TWO MONTHS OF THE SESSION. THE fogs which have so constantly enveloped London during the last two months have been scarcely more dense and disagreeable than the political atmosphere in which we have been living and moving during the same period. The one bright spot, indeed, in the darkness of the horizon, has been discernible in the action of that hereditary branch of the Legislature which is the object against which the shafts of modern Radicalism are continually directed. The House of Lords has been working after a steady sensible fashion, which puts to shame its detractors, and proves it to be more really the representative body of a practical people than the elective assembly in which it is so often denounced. Since Parliament met on the 27th January, the peers, without having indulged themselves with late sittings, or abandoned their time-honored custom of getting their debates over by the sacred hour of dinner, have settled down to the work of the session in sober earnest. They have passed the Glebe Lands, Church Patronage, Lunacy Acts Amendment, Justices' Jurisdiction, Pluralities Acts Amendment, Appellate Jurisdiction, Law of Evidence Amendment, and other important bills; they have practically passed the Railway and Canal Traffic Bill, and have commenced their discussion upon the proposed alteration in the laws relating to Tithes. Upon each and all of these measures there has been debate and discussion by men who understood the subject, amply sufficient for all practical purposes, and of a character which has fully maintained the re putation of the chamber in which they have taken place. Meanwhile, if we turn our attention to the Lower House, the prospect is by no means of an equally satisfactory nature. In fact, a parallel might not be inaptly drawn at the present moment between the existing House of Commons and that unhappy country which occupies so much of its time, and demands so much of its attention. Both have been disturbed by reckless and turbulent spirits: both have been more or less the prey of lawlessness and disregard of constituted authority; both have required vigorous and determined action in order that they might be restored to the condition in which honest and patriotic men would desire to see them. No intelligent observer will deny that the character and reputation of the House of Commons has grievously suffered during the present session, and that representative institutions have been largely discredited by the conduct of those whose chief aim and object should have been to secure an exactly contrary result. of the worst features of the case is to be found in the encouragement given to tactics which it is hardly too much to call disreputable, by persons who have held high office under the Crown, and from whose position and experience we might have expected better things. One It would perhaps be invidious to mention by name those members of Mr Gladstone's late Administration who, in the debates so unnecessarily prolonged by their Parnellite allies, have only seen a legitimate occasion upon which to annoy and embarrass a Tory Gov 66 ernment. There are, however, enormous importance in the eyes grave and experienced politicians of Mr Howell and his friends, and among the Gladstonian ranks they felt justified in interposing (although it is true that the best its discussion before that for which and ablest of the Liberal leaders the House had been summoned. have severed themselves from the On the Speaker asking, in accordSeparatists); and when we see ance with the standing order of such men lending themselves to the House, whether forty memobstructionist tactics, and promot- bers endorsed the motion for ing the useless discussion of points the adjournment, the Nationalists of procedure which have already rose in a body, together with all been fully discussed and practi- the Gladstonians, save and except cally decided, we cannot but feel those on the front bench. The that we are witnessing the melan- marked and pertinacious manner choly deterioration which is habitu- in which the latter remained seatally undergone by those who keep ed would, to a suspicious mind, bad company. The scandal which have afforded proof of previous attaches to the waste of time of concert with the obstructionists, which the House of Commons has and the farce was complete when lately been guilty, reflects the Mr Gladstone subsequently rose, gravest discredit upon those who during the debate which followed, have been in any degree parties to and stated that he and his friends it; and although there may be near" him "had taken no part in but a few statesmen of any posi- promoting the discussion of the tion who have been individually subject" mooted by Mr Howell, prominent in the matter, it is im- because, although they "perceived possible to acquit the front Opposi- at once that the matter was one tion bench of having, as a body, of the gravest importance, yet" either actively or passively assisted they did not feel satisfied that it the policy of obstruction. Notably was one which ought to be brought was this the case upon one re- forward to the prejudice of all markable evening when, just as other important matters and the the House had disposed of "ques- business before the House." But tions," and was about to enter surely, if the tactics of obstrucupon the Procedure business, Mr tion are to be discouraged, it is not Howell moved the adjournment. by the somewhat ignoble method This gentleman had gathered from of remaining seated and silent Truth,' or some equally reliable