NARRATIVE OF LITERATURE AND ART. THE usual flow of publication at the height of the winter season has been somewhat checked by currents of interest setting strongly in other directions. But, apart from the Wellington Literature, which of course has been abundant, some few interesting books have appeared during the past month. 46 Mr. Bancroft, the late American Minister at St. James's, has added a second volume to his History of the American Revolution, treating of that part of his subject comprised between the early months of 1763 and the summer of 1766, or, as the historian himself expresses it, the epoch in the great drama during which England estranged America." Sir Francis Head has published a volume descriptive of a Fortnight in Ireland, of which the principal drift is to show how sedulously the Roman Catholic priests are now engaged in estranging England from Ireland. And a relative of the once great Liberator, Miss Catherine M. O'Connell, has in a very different spirit related Excursions in Ireland during 1844 and 1850, which derive their chief interest from repeated visits to the now desolate Derrynane. Mr. Augustus St. John, so well known by his classical researches and works on the East, has reproduced some results of his early travel, in a half-fanciful half-narrative form, with the title of Isis, an Egyptian Pilgrimage. Mr. Hillier has transcribed and deciphered the Correspondence of Charles the First with Colonel Titus while the latter was engaged in the king's unsuccessful schemes to evade the custody of parliament, purchased recently for the British Museum; and he accompanies them with a narrative, hardly so elucidatory as might have been desired, of The Attempted Escapes of Charles the First from Carisbrook Castle, and of his Detection in the Isle of Wight. Doctor Hamilton Drummond has issued a volume on Ancient Irish Minstrelsy filled with original translations of old Irish ballads, and with other apt and learned illustrations of his theme. Mr. Jerdan, in a third volume, has continued his Autobiography. quarian Library, a first volume of Matthew Paris's English History, translated and edited by Dr. Giles; to his Scientific Library, a translation of Schouw's Earth, Plants, and Man, and of Von Kobell's Sketches from the Mineral Kingdom, both executed by the very competent hand of Mr. Arthur Henfrey; to his Philological Library, an Analysis and Summary of Herodotus, by Mr. Talboys; and to his Standard Library, a volume of Bacon's Moral and Historical Works, comprising the Essays, Apophthegms, Wisdom of the Ancients, Henry the Seventh, and Historical Fragments. Mr. F. Lancelot has contributed another to the many descriptions with which intending emigrants have, during the last twelve months, been favoured, of Australia as it is, its Settlements, Farms, and Gold Fields; the Rev. George Trevor, one of the Canons of York, has provided us with a not unuseful illustration of one of the exciting Church questions of the day, in an account professed to be strictly historical, though tinged here and there with high church opinions, of The Convocations of the Two Provinces; Mr. Godwin has republished from the Builder a series of graceful and well-informed letters on famous architectural remains, under the title of History in Ruins; and Miss Power publishes once again the last survivor of the old annuals and gift-books, The Keepsake, more prettily illustrated than usual, and still supported by several famous names in literature appended to contributions not unworthy of them. In the department of fiction there have been several additions during the past month. Mr. Thackeray has published his three-volume novel of Esmond, a story in which the manner of a writer of the days of Queen Anue is very happily assumed. A new novel of Irish life, by Mr. Carleton, has appeared, Red Hall, or the Baronet's Daughter. The author of Paddiana has given us the Life and Opinions of Dr. Blenkinsop, comprising actual adventures and sketches of real life within a framework of fiction. Miss Geraldine Jewsbury has published a juvenile tale, called The History of an Adopted Child. To Mr. Wilkie Collins we are indebted for Basil, a Story of Modern Life; another story of the day has appeared as The Fortunes of Francis Croft, an Autobiography; and Mrs. Marsh, the author of the Two Old Men's Tales, has added Castle Avon to her interesting series of works of fiction. Other miscellaneous books also deserve attention. Captain Baird Smith, employed by the East India Company to ascertain and describe the methods of irrigation used in Northern Italy, with a view to contemplated improvements in India, has published the result of his inquiry, accompanied by important plans and sections, under the title of Italian Irrigation, a Report on the Agricultural Canals of Piedmont and Lombardy. The author of a fictitious diary, supposed to have been written In conclusion, the principal additions of the last by the wife of Milton, has