NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE discussien.of the Forgery Bill, on Monday, gave rise to a dis- ,cevery by Lords' WYNFORD and GREY, Which will, we trust, be duly appreciated.. It seems. that no possible disadvantage can result from the notable amendment of the Lords in the Cattle- Stealing Act, because; though the Judge must • condemn every convict to banishment for life,.hemay recommend the less aggra- vated cases to Lord MELBOURNE for commutation. Lords WYN- FORD anti GREY eXPressed their astonishment at the complaints of the Judges . of the imperative nature of. the Act. It is indeed most. unreasonable for •Judges to complain, that instead ',of the punishment being settled, in the Court that tries the prisoner, it should be settled in the Home Office! The Judges knowthe cases, and may be biliSaid in their judgment, Loid MELBOURNE can- not act partially, for he knows nothing about them. The Tithes Composition Bill, which elbowed its way with so much difficulty through' he Commons, Is abatis to-pass without let or opposition. The Duke of WELLINGTON has prayed their Lordships to express their senie of its value by their unani- mity. What will my LOrd RODEN Say? The levyino. Of Irish tithe, and the suspension of the Irish Habeas Corpus /et, were dis- cussed by Lord BROUGHAM, :as cognate questions. It seems the Lcrd•Lientenant can suspend the Irish Act whenever there is a rebellion in the country.; and, according to Lord BROUGHAM, a general determination to resist tithe, is, speaking legally and aris-. tocratically, a rebellion. Moreover, if the Habeas Corpus Act be once suspended, O'CONNELL and Mr. Comm.° may be 'im- prisoned, the one at Sydney, the other at Hobart Town,—for the Irish Act does not forbid imprisonment beyond seas. The Duke of WELLINGTON seemed delighted that Ministers could destroy the constitution without having recourse to Parliament. But "if the mountain will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain" If Lord GREY suspend the Habeas Corpus Act with- out the leave of Parliament, Parliament may chance to suspend the Supplies without the leave of Lord GREY. The Habeas Corpus suspension scheme was noticed in the Commons last night. Mr. LEADER does not quite agree with, Lord BROUGHAM, nor do his Inas tally with Lord BROUGHAM'S argument.
The Registry clause of. the Reform Act has been the sub- ject of repeated and puzzling consideration to the House of Com- mons during the week. It was touched upon on Monday, again on Tuesday, and a third time on Thursday. From the returns, official and unofficial, it i4 shrewdly suspected, that England will, for the purpose of next election', have no 'constituency at'all—that the entire boroughs, old and new, will be as close as those which new figure in'Scliedule A. Lord ALTHORP was anxious to intro- duce a bill to attempt a remedy' for the defects of the Registry; but Sir Enwkao SUGDEN opposed it, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer was compelled to yield. Why the date Which he wished to alter was not made dependent on the passing of the Boundaries Bill, as the other dates in the bill were, we know not. Lord AL- motip has spoken of the clause as unalered from the beginning, and the electors. in consequence as duly warned; but, he forgets, that up to the Moment when the' Boundaries Bill was..promul-, gated—that is, up to the 12th 'July—hardly an 'elector could be .certain whether he haa'a Voiel for .a borough or i 'cOuntY. The warning Which L'ord-A,Linorte would Stretch out to seven months, consisted in reality of but seven days. His propoSed bill would indeed have done little to remove the grievance. The only effec- tual plan is to register all who are rated, or claim to be rated, to a ten-pound house ; and if payment of rates be deemed requisite, let the proof of the payment be produced at the polling-table, as it has hitherto been. Colonel EVANS says next Parliament will be a Tory Parliament. If his information be correct,' it will pot be a.•
Whig Parliament. • The Chancellor's salary has been fixed at 4,000/., and his re- tiring pension at 5,000/. Government justify the salary by the re- commendation of' the Salaries Committee, and the pension by their own recommendation. There is no doubt, that while the Chan- cellor is but a tenant at will, his salary and pension must be large, . come from what source it may.. But why, having the power to render the office pernument, do not the Ministry exercise that power? Why not separate the political from the judicial duties, and put down all future pleas at least of enormous remuneration grounded on the uncertainty and expense of the office? Mr. SnAw reenacted, on Wednesday, the part which was so ably filled by Sir CHARLES WETHERELL and Mr. PRAED on the COM- mittal of the first Reform Bill : be divided the House twenty-four times on the Party Processions Bill. The glory of O'CONNELL LS • eclipsed for ever. He will never come up to this.
The sittings of the House are very near their close. On Wed- nesday, Mr. SPRING RICE moved the Appropriation clause in the Consolidation Fund Bill. Mr. HUME took the opportunity to promise a reduction of taxation, to the amount of five millions; if he had his will. We trust he will get it, or take it, at no distant day. Last night, the affair at Clithero was the subject of conversatioa in the House of Commons. Mr. lavi NG'S version differs very little from that Which we quoted last week from the Blackburn news- paper. Not content, however, with an attempt to clear his own character, Mr. IitviNG, last night, stepped out of his way to make a most indecent attack on the character of Dr, BOWRING ; whoin.
be insinuated to be an Atheist in religion (the honourablemember is not very discriminate. in his charges), a Republican in poll • tics, and a trafficker in revolutions (the French to wit). andrebellion. It i..diffical to censure with sufficient severity the spirit of safe de- famation which dictated' so coarse, libellous",: and false an attack on 'an abSefif individual. With singular propriety, after this speci- men of Moral daring, 'Sir EDWARD SUGDEN complimented Mr. InviNG on the valour he displayed in returning to Clithero, with notrher escort than a couple of troops of cavalry, and in the face of a handful Of unarmed and drunken clodpoles.- He would have been baptized "Coward Irving," for ever, it seems, had he not gone back. How will he be baptized now ? Lord ALTHORP thinks that such outrages as occurred at Cli- thero are destructive of the freedom of election. His Lordship is not famous for distinctions. In the only country in the world where elections are full and free, personal canvass, which was the sole object of the brave Mr. IRVING'S inroad at Clithero, is never practised. SOMERVILLE it seems, to be dismissed ; this is Lord AL- THORP'S word. The " Inquiry" has found out, that be was not punished for writing the letter to the newspaper. The world will. die of premature wisdom, if we go on much longer discovering as we have done this week.
