The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-18 00:00:00

Sll Ny JANUARY 18, 1847.

S ECTION 3.
Whatever be the causes, the, fact, that the difficulties
of the marriage between one of the descendants of
Philip V. and Queen Isabella are greatly aggravated, is
incontestable.

And, at the same time, great and.redoubled efforts are
at this Moment making to bring about a marriage be-
tween the Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg and either
Queen Isabella or the Infanta-Donna Fernanda.
- The Court of Lisbon is the centre of these efforts.
This is obvious from the tenor of private letters, and of
the Portuguese and Spanish journals.
It is affirmed that Prince Leopold of Coburg. who was
to leave Lisbon on the 24th of February for' Cadiz,
Gibraltar, Algiers, Malta, and Italy, will proceed secretly
or openly to Madrid. This report is corroborated by
many circumstances.

of
December
France.
N-••• 0.3,
land, and an indication of what the policy of the French
Government would be under the emergency. No. 8.--
o Guizotnta
it on i
nCgo
ta Count
declarationFlah a nit , daan protest
Paris,
IMB. h
e 46, !c
9.—A letter from M. Guizot to the Count de St. Aulaire,
dated Paris, Dec. 3, 1846, in which the former recapi:u-
lates what he had done, ou the part of France, with re
gard to Cracow—namely, that he took the earliest op-
portunity of expressing disapprobation; that on the 19th
of November he had requested Lord Palmerston to pre.
sent with him, cn the part of England, a joint protest
against the violation of the treaty of Vienna; that Lord
Palmerston • had declined a- joint protest, preferring
that England should protest alone. M. Guizot ti:ere-
fore transmits, by command of the King of the French,
a copy of the protest of France (No. 8), instructing
Count de St. Aulaire to read it to Lord Palmerston, and
leave with his Lordship a copy."

MR. WARD, M.P., AT SHEFFIELD.