followed up her success month to what we may call the Wellington Literature, in that graceful effort with a supposed narrative by a may be briefly stated in their order of publication, after fortunate citizen's-apprentice during the time of the singling out, as worthy of separate mention, the Poet early struggles and settlement of the Reformation Laureate's Ode. They have included a reproduction of (Edward VI. to Elizabeth), The Colloquies of Edward the original designs and etchings, with descriptive notes, Osborne. Major Hough has embodied the experience of The Wellington Shield, designed by Stothard; a reof a forty years' service in India, as well as the results of publication, in parts, of Booth's History of the Battles of his access to official papers illustrating an earlier Quatre-Bras and Waterloo, published at the time of period of English supremacy in the East, obtained as a the victory with a great many etchings by Mr. George deputy judge-advocate-general in the Bengal army, Jones, and now further recommended by a facsimile of under the title of Political and Military Events in the Duke's letter to the publisher expressive of the British India from the years 1756 to 1849. Professor pleasure with which, in those early days of his victories Eastwick, of Haileybury College, has translated for the (he cured of the habit in later life) he meant to read the first time into prose and verse the famous Gulistan, or narrative; M. John Lemoinne's Wellington from a Rose Garden, of the immortal Sadi, by far the most French point of view; Wellington Lyrics, by Mrs. E. popular of all the writers of the East. And the book de- Francis Smith; Wellingtoniana, or anecdotes selected by serves notice, even apart from its intrinsic literary value, John Timbs Wellington and Waterloo, by Alphonse De for the elegant form and rich illustration which it owes Lamartine; the first volume of a Life of the Duke of to the spirit of a publisher in a small provincial town, Wellington, by Mr. J. H. Stocqueler; a small illustrated Mr. Austin of Hertford. An illustrated edition has book called The Military and Political Life of the Duke been given, in the Library of Messrs. Ingram & Cooke, of Wellington; Mr. Nicholas Michell's poem on the of Captain Wilkes's well known United States Exploring Burial of Wellington; an Oxford Graduate's Elegy on Expedition during 1838-1842; and in the same Library the same subject; Mr. T. Binney's dissertation on Wel have also appeared, The Cabin Book, or National Cha-lington as Warrior, Senator, and Man; a tract filled racteristics, a translation from the German, descriptive with The Wisdom of Wellington, or Maxims of the Iron of Texan and Mexican life and manners; and another Duke; a spirited Eloge, delivered at Edinburgh on the translation, also from the German, of Juliette Bauer's day of the funeral, by the Sheriff of Mid-Lothian; and a Lives of the Brothers Humboldt, Alexander and William. brief essay on the Life and Character of the Duke of WelNor, speaking of serial or library publications, shouldlington, by Lord Ellesmere, which is distinguished from we omit to record that Mr. Bohn has added to his Classical the great mass of the publications enumerated, by the Library a volume of the Orations of Demosthenes, act of its containing here and there a fresh and original translated by Mr. C. R. Kennedy; to his Anti-impression of the Duke's opinions and conversation. COMMERCIAL RECORD. BANKRUPTS. From the London Gazette of Nov. 2nd-J. BARTEN, Sutton Valence, Kent, brewer.-A. BELLETTI, West India Dock-road, Limehouse, mahogany-merchant.-J. MILNES, Rochdale, Lancashire, woolstapler.-E. FYFE, jun. Calcutta, merchant.-C. OLLIVIER, New Bond-street, musicseller.-R. WARREN, Nelsonplace, Remmington-street, City-road, coach-maker.-B. WARE, Tottenham-court-road, straw-bonnet manufacturer.-F. LOADER, Berkhampstead, tailor.-J. BICKFORD, Brighton, silversmith.R. ATMORE, Gaywood, Norfolk, miller.-A and E. alias EDWIN NEWBOLD, Birmingham, drapers.-J. G. MENON, Birmingham, stationer.-C. W. CROSS, Birmingham, surgeon.-A. MITCHELL, Cardiff, draper.-J. M'LINTOCK, Barnsley, linen-manufacturer. J. BEDFORD, Wakefield, cloth-merchant.-R. RICHARDS, Wrexham, chemist. Nov. 5th.-N. COBB, Colchester, auctioneer.-W. GREEN, Harrow-road, builder.-J. ROBERTSON, Woolwich, palloan.-G. PRENTICE, Artillery-lane, victualler.-W. NOBLE, Charles-street, St. George's East, stay-manufacturer. W. T. HANNAM, St. 100 Brighton and South Coast. Brighton, wine-merchant.-W. WOOD, jun, Birmingham, builder.-T. FORSHAW, Birkenhead, mariner.-W. LONGSON, Heaton Norris, Lancashire, joiner.-J. DoorTSON, Wigan, cottonspinner.-B. ARMSTRONG, Manchester, tailor. Nov. 9th-T. FULLER, Braintree, victualler.-H. EVERETT, Colchester, builder.-H. JACOBS, otherwise G. M. JAQUES, Great Union-street, Borough-road, glass-dealer. - J. B. BLYTHE, Minerva-place, New Cross, builder.-J. LABROM, Leeds, clothmerchant. Nov. 12th.