The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-08 00:00:00

famine, with all its attendant evils, will be driven !
from our shores.

Happily, too, this year a greater portion of the sail
than heretofore has been devoted to cereal products,
and there has been a corresponding diminution in the
quantity applied to the growth of the potato. The
class of persons, too, by whom it has been planted are
those who will be better enabled to bear the loss, and
who can more readily provide a substitute in the in-
fected fields. For these reasons, therefore, there
is little cause to dread a repetition of the har-
rowing scenes of the past and of the early part of the
present year. We can depend on the energies of
our countrymen, when fully apprised of the nature,
extent, and character of the emergency they
have to encounter and the diffulties they
have to overcome. The real evil is generay
fearfully aggravated by any undue panic; that should
chiefly be avoided. There is not the slightest occa-
sion for any such fear; we are no longer dealing
with a secret and it sidious foe; we know his
strength ; let us nerve ourselves for the contest ; let
us not cast away a chance from apathy or negligence,
but boldly and manfully face the danger, and there
can he no doubt of the final success of our efforts. In
the meantime we trust that the Agricultural Improve-
ment Society will continue to instruct the public as
to the course to be adopted, and that all competent
persons will furnish the result of their investigations.

A letter from Hamburgh dated the 29th ult. states
that the dearth of provisions has occasioned a frequent
interchange of notes between the states composing the
German Customs Union, and that delegates are named
to meet in congress at Berlin, to agree upon new re-
gulations, and a new tariff of duties upon corn and
the other necessaries of life.
The Treaty of Commerce and Navigation be-
tween Naples and Prussia, acting in the name of
the Zollverein, which was concluded the 27th
January last, has just been ratified. It establishes
perfect reciprocity, and enacts, first, that merchandise
' and products coming from Prussia and the states of
the Zollverein shall pay 10 per cent. less than the
merchandise and products coming from other states
now pay according to the Neapolitan tariff; and next,
that Prussia engages itself to obtain the consent of
the Zollverein to the importation of oil in casks to the
states of the Zollverein at 20 per cent. less than it
pays at present.

A letter from Rome of the 221 ult. says—

" I should in vain attempt to tell you the painful effect
caused here by the intelkence of the death of the Li-
berator of Ireland, Mr. O'Connell. From the Sovereign
Pontiff himself down to the lowest inhabitant (1 the Queen
City, all hearts are profoundly sad. On 15th June a solemn
mass of requiem will be celebrated in one of the principal
churches of Rome, and the first of Italian preachers, the
Rev. Father Ventura, will pronounce the funeral oration of
the great man who has rendered so many Pervices to the
Catholic world. The heart of O'Connell is now placed in the
ancient church of St. Agatha, which is served by the priests
of the Irish College. They are to celebrate a solemn service
for the illustrious deceased next Monday, and it will be the
friend of O'Connell, the veherable Dr. Cullen, superior of
this pious and learned community who will officiate "
. _ _ .

Cardinal AIICARA, Dean of the Sacred College,
died on the 24th ult., at the age of seventy-two.

Madrid papers of the 30th and 31st ult. have been
received.

M. BnuNELLT, the Pope's Nuncio, arrived in
Madrid on the 29th.

Senor PACHECO has given his sanction to the pro-
tocol agreed to in London between the representa-
tives of the four powers, authorising intervention in
Portugal.
Count MELLo, it was reported, had separated him-
self from SA DA BANDEIEA, and retired towards the
Spanish frontier, where he was organizing a force
for the renewal of hostilities.

The rumour of the restoration of ESPARTERO to all
his honours has been revived.

MADRID, Burs,►, MAY 31.—The Three per Cents.
were done at 294 for cash ; the Four per Cents.
at 18 ; the Five per Cents. at 181 ; the Debt without
Interest at 51; and the Coupons at 15.

We have received the Paris papers of Friday and
Saturday.
The affair of the Chamber of Peers and of M. EMILE
DE GIE.AnniN is the great subject of comment. The
nature of the charge made by M. EMILE DE GIRARDIN,
and for the bringing of which M. DE Powrots moved
that be be summoned to the bar of the Chamber, ap-
pears from the following article in the Coma-
tutionnel

