The Welshman

PARTY-GOVERNMENT. I It is impossible to deny that during the last few years a very great change has taken place in the habits of the people's representatives. It has been said by experienced observers, that for the first time during the late Parlia- ment members' votes were known to be influenced, and even their intentions reversed, by arguments used during tie debate. At all events, from various causes, the lines of party distinction are almost at every point blurred, and ia some places even effaced. The Tory party has no longer axed and definite principles to which it can moor itself. Mere Conservatism is no principle, but a mere disposition or temperament which vanishes before every vehement impulse of political life. The Radicals still have notions, but have very much lost faith in those notions,—and even the great Liberal party that has elected the present House of Commons has far-more definite principles on foreign and international policy than on any great questions of internal administration. The public and the press mean- while in various keys of lamentation deplore the absence of these once strongly-marked lines of distinction. Mr. Disraeli, only the other day, observed with great disin- terestedness in his speech in Buckinghamshire, that he rejoiced in the great strength of the present Government, as it was likely to restore the old terms of party conflict. A Government, he thought, which could carry nothing by its own sheer partisan-strength, was unable to take up a strong distinctive line of policy at all;-it was obliged to appeal to the intermediates—to govern by a sort of suffer- Mee-to avoid bringing forward its own peculiar faith; hence it could not but be a dim policy, destitute of all sharacteristic flavour, of all healthy root in the affections of any class of the people. The same policy in more or less distinct terms has lately found a very general echo in the press. The vapid tone of the last Parliament, its small sectional divisions, its everlasting discussions, its want of momentum and inert strength, are attributed to its- representing scattered opinions rather than the great party-interests. What are the rights of this matter ? Is it indeed true that the fusion of parties is pure political loss to the country, and that where party-principles have in great measure ceased to be definitely antagonistic, the old forces should still be ranged face to face, and even in asse of need, a quarrel picked, in case there be none already keen enough to keep the ancient antagonism in good working strength ? Now, there can be no doubt that such party combination aa is needful to a strong Executive is and is likely to re- wain a permanent element in the working of our consti- tation. That men way work together successfully, they most constitute a coherent political body. The temporary Making of minor practical articles in the political creed of individuals for the sake of giving fuller effect to the unity represented by the Cabinet as a whole, ought never to have been called by the odious name of compromise, though something else, into which it is likely enough to fall, may rightly be so termed. It is not an intellectual wnveracity, but an act of practical deference. It is not a betrayal of conscientious conviction, but a wholly defen- sible recognition that a strong social bond of union has not merely a rightful authority over our actions, but even a wholesome intellectual influence over our thoughts, when it keeps the practical specialties of individual men, on Minor points, in temporary abeyance, out of regard to the great body of thought with which their political faith is essentially in harmony. No man knows the meaning of political society who does not recognise this fact,—that so long as intellectual conviction is kept clear and inde- pendent, it receives most valuable influences from being in close union with a body of similar thought,—large modifi- cations which cannot be fairly received if men are always insisting on emphasizing their individual crotchets. To work in a political school of conviction gives a proportion and strength and depth to the individual grounds of adhesion to that school, which only the social tie can give; and what we may call the arrogant individualism of the creed which is ever clamouring for measures, not men," ahows at once the superfical stratum from which it springs, hj the want of depth and grasp and comprehensive force in the scope of the principles it usually advocates. Until a man has often deferred in minor points to the practical conclusions of those with whom he is in principle united, he does not gain any broad insight into the depth and bearing of his own political creed. This should not be termed compromise, for it is a genuine deference for that accumulated mass of thought and experience, with which in the main we desire to identify ourselves; it is a wholesome respect for that natural unconscious process by Which a large body of conviction resists the introduction into it of those really alien elements to which, neverthe- less, the defensive sensitiveness of a single individual any be blind. No one, therefore, probably wishes for the dissolution of organic ties in the Cabinet of a constitu- tional State. No one would desire to measure the political path which Mr. Macaulay has described so well in his amount of the years 1693-1696. Everybody could pereeive," he says, that at the close of 1693, the chief offices of the Government were distributed not unequally between the two great parties, that the men who held those offices were perpetually caballing against each other, haranguing against each other, moving votes of censure on each other, exhibiting articles of impeachment against each other, and that the temper of the House of Commons was wild, ungovernable, and uncertain. Everybody could perceive that at the close of 1696 all the principal servants of the Crown were Whigs, closely bound together by public and private ties, and prompt to defend one another against every attack, and that the majority of the House of Commons was arrayed in good order under those leaders, and had learned to move, like one man, at the word of command." Now, whatever disgust we may feel at the lingering party.titles which no longer correctly describe distinctions of principle, no one wishes that the nation should substantially retrace its steps and cease to desire a real attraction of cohesion between the members of the Cabinet by which we are to be governed. We do not see that there is any similar necessity for a strong combination of principle in the Opposition-the parties by whom the Government is to be criticised. Criticism is desirable from many and various points of view,—practical measures only from one. Unity in an Opposition may, and indeed must, be a matter of special circumstance. There ought always to be a governing body with a clear line of action and conception of ministerial duty there may or may not be a cavilling body in a like position. It is clear that if there is not, there is little chance of its de- feating the Government. And this clearly ought to be so. Stray politicians may be valuable critics; they could only be a rope of sand as an Executive. On the other hand, there is a real and great danger in the cry for party-government It is greater now, perhaps, than it has ever been. It is the danger that the party may be concocted for the sake of Government, instead of having any real and natural bond of union of its own. It is that there may grow up bands of politicians without a political bond,—bands which, in the nature of things, always tend to degenerate into banditti. No doubt a great question on which men are really divided, like the late war, for instance, purifies wonderfully the political atmosphere- giving a purpose and a meaning and a de- finite unity to the political elements ready for crystallisa- tion. But there is no little danger that when these great questions are not naturally to be found, they may be in- tented. We have had experience within the last few years of the demoralising influence of a party-government existing without any fundamental principle of govern. ment. It is with Cabinets as with nations. Those are the beat governors which have only a secondary passion for ernment, whose primary desire is for ulterior ends, to the attainment of which the power of governing is at best only instrumental. One great reason why England is so much more success- All in self-government than any other nation, is probably that Englishmen are less ambitious of governing, for the mere sake of governing-compete less for the glory of go- vernment—have more care for the dull, domestic, private ends of life than almost any other great nation of modern times. They are forced to govern they are very angry at misgovernment; but they let Government alone if it lets them alone, and have but little of that mercurial public-life-temperament which gives rise to revolution. The same may be said of Belgium. Its constitution has stood while others of far greater pretension and far older growth have fallen; nay, in spite of much trial, is likely to stand, because the people are of Che same plodding temperament which takes no delight in playing at politics, and only attends at all fretfully to the Government, only when it is spoiling their quietness of life and irritates them into setting it right. And thus also it is with Cabinets. No Cabinets are so dangerous as those which gain and use power for the sake of power alone ;—none are so useful as those which fight their way to power for some great end which they have it at heart to accomplish. The Government which has no passion so strong as that of governing would be the worst we could have. And this we take it is the true spring of the general respect English men entertain for the vehement parliamentary parties for the last two centuries. It lies in our feeling that those parties generally fought for something that they esteemed far more highly than power-the political rights and tradi- tions of the class they severally reprepresented. Those classes and those traditions were then really widely severed. Now they are gradually melting into one another. The representation of the Land, the Church, and the Crown is no longer clearly distinguishable from the representation of the nation. We have now far more to fear from the invention of spurious party-bonds, than from the one- sided animosities with which those bonds are observed. The danger of our present political condition is the manu- facture of parties for the gratification of sectional ambition. Culture assimilates the political convictions of all classes, sp as to weaken the peculiar and special strength of each. Bat as the old lines of party fade away, new bonds of political union spring up; and though Party-Government may soon cease to be a very accurate descriptions of our English system, there will never cease to be a special unity in the Cabinet within the more general political unity of the country.-Economist.

