Sir Henry James admits that the Criminal Code Bill cannot
get through the G rand Committee on Law during the Session, and that it must be abandoned. He stated in the House on Thursday night that he had given up hope, "in consequence of a circumstance which had occurred in the morning, when they had been prevented from forming a quorum by the active exer- tions of one member of the Committee ;" and it is said that Sir Henry James will make mention of the active obstruction which the Bill has encountered in the Grand Committee, in his report to the House. After this statement, Sir H. Drummond. Wolff asked the Prime Minister whether, " having regard to the signal success of the principle of delegatiou and devolution,"— and here he was interrupted by the loud laughter of Lord Ran- dolph Churchill,—he intends to refer to this Committee any other Bill during the present Session. Mr. Gladstone replied that, owing to the loud laughter of Lord Randolph, he had not distinctly caught the question, but that if it referred to the re- ference of other Bills to this Committee, it was a matter needing an early consideration and decision. We hope the constituen- cies will note this incident. It, and the indecent laughter which accompanied it, have a distinct bearing on the question of the "alliance " for obstructive purposes between the Conservatives and the Irish Members, which Sir Stafford Northcote so eagerly repudiated on Monday night.
