurking under the ambiguous lan- guage of the Queen's Speech. The reservation cannot have been accidental, but must have been made with an ulterior _purpose.

Amongst the topics, notiof minor • importance, but of less imme- diate urgency, standing over indeed for the ordinary session, may be mentioned Mr. Napier's measure for reforming; the procedure of the law courts in Ireland. It is not only in harmony with the corresponding measure for England; but, taking its start from the point which that attains, . it extends further in the direction of reform. Some question has been raised respecting the manner of framing the details ; but there is no question as to the excellent

spirit of the measure, or-the honest intention of Mr. Napier. •

• When we revert to politics, the "Reform" professions return to the ambiguity which is seen in the Free-trade policy. Ministers throw out hints, but keep secrecy as to their intentions ; and when Mr. Hume asked a very plain and not improper question on Thurs- day, as to-whether Ministers intend to advance any measure on the suffrage, Mr. Disraeli, with a superciliousness that might by itself indicate a brief enjoyment of office, refused to answer "a private Member." There is in the official altitudes an arbitrary tone totally at variance with the hue of liberality or reform that paints the Ministerial professions. The true spirit underneath is shown in their less studied exhibitions: it is Toryism.