NATIONAL EDUCATION FROM OXFORD. I Should the Oxford plan of examinations be carried out J in the spirit of its inception, it seems likely enough to settle the question of national education, in a manner quite tfufcreceeo. The plaa has one remarkable omiieioo in a I mode superior to any hitherto suggested. It cannot fail to be of the greatest assistance in shaping the education for the middle classes, and also for the working classes-in fact for all classes. It has already been anticipated, that those who are in possession of ample means, but whose objects in life are not of a scholastic or professional turn, would greatly prefer the comparatively limited course of study laid down in the new plan, to an ordinary university course and would be content with the testimonial afforded by the title of Associate of Arts," without striving for the higher titles cf Bachelor or Master. But the plan indicates with sufficient distinctness the sort of education which would lead to distinction, and which the best jndges of such matters consider most suitable for the greater number of young men in the country In the first place, it is considered desirable that youths should be instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and have some ac- quaintance with the ordinary elements of religious know- ledge. The proposition thus stated will be denied by very few and even if parents were to hold back their sons from examination oc the point of religious knowledge, it is probable that many who are Dissenters would still permit their children to attend, if it were simply to test their having acquired a certain range of information. The larger number might do this, if the examiners conducted their inquiry in a really catholic spirit. In fact, an oppor- tunity is afforded for those persons who are appointed examiners to assist in mitigating the sectarian differences of the country, merging them in a more national sentiment though still leaving to conviction and conscience absolute freedom on points of positive belief. After these purely preliminary inquiries, suitable for every class of life, the plan contemplates examination in one of four different courses of study, each simple enough in itself. The student may devote himself to his own language and his- tory, or to the study of German and French and the elements of Latin, or to mathematical science. No young man can attain certain proficiency in either of these branches without at the same time attaining some degree of knowledge in the others, or at least possessing the means and capacity for teaching himself further. But the course of examination held out suggests how he may apply his mind to acquire such attainments as will be use- ful to him in his future occupations. Thus, without im- posing any restraint upon the course of education— without confining students to any one branch-an incentive is offered for concentration upon one or other of those branches of stu4y which will be most useful. Such a sug- gestive concentration cannot fail to be valuable to students in the choice of their studies, to parents in the direction of their children, and to schoolmasters in the arrangement of their schools so as to secure the largest number of pupils and the greatest amount of certified success. Hence we may calculate, that while the plan leaves complete freedom for education, it will impart something like a uniform tendency and a nationality to the education of all classes. But the plan still presents this remarkable omission-it does nothing to supply schools for the middle classes the very thing wanted. It is assumed, no doubt, that those schools which already exist will be so guided and modified by the proposed examinations that they will adapt them. selves to the system, and will spontaneously Supply the want. Should this expectation be disappointed, the continued deficiency would probably suggest another mode of meeting the requirement. Lord John Russell, Sir John Pakington, and others, have been agitating to bring about a system of education for the working classes though why local public schools should be limited to the working classes it is difficult to understand. The suggestive offe^now made by Oxford conveys rather a broad hint that the middle class had better bestir themselves to procure the best machinery for such instruction as would lead up to the propose examination. How this could be done better than by a combination of residents in a particular district we do not see. If the district schools were efficient in their con- stitution, they would teach the working classes how to 6 t themselves for the examinations but then, why exclude the middle classes-why exclude the sons of any rate- payers ? If in lieu of the bills proposed by Lord John Russell, Sir John Pakington, and the combined Manchester Education party, a permissive act were passed, authorizing the estab- lishment of district schools with a curriculum conformable to the proposed course of examination, every requirement for working class, for middle class, or for moneyed class, would be supplied. We should then have a state educa- tion with local support and local control, on the voluntary principle. Should such a class of schools be developed, it certainly would do nothing to injure the business of the school-master; quite the reverse. There might not per- haps be so many persons drawn into precarious speculation in the classical academies," commercial establishments' or that sort of thing but more men would be required to carry on the duties of teacher, the opportunities of promo- tion would be considerable in proportion to the magnitude of the schools, and again the encouragement of the State would develop a spontaneous growth. It is in this way that the Oxford plan, if it be successful, may foster the development of a national system of education, thoroughly suited to the actual state of the country, although not ex- actly such as the earnest friends of education have designed. Spectator.

