NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Parliamentary proceedings of the week have been varied and interesting. There have been few long speeches, and no eloquent ones; but the business of the nation has not been neglected; and as long as that can be said with truth, the absence of oratorical display may well be pardoned.
A great part of the time devoted to the morning sitting has been occupied in the reception of Dissenters petitions. The whole Nonconformist body throughout the country appears to hare been exasperated by the inadequacy of the relief prollered to theca by Ministers through the medium of Lord Joinst RUSSELL. The fact of that once popular nobleman having consented to stand sponsor to the Marriage Bill, has been sufficient to ruin him with the Dissenters. If his colleagues had plotted to reduce him to in- significance, they could not have devised a better scheme than that of putting this puny bill into his hands, with a commission to enlarge upon it as all-sufficient. Lord Jou sr RUSSELL declared on Monday, that he could not make any material alteration in the bill, but that if the Dissenters had insuperable objections to it, he would withdraw it altogether. This, we doubt not, will be the upshot of the matter, and the best that can happen to all the parties interested in it.
The appointment of one of the place-hunting family of PLUN- KETT to the Deanery of Down, was brought under the notice of the House of Commons on Tuesday, by Mr. Goutnuini. The charge of a most impudent and flagrant abuse of Church patronage in this instance, was clearly proved against the Government. The Irish Chancellor was the leading member of the Ecclesiastical Com- mission which denounced the. union of parishes in the Deanery, as highly injurious, and recommended its dissolution on the first va- cancy. The promotion of Dean IC:sox to a Bishopric caused a va- cancy; but so far from carrying this recommendation into effect, the Government immediately bestowed the Deanery on one of Lord PLusfwErfs sons ; who now has a right, according to Sir ROBERT PEEL, to remuneration for any part of the income which future mea- sures of reform may deprive him of. Sir Ronzwr hoped that the Crown would translate bun to the first vacant preferment of equal value, and that the recommendation of the Commissioners would then be attended to. We, on the other hand, trust that the appointment will be revoked, as one which it was a sin and a shame for the Government to make and for Dean PLUNKETT to accept. A precious use, truly, these Whig Ministers are making of their Church patronage! Herein England, we have a Cabinet Minister selecting a fierce electioneering partisan of the Anti- Reforming Opposition, a noisy political parson, on whom to beitow the preferment in his gift. On the other side of the Chan- nel, behold the son of the Irish Chancellor, in defiance of the toletnn declaration of his father, promoted to a Deanery, the in- come of which is derived from the plunder of six parishes, each requiring a resident clergyman for itself! Lord PLUNKETT no doubt believes, although he is justly exposed to the censure of every man with clean hands, that he may safely defy the rebuke Of Earl GREY. The Premier has too often grasped at patronage for his own kindred, to warrant his effectual condemnation of the grasping of Chancellor PLusittriT.
Sir ANDREW AGNEW moved, on Tuesday, for leave to bring in two bills to provide for the better observance of the Sabbath in England and Scotland. " He careftilly abstained from pointing out in what respect the hills differed from, or resembled, -those which were rejected last year; and as no one denied that an im- provement in the mode of observing the Sabbath might perhaps be effected, the House permitted the zealous Sir ANDREW to bring them in. But as soon as lie attempted any thing specific, a sturdy spirit of resistance arose. If men are neither to buy, sell, nor
labour on the Sabbath, an end must be put to faits and markets on Saturdays and Mondays : it was therefore a necessary preli- minary step, to change the fair and market days throughout the country. To effect this, Sir ANDREW AGNEW /11111110(1 for leave to bring in a third bill. Here he was thwarted : the House refused leave, by a vote of 1st to 137.
The bill for incorporating the borough of Warwick with the town of Leamington Priors has passed the House of Commons,
after some ridiculous attempts of Mr. 11 ALCONtli, and one or two
other powerless Conservative orators, to impede its progress. On Thursday, it was read a first time in the House of Lords, on the
motion of Lora Duo AM,—who seems at present to he the only
person applied to in that assembly to transact tile business of the nation. The Alarquis ()I'S Lisituitv, who, as patron of the rotten
borough of I lertford, may lie presumed to sympathize in the NI len fortunes of the noble GnEvi 1.1.E, gave notice that he should more fog the examination of witnesses at the bar of the House of Lords, in order, forsooth, to ascertain whether the .Counnittee of the Commons had really' reported according to the facts of the ease! The intention of Lord SALISBURY, and of the Conservative majority which will probably support him, is to shield the corruptionists ; but that they is ill find to he impossible. The more the IVarwick elec- tion matters are unslilled with, the better for the cause of free election. The disgusting exposure which has already been made, has done infinite service, and greatly strengthened the determina- tion of the People of England to resist the unconstitutional inter- ference of the Lords. We have no fears, therefore, for the conse- quences to the Commons of England, from the success of such attempts as the Marquis Or SALISBURY and his coadjutors are now making,—more especially as the new writs for the corrupt boroughs can only be issued by order of the Lower House: but it may be worth while for the Peers to count the probable cost of their opposition to measures which the Commons deem necessary to purify their own body, and secure the freedom of election to the People. There was a startling debate, and a still more startling division, in the House of Commons on Thursday, on a motion by Mr. CUTHHERT RIPPON toreleve (considerate manly the Archbishops and Bishops from their legislative and judicial duties as Lords Spiritual. If it be really the primary duty of the. Hierarchy to watch over the interests of Religion and the Church, the case for their removal was as completely made out as any case could be. It was proved by a reference to the history of past times, and to the experience of our own, that the Church