NEWS - OF THE WEEK LORD DERBY met the Pee, on
Monday as Prime Minister, with a carefully-prepared explanation ; simple, some might call it meagre, in the matter of its statement, but full and flowing in language, emphatic in tone, and calculated to engage the best feelings of his auditory. To a certain extent it was an explana- tion of that kind which was almost narrative in passing from point to point. He told:us how the victory in the Commons was unexpected; -still more unexpected in displacing the Ministry ; how unprepared. he had been for taking office ; how when he at- tended the summons of the Queen, he besought time to consider, and only -aceepted the post which her Majesty has conferred upon him at her persevering desire. The story he relates goes to confirm reports which we could not regard as more than gossip last week. He saw the necessity, of establishing his Government upon a broader basis than that'which has been understood as " Tory" or " Comervative," and he did apply to eminent persons not belonging to the late. Government who were supposed in a degree to share Conservative opinions : he thus applied to "a right honourable gentleman and two noble lords "—Mr. Glad- stone, the Dube of Newcastle, and._ Earl Grey. But they de-. clined, and he was thrown back upon his own political allies. He now besought for his colleagues some allowance of time to ascertain the state of business in their departments. In its outline the prospectus of Lord Derby's administration is at once modeat and designed to be attractive ; - it is briefly the Palmerston pro- gramme corrected in its mistakes. Lord Malmesbury is engaged in preparing an answer to France, and on the rejoinder will de- pend the measure that Ministers will introduce in regard te foreign conspirators-7a corrected bill. Lord Ellenborough is preparing some measure on the subject of India, and. we infer that he is editing Lord Palmerston's bill. Lord Derby will then take. up .Representative Reform,—but again edited by rious hands of the Conservative party. He reminded us that the finances would soon claim the attention of Parliament ; but in doing so he told. us nothing more than we learn frem the season, for we have no explanation of that which was the feature of the Derby Cabinet in 18527--its finance. Still there is an " idea " dominant at the Treasury-bench—it is, to reconcile Conservatism with " comitaut progress, moral; social, and political." The new Ministers have sought reelection, at the hands of their constituents, from- Mr. Disraeli downwards, withont -.Opposition. Their addresses are noticeable for the general tone of Liberalism that might be expected, only that it is in some cases stronger than we could have expected from Lord Derby's colleagues even Wider present circumstances. Sir John Pakington, in his speech to the electors of Droitwich, said what might have been anticipated from his lips, only more explicitly. Still more forcible and distinct Was Lord Stanley, who comes out strongly as an absolute Reformer :- at the same time, however, the perplexities of the time are so diffi- cult to disentangle, that Lord Derby's own son will not attempt the horoscope of his father's Government--" As to the future, even the immediate future, it is idle to.think of it."
[P= Morritxx SUPPLEMENT.]
While :Lord. Derby explained the principles on; which he was compelled to enter office, Lord Clarendon explained the principles on which he and his thief had. exposed themselves to be driven from office. Ile magnanimously took the whole responsibility upon himself ; ' but of course he could not exonerate the Cabinet or its Premier. He read. passages from his own correspondence with our Ambassador at Paris, and described the content; which certainly proved that Lord Palmerston's Government had not patiently received imputations against this country, -While it had with,soine spifit shown the impossibility of altering the tenor of our laws' or of givingup the free asylum to refugees of all coun- tries. Speaking quite generally, we may say that Lord Claren- don proved himself' to have done those very things, privately, which would. have precluded any question at all, much more one of resignation, if they had been done publicly.
In. giving this general testimonial to the spirit of Lord Claren- don's correspondence, we must take exception to certain admis- sions which he was indiscreet enough to make. When Count Walewski oemplained that assassination was openly preached in this country, Lord Clarendon tells us that he could not answer, because the statement was " true " ; and in proof he alludes to "inflammatory speeches," as he might have done to inflammatory pamphlets. Now it is characteristic of the two systems, French and English, that Count Walewski seems to have known of these things, when we in London knew nothing about them whatever. But it is n-ot correct-to accept a sweeping statement of the kind as true, when the instances are fractional and obscure, such As would have been scouted by the whole of society if.tliesi had been brought forth " openly." The whole tenor of Lord Clarendon's explanation -is to make Parliament and the country, and especially the Liberal party, feel for haw small a thing Lord Palmerston's Government has been expelled from office. It seems to be-forgotten, that a mis- take upon which such very important events turn cannot in itself be small ; or, on the other hand, if the mistake is so small as some pretend, how feeble must have been the Government that is overset by such a trifle ! The Palmerston Cabinet must have Been; as Sir John Pakington tells his constituents it was, gra- dually sinking. It has even publicly been said that Ministers and. their friends almost preferred. to take a defeat upon this French question rather than upon another question which was hanging over them—Mr. Wise's motion to stigmatize the ap- pointment of Lord Clanriearde by withholding his salary, upon which also they would have been beaten. That motion would have lapsed by the retirement of the Ministry, but it is said that Lord Caanricarde intends himself to challenge inquiry and. discussion as soon as Parliament reassembles so that the Pal- inerston Government will not escape a Clanricarde debate, al- though it resigned itself to be guillotined by Count Walewski.
