The Spectator 1830-12-11: Vol 3 Iss 128

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r HE ye Fe Pues Lg. g Ong SHILLING, tator. FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, BECEMBER 11, 1830. “Wx must postpone our New Edition of the “ Anatomy of the House of Commons,” till the beginning of January. Parliament does not adjourn until the close of the week ; and its business for that period will oceupy too much space in next SrecTAToR to admit a subject so copious as the “ Anatomy.” We are un- willing to publish part of it in a number of the present volume and the re- amuinder in uext yéar’s volume. « We wish the “ Anatomy” to remain on record for future refereneé, in our consideration of the important subjects to be ‘discussed, and perhaps settled, by the present Parliament. ‘ Our new subscri- bers will, by the altered arrangement, be put in possession of the whole of this important document, and the same volume will contain hoth the discus- sions and the key to them. The first part of the ‘‘ Anatomy” will be published in No. 131 of the Spreraror, on the Ist of January next. The second part will appear.in No. 132, for the following week. ‘To prevent'the disappointment which occurred to many persons on the first publication of the ‘ Anatomy,” orders for the Paper should be transmitted to the respective Newsmen, Book- sellers, and Postmasters, in time to reach the Publishing Office, 4, Wellington Street, Strand, before December 31. A letter from a respectable member of Trinity College, Cambridge, correcting some statements in our last Number regarding the Universities, was in type, when a second letter from the same gentleman arrived this morning; but we could not insert both : they shall certainly appear in next SpecraTor. The more important subjects of the week have compelled us to exclude the “ Law Reports,” and the communication of several other correspondents. News oF THE WEEK— ‘ ‘The Parliament — State of the Country — Lord Chancellor of Ireland—The Ciyil List—Sala- ries of Public Officers—Vote by Ballot—Peace of the Metropolis —Travelling Committee to the West Indies—Regency Bill— Rideau Canal—NewspaperTaxes Coal Duties—Bethiem Hospital 1005 Parliamentary Business . ° 1010 Foreign Affairs—France—Belgium —Germany—Italy—Colombia 1011 The King.and his Court. 1012 State of the Country ° . 1012 iondon & Provincial News 1013—4018 Theatrical Register ‘ * 1016 Births, Marriages, and Deaths East India Shipping ° ° 1017 Postscript TO THE WEER’s News 1017 The Money Market . ° . 1017 Topics oF THE DAay— Jobs . « . ° ° » 1018 Sea-borne Coals . . ° 1018 ber eee to Petitioners against Taxation ° e ° ° 1018 ‘The Royal Society . ° ¢ 1019 Italian Operas, by the Pupils of the Royal Academy of Music 1019 New Booxs—Spectator’s Library Fine Arts e e e e 1 Royal Society . . . . Lettets on the Colortties, No. I. Pensions . . . . . Poor-Laws . . * . Gazettes . . . e . Prices Current . ese. eg 55: Universities . 2 . Church . « ° . "NEWS OF THE WEEK. Tux two Houses of Parliament on Thursday presented the first specimen for the session, of their old; and we fear inveterate habit, of sitting late, and talking much to small purpose, The Commons sat until half-past twelve, and the Lords until half-past eleven: During the rest of the week, the hours have been earlier, and the discussions more moderate. On Monday, in the Com- mons, a conversation of Some impertance arose out of the votes for Windsor Castle, and more especially for the Rideau Canal, on the wasteful and extravagant and dlegalystem of engaging in ublic works without certain and defined estimates of the expense. m Tuesday, in the same House, Lord AttrHorp announced the intention of Government to take a vote of credit om account of the Civil List until their final plans with respect to it were properly adjusted : the, vote was taken last night. On Tuesday, also, Mr. Kennepy, in an able and argumentative Kihei Gases not being understood by the reporters, was not noticed, though it well de- servéd-to he ‘so—introduced his important measure relative to En- tails in Scotland; and the Marquis of Caanpos introduced his bill for modifying another nuisance, more crying, but not greater —the Game-Laws ofEngland. The projected appointment to the Chancellorsliip in Ireland was talked at in the ease of Lords on Wednesday ; and the procession of the trades of London, which took place that day to address the King, was made the ground of censure against Ministers by the Duke of Wre..ineron. The same subjects were recurréd to in the Commons on Thursday and Friday.. The Government have pledged themselves that the dismis- sal of SirAnrHony Hart, on a pension, shall not cause any expense to the country ; pe pena for the explanation of which, we must wait until the details are completed.. .On Thursday, Lord Wyn- FORD brought on his motion de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis, with an appendix on the state of the nation. A long ‘discussion ensued, which terminated in the withdrawal of the motion. Very few ofithe Peers seemed disposed to support any part, and none were disposed to support all the parts of. Lord Wynrorp's com- plaint; except Lord Srannorz. A Committee was moved on same evening in the Commons, by the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer, for the purpose of inquiring into, with a view to reduce, as far as: practicable; the whole of the salaries of the various officers of Government ;.a measure which we have on repeated occasions recommended, and which we are happy to see Ministers inclined to adopt. The inattention of the late Ministers to the distress of the country was severely censured by Lord Rapnor on Thursday; the subject was reverted to. by the same noble Lord on Friday. On that day, also, the grave solemnity of their