The Press.
London, England, 1856-02-16 00:00:00

AMERICAN DISPUTE.

SELF-RESPEC,'T is the safest prevention against
quarrelling. The man who is sure of his own
position is the slowest to suspect another of
any design to question it; and hence the art
of avoiding altercations has generally been
deemed one of the peculiar characteristics of
a gentleman. When Mr. Bloundell contra-
dicted Major Pendennis on a point of fashion-
able gossip, how did the Major conduct him-
self ? Did he endeavour to put down the im-
pertinent blunderer? Did he even indulge in
a sneer? Nothing of the kind. Few there
present, we are told, could appreciate the
melancholy politeness with which the veteran
man of the world at once accepted Mr.
Bloundell's version of the anecdote, which he
perfectly well knew to be wrong, and admitted
with readiness that his memory must have
played him false. This is a stroke of true
satire, in which, by insinuating the worthless-
ness of the point in dispute, we ridicule the
littleness of those who first thought it worth
disputing. Never to seem afraid of being put
upon, as the phrase goes—never to argue a
question merely lest people should think you
can't argue it—never to fight simply for fear
the lookers on should think you a coward—
these are some of the maxims on which all
men of superior minds act, habitually and un-
consciously ; and it is this habit which gives
to such men that air of repose and self-posses •
sion before which fools stand abashed and
dandies are wild with envy.
Few men can have mingled, even in the
slightest degree, in society, without noticing
that one prominent fc.!ture in the character of
a parvenu is his proneness to take offence.
His angles are sharper, his corns are " more
tender," than those of other people. There is
really no knowing where to be safe with him.
The moment you put your finger on him his
bristles stand out like a hedgehog's. The
best plan of course is to leave such a character
alone. But unfortunately where nations, not
individuals, are concerned, this cannot be
done. Cool contempt is out. of the question,
and the bristles must be laid by the applica-
tion of the national sawder.

Pulveris exigui jactu cumpressa quiescent.
At least we hope so. But we must take the
opportunity of observing, at the same time,
how fi)olish it is not to be very careful of pro-
voking this irritation. When gentlemen meet
a parvenu in the world they are scrupulously
ceremonious to him; just as Mr. DISRAELI
tells us the old nobility of Spain made a point
of addressing a new-made grandee by the
whole string of his titles, whereas they gene-
rally accosted one another by some familiar
abbreviation. Such should be our conduct
towards America. We should do our best to
avoid impinging on their ramified irritability.
It is senseless to provoke a man, whoever he
may be, who has the power to be mischievous.
And the unpleasant results of having done so,
which we not long ago predicted, are already
becoming apparent. The reinforcement of the
West India squadron has not been without
its effect The augmentation of the American
navy is in rapid progress. Brother Jonathan
may subject himself to deserved ridicule by
his excessive sensibility, and ignorance of the
code of courtesy which governs older coun-
tries. He may show himself a parvenu to any
extent, but for all that he is no fool and he is
no coward. The man who wants to fight you
in the streets because you push against him,
may be a low fellow, but that will be no con-
solation if you go home with a black eye.
Neither will it much mend the matter if you
have given him two in return. On the whole you
will consider it a very disagreeable business,
and wish devoutly you had never got into it.

We recommend these remarks- to the con-

SATURDAY,

MI

sideration of our Premier. He should
reflect that we can get very little glory out
of a war with America at the best, and may
reap considerable loss and discredit. We had
best keep on good terms with these touchy
gentlemen. We have not the slightest reason
to be angry with them, and we ought if possi-
ble not to allow them the pleasure of being
angry with us.

THE LORD'S DAY OBSERVANCE
MOVEMENT.
DEPUTATION TO LORD PALMERSTON.

