The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-06 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1849.

The protracted labours of " The Long Session"
have produced one good effect. They have made
evident to the House (what has been long evident to
the country) that a considerable portion of the public
time is annually wasted, and the public business un-
necessarily retarded. Consequently, one of the very
first acts of the newly-assembled Parliament has
been the supervision of the rules of the House, and
the emendation of the sessional orders. Of the four-
teen resolutions introduced last night by Lord JOHN
RUSSELL, the first eight have been already adopted
during preceding sessions. The proposed alterations
are containel in the ninth :
That when any Bill shall be presented by a Member
of this HO!Liv, or shad b,. brought from the Lords, the
questions " That this Bill be now read a first time," and
" That this ;;ill be printed," shall be decided without
amendment or debate.
The tenth—
That the Committee of Supply, and Ways and Mean,
may be appoiated to ,it on arty day on which Orders of
the Day shad have precedence of l'fotices of Motions.
The eleventh—
That ,hen a Bill or other matter (except Supply or
Ways tied Me7.n;) lo,eu partly considered in Com-
inince, and the Chairman has been directed to report
progress and I:sk leave to sit again, and the House shall
have ordered that the Committee shall sit again on a
particular day, the Speaker shall, when the order for
the Conamitee has been read, forthwith leave the Chair
without putting any question.
The twelfth—
That at the close of the proceedings of a Committee
of the whole House on a Bill, the Chairman shall report
the Bill forthwith to the House, and when amendments
shall have been male thereto, the same shall be agreed
to conditionally without debate, and a time appointed
for taking the same into consideration.
Anti the thirteenth,—

That with respect to any Bill brought to this i I
from the House of Boras, or rerun ed by the Ilonse
of
(mse
Lords to this House with amendments, whereby any
pecuniary penalty, forfeiture, or fee, shalt be au tho
rimed, imposed, appropriated, regulated, varied, or ex-
tiuguiflaed, this House will not insist on its ancient and
undoubted privileges in the following cases:-
1. When the object of such pecuniary' penalty or for-
feitmcc is to secure the execution of the Act or the pu-
nishrdent or prevention of offences :
2. Where such fees ars imposed in respect of benefit
taken or servica rendered under the Act, and in order to
the (execution of the Act, and are not made payable into
the Treasury or Exchequer, or in aid of the public re-
venue, and do not form the ground of public accounting
by the parties retyrivino• the same,- either in respect of de-
ficit or surplus.
3. When such Bill shall be a private Bill for a local
or personal Act.

These resolutions, with some verbal alter ations
have been agreed to. The fourteenth resolution,
which proposed that after the Ist of May orders of
the day, and especially Government orders, should
have precedence over notices of motion on Thurs-
days as well as on Mondays and Fridays, has been
withdrawn for a time. These alterations are so far
satisfactory—they are steps in the right direction.
One beneficial effect we anticipate from last night's
discussion—the exercise of greater forbearance and
discretion on the part of individual Members.
Without this, resolutions ad infinitum might be pro-
posed and passed, and yet the dispatch of public busi•
fleas be in nowise accelerated. While liberty of speech
—the t..strongest bulwark of our constitutional rights
is freely exercised within the walls of Parliament,
that liberty will always be liable to abuse ; yet how
much better is the possibility of such abuse than that
such a' privilege should be in any way infringed !
We•must confess that, although we agree with Mr.
Counmar, that if a man has anything to say he can
My it is an hour, we concur with Lord J. RUSSELL
and Sir L. PEEL in thinking it better to leave the
limitation of speeches to the good sense and discretion
of individual Members. True, Mr. HUMS candidly
confessed that such an anticipation would
hopeless " lio4ourablo Members had no