The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-01 00:00:00

HTGEr WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

THIS DAY —Morning, 15 min. after 7 I Evening, 43 min. after 7
To-3fogeow— ornom, 15 min. after 8 I Evening, 56 min. after 8

poly expired. The ports are now not only legally,
but actually open. In another column will be found
the inaugural address of her Most Gracious MAJEsrY
to the Houses of Parliament, and in another column
will be found the last Anti-Corn-law speeches of the
heroes of the League at a grand banquet, which :s•as
last night given in the Free Trade Hall of Manches-
ter, to celebrate that glorious consummation of
their labours. Her MAJESTY, in her royal
Speech, congratulates herself and her people on
their happy exemption from the troubles and hostili-
ties which have agitated other nations, and she ex-
presses her happiness that, during the recent Revo-
lution, England has been enabled on three several occa-
sions to assume the blessed part of Mediator. Then,
turning her attention nearer borne, her MAJESTY an-
nounces some proposed retrenchments in the public
expenditure, and calls the attention of Parliament to
the Navigation Laws--those last vestiges of a system
now happily extinct. Finally, under the blessing
of PROVIDENCE, she once more Summons the Lords
and Commons of the Empire to exert their
best energies in the service of the people for which
they are called to rule. We cannot doubt but that
her MAJESTY'S Speech will be worthily responded to,
responded to not merely by the loyal Address of both
Houses, in which the letter of the Speech
only is answered, but by the Acts of
the United Parliament, which may tend to
realise those aspirations for the welfare and happiness
of her people, which invariably constitute the spirit
of all Queen TICTORIA'S discourses. Should, more-
over, any stimulus to such exertion be wanting—
should her Majesty's Speech fail in arousing the pa-
triotic ardour of our senators, let them contemplate the
proceedings which took place last night at Manchester.
There they will find at once a stimulus to exertion and
an encouragement to perseverence. They will there
observe the record of the grand banquet attended
in that same city where some ten years
ago a group of seven gentlemen met together in a
little back room to consider how they, insignificant
as they seemed, might overthrow an existing law,
supported by the whole, or nearly the whole, wealth
and power of the country. The paucity of their re-
sources, and the apparently invincible might of their
opponents nothing daunting that little band,
animated by the consciousness of the justice
of their cause and confident in their own singleness of
purpose, they boldly risked the encounter. Years
passed on, but in spite of every obstacle, amid scorn,
ridicule, and contumely, they persevered, and last
night, in Manchester—no longer seven men in a little
back room, but three thousand in the great Free
Trade Hall—assembled to celebrate the triumph of
that audacity and perseverance.
After this who shall despair ? If the cause be but
just, perseverance must and will eventually win the
battle. With feelings of no little gratification
we this day direct the attention of our readers to the
speeches of Mr. VILLIERS, Mr. COBDEN, Mr. WILSON,
and Colonel Tnomrsort, at the last free-trade
meeting. Cordially do we reiterate the exultant
sentiments to which those gentlemen have given
utterance ; for from the first move of the enterprise
we have been with them, heart and hand. But how-
ever sincerely we sympathize with the jubilations
of the Free-traders, still more heartily do we coincide
with the would not be Member for South Lancashire,
as Mr. Wrnsost happily designated him, in his asser-
tion that this reform, the achievement of which we
now celebrate, must be the precursor of many
more. " I never supposed," said Mr. VILLIERS,
that the repeal of the corn-laws was to be a substi-
tute for other reforms. I just supposed the other
thing ! I never supposed that because the corn-laws
were not repealed, that was any reason why we should
not advocate a better constitution of Parliament, or a
greater amount of retrenchment." Mr. VILLIERS is,
therefore, again ready to devote his whole energies to
the promotion of necessary reforms. He is again
ready to exercise that unwearying ardour, and that
indomitable perseverance to which the triumph of
free-trade is mainly due. It is well now, in the
hour of victory, that we should call to
mind the past exertions by which that
victory was attained. The ipeople of England, who
are almost wholly exempt from that most despicable
of national failings—popular ingratitude, will, no
doubt, on this day, call; gratefully to mind the
" unadorned eloquence" of RICHARD ConnEß, by
which the truths of free-trade were so happily dif-
fused throughout the length and breadth of the land,
and the marvellous fortitude of CHARLES PELHAM
VILLIERS--one of the first supporters, if not
the very first supporter, of the cause, and
throughout the struggle one of its ablest and most
persevering defenders.' Others have been glad to join
hands with the winning band, but the latter champion
stood almost alone, when to be a free-trader was con-
sidered not a glory but a disgrace. Neither on this
auspicious day will the services of that Minister who
sacrificed for free-trade power and party, his friends'
affection, and his own reiterated pledges be forgotten.
That memory which Sir ROBERT PEEL invoked on
quitting office will for ever cherish his name when
the defunct Corn-laws are alluded to. For all these
considerations we cannot but think this free-trade
Jubilee singularly well-timed. May it inspire our
Legislators with confidence in the prosecution of
popular measures, and may it impress upon them
the awful responsibility of those who can achieve
great things. Viewed in this light, the Free- trade
Banquet forms an excellent supplement to her MA...
JESTY'S Speech.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.

