The Sun.
London, England, 1834-08-16 00:00:00

ROYAL NAVY IN COMMISSION.

(From the United Service Journal for August.)
Actaeon, 26, Capt. Hon. F. W. Grey, Mediterranean
/Etna, sur. v. 6, Corn. W. Arlett (act.), coast of Africa
African, st. v. Lieut. J. West, particular service
Alban, st. v. Lieut. A. Kennedy, West Indies
Algerine, 10, Lieut. Com. G. C. Stovin, Chatham
Alligator, 28, 'Capt. C. R. Lambert, East Indies
Andromache, 28, Capt. H. D. Chads, C. 8., East Indies
Arachne, 18, Corn. J. Burney, West Indies
Astrea, 6, Capt. A. King, C. 8., Falmouth
Beacon, sur. v. Corn. R. Copeland, Mediterranean
Beagle, 10, Corn. R. Fitzroy, South America
Belvidera, 42, Capt. C. B. Strong, West Indies
Bermuda, yacht, Capt. Sup. Sir T. Usher, Kt., C. B. K. C. H.,
Bermuda
Blonde, 46, Capt. F. Mason, C. 8., South America
Brisk, 3, Lieut. Corn. J. Thompson, coast of Africa
Britannia, 120, Capt. P. Rainier, C. 8., Mediterranean
Britomart, 10, Lieut. W. H. Quin, coast of Africa
Buzzard, 10, Lieut. W. C. Burbidge, Portsmoth
Caledonia, 120, Vice-Admiral Sir J. Rowley, Bart. K.C.8.,
Capt. T. Brown, Mediterranean
Canopus, 84, Capt. Hon. J. Percy, C. 8., Mediterranean
Carron, st. v. Lieut. Com. J. Duff!, ditto
Castor, 36, Capt. Right Hon. Lord J. Hay, Nor°
Ceylon, 2, Lieut. J. G. M'Kenzie, rec. ship, Malta
Challenger, 28, Capt. M. Seymour, South America
Champion, 18, Corn. Hon. A. Duncombe, Mediterranean
Charybdis, 3, Lieut. Corn. S. Mercer, coast of Africa
Chatham, yacht, Capt. Sup. Sir J. A. Gordon, K.C.8.,
Chatham
Childers, 16, Corn. Hon. H. Keppel, Portsmouth
Cockatrice, 6, Lieut. Com. W. L. Rees, South America
Cockburn, 1, Lieut. 'Com. C. Holbrook, Kingston, Lake
Ontario
Columbia, 2 st. v. Lieut. Corn. B. Albine, particular service
Columbine, 18, Com. T. Henderson, Sheerness
Comus, 18, Corn. W. P. Hamilton, North America
Confiance, st. v. Lieut. Corn. J. W. Waugh, particular
service

