Punch (69.1875)

July 31, 1875.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 35

PUNCH'S ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

6

ession closing in
jostle and jar :
A block of growlers

at Temple Bar :
Bills prest forward,
and nobody glad
of it:

Bills dropt that
earnest men go
mad of it ;
Hunting with
bounds, and run-
ning with hare;
The best fight a Cross-fight, everywhere,
Till Benjamin's mess, swelling more and more,
Threatens the Parliament Pot to boil o'er ! "

" Facit indignatio versum." Would
there were less reason in the rhyme.

Slavery may easily creep in under the
guise of apprenticeship. Knowing what
horrors have been perpetrated in unregu-
lated Coolie-traffic, under the Portuguese
flag above all {Lords, Monday, July 19),
we may be glad to learn, from the answer
to Loed Stanley of Aldebley's question, that since a Commis-
sion reported on that traffic, Loed Cabnabvon is not taking the
matter coolly, but preparing an ordinance for the better protec-
tion in transitu of these ill-used black cattle.

Reaction in favour of Knightsbridge Barracks and the much-
maligned Six-foot Guards found a voice through Loed Lucan
and H.R.H. the Commander-in-Chief. The soldiers were
exemplary. The blackguardly beershops and music-halls in the
neighbourhood were the fruit of lax licensing, not of barrack
customers. The barracks were not fever-nests, though they were
not so sweet as they might be, if proper care and cost had been
expended on keeping them in repair. Lastly, strategical consi-
derations pointed to the site; and, as the Duke said, sensibly,
the houses had come to the barracks, not the barracks to the houses.
(Commons.) Now the summer exodus is about to begin, the British traveller may be glad to learn,
on Foreign Office authority, that passports are not abolished in Austria; that in Italy F. 0. is
still writing about their abolition; that in France, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Sweden, and
Germany they have been abolished, but may still come in useful, to prove identity or stave off
suspicion.

The Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition wants to know what are the business arrangements for
the rest of the Session.

The Leader of Her Majesty's Government not knowing, cannot say. All he knows is, that
they mean to go on with Committee on Agricultural Holdings Bill; then with Merchant Shipping
Bill {vide the scene of Thursday); then with Land Transfer and Judicature; and then with any
little unconsidered trifles there may still be time for whipping up, in the fag end of any odd days
or hours that may still be left over.

With that love of labour which distinguishes him, the Marquis congratulated the House on a
programme that promised to carry the Session well into September. A general chorus of groan
and grumble, in which an undertone from the Government side was distinctly audible.

Me. Whallet complained he could not get a Seconder for his inquiry into the Jesuits, so
completely had the underhand machinations of the Order paralysed the House itself!

Me. Disbaeli protested against being expected to jump up " in a harum-scarum manner," and
doom Measures to death without full consideration. As to the Jesuits, he always understood it
was one of the dodges of the Order to keep a lay brother to go about abusing them up-hill and down
dale. He left it to the House to draw the inference.

The rest of the night was devoted to talk on the Motion for going into Committee on the Agri-
cultural Holdings Bill, when a great deal of fire was wasted that should have been kept for
Committee.

Sib T. Acland said the Bill would not do for Devonshire.
Mb. Assheton that it would not suit Lancashire.
Mb. Goldsmid that it wasn't at all the thing for Kent.

Lobd Elcho condemned it as big with the germs of rank socialism, and looked on it with alarm,
not for what it contained, but what it would lead to.

Sib W. Haecotjbt approved of it for the very same reasons. Then there was a fight for adjourn-
ment, and finally progress was reported before any progress was made.

Punch is really inclined to think better than he did at first of a Bill that partizans and hobby-

i

riders on all sides seem so dissatisfied
with. At the same time, he must
say nobody seems to want it.

Tuesday {Lords) .—The Duke oe
Richmond declined to reassure Loed
Campebdown against an indefinite
increase of water-rates, pari passu
with assessment-valuations. London
is to be congratulated on the pro-
spect of unresisted and irresistible
"pilling and polling" from both
Water Companies and Vestries !

{Commons.) Conspiracy and Pro-
tection of Property Bill huddled
through Committee, under protest
from Me. Lowe that he felt humi-
liated to be Member of a Parliament
that had passed the Bill as it stood.
The Bill has been drawn as might
be expected of a measure meant to
carry out Cross-Purposes. Thus
when Me. Plimsoll moved to in-
clude Seamen in its operation, Me.
Lowe had to show him that Sailors
were the only persons exempted from
the penalties of the Act to which
their champion wished to subject
them.

In Committee on Agricultural
Holdings Bill a long and desultory
preliminary fight over Sib G. Jen-
kinson's Motion to exempt all hold-
ings held under written agreement.
Evident division of opinion in the
Government camp; Mb. Disbaeli
fighting shy. His Party clearly
suspicious of the Bill; and, if they
could have their way, glad to wash,
their hands of the business alto-
gether.

Mb. Hubbahd, on Local and Im-
perial Taxation, counted out just
after nine. The House tired to
death, and Mb. Htjbbaed, on any
of his hobbies, a decidedly heavy-
goer.

Wednesday.—The regular hobby-
riders protesting, of .course, against
the cruel discipline of the Count-
Out, as administered the night
before.

Messes. Newdegate, Whallet,
Monk, P. A. Taylob, and Mit-
chell- Henet, very plaintive on the
practice—

"They best can paint it who have felt it
most."

The House knows better what its
time is worth, and how precious is its
one weapon against the ever-threat-
ening bore.

Me. M'Cabtht Downing moved
his Bill to make Irish paupers irre-
movable home after a year's residence
north or south of Tweed. Mb.
Downing wants not only "Ireland
for the Irish," but so much of Eng-
land and Scotland as the Irish pauper
stands on. The whole subject of
settlement and removal for Scotch
and English as well as Irish paupers
will have to be considered during the
recess; and on this understanding
the Bill was thrown out.

Thursday (Lords).—Sale of Food
and Drugs Bill passed without the
"knowingly," but with a provision
that a seller of falsified articles should
escape penalty if he could prove he
did not Know of the falsification. If
the Bill as passed is not all it should
be, it is at least better than it was—
thanks to Her Majesty's Opposition;
and so Punch may say of the

vol. lxlx.

e