The Sun.
London, England, 1833-12-25 00:00:00

IiGE YESTERDAY.

COURSE OF EXCH.&
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Ditto, at sight
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Antwerp 12 6
Hamburg M.B. 13 12
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Paris, 3 days' sight 25 55
Ditto 2 U. 25 80
Bordeaux °5 85
Berlin
Frankfort on Maine, Ex. M. 151;
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Vienna, effective fl. 2 51. 9 56
Trieste do 9 57
Madrid 36!6
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Seville 0,6
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Leghorn 4B
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Naples . 4OM
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Rio Janeiro
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Buenos Avres
I)ublin 21 days' sight —

Cork -

BULLION, PER OZ.
X. s. d.
Portugal Gold, coin 0 0 0
Foreign Gold, in bars 3 17 9
New Doubloons 0 0 0
New Dollars
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HIGH WATEK AT LONDON BRIDGE TO-MORROW.
Mornirw .. 34 minute. after 0. f Eveniniz... 3 minutes after 2.

f-tw-
cAtttl

LONDON,
WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECENIBER 25, 1833

We have received the Paris Papers of
Monday, and a copy of the speech of the
French King on the opening of the Chambers.
Kings' speeches are generally mysterious docu-
ments, and we did not expect to receive any
great enlightenment from that of the French
King : we were not, however, prepared for any
thing so mystifying as this production of the
Ministers of LOUIS PHILIP. It is more than
mystifying—it is false, and common tact has not
been used to colour the falsehood. The
speech commences by stating that " France is
in the possession of the blessings of order and
peace"—that " the effects of industry and
labour every where obtain their reward," and
that " the population, employed and tranquil,
rely upon the stability of the institutions."
The very next paragraph, however, states that
" assiduous vigilance is still necessary," and
that " insensate passions and criminal

manoeuvres are striving to shake social
order," Which of these averments is
true ? If peace and order reign throughout
France, where are the insensate passions and
criminal manoeuvres? But supposing that the
two facts can be reconciled, and that the state-
ment in the first paragraph of the speech be true,
what must we think of the folly of the French
Government in instituting the prosecution at one
time of twenty-seven persons for a conspiracy to
overturn that social order which Louts PHILIP
declares to be firmly established throughout the
country. If there are " insensate passions and
criminal manoeuvres," why not let them (lie a
natural death, seeing that they could do no harm
if left to themselves. Why maintain the perse-
cuting spirit which must excite sympathy for the
objects of the persecution, and at length make
the situation of the persecutors as dangerous as
it is odious ? We answer the question for
Louis PHILIP. Like many men in other
grades of society who have risen unexpectedly,
he is ashamed of the honest causes which led to
his elevation, and he endeavours, by turning his
back upon former principles, to make the
crowned aristocracy believe that although he
owes his crown to the people, he is resolved to
wear it as if it were his own property.
After alluding with great brevity to the in-
creasing commercial prosperity of France, which,
to our astonishment, the French King does not,
as on a former occasion, ascribe solely to his
own protecting influence, and expressing a hope
that the new customs laws, into the spirit or
character of which he gives us no insight, will
prove agreeable, and then, proceeding in the
hackneyed phrase to announce that he receives
assurances of friendship from all foreign powers,
Louts PHILIP favours us with the following
mysterious paragraph :

" The Ottoman Empire has been menaced by great
perils. I have applied myself to press a pacification,
which was called for at once by the interests of France
and the general stability of order in Europe. I shall con-
tinue my efforts to insure their maintenance."

To what perils does the King allude ? To
the rebellious manifestations of the Pacha of
EGYPT,:Or to the intrigues of Russia ? And what
is the paccatioyt to which he alludes ? We
are lost in admiration of the mystery. We did
not expect an announcement of an armament
against Russia, for that would have been un-
wise and premature ; but a paragraph so am-
biguous, so equivocal, as this we did not
expect to meet with in a King's speech, notwith-
standing all our experience of the skill with
which, in such :documents, attempts are made
to appear very communicative, and, at the same
time, to say nothing.
The Speech alludes to the union with Great
Britain and France in brief but proper terms.
We sincerely hope that this union will continue;
but in order that it may do so for the be-

nefit of the two nations, Louis PHILIP must

abandon his hostility to the Press, and his mad
attempts to put down public opinion. The

People of this country will hold no union with

the French Government, whatever it may do
with the people, it is to be conducted on
arbitrary ;principles. For the union to be per-

feet therefore between the Governments,-there
must either be an approach to the French
system of persecution by our own Ministry,
which they are too enlightened to attempt, or
the French Ministry must govern more in ac-
cordance with English notions of political
integrity.

In another part of the Speech we find the

following :
" I have reason to hope that the promises contained in
the Charter will be fulfilled in the course of the Session."
What does this mean ? After three years of
preparation, the KING says he has reason to
hope that the promises contained in the Charter
will be fulfilled in the present Session. To
what promises does he allude ? There is Some-
thing, we believe, about the Press. New regula-
tions for that important organ are promised, and
a projet of law is said to be already prepared
for gagging it. We fear this is one of the
promises to which the KING makes allusion
He is quite willing to think of the Charter
when it affords him a pretext for gratifying his
hostility to the Press and his hatred of public
liberty.

