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    of Engineers , Mr . Disraeli admitted that in the late contest the masters had violated the law , and all but promised official support for the working classes ! Should this intimation foe followed up in practice , the " Tory" Minister may inaugurate a . new sera in the history of labour . Another field of labour invites , and indeed receives , attention ^—Australia . The gold beds at once draw increasing numbers from tibe established branches of industry , and present frightful scenes of social anarchy . The colonists call for more labour ; the Times counsels the sending of troops to keep

    order . But any small number of troops would be as playthings in the hands of mischievous boys ; and where is any large number to be found ? Our little Cape war is not over yet ; our Burmese war is hardly begun ; and no troops can be spared for Australia . Meanwhile , it is remarkable that a Yankee clipper has suddenly and " mysteriously" appeared in Sydney—in the land of the Anti-Convict Leaguej where people already talk about " independence . " Among other circumstances , let us not omit to note that the Americans are in the Indian Gulf , and are going to Japan ; and that even the Sandwich Islands have been " annexed , " at least to

    the idea of a republic . The American Commodore goes to Japan to ask a supply of coals for American steamers between California and China , and he is instructed to be very courteous and forbearing , if the Japanese Government concedes facilities for that one trade . But if not F The instructions do not appear to make any provision for that contingency .

    Cork affords a striking instance of Irish explosiveness . Two men smuggle a bottle of whiskey into the Cork workhouse ; the authorities demand its surrender , and forthwith the whole of the inmates , chiefly _ 6 f the Amazonian sex , rush to arms : storming the place , and keeping up the contest for four mortal hours ; until , in fact , a detachment of infantry , with fixed bayonets , and a piquet of cavalry , with drawn sabres , come upon these infuriated viragos . A kind of combustible sympathy seems to be a fundamental quality of the Irish specimen of Celthood .

    Captain Coward of the Renovation has turned up in an official interrogatory at Venice . His statement , which is necessarily meagre , accords with the report already furnished by Mr . Simpson . He alleges his own severe illness and prostration at the time , and the instant necessity of getting free of the ice-field , as his reasons for not bearing up to search the abandoned ships . So the matter is still a mystery . The Fete of the Eagles , and the Military Ball , are the events of the week in Paris . The 10 th

    of May has passed : and the Empire is still a menace unfulfilled . Through the confused clamour of reports , all rapturously exalting the magnificence of the military spectacle , one fact at least pierces—the impression of a vague but profound disappointment . Enthusiasm evidently there was none : the Nation was absent : the sense of the parody was oppressive , even to the soldiery ; and the very fatality of that Field of Mars , converted n souvenir into a warning , and shook the new

    glory to its roots . No doubt , to mere gaping sight-seers the general effect was stupendous ; but the ghosts of Talleyrand , of poor Bailly , of Robespierre , of the great Napoleon himself , if they could have been present , with what a . bitter irony their teeth would have chattered ! How pitiable the degradation of that despised tool of a church , which , on a pasteboard altar , lifts its palsied hands to some imaginary heaven , and sanctifies—the Eagles . There is but one God left for France to worship , and that is—Irony !

    Meanwhile Austria and Prussia arc marshalling their squadrons under the eye of the approving Czar , who blesses their Eagles , not unmindful of the Champ do Mars . From Italy we hear of nothing but British subjects outraged , bastinadoed , condemned to death by secret tribunals . Under Austrian patronage ; - « - Lord Malmesbury being our Foreign Minister .

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    ' THE WjSEK jt $ rtR £ B £ lAMENT . ¦ Monday was signalized fty a jiomplete and expected defeat of Minister * in the House of Commons . Stepping beyond tl * e limits prescribed for a provisional Government , tne Chancellor of the , Excbuqiteb nioved for leiave to bring in a bill to assign the four seats in PaiBamerit jn lieu of St . Alban ' s and Sudhurjr . He observed that , although lie httcL not defined all tie measures which her Majesty ' s Government had proposed , as being of paramount importance to bring before the house prior to the dissolution of Parliament ^ and the House had been too generous to demand more

