The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-13 00:00:00

Ct. min .11 • '.77 Mt

LONDON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1850.

Shortcomings there unquestionably are on the part
of the Ministers in the management of public busi-
ness during the Parliamentary session, a fact suffi-
ciently proven by the annual sacrifice designated with
some significance the Massacre of the Innocents.
Nevertheless, making allowance, for the difficulties
always in the way of legislation, we cannot but coincide
in the opinion expressed by the First Lord of the
Treasury last evening, to the effect that no other assem-
bly in Europe transacted more business than the re-
presentative assembly of Great Britain. To the House
of Commons the country is indebted for labours in behalf
of the common weal more arduous and uninterrupted
than could reasonably be anticipated from a body of
men instigated to those toils solely by the stimulus of
their patriotism. An estimate of the work actually
got_through by our Legislators during the interval
between the re-assembling and the prorogation of the
ralniment inevitAbly Ells the mind with sole of

satisfaction that a regard for the welfare of their
fatherland can thus induce men of fortune and leisure
to forego all the enjoyments of repose, and to with•
stand the allurements of an indolent recreation.
Considerations like these are the most unanswerable
arguments in favour of that political ambition
which some mistaken philosophers have repro-
bated as a grievous criminality. But for
it there would be little chance of the labours of le-
gislation being conducted with anythinglike the pre.
sent promptitude and efficiency. In thinking thus, of
course it must be apparent that we are not among
those who are solicitous to see a pecuniary incitement
introduced into the precincts of the Imperial Parlia-
ment. Of all the demands of democracy, that appears
to us to be the most erroneous. Nothing could more
signally demonstrate this than a comparison of
the benefits secured to the people of France
by the National Assembly, and those con-
ferred upon the people of England by the
House of Commons during the sessions now rapidly
approaching their termination. One constituting the
achievements of paid and the other of unpaid repre-
sentatives, they strikingly contrast with each other,
and illustrate in a manner the most brilliant and con-
spicuous the advantages of the system as existing
amongst ourselves.
Reviewing the records accumulated this year by
the stenographers of Hansard, we confess at once,
and with a sort of exultation, that the Premier was
scrupulously correct in asserting, as he did yesterday,
that during 1850 the toils of the Commons have been
but seldom interrupted by lengthened discussions.
Hitherto, unfortunately, a large amount of public
time had been frittered away in unnecessary debates
and" most unjustifiable personalities. Members de-
livered elaborate harangues more with a view to en-
hance their reputation as orators than to elucidate
any obscure or complicated question, subordinating
the interests of the country to the chance of their own
individual advancement. Against this melancholy
practice the journalist has repeatedly inveighed with
a seriousness proportioned to his sense of the
grievances accruing from it to the population of the
United Kingdom. Gradually we are rejoiced to ac-
knowledge that the annoyance alluded to has been of
less and less frequent recurrence. Especially during
the session which will be closed by her Most Gracious
MAJESTY in person on Thursday next, has the
Speaker of the House of Commons been exempted
from the onerous duty of sitting out tremendous de-
bates of an idle and frivolous character, extending far
into the small hours after midnight, and protracted
by adjournment after adjourn ment. The di!cussion on
the Foreign Policy cf the Government may be men-
tioned as: the only one of a particularly lengthened
duration ; ant, considering the immense importance of
the subject then under deliberation, the multiplicity
of its details, and the magnitude of its misrepresenta-
tions, it cannot, by any possibility, be insinuated that
that debate was in any respect unconscionably pro-
longed. With all the odium devolving upon the
members of the present Administration in conse-
quence of their abandonment of so many measures of
an estimable description, it must be borne in mind
that a large amount of credit is likewise due to them
in a particular degree for the amount of work which
they have got through, notwithstanding the numerous
obstructions raised against their proceedings, now in
one, now in the other, of the two Houses of Parlia-
ment. Added to which, a material improvement has
been perceptible under them in one or two regu-
lations affecting the management of public busi-
ness. With the intention of preventing the annoyance
of any uncertainty as to which would and which
would not be brought forward among some twenty
or thirty orders of the day down in the notice- book
of the House, and also in what succession those same
orders would be introduced—it has been contrived
that one or two out of those clustered orders should
be especially specified on the votes as being likely to
absorb a considerable portion of such and such an
evening. These more tedious subjects have received
precedence of the other miscellaneous subjects enume-
rated, and the arrangement has, by the means just re-
ferred to, been duly intimated beforehand to the House
by the well meaning intervention of the Government.
Those who are unaccustomed to observe the manner
in which the flow of public business may be re-
tarded by some such trivial interruptions as are
thereby obviated, can form but an inadequate notion
of the value and efficacy of the plan adopted by the
Cabinet in this instance, and carried out, it would
seem, at the express instigation of the First Lord of
the Treasury. Incredible as it may appear to the
uninitiated, many whole nights in the session have,
by this simple contrivance, been saved from being
needlessly frittered away in altercations.
As affording a vivid notion of the arduous and
protracted exertions of the House of Commons during
the session of 1850, the statistical estimate of that
session, given last evening by,the Honourable Baronet
the Member for the metropolitan borough of Mary-
lebone, is eminently entitled to consideration. Ac-
cording to the rough calculation of Sir BENJAMIN
HALL, the total number of hours during which the
Commons have been sitting during the last twenty-
five weeks (exclusive of holidays) has been no less
than 1,041 —1,041 hours distributed over 149
sittings ; or, allowing 100 hours for the "Wednes-
day sittings, they have sat during the whole
of this session four days in every week,
for ten hours and a half a day. Of itself this nume-
rical estimation alone is a sufficient token of the as-
siduous application to their legislative duties on the
part of our unpaid Representatives. Meanwhile, of
course, in carrying out so many and such diversified
schemes, many also have been unhappily overlooked
and prematurely abandoned. In gathering in so
large a harvest it is not surprising that every year
many sheaves should be left scattered about for the
advantage of the political gleaners. Unfortu

