The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-04 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

The secession of the opposition peers on Thurs-
day night formed the subject of an animated con-
versation in the House of Lords hint evening. It
became the duty of the Earl of Malinesbury to
etate the course which the government intended
to pursue with reference to the Boundary Bill,
and the amendments of which Lord Beauchamp
bad given notice. After ironically congratulating
)is opponents upon their re-appearance the noble
mil availed himself of this opportunity to com-
ment with severity uppoon their conduct on the
previous evening as ei•srespectful to the house,
and wanting in respect to themselves. In
tones of lofty indignation be denounced
the charges of ill-faith which had been
made against the government ; and, to
prove that they rested upon no foundation
whatever, read a letter from Mr. Disraeli, in which
the prime minister informed him that the meaning
of his expressions had been " painfully distorted,"
and declared that his remarks were entirely con-
fined to proceedings in the House of Commons.
Be ridiculed the conduct of the opposition as re-
sembling that of little boys who, when offended,
refuse to play any move, but concluded by request-
ing Lord Beauchamp to withdraw his amend-
ments, in order that no obstacles might be thrown
in the way of completing the arrangements for an
early dissolution. Lord Russell protested against
the idea that he and his noble friends had intended
any imitation of the grave secession which took
place under the leadership of Mr. Fox, and assured
the house that any promise of the postpone-
ment of the amendments would have prevented
the occurrence which had excited the anger of
Lord Malmesbury. He ridiculed the idea that he
or his friends had been guilty of any disrespect to
the house, and good humouredly declared that as
they had attained their object they were quite
satisfied with the result. Lord Beauchamp had,
of course, no alternative but to yield to the appeal
addressed to him by the Lord Privy Heal ; but he
WWI not content to withdraw Ms unfortunate
amendments, the cause of all these angry recri-
minations, without over and over again denounc-
ing the charges which had been made against the
government as " contemptible and trumpery,"
and indignantly demanding that those who
bad preferred them should apologise for the
rudeness of which they had been guilty.
One of Lord Malinesbury'e principal points
VW an allegation that, if the leaders of the
opposition meant to make any charge of breach of
faith against the government, they ought to have
brought it forward upon the Scotch Reform Bill,
because the Duke of Montrose had given notice
of his intention to propose the extension of the
boundaries of Glasgow. This objection was re-
peated by the Postmaster-General himself, who
energetically appealed to the verdict of any twelve
pier in a jury-box to decide that the opposition
psis ought to withdraw and apologise for their
charges. The Marquis of Salisbury seemed dis-
posed to treat the whole affair with ridicule. He
attributed the animation of the proceedings under
discussion to the warmth of the previous evening,
and suggested that the words and intentions of
Mr. Disraeli were matters for consideration by the
other house, rather than by their lordships. The Lord
Chancellor humorously congratulated their lord-
ships upon the valuable safety valve for the relief
of over excitement which would be supplied by
the practice of one party withdrawing from the
house whenever a discussion grew warm ; but
somewhat sternly insisted that the leaders of the
opposition ought to adinit that they had placed an
erroneous construction upon the words of the
Prime Minister. It was with his usual imperturb-
able good nature that Lord Granville protested
that he and his noble friends had no reason to
apologise to the house for adopting a course which
had resulted in a complete practical success; and
pointed out that while this very bill was under
discussion in the House of Commons the members
of the government had walked out of
the house. The Duke of Argyll disposed
of the objection arising out of the Glasgow
ease, and then Lord Derby scolded the liberal
lords in good set terms. He denounced their pro-
ceedings as more injurious to the character of the
house, and as involving a greater amount of per-
sonal virulence and misrepresentation than any
thing that he had ever witnessed before; and
while dwelling with emphasis upon the generosity
exhibited by the government in not passing the
bill through committee in the absence of their
opponents, characterised the cheers with which
the latter had greeted the appeal of Lord Malmes-
bury and the response of Lord Beauchamp as un-
generous in the extreme. The discussion was
closed by Lord Harrowby, who maintained that
if there had been any breach of faith at all, it had
been on the part of the House of Commons, who
Lad reversed the decision of a parliamen-
tary commission, and, by a clause in the
Scotch Reform Bill, had altered the scheme
cif English representation as settled last year.
There was a brief interval of calm while their lord-
ships' attention was occupied with the Duke of
Buckingham's despatches upon the great Colenso
question ; but when the Compulsory Church Rates
Abolition Bill came under consideration the sere-
nity of the atmosphere was again speedily dis-
turbed. The Marquis of Salisbury made a forcible
protest against the course adopted by the select
committee of their lordships in striking out of the
bill the clauses inserted by Mr. Gladstone for the
assistance and protection of the church. Although
the action of the committee was approved by the
Archbishops of both Canterbury and York, the
Bishop of Oxford concurred in the condemnation
of the noble marquis; and when Lord Halifax re-
commended him to take counsel of his ecclesiastical
!superiors, somewhat sharply assured the noble
lord that he should consult whom he pleased. The
bill ultimately passed through committee, and,
after disposing of the other business on the paper,
their lordships adjourned.
The proceedings in the House of Commons were
by no means so animated as those of the upper
house. The whole of the early sitting was occu-
pied with the resumed debate upon the Metropo-
litan Cattle Market Bill, which was not concluded
when the hour for adjournment arrived. The prin-
cipal features of the debate were the speeches of
Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Lowe. Mr. Gladstone
attacked the bill, on thegronnd that if any change
was to be made in the present system it
ought not to be confined to London,
but ought to extend to all the ports of the
kingdom, and that the measure included no pro-
vision for the financial arrangements which the
establishment of a series of separate markets for
the Kale of foreign cattle would render necessar
Mr. Lowe, although declining to pledge himself
to all the details of the bill, which might be
amended in committee, gave it a general support,
OA being in harmony with the conclusions of
the report of the Cattle Plague :Commissioners,
and as supplying the only means by which a
return of the cattle plague could be prevented. A
great variety of subjects were discussed at the
evening sitting upon the question of going into
supply. The services of the forces employed in
the late warin New Zealand werebrought underthe
notice of the house by Lord Enfield, who succeeded
in obtaining from Mr. Disraeli a promise that the
government would candidly consider the propriety
of issuing a decoration to those troops. The merits
of Scotch education and the danger arising from
the careless use of limiter matches having occupied
the attention of the house for some time, Sir C.
O'Loghlen unintentionally brought about an exhi-
bition of the personal peculiarities of the Irish
Attorney-General. The question raised by the
hon. and learned member for Clare was the right
of convicted prisoners to writs of error ; and, a
proper of this subject, Mr. Warren, amid the sup-
pressed laughter of the house, took Sir Colman
roundly to task for his persistent attacks upon the
prerogative of the Crown, as evidenced by his
desire to legislate upon the subject of the Irish
peerage, end his motions with reference to a
royal residence in Ireland and the knighting of
Irish law officers. The house did not got into
committee without a preliminary difficulty with
two or three hon. members, who had failed to
show sufficient promptitude in making motions of
which they had given notice ; and after the
Speaker bad left the chair some time was
occDpic4 Ay ineffectual attempt, ou the