-G. PAGE, James-street, Bethnal-green, coach-proprietor. W. M'KAY, Upper Kennington-lane, draper. -C. WEISMANN, and J. M. MEYERS, Philpot-lane, commission-merchants.-C. ARNOLD, Watling-street, provision-dealer.-R. WHITTAKER, Landport, outfitter.-J. DOBSON, High Holborn, mathematical-instrument-maker.-M. GROUSE and D. C SANDERS, Oxford-street, tailors.-J. PATTERSON, Atherstone, Warwickshire, gardener.-G. E. JAMES, Kingswinford, Staffordshire, draper.-J. WILSON and C. P. WOODFIN, Hull, iron-founders.G. SIDDALL, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, spindle-manufacturer.G. FIELDER, Saddleworth, Yorkshire, woolstapler. Nov. 16th.-J. WARREN, Ramsgate, stationer.-J. BARTON, Sutton Valence, Kent, brewer.-B. ArTwELL, Westbury, Wiltshire, builder.-J. METCALF, Fenchurch-street, merchant.— W. BARLEYMAN, Feering, Essex, carpenter.-J. HILL, Prospectplace, Holloway-road, builder.-J. BECKETT, Reading, coalmerchant.-G. E. JAMES, Brierly-hill, Staffordshire, draper.W. FAWKNER, Kidderminster, victualler.-W. H. HOLLAND and R. BRADBURN, Manchester, commission-agents. Nov. 19th.-J. H. DAVY, Parker-street, Drury-lane, coachwheelwright.-J. FELL, New-street, New-road, builder. -J. WINZAR, Salisbury, apothecary.-C. GODDEN, Cropley-street, Hoxton, broker.-R. PRITCHARD, Bangor, ale-dealer.-R. PAGE, junior, Liverpool, iron-founder. W. ROBERTS, Bethesda, Carnarvonshire, joiner. F. PRICE, Bristol, button-dealer. J. HALL, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, corn-factor. Nov. 23rd.-J. KEELEY and E. WILLIAMS, Strand, and Fleetstreet, City, tailors.-S. T. JONES, King William-street, City, and Upper-Ground-street, Lambeth, coal-agent.-A. NEWBOLD and E. NEWBOLD, Birmingham, drapers.-E. NICHOLLS, Stourbridge, Oldswingford, Worcestershire, licensed victualler.E. HINDLE, Denholme, Bradford, Yorkshire, manufacturer.J. SPENCER and J. PULLAN, Thornton, Bradford, Yorkshire, top-makers.-T. WOODWARD, Liverpool, butcher.-J. NANSON, junior, Seaham-harbour, Durham, ship-broker. Nov. 26th.-W. NORTHWOOD, Wigmore-street, Cavendishsquare, cabinet-maker.-J. I. EVANS, Harrow-road, Paddington, clothier.-J. TAYLOR, Hoxпe, Suffolk, grocer.-H. FISHER and E. W. SELWOOD, Aldersgate-street, City, milliners and lacemen. -J. GAZELY, King's Lynn, carpenter.-T. CROSSLEY, Noblestreet, City, commission-agent-H. KENNALL, Hastings, stonemason.-J. T. WHEATLEY, Cranmer-place, Waterloo-bridgeroad. BANKRUPTCIES ANNULLED. Oct. 20th.-W. PROSSER, Shoreditch, draper. MONEY MARKET. The English Stock Market has been steady during the month, and prices have risen nearly 1 per cent.; the closing price of Consols on the 26th of October having been 100); and, on the 25th instant, 1014. No effect was produced by the Queen's speech. Foreign Stocks have been firm, and likewise Railway Shares; no variations of consequence having taken place in any of them. Blackwall. Highest. Lowest. Latest. all St. 100 Caledonian all Eastern Counties St. 100 100 Great Northern 83 PROVISIONS-LATEST WHOLESALE PRICES. 508.; middles, 51s. to 53s. 2s. 4d. to 38. 8d. doz.; Carlow, 80s. to 848. Cheese, per cwt.-Cheshire, 42s. Published at the Office, No. 16, Wellington Street North, Strand. Printed by BRADBURY & EVANS, Whitefriars, Londen Monthly Supplement to "HOUSEHOLD WORDS," Conducted by CHARLES DICKENS. NOTICE.-The readers of the " HOUSEHOLD NARRATIVE OF CURRENT EVENTS are respectfully informed that it has been decided, in the future Volumes, commencing with the ensuing month of January, to abandon the introductory article which has hitherto formed a part of each month's number under the head of THE THREE KINGDOMS. This alteration has been determined on, both in consideration of the advisability of separating the expression of opinion from a faithful record of events; and in consideration of that record requiring all the space we can allot to it. THE THREE KINGDOMS. THE Derby ministry have fallen in the impossible taxable incomes, the deficiency was to be supplied attempt to reconcile their old beliefs to their new at the cost of all the small shopkeepers in the kingnecessities. In undertaking to steer the ship by dom, and of all the better kind of artisans. Nor reckonings they still refused to have faith in, they was this the whole of the mischief in that direction. have suffered shipwreck. It is to be hoped that what For a pretence of relief to the farmer which no one may be found worth saving from the wreck will not believes would have been materially felt even by be rejected by the new hands. For among the new him, and certainly by the consumer would not have hands are understood to be all the very cleverest and been felt in any discernible degree, not only was the most experienced navigators that have passed most-house and shop tax doubled, but its area was part of their lives, whether long or short, in those extended to include the 107. as well as the 207. stormy and dangerous seas. Lord Aberdeen is Prime house; and thus, by these means, while every Minister, Lord Cranworth Lord High Chancellor, rustic