The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-22 00:00:00

AN HISTORICAL PARALLEL.

--- - ----
Somewhat more than a century and a half ago King
Charles 11. of Spain and bis Queen Louisa, were in a
very unhappy position. A domineering intriguer had,
indeed, been dismissed from the control of affairs, and a
-new Administration bad been formed of as good mate-
tials as Madrid and Buenretiro could supply, to the de-
cent satisfaction of the King, and the tolerable content
of the Court. But the work was only half done. It is
true that the new valid° had made a magnificent entry
into office, and had signalised his triumphant accession
to power by a levee conducted with the profoundest
Castilian etiquette. In one of the chief Royal chambers
was placed a gorgeous bed, and herein the Duke de Me-
dina Celi lay in state, with his collar, mantle, fea-
thered hat, and all the diamonds of his house. The
obsequious visitors swept in silent scores by this genial
enuch, and nobody could doubt but that its possessor
was indeed First Minister of Spain. But in this
romantic country there is a camera camerarum, an
inner and a closer room, a more compact, indeed, but a
less manageable body than that to which our Charles 11.
first thought of reducing the straggling and unorganised
privy council of ancient royalty. Though the Duke de
Medina Celi was Lord of the Council he was not lord
of the closet, and the camsrilla was quite powerful
enough to disconcert him and to discompose his master.
. . .

The members of this faction were but three in number,
and of these the Camarera-mayor was by far the most
terrible. She was no less a personage than the Duchess
of Terranueva, and not a woman was there in all Madrid,
from the Queen to the most humble moza, who did
not heartily wish that her residence could not be perma-
nently fixed in the land which conferred her title. The
craft and subtlety of this old ogress were really frightful,
and all the privileges of her place and the powers of her
presumption 'were exerted to worry the unfortunate
Queen and upset the Roy al household. It was a sacred
and eternal article of the Court code that a Queen of
Spain should go to bed at ten o'clock in summer and
nine in winter, and any deduction from the siete partidas
might probably have been suspended with less uproar
than this solemn edict. The unhappy Louisa liked to sit
up a little later, but the Duchess and her maids were be-
hind her, and ten minutes before the hour approached
these satellites, at a signal from their mistress, used
to', pounce upon her while yet at supper, pull off her
shoes under the table, undress her head, and
hurry her off to bed with a discipline surpassing that re-
commended for the House of Commons by Mr. Brother-
ton. Every human or brute companion in whom the
Queen delighted was persecuted and hunted eut of her
reach by the morose old Duchess, who even succeeded
at last in establishing a suspicious coldness between the
royal pair. Charles was in reality very warmly attached
to his Queen. "Mi Reyna, mi Rona, he once cried
out to her, "eres la mas perfecta de todo el orbe." But
the old Camarera-mayor told such dreadful stories that
he did not know what to think, and at last he took a trip
to the Escurial without her. The day after his depar-
ture, however, the Queen sent him so loving a letter that
he quite relented, and dispatched to her, as a token of
his undiminished affection, a sandal-wood bracelet, with
a billet doux from his own hand :—" Madam, it is a great
storm of wind here. I have killed six wolves."
But the mischief still continued, and bid fair to do so,

for nothing could cure it but the riddance of the Duchess;
and the Duchess, as the old hag very well knew, could
not be got rid of without such a revolution as would
convulse to its centre the constitution of the Palace.
The King of Spain was a mighty King, but his maid-
servants presumed to be mightier, and it was ruled that