had been repeatedly endangered and subjected to odium by the Parliamentary conduct of the Bishops : it was not shown that the Church or the State had derived any benefit from their presence in the Upper House, and interference in politics, since the days when lords and gentle- men acquired the accomplishments of reading and writing. The duties of a Bishop and a Legislator were shown to be incompatible ; inasmuch as a Prelate cannot reside within his diocese, and per- form the duties thereof, if his time is engrossed and his mind be- wildered by the business, pomp, and vanities, of • a profligate me- tropolis. These arguments, and some more of. the same class, completely dumbfounded the champions of the Church. Lord ALTIIORP, indeed, appeared to think it incumbent upon him to say something in reply to them ; but the more discreet men, who were going to vote against the motion, were fearful of inttusting his Lordship with the advocacy of so ticklish a cause. Lord A Lill oar is not supposed to have any especial fondness for Tory Bishops; and he, no doubt, was extremely well pleased to find that a silent vote ou the occasion was all that was required from him. He had shown his readiness to do the proper thing, and that was enough. Mr.'ll'ENNY- sox, however, took a portion of the Hierarchy under his protection : he thought that same of the Bishops might be allowed to retain
their places, or to sit in rotation! Then, he was also of opinion, that as the question of Church Reform is shortly to be brought forward, the Bishops ought to be permitted to remain and vote in their own cause,—in defence of Ecclesiastical abuses, that is,— especially as they form a compact body of thirty, just sufficient to throw out any bill that may be passed by the Commons for the reformation of the Establishment ! These potent arguments of Mr. TENNYSON were all that were urged against the motion; but on the division, 125 Members were found to vote against it. The minority was one third, or 60, including the Tellers ;
and in this minority some of the very best names in the-House of Commons are to be found. Among. them are the following repre-
sentatives of large and important constituencies,—who never more truly represented the majority of those who sent them to Parlia- ment, than in the votes they gave on this motion,—HUME, GROTE, tAilf ler
W000, HuNLOHERY, MARK. PHILLIPS., BAlsms,4141 INGHAM, ATTWOOD, OSWAIID, WALLACE, W Sir JAMES GRAHAM, 011 Thursday, made of ISQ D`1 conduct in interfering between the master can thiSistr, 014it.) neymen, by supplying the former with the means of holding out. He endeavoured to make out that the latter had offended against the law,---as if that would have justified hint in playing the par- tisan : he should have left the law to take its course. It is a fair presumption that the journeymen had not violated the law, since there was no attempt to put it in force against them; and this presumption was not weakened by any thing that fell from Sir JAMES GRAHAM. It is quite beside the purpose to argue, that because the journeymen receive high wages, they are not en- titled to higher if they can peaceably obtain them. The North of any thing is what it will bring in the market, and labour is a commodity which is not excepted from this rule. The inexpedi- ency of interfering to regulate the price of labour is so well known, that we are surprised any man of common sense or information should attempt it at the present day. Strikes are bad things, combinations are bad things : but all combinations, whether of masters or workmen, are overruled by a self-adjusting principle, which soon brings matters round and right, when it is not meddled with. In such a case as the present, the interference of Govern- ment is far more likely to retard the settlement of existing dif- ferences, than to hasten it, as Sir JAMES GRAHAM ignorantly sup- poses : for will not the workmen now say to one another, we should have beaten our masters if we had had fair play, and well try again the first opportunity !
Last night, Sir JAMES GRAHAM explained the new plan for re- gulating the Exchequer. It is in most respects similar to the one recommended by the Commission for inquiring into the state of the Public Accounts, of which Sir HENRY PARNELL was the Chairman. The prospective reduction of expense will be 30,0001.; but the immediate saving will be trilling, as the Government acts upon the principle of giving handsome retiring allowances to the gentlemen who have been so obliging for a number of years as to receive large sums of the public money for doing next to nothing. Sir JAMES GRAHAM was very indignant at the Clerkship of the Pells being called a sinecure, merely because its duties were per- formed by deputy. Heretofore it had been supposed that this constituted the very essence of a sinecure office—that the holder of it was paid for doing nothing. Sir JAMES also dwelt upon the long public services of Mr. HENRY ELLIS, the Clerk of the Polls, in other offices, as constituting a just claim for compensation. This claim may be allowed, if it can be shown that Mr. ELLIS was inadequately paid at the time for the services lie performed; but not otherwise. Not a shadow of a reason was advaeced why Mr. EL Lis, whose talents and experience in the Exchequer Office were so much lauded, should not be removed from his sinecure Clerk- ship of the Pelts, to the new Comptrollership of the Exchequer. Such appear to be the principal defects of the Whig mode of carrying Exchequer Reform into practice: at the same time let it be said, that the plan proposed for the future management of the Exchequer is an infinite improvement. To get rid at last of the old absurdities, is really a gratification.
A clause proposed to be inserted in the Mutiny Bill, for the abolition of flogging in the Army, was rejected last night, by a majority of 227 to 94. Major FANCOURT brought forsurd his motion on the subject in a very creditable manner. Of course there was nothing new to be said on his side of the question. Mr. ROBERT GRANT opposed the motion with the usual arguments, and reiterated the promises already given, that every means should be taken to diminish the frequency of corporal punishment. He however stated, that the number of crimes in the Army had increased with the decrease of flogging. But, seeing that military men in general are so obstinately bent on retaining the power of the lash, it may be reasonably questioned whether the offences committed have not been much more industriously reported lately, than heretofore. It was a great point in their favour to show that flogging is a preventive of crime.
