NEWS OF THE WEEK.
VIE Parliamentary business of the past week ought to have been important; although the chief actors on the stage of politics have walked through their parts with a listless air—it might be carelessness, it might be the consciousness that the whole session is a farce. The Peers have not kicked the Irish Municipal Bill out of their premises, but have treated it with politeness; and the Commons have passed the Canada Resolutions in Committee, after a drawling, lackadaisical sort of debate, that must have been Soothing to Lord JOHN RUSSELL and Sir GEORGE Quay—what the Canadians may think of the way in which their dearest rights are violated, is another matter.
The Tory Peers had a meeting at Apsley House on Monday ; when, after a stormy discussion it is said, the resolution was taken to allow the Irish Corporation Bill to go into Committee. This, as the story goes, was the fficcum of the Duke ; who being asked what he intended to do with it in Committee, replied that it would be time enough to determine that point when the bill got there. In these few words, we apprehend, lies the secret of the Tory policy ; and thence arises the interest of the political events of the week.
The Tories desire office, yet dare not clutch it. They are alarmed at the aspect of affairs. England is in a state of suffer- ing and irritation, incident to a monied and commercial crisis ; and the hatred of the Irish millions hangs like a mill-stone on the necks of the Tory leaders. As in a season of suffering the existing Government must incur odium more or less, inde- pendent of its good or ill deservings, it has probably become a part of the Conservative policy to keep the Whig Ministers in office for the present, to bear the brunt of the nation's ill-humour as well as the fair consequences of their own faults; and in the mean time, while the storm in the commercial world is blowing over, to devise some method of diminishing Irish hostility and bribing Irish support. In this mood, the Peers read the Mu- nicipal Bill a second time on Tuesday, and did not object to defer the Committee for ten days—till the 4th of May. Gladly, no doubt, would they strike a compromise with Ireland, or do almost any thing else which would restore them to power. But they are beset with difficulties. From the Whigs Mr. O'CostrseLL would take little—from the Tories he would refuse much, because it must be purchased at the expense of that portion'of " justiceeto Ireland" a hich is comprised in the "paternal administration ; of Lord MULGRAVE. Thus O'CoNrsELL, regarded as the imper- sonation of his country's quarrel, presents an insurmountable obstacle to the success of the Tory schemes. He will not trust the Tories. Even now he is labouring to excite a stronger spirit of opposition to them in Ireland than they have ever yet expe- rienced. Such is the situation of the Tory party—very embar- rassing, and not likely to mend : they can do nothing which would better their prospects. If they deprive the Municipal Bill of every thing that makes it valuable or popular, then they add fresh fuel to the flame of Irish hatred : if they leave enough to render it worth acceptance, they increase the power without diminishing the enmity of their opponents. The Tory game then IS to "rub on," and trust to the chapter of accidents. Ministers seem to fancy that their policy is also to " rub on ;" and the process is much easier to placemen than to place-hunters, as the former have the solid comforts derivable from posses- sion. But whether it can be the true policy of Ministers to de- fer every thing like collision, Lord MELBOURNE might well ques- tion, when he sees his adversaries so willing to agree to postpone- tents, and so averse to close quarters. At the end of the session, it will be a pleasant thing to the 'Polies to be able to say to the people—" Your Ministers are inefficient, they can carry nothing : their measures are crowded upon us all at once. SO that it is quite impossible to give them due &liberation ; though Parliament met in January, we never got the great measure of the sessiun, the Irish Municipal Bill, into Committee till May : you see it is the fault of Ministers, and we are not to blame, that this session, like the last, has produced nothing." Surely Lord MELBOURNE ought to have it in his power to retort upon the Obstructives, that the delay is to be put to their account, not his; that he wished them to deal with the measures brought from the Commons with promptitude, but that the Obstructives refused, and then, taking advantage of' their own wrong, reproach him with its consequences. That would be one mode of " ripening the pear," still raw ; and that would be the course of Ministers if they were really intent upon any thing but scrambling through the session.
The fee charged on the admission of freemen in cities and bo- roughs to the elective franchise, is commonly paid by the candi- dates who wish to secure the votes of that pure class. It affords an excuse for bribery, awl tends to deter any but the rich from contesting a place where freemen abound. It is bad in principle. The right to vote being admitted, as in the case of freemen it is, every facility should be given to the exercise of that right. This is the ground on which the payment should be abolished : but it is not on this ground that the House of Commons have agreed to abolish it. On Wednesday, Mr. WILLIAMS of Coventry, with the aid of Mr. WASON of Ipswich, Mr. TREVOR of Durham, and with the full sanction of Lord SANDON of Liverpool. carried the second reading of his bill for doing away with the payment of the fees by the freemen, or their purchasers. Lord JOHN RUSSELL also supported the measure. But the arguments in its favour were, that the freemen were a most respectable and patriotic class of persons; that they were the representatives of the industrious poor; and that the abolition of the fees would lessen the expenses of elec- tions: nobody ventured to state fairly and broadly that it is the duty of the Legislature to remove every obstruction in the way of exer- cising the franchise. The Radicals perhaps abstained from putting the claim on this footing from prudential motives; and Lord JOHN RUSSELL could not with decency or consistency use the argu- ment, because, with a view to counteract any advantage which the Tories might derive from a reduction in the expense of gaining the votes of their friends the freemen, he proposed, not to abolish, but to relax the payment of rates as a qualification for voting by the 10/. householders. Instead of compelling the elector to pay the taxes due in April previously to the 20th of June, Lord Joint RUSSELL means to insert a clause in Mr. WILLIAMS'S bill, to defer the time of payment till the 10th of October ; and this he will do not with a view to render the acquisition of the franchise less troublesome, not so much to diminish the difficulty of exer- cising it, as to balance the slight boon given to the freemen. He is afraid to offend the freemen by opposing Mr. WILLIAMS'S bill, and yet eager to counterbalance the advantage he fears that bill will confer upon his opponents. It was an excellent opportunity for getting rid of all the rate-pay ing clauses in the Reform Act: but Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S policy is to "wind his way between right and wrong." Sir ROBERT PEEL delivered a characteristic speech against the rate-paying relaxation, while he feebly sup- ported the boon to the freemen : he professed an aversion to break down the qualification established by the Reform Act, and could not see why the freemen should not be relieved and the Jul. house- holders remain as they are. He cut some jokes about the disco- very now made by the Liberals that the freemen were virtuous and incorruptible. This sneer elicited loud cheers from the purchasers of the freemen who sat behind him. Pram seemed annoyed, and did not know very well what to do. So far, certainly, Lord Joust RussELL's tactics were successful; but, altogether, we have sel- dom read a more dishonest and discreditable debate on both sides of the House than that on Mr. WILLIAMS'S bill.