the absolution of the Most Catholic Crown stopped short
at the Royal bedchamber. A Camerara-mayor never
had been dismissed. The thing was quite impossible.
They had often been very much in the way; but nobody
had dared to put them out of it. At last the Duchess
outstripped even her own spite. The poor Queen had a
pair of parrots, the only relic of her pets, which talked
French and screamed at the duenna. The Duchess watched
her time, and when the Queen went out one day, she ordered
the parrots into her room, took them out of their cages,
and twisted their necks off. Female nature could en-
dure no longer, and Queen Louisa, selecting a judicious
opportunity, told the King that the Camarera-mayor
must be sent adrift. Charles turned very pale at the
mention of the word, and the desperation of the deed ;
but at length, with the boldness of a Royal namesake,
and happily with better fortune, he signed the fatal or-
domeance. As soon as an intrepid messenger could be
discovered, the Duchess was told that she " must go."
She wavered for an instant between incredulity and
frenzy, and then burst into a Castillian torrent
of buse and defiance. She said she had nothing
to do with the Queen, that the King ordered her
to stay—that she couldn't be turned cut that
she wouldn't go, with other allegations and determi-
nations of the like ancillary and agreeable character.
At last it was politely hinted to her that the edict on
this occasion was of that special class so fashionable in
China, and that her absence would be absolutely brought
about. She rushed into the Queen's chamber, eyed her
like a crouching tigress for a few moments, dashed into
small pieces a beautiful little table, a porcelain vase, and
an exquisite Chinese fan, and at last relieved the palace
from the incubus of years.
The theory of the cycle has lately been transferred
from history to meteorology, and tropical rather than
political storms have been illustrated by reference to
some imaginary law of recurrence. But if any of our
readers will compare our little histoireae of 1680 with
the venerable register of 1847, which we have lately
published, he will admit that the days of biographical
parallels did not cease with Plutarch. Spain has once
more got an energetic Queen as well as a corrupt Court,
and it will be hard if the ordinary results of ac-
tivity 'and vigour should fail in this particular in-
stance, when honesty of purpose and innocence of heart
are rendered still more interesting by the helplessness of
uninstructed youth and the perils of unprotected Ma-
jesty. Unfortunately we have to ascend to a remote
height in Peninsular history before we reach a period
which any friend of Spain can hope may be paralleled at
present. Yet Spain's last Queen, and Spain's last Isa-
bella, rhoaaii‘tt
Mendoza
do
glorioustr,zsea otrhnxaa thosenmiz e
hasne s
pctrtral
reduced,
ends
snuse
octnornet nedlaync,t
iegavhtnehoi
hope
onei
ffs
her weakness or direct
be long wanting to the instinctive and untutored energy
that such aids may not
tai lerswl
been deliberately
goodwill,yl
ei were
hea petph meeiorer, eede
youthfulwhic hth the
Sovereign.—Tinter.
g• ena.r_ri
me
offre:dom has developed in this

the stated
course
a r s that
e e
ft this
eg reat
autumn rail woaf ywillnext
The Emperor of Russia has just given orders that
the works of the railway from St. Patersburgh to Moscow
shall be pushed forward with the greatest activity, and the
number of workmen at .present employed shall be increased
year, end p3rhsps wow.
bbye seon,toiroeOlysoeledmie
prsfeteldt inls

PARLIAMENTARY DIVISIONS.

(From the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Conc;i;•
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21..
FACTORIES BILL (REPORTED).