A DEPUTATION of ministers and laymen of all evan-
gelical denominations, headed by the Archbishop of
Canterbury, and numbering, by desire of the Arch.
bishop, not more than between 100 and 150 gentle-
men, waited upon the Prime Minister on Saturday at
his lordship's residence in Piccadilly.
Among those present were the Earl of Shaftesbury,
Lord Dungarvon, the Hon. A. Kinnaird, M.P., Right
Hon. Joseph Napier, M.P., Mr. T. B. Horsfrll, M.P.,
Mr. Loftus Wigram, Major-General M‘lnnes,
Major General Alexander, the Hon. and Rev. J. T.
Pelham, Archdeacon Wigram.
'f his deputation included official representatives
of the Church, Wesleyan, London, and Baptist Mis-
sionary Societies, and other missionary and religious
institutions.

Lord Palmerston entered the room shortly after
eleven o'clock.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking with
evident emotion, briefly addressed his lordship on
the character of the question at issue, urging the
close connection between ournational Sabbath and the
public maintenance of religion in the land, and pointing
out the unanimity of all Chistian bodies in upholding
the present legal sanctions of the Lord's Day. His
Grace then read an address, pointing out the obliga-
tion of an observance of the Lord's Day, the attempts
made to break in upon its sanctity by proposals to
open the British Museum and Crystal Palace, &c.,
and calling upon the Government to resist any mea-
sure brought before Parliament which should in any
way disturb the due observance of the Sabbath, but
rather to endeavour to relieve the numerous classes
already engaged in various departments of labour,
and to lead the people towards a due observance of
the ordinance and commandment of Almighty God.
Representatives of the working classes were then
introduced to his lordship, and spoke strongly
against any such innovations.
Lord Palmerston, in receiving the address from
the hands of the Archbishop, briefly responded to
the feelings of the deputation. He acknowledged
the importance of the question, and would give it
every due attention. In a matter involving parlia-
mentary action, he, as an individual member of Go-
vernment, did not like to pledge his colleagues with-
out first consulting them. They would, however,
meet that (Saturday) afternoon, and he would bring
the subject of the address before them.

A GREAT MEETING was held at Chester last week,
to consider this grave subject. Upwards of 1,600
persons were present on this occasion. '1 he meeting,
which was held in the Music-hall, was addressed
at great length by the rev. gentlemen of the county,
and by other gentlemen interested in the question.
Various resolutions in accordance with the object
of the meeting were unanimously passed, and a
petition to Parliament a2reed upon, praying the
house to reject any measures which may alter the
law respecting the opening of public exhibitions
.on
Sundays, and to maintain the existing laws securing
the due observance of the Lord's Day.
SIR BENJAMIN HALL lately addressed a letter in
reply to a memorial forwarded to him from the inha-
bitants of Kensington, protesting against the per-
formances by the regimental bands in the gardens
on Sundays. The Chief Commissioner of Works, in
his reply, sets out by questioning the authenticity of
the memorial, and characterises the pertormanees of
the bands as the most innocent recreation for the
working classes. In conclusion, the right hon.
baronet says that no one would deprecate more
strongly than himself any measure which might he
expected to lead to the desecration of the Lord's
Day, but submitting that he cannot regard these
musical performances as possessing such a tendency.

CABINET COUNCILS were held at the Foreign-office
on Saturday last, and on Monday and Wednesday
afternoons in this week. The Ministers present
were, Viscount Palmerston, the Lord Chancellor, Earl
Granville, the Marquis of Lansdowne; the Earl of
Harrowby, Sir George Grey, the Earl of Clarendon,
Mr. Secretary Labouchere, the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, Sir Charles Wood, Right Hon. 11. Vernon
Smith, Lord Stanley of Alderley, Right lion.
M. T. Baines and the Duke of Argyll. The Councils
sat severally for three hours and a half, two hours
and a half, and two hours and a half.

FEBRUARY 16, 1856.

V rotetViqs in arliamcnt.

AMENDMENT OF THE LAWS.

