The Sun.
London, England, 1840-01-18 00:00:00

expected, spread into angry personalities, which justify ,
all the apprehensions which may be entertained from
discussing such vague and undefined questions. The
reader will, however, be amused by the angry conten-
tions, though they may derogate from the dignity of
the House. Finally, the motion that Mr. BTofanaLe
had committed a breach of privilege was affirmed by
249 to 100.
Lord JOHN RUSS= then moved that he be com-
mitted to the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms.
Sir E. KNATCHBULL moved, as an amendment, that
the House having suffered jgdgment to go by default,
was not in a condition to take further proceedings.
After another protracted debate, Lord JOHN 11133-
sELL'a motion was carried by 239 to 105.
Another division took place on adjourning till Mon-
day, or proceedin., this day, and it was decided that the
Under Sheriffs should be ordered to attend this day.
The Report on the Address was agreed to, and at
One o'Clock the House adjourned.

The Meeting of Parliament has disappointed us.
We did not expect from her MAJESTY'S Speech
more than we have received. It was the business
of Ministers, as they, in fact, avowed, so to draw it
up as to excite the least possible objection, and
they succeeded. They said as little as needs be.
Balanced as parties are, when a false step might
make a dozen moderate men desert them, and dis-
solve the Government, they cannot adopt a bold
line of policy, or recommend grand and comprehen-
sive measures. We are not, therefore, at all disap-
pointed that the Ministers, either in their own
speeches, or in the Royal Speech, made no allusion
to the Corn-laws. It is quite consistent with
their position and the responsibility which weighs
on them, that they should confine their attention to
promoting the union of the Canadas, to regulating
steam navigation, to providing a suitable income
for Prince ALBERT, to promoting some petty re-
forms in the Church, to taking additional measures
to suppress the African slave trade, and to renew-
ing their often defeated plan for reforming the Irish
Corporations. We find no fault with Ministers.
But we are both surprised and disappointed to
find one House engaged in a discussion about
affirming the Protestantism of Prince ALBERT,
and the other turning with all the eagerness
of strong passion to the vindication of their
own privileges. We think with Lord BROUGHAM
and Lord WINCHILSEA, that the country,
owing to the peculiar feelings which are now
nourished amongst the different classes, and the
diametrically adverse opinions they entertain, is in
an extraordinary, not to say dangerous, condi-
tion ; and it is unworthy of one House to consider
the religion of the QUEEN'S Consort an important
matter, and of the other to waste the best part of
two nights already about Mr. STOCKDALE.
Last night the House was again employed on
this subject, wreaking, as it appears to us, its ven-
geance on a man who certainly defeated the
House of Commons, but who has acted ac-
cording to that high authority, the law, which
the House of Commons requires all men to obey,
as their highest duty. Mr. STOCKDALE has acted
according to law, so say the authorized interpreters
of the law, to question whose interpretation is justly
considered impertinent, and for this the House of
Commons, we think vindictively, seeks to punish
him. It would be much better to allow the indi-
vidual case to be forgotten, and provide against all
such cases in future by statute which the Judges
would then be compelled to obey.
To prosecute this trifling matter now—trifling,
at least, in the eyes of all but the House of Com-
mons—gathering round it all the heats of party
strife, and all those strong and angry feelings
which the course of events has kindled through-
out the land, seems to us most ill-timed and pre-
posterous. To discuss the privileges of the
House in newspapers is a harmless trespass on the
public ; but to make an individual a victim to them
who has had recourse to the law, is a mischievous
proceeding. We are disappointed that no
independent Member of the House of Commons,
unencumbered with official responsibility, has before
this risen to tell the House that it is wasting the
public time, and trifling with the public feeling.
If the House stood well with all the people,—if

its authority were not scorned by many—if great
masses did not say, We will not petition the House
of Commons, because we have no confidence in it,
and we will prevent other persons from petitioning,
it, because it is useless addressing such a cor-
rupt, ill-constituted assembly—if all the affairs
of the country were going on smoothly—if there
were no Chartist outbreaks, no religious dissensions,
no insidious attacks on property, no hunger nor
dread of hunger in the country—if commerce were
flourishing and the revenue increasing, we should not
much blame the Commons for disporting themselves
with a little love of vengeance, or with a little in-
dulgence of authority. But when the State is
shaking almost to its foundation, when the Legisla-
ture is contemned and the people are suffering, to
busy themselves about their privileges, except by
passing a law to settle what they are, is paltering
with the existing evils. We hope, however, that
such a course will not be continued, and that some
Members of the Commons will be found, before
many days pass away, to follow Lord BROUGNAM'S
lead, an:. ask the House to lay aside selfishness,
and consider, not its own privileges, but the condi-
tion of the empire.