SHEFFIELD, THURSDAY.—Mr. Ward, M.P., the Secretary
to the Admiralty, made his annual address to his constitu-
ents yesterday, at the Cutlers' Hall, on which occasion the
chair was occupied by Alderman Dunn. The acceptance of
office by the Hon. Member under the present Goverment
gave to his present address a more than ordinary interest, and
the: spacious hall was crowded to excess. The Hon. Gen-
tleman was accompanied by several of the leading gentlemen
of the town, amongst whom were Mr. 11. Wilkinson, the
Mayor; Mr. S. Butcher, the late Mayor; Mr. T. B. Turton,
the Master Cutler, and others.
Mr. WARD, on rising, was received with loud and reiterated
cheers. On their subsiding, he spoke to the following effect :
Alr:Alderman Dunn and Gentlemen, time has familiarised us
with these annual meetings, which have implied a recogni-
tion of proper principles on both sides—a proper responsibi-
lity on my .part, and political power on yours. The elective
franchise, which had been allowed to this constituency, and
which the men of Sheffield enjoyed, had been exercised in a
proper manner, and had done credit to the town. Without
a recognition of these principles, these meetings would be
a mere farce, though not where the constituencies
choose their member on account of his own opinions,
and not from the length of his purse. It also gives
them an opportunity of knowing that he does not prove
false to those pledges which have justified their choice. I
feel this strongly, and that is the reason that I am here to-
day. But my position is now materially changed. When I
was here on the last occasion, I stood before you an rode
pendent man. I then tried to give every man a plain
answer to a plain question upon every point that has pre-
sented
itself to your fertile imaginations. What I had then
done I was prepared to defend; and upon what I meant to
do it was better that I should see you face to face in the
Town Hall. On these occasions we have often discussed the
affairs of the future, and quarrelled a little upon those that
were past. I could then speak out with great satisfaction,
and if we have ever disagreed, I must say that I have feel-
ings of gratitude for the kind and liberal spirit in which I
have been met. But nothing which ever then occurred has
prevented us from partii:g friends. My position, however,
is now changed, and more than half my usual topics ape cut
off. I cannot dwell upon matters that will occur for the
future, and I do hope that gentlemen will not press me with
questions to which I cannot give a satisfactory reply. I have
now joined a party, and the policy which they will think
proper to pursue will very soon show itself through
the proper quarters. I have told you I have taken
office. I make no apology for that ; and Ido not disguise
that office is the natural reward of political men. I could
not wish to take office with a greater number of men of
liberal political principles than now. I have taken office
with men like Mr. Strutt, Mr. Charles Wood, and Lord
Morpeth. Mr. Cobden was orthodox, and Mr. Villiers was
prevented by personal reasons from accepting office. I
could not, therefore, have hoped to take office with a greater
combination of liberal men than now, nor with a Minister
whose character for integrity stood so high, nor one who, in
the opinion of the country, was more likely to strike out a
line of policy in which all liberal men would concur. It is
not mere place that I was seeking; but the offer was so large
and liberal a one, that I accepted it in the same spirit in
which it was offered, and I hope, therefore, it will not meet
with your disapprobation, but merit your support. I have
sacrificed no principle, nor do I mean to sacrifice any; but,
as 1 have told you before, of the policy of the Government
I am not authorised to speak. A man like myself, in a
subordinate office, knows very little, and if I did know it, I
could not tell you. The session begins on Tuesday next,
and in the course of the year it is quite clear there must be
a dissolution of Parliament. If I have acted inconsistently,
you will then have the remedy in your own bands. I will
not quit this subject without saving that you must not expect
too mach from the present Ministry. Lord John Russell's
Government exists at present upon sufferance, and with a
minority in the House of Commons, where the same political
party exists that drove them from office in 1841, It is now,
therefore, at the option of the majority to place them is any
point they please. It is for the country to strengthen the
hands of the Liberal Ministry, and to impart those opinions
in which the public are expected to concur. I told you in
the short address that I issued on accepting office, that I was
sorry I could not vacate my seat, for I could not do it with
a sort of Quixotism that would have been unbecoming.
What I did was done voluntarily, and, as Parliament will
not last long, I have had no scruples in taking office. Some
men might think that I could be more useful as an indepen-
dent man ; but, if the Liberal men are to be always in oppo-
sition, you must content yourselves by forcing forward your
own opinions. It has been said that the waste of private
and public character which has taken place would hardly
compensate for the good which he —teen, effected by the
change. The last session was a vey triumphant one in one
stituted, through a long struggle. the great impediment and
difficulty of Sir Robert Peel, who had lent himself too largely
and inconsiderately to the illusions by which he has now
been destroyed. I have no doubt that what he did was
the fruit of sincere conviction, brought about in his own
mind. He etood in advance of his own party; and after he
had arrived at his own conclusions, he was one of the best
and ablest advocates, although not able to convince the party
he had left, for their minds were incapable of conviction, and
they considered themselves insulted and betrayed. I have
told you of Sir Robert Peel's character year after year, and
have shown you how inevitably his convictions led him fur-
ther, and how on the question of the Tariff and the Corn-
laws the Government plan was a great and comprehensive
one; it should, therefore, have my most cordial support, and