Conway, 28, Capt. H. Eden, South America
Cruizer, 16, Corn. Jas. M'Causland, West Indies
Curacoa, 26, Cap. D. Dunn, East Indies
Dee, st. v. 4, Corn. W. Ramsay, Plymouth
Dispatch, 16, Corn. G. Daniell, West Indies
Dublin, 50, Capt. Right Hon. Lord J. Townshend, South
America
Edinburgh, 74, Capt. J. R. Dacres, Mediterranean
Endymion, 50, Capt. Sir S. Roberts, Kt. C.B. Mediterranean
Espoir, 10, Liet. Corn. C. W. Riley, Falmouth
Excellent, 76, Capt. T. Hastings, Portsmouth
Fair Rosamond, sch. Lieut. Corn. G. Rose, coast of Africa
Fairy, sur. v. 10, Corn. W. Hewett, North Sea
Favourite, 18, Corn. G. R. Mundy, Mediterranean
Firefly, 3, Lieut. J. M`Donnel, West Indies
Firefly, st. v. Lieut. T. Baldock, Falmouth
Flamer, st. v. Lieut. C. W. G. Griffin, Falmouth
Fly, 10, Corn. P. M'Quhae, West Indies
Forester, 3, Lieut. G. Miall, coast of Africa
Forte, 44, Capt. W. 0. Pell, West Indies
Gannet, 16, Corn. J. B. Maxwell, West Indies
Griffon, 3, Lieut. I. E. Parlby, coast of Africa
Harrier, 18, Corn. S. L. H. Vassel, East Indies
Hastings, 74, Rear-Admiral Sir W. H. Gage, G. C. H., Capt.
H. Shiffner, Lisbon
Havannab, 42, Capt. W. S. Badcock, Sheerness
Hornet, 6, Lieut. F. R. Coghlan, South America
Hyacinth, 18, Corn. F. P. Blackwood, East Indies
Imogene, 28, Capt. H. Hart (act.) do.
Investigator, 2, sur. v. Mr. G. Thomas, Shetland
Isis, 50, Rear-Adm. Warren, Capt. J. Polkinghorne, Cape of
Good Hope
Jackdaw, sur. v. Lieut. E. Barnett, West Indies
Jaseur, 16, Corn. J. Hackett, Metiterranean
Larne, 18, Com. W. S. Smith, West Indies
Leveret, 10, Lieut. G. Traill, Lisbon
Lynx, 3, Lieut. Corn. H. V. Huntley, coast of Africa
Madagascar, 46, Capt. E. Lyons, Mediterranean
Magicienne, 24, Capt. J. H. Plumridge, East Indies
Magnificent, 4, Lieut. J. Paget, West Indies
Malabar, 74, Capt. Sir W. A. Montagu, K. C.H.f Plymouth
Mastiff, 6, sur. v. Lieut. T. Graves, Mediterranean
Medea, st. v. Corn. H. T. Austin, partic. service
Melville, 74, Vice Adm. Sir J. Gore, K.C.8., Captain H.
Hart; East Indies
Nautilus, 10, Lieut. W. Crooke, Lisbon
Nimble, 5, Lieut. C. Bolton, West Indies
Nimrod, 20, Corn. J. M`Dougal, Mediterranean
North Star, 28, Capt. 0. V. Harcourt, South America
Ocean, 80, Vice- Adm. Sir R. King, Bart., K. K. 8., Capt.
E. Barnard, Sheerness
Orestes, 18, Corn. H. J. Codrington, Portsmouth
Pearl, 20, Conn. R. Gordon, West Indies
Pelorus, 16, Corn. R. Meredith, coast of Africa
Phcenix, st. v. Corn. R. Oliver, particular service
Pickle, 5, Lieut. Com. West Indies.
Pike, sch. Lieut. Com. A. Brooking, Plymouth
PiqUe, 36, Capt. H. J. Rous, Plymouth
Pluto, st. v. Lieut. T. R. Sulivan, coast of Africa
Plymouth, yacht, Capt. Sup. C. B. 11. Ross, C. 8., Plym.
Portland, 52, Capt. D. Price, Plymouth
Portsmouth, yacht, Adm. Sup. Sir F. L. Maitland, K.C. 8.,
Portsmouth
President, 52, Capt. J. M'Kerlie, West India and North