village in the kingdom would have been and Lord John Russell Foreign Secretary and leader exempted, as well as the dwellings of large numbers of the Commons; the Duke of Newcastle is Colonial of small farmers, the net of liability would have Secretary, Lord Palmerston Home Secretary, and been precisely so thrown as to disfranchise all, whom Mr. Gladstone Chancellor of the Exchequer; Sir it did not enmesh, of the dwellers in 107. houses. James Graham is at the Admiralty, Sir Charles Wood No one will regret that such arrangements as these at the Board of Control, Sir William Molesworth at should be thrown overboard, and sink to the the Board of Works, Mr. Cardwell at the Board of bottom. On the other hand there are some law Trade, and Mr. Sidney Herbert at the War Office; bills, and matters of that kind, worth bringing while Lord Granville, the Duke of Argyle, and Lord ashore, with the better points of the defeated Lansdowne give also to the new Cabinet the grave budget. For example, the bill introduced to abolish authority and eager promise of the youngest and technical forms of action in the law courts in Ireland. oldest of Whig statesmen. It may be taken for and sweep away altogether the absurdities of special granted that such men as these will have no false pleading, is too good to be lost; nay, it is much too pride in saving out of the late disaster what yet good not to be extended in fairness to England may be found seaworthy, even though it should as well. For it is wonderful how much easier, in involve their completing "what other men began." future, politicians are likely to find the task of grappling with the iniquities of law. It took but three or four lines in the Gazette to make a sound legal reformer of the greatest as well as ablest opponent of all legal reform; and it required not more than two or three weeks, with a Sugden on the woolsack, to fight victoriously the first pitched battle with that monster of Chancery which has overridden us for centuries. A great many more remain to be fought; and happily there remains not one of the old defenders of abuse to make victory uncertain or difficult. For instance, we should say that Mr. Disraeli's light dues and pilotage reforms are well worth bringing to land. So is the abolition of the disgraceful claim of salvage for assistance to merchantmen in distress. So are the mitigations of compulsory modes of impressment. So, beyond all doubt, are the Tea Duties. And so, we should have said, was the attempt to put some distinction between property and income in the levy of the tax on both, if it had not been accompanied by incidents which too plainly revealed the drift of the attempted change. Nowhere was it so awkwardly apparent that town and country were to be placed in antagonism by the defeated budget, as in its otherwise laudable arrangements to distinguish sources of property and income. The schedules in which the reduction of rate took place were not only so framed as to include the tenant farmers, but this favoured class were no longer to have their income rated at half their rents, as at present, but at a third. In other words, their contribution to the state was at one stroke to be reduced by a full half, while at the same moment, by the simple process of extending the limits of other Indeed this, after all, is the great gain we may reckon to have got out of the Derby Administration. It has turned impracticable into practicable men. It has exploded the impossible absurdities of protection, compensation, and so forth, which have for six years been the main obstruction in the way of all useful legislation. It has ended a foolish as well as selfish setting up of class against class; and has finally taught the farmer that the only friends in whom he may hereafter safely trust, are his own activity, energy, and self-improvement. These are very valuable legacies to be left us by a VOL III. n defunct Administration; nor let us forget, either, that their successors may find it worth while to imitate, as it will be no very arduous labour to surpass, what they have done, or rather showed the disposition to do, in regard to the Arts, and their recognition by the state. The speech in which Mr. Disraeli described the proposed scheme of a great Industrial University, and incidentally touched on the civilising and ennobling influences of art upon a nation, was one of his most pleasing efforts; and the readiness with which the house of commons voted without a division the money asked for, showed a faith in the good sense of their constituencies highly creditable to the honourable members, and likely to have results of a more important and extended nature. The details of the particular plan are of course open to all kinds of criticism, but its basis is excellent. The daily increasing facilities of rapid intercourse, and the character and tendencies of modern legislation, are gradually placing all countries very nearly on a level, in so far