The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-22 00:00:00

E SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY MORN] TiG, JANUARY 22, 1846.

the Duke of RICHMOND is the acknowledged leader of
the Bond-street bucolics, and, as it is, he goes so far
as to " hope that he shall lead the Peers to victory."
Well, then, we may look forward to an actual at-
tempt being made to make a country-gentleman
Government. The Duke of RICHMOND is ready to
try this ; which, assuredly, if it ever is tried, will be
a reductio ad absurdum of the English Constitntion.
We must suppose that the Duke knows what he is
about; but where is he to get his colleagues ?
or is he to begin by getting rid of half the offices in
the Government, having no persons fit to fill them ?
He may so make a virtue of necessity, and win popu-
larity by retrenchment. But has he any presentable
men at all in the Commons? In the Lords his diffi-
culties may not be so great. There are signs of Peers
who have always been supposed to be of temperate
character and moderate opinions rallying round the
RICHMOND banner. We refer more especially to
Lord CARNARVON and Lord ASHBURTON, atlthe Win-
chester meeting. But in the House of Commons, where
is the efficient capacity among bucolics ? Mr. WODE-
HOUSE is one of them—a leader among them : see his
dreadful exposure yesterday at Norwich. Mr. MILES,
Mr. BANKES, Mr. PUSHY, Mr. STAFFORD O'BRIEN,
Sir JoHN TROLLO-PE ; we have now mentioned all
who have any pretensions to intellect in the protec-
tionist section of the House of Commons. Who is
there to lead in the House of Commons for the Rich-
mond Ministry ? It will not be possible for him to
degrade a Peer, in order to get a decent leader in the
House of Commons ; but this revival of the not un-
usual practice of making a Peer, to get a fit leader in
the Upper House, would be his only chance of suiting
himself. But the idea of a Richmond Ministry is so
ridiculous, that the Duke can only speak of it in
order to incite his followers to opposition to Sir
ROBERT PEEL, and in the hope of so getting better
terms for the agriculturists, as Mr. O'CoNNam. uses
the question of repeal, to keep up agitation which,
though repeal is itself hopeless, will get, as it has
already got, much for Ireland.
In the Brighton speech, to which we have referred,
the Duke of RICHMOND also throws off all delicacy
in speaking of the Premier. He scouts the notion of
compensation, and "will not treat," he says, " with
a man whom he cannot trust." If the Duke of
RICHMOND has been mealy-mouthed heretofore, it
must be allowed that his language now comes
up to the full ideal standard of agricultural indigna-
tion at Ministerial treachery. No wonder that Lord
ARTHUR LENNOX is at last going. A place is • booked
for him, of course, in the Richmond Ministry. He
will be a Triton among minnows there.
We stated yesterday that several resignations
among officers of the Household, and subordinate
members of the Government, were expected next
week. There are rumours, also, that there will be
resignations yet of some Cabinet Ministers. Lord
RIPON and Lord GRANVILLE SOMERSET, it iS said,
are still going out. Lord SALISBURY, it is said, is
going to throw up the Lord-Lieutenancy of Middle-
sex, which he received from the present Government,
in disgust. We give these merely as rumours.
There is clearly a commotion in the camp. The par-

titular rumours which are in circulation may be in-
correct ; but so many rumours of dissensions and re-
signations never arise without some foundation. We
have but a short time more to wait for the mountain
to be delivered; the time of labour fast approaches,
and the throes seem very painful. What, after all, if
the birth be a mouse?

