NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE opportunity for agitation against the Jewish Disabilities Bill has produced no great crop of adverse petitions; and the THE opportunity for agitation against the Jewish Disabilities Bill has produced no great crop of adverse petitions; and the measure is pursuing the even tenour of its way through rather a dull career of argumentation in the House of Commons. If the " Tories" indulge the rare luxury of an imposing muster at the vote, it is perhaps because the very want of any serious public in- terest in the matter makes a little passive resistance not unsafe: Members are free to let their votes turn at a whim, and may gratify old prejudices without much fear of being called in- conveniently to account. Meanwhile, in the debating, the usual arguments for and against the bill are paraded, without much re- gard on either aide to previous refutations. The opponents of the bill reiterate the plaint, that it will, as they say, " unchristianize " the Parliament ; though we do not understand that the baptism of the six hundred and fifty-seven honourable Members is to be annulled. Some of its advocates plead for it on the score of "re- ligious equality" ; a phrase, after all, not unlike nonsense. There can be no religious equality except in the eyes of a person of no religion : to each man his own religion is paramount. The true and strong argument for the bill is, that it relates to a matter which does not concern religion : every cies•en has a right to claim civil equality in civil matters, and the bill only undoes an accidental infriggcsaut•of ,hat rule. The dominant religion among Members of -P.isliament, politically, is a matter of fact, not of principle. Parliament ought to represent the nation ; and it will do so best if it contain a majority of Protestants, a pro- portion of Roman Catholics, and a few Jews. The admission of Jews cannot affect the dominant faith, because the dominant faith in this country. is the Protestant form of Christianity. If Jews were the majority in England, they ought to be so in Par- liament: they are an almost unappreciable minority, and so they must be in Parliament. But the smallness of their numbers is no just reason for denying them equality of civil rights ; and Par- liament seems in this instance to be guided by reason. Reason is at lastrecognized in another matter erroneously treated as religious—the renewal of diplomatic relations with the Sove- reign of the Roman States. The Pope is the leading Prince of that great country which has twice possessed the lead in Europe, and which appears to be once more rising to greatness ; he hap- pens to possess a moral influence over large sections of our fellow citizens ; and that influence may be more or less beneficially em- ployed as he is more or less correctly informed. At last Par- liament begins to perceive this.
Lord Morpeth has renewed his attempt to legislate for the sanatory regulation of the country, with a bill much improved in structure, and with every prospect of making advantageous progress.
The Peers have had their say on the West India question ; and on the whole the discussion has been better conducted, espe- cially on the Protectionist and Anti-Slavery sides, than it was in the House of Commons. Lord Stanley made out a more cohe- rent case than Lord George Bentinck did, and Bishop Wilber- force pleaded the Anti-Slavery view with adroitness as well as eloquence. Lord Grey echoed Sir Charles Wood, only with a difference: Sir Charles's arguments looked businesslike, even if they were fallacious ; Lord Grey is only opinionative. Although the discussion was able, it was remote from practical affairs. The speakers elaborated their views of what ought to be, without much regard to what can be. Bishop Wilberforce looks back to the Anti-Slavery crusade. Lord Stanley advocates an impossible return to Protection. Lord Grey presumes the approach of better days. Facts and practicabilitaes are postponed to reveries and
figments. For instance, the Secretary for the Colonies amused the House with a conundrum in political economy : the distress, he said, will virtually supply what is sought from immigration ; the low price of sugar will discourage the speculation of the planters; they will offer less wages ; the Negroes will have to labour more to earn as much ; and thus there will be at once an increased supply of labour and a diminished cost. How would our cotton-manufacturers relish such a consolation applied to their concerns in adverse times ? Earl Grey is not political economist enough to perceive the difference between that superfluity of la- bour which arises from a numerical redundancy of labourers and that which arises from a bad state of trade : both, he thinks, are advantages. Again, he was so rash as to recommend settlement and investment of capital in Jamaica! In this crotchet he stands alone: it is clear that the Ministers generally, and the Free-traders, contemplate the cessation of sugar-culture in the West Indies ex- cept by the Spanish colonies, and, so far as British production is concerned, its transfer to the East ; some Free-traders, we believe, having actually invested capital in the East with a view to that transfer. The British West Indies are, at best, expected to be- come happy colonies of small proprietors and free Blacks, enjoy- ing themselves perhaps, but not doing much in the way of export- able produce—an English Hayti.
An unsuccessful attempt has been made to push forward the bill for suspending the New Zealand constitution. Mr. Labou- chere had promised that the discussion, waived in courtesy to Ministers on the second reading, should be taken upon it in Com- mittee: but the moving of the Committee was fixed for the morning sitting on Wednesday,—a time of scanty attendance, when little discussion of any subject is expected. Lord Lincoln endeavoured to obtain a more decorous compliance with the pro- mise: Mr. Labouchere would not give way, and some speeches were made—not upon the bill, but upon the "treaty of Wai- tangi," and Dr. Selwyn's demagogue doctrines on land. The House at last got into Committee, but did scarcely anything ; and the bill still stands for discussion. It can hardly be allowed to pass uncriticized. A more barefaced act of legislative levity has seldom been perpetrated. At the close of the session of 1846, Lord Grey hurried through Parliament a bill to give New Zea- land a constitution: in 1847-8, without any fresh knowledge, or any change in essential circumstances, Lord Grey is hurrying on a bill to destroy that constitution. The vehemence of his oscil- lation one way is compensated by an equal vehemence in the opposite direction. It may be hard upon poor Mr. Labouchere to be called upon to account for his colleague's capricious will; that tin:dement work ought to be performed by Lord Grey's subordinate, Mr. Hawes, only that the-Uuder,Secretary is re- lieved by a felicitous exclusion from the House of Commons. Bnt, however desirous gentlemen may be to spare the respectable President of the Board of Trade, the distant colony ought not to be the victim of that politeness. Let the bill be discussed, at all events, before it be passed.