    precise information , he did , in the middle of March , voluntarily express , their intentions with regard to some of those measures . He had then said that one of those measures which they deemed of paramount importance was , in the event of the bill for the disfrariehisement of the borough of St . Albany receiving the sanction of Parliament , the completion of the constitutional number of the aggregate members of the House of Commons , which , in the opinion of her Majesty ' s Government * was highly expedient before the dissolution of Parliament . He was aware that if he were asked what magic or cabalistic virtue resided in the number 658 , he

    should be extremely perplexed , » nd he should be equally so if he were asked why the number of a jury should be fixed at twelve . But the foundation of all these arrangements was prescription—a rule created . by ex ^ perience and sanctioned by custom , and the time had not arrived when prescription could be lightly treated by the House .- The violation of prescription was an element of disturbance ; and , if for no other reason , he felt it to be his duty to warn the House against a continuous and systematic deficiency in the aggregate number of the House of Commons * If the . present Government had followed their own inclination and

    consulted their convenience , there was hardly any subject they would have more studiously avoided than one calculated to exasperate that jealousy which already exp isted between the towns and the country , and which he hoped hereafter to allay . This jealousy had given rise to a desire in large portions of the community to see whether the elements of the electoral body might not be combined in some other forms . It had been suggested that the learned societies in the " metropolis should furnish members to that House : but . these

    societies in the nineteenth century did not necessarily consist of learned men , and it would be difficult to draw the line ; for if the Royal Society should be entitled to send a representative to that House , upon what principle should the Geographical , the Zoological , the Astronomical , or anynew societies or scientific clubs be excluded ? Then it had been said that the feoyal Colleges and Academies might be endowed with the franchise ; but if their constitutions were examined , it would be found that , generally speaking , they were self-elected . The non-rflpresented universities constitnted another class of claimants ; but though their

    claims , were extremely plausible , in the Scotch universities , i ( $ he elements of a constituency were totally wanting , and in those of London he did not find . the conditions indispensable to such a concession . Another proposition had been urged with great force , namely , to concede one member at least to thG four Inns of Court , which could supply a large and respectable constituency ; but ho thought it would be a hopeless task to propose to allocate a member to such a constituency whilst other lar-ge constituencies were denied tho franchise ; and ho knew , moreover , that there ox > isted a prejudice in which lie did not share ,

    against a larger infusion of lawyers into that house . He , therefore , ronounced reluctantly any attempt to form a constituency from those elements . Under those circumstance * , the course which the Govornmont had thought was , upon tho whole , the best was this : they had considered that the claims of different portions of the constituency depended very much upon tho rolativo degrees of representation they jiow possessed ; and , in this view , tho claim of ono constituoncy seemod to bo paramount , namoly , tho West Hiding of Yorkshire They proposed , thoroforo , that two of tho vacant Heats should be awarded to that county ; that tho West Hiding should be divided into two portions dofincd by the boundary of tho Midland

    Railway , tho portion south and west of tho lino to be called tho South Division of tho West Riding ; tip portion north and , oast of tho lino to bo callod tho Northern Division ; tho constituency of fcho latter division would bo 17 , 965 ; that of tho former ; 18 , 785 . With rogard , to tho two . other soats , tho Government had thought they could not bo guided b y a bettor principlo than in tho other caso . Tho question tinder consideration wan not ono of a largo parliamentary roform , but of apportioning momboi'B with duo deference to existing Parliamentary arrangements . Talcing , therefore , as a tout , tho degrees of representation which cortain counties , cities , and boroughs poaaeflsed , IIek Majestx ' o

