NEWS OF THE WEEK.
lit several forms our foreign policy has been among the sub- jects most frequently and prominently discussed in Parliament this week. The Naval Estimates furnished the occasion for one debate, begun in a wildly theorizing spirit by Mr. Cobden, but _ drawing an important declaration of views from the Premier; and the questioning of Members in both Houses has elicited Ministerial statements on our Continental relations. Apropos to the Naval Estimates, Mr. Cobden revived his proposal for a mission to negotiate a consentaneous diminution of arms through- out Europe, in order to a general saving of expense. The leader of the League confessed that he had not prophesied correctly about France ; disclaimed any demand for exclusive disarmament at home; and did his best to remove the impression that he would intrust the safety of the empire entirely and at once to the- policy of the broad-brimmed hat. Never- theless, it is easy to see through these professions, that Mr. Cobden still entertains naïve and romantic notions, and that he cherishes them with an enthusiasm the most unsophis- ticate. The enthusiast also avowed that even now he can see no symptoms of war in Europe ! He still tests the valve of a navy by certain moneyed calculations, which Lord John Rus- sell exposed with a very happy redectio ad absurdum; showing that, on Mr. Cobden's principles, we ought to abstain from defend- ing towns on our sea frontier if the cost of the defensive war should exceed the cost of rebuilding the towns. It is-something, however, to find that Mr. Cobden has so far recovered his per- ception of public opinion as to pay it the deference of acknow- ledging that we ought to have marine protection. On the other hand, he loses nothing by such deference; as appears from the reception accorded to his modified pacifies. His proposition is one for which the utmost ridicule might have been anticipated— and not the less for the irrepressible enthusiasm into which the riding of a hobby carries the practical." hardheaded" man : but it met with a partial concurrence from the Premier. Indeed, it is not altogether an innovation, and its principle may guide diplomacy hereafter.
Meanwhile, Lord John avows the most pacific and amicable sentiments towards the Republican Government of Prance ; which now receives more formal recognition. The Court of St. James's enters into league with the French Government fur an amicable intervention between Italy and Austria, in order to a settlement of the territorial sovereignty in Northern Italy.
Ministers have been assailed by Lord Stanley on the subject of the position into which they have suffered themselves to slide in Sicily. The heads of the accusation are—that they have prema- turely recognized a revolted province, that they have aided the rebels with counsel, that they have interfered by volunteering a recommendation of Monarchy, and that the English fleet has even been ordered to act against the Ring. The last charge is not made out ; the others are substantially admitted. Still we are not disposed to blame Ministers severely. Technically their position is wrong, because they incur all the responsibility of meddling without the advantages of effectual interferenc* But it is to be remembered that the English Government for di/ time being inherits an equivocal policy in Sicily : we owe Sicily an unpaid compensation for having led her on in 1812,..to abandon her when we no longer needed a Mediterranean ally. Besides, those who deprecate English intervention now should be content to apply their own doctrine absolutely. Let it be known that we will on no account interfere in Italy, and France will march in alone, without our having retained__ the power to do more than record an empty " protest." How would that suit these who now complain ? Assuredly, if France should enter Italy, it will be quite es well that England should be with her; and if England intervene at all, we do not see on what principles she can act better than those which Lord Lansdowne avows for the interven- tion in Sicily,—a recognition of the people, the encouragement of moderation, and the assimilation of Italian institutions to the European fashion of the day by establishing limited Monarchy. To return to the Naval Estimates: a totally different subject came into keen discussion—that of a more economical ad- ministration. A Select Committee has just made its report on the subject, embodying thirty-three recommendations ; of which the Secretary to the Admiralty professes to adopt twenty-nine. As he did not distinctly state the recommenda- tions, the precise nature of the intended reforms is obscure; but they seem to be in the direction of retrenchment com- bined with increased efficiency. Mr. Hume, indeed, suggests a terrible doubt that these reforms are to be more apparent than real—simulated " concessions," not real searching improvements; and lie very justly points toisweeping, simple, and obvious reforms that are still evaded,—reduction of the preposterous number of Admirals, and abolition of the useless African squadron. Minis- ters act like pushin and puffing tradesmen, who seductively de- cline to take the odd d pence in the bill which cheats you out of whole pounds: they clip and tinker in places where they know that the hand of retrenchment is checked by a reverent fear of doing harm ; but they will not suffer a finger to be placed upon that which if it be touched must topple down altogether. Mr. Ewart has propounded a resolution for revising our Taxa- tion—and has withdrawn it. It is a mistake to suppose that these purely abstract resolutions are likely to do any good. They only wear out the public interest, promote idle speechmaking, encourage the worship of figments, and so help to destroy public faith.
Mr. Henry Berkeley has carried a resolution for the Ballot, with as little real effect. Nobody was thinking of the question; which rose again, at " this late period of the session," as unexpectedly as a whale in the Thames. Neither the question, nor the argu- ment on either side, nor the public interest in it, has advanced an inch since the discussion was dropped by Mr. Grote, in 1839: it stands precisely where he left it, as unchanged and as unmoved as the rock of Gibraltar amid the tides of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Its merits were exhausted then, and they have not been tested since ; so that there can be no change—except that the public thought is now absorbed in other things. The very majority was obtained in absence of mind, comparatively few caring to attend for the purpose of beating the Ballot-men ; and it is the unimportance of the subject in present estimation that makes it needless to have a call of the House and rescind the chance vote. Mr. Berkeley announced his bill for " next ses- sion'—the House laughed, and all was over. Lord Monteagle has kept up the growing interest in Coloniza- tion, by analyzing the counterfeit measures of Ministers under that bead ; which Earl Grey had rather boastfully brought forward. Lord Grey, harping on an old crotchet, had endea- voured to show that, under the iegime of the Colonial Office, " the art of colonization" has been greatly developed in modern time. The chief Secretary is moreadroit than his sub. Mr. Hawes ; but he failed to makeout his case: indeed, he showed that there is no "colonization," but only emigration; and Lord Monteagle followed t his up by showing that Lord Grey did not even affect to have con- templated any real colonization. The Colonial Secretary, indeed, made out that New South Wales is flourishing under the system of land-sales—he did not tell that it was forced upon the Colonial Office ; that South Australia has attained a vast prosperity—after struggling, he should have said, against the enmity of the Co- lonial Office; and that the New 'Zealand Company—which the Office tried to crush—has done much for emigration to New Zea- land. He showed also the beneficial effects of Government con- trol over emigration to those Australian Colonies which he 'described as being so distant that "it is not posSible for emigra- tion to produce any perceptible effect on the population of this country " in the way of reducing the excess ; and he totally overlooked those Colonies of North America which are new, but to which emigration is not under official control. A host of measures have hurried by this week—to consumma- tion or death. The Public Health Bill has completed its passage through both Houses, in such plight that a contemporary who unceasingly opposed it pronounces it harmless now ; and the two Houses are conferring about incompatible amendments. Minis- ters have introduced their bill on the Navig,ation-laws, merely to be considered in the recess. Arid the Scotch Marriages Bill, much opposed on both aides of the Tweed, is poitponed till next session : ao that there is at least one year more for (iretua Green marriages—after that, there may be as many elopements, but the concomitant marriage will no longer be so easy.