while those behind them facilitate source of information, that the those tactics by rising, that the Corporation of the City of Lon- official leaders of the Opposition don had improperly expended can be said to have properly discorporate funds in promoting op- charged their duty and responsiposition to the "Government of bility to the House and to the London" Fill of Mr Gladstone's country. A dignified protest from Administration. The matter could Mr Gladstone, and an appeal to hardly be called one of "urgency," his followers on behalf of the credit and could have perfectly well and character of Parliament, would waited for a month, or for three have been the only fair and reasonmonths, without any detriment to able course, in order to have acthe public interest. But, coupled quitted himself of complicity in with the opportunity which it the obstructive transaction, and to afforded for delay, it assumed an have proved the sincerity of his desire to forward public business. The leader of the Opposition has his responsibilities as well as the Minister, and the Government may well complain that they have not received from Mr Gladstone and his colleagues that assistance which they had a right to expect during their repeated attempts to vindicate the reputation of the House of Commons. It may perhaps be urged that the turbulent followers whom Mr Gladstone leads are amenable to no control, and susceptible of none of those influences of good manners, gentleman-like feeling, and decorum, which formerly enabled the House of Commons to maintain the dignity and high character of its debates. This may indeed be true of political buffoons like Mr Labouchere, to whom notoriety, however obtained, is as the breath of his nostrils, and sundry other "free lances," whom it is useless to name; but if the weight and authority of the front Opposition bench were really thrown into the scale, and seriously employed for the sake of that representative principle which has been so grievously brought into contempt of late, it is at least probable that a public opinion might be formed within the House itself, which would assist in repressing those obtrusive and self-opinionated nobodies, who are impervious to the milder influences of good sense and patriotic feeling. If there are within the walls of the House of Commons men whose deliberate aim and object it is to bring the British Parliament into discredit, it should surely be the primary object of every British statesman to defeat these enemies of his country, and no party object or possible party advantage can excuse Mr Gladstone and his colleagues from this obligation. If, indeed, it had only been on one or two occasions that they had failed to maintain their own dignity by assisting to uphold that of the House of Commons, the fault might have been forgotten, if not condoned. But, night after night, during the Procedure debates, we have seen the same thing; and the 18th March, on which night the first "closure" resolution was at length passed, witnessed one of the worst examples of irregularity on the part of the Nationalists, and inability or unwillingness in the Opposition leaders to repress their turbulent allies. Upon that memorable evening, immediately before the "Orders of the Day" were called, Mr Dillon rose to move the adjournment of the House, in order to bring forward a matter of "urgent public importance," and his demand was supported by most of the Liberal, i.e., the Gladstonian Liberal, members. The matter of "urgent importance" was one from the discussion of which at the moment no practical result could possibly have arisen. priest of the name of Keller or Kelleher, resident at Youghal, had been subpoenaed as a witness in the Court of Bankruptcy, had disobeyed or refused to obey the subpoena, and the judge had consequently, as a matter of course, issued a warrant for his arrest. There had been a riot at Youghal in connection with this affair, in which the police had been stoned, and, having been ordered to charge, had killed one of the mob. As this part of the business was already the subject of judicial inquiry, it was obviously improper to discuss it at the moment in Parliament; and unless it was to be contended that Roman Catholic priests in Ireland are above the law, it does not seem very clear what possible reason there could A greatest bores in the House, if interrupted, only pause in their harangues, and with a smile of conscious superiority, await the return of the silence which will enable their sweet voices to be heard. Meanwhile, it is satisfactory to note the success which has been achieved by good temper, forbearance, tact, and common-sense, in the person of the new leader of have been for dragging the case before the House of Commons, especially as the news had arrived by telegram, and full and accurate details could not be known until the following day. Nevertheless, the forms of the House seem to have permitted the absolutely useless and obstructive debate, which lasted for six mortal hours, to the utter disgust of all rightminded persons. Then the Irish- the House of Commons. Mr W. men divided on the question of adjournment, and, according to the Times,' Sir William Harcourt, Messrs J. Morley, H. Fowler, Marjoribanks, and other Gladstonians who occupy seats on the front bench, thought it consistent with their duty to walk out of the House and abstain from voting. This miserable exhibition of party spirit will doubtless not be lost upon the country; but it is almost enough to make one despair of the future when