The Press. — London, England, 1853-07-16 00:00:00

'u 16, 1853. THE PRESS. LETTERS FROM A SILENT MEMBER. LETTER IV. TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS." WHAT are House of Commons' speeches made fie •? Ido not of course mean Ministerial statements such as those four Sir CHARLES WOOD had to make when he brought forward four Budgets in one year ; but to whom, and with what object, are speeches, properly so called. addressed ? The only speeches which have influenced a division during the present session were MACAULAY'S and DRUMMOND'S, on the Bill for doing to all Masters of the Rolls what Devonport did to ROMILLT. But, as a general rule, speeches move the Members about as much as they do the Benches ; and a man who is " doubtful," though ho may be flattered by the Whips, is about as much respected by the House as one who should order a chair and table for himself in that anonymous little street between the Carlton and Reform, because he could not conscientiously join either club. Every man, the House of Commons being in its normal state, is supposed to have firmly and irrevocably made up his mind on each important subject before it is debated. The more important the subject debated the more (leaf ought he to be to all and every argument adduced ; though not till his leader has spoken, just previous to) the division, has he learned all the reasons which induced him, before the debate began, to adopt such an inflexible determination. This may read very absurdly, but I defy any one to deny that such is the practical theory of our present system. When his iron discipline and our entire surrender of private judgment to him had brought Sir RonEwr PEEL into office, were the young members ever warned not to listen to Lord 3ons ? You might just as well have told them not to call the Premier by his Christian name. The two things were voted equally impossible. Most of us believed that his Lordship had a cloven foot (though his boot hid it). Suddenly, however, during some division, it was ru moured that one of our men had gone into Lord JOHN'S lobby ! One of owr men? Impossible! FREMANTLE searched the cake-stall and every other receptacle, and found the hideous rumour was too true. An explanation, ad earn*, was needed ; so Sir 6 C— shook his official head and ,ejaculated, " Poor fellow ! but there was always madness in his mother's family!" No other explanation could be given of the hallucination of such a vote ; and, as the moon was full at the time, none of us walked home with the dangerous member that night, little foreseeing how often PEEL would have to endure a similar defalcation, " When that rash humour which our mothers gave us ' Made us forgetful " of all but our principles and convictions. The audience in this House is divided into three classes. The Members themselves form the largest, but except during r . rsonal attacks no one speaks to them. Then come the strangers. Why are they to be ordered to withdraw when the one thing is about to happen which they could not interfere with, even if they wished ? Our Select Committee has reported that " strangers who have been suf " fered to be present during debates have uniformly conducted them " selves in an orderly and becoming manner." Alas ! can we say as much for ourselves ? How, therefore, if they remained during divisions for our ensample ? Reporters constitute the smallest class, those links between the speaker and the world ! To them every sen tence is really addressed, although few members look directly upwards to their gallery, as Mr. Moseicros Mn.NES does, " the poet's eye in a fine frenzy rolling." And here lets me offer a hint—not to you, Mr. Mu.Nzs, for you would never take it—but to you, inestimable reporters. A demonstrative, not to say ostentatious, pause among your swift-moving pens is sometimes highly useful to the House and to the empire. I have myself whispered to a fl oundering friend of mine when he began his third orange, "The reporters are not noting you ; go at once to your peroration." He, sucking, looked upwards, perceived the truth of what I said, perorated at once, and has hated me ever since; but I have borne more than this for my country, and I am ready, with your aid, gentlemen, to bear as much again. Farmers of Cambridgeshire, honour to your member ! Mr. BAIL might have spoken twice on his malt-tax motion, but he saw the time was favourable for a division, and refrained : a triumph would have been his but for the support (! ) of the Westminster 'Failure. By-the-bye, both the ship owners and the farmers had their matters discussed on Tuesday : each claimed a boon because of free trade, In the morning the House per mitted the shipowner to man his own ships as he phased, and yet in the evening refused to let the farmer malt his own barley. A wash of words was poured forth of course ; but these two decisions during the same day must appear somewhat inconsistent, logical reader, toyou as they did to A SILENT MEMBER. A PEACE CONGRESS. SFSETUT. of the real guardians of the peace of the world being now assembled at Spithead, it is proposed to transfer to them the duties of the defunct Peace Society. The ships might all be painted drab, and double•shotted guns with the plugs kept in would much lesemble Quakers. The Duke of Wellington might then he called the Joseph Marge, the High Flyer the John Bright, the Arrogant the Richard Cob den, he.; and we should have a more influential peace congress at Portsmouth than ever aseesulActl in Leaden or Paris. " PLENTY OF TUESDAYS." The Honourable Member will have plenty of Tuesdays for resuming the debate ua this motion.