Mr. NAPIER, on Tuesday, moved the following re-
solution :

That, in the opinion of [this house, as a measure of
Administrative Reform, provision should be made for an
efficient and responsible department of public justice, with
a view to secure the skilful preparation and proper struc-
ture of parliamentary bills, and promote the progressive
amendment of the laws of the United Kingdom.
The right hon. gentleman, in a speech of great
ability, commenced by pointing out the present dis-
graceful state of the law, of which three distinct sys-
tems—to each of which Parliament was every day
making additions—were now in progress in the
United Kingdom. Tho Scottish law rested on a
distinct basis which he did not wish to disturb—
with respect to Ireland, in addition to the common
law of both countries, putt ing aside private and local
arts, there were no fewer than 18,284 statutes, while
some of the acts still suffered to encumber the
statute-book were absurd and even ludicrous in their
nature :

For example, one of those laws imposed a penalty
on Irish prelates fot collating an Irishman to 4 bene-
fice in England, or for bringing an Irishman to Parli-
ament to discover the counsels of Englishmen to rebels ;
another defined what classes of Irishmen might come to
dwell in England, declaring that none should he permitted
to do so who hail not procured a testimonial from the
Lord Lieutenant; another related to the carrying of coals
to Newcastle—(laughter)—another prohibited a man,
under a pecuniary penalty, from keeping more than 2,000
sheep ; and another was intended to regulate abstinence
from flesh in Lent and other usual times. At the close
of Queen Anne's reign the number of public statutes in
existence was 3.277, of which no fewer than 2.074 had
been either wholly or partially repealed, had become obso-
lete, or had expired ; and the recent expurgate list included
10,017 statutes for England alone. Last year a resolution
was passed in that house ordering a bill forthwith to be
introduced for the sweeping away of this huge heap of
dead legislation, but that most desirable object had not
yet been accomplished. Indeed, the noble Premier told
them the other night that the task was one which far
exceeded the powers of the present Government, or any
other that was likely to succee lit. 'that was certainly a
very discouraging intimation to the friends of law reform,
and yet it ought to Induce them to grant a favorable consi-
deration to the remedy which he (Mr. Napier) now humbly
a iggested. ( Hear, hear.)
Successful attempts at codification had been made
of old by Justinian, and by Trehonian ; in modern
times by the Code Napoleon ; and still later by the
New York Code. Lord Bacon, in the reign of James
1., had suggested the consolidation and reform of the
law; Mr. Hargreaves, the great jurist, in 1787 had
called attention to the increasing evil. Mackintosh,
Romilly, and Brougham, all great law reformers, had
made every effort for consolidating and simplifying
the Statute Law, but nothing, had resulted. The
present Lord Chancellor, in 1853, had proposed an
admirable plan if carried out, but which Lord Pal-
meNton now declared to be impracticable. The
current legislation of the day Mr. Napier thought
the house would find of even greater importance
than the point upon which he had just dwelt. The
mole in which it was managed was most unsatisfac-
tory. Bills were brought in without restriction,
amendments were made, and blunders, inconsistency,
and confusion ensued :

The same bills were bronght in over and over again—
the same statements were made with respect to them—and
then some member of the Government would get up and
say, I don't object to the hon. member introducing this
measure, but I don't pledge myself to the details." So it
went on night after night and session after session. For
instance, there was the Judgments Execution, which had
been before the house four or five sessions, and which now
stood again for a second reading. Then there was the old
Fishery Bill, which he certainly thought had been extin-
guished ere this. Every year the same bills were intro-
duced, discussed, and aban toned, to undergo the same
process in the next session. He wished some financial
reformer would procure an account of the expense to which
the country was put by these hills; he was sure it would
be considerable. Now, in his opinion, you could not have
a bill properly framed and matured until it became an act
of Parliament, unless one head was charged with its con•
duct who understood the whole bearing of the law in con-
nection with the subject-matter of the measure. At present
a hill often fell into the hands of a member who knew
nothing about the state of the law on that particular
question ; the Government thought it prejudicial to their
interests to refuse permission to introduce; end in con-
sequence there afterwards ensued a scrambling scene—
the Government trying to trip up the bill at one stage
of its progress or other, and their time and the national
interest being thus sacrificed for the sake of political con-
venience.

To remedy all this, he proposed the constitution of
a particular department, presided over by a well-
qualified person, to whose scrutiny all bills should
be first subjected. A thorough knowledge of the
existing state of the law, and an acquaintance with
the objects desired by the promoters of the bills