American Station
Prince Regent, yacht, Capt. G. Tobin, Deptford
Racer, 16, Corn. J. Hope, West Indies
Racehorse, 18, Com. Sir J. E. Home, West Indies
Rainbow, 28, Capt. T. Bennett, West Indies
Rapid, 10, Lieut. Corn. F. Patten, South America
Rattlesnake, 28, Capt. C. R. Drinkwater, Portsmouth
Raven, sur, v. 4, Lieut. H. Kellett, coast of Africa
Revenge, 78, Capt. W. Elliott, C. 8., Mediterranean
Rhadamanthus, st. v. Com. G. Evans, West Indies
Ringdove, 16, Com. W. F. Lapidge, Falmouth
Rolla, 10, Lieut. F. H. H. Glasse, Portsmouth
Rose, 18, Corn. W. Barrow, Sheerness
Rover, 18, Com. Sir G. Young, Bart., Mediterranean
Royal George, yacht, Captain Right Hon. Lord A. Fitz-
clarence, G. C. H., particular service
Royal Sovereign, yacht, Captain Sup. C. Sullen, C. 8.,
Pembroke
Royalist, 10, Lieut. R. N. Williams, Lisbon
Salamander, st. v., Corn. W. L. Castle, particular service
Samarang, 28, Capt. H. C. Paget, South America
San Josef, 110, Adm. Sir W. Hargood, G. C. 8., G. C. H.,
Capt. G. T. Falcon, Plymouth
Sapphire, 28, Capt. Hon. G. W. R. Trefusis, Portsm.
Saracen, 10, Lieut. Corn. T. P. Le Hardy, Lisbon
Satellite, 18, Corn. R. Smart, K. H., South America
Savage, 10, Lieut. R. Loney, Halifax
Scorpion, 10, Lieut. Corn. Nic. Robilliard, Plymouth
Scout, 18, Corn. W. Holt, Mediterranean
Seaflower, 4, Lieut. J. Morgan, Portsmouth
Serpent. 16, Com. J. C. Symonds, West Indies
Skipjack, 5, Lieut. W. H. Willes (act.), West Indies
Snake, 16, Corn. W. Robertson (b.), South America
Sparrowhawk, 16, Corn. C. Pearson, South America
Spartiate, 76, Rear-Admiral Sir M. Seymour, K.C. 8., Capt.
R. Tait, South America
Speedy, 8, Lieut. C. H. Norrington, on a cruise from Ports-
mouth
Spitfire, st. v. 6, Lieut. Com. W. H. Symons, Falmouth
Stag, 46, Capt. N. Lockyer, C. 8., Lisbon
Swan, 10, Lieut. J. E. Lane, Sheerness
Talavera, 74, Capt. E. Chetham, C.B. Mediterranean
Thalia, 46, Capt. R. Wauthope, Chatham
Thunder, sur. v. Com. R. Owen, West Indies
Thunderer, 84, Capt. W. F. Wise, C. 8., Mediterranean
Tribune, 24, Capt. J. Tomkinson, Chatham
Tririculo, 16, Corn. J. R. Booth, coast of Africa
Tweed, 20, Com. A. Bertram, West Indies
Tyne, 28, Capt. Lord Viscount J. Ingestrie, Medit.
Vernon, 50, Vice Adm. Sir G. Cockburn, G. C. 8., Capt
James Scott, North America and West Indies
Vestal, 26, Capt. W. Jones, West Indies
Victor, 16, Corn. R. Russell, North America
Nictory, 104, Admiral Sir T. Williams, G. C. 8., Capt. E.
R. Williams, Portsmouth
Viper, 6, Lieut. L. A. Robinson, Falmouth
Volage, 28, Capt. G. B Martin, C. B. Mediterranean
Talbot, 28, Capt. W. F. Pennell, Plymeouth
Wasp, 16, Corn. J. S. Foreman, West Indies
William and Mary, yacht, Capt. Sup. S. Warren, C. 8.,
Woolwich
Winchester, 52, Capt. E. Sparshott, K. H., Chatham
Wolf, 18, Corn. E. Stanley, Plymouth
Zebra, 16, Com. R. C. •M‘ Crea , Chatham.