nately the benefit of this kind of sena-
torial gleaning can only be experienced on the
approach of the ensuing harvest, at the commencement

of the next Parliamentary session. So that, while
exulting over what has been accomplished during the
past session through the instrumentality of their
Representatives at Westminster, the people invariably
look forward with eager expectation to the renewal
of their deliberations.

The more we look into the various articles, letters,
&c., which have appeared in the columns of our con-
temporaries on the subject which is engaging so much

public attention, and which has led to so much cor-
respondence between the Board of Customs and the
dock companies, the more are we confirmed in our
view of the case, viz., that out of this question, much
good must inevitably result, not only to the merchants
of the metropolis, but also to the lesser traders and
dealers in general. We cannot dismiss from our
minds that much of the evil is chargeable on the
Customs authorities. The dock companies have
been left too much to themselves, too much
confidence has been reposed in the honour of
individuals, who in their turn entrust that honour to

the keeping of others, which, as in this case, fre,
quently ends in inextricable difficulties.

It too often happens in public bodies that, however
high the integrity, however respectable the standing
of its members and directors, the practical working of
the business machinery must be entrusted to servants,
dependents, and other officials, with whose actual
doings the directors are unacquainted, except so far as
can,therefore,
oaflistehothdeooikdeoaomthpaatniielis,thaes
case before beWforeeu
s the
directors
a body, may be ignorant of many frauds •
or irregulari-
ties, if there be any, in their establishments, although
such ignorance and innocence on th • their parts
may not be inconsistent with the existence of
evils on which we have had occasion to
animadvert. We would willingly incline to the opi-
nion that such is the case with regard to the many
highly influential and honourable persons whose
names are associated with these companies, although
they themselves have not been disposed to admit the
fact; nevertheless the responsibility rests with them,
the pecuniary consequences of that responsibility
constitute a lesser evil than the imputation of privity
and participation in the practices that lead to such re-
sults. To that responsibility the London Dock Com-
pany inform the Board of Customs that they hold
themselves liable, and this position they admit whilst
animadverting on the conduct of the Customs.

If liberties have been taken with the imports, and
abstractions have been made before the landing
weights have been taken by the Customs, a false
and insufficient charge has been raised against the
importer, and by this inadequate amount the duties have