THE 



MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 



VOL. XXIII. APRIL, 1837. No. 136. 



THE PROGRESS OF THE SESSION. 



THE Easter~vacation has, at length, closed the Houses of Parliament, 

 and sent forth the noble and learned legislators of this country to the 

 enjoyment of a brief season of domestic ease and private pleasure. 

 The first act of the annuaVpolitical play being over, and the second 

 not having yet begun, we may take advantage of the breathing-time 

 thus allowecLto the dramatis personae to consider how the piece pro- 

 mises, how the plot developes itself, and with what degree of talent 

 the different actors "on the scene are enacting their role. 



The most obvious remark to a regular visiter of Parliament with 

 respectjto ^the business of the House of Commons is the utter disorder 

 that reigns throughout a disorder so great, that neither the utmost 

 personal vigilance nor the most diligent perusal of each day's notice- 

 paper can give any idea of any particular day's proceedings, how 

 many of the appointed motions or questions will come, or how many 

 will be deferred to suit the convenience of Ministers, who assume to 

 themselves the privilege of leading the business and taking the lion's 

 share of precedence and convenience. It is, we think, rather dis- 

 graceful, that four entire sessions of a reformed Parliament should 

 have passed away without the adoption of a single efficient measure 

 for regulating the parliamentary business, either as concerns public 

 or private bills, and we cannot avoid an expression of surprise thas 

 the downright business-transacting members have not urged the 

 paramount necessity of this kind of reform on the Ministers of the 

 day. If the time wasted in delays of business and in useless talking 

 on extraneous subjects were to be reckoned up, it would undoubtedly 

 be found either that much more business might be done, or that 

 the present business might be transacted aye, and properly trans- 

 acted, in a much shorter time. But from the order of the business 

 we must now proceed to the business itself. 



The bills which demand our attention before all others are those 

 introduced by the^King's ministers, and for the success of which they 

 have more or less pledged themselves to the country. Eighteen 

 public bills have been already brought forward by the government, 

 of which only two have passed both Houses, while three others are 

 still under the consideration of the Peers : the remaining thirteen 

 are still in the Lower house, either going through their various 

 changes, or in abeyance awaiting the convenience of their foster- 

 fathers, Lord Melbourne and Lord J. Russell. 



To proceed with the government bills in chronological order, the 

 Scotch law bills brought in by the Lord Advocate (J. A. Murray, 

 M/P. for Leith)on Feb. 3rd, are not yet in committee; the Attorney- 

 APRIL 1837. Z 



