NEWS OF THE WEEK.
PARLIAMENT has risen for the Easter holydays ; and Ministers, though incessantly badgered, since their accession to office, to de- clare their policy, have, at least in so far as direct announcement is concerned, kept their secret. A last attempt was made by Mr. Osborne, on Monday to goad them into frankneas. The Member for Middlesex-assailed them with keen and cruel jests, the more -emel that they were sarcastic and telling expressions of grave truths. -Ministers lost their temper under the lash of Mr. Osborne, hut even in their anger no word escaped them to betray their in- tentions. Lord John Manners rose in a state of excitement, defied the "moribund Parliament," and taunted Opposition with claiming -a majority and yet shrinking from placing Ministers in a minority -by a division'. - Before the evening closed, Opposition did place Ministers in a minority, by rejecting one of their amendments on the bill for repressing corrupt practices at elections. But Ministers have failed to be as prudent in their actions as in their language. The inconsiderate rashness of Mr. Walpole, in giving, notice of a new and strange suffrage-qualification, appa- rently without consulting his colleagues, and then withdrawing his notice as hastily as he had given it, has seriously damaged them in the opinion of their followers. 'Mr. Walpole was regarded both by friend and foe as the solid, the sagacious, the prudent member of the Cabinet ; and such an escapade' frbin him `shattered all confidence in it. Mr. Mackenzie's taking upon him to move the adjournment for the holydays, although the Chancellor of the Exchequer had intimated that he was to make the Motion, and in • doing so give some explanation of the course he intended to take with the public business, was deemed- equivocal : it Might have been in consequence of a preconcerted Scheme to enable Mr. Dis- raeli to escape from his promise, or it might be merely the etour- aerie of the -Secretary of the Treasury. The former explanation implies want of faith ; the latter the same heedless levity and want of a right understanding and previous arrangement -among Ministers that were evinced in Mr. Walpole's blunder. These and similar indications have conspired with the shuffling manner in which Ministers have evaded the explanation of their policy, to create an impression not only that they have no policy, but that they lack the ability to conceive one.
The subject of India, which engaged the attention of the Lords at the close of last week, has been twice again pressed upon them by Lord Ellenborough. It was felt last week, that Lord Derby, in the explanatory speech with which he prefaced his motion for a Committee on Indian affairs, was not equal to himself, even as an orator. He appeared like one who had been crammed in haste for the occasion, but had not fully comprehended the lesson' he re- peated by rote. Lord Ellenborough, on the Contrary, spoke with the weight of observation, practical experience, and matured re- flection. Allowance being made for the exaggeration Of . his ama- teur military tastes, the view he took of the condition and wants of our Indian empire was sound and comprehensive. His com- ments this week on the war with Ave, and the abuses of the In- dian press, heightened and confirmed the favourable impression he had made. He placed in a clear light the rashness with which a quarrel with the Burmese court had been precipitated; the unsea- sonable time at which warlike operations have been commenced and our imminent danger of being led by the war into cum-. hums and embarrassing territorial acquisitions. His remarks on the Indian press were not less pertinent. That press is too much in the hands of officials, and the reckless manner in which secret minutes and despatches of the utmost importance are published has on several occasions been highly detrimental to the public service.
