The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1868-03-10 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

THOILSDAY. —The appearance of the HOUlli when
strangers were admitted was aignilloant, in the
ordinary peculiar way, of an imminent interesting
event, for the sesta were profusely "carded" on both
sicits, eat in due time every position in the House
proper was filled, and all the rest of the available space
wax crowded by what may be called the usual gala
audience. At this time of the session, at any rate,
there is sure to be an abundance of preliminary business
to be done before the speciality of the evening can
come on; and now an apparently lively but totally
unheard disunion on • private bill was going on, when
a rumbling noise of shouts came into the House from
the lobby, and in the midst of a speech which Mr. T.
Hitches was emphasising, Mr. Disraeli entered. At
once cheers broke out—certainly from both sides of ths
House—bat one might have fancied that they did not
have that ringing re-fthoirig tenni which characterises
the clamour of the House when it ia decidedly excited,
and they lasted only till their object reached his seat,
and then subsided et ono*. Mr. DisrselPs features
were overspread by an unusual pallor. The aspirations
of his earlier yearn were vividly presented to the House
by the elegance of his dries, the studied juvenility of hie
appearance, and the fashionable sttire of the Young
England of a past generation. "Vivian Grey ia Prime
Minister at last I^ The figure on the Treasury Bench
was the living presentment of the portrait attached
to his earlier novels. Of ecurse there was 1111
unusual ucummulation of petitions, and numerous
notices of motion, the only notable one being that by
which Mr. Better threatens to try to take away
members from English oonstitnencies for the beheld of
Scotch reprceentation, instead of adding to the um
total of the House. Then the " cm... Boning" was
remarkable only for bringiag oat Mr. Sclater-Booth in
his new part of thaerehrey to the Treasury, and who
showed all due readiness to deal with the subject of ths
supply of postage stamps to the troops in Abyssinia.
At length, and after • time which seemed long, Mr.
Disraeli presented himself, and was greeted pretty
mush as be used to be last year when he brought
fox ward, from time to time, anew plan of Parliamentary
Reform. Evidently be had girded himself opts. the
duty before him with care, and he spoke nearly all
through in what was intended to be his beet, WI which
—not to speak it profanely—may be called his most
artificial manner. The tremor in the voice and the
slightly broken sentences may be taken to imply
emotion, and so for his speech was, to a great extent,
emotional. Much of the matter of it was calm.
lead to excite interest: aa, for instance, when
he slated that tb• resignation of Lord Derby was
unexpected by his colleagues; but the tribute
which he paid to the late Premier was just what
might have been expected both in tons sod
phraseology. The reference to his own secession
to the chief place in the Ministry •••••ed to be se-
eepted by the House as fitting and in good taste,
oirthbengordasinhaerydiddifollfcalihtlue annof vathts!° pnosiand multiplicationtiooinhis wn
OW., by "personal and peculiar oircumetanz 'tlias and
appealing as he did with emphasis to the gym of
• generous y and a fair and impartial Hones of
Commons. Tit became a little more businewlike In
manner and phrase when he began to intimate the
principles on which his Government was to wowed, sod
naturally the Rouse eagerly inclined to listen, and a
sonorous interrogatory cheer same from several Opposi-
tion members. A dispoaition to laugh was apparent.
though it was checked when, with • certain slyness of
expression, he declared that any putieular exposition
of policy was min as he intended to preserve
that of Lord Derby, an 'nothing more; and • good
nY if"tlereen, who bad miserly listened for what was
to come, seemed to be a little balked. Descending more
tO P•rtkolua, he hinted that the Government was
strong
f"*"ffnooliey, brearue that was Lord Stanley's
care, and therefore that the Continent of Europe was
more than satiefied ; and that pesos, though by no
means I"l6l6diaous Duo*, was to be its motive and
Inspiration. As
aff.t.i. be ...pitoctoopy
promised a "
141. Hereupon came a burst
Oefphpoself cheeringitioni hail
n..i.. laughing from inis
ofte : r Mare.teurialmits
himself up.
and in hie keenest sereastuu tett., orkg aloud, "I mean
• truly Liberal policy,i and thea as west on to exploits,
In the old manner, how Mutt tnisisa=..s....
with the events of the age, without touching the
Institutions of our •Doisat historical cionstry sod so on,
In a strain with which the Hour is sallagen
Tim he vim inonahl mit pplades eitie=

Corpus Act in Ireland, which was, however, only •
measure of protection el the Irish people proper against
the machination. of a foreign confederacy; and
he agreed in the necessity of goo.rse for tho
amelioration of that country being considered by the
House—he did not say the Government, and, indeed, so
far as they wore concerned, be begged that everyone
would wait for the development of their views by Lord
Mayo on the following Tuesday. By this ties be bad
oast off most, if not all, of the Ittribrlosteness in roes
and manner whin he had preserved previously, and
spoke nearly briskly of his resolve to do all in his power
to make up for the lost weeks of the session. He con.
