The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-07 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, FEBRUANY 7, 1839.

not meet the imputations cast upon the Society in that
ample and open way which we had expected, and
which alone was calculated to remove those suspicions
which have for some time been gathering in the minds
of the Abolitionists throughout the country. In such a case
as this it was incumbent on the parties accused to court the
utmost possible publicity. They were charged with misap-
plying the funds whieh had been raised with mush
difficulty, and entrusted to their keeping for the further-
ance of a great public purpose. They should, without a
moment's hesitation, have published such a statement of
the expenditure 'uf the money as would clearly show
the uses to which it had been appropriated. It is a
misapprehension on the part of the Committee, whose
sentiments we presume the Auditors represent, to sup-
pose that any injury to the cause of Abolition can
arise from following this course, because they
state that the accounts were open to the inspection
of any subscriber who chose to come and examine
them, and who of course might copy and publish them.
If it was demed essential to the proceedings that se-
crecy as to the mode of applying the funds should be
preserved, why, it may be asked, was this partial pub-
licity permitted ?
Besides this, the Committee should recollect that
very few of the country subscribers, who were, as we
arc informed, the priucipsl contributors, could avail
themselves of the invitation to come and examine the
financial documents. They aught very justly say, " It is
more proper that the documents sbould be sent to us than
that we should go to them. Have we not done enough
when we have given our money, which some of us can
but ill spare ? And have not we as good a right as
the London subscribers to know what has been done
with it ?"

We hope, therefore, that the Committee will recon-
sider their determination to withhold from the sub-
scribers at large a speeitic account of their expendi-
ture. The statement of the bare fact that they have
received 1,3551. I3s. and spent 1,3 ESL 9s. 4d.,
which is all that they have given to the public, can
satisfy no one. It merely shows that the money is all
gone, and thus really supplies an addition ni reason for
inquiring bow it has been disposed of.

he Hanover Gazelle of the Ist instant announces
the appearance, in the third number of the collection of
the Laws, the Royal Cabinet Orders relative to the
dissolution of the Board of Privy Council, and the
formation of a Council of State in its room. It is of
great length. The King presides at all sittings of the
Council of State when he thinks necessary. He is,
besides, represented by a President ; one of the Mem-
bers acts as Secretary. The Council of State consists,
1. Of the Princes of the Royal Family, who are of
full age. 2. Ordinary Members, by virtue of their
office.. 3. Extraordinary Members by virtue of the
King's appointment. The latter attend only the sit-
tings In Pleno, and when they are especially summoned
by the President. The Council is divided into the Plenum
in which eleven Members must be present, and into four
sections—Justice ; the Interior ; Ecclesiastical Affairs
and Public Instruction, Finances and Trade ; Mili-
tary Affairs. The President is his Highness
Major-General the Prince BERNHARD, of Solms,
Braunfels.
It is said that Count MuNsTEa has declined being a
Member of the Council of State, on account of his great
age and infirmities.
The New Hamburgh Gazelle has a letter from Hano-
ver of the 27th, stating that the Chancery of Justice
of that city decided a few days ago that the affair of
the six Professors shall rest for the present, and this,
because a difference respecting the competency of dif-
ferent Tribunals exists ; that is to say, a case in which
the authorities do not agree whether the cause ought to
be brought before the Judicial or the Administrative
authorities. GERVINUS, who h.s divided his cause
from that of the rest, has bee❑ rejected in his applica-
tion for •restoration to his office, but has now adopted
the mode of petition, and this has been referred to the
Cabinet.

