Punch (62.1872)

March 9. 1872.]

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

101

PUNCH'S ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

ondat, February 20.—Before
proceeding to the scant Par-
liamentary detail with which
Mr. Punch proposes lo favour
the world this week, he will
note for the convenience of
the Historical Student who
will thankfully explore these
mines of information and wit,
that this Week was marked
hy two events.

First, on February 27. Her
Majesty went to St. Paul's,
to offer thanks for the deliver-
ance of the Prince of Wales
from great peril.

Secondly, on February 29,
Her Majesty was subjected
to outrage by a wretched Irish
youth who presented a harm-
less pistol at the Queen.

What Mr. Punch has to
say on both subjects is else-
where said, and here he makes

—S3Zr"~~—(J-simple record of them, in ex-

—^ ~i_ j—— planation of subsequent nar-
rative.

The proceedings in Parlia-
ment have been nearly devoid
of other interest than what
was derived from allusion to
the above topics.

This day Me. George Ben-
tinck invited the Speaker to
say whether the Morning Ad-
vertiser had not been guilty of
breach of privilege. Our con-
temporary stated that there
was a thing called the
"Speaker's List," lately invented, a paper prepared by the
Whips, who set down the names of the Members to be invited
to speak, of course to the exclusion of others. And if a Liberal
Member spoke or voted wrongly, he was "gagged by Messrs.
Gladstone, Glyn, and Denison."

The new Speaker said that he had never seen anything of the
kind, and that he should always call on Members with the utmost
impartiality.

Mr. Gladstone, for himself and Mr. Glyn, said that they had
no knowledge of the practices of which they were accused.

Mr. Glyn, for himself, broke a fifteen years' silence to state that
the late Speaker had often asked him who wanted to be heard, and
he had handed in some names, but he denied all the rest. He
thought that Mr. Bentlnck might have made his charges when the
present Lord Ossington was in the Chair to answer him.
Mr. Noel, Conservative Whip, gave a similar disclaimer.
Mr. Disraeli said that the late Speaker often made inquiries,
in order that every section of opinion should be represented. For
himself, he had always been anxious to develope Conservative
oratory, and any young Member had always found a friend in him.
He thought that Members below the gangway should be encouraged
to relieve their smouldering emotions by expression.

The subject dropped, Mr. Bentlnck, if not clever himself, having
enabled clever men to speak adroitly. This, perhaps, is the extent
of Mr. Bentinck's mission.
Then we talked till half-past one about the best way to get on

Thursday.—In the course of a debate on the Bill on Ecclesiastical
Courts, Earl Granville was fetched from the Chamber. The
Queen, with her invariable consideration for the feelings of her
subjects, had despatched an Equerry to inform Ministers, that they
in turn might inform the House, of what had occurred at Bucking-
ham Palace. It may be best to give the Earl's own words:—

" Your Lordships will excuse my interruption of this discussion. I have
just been informed that a boy of eighteen or nineteen ran into the court-yard
of Buckingham Palace as the Queen entered, followed the carriage»to the
door, which i8 at a short distance from the entrance gates, and presented an
old-fashioned pistol within a foot of Her Majesty's head. The Queen turned
her head, and the boy was seized. .Iam informed that the pistol was not
loaded, and it is believed that the object of the boy was to compel Her Majesty,
by fear, to sign a Fenian document which he held in his hand. The Queen
showed the greatest courage and composure." {Loud cheers.)

The Duke of Richmond replied:—

" I hope I may be pardoned if I say one word about the attack made upon
Her Majesty by this miscreant. From what my noble friend says, that attack
was one of the most contemptible character, for I gather from his statement
that there was neither powder nor-shot in the pistol. At all events, mv
Lords, this incident has had one good effect—-that of giving an additional
proof to the country of the magnificent conduct and courage disnlayed by
Her Majesty on this as on all other occasions. Perhaps I may also be allowed
to express my gratification at the splendid display of loyalty on the previous
day, and to say how much I rejoice at the reception which Her Majesty
met throughout this great city from the enormous concourse gathered
together." (Loud cheers.)