I THINGS NOT NOTICED. There has been latterly, as far as our daily obsenation goes, very few striking or interesting nents-not many topics seizing hold of the public mind and demanding serious attention. Holidays, races, festivites, fine weather and shows have been predominant—things which we do not depreciate, but which rather lie out of the way of politics and trade. But, though events have been few, there has been no lack of writing. Leading articles have continued to be as numerous and as brilliant as ever. In truth, though occupied eyes and dull senses may not see and not comprehend what is going on, and may find nothing extremely interesting, the universe runs its course and brings forth its great births one day as another. It never is still. There is no lack of events—the usual amount of activity, of exertion and strife, of labour and its results, are always in existence or increasing, though we may fail to notice them. From such circumstances as the abolition of serfdom in Europe (how and when brought about not being record- ed in our chronicles), and as the breaking out of the remarkable conflagration in France, towards the close of last century, from the wretched condition of a people previously supposed almost universally to be cheerful or even hilarious and contented,—it may even be suspected that some of the most influential events of all time never are talked about when they occur. The many steps to some great conclusion are wholly overlooked, and, when it comes, it is then inexplicable. There are always things happening, therefore, in our own immediate vicinity, which we do not notice, and which have their appointed influence over our conduct and our welfare. If we did or could see and notice all that has been done and is actua ly doing, we should all be endowed with foresight, and evil would cease to exist. If all the secret plots and contrivances of the Directors of the Royal British Bank, the important events that led to the injury and ruin of so many persons, had been known and could have been stopped in their first concoc- tion, the disgrace and shame of the culprits and the sufferings of their victims would have been wholly pre- vented. So it is with every great scheme of plunder, like that of the gold robbery on the South-Eastern Railway. All the plans to attain the end were laid in secrecy, detectives appointed to watch and prevent offences knew nothing of them, and by-and-by they were astonish- ed, and the public was astonished, at Agar's daring and great success. Fraud is for ever busy with new contri. vances which only become known when the evil is consummated. To draw an illustration from more important affairs. If all the plans of the late Emperor of Russia had been generally known in Western Europe in their concoction and preparation, society would have foreseen innumerable evils which have arisen from the war, and would not have drifted into it. All the startling and interesting events we talk and write about are preceded by many others neither startling, interesting, nor even noticed-a knowledge of which would have prevented fraud and war. To know all the past and the present is to foresee all the future; and, as prescience is not given to man, many things are always happening which are never noticed and never talked of. The week before last we briefly described, on the authority of the Commissioners for inquiring into lunatic asylums in Scotland, the sad and degraded condition of the peasantry in Scotland. When to the vast amount of insanity caused amongst them by a species of chronic starvation, is added the few and scanty provisions made there by the law for the care and relief of the insane- the neglected and disgraceful condition of the establish- ments for lunatics, both public and private, which exist- the terrible depravity of fatuous mothers continually giving birth to fatuous offspring-the fatuous and the sane, men and women, often huddled together in the same cottage—(circumstances which have since been brought under the notice of Parliament),-we perceive that the condition of many if not the bulk of the peasantry of Scotland is not much better than was that of the Irish before 1846. Even if no similar disaster to that which fell on the Irish ensue, their present condition, as described in the Report, as well as the condition of the lunatics in Scotland, is a shame and a scandal to the Empire. Had the successive steps by which it has been reached been noticed as they were taken, it is impossible that all the active, zealous clergymen of that country could have stood passively by, or devoted themselves exclusively to the inculcation of a peculiar theology, when so much misery was growing around them to a great and scandalous head. It is not hidden there, as misery and depravity are said to be hidden here, in great towns: it prevails most in rural districts, where every villager may be known to the busy clergyman. It is only charitable to suppose, that from general ignorance and general want of observation, the many things that have led to this condi- tion never were noticed nor talked about. Even the imperfect provision for lunatics in Scotland seems not to have arrested attention till a stranger—a lady from the United States-was struck by it; and even yet the chronic starvation that tends to lunacy and unspeakable disorders, does not receive the attention its importance deserves. From some feeling of shame, apparently, in journalists jealous of the national honour, there is even a disposition to deny the allegations in the Report; and represent all the peasantry as well-paid and well-provided. We place I confidence in the Report, and believe that the peasantry, I "whose diet is probably worse than that of "pauper lunatics," must be wretchedly fed. It may now be suspected, perhaps, that the most important events as they occur are least talked about, I and the great business of the world is done, however I imperfectly and inefficiently, without much real help either from speaking, writing, or printing. The use of language, at the very best, can only be a record of the things done. When it is the utterance of mere pro- positions to do something, it may be only idle wind. The future is connected with the past, independently of what we notice and say; and language being chiefly employed to describe events after they have happened, it can have little influence over subsequent events. We probably, therefore, over-estimate the utility and importance of the descriptive arts. The main business of mankind is in reality continually carried on without much observation, or much being said, written, or printed about it.- Economist.

THE POLITICAL STAGNATION. I Politicians anticipated uncommon activity at this period of the present year. It is usually a time of movement in the political world, because Parliament is sitting and is in the heat of the session. The momentum was expected to be greater this year from the circumstances of Lord Pal- merston's position when he appealed to the country. Some excitement had been caused by the difference between himself and certain sections of the Liberal party he made the election a personal question, and obtained a large majority hence it was thought that he would lead a very triumphant career, dashing out measures, and com- pelling a reluctant majority to swallow whatever he forced down their throat. It was supposed that some of the discontented Liberals would either join in this course, if the Minister should be liberal enough, or would renew the warfare that preceded the election if he should depart from his implied pledges. The leader of the Conservative mi- nority reconciled himself to his position by the avowed expectation that Party would be revived, and that the strong Ministerial majority would once more occasion political movement, and raise a counter-movement, re- establishing if not Whig and Tory, at least Liberal and Conservative with a distinct division between them; and a contest for measures and power. All these calculations have been disappointed. The heat of the session is as cold as mid-winter. True, there is a great deal of life going on. Two opera houses are open we have the Crys- tal Palace, the Manchester Exhibition, the Handel Festival, and Jullien's Musical Congress." Oxford is making itself felt in the Education movement, in friendly compe- tition with Prince Albert and the Congress at Willis's Rooms. London never looked so populous, and the newspapers have their vicissitudes from abroad. It is in politics that we find the deadness and if the House of Commons mechanically preserves the habit of restlessness on secondary questions, to real political influences it is torpid. Instead of reviving, Party appears to be utterly pa- ralized. The House of Commons has not indulged in long debates, but it has prolonged the sittings, in order to compress into each night debates upon separate subjects enough for a week. And if each Member has not been content to be silent, under the pressure of the universal hurry, and the dread of being stopped, he has cut it short." Once familiar voices are seldom heard. Nothing is more curious than the aspect of the House during these discussions. The promised watch upon Ministers is scarcely kept. Mr. Gladstone, who was to be such a thorn in the side of Lord Palmerston, waits so long that the friends of Ministers are almost uneasy at his quietude, and put forward provocatives to make him break it. Cobden, however, is scarcely more absent from the debate than Gladstone. And where is Lord John ? Silent too, or speaking only as a man who stands apart-a spectator. Sir James Graham looks on as if he felt a lively interest, I an d speaks now and then if it is to correct some historical point but that is all. It is not that subjects to talk about are wanting. Quite the reverse; there is an un usual number of questionable acts which demand scrutiny, -law-reforms too crude to pass, bills begun to be recom- menced, public buildings begun to be abandoned, public money voted for doubtful or even unexplained objects. The still small voice of the