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I ■! J ARLIAMERTAHY JOTTINGS.…

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■! J ARLIAMERTAHY JOTTINGS. 4»- |r°phets have prophesied falsely. They said ft the noble Premier would never take an ^1Te part in the business of the nation. They k 5e mistaken, however; and not only Liberals, in ?°nservatives are glad of it. There is no ^an in the House of Commons personally more than Lord Palmerston. After some absence he made his appearance on Thurs- ray> and was received with cheers. On Friday he 80 took his accustomed seat on the Treasury | eQch, and came with all his former vigour to the ^cue of the Ministers, when they were very beaten. The trivial defeat of the Govern- jteent was caused in the following manner:— All moneys for national purposes must be voted what is termed a Committee of the Whole -ifctuse, over which Mr. Dodson presides, and the Speaker retires during the time the committee ;5 Before doing so, however, he puts I, it he following: H The question now before ■ (^following:—"The question now before House is that I leave the chair. Those ^uo are of that opinion say 'Aye;' those who of a contrary opinion say No.' If members 816 desirous of discussing some subject, they may address the House, having previously put the taot- ^°tion on the paper. Thus, one of the orders of day on Friday was to this effect:—" On the ^°tion for going into Committee of Supply, Mr. will move that it is inexpedient to Continue H, !.«« practice of appointing naval officers, who are fot; possessed of a technical knowledge of the Rainess carried on in her Majesty's dockyard, the offices of superintendents thereof, and the Practice of limiting their tenure of office to ja period of five years." The hon. member B rather a lengthy speech; but Lord ,arence Paget, as if he thought it useless waste much time on the matter, replied very H jportly'to the question, and asked the indulgence the House ef a speedy march into committee. H T*his was not to be done so readily; it was a kind H Of Up, guards, and at them" from the Opposi- tion. A division was pressed, and to the surprise of ■ Ministers, when the four tellers advanced to the table, instead of the division numbers being given to the Government official, they were handed to ■ Mr. Seely. The Opposition cheered and laughed; ■ eventually the teller recorded the numbers—ayes, 34; noes, 36, making a majority of two against I the Government, and obliging the Speaker to re- ■ tain his seat; and now Mr. Seely's motion had to ■ we discussed on all its merits; it had to be put ■ before the House as a substantive measure, and, if ■ carried, would have been a thorough defeat of the B Ministers, but as the discussion continued, Mr. Brand and the Government whips disappeared m ^th the evident intention of picking up recruits, i.he thing was to talk against time, so as to enable Hj filers out, the gentlemen from the clubs, the billiard players, &c., to be summoned to give their ■ y.°tes. And now Lord Clarence Paget was de- ■^liberate; he dwelt upon every little detail in the aPPointment of these officers, and before hesatdown ■, Pr^voked replies from the Opposition benches, ■l was just what was wanted, but the Conserva- wves did not see it at first, and so talked on. At H when they noticed one Government supporter H after another passing into the House, they began v to <f smell a rat," and there were loud cries of H .leng th WRen they noticed one Government supporter H after another passing into the House, they began to <f smell a rat," and there were loud cries of H "Divide, divide." Mr. Brand, however, had not arrived to give Ministers the welcome information H*: %at they had votes enough and to spare, and so K Wd Palmerston rose. If it had been any one ■< ^sethe members would have expressed their im- V | faience, but not to the venerable Premier; and ■ | be addressed the House for about a quarter H, I a ai* hour, arguing the point, that no other than ■m £ j.?a,Va'l officer could efficiently superintend the V' t, m out of a ship intended for warlike purposes. I feofi e w^° held the office," he said, were per- il re v Coaipetent to perform its duties, and the I j(,8°^tion was erroneous in the conclusion to which an<^ UBius*' *n regard to the censure it I' i v. -eared to convey." He had just got to this ■i< and, seeing Mr. Brand, all smiles, seated Hi >>f the front Ministerial bench beside him, he H" t ^etely added that "he hoped the House would not H* j ^jr°pt