PAID OFF SINCE OUR LAST PUBLISHED LIST.
Alfred, 50, Capt. R. Maunsel
Asia, 84, Capt. P. Richards
Malabar, 74, Capt. H. S. Markham
SLOOPS OF WAR COMMISSIONED AS PACKETS.
Names Lieuts. Stations
Briscis, John Downey Brazils and Buenos Ayres
Eclipse, W. Forester
Goldfinch, Edward Collier
Lapwing, G. B. Forster
Lyra, James St. John
Mutine, Richard Pawle..
Nightingale, G. Fortescue
Opossum, Robert Peter Jamaica
Pandora, W. P. Croke Leeward Islands
Pigeon, John Binney.... Brazils and Buenos Ayres
Plover, William Downey Jamaica and Mexico
Reindeer, H. P. Dicken
Renard. George Durnsford
Rinaldo, John Hill (a) Brazils and Buenos Ayres
Seagull, 6, Lieut. J. Parson Fitting
Sheldrake, A. R. L. Passingham Leeward Islands
Skylark, C. P. Ladd Jamaica
Spey, Robert B. James do.
Swallow, Smyth Griffith
Tyrian, Ed. Jennings

REPROOF.---Choose a fit time for that reproof
which effective benevolence demands. If a failure have taken
place on the part of any individual towards you, avoid men-
tioning it at the moment, for nothing you can say will cause
that not to have happened which has happened. The tendency
of your observation will naturally and necessarily be to pro-
duce suffering on his part, and that ill-humour towards you,
which is the result of his suffering. If a similar occasion is
likely to occur, then, and then only, just before the occasion,
if you see a prospect that your interposition will be of use, is
the time for re-calling to his mind the former failure. The
effect will thus be influetitial at the moment when it is wanted,
and all the intermediate suffering will be spared. But remem-
ber, that of useless reproof pure evil is the consequence—evil
certain and considerable, in the humiliation of
the
re-
proved—evil contingent, in the loss of his amity,
alpiderstthine
ex-
posure -
posure to his enmity.—London Journal.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The second session of the /Worm Parliament was
yesterday prorogued by his Majesty in person. The
Speech from the Throne, after a brief review of the
foreign relations of the country, which are described as
most satisfactory, proceeds to the consideration of our
domestic affairs. Of all the numerous questions, the
consideration of which ha 3 made the session so •pro-
tracted, two only are specified by his Majesty—that of
the Amendment of the Poor Laws, and the Establish-
ment of a Central Court for the trial of offences in the
metropolis and neighbourhood.. The Speaker, in his
address to his Majesty in the name of the Commons,
dwelt chiefly on the Poor Laws' Amendment Bill,
" which had occupied their serious and anxious atten-
tion almost from the beginning of the session " With-
out wishing to underrate the importance of the Poor
Laws' Amendment Bill, and the Bill for the Establish-
ment of a Central Court in the metropolis, we cannot
help thinking that this brief enumeration, coupled with
the allusion to the extraordinary duration of the ses-
sion, is no very high compliment to the Reform Par-
liament. Too little has been done. The absence of the
statues of Brutus and Cassius on a memorable occa-
sion, only reminded their countrymen more forcibly of
the last of the Romans. The Bill for the Admission
of Dissenters to the Universities, the Irish Tithes
Bill, the Coroners Bill, the Bill for the Emancipation
of the Jews,-ought to have formed a subject for con-
gratulation in the Speaker's Address, and the Speech
from the Throne. The omission only drew attention
more forcibly to the House of Lords. The Royal
Speech points our hopes from the next session, to im-
provements in our Jurisprudence and in our Municipal
Corporations. It would not have been gracious to
have attended to the measures which this year have
been rejected by the Lords. But the nation has
neither dope with these measures nor with Lords. If
we wish that Reform shall not be a mockery—if we
wish to rescue the House of Commons itself from
the contempt of the nation, we must have no
more protracted sessions with one act. But we
have no reason to expect more from future ses-
sions than from this, so long as the House of
Lords, in its present shape, is interposed between
the representatives of the people, and the conse-
quences of their acts. 'We say nothing of the defects
with which the Commons are themselves chargeable.
Their arrangements for the dispatch of business are
bad, and must be improved. They must have their
course chalked out at the beginning of tile session, by
which means they may assign such a limit to the dis-
cussion of measures as their ....rgAative importance de-
mands. But defective as their arrangements are, the
nation has been baulked of what they have actually
done. Their labours have been nullified by the Peers.
What the whole of the consequences of the rejection
of one of the measures may be, we would rather not
attempt to predict. One consequence is certain—the
destruction of the Protestant Church of Ireland, in all
that regards its temporalities, and the beggary of the
Clergy. May the endeavour to enforce the law pro-
duce no other results ! When, however, we reflect
that the magistracy of Ireland are chiefly Orangemen,
we are not without our apprehensions as to what
may follow from attempts to enforce the law.
We are the more inclined to anticipate mis-
chief, when we ask, why was the Tithe Bill re- .
jected ? The Dukes of Cumberland and Wellington
would not surely hasten the downfall of the Irish
Church and doom the clergy to beggary for nothing.
They must have counted on something more than this
—they must have had more extensive calamity in
view, by way of consolation for the destruction of their
friends. The people of Ireland would do well to be-
ware of their enemies, and to avoid, above all things,
playing into their hands. But to return to the con-
stitution of Parliament. The Lord Chancellor in vain
racks his ingenuity to reconcile us to the Lords, as a
check on the crude legislation of the Commons. We
do not deny, indeed we have often ourselves pointed
attention to, the defective constitution of the House of
Commons, as a legislatiVe body. But we may have
a check on the Commons which shall not be an ex-
tinguisher. The nation must not be trifled with. It
is easy to joke about knocking bills on the head. But
who is insulted by this knocking bills on the head ?
The greatest and most enlightened people in the
world. And who are they who dare to insult this
great people ? We will assume Lords to be
equal to Commoners in point of intellect—that
is, that three hundred Lords are equal to any
other three hundred educated individuals in the country.
In any body taken at random, ten per cent. is a very
fair allowance for the sensible men. This would give
us about the number of the thirty tyrants of Athens—
as the absolute masters of the people of England.
And what are their other titles ? The income of the

- --------- --
House of Lords, as we have often stated, does not ex-

ceed two millions per annum. There may be thirty of
the body who have not incomes exceeding 10,0001. a
year. The whole property of the Pecrs does not equal
a fraction of the property of the inhabitants of the single
town of Manchester. We have in the comparative
poverty of the Peers an intelligible motive for their

anxiety to uphold all that is corrupt in the institutions
of the country. But stupid will the people of Eng-
land he, if, with the experience of the House of
Lords, and the evidence of the direct interest their