private Member" occasionally I calls these duties to mind; but the call falls flat. Ministers reply, in various forms and tones of mild conciliation," that it is all right and every question is hushed. The subdued debating leaves the political atmosphere stagnant; the material stillness is exceeded by a sort of moral si- lence and it is so great in the House that you may hear a bill drop. Of course there are reasons for any condition however extraordinary and strange. One obvious reason for the present situation is, that the Minister is supposed to be too strong for any resistance to have a chance of success. Circumstances out of doors have contributed to weaken antagonism against him. If there is any attempt at attack upon him, be turns it aside by an immediate assent. The willingness of Ministers to do whatever they are asked-if they are asked enough—is quite charming. They are ready to concede anything to importunity. The Jew Bill was volunteered. Sir De Lacy Evans has something to say about military reform-but military reform is promised. Ministers will give anything-even thurch-rates. Sir John Trelawny was going to ask for them, but his mouth is stopped by the promise of a Ministerial measure on I church-rates; and Sir John Pakington is silenced by a promise of the bill this session." Anything else ? is the only question. Fortunatus has all you want in his purse, from a reform bill to a new bridge or a new licensing system. Usually, if a political artist is employed upon some great work, he invites friends to look at it, and at all events produces specimens. Such is not the case at present. The military education scheme has been kept under a close screen the new licensing system proposed by Sir George Grey is as great a mystery as the Reform Bill; the manner in which the church-rates are to be settled is entirely unknown. We must take everything upon trust, and wait till 1858. But what will be the end of this state of things ? It cannot last," cries that sapient person Everybody; "some- thing must bring it to an end." But the something ap- pears not. Some say that so intense a tranquillity must, like an extreme stillness of the atmosphere, forbode a thunderstorm but at present no sign of thunder is seen in the horizon. There is no appearance of any new war abroad-at least nothing unusual for Lord Palmerston's own handling. There is not the slightest sign of any domestic disturbance. The working classes do not an- nounce that the time has arrived," &c.; Scotland allows her Unicorn to sleep Ireland is boasting her tranquillity and her prosperity. The speculations of one set of poli- ticians is founded upon the age and health of the Premier: it is impossible, they are saying, that he can stand the wear and tear much longer; already he looks considerably aged by the harassing circumstances of his position, and it is predicted that, unless he consent to break down sud- denly, he must retire to a marquisate and the consultative repose of a Lansdowne or a Peel. Some are remarking the inherent weakness of the present Cabinet-its want of commanding talent or prestige, and are reckoning that as soon as it is forced to come to the rough and difficult vroik of political reform, it must break down. The promises postponed to 1858 must at all events arrive at maturity In that year, if only by the force of accumulated liability and how can such a Cabinet then contend with real Re- formers on the one side and insidious Conservative Re- formers on the other ?-Spectator.

CONTINENTAL NOTIONS OF FREE TRADE IN ENGLAND. After a great reform has been accomplished and a great political and economical change effected, which, like all good measures, result in the long run to the benefit of all parties in the State-and when a general acquiescence has thus been obtained in their wisdom,—people are too apt to forget the great differences of opinion and the eager oppo- sition against which such changes had to contend. This is peculiarly true with regard to free trade. So general now is the opinion in favour of that policy, that foreigners in particular are apt to fall into the error of looking upon it as one in regard to which opinion has always been united, as effecting changes in which England peculiarly is in- terested, and as a means of obtaining a great advantage in our competition with the rest of the world. Those who remember the dreadful struggle which prevailed in this country from 1839 to 1846, in order to accomplish the repeal of the Corn Laws, and the contention which was maintained during the critical and trying period from 1847 to 1854, during which the fate of that policy continually hung in the balance of public opinion, well known how erroneous is the notion entertained in France as to the circumstances under which we adopted free trade. Still there is a powerful party in that country who contend that we adopted it with a settled design against their interest; —and who maintain protection as the only means of averting the danger with which our policy threatens them. M. Lequien, a member of the Legislative Corps, has re- cently published a work in which, with great earnestness, he adopts this view. Fortunately for France, they have M. Michel Chevalier always ready and at hand to expose the dangerous fallacies thus propagated, and who knows well that there is not one argument which applied in favour of free trade in England that does not apply with even greater force to France. The following extract from a review of M. Lequien's work by that distinguished writer, places the position of England in its true light:— "I have praised M. Lequien," says M. Chevalier, for the moderation of his arguments. I am, however, com- pelled to observe that there is one subject upon which he has suffered himself to be controlled by passion. That subject is England, of which it must be said in his favour, as an extenuating circumstance, that no prohibitionist can possibly speak with temper. It is agreed among them that England watches our manufactures in order to devour them. According to the prohibitionists, England is some- thing like the beast in the Apocalypse which personifies all perfidy, all infamy, all abomination. The great commercial reform to which Sir Robert Peel attached his name is but a desperate expedient imagined by the profound cunning of those wicked islanders. M. Lequien consequently en- deavours at great length to depict that reform as an in- sidious manoeuvre intended to deceive other nations. He has ten chapters on this point, without counting a multitude of passages and sentences scattered through the body of the work. At other periods, and under other ciieum- stances, English policy has been mistaken. It has been occasionally selfish and unjust, but even in that rebpect a philosopher would place himself above the agitations of cabinets and nations, to judge them impartially, would very probably find that all others resemble it. But in her legislation on international commerce perfidious Albion has deserved well of the human race. She has tried on herself a bold, difficult, and at that moment a very perilous, ex- periment. She tried it, notwithstanding the impassioned and energetic resistance of several of her great manufac- turers and of her agricultural body-the moat considerable of all, which appeared not to he in a state ever to support the shock of foreign competition, for it produced expen- sively, and sold at an extravagant price, of which it might have been believed that it would be impossible to deprive itself. It did so, notwithstanding the opposition of a con- siderable portion of its miners and of some branches of the manufacturing class. It proceeded to do so with that calm, decided, and imperturbable resolution which is, perhaps, the most admirable quality of the British cha- racter. Her statesmen elevating themselves to a height which has been rarely reached in any country, accomplished the Customs' reforms by shaking off the prejudices of an antiquated political economy, to adopt another which counts among its authors great and noble intellects, the Adam Smiths, the Franklins, the Turgots, and which is an inti- mate connection with the immortal principles which France honours under the name of the principles of 1789, but which at that period were not practised by the great States, then obstinate prohibitionists. They demanded no reci- procity from any other State, and they effected the change quickly, trusting to the intelligence and activity of indi- viduals to triumph over the difficulties,not however without offering to the agriculturists during the transition the efficacious aid of the State. It is an eternal honour to their country and to themselves to have abjured traditions that were called patriotic, because they were narrow and mean-that were deemed prudent and conservative, be- cause they respected untenable monopolies, and perpetuated, in the interest of a few, abuses which were injurious to the mass of the nation and if at this day the memory of Sir Robert Peel is revered in the two hemispheres—if, in conformity with the dearest wish of that great Minister, his name is quoted with blessings at the fire-side of the poor, not only in Great Braitain, but elsewlierc,-it is in acknowledgement of that great reform accomplished with so just a sentiment of public interest and with such noble firmness in the midst of Btorms- a noble example, which will not be lost on Governments in whose way private in- terests heap up obstacles similar to those which Sir Hubert Peel removed with a hand so firm and a mind so intelligent. Already on all sides, except in France, we see a moderately free system of trade adopted as the g,)al towards which the commercial legislation of nations is moving. Prohibition is universally repudiated as irreconcileable with the spirit of modern times. In England and the Zollverein it has ceased to exist. Russia has adopted a tariff much more liberal than ours. With her prohibition is confined to two or three articles, and everybody knows that she is pre- paring to publish a new tariff yet more liberal.-Econo- mist.

