. NEWS-OF THE WEEK.
THE Downing Street people have been jubilant on the result of Mondiey's muster in the House of Commons. Indeed these gen- tlemen are grateful for small things. Lord JOHN RUSSELL carried his motion for a Committee on Church Lands, by a ma- jority o/ 83, the numbers being 319 to 236. These numbers prove 1ft once that the motion was' not looked upon by the Tories and Trimmers as involving the Church question : on that question everybody knows that Ministers • Rever had a majority of forty. Accordingly, we find voting with Ministers, Mr. Tactless BAXING, Mr. G. J. RiATHCOTE, Sir J. J cm:gsroNE, Mr. HOPE l'OHNSTONE, Mr. AKEREW JOHNSTON, Mr. GALLY KNIGHT, Mr. ANDREW LAWSOlit Sir SAMUEL SPRY, Sir HARRY VERNEY, Mr. BARING WALL, *I Sir EARDLEY WILMOT ; and these Members were guiltir of no inconsistency in the votes they gave, the motion being merely for a Committee of inquiry into the ma- nagement of a portion of the Church property, with an express re- servation of the interests of the Established Church. There was not a syllable about the abolition of Church-rates in the motion, as carefully worded by Lord 'JOHN RUSSELL: on the contrary, protection of the interests of the Establishment, not of the Dis- senters, was especially guaranteed. To pretend, therefore, that the Church-rate question was 'included in the division, or gained any grbtind as a consequence of the large Ministerial majority, may pass in Downing Street as a clever party ruse, but here in Wellington Street, it is thought an absurdity, and known to be a falsehood.
• ' Mr.,.GouLnotsr tried the strength of parties more nearly, by ..proposiug an idddition, which pledged the House to a specific tsvpropriation of any increased revenue derivable from Church- tte itcrease of religious instruction by ministers of •
the Estaidiel n ' The gentlemen above-named at once turned
• round and,4 .h. the Opposition ; and the .numbers then 1' wad 291 to jollity. 26; a terrible tumble from 83. Here again, weviteat is to be observed that Members were not called Upon to ancide for' or against Church-rates. Mr. GOULEURN simply silted them to do what Mr. -ANDREW JOHNSTON proposed on the 22d of May. Not a soul except his father-in-law, Mr. BUXTON, would then 'say a word for ANDREW; on both sides his motion was coldly received, and rejected without a divieion : but on Monday last, 265 Members recorded their votes in its favour. So far, therefore, as these numbers go for any thing, they prove that an Anti-Ministerial proposition, scouted on the 2s2d of 'Way, was powerfully supported on the 12th of June. And yet in the Government papers we have seen column, after column, day after day, of congratulatory and self-triumphant arguments to prove that the Ministerial majority on the Chureh-rate question had made the marvellous leap from miserable 5 to glorious 26! But there was a division on the question of abolishing Church- rates. Mr. Haityzilr placed it in an unreistakeable form before the House. He moved that, " after a time to be fixed, the payment of Church-rates in England and Wales ought wholly to cease." There was no humbug, no qualification, no loophole for. a trintlIner in that motion. There was nothing for it but plain " aye " or " no : " and mai k the result—for the unqualified abolition . of Church-rates, 58; against it,489 I If it is said that these num- bers by no means give the correct statement of the comparative . force of parties on the Ch u rch-mte question, we ask, why not ? No- body could misundentand the terms of the motion. Members were .requirid to express an opinion that after a certain time the payment Church:mates should cease : 58 Members said that they should cease ; 489 said that they should not—or, if they meant other- , wise, it was by a Skulking mental reservation, not avowed in the terms of the vote. It is clear, then, that as far as Monday's pro- ceedings go, they afford room for any thing but congratulation to the real, straightforward, and honest opponents of Church-rates. .The piactical result of these proceedings is this—that for a long ported, probably for years, as long us it may suit the King's Mi- nisters at all events, the Church-rates question in Parliament has been set aside. It will always be a ready excuse to the complaining Dissenters to say, " we must wait for the report of the Committee." This excuse will suit the Tories as well as the Whigs and, barring accidents to both Whig and Tory tricksters, may be o made to d; service till the year 18-10. Verily the Dissenters have been jockied; and yet their " friends " are all smirking and smiling. as if they had gained a proud victory and were the greatest of men. We prophesy that this satisfaction will be of brief continuance,—un- less, indeed, the creeping spirit generated by the long course of Church-of-England superiority is even more prevalent among Dissenters than we have hitherto supposed,—unless the persons who assume to be the representatives par excellence of thet Dissenting interest in the House of Commons really and truly speak, as we hope they do not truly speak, the sentiments of the Nonconformists.