To the last paragraph of the speech we invite
particular attention. It says—

it Let us complete our task, Gentlemen, that order,
powerful and respected, be for the future preserved from
every attack—let the efficacious protection of the national
interests dissipate the last hopes of faction--and France,
happy and free under the tutelary shelter of the GoTiern-
ment which it has founded, follow at length the course of
her prosperity. Such is the wish the most dear to me.
You will assist me in assuring its entire accomplishment."
The tutelary Governmeni, ! What effrontery !
The Government which attempted to surround
the capital with Bastiles—which has suborned
evidence in State prosecutions—which has per-
secuted the press to an extent which will scarcely
be credited in the future history of France—
which, in spite of its declarations that order and
tranquillity reigned in France, has just attempted
to bring to the block twenty-seven persons,
accused of being the chiefs of an extensive con-
spiracy to overturn social order—which has with
unprecedented boldness and infamy demanded
and obtained the suspension of three advocates,
for having honestly and zealously defended these
intended victims ..of power—a tutelary Govern-
ment !—We cannot find words to express our
indignation at such audacity.

No ! The Government of France is not a
tutelary Government. If left to itself, it would
destroy all that has the semblance of freedom.
It would exceed in power, as it has done in
intention, the acts of the bigotted and besotted
Monarch who is now in exile. But, thank
God, it has not the power to inflict vital injury.
The persecuting spirit which characterizes it

recoils upon itself. It may prosecute and pro-
secute, but there are juries to acquit, and a
population to console and sympathize with those
who are exposed to prosecution. In future no
Ministry in France can trample on the rights of
Frenchmen, for although they may- wear the
external symbols of power, the real attributes
of authority are in public opinion.

Brussels Papers to the 22d, and Frankfort
Papers to the 191 h inst., arrived this morning.
The latter do not contain a paragraph worth
noticing. The Brussels Papers, alluding to the
fact of the Duke of NASSAU, one of the
collaterals to whom the Grand Duchy of
Luxemburg would come, if the family of
Orange were extinct, having protested in the
Diet at Frankfort against the cession of part of
that province to Belgium, says, we now learn
that France and our Government are making the
most earnest efforts, with the most tempting
offers, to the Prince, to induce him to withdraw
his protest, but that he firmly refuses to desist.

If any man were asked who is the public
writer upon whose statements the least reliance
is to be placed, and whose arguments, when he
advances any, are most certain of meeting with
a refutation from himself, the answer would at
once be—Mr. COBBETT, the Member for Old.
ham. We should, therefore, think it super-
fluous seriously to notice any position he might

;kink proper to advance, had we not, somewhat

to our astonishment, found him taken up as an
ally by some respectable portions of the Tory
press. Truly misfortune makes us acquainted
with strange bed-fellows, but to find the Tories
absolutely taking up with COBBETT iS a sink-
ing of which we did not think them capable.
AP, however, they have thought proper to adopt
his arguments, upon a question of all others
most interesting to them, because they fancy it
touches their pockets, let us see what may be
the value of those arguments. We allude to
some speculations on the Corn Laws, in which
Mr. COBBETT has lately been engaged, we
presume, in anticipation of the assault which the
people are, in all parts of the country, preparing
to make upon them. The following notice by
him of some of the arguments advanced by Mr.
MORRISON, of Fife, contain an assertion which
he has made more than once, and which seems
mightily to have tickled the dunderheads in the
country, who have been bold enough to say a
word upon this, to them, dangerous subject

" There is one point which has wholly escaped the
attention of Mr. Morrison, and that is, the striking fact
so often mentioned by me; namely, that though wheat 19
now as cheap as it was in 1792, the four pounds of best
bread, which then sold for fivepence-halfpenny, non, sells
for eightpence•halfpenny. I should like to hear some one
attempt to give an answer to this. These advocates for a
repral of the Corn Bill seem to care nothing at all about
that public•spirited persons
the price of bread. So that the wheat is low priced, so
seemtthoeoalandlords suffer, i
about themselves. One would
these
and they never
dtb;e loaf. Now, it
ttrhoi no kbletht
baeti
rt hheoyadaeaatbowo'thetabto, nporitoebroefa
appears to me, that the rational course would he, to in-
quire how it comes to pass that the bread is so dear, when
the wheat is so cheap?"
To use some of the flowers of language
dear to the Honourable Member for Oldham,
this is all one big, bouncing lie. We do no
mean to say that bread was not to be got in

1792 at 51d. the four-pound loaf, or that
,it
s not now sold in parts of London at 8-1-d.;
but what we do mean to say is, that it is
not true that there is a difference of threepence
in the general price of bread now and the gene-
ral price in 1792. That is Mr. COBBETT.S
position, and he wishes by its means to turn at-
tention from the main object of throwing open
the trade in food, to a fancied rise in the baker's
profits, occasioned by increase of taxation. The
assessed and other taxes have no more increased
the rates of the baker's profits than they have the
ratio of the tailor's, the haberdasher's, the iron-
monger's, or any other tradesman's. If such
were the effect of taxation it would be difficult
to point out the manner in which it is hurtful ;
but, unfortunately, such is not its effect, as any
shopkeeper he may condescend to consult will tell
Mr. COBBETT. The deception of which Mr.
COBBETT has been guilty consists in having
taken an extremely low price at which, in one
particular part of the country, or by some parti-
cular baker, bread was sold at flid. the four-
pound loaf in 1792, and comparing it with the
highest, or almost the highest, London price of
1833. Now how do the facts, fairly viewed,
stand ? A Scotch paper, referring to the high
price at which bread was sold by the bakers of a
particular district (Elgin), took the pains to
make the following collection of the prices of
bread in different parts of the kingdom.
Price of bread per quartern loaf of 4 lint:—
In London
Edinburgh.. 7ll.
Glasgow 7(1.
Aberdeen 7d.
Paisley 741.
Perth 741.

Taunton sid.
Several other places in England,
Elgin 9d.

According to Mr. COBBETT, the baker at
Elgin charges nine-pence because of the taxes
he has to pay ! Now, even taking the above
list as it stands, Mr. COBBETT will see that
even his low price in 1792 is met