The Legislative Council and the House of Assembly
of Upper Canada, have adopted—the former by a ma-
jority of thirteen votes to six, the latter by a majority
of twenty-nine to twenty•one—the resolutions of the Go-
vernment for Legislative Union of the Provinces of
Upper and Lower Canada. The importance of this
intelligence cannot be overrated. We cannot better
express our own sentiments respecting it, than by adopt-
ing the words of our liberal Contemporary, the Alan:-
iny Advertiser :
When his Excellency the present Governor was ap-
pointed to control the destinies of the Canadas, nothing
could exceed the virulence of the Tory press in their ex-
pressions of disapprobation of the appointment. " Stop the
Pique," said the Times—" Rebellion in Canada," said the
Post—" Both provinces lost to the British empire," said
the Standard; and what is the result ? Why, that no-
thing in the Lower Province could exceed the reception
with which he was met, and that in the Upper he has carried
a measure beneficial to the Canadas, which had been pre-
viously deemed hopeless by Lord Durham for years to come.
Such a triumph, such a victory, has rarely, if ever, been
achieved by any public officer ; it is a triumph in every
respect. It is a triumph over Tory opposition of the
basest and the most unmanly description—it is a triumph
over the family compact which has hitherto been the bane
of the Canadas—it is a triumph over prejudices supposed
to be unconquerable—it is a triumph against the desire of
the United States to annex the Canadas to their already
overgrown Union—and, finally, we believe it to be a
triumph, not only of a financial, but of a moral principle,
over interested objects and selfish conclusions.

Letters and Papers from Madrid of the 9th instant
have reached us. They contain, however, no news of
any interest, except that the Five per Cents. closed at
28i for cash, and at 29 for 60 days—a great improve-
ment, considering the state of the country.
We have likewise received letters from Saragossa of
the 10th, which state that ESPARTERO was then making
vest preparations for attacking Segura, which he was
about to head in person. He was to be accompanied
by General AYERBE, who proceeded on the 10th to
Alcoriza from head-quarters, to take the command of
the 3d division. CABRERA was still indisposed, but his
life was considered out of all danger.

-
On Thursday the French Chamber of Deputies
adopted the Address in answer to the Speech from the
Throne. When the debate on the several paragraphs
was hi ought to a close, and the whole Address put to
the vote, it was carried by a majority of 169—only 43
votes being given against it.
The Address having been adopted, M. PASSY, the
Minister of Finance, laid the Budget for the ensuing
year upon the table. The last year presented a surplus
of 12,000,000 of francs over and above the whole ex-
penditure. He next brought forward the draught of a
Bill for reducing the interest on the Five per Cents. to
four and a halt per cent. As the KING is known to be
personally opposed to this measure, it is not expected to
pass during the present Session of the Chambers.
Various rumours reached Paris respecting the murder
of the French officers by the Persians at Erzeroum, and
hopes were entertained that the first account would
prove to have been incorrect. It is stated in one letter
that HUSSEIN KHAN attempted to violate the person of
the wife of his French physician, and this infamous out-
rage was the real cause of the subsequent atrocities
committed by his attendants.

BOURSE.—PAkts, THURSDAY, JAN. 18.
First Highest Lowest Last
Price Price. Price price
French 5 per Cents in 95 ... 112 '5... 111 95 ... 1:2 25
4 per Cents lO4 40 . te4 40 ... 104 40 ... 10t 4,1
3 per Cents BO 9J .. 31 5 ... 80 90 ... 81 5
Bank of France 3045 ...2045 ...3045 ...3045
Latfitte Ba ik I,ooof. Sh lO4O ...1040 ...H4O ...I' 40
5,000 f. Sb 5170 ...5185 ...5170 _5035
Belgian Bank 875 ... 875 ... 865 ... 8; ti
5 per Cents 102% ... 162% ... 102% ... 102%
3 per Cents 7l ... 71 ... 71 ... 71
Spanish Active 26% ... 26% ... '26 ... 26
Passive tiy, ... 6%, ... 6% ... ti3v,
New ihferrel
Portuguese 3 per Cents
ii2A
...
1V,5
......
.2%.
N e a 0 o I i t a n
1( ... 102 k ... 102 ... 192%
Roman
ItAILW. SHARES.
St. (;ermain
'4OO 500 ... 497 50 ... 497 50

%'ersailles, K. B 143 5'2 ***
L.B. 5O ... 34 .i‘2. 0 ... 5C ... 3411
t'sOrleans ..
n .. SSO
Nlulhausen to Thann..
Strasburg to Bale 3,2,1 50 "'3.23 75 ... 1.7 50 ... 3132