We have received the whole of the Paris Jonrnals
of Tuesday. They are still occupied with the prepa-
rations which the leaders of the Ministerial and Oppo-
sition parties are making for an election contest which
is to decide, not only the fate of a Cabinet, but of a
system of foreign and domestic policy. The National
intimates that the Prefects and Sub-Prefects have al-
ready received their instructions from the Minister of
the Interior, and that bribery is the order of the
day. The Constilutionncl resents the calling the
coalition an anti-Cabinet intrigue, and'contends that the
conduct of the Cabinet was such as unite honest men
of all opinions against it. Such, however, is the pre-
vailing excitement among the French Journals, that it
would be a waste of time for one unacquainted
with the merits of the question in dispute, to
refer to them for an explication of it. To com-
prehend thoroughly the present state of political
events in France, it is necessary to view them from
an altitude midway between the ground occupied
by the supporters of the KING, and the space allotted
to themselves by the leaders of the Opposition. It
will no longer serve the purposes of truth to laud or
censure indiscriminately either the acts or intentions of
the Court, or the Opposition party ; because, while it
is manifest that several Members of the Opposition,
such as M. ODILLON BARROT, aim only at the
welfare of the people, the majority probably look
only to a change of system, which would secure
to themselves or their friends, the Lion's share of the
Government patronage. The great corruption of the
Court has been justly and loudly denounced ; but in
extenuation of the conduct of Louis PHILIPPE, it
must be admitted that he found all the elements of
political depravity prepared to his hand, and that in
employing them he had some reason to infer that he
was only depriving his subjects of liberties which they
themselves had given decided indications of an incapacity
of wisely exercising. Had the Revolutionists of July
known anything about the working of a well-balanced
Constitution, they would have begun by destroying that
system of centralization which has converted France
into one vast manufactory of Government jobs, and by
sparing which they exposed the Electoral Colleges to
the temptation of bartering away their liberties. In the
next place, they would have given to France a new and
direct electoral system, and not have left the liberties of
thirty millions of freemen to depend upon a Royal interpre-
tation of a piece of blotted parchment, to which they
gave the sounding name of a Charter. In the realiza-
tion of their theoretical dogmas, they imposed regal
tests, instead of raising an impregnable rampart, in the
shape of clearly defined popular rights— rights to be
guarded as well as exercised by the people—against a
Royal assumption of despotical power. The conse-
quence was, that the people of France saw no
means of correcting the crimes of the Govern-
ment, but by fresh attempts at Revolution, forget-
ful that the power to change a dynasty is common
to all states, even the most barbarous, and that where
the throne is most insecure the people are most un-
happy. LOUIS PHILIPPE saw the grand error of the
Revolutionists from the outset—he had witnessed the
(in Kingly eyes) fearful power of the Chamber of
Deputies, and he adopted the expedient of securing a
personal majority to defend him in that quarter. The
Minister of the Interior had only to hint at a new road,
or a local Government job of any kind, to
secure the return by the Electoral Colleges of any num-
ber of Court candidates ; and thus, by aeroit manage.
ment, the King vested in himself the executive and con-
stitutional attributes of the three estates of the kingdom.
This is what has led to the present coalition—a coalition
formed of irreconcileable elements, it is true, but tho-
roughly united against the unconstitutional power of the
King. Strong in corrupt influence the King has ap-
pealed from the coalition to France; and, driven in self-
defence to resort to a wider sphere of political action,
the loaders of the coalition have declared war against
bribery in the Electoral Colleges. But this is not
enough. The coalition, to secure a permanent triumph,
must widen the basis of the anti-Court confederacy.
They must declare for an extension of the franchise,
and the establishment of a system of direct re-
presentation. Without these reforms the consti-
tutional balance can never be so preserved in
France, as to secure at one and the same time the
liberties of the people and the prerogatives of the
country. Still the people will be great gainers by the
present appeal to them ; because it will serve to fami-
liarize them with the practical working of a constitu-
tional system. They will learn that restricted as are
their liberties, they are sufficient to enable them to con-
troul the measures of the Crown without the ne-
cessity of an appeal to brute force. Having once
thoroughly acquired this knowledge they will not
be such fools as to look to a change of dynasty
as the sale remedy against political grievances. They

will have recourse to peaceful agitation—to that whole-
some troubling of the political atmosphere, without
which it becomes so putrid as to be only fit for the
respiration of slaves and tyrants. For this reason we
rejoice that the Chamber of Deputies has been dis-
solved under circumstances so exciting ; and we re-
joice the more, - from a confidence that the opposi-
tion in self-defence will be obliged zealously to
invoke the patriotism of the Electoral Colleges.
As to the rumoured determination of the King to
resist every majority of the Chamber opposed to his
darling system, it received on Monday an official con-
tradiction. We never believed there was a syllable of
truth in it. Once rid of the Belgian question, and with
certain guarantees relative to Spell, the King will and
may yield without the shadow of a compromise.

The Belgian Chambers stand prorogued by Royal
Ordinance, to the 4th of March. To this, under exist-
ing circumstances, extreme measure, King LEOPOLD is
driven by the obstinacy of the Deputies, who have
manifested something approaching to a determination
to resist the adoption of the Ultimatum of the Lon
don Conference. Whether the KING will then ac-
tually dissolve the Chambers, or try the effect of in-
terniediate reflection upon their counsels, is a question
already mooted in the political circles of Brussels
and Paris. But to dissolve them before the elections
are over in France, is what the KING cannot do, con-
sistently
with any regard fin. the peace of Europe.
Awarethat the sympathies of a large proportion of the
Freneb people are enlisted in their behalf, the Belgi,ins
breathe out nothing but " threatenings and slaughter "
against the King of HOLLAND :trid his German Allies.
This dangercus excess of courage would be soon cooled,
in a collision with the Prussian troops on the frontier ;
but we trust no measure will be left untried to allay it,
without the firing of a single shot..
It will be seen by a reference to extracts from the
Brussels Papers that the admission of General SKrizY-
NECKS, a Pole, into the Belgian army, has given um-
brage to the Governments of Russia and Prussia. It is
possible, however, that the rumours of the papers upon
this subject are greatly exaggerated. The same obser-
vation may apply to the reports of the military prepa-
rations on the Be!gian frontier.

