The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-07-31 00:00:00

TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1855.

ABORTIVE LEGISLATION.

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IT is almost as tedious as a thrice-told tale to allude
to the many abortive schemes which, since the reform
of the House of Commons, have marked the close of
each session of Parliament. This year, however, the
list is largely increased, so that the number of bills
abandoned far exceeds those which have reached
maturity. The excuse for this is the shortness of time,
which renders their further progress impracticable ;
but it may be observed that, while the standing com-
plaint is the waste of time in purposeless discussions,
the abandoned bills are those which have occupied the
most time, and the measures which ultimately pass
have been introduced at a late period, and carried
through the forms of Parliament in comparative
silence. This practice is not only reprehensible, from
its utter absurdity, but the moral effect must be to
deprive the House of Commons of that respect which
ought to attach to its proceedings. Whenever a dis-
solution of the present Parliament takes place, the
electors must pay more attention to the qualifications
of the candidates proposed to them than they have
hitherto done, and place more reliance on fixed and
intelligible principles than on promises made on the
hustings, or in election addresses. It would be a
painful task to wade through the mass of inconsisten-
cies, absurdities, and concessions to expediency of
which the members of the present House of Commons
have been guilty. Their votes and their professions
have been so often at cross-purposes, that such con-
tradictions have ceased to excite surprise. The country,
anxious for the prosecution of the war, witnessed with
satisfaction the majority by which the Coalition
Cabinet was shattered to pieces ; and though their
successors have excited a greater degree, if possible, of
dissatisfaction, every attempt to purify the adminis-
tration has been thwarted by parliamentary indifference
to public honour.

We need hardly feel surprise that the session should
have proved such a burlesque on legislation, when
we take into account that the House of Commons is
led by a ministry utterly incapable for its ordinary
duties, and bewildered by the charge of a war, whilst
the majority of the members have been studious to
exhibit their abandonment of principle for an unsuc-
cessful resort to expediency. They feel convinced that
the ministry have forfeited all claim to public con-
fidence, and yet they are afraid to act upon the con-
viction, because they cannot see their way clear to the
choice of successors. The consequence of all this
vacillation and indecision, is the miserable spectacle
which the British parliament now presents. The
session must last out a certain time, in order to make
an appearance of doing something, but as no two
parties are agreed as to what is to be done, the time
is occupied in debates which lead to nothing, whilst
the few useful measures, which might have been dis-
cussed to some advantage, have been postponed until
so near the expected prorogation, that the last few
sittings have been coroners' inquests upon defunct
bills. The House of Commons has outgrown its power
of usefulness ; Reform has made it worse instead of
better, and the only prospect of remedy arises from
the hope, that the electors, when they have an oppor-

tunity,
may display more intelligence than their
representatives have done. We do but echo the senti-

ment avowed by more than nine-tenths of the press,
that the public at large are greatly dissatisfied with
the present administration, and that the dissatisfaction
is increased by the little sympathy shown by the
majority of the House of Commons with the feelings
and wishes of their constituents.