The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-17 00:00:00

Itatt

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 17, 1852.

Judging from its experience of the last few weeks,
the country will have reason to bear the present
session in remembrance, not merely as the one ren-
dered remarkable for the production of the stand-
still Budget, but for the laborious efforts to do abso-
lutely nothing, made with so much ostentation in
the way of debate and adjournment by the Members
of the lower branch of the Imperial Legislature. It
is lamentable, indeed, to contrast the amount of the
Parliamentary business to come, with the amount
of the Parliamentary business actually accom-
plished. A cluster of ant-hills in one direc-
tion Pelion piled upon Ossa in another.
Unhappily the performances of the session may be
very readily particularised. Not so its short comings
and defalcations. The one catalogue might not only,
so to speak, be enclosed in a nutshell, but have room
to spare ; while the other would be almost as hopeless
to dream of compiling as that of the unfortunate
library at the British Museum. Several of the most
important subjects requiring reform have, as the
people know too well, been summarily dismissed
from the attention of Parliament. To expect that any-
thing decisive could be attempted in the present state of
the House of Commons, with the existing confusion
of parties, with a newly-constituted Government and
a scarcely-organized Opposition, would, of course, be
altogether preposterous. Nothing could reasonably
be looked for in the way of really comprehensive im-
provements on the eve of a general election, by a
Parliament in its decrepitude, or by a Cabinet in
almost the first hour of its existence. Procrastina-
tion was inevitable immediately Lord JOHN RUSSELL
and his colleagues had resigned. The more rational
observers throughout the community made up their
mind, from the moment Lord DEBBY was sent fur by the
SOVEREIGN, to witness the delay of the most notable
questions of the age, until such time as the Le..
gislature had been dissolved, and Ministers had for-
mally appealed to the population. That delay, in
fact, was manifestly essential under the circumstances.
It was not only judicious, moreover—lt was entirely
unavoidable. The members of the new Cabinet
were powerless, according to the spontaneous acknow-
ledgment of their leader, because in the House of
Commons they felt satisfied they were in a minority.
Therefore it was that from the morning of their ad-
vent to power they avowed, as plainly as could be
expressed in language, their anxiety to go to the
country at the earliest opportunity—declining to spe-
cify even the probable period of dissolution until the
various annual estimates had been granted, and the
imperatively requisite business of the session had been
accomplished. With so many Free-traders in the
Lower House, they naturally recognised on the
instant the impossibility of carrying out in the present
Parliament the very principle in the name of which
they can alone be said to have accepted the responsi-
bility of Government. They confessed as much them-
selves through the inaugural address of the First Lord
of the Treasury. Nay, more than that—the Earl of
DEBBY went so far in the unburthening of his con-
science upon the subject, that he referred in explicit
terms to the likelihood of the cause held dear by him-
self and his supporters not meeting with that en-
couragement from the nation at large which, he had
the manly resolution to assert, could alone justify the
reversal of the new system inaugurated by the Free-
traders. Avowing so much, it was obviously
absurd to look for anything like Ministerial
activity from the DERBY••DISRAELI Cabinet
during the continuance of the present Parliament.
All that remained to be done by the Legislators was at
once and at a glance appreciable. The Commons had
to vote the supplies, and after having hurried as
rapidly as might be consistent with the sedate re-
sponsibilities of their senatorial office, the Members
of both Houses were to prepare themselves for the
crowning event of their labours—a dissolution.
Festina lenle might have been regarded, indeed, as
their most appropriate motto—to which, however,
they have accorded only a one-sided attention, having
most assuredly "hastened slowly" with a vengeance.
At the commencement of the existence of the pre-
sent Cabinet we were for a considerable period—as an
independent organ, altogether unconnected either
with the old or with the new Government—isolated
in our protests, loudly and earnestly expressed against
the pitiful and petulant course pursued by what we
were compelled in justice to designate as nothing
less than a glaringly factious opposition. Since that
period fourteen weeks have elapsed, the supplies
have been long since granted, and the financial
statement has been formally made to the House of
Commons by the newly-installed CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER. Ample time has likewise been afforded
Parliament for getting through the routine business
of the session, by the neglect of which the affairs of
the country might have been involved in some con-
fusion. Yet not a whisper has, up to this moment,
been heard as to the intention of her MAJESTY'S
Ministers, or as to the likely period of the long-ex-
pected and long- delayed dissolution. Remembering our
past course, remembering our anxiety that something
like fair play should be shown to a Cabinet created out
of an Emergency, remembering the indignant terms
in which we reprobated the factious course pursued
at the beginning of the session by her MAJESTY'S
Opposition, it may surely be granted that in maintain-
ing at this time the necessity for some more candid
and energetic policy on the part of the Government,
we, at any rate, are not acting with any culpable
degree of precipitation. Unless Ministers would
render themselves as unpopular as their pre-
decessors had become prior to their resignation,
they will assuredly act differently towards the popu-
lation. The people are sick at heart with these
delays and postponements. They yearn to witness
an end of these sessions dawdling on from early spring
into autumn without producing any single fruit cal-
culated to benefit the condition of the multitude.
Rather than this they would adopt the national cry
of the Yankees "Go a-head " rather than continue
that ejaculation of " All right," which "Boz" declared
in his American Notes to be characteristic of an
Englishman.
_

After incessant exertion for nearly the third part
of a century—after expending considerable sums of
money in necessary experiments, and impoverishing
himself by the heavy outlay—Captain WARNER hss
at length succeeded in obtaining a Parliamentary in-
quiry into the merits of his inventions and on the
several reports connected therewith. The terms are
certainly not calculated to afford undue encourage-
ment to inventors, or to induce men of genius to
abandon their own private pursuits for the purpose of
devoting their time, their labour, and their resources to
the development of matters of the most vital importance
to the nation. The Committee will hear the state-
ments of the gallant officer. They will subject him
to the most stringent cross-examination, insist on the
most unreserved explanations on every point, the most
complete revelations, so that there shall be no longer
any " secret," and then if the assertions of the inven-
tor are fully verified, and the most sanguine anticipa-
tions of his friends realised, there is no pledge that he
shall receive a single farthing—that he shall be in any
degree benefited, or receive any recompense, how-
ever trifling, for the annoyance and vexation which
he has encountered in his efforts to render his dis-
cmoivgehrtierseauvoanilaabbllye
bfeorsutphpeosseedrvtiticae
opponent could not object
to the investigation on,
t°fthheismcoosutnctrayp-tioulst