TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE LORDS' DIVISION OF THURSDAY.
THE peculiar position of the House of Lords at present, causes this division to be viewed with a more curious eye than usual.
Of the Majority on the division on the second reading of the Bill last session, the four Irish Prelates have ceased to occupy a seat in the House; the English Prelates, who voted in the majority, were absent on Thursday. The following Peers, who voted against Ministers on that occasion, were also absent,—the Dukes of Gloucester, Dorset, Leeds, Manchester, and Marlborough; the Marquis of Bath; the Earls of Abingdon, Aylesford, Beauchamp, Bradford, Coventry, Dudley, Enniskillen, Guilford, Harewood, Harrowby, Howe, Limerick, Liverpool, Mounteashel, Plymouth, Powis, Powlett, St. Germans, Shaftesbury, Talbot, Tankerville, Waldegrave, Westmoreland, Wilton, Winchilsea, Cardigan, Car- rick, Charleville, Elgin, Lucan, Macclesfield, Malmesbury, Stam- ford; Viscounts Combermere, Doneraile, Maynard, Melville, Sid- mouth; Barons Arden, Arundel, Bolton, Carberry, Carteret, De Dunstanville, Delamere, De Roos, Dufferin, Farnborough, Fe- versham, Forbes, Forester, Gage, Gambier, Grantham, Hay, Mel- drum, Metros, Monson, Northwick, Ravensworth, Ribblesdale. Rodney, Skelmersdale, Tenterden, Walsingham, Wharneliffe, Willoughby de Broke, Calthorpe, Churchill, Colchester, Glenlyon, Gray, Loftus, Rivers, Ross, Saltersford, Scarsdale, St. Helens, Wigan. Of the Minority on the famous 8th of October, the Mar- quises of Hastings, Westmeath, and Ailsa ; Earls Amherst, Cla- rendon, Cornwallis, Manvers, Munster, Romney, Suffolk, Thanet, Burlington, Shrewsbury ; Viscount Bolingbroke ; Barons Aber- cromby, Audley, Barham, Braybrooke, Clifton, de Clifford, Dunally, Mostyn, Napier, Ormonde, Panmure, Petre, Rosebery, Rossie, Willoughby de Eresby, Carleton, Clifford, were absent on Thursday. On the other hand, the Tory party rejoice in the ac- cession of the young Marquis of Abercorn ; and Ministers on Thursday had the votes of Earl O'Neil, and Lords Auckland, Hill, and Crewe, and Bishop Knox, in addition to those who voted with them on the Reform Bill.
We are not aware what inferences, or if any, can be safely drawn from the absence of Lords HARROWBY and WHARNCLIFFE ; neither would we be inclined to prophesy- any thing favourable to Reform from the absence of so many Peers of smaller note. It might
arise from accident, from laziness, from preengagement, from trick, from a wish to deceive Ministers into a false opinion of their secu-
rity. We believe that the Opposition do not wish to turn out Earl GREY yet ; they would wish him to stop until he has become less popular. Whatever were the cause, one thing is evident,—if
Ministers intend to keep their places, they must create Peers. No one doubts the propriety of exercising the prerogative for that pur- pose. They cannot carry on the business of the country in the face of such a minority of the House of Lords as Thursday exhibited.
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