A Fzw Izeromers or THE SESSION.
The first "count out" took place on Tuesday. The occasion was the debate on the second reading of the bill for improving the practice of the Court of Chancery in Ireland; and the circumstance that forty Members could not be kept together to decide upon the principle of a bill put forth by the Government as involving a large measure of law reform, does not any much either for the earnestness of Ministers or for the aspirations of 'the Irish Members after the practical.
There was a better attendance in the earlier part of the evening, to hear and take part in Mr. Sadleir's complaint about the " insult ' offered to certain Roman Catholics by striking their names from the jurors' list in the case of Callanan versus Cameron. Mr. Sadleir's statement of grievance afforded Mr. Hatehell, the Irish Solicitor-General and the new Member for Windsor, the opportunity of making his maiden speech. The learned gentleman has passed middle age ; he speaks with a strong Irish accent; and promises to be a great acquisition in respect of the power of giving the malecontents a "Rowland for their Oliver.' Accustomed to the "sooth- ing system" of Sir William Somerville, the assailants were disconcerted, displeased and irritated, at finding themselves met with weapons similar to their own; and Mr. Sadleir, in his reply, stated in so many words that he and his co-complainants ought to have been allowed to take their swing unsnubbed.
This matter being disposed of, Sir John Romilly moved the second reading of the bill for reforming the Irish Court of Chancery. Members began to drop out as Mr. Turner (of the Chancery bar) rose to unfold a budget of objections. Mr. John Stuart (also of the Chancery bar) came in ; and, from the readiness and will with which he uttered the " Hear, hear !" it was obvious that he also intended to take part in the onslaught. Mr. Napier, with his lay colleague in the representation of Dublin Uni- versity, formed part of the legal group. Sir John Romilly replied; and after he had finished, Mr. Napier rose; but the Speaker retired for re- freshment It was then about half-past nine o'clock. The proposal, be it observed, was to read a bill of the highest importance a second time ; two lawyers remarkable for their powers of endurance in the way of speaking were ready to take the floor; not thirty Members were present; —would the mockery be prolonged? On the Speaker's return, Sir John Romilly said a few words in reference to a point he had previously omit- ted. Mr. Napier took his place at the table ; but Mr. Wawn, the Mem- ber for South Shields, put an end to the outrage by moving that the House be counted. Twenty-five Members only were found present; the House was accordingly cleared and the doors locked.
The refusal on Thursday week to allow Mr. Anstey to introduce his Roman Catholic Relief Bill is a repetition of the vote of last session. Men will find their level. Mr. Anstey and Mr. David Urquhart both en- tered the House animated, to all appearance, with a fixed determination to take its ear by storm. The one introduced bills and put motions on the paper ; the other restricted himself to motions. They promised to be the Cobden and Bright, the Bentinck and Disraeli, of universal politics. They had their day; and now Mr. Anstey cannot command as much courtesy as will enable him to place a bill upon the table, the objection being less to the measure itself than to the clatter of its promoter; and as to Mr. Urquhart, he is literally extinguished.
The reporting accommodation in the House of Lords, as "improved" under the auspices of Lord Beaumont's Committee, may be considered as the most perfect their Lordships are inclined to authorize. What was necessarily of a temporary character, for the sake of experiment, has be- come permanent. The gallery as projected partakes of its proper mea- sure of decoration; each reporter is lodged in a separate compartment, and gold and crimson and polished oak meet his eye wherever it may turn : but cui bono, as regards the discharge of duty ? Nothing indeed can be more hopeless. There are only three of the Lords occupying pro- minent positions whose voices at anything like the natural pitch come within reporting range,—Lords Lansdowne, Grey, and Stanley, and per- haps Lord Carlisle; and even as regards the first, from the difficulty which is often felt in hearing his minor remarks and speeches, it may be suspected that when Lord Lansdowne resolves to be heard he lays his ao- count with making a considerable effort. Lord Grey is indebted for the space which is allotted to him in the reports to remarkably distinct though sub- dued intonation, and the structure of his sentences, together with the judicious practice of turning his face towards the reporters. Lord Stanley enunciates clearly and sharply, and, lengthy as his sentences frequently are, , the reporter hears enough to enable him to reproduce them. Generally speak- 1 ing, Lord Brougham, in days of old, so distinctly audible in every syllable, 1 is only heard by snatches. In any case, unless the House be well-filled, the vocal and rhetorical powers of those gentlemen who are generally the best heard fail to secure audibility. Of this a striking instance occurred on Monday. The question was the second reading of the Ecclesiastical Commission Bill : the House was miserably thin. Lord Lansdowne, who took the most prominent part, struck out at his best pitch, but in many passages to no purpose. Lord Stanley did not say much ; there was no want of his usual vigour, but he was far from being dis- tinctly heard. As to Lord Marro wby and the Bishops, the attempt to pick up a scrap or two of their collective wisdom was like groping in the dark. Two of Mr. Gurney's short-hand-writers were in attendance to report the discussion for some special purpose ; but, should they attempt to transcribe their notes, some discretion will need to be exercised in supplying gaps and finishing sentences. This is a strange state of matters as regards the 'Upper Chamber of the Legislature, at a time too when men are apt to judge of the propriety of retaining an institution by its practical usefulness ; that usefulness, in the case of a deliberative as- sembly, being judged of not entirely by what is done, but frequently by
i what is said. Their Lordships are virtually shutting themselves out from communion with the public through the medium of reported. de- bates ; the dangerous " sic volo " stands forth without the reasons.
Owing to an oversight in transcribing from the rough notes, the results of the votes taken last session by the Protectionists were not stated with sufficient exactness in the "Notes on the Muster of Parties," last week. They should have stood thus : Mr. Disraeli's motion in March, fora Com- mittee of the whole House to consider the peculiar Burdens on Land, was rejected by a majority of 91 in a House of 473 ; in July, his motion for a Committee of the whole House to consider the State of the Nation ex- perienced a similar fate, by a majority of 140 in a House of 456. A paragraph, which we copy from a paper of his district, sufficiently explains why Lord Lewisham was glad to avail himself of a " pair " at the division on the Address.
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