OATHS BILL. I vve nave always considered Roman Catholic Liberalism to be one of the hollowest delusions of the present age. Wherever the powers that be are opposed to their preten- sions, there the Roman Catholics are noisy reformers and demagogues. But wherever the Government is a dutiful subject of the Vatican, who so zealous on the side of order as the Popish priesthood ? There is, however, this wide difference between their conduct under each contingency. Democracy they hate from their hearts, and only use as a tool; despotism they love with congenial warmth, and use as a trusted confederate. From one point of view we cannot blame them. High theories of civil government are naturally allied to high theories of ecclesiastical go- vernment. We might object to either or to both but as long as the alliance was openly acknowledged and vindi- cated on broad principles the Romanists would be en- titled to as much forbearance and charity as any other honest antagonist. B it it is the attempt to persuade the people of this country that Romanism is something essentially different from what it is.-something which sympathizes with freedom of thought and action both in religion and politics, instead of being fundamentally hostile to both-that has excited in the minds of the British people a sentiment of unconquerable distrust. It has now become almost impossible to persuade them that when a Romanist speaks on political questions he has really anything at heart but the advancement of his religious tenets. Destructive in one country and ob- structive in another; here calling for religious liberty, there burnmg the Bible and )ashing the heretic; now prating of loyalty, and anon whispering rebellion, he has created an impression which it will take nigh a century to efface—that with politics he plays fast and loose, and will advocate political theories most opposed to the fundamental principles of his creed if he thinks he can thereby shake the resolution of Ministers or entrap the sympathy of mobs. The above remarks may seem too severe for the occasion, and we hasten to repeat that it is the system we are condemning more than individuals. Under the potent influence of a carefully organized system, directed by the deepest sagacity, experience, and foresight, individuals lose much of their responsibility, and become almost unconscious agents. We have no desire to make any per- sonal reflections upon those noblemen and gentlemen who are banded together for the purpose of repealing the secu- rities exacted from their co-religionists in 1829. We only iay that their language upon the subject of religions liberty does but show the extraordinary extent to which men can impose upon themselves, and the extraordinary confidence which Romanists entertain in the credulity of mankind. If the Church of Rome were as consistent as the other bodies of English Dissenters she would be treated with the same consideration; but we cannot allow the great watchwords of civil and religious liberty to be prostituted to the purposes of a church which would throw us off our guard by professions of friendship, and when the ramparts were unmanned rush on the defenceless citadel. This language, we repeat over and over again, is not too strong. It is justified by experience it is justified by the conduct of the Roman Church in this country in 1850; it is justified by the spectacle of Irish and continental Popery for many years past; and, more than all, it is justified by her recent experiments in Belgium. It is the boast of Rome that she never changes and if she speaks fair to Liberalism we may be ceitain it is with the intention of betraying it. Granted #Lt the oath imposed in 1829 leaves many Roman Cat? ?cs perfectly free in conscience to vote as they choose ifcuioes not leave all, and even that is something gaine?.f But what is more to the pur- Pose is this, that a great principle is thereby affirmed that the dangerous difference between Romanism and every other form of dissent is constantly kept before us; and that this undoubtedly does exercise a certain moral in- fluence over the whole of the community. This is the advantage of the existing state of things, and we do not see what counterbalancing boon would really be conferred on the Romanists by the removal of it. If they wish to remain good subjects of Queen Victoria, and to abstain from interference with the Church of England, where is the hardship ? If they don't, where is the policy of grant- tng their request ?—The Press,

"JOHN BULL" DESCRIBED. What an amusingly inconsistent animal John Bull is! He is everything, not only by turns, but all at once. He is at one and the same time a d6mocrat and a courtier-a sturdy independent and a tufthunter—an admirer of Saxon institutions and the victim of the first foreign Count that comes in his way. We talk of our mixed Constitution— our Queen, Lords, and Commons,—and think what a pity it is that so unique and delicate a piece of machinery should ever be spoilt or lost. No fear of that. The British Constitution will never be broken up and sold for old brass to the dealers in marine stores so long as John Bull himself remains. As the coral worm makes the coral reef, John Bull makes the British Constitution, bein* Queen, Lords, Commons, and everything in himself. Were the five points of the Charter to pass all their savage integrity next Session, before ten years were over Court influence, the aristocracy, flunkeyism, and all the rest of it would be more rampant than ever. Our most distinguished and incorruptible Radicals would be either glistering in gold lace or flying to the United States. But it is the money test which brings out most the glorious inconsis- tency of the Englishman. Aristotle, simple man divided spenders, as he did Governments, into classes. He imagined the spendthrift and the screw; the careless spender, the pompous spender, and the really liberal man. John Bull is all these in one at least, it is a rare thing to to find a man who is not. Indeed, we cannot help our- selves. Every man is a bundle of habits, and has as many habits in the one matter of personal expenditure as he has clothes in his wardrobe. Sometimes he is on the narrow gauge, sometimes on the broad gauge but, on wha'ever gauge he finds himself, he has no choice but to go on. To maintain an equable expenditure," says Lord Eskdale, on Mr. Disraeli's authority' "not to spend too much on one thing, too little on another, is an art. There must be a harmony, a keeping in disbursement, which few men have." There is old Foggo in his study, arranging his old boots and shoes, airing his gaiters, examining his dress- coat, a quarter of a century old, while he is paying with just parental pride his son's bill for t350 at the military tailor's for uniforms already out of date. John Bull ruins a cabman for an overcharge of sixpence, consigning him to prison and his wife and children to the workhouse, on the very same day that he sends a five-pound note by post to some begging-letter imposter whom he never saw or heard of, and whom, after all, he only half believes. The same rational character wearies himself to death with trudging over hard pavements, amid incessant rattle and clatter, at the very time that the stables arc full of plethoric horses and mouldering carriages, and when his steward, his bailiff, his butler, and even his groom, would as soon think of flying as of walking half a mile. lie is plotting to save half-a-crown when he is spending ten or twenty pouuds a- day on some hobby that he will tire of before it is done- His friends are all saying, How ill he dresses," when his Christmas bill for liveries would keep him at the top of the fashion for every year of his life. On these points an Englishman's absurdity is so great that one can only imagine him the victim of a special law, the intention of which is at the same time to confound his pride and to keep him always poor, so that he shall spend all his money, and yet have nothing to show