The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-04 00:00:00

SPAIN,

MADRID, JUNE 3.
The official Gazette publishes a Royal decree
relative to the sale of spirituous liquors.
Another decree orders a modification of the
existing regulations relative to the tobacco crop in

Senor Enricinez has been appointed Under. Secre-
tary of State for the Colonies.

FRANCE.

BOURSE, June 3.—The market has shown rather
more firmness, and a fair amount of business has
been done at the turn in favour of sellers. Threes,
for the Account, are now at 69f. 60c. Railway
Shares have in general maintained yesterday's
quotations. Mobilier Shares, both French and
Spanish, have been in demand, and are quoted
rather higher. The market continued improving
to the close, and left off as follows :

4 per Cent 5....... 96 95, Italian Loan 73
Do. end month.... Do, end month 73 30
3 per Cents .... 69 45 New ditto
Do. end month.... 69 75 Do. end month.... 74 15
Credit. Mobilier.... 1415 Russian
Bank Shares ...... 3440 Spaniel Threes 53 75
Credit k oneter ....1445 Home Debt

RA IL'

'AYB,

Cash. Account.
0r1ean5................ 1005 .. 1002 50
Northern
New ditto ............... 1040 • • 1035
Lyons and Mediterzanean 1053 75 • •
........ ...t. . •
. 445
Geneva ................ •
Southern .............. 765 • • 765 --
Western .............. 522 50 ..
Eastern .• • . ....... ~. 507 50 .. 507 50
1060
Sardinian .... 4,5 _
.. 430 7
......... 4 - Austrian .............. 471 25 .. 473 75
Lowbard ....
..
...... 572 60 . • 573 75
Saragossa ..
North of Sp
.. ain ......... 575 • • 576 25
Ditto to 8arce10....... .. ..
.. . 726 25
Barcelona 380 —.. 386 25

PRUSSIA.
A letter from Berlin, dated June 2, says :—M.
von Bismark and his friends and agents point with
exultation to the present tranquillity
of Prussia as
proof how contented the nation is with its Govern-
ment, how indifferent to the resultless nature of
the Session, and to the premature dismissal of
its representatives. The existing calm is availed
of to invite foreign diplomatists and govern-
ments to believe that the recent crisis concerned
merely a restless faction, having no root or ex-
tensive influence in the country, and consisting
in reality only of a handful of demagogues and
adventurers—of a very limited revolutionary party
—and of a degraded and mischievous portion of
the press. Since the majority of the nation has not
risen or caused disturbances, it is clear that the
majority approves the present system and supports
the present men ; since there have been no barri-
cades, it is plain that there is no discontent. In
order, as far as possible, to give an air of truth to
these false assumptions, it is supposed by some that
Government may yet for a while abstain from mea-
sures that would seem to imply the existence of a
restless or dissatisfied spirit in the country, and may
keep in reserve the much talked of ordinances, even
though they may have succeeded in obtaining to
them the Riyal signature. Such abstinence, now
ever, will deceive nobody. It were waste of
time to confute the assertions above alluded to, and
which are expected to impose only upon foreigners
—certainly not upon any who have been able and
willing to form a correct idea of the state of Lffdirs
in Prussia during the last 12 months. It is unnecet-
sary to retrace the events of that deplorable period
to show the temper and desire of the Prussian na-
tion ; we have but to look at matters as they have
presented themselves during the last four wee ks, and
we then must wonder at the brazen audacity which
can turn to Europe and say—,c Behold a contented
people, devoted to its king, and well satisfied with
his advisers !" It is true that those advisers are
supported, in the Legislalive Assembly, only by
a minority of 11 ; that not one of them—although
there was a general election a year ago, and although
there have been numerous seats since vacated—has
been able to get returned to Parliament ; that the
Kreuz Zeitung alone (which belongs to the feudal
party) fled an insignificant numb, r of the meanest