eluded. somewhat craftily. with • promise to be parti-
cularly conciliatory th tbes Opposition in business
matters. There was no cheering when In sat down end
it was obvious that the Home would have willingly
closed the scene then but Mr. Bonverie, with sort of
impetuosity, arose and went in for what portended to be
• heroe and representative attack on Le Government,
but ere long he turned rather more furiously ou
the Liberal party, referring to it as • party who had
leaders who did not lend, followers that did not follow,
who were a more rabble, and. summing up • somewhat
rhapsodical speech by proposing, is the remedy for •
*irk Government in a minority, • coalition between
the leaders of both parties. By the time he had
finished there was • perceptible thinning of the ranks of
the Opposition, and before Sir George Bowyer had con-
cluded what was suopined be be • reply be Mr-
Bouverie, the House was, speaking in common whines,
empty. The rest of the evening's work went on quietly
*cough; the Capital Punishments in Prisons Bill got
its second reading by • majority of 181 to Hon a
division, in spite of • furious opposition of Mr. Serjent
Geste., who, among other things, declared it to be •
right of British citizenship for • man to be hanged in
public; while • proposition in regard to the E1i0...
and Corrupt Pranices bill by Mr. Disraeli, that • new
tribunal should be erected insisting of two extra judges
of the soperior courts, who would try election mutters
MI the spot, and be available for service in the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council, the Exchequer
Chamber, and any other Court of Appeal, was so far
accepted as that the bill was reed • snood time.
FAlDAT.—Amongst the "notion" in the Commons
was one by Mr. Otway, promising a renewal of his
efforts of last session to do away with corporal punin-
ment in the army; while Mr. Vanderbyl indicated an
intention to raise the question of "baby-farming,."
The prime business of the evening was a motion by Mr.
Shaw Leflivre, involving • discussion on the vexed
subject of the Alabama claims. The hoc. gentlemen
tcld the whole story from its very germ in • calm
sequence, and nrged that it was not worth while to
break off negotiations on the point of the admission
or non•adentesion of the quenion of recognition
' by this country of the belligerent rights of the
South, in • manner which was apparently satin.
factory to the House. Immediately after him Lord
Stanley followed, and, in • speech remarkable for
auidoar and judicial impartiality, vindicated his policy;
especially urging that this country bad acted Jost as the
United States had meted, in a parallel case with regard
to Hungary, in regard to recognition of belligerents, and
that the warn pursued by England was only • ewes-
, eac7 result of the previous recognition of the South as
belligerents by the North. Towards the end of his
speech he hinted at oonensions, and more than intimated
that • new point of departure for negotiation had arisen.
He eat deem amidst more genuine as well as universel
cheers than are often heard in the House. The line
taken by Mr. W. E. Foriter was that of the member
who initiated the debate, though, perhaps,
.his argu-
ments were more solidly put, and as soon as Sir George
Bowyer had literally laid down the law, and Mr. Sand.
ford had decidedly patronised and offered his protection
to Lord Stanley, Mr. Stuart Mill row. It was a curious
illustration of .growing tendency amongst distinguished
members to speak rather to the country than merely to
the House, that Mr. Mill and Mr. Gladstone rose to-
gether to address • minimum of an audience at half-past
seven o'clock. Am may be supposed, Mr. Mill gave a
tone of novelty to the dissertation. Thus be showed
that the international question of law turned on the
point whether this country had been made the basis
of hostilities by one belligerent sgainst another,
and he ales urged that what the United States
really asked was that the question of recognition
by England might, if reveleet, be used as evidence of
Injury before WI arbitrator- while he suggested that the
matter in dispute could be better dealt with by a mixed
commission than by arbitration. It would hardly be
passible for • quasi-political opponent to express more
isonfidente in • Minister than 14% Gladstone did in Lord
Stanley, and in the main be supported the noble lord in
withstanding, at the outset, an assertion that repara-
tion win due in this matter to the United States. The
debate had, in • certain sense, dwindled away- all of
the many second-bench aspirants to speak, who had
presented themselves in vain earlier in the ensuing,
baying taken their departure, and no it now naturally
came to in end. There ensued rather • smart
" passage" between the two leaders, arising out
of a sort of isensand by Mr. Chichester Porten for
the introduction of the Irish Reform Bill on Monday—
the day originally fixed for that purpose. It was with
some haughtiness that Mr. Disraeli talked of his right
to regents public bunions by his convenience, and so
Mr. Gladstone was tempted to something like a short
retort, and insisted on the necessity of a statementof the
Government plan of Parlianienno Reform for Ireland
forming part of the revelation of their Irish
The gentle interference of Lord Mayo, with • promise
to bring in the Irish Reform Bill at the very earliest
possible period, although the Scotch Bill would take
precedence of it on Monday, was successful in ending
• little dispute. The rest was merely routine business
—the bringing In • few bills and re-appointing a com-
mittee or two of bet year.