Amendments read a seond time; Motion made, anci,QUes.
tion proposed, " That this House doth agree with thiWom-
mittee in the said Amendments:"—Amendment proposed, to
leave out from the word " That". to the end of the Question,
in order to add the words, " the Report be taken into further
consideration upon this day six months," instead thereof:—
Question put, " That the words proposed to be left out stand
part of the Question." The House divided :
MAJORITY—AYES, 104.
Acland, Sir:T.' Entwisle, W. NeWdegate, N.
Adderley, C. B. Evans;Sir De Lacy O'Brien, A. Stafford
Ainsworth, Peter Ewart, William Ossulston, Lord
Archdall, Captain Finch, George Owen, Sir John
Arundel, Earl of Floyer, John Packe, C. W.
Bankes, George Fuller, A. E. Paget, Colonel
Bentinok, Lord G. Outten, J. M. Pakingtoa, Sir 3.
Bentinck, Lord H. Gladstone, Captain Pahner,fßobert
Beresiord, alajor Godson, R. Perfect, Robert
Bernal, Ralph Gooch, E. S. Plumptre, J. P.
Blackburne, J. I. Gore, W. O. Pluturidge,, Captain
Blackstone, W. S. Granger, T. C. Rolleston, Colonel -
Bolder°, H. G. Grey. Sir G. Round, J,
Brainston, T. W Grimsditch, Thomas Russell, Lord J.
Broadley, Henry Raiford, Sir Henry Rutherford. A.
Brotherton, Joseph Hutton, Captain Sandon, Viscount
Browne, W. Henley, J. W. Seyiner, Henryi Ker
Buck, L. W. Hervey, Lord A. Shirley, E. J.
Buller, Charles Hodgson, F. Somerville, Sir W.
}Sunbury, W. Howard, P. H. Spooner, R. .
Cabbell, B. B. Hudson, G. Strickland, Sir G.'
Chichester, Lord J. Hurst, R. H. Tollemache, J.
Christie, W. D. Hussey, Thomas Trollope, Sir J.
Christopher, R. I. Inglis, Sir it. Troubridge, Sir E
Colvile, C. It. lrton, 5: Tufnell, Henry
Cowper, W. F. Jervis, Sir John Turner, Edmuhd
Crawford, W. S. Kerrison, Sir E. Wakley, Thomas
Davies, D. A. Lambton, H. - Walker, Richard
Denison, E. B. Lowther, Hon. Col. Wawn, JT.
Douglas, Sir H. Macaulay, T. B. Williams, W.
Duncombe, T. Maiuwaring, T. Wodetiouse, E
Duncombe, A. 1 Manners, Lord J. Yorke, R.:11.
Dundas, Admiral Willies, R. Monckton
Dundas, Sir David Monahan, J. H.
Du Pre, C. G. Mundy, E. M
Ebrington, Viscount blunt; 3 F.

TELLERS.
Flelden,:J elm
Ferraud. W. B.

MINORITY-NOES, 46.

_
Aldam, William Feilden, Sir W. Philips, Mark
Baine, Walter Fitzroy. Henry Protheroe, E.
Baring, F. T. Gibson, T. M. Roebuck, J. A.
Bell, Matthew Gisborne, Thomas Scott, Robert
Bright, John Greene, Thomas Sotherou, T. 11. S.
Brown, W. Hawes, Benjamin Stanton, W. H.
Busfeild, W. Hay, Sir A. Strutt, Edward
Colebrooke, Sir T. Hutt, William Tancred, H. W.
Dalrymple, Captain Langston, J. H Thornely, T.
Dawson, T. V. Leader, J. T. Ward, H. G.
Demsistoun, J. Legh, G. C. Wood, Colonel T.
Dickinson, F. H. Loch, James Young, John
Duncan, Viscount Maitland, Thomas
1 Duncan, George Marshall, William TELLERS.
Egerton, W. T. Marslawi, Henry Hume, Joseph
Escott, Bickham Peel, Sir Robert Trelawny, J. S.
Evans, William Pendarves, Edward

Another Clause (And be it enacted, That if any accident
happen to the steam-engine, water-wheel, or mill-gearing in
any factory, whereby any part of the manufacturing ma-
chinery shall be stopped daring the usual hours of work
allowed by this Act, it shall be lawful to recover the time so
lost in the following manner, that is to say, any child or
young person, or any woman, may be employed one hour in
each day more than the time to which the ordinary daily
labour of children and young persons and women respectively
is restricted by law, until such lost time be recovered),
brought up and read a first time; Motion made, and Ques-
tion
_put, " That the said Clause be now read a second time.'
The House divided :

MINORITY-AYES, 31.
Antrobns, Edmund Hay, Sir A. L. Roebuck, J. A.
Elaine, Walter Ilouldsworth, T. Strutt, Edward
Howring, Dr. Hume, Joseph Thornely, T.
Brown, W. Lindsay, Colonel Trelawny, J. S.
Denuistoun;John Lockhart, W. Walker, Richard
Duncan, Lord Marshall, W. Wood, Colonel T.
Duncan, George Marslaud, Henry Young, J.
Escott, Bickhaai Milnes, R. M.
Fender', Sir W. Molesworth, Sir W.
Forster, Mathew . Ogle, S. C.
Greene, Thomas Philips, Mark
Balmer, Sir John Protheroe, Edward

