NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE debate on Ireland has grown to be the most interesting of the session; the one involving the largest questions and the largest contingencies. It places the whole state of public affairs, Imperial as well as Irish, in the most singular position. The temperate and complete statement of Irish grievances, by Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN, last week, was not spoiled by any subsequent speaker. Mr. Molt- GAN Joust O'CoNNELE and the other Irish Members maintained the same calm and practical tone, suited to the occasion and the
place. There was but one single avowed Repealer taking part in the discussion as such,—Mr. B. Rocas ; and his solitary declara- tion will not carry the country away with him. The late Whig Ministers did not shine, as a party : they joined in reprobating Repeal, and on the other hand in making complaint of grievances which they bequeathed to their successors; and they displayed some unused wares which they could not get off their hands when last in office, and which therefore are still on sale, and furbished up for the newly opening market:. Lord JOHN RUSSELL has some Liberal measures suited to the next sea- Eon; Lord PALMERSTON is in hopes, and honourably warns Sir ROBERT PEEL that if he go out of office he may find the door slu....-Tainst his return for some time. The position of Ministers was not bettered as the debate proceeded. Their party was split into three sections,—men for coercion, men for conci- liation, and Ministers themselves, who seem to be for nothing particular. Sir JAMES GRAHAM'S unluckily threatening tone gave confidence to the coercion party ; and Sir HOWARD DOUGLAS chivalrously hazarded a resolution for suppressing agitation and suspending all legislation for Ireland until that country should be pacified. Sir HOWARD had no seconder—not even in Mr. SHAW, the old representative of the Orangeists; nor in Mr. EATESON, whose subsequent speech was much in the sense of the resolution. But the asserters of Irish claims found unexpected support in the voices of that section of the Ministerial host who rejoice in the name of " Young England "—the rising generation of Conservatives—aristocratic and quasi-Tory participators in the march of intellect. Captain Rona rather a mature student in that school, began the defection ; Mr. GEORGE SIDNEY SMYTHE followed, with more emphatic utterance of Liberal sentiments, fan- tastically bound up with recommendations of a return to old 'Toryism in Ireland,—meaning, apparently, return to those things of good which were done by Irish rulers who happened to be Tones; Lord JOHN MANNERS gave both his speech and vote to Irish claims ; and other Members of the class seem to have looked wistfully after the knights-errant. Ministers themselves improved upon Lord Emor's Grandison apologetics and Sir JAMES GRA- HAM'S indiscreet threats; and if Sir ROBERT PEEL did not make those great announcements of policy which would have surprised few and pleased many, he succeeded in a technical vindication of his administration; against which, indeed, there was no specific case ; while Lord STANLEY followed his leader, echoing his terms in a way that might puzzle some who put faith in reports that he had broken loose in the Cabinet. He spoke, indeed, of the Cabi- net having an " united opinion," with an emphasis as if he felt it to be a mercy that it was so and that he could say as much. The speeches in the debate which stand out most from the herd are, that of Mr. ROEBUCK., whose somewhat too lecturing manner did not suffice to mar the useful truths which few men are bold enough to proclaim to the House of Commons in plain terms; and that of Lord HOWICK, by far the most comprehensive and statesmanlike view of the whole case and its remedies. Those views did not prevail at the time: the motion, with all founded upon it, was rejected by a majority of 79-243 votes to 164 ; for the last election gave Ministers a majority which they may be able to use for some time to come before it can be worn out.
The moral of the debate is twofold—as to Ireland, and as to the state of parties. As to Ireland, the maingrievances were ad- [LATEST EDITION.]
mitted; some of them under protest that they are not quite so grievous as people say, and that they are irremediable ; others,
with scarcely an exception, were admitted in full. The distressed condition of the Irish people was one of these. One proximate cause, the wholesale ejectments—the uncertain tenure of land, which at once throws people out of employment and hinders those who are in occupation from making improvements—was generally recognized. Two practical remedies were mentioned,—the exten- sion of a custom that obtains in the North of Ireland, securing ta. the outgoing tenant the value of his improvements and " good- will " ; and an extension of the English Poor-law to Ireland, giving to the landowner a money interest in the welfare of the labourer- The other master grievance, the dominant Protestant Church, was not so generally recognized ; yet it was feebly denied ; while many even on the Ministerial side advocated the recognition of the Roman Catholic clergy and their titles, if not a state pro- vision for them. The late Government tried some small attempts to palliate these evils, and even the attempts did a temporary good in quieting the country ; but they did not try much, and what they tried they were not allowed to do effectually. The present Govern- ment say that they cannot even try.
