NEWS OF THE WEEK.

Wino( Lord John Russell, as the organ of Government, brought forward.the Reform Bill in 1831, it so much surpassed the expecta- tion-of any measure to emanate from the ruling classes, that the immediate cry of the public was, " Pass it !" Mr. Roebuck's book has opportunely reminded us how the principal Whigs were brought into- a position so much more advanced than any one, including themselves, expected to see them take : but the popu- lar sanction at once compelled and induced them to stand by their measure ; : and when they found that it was impossible to extort the passing of it from the old Parliament, they resorted to a gene- ral election for that express purpose.

The Cry of the public then became—" The bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill!" not because every portion of the mea- -sure thoroughly satisfied the people, but because it was seized as a bond, to which the Whigs were a party, against the old Tory ascendancy ; and the desire to fix the position without retractation .or concession' forbade the +disturbance of any clause. Ministers 'then found that their own maintenance in power, against the dominant party which had so long excluded them from offioe, de- pended upon their creating a great public interest, loud and strong they talked about " the whisper of a faction," and invited the tumultuary action of a People ; • and the bill which settled every- thing in the seise of the new parly4 r the Popular party that

pal, gave body to the Whigs was a new --became law. On introducing his new Reform B. twenty-one Year later, Lord John Rnisell's position is reversed. He has not to bikeaurried into power on'the shoulders of the people, but only to 'avoid bettig hustled out of power by the march of events. He must appease the appetite: of Time., for t‘ progress," without awakening those hostilities and tumultuary. movements which, come whew:II:they may, disturb the-old possessors of office. - It is his part no'Mnger to surprise, but to damp" surprises ; no longer to create new parties 'or new movements, but to frustrate both. Lord John is no longer the Minister of the Future, but the Minister of the Past.

This altered position has determined the nature of the plan which he published to the House of Commons on Monday; not in the form of a bill, for that was kept back, and is not yet visible while we write,* but in the form of a promissory speech. His plan is not a bill of reforms, but a bill of repairs; meeting exigencies by palliatives; giving as much as he can to any who ask without disturb' ally one else ; taking away from none, but doing all the '•' turns he can with the makeshifts to which he is restricted

e of satisfying plaintiff without mulcti' defendant.

T e las ; reform was based on disfranchisement of n" bo- roughs • the present only diffuses. The last created a con-

stituency; this- only shifts and stretches the old. The last had been anticipated by-the bill which . had restored Catholics to the representation ; this stretches the relaxation for the better easing of the consciences of Jews. But in the process of stretching and shifting there is a world of supplemental piecing out ; so that whereas the former was done in thelump, and settled everything once for, all, this is a bundle of ." notions," and opens the way to an indefinite- and Widespread series of consequences. It stretches the ten-pound household franchise to the occupants of five-pound houses; admits payment of two pounds in direct taxes as a quali- fication; stretches very small boroughs over circumjacent ru- ralities, or till they unite with other small boroughs ; Stretches the Chandos tenant-at-will clause front fifty-pound men to twenty- pound, men ; abolishes qualification for Members ; alters the oaths, to let in Jews and please Papists ; and while it does so much • The tardy bill was " laid upon the table" on Thursday, in the hands of Members last night, but is not even yet delivered with the rotes and Proceedings on Satur- day. This morning's Times, however, gives it in extenso sacrificing to it a whole Page. In voluminous extent and minute complexity it exceeds even its author's de- scription.

little by hit for everybody, it does a little also for the officials themselves, releasing them from the obligation to go to their constituents' on every promotion in Office. Supplemental but integral parts of the plan are, the abolition of ," faggot votes " in Scotland, the disfran- chisement of St. Albin's, and a continuation of the new practice to inquire into borough corruptions by Parliamentary Commission instead of. Committee.

Contrasted with the former bill in occasion, object, and nature, it is equally contrasted in reception. While that was received with surprise, welcoine, and national enthusiasm, this creates not the

htest emotion or interest. Nobody adopts it—it is no man's

d. Nobody cares for it. Nobody cries for " the _bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill," for nobody grasps it as a whole 'and nobody knows what it may not contain if it were only understood; so that there may exist " nothing but the bill." Ob.! yes—there is ballot not included ; at which Reformers feel a sort of technical anger that hurts not. Also triennial Parliaments are left out; indeed, everything that would create strong feelings either way. So that the. indifference is equal among friends of Minis- ters and foes, and the bill really promises to pass, as it were by

default. ; • Other topios in Parliament have been not without importance, but without novelty, and still more without interest. Lord Roden and the Irish pacificatory have hinted a call for coercip; and have been put off with a promise, that when Ministers are convinced of

insufficiency nsufficiency of -the present raw they will bring out a coercion bill,. very strong. Mr. Sharman Crawford has had a speech and a debate on Irish tenant-right, with a bill to which Ministers did not like to refuse a first reading ; so it is read, and thus that some- what barbario utterance of Irish aspirations in economy is shelied. The Churohlasty simulating "public education" in Manchester and Salford have tried to smuggle their plan *rough Parliament as a private bill; but are stopped for genuine discussion by Mr. Milner Gibson, with excellent backing by Mr. Gladstone. Hand- ling ugly questions with some tad, Lord Granville has explained that he expects apologies from Tuscany on account of Mr. MILTher, and has himself made apologies to the United States on account of the. Prometheus. Thin far Ministers have avoided complications and difficult conctlusiona.

Having earned some positive credit by their Law Reforms, they seem to think credit insipid unless it has a spice of dis- credit. Law Reformers incline to the two principal bills in this category—the Common-Law Procedure Amendment Bill, and the _Chancery Reform Bill. ' 'But the latter-was characteristically in- troduced into the busy House of Conniions, without the knowledge of the Lord- Chancellor; who 'naïvely confessed hil total ig- norance even that such bill had, been prepared; and then some days later, baited- With qiiestions by Lord Lyndhurst and Lord Brougham, he could not- conceal that he was opposed to essential parts of the reform. No wonder that Ministers hesitated to introduce to each other their Lord Chancellor and their Chancery- Reform ! Meanwhile, to get rid of the annual de- lay with bills which are broken off and reintroduced in the ob- structive Commons Lord Lyndhurst at once frames a bill to authorize their being taken up at the stage where they were left in either House on a previous session ; reviving, we believe, a frustrated bill of Lord Derby's. It is pleasant to see the veteran Lyndhurst again vigorous and active. •

The most earnest discussion and conflict have been found in the practical debates on the great Gothic and Ventilation question. Gothic Barry hati built a house which newfangled Reid cannot ventilate ; but whether it is the fault of Barry's Gothic obstructive- ness to air and light, or Reid's want pf mastery over the winds and their fragrant burdens —that is the question. Members, alternately roasted and boiled, frozen and stifle , have called Dr. Reid to the bar, and have sentenced him "to continue "! An attempt was made tcreVape from the squabbles of Barry and Reid, and from the confused meddling of Committees which has really occasioned all the mischief, by 'reposing the conduct of the whole matter in

the officially responsible hands of Lord Seymour : but the House had not so much confidence in the victor of Anne Hicks—it will rather rely on the thrice-broken Reid! Perhaps its next resort will be to the final and desperate course of pulling down the whole building,, and beginning' it again; though who is to do it better no one can say. For art, whose low condition is the true bottom of the whole embarras, has not been raised in the interval ; and until art has learned, even English art, to build for actual wants, and to reduce an edifice thus constructed to a symmetry accordant with its purpose, we shall not be able to " build a nubile institution." So much has " high art" to do with practical utility. Meanwhile, be it confessed, the Parliament Palace is rather an ex- pensive study.