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London, England, 1868-07-23 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1868.

Mr. GLADSTONE'S speech at Romsey will be found
very interesting, and there is always something at-
tractive in noticing the remarks made by those who

have been intimately associated with distinguished

individuals who have departed from among us. The
members of the Corporation assembled at the Town

Hall yesterday to present an ad iresi to Mr. GLAD-
STONE. The right hon. gentleman admitted that he

had come a day after the fair, but he felt compelled
to remain in his place in Parliament on account of
the pressure of work there. The high character
andgreat services of Lord PALMERSTON were alluded
to in the address, and Mr. GLADSTONE referred to the
privilege he had had of speaking of those services
some time after the death of the lamented Premier.
'The time has gone by when it would be suitable to
enter into detail into the character or doings of one
so well known as Lord PALMERSTON, but the occa-
sion appeared a fitting opportunity to dwell on the
leading points of his character and the truly Eng-
lish style of his policy. Those who were intimately
associated with the noble lord for so long felt a
natural desire for his remains to be placed in the
neighbourhood where he was so well known, and
the noble lord had himself desired it ; but then, as
Mr. GLADSTONESaid, they rest in the greatest of the
temples of an national fame, because it was the
unanimous wish of the whole country that they
should do so, and wished that he'• should lie among
great and famous men in the very centre of the
political and national life of England which that
venerable abbey overshadows." Mr. GLADSTONE
referred with pride and satisfaction to the long
period during which he had been the colleague of
Lord PALMERSTON, and the many useful and im-
portant acts which were passed at that time. In
dwelling upon the retrospect of his career, the right
Eon. gentleman very truly said that there was much
to admire in it, and also much to emulate, in the
characteristic traits which distinguished him.
Looking at the political aspect of the future, Mr.
GLADSTONE said that we, the people of the United
Kingdom, are the stewards of a great and noble in-
heritance, which it is our duty to improve as well as
to enjoy. All parties now join in congratulating
themselves and each other in the extension of the
franchise, and, as Mr. GLADSTONE said, it must now
be remembered that, for the future, those who had
so much to do with the change of representatives
must share the responsibility with the Government
and Legislature of the country if things did not go

on favourably. The leader of the Opposition
made an amusing allusion to the tenacity with
which all parties kept to the term of Liberal.
Most of the addresses of the supporters of the Go-
vernment are signed Liberal-Conservatives; and it •
is an universally acknowledged thing that this
question is on the increase rather than otherwise.
Mr. GLADSTONE concluded by dwelling upon the
state and prospects of Ireland, and the serious
work which lay before the new Parliament with re-
spect to settling the vexed questions of that coun-
try. Mr. COWPER made some observations, in
which he said that Mr. GLADSTONE had the majo-
rity of the House of Commons, butdid not hold office
un ler the Crown on account of his sacrifices in the
cause of Reform. The right hon. gentleman certainly
praised the talents of his friend with great in-
genuity, and declared that be rejoiced to learn that
the mantle of Lord PALMERSTON had fallen upon
Mr. GLADSTONE. It may be observed that through-
out the course of these speeches no allusion was
made of an irritating nature, and both speakers
showed their discretion and good taste in avoiding
such topics. The proceedings gave great satisfac-
tion to all present, and the affair terminated hap-
pily, 11
having afforded tlio good pe4•plo of Aogasey

an opportunity of hearin g the distinguished leader
of the Opposition to adva. ntage.