Lordships have in misgovernment, they remain longer
with their hands folded. Municipal Corpora-
tions ! And why are we -to expect that the Lords
will consent to the purification of municipal cor-
porations any more than the purification of the
Church ? No, no, we must not allow ourselves to

bEt fooled with baseless hopes. The constituencies
throughout the country must employ the interval be-
tween this and next Session in communing with their
representatives on this great national want—a re-mo-
delling of the House of Peers. This is the sine qua
non ; and a Reformer who does not see that, with the
_ _

House of Peers, as at present constituted, nothing is
to be done, is a driveller. There are various ways of
effecting a change by legal means. Let it always be
borne in mind that the House of Commons hold the

strings of the public purse. Money is the only intel-
ligible power in our days. By a judicious system of
defensive warfare, through the purse, the Tory Lords
may be reached. The public money should not enter
the pockets of a Tory Lord, or any man connected
with a Tory, till they are sufficiently cured of their ob-

stinacy. We have not time nor space at present to
enlarge further on this subject. But the hint will, we
have no doubt, be caught at ; and when Parliament
next meees, we are mistaken if the House of Commons

do net display a very different spirit from that which
they have shown during their last Session.—Morning
Chronicle.

The King's Speech, or rather the Speech of the
King's Ministers, delivered from the Throne at the

close of the Session, is as laudatory of the proceed-
ings and policy of the existing Cabinet as such speeches
usually are. If the historian of England's destinies
drew his materials from such documents, he would
have nothing to record but the praises of our States-
men and the wisdom of their plans. The acts of every
party in succession that held the reins of power would
supply only themes for encomium. Their undertakings
—whether legislative, diplomatic, or political—would
all be excellent of their kind. In short, the whole of
the volumes of England's Chronicles, compiled from
King's Speeches," would be a series of glorious re-
collections—a narrative of wise designs and happy
achievements--a mass of panegyric. -Let us look at
things as they are, and not as it suits interested poli-
ticians and their flatterers to represent them. Whatever
temporary advantage political fallacies may produce to
those Statesmen who consider skilful deception the best
part of the science of Government, it is always the
interest of the public to know the truth. Whatever
the Speech contains, the Ministers who composed or
advised it, are responsible for its contents. With every
respect for the personal virtues and exalted character
of the Sovereign, we must take leave to treat the royal
Speech as a Ministerial document just as the
Whigs used to do when they were out of office. We
will not, indeed,. go so far as a Noble and Learned
Member of the plesent Cabinet did on one occasion,
who, in criticising a Royal Speech, said he would take
the liberty to " tear it to tatters:: Though truth ought
to be spoken to the Throne as well as to the people,
we think it not the worse for being spoken in the lan-
guage of courtesy. The Speech in the outset states