Nearer and nearer as we approach the momentous
session which is to decide the question so long and
so resolutely argued between protectionists and :free-
traders, more and more important become the opi-
nions expressed by the leaders of those two parties.
Hitherto, during the continuance of this national agi-
tation, the League doctrines and the agriculturist
doctrines have been fulminated in separate and inde-
pendent meetings. Auditors have been convened by the
advocates of the existing corn-laws, and those auditors
have been addressed exclusively by such men as
Lord BEAUMONT ; other auditors have been summoned
to assemble by the representatives of a free-trade
principle, and those auditors have listened solely to the
dogmas and deductions of such men as COBDEN : the
one party having made itself individually remarkable
for the very nonsensical character of its reasoning ;
the other individually remarkable for its catalogue
of unanswerable facts and equally unanswer-
able inferences. For the first time, however, on Tues-
day night these two antagonistic forces encountered
each other at Norwich, in the persons of Messrs.
COBDEN and WODBHOUSE ; a circumstance of the
mule peculiar interest from its being scarcely two
days antecedent to the period of opening Parliament.
As might readily have been anticipated from all his
previous orations upon the rotten system which at pre-
sent nominally protects, but actually cripples agricul-
ture, Mr.Conneses speech was merely another demon-
stration—clear and emphatic in its application—of the
absolute necessity of abolition ofrestrictions upon trade.
One point in the address was, nevertheless, particu-
larly worthy of observation, and came with exceeding
appropriateness to his audience ; it was in eluci-
dation of the perfect inefficacy of any interference on
the part of Parliament to benefit the landed interest.
" In 1815," said the speaker, " there was a law passed
to secure fifty shillings a quarter, and yet in 1822
it would appear, from one number of the
Norwich Mercury, there were no less than one hundred
and sixty-eight advertisements of farms to be sold.'
Assuredly this was a marvellous way of affording as-
sistance to landlords ; assuredly it was a rare instance
of sagacity, and forethought, and calculation, on the
part of the landed aristocracy. Yet it is in some
measure proportioned with the vast argumentative
wisdom of these agricultural orators. The promoters
of commercial freedom have done well in restrict-
ing their allusions to those frivolous and
abortive attempts to sly sarcasms and casual curlings
of the lip, when a more direct exposition of their
folly would have been an 'useless expenditure of
power—something tantamount to the employment
of an avalanche against the webs of a spider. If co-
operation on the part of the populace can be regarded
as a criterion upon the merits of a questions
undoubtedly the League must be acknowledged to
have obtained that criterion in their favour ;
and upon the present most imminent juncture it may
not possibly be considered antiquarian to revive that
old, and truthful, and oft-quoted ejaculation of
JUNIUS—" The people are seldom wrong in their
opinions, in their sentiments never." That those
sentiments have been evidenced almost unanimously
as coincident with the views of abolition, none
but a voluntary or involuntary dunce can gain-
say. Even upon this Norwich meeting, a
meeting convened with the approbation of the
local mayor, for the express purpose of eliciting a
free discussion upon both sides, the bulk of the
parties present were manifestly supporters of the
Anti-Corn-law League. Nor is it surprising that a
multitude of men, thoroughly convinced of the truth
and correctness of their views, should testify some
impatience at the repetition of the sound of those
phantom arguments which have recently issued, like
another Minerva, from the brains of the protectionists,
clad in the panoply of assurance. That Mr.WoDEuousE
should have called down upon himself the disapproba-
tion of a number of sensible persons cannot be matter
of astonishment, wlien we find him deserting the
track of controversy—neglecting the production of
any one single fact wherewith to sustain his posi-
tions—and contenting himself with the idle and self-
opinionated assertion, "That what is called free trade
is nothing more than a beautiful vision, existing only
in the imagination of philosophers and theorists, and
practically repudiated by all nations." Is this logic
—is it common sense—is it, in short, worthy of ob-
taining listeners ? Mr. WODEHOUSB declares, then,
that what the inhabitants of this kingdom are now
struggling for so vigorously and so manfully is a de-
lusion and a dream. Does Mr. WODEHOUSB call the
annihilation of import duties upon cotton, a dream—
the expunging of four hundred foreign articles
from the Customs-book, a dream—the abolition
of excise on glass, a dream ? and yet all
these are things already accomplished, as we yester-
day had occasion to remind the public, and all these
are but sections in the stupendous volume of free
trade. In this, as in divers other points, the argu-
ments advanced by the representative of Norwich
were misrepresentations of the question in the
most extravagant manner conceivable. Is not such a
§ntem of proceeding on the part of the agri-
Culturists a misprision of sound judgment ? For
within-a very brief time, what they proclaim to be a
chimera will rove a Brett, incontestible, and colossal

reality. The days of the corn-laws ate numbered ;
the landed interest is' aware of it, and, with the
desperation of the knowledge, is endeavouring to
eke out its existence, yet a littla while, by pretexts
that are scarcely specious.

Accounts from Athens to the 3d instant state that
the COLETTI Ministry, notwithstanding strong efforts
on the part of the Opposition, had been successful in
securing majorities in the Chambers. For a week
after the opening of session great confusion prevailed,
and the different parties that generally support
COLETTI demanded a reconstruction of the
Ministry. On the other hand a coalition was
proposed between the Metaxas section and that
of which MATROCORDATO and ZOGRAPHAS are the
leaders. As one of the conditions, M. METAXAS
wanted to be supported for the office of President,
whilst the others demanded that he should unite with
them in getting General DELLYANI, a friend to Eng-
land, elected. In the end, the majority desisted from
their wish to have the Ministry reconstituted, and
the alliance between MM. MAVROCORDATO and
biIETAxAs could not be brought about. The Minis-
terial candidates were returned in all cases on the
first ballot. For the office of President, RHIGA PA-
LAMEDES obtained 66 votes, METAXAS 32, DELLYANI
42. It thus appears that the French party has pre-
vailed.