such a resolution as that before them." The H* i ^vision was then taken, when there were only 33 H*| "^otes in favour of Mr. Seely's motion, and 60 K j gainst it. It f even a^er tbis had been disposed of the In ^Ulsters could not get the House to go into com- ø, fittee of supply. There were many motions on ■ 3 j the paper, and the members were determined to ■ "ring them forward. There was Mr. Berkeley, I too,who had adjourned his annual motion from a w I$reyious day to this and he had declared that, III I^ess ha was permitted to bring it on before ■ f/j) ^^Ive o'clock he should again postpone it. Seeing i there was no probability of going into supply i ^at evening, the hon. member for Bristol was ,s to address the House. The subject, how- ?Ver, has been so often repeated that, when Mr. ^erkeley rose, cheers and laughter followed. Nevertheless, with the same solemnity as l0rmerly, he advocated the claims of the I to the ballot system. He moved That as a general election is impending, and as { Y6 bave no law which can put down the intimi- 1 Ration of voters nor prevent bribery, it is there- *9re expedient that a trial should be given to the ^ote by ballou In a speech of some humour, ^hough not up to the mark of previous effusions, the hon._memoer observed that notwithstanding vast body ot legislation, since the passing of j Reform Act, with the_ profeSSed object j SeCuring purity of election, intimidation and cor- ^ption were as rife as ever, and the electors in ( Numerous places were reduced to mere voting ^chines of their landlords. In this state of things hoth political parties were on the eve of throwing themselveB upon the country in the shape of Sovereigns and beer; and he contended that it | of no use expect a remedy for the evil from r other measure than the ballot. The hon. Member replied at considerable length to the j a"guments adduced against the ballot, and cited I kit Edward Coke, Sir John Eliot, John Hampden I ^yhn Pym, and John Selden, in Commonwealth V^es, and Bentham, Grote, and the elder Mill in { j^odern times in its support. Cicero, he said, had j^med secret voting the silent vindication ot j^erty, and Demosthenes the wisest regulation L ia-Wgivers had ever made. _The gallant old Premier, who had sat in the ^ouse with the express purpose of answering the gentlemen, ro3e, with all the alacrity of *° £ raer years, and said a vote was a trust, and a • ^oter, therefore, a trustee. Even if universal ffrage were adopted, it would still be a trust tllat each individual elector would have confided to him for the benefit of the nation at large. The f |ffect of the ballot would be to screen the trustee I an consequences for the manner in which he ^ight discharge his trust, and that would be con- .f^y to the principles of the constitution and of °Siraon sense, as well as inconsistent with the piuciples upon which human society itself is °^Uded. The ballot would, moreover, be demo- J^ising, and instead of raising would lower the j ^acter of constituencies." 1 +v, e motion was rejected by 118 against 74). All m ^i^ters voted against Mr. Berkeley except | f Milner Gibson, who separated from his col- I an<^ recor<^e<3- bis vote in favour £ the The readers of Parliamentary debates must iceforth remember that Lord Robert Cecil will be d Viscount Cranbourne. At the time he was in the House on Thursday his eldest 4ied, and the Times, the next morning, j newtitle. Lord Robert Cecil ia now to his, father, the Marquia o £ Salisbury, who is in his seventy-seventh year; therefore, in all human probability, the new Vis- count by courtesy will, before many years are over his head, have a seat in the House of Lords. Speaking of the late Viscount Cranbourne, let me say something to his credit. He was called the blind philanthropist, and was ever ready, both in heart and pocket, to assist the poor. The de- ceased young nobleman was blind from infancy, and was always subject to epileptic fits. Not- withstanding these afflictions his accomplishments were of a high order. His indomitable spirit mastered many subjects of abstruse science, and he knew much of what many in his position, and without his disadvantages, were ignorant. He was the author of a History of England," printed in raised characters, for the use of persons de- privedj like himself, of the power of vision. In addition to this he was an excellent musician and an amusing companion, always cheerful, and much loved and respected.

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