Lordships was broken in upon by Lord Brovenam, who gave way, for the first time since he has taken his seat, and upon rather strong enforce- ment, to a strain of raillery which wakened the aristocratic echoes of the House with sounds that but seldom disturb theif staid ® P 1024 Advertisements . ° 1025—1028 tranquillity. The laughter, loud and long, was at the expense of Earl StaNHOPE; a nobleman who is somewhat better known for the length and the pertinacity of his argument than for its logic. The proverb says that we ought not to pluck a dead lion by the beard; Lord Srannore has been bold enough to toy with the mane ofa living one. The correction of the Chancellor was gently administered, but quite severe enough to teach the Earl the danger of too much familiarity with such a playmate. We sus- pect that ‘‘ the feeble voice” will be hushed for some time to come. The living of Stanhope will not be joined to the see of Exeter ; Ministers have advised his Majesty against a step which had oc- casioned a degree of excitement, throughout the country inferior only to that caused by Dr. PxiLiporrs's elevation to the Bench. The fact was announced by Lord Atrnorr on Thursday, in answer to a question from Mr. Wynne. The present intention is to adjourn the two Houses on Thurs- day next ; and it is not supposed that they will again meet until the end of January or beginning of February. Indeed, Ministers have announced that-they wish to be indulged withas long a day as the forms of Parliament and the state of the public business will per- mit. The Commons meet to-day, but merely for the purpose of bringing up the report of the Committee of Supply of last night on the yote of credit asked by Ministers to account of the Civil List. } 1. Srareor trae Country. Lord Wynrorp’s motion for refer- fring the consideration of the state of the country to a select com- | mittee, was debated in the House of Lords on Thursda general existence of the distress, his Lordship thought the fagt was too notorious to be disputed, and it might be satisfactorily proved to any one who would take the trouble of but a fifty miles’ journey from town. It was pater in a still more convincing way + in its effects—in the criminal practices to which it had given rise: —practices (his Lordship alluded to the destruction of property) which were new to the country, and whose adoption for the first time by Englishmen, was the best indication of the degree to which they were now suffering. The records of the Criminal Courts presented a frightful catalogue of offences. “In the year 1825, there were 233 persons transported to Botany Bay from Great Britain and Ireland ; in the year 1826, their Lordships would be surprised to find that number increased to 1,815,; iP sthe year 1827, it was str lorther increased to the enormous nut... uf ns ;and. in 1829, there was a trifling reduction in the number, it standing at 2,449; ‘ * ae: ; It was true, a Committee on the Poor-Laws had been ‘ap. pointed ; and he- might. be met im Hmine by a reference.to that Committee, and to.the result whieh might naturally be expected from its labours ; but his objectswas a more extended -one than that which the: Committee om the Poor-Laws contemplated—it extended not to the best method of managing the funds of the oor, but to the best means em shiny funds for their relief, e first cause to which Lord Wynford adverted, as produci the general distress at present prevalent, was the want of capit in the country. He derived his proof of that fact from the circumstance that tradesmen were obliged nowin many instances to pay their labourers in goods in- stead of money. Even if there were capital enough in the country, if it was not properly employed, and if the usurers who possessed it were un- willing to lend it out for the promotion of the productive industry and manufactures of the country, in what state must such a country be? If the country had been so unfortunate in all its speculations, agricultural and commercial, that the capitalists were induced to stop the life-blood of the country by locking up their capital in their boxes to support the in- ‘ In the very Committee which was now sitting (the Marquis of /( Salisbury’s) it had but that day been stated, that the funds of the ° farmer were everywhere nearly if not wholly exhausted; and for no other purpose was the inquiry that he prayed for—it mattered not in what form it was granted, at the bar, or in a special com- mittee—than to set the people right in respect of the conduct of two much calumniated classes, the landlords and farmers. Another, and no inconsiderable cause of the distress of the country, was the machinery of the country. He was no enemy to machinery, if the employment of it were properly regulated; but when it produced a glut in the market, it injured the manufacturer, andit injured the poor man, by depriving him of the means of obtaining employment for his labour. He was of opinion that the poor man had as good a right to have his labour protected, as the manufac. turer had to have his manufactures protected. He was not so absurd as to propose to put a stop to the use of machinery altogether, but that its use should be properly: regulated, so as not to interfere with the labour of the poor man. In that way justice would be dealt out to all, without distinction ; andif any distinction should be made, it should be made in favour of the poor man. The third cause of the existing distress was the diminution of the precious metals ; a diminution so great, that whatever horror he might feel at any change in the currency, he yet thought, ifthe diminution were satisfactorily made out, as he thought it might be, there ought to be such a thange, DEFECTIVE ORIGINAL dustry of the country, in what condition must that country be? nn