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that which is anything but a defence of the immense
militarY establishment with which the country is bur-
dened, and to which an additional force was added
after the Whigs came into office—it speaks of the con-
tinuance of the assurances of their friendly disposition
from all foreign Powers. Next comes a statement,
the veracity of .which we are sure nobody will dis-
pute. It is to the effect that the Palmerston proto-
cols have left the affairs of the Netherlands as unset-
tled as ever, and that no present prospect exists of
the " speedy and final settlement" which the Down-
ing-street Journals so often announced. Congratulation
is expressed with regard to the state of affairs
in Portugal, and disappointment in relation to that
of Spain. Our sympathy with Don Pedro's suc-
cess is the more generous, because one of the first
results of it was to strike a serious blow at those coin-
.tuercial relations which had subsisted between England
and Portugal for centuries past. The quadruple treaty
is alluded to as a happy stroke of policy, though it is
in direct contravention of that doctrine of non-inter-
ference in the quarrels of other nations which the
Whigs so often declared to be the true policy of Eng-
land—which they charged the Duke of Wellington's
Administration with departing from in the case of Bel-
gium and Holland, representing that intermeddling in
the internal disputes of other nations as aipolitical folly,
if. not a political crime, which, since their accession to
office, they have constantly practised themselves. In a
-memorable instance, indeed, where we were bound to
interfere by solemn treaty, and also for our own ultimate
protection, there was none of it. We allowed heroic
Poland to be crushed by Russia, with an exemplary
oblivion of the faith of treaties. We must do Lord
Palmerston the justice of stating that there has been
no interference that could possibly impede the match
of Russian aggrandisement in Europe. Turkey has
become,in all but the name, a province of Russia in
the south, and Poland in.the west. The merits of the
Palmerston policy must, therefore, stand high in the
eyes of Prince Lieven, and his female partner in poli-
tical intrigue, whose many inestimable qualities have
been emblazoned, and whose departure has been sor-
rowed for in the pages of the same Evening Journal,
that monopolises the appreciation of his Lordship's
political talents and the praise of his diplomatic glor:.
The Royal Speech further informs us that " the peace
of Turkey remains undisturbed." The peace of Turkey
is the tranquillity of death. The grandeur and strength
of the conquerors of Byzantium is in the grave, where
the Russian vulture scents its prey. But, turning
from the disheartening and melancholy prospect which
our foreign policy presents, we inquire what are the
congratulating topics which domestic affairs afford ?
We find the first and greatest domestic topic of the
Speech, as it was the first and greatest of the legisla-
tive labours of Ministers, is the Malthusian Poor Law
Bill. A measure so opposed to justice and sound po-
licy—so odious and revolting to moral 6aste and Chris-
tian feeling, we did not wish to revert to again ; nor
should we have done so now, if it had not been osten-
tatiously thrust into the Royal Speech—if it had not
been there praised as a wise and benevolent measure—
as it was intended to exhibit his Majesty's kindly dis-
position doing homage to those sordid, cruel, and un-
natural principles of the Malthusian sect which the ge-
nerous characteristics of his Majesty's nature disclaim,
and which his practicehas always disavowed. This Bill,
which the Ministers thus extol, is the Bill which one of the
most able and learned Prelates of the Church, whose doc-
trines his Majesty so much reveres, thus speaks of in one
passage of his just and eloquent protest :—" By imposing
the charge of maintaining every illegitimate child on
the mother alone, it lays on one of the parents the
whole of a burden which, by the most obvious -dic-
tates of natural justice, and the plainest deduction
from the law of God, ought to be borne equally, or
in proportion to their several ability, by both." Again
. the same distinguished Prelate (the Bishop of Exeter)
describes this Bill, now a law, as one that must lead to
the appalling consequence of tempting unhappy mo-
thers to the destruction or abandonment of their
wretched infants ; as one, also, which, from men in
humble life, will remove one of the most powerful
• checks on their licentious appetites which Providence
has imposed in the cost and burden consequent on the