    Government | h ^ r 0 |^ w » d ; to recommend apportin ment of the , two Mother yacant seats to the Srmfv . Division j ^ the p ^ mty ot Lancaster . There wemT tails relative to these arrangements which he wo to not dwell aponj and , in conclusion , he expressed hope that the propbgitions he had offered would h adopted , and that they would contribute to the welf of the community ; and increase the strength and -i ,, J ^ of the Kous ^ of Commons : lustro Mr . GiiApsTONE said he should confine himself t the question whether this subject was one into which the House at the present moment should consent t

    enter , and it was his intention to move that the Hous pass to the order of the day . If Mr . Disbaeii had shown that there was a constitutional urgency for th settlement of this question , the House should grant him leave to introduce his bill ; but if "he had failed to show a constitutional necessity , he ( Mr . Gladstone ^ contended that this was no trivial or optional matter and that a strong constitutional principle called upon the House to refuse such permission . Mr . Diseaeii

    had said there was no magical virtue in the number 658 ; but was there any virtue in law , or principle in the Constitution , or anything beyond accident / which recommended that number ? Since 1844 no members Had sat for Sudbury , although three Ministries had been in power in the interval , and no member of the Government or of the Opposition had called upon the House to vindicate what Mr . Djsraeii considered a s ^ rea prescription ; It was a pure question of

    convenience and policy what the number of the members of that House should be . There had been an understanding , the substance of which was clears that no measure not of immediate urgency should he submitted to the House before a dissolution of Parliament . Great inconvenience attended the introduction of such a measure as this . It was a sound canon , that for all measures , except those of immediate urgency , the eye of a dissoliition of Parliament was the very worst moment With respect to this measure , although the scale of the

    subject was small , it was one that deserved the most serious [ consideration , and which shoald be approached and settled once for all when the Administration was in full possession of political power . Did the Government think that the House was in a coudition to give a fair hearin g and full consideration to all claimants ? If , not , it would be impossible to give satisfaction to them or to the public at large . He moved the order of the day * No other speaker intervened , and , on a division , there

    werer—I ? or the motion , 1 ^ 8 ; against it , 234 . Majority' Against Ministers , 86 . The House then went into Committee on ' .. ' ¦ ¦ " , TH ; E MILITIA . PILL . There was some talk about the preceding having been a " snap "; division ; an assertion demolished by Mr . Roebuck , who showed ' that with tie " pairs , " 80 in number , and those who were " shut out , " nearly 500 members were engaged in the division . It was well known , he Baid , that Ministers expected to be beaten , so let them have no more talk about a snap division *

    ... As wo anticipated , the speech of Lord Derby at the Mansion House , , on Saturday , was used by the opponents of the Militia Bill—Mr . Bright calling it a peace speech . Tho whole of the opposition was pitched in that key . Soon after tho debate began , Mr . Wakiey moved that the Chairman ! do report progress , and asK leave to sit again—a motion negatived , after a deal oi talk , by 156 to 85 . . ,, . There was so much Wise after the division , thai MrHumo could not bo heardand ho resented torn 41 MV

    ¦*—. , . AT 1 . JL « J . 4 . U 111 V \^ V / WAV * UU * ivf «* w > - — ,, -flir t and some imputations cast on him by dividing w > Committee against the clause ( 7 th ) . Ho was beaten by 169 to 82 . On the next clause , which provides ior tho quotas of counties being fixed by an Order i Council , Mr . Milneb Gibson moved that « . J ? t 0 poned , on the ground that it would he imp ™ Bibw i ascertain the number of men « fit and liable , witn calling on each householder to prepare a hst--a to and oxnbnsiVo nroCess . Subsequently ; at tho 8 « bB ;

    tion of Sir Goorgo Groy and Sir Charles Wo ° ' t , l 0 words woro omitted ; the Committee "iv ^ oa on amendment , which was rejected by 216 to . 09 . « nu clause agreed to , as ,, amended . Mr . Coupm * moved that the Chairman report progress , as after 12 o ' clock ? Agreed to . MAY NOOTH . . ^ Dotormincd upon seeming to tost M ^ f . ™ } JLth doxy upon tho Catholic question , and try thoi » w » of tho convictions of tho Chancellor of tho l * ou h and Lord Derby , Mr . 0 * ookk » brought on . m threatened motio * for a solecl ; committee to inqu ^ tho working of tho system of education carrioc tho college of Maynooth . Tho real object of tn tlon waa not inquiry at nil , but to make a VY 0 W

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    454 THE READER . ' ' J-y ^ y - ^^^^^^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 15, 1852, page 454, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1935/page/2/