We have accounts from Madridl to the 13th. In
the Chamber of Deputies the discussion on the Ad-
dress relative to the negotiations with the Court of
Rome led to explanations on the part of the Govern-
ment. MARTINEZ DR LA ROSA, Foreign Minister,
said the Government had done all in its power to ad-
just the differences, and with some success, for the
POPE now addressed her MAJESTY as ISABELLA 11.,
Queen of SPAIN. The Finance Minister also de-
clared that all that could possibly be done for the
clergy had been accomplished. The Madrid Gazette
of the 13th announces that the Minister of the In-
terior
had received a communication from the political
chief of Guipuzcoa, stating that a bottle had been found
floating in the sea near Motrico, containing a paper, of
which only the following words were legible :—" Ship
President. —We are blocked up in ice, and we can't
live much time
our We are dying of hunger I am
fainting ... If, if " The bottle had been
picked up by some fishermen, and delivered to the
Alcalde of Motrico, a small town eighteen miles
west of St. Sebastian. A copy of the paper had been
sent to Mr. BULWER, the British Minister.
On the 13th the Three per Cents. closed at 33i
for cash, and 34f at sixty days; and the Five per
Cents. at 24i at sixty days.

In the French Chamber of Deputies, on Monday,
the debate on the Address was commenced by M.
CORE, an Opposition Member, who was followed by
M. LETRAUD, but their speeches contained nothing of
the slightest interest. Nearly all the journals con-
tain articles cn the news brought from the United
States by the Acadia, which they regard as of a war-
like character. The Government journals state truly
that Congress have proposed certain Bills so outrage-
ous that, if they pass into a law, war is inevitable.
The Opposition papers seem to be more occupied
about a coalition of America and France than the
merits of the point at issue. "It is impossible," says
the Sieele, "to terminate our summary of the ac-
counts from the TJnited States without expressing
a wish, that in the solemn discussion which is about
to be commenced in the Chamber of Deputies, the
policy of France with respect to the United States
may become the object of a most profound examina-
tion. In a war purely continental, France and the
United States might preserve their mutual inde-
pendence ; but in a contest in which the liberty
of the seas and the rights of national flags are
necessarily engaged, there is between the United
States and us a complete and consolidated alliance."
The Constitutionnel, with the most glaring injustice,
attacks M. GuizoT for asserting the rights of France
and even attributes to him the annexation of Texas.
M. GUIZOT could not possibly have anything to do
with that deceitful transaction. France acknow-
ledged the independence of Texas in 1838 —the real
cause of the annexation, when we believe Count
MOLE was Minister and M. TIIIERS was very power-
ful. M. GUIZOT had nothing whatever to do with
the affair, and his object, which is truly a French ob-
ject, is now to guard against similar encroachments.
" If the imprudent words spoken by M. GuizoT,"
says M. TRIERS' paper, " be known suffieipntly
early
in the TTnite .rda which the English
journals so greedily seized upon—they may create
the same irritation throughout the country which
his speech of last year excited, and cause a complete
change of public opinion. Is M. Guizor,
after having accomplished the annexation of
Texas, destined to accelerate the occupation
of Oregon ?" The National says, "It 'appears
by the accounts from the United States, beyond all
doubt, that public opinion in the Union is in favour
of the occupation of the contested territory without
any concession to England. At present the solution
of the discussion cannot be distant, and even admit-
ting that it may be adjourned by some Parliamentary
tactics, it will be impotent to prevent the wishes of
the nation from being accemplished. Oregon must
belong sooner or later to the United States, and if
England refuses to yield it, it is war." The Courrier
Francais is of opinion that an opening will be found
for an arrangement, and notices the fall in the
American funds under the dread of war, as a proof
that there is a strong feeling against it amongt those
without whose aid it cannot be carried on.
The intelligence from Berne is important, and
leaves no doubt that the constitution of that influ-
ential canton will be remodelled without delay. The
following is an outline of the proceedings which took
place in the Grand Council, at the sitting of the 15th
inst.:—