The great state trial at Paris has passed by. The criminals ttre Sentenced to capital punishment of a gloomy kind—the death of parrieides in black garments,—with the exception of one who professes to have oecupied little more than a menial position, and who is condemned to penal servitude for life. The -trial-has perhaps assisted in dispelling two prejudices : while the evidence tended to establish the fact that the criminals belonged not more to England. than to Europe at large, the conduct of the trial was, even in Faiglish eyes, unusually fair and, considerate for the accused. This trait has had. a very obvious moral effect our own country. Among other licences for the accused was the publication of a letter addressed by Orsini to the Emperor Napoleon, beseeehing him to give his sanction for measures to free Italy from Austrian domination. The great Napoleon lets his brother despots see, that even from the scaffold voices may appeal to him as to a second Providence on earth.
But the artful blending of magnanimity-and repression does not leave a clear balance.'on the side of the Emperor. The new penal bill is promulgated ; officers of regiments are allowed no leave ; unexplained arrests are happening in the provinces, with release equally unexplained. But Napoleon finds it practically impossible to be universal master : Changarnier has declined the proffered leave to return.
_ [Llama EDITION.]
The great Parisian novelty is tot political, but economical. The Government has eieliaitiseely abashed the hateber's mesepoly Paris, and is foretelang the advantages that will be derived frees "free trade in meat" no marvel, was lee et dose inistabv in administration which coexist in France with ffie most con- prehensive philosophy in political economy. It had the effect of not enriching him—the butcher, but making me—the consumer, hungry indeed. For the meat which sought that market was scanty, dear, and bad. The new measure is a step in the right direction.
The Indian news, so far as Sir Colin Campbell is concerned, adds little to our previous information. Sir Colin with the main body was at Futteyghnr ; Brigadier Walpole had crossed the Ganges, but we have no account of his progress, if any, in Rohil- eund. In Central India there has been sensible advance. After six months' isolation, the weak garrison and the women and children shut up in Sanger have been relieved by Sir Hugh Rose. He will move towards Bundelcund, and may come across Nana Sahib. In Rajpootana the rebels have been driven out of A.vas. On the whole, there has been useful progress, though no striking effects.
In England, as in France, some of the most conspicuous parts of the week's news are derived from our criminal jurisprudence. A Select Committee of the House of Commons has been sitting as a criminal court in the first instance to investigate a charge against Mr. Isaac Butt, a Member of the House, of having taken money from the Ameer Ali Moored Khan, as a fee for prosecuting the claim of that Scindian prince to a restoration of estates which he had held on forged titles and had forfeited. The facts are—that Mr. Isaac Butt was- promised 10,0001., was paid 20001. and a few hundreds, did advise the Ameer, did speak for him as an agent at the Board of Control and in the East India House, and did obtain returns in the House of Com- mons. Now Mr. Butt is one of the Irish bar as well as a Mem- ber of Parliament, he is counsel as well as senator ; in one capa- city he has a right to take money for his services, in the other his doing so would be criminal. The Select Committee virtually declares the charges embodied in the petition against Mr. Butt to have been not made out.
This virtual acquittal might possibly be applied in such a man- ner as to defeat the rule of Parliament that no Member shall corruptly take payment for his services ; yet, so far as the case had gone, it would have been unjust to convict Mr. Butt, when there must be scores of Members who take money in some out- door capacity, although they are Members of Parliament and their influence must be valuable to their clients. Without condemning Butt individually, the ease might be fairly used to show the im- portance of restablishing the rule more explicitly, that the posi- tion of paid advocate and the position of Member of Parliament should be considered incompatible.
Another trial—that of the Royal British Bank Directors, which occupied the Court of Queen's Bench thirteen days—is far too important to pass without notice, as amounting to a social, almost a political event. With some disposition to acquit one of the accused altogether, the trial has resulted in a verdict of guilty ; but the seven Directors who were thus convicted stand divided into three classes. Three, Cameron the Manager and his two most active coadjutors, were simply pronounced guilty, and were sentenced to a twelvemonth's imprisonment; other three were more or less active, but in their cases there were various degrees of extenuating circumstances, and they undergo a sliding scale of imprisonment from nine to three months ; and one the Foreman of the Jury and the Lord Chief Justice would have acquitted altogether — no doubt, on the ground that although a party to the fraudulent balance-sheet, he acted throughout with no animus of fraud, but with the persevering desire to save the property of others ; and in his case the sentence is the nominal fine of one shilling. The sentences appear light, but morally they are severe ; for, with the doubtful exception of that particular ease, they inflict an endnr- ing brand upon the men who have undergone them. Besides as the Chief Justice remarked, it is a first conviction of the kind, and the sufferers might to a certain extent be justified in com- plaining that they are thus criminally branded when so many who are no better' titanthey escape with some formal durance, or even get off with Bankruptcy Court courtesies. The example is calcu- lated to have a useful effect, and the more so, we imagine from that lightness of sentence which will not prevent injured creditors from making a similar appeal again. It shows persons in the responsible management of joint-stock schemes, that the little devices and stratagems which have almost come to be "the usual thing" may subject men to stand at the bar of a criminal court, and even to reside in prison for a twelvemonth as convicts.
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