The Quarterly Review (Volume 145) (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1878. Excerpt: ... Abt. IX.-- The Reports from the Select Committees of the House of Commons on Public Business, with the Minutes of Evidence in the Years 1848, 1854, 1861, and 1871. EVERY autumn the Opposition newspapers point in triumph to the number of Bills introduced by the Government which they have failed not only to pass into law, but even to submit to discussion in the House of Commons. Once it was a point of honour, that any subject recommended to Parliament in her Majesty's most gracious speech from the throne should be taken into consideration in the course of the Session, and that, unless the Government were defeated, the Act thereupon should be passed through both Houses; but it is many years since the full tale of measures submitted by the Government has been completed. To avoid the recurrence of this occasion for reproof, the programme of her Majesty's Ministers at the opening of last Session was prudent to excess, yet at its close the outstanding Bills were as numerous as ever, and Heads of Departments had to endure their habitual disappointment and undergo the regular routine of reproaches. That the losses of the Ins should be scored up as points made by the Outs is fair party fighting, but the nation suffers not a little in the long run from the constant delay of needful legislation. If our parliamentary harvest be scanty, it is not that Jthe labourers are few, for the number of members who take part in debate has greatly increased; and a strike, at least of the unskilled hands, is as little to be dreaded as overproduction. Since the last reform of Parliament there has been an immense influx of new and inexperienced members, who, although determined to talk, have never acquired the art of public speaking. This has most seriously diminished the power of the House to deal with busines...