TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE MEETING OF PARLIAMENT. PARLIAMENT meets on Tuesday in a time of utter political lassitude. So far as appears on the surface the country is careless whether it meets or not, expects nothing, hopes nothing, desires nothing ; is only wearily curious to see what a reactionary House of Commons, which rejected a Reform Bill but passed a.law making all policemen game- keepers, which sympathized with the South but did not sympathize with Denmark, which has sat longer than any Parliament since 1831, and has accomplished less will do before it dies in the wheeziness of its old age. There is some languid curiosity as to the Budget, for Mr. Gladstone has a surplus, a faint flutter of theories as to the effect of the speech which he must pronounce upon railway administration, and some little irritable speculation as to the possibility of a small Reform Bill, introduced to redeem promises and give old Whigs a chance in doubtful boroughs, but there all visible interest ends. If the Queen had judged herself able to do her duty for herself, the country might have raised its head at all events to look on a great spectacle, but a Parliament with nothing certain before it, to be opened in a cold speech read by deputy, and then to betake itself till Easter to pre- liminary business, can excite no enthusiasm and does excite no interest. The country is languid with a languor which has in it as much of cynicism as content, lacks entirely that power of fixing its gaze upon its representatives which, like the master's presence in a factory, makes all the wheels appear to move round more rapidly. And yet Parlia- ment is not without work to do, and work of a most interest- ing and important kind. Wholly apart from any new topics which the Queen's speech may contain, it is easy to furnish a list of subjects to which, whether the Ministry advise mention of them or not, the Houses must immediately attend.
The first of these is Canada. It will be scarcely possible to avoid some allusion to the constitutional change to be completed this session in British America, not possible to evade at least one discussion on the terms of the important treaty,—for it is a treaty,—to be concluded between the mother country and Acadia. It is not likely that the discussion will be either long, or violent, or minute. Mr. Cardwell's style of speech, always the same whether the topic be the birth of a new nation, or an alteration in Australian tariffs, would take the picturesqueness out of any event however great, and Par- liament knows well the limits of its capacity. It will accept or reject Federation as a whole, without demurring to details, and the country, though interested in the project, has about it only three convictions,—that the scheme is in its principle wise and feasible, that if the Provincial authority is not limited it will break down, that whether it succeeds or fails the Acadians must be suffered to do as they please with their own country,—and none of these ideas tends to exasperate debate. Then there is the notice as to the termination of the Reciprocity Treaty. Parliament must give an opinion as to the policy to be pursued in that matter, whether at least it is wiser to maintain a great and therefore provocative force upon the Lakes, or to allow Acadia to hold her "Mediterranean in snippets" for herself, or to reserve and accumulate all strength against the day when the power of both countries may be taxed to the uttermost. There will be long, possibly angry discussions about those Lakes, for their defence involves the great question whether long precautions do not exhaust us more than sudden displays of energy,— whether the Duke of Wellington was right or Sir Cornewall Lewis. Next there are New Zealand debates to come off. Parliament has to decide,—to decide now, and to decide once for all,—whether it intend to rule the Anglo-Saxon colonies in great emergencies or to allow them to rule themselves. It has granted self-government during ordinary times, but it seems strangely disposed to suspend it during confusion, and the determination of the New Zealanders either to manage their own war their own way or to leave England to pay for it has brought the difficulty to a head. Three courses are open to the House of Commons,—to allow the colonists to direct the English army, or to abandon the defence of New Zealand against the Maories, or to compel Mr. Cardwell to re- call Sir George Grey, and each of these courses is sure to find eager and, irritated advocates, supported by considerable sec- tions of the House. Then a malt-tax discussion cannot be averted unless indeed Mr. Gladstone includes reduction in his budget, for the farmers are seriously annoyed at what they consider the injustice with which their claims are treated, and just before an election Tory and Liberal will strive alike to explain their position upon the subject. Reform is sure for the same reason of its fair amount of acrimonious discussion,. though not upon an official proposal still upon one brought forward by a private member, and we trust that the principle. of representing minorities will find advocates high enough in public favour to force the consideration of that great problem upon the existing constituencies. After malt Lord Westbury has a bill enabling Government to appoint stipendiary magistrates in districts which require them, sure to arouse the country gentlemen, perhaps bring on the whole question whether the government of the poor by the rich is the exact equivalent of self-government, a subject which may one day have to be discussed with practical mean- ing. Then there is this immense railway question, which has acquired every day new weight from the marked tendency of the country to give to the proposal of State proprietorship a fair and candid hearing. That ruinous jealousy of the State. qua State, whether controlled by a person, a caste, or by the people themselves, which has impeded so many great enter- prises, seems to be dying away, and with it the greatest obstacle to the one imperative need of English society—a dead, lift of the masses of the English people towards a decent level of physical comfort. If this empire is to endure, an official statement that- one-fifth of the population is underfed must cease to be true, and it cannot cease until the jealous dislike to employ the aggregate strength of society on behalf of its- component parts has finally died out. The reform of the- Poor Law which is inevitable will perhaps be postponed once more, though the Law of Settlement is ripe for abolition, but Parliament is certain to take some action upon the ecclesiastical point, the construction of the final tribunal in spiritual affairs. It is said that the grand project so loudly heralded by the Tory journals has dwindled down to one for the appointment of a Com- mission of Inquiry into the expediency of revising the law, but even in that form the discussion is sure to be sharp and eager. If the Erastian party are awake to their position they will resist even that demand, as contrary to their great prin- ciple that the council of the nation is supreme over the doctrine as well as over the formulas of the National Church,. and in any case the younger members are certain to hail the opportunity for one more attack upon those who assert in the face of the nineteenth century that the section of society called the priesthood has rights over the whole of society called the laity. And finally there is the Budget, the dis- tribution of a surplus with which Mr. Gladstone may give a fresh impetus to trade, or may relieve the well-to-do from the only State burden they really feel, or may remedy the in- tolerable double burden which now falls on the lower middle class, or finally may break up the Tory ranks and seat himself as Premier of the nation by proving to the farmers that the chosen leader of the free traders is not indifferent to the cry of agriculture.
There are smaller questions without number likely to be brought forward,—a new Bankruptcy Law and a new Foreign Enlistment Act, a bill on prison discipline and a demand for some attention to Ireland, a project for relieving India of some of its military burden, and endless suggestions for improving and accelerating naval administration. The Cabinet itself may have ideas, though one expects them nowadays only from Mr. Gladstone ; but whether Government be active or stationary, whether the people be languid or eager, the inevitable questions we have mentioned are enough to give to the Houses topics and to the nation food for political thought.
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