Whoever rejoices, or whoever grieves, at these evidences of ministerial declension, cannot fail to
observe that the present government has not only evinced, but acted on, a desire for economy.
Whether impelled by the pressure from without of the "Financial Reformers," or by a deeply-
rooted conviction that the salaries of many of his colleagues in various departments are too great,
Lord John Russell has obtained a committee to inquire into the emoluments of certain state officers
with a view to reduction. This committee is constituted fairly, and includes Mr. Cobden, and his platform
colleague Mr. Bright.

The Bill for the abolition of intramural interments will be considered in a committee of the whole
House, next month. The Report on which this Bill is founded, is one of the most remarkable
public documents that have ever appeared in England. It would be impossible to illustrate more
impressively the deplorable condition into which we have insensibly lapsed, in respect of our disposal
of the dead—the shocking indecorum, the waste of means and life, the diffusion of sickness, pestilence,
misery, and want attendant on our present burial customs. To assert the awe and sanctity of Death; to
separate the dead from the living; to surround death, among the poor and wretched, with humanising and
not hardening influences; to respect the ashes of the humblest sharer in the common lot; is the lesson
that it teaches. This is the end of the legislative measure founded upon it. It may be retarded by weak,
mercenary, or bigoted opposition; but it would be to doubt the sense, the decency, and human feeling, of
the country, to doubt its ultimate attainment.

NARRATIVE OF PARLIAMENT AND
POLITICS

VERY little business has been transacted in the HOUSE
OF PEERS during the month. The House met after
the Easter recess on Thursday 11th, sat half-an-hour
to hear some bills read from the Commons, and
adjourned.

On Friday 12th, Lord CAMPBELL introduced a bill for
the better Regulation of Special Pleadings.—Earl GREY
then moved the third reading of the Convict Prisons Bill.
Lord STANLEY dwelt especially on the danger of staving
off that which is inevitable, a thorough revision of our
secondary-punishment system.—Transportation, said
Lord MONTEAGLE, must be placed upon a new footing
altogether: it must be made acceptable to the colonists
themselves, which it cannot be without free institutions.
—Earl GREY combated what he conceived to be the
extravagant objections to transportation; the prosperity,
nay the free emigration to Australia, are both the creation
of transportation; but the system of labour-gangs at so
great a distance has proved a failure. To that he
ascribed the frightful evils alleged against transportation;
and prospectively, but not very distinctly, he
foreshadowed some system of which the penal part
should be accomplished at home, while a more extensive
employment would be found for convict-labour
in the Colonies.—The bill was read a third time and
passed.

On Monday 15th the Bishop of LONDON declared his
intention to bring forward a bill to establish a Court
of Appeal for the Clergy, to supersede such appeals
to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The
proposed court would be, he said, a strictly clerical
tribunal.

On Thursday 18th the Pirates' Head Money Repeal
Bill was brought forward by the Marquis of LANSDOWNE
for the second reading. It was not intended to
deprive parties engaged in the capture or destruction of
pirate vessels of all reward, but to reward them according
to the value of their services.—Lord ELLENBOURGH
commented severely on the recent actions with pirates on
the coast of Borneo, which he stigmatised as military
executions; and gave notice, that when the bill passed
into committee, he should move to substitute for one
of the present clauses a new clause, the effect of
which would be to give the same power of conferring
rewards on those engaged with pirates on shore, which
was now granted to those engaged with pirates at sea.
—The Earl of ELLESMERE defended Sir James Brooke,
whose conduct in Borneo entitled him to rank among
the heroes of civilisation. He had little doubt that
Borneo would soon become a flourishing settlement.
—Lord ELLENBOROUGH reiterated his statement
respecting the natives of Borneo, and declared that what
was termed piracy only amounted to international war.
Labuan was utterly useless to England.—Earl GREY
declared that the natives were determined pirates,
whose expeditions were a terror to all who traded in the
Indian Archipelago. So far from Labuan being a
failure, it appeared that 120 town allotments had
been disposed of; while the entire amount of revenue
estimated for the current year had been realised during
the month of January alone.—The bill was read a second
time.

A debate on The Abuses of the Irish Poor Law arose
on Friday 19th, in consequence of a petition presented
by the Marquis of WESTMEATH, relative to Carrick-on-
Shannon. In illustration of the working of the law, his
lordship referred to certain proceedings taken against
himself without the smallest legal notification, by which
a demand of rates amounting to £33 was swelled to £77
by costs. He concluded by moving for a committee
to inquire into the subject-matter of the petition.—
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE did not deny that abuses
had crept into the administration of the poor law in
particular unions, but he did not think sufficient grounds
had been made out for inquiry.—Lord STANLEY thought
the reverse. The grossest abuses had prevailed for
months in the union to which the petition referred, and
he thought their lordships would not fulfil their duty
if they refused inquiry.—The Marquis of LANSDOWNE
withdrew his opposition to the appointment of a
committee, in consequence of what Lord STANLEY had stated,
and the motion was agreed to.

On the 22nd, the Duke of RICHMOND obtained a
select committee to inquire into the evasions of the act
for preventing the importation, with foreign cattle, of
infectious diseases.

The Door-Keepers of the House came in for a share of
its attention on Tuesday 23rd. The report of the
committee on the fees and emoluments of parliamentary
officers, was laid on the table by its chairman, the Duke
of RICHMOND, who mentioned some curious facts
respecting the door-keepers. During four years the
minimum receipts of one of them ranged from £401 to
£772 per annum; and during four maximum years, from
£884 to £2570 per annum. Yet this very gentleman,
while incapacitated by age from performing his simple
duties, employed another person, who did it well for £150
a year. Fees were paid to the door-keepers, not only
by peers, editors of newspapers, and the East India
Company; but the Society of Friends—for what reason his
Grace knew not—paid five pounds a year to the door-
keepers of that House.

The Earl of MALMESBURY then moved for a Return of
Corn imported since 1st January last, and of the average
price since that period.—The Duke of RICHMOND
warned the House not to drive the British farmer "to
desperation."—The Marquis of LANSDOWNE expressed
his belief that the present low prices were exceptional.
—Lord STANLEY on the other hand declared his
conviction that they were not exceptional but permanent.
—The returns were ordered.

Business was commenced, when the HOUSE OF COMMONS
met after the Easter recess, on Monday the 8th, by Captain
BOLDERO, who directed attention to the disabilities
endured by the Assistant-Surgeons in the Navy.
They nominally rank as lieutenants in the army or