Ministers postponed the passin g of the Appropriation Act last ni g ht
to Friday next : whether it will receive the sanction of the House of Commons on that day, is n:ore than doubtful. If tits Lords persevere in their present determination to strangle the memo:. es of the Corn- Mons, it will be next to imposs:ble to prevail upon the lrttter to sanc- tion another vote of the public money. A perusal of' the dis- cussion in the House will satisfy any one as to the spirit which actuates the majority of that assembly. Ministers also appear by no means inclined to throw away the advantage which the power of refusing the Supplies gives them, backed as they are by the House and the Country, over their insulting and domineering foes in the Lords. The tone of Lord Joust Resststs.and Mr. SPRING RICE last night, when demolishing those unlucky " cads" of the Tory party Messrs. GLADSTONE and Twrss, and asserting the right of the Com- mons to control the public funds, was op to the mark : we trust that they and their colleagues will not swerve, and then the Court and the Tories must give way. What can the King do without money? We should not be surprised if, in the course of next week, sundry epistles signed " Hennear TAYLOR" were put into circulation, and that no extra- ordinary thinning of the Opposition benches in the House of Lords were the result of these impressive missives. Our readers are aware—or some of them are aware, and some not— that the Appropriation Art consists of an enumeration of the votes of Supply for the various departments of the public service, with an Order on the Treasury to apply—to appropriate—tbe sum voted to the specific purpose for which it was granted. This is the authority of Ministers for paying away the public money; and all payments not therein decreed are, strictly speaking, illegal. On looking into this instrument, we find that, if the customary form be followed, it. offers no facility for appropriating a part only of the money voted ; though some laborious calculators might take a propor- tion only of each sum, and limit the expenditure to that amount. But the Commons will best perform their duty by refusing to grant a single sixpence, until the bills for redress of grievances are passed. This is the old constitutional practice : redress of grievances first— the money afterwards. The grand muster of the Liberals will be on Monday week. On that day, every Member who values his character or his seat must be in the Mouse of Commons. Defaulters will neither be forgotten nor for- given at the next election. The whole country is anxious and alert. A deep feeling of disgust and indignation pervades the mass of the People ; who look to their Representatives to do them justice at this crisis in their affairs.
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