The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-08-11 00:00:00

Ce -tottrbribge Obertyer.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11th, 1883.

THE WOliK OF THE LEGISLATURE.

Mr. G:ad-ttone has named Saturday, the 25th
instant, as the lat-st day on which the session
may be expeted to ceose, and there can be
little doubt that every effete wel be made
to wind up the business by tent day. A vary
fair amount of work was done at the lint Satur-
day sitting of the house of Commons; indeed
the progress mede more resembled the sittings
of former years, when the Parliamentary
machine moved with greater lapidi.y than it has
done receet/v. The Sssiin. which opened on
the 15 e February, will have turned out some
useful if not shewy measures, Parliament was
late in eegioniee because of the length to which
the e eteien of 1882 had extended. Noble lords
and hoecturable genteemeu did not separate un-
til the 2od• December, the Commons having sat
from tile 24th October until that date in oreer
to pass the new rules of Procedure. Over these
there had been a prolonged contention. It be-
gan at the very commencement of the session of
1882, and was interrupted by the legislation
consequent on the Phcenix Park murders. For
six weeks in the late autumn the members of
the House of Commons devoted themselves to
the framing of the amended regulations with a
view to the expediting of public bueiness.
Singularly enough, the rule which was the cause
of the greatest dispute, and over which weeks
were spent, has not once been put into operation
The cloture has an ugly look about it even in
print; and it is satisfactory to know that no
occasion has arisen to put it into force. In-
deed, very little has been heard of obstruction
this session at all.
When Parliament assembled,on the 15th Feb-
ruary, a familar figure was missed from the
centre of the Treasury Bench. Mr. Gladstone,
upon whom had fallen the task of working
through the new rules of procedure, had ar-
ranged to address his constituents in Midlothian
about the middle of January ; but the continu-
ous wear and tear of the autumn session had
told upon his health ; the Midlothian visit was
,abandoned ; and the right hon. gentleman pro-
ceeded by medical advice to the South of France
His brief sojourn on the shores of the Mediter-
ranean re-established his health in a marvellous
way, and before the Parliamentary year was a
fortnight old, he was back in his place. The
House did not appear the same without the form
which had been a commanding presence in that
assembly for half a century. The administra-
tions which have come and gone during the
twelve Paiiaments that Mr. Gladstone has sat
in the hoots House of G :anions make up a
comprehensive and representative collection.
They extend from the time of Earl Grey to his
own. lie himself was a member of the Minis-
- try 49 yeses ego, for ha was a Lord of the Trea-
sury in the Government of Sir Robert Pael in
1834. et was no wonder therefore that he was
missed when the session was in its early days.
The Marquis of Hartington led the House in the
Premier'e brief absence ; and it is remarkable to
note that with that exception the noble lord has
taken little prominent part in tbe proceedings
of the House.
Tee way in whFch of la'e years it has been
cus;mmary to prolong the session cannot have
escaped the attention af those who have mem-
ories for years which passed away not very long
ago. Even in order t) get done by the end of.
August, Bill after Bill has had to be thrown
overboard, the sacrifices being made by the
Government as well as by private members.
The longest session of modern times was that
of 1881, which began on the 6th January and
ended on the 28th August. A Parliamentary
year of eight months is undoubtedly a very great
strain. Last year it was nnt much less. The
session opened in 1882 on the 7th February,
and ran to the 18th August, when there was
a recess of nine weeks' extending to the 24th
October, when, as stated above, the House sat
into December. Formerly the session was ac-
customed West barely six months. In the
time of Lord Palmerston it usually began in the
first week in February, and terminated in the
last week in July. The last session of Lord
Palmerston's life was brought to a close 0n the
6th of July. Those wate the old and happy days
when, as the late Dean of Westminster elo-
quently pointed out, parties stood "upon the
water-shed of divided streams," and before the
strain of legislative work had become so heavy.
Lord Palmerston was Prime Minister at 81, Lord
Beaconsfiield at 76, Lord Russell at 74, and Mr.
Gladstone at 74 holds that high office. But the
times become more exacting as the world ad-
vances, and Mr. Gladstone's Premiership is far
more arduous than was that of Lord Palmer-
ston. The Premier has therefore done wisely
not to prolong the session into September, or to
have an adjournnent now to meet again later on
for the purpose of transacting some apparently
indispensable business. A man who has lived
in the world nearly three quarters of a century,
and has witnessed fifty years of public and
official lie, begins to discover, when his hair is
"hire with age, that he is but human, end not
"a compound of clockwork and steam.