The House of Commons spent most of their time,
yesterday, in discussing the Corrupt Practices Bill.
The new clauses which ware le ft out on Saturday
were taken up, and a good deal of dispute took
place on Mr. FAWCETT'S cla•usc@ for throwing the
expenses of the returning officer ;on the rates. The
Solicitor-General has placed a .notice on the paper
to strike out the clause, and great dissatisfaction
was expressed in some quarters at this being done.
Mr. DISRAELI and the Chanceior of the Exchequer
gave some explanations, and sa'.d that the Govern •
ment had been considering the sir.bjPct very carefully,
and believed the clause would In inoperative on the
subject of the extension of the principle to Scot-
land. A division was taken, and the Lord-Advocate
proposed to withdraw the paragraph which threw
the payment of the rates on the parish. Despite the
efforts of Mr. M‘LAP,EN, who insisted on a division
being taken, a majority of twelve decided against
it. Lord MILTON brought up a clause to alter
some arrangement, and provide against the objec-
tions he had previously stated of the whole county pay-
ing for onedivision, but the discussionsupon it were
brought to a close, by the suggestion that the
Solicitor-General's proposal to strike out the whole
clause should be taken first, and this plan was
postponed until that comprehensive scheme had
been settled. The Government had yesterday a
good majority to fall back upon in the contested
points of the new clauses, and the discussion alto-
gether was of a long character. The further pro-
gress of the bill was put off till a morning sitting
to-day. It is curious to notice how very unsuc-
cessful Mr. MILL and Mr. AYRTON were
in their effurts to improve the bill. In all pro-
bability the sitting of to-day will complete this
measure, or nearly so, at any rate, but it has been
a most hazardous undertaking altogether, and pro-
voked more angry retorts and sharp personal en-
counters than any measure this session, not even
excepting the great debates on the Irish Church ;
and the Opposition have not given the Government
much cause to rejoice for having undertaken the
troublesome task at the end of the Session.

Among the many troublesome tasks which the
House of Commons has still left to accomplish one
of the most prominent is the Cattle Bill. The
subject is to be reopened at the evening sitting of
to-day, and we hope there will be a little more
satisfactory progress made than was the case on
last Monday. It augurs ill for the merits of a
cause when its advocates have to resort to tricks,
manoeuvres, and delays, when they are anxious to
avail themselves of every form of the law which can
be twisted to forward their interests and to ad-
vance or retard the hearing of the case
as may best suit their convenience. In the same
way it does not look as if the strenuous opponents
of the Foreign Cattle Market Bill had very good or
cogent arguments to bring against the measure,
since they can find no more effectual means of
opposing its progress than by wearying the patience
of its supporters. The great body of the House,
like the majority of the public out of doors, has
accepted the principle of the measure, and
every time the points at issue are pressed to
a division the opponents are decidedly in
the minority. Yet time after time on Monday
the progress of the committee was arrested, the old
grievances were brought forward, the old arguments
reiterated, the old devices resorted to. The forms
of the House permitted these troublers of the peace
a good deal more latitude when in committee, and
so the evening was frittered away, and the bill left
very much where it was at the beginning of the
sitting. Such conduct will not give much satisfac-
tion out of doors, and it is certainly not calculated
to remove the impression that there is a strong in-
terested opposition to the bill, which fosters every
prejudice, and urges on the Parliamentary adver-
saries of the bill to extreme and unwarrantable
courses. The price of meat within the radius of the
metropolis has long been a serious evil, and if our
public-spirited friends, the butchers, are to have
their way we are not likely to see it diminished.
The Cattle Plague Commissioners, who ought cer-
tainly to know something about the matter, have
distinctly asserted that any port to which foreign
cattle are freely admitted must be always more or
less infected by the dreaded enemy, and this state-
ment, though startling at first sight, only corro-
borates the accounts which those best acquainted
with the matter give us of the Steppes of Russia
and similar districts. Under these circumstances,
while we are debating upon the best course to pur-
sue to relieve trade as much as possible, it seems to
unprejudiced observers that one thing is quite clear,
and that is that Vf3 should at once remove all re-
strictions which can with prudence be dispensed
with. Whether or no it would be safe to permit
free traffic in foreign cattle, there is no
reason to doubt that greatly increased
libertymight be allowed to the home trade,
and for a body of gentlemen to object to this wel-
come and seasonable relief on the ground that it is
a retrograde policy is simply absurd. It can
scarcely be more inimical to the principles of Free
Trade to relax the restrictions on one branch of
trade than to leave them as they are, and it is in
no sense a matter of policy or Free-trade prin-
ciples, but a practical question of excluding a disas-
trous epidemic. If the corn we imported from one
particular country contained the elements of a dan-
gerous complaint, we should not certainly be sur-
rendering our Free-trade principles if we closed
our ports to it. We hope that the opponents of the
bill will reconsider their line of conduct, and will
allow the rest of the work in the Commons to be