journals uphold, in the press, their policy and acts
As regards the Sovereign himself; one would gladly
attribute only to a passing irritation the terms in
which one hears him spoken of by persons who a year
or two ago—before all this wretched work had come
to pass, before a Von der Heydt was inflicted upon
Prussia, to be followed by the yet worse it fliction of
a Bismark—never named him but in terms of the
most loyal respect. One has but to mix with any
class of the people, ono has but to observe his rtcep-
tion on his daily drives, to hear and see the sad
change that has taken place. One who fain would
be deluded into a contrary belief, needs but to fre-
quent certain military and courtier-like circles,
where rose-coloured glasses are used, and the most
unbounded contempt is displayed for all that does
not in some way pertain to or depend on the palace
and the army. There you shall hear the proper de-
gree of contempt expressed for the Chamber and
the press, and for modern and perniciousideas of
political progress and constitutionaiism. There you
shall find fossil old officers and politicians ready
to boast of their imperturbable attachment to the
instituiona of the past, and to declare that, in
respect of newspapers, the Kreuz Zettung is the
only one they have ever read ; while pert aide-de-
camps
and loud-voiced Junkers will tell you that
it is essential to the salvation of Prussia not
only to muzzle the vile democratic press and to
stop
principles, meetings
of so-called Liberal (but de facto revolutionary)
butaanldassociations fo
sotoaagthe the advancement
Chamber of Deputies.
and put an end to its want of reverence for the
ministers of the Crown, what these gentry would
have is a Lower House such as Kladderadatsch lately
sketched—rows of docile Deputies voting all the
taxes proposed, and bowing
to the ground before
M. von Bismark
I who stands erect before them and
taps the Ministerial table with the mien of a drill
sergeant and the energy
of an auctioneer, while the
President wears a cap, in order that he may n9t
again, like Bockum-Doiffs, offend in the matter of
his hat.

has resumed his usual
Meanwhile, the King
routine, interrupted by his recent indisposition. He
inspects recruits and detachments, and receives re-
ports from commanders of regiments, and even, so
the papers announce, from captains of companies.
Yesterday he presided at a council of Ministers, and
the supposition is that there was discussion of the
measures to be taken with respect to the press, &c.
This belief is confirmed by the language of the semi-
official journals, which speak plainly enough of
coming octroyirungen, and declare that the ec,untry
will joyfully greet every step tendibg to show that
the authority of the "Royal regimen" is success-
fully opposed to revolutionary pressure, and that
the King's Government once more in reality will
and does govern. That Government is resolved, the
Journal of the Cross believes, to avail of Art. 63 of
the Constitution to curb and eventually put an end
to the excesses of the press.
The visit to Carlsbad, said to have been urged by
the King's physicians, is not yet known to be
decided upon ; and, at any rate, it is not believt
_ _ .

!hat biz; Nlj• sr; will pro;e..•4. thither, KS it was re-
ported lit', %V&A 'd rio, within a week from this eats.
His appearanca cautot be said to iaclicge i4-healtb,

and persons who have been in the habit of seeing
him do not find him looking any worse than he did
a year ago; but some who were near him during
his recent attecks,report his stiferings to have beer
severe. Mentally, be tntist hate endured much dur-
ing the last few months, for he cannot be blind to
his loss of popularity, and, indeed, it is quite
certain that he feels he is running counter to the
wishes of the great majority of his subjects, and to
those of many of his old friends and even of his rela-
tions, although he suffers himself to be confirmed by
a clique in the obstinate delusion that the course he
pursues is the only one that can ensure the future
of Prussia. An objection to Carlsbad is said to be
found in the irritated and excited moral state of
his Majesty. Those waters are very potent and
may work for evil as well as for good. It was sug-
gested that he might drink Carlsbad waters at
Baden, a place which he likes, and where he would
have found the Queen, and have enjoyed the
society of his daughter, to whom he is fondly
attached. But the doctors are said to prefer
for him the greater quiet of Carlsbad. These pro-
fessional gentlemen, the King's physicians in ordi-
nary, Messrs. Grimm, Boger, and Lauer, have
rather a delicate part to play. On good authority
I hear that their reputation places them above sus-
picion of corruption, but, at the same time, if they
find it necessary to recommend to the King to
avoid, for a term, the harass of State affairs, and
to pass the summer in foreign travel or at some
distant bathing place, they most assuredly will be
suspected by many of playing into the hands of the
plotters who cherish the idea of the Stellvertretung,
and desire to see the reins of power pass for a time
—with prohibition of any change in the present
Ministers and policy—into the hands of the Prince
Royal, or better still perhaps, to see them by him
refused and by Prince Charles of Prussia accepted.

