NEWS OF THE WEEK.
SIR ROBERT PEEL began the week by stating what measures Go- vernment intended and hoped to carry through Parliament this session. From the beginning of the session there has been no great prospect that much would be done ; and it now appears, that of the scanty promise, at least the usual proportion is not to ripen into performance. Even against some of the measures which Sir ROBERT expressed no doubt of carrying, symptoms of serious opposition have since arisen ; and new business has been forced upon the reluctant senators, which may distract their attention. This general statement of the aspect of the Parliamentary cam- paign, suggests inferences not very complimentary to Ministerial management ; and a narrower inspection of the details does not lead to more flattering conclusions. The Post-office question is perhaps that in which bad general- ship has been most glaringly exemplified. Ministers have been obliged to abandon the uncompromising position they assumed last week, and to submit their conduct to a scrutiny. And the only reasons assigned for this reversed course are, that public excitement bas now rendered inquiry necessary,—a consequence of their own conduct which real statesmen ought to have foreseen and, pre- vented ; and that the leaders of the Whig Opposition have not be- haved handsomely to them. Upon this latter egregious reason Sir JAMES GRAHAM dwells earnestly, and almost exclusively ; imparting to his motion for a Committee the, appearance of a desire not so much to clear himself as to blacken his rivals. Had Ministers per- sisted in refusing inquiry, and carried it off triumphantly, they might have obtained the praise of resoluteness : had they courted in- quiry from the first, they might have deserved a higher praise. But this yielding upon cmtpulsion lacks the grace and semblance of conscious right. Their attitude is now of necessity humble, ex- planatory, apologetic. Their most plausible explanations—and the Duke of WELLINGTON had some very feasible ones—are listened to with suspicion, because they look like afterthoughts. Their very frankness is distrusted : when Lord ABERDEEN declares that not a syllable of Mr. MAZZINCS correspondence has been communicated to any Foreign Government, the commentary of the hearers is, "Because there was nothing to coinmunicate." The matter is cer- tainly not mended by the refusal to put Mr. Duscomaz on the Committee of inquiry. And last, not least, the imbecility of pur- pose—the halting between two opinions—evinced by taking credit for excluding lawyers from the Commons Committee, and then turning round on their own principle and nominating two lawyers (and of all lawyers Lord BROUGHAM, who is sure to take the lion's share of the work!) on the Lords Committee, has a damaging effect.
The Government treatment of the Welsh Bishopric Bill, exhibits a " from-band-to-mouth" way of meeting the exigencies of the day by ephemeral shifts, that betrays a want of proper foresight and precaution in submitting measures to the Legislature. Last week, the Duke of WELLINGTON hesitated to declare whether the Royal consent to the bill would be acceded : this week, his colleagues had made up their minds, and given him his cue to use the means of shelving the bill quietly, and get rid of it on a point of form by appealing to the prerogative. This ruse for evading the decree of a majority they could not control, is almost more damaging to Ministers than a confessed defeat.
The state of Irish legislation is scarcely less injurious to the reputation of the Cabinet as men of business. The Irish Munici- pal Corporations Bill is withdrawn, although the Premier expresses regret for the delay. The Irish Registration Bill is withdrawn : this measure he tried to'drive through the second reading, but was obliged to desist. Of the fruits of the Land Tenure Commission for Ireland, Parliament has not yet had even a sample. All that Sir. ROBERT contemplates for Ireland this session in the way of legislation, is to renew the Unlawful Oaths Bill, and pass one or two measures of comparatively inferior moment. The sanatory
legislation for Ireland by Government, which could best justify the high hand with which it has attempted to assert its authority there, is sadly in arrear.
Among the bills announced by the Premier as intended to be carried through this session, are two, in themselves perhaps of minor consequence compared with those already mentioned, yet deserving to have their progress noticed, as illustrating the inability of the Minister to pilot his measures well through the Legislature. There may be—from the excitement which prevails out of doors there most likely are—some objectionable features in the Railways Bill ; but its general principle is popular, and the preponderance of pub- lic opinion is here with the Government. Yet Sir ROBERT, in announcing the intention of Government to go on with it, appeared to be labouring under considerable misgiving. With regard to the Joint-stock Companies Bill, on the contrary, he appeared to enter- tain no apprehension ; and yet, when a House was brought toge- ther at an unusual hour almost exclusively for the purpose of allow- ing it to pass through Committee, it was with the greatest difficulty that the first clause could wriggle through.
The transient triumph gained over Ministers by Sergeant Mua- PHY on the minor Irish question of Ministers-money, would of itself call for no notice; but, taken in connexion with other em- barrassments and reverses, it elucidates the actual position of the PEEL Cabinet. That triumph will be reversed in one of the first full Houses: but this practice of forcing the Commons to rescind inconvenient resolutions passed only an evening before, is hurtful, even in trifles. That Ministers should be driven to this on unim- portant questions, betrays a slovenly inattention to business. Looking back upon these samples of the mismanagement which is rapidly conducting the session to a barren and fruitless close, we think we perceive the same weakness at the root of all. The Premier exercises too little prescient control over the general management of the departments of his Gtivernment. In the first phase of the letter- opening affair, all was left to the head of the Home Office—a very able and laborious functionary, but withal very generally disliked, often in scrapes, and not always discreet. The backwardness with the few and meagre Irish measures obviously arises from want of faith in their sufficiency and fitness, in the controlling mind of the Government. The unexpected opposition to the Joint-stock Companies Bill arises out of the expected oppesition to the Rail- way Bill. Both are inspired by jealeusy.of. the Board of Trade. The bills are regarded not as the bills of the,Minister. fOr the good of all, but of Mr. GLADSTONE for the aggrandizement of his de- partment.
In the discussion on the Poor-law Amendment Bill, Minis- ters came off better than in any other which took place during the week. -Their position on that question is good, and theymain- tained it resolutely and successfully. In common with other advo- cates of the new Poor-law, they do not pretend to uphold all its de- tails. They admit that much must be done to perfect it ; and the very measure upon which the discussion arose has amelioration in view. Sir JAMES GRAHAM, in speaking of contemplated improve- ments of the law, used the meaning phrase " mitigation of its seve- rity." Ministers, therefore, and thoae.who support them on this question, contemplate good ends by definite means. They have a principle, a law, and machinery. On the opposite side everything is vagueness and—talk. We cannot now fall backupon the statute of ELIZABETH: its machinery is broken up and scattered to the winds. It is not desirable to fall back upon the Poor-Jaw, .of. ELIZABETH : it is no longer applicable to the circumstances of society ; and if it were, whatever unreflecting sentimentalists niay think the pro- visions of that law are actually more harsh than those of the new. There is much genuine and sincere benevolence among the oppo- nents of the Poor-law ; but it is wasted for want of judgment and knowledge to direct it. Two ways only of effecting good lie open to them,—to accept the existing law, and labour to improve it ; or to devise a new law, and propose it as a sub'stittite. Until they do this, all their agitation out of doors, and all their parade of motions in Parliament, can only work mischief.
