The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-13 00:00:00

THIS EVENINI3

Will be perfortiaidl the Popular Play c)fTIIF: LADY OF LYONS.
Claude Melnotte, Mr. Phelps; Pauline Deechapelles, Miss Cooper ;
supported by the Sadler's Wells Company.
After which the admired Drama of NORAH CREINA.
To conclude with Nautical Drama of BEN THE BOATSWAIN.
Manager and Treasurer, Mr. B. S. Falrbrether.

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.
Proprietor, Mr. W. Batty.
Last Week but Three of the Season, arrangements having been made
for the appearance of the Equestrian portion of the Establishment
at Edinbargh.
Appearance of M. Plege, the renowned Tignt-rope Dancer, and of
Mr. G. Parish, in his astonishing exercises on the Slack-rope.
Triumphant success of the Popular Equestrian Spectacle of Mazeppa,
which has been nightly received with enthusiasm.
Brilliant career of Lady Godiva.
Unparalleled Equestrian Feats.
THIS EVENING,
Will be performed Lord Byron's Hippodramatic Spectacle of
MAZEPPA; or, The Wild Horse.
To be followed by the inimitable EQUESTRIAN and GYMNAS-
TIC EXERCISES in the ARENA.
To conclude with a Grand Pageant, entitled LA DT GODIVA
AND PEEPING TOM OF COVENTRY; or, Clearing the Toll.
Box-office open from Eleven till Five.
Stage Manager, Mr. W. West.

ROYAL SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.
Attraction unprecedented,
LAST FLOWER SHOW of the Season THIS DAY.
Third appearance of MISS TOIVNSEND.
Continuation of MISS SARA FLOWER.
The DAYLIGHT VIEW of ROME, by Danson.
Superb and Unique MENAGERIE.
grand Display of FIREWORKS, by the Messrs. Southby.
No Extra Charge.
MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, and

FRIDAY.
View of Rome —Promenade Concerts, Vocal and Instrumental,
ennducted by Mr. TUT VON. The splendid and of Solo Performers
indikleS Messrs. 11. Collins, Cioffl, George and Viotti Collins, Richard-
son, &c.—Two Solos will be performed each Evening by Artists of
Eminence.—Several favourite Songs and a Duet by Miss Sara Flower
and Miss Townsend—The Programme will contain a choice selection
of popular Quadrilles and Walt2es.—Also to be seen, during the day,
the beautiful Menagerie—Shakspere's House—The Magic Bridge—
and other novelties will be exhibited, the whole concluding with
a most magnificent and not to be rivalled display of Fireworks, which
elicited such rapturous approbation on the occasion of M. Jullien's
Benefit, by the Messrs. Southby
Gates open at Ten A.M., Feeding Time Five—Concert at Half-past

Five—Fireworks at Half-past Eight.
The Last Grand Flower Show of the Season will take place THIS
DAY, September 13, on a Scale of most extraordinary magnificence
for the exhibition of Dahlias, &c.
Admission, as usual, One Shilling.

THE WEATHER.--SIIN OFFICE, SEPTEMBER 13.
TEIERMOMETER, Lowest, 40; Highest, 54; soon, 55,
BAROMETER, 30.36.
WIND S.W.; fine sunshiny weather.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE THIS DAY.
Morning .. SO min. after 1 I Evening .. 10 min. after 2

a well-known nobleman, who is as remarkable for his
humanity as he is for his high scientific
attainments, and who is a magistrate for the county
in which the asylum is situated, and in a short time
the alleged lunatic was set at liberty, and now re-
sides in private lodgings. Here then was a case
in which the law was violated, and in which the party
aggrieved had no opportunity of appealing to any
authority until ten months after his incarceration—in
which the Commissioners, notwithstanding such vio-

