instead of a three or four days' debate on the question that Clause 2 stand part of the Bill, reasonable expedition might be confidently anticipated in getting to Clause 10 or Clause 20, or any other Clause containing really debateable matter. It will be borne in mind that any haste or carelessness in Committee admits of rectification at the next stage when the Bill is considered as amended in the full House. And with the opportunities that exist both for recommitting a Bill at a subsequent stage, and for its further amendment in the second House of Parliament, it may fairly be questioned whether such an experiment would unduly confine the provision made for examination in detail. It would probably be found expedient that the House should delegate to a small Standing Committee the function of fixing the limit of time for consideration of each Bill in Committee, and in the chair of such a committee it would be desirable to place the Speaker or Chairman of Ways and Means. With such safeguards it may be prognosticated that some regularity would be effected without much risk of important measures being 'rushed' through the Commons; but the remedy is undeniably a very drastic one, and should not be attempted until other means have been found to fail. It will beyond doubt be an occasion both for shame and anxiety. if matters should be allowed to drift to such a pass, that a treatment even so remotely akin to the genuine clôture should be found indispensable, even if it is to operate only within the limited area of the Committee of the whole House. If the principle is once accepted, it will be found increasingly difficult to resist its application in a more stringent form and on a more extended field. The enemies of free discussion, and these are to be found at least as often among the doctrinaires and philosophic politicians as among the rude perverters of our parliamentary procedure, will certainly not be slow to press further any innovation which may serve to augment the tyrannical pressure of a tyrant majority. While therefore I must confess myself unable to conceive any state of things which could make the clôture itself an improvement in the transaction of Parliamentary business, I am most unwilling to see adopted any procedure which might tend to its introduction, until every other imaginable reform has had a trial. But, as far as I can judge, there is as yet no reason to despair of the House of Commons. If those who lead it will rise to a due sense of the crisis through which it is passing, and will have the courage to arraign before the House those who have openly striven to cripple and to thwart it in the discharge of its duties, we shall soon have heard the last of real Obstruction for many a year to come. If these should shrink from their duty-and they may unhappily point to great hesitation in realising what that duty was on the part of their predecessors-it will still be open to the House itself to vindicate its privileges and its authority. When those who glory in what should be their shame have met their deserts, and when any attempt to follow their example has been sternly repressed by such a Standing Order as has been sketched above, the House will have breathing time so to remodel some of its more dilatory forms as to diminish the opportunities for vulgar vanity, or factious manoeuvre to impede its deliberations. And it will be well that the chance should not be thrown away. But let not that body which, as Lord Sherbrooke has eloquently said, constitutes now the single anchor of the State, fail to hold its own against the tornado which seems to perplex the present at least as much as the former crew. If the vessel is to be allowed to drive before the gale, she will, as we all know, be speedily among the breakers. But if it is attempted to set her head in a particular direction without ascertaining the direction or force of the wind, she may quite as probably find herself on her beam-ends. Those who confound Parliamentary opposition, even when it is most factious, with the new theory of resistance to constitutional authority which has grown up during the last few years, are only less dangerous to the liberties of the House of Commons than the Obstructors themselves. If the latter