for it. We set down, then, to the national insanity, not to mere baseness, the series of cavils made at numerous praise- worthy and indeed necessary items of the national expen- diture on Friday night. The people who have compelled Governments to throw a large portion of the cost of the County and Borough Police, the cost of the County Courts, of criminal prosecutions, of the maintenance of prisoners, and ever so many other like items upon the Exchequer, and who do not stick a moment at hundreds of thousands fur harbours of problematic utility, cannot be sot. down as stingy on principle. On the contrary, they are the worst spendthrifts. They are like Timon, who forgot that the world itself was but a word, and, if the world were his own, would some day say the word and give it away. In fact, that appears to be the only rule in the House. Reduce a thing as much as possible to a word, tell people nothing ihout it, bid them shut their eyes and ears to the applica- tion of the money, and they will vote half a million without a moment's thought. Tell them conscientiously what it is for; spend it under their own eyes, their own ears, and even their very noses; give them niaptl plans, names, estimates, pounds, shillings, and penes, good authorities, and definite objects; reason with them, preach to them, persuade them win over their wives, their children, their friends, and their Servants to your side move Heaven and earth for the cause, and above all, let the cost be a trifle, and their whole nature will be roused into dogged and vindictive parsimony. If they cannot for shame refuse the money, they will never cease to grumble about it and throw it into your teeth. In fact, it addresses itself to their ap- prehensions. It is too useful and too conspicuous. Its notorious and flagrant utility in its offence. Shroud it in some official cloud regulate it to some remote region bury it in figures lump it in a round sum, and John Bull will swallow and even digest it. lie is a good beast of burden, but rather apt to shy. So you must give him blinkers. He'd rather draw a stage-coach, six inside, fourteen out, ten miles an hour, so long as he does not see it, than take" Missus" and her baby a gentle airing in the open carriagesix miles an hour, if he is allowed a glimpse of the rattletrap at his heels. — Titties.

THE GREAT COMET THAT DID NOT COME. I The people who have been trading on the comet will now find it impracticable to obtain any further gains by specu- lating on the terrors of the ignorant and the superstitious, the predicted period of the world's destruction by this terrifflc visitant having passed away harmlessly on Saturday the dreaded thirteenth. There are other subjects of legiti- mate enterprise, much more worthy the notice of trading men than the superstitious fears of the multitude, and it will perhaps now be a long time before any apprehended astronomical catastrophe will give another opportunity of getting money out of the pockets of silly people by turning their terrors to account. To a certain extent, we may draw a favourable contrast between the intelligence of the popular mind at this age and in former periods in our own country. The increase of popular education, the wide diffusion of cheap literature of a respectable character, the labours of our numerous lectur- ers, whether professional or amateur, from the peer of the realm down to the humble village teacher, have done much to the elevation of the public mind, as compared with the commencement of this century and of the dark ages which preceded. Times were when an apprended comet would have afforded a much better investment than in the middle of this nineteenth century. Our literature of two hundred years ago abounds in pamphlets whose first page is illus- trated with rude wood-cuts; in which the people arc repre- sented as gazing up at the heavens, and watching some fiery messenger, who is about to visit the earth as the minister of divine wrath and others, in which the effects of his visit are seen in the mo-t dreadful calamities, Had some of our penny and sixpenny pamphleteers found society as credulous as it was in either of the periods to which we refer-and had they been as clever as they are now, they would have reaped golden harvests during the past few weeks by their diagrams and wood-cuts, and the cheap literary wares with which they have endeavoured to inun- date the public. We should have been glad if we could assert that the contrast between our age and former periods, in reference to the state of general intelligence and sound sense, were perfect, as unhappily we cannot. While we have much cause for congratulation in marking tae progress of im- provement we are at the same time obliged to confess that there are too many proofs that there is among us a con- siderable amount of ignorance and superstitious feeling on which clever speculators have practised with some degree of success. In some parts of the country the people have been so satisfied that the comet was to visit us with de- struction on the thirteenth, that they readily parted with whatever money they possessed, from the impression that after that period it would cease to be of use. The alarm was not limited to the darker parts of the country, but has shown to a considerable degree in London and its neigh- bourhood. It is stated that many persons, when they first saw the light of the terrible conflagration at Camden Town, were convinced that the comet hadcome and commenced its dreadful work, and at Kilburn we have heard that poor people rushed out of their houses in the greatest terror, and began, in the open streets, to invoke the Divine protection against the calamity they had been apprehending, and which they thought had arrived. The nursery has not escaped the infection, and nurses, not a few, have found the comet not without its use on the fears of their naughty and troublesome charges. Can any terms be too strong in which to describe the mercenary and wanton spirit which has recently shown itself in reference to the apprehended calamity of last Saturday. Society cannot too strongly reprobrate the efforts made to nourish superstitious feeling, and turn a penny or sixpence at the expence of ignorance and terror. Facts such as we have referred to exist to a greater ex- tent than most people imagine, and if they were collected and published they would furnish overwhelming proof that there is still much occasion for the utmost energy in the work of a truly national education. We use the term in its comprehensive sense, and in reference to children of all ages. j By this time of day it would not be too much to have ex- pected that there would be sufficient intelligence among all classes to save them from the fears from which they have suffered, and our country from the disgrace of displaying so much ignoronce. There were two hundred million chances against one that the expected comet would not come in contact with our planet. If, however, that most improbable event had taken place, then its dynamic effects on the globe would have been so small that the most eminent mathema- tician could not calculate them. A skilful Frenchman has stated that he could calculate the effect that a bird falling against a railway-carriage would produce on a train in rapid motion, but that he could not give any expression to the effect which a comet would produce on the globe, so infinitessimally small would that effect be. However, the event is not to take place. German astronomers have swept the heavens in pursuit of the eccentric phenomena, and Leverrier has announced in Paris that the search has proved utterly unsuccessful. We shall now hope to enjoy repose from the attacks of alarmists, who will be glad to escape quietly from the censures they deserve and we trust that pretended prophets, who claim the authority of inspiration for telling us when the world is to end, will share in the neglect to which their brother alarmists will be con- signed .—Morning Advertiser.