as the raw material of industry is concerned; and the ground of competition in future will be much more in the larger field of invention and intellect, than in the narrower one of mere industry. As the late Chancellor of the Exchequer remarked in his very able speech, the intellectual element in the art of production must be more studied and cultivated than heretofore. In other words, to carry on an equal struggle with other countries, we must organise a system of industrial education such as prevails in almost every European country but our own; we must provide, for our industrial population, facilities for instruction in science and the arts, with special relation to the work in which they are engaged; and we must do it without loss of time. When the foundationstone of the new museums shall be laid, we shall have realised the first practical benefits of the Great Exhibition. Adams will it be felt that the suggestion of the committee on the Derby election case is a just and reasonable one. The events which from time to time now break the despotic dullness of the continent are not of a kind to excite wonder, however extravagant they may be. In the presence of the marvel of the French Empire all other marvels are eclipsed; and men only wonder that they can wonder no more. There has been a coup d'état in Spain, but nobody attends to it; though the fact that it is the civil power that attempted, and the military that successfully resisted it, may be found hereafter to be really worth attention. The king of Prussia has had a visit, for the first time since the Great Frederic arose, from his imperial neighbour of Austria; and, though this is supposed to argue a more cordial union than heretofore against the designs of a more dangerous neighbour, it passes with little remark. Nicholas remains quiet, but is supposed not to favour with any particular cordiality the pretensions of the third Napoleon. The third Napoleon himself, worse off than ever for advisers and never so sorely needing them, has tried in vain to get assistance from the Republican party; but the Cavaignacs continue as hostile and unmanageable as the Changarniers. Everything on the continent, in short, portends that things cannot long remain as they are, yet no one seems to have any great interest or anxiety to speculate on the new forms and combinations they are likely to assume. NARRATIVE OF PARLIAMENT AND ON Thursday, Dec. 2, the Marquis of CLANRICARDE laid before the house the resolution on the Commercial Policy of the Country which he had intended to move, but which he wished to waive in favour of one suggested by Lord Derby.-The Earl of DERBY expressed his satisfaction of the course pursued by Lord Clanricarde, and cordially hoped that from that moment the contromight be set at rest, and that no attempt might be made versy as to the relative merits of protection or free-trade to disturb the system recently adopted.-The Marquis of CLANRICARDE then adopted Lord Derby's resolution, and gave notice that he would bring it forward on Monday next; adding that, under the circumstances, he did not think it likely any discussion would arise on his motion. The following are the terms of the resolu tion: "That this house, thankfully acknowledging the general prosperity, and deeply sensible of the evils attending frequent changes in the financial policy of established, and would view with regret any attempt to the country, adheres to the commercial system recently disturb its operations or impede its progress." Already we have realised the first practical results of the exhibition extraordinary in the Frail W. B. case. It used to be a saying of Sydney Smith, that it required but the name of a notorious jobber to be uttered in the house of commons to get a host of vouchers on the spot for his faultless moral integrity. In exactly this spirit a select committee of that house has just reported that an elaborately organised system of very gross bribery was going on at the last Derby election; that the man caught by the police in the very fact of administering the bribes was acting on the instructions contained in a letter from Major Beresford, found upon his person at the time; but that, nevertheless, there is not sufficient evidence to satisfy their minds that the scheme of the bribery, or the arrangement and object of the instructions contained in his own letter, were known to, and concurred in, On Monday, the 6th, the Marquis of CLANRICARDE by the Right Honourable William Beresford. The moved the resolution on the Commercial Policy of the equivocal circumstances confessed, the obvious infer- Country which he had adopted at the suggestion of ence is denied ; and the committee are fain to believe Lord Derby. He thought that some such resolution that the "good and safe man," whom Mr. Beresford was necessary, partly from the peculiar position in wanted, and of whom he was so extremely anxious which the house was placed after what had taken to conceal