NEWS OF THE WEEK.
MINISTERS have propounded their Irish measures supplemental to the Rate-in-aid ; and, like the feminine postscript, the supple- ment contains the body of the policy which our rulers have at last made some way in concocting. There is one advantage in the postscript mode of enunciation, that it allows for afterthought. Lord John Russell promulgates a bill to fix the maximum of poor- rating on electoral districts at five shillings in the pound, with a further maximum rate-in-aid of two shillings on the union ; also some improvements in the administrative details of the Poor-law. But the principal measure is a bill introduced by Sir John Rom. illy, to establish a Commission for superseding; the jurisdiction of Chancery during three years ; the Commission to transact the conveyance of land, to give the purchaser a complete Parliamentary title, and to claimants satisfaction of their just claims' on the plan of the Commission that so sa- tisfactorily disposed of the West India compensation. Sir John is also engaged on a series of bills for facilitating the transfer, marketable use, and improvement of land, by amending the technicalities of the law relating to limited interests, per- petual leaseholds, &c. If Ministers do not carry their measures to maturity forthwith, their bungling and delay will exceed the powerful support which is offered to them. Sir John Romilly said that his Commission " bad been suggested by several gentlemen "; an invidiously evasive acknowledgment, that contrasts disagreeably with Sir Robert Peel's hearty support of the plagiarism from the scheme to which he first gave high countenance in Parliament. But the plans of Minis- ters still present a more serious contrast with the suggestion of their rival and ally : their plans are a series of scraps, as yet miserably incomplete; his scheme, even in its initial stage of uncompleted suggestion, has an eye to wholeness, including great essentials of which they throw out not the shadow of a promise. In spite of a hope that he could induce the House of Commons to reject the Navigation Bill at the third reading, Mr. Herries has not succeeded. His failure is scarcely wonderful, since he based his case on the preposterous assertion that the country is under the influence of reaction in favour of protection ! The really effective opposition to the bill was conducted by Mr. Vial- pole; who reviewed the history of the Navigation-laws, and specially grouped their statistics, in order to show that the naval commerce of England declined under Elizabeth's re- laxation of the antecedent restrictions, revived under Crom- well's peotection, and flourished under reciprocity. But these fanciful groupings of statistics were demolished by Sir James Graham, in the best speech of a discussion that stands out as the best debate of the session. In an ecstacy of delight for this effective help, Lord John Russell pronounced Sir James's speech to be "matchless." It will undoubtedly have an effect beyond the arena of the House of Commons : mas- sing the main arguments on the subject in a form to attract and Possess the public mind, it will strengthen opinion in the country. It may have a more immediate influence. The division of Mon- day night-275 to 214—was hardly of a kind to render the fate of the measure in the House of Lords a matter of prospective certainty ; Whigs, Peel Conservatives, and Radical Free-traders united, did not muster against the single Protectionist party a majority that can be considered as overwhelming : without being very presumptuous, the Lords might side with the minority of the Commons at least so far as to decline proceding with the measure in its after stages "at this late period of the session,". and thus Postpone the bill for a year. But Sir James Graham's speech, and the reception which it has met with out of doors, will pro- bably remind Lord Stanley of the precarious position which he would brave, if he were to draw upon himselt the cares of Go- vernment by engaging in a pitched battle on a --measure so Powerfully supported: he will remember too that the Duke of Wellington carries a goodly number of proxies in his pocket,
and is wont to use them to smooth the Way. for i" %rut' ing her Majesty's Government." The Commons inifiht•TeTbralgl, but will the consequences of victory be so
Sir John Pakington cannot induce the House y
I II If •.1
take vigorous steps for suppressing bribervitillec
body is anxious to do it ; but once propound a plan, an
no end to special objections. Honourable 'Members are only wil- ling to support any plan which is-not..,pioposed. Declarations, argued these ingenuous but desponding enemies of bribery, are of no force: they only stop the conscientious, not the unscrupulous. Devise what laws you may, they will be evaded: Meinbera will and must bribe, actually or constructively; it cannot be helped. Judged by the arguments in objection to Sir John Pakington, the thing wanted is a bill to restore high gentlemanly feeling among Members. The difficulty in preventing bribery is to con- vincer.Members and electors that it is a bad thing ; and indeed, in some respects, such proof is not very easy. Why is it not thought bad 2—Because it is a trading trick too much of a piece with the unexalted character of our political system just now ; its low statesmanship, low administration, low legislation. If our states- manship were as high as in general it is low, then the corrupt ad- mission of legislators by venal manceuvres would stare us in the face with all its natural deformity ; but really, to do what is for the most part done in Parliament, the legislators might just as well be appointed by paid suffrages as not. Both Houses have adopted votes of thanks to the Governor- General, the Commander-in-chief, officers, and privates of the Indian Army. Lord Goug:h's numerous friends manifested their joy that his career was closing with so splendid a victory; for it is presumed that he will stop here, and not run the chance of going further and farinc, worse. Nay, what was more friendly still, all his panegyrists had foreseen his triumph ; and few of us are wil- ling to remember that we ever thought otherwise. The idle forms which so often prevent Englishmen from doing what they think right prevented Parliament from naming any officer not of higher rank than that of Colonel ; but members of both Houses supplied the defect by the speeches, which will go as far as the resolutions ; and in those less formal records, perhaps the name most distinguished was that of the young Edwardes. Other subalterns also were honoured in a generous and wise spirit of recognition. Several high authorities seemed to hold that the victory of Goojerat had fairly settled the Sikhs and the Affghati invaders to boot, and established our hold on that part of India. Advocates of retrenchment will notice, with distrust, the allusion made to the true engine of the late cardinal victory—the Ar- tillery, and to the necessity of cultivating that effective but costly part of the military service. The experience of the Sikh campaign confirms the doctrine that the Ordnance is the de- pository of victory ; a circumstance which reminds us of the fact that this arm within the United Kingdom is understood to be de- plorably weak. Now why not keep up a home supply of victory, for the European market in case of need ? Mr. Milner Gibson has endeavoured to obtain a revisal of the highly unsatisfactory and unprofitable state of our relations with Brazil. The question which he mooted is argued on many- grounds, the disputants shifting their ground at pleasure. Brazil entered into a convention with this country to treat slave-trading by their respective subjects as piracy; but instead of completing that convention by altering the municipal law of Brazil so as to correspond with-the engagements of the Executive, the Govern- ment at Rio de Janeiro now wishes to back out of the conven- tion. Mr. Gibson's opponents—a heterogeneous crew, repre- sented by Lord Aberdeen, Lord Palmerston. and the Anti-Slavery body—contend that Brazil has been guilty of breach of treaty stipulation, and has thus entitled us to enforce the treaty—by force. . We have then established our right to use force— and force carried out is war: but what then? Would it be wise to go to war with Brazil ? What would be the im- mediate object 2—To oblige the Brazilian Government to enact a particular criminal law not sanctioned by the public opi- nion of the place; a law which would be evaded, as it is; a compulsion provoking the Brazilians to defeat the policy forced upon them, and to take a revenge upon their didactic monitor, as they do, by thwarting British views and British-interests. Sir Frederick Thesiger entered into technicalities about not proceed- ing against the person but the vessel and cargo; Lord Palmer- ston, into technicalities about distinctions between piracy by law of nations aud piracy by convention : but however these points may establish an attorney's "right," they cannot establish the policy of the course, nor make common sense of the attempt to coerce the public opinion of a foreign empire. It were better to rest on our own declaration of piracy, and wage a great war of knighterrantry against the world on behalf of oppressed Africa.