" The proposition of the Government was first put to the
vote in these words :-‘ The Grand Council decrees a total
revision of the Constitution, and charges a Committee to
draw a new one up, as well as to revise specially Art. 96 of
the present Constitution, so that should the new Constitution
prepared by the Committee be rejected, Art. 96 might be so
altered as to render the establishment of a constituent assem-
bly possible by legal means.' Out of 211 Members, 112 voted
for this proposition, and 99 against it. The latter de-
sired a law to be passed forthwith, and ordering the
revision to be confided to the care of a constituent
assembly, or that the primary assemblies should be
consulted cn the question of ascertaining to wham the
work of revision should be entrusted. This victory of
the Government received a check by the adopticn of an ad-
ditional proposition thus worded-'After the nomination of
the Committee. the decree of revision shall be presented to
the acceptation of the people in the primary assemblies, and
there shall be submitted to them, in proper fore:, the question
if they sanction the decisions come to. The Executive Council
is charged with the task of communicating the result of this
operation to the Grand Council, and of taking such ulterior
measures as may be suitable.' This was adopted by 152 votes
to 44. The Radical party has gained 40 votes since the ses-
sion of September. All the Foreign Ministers sent off dis-
patches immediately after the vote of the Grand Council.
The Second Chamber of the States of Saxony adopted by
a large majority, on the 14th inst., the proposition of the
Committee for a Bill giving to the members of the German
Catholic Church in Saxony the right to perform divine ser-
vice according to their creed in the Protestant churches.
A considerable fall todk place in the French Funds on
Monday, and Railway Shares were also generally lower.
The Three per Cents. closed at 82f. 75c.; the lye per
Cents., 121 f.; the Orleans Railroad Shares, 1,2551. 50e. ;
Rouen, 1,020 f. ; Havre,Avignon, 757 f. 50c. ; 97lf. •, Vier-
zon, 690 f. ; Bordeaux, 641 f. 25c. ; Boulogne, 550 f. ; Troyes
and Montereau, 455 f. ; Basle, 255 f. ; Great Nerthern, 746 f.
25c. ; Fampoux, 505 f. Spanish Three per Cents., 38%.
The following are the quotations for other lines :-
The Paris and Lyons Definitive, 625 f. ' • Paris and Stras-
burg, ditto, 555 f. ; Tours and Nantes, ditto, 572 f. 25c.•
Lyons and Avignon (Talabot), 512 f.; ditto (Lecointe),
507 f.; ditto (Compagnie Meridionale), 503 f. 50e. ; Bordeaux
and Cotte (Mackenzie), 502 f. 50c.; ditto (Espeleta),
507 f. 50c. ; Caen, 507 f. 50c. ; (Delamarre), 503 f. 50c.
MARSEILLES, JAN. li.-Marseilles and Avignon, 960 f.
LYON* JAN. 17.-Paris and Orleans, 1,250 f.; Paris and
Rouen, 1,013 f. 75c.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, JAN. 20.
Anglo-Belgian - Madrid and Valencia... 1
Barbadoes - Mauritius
-
Boulogne and Amiens.. 12% Namur and Liege 3%
Bordeaux &Mediterran - North Jamaica ... ~,, -
Bordeaux and Toulouse - Orleans and Vierzon -
••• --
Do.
Do. e) -2% Oovrleeranysisei and Bordeaux 11
Callao, Lima, and Pa- paris & Lyons (Laffitte) -
ciEe Coast - Ditto (Ganneron's). -
Central of Spain .. - Ditto (Calon's).... _ -
Dieppe Dutch Rlkh en
Parisi s h .
j. .u•
n. .
c.
Ceylon .
Demerara
. . J, Ditto (Sud Est)
14 Paris and Rouen 4O IA
Dendre Valley
2.76
Do
Paris and Strasburg
Dijon and Mulhouse ... - Do. (Comps de L'Est) -
East Indian ..... ........ 1% Do. (Aymard's)
Falnpoux & Hazebrouk - Paris and St. Quentin -
Rouen and Havre
Grt Nerthern of France
Constituted l5 Royal North of Spain. -
Great Indian Peninsular Sambre and Meuse .... 57,g;
Great Paris and Lyons. 2 Strasburg and Bale .... -
.. ebvr.e s. -
Great Western Bengal 4Tou r n aa(ydL,J.fu..r.b. is.e.:
_lt..
den, and Russet -
t Western Canada 334
Italian and Austrian .. - Tours and Nantes
(Mackenzie s)
Jamaica S. Mid. Junction 41A
. De. North Midland... -
a and Ancona.... -
LjeOu'igin ;el Jemappe..'
:-
Do. Extension ...... 7-7 OP- ( INtoilrs),. -
West Flanders SIA
Lyons add Avignon...• -
Lunt:about ........... -
~.
vTreDirnooind.