When the Hon. Member for Dublin, last evening, was
making reprisals on a Noble Lord, the SPEAKER inter-
rupted him, and expressed his conviction that the House
would see the " propriety of at least setting a good ex-
ample" in their proceedings. We do not enter into the
merits of the dispute between two men of great ability
and of great influence among a numerous class, nor do
more than advert to the impolicy of friends of the
people fighting with each other, to the delight of their
opponents, but we must protest against the doctrine laid
down by the SPEAKER. It might do for Quakers, and
might have been practiced by the primitive Christians,
but among all other classes it is now a dead letter. The
House of Lords is to a certain extent an irresponsible
body ; the SPEAKER has no more authority than any
individual Member, and the blame being shared among
some three hundred personages, falls very light on each ;
but if the LORD CHANCELLOR, like VAN BUREN, can-
not control those over whom he presides, or prevent
some of them from making inroads upon their friendly
neighbours, what can they expect but retaliation ? The
House of Lords wants reform in that respect, as well
as the Government of the United States ; and while
they remain with only a nominal Speaker, without the
power to restrain Members, a result similar to that of
last night must be the consequence.
Mr. O'CONNELL was interrupted, but did that pre-
vent him from replying to the charges, not certainly
at such length, but with equal bitterness and acrimony?
and, for aught we know, with as little foundation in
truth as the imputation on himself, which he declared
bitterly groundless? But gross abuses lead to reform,
and possibly the little skirmish of last night may lead to
an " Eliot Convention."

THE ADDRESS.

MUNORITY—
Aglionby, Major F.—Cumberland
Aglionby, H. A.—Cockermouth
A ttwood, Thos.—Birmingham
Barron, H. W.—Waterford City
Make, Martin J.—Galway
Blcwitt, Reginald—Monmouth
Malkin, J. J.—Galway Co.
Bridgeman, Hewitt—Ennis
Rrocklehurst, J.— ‘taccicS field
itrotherton, J.—Salford
Browne, R. D.—Mayo
Bryan, 111:.j. Geo.—Kilkenny Co.
Buller, Charles—Liskeard
Bulwer, Sir E. L.—Lincoln
Butler, Hon. P.—Kilkenuy Co
Chalmers, Patrick—lnverbervie
Chapman, Sir M. I..—Westmeath
Chichester, J. P. B.—Barnstaple
Cothington, Sir E.—Devouport
Collier, John—Ply month
Collins, NV —Warwick
Conyngham, Lord A.—Canterbury.
Currie, Rai kes—Northampton
Denistoun, J.—Glasgow
D'Eyncourt, Right Hon. C. T.
Lair bet h
Duckworth, Samuel—Leicester
Duke, Sir James—Boston
Dusdas, C. W. D.—Flint
Easthope, J.—Leicester
Etwall, Ralph—Andover
Euston, Earl—Thetford
Evans, Sir G. De Lacy—Westmin..

-AYES, 86.
!Hume, Jacob—Kilkenny
!Hutt, W.—Hull
Jervis, J.—Chester
Jervis, S.—Bridport
Johnson, W. Augustus--Oldham
'Langdale, lion. C.—Knarcsbo-

• rough
Leader, J. Temple—Westminster
Lister, E. Co nli Brad ford
Maher, Jno.—Wexford co.
Martin, John—Tewkesbury
Molcsworth, Sir William—Leeds
Nagle, Sir 11.—Wes,meath
O'Brien, Cornelius—Clare
O'Callaghan, Hon. C.—Dungar.
van
O'Connell, Daniel. Dublin
O'Connell, John—Athlone
O'Connell, Maurice—Tralee
;O'Connor Don—Roscommon Co.
IPattison, James—London
Pechell, Captain—Brighton
I'ower, John—Waterford
Protheroc, Edward—Halifax
• Itainsbottom, J.—Windbor
Roche, E. ll.—Cork Co.
Roche, William—Limerick
Rundle, John—Tavistock
Salwey, Lieut.-Col.—Ludlow
Scholefield, J.—Birmingham
Somers, J. P.—Sligo
Somerville, Sir W.—Droghede
Style, Sir Charles--Scarborough
Tanffed, H. W.—Banbury
Thffnely,Thos.—Wolverhampton
Vigors, N. A.—C w Co
Villiers, C. P.—WriVerhampton
wakiey, Thomas—Finsbury (ill)
Wallace, Robert—Greenock
Warburton, H.—Bi idixat
White, Andrew—Sunderland
Williams, William—Coventry
Wood, Sir Matthew—London