one sees such a total absence of patriotic feeling, not to say of decorum and the common decencies of parliamentary life, in men who aspire to be leaders of a great political party. It must be painful to old members of Parliament, who remember what the House of Commons has been, to witness the melancholy deterioration which it has undergone of late years. Night after night, during the present session, has the Speaker been called upon frequently to interpose his authority, either to reprove unbecoming language or to check the irrelevant remarks of diffuse and rambling orators. As to obeying the feeling of the House by refraining from speech when the sense of the majority present is obviously in favour of coming to a decision upon the question before it, this, which in old times was the almost invariable practice, seems now to be regarded as antiquated and obsolete; and the H. Smith has fully justified the confidence of his colleagues in intrusting him with the arduous and delicate duties of this position, rendered still more difficult by the sudden resignation of one who had, during his brief tenure of the same office, evinced so conspicuous an ability and so completely won the confidence of those he led. Those who watched the short and brilliant career of Lord Randolph Churchill in his capacity of leader of the House of Commons, and who had prognosticated therefrom his great success in the future, may have been surprised to witness, but cannot have failed to recognise, the satisfactory result which has been brought about by the simple display of the qualities to which we have already alluded. Mr W. H. Smith has won for himself the respect and regard of every wellregulated mind in the House of Commons, and both friends and opponents must now admit the wisdom of the choice which placed him in his present position. The House of Commons never fails to appreciate straightforward honesty, and quiet, unobtrusive determination to do the work which has to be done; and many a more brilliant orator and experienced statesman than the present leader of the House of Commons has failed to secure such a general consensus of approbation. Of course, the utmost tact and most invariable good temper on the part of Mr Smith cannot enable him to escape the attacks of those "irreconcilables" among the Nationalist party to whom delicacy and decorum are alike unknown, and who, by their language and conduct during the present session, have afforded incontestable proofs of the unfitness of Irish representatives to conduct the business of that separate Parliament in Dublin which Mr Gladstone fondly believes to be the end and object of their political aspirations. Of the unfitness, indeed, of Ireland for such an institution, and of the impossibility of handing over to her "native" government the control of law and order, a striking proof has just been afforded in the very case of Father Keller, to which we have alluded. Having been most properly arrested for contempt of one of her Majesty's Courts, this reverend gentleman was permitted to select a slow train for his journey to Dublin, in order, we are informed by the newspapers, "to give time for arranging a demonstration on his arrival in Dublin"! At every station on the way crowds of people, warned by telegram of the coming of the hero, were present to greet him with enthusiastic cheers. At Thurles he was met by Dr Croke, Archbishop of Cashel, twelve priests, and some thousands of people. At Dublin he was received by the Lord Mayor and several Nationalist members of Parliament, and driven in the Lord Mayor's carriage to the Imperial Hotel. At the several places mentioned he received addresses, and replied in short speeches, describing himself as a martyr to his devotion to the "rack-rented and oppressed tenantry," of whom he was the pastor. Be it observed that this priest was no victim to an arbitrary Government, but simply a man who had refused to attend the summons of a judge to give evidence before his court. In no other country in the world would such proceedings as we have related have been permitted on the part and in behalf of a person who had deliberately refused to obey the law; and that they should have been allowed to take place, affords the most striking comment upon all the balderdash and nonsense which Irish demagogues pour forth against the tyranny of the government to which Ireland is subjected. An idle and foolish attempt has been made to represent Father Keller as one of whom it had been required that he should reveal secrets committed to him as a Catholic priest. This, however, is utterly untrue. The priest was committed to prison-not, be it observed, by any action of the Government, but by the order of the judge whose authority he had deliberately defied for refusing to answer a simple question as to whether he remembered being at a certain place upon a particular day, a question which had nothing to do with the secrets of the confessional, and an answer to which he could not have been allowed to refuse without the admission that a Catholic priest, as such, may decline to answer questions at all, or indeed to appear as a witness when duly summoned by the constituted authorities. Immediately upon the committal of Father Keller, two of the Nationalist members of Parliament addressed an excited crowd, to whom one of them pointed out what had just occurred as part of the "infamous system of alien misrule" existing in Ireland. One is curious to know what would be the system of "native rule" as opposed to that which is thus so |