NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Parliamentary week opened with a scene at the Foreign Office; where, on critical occasions, questions are subject to real discussion previously to the sham debate in the House of Corn- Mons, and where Ministers are accustomed to tell their supporters 'what they wish to do if permitted. Well—a large party was got together; and Members were informed that the Government was desirous of settling the Irish Corporation question on a prin- ciple of compromise; and that since PEEL and the Tories would not come down to a five-pound qualification, the Whigs would meet them more than half-way, and propose to make it eight pounds, with payment of rates. It is wonderful that the proposal was not to" split the difference" exactly, and take the true juste milieu, namely, seven pounds ten shillings! The aim of the Whigs is generally to offer a moiety, instead of the whole of any thing asked or wanted by friend or foe. On the present occasion, however, they went a step beyond, and offered to bribe the enemy with an extra half-sovereign. But though ready to submit to much—accustomed to follow their leaders through devious and dirty ways—prepared, doubtless, for some most paltry imposition— the great majority of the meeting spurned the attempt to cram the eight pound franchise down their throats. Some let out their indig- nr: • thee scowled and grumbled; and, with the exception of the accommodating Mr. SL ANEY, who prefers iniquissimam pacem justissimohello,scarcely a Member was prepared to " pat" the Home Secretary. Even Mr. HUME demurred—not so much about voting that the " black" was" white," but he asked what security there was that the composition would be accepted as a full acquittance? Lord Jolts admitted that there was no security ; and Lord,Enatata- TON himself opined that the "sense of the meeting" was adverse to the proposition. The estimable functionary of the Home Office was therefore glad to back out ; and, Most grudiloquent was he in the House of Commons, a few hours afterwards, on the subject of securing corporations on a popular basis to Ireland. Not a word now that sounded like compromise. Sir RCBERT PEEL was resolute, and he would be stiff. No doubt, ere this Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S vigour and honesty, and his stanch de- fence of the "rights of Ireland," have been trumpeted forth in many directions, while he is really obnoxious to the charge of sa- crificing the principles and abandoning the measure he is lauded for preserving. Sir ROBERT PEEL'S renewed attempt to substitute a ten-pound for a five-pound franchise in the projected Irish Municipalities, was again defeated, by a majority of 286 to 266—two Tories, Mr. LascELLEs and Mr. BARING WALL, voting with the Liberals. Substantially, the Tories have the worst in argument as well as numbers. It is quite true, that when Sir RonEar PEEL proposed
, the qualification on which he now insists, Ministers encouraged
' lira to expect that they would take it. Mr. O'CONNELL admitted , tat the Tory leader's tone was conciliatory. Thp.Whig journals 'Maned to imagine that the whole matter was amicably arranged. It was an afterthought to stigmatize PEEL'S proposition as an 'Ildolerable affront to Ireland ; and on this point of the debate Sir ROBERT had a clear advantage. But he was at fault tn attempting to prove that his ten-pound qualification, to be --Med by rating, was not higher than a ten-pound franchise derived from the payment of the same sum in rent. Every Mem- ber in the House knew that his aim was to enhance the qualifi- cation—to put it above ten pounds. Still more glaring was the inconsistency of pretending a desire to establish corporations on a Popular basis, with a proposal to exclude from the franchise all but a very small portion of the people. On this question the !traders of the Tories practise very gross hypocrisy. They fear to intrust the Roman Catholics with the control of the Corporations, which they know that the English qualification for Municipal electors would confer upon them : then why not avow it, manfully tad openly, instead of vehemently protesting against the charge
of wishing to treat Ireland with less liberality than England, and professing anxiety to remove all invidious distinction between the people of the two religions? A petition from Carrnarthenshire, complaining of the intimida- tion of Lord CAWDOR'S tenantry by that nobleman's steward at the last election, and presented on Tuesday by Mr. WARBURTON, gave rise to an instructive discussion. The facts were fully ad- mitted. Electors were made to vote against their wishes under dread of losing their farms. Lord CAWDOR had been till lately on the Whig side ; he is now on the Tory side. In 1835 he sup- ported Sir JAMES WILLIAMS; in 1837 he withdrew his counte- nance from that gentleman, who had given some Radical votes. Of course he expected his tenants to change their politics, as he altered his. And a very reasonable expectation too, seeing that such is the almost universal practice. The idea that tenants can keep consciences, or should presume to call their political souls their own, was too absurd. Lord CA.WDOR'S agent was peremp- tory, and the trembling tenantry did as they were bid. The House of Commons was exceedingly amused at all this: Members laughed, sneered, and joked at the description of the perplexity of the Cars marthenshire electors, ignorant how to vote to escape persecution from one quarter or another, and not having any notian which way "their noble landlord" may choose to turn them. But, of course, the "legitimate influence of property" must ba upheld.
It was ridiculous, Lord JOHN RUSSELL said, to blame Lord CAW- DOR especially for the universal practice of landowners. The in-
timidation of voters is avowed and defended ; complaints are scouted ; redress is refused. Such is the conduct of the House of Commons, sometimes by way of a joke or a sarcasm called the " Reformed."