although it would be carried in the House of Commons, it
would be rejected in the House of Lords. It was a slow and
painful process to witness, and there were just grounds for
just complaint, for the vessel should not have been carried
into port by those who had gained their opinions only last
year. These were no new principles, Sir, for they had been
announced by Adam Smith, Mr. Huskisson, and others ; and
to justify the change which had been forced upon him when
lie took the responsibility of making it, he ought to have ar-
rived at those opinions ten years before. I have told you that
the struggle in the House of Commons was a very curious one.
There were incessant changes, and they would all remember
that Mr. Denison, one of the Members for the West Riding,
seconded the Address. But that gentleman had also been
subject to changes, and was the first to cross the Rubicon ;
and when he had crossed it, he walked back again.—(Loud
laughter.) Ido not know what change had come over his
mind, but he showed a most marvellous agility, and became
the stoutest opponent of those opinions that he had just as
strongly advocated. The Protectionists, as a body, made the
stoutest resistance. They had great oratorical powers, and
complained of great injustice from the Minister who had so
deceived them, because their own hands were clean. In fact,
there were not ten men who had not agreed in the changes
which Sir Robert Peel had opposed in 1842. They were
willing to give up a great monopoly to save a small one, and
when the change came over them, were willing to do it on a
large scale. They then found out that every trade and rami-
fication of British industry should have been protected. Nor
was this an inconsistent plea for men trying to protect their
own monopoly; and when they had tried to protect the mo-
nopoly of everybody else, not ten times the talent which Sir
Robert Peel possessed could get them to stigmatise the prin-
ciples which they had advocated. They had said, in effect,
we do not like any monopoly but that which touches our-
selves. Their deserting the man whose talent had shed such a
lustre on the party to which he belonged, was a climax of
injustice and one to which this country ought not to be
brought. I felt that there was really one of those great
questions at issue which should not be degraded to a mere
question of personal altercation for support. There was not
a man of the free-trade party who did not give him his most
cordial support for the same reason which Mr. Cobden did,
namel
that it was an instalment paid down of 17s. 6d. in
the pound, with security for the remainder in 1849.
If it had lasted till now, I should have given to Sir
Robert Peel my most cordial support. I voted with Mr.
Villiers for the abolition of the 4s• duty, because I thought
it was an injustice So the land and to agriculture itself. I
would not have done this to endanger the Government Bill,
but I did it to affirm a principle. I will not weary you by
going through the whole details of that session of Parlia-
ment; but it was a great triumph to principle and common
sense. Some of the best speeches which had been made were
delivered by men who, up to the last six months, had been
the most inveterate opponents to free trade—from Mr. Goul-
burn and Sir George Clerk, who had been opponents during
the whole of their public life. The measure was carried in
the House of Commons by a majority of 87. and by the
same House which, by a majority of 91, had rejected the
Whig proposition six 3,ears before. In truth, it was a very
marvellous change. I find, too, that I have the sympathy of
a very .high Tory authority namely, the Standard,
which at that time seemed to take its stand upon principle.
It said, that as to the Government proposing changes in
matters which the Conservative party had supported for
thirty years before, it showed an obtuseness and per-
verseness beyond any other mortals—it showed that they
were very blind in political affairs. Now, for once in a
way, what the Standard says is true, and I agree with
every word of it. Conservatism is not to be revived without
corn, and I am afraid now that these country gentlemen
will go on too fast for us. I am very ccuriousus
nteoxtseneesswilio,ant
proposition they will bring forward during the
and what measures Lord George Bentinck and Mr.
and
dsrathelei
will bring forward into the field. The Corn Bill
Tariff were, in my opinion, mixed up
in a wa unaccount-
able to me with the Irish Coercion
B•ii.ol
rtedow that
Bill,
from Coerci,
on
from first to last, I opposed. I once supp
Bill, and this was the great sin of m
since then I have repented, and done something p
someeittiheianlglbifoet'h but
speech and vote to diminish its
tprnossepwechtsicohf
ssiurccßesnsh,
eitnt cpoene-1
nexion with that measure, and those
Liberalrsk
th
th
wished to carry through the House;eyshould
oaunl dd the
et
Mem-
bers were all of opinion that
Go-
vernment measure by opposing a Bill of which they all ap-
proved. It admitted that all disorders and excesses arose
disorganization, and it contained all the stale portion
of
frcm oer
cion which bad been handed down from Lord Castle-
reagh and Lord Clare. The Bill was, therefore, dropped,
and it gave the Government an opportunity of being beaten,
for there was no other question upon which they could have
been beaten than that. When the Corn Bill and Tariff were
passed, there were no other questions, except the Irish Bill,
upon which the Government would not have been agreed.
The reduction of the sugar duties was Lord John Russell's
allotted work. It was not possible for a Government which
had come into power upon Lord Sandon's motion to remain
in power after undoing that resolution upon which they got
into power. It was natural that, with all these difficulties
attending him, there should be no very ardent desire on the
part of Sir Robert Peel to return to place, and he could not
have died a nobler political death than he did die. He had
conferred great benefits upon the country, and made amends
for great mistakes. Do not think that he fell a sacrifice to
political intrigue. There is one thing I may tell you here,
namely, the only real danger to which the Corn Bill was