The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-04 00:00:00

BILL.

Mr. E. P. BOUVERIE moved for leave to bring in a
bill to abolish the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Courts
in Ireland in cases of defamation and brawling.—Agreed tu.
NAVY.

Sir C. NAPIER moved for returns of the expense of
lengthening the Hogue, Blenheim, and Ajax ; and the
names of the builders ; and, of the expense of lengthening
the Nelson,'Neptune, and Trafalgar.—Ordered.
The motion for the adjournment of the house until the
16th inst. was agreed to.
ADULTERATION OF FOOD AND DRINK BILL.
The house went into committee on this bill, and some
amendments were agreed to in order to render it applicable
to Ireland.
The different clauses, as amended, were agreed to, and
the house resumed.

CUSTOMS BILL.
This bill went through committee.
CUSTOMS ACTS.
Mr. MASSEY brought up the report on this bill, which
was received. The bill was then committed pro forma, in
order to introduce certain amendments.
Mr. FARRANT.

In reply to Mr. E. JAMES,
Mr. C. FORTESCUE stated that this gentleman, the
editor of the Fri and of China, had been recently set at
liberty.
The house adjourned at 20 minutes to six o'clock, until
Monday the 16th inst.

BUSINESS OF THE ROUSE OF

COMMONS.

The rules for the internal arrangement of the
House of Commons may appear to many persons
matters of small consequence and little interest,
except to those whom those rules immediately con-
cern. This would, however, be a very serious mis-
take. For good or for evil, the House of Commons
has contrived to take into its hands the whole busi-
ness of the country. It makes our laws, nominates
our Executive Government, it regulates our finances,
it imposes our taxes, and, in addition to all these
functions, it has lately taken on itself to discuss and
to deliver the most unqualified opinions upon the
politics of Europe. The manner in wnich such a
body arranges its business and disposes its time
cannot possibly be a matter of indifference to those
whose actions it regulates, whose money it spends,
and whose opinions it undertakes to represent.
In order to understand the change which was
effected last Monday we must offer a brief explana-
tion of the basiness which has to be done, and the
manner in which that business is got through.
The House of Commons sits during the session five
days in the week, of which two are popularly said
to belong to the Government and three to indepen-
dent members. This division, however, by no means
expresses the real truth of the case. It would be
more correct to say that the house, having five days
a-week at its disposal, devotes two of those days to
that portion of its business which is absolutely in- '
dispensable, and three to that other portion which,
however important it might be, can be set aside
without bringing public affairs to a standstill. If
what is called Government business be postponed
or neglected, there is no remedy for it but that the ,
house should sit till it has been disposed of. Here,
then, to begin with, is a very striking fact. Nothing
is more bitterly complained of than the exorbitant
length of the session, and yet towards the transac-
tion of that business upon which the length of the
session depends the house can only allot two days
out of five, leaving three other days for business
which has no such tendency. The Government must
out of those two days find time for all the business
connected with the financial statement, for all the
examination of the Estimates in detail, and for all,
or nearly all, the legislation of the year, for it has
come to be an axiom that no bill of importance can
be carried unless the Government takes it up. If
we were to pause here, we think that we should be
entitled to say that the first Representative Assem-
bly in the world manages its business on principles
which no assembly, ancient or modern, and no meet-
ing of gentlemen collected together for any pur-
pose, public or private, would for a moment tole-
rate. But we have by no means done justice yet
to the strange manner in which it is the pleasure of
the House of Commons to squander the time it
ought to economize, and stint the discussions it
ought to encourage. From these two-fifths of its
time which it allots to the real business of the ses-
sion the house makes many and serious deductions.
In the first place, there is the privilege of every mem-
ber to bring forward any measure he pleases, and
speak upon it at any length he pleases, on going
into committee of supply—a privilege which very
frequently abstracts four or five hours from the 14
hours a-week allowed to Government business.
Then there is the claim of every member who has a
charge to bring against the Government to have a
night given him for the purpose, which often effects
another serious diminution. Then there is the so
much discussed motion for adjournment on Fridays,
which may be said to deprive the house every week
of at least one-fourth of the time devoted to indis-
pensable business.
It is easy to trace the result of these strange ar-

rangements. Independent members enjoy a super-
abundance, while Government suffers under the
most miserable scantiness, of time for the discus-
sion of its business. The measures of first-rate
importance must, of course, have a hearing, but
most of what may be called second-rate legislation
never practically gets a hearing at all. It is
brought on after 12 o'clock at night, when an
understanding prevails that nothing opposed shall
be gono on with. The condition of success, there-
fore, is not that the measure shall be found
good after a careful examination, but that it shall
be of such a nature as to provoke no opposition at
all. There is only one way to protect a measure
from opposition ; that is, to strike down all its dis-
putable parts, and tone it down to a state in which
nothing is left to object to. Opposition in these
cases cannot be overcome, and must therefore be
anticipated. A long list might be given of measures
excellently conceived and carefully prepared, which,
simply because they could not be discussed before
12 o'clock, have been deprived of all their characte-
ristic merits, and reduced to a state in which, in
order not to provoke the hostility of their enemies,
they resign all claim to the sympathy and support
of their friends. For the same cause, even on mea-
sures which do attain the privilege of being debated,
the discussion is left to a great degree in the hands
of their opponents, because the friends of the bill
know that the best service they can do is to be
silent, and not, by arguing in its defence, encroach
upon the little time that can be allowed for its con-
sideration; but the time arrives at last when even
this method of doing business becomes impossible.
After having lounged over the first four months of
the session, the time comes, generally at the begin-
ning of June, when it is necessary that an effort
should be made to wind up the business of the year.
A third day—Thursday—is then generally handed
owvhe
ire toh,
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madev e r nema
re
rnt
et
r;
mb
gt h
teven
et is
on
ec
all
lnlc
thates ion,s
is
wanted, is no longer sufficient, and the device of
morning sittings is resorted to—that is to say, dur-
ing the three hottest months of the year, June,
July, and August, the House of Commons commences
its sitting at noon, and, with an interval of two
hours for dinner, continues them till two or three
Committees,ctip.ub.ic and private,
are at the same time in full athe breathless evTnitteemen from The division
binellthseummmoornnsinesg*
ol
their inquiries, which the announcement
lor
numbers dismisses them to resume, till they are
once more rung in to decide on questions the
argu-
ments for and against which they have never heard,
and of the very terms of which they are often
ignorant. Can it be wondered that a system such
as we have described should often lead to unsatis-
factory results, or, rather, is it not surprising that
its results are not even more unsatisfactory than
they are ?
, the the meanwhile, of
independent members ? Tuesday
three
dalyNsr
ed to motions, Wednesday
and Thursday are allotted haalltetbteccdo
fteiidefeatedby any
the
large number of members, are o
triolesin
questionable device of speakin,
0. against time, and
to the passing of bills, which, if displeasing to -
t be taken out
of the hands of their proposers and adopted by the
Thursday are given to
which, if they are to pass at all, mus k
Government. Tuesday and
;notions, and cases over and over again decided,