NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Mum-mime Ministry has been destroyed by a vote of the House of Commons. The political calm in which the last week closed was deceitful. The Tories mustered in full force on Mon- day : the debate on the Jamaica Bill was resumed ; and it soon ap- peared that defection from the Tory ranks would not compensate Ministers for the loss of Radical votes. Lord Joux RUSSELL spoke like one who anticipated defeat. He complained that support on which he relied had been withdrawn. Men, he said, " who were prepared, when the bill was first introduced, to consider it the best measure which could be provided for the future welfare of Jamaica," had now seen fit—from party motives, he intimated— to oppose the measure. On the division, the numbers for pro- ceeding with the bill in Committee were 294, fitr resisting its farther progress 289; majority only 5. Ten Radical Members voted with the Opposition, and ,five Tories with the Government ; leaving a balance of loss to Ministers of five votes, counting as ten on the division. If the Radical seceders had supported the bill, and the Tory defectionists followed their leader, the Minis- terial majority would only have been ,fifteen : and this majority, it seems, would have been considered insufficient. At the meet- ing of the House on Tuesday, Lord Jons Ressur.r. announced the resignation of Ministers, on the ground that the Jamaica Bill " required snore than ordinary support—more than ordi- nary confidence ; and that it had met with less support, and less confidence on the part of the House, than that which had usually been given to her Majesty's Ministers." A majority of fifteen would have been smaller than Ministers have usually ob- tained on questions which brought out the full strength of both parties—they have commonly had between twenty and thirty ; but more than this, Lord Jonx said, they would have required for the Jamaica Bill : and then there was Canada coming next ! It is idle, therefore, to attribute the overthrow of the Melbourne- Whigs to the few Radicals who voted with the Tories. Ministers had, in sporting phrase, " declared to lose" with the Jamaica Bill. They sought an opportunity, by resigning, to avoid difficulties cominab thick upon them, which they were too feeble to encounter. The Cabinet was dissolved through its own weakness. The Queen had no resource but the Tories ; and her Majesty, after a preliminary conversation with her old friend the Earl of LIVERPOOL and the Duke of WELLINGTON, sent on Wednesday for Sir ROBERT PEEL.
The subsequent events connected with the Ministerial crisis will be stated, so far as we can ascertain them at the hour of going to press, in the Postscript. • The House of Commons adjourned to Monday next, the Lords to last night, in order to allow time for the construction of a new Cabinet.
