542

T H E TABLET.

[Saturday, May 4, 1872.

“ the Pope— M. de Corcelles, formerly Ambassador at “ Gaeta, and the Comte Werner de Mérode— having be“ taken themselves to Rome, have been permitted to sub“ mit to the Holy Father himself the documents connected “ with this unfortunate controversy (les pièces de ce triste “ procès). It will easily be understood that from the mo“ ment that the cause has been brought before so exalted a “ tribunal, it would be as unfitting not to make known the “ judgment which has been given as to attempt to get out “ of it a personal triumph for ourselves.” “ MM. de Cor“ celles and Werner de Mérode,” subjoins the Univers, “ havingthus causedit to be affirmed in the Correspotidant that “ they have been to Rome to seek, and have obtained, an ap“ proval of the conduct of the deputies of the Right in the “ matter of the Catholic petitions, we are willing to believe them “ on their word.” In consequence, the Univers will not go on with the address which it had proposed, and to which it has received “ adhesions cn masse,” which have continued to come in in spite of the silence which it has been observing for two weeks. “ As these adhesions,” it adds, “ were dic“ tated by an absolute devotion to the Holy Father, those “ who gave them in will have no cause to regret having “ done so, nor will they feel any more regret that we have “ stopped the manifestation of them.”

The Prison Ministers Bill, which passed its

m in is t e r s secoml reading in the Lords last week, is, as

h il l . ' ' L o r d Carnarvon said, nearly a reproduction of

the one which was sent down to the House of Commons last year. It does not contain the clause which was objected to and struck out of the former bill, empowering the Home Secretary to order a Catholic chapel to be erected in the gaol when necessary ; but Lord Carnarvon and the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol seemed to think that it might sanction an order that the Catholic service should be celebrated in the chapel of the Established Church. These, however, are details which are sure to be cleared up and arranged in committee. Catholics are only desirous that opportunity, sufficient room, and what is necessary for the decent celebration of the rites of the Church should be provided : they have no desire whatever unnecessarily to interfere with other people. The main provision of the Duke of Cleveland’s bill, for which he deserves every acknowledgment from Catholics, is, that incountygaols where there is an average of more than 10 Catholic prisoners, the Home Secretary should be empowered to require the justices to appoint and paya Catholic chaplain, and to withdraw, in case of their refusal to do so, the usual contribution to the gaol from the Consolidated Fund. The Duke of Cleveland was not sanguine about getting the bill through the Lower House, but, as he was able to say that even the late Chairman of the Middlesex magistrates had admitted that there had been a great change in the opinions of the justices on this subject, we may hope that the fair and sensible views expressed by Lord De La Warr, Lord Carnarvon, and Lord Morley will prevail in the Commons. After the evidence given by experts such as Mr. Rathbone and Sir Walter Crofton, and the successful working of the system in the Government prisons, it is certain, as the Duke of Cleveland said, that, even if this bill should not pass into law, its principle must ultimately be applied to all country and town [irisons also.

Mr. Trevelyan’s motion for assimilating the

the county franchise in counties to that in boroughs was of

I'Ranchise. course ]0S[; as an attempt to deal summarily and therefore incompletely with a very large question ; but it elicited from Mr. Gladstone the expression of his opinion that the present broad line of demarcation between town and county franchises could not long be maintained, and that for the obvious reason that the distinction is becoming an unreal one. We have made what we choose to call boroughs in many cases out of rural districts, and on the other hand the real population of great towns is overflowing into the country. Mr. Trevelyan grounded his motion on the plea that, if the agricultural labourer had had the franchise, the truck system, the hours of labour, and the condition of agricultural dwellings would have been dealt with by this time, and Mr. Fawcett, in seconding him, argued that to enfranchise was to educate. But the considerations touched upon by Mr. Gladstone go to prove that any attempt to settle this matter must, in order to be at all satisfactory, go a good deal deeper into the differences between borough and county constituencies, and in fact raise the question of fresh electoral districts. The motion was lost by 148 votes to 70.

