NEWS OF THE WEEK.
Srsten we last met our readers, the existence of the Ministry has been threatened, and there has been a half-jesting talk of Lord George Bentinck's stepping into Lord John Russell's place ! The Irish Railways Bill, however like a bubble scheme, proved fully as troublesome as we surmised it might be. The position of Ministers was rendered insecure by the absence of any propo- sition equally showy and distinct among their own plans, and by the somewhat vacillating demeanour of their chief. There really did seem to be a danger of their being snuffed out—or of eva- porating before the energetic aspect of their rival. At length Lord John began to understand his own predicament, and on Thursday he saw the necessity of making a stand. He con- vened a meeting of Members at his own residence, and told them plainly, that if the House of Commons should accept Lord —George's .Bill, the present Cabinet would resign : a determina- tion which he soon after repeated, in effect, from his place in the House. That improved attitude alone sufficed to recover his fortunes ; and although, while we write, the palaver on the se- cond reading of the bubble bill continues, the issue is not doubt- ful. As the still youthful Ministry was expiring of internal weakness, so it has regained a mastery over its fortunes by as- suming. a modicum of vigour. It exists in office by a political necessity : a very moderate display of inherent strength is all that the fortunate combination of party politics demands, and it would be miserable to expire under the assault of that ghost of a faction Lord George's " own " party. The renewal of the Irish debates on Monday had not exhibited Ministers in a very strong position. In Committee on the Des- titute Persons Bill, Mr. Roebuck again demanded, for the Eng- lish people, to know how much the measures would cost? Sir Charles Wood took offence at the question, and made the answer a matter of favour,—as if it were not the proper duty of a Chancellor of the Exchequer to keep the representatives of the people informed on the subject of national finance. The sequel, however, accounts for Sir Charles's air of pique: if be had really no better answer to give, it is not surprising that he should be angry ; if the anger was feigned, it was a not unusual device to hide a politic reserve under an appearance of openness. He gave no answer to the question. The particular bill provides only for the expenditure of 300,0001.—not much more than a week's outlay at the rate of last month ; further sums, unestirnated, are to be taken, from time to time, in Committee of Supply, for the purposes of the bill; and au rote, the Government measures will probably cost "some millions."
Another catechizing placed Ministers in a most humiliating position. Mr. Evelyn Denison asked whether they meant to give the permanent Irish Poor-law Bill substantial support That bill was brought in by the Premier, the Home Secretary, and the Irish Secretary ; and under such circumstances, Sir George Grey naturally characterized the question as "extraordinary," In effect, however, it was repeated by another independent Member, Mr. Ponlett Scrope ; who asked if Ministers intended to adhere to the bill in its integrity ?—to which Mr. Labouchere did not disdain a reply in the affirmative. These truly " extraordinary " questions indicated an extraordinary feeling in the House—such distrust of Ministers that they were suspected of concealed inten- tions to throw overboard their own spontaneous measures
A strange incident in the debate was the promulgation of poor old Mr. O'Connell's plan for the succour of Ireland. "The Li- berator" stated, that in the ordinary condition of Ireland four millions of souls are always on the verge of starvation ; two millions will actually perish unless they be rescued by England ; he "has no objection" to compelling the landlords to do their
duty by means of an income-tax, and would endow Government with dictatorial powers to appoint Commissioners for the levy of
such a tax ; but the levy of rates generally would be impossible in the present state of Ireland, and the only expedient is "loans.." Mr. OICAnnell's plan is, to establish a dictatorship in Ireland, in order to levy an income-tax on landlords and administer English loans. His present scheme does not appear to include Repeal.
Ministerial difficulties in regard to Mr. Fielden's Short-time Bill were obviated by keeping it an "open question." Lord John Russell was thus able to advocate a measure which Sir Charles Wood denounced as dangerous and absurd ; and Sir George Grey intimated that the people might have their humour at their own expense—for he thought that it would diminish wages. The bill
therefore has a chance and another encroachment on the freedom of industry is threatened. If the expectations of its advocates be fulfilled, it will diminish the duration of daily labour without at least seriously diminishing wages ; will release mothers for domestic duties, men for intellectual culture ; will promote health of body and mind in the factory districts ; and mitigate at once overproduction and, the consequent gluts, spreading factory work in a more levcl manner over the whole year. Its opponents say, that it will directly diminish profits and wages, and that by en- hancing the cost of production it will enfeeble the English trade in manufactures for competition with foreigners. Probably its early operation will be followed by a cry from the factory workers, that machinery has received afresh stimulus; and in that case, it will subject the Legislature to new claims for regulations to restrict machinery and prevent abatement of wages. The Legislature has undertaken to compel what ought to be the result of cuitoi, and has inverted the process of improvement. But there is some excuse for the promoters of the measure, in the apparent hopeless- ness of a spontaneous change : our overstrained and exclusive devotion to commercial gains, our gloomy fanaticism, our back- wardness in the liberal arts and the art of the " savoir vivre," afford little prospect that the people would concur in that uni- versal and imperative demand for the leisure of "short time," which a more highly-cultivated social state would make a matter of course. If blame is to be imputed anywhere, it is to the mill-owners—who ought to be the most intelligent section of the manufacturing classes, and as such, ought by this time to have had a distinct and intelligible policy on the question. As it they have made a show of concession without satisfying the wants of their dependants; so that they have sacrificed the strength belonging to determined resistance without purchasing, friendly allegiance. Mr. Fielden's success is owing to no in- fallible power in his project, but to the absence of compact strength and settled purpose in any section of his antagonists. Mr. Ricardo's motion for a Select Committee to inquire into the working of the Navigation-laws received very general assent, and there is as general an admission that the laws are doomed. In- deed, they belonged altogether to the now obsolete system of Pro- tection; and probably they would not have survived so late, had not Adam Smith suffered them to go by with a sort of negative sanction. The presumption on which the Navigation-laws rest is, that they favour the continued growth of a British commercial marine as distinct from the spread of commerce generally, and that they thus augment the raw material for a defensive marine. Every reason applied to the fallacious doctrine of Protection would show that the Navigation-laws do not encourage the growth of a British marine. The presumption from the obvious premises would lie in favour of perfect freedom. Britain is an island, with an immense trade, a dense, bold, enterprising, and highly maritime population : it necessarily follows that Britain must always have alarge commercial marine.