The business of the House was then resumed, and it should be
noted that when similar announcement had been made in the
Commons by Mr. Gladstone, the Members, having signified their
feelings by the loudest cheers, at once applied themselves again to
their work. Lords and Commoners thus testified that while their
warmest sympathies were with the Royal Lady, the act which had
roused them, and the wretched creature who had committed it, were
regarded as too despicable to be worth a single indignant speech.

In the Commons, question was raised about the summary execu-
tion of sixty-five Kookas in India. Mr. Grant Duff said that there
was nothing irregular in the act, whether it were justifiable or not.
Considering what a melancholy exhibition of themselves was made
by certain philanthropists of the cosmopolitan sort when Governor
Eyre, as Mr. Carlisle says, "saved Jamaica," people at home do
well to inquire, this time, before denouncing what may seem over-
stern dealing with rebels.

A Ballot debate followed, and Mr. Fawcett objected to pushing
on a measure for giving the Secret Vote, of which he approved,
unless the Bill for preventing Corrupt Practices should also be for-
warded. There was much discussion hereon, and Mr. Gladstone
promised something which Me. Disraeli said was fair. Sir
George Jessel (he will accept our best congratulations on his
knighthood) spoke.

Mr. Cavendish Bentinck proposed that divisions in the House
of Commons should be taken by Ballot. He made a speech, and
said that Oliver Cromwell had opposed this, because he wanted to
be a Dictator. The House treated the proposition as a bit of farce
and this brought up in wrath the other Mr. Bentlnck, who abused
the House in language which the Speaker caused him to retract.

Friday.—Mr. Gladstone informed the House that the American
answer was to leave Washington that evening. We are ready.
Nunquam non parati, and so forth.

Another Post-Office Reform. Thanks again, Mr. Scudamore.
We are to be allowed to fix the halfpenny stamps to private cards.
We shall make all our calls this way in future.

Sir Roundell Palmer proposed to establish a School of Law.
The Attokney-Genehal opposed this, and the lawyers had nearly
all the talk to themselves for the rest of the evening. Finally, the
Palmerian proposal was rejected by 116 to 103.
The Queen's beautiful letter to her people, thanking them for
with the business of the House. j their demonstrations of loyalty, and for their remarkable order on

Tuesday.—Thanksgiving Day. Neither House sat, j Thanksgiving Day, appeared on Saturday, and delighted us all.

Tr- 7 , mi_ /-i \ n j t. j. a i rpi • ni u i I Her Majesty s womanly Italics gave an additional charm to the

li eanesaay.—lne Commons talked about balmon. I his noble nsn ; iQ4.f„„ Wo-a™ Pt^™a t

is greatly ill-treated, and considering what a glory and a charm to a

table he is (at least early in the season), it is a base thing that he j -
should be oppressed. The way he is hindered by Millers and their j

Weirs from getting up to the spawning-ground is atrocious. Why A Legitimate Crown.

can't the millers pull down their water-mills and have steam-mills < Qs L year's Day, the 29th of February, a Telegram arrived
which do the work much better ? There are oOO weirs through which | f Amsterdam, informing us that the Count de Chambord, with
the Salmon cannot get Would we had a Mermaid-Rebecca to do | Ms suit had le'ft Dordre°ht and arrived on that day at Breda,
their business! A Bill, in partial emancipation of the poor Salmon, j where he'had ali hted at the Crown HoteL xhe Count de Cham-

has been sent to a Committee. We never respected Meg-o'-the-
Mill so much as during the debate :—

She 's gotten a carle wi' a pock full of siller,
And broken the heart of the Barley Miller."

And very right too, if he had a weir that insulted our finest fish. Volunteer Work for April.—To review the March Past.

lord does not abdicate the Crown of France by stopping at the
Crown of Breda, which, however, he may by this time have dis-
covered to be the Crown for his money.