indulgence of them—thus opposing itself to God's
holy institution for the continuance of the species by
lawful wedlock. He also declares that it will tend
to harden the hearts of men, to pervert and corrupt
their moral sensibility—that it proceeds upon the
unchristian principle of doing evil that good may
come ; and, like every such attempt, will fail of the
end proposed, with this unhappy aggravation of the
failure, that it will tend to shake the confidence of
the people in the justice and righteousness of the laws
in general, and to impair their respect for the Legisla-
ture that has ventured to enact it. Yet it is the Bill
thus depicted in its character and consequences by one
of the ablest Prelates of our Church which the Whig
Ministers have put it into his Majesty's mouth to
praise as " a wise and benevolent measure." But his
Majesty's life refutes the doctrines embodied in this
Bill, which not only commits outrageous violence upon
constitutional principles, but proclaims to the world
that Christian morals and Christian charity are no
longer part and parcel of the law of England. The
next topic which the Speech touches upon, and which
it does very slightly, are reforms in the law. So little
of that has been effected in the present Session, in
consequence of the opposition of Ministers themselves,
that we only wonder they advised the King to mention
the subject at all. We also wonder that some praise
was not given to the obsequious House of Commons
for refusing to entertain the question of the revision of
the Pension List, or the repeal of the Septennial Act,
or the abolition of the window tax. As to the Local
Courts Bill and the Bill for the abolition of imprison-
ment for debt, they were, notwithstanding the promises
of the Attorney-General, thrown over the Session.
But the little that has been done this Session is, as
usual, made up by magnificent promises for the next.
—Morning Herald.
The Session of Parliament of which we yesterday
witnessed the termination has not tended to advance
the character of the Legislature, or to improve the
condition or prospects of the country. It has been a
Session, not of action, but of talk. It has been a
session of controversy—of idle or mischievous contro-
versy—in which little has been decided, and the deci-
sions of which have been of such a character as to give
to the prudent and patriotic part of the community
reason to regret that the little has not been less. It
has been a session of ministerial intrigue, of futile or
agitating professions, of promises and preparations for
what is to come, of symptoms that a crisis is approach-
ing, of menaces loud and deep against the institutions
of the country. It has been a session during which
revolutionary politicians have been engaged in learning
where they may take their ground with the greatest
prospect of advantage, and mercenary politicians in de-
termining to which side in the coming conflict it will
be most profitable to adhere. It has been a session
of the importance of which no criterion is pre-
sented by its legislative acts, but whose character
and tendency are to be collected from discussions
apparently abortive, and manifestations cautiously
but ineffectually disguised. The Reformed Parliament
during the past session has only muttered, but its
mutterings have been fearfully distinct. When we
reflect that Parliament has been sitting seven months,
and for five days of every week during that period has
been considering the affairs of the nation, at the rate of
at least ten hours per day, it would seem impossible
that so little should have been done. The legislative
product of the session is the establishment of a Cen-
tral Court at the Old Bailey for the trial of offenders
in the metropolitan counties, and the Poor Law
Amendment Act. Of the former of these measures
we are not disposed to undervalue the importance. It
secures to a very important and populous district conti-
guous to the metropolis the advantage of that prompt
administration of criminal justice which had hitherto
been exclusively enjoyed by the county of Middlesex.
This is a municipal improvement of unequivocal cha-
racter. But when we find it introduced in the King's
Speech at the cloge of the session of Parliament as a
leading topic of congratulation and panegyric we can-
not but think that it is overrated by its authors, and
that the mention of it in such a document is
elusive evidence, had evidence been want-
ing, that,,,. the Session has been unusually barren
of theme :4n lon which to found the customary expres-
ions. of "al felicitation and encomium. The Poor

