The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-02 00:00:00

Loumbini, and the author exclaims at last, in admir-
ing ecstasy

" Tell me in sooth,
If ye would not dream the dream,
If ye would not be,
By the forest cooled and splintered light,
By the silver moon of the Indian night ;
Where Himalaya's shadows fall
Upon the valleys of Nepaul."
There is a paper on " China," which discusses some
important questions relating to that empire, truly
observing that it will not do to say that " China in
this country means tea and cotton," but it means
one fourth of the human race. There is another
article on "Essays and Reviews," which is ar-
ranged with the same skill, and animated with the
same spirit as the former one, which appeared last
month in this magazine, and which reflected great
credit on its authors, alike from its decision and
moderation. " The Morality of Garbled Blue
Books" refers to a question that recently engaged
the attention of Parliament, and the system is here
denounced in the strongest terms. A few pages
are devoted to the works of "William Cardwell
Roscoe," that have been published since his death.
A high opinion is expressed of their merits,
mingled with regret that he had not more time for
the maturity of his powers.

Fraser's Magazine.
The attention of the reader of Fraser will this
month be at once arrested by the opening essay,
both because it treats of a subject of considerable
importance, and also because he may conjecture that
the pen which indited it is not altogether strange
to him, but is wielded by one who has often en-
riched the pages of this magazine, and who has,
perhaps, unusual opportunities for forming a sound
opinion on public men and things. The subject dis-
cussed is the " Conduct of Business in Parliament."

The writer boldly accepts the fact that the close of
each session leaves an ever accumulating amount
of unfinished work, and that as there is a continual
increase of public business there is no immediate
prospect of improvement. Various remedies have
been suggested for this state of things, from the
common suggestion of restricting the length of the
debates, to Lord Derby's proposal of taking up a
bill at the beginning of a session at the stage at
which it had been left the year preceding. With
the complaint as to the extent of the speeches the
Writer does not altogether coincide. He says, sen-
sibly enough, that these discussions clear a subject,
dispose of many arguments, give different views a
fair hearing, and bring out all the important points
of a question. With regard to the length of indi-
vidual speeches, he observes, with truth, that the

longest ones are generally those spoken by eminent
men, and are of value in elucidating the subject.
Without therefore denying that in many instances
the long debates might be curtailed with ad-

vantage, the writer does not look to mere restric-
tion of speech as the solution of the problem, and,
in truth, it is difficult to see how such a

restriction could be made available without seriously
interfering with that liberty of discussion, and that
right to the expression of individual opinion, which
are the very foundations of our Parliamentary inde-
pendence. We have not space to follow the writer
through all his able and sensible essay, in which he
displays the moderation and calmness of one fami-
liar with his subject, and thoroughly aware of the
difficulties attending the practical application of
universal cures. A good deal of quiet humour, too,
runs through his pages. Here is his description of

A BILL.
"All the most deadly things have an innocent or insigni-
ficant look about them. What harmfulness would a savage
discern in a little heap of black dust which yet would suf-
fice to blow his whole tribe to perdition ? A few drops of
some pearly, harmless. looking liquid are potent enough to
stop at once the vital force of the strongest human being.
And when you look at a bill in Parliament, it does not to
the uninitiated manifest its terrors. You have a mass of
bluish paper with a telling title (which, however, often
explains nothing), and a name or two on the back of it.
Yet that innocuous-looking thing may be full of mischief
—most probably is so. Dr. Johnson said something like
the following of one of Pope's lines, which the Doctor was
asked to explain Ido not know, sir, what it means;
but it was intended to annoy somebody.' So of a bill; you
may not make out very clearly what it will do ; but it is
sure to be the means of annoying somebody. There is, how-
ever, one good to be predicted' of any bill, that it may
stop the way of some other bill ; and if there be a sufficient
crowd of bills, not one of them will be able to move a step
How beautifully thus does nature provide against any ex-
tremity of evil."
In another place he observes, that the history of a
bill would prove a most interesting story, not infe-
rior to the adventures of a hero of romance, if we
could trace its white days, its dark days, its
struggles and misadventures, the firmness of its
friends, the constancy of its enemies, and the final
chapter of accidents, which carried it triumphantly
through Parliament, and transformed it into law.
We have afterwards a likeness of