As to the Committee, we hope that it may produce some good by the exposure of Church jobbing and Prelatical greediness. There is a mine of abuses to be worked—a vast region of roguery to be explored. The remaining Parliamentary business of the week requires but a brief notice.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL could not tell, when asked, how soon he should be prepared to bring in his Canada Coercion Bill. Can Lord JOHN say certainly whether he shall bring it in at all ? If he has not yet made up his mind on the point, we recommend his attention to the latest accounts from Canada; which, it' he can- not spare the time or energy for a more elaborate perusal, he will find mentioned below, on the easy scale suited to official con- venience.
Mr. SPRING Rice could not tell, though sharply questioned on the subject more than once this week, when he should open the Budget. Mr. RICE cannot endure the idea of delaying for an hour the triumphant progress of public business Absolutely, that is his excuse for withholding his financial statement at such a time as the present ! The Committee on the Irish Tithe Bill has been put off till Friday next. What are Ministers afraid of? Has not their majority taken a sudden leap from 5 to 26 or 83? and is not the feeble attempt, made last year, to apportion salary to service, and abolish sinecures in the Irish Church, abandoned, in deference to STANLEY and the Tories?
The ungallant Commoners have rejected Mr. Gamsritam BERKELEY'S motion for a Ladies' Gallery, by a vote of 116 to 92. We cannot pretend to pity the fair excluded. Dull indeed must be their homes—stupid beyond conception their visiting circle— empty and ill-informed their minds—if they are driven to seek either amusement or instruction in the debates of the House of Commons.
Mr. HARDIt's bill to prevent bribery at elections was read a second time on Wednesday ; the odds in its favour being 70 to nothing,—in other words, its only opponents were the gallant Colonel SIBTHORP and the solemn ARTHUR TREVOR, who being appointed "tellers," had nobody to "tell." We admire the ho- nesty of these gentlemen. There was not a real Tory in the House whose heart was not with them; though they alone had the pluck to vote and speak in favour of that system of corruption which the Colonel avowed to be in accordance not only with his principles but his practice. Reformers of Lincoln, if any such there be, watch Colonel SHITHORP at the approaching election. The Peers had a talk about Spain on Thursday. Lord Losr- DONDSRRY, fresh from the caresses of the Czar, and overflowing with love of liberty imbibed from PASKIEVITSCH in Poland, des- canted on the cruelty of the Christinos, the hardships of the oppressed Navarrese, and his despair of peace. His Lordship admitted that during his absence the House must have exhausted the subject, but as he was fond of it, lie hoped to be indulged with the delivery of a speech. The Peers being perplexed with the want of something to do, let LONDONDERRY mount his hobby; and, in return for their complaisance, were assured by the rider, that, though he had no motion to make then, he would move for some papers about Spain, soon.
The Whigs seem definitively resolved to leave to the Tories the credit of effecting the substantial reform of' the Post-otlice. Lord LICHFIELD took occasion to tell the Peers on Thursday, that Mr. HILL'S scheme was the" most wild and visionary that could be imagined." For his Lordship's opinion on hounds and horses we have a sincere respect : any thing which he may say respecting the conduct of the department of which ho is the nominal head, would not be worth a moment's notice, except as an indication of the fast and loose game which Ministers are playing on this subject. We have been assured by the colleagues of Lord Lictinv.LD in both Houses, that Mr. HI Lt.'s scheme was under serious consi- deration—nay. that it wouitt he partially adopted ; and now the Postmaster-General sneers at it like a veritable utensil of the if all questions connected with the trade and currency of the country, and be. Post-office burnbureatteracy. But we shall have this highly po- lieves that the polity adopted by the recent Administration, and sustained by pular reform when the Tories come in again. Lord ASHBURTON bas evidently made up his mind to the measure. We dare say " Our merchants, manufacturers, and mechanics, have repeatedly predicted that he communicated a new idea to the Earl of LICHFIELD, when the fatal issue of that policy. ' What was prophecy, ha now become history ;' ; he told him that the Post-office should be not a means of taxation, and the reality far exceeds our most gloomy apprehensions. Under a deep itn.. 1
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