ation of the law, continued him in custody, although
they themselves admitted that he was not insane, and in
which they .neglected to take the evidence which
the alleged lunatic offered to prove that he was of
sound mind, but in which superintendent, Commis-
sioners, and all concerned, released the alleged lu-
natic from his confinement the moment they found a
stir was made about the case, and thus tacitly admitted
that they had been guilty of neglect and carelessness at
least, if nothing worse. The representation of the
case, as made to Sir GEORGE GREY, conveyed a dis-
tinct charge of ladies against the Commissioners in
Lunacy, and yet so completely is the Home Secretary
blinded by the. beaureaucratic spirit which impels every
official to keep the public from prying too closely
into official secrets, that he directs his secretary,
Mr. WADDINGTON, to inform the committee of the
Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society " that there does
not appear to be the slightest ground for complaint in
this case." It is as useless to complain to the Home-
office of the Commissioners of Lunacy as it was
under the GRAHAM regime to complain of the Poor-
law Commissioners, and as a Parliamentary inquiry
into the conduct of the Poor-law Commissioners
brought to light abuses of so flagrant a nature as to
necessitate the sacrifice of the Commission, so do we
believe a Parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of
the Commissioners in Lunacy would be followed by
a similar result.

In prosecuting their inquiries as to the best means
of promoting the dispatch of public business in the
House of Commons, the Select Committee appointed
for that purpose entered into a minute investigation
of the mode adopted in the French Assembly and in
the American House of Representatives. Their in-
formation on these heads was obtained from the
highest sources, M. GUIEOT being their informant as
related to France, and Mr. CURTIS, of New York,
who had been some years a member of Con-
gress, answering for America. The com-
parison thus instituted between the three
Houses of Legislature tends to exhibit in a
great degree the admirable qualities of our own.
The English House of Commons was the type of both
the French and American Chambers. "In the be-
ginning of our Constituent Assembly at the Revolu-
tion," said M. GuizoT, " MIRABEAU asked ETIENNE
DUMONT to give him a sketch of the proceedings of
the English House of Commons, and ETIENNE Du-
MONT gave to MIRABEAU such a sketch; it became
the model of the first rules of our National Assembly ;
so that in the beginning of our Revolution the pro-
ceedings of your House of Commons became the
source of ours. In 1814, when the Charter was
granted by the KING, the same rules were
adopted, with some changes." In the same
manner Mr. emu's says, " The rules and orders of
the House of Representatives at the establishment of
the Government in 1789 were nearly the same as
those of the House of Commons. They have been
since considerably varied, chiefly from the necessity
of facilitating the dispatch of public business." Thus
it appears that the general organization of the British
House of Commons has been adopted in the Assem-
blies of France and America, while i❑ both these
countries some practical alterations have been made
for the purpose of facilitating the dispatch of business.
Being likewise anxious to promote this very desirable
object, the Committee of: Inquiry] proceeded to con-
sider these alterations, in the hope that the English
House of Commons might, in its turn, be benefited
by the example of France and America. The prin-
cipal points of consideration were the practice of
closing a debate (La cloture) which exists in France,
and the " One-hour rule," which cuts short the
speeches of the orators of America.
The cloture is thus described by M.GUIZOT

" It was not in the first rules of the Constituent As-
sembly, but it was introduced afterwards. Before it
indefinitely,
and introduced the debates were protracted
and not only were the debates protracted, but at the
end, when the majority wished to put an end to the de-
bate, and the minority would not, the debate became
very violent for protracting the debate; and out of the
House, among the public, it was a source of ridicule.
Many laughed at the debates, and then a measure for
demanding the closing of the debate was introduced.
The proceeding is this—a Member, or some Members,
call La cl6ture,' the President puts it to the vote,
and if a Member in the minority wishes to object to it,
to oppose the closing of the debate, he can speak if he
wishes, but only one can speak. He gives his argument
against closing the debate, and the House hears his argu-
ment, and then the Speaker puts this question—' Must
the debate be closed?' "

