NEWS OF THE WEEK.
To err is the privilege of Members of Parliament—to forgive, the Merciful Prerogative of electors : but Members may need less in- dulgence than common this session, for ,they stick to their work; even in this fragmentary week before the holydays, they have kept up their diligence unabated. Besides business of detail, there have been three grand debates.
The first Was raised by the Agriculturists. When the House of Commons were about to go into Committee on the Customs Acts in "order to scourge the Tariff, Mr. Miles interposed the admoni- tory resolution, that in any remission of duties the Agricultural interest should be "considered." The Agricultural interest, that 'spoiled child of the Legislature, cannot be broken of "whining," although its -friends, 04.-er growing ashamed of it. It has "pro- tection ''-:-that is, duties *don other people to augment its own 'income ; and now, as ever, it craves immunity from those charges for local services which everybody pays. Mr. Miles's method of ielief was, though not novel, as strange as his grounds of claire.— a transfer of divers fractional charges on county-rates to the Coir solidated Fund. He did not -scruple to reiterate pleas of those "special burdens". into which the Agrieulturists will not allow inquiry. We all know that the discreet way to- Meet a beggar is to ask his address and say that you will inquire into his story: but the " Mileses are sturdy beggars who will not abide by the rules of the Mendicity Society ; they demand a ticket for soup without a full disclosure of their case. We all know what to think of beggars who shrink from inquiry, especially when they are noisy and talk about being uncharitable or ungentlemanly. But that is an old tale. The remarkable feature of this debate was the array of parties engaged in it. The Free-traders were content to watch without sharing the fight. The Agricultural Mendicants formed a compact body on one side : the resistance to their irruption was carried on by the Peel- Conservatives — they it was who asserted the maxims of free trade for the nonce. Sir James Graham declared that the pros- perity of Cumberland depends upon the flourishing of Liverpool._ Mr. Bickham Escott kindly warned the Agriculturists, that their arguments and demeanour were quite bad enough to ruin any cause that they advocated,—a sort of Wholesale sweep" of the Agriculturists andtheir dogmas. ' Inch by inch rises the high- water-Mark of public opinion:as scored by these Conservative Reformers and beit remembered, that a rise of a few feet in the level carries the fertili7ing waters over miles and miles more of ootintry. But two "Liberals" took part in the debate : indeed, Lord AVeraley, though exceedingly well-meaning, may be re- garded as more Agricultural than Liberal ; and there remains as the only efficient .Liberal, Lord John Russell ; who played the part of lecturer on free trade very creditably. Mr. Disraeli can- na, be classified : his amusing speech might have been spoken on either side or on both skies: the only thing clear about him is that he likes to goad the neglectful Premier ; the Premier is in- discreet enough to show that he is goaded; and the triumphant
1=, tormentor doeenot spare the fun.
In the details of the Customs-duties, the Agriculturists cut a yet sorrier figure than in their grand debate : they were now fighting for " grease' " "lard," "-resin," and so forth. Their only consolation was that in these efforts for petty pieces of pro- tection; Liberals. and Free-traders did not scruple to share. The recreants were worthily- lectured by Lord Howick, and rebuked by the example of Mr. Strutt. The Member for Derby found a coadjutor in 111r. Entwistle, the " Monopolist " Member for South Lancashire,whose election the Anti-Corn-law League so de- plored! - The next matter was the Window-duties ; into which Lord Duncan would inquire by means of a Select Committee. Mr. [Lusa Earriou.] Goulburn resisted the proposal in a manner highly conducive to Lord Duncan's object. Able as the young Viscount's speech was, Mr. Goulburn excelled him in damaging the battered reputation of the tax. The Chancellor of the Exchequer objected to the in- quiry, because, he said, inquiry would be tantamount to repeal. Inquire and you must repeal. If you knew all about this tax it would not last a day ; therefore do not inquire ! And then he says, if you were to repeal the tax, the pi.ot*onletribtegiOt4 poor, but to , the landlords. That is his defence of 'it as to nature. Now, the, tax is not objected to as a charge upon the poor, but _as a_prohibitoiNdiity_on_air and ventilation. It is a "protection" int4d.;„_buildings: -Well-ccinstrieted d llings as to light_and air are Jike wine, luxuries only for the iv tafthier. The tax, indeed, fall: upon:thosewho: Ought to pay - it, alfenind- lords ; and 'the_revenue.derived from it cannot be spared :" but it is arranged inthe worstiWay possible. _ Six.hotises out of seven (about 3,000,000 out of 3,500,000) escape the tax, and in evading it are converted into unwholesome abodes. Make the same persons pay the same amount, but do not so levy it as to act like a bonus on bad building. Mr. Hume suggests the most promising sub- stitute that has yet been named—a percentage-tax upon rent. Sir Robert Peel objects that such a plan would. be inconsistent with his own not very adroitly-contrived exemption of incomes under 150/. from paying to the Income-tax : nevertheless, such an ex- emption better-arranged, might be adapted to a rent-tax: -What- ever substitute be adopted, however, the Premier's nianner'ef re sisting aggression at present foretokens no continned resistance: the Window-tax is now placed by him, along with the Corn- laws, among the unguaranteed items a taxation : he will not insure its life.
The New Zealand debate was less piquant than the preliminary' conversation at the close of last Week. The subject of it was the very narrow question of Lord Stanley's equivocal conduct towards the colonizing Company:, in showing them one set of instructions to the Governor, and giving him. also a second, a different, anda secret set. _ Mr. Hope made an explanation; his explanation lite- rally consisting of nothing but this—a confused recapitulation of the very evidence on which, when distinktly.stated, the charge rests. Mr. Hope is a well-behaved subordinate hilt he hien° notrfsi to set forth as a speaker even that which is plain in itself, 'Mich less to "dress up a case for the House.of Commons." SffAtdbat. Peel therefore is engaged as first counsel ; and he pi'VerhimZlf a perfect Fitzroy Kelly in zeal for his Client. He speaks brills brief, not by the facts. On Tuesday he' ventiired upon represeaa- tions which were corrected on' the spot, one after -another : he started contradictors as fast as the traveller's intrusive "footstep starts insects in 'Sunny lane ; and at last he was so tortured by the stings he provoked—for now, at least, his anger was not simu- lated—that he resorted to the desperate shift of garbling qua tations. In that Way he endeavoured to serve his client by an effort to fix upon the New Zealand Company a charge of odious contempt for upon interests ; the Company being, noto- riously, the public body that has entertained the largest views and devised the best means of saving the Aborigines and eleva- ting their condition ; while it is the jobbing local Government, in alliance with the Missionary "land-sharks" of the colony, that has thwarted the wise and benevolent plans of the Company, or kept them in abeyance. Again while fighting inch by inch for his powerful colleague, Sir Robert Peel has not found oppor- tunity to bestow a thought—at least not a word—on the interests of the thousands of Englishmen, so far away, put in'extremest jeopardy by these mean quarrels. As to Lord Stanley, it may hi confessed that his conduct, as now " explained," shows not quite so undoubtedly dishonest as it at first appeared : but he is ex- cused at the expense either of a proper attention to his duties or of his capacity for official business. Let us by the way correct the mistake of a ccintemporary tenacious of a reputation for candour and fair play : if that writer had perused all the docu- ments, he would not suppose that some of the evidence is kept back : according to his own enumeration of what is needed, it is all on the record in the great Blue Book.
