The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-24 00:00:00

GERMANY.

The agitation against the order of Freemasons,
which is supported by the Government in Saxony,
appears to be beginning in Prussia, though it has not
yet found any official countenance. The Saxon
pamphlets, denouncing the whole order as revolu-
tionary and irreligious, have been enclosed anony-
mously to some of the members of the Cabinet. In
Prusail the Freemasons have members among the
highest ranks, and it is asserted that the influence of
the order here has been decidedly Conservative. The
subject will, perinps, in. taken up with some degree
of z-sal, for the want of any other question of contro-
verAy, the dearth of matter of political interest being
extreme.

ELECTION INTELLIGENCE.
KING'S LYNN.

Lord Stanley, son of the Pr7:nier, and Uad=lr-S2ere-
tary for Foreign Affttir3 hi i6sned the following ad-
dre3v:—

"The approaching dissolution of Parliament induces
me again to address you, and I do so the rather, because
duties connected with the office which I hold will render
it impossible for me, so long as the House of Commons
continues its sittings, to solicit your votes in person.
" Chosen by you for the discharge of an important
trust, at a time when neither personally nor politically
had I the honour to be known to any single member of
your constituency, I cannot but remember with feelings
of more than ordinary gratitude the unusual and per-
sonally unmerited confidence which you reposed in mo
on that occasion. I hope that in the course of a brief
Parliamentary career I have done nothing to prove my-
self unworthy of such confidence; and it would be to me
a source of deep regret if a connexion formed under cir-
cumstances so fiettering, should be dissolved on a farther
acquaintance. From my side, at least, the separation
wit not come:
" But it is not of merely personal matters that I desire
to speak. The state of public affairs is critical; and it is
incumbent upon you not to be misled by any misrepre-
sentations concerning it.
th:into great
4 period of nearly six years has now gone by since
siesh_e_adin
Conservative party of England was first divided
sections, by a diffsrence arising on both
awe i'dilit, of bonouraele feelings, yet singularly lament-
:(riesults. Daring the greater part of this in-
terval th
government of the country has been entrusted
toan Adrai
sapporteti by_snee
ministration hems(' on the narrowest basis and un-
e eoeficlecce of the people. The want of ad-
ministrative
due in somelZ' displayed by the late Cabinet, though
to the 6min:see:ices in which they
w3re placed, hes nrt
lie business, and a,etrlially. retarded the progress of pub-
4their successors a legacy of unac-
complished referee,. see
tagnrnter evils did not followfrom
the absence of vi,le'
tributablo mainly tonsthe 1 Popular Government, is at-
and to the agency of an coiaterpo.sition of Parliament,
and
vi_ii3ut. . The uees,jonPoo!ttion at once forbearing
caw, :marring at a mozi„t
Ist Iti_b_e present Ministry to
enizstisn of
leest expected, ens been ealeati ~,L
. 7 n such an event was
part for the possession of p .„15g
inlet struggle on their
o_ ely by the in-
ternal weakness and disorg
their opponents.
Alread House of Comma )in the face of a threatenit
hostile d
they 1,9,,,a agitation and a
ns
A rtaient of carried through
measures, in every .02a- been Public buiness, the
long go
necessity of which hadf-v*v.ei feltY, and the
utility of which is generally recognised
"Leer has been amended; the do enee or ~t,
grosvint e'',"___ 7 countryn
provided for; on one great and
sentativa . institutions have bden conoferretil; lull
anr4reer-
haa at Last been permitted to
enjoy
yatioa l'enefit of a
constitution long pr;:mised and v vexatiously delyed
from ear.
These acts, not in themselves unimportant, are qua •
neat of what may hereafter be expected
,netheir au.
thors, when the expressed confidence of." ("thstry
shall hare given them a more secure position, and a wide
scope fur action. It is as a supporter and a subordinate
member of this Administration that / now ask Your
suffrages.
" The designs of the Government will
be more fitly
explained in the course of the impending elections, by
s
the responsible advisers of the Crown. But it may not
be irrelevant here to call your attention to ono or two of
the principal questionswhich during the last three
years have divided the opinions of Parliament.
"The late Prime Minister, at the commencement of
the present session, propounded a scheme intended to
subvert that system of national representation which he
himself inaugurated at the passing of the first Reform
Bill. His proposition, condemned by the public voice,
has fallen with its originator. But it is unquestionable that
soma inequalities and abuses exist in the distribution of
electoral privileges; and where these can be rectified,
or where en increase of population or of intelligence
renders the actual franchise inadequate to the wants of
the people, I cannot believe that the cause of the consti-
tutiou is bound up with the maintenance of a system im-
perfect in its details. To questions of this nature, how-
ever, not involving organic changes in the constitution,
Ido not ascribe that degree of importance which is
sometimes given them. I believe that the House of
Commons, as at present constituted, represents with
tolerable accuracy the wants and feelings of every class; j
and I know that,
practically, it opens to talent in every
rank of lira the pathof distinction t.
State. Tacit,
iu _fie service of the
arty
extent by a antagee 12. e not seourtd to an equal any other legislative assembly now suiting in
the world,
" A measure Wal introduced in the session of 1851,
by ruanY persons confosreeeztlioeu. sly held to be a violation
of religions liberty,
so t n nevertheless, I felt it my
duty to vote. I didbecause I thought that the as-
sumption of titular rank in this country, by th
nomi-
nees of a foreign sovereign, could not ot- bee other-
wise regarded than as an
encroachment
prerogative of the Crown, anti as an aggression
on the nationality of England. Againstth is
aggression some protest was required, and I supported
the only form of protest which it seemed
possible to em-
body in a lavi; Btiti thought then, and
I still continue
to think, that the manner in which that law was framed
and introduced was unhappily calculated to excite reli-