The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-25 00:00:00

tenuity, Honourable Members come forward as though
for the express purpose of making themselves ridiculous :
in this attempt they succeed to the heart's content of

everybody. These gentlemen in their particular walk
are heroes ; their conduct should excite the grati-
tude of the House, as no doubt it does.

The witticisms of Colonel SIBTHORP have been

diluted through a hundred repetitions to an absurdity of
the stalest description : even the arch-comedian of the

Commons, Mr. FERRAND, has become a trifle more

sparing in the display of his great genius as a burlesque
actor. hence, any one who will undertake to immolate
himself in the cause of the vis comica, and, at the sa-
crifice of his personal sobriety, will take upon himsel!
the office of Parliamentary droll, surely merits the con-
sideration of his brother representatives. Never did
SIEENUS call forth such hilarity from the jovial gods of
Olympus as that elicited yesterday evening in the Lower
House, by a certain inimitable Mr. RASHLEIGH. After
hearing the loud and protracted mirth with which our
Legislators greeted each point of that Hon. Member's
address, we could not but entertain a shrewd suspicion
that the Roman RadiculizEdicula, or Chapel of Laugh-

ter, which occupied, in ancient times, such a consp

cuous position by the Gate Capena, was in reality no-
thing more than a kind of Latin Parliament, with some
such an officiating priest as the Hon. Member for East
Cornwall. He planted himself boldly on the floor of the
House, and produced with that triumphant coolness
which a man generally exhibits on broaching some
novel and unanswerable species of logic, the identical
scarecrow of opposition, which has been worn so terribly
threadbare by the protectionists. He taunted the
Prime Minister, in short, with his " tergiversation," and
gratified the Commons by reading long passages from a
speech delivered by that Right Hon. Baronet on a pre-
vious occasion. He recalled, in the most pensive terms,
those days when the motions of the Member for
Wolverhampton were treated with " silent contempt," and

negatived by "large majorities." He conjured the prelates,
with all the solemnity of the last of the Tribunes, to vindi-
cate the interests " of their order, of the throne, and of the
cottage," beholding them, as he imagined, crumbling away
beneath the oppression of cheap beef and accessible biscuits.
But it was the indignation of Mr. RASIILEIGII, when he re-
proved the llonourable Gentlemen around him for smiling,
which we regard as the greatest triumph of his performance.
In a paroxysm of scorn he accused Sir JAMES GRAIIA3I of
smiling; his feelings were outraged ; the Right Hon. Baronet
" had no right to smile." As might be conceived, the risibility
of the Home Secretary became remarkably infectious—a cir-
cumstance which only served, however, to heighten the
amazement and indignation of Mr. RASHLEIGIL He in-
veighed in the bitterest terms upon the smiles of Mr. Con-
DEN, the smiles of Mr. VILLIERS, the smiles of Mr. M. GIB-
SON, and the smiles of "all the crew behind them." And
after a very artistic amplification of his drollery, con-
cluded with the choice peroration, that" he could not allow
himself to be drawn through the muck and mire of expedi-
ency to adopt the new notions of the Right Hon. Gentleman."
After this, the Member for Knaresborough may retire from
the boards; his powers are eclipsed; as the theatrical critics
would say, "the success of the new comedian is most grati-
fying and triumphant." But, regarding the matter in a common-
sense light, with an eye to public business, and the good of
the community, what possible benefit to themselves or
any one else do the agriculturists imagine for one moment
can result from such silly specimens of irasciblity as that of
the Hon. Member for East Cornwall? Ought not the feel-
ing of very shame at their own incapacity to prompt them to
submit calmly and silently to the decrees of the popular will?
The reproof of such folly, uttered by Mr. F. BARING, was
pointed and well-timed. "However able,' said he, "or in-
dependent might be those who formed a Government for the
purpose of carrying out the principles of protection, I have
no doubt whatever as to the result,—they would soon find
themselves compelled to follow the principles of their prede-
cessors. Agitation was not the tree cause of the defeat
of those who advocated the principle of protection ; it was
reason, justice, truth, by which they were betrayed. They
were silently undermined by the stream of time, because their
castle was built upon the sand."
If the protectionists would only accede to the broad facts
that stare them ever in the face, we might be spared the in-
fliction of much nonsense in the shape of their own advocacy,
though at the same time we should be mulcted of no little
laughter. When the entire commercial system of Great
Britain is thrown into a state of indecision or stagnation it
is not the time, however, for such supernumeraries as Mr.
RASIILEIGII to be tampering with the time of the House.

We have received Madrid papers of the 17th inst,
the day after the remarkable scene which occurred in
the Chamber of Deputies, and which evidently foreboded
some desperate plot on the part of NARVAEZ and the
QUEEN-MOTHER. The coup d'ctat which was carried
into effect on the 18th, was not then precisely foreseen,
but from what occurred at the Palace on the evening of
the 16th, the schemes of NARVAEZ were placed beyond
a doubt. According to the Espanol, the QUEEN, after
the meeting of the Camber of Deputies, sent for MIRA-
FLORES and his colleagues, and desired them to dissolve
the Cortes. The Ministers represented to her MAJESTY
that, not having experienced any opposition from the
Cortes in the exercise of their official power, and the
Cortes having given them marks of their sympathy and
confidence, it was impossible for them to put in force a
measure which they could not conscientiously recom-
mend to her MAJESTY. They added, however, that
they would respectfully lay at her MAJESTY'S feet their
resignation, that her MAJESTY might, at her pleasure,
nominate Ministers who might believe that they ought
to carry this desire into execution. The QUEEN accepted
their resignation, and the Ministers withdrew. This
was exactly what NARVAEZ wanted. He then appointed
the members of his Cabinet, all tools fit for his purpose,
and by suspending the Cortes and the liberty of the
press assumed dictatorial power. In order that the
army may be more at his command, he has dismissed
General CONCHA, and several superior officers opposed
to his violent measures, and supplied their places with
men suited to his desperate purposes. It is a curious
fact, that the funds during this crisis have rather im-
proved. The following are the quotations on the Ma-
drid Bourse for the 17th :—Three per Cents., 29 15-16
at 30 days; Five per Cents. not quoted; Bank of St.
Ferdinand, 255; Bank of Isabella, 168; Canal of Castile,
142; Company of Iris, 130; Exchanges on London, 37k;
Paris, 16 6.

In the French Chamber of Deputies the motion rela-
tive to the dissolution of the National Guard of certain
large towns came on for discussion. M. DUCIIATEL, the
Minister of the Interior, was the first speaker, and said
"he addressed the Chamber at the very commeneement of
the discussion in order that the real state of the question
might be understood. Ministers, he said, had dissolved
the National Guard of two largo towns, Toulouse and
Carcassonne, in consequence of disturbances having
broken forth in the body itself. At Toulouse the disso-
lution was pronounced at the period of the census, in
consequence of the disturbances that took place in that
city. It might be said that calm was now re established.
Yes, but the Government was responsible for the main-
tenance of order, and from what it know of the
state of the public feeling there, it deemed it
prudent to let the National Guard remain as it was, dis-
solved. At Carcassonne, a most violent spirit of disorder
had reigned in the National Guard. Notwithstanding all
the representations made to the contrary, the members
of that body had persisted in naming as their colonel,
BARI3ES, who had been condemned by the Chamber of
Peers, and who was undergoing his punishment at Mont
St. Michel. Such were the facts, and he conceived that
the Government was fully justified in acting as it had
done. He therefore called upon the Chamber to vote
&gaol the moan." Aftor MO marks from