The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-18 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1846.

The House of Commons met to. day for the first time after

the Easter recess.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'clock.
Sir W. HFATRCOTE brought up the report of the Commit-
tee on the Wigan election, declaring that the Honourable

James Lindsay had been duly elected.
Several Private Bills were read a second time, and ordere
to be committed.

Mr. PROTIIEROE moved, pursuant to notice, that Group
XIV. should have leave to sit and proceed with the matters

before them on Monday, the 21st of April, notwithstanding

the resolution of the House of the 7th inst.

Sir G. CLERK opposed the motion, which was ultimately
withdrawn. _

Mr. O'C,o:INELT. gave notice of his intention, on Tuesday
next, to move for leave to bring in a Bill to enable the county

of Cerk to return two additional Members.

-. --....._
Mr. D. lifftowNE wished to know whether the Govern-
ment had received any official intelligence respecting the
fearful state of parts of the south of Ireland? He alluded to
the fact more particularly of waggons and other conveyances
loaded with wheat and flour being seized by the people in
several parts of ireianu.
Sir R. PEEL said that the post every day brought to him-
self and the other Members of the Government accounts of
what was taking place in Ireland. He thought, generally
speaking, the people of Ireland bad borne their pri-
vations in the most exemplary manner. Every effort had been
made by the Irish Government to mitigate the sufferings
which the Irish people were enduring.

On the question for the resumption of the debate on the

Irish Life and Property Protection Bill.
Mr. S. O'BRIEN contended that the provisions that had
been made by the Government were totally inadequate to
meet the necessities of the people of Ireland. Every Irish Mem-
ber would lose the confidence of their countrymen if they did
not resist this measure from its beginning to its end. He felt
convinced that this Bill would never pass the ordeal of the
House of Commons. He believed that whatever calamities
might take place in Ireland the Government were respon-
sible.

Sir J. GRAHAM could assure the House, if it was neces-
sary that he should do so after what he had previously stated,
that the Government were not unmindful of the present con-
dition of Ireland, and that no steps had been neglected
by them to investigate it. It was never supposed by the
Government that the measures adopted for the supply of food
in Ireland would totally meet the demand, but it was thought
that it would place upon a better footing the supply and
demand for that commodity. Everything had been done,
and would be continued to be done by the Government, to re-
lieve the wants of the people of Ireland. He trusted that
Hon. Members would allow the debate on the first reading to
proceed, in order that a decision might be come to with respect
to it as soon as possible.
Mr. E. B. Roam assured the House that the landlords of
Ireland, with the exception of the absentees, were doing all in
their power to alleviate the miseries of the people of Ireland,
and trusted that the Government would adopt more stringent
means of furnishing food to the people of that unhappy

country.
Sir R. PEEL said that however much the Government
might be blamed for their apathy towards Ireland, he was
sure that when all that they had done to relieve the dis-
tresses of that unhappy country was known that blame
would be changed into approbation. It was necessary that
the Government should be cautious, in the course they were
pursuing with respect to the introduction of food into Ireland,
in order that no false reliance might be placed upon them by
those who privately would do all in their power to relieve the
distress of their own countymen.
After some observations from Mr. C. Powell, Sir William
Somerville, Mr. W. Collett, Mr. O'Connell, Mr. M'Carthy,
Colonel Verner, Mr. John O'Connell, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr.
Ward, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Mr. Jose O'BEtiglr resumed the adjourned debate on the
Irish Life and Property Protection Bill. He considered the
measure fraught with the most dangerous consequences ;
and he should, therefore, give it his most determined op-
position.
Mr. C. POWELL and Mr. WARD also opposed the first
reading of the Bill.
lir. IT Cxx yr.'. .na Mc M_ Gnurc sunnorted the reading
Mr. J. COLLETT also opposed the Bill, which he designated
as one of the most atrocious that had ever been introduced
into the House of Commons.
Mr. Joan O'CoNNELL moved the adjournment of the de-
bate.

Mr. Swim O'BRIEN seconded the motion.
After some discussion, in which Sir B. PEEL, Mr. E.
ELLIcE, and Mr. Du.r.ox BROWN took part, the House di-
vided, and the motion of the adjournment of the debate was
lost by a majority of 57.
Mr. E. B. ROcHE then moved that the House do now
adjourn.

After some discussion the motion was withdrawn, and the
debate was adjourned to Monday.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and the
House adjourned.

The renewed attempt upon the life of Louis
Pxr-
LIPPE, though made by an isolated individual, and pro-
bably deranged in his intellect, cannot fail to produce a
strong sensation in the courts of Europe, not because there
is a general disaffection to his government, or a wish on
the part of the people to get rid of a KING who has shown
himself one of the best friends of the human race, but
because the hand of a madman might in a moment
place the country under a regency, and compel all
the neighbouring states to put themselves on their guard
against any dangerous revulsion. The death of this
Sovereign would certainly have these effects, but we
are not inclined to think that it could have any other
material influence upon the political state of the world.
The Republican party in France, at one time the most
numerous, excepting that which preferred the Orleans
dynasty, and certainly the most dangerous to the peace
and security of society, has fallen off much within the
last few years. The disgraceful events which have dis-
tinguished the great republic in America, the insolvency
of many states able to pay all their debts, and from
whose disregard to every principle of honour and good
faith France has suffered severely ; the want
on the part of the Executive of all control
over the populace, as well as the State!Legislatures ;
the insolent manner in which the demand of a million
sterling was enforced upon the French Chambers, added
to the senseless and destructive dissensions which have
prevailed in a neighbouring republic, have done much to
dispel the beautiful visions cherished in 1830, and to
raise in public estimation a representative ,Government,
guided with moderation by a constitutional and limited
monarch. The Bonapartists are extinct, thanks to the
absolute folly of the state prisoner at Ham; so are
the Bourbonists. TRIERS and his party may
still dream about the boundaries of the Rhine,
but that object is not to be obtained with-
out many victories and the compulsion of the great
European powers. What was done in the early
days of the French Republic, and during the reign
of BONAPARTE, it is said may be done again ; Belgium
would at once throw itself into the arms of France
;
a
Holland could be overrun a second time, and few
great battles on the Danube and the Vistula would
bring Austria and Prussia, and perhaps also Russia to
terms. Circumstances, however, are much changed
since 1793. France then was very generally re-
garded as a model for other discontented and
misgoverned states. Her armies at first were
welcomed as messengers of freedom, and Germans
of almost every denomination except those in power
looked with complacency rather than fear at the pro
. i
gress of the French arms. They have since that period
learned what French liberty means; and such horror
did the tyranny, the robberies, and the insolence of Bo-
NApARTE and his myrmidons create throughout every
state, and kingdom, and empire to the east of the Rhine,
that any attempt on the part of France to re-establish
her dominion in Germany would be resisted to
the death by the people as well as their rulers.
It would be impossible to obliterate from the
minds of the Prussians the fearful recollections of that
galling yoke, of that system of military despotism
which weighed more or less upon every country and
every nation, but which they were made to feel with
tenfold more force than even their humbled and afflicted
neighbours. But, passing over the atrocious treat-
ment to which the successors of the Great FREDERICK
and his gallant companions in arms were sub-
jected, the general system adopted by this
merciless conqueror of the nineteenth century was
such as to alienate from France every sentiment of
regard and allegiance. It was absolutely a reign
of terror. It spared neither the conquerors nor the
conquered. His system literally carried into practice
in the zenith of his power was to throw enormous
masses into an enemy's country, without magazines,
without tents, without means of transport, without
hospitals, to depend entirely upon forced requisition and