the whence he came and the whither place in the lower house, and partly because, apart from he was going, he thought in his innocence to be other considerations, it was desirable that their lordonly wanted for the purpose of circumventing under- trade. For himself, he should have been better pleased ships should express an opinion on the policy of freehand practices on the part of his opponents. The if the government would have come to the same resoonly parallel to a suggestion so extraordinary that lution as that adopted by the House of Commons; and strikes one at the moment, is the fact of Parson he could not at all understand why that course had not Adams being found in Mrs. Slipslop's bedchamber been followed; but, as an unanimous vote was not to be without any but the most virtuous intentions. So expected in that case, he had thought it right to accept he said on the discovery taking place, and such the present resolution as the best that was to be obtained turned out to be the fact. No one dreams of doubting the good Abraham's word on that point; and in the exact proportion of the likeness of the Right Honorable William Beresford to Parson Abraham under all the circumstances.-The Earl of ABERDEEN thought that in a body so constituted as the House of Lords, which was not liable to change like the House of expressed its adhesion to a free-trade policy, any such Commons, and which had already on several occasions respect to the resolutions moved by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and in consequence of the unavoidable absence of the Prime Minister, who had gone to see her Majesty at Osborne, he should move the adjournment of the house until Monday next. The house accordingly adjourned. On Monday, the 20th, the Earl of DERBY explained the circumstances which had led to the Resignation of the Government, which he declared had fallen before an unprincipled combination of the parties in the lower house, who had leagued themselves together for the destruction of the ministry from the first moment of the session. The task of constructing a new government had been confided by her Majesty to Lord Aberdeen, to whom he could promise from the Conservative party greater forbearance than it had received at his, Lord Aberdeen's hands. The noble earl, in conclusion, stated that the late ministry only held office till their successors were appointed, and moved that the house adjourn to Thursday next-a day which he selected in preference to Monday next, the day suggested by Lord Aberdeen, because he hoped that by that day the necessary arrangements with regard to the new ministry might be completed.-The Duke of NEWCASTLE denied the statement of Lord Derby, that there had been a combined endeavour of various parties in the lower house to overthrow his government. On the contrary, there had been the most anxious desire that the government should be allowed to lay before the country the measures which he had promised. The Earl of DERBY entered into some explanations, and the house adjourned till Thursday. resolution was uncalled-for and unnecessary. That the House of Commons, the preceding night with house could come to no resolution of the slightest practical importance on the question, which had been irrevocably decided by the will of the nation.-Lord BEAUMONT was of opinion that the best course would be at once to adopt the resolution of the House of Commons, and he, therefore, moved that resolution as an amendment to Lord Clanricarde's motion.-The Earl of DERBY said that he felt it his duty to offer some explanation as to Lord Clanricarde's resolution. It had been suggested by himself, and adopted by the noble marquis after consultation with his friends, as likely to attain a very important object-an unanimous opinion of the house on our commercial policy. On that understanding, he had informed his friends that their attendance would be unnecessary, and it was, therefore, with the utmost surprise that he learned that not only was a discussion to take place, but a hostilé amendment was also to be proposed. It had been said that the resolution gave no assurance of the intentions entertained by members of the government, but such an assurance was to be found, as had been promised, in the financial statement of the government, which was eminently of a free-trade character. Such a budget was a far more practical proof of sincerity than any abstract motion, and, after such a proof, it was ungenerous to cavil at a resolution expressly framed to secure the adhesion of the greatest number of peers without doing violence to their feelings. Lord Derby concluded by an appeal to the house not to fetter noble lords who supported the government by forcing on them resolutions which they could not conscientiously adopt.