Punch (74.1878)

June l, 1878.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI___241

PUNCH'S ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

OST eventful week of the Session. First,
the great Gladiatorial game in Lords and
Commons. Then the return from St.
Petersburg to Chesham Place of the
Russian Eagle, dark, two-headed, double-
clawed, bearing in either talon peace or
war—who shall say which to offer, which
to have taken ?—a week big, it may be,
with issues greater even than peace or
war; a week that our children, and
grandchildren, and great-grandchildren,
to many a generation yet unborn, may
have reason to look back on.
Place aux Pairs !

First, in the Lords' Lists {Monday,
May 20), rode the courteous Baron of
Selborne, and touched the shield of that
good knight, my Lord of Cairns ; and
then—to describe the encounter a la
Laureate:—

For four long hours, opposed within the lists,
They charged and clashed and countered,

locked in steel;
Defying each the other's point and edge ;
Each impotent to shake the other's seat:
So that all they that watched about the lists,
Still looking to see either hurled to hurt,
Still seeing each erect and debonair,
Delivering their staves, at each new course,
Feateous and fair as first, sain1, murmuring,
" This is no fight a outrance. but a trick
Of tourney, where these Lords but show
their skill;

Not level lance, as in grave cause and great,
St. George to aid, and God to guard the right."

So it was, that in Monday's encounter of lordly legal wits and weights, between
Chancellor that was and Chancellor that is, to the lay mind the upshot is utter
bewilderment on which side went the best of the battle—my Lord Selborne con-
tending, with admirable force, that a grave breach of the Constitution and of the
Law had been committed in moving Indian troops to Malta without the consent of
Parliament, Lord Cairus arguing, with plausible law and potent logic, that neither
the Constitution nor the Law had been trenched upon one whit. One maintains
that the Bill of Rights and the Mutiny Act have in effect been broken through ; the
other, that neither applies to the case.
The utmost, says my Lord Cairns, that Government has done has been to go to the Indian Treasury for the first cost of moving the
Indian troops, till they can ask Parliament to repay the money out of Imperial revenues. That repayment asked for and granted, they
are in order with the letter of the Law as they are already with its spirit. The great point at issue—has Lord Beaconseield violated, or,
if not violated, strained the Constitution, by giving Parliament the go-by where the Common Law of England, as declared in the Bill of
Bights, says the consent of Parliament must be asked and obtained ?—remains, as far as the light of the great legal luminaries of the Lords
goes, exactly where it was. Lord Selborne says " Yes," Lord Cairns says " No." Each gives reasons for his view that appear to the
lay-mind conclusive till the other has given his reasons for the opposite conclusion.

Such was the upshot of Monday's debate in the Lords. Only two notable incidents mark it, besides this resultless clash of legal
swords. One is, the defection of one of the staunchest of Conservative Dukes— Rutland—from his Leader, whom he charges with
having put a grave slight, and committed a ?reat encroachment, upon Parliament. The other is, the wholesome counsel administered
to Her Majesty's Opposition by the Head of Her Majesty's Government. ("Fas est et ah hoste doceri") Let the Leaders of Opposition
lay to heart this lesson of the Leader of the Crown, the Cabinet, the Majority,—and the Jingoes.

" If the ncble and learned Lord who introduced this question believed that we have acted contrary to the Constitution, he ought to act up to his bold
phrases, and come forward declaring his belief that our action was unconstitutional, and that it was his duty to ask the opinion of Parliament upon it.
The noble Earl who spoke last said he did not do that because he did not like to be in a minority. But you will never be in a majority if your nerves are
so delicate. {Laughter.) You must assert your opinions without fear, and if they are just and true and right, you will ultimately be supported by the
country."

Put that in your pipes, my Lords Granville and Hartington, and smoke it, and swallow the smoke.

Lord Beaconsfield laughed the Opposition's law to scorn, and would wait to defend his policy till he thought proper.

{Commons.)—Here, too, the same combat was goinsr on, but not with quite the same air of mere tilting with blunt lances.

My Lord Hartington and the good knight Sir Michael-Hicks Beach at least met point to point, Amendment to Resolution.
Both should be of the Essence of Parliament, if there is to be virtue in that extract for times to come. Here is Lord Hartington's
Resolution :—

" That, by the Constitution of this Eealm, no forces may be raised or kept by the Crown in time of peace without the consent of Parliament within
any part of the dominions of the Crown, excepting only such forces as may be actually serving within Her Majesty's Indian possessions."

Here is the Colonial Secretary's Amendment:—

"That, as the control of Parliament over the military forces of the Crown is sufficiently secured by law and the power of refusing supplies, it is
inexpedient to pass a Resolution weakening the hands of the Government in the present state of Foreign Affairs."

To-night the filters were the two movers, Sir Charles Dilke, Messrs. Dillwyn, McIver, and Captain Richie,—in the mauvais
quart d'heure, when Members are dining instead of debating, or dosing over debate,—then Mr. Laing and Mr, Chaplin, Sir W.
Harcotjrt and Under-Secretary the Hon. Evelyn Stanhope.

The Government had moved Indian troops to Malta, and would have to come to Parliament to pay for it. The Government might
have asked Parliament before moving the troops, but the Opposition would have opposed, questioned, criticised, protested, perhaps
even divided. In any case a noise would have been made and time would have been lost. There was good ground for contending that
neither the Bill of Rights nor the Mutiny Act stood in the way. The Lord Chancellor was ready to maintain as much. The letter
of the Constitution safe, a fico for its spirit. My Lord B. was ready to jump that, and the Cabinet to jump d pieds-joints behind
him. So it moved the troops— ("In Maltam defluxit Orontes")— and left Parliament to hear of the movement from_the_newspapers.
It is impossible to prove in legal black and white that the Government have violated the law declaratory of the Constitution, however

VOL. LXXTV.

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