This brings us to the state of parties. Sir ROBERT PEEL began last session by saying " I will "—he ends this session by saying " I can't " : he began with the limits of his power unknown ; he now stands confessedly helpless in one great province of his duties.. His speech, indeed, was not unworthy of him ; it may even add to his good fame. As he has for ever exiled from our councils some of the old Tory dogmas of commercial policy, which, if not raked out by a familiar hand, might again have taken root and sprouted into new life, so he has now set his ban upon the old Tory recipe for Ireland—coercion; not unused by the Whigs. He has to the last resisted the insidious advances of mere Orange Ascendancy. His address was admirable in temper, and plain, straightforward good feeling. Admitting the necessities of Ireland, he allowed, that if the tenant-law is so oppressive, it ought to be altered; and he promised to consider the subject. To the demand for reforming the state of the churches in Ireland he answered by marshalling the difficulties,—the pledges given by all parties at the time of the Union, and afterwards of Catholic Emancipation, not to damage the Protestant Establishment; the troublesome question of providing funds; the embarrassment of recognizing Catholic Bishops in Ireland but not in England nor in the House of Lords. The answer was sufficient if the view be limited to existing cir- cumstances and routines—if you allow the premiss that existing ar- rangements of the constitution are unalterable. It cannot be exacted of any man that he should make himself responsible for a revolution, however tranquil and bloodless. Sir ROBERT, there- fore, made out strong reasons why he should not be required to meddle with the Church ; and he intimated that he would rather resign than do so. He has a right to his choice ; but the alternative is already in sight. We saw, indeed, in the case of the last Ministry,._ the first symptoms of decay and breaking-up are not always followed by rapid dissolution. But the Premier anticipated truly that his difficulty would lie with Ireland. Had all gone smoothly across St. George's Channel, the difficulty Might: not have come into play. It is Sir ROBERT PEEL'S misfortune, not his fault, that the party in Ireland who by analogy and usage belong to his own in England, had not his own tact and discretion to keep their unpopularity out of view. He is less blameless on another score : he is now suffering for conduct which he sanctioned in Opposition ; and while Lord STAN- LEY Sift; by his side, he too will be haunted by the ghost of STAN- LEY'S Registration Bill—condemned by himself when he was put upon oath as a Minister. It was, again, mere ill-luck that Mr. O'CON NELL'S waning importance in the House of Commons made hint settle in Ireland, and work it into a phrensy against the Orange Ascendancy and their allies in England. However caused, Ireland has become an active difficulty, and the Premier shows no disposi- tion to cope with it. Thwarted and convicted of impotency in Irish matters, how can executive strength in England be main- tained ? The defection of the Ultra-Agriculturists was over- ridden, because the policy that they opposed was popular, active, potent in will : Young England's desertion happens at a time of discredit and feebleness, when the power of willing seems departed. The Whigs already begin to affect coyness, like Jur.aus CESAZ when the crown was offered.
The prospect is not cheering. Even in this single branch of government, Ireland, no good issue as yet opens upon the sight. No party seems capable of deeds. For all its bigness, Repeal is
impossible, without the unobtainable consent of England: for all the bullying of its retainers, in Dublin and London, revived Pro- testant Ascendancy is still more impossible : if the Repealers were to begin civil war, England would crush them ; if the Orange party, England would crush them, and with far less difficulty or compunc- tion. The return of the Whigs might postpone the present dilE.- culty, to recur in some five or ten years, perhaps at a still more untoward season. The country can only be governed by party, say scientific politicians : but here we see party doing nothing, and ob- structing every thing. It looks, indeed, as if the state of the several parts of the United Kingdom forbade the whole to be governed by any one party—England by Whigs or Ireland by Tories. Party distinctions do not even apply to their supposed purposes : Sir Ro- BERT PEEL is helpless, not because he himself is incapable or has impracticable opinions, but because other men, " with whom he usually acts," have impracticable opinions : his most close-sticking " supporters" bear him down ; " Young England," on the contrary, professes to oppose him, acting on the strength of opinions very like those proper to himself. Lord Howicx a Whig, agrees that many things ought to be done for Ireland ; but everybody knows that his "party" is most helpless. There are men, so nu- merous and influential as to be equal to any "party," who might agree in many measures to benefit Ireland. The shrewd DANIEL WHITTLE HARVEY, who views the storms of politics from the re- tirement of a civic office, says that by and by " the hideous conse- quences of governing this great country through the agency of party will be rightly understood, and as quickly redressed." At such a time, a Ministry might be formed for special objects, such as to settle this " difficulty " of Ireland ; and then its members would really be selected for their capacity, honesty, and zeal for the service; and such men as Sir ROBERT PEEL and Lord HOWICK might join in serving their common country, instead of being both incapacitated because they happen to be classified with certain men, from whom they differ on the most essential points, in what are called "parties."
The other Parliamentary business is of very little interest. The House of Commons devoted a long evening to discussing two clauses of the Irish Arms Bill, and then the Chairman reported "progress." Lord ABERDEEN has made more concession in the Scotch Benefices Bill, and now retains in it a minimum of " de- claratory" matter. Lord CAMPBELL says the bill only declares the immemorial right of the congregations to grumble ; and the Duke of WELLINGTON remarks that " there can be no doubt about that,"—one of the equivocal hints of slighting support which have been so lavished on the Foreign Secretary in his ecclesiastical mission.