WALES INCOGNITO. I The Prince of Wales has been moving about incognito, and is to travel abroad in the same abated condition. But what is the use of his incognito when everybody knows who he is ?" we have heard it asked. The use is considerable. The travelling in that avatar of royalty amounts to laying aside the panoply of state, and more like "any other gentleman" who desires to see the country without embarrassment. It might have been well for some of the Prince's predecessors if they had learned a little more of the land that they seemed destined to govern for strange to say, the sons of his house have not been travelled, in any sense of the word, with one remarkable exception. George the First, who became King of England at the age of fifty-four, never so much as "inspected" this country; but annually, when he wanted locomotion, he went back to his beloved Hanover. Perhaps his ignorance of England, English, and the English, contributed to the painful incidents of his reign-the general misgovernment, and insurrection, or attempts at insurrection, quenched in blood. George the Second was already thirty-one years old when his father was proclaimed King of Great Britain. As Prince of Wales, he was appointed guardian oftlie kingiloit, in his father's absence; and he became slightly popular, partly because he seemed to join the Opposition to the Court, as the Prince of Wales is wont to do. But he really knew nothing about the people, little about the lan- guage, and he made no attempt to attain a knowledge of the country. Of his eldest son, who died still Prince of Wales in his forty-fourth year, the popular epitaph ran, "Here lies Fred, Who was alive, and is dead There is no more to be said." He was brought up in Germany, and of England principally knew its gaming-tables. George the Third was the first of the house born in England. The sort of popularity which he attained is well known and he did travel a little in England, besides living in the country and cultivating sheep. When he was twenty years of age, the Prince, accompanied by Lord Bute, took a trip to Scotland incognito. The rarity of the event made it misunderstood. While the travellers were changing horses at Edinburgh, they were recognized by a cavalry-officer, who, anxious to know what important busi- ness had brought the Prince to Scotland, took horse,dogged them from Edinburgh to the West of Scotland, to the Isle of Bute, and by another route back to Edinburgh yet this little tour was the chief personal information which George had about his dominions beyond the range of his own parks and farm. Perhaps the good old days when George the Third was King" might have been more popular if that simple-minded man had been a little better informed. George the Fourth lived in a systematic ignorance of everything, but some fraction, and that not the best frac- tion, of the upper classes." Rather late in life he made state journeys but none other except progresses, which were not state progresses, to the race-courses, and to Mrs. Fitzherbert's house in Brighton. Of the country that he was to govern he knew little beyond that stratum which is called life," and of which it may be truly said that in the midst of life we are in death. One consequence was, that he took England to be France, a court-governed land, and himself to be a Louis Quatorze, only more comme il faut; and when he went abroad among his people, he attracted a mob like an alien, the mob sometimes treating him like an I enemy. William the Fourth was the King of the Hanoverian line who regularly fell into t ravelliticr, and that partly from the accident of the profession chosen for him. A man in the I Navy must be a drawingroom sailor indeed who can avoid travelling, and William was a real sailor. From the time when he was thirteen years old, and entered as a midship- II man on board the Prince George of 91 guns, he was en- gaged in a round of locomotion, which made him ac- j quainted not only with some foreign lands but with many I parts of his future dominions, especially in the Colonies, and with the actual way of life in other classes besidts the í rova l. His father made him win his way to promotion he himself, according to the anecdotes told, appears not to have been disinclined to the same manly independence j and, like Louis Philippe, he was twice in real action. He j knew a midshipman's life even to the nghting, for he was j able to defend himself with his Bsts like any common i? boy." But even William, the exception to the ?ome- boy." But even \Vïl1lam¡ the exception to the ::ome keeping character of his house, did not travel in Eng)an?. It was his want of acquaintance with England, no doubt, which contributed to give him a false character for exclu- siveness and arbitrary feeling? while he was the unpopular Duke of Clarence. It was his knowledge of other classes, and of the world, that helped him to his popularity when he first ascended the throne. It amounts to a truism, that it would be always better if a man placed in so important a position as that of so- vereign, or likely to be so placed, were to become so ac- quainted with the land in which he was to be enthroned, from top to bottom, in the real habits and daily life of his people. Yet hitherto this indispensable part of royal schooling appears to have been omitted Now it is quite impossible that the heir-apparent to a throne, if he can never forget the prince in youth, should acquire even a tographical acquaintance with his country. Processions cannot move over hill and dale, in highways and byways and still can the understanding enter into communion with the things around it, while by the forms of state the mind can only move in procession.—Spectator.

"SIR BENJAMIN THE MAGNIFICENT." "No. 9, Great Stanhope-street, Mayfair," is a house likely to receive literary commemoration t'rsm th3 Mr- Peter Cunninghams of the next century. Its remarkable inhabitants will be duly chronicled in steorotyped aila, and a distant posterity mu be told It was at No. 9 in this street that the lighthearted statesman Lord Palmerston lived, while taking part in the deliberations on the Reform Bill in 1832, by which his former friends the Tories were so injured. His Lordship was then a bachelor, and many excellent things were eaten and said at his pleasant little parties. (Vide that scarce work Luttrilliania.') It was while he was residing in this street that Lord Palmerston composed the protocols, about which there are so many many amusing particulars in the memoirs of the famous Prince de Talleyrand, who so often duped the gay Viscount, as he has so charmingly recorded. It was a standing re- proach to Palmerston that he had served under ten Pnme Ministers, of opposite parties and politics, before accident, aided by a shabby intrigue, made him a Prime Minister himself in 1854. (J7de 7th vol. of the Stanley Papers' for an exposure of that intrigue, the particulars of which were not known at the time.) While living at No. 9 in that street Lord Palmerston was serving under his seventli Prime Minister. Ample illustrations 01 the inconsistency and levity of the debonair Viscount's character £ .nd politics will be found in Barrow's edition of Wilson Croker's Per- sonal Recollections of My own Times.' (Vide the six- teenth volume of the Anectodes.') It is curious to observe how little is now (1857) thought about the character of the inconsistent Palmerston. He is now seen in a true light, stripped of his false colours, &e. &c." Here we may skip the mora!ising topographer, and take him up a little lower down. Another political notoriety of the days of the good Queen Victoria lived at No. 9, also. This was Hall, the Marylebone demagogue, the licence of whose railing tongue has been chronicled in the journals of the time. The 27th volume of Barrow's Croker's Me- moirs' (already quoted) has some odd particulars, about the way in which Hall obtained his Baronetcy. But he was remembered for a longer time by the title given to him by Lord Malmesbury (the third earl, who made himself so formidable in exposing the extravagance of mock-patriots in office). The name of I Sir Benjamin