"It is this day that the Chamber of Deputies will examine
in the bureaux the decision by which the Chamber of Peers
has summoned to its bar M. de Girardin, Deputy, the respon-
sible editor of the Presse. Before according or refusing the
authorisation to proceed against that gentleman, the Cham-
ber of Deputies ought to be informed of all the facts which
may affect its vote. The Chamber is guardian of the in-
violability of all its Members, and oug,t not on slight
grounds to deliver them up to any tribunal whatever. The
higher the tribunal which summons a Deptvy to its bar,
the more circumspection ought the Chamber of Deputies to
exercise in the previous examination which it makes of the
case. This is the state of the question. The Presse as-
serted that the Epoque had existed by the traffic of promises
of peerages, which were sold for 80,000 f each. It was asked
in the Chamber of Peers whether that could be considered an
insult to the Chamber, and whether consequerely, art. 15 of
the law of March 25,1822, was applicatie. It is certain that
there is something otheure, and which ought to be
cleared up, in the assertion of the Presse. If we are well
informed, M. E. de Girardin said on Thursday in the
Chamber, in the midst of a numerous group of his colleagues,
that he had in his possession proof that a sum of 80,000 f. had
been paid ,nt, the office of the _Epoque, in exchange for the
promise of a peerage—such promise being besides made with
the knowledge of a Aliniste, I However the individuals who
treated with the Epoque did not, it appears, obtain a return
fur their sacrifice, the complete execution of their
bargain, since they were not afterwafds-en,minated peers. It
the facts have passed in that Way—it M. E. de Girardia can
give proofs of it, or even if thole are strong presumptions in
favour of his allegation, it is impo-.sible that the Chamber ~t
D: nnies can authorise the proceedings. In fact-Ist, the
consideration of the Chamber of Peers is not involved in the
question, since no:Le of its Illhinhers is designated, even in-
directly by the journalist; 2dly, the true culprit, in that
hypatliesi, is the Minister who was aware of the shameful
bargain, and not the journalist whodenounced it. If it is true
that a journal was able to sell ptivil,ges of theatres, titles
of nobility, premises of peerages, &c., the offence consists
in having authorised such bargains, and not in revealing
them to the world. We can' therefore, only consider the
resolution of the Chamber of Peers as the beginning of an
investigation. The Chamber of Deputies has the matter now
before it, and it has a right to interrogate that one of its
members who is concerned in the matter, and to arrive at
the truth."

From a long article in the Presse we quote the
following :

"Did the Presse say that the peerage has in its ranks
peers who have ourehtised their nomination by money ? No;
the rresse said 'nothing of the kind ; it only said that pro-
mises of the peerage were sold for 80,0001. I It said nothing
more. The Chamber of Peers admits the peers, but does not
nominate them ; and it only admits them atter an investiga-
tion into their litres and conduct. Thu.:, as Vice-pre,ident
Willie and M. C. Dupin justly observed yesterday, in no
case can the enunciation of the Press. be considered as ad-
dressing itself to the Chamber of Peers. Far from seeing
in that enunciation an offence, the p.erage, on the contrary,
should have considered it as the cry of a sentinel watct ing
over its honour, especially when it. was uttered by the only
journal which has constantly defended it."

After alluding to some analogous cases iu which st
different course was pursued, the Preve says—

" Would net M. de Girardin, as a deputy, have had the
right, in the sittieg of the llth February, to ascend the tri-
bune after M. Gustave de Beaumont, and to say : The lion.
Gentle -min who has just en umerated several teas relative to
the publication of a journal has declared to you that lie
would not add others because the Chamber is too much
fatigued. Let me, however, add one: a promise of the
peerage has been made to a person worthy in every respect
to be promoted to that dignhy but that promise was made
on the coralition that he would assure the prolongation of the
existence 4,f a Ministerial journal ab',ut to die, by means of
the payment of a sum of 80,000 francs?' Would M. de
Girard* in expressing such a feet at the tribune, have been
more exposed to be called to order than were M. Dupin and
Luneau in speaking of places in the Cour des Comptes
sold for money, or than M. Gustave de Beaumont in recount-
ing how much the concession of a certain privilege for a
theatre had brought to the cash-box of a certain journal?
Would not M. de Girardin have been in the pleni:ude of his
right? Assuredly. Explain then how a fact, which he
would have been allowed to declare at the tribune without
being called to order, can transform itself into an offence,
because he printed it before saying it, instead of saying it
before he printed it ? The Chamber of Peers, which at first
had only tile desire to enlighten itself with respect to a fact,
when once on the incline, allowed itself to follow without
clearly perceiving it, the attraction of an unreflecting sus-
ceptibility. That is what will certainly be shown to it by
the discussion which cannot fail to take place at the ibune
of the Chamber of Deputies, which M. de Girardin is impa-
tient to ascend, not to excuse himself; but to reject indig-
nantly the offence done to his character, his principles, and
his convictions, by those who have supposed that he could
have for one single moment the intention to cause the
slightest iejury to the consideration of the peerage and of its
members."

' On Saturday the Chamber of Deputies met in the
Bureaux, to appoint a committee to decide on the ex-
pediency of acceding to the request of the Chamber
of Peers for the appearance of M. EMILE DE
GIRARDIN at their bar. In the first bureaux M. DE
GIRARDIN declared that he intended no disrespect to
the Peerage, his only object being to unmask the
Ministry. The Committee chosen consisted of
MM. PAILLET, LEON DE MALEVILLE, LAVELLE,
MARRY, GILLON, DELANGLE, ST. AIGNAN, COE-
STORE, and D'HAUSONVILLE. Of the-e all, except
the two first, have declared that the request of
the Chamber of Peen; should be granted.
The Journal des Deba:s has a long article demon-
strating the necessity of the immediate adoption of