—Lord Palistersies, Jade 5. Plenty of Tuesdays, PALMERSTON states. Remain for resuming adjourned debates. Oh ! horrid news for each jaded member Who has sat till July, since last November, Hoping for few more Tuesdays, if any. Pienty of Tuesdays! good Heavens ! How many? Is the end of the session beyond our reach Tin 'ATARI/ is suffered to make his speeeh— Till I►uii.ev's debating has grown delightffil— Till Admiral BERKELEY has reused to be spiteful— Till * # has satisfied all his thins— Till PHINN has reported about his nuns— Till WiwAms shows breeding or CARDWELL wit-- Till SHELLEY, at last, has made a hit— Till YOUNG has gained readiness, MoLeswowr HALL a peerage, or Mosca a place— Till Comma thinks of the honour of nations, Or KEOGH of election adjurations— Till Sir BALDWIN perceive, and Hype PARKER avow, That the word " confidential " meant somewhat—till now— Till Ei.cao, poor EAIrI.AXE's too kind patroniser, Shall have cleaned our old pictures or painted some Weer— Till reason penetrates Puensu:s skull— Till JOHNNY grows lively, or" WE" grow dull — If we sit till all this happen, tell us, PAM, whose days Shall witness the end of your " plenty of Tuemilsys"? gnLee, STATE OF THE GOVERNMENT HEALTH. THE anxiety which has been generally felt in consequence of the critical disorder to which several members of the Royal Family have recently been subjected, and under which some of them are still suffering, has diverted the public mind from the sanitary condition of the (loverfunent, which appears, however, to have ucensioncd, of late, considerable uneasiness to the friends and supporters of the present Administration. The Morning Adrertiaer, a highly liberal and pro gressive journal, and therefore, we conclude, in the confidence of several members of the existing Cabinet, authentically alarmed the world at the beginning of the week by publishing a regular bulletin of the health of Whitehall and Downing-street. The fact is, the consti tution of the Government is not very strong, and it was originally ordered by its medical attendants to try a milder climate. Nice, we believe, was mentioned. It suffered very much in the earlier part of the session, from a seiies of bad nights ; but as the spring advanced it seemed to rally, and its friends were very sanguine of its permanent establishment. Of late, however, it has experienced a relapse. The prevalenee of Easterly blasts has, no doubt, been very trying for it; Sir HENRY HOLLAND and 1)r. Fitnarsos have, we understand, been called in since the appearance of the bullotin of the Morning ildrertiaer. The indisposition of the various members of the Cabinet bikes, we hear, a very different form, though they are all in seine degree suffer ing. That of Lord P.u.mintsTos is an indisposition to go clown to his °thee ; while that of Lord CLARENDON, on the other hand, is an India position to believe that the Russians have taken possession of the principalities. The indisposition of Mr. Gi.snwrost: to eomprehend that Exchequer Bills are at a discount is, we are assured, extremely painful. Lord John Ruionmes late attack was entirely all indisposition to acknowledge that he was no longer the Leader of the House of Commons. Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTH'S cutuplaint is, that untlishion able people will persist in considering him a Radical ; while the com• plaint of the Duke of NEWCASTLE IN , that he i s not Leader of the House of Lords. The Duke of ARGYLL'S indisposition to follow any opinion except his own increases daily ; while the infirmity of Mr. SIDNEY Many= consists merely of an indisposition to ring his Us. His uncle, Count WonoNzow, the Governor of Odessa, has recom mended him to practise daily '• God sore the K ',spew of Bussio," and we hear with the best effect. Lord A amincEs's bite attack was entirely indigestion, a surfeit of Caviare : tincture of Turkey rhubarb is the remedy reconnnended by the faculty, but his Lordship has a great repugnance to it. SERGEANT MURPHY'S LAST. PROCURING himself a Commtssionership of Insolvency. The wags may the Coalition have thus introduced the " potato disease" into the Courts of Law. GILBERT it BECKETT must now feel that his own joko is capped, and that his only resource is to turn beadle or Baptist minister. Mn. LATATitill MOTION on the peril of Constantinople mny have some affinity to Mr. lizoon's interpellations on the Kildare election. Is the former a Nineveh as the latter was an Irish Bull ; and, if so, what is the distinction or relationship between them? I 4