represented in the House of Commons by a minister able to
give authoritative answers to questions put to him upon
a subject of education. "The question (Sir John
said in conclusion) involves not mere considerations
of a social or religious character, but it involves a
great political question; for, at a time when it is
expected that at no distant period there will be an
extension of the franchise, it is of the utmost importance
to fit those persons who will be called on to exercise the
suffrage, to perform the duties they will be called upon
to discharge."—On the motion of Mr. Ewart the debate
was again adjourned.

On Tuesday, June 12, Mr. BROWN brought forward
a series of resolutions in favour of a Decimal Coinage.
He recommended the issue in addition to the present
florin, of a silver coin representing the hundredth part
of a pound, to be called a cent, and a copper coin
representing the thousandth part of a pound, to be called a
mil.—The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER opposed
the resolutions. He objected to the issue of the cent as
a silver coin, because it would be too small, and as a
copper coin, because it would be too large. There was
also an objection to the mil as a coin too small for
ordinary use. In addition to this, there was the difficulty
of adjusting the existing taxation to the proposed
change. He believed if this measure were adopted, the
coins might be struck at the Mint, but they would never
pass into general circulation. He believed, however,
that Mr. Brown only wanted to have this question
discussed without committing himself to details, and for
his part he promised to give the matter every attention,
but he could not agree to bind the house or the
government at present by a solemn vote on this question.
—Mr. BROWN intimated that he would omit that
part of his resolution which related to the new
coins, and only express an opinion that the decimal
system as initiated by the issue of the florin had
been eminently successful and satisfactory.—Mr.
HEADLAM contended that a resolution so limited was
valueless.—Lord PALMERSTON also hoped Mr. Brown
would withdraw his resolutions altogether. If he did
not, he must oppose him.—The house divided on the
resolution as limited by Mr. Brown, when the resolution
was carried against the government by a majority of
135 to 56.

On Wednesday, June 13, on the motion for going
into Committee on Lord R. Grosvenor's Sunday Trading
Bill: Mr. MASSEY moved to postpone the committee
till that day three months. The bill, he said, would
have a mischievous effect in aggravating the evil it
attempts to put down. Such was the opinion of Sir
Richard Mayne. The working classes are unable to
make purchases until Sunday morning: if they were
paid on Friday, it would lead to dissipation and idleness.
He characterised the bill as a one-sided measure,
since it would not affect the pleasures of the rich, and
anomalous, since it was not extended to the whole
country. A long and rather sharp debate ensued; in the
course of which, Lord Stanley, Mr. Ker Seymour, Sir
George Grey, and Mr. Barrow supported the motion;
while Mr. W. J. Fox, Mr. Thomas Duncombe, Mr.
Drummond, Mr. Maguire, Sir Joshua Walmsley, Mr.
Bentinck, and Mr. Wilkinson, stoutly opposed it.—On
a division, the House decided to go into committee, by
158 to 51. But the opposition was renewed on the first
clause; and before the chairman was ordered to report
progress, there were no fewer than five divisions in
committee. One was taken on the question whether
the sale of milk, a perishable article, should be prohibited
between the hours of nine, a.m. and one, p.m.;
and it was decided that it should, by 133 to 69. A
proposal to substitute "eleven o'clock" for nine o'clock was
negatived by 107 to 100. A third division arose on the
clause prohibiting the sale of newspapers after ten, a.m.
—It was proposed by Lord J. MANNERS to leave out
the word "ten," for the purpose of inserting "nine ";
but negatived, by 53 to 169. Mr. DUNCOMBE
immediately moved that the words "in the morning" be
omitted, and the words "in the afternoon" be inserted;
so that no newspaper might be sold after ten at night.
This was negatived by 159 to 61.—Mr. CRAUFORD then
proposed that newspapers might be sold after two in
the afternoon: negatived by 140 to 62.—The Chairman
reported progress and the committee was ordered
to sit again on the 4h July.

On Friday, June 15, Mr. LAYARD brought forward
his resolutions on Administrative Reform. In a speech
of three hours' duration, he took up one by one the
principal heads of the subject,—the government, a
close monopoly of a few families; the army, where
promotion goes by purchase and favouritism instead of by
merit; the consular and diplomatic services, which he
criticised with much severity; and the civil service,—
in treating of which he quoted abundantly from Mr.
Romilly, Sir Charles Trevelyan, and others, and recommended
a competitive examination for admissions. In
treating of the army, he confessed he was wrong in the
case of Colonel Wilson; but he accumulated instances
of the promotion obtained by Lord Hardinge's
relations. His practical propositions were, to abolish the
system of purchase, promotion by favouritism, and the
peculiar privileges of the Guards. He claimed the
substance of Sir Edward Lytton's announced
amendment; which he said was his own in another form.
He moved the first of his own resolutions in these
terms—"That this house views with deep and increasing
concern the state of the nation; and is of
opinion, that the manner in which merit and efficiency
have been sacrificed, in public appointments, to
party and family influences, and to a blind adherence
to routine, has given rise to great misfortunes,
and threatens to bring discredit upon the national
character and to involve the country in grave
disasters."—Sir E. B. LYTTON moved the following
resolution as an amendment—"That this house
recommends to the earliest attention of her Majesty's
ministers the necessity of a careful revision of our
various official establishments, with a view to
simplify and facilitate the transaction of public
business, and, by instituting judicious tests of merit, as
well as by removing obstructions to its fair promotion
and legitimate rewards, to secure to the service of the
state the largest available proportion of the energy and
intelligence for which the people of this country are
distinguished." Sir Edward charged the prime minister
with having raised the agitation out of doors by the
injudiciousness of his resistance and the levity of his
acquiescence; by the inconsistency of turning out the
Duke of Newcastle, and Lord Panmure's declaration
that he only intended to carry out the duke's improvements,
—ministers scattering pleasant jokes and flowery
epitaphs upon the defunct predecessors whom they had
slain and buried. How deeply had Lord John Russell
injured the Duke of Newcastle, or how egregiously had
Lord Palmerston and his colleagues duped the expectations
of the people! We have more to apprehend from
such trifling and frivolity than from all the armaments
of Russia. The cry against party is unreasonable and
exaggerated: release the administration from party,
that is from parliamentary control, and it would become
the clockwork machinery of despotism, rendering
the crown more absolute than in the time of the Tudors.
The cry threatens the basis of our social system: but it
is provoked by combination of families and privileged
houses, with which the whig party have chilled the
enthusiasm and energy of those whom the people recognise
as their own hardy children, and mortified the
pride of a numerous gentry, with birth as ancient as
that of the coterie disciplined in whig drawing-rooms.
Even the order in council on examination does not
warrant confidence in the declarations of ministers: for it
does nothing to widen the range of candidates, and it tells
those who are invited to undergo a severe examination,
that men unconnected with the public service and
unexamined shall be put over their heads; and the very
paper containing the advertisement of the examination
announced three head appointments in the directorship
of stores, contracts, and clothing, by the rule of
favouritism. In conclusion, he said that he had framed his
amendment in order that the house might take a vote,
independently of party, on the simple question of
administrative reform.—The CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER disclaimed "a blind adherence to routine,"
though not to system, without which no service or law
could go on; and he recapitulated those inquiries into
the public departments which have been carried on