The proposition of M. RATEAU for the immediate dissolu-
tion of the Assembly will be discussed on Saturday. M.
DUFAURE is to propose an amendment of a conciliatory cha-
racter, which will probably be adopted instead of the original
proposition.

. .
The wound in General CHANGERNIER'S head was the re-
sult of an accident. He was himself discharging a pistol
which had been loaded some time, and the recoil was so great
that the butt end of the pistol struck him on the forehead.

During the sitting of the National Assembly on Tuesday,
M. Sarrans rose to put two interpellations, the one re-
garding Colonel Forestier, commanding the 6th legion of
National Guards, who had been put under arrest for offering
his services is the President of the Assembly; the next con-
cerned the letter of General Changarnier, which he under-
stood was most improper in its tone and language, and
amounted to a denial of the rights of the President of the
Assembly to look to its defence.
_ _ _

M. Lean Faucher, Minister of the Interior, said he would
be happy to give explanations on each of the acts brought
under notice by the honourable member. With regard,
first, to the letter of General Changarnier to the President of
the Assembly, he considered that the latter had already dis-
posed of all objections by his own personal expression of satis-
faction yesterday. The President was surely the best judge of
what was due to his own dignity, and when he had declared
himself satisfied he could not understand how any one else
had a right to show more susceptibility than the party
most interested. With regard to the arrest of Colonel
Forestier he would at once declare that if it had been caused
by the tender of services made by that officer to the Presi-
dent of the Assembly, it would have been wholly unjtisti-
fiable. He had himself spoken to the President of the
Council, having been under the impression that the arrest of
the Colonel was on account of a supposed breach of discip-
line, but he was enabled to inform the Assembly that be had
it from the head of the Cabinet that Colonel Forestier was
put under arrest for having entered into a connexion with
men in a state of revolt, and for having excited to acts of
violence against the Government.—( Sensation.)
Deville—lt is not true.

The Minister—The matter was now in the hands of the
Procureur-General, and would soon be brought to trial. He
came now to the objections that had been raised against the
military precautions taken yesterday for sake of order. His
answer was, that the precaution taken were for the purpose of
say the blood of Frenchmen from being shed.— (Cheer-
ing on the right.)
A Voice on the Left—lt was a provocation.
The Minister, in continuation, said, that sad eventuality had
been prevented, and he felt sure that the country would do
justice to their motives.—(Cheers and murmurs.) The
secret societies had been at work, and had attempted to
bring over some of the Garde Mobile to the side of revolt.
100 arrests had been made.—(Movement). The parties ar-
restedcircumwstoaunlcdes be
hebrwouoguhldt breefforraeint efrtormibunfuarltsh.
but he could not avoid expressing his surpriseerija Under
remarks;dt re ]suchan
_
gp
ruoalgo
ne
gh e ltdh be y
sitlaotne.
oßfe parge
teanttiaotni v et
hs , a
ta shiatdw3a.se
sctaelrcdualya t ebde
et
no
gthueaghetinasistearn, wenocuoludragneo!
detnhoeunsetereestsu.chillea,n
hesitate observed t
to denounce
ment to disorder.—(Tremendous uproar for some minutes.)
They bad been asked to show where was the danger? He
would reply, in the clubs, where the eternal foes of order had
taken refuge.—(Renewed uproar.) Yes, the conspirators
were there. Those conspirators who were so accustomed to
plot, that if they were in ;power they would conspire against
each other.—(Loud cheering from one side, and murmurs on
the other.) He felt satisfied that he had done his duty, and
he was sure the country would think the same.—(Great
agitation.)
M. Marrast, taking the tribune of orators, said he was stir.
prised to hear such an affirmation as that he had received
Changarnier.
an improper letter from General He could
assure the Assembly that had such been the case he would
have known how to recall General Changarnier to a sense of
President. He had shown the letter
the respect due to their
in the bureau of which he was a member, and the bureau saw
nothing of a kind in it that called fur censure or remark. He
would, if the Assembly desired so, produce the letter.—(Cries
of " Yea, yes, read.") The letter runs thus—
Dieugew le President,—The enemies,:and without doubt