, the means by which that act was attained, and its
effect upon the working-classes of both countries. Mr. Henry Grattan
denounced the speech of Mr. O'Connor, and his general spirit and
conduct. Mr. John O'Connell and Mr. Smith O'Brien gave their support to
the motion. It was all but unanimously rejected.

MOTION FOR THE REPEAL OF JEWISH DISABILITIES.

Baron Rothschild, a distinguished member of the Jewish persuasion,
having been elected member for the city of London, the question of the
right of Jews to sit in parliament was raised and warmly discussed, in
the public press and in the country. Lord John Russell was also elected
for the city of London, and was bound, therefore, by his especial duty
to the citizens, to look particularly to the settlement of this matter.
He moved, on the 16th of December, "that the house should resolve itself
into a committee, to consider the removal of the civil and religious
disabilities affecting her majesty's Jewish subjects." The resolution
was carried by a very large majority, its principal opponent being Sir
Robert Inglis, one of the members for Oxford.

ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE.--CLOSE OF THE PARLIAMENTARY LABOURS OF 1847.

On the 20th of December the house adjourned for the Christmas holidays,
and did not meet again until February. Thus closed the first session of
the new parliament, and the legislative business of the year.

Throughout the year the sanitary deficiencies of large cities, and their
moral peculiarities, were the subjects of desultory conversation in
parliament, and of extensive discussion in the newspapers and at public
meetings. To such a degree did the sanitary question excite public
interest, that her majesty was advised to recommend its consideration
to the new parliament; and during the educational debates, the moral and
intellectual condition of large towns, and especially of the metropolis,
was a theme of desponding comment. The reverend Dr. Guthrie, of
Edinburgh, has since then eloquently shown that the providential
dispensation which consigns so large a portion of our people to the
close confines of cities, like all the other arrangements of Providence,
however mysterious, are full of goodness and mercy:--"Somehow or other,
amid their crowding and confinement, the human mind finds its fullest,
freest expansion. Unlike the dwarfed and dusty plants which stand around
our suburban villas, languishing like exiles for the purer air and freer
suns