TELLS 3.
Leader, J. T.
Bright, John

MAJORITY—NOES, 94.
Ackers, James Evans, Sir De Lacy Muntz, G. F.
Adderley, C. B. Finch, G. Newdegatc, C. N.
Aglionby, H. A. Fitzroy, Henry O'Brien, A. S.
♦insworth, Peter Fitzroy, Lord C. O'Brien, C.
Archdall, Captain Floyer, John Owen, Sir J.
Bernie, W. Frewen, C. H. Palmer, G.
Barrington, Viscount Fuller, A. E. Perfect, Robert
Bell, John Gaskell, J. M. Plumridge, Captain
Bennet, Philip Gisborne, Thomas Pollington, Viscount
Bentinck, Lord G. Godson, Richard Repton, G. W.
Bentiuck, Lord H. Granger, T. C. Rolleston, Colonel
Beresford, Major Grey. Sir G. Round, John
Bernal, Ralph Grimsditch, T. Seynter, H. L.
Blackburne, J. I. Hall, Colonel Shell, R. L.
Brooke, Lord Hamilton, W. J. Sheridan, R. B.
Browne, W. Hatton, Captain ♦. Shirley, E. J.
Buck, Lewis W. Henley, J. W. Smith, Vernon
Buller, Charles Hindlcy Charles Spooner, Richard
Buller, Edward Hodgson, F. Strickland, Sir G.
Bunbury, William Howard, P. H. Thesiger, Sir F.
Busfeild, William Hudson, G. Tollemache, John
Cabbell, B. B. Irton, Samuel Troubridge, Sir E.
Carew, W. H. Pole Jervis, Sir John Tuinell, IL
Colvile, C. R. Lambton, H. Vyse, H.
Crawford, W. S. Langston, J. H. Wakley, T.
Denison, E. B. Law, C. E. Ward, H. G.
D'Eyncourt, C. T. Lawson, A. Wawn, J. T.
Duncombe, A. Maitland, T. Williams, W.
Dundas, Admiral Manners, Lord J.
Dundas, Sir David Miles, Philip W. S.
Entwisle, William Miles, William
Esmonde, Sir T. Mpstyn, E. M.
Evans, William Mundy, E. Miller

TELLERS.
Ferrand, W. B.
Fielden, John

THE PRUSSIAN DIET.

THE ADDRESS IN ANSWER TO THE SPEECH
FROM THE THRONE.

We have received from Berlin a copy of the Address
of the Prussian Diet, in reply to the Speech from the
Throne, as adopted unanimously by the Committee
appointed to draw it up for the Diet. It is as followb:
" Very Gracious Lord and King,—Since your acces-
sion to the Throne, your Majesty has laboured inces-
santly at the noble deielopment of the existence of the
nation, and the country enjoys with feelings of gratitude
the advantages resulting from the lively interest taken
by the people in public affairs. A new and more elevated
sphere has been opened for this interest. Recognising
the necessity_ of a representative organ, common to the
whole nation, and its utility for the unity of the state,
your Mejt sty has deigned to convoke in an united Diet
the States of all the provinces. By your free and truly
royal decision, your Majesty has made a great step, and
we accomplish a first and sacred duty in laying at the
foot of the Throne the expressions of the gratitude of a
faithful people, and of our immutable attachment
to the person and family of your Majesty. The country
increases in greatness by the elevated mind of its
Princes, and the power of public opinion; its future
prosperity is based upon this community. It is mani-
fested anew by the fact of your Majesty having, in your
letters patent of the 3d of February of this year, an-
nounced your intention of continuing to erect on the
basis of the laws given by his Majesty the late King, and
to which the people are attached as to a patrimony which
it has nobly acquired, as a recompense for its fidelity in
conflict. Your Majesty having realised the reserve ex-
pressed in the law of the sth June, 1823, and given the
name of United Diet to the assembly which in the said
law is called the General Assembly of States, and in the
law of the 17th January, 1820, the Assembly of the
States of the Kingdom, the laws founded upon the laws
there laid down, and upon other anterior laws, are ac-
quired by the states. The decree of the 17th January,
1820, compels the authority charged with the ad-
ministration of the public debt to give an account
annually to the Assembly of the States of the
Kingdom, and thus ensures to it the vital condition of
useful action, viz.—its periodical convocation. The same
law subjects to the co-guarantee of the States of the
Kingdom, not merely the loans for which the entire for-
tune of the state is given as surety, or whick are destined
for the wants of peace, but also every new loan which
the state should be compelled to contract to secure its'
own existence, or with the view to the increase of the
general prosperity. Thus the guarantee of the debts of
the states demands a correct knowledge of the financial
condition of the country and of the state of the national
wealth, and hence the co-operation of the states, when
the question affects the disposal of the domains which
are not comprised in the dispositions of the law of Ja-
nuary 17, 1820, forms part of the attributions which be-
long of right to the states. The law of the bth June,
1823, determines besides that so long as there shall be
no general assemblies of states the Bills of a general na-
ture shall be submitted to the provincial states. Hence-
forth this decision will cease to have any effect by the
creation of a united Diet of the states, so that the advice
of the latter is necessary for all the general laws having;
for object to effect changes in the rights of persons or
property, or to levy taxes, and cannot be replaced by
the advice of provincial diets or united committees."