6 P.M.

Since the above was written the Gazette has ap-
peared, containing a long decree, with a yet longer
preamble, completely doing away with what re-
mained of the liberty of the press in Prussia, and
thus disappointing the expectations of those who
were sanguine enough to believe that a Bismark
Government could show even a semblance of mode-
ration, and could refrain from arbitrary and oppres-
sive measures, even when there was no present
occasion for them. Having got rid of the Chamber,
they could have no rest till they had crushed the
press, cancelling a constitutionally enacted law,
that of December, 1860, by an act of tyranny for
which Art. 63, by which they claim to be authorised,
affords, i❑ reality, not the slightest justification.
The decree, which is dated yesterday, and counter-
signed by all the Ministers, authoris, s the suppres-
sion of newspapers which persistently exhibit ten-
dencies dangerous to the welfare of the State. The
prohibition must be preceded by two warnings,
given by the president of the Bezirk or district. In
Berlin the President of Police is the chief of the
district council of Government, and it is he who
will issue warnings and suspend journals, the only
appeal from his acts being to the Council of Minis-
ters. The proceedings 'with respect to the prohibi-
tion itself need not necessarily be terminated, when
the case is considered urgent, before the suspension
takes place. Foreign journals," says Art. 9of
the decree or royal order, " may be prohibited by
the Ministry on account of a persistent tendency
dangerous to the welfare of the Prussian State."
rile decree came into force yesterday.

The Celebrities of the House of Commons.

As Painted by Mr. Phil'lip, R.A., and Described by a

London Reviewer.
LORD PALKERSTON.
His is perhaps the least successful likeness in the paint-
ing, approaching indeed so near to the comic and to carica-
ture, that the first impulse of his fi iends is to laugh, and the
next to be angry. The Palmerston in the picture is a
funny and humorous old gentleman, entirely wanting in
dignity, which is certainly not the appearance of the
original when he is addressing the House of Commons.
An attempt has teen made to indicate an arch twinkle of
the eye, but the satiric sparkle which so often gleams there,
and which heralds the ready retort and happy witticism,
will be looked for in vain. The noble lord's nose is small,
but regular. In the picture it is a small, pinched, and red
organ, entirely deficient in dignity, and giving a mean
expression to the features. We do not envy the
Prime Minister his feelings when he discovered at
the Royal Academy dinner, the "counterfeit present-
ment " under which he, the " Cupid" of the War and
Foreign-office, was to go down to posterity. A friend en-
deavoured to ascertain what he thought of his likeness.
He fought off the question by saying, with a good..
humoured laugh, " Al I it's very difficult to look one's
best in a picture." He has small reason to congratulate
himself upon his portraits in the Exhibition. There are
two likenesses of him; one painted for the Cinque Ports,
and the other for his Tiverton constituents. Neither is
very successful ; but assuming that they are good in the
points in which they resemble each other, their dissimi-
larity to Mr. Phillip's portrait may be taken as the measure
of the failure of that artist.

MR. DISRAELI.
It seems good for Mr. Disraeli in the House of Commons
to put on a mask, and to veil his thoughts under a heavy,
impassive, not to say wooden look. It does not do for a
party leader to " wear his heart upon his sleeve for dawn to
peck at." An orator upon the other side, whose glance fell
upon a kindling eye or a meaning smile, would anticipate
the coming retort, and ward off the shalt. So the Conser-
vative leader in the Commons haM cultivated a slow aLd
and solemn look with so much success, that he might be
taken for a country gentleman whose soul is in his beeves,
and who has no higher earthly wiph than a little mere rain
for his turnips. This is the mock, factitious Disraeli. The
real Disraeli was painted years ago for the title-page of his
love-novels, when he was
" The wondrous boy
"Who wrote Alroy."

He was then a dreamy, impulsive, poetical enthusiast.
Afterwards came a later stage of development, when he
adopted a political career, and mane a late first Minister
writhe under his brilliant lampoons. Mr. Phillip has with
consummate skill combined these two phases of Mr. Disraeli's
career. The eyes and upper part of the face indicate the
poetry and pathos appertaining to the imaginative faculty,
while the mocking smile on the lips betrays a Voltairean
taculty of satire and sarcasm. Just such a smile was seen
on his face one night before the Whitsuntide recess, when
the Premier, alarmed at some defections behind him on the
Churchward contract, summoned his Chancellor of the
Exchequer and Frederick Peel to his side, and seemed
to be hinting his doubts that their position was un, enable,
and had better be abandoned to avoid defeat. Disraeli, with
curling lip and Mephistophilean expression, watched by
turns the astute Premier and his earnest but indiscreet
Chancellor of the Exchequer, who loves conflict, and ap-
peared to argue against surrender. Such a face as Mr.
Phillip has painted will illustrate many a biting and scathing
passage in " Hansard," while it will give the political bio•
grapher a key to a certain excess of imagination which has
been the cause of many of Mr. Disraeli's party failures, but
which may yet be schooled down to success by the bitter
practical lessons of experience.