Punch (9.1845)

I

3) ntro Miction.

VOLUME IX.--JULY TO DECEMBER, 1843.

THE PEEL CABINET.—1845.

First Lord of the Treasury........ . . Sir R. Peel.

Lord Chancellor............. Lord Lyndhurst.

Chancellor of the Exchequer........ ... Right Hon. H. Goulburn.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster ......... Lord Granville.

President of the Council............ Lord WhaRncliffe.

Privy Seal.............. Duke of Bdccleuch and Qdeensberry.

Home Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sir James Graham.

Foreign Secretary............. Earl of Aberdeen.

Colonial Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . Lord Stanley.

Commander in Chief............ Duke of Wellington.

First Loid of the Admiralty........... Earl of Haddington.

First Commissioner of Land Revenue ......... Earl of Lincoln.

President of the Board of Control .......... Earl of Ripon.

Secretary at War............. Rt. Hon. Sidney Herbert.

Paymaster-Ge::e;al.......... , . . Sir E. Knatchbull.

POLITICAL SUMMARY.

PAGE PAG*

TT7E had nearly exhausted the incidents of the Session in
* * our preceding volume ; and the Bill for the Amend-
ment of the Poor Law in Scotland, the Enclosure of Commons
Act, and Sir Robert Peel's measures for the Regulation
of Banking are the principal features unnoticed. The former
measure was introduced by the Lord Advocate and supported
by Sir James Graham, and was opposed by several of the
Scotch Members of the House of Commons. In the Lords,
Lord Campbell objected to providing compulsory relief for
the able-bodied, which he considered tended to encourage im-
provident marriages, and the birth of large families, and
strongly recommended the postponement of the Bill to another
Session. It, however, passed both Houses with very little
alteration. Sir Robert Peel's Bill for regulating Banking
in Scotland and Ireland, based on similar principles to that
by which he had remodelled the English system in the pre-
ceding year, passed with very little discussion. Among other
details he mentioned that the amount of gold in the Bank of
England had increased from £14,000,000 to £15,824,000 in the
course of the year, and that there were probably from thirty
to thirty-five millions of coin in circulation. The Bill for the
Enclosure of Corrmons in England and Wales, originally
introduced by Lord Worslet, was now presented by the
Government, and passed, and a Board of Commissioners,
with very extensive powers, appointed.

Mr. O'Connell who had been absent in Ireland during the
early part of the Session, attended in his place on the Second
Reading of the Ministerial Measure for the Establishment of
New Colleges without religious distinctions in Ireland, and
declared that he regarded it " as a godless scheme," and
denounced the BiLl " as a penal and revolting measure ; " and
some observations of Mr. Roebuck led to serious altercations

with Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Somers, the Member for Sligo, and
a hostile meeting was proposed by the latter gentleman, which
very properly ended in an explanation. [A Chip of the
Old Block.] Lord John Russell, in his review of the
Session, congratulated the House ou the arrangements of
the differences with France, and expressed his anxiety respect-
ing those existing between England and the United States.
He expressed his gratification at the altered tone with regard
to the subject of conciliation towards Ireland. There were
other questions on which the Government had raised national
and religious prejudices for the sake of opposing the policy
of the Whig party. They now allowed that the people of
Ireland were entitled to the s.ime electoral and municipal
rights as the people of England and Scotland. He expressed
his opinion that before long the Roman Catholic Church in
Ireland must be regularly endowed, or the Church of England
must be supported on the voluntary principle. He taunted
the Ministry with having obtained many votes by inducing
the farmers to believe they were opposed to the importation of
corn, whereas Sir Robert Peel and Sir James Graham
had both declared recently, that in times of cheap corn the
comforts, morality and contentment of the poor were much
improved. The state of the harvest during the last ten days
had made every prudent man wish that we had greater
facilities for the importation of corn. He then proceeded to
show the ill effects of the Sliding Scale, contended that the
stock of corn in bond was unusually smaU, and which state
of things, attributable to the law, was a national misfortune.
Sir James Graham, in reply, of course denied all Lord
John's assertions. At length, on the 9th of August, the
Session terminated by the Prorogation of Parliament by the
Queen in person. As this was the end of the last Session of