Advices from St. Peterburgh to the Bth inst. state
that in the grain-market there was less activity, in conse•
quence of the duller reports from England and France, but
prices were still firm, on account of the dealers having
already sold so largely. The weather having again be-
come wintry, threatened to retard the opening of the
navigation. From Riga, under date 10th instant, exchange
comes 39 7-16 d. The grain-market was slightly depressed,
and there were as yet no symptoms of the breaking up of
the ice.

SUICIDE OF A DESPERATE HUSBAND --On Satur-
day night an inquest was held by Mr. William Payne, the
City Coroner, at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, on the body of
William Berry, aged forty-five, of Mail Coach-yard, Kings-
land-road. It appeared from the evidence that the deceased
had recently taken to ill-use his wife, and a month since
they were quarrelling together, when he took up a chair,
which he threw at her. The same struck her arm with such
violence as to break it. That circumstance had preyed
heavily on his mind, and ever since he had been in an ex-
ceedingly disconsolate state. The night before Good Friday
he appeared quite mad ; he came home and told his wife that
she should not eat another Sunday's dinner with him. He
then attempted to pull the stove out of the fire-place, and
afterwards collected a quantity of rags his wife been
saving saving up to purchase shoes for her children, which he set
fire to. The next day he went to his exployment at Hoxton
Old Town, and whilst he was sorting some cotton he took
the knife he had swung round his neck and deliberately cut
his throat. His employer ran out to procure medical assist-
ance, and, on his return, found him in the act of inflicting
another wound in the neck. The deceased was removed to
the above hospital, where be expired on Thursday last from
the effects of the injuries, Verdict, "Temporary insanity."
GREAT FIRE` AT BUCHAREST.—We have seen a
private letter, which arrived last night from Leipsic' 'n
which it is stated, that on the evening of the 13th an ex-
press came in from Vienna, bringing accounts of a gr
at Bucharest, in Wallachia. The fire had consumedaealtafirgree
portion of the city, but had not yet reached the quarter in
which the warehouses of the
principal merchants
be
eare
burnedsitu-
ated, although several warehouses in the city had
down. The consternation in Leipsic was very great, and the
next post was looked for with the
Bucharest.
anxiety. Pro-
perty, we believe, is not insured in
There are in
Leipsic just now many purchasers from that ci 't , and the
intelligence which the express brought from Vienna, was
that the bankers there would not for the present accept any
drafts made upon them by Bucharest merchants.—ltTan-
chester La-press.
THE Loss or THE TWEED.--The subscription set
on foot for the purpose of rewarding the conduCt of Captain
Camp, the master, the chief mate, officers,and crew of the
Spanish brig Emilio, whose intrepid exertions saved the lives
of 79 persons, who were wrecked OA !nerd the TWeed, aireaclY
=MU; to 14784 8.