The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-01 00:00:00

GLADSTONE, and, we are sorry to say, the uncalled.
for and misplaced personalities of Mr. WAKLEY,
as a rock is unharmed by peas blown against it
by an urchin. The manufacturers will not sub-
mit to be extinguished, and the people cannot
silently be starved; they have screeched, and
their screechings, echoed by the Board of Trade,
have made a profound impression on Parliament.
Party tactics must be laid aside on such questions,
and enough was said and enough exhibited to make
us believe that all but the most inveterate parti-
zans and the most besotted landlords will feel
themselves obliged to discuss the great question
last night mooted, chiefly with a view to the
public good.
For the manly statements of the CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER and Lord JOHN RUS-
SELL, and the earnest appeals of Mr. LABOUCHERE,
all the partizans of free trade will feel much in-
debted ; but they will be still more pleased, pro-
bably, by the judicious, bold, and excellent
speech of Lord HowicK. The speeches of other
Hon. Members we are constrained to pass by ;
but we cannot conclude without express-
ing our gratification at finding that the bold
policy we advocated in The Sun oh Tues-
day corresponds to the intentions of Minis-
ters. They have given up the Irish Registra-
tion, and have taken up these great commercial
questions. We cannot say that they are about
to do all which we wish, but so far as they go
they have our hearty commendation and support:
There was no intention apparently on any side
of the House to immediately oppose the mea-
sures of the Government ; all those who spoke
against them declaring that they could not im-
mediately make up their minds, and postponing
e decision till the Bills are brought forward.

The Paris Journals of Wednesday have a
been received. The Government is disgracing
itself by its prosecutions of the Press. As th.,
September laws allow Ministers to prosecute
journalists without the inconvenient formality of
an appeal to the honesty of aJury,convictions arc
no longer doubtful. On Tuesday the responsible
Editor of the National was tried for publishing
letters recommending a subscription to defray
the fine.of 10,000 francs levied on that paper by
the Chamber of. Peers, and for this very harm-
less proceeding the Court of Correctional Police
sentenced him to pay another fine of 500 francs
and suffer a month's imprisonment! The Gazette
de France is also to be tried without a Jury on
the absurd charge of publishing an incorrect re-
port of the trial of La France, which was ac_
quitted by a Jury ! These prosecutions are So
frivolous and vexatious that no person can mis-
take the object of them. We lament that a Govern-
ment, of which M. GUIZOT is a Member, should
have recourse to such pitiful shifts for the pur-
pose of stifling public opinion. T!►e September
laws are a disgrace to France, and their invoca-
tion a disgrace to any Ministry, much more to
the Liberal Cabinet to whose sober good sense
, Europe is indebted for the tranquillity which it

now enjows.
The following news from French Africa is the
most important in the French Journals :
THE FRENCH BUDGET.—The Commission of the Budget
cf 1842 has unanimously declared itself against keeping up the
additional regiments that M. Thiers organised; still many
members of the Commission did not think that Ministers ought
to be forced to dissolve these regiments by a vote of the Cham-
ber, but that the Ministry should be left to itself to carry into
effect, at the proper per.od, the unanimous wish of the Com-
mission.
3he Commission proposes a reduction of thirty-seven mil-
lions of francs on the war estimate of 1842; the cavalry to be
reduced from 54,000 to 48,000. Three millions and a half of
expenditure for engineering and fortifications—the greater part
in Algeria—is struck out by the Commission. Four maims
are struck off the general services of the Ministries. The re-
ductions proposed by the Commission on the Government esti-
mates amount to forty-one millions of francs. The expenditure
of 1842 would thus be fixed at 1,275,453,340 francs. lhe re-
venue is estimated at 1,160.516,942 francs. The deficit on the
three years is 929,000,000 francs, to be met in part by the loans,
in part by other resources.
Count De V illele left Paris for Toulouse on Tuesday morning.
Rear-Admiral NI assieu De Clerval, who succeeds Al. Dupotet
in the command of the French naval station on the coast of the
Brazils, had hoisted his flag in the frigate Gloire, at Brest.
The Chamber of Peers adopted on Wednesday the Customs
Tariff Bill, without any modification, by a majority of 97
against 3