In answer to questions from various Members of
the Committee, and a very apposite case exemplified
by Sir R. PEEL, M. GUIZOT still further developed
the practical effects of the cloture. He also declared
it as his opinion that the power had never been made
use of to put a stop to, discussion in an oppressive
manner. " Upon some special occasions," he ad-
mitted, " the minority have complained that the
debate was closed ; but generally, when the question
has been decided in the affirmative, the minority
have submitted without difficulty. I think the
majority never abused that power." So thinks M.
GUIZOT, and so it may be in fact ; yet, not-
withstanding such a supposition, we think it
would be advisable to pause before any
such arbitrary regulation is introduced entire
into the House of Commons. In the House of
Commons freedom of speech, with a facility to ex-
ercise that freedom, is not only a desideratum, but a
necessity. It is true that long and dry discourses
are most wearisome, and that some speakers appeal

rather to the dormant than to the intellectual facul-

ties, as is evidenced by the empty benches around
them and the crowded sofas:above. Still, tedious as

some speeches may be, it is better, infinitely better,
that the public time should be occasionally
wasted, and weary legislators indulged with
a doze at the public expense, than that by an untimely
use of the cloture a debate should be put an end to
ere the subject has been half discussed, and some
praiseworthy measure be stifled in its birth. Better
let us be annoyed by all the abuses attending a free-
dom discussion than suffer that freedom to be in
any the slightest degree interfered with: The

, They each gave a certificate authorising his incarce-
ration as a lunatic, and each alleged as the fact on
which he had formed his opinion, that the patient had
I threatened to destroy himself whilst under the influence
of intoxicating drinks. Now, as neither of these gentle-
I men had ever seen or had the slightest personal
i acquaintance with the alleged lunatic, until after his
incarceration in the asylum, and as it is not very pro-
bable that while so incarcerated he was permitted to
have access to intoxicating drinks, we presume
they must, after the manner of Sir Joins
FALSTAFF, have known "the fact" "by instinct.'
The alleged lunatic remained incarcerated in the
asylum for ten months before he was visited by the
Commissioners in Lunacy. When introduced to
them he informed them of the illegality of his seizure,
and complained of the injustice of his confinement;
and on his appealing to the superintendent, that gen-
tleman declared, in the presence of the Commis-
sioners, that he had never seen the least symptom of
insanity in the alleged lunatic since he had been in
the asylum. The Commissioners told him, on going
away, that they would do something for him
shortly. Two months after this he had
another visit from the Commissioners, who
informed him that there was no charge of in-
sanity against him, but that he must remain where
he was, as he was incapable of taking care of him-
self—but stated no fact in support of such opinion.
The alleged lunatic at once emphatically denied the
justice of the conclusion at which they had arrived,
and for proof of his competency to take care of him-
self, referred them to several of his relatives, to the
lady at whose house he was lodging when he was
seized, to his usual medical attendant, and to a person
at whose house he had lodged for nearly 20 years,
Shortly afterwards he communicated a statement of
his case to the Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society. The
Secretary called on the persons to whom the alleged
lunatic had referred the Commissioners (not one of
whom, however, had ever received the slightest com-
munication from the Commissioners), who fully bore
out all the statements made by the alleged lunatic to
the society. The committee of the society applied to

same, or a very similar argument applies to the
American " One-hour rule." Mr. CURTIS speaks
highly in its favour; he says it has greatly facilitated
the dispatch of business and improved the quality
of the speeches. This rule would be most
unwelcome, and little beneficial in St. Stephen's.
It is true it would materially condense Mr. ANSTEY'S
indignant denunciations of Lord PALMERSTON, hut
also it would disagreeably put a stop to those displays
of eloquence of which the House of Commons is oc-
casionally the theatre. Who would not lament were
the oratorical displays of Mr. MACAULAY (though
unhappily the rule would not now apply to him),
were the fervid eloquence of Mr. Slum, the brilliant
sallies of Mr. DISRAELI, or the statesmanlike orations
of Lord JOHN RUSSELL and Sir ROBERT PEEL con-
fined to sixty minutes by the clock ! The Committee
has done well in recommending neither the American
nor the French mode of shortening a debate. With
all its faults, the original system of the House of
Commons is superior to those of its imitators. Its
faults are those of its individual Members—faults of
which, we trust, last session has seen the last display.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
In consequence of the vote of the Assembly on
Monday, on the subject of the laws relating to the
press, M. EMILE DE GIRARDIN has retired from the
editorship of the Presse, and intends if elected to carry
on war against the Republic from the tribune. In
speaking of the vote of the Assembly, M. DE GIRAR-
DIN says, " The bearing of this vote is immense. The
authority of the chief of the executive power is now
unlimited. The liberty of the press has ceased to
exist in France."
It would appear from the electioneering pla-
cards with which the walls of Paris are
covered, that M. Emma DE GIRARDIN has
formed a coalition with Prince Louis NAPOLEON
and with M. EMILE THOMAS, ex-Director
of the Ateliers Nationaux. This union, representing
as it does military despotism, socialism, and Or-
leanism, is not so strange as at first sight it appears.
They are all united by their hatred to the Republic
of order, equality, and obedience to the law.
M. DUPOTY, who under the Louis Phillipist regime
was imprisoned at Mont St. Michel, by order of the
Chamber of Peers for " moral complicity" in the
plot of QUENESSET is also a candidate. The case of
DUPOTY was the first in which M. HEBERT ventured
to propound his atrocious doctrine of moral complicity.
It would appear as if the union between the Thiers
party and the Government had not been effected,
inasmuch as we find in the Constitutionnel a bitter
attack on the appointment of M. PASCAL DUPRAT as
Minister to Vienna.
The success of Prince Louis NAPOLEON at the ap-
proaching election for Paris seems certain, and some
persons are so sanguine as to imagine that his chance
of being elected President of the Republic is by no
means a bad one. Should, however, such an election
appear probable, it would rally round the Government
all Republicans of every variety of opinion. In-
deed, it is said that M. nocom intends to

