TOPICS OF THE DAY.

MEASURES OF THE LAST AND PROSPECTS OF THE COMING SESSION.

As the time for the assembling of Parliament draws near, the proceedings at meetings of Members with their constituents, in various parts of the country, become more interesting. Durinet- the recess, ample opportunity has been afforded to a faithful and diligent Representative for ascertaining how far his Parliamentary conduct has satisfied those who elected him. It is reasonable to suppose that the opinions now expressed by the different Mem- bers are those which they mean to abide by ; though it may be, that in some instances they are at variance with those hell: by their constituents. It certainly is not safe to judge of the views of the latter from the evidence afforded by the speeches and toasts at public dinners; for these are for the most part attended by the approving friends of the person in whose honour the feast is given, while the dissatisfied stay at home. But as far as the Re- presentative himself is concerned, his avowals may be taken as pretty sure indications of the course he means to pursue next session.

therethre, he is a man of intelligence and of weight in the country, it is very important at the present time to scrutinize his declarations.

In this view, we consider the speech of Mr. FERGUSON—the kind. honest, and excellent " ROBERT FERGUSON of Raith "—at the dinner given to him last week by his constituents at Kirkably, at which Captain IVENIYSS, the Member for Fifeshire, was also present, and the proceedings generally on that occasion, as de- serving- of attention. In much that fell from Mr. Fee:et/sox we entirely concur. Nothing can be more true than that the Whig " tenure of government and lease of power " depend upon the correction of abuses, and that " great rethrms in Church and State " are still necessary. We agree with him also in the

opinion that Parliamentary Relbrm is the basis and means of all

future reforms and corrections of abuses. But we think that Mr. FERGUSON'S natural partiality to the Whig Ministers—his old friends, personal and political—blinds him to their defects, and prevents him from treating their opponents with perfect fairness. He complains that the Ministers were embarrassed by the oppo- sition of those who ought to have lent them aid.

" In the House of Commons, motions were made and pressed, w i it h were em- barrassing to, and did embarrass Ministers ; because they found, though not op- pc,ed to the principle of those motions, that it was quite impossible to accom- plish evely thing at once; and, therefore, many matte's were obliged to stand over. 211inisters claim to have a little time given to them, and desire to have a little of the confidence of the country. ; which if they fail to merit, let them inert that disgrace which such failure would deselve."

Front these expressions, it might be supposed, if we had no pub- lic history to instruct us, that Ministers had followed a disur,L t course from the very commencement of the session that they had matured a number of measures with assiduity, which were pro- pounded with all convenient despatch; anti that, notwithstanding their praiseworthy exertions, there was an unreasonable set of men in and out of the House, who laboured to embarrass the Go- vernment in the prosecution of their plans, merely because every thing could not be accomplished at once. But a reference to the mode in which the business of the session was commenced, and the principal measures were carried, will prove that Ministers have themselves to thank for nearly all the embarrassment of which Mr. FERGUSON complains.

In the first place, (not to mention the paltry manmuvering con- nected with the election of MANNERS SUTTON as Speaker, for which a false reason was professed by the Ministerial party), the disappointment which the King's Speech occasioned was extensive and reasonable. On this subject we expressed ourselves very fully in our "Retrospect of the Session, Part First,"* published during the last Easter holydays; and as the remarks we then made are very applicable to our present purpose, we need not apologize for transcribing them in this place.

" At the opening of the Parliament, the King and the Representatives of the People stood on new grounds. The Reform Bill had passed : the King him- self had greatly contributed to its success: he had seized an early opportunity of taking the sense of his People on it : it was most decidedly given: and there they stood face to face, a Reformer King and a Reforming Parliament. Now was the time for ReArmirig Acts. " We might have almost anticipated the language that such Ministers would have put into the mouth of such a King, on his addressing for the first time such an assembly.

" Should he not have congratulated them and himself on his good fortune in being the instrument in the hands of Providence of restoring or extending to his People those franchises of which they had been deprived by the natural corrup- tion of time, or the ordinary processes by which a rising state necessarily out- grows its early institutions ?

"Might he not have anticipated, with great satisfaction, that now, when all interests were not merely understood, but were impartially represented, hence- forward would commence the reign of order, harmony, and united exertions ? " Could he not have assured the two Houses, that his sole object being the happiness of his People, it would be hard if much were not done for them, when all the orders of the State were assembled breathing but one wish,—the redress of grievances, and the equal distribution of the blessings of a free government ?