are summarily dealt with, the former may, at least for the time, be safely disregarded. But if a policy of disregard is still to be maintained in the case of those who brave the displeasure of Parliament, it is only too likely that the day is not far distant when the resentment provoked by it may bring within the range of practical politics even such a proposal as Lord Sherbrooke's. After King Log comes King Stork. This House of Commons has not yet had time to prove whether with the reputation it has inherited the wisdom of more ancient Parliaments. If it wishes to be thought wise, it must be wise in time. HENRY CECIL RAIKES. ABBOTT (Dr. E.), his 'Hellenica,' Bleeding to Death, 157-176 reviewed, 336 Aberdeen administration, the, 999-1001 in, 241-244, 933-937 Africa, South, 933-954 Blomfield (Bishop) on Sunday occupa- Blunt (W. Scawen), The Thoroughbred Aidé (Hamilton), his 'Poet and Peer,' Board of Works, the Metropolitan, 774- reviewed, 339 America, a Stranger in, 67-87 'Apple Blossoms,' reviewed, 337-338 Arnold (Matthew), The Future of Arrian, his treatise on hunting, 965–967 Art Collections, our National, and Pro- Assyrians, hunting among the, 552-553 Atheism and Repentance, 19-41 BACILLUS anthracis, 857-858 Barbarossa, wars of, 751-755 Basuto war, the, 935-936 Boll (Professor Graham), the photo- Birmingham Musical Association, the, Bismarck (Prince) on the formation of Black (Clementina), her 'Orlando,' re- Blackley (Rev. W. Lewery), The Blackmore (R. D.), his 'Mary Anerley,' Blasphemy, meaning of, 756-759 776 Bret Harte, stories by, reviewed, 338 Britain, colonial empire of, 246-247 Brown (Gerard Baldwin), Modern Bryant (William Cullen), his criticisms Bunbury (E. H.), his Ancient Geogra Bunyan, English of, 426-427 Burials Bill, the, and Disestablishment, - the Probable Results of the, 1019- Burton (Dr.), his history of Queen Anne, Buxton (Sydney C.), Bribery and Cor- Byron, poetry of, 396-408, 756 CAI FIR AVIDSON (Dr. Samuel), on the AIRD (Dr. John), on the philosophy DA Vanon of the Bible, reviewed, 316 of religion, reviewed, 316 317 to Arabian racehorses, 411, 422 origin of responsible government in, Carlisle (Bishop of), The Philosophy of Carnarvon (Earl of), A few more Words Caucus system, result of its adoption at Chase, the, its History and Laws, 550- Chautauqua Lake, a Convention of Cheyne (Rev. T. K.) on the prophecies China, the Future of, 266-274 615 895-920 Colonies, Representative Government in Colorado Sketch, a, 445-457 Commons, House of, Radical theory of discussions in committee in the, 'Compensation for Disturbance Bill, -Conservatism, the Philosophy of, 724- Co-operation, prospects of, in America, Cox (Robert), his bibliographic work on Creed, the, of the Early Christians, 207- Creeds, the, Old and New, 526-549, 787- Dawkins (Professor Boyd) on the classi- 856 Deák (Francis), memoir of, reviewed, 328 Déjazet (Virginie), 144-140 on the practicability of the National Devon Commission, the, 681-682, 864- Dicey (Edward), The Egyptian Liquida- Disestablishment, the Burials Bill and, Dormeuil (M.), manager of the Palais- Dresden, Sunday in, 711 Drunkards, how to reform, 712-713 Dumas, Alexandre, 653-671 Wapiti-running on the Plains, 593- 611 Duval (E. Raoul), The Commercial IRE Harrison (Frederic). The Creeds, Old Hayes (President) and his wife, 83 Hewlett (Henry G.), The Works of Sir Heylin (Dr. Peter), his criticism of Hjaltalin (J. A.), his description of the Home Rulers, obstruction tactics of, Hood (Thomas), his Ode to Rae Wilson, Horse, the Thoroughbred, English and Huxley (Professor), his Introductory 154 Hyndman (H. M.), Bleeding to Death Hypnotism, 474–480 Hysteria, peculiar manifestations of, against Mr. O'Donnell, 43-45, 1040- ICELAND, 218-236 1041 his Irish Land Act, 306, 363-364, 639 Gneiss, Laurentian, geological pheno- mena connected with the, 850-851 Gordon (R.), his report on the Irra- Gosse (E. W.), his poems, reviewed, 335 Grant (Rev. A. R.), Evils of Competitive Examinations, 715-723 Grassot (M.), the French comedian, 149 Greeks, ancient, hunting among the, Greenwich pensions, the, 116 Htional and Irrational, 424-443 ALL (Fitzedward), English Ra- Hallett (Frederic F.), Our New Wheat- India, Demoniacal Possession in, India, British and native administration |