Law Amendment Act, the second of the two mea-
sures which constitute the whole Legislative result of
this late laborious Session, is a measure of which the
Reformed Parliament has little reason to be proud, un-
less it be a subject of pride to a national Legislature
to have given a shock to the general feelings and habits
of the people. During the discussion of this measure
we have fully expressed our opinion of its character
and tendency. We have perceived in its enactments
a principle of harshness and rigour towards the unfor-
tunate and the destitute, alien alike to the general spirit
of British law and to the general feelings of the com-
munity. We have condemned the machinery which it
establishes, for the purpose of carrying its severe pro-
visions into effect, as adverse to that wholesome arrange-
ment of British society which has hitherto left local in-
terests to be regulated and guarded by local authorities.
'We have deprecated the establishment of a Central
Board for controlling the manner and degree in
which parishes shall relieve their poor, because
we regarded it as the first step towards that
system of centralization which has been found in
other countries to confer upon the general Govern-
ment a power they have been incapable of wielding for
the general benefit, and which, wherever it has existed,
has degenerated into an instrument of corruption and
an impediment to improvement. We have viewed the
whole proceedings upon this subject with suspicion
and dislike, because they appeared to us to intimate
the existence of a settled intention to eradicate by
degrees from the social system of England that prin-
ciple of parochial relief to the poor, to which, in spite
of the abuses it has engendered, we believe her to have
been mainly indebted for her progressive prosperity
and civilization. To these opinions we cannot but
adhere, notwithstanding the weight of authority ar-
rayed against us. We sincerely hope that the result
of this perilous experiment may differ from our expec-
tations, and shall in this case discover with sincere
satisfaction, and acknowledge with prompt alacrity, that
we have been in error. But our error, if
,it,be- one, is
shared by a large proportion of the community ; and
in enumerating the Poor Law Bill as part of the
scanty harvest of the Session, the warmest advocate
of that measure will scarcely venture to claim for it
any higher praise than that of a bold and doubtful
experiment. It is certain that in passing this measure
the Legislature has exercised its proper and legitimate
function. It has ventured to pass a most important
law without waiting for any impulse from without, or
in opposition rather to all external impulse, and we
shall deem it a great calamity if it should appear that
Parliament has been in error in the only recent in-
stance in which it can claim the merit of having acted
independently. This brief summary of what Parlia-
ment has performed during the past Session is unfor-
tunately to be succeeded by a more extensive enumera-
tion of the subjects which it has agitated, and of the
changes which it has threatened. At the commence-
ment of the Session his Majesty, speaking the lan-
guage of his Ministers, recommended the Report of
the Corporation Commissioners to the attention of
Parliament, and spoke of defects and abuses to be cor-
rected. The state of ecclesiastical revenues and pa-
tronage in England and Wales, formed the subject of
a similar recommendation. The final adjustment of
tithes in Ireland « without injury to the rights and
property of any class of the King's subjects,"
was the third topic submitted by the Royal
Speech to the deliberation of the Legislature. A
fourth injunction contained in the Speech of his
Majesty was, that the loyal and well-affected should
employ their vigorous and united exertions to put an
end to a system of excitement and violence in Ireland
destructive to the peace of society, and fatal to the
power and safety of the United Kingdom. In addi-
tion to these other, subjects have been introduced by
Ministers, or with their sanction, which, having thus
been introduced, must be mentioned as part of the ar-
rears of the Session, to be again brought forward on
the next meeting of Parliament. Of these the Mar-
riage Bill, the General Registration Bill, and the Uni-
versities Admission Bill are the most important. These
were all difficult and delicate subjects, and certainly
nothing has been done during the Session with respect
to any of them but what has tended to increase the
difficulties and embarrassments by which they were
already surrounded. Of the Report of the Corpora-
tion Commission, little has been heard since the King
mentioned it in his Speech at the opening of the Ses-
sion. The worthy Commissioners, laudably true to
their vocation, seem to be nursing their job. In the
meanwhile every possible effort is making by Ministers
and even the King's Speech has not been deemed
an instrument which it was unlawful for them to
employ to excite prejudices against Corporations
in the public mind. During the Session Ministers
have done nothing except what was necessary for the
purpose of keeping hostile excitement alive upon any
of the questions connected with the rights and endow-
ments of the Church of England. To propose mea-
sures and to withdraw them has been their system of
judicious policy. We have had a Bill for the commu-
tation of tithe in one House, and Bills to eradicate
the evils of pluralities and non-residence in' the other.
Discontent with the church as it exists, enmity to-
wards a national church in any form, have thus been
cunningly supplied with their excitements and their
food ; but of rational well-considered attempts to cor-
rect abuses or remedy defects we have had positively
none. The course which Ministers have pursued to-
wards the Church in England compels us to conclude
either that they are of the number of her determined
enemies, or that they are incapable of perceiving the
most inevitable consequences of their own conduct.
The English Tithe Bill, the Pluralities Bill, the Non-
Residence Bill, the Dissenters' Marriage Bill, the Ge-
neral Regulation Bill, introduced by Ministers, or with
their express sanction, and subsequently abandoned,
are so many proofs of the slight regard, if not of the
determined enmity, which the present Administra-
tion bears towards the Church of England. The Mi-
nisterial measure for the adjustment of Irish tithe has
been so much and so recently discussed, that no more
is necessary than merely to mention it in this place.
Its history may be summed up in a word. Ministers
permitted it to be amended in the House of Commons
by Mr. O'Connell, so that it might better suit the pur-
poses of his faction, and, as might easily have been an-
ticipated, the House of Lords threw it out. The
truckling to Mr. O'Connell to which we have just al-
luded was the Ministerial method of obeying the ad-
monition of the King's Speech, calling upon his loyal
and well-affected subjects to employ their vigorous and
united exertions to put down excitement and violence
in Ireland. This method, it must be admitted, is cu-
rious and novel. It consists simply in making the great
leader of excitement and violence in Ireland the Minis-
terial leader, upon the most important of Irish subjects,
of the House of Commons. The Bill for the admis-
sion of Dissenters to the English Universities is an-
other of the Ministerial measures which the House of
Lords thought it their duty to reject. It was a Bill
violating the rights of the Universities, and conferring
upon the Dissenters no boon that the conscientious
portion of their body could by possibility accept. It
was a Bill conceived, not in love to the Dissenters,
but in hatred to the Church. It was a Bill offering
insult and injury to the most numerous and important
division of the community, without even the miserable
apology that satisfaction or advantage could result
from it to the minority whom it affected to gratify and
to serve. Any thing, however, that Parliament has
done or omitted during the past Session is very far
from constituting the most important part of the trans-
actions of which it has beet the scene or tlw source.
The House of Commons has this year been a theatre
of intrigue rather than a hall of legislation. From
the intrigues carried on upon this stage, the result has
been successive changes in the Ministry, each change
combining the Administration more and more closely
with the leaders of that excitement and violence in
Ireland which at the commencement of the Ses-
sion his Majesty had been advised to denounce,
each change importing greater strength, influence,
and audacity to the turbulent and the disaffected
in every part of the empire. It is now univer-
sally felt that a few more changes in the same direction
will bring Mr. O'Connell and his adherents en masse
into the Council Chamber of the Kin,. These
changes are what mark more than any other circum-
stance the progress of the movement, and ought to
impress upon all who do not wish to behold a violent
revolution in the country, that the time is arrived when