The Press. — London, England, 1854-04-01 00:00:00

.. . r. , .. 4.- ._ , o ,_ ..,,, .. _ . ,:.;.., :•• 1 - '1 •1 ' - f . '; , • , , ,! I. tzt te. YYJ• . _i!'' 'i l : f•.• . ': . i - l. _ :, .. r .; ‘ , .'l. (I /./' II )1 ' • i . - . .:' i:. 4! 1 . t .1 't I I /. ( 74j i rt No. 48.—VoL. 11. LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1854. i4t Vress. lidate, at this critical period, her political strength. It is a loss which would shake to its centre even a house with a Billing or a Roths child at its head ; but Mr. GLADSTONE, until very recently, looked as if he had just taken a double fist. Within the ,last week the true character - or his operations and financial career has been revealed to the country,—first by Mr. DISRAMJ, who, in an overwhelming speech, refitted' all his previous sophistries and unblushing mistatements, and disclosed the real condition of the Exchequer, exhatt3ted by his bubble schemes'; and oh Thursday , last by Sir JOHN PAKINOTON, who clearly showed to the House that the famous Budget of 1853 was, in fact, a fraudulent Budget, and that, in posses sion of information which rendered war with a powerful Sovereign highly probable, the CHAN CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, for the sake of some ephemeral popularity, tampered in the most unprincipled manner with the resources of the country. The demeanour of this Minister throughout these successive discussions has changed in a characteristic manner. First he bullied, then he whimpered—finally he took refuge in silence, and devolved his vindication to the " conventicle rhetoric of Mr. GLAD STONE," who might be styled his Right Honourable and " Reverend " Friend. His overweening carriage has all vanished, and in his last state he looks very much like a lame duck. LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1854. THE chief business of the House of Commons seems now an evening entertainment, derived from some strange indiscretion or wild vagary of those men who, only twelve months ago, were looked upon by the nation as such au unrivalled aggregate of Ministerial capacity that an identity of political opinion was waived, by consent, to obtain possession of such in estimable advantages. It is better than any of the minor theatres. After-dinner speeches by Sir JAMES GRAHAM, letters written during a fit of — the, gout by Lord PALMERSTON, solemn reasons given by Lord Joint Rvassu„ with a wink of the eye, for the postponement of the Reform Bill, and weekly estimates of the cost which the country has incurred for the enjoy ment of that unrivalled financier and unexam pled stockjobber, Mr. GLADSTONE, mixed up with interludes of commissariat hay stuffed with dead lambs, graphic pictures of Irish labourers .bearing hods heavier than them selves, and Mr. Justice SToNoR, altogether form a vastly diverting medley, which draws, and, in the absence of the private correspon dence of Baron BRUNOW, must convey to the Emperor of RUSSIA a lively idea of the official ability and personal influence of the Govern ment presided over by his " old friend." There is not a subject on which two mem bers of the Government agree, and every Minister has got into a scrape. Even those who were thought safe in time are tainted. It s is as catching as the influenza. It is said that a statesman should always identify him self with a great principle ; these gentlemen identify themselves with a great blunder, or something worse. It is said that if the Cabi. net had attended in force at the City dinner, the other day, the toasts would have been arranged as follows: When the answer had been received from St. Petersburg, and the supplies had been voted, Lord JOHN RIISSZLL was to proceed with his scheme of Parliamentary Reform. The delay was to be regretted, but, at the same time, greatly compensated for by the introduction, in the inevitable interval, of the Irish and Scotch Reform Bills. These im portant measures seem, somehow or other, to be forgotten. What a hoax is the whole affair ! Instead of quarrelling in the Cabinet, one would rather suppose their assemblies were scenes of perpetual merriment and mockery. The Roman augurs, when they met in privatO, could have been nothing to them. There mast be some bad management which thus contrives, periodically, to convey to the public the im pression that they are at variance. But per haps it is the only mode by which they can contrive to persuade the world that they have any opinion. In the meantime public business progresses bravely. The disfranchising schedules lie on the table of the House covered with dust ; the Dissenters are to be admitted to the Univer sities when Mr. GIADSTONE pays off the Na tional Debt ; Reform and Education are almost as much in the ascendant as peace and non interference. What if that sage measure, the Oaths Bill, be not passed, the reconstruction of the civil service will make up for every thing, and be the public compensation for all backalidings, as the reduced price of soap is to the Birmingham clerk for his doubled income tax. " Lord Aberdeen and Partition." " Lord. John Russell and Parliamentary• Reform." " The Lord Chancellor and the Ecclesiasti cal Courts." " Lord Clarendon and the Vienna Note." " The Duke of Newcastle and the Colonial Bench." " Lord Palmerston and the Law of Settle ment." " Sir James Graham and the Baltic Fleet." " The Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Stock Exchange." This last gentleman seems in the sorriest condition, because in his case all who run may read. In a stockjobbing speculation of ten millions, notwithstanding the deceptions which he successfully practised on a large number of old ladies in the country, he has contrived already to lose one million and a half sterling, the exact sum which Sardinia is in vain attempting to raise as a loan to conso• These are the men to carry on a war with vigour and success. "Their unanimity is won derful." They quarrelled even about the com mander of their first expedition; but time was so precious, and the occasion so pressing, that they dubbed even NAprza discreet, and sent him, in breathless haste, to conquer the Gulf of Finland, which is covered with ice till the month of May. What a glorious future ! Walcheren expeditions, and conquests of Cabul ! lir 4 t• ' rat )(I A ii if •-•,.1.1 . fi ; PRICE SIXPENCE. THE POOR LAW ON COALITION PRINCIPLES. .. THE defeat of Government on the Poor-law Bill, the acknowledged inconsistency and dis crepancy of, their. opinions respeeting it, toge ther with the suepentld, htit seatcely with drawn, resignation of Mr. BAINES, are all significant facto, anfl not lightly to be peeled over. They prove three things :—First, the carelessness with which, in their attempts to revive a fading popularity, Ministers lay befell Parliament measures of reform which they~ have never matured, nor even so much as con sidered ; next, the feeble tie which blade the" together, when a cause apparently so slight can threaten their dissolution at snail a moment; and lastly, the very little Manage* which exists on any side (except, Weed: among the Conservative Opposition) to treat with indulgence the inevitable errors into which every Cabinet must sotnetlinee fall. / The first assertion requires no proof. It was notorious to all who bad given a moment's thought to the settlement question that the real obstacle to dealing with that sub,teet laj in the case of the Irish poor. All the rest was comparatively plain sailing. Witness after witness had stated this befilre the committee of '47 ; it had been argued in pamphlets, pUt forward in speeches —even, if we mistake not, admitted from the Treasury Bench. It is believed that Lord DILIUIVII Cabinet were not averse to modify the law of removal, and that the Irish difficulty alone induced' them to suspend action in the matter. Be this true of not, the dilemma in which poor-law relbreners are placed is obvious. While you admit the legality of removals as a general principle, the Irishman has no more canoe to complain than another. But, as Lord PAussarros puts it well, if two labourers are working in the tame parish, and if the ono be entitled to relief as a right, though born in a different part of Eng. land three hundred miles oft it molly: hard that his neighbour should be liable, on be coming destitute, to undergo what is virtually equivalent to a sentence of transportation, merely on the ground of his Irieh birth. " The " claim," as he acknowledged, " is irresistible." The question which it involved wee e very grave one. Every previous legislator had conenrred in judgmesit.with Mr. Bantes, , tlatit it was not ripe for parliamentary handling., But if Ministers thought otherwise, why was it not dealt with in their bill? If, again, the claim could not be justly resisted—it the Irish labourer's right were identical in nature and degree with that of the Englishmau—bat if from popular prejudice, from the different social state of the countries, or any other Cause, that which was abstractedly Sat to attempt was practically impostlble 'to be accomplished—what duty dearer than tq suspend all legislation until the question could be grappled with' as a whole ? In truth, the Ministerial muse* was evidently dictated by a poliey neither very reined nor very scrupulott. /Irish vote s ware to be gained by rogue ptotakeeAt future justiee to Irish labour. _ goglish eippooltion was to be neutralised brlteephag out of sight the dreaded oontingency of as Wilmot Celtic p"uperitim. Pity that. *such m ions ht tngues could not be carried on In sew- - • .z\,l MI RI •