-The Marquis of LANSDOWNE declared that he felt himself bound by the understanding to which Lord Derby had alluded, and he was therefore precluded from voting for the amendment. The Earl of HARROWBY suggested the omission of all the first part of the motion which gave reasons for the course pursued by the house, and thought there could then be no doubt of an unanimous vote on the subject. The Duke of NEWCASTLE seconded this proposition, which ultimately was unanimously carried. The Earl of MALMESBURY announced the Recognition of the French Empire by the British Government; and commented on the circumstances which (he alleged) showed that the Emperor had been called to the throne by the distinct will of the people of France. Viscount CANNING observed that, in the English parliament, whenever foreign matters were brought under discussion, it was advisable-and, above all, in the case of a minister of the crown-to abstain from anything approaching to comment on the conduct of a neighbouring country, whether it were the people or the ruling authority. On Tuesday, the 7th, the Duke of NEWCASTLE presented a Petition from New Zealand, complaining of the general management of that colony, and especially that the province of New Ulster should be saddled with a debt said to be owing to the New Zealand Company. Lord LYNDHURST called the attention of the house to several passages in the Report of the Cambridge University Commission, and said that they contained the best answer to the accusations so often and so ignorantly made against that university. On Friday, the 10th, the Earl of DERBY stated, in answer to a question from the Earl of RODEN, that her Majesty's government had no desire to give any countenance whatever to the Irish Landlord and Tenant Bill introduced into the other house by Mr. Serjeant Shee, as they considered it subversive of the rights of property; but they had consented to refer it to a select committee, along with the measures introduced by the AttorneyGeneral for Ireland, only for the purpose of considering a most important question, one involving great details and difficulties, which, if brought to a satisfactory issue, would confer important benefits upon the landed interest in Ireland. The assent to the second reading of Mr. Serjeant Shee's bill did not, under the circumstances, involve an admission of its principle. No proceedings of importance took place in the house till Friday, the 17th, when the Earl of MALMESBURY intimated that in consequence of what had taken place in On Monday the 27th the Earl of ABERDEEN rose to explain the circumstances which had induced him to undertake the task of Forming a new Administration, and said, though both his tastes and habits, as well as the reflection that he had arrived at the very verge of the period usually assigned to human life, might have rendered him reluctant to accept office, he had felt it his duty to obey the commands of the Queen. He had been accused, indeed, of entering into a conspiracy to overthrow the late government, but he could only say that his efforts had been directed towards keeping it in, and not towards its destruction; and so far was he from conspiring against the Earl of Derby and his colleagues, that he had actually made arrangements for passing the remainder of the winter on the shores of the Mediterranean. Circumstances, however, had induced Her Majesty to request his advice in forming an administration, and the cabinet being now complete, he would proceed to lay before the house a sketch of its policy. With regard to foreign powers, it would adhere to the principle which had been pursued for the last thirty years, and which consisted in respecting the rights of all independent states, in abstaining from interference in their internal affairs, while at the same time we asserted our own rights and interests, and, above all, in an earnest desire to secure the general peace of Europe. This policy might be observed without any relaxation of those defensive measures which had been lately undertaken, and had, perhaps, been too long neglected. At home the mission of the government would be to maintain and extend free trade principles, and to pursue the commercial and financial system of the late Sir Robert Peel. A crisis in our financial arrangements would speedily occur by the cessation of a large branch of the revenue, and it would tax the ingenuity of all concerned to readjust our finances according to the principles of justice and equity. The questions of education and legal reform would receive every attention at the hands of the government; nor would an amendment of the representative system, undertaken without haste or rashness, be excluded from its mature consideration. The Earl of Derby, he was informed, had spoken of a Conservative form of government, and wondered how he (Lord Aberdeen) and his associates would be able to carry on the service of the Crown; but the truth was, no government was possible at present except it were Conservative, nor was any government possible except it were Liberal. Those terms had ceased to have any definite meaning, except as party cries, and the country |