propose a law for the exclusion from the Assembly

of all the members of all the families which have
ever reigned in France. The passing of such a law
would at once crush the hopes of all pretenders.
The debate of the Constitution was yesterday con-
tinued, and the Bth article of the preamble was
agreed to.

A Bill demanding five millions of francs for the
colonization of Algeria was introduced by General
LAMORICIERS.

The Moniteur publishes the following official con-
tradiction of the report which appeared in some of
the papers of the speech alleged to have been addressed
by General CAVAIGNAC to the decor& of June on
the subject of French mediation in the affairs of
Italy :

" Numerous conversations, and often strangely incor-
rect, are ascribed to the President of the Council. But
till now it has not appeared that the questions treated
were sufficiently grave to require rectification. It is
impossible, however, to leave without reply articles of
newspapers, from which it results that the Anglo-French
mediation had been imposed on Austria. Such allega-
tions, calculated to affect the just sentiment of the dig-
nity of governments, must be energetically rejected.
The Government of the Republic has only had to em-
ploy wise, firm, and measured considerations in the
Italian question. The character of menace remained as
far from its thoughts as from its language. It was in-
compatible with the nature of its relations with the
Austrian Government."

Count TEILELI arrived in Paris on Monday on a
mission from the Hungarian Government, and was
at once received by General CivAioNsic.

The Committee on Legislation has adopted the pro-
position of M. Louis BLANc, the object of which is to
interdict the publication of mctes craccusation in the
newspapers before the day of trial.

BOURSE.—PARis, MONDAY, SZPT. 12.
THREE O'CLOCIL—There was ♦ery little business done
to-day, and both Rentes and Railway Shares were ex-
ceedingly heavy. The Rentes went down towards the
close of the day, and their last prices were about k per
cent. below those of yesterday. There was, on the whole,
an uneasy feeling, both as regards the internal affairs of
France, as shown by the approaching elections, and the
state of Italy and Germany. For the Account, the
French Three per Cents. are the same as yesterday ;
Five per Cents. have fallen k per cent. ; Loan has fallen
50c. For Money, the Three per Cents. are about the
same as yesterday ; Five per Cents. have fallen 25c. ;
Loan has fallen 25c. ; Bons du TrCor not quoted; Bank
of France Shares are the same as yesterday ; Belgian
Bank Shares and Spanish Active not quoted ; Roths-
child's,Receipts are the same as yesterday. Exchange
on London: 30 days, 25f. 35c.; 90 days, 25f. 27fc.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, SEPT, 12.
Boulogne and Amiens, 6—Orleans and Bordeaux,
Paris and Lyons, 41,x.

•
r .0;
.j'i-4;•7'. 70* t 444.
111 r,
'7
.1 Prid. • Aviib
ps