On Monday Sir George Jenkinson asked Mr.

the Canada Gladstone whether it was true that Government

had agreed to guarantee a Canadian loan of two millions and a half for the Pacific Railway and canal improvements on condition that Canada accepts the Washington treaty ; and further, whether, if the treaty falls to the ground, this alleged conditional guarantee would still be given. The latter part of the question Mr. Gladstone refused to answer, but stated that the proposal had been made and, as Government had learnt by telegraph, accepted. Whether the guarantee was conditional on the acceptance of the treaty by Canada was a question to which he could not answer by a simple negative or a simple affirmative, as neither would give a correct view of the case. The correspondence, said Mr. Gladstone, would be laid before Parliament as soon as the answers arrived, and in reply to Mr. Disraeli’s remarks on the “ extraordinary character” of the statement, he promised to consult Lord Kimberley whether the Colonial Office dispatch which was ready for presentation might not, together with the telegraphic reply, be presented at once.

The upshot of Mr. Gladstone’s statement on

a™ Fcorrupt Monday> in repty t0 M r- M onk, was, that practices Government did not care quite as much about bills. the Corrupt Practices Bill, as they did before the

personation clauses were transferred to the Ballot B ill; but that they meant to go on with it, in consequence of the dependence upon it of the Election Petitions Act of' 1867, and other laws for the prevention of corrupt practices. This Mr. Bentinck took to mean that the Bill was virtually to be abandoned, which he treated as “ a distinct “ breach of faith to the House.” Mr. Forster, however, declared that he still hoped to pass the Bill, and that the two clauses were taken out of it, not because it was to be dropped, but because those clauses were more naturally connected with the other Bill, and in deference to the wish of the House. Resuming the discussion of the clauses, the committee rejected a proposal of Mr. Wheelhouse’s to take the votes o f sick and infirm persons by voting papers by 312 to 212. Voting papers for out-voters, proposed by Mr. Gregory, were also rejected by 226 to 146, and a motion of Mr. Raikes,. which— as Mr. Forster justly observed ought tohavebeen made on the second reading— to restrict the operation of the Bill to the next general election, was lost by 307 to 215. Then,, after a fresh attempt by Mr. Cawley to get the names of candidates printed in colours, lost by 97 to 38, and a scheme of Mr. Potter’s for obtaining secrecy by mechanical- means,, accompanied by an elaborate ground-plan— “ the first illus“ trated motion ” as Mr. Beresford-Hope put it, “ he had “ ever seen on the votes,”— provision was made for the Jews whose conscience would not allow them to vote on Saturdays, and for persons “ incapacitated by blindness or other “ physical cause ; ’’ on which point a discussion arose as to whether persons unable to read should not be allowed the same help. It appeared that in Sydney, Victoria, Tasmania,, and Queensland, they could get the returning officer to fill up their paper, and so, said Mr. Childers, could all voters in respect of rateable property in Victoria, as distinguished from “ non-residential ” and “ residential” voters. The amendment, however, which took the form of omitting the word “ physical,” was lost by a majority of 61— 205 to 144.

Lord Hatherley is certainly unlucky in his-

ok Am™1 attemPts at reform of the Courts. His more

ambitious scheme having fallen through lastyear, the comparatively modest Bill for constituting a Supreme Court of Appeal came on for its second reading on Tuesday. It had been agreed, however, as we mentioned a fortnight ago, that the Resolution on which the Bill was to be founded was to be first discussed, and this furnished Lord Cairns with a text for an historical discourse on the appellate jurisdiction of the Lords. He was quite unfair in his attempt to connect the Bill with the agitation for abolishing the House of Lords, but he marked a point when he reminded his hearers that the present tribunal had cleared off all the arrears of the past session, and might dispose within a month of all the cases now ready for hearing ; while the temporary pressure on the Judicial Committee had been caused by an. increase of the appeals from Bengal, arising from causes easy to explain. He argued that there was no reason for bringing on this particular measure while the recommendations of the Judicature Commission for the fusion of law and equity, and other reforms, were still unacted on. The appeals from England were comparatively few, because the Intermediate Courts of Appeal were so strong, and these Courts were to be abolished in England, and left in Scotland,