" If it should he found, he might have said, that the burdens of taxation were unequally borne, it then would become his duty to see such injustice remed.ed : `for am 1 not,' he would have exclaimed, 'the King of the whole People ?' If, moreover, these burdens could be proved too great for the free motion of the in-

atry and spirit of the nation under them, it would not have been unbecoming a Monarch so situated to declare, that as far as was consistent with the na- tional honour and the maintenance of public credit, relief should be sought, and if possible found. • See Speetater,6th April 1833. " This relief would have implied strict economy, retrenchment from all un- necessary expenditure, the reduction of such establishments as were not I na- timid service :vgarilts: in a large view, amt in shin t, a frugal and faithful steiv.• mashie of the public i::veilue. " %%id, regard to the m my internal measures that awaited the disposal of the Legislature, the King might have appealed to the wisdom of Parliament ; tak- iog Mr granted that the hearts of all were warm in the cause of the general

wellbeing, and promising hir Ili.; own part, to sanction :dl such as went to the uprooting of the causes of distress, and to the remedying of such evils as might aggravate the condition of the hard- working and meagri,living labourer. Idul the King alluded to Ireland, it certainly should not have been in the language of menace. The helping hand he would have rejoiced to extend to his native country, he should have held still more grariously to our long misgo. verned and ill-used neighbour. While he reprehended the spirit of tut:inhaieo that has too long raged in that land, he should have prided himself in the cer-

tainty that men were only wicked when they were all-taught and : and he should have rejoiced in being now aided by men who understood the causes not only of English but of Irish distress. It would not have been too strictly logical for a Royal Speech to have concluded, that in setting about the extirpa- tion devil causes, there was good hope of a timely cessation of pernicious con- sequences.

" It has been usual in such documents to indicate the state of our Foreign relations. Why ? William the Fourth might have spoken for all the Kings that will ever reign in England, in saying, that with regard to other commies, our maxim is universal justice : if our subjects are aggtieved, we will see that they are righted ; in ail our dealings, we wish for simply a fair exchange ; and towinds every land willing to engage in mutual relations, we are icaily to do right, and expect nothing but right. So happily situated is this country. that while it is rich in native sources of wealth, it can avail itself of all tIe advan- tages of other lands. Such, moreover, is its spirit, its power, and its skill, that it dreads no competition either in the market or the field. What have we to e: ire for Foreign diplomacy, ani why should it ever occupy the first place in our King's Speech ?

" The Representatives of the People would have hail no hesitation in expres- sing their full concurrence in these sentiments. But, instead of the old usage of thrusting forward a pair of young and inexperienced persons in order to ck•ci Ire the policy of the Administration ready to at upon these sentiimaits, who so worthy as the responsible authors of them, themselves, to tonne fiotwaHl with i!t exposition of their principles of action, their system of proceilme, in shalt tit.. spirit of their Cabinet? The Speeeh is but an index : the Minister himself should h we turned over the pages of the national ledger, and exhibited to the people the nature of the account it was proposed to open. " Had such a proceeding no other virtue, it would at !cast prom that there did exist a system—that the 3Iinistry did not trust to extempore impiratioo, or, in homely phrase, that it did not subsist 'from hand to month.' On such state • toeot,, not from the lips of tutored young Well, being published in high llotoes, we might then have talked of eonfidence in the Administt atton, without either bigotry or au abuse of terms."

It is needless to contrast a King's Speech such as is sketche in the foregoing passage, with the one actually put into his Majesty's mouth. While the great questions which really in-

terested the natian were kept out of sight, the necessity of harsh measures for Ireland was most unwisely and unnecessarily made the prominent subject of the Speech; and enforced with iejudicions bitterness and personal exaspeiation in the House of Conunons. Ilence the Milinencement of Ministerial "embarrassments;" hence the fierce opposition of a body of men in the House, who poeiessed ample means of ammvance, if' they possessed nothing better. But it is sickening to think of that sail business, the discussion and passage of the Coercion Bill : we pass it by, with the remark, that the ithuisters haul not even prepared this measure, the lead- ing one of the session, with decent care ; that it was so out- rageously tierce, that their confiding majorities refused to pass it; and that when it was finally carried, it bore only a partial resem- blance to its original shape.

The want of due care and preparation on the part of Ministers, was visible in most of the other important measures which they brought forward during the session. Let us, in support of this observation, refer to three or four of them.

1. The Budget. Here the great blunder was the trifling reduc- tion made in the first instance in the Assessed Taxes. This mistake was productive of vast embarrassment. It was Lord At- THORP'S own mistake, committed in spite of repeated warnings. Then his ignorance or inattention was proved by his plans for the collection of the reduced duties on Marine Insurances and Adver- tisements, both of which were abandoned as injudicious or imprac- ticable. The mere omissions of the Budget, we shall leave out of the account.

2. The Irish Church Bill. There is no occasion to allude to any of the. numerous mistakes in this measure, except the miscalculation of the amount to be received from the sale of Bishops' leases,and the disgraceful withdrawal of the 1.17th clause.

