NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE first week after Easter in the House of Commons has been a contrast to the last week before it: the talking has somewhat abated, to the advantage of practical business. But the strength which the obstructing party were to gain by a recourse to " the people," and the wisdom which they were to derive from delibera- tion, are things remembered only by malicious folks, who demand that there should have been some purpose in the mighty opposition of the closing week. That opposition was evidently without plan or aim ; but it professed to have for object, the bringing of Mem- bers in communication with their constituents, in order to very matured discussion of the financial measures, and especially of the Income-tax, after the recess. There are no means of showing bow many Members have profited by Mr. BLEWITT'S " exertions." The recess is over; Members reassemble on black Monday ; the deliberately-to-be-considered Income-tax resolution is formally proposed; it is put from the chair, and—discussed ? no—carried without a word! Members were all astonishment at the circum- stance; some were angry with Mr. GREENE because Mr. RICE did not raise a debate upon it. It happens that Mr. RICE is very deaf, and so he did not hear the Chairman put the question ; and Mr. GREENE is very short-sighted, and so he did not see Mr. RICE get op to speak. It is a remarkable fact, too, that all the Liberal Members were deaf on the occasion, and did not hear Mr. GREENE; while the Conservatives were so sharp that one of them heard the question put when he was beyond the green door,—proving, as it -was sagaciously remarked, that Mr. GREENE was better heard out of the House than in it. But the public will take it to prove some- thing else : they will suspect that nobody was paying much atten- tion to business; that honourable Members were gossiping, as honourable Members often do gossip ; and that the Chairman, catching the careless spirit of the hour, went to his drudgery of "putting" questions, in that humdrum way of which no Chairman can resist the habit when the motion is matter-of-course. Mr. RICE indeed rose twice, but he epoke not ; and "the Ayes had it" before they knew it themselves. However it happened, the first resolution, for imposing the Income-tax, passed without a word of discussion. As the next best thing, there was a discussion on the second resolution, which regulates the farmer's share of the tax : and a very poor discuesion it was — meagre, disjointed, rambling ; a mere sweeping of scraps left from the copious heap of objections piled up before Easter. It was plain that there was no determined intention to resist the Income-tax. Neither was any purpose shown of improving it. If the evil is inevitable, the object of sen- sible men, working zealously for the public good, would be to miti- gate it : if the principle of a tax on income is admitted, all parties might join to compel the best and justest mode of application. Nothing of the sort was done : only Lord Jontf RUSSELL gave notice of a resolution for yesterday, consisting of a loose and feeble string of assertions without logical sequence or deduction—ob- viously framed, not to declare fixed principles, so much as to set forth a kind of declaration so little removed from a truism or nega- tion that almost anybody might adhere to it who felt a general in- clination to vote against the Government. Such is the matured result of the Easter deliberation!
The Corn-importation Bill was taken up on Tuesday ; and all its remaining clauses, the major part, passed through the Com- mittee. Various amendments were moved, without result ; but the discussion turned almost entirely on the new list of towns to return the averages. Mr. Hawes directly charged the Government with adding these towns to the list for the purpose of lowering the averages, and by consequence raising the import-duty. Sir ROBERT PEEL and Mr. GLADSTONE denied that such an effect was either desired or probable : but the denial was weak, and it had the air of a literal denial in terms with some reservation in spirit. And, as Mr. VILLIERS said, if the alteration of the list is to have no effect, why make it ? The alternative cannot be got over : either there will be an effect, and the Government, which denies that there will,
legislates in ignorance ; or there will be no effect, and the Govern- ment will prove to be correct, but will then have made a needless
and unpopular change for no practical object. Their conduct is either professedly futile, or it will prove to have been treacherous. When the third reading of the bill was moved on Thursday, Mr. COBDEN proposed, as an amendment, a resolution declaring the in- justice of attempting to regulate the price of food after the House had repeatedly repudiated the power of regulating the rate of wages. A poor debate afforded the opportunity to a few Members of having a parting blow at the measure, and a laugh at Sir ROBERT PEEL'S helpless agricultural supporters.
Mr. nimbus DUNCOMBE, who is industrious in raising questions affecting the broad principles of popular justice, asserted, on
Thursday, the right of the people to petition against a pending measure of taxation ; and he showed, in a manner which could not be controverted, that the regulation to the contrary had a dubious origin. But his appeal was unsuccessful. It was much against him, that flagrant abuse of the right of petition has totally destroyed both its sanctity and its value. Now that intercommunication between all classes and all parts of the country has superseded the necessity of formal missives from remote quarters to the Legisla- ture, and now that " agitation " has become an established trade, the power to send written lectures to the House of Commons is slighted by most parties ; especially as the presentation of' public petitions affords no opportunity for discussion that could not be made in other ways. The sole good of sending in petitions indeed is, that they and their signatures may be enumerated by a Com- mittee; but even that branch of statistics enjoys little credit with any. The influence which electors had by petition is transferred to the more direct agency of the Registration Court and the Elec- tion Committee-room. But as the practice of petitioning has been virtually annulled, it becomes a consideration for statesmen, that the non-electors have now no " voice " with which to ad- dress the Legislature ; except through turbulent amendments at public meetings, riots, or letters by Swing—a voice reserved for emergencies, and by no means of a pleasing tone or convenient nature. To expect that the House of Commons will pay more attention than it does to the bales of manuscript sent in by petition-mongers, is unreasonable : how, then, are the Legislature and the vast body of non-electors to be put in communication ? 'f he bill appointing a, Commission to inquire into the history of the fraudulent Exchequer Bills, with a view to render justice to the holders, went through Committee on Tuesday ; and having fagged. on Wednesday, it reached the House of Lords on Thursday.
Progress was also made on Wednesday with Lord MAHON'S Copyright Bill. As the measure stands now, it may be considered as the joint production of Lord MAHON, Mr. MACAULAY, and Sir ROBERT PEEL. Lord Manox's proposition for a copyright of twenty- eight years, to be continued for the life of a surviving author, and
for twenty-five years after his death, was used merely as a false
base to start from, and then to be thrown aside. Mr. Macamstr fixed a term of copyright for forty-two years' or for the life of a surviving author ; and, at the instigation of Sir ROBERT PEEL, Lord MAHON added to that a provision that the copyright should con- tinue for not less than seven years after the author's death. So the law is likely to stand; • for, with Mr. MACAULAY, Lord MAHON, Sir ROBERT INems, and the Premier to shape the measure, and Mr. WARBURTON no longer present to resist, opposition must be as unavailing as that of Mr. WAKLEY on Wednesday. Mr. WAR- LET'S own speech probably diverted support from him : it was smart, and may raise a smile here and there; but his utter contempt
for poets in comparison with the inventors of surgical instruments, at once " smells of the shop" and exposes in the decrier a ludicrous dulness of apprehension for things which have swayed the destinies of mankind. His elaborate attack on the weaknesses of an ad-
mired writer was foolish and indecent : it was fitly followed up by the boast that Mr. WAKLEY could write "miles" of such poetry :
he said he had "tried it" ! One would like to see " VVakley's
Works," or at least the "Beauties of Wakley " ; and if Mr. WAIL.. LEY is above those feelings of avarice which be attributes to modern authors, and therefore will not "shame the fools and print it," Mr. MONCETON MILNES should ferret out the curiosity of literature by moving for a "return" of poems written by the honourable Mem- ber for Finsbury.