the Magnificent' adhered to Hall to the finale of his career, while he was enjoying his pension. He was living at No. 9 in this street when in one of his freaks he grasped at the prerogative of Queen Victoria, and burlesqued the part of a lilliputian Cromwell, and ordered public works to be done in his own name, without consent of Queen or Parliament. It was while residing in this street also that Hall got into angry collision with his Marylebone friends, whom he offended by the majestical air which he assumed after his verbal asso- ciation with the family of the Medici. He ha I previously been connected with the Waddingtons. Here, also, he lived while engaged in his Vendal assaults upon the public gardens of St. James's-park. It is only by the irreparable injury inflicted on the Queen's gardens that Hall's name is now preserved. It was supposed that in his fantastic ambition he desired to become a Peer. But he had to content himself with the patent of '1\Iagnificence,' hu- mnrously bestowed on him by Lord Malmesbury. Opposite to where the Mary lebone demagogue lived is the house (now much altered) where a public man of a,different stamp resided, Lord Raglan." But we shall not go farther with the Peter Cunningham of a century hence. We return to the consideration of Sir Benjamin Hall as he is now. Unquestionably Sir Benjamin Hall, all jokes apart, is an extraordinary character in his small parochial way. lie is emphatically a "representative man," and presents the finest example of a metropolitan member who shakes hands with some thousands of the "people." An ex- demagogue in office, he is a capital specimen of a silent and salaried supporter of Official Liberalism. Towards Sir Benjamin Hall himself we have not the least antipathy to us Sir Benjamin Hall has often been a source of infinite amusement. We have seen and heard him in the House of Common while engaged in "Ben-Hailing" English bishops and Irish-landlords. We have smiled at him while he was earning his first-title of Sir Benjamin Brawl." We have laughed at his laborious efforts to kindle a big bonfire for roasting a Pusevite curate. We have witnessed his heroic rage while trying to give utterance to the petty passions of a vestry. We have noticed the difference between his demagogic pulsations when he had no chance and when lie had some chance of a place under the Ministry. His silence under the Coalition, when the army was rotting in the Crimea, his cautious avoidance of any- thing which could commit him, or nip the strawberry- leaves on a panto post futuro coronet-all the small acts and platform genuflections which exposed in Parliament to the dislike of many and the mockery of more could not fail to invest Sir Benjamin Hall with exquisite absurdity. He is a Radical born for promotion in the official Gazette, and for laughter" in the Parliamentary reports. In order properly to appreciate the felicity of Lord Malmesbury's patent of precedence given to Sir Benjamin the Magnificent," it would be necessary to see Sir Benja- min called out in the lobby by some of his Marylebone friends. The door-keeper, without meaning anything satirical, cries, Who wants Sir Benjamin Hall?" and a glance at his air and attitude, and a recollection of his new titles, could not fail to convulse with laughter any one with a sense of humour. He seems as if oppressed with the consciousness of the majesty of his own nature as a Welsh cousin of the Medici. He knows that the responsi- bility of being a great man is onerous, but he cannot help that. He looks serenely proud of his admitted rank as The beadle's terror, and the vestry's pride. He knows that he is the greatest man of the age-in Marylebone. He feels that his word commands reverence amongst the people who live near the New-road. His patronage is sought for by all ranks of Liberals amongst the ten-pounders of his borough. He feels assured that he stands prodigiously high in his own opinion. He seems confident that while he lives he will never lose the admired approbation of himself. He looks back on what he was, a. boisterous Radical; he sees what he has become, a con- tented placeman and he turns to the political almanac to count the revolving moons and dissolving Parliaments which must take place before he can put a coronet on his demagogic brow. Now, in answer to the question, "Who wants Sir Ben- jamin Hall ?" we may say that several people in and out of Marylobone wish to know what was Sir Benjamin thinking ot while the jobbery of Liberalism was running up the Miscellaneous Estimates from £2,5-15,848 in the year 1838 to Y,6,721,250 in 1S56 ?" On previous occasions we have shown the extraordinary increase in these public charges, and we observe that the returns for the current year testify to further augmentation of the frightful increase." The British Museum Establishment," for example, has been gradually mounting up to a vast figure. We venture to say that if the question was suddenly asked in any London Club or in literary society, What does the British Museum Establishment annually cost the country ?" The answer would be From L-30,000 to Y,40,000, or thereabouts." The fact is that the Museum Establish- ment cost the country for the last four years, viz.. 1853 £ 55,840 1864 55,225 1855 56,180 1856 60,000 and in 1857 the Museum Establishment" stands at zC70,000 "Who wants Sir Benjamin the Magnificent?" We answer that the literary men of London, and even of the Principality," desire to know why there is not a better and more accessible catalogue for references at the Museum, seeing that the charges for the establishment have mounted up from X27,469 in 1838 to X70,000 in 1857 ? There are a score of other questions which various par- ties of economists desire to ask Sir Benjamin, and which for the convenience of his magnificence," we shall tabu- late on another day. Meantime we may communicate to our readers that the "Civil Service Estimate" for the current year show the following increase :— Educatiift, Science, and Art, in 1856. Y,876,957 Ditto ditto in 1857. 1,000,322 being an increase in the year of £ 123,385. And in the Colonial and Foreign Services (after all the promises to the contrary) there has been a further increase of £ 61,950! There was a time when a Metropolitan Member used to make a great noise about a hundred pounds a year, more or less, in certain bishoprics, and when individual Irish land- lords were pilloried in Parliament to please the low tastes of London vestrymen. These latter may wonder why their former favourite should not apply the Ben-Halling" process to this "frightful expenditure." If they want to know "the reason why," let them apply at "9, Great Stanhope-street, Mayfair." -Press.

The JFesiern Times contradicts, 0:1 authority, the state- ment that Mr. Divett, M.P., intends going out to Australia: It has been calculated that Mr. Charles Dickens will get by sale and advertisements about L20,000 for Little Dorrit. The Nightingale Fund, which will be closed on the 30th inst., amounts now to E44,000. ILLNESS OF MR. PALMER, M.P. FOR BERKS.—The report of the illness of Mr.Palmer, who has represented Berkshire in Parliament tor upwards of 30 years, has has created much sensation in the county. The hon. gentleman attended Ascot Races with a number of friends on the Cup-day" and appeared as hale and hearty as usual, but in the afternoon a violent haemorrhage at the nose set in. The asssistance of a medical gentleman near Ascot was quickly obtained and the bleeding still continuing increased the anxiety of the hon. gentleman's friends and they caused him to be removed to his seat at Holme park, near Reading. Two medical men were then immcdiatly summoned to attend him, and it was not untill about 9 o'clock in the evening that the liaemorrage was stopped. The loss of so much blood left the hon. gentleman in a state of great exhaustion, and, for hours afterwards he remained in a state that led many of his relatives to believe he would not recover. Visitors at Holme-park to make in- quires after the hon. gentleman's health have since been very numerous, and the medical attendants report him to be progressing favouably.