3. The Slavery Bill. The alteration in the Apprenticeship clauses, and the .stupendous blunder of supposing that men would be satisfied with a loan of fifteen millions who had the power to compel a grant of twenty millions, are sufficient to make good our charge of want of due knowledge and preparation on this point; without entering upon the debatable ground of the value or worth- lessness of the measure finally carried, as a settlement of the question.

4. The Bank Charter. On this subject the exhibition made by Lord ALTHORP was lamentable : witness his legal tender clause, and his conduct with respect to the privileges of joint stock bankers. But his Lordship's correspondence with the Bank Di- rectors affords ample evidence of his incapacity to grapple with a subject requiring so much knowledge and consideration. These were among the leading measures which occupied the time of the session. If the bills as they were introduced be com• pared with those which received the Royal assent, we shall be at no loss to account for Ministerial " embarrassments," without adopting Mr. Faacusos's opinion, that they were owing to Ra- dical pertinacity and unreasonable expectations. glievaeces ; but to remind tl e Ministers, that they Were maims to blame for the dissatisfaction with the proceedings of last ses- eims—a di-satisfaction so general, that in ahnost every quarter their friends have been obliged to assifme a very apologetical tone. It is not the Nation that is unreasonable, but the Ministry that was unprenared. There never was so universal a disposition to Sll pport any Government, as that. which prevailed at this time last sear to !empport Earl GREY and his colleagues. But the national cm:nil:Epee arose from the fact that the Ministry was the Reform- ing Ministry. Men thought that they knew them by their deeds, awl by their deeds alone were they prepared to judge them. Mr. FERGUSON. and other gentlemen of his standing and party, might have the greatest confidence in the Whigs, owing to their intimate acquaintanee with them for many years; but the Reformers gene- rally, not having the marl! at Brookes's, or the honour of drinking claret or killing game in high Whig society, possessed none of that sanguine reliance. Consequently, when they saw the course Ministers seemed to have laid out fur themselves, they not unrea- sonably began to question their intentions as xvell as their capacity.

It is necessary for the Government to possess the confidence, not only of their personal friends, and the members of the Whig party, but that of the great body of the people. This, it is unquestion- able, they have in some measure lost : it is also unquestionable that they may yet regain it, by a series of well-digested measures for time correction of abuses, and the development of the national resources. It is to be hoped that they will perceive the necessity of maturing their plans, and adhering to them in spite of Conser- vative bluster. The defeat of a good measure by the Lords, will inflict no permanent injury on the nation, while it will be an ac- tual gain to the Ministry. So much has been said on this point, that we think it impossible that Ministers should not by this time be aware of the advantage of firmness. It is fortunate for Earl GREY, that there are so many important

measures to be settled in the lbrthcoming session ; an oppor- tunity will thus be afforded him of wiping out the remembrance of last year's blunders. But he must recollect, that the Nation wilt nut admit of trifling or unworthy compromise. Laying out Of view the grand subject of the repeal of the Corn. laws, which must and can only be carried by a national demonstration (and which, indeed, considering the avowed opinions of Earl GREY and soviet of his colleagues, can hardly be expected to be brought for- ward spontaneously by them), there are the Iblloiving among other measures, time settlement of which cannot be deferred,—the com- mutation of Tithes, the claims of the Dissenters, and the refbrin of abuses in the internal management of the Church; time opening of the close Corporations ; the amendment of the Law of Libel ; ratrenchmeat of the Army Expenditure; and, perhaps the most difficult of all, a revision of our system of Taxation. The two last may be necessary to avert the financial crisis, threatened by the opposers of the Assessed Taxes en the one hand, and of the Malt-tax on the other. All these matters must be dealt with next session, by bold and skilful hands, or the consequences may be such as no wellwisher to the good order of society likes to anti cipate.

Awl if the members of the Administration are prepared, as they ought to be, for the performasce of their respective duties, there will be amid • time for all these, and more. Formerly, one great measure occupied nearly the whole of the session, in consequence of the numerous petitions, and the almost interminable debates which arose upon them. As long as so large a portion of the Ilouse of Commons had little or no communication with their con- stituents, the People had no mode of instructing the Legislature, except by petitioning ; but if the Reform Bill has welled as well as it ought to have done, this can be no longer necessary. Every Member ought to be aware of the views of his constitutents on all important subjects, and he prepared to vote on the measures which are brought forward in relation to them. The influx of petitions lust session is evidence of great dissatisfaction with the proceed- ings of Parliament. For once, it might be well if electors and non-electors made trial el the plan of instructing and addressing the Representatives--nay, of remonstrating with them, where just cause for remunetrance may be given—instead of petitioning the House.