Ministers narrowly escaped a defeat on Thursday, on a motion by Mr. WYSE for an address to the Queen to establish a Board of Education. The inefficiency of the existing means to work upon the vast mass of ignorance in the country, was admitted; the connexion between ignorance and crime was not denied ; that it was the duty of the State to provide the means of instruction for the people at large, was mserted by Lord JOHN RUSSELL; iat neverti•el !ss, the salt' Lard her Majesty's Principal Sgretary of state for tne Home Department, declared that he would not give a shilling mare than the usual grant of 20,000/. Per annum to etect all the good which education would accom- plish, and to remove all the evil it would destroy. Millions are voted for Warlike purposes ; vicious and lazy persons are held to have a vested interest in large pensions and sinecures ; gaols and workhouses are erected, and felons transported at an immense annual cost to the country ; but when it is proposed to take effici- ent measures to check the progress of misery and crime, the Government steps in and puts a veto upon the attempt. Slothful and careless on the subject itself, it is active only in resisting the enlightened efforts of others. A pretence on which Mr. WYsies motion was resisted by Ministers, was the difficulty of establishing a general system of education that would not clash with religious prejudices. Nearly forty years, ago, Lancasterian schools were opposed on the same pretence. ,*-7vertheless, they were founded, and prospered, on the principle of excluding sectarian publications, and teaching the Bible only. What is there to prevent the establishment of schools on the same plan, as far as religion is concerned, for all who might wish to benefit by them? Suppose a Board of Education formed with funds at its disposal : the systein adopted might not please all, but, while many would be benefited, who would be injured? On such a question it is most paltry in the Legisla- ture to ally itself with the bigots. and disregard the pressing wants of the nation. If any reasons were needed to show the advantage of appointing an educational board, they might be found in the timid, shortsighted policy avowed by the officials in the4ebate on Mr. WitiE'S motion.
The division exhibited the Ministers and Tories voting toge- ther against the Liberals. The numbers were 74 and 70: the Liberals out of place who supported Lord JOHN RUSSELL were only 17. Efforts were made to "count out the House" in an early part of the evening; for Ministers did not like the prospect of Mr. WYSE'S motion, nor yet one that Mr. O'Costrotia. was to have brought forward (but he put it off!) for the abolition of West Indian Apprenticeship as regards females. Speaking of "counting our —on Wednesday, the House put aside, rather than finished its business, at the usual hour for dining. Yet what an ado about precedence for Government busi- ness there was on the part of Ministers some weeks ago! what a regard for the" public time" and the "despatch of business" on the part of the Ministerial press The country has to thank the Peers for a begun improvement in the law of debtor and creditor. The Imprisonment for Debt Bill has come out of their Lordships' Committee a practicable and use* ful measure. Arrest on mesne process is abolished ; that is, the person of the debtor will be protected from seizure without warn- ing, unless it can be shown that he meditates flight and fraud. It will henceforth be difficult for the forger of a false claim to arrest his victim. Certain legal processes must be gone through, the validity of the debt established, and judgment entered up before the defaulter can be imprisoned. The Peers refused to go further in the way of abolishing imprisonment for debt, on the ground that in some cases, such for instance as the fraudulent
removal of property to a foreign country, "pressure on the per- son" was the only means of compelling payment. Creditors have
no reason to complain of want of attention to their interests.
The bill provides that money in the Funds, promissory notes, and other securities, hitherto beyond the reach of the Sheriff, may be taken in satisfaction of a debt. But perhaps the most impor- tant alteration in this direction is the power given to a creditor, at the expiration of a year from the time of entering up judgment, not only to take the entire rents of an estate, but to come upon the freehold itself. This, as we understand it, is very much like making landed property liable for simple contract debts.
We have now stated what appear to be the beneficial parts of the measure ; which may be truly pronounced "good as far as it goes." But much more is required to make the law of debtor and creditor an instrument of justice instead of oppression. Let the most strin- gent means be used to punish and coerce the fraudulent, but let there be protection to the helpless and unfortunate. Now, this bill will not prevent most oppressive proceedings. Sudden arrest will not be permitted : time will be allowed the debtor to look about for means of payment: but in the interval he is subject to the expense of defending himself in a court of law, and it may happen that his solicitor will send him to prison as an insolvent debtor after all, because, though enabled to pay the original debt, he wants the means of discharging the accumulated costs.
The remedy is to diminish the cost of proceedings in courts of law. It is the first duty of a Government to make justice cheap— accessible to all. Until this be done, it is vain to suppose that the operation of the law will not be generally oppressive. A bill for establishing County Courts was introduced some months ago by Lord JOHN RUSSELL. It promised to be in some respects a very tolerable substitute for Lord BROUGHAM'S Local Courts Bill ; but, being a measure of practical reform, it has been suffered to fall out of notice, whilst the pseudo Representatives of the People were occupied with party squabbles about matters of the least possible importance. We presume that there is no chance what- ever of that measure becoming a law this session. The Tories may have the credit of passing it, when they "come in." With- out an equk.alent measure, their Imprisonment for Debt Bill will prove but a very partial remedy for the cruel wrongs now inflicted on multitudes under the form of law.
Previous page
