The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-10 00:00:00

Letters have arrived from Berlin, dated the 3d u 1

In the sitting of the Prussian Diet of the preceding
day the Government seem to have carried the first
article of the Bill relating to the exclusion of Depu-
ties under sentence of criminal tribunals or courts of
honour, though not without experiencing considerable
opposition. _ _

FREDERICK WILHELM W. had, for the first time
since the establishment of the new Constitution,
appeared at the opera on the last evening of April.
This interesting event is thus mentioned in a private
communication :

"The Queen accompanied hi 3 Majesty. The opera was
Iphigenie en Tauride. They were received with unanimous
cheers from all parts of the house. The Queen acknowledged
the greetings with great condescention, remaining standing
at the front of the royal box for several minutes. The King
was evidently much affected, and his countenance expressed
the most lively satisfaction."

Information from Madrid to the 3d ultimo is of
comparatively little interest.
A fresh evidence of liberality has been given by
the Government of ISABELLA. in the amnesties granted
to General RODIL and General NOGUERRAS. The
fact is mentioned by the Progressista newspapers.
Before the departure of NARVAEZ for Paris, he
appears, by a private letter received in that city, to
have been present at a festivity which is thus re-
counted :

" The Duke of Glucksberg, Minister Plenipotentiary of
France, gave yesterday, at the hotel of the Embassy, a
grand dinner, in honour of the fete of his Majesty Louis
Philippe. All the Ministers of the Queen, and Gen. Narvaez,
Ambassador to France, were present at the dinner in grand
costume, as were also all the members of the corps diplo-
matique. During the dessert toasts were drunk to the
Royal Families of France and Spain, to the union of the two
nations, and in particular to the maintenance of the health
of his Majesty the King of the French."
Her MAJESTY was to leave for Aranjuez on the
6th, with the intention of returning before the ex-
piration of a fortnight.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs during the Re-
gency of ESPARTERO (M. GONZALEZ) had been
elected Deputy for Osuna.

All the Madrid journals of the 3d ultimo appeared
in mourning, in commemoration of the butcheries
perpetrated upon the inhabitants of that capital in
1808, by command of the Grand Duke of BERG.

Our intelligence from France, together with the
Paris papers of Friday and Saturday, reached us as
usual this morning.
Notwithstanding the expectation very recently ex-
pressed
that no Ministerial changes would occur be-
fore the ter -iiiination of the present session, a great
and important modification of the Cabinet has actually
taken place. Tlrree members of the Administration have
definitely resigned, namely, M. LACAVE LAPLAGNF,
Minister of Finance, General ST. Yox, Minister of
War, and Admiral MACKAII, Minister of Marine.
If we may credit the reports which were prevalent in
the French capital, and which are differently ex-
pressed by the various Parisian organs, the Baron DE
BUSSIERES was to be the successor of Admiral
MAcKAu in the Marine Department, the Marquis DE
LAPLACE had already been installed at the War-
office, and the most probable candidate for the admi-
nistration of financial affairs was considered to be M.
PASSY. The great difficulty, however, appears to be
the filling up of the latter appointment;
and the remarkable embarrassments of the money
I
market at this moment tend to enhance
the interest attached to the Ministerial crisis. On

the first announcement of the resignation of M.
LACAVE LAPEAGNE an offer of his vacated post was
made to Count D'ARGOUT, the Governor of the
Bank of France, but, notwithstanding the pressing
solicitations of the• Government, it is presumed that
the noble financier will give the preference to his
present more lucrative, more influential, and more
secure position. M. VITET was likewise mentioned
as one eminently calculated for the Ministerial selec-
tion. When our intelligence left, however, M.
PAssy still continued the " favourite."

Although the excitement caused by these official
" exits and entrances" was remarkable, it was as
nothing compared to the prosecution of General
CIIIIIERES, which yet remains undetermined.
A royal ordinance was presented to the Chamber of
Peers on Friday; and the object of that royal ordi-
nance, says the Reforme—

" Is to deprive the civil tribunal of the Seine of the right
of inquiring into the facts denounced by General Cubieres.
It was at first believed that the General would be accused of
calumny and defamation for having written this memorable
sentence—' Remember that the Government is in rapacious
and corrupt hands.' But the publication of the letter con-
taining those words took place without the participation of
the General. He is, consequently, to be tried for the fact
which gave rise to the civil suit, and under the charge of
corruption and swindling. Now, the political motive of the
prosecution is this :—A Minister of the Ist of March charges
the Cabinet of the 29th of October with corruption, and
the Guizot Ministry impeaches a member of the Thiers
Administration for swindling and corruption. The gravity
of the task imposed on the Chamber of Peers is now obvious.
An acquittal is impossible; the absolution of one would be
the condemnation of the other. But the law, in the inflexible
rigour of its terms, goes still further, for it inflicts the same
penalty on the corruptor and the corrupted, so that the Guizot
Ministry would be, beforehand, infallibly condemned, whether
M. Cubieres be found guilty or declared innocent. It is, con-
seqnently, difficult to foresee the conclusion of this drama,
unless some unknown deity interferes, as in the theatres of
old. The Deus ex machines was never invoked with more
fervour by all parties."

Considerable doubts are entertained as to whether
General CIIBIERES could be impeached upon the
article 405 of the French Penal Code, or upon the
article 179. Under either circumstance he is consi-
dered likely to pass the ordeal unscathed, or if not
unscathed, at the least respected for his boldness,
and his evident anxiety to explain the whole truth.

IWe cannot afford a more brilliant testimony as to
the spirit by which the Opposition is actuated at this
instant than by transcribing the stern and impas-
sioned language uttered by the Presse. It says--
" What is the conduct of the Opposition ? In place of
attacking the Ministry on its weak side, it attacks it on that
where it has two decided advantages—that of talent and that
of position. The Opposition, being the attacking party, is
often obliged to speak at random, whilst the Government,
which is on the defensive, can never speak except with a
certainty of what it is doing. It can conceal the cards it
plays with, which the Opposition never can. If the Opposi-
tion desired to overturn the Ministry of Oct. 29, what had it
to do? Precisely the contrary of what it had done to strike
down that of April 15. But where it ought to act in quite a
different manner, it acts exactly the same. And, in conse-
quence, what has come to pass ! Every time that the Minis-
try was on the point of dying away, in a state of downright
languor, the Opposition has re-animated it by a discussion,
or strengthened it by some triumph in the tribune. It is
this which explains the duration of the Cabinet of Oct. 29 for
seven years ! But what has the country gained thereby ?
What progress have its institutions made? What questions
have been resolved ?—what difficulties smoothed down ?
Look at the finances after a reign of seventeen years and
seven years' tenure ,of office, in what a state they are in I
Look at the public works Everywhere they are com-
menced, nowhere finished In one place, useless works,
where tens of millions have been flung away; in another,
necessary works to carry on which a centime cannot now
be obtained ! A budget, which exceeds 1,500 millions, and
departments all the resources of which will not suffice to
terminate for the next fifty years the roads placed at their
charge—a fine example of expense and indigence ! The
arathy, that
speciality introduced by distrust into our budgets, employed
to say, the forced' union .
year, for what purpose
when it is an obstacle, and violated when it is a guarantee
Centralisation and complication, purchase of votes and '
di-
rection to the ill of what are incon-
gruous The army time of peace costing 365 millions a
costa us so dear in mono y
and against what? Algeria, which
w of ::nd men, abandoned without di-
shal Bugeaud l The navy pos.