( 293 ) 



THE LORDS, THE COMMONS, AND THE PEOPLE. 



The Municipal Corporation Reform Bill for Ireland is the great po- 

 litical measure which, at this moment, occupies the attention of all par- 

 ties. The change which it contemplates in the corporate towns of the 

 island is of so sweeping a nature that we need not be surprised at the 

 deep interest which it excites in the public mind. The advocates of 

 improvement in the institutions of the country see, in its triiunph, a 

 rapid advance in the march of social and political amelioration; while 

 the friends of abuse and the abettors of corruption see, in its success, 

 the means wrested from their hands of practising the one or perpetuat- 

 ing the other. 



But independently of the measure itself, considered merely in rela- 

 tion to its abstract merits, its eventual triumph or defeat becomes a 

 matter of the deepest importance, from the circumstance of its not only 

 proving a test as to how far the House of Lords is prepared to act in 

 accordance with the other house of parliament, but from its being a 

 measure which will try the stability of the Melbourne Administration. 

 It is clear that, if such extensive mutilations are made in the measure 

 as will trench on its principle or impair its efficiency, the Melbourne 

 ministry must refuse to accept it, and must consequently resign ; for, 

 with either branch of the legislature being opposed to a measure on 

 which that administration have so fairly committed themselves as in 

 this case, it is out of the question to suppose that that Ministry would 

 dream for one moment of remaining in office. 



The question then which every one asks is this — Will the House of 

 Lords venture either on the utter rejection of the Irish Municipal Cor- 

 poration Bill Reform for Ireland, or will they make such alterations in 

 the measure as will impose on Lord Melbourne the necessity of refusing 

 to have any thing further to do with it ? 



We unhesitatingly answer — They will. We speak from better au- 

 thority than mere rumour when we say that the Peers have made up 

 their minds as to the course they will pursue when the measure is be- 

 M.M.-No. 4. X* 