eter
Evans, G.—Dublin County
Fenton, John—Rochdale
ridden, John—Oldham
Finch, F.—Walsall
Gillon, Wm. D.—Linlithgow
Grote, George—London
Hall, Sir Benjamin—Mary lebone
Harvey, D. W.—Southwark
Hawes, Benjamin—Lambeth
Hector, Cornthwaite John—Pe-
tersfield TELLERS.
Hill, Lord A. M. C.—Evesham buncombe, T. S.—Finsbury
Hindley, Charles—Ashton Ward, H. G.—Sheffield
NOTICES OF MOTIONS FOR THIS DAY.

1. Mr. Wallace,—Two Bills for ths better regulation of the Sal

mon Fisheries in Scotland.
2. Mr. Ward,—Petition from Sheffield, praying the House to

alter the system under which the Petitions of the People are now

received without being heard.
3. Mr. Baines,—Return of th. quantity of Corn liberated from

Bond in the Port of London in the year 1837; with the date
and amount of each delivery, and the sum paid as duty thereon.
4. Lord John Russell,—To nominate the following Committees :

Standing Orders :—Lord Viscount Clive, Lord Viscount Ehring-
ton, Mr. Estcourt, Sir Thomas Fremantle, Sir Montagu Chapman,
Sir Edward Knatchbull, Mr. Wilson Patten, Mr. Pcndarves, Sir
Robert Price, Lord Viscount Sandon, Sir George Strickland, Sir
Matthew Wood, Mr. George Wilbraham, Mr. William Miles, Mr.
Prinsle.

Petitions for Private Bills :—Mr. Shaw Lefevre, Mr. Baines, Mr.
Robert Clive, Captain Gordon, Mr. Hope Johnstone, Mr. Villiers
Stuart, Mr. Strutt, Mr. Wrightson, Mr. liteorge Cavendish, Mr.
Compton, Mr. Handley, Mr. Robert Palmer, Mr. Bramston, Mr.
Finch, Mr. Hope (Gloucester), Mr. George Philips, Lord Viscount
Eastnor, Mr. Bingham Baring, Mr. Bell, Mr. Gibson Craig, The
O'Conor Den, Sir Charles Style, Mr. Aglienby, Sir John Yarde
Buller, Mr. Crawford, Captain Jones, Mr. Thornely, Mr. Barneby,
Mr. Chalmers, Mr. Tatton Egerton, Mr. Stansfield, Lord Worsley,
Mr. Greene, Mr. Pease, Mr. Sanford, Mr. Edward Rice, Mr. Mild_
may, Sir William Heathcote, Mr. Halford, Mr. Morgan John
O'Connell, Mr. Lascelles, Mr. Wodeliouse.

Privileges : Mr. Bernal, Mr. Williams Wynn, Lord John Rus-
sell, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Viscount Clive, Lord Viscount Palmer.
ston, Mr. Goulburn, Mr. Shaw Lefevre, Mr. Hume, Sir Matthew
Wood, and all the Knights for Shires, Gentlemen of the Long Robe,
and Merchants, in the House.

Printing :—Mr. Labouchere, Mr. Hume, Sir Robert Harry Inglis,
Sir Thomas Fremantle, Mr. Baring, Lord Viscount Lowther, Mr.
Vernon Smith, and Mr. Strutt.
Public Petitions :—Mr. George William Wood, Sir Robert Peel,
Mr. O'Connell, Sir Robert Harry Inglis, Mr. Hume, Sir Edward
Knatchbull, Mr. Clay, Mr. Wilson Patten, Mr. Edward Buller, Mr.
Greene, Mr. Macleod, Sir William Heathcote, Mr. Freshfield, Mr.
Yates, Mr. William John Blake.
Expiring Laws :—Mr. Baring, Mr. Attorney-General, Mr. Soli.
citor-Genetal, the Lord Advocate, Lord Viscount Ilowick, Sir
Thomas Fremantle, Mr. Edward John Stanley, Mr. John Parker, Mr.
Charles Wood, Mr. Hume, Mr. John Jervis, Mr. More O'Ferrall,
Mr. Bennett, Sir John Guest, Mr. Bernal.

MONEY and COMMERCIAL NEWS:

CITY, TWELVE O'CLOCK

ARRIVALS TIIIS MORNING.—French and Ostend mails,
also a tnall fr-ortx Hrklifax by the Star; sailed the 20th of
January.
:We have received Halifax Papers to the 18th
OPENING OF TIER LEGISLATURR.—On Monday, at 2
o'clock, his Excellency came down in the usual state to
the Council Chamber, and opened the Sessions with the
following speech :