310NEY and COMMERCIAL NEWS.
(From The Sun of Last Night.)
The sales of Cotton at Liverpool yesterday were about
4,000 bales. Shares were dull.
The West India accounts are rather favourable again.
The Public Securities have been rather unsteady, and there
is scarcely so much firmness in them. Still, the market is
better than it was a day or two since. Consols have been
94% to 3/4 for money, and 95% to 947, for time. Exchequer-
bills have been quoted 17s. tc 16s. prem. Bank Stock is
worth 2051/. The New Three-and-a-Quarter per Cents
have been 97% to 96%.
The Foreign Stock market is quieter. Spanish Three per
Cents. are 387/8 to 391/8 ; Portuguese Four per Cents., 60;
Brazilian, 82 ; Russian, 113 to 113%; and Dutch Four per
Cents., 945/.
Railway Shares somewhat duller than yesterday, but there
is very little alteration in prices.
ONE CLOSING
PRICES OF BRITISH FUNDS. O'CLOCK. PRICES.
Bank Stock
3 per Cent. Reduced Anns...— 95% 95 954 95%
3 per Cent. Consols Annuities 943/4% 3A 94%
3 per Cent. Annuities, 1726 941,4 941,E •
New 34 per Cent. Annuities 96Y 97% 9678 96Y8

Long Annuities to expire Jan.lB6o 101;j .
10%
Ditto 30 years, Oct. 10,1859 ... 10 5-16 3-16 10 3-16
Ditto 30 years, Jan. 5, 1860.... 10% 1-16 • 10 1-16
India Bonds, 1,0001..
Ditto under 1,0001. .. ...... 23 28
South Sea Stock
Consols for Account... 95% 94% 94%
Exchequer Bills, 1,0001., 11hd. l7 16 pm. 21
Ditto 5001.
Ditto Small
°NE CLOSING
PRICES OF FOREIGN FUNDS. O'CLOCK PRICES
Brazilian Bonds
Ditto, New, 1829 and 1839 — 82
Do., New, 1843 77 77
lilexican, 5 per Cent. 1837 •
30%
Ditto, Deferred - IE%
Portuguese 5 per Cents. —
Ditto, Account . 59:tt
Portuguese Bonds, 4 per Cent ..
Ditto, Account 6O 60
Russian Bonds .. ..... 113% 113 113
Spanish 5 per Cent. 1840.
Ditto. Account 28%
• ..••. ......
Ditto, Passive
Ditto. 3 per Cent 38% 38%
Ditto. Account
Dividends on the above payable in London.
Dutch, 2% per Cent
Ditto, 4 par Cent. Certificates 95
Ditto, Account 94% 94%
PRICES or PAID. BUSINESS DONE CLOSING
RAILWAY SHARES AT ONE O'CLOCK. PRICES.
Aberdeen
Aberdeen,Banir, &Elgin 2%
Armagh, Coleraine, and
Portrush l%
Aylesbury and Theme.. 1%
Belfast & County Down 2% .
Bideford andTavistock... I,g - -
Birmin. and Gloucester. 100 13l
Ditto New 17%

Birmingham and Ox-
ford
Junction
Birmingham & Leicester
Direct 42s. — a
Boston, Stamfd, &„ Birm. 225. % dis A dis
Bridgewater & Minehead 425. ... ..
Bristol and Exeter 7O
Ditto, New
Bristol and Gloucester... 30
Bristol and Liver. June . 21A ......
Buckinghamshire
Caledonian
Ditto New 2% 3% 4 ..... ..... 4
Ditto Extension .., „ 21/2 3l/8 •
Cambrian & Grand June 42s
Cambridge and Lincoln 11,4
Do. New
Cambridge and Oxford.. 1% O% O%
Canterbury and Dover.. I A -
-
Central Kent 2%
Chelmsford and Bury... 1%
Chester and Holyhead... 15 - •• •• • ...... •• -
Chester and Manchester 425.
Cheltexham and Oxford 2
. . _

Clydesdale Junction..... 5
Cork Blackrock, and
Passages
Cork and Killarney ... 2%
Cork and Waterford ... 1%
Cornwall
Cornwall & Cent'lDevon 2%
Coventry, Nuneaton, Bir.
and Leicester ll4
Dartmouth, Torbay, and
Exeter
I )erby and Crewe
Derby, Gainsbro', and
Great Grimsby ..... .... 1%
Derby, Theueter, and
Stafford 2%...... ........ .....