The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-07-26 00:00:00

Eke ,Stourbage Obserinv,

SATURDAY. JULY 26th, 1884.

THE WORK OF THE SESSION.

BABB= as many recent Sessions of Parlia-
ment have been, that which is now thawing
to a close presents the most complete case of
collapse which has been witnessed during a
generation. Nit one measure of the first
importance announced in the Queen's Speech
has passed. Some, like the Franchise Bill,
after successfully running the gauntlet of
prolonged controversy in the House of Com-
mons, went on to the House of Lords only
to suffer shipwreck there. Others, like the
Government of London Bill and the Mer-
chant Shipping Bill, after having been in-
troduced, have not been able to reach a
second read ing,'and have had to be abandoned.
The measures which have received the
sanction of the Legislature would not be
missed if they had never been passed at all.
It is not everybody who is interested in the
treatment of criminal lunatics, or in the
amendment of the law of evidence. The
Grand Committee on Trade, which was
nominated four months ago,. has never met;
it has not had a single measure sent before
it. In fact the survey of legislative rain is
mournful and humiliating.
This is a matter which may, and indeed
should be, discussed away from all party
considerations. At a general election the
forces on each side are marshalled for'battle,
and one or the other gains a great victory.
Public meetings are held, voluntary workers
run themselves off their feet, and enthusiastic
partisans devote time and money to securing
the success of their own particular cause.
When the result is attained, there is a shout
of triumph from the one set of combatants,
and an audible groan ofldisappointment from
the other. The High Court of Parliament
is summoned to meet by Royal Proclama-
tion for the despatch of divers urgent and
important affairs. All the paraphernalia
of pomp and circumstance are brought to-
gether for the purpose of impressing the
people:with the dignity of the Legislature.
When the present House of Commons as-
sembled, at the end of April, 1880, fresh
from the polls, charged with momentous
mandates from the constituencies and
vigorous after the inhalation of country air,
members were 60 assiduous in their attention
to, their duties, that the oft-recurring ques-
tion of aoconamodaaion was raised. Members
crowded down to the House in such num-
bers every evening that they not only
crowded the benches, and gathered in solid
groups at the bar, but they also overflowed
into the galleries and stood upon the steps
of the gangways. Mr. Mitchell Henry, on
one of these occasions, addressed Mr.
Speaker from the members' gallery, an in-
novation never before attempted in the
House of Commons. But the hon. gentle-
man was sent to Parliament to do his duty
by his constituents, and they expected him
to do this independently of Parliamentary
forms and ceremonies. Mr. Gladstone was
appealed to as to what should be done to
find room for the newly-elected representa-
tives of the people, burning with zeal for
the interests of the empire. What was the
use of sending men to Parliament if there
were no seats for them? The Premier,
with an experience of half a century of
public life, good humouredly suggested that,
peradventure after a time, there would be
ample space at the disposal of the new legis-
lators. A London- evening paper sternly
rebuked the Prime Minister for venturing
even to hint that the zeal of this Parliament
could cool. But its best friends and warm-
est well-wishers would not affirm that the
records of its work are at all commensurate
with the expectations which were formed
or the hopes raised. Its fifth session is the
worst of the whole series.

The lowering of the tone of Parliament
and the decadence in the ability to legislate
demand the serious attention of our public
men on both sides of politics, and of the
cross-bench mind as well. Unless the great
council of the nation can show something
better than repeated chronicles of failure,
the interest in Parliament will decline, and
the ranks of our legislators will be filled by
an inferior race of men. As one race of dis-
tinguished statesmen.dies out, there are no
signs of an equal number arising to take
their places. Where is the Mr. Disraeli of
the Tory party of to-day? Where is the
future Mr. Gladstone of the Liberals ?
Where are the growing Cobdens and the
Brights ? A lack of public interest in the
proceedings of Parliament, such as would be
produced by a long-continued course of legis-
lative inaction would result in our legislators
themselves being ultimately reduced to one
dead level. As a remedy for our Parlia-
mentary failures it has been suggested that
however long it might be necessary to keep
the House of Commons sitting, the Minis-
ters should insist on taking the judgment of
the House on every measure of first-class
importance claiming its attention. But
independently of the fact that it is not easy
to keep the House of Commons together
after the middle of August, it must be re-
membered that Ministers are bat flesh and
blood, and not a compound of, clock work and
steam. Lord Palmerston was Premier at
81, Lord Beaconsfield at 76, Earl Russell at
74, Mr. Gladstone holds that office at 75
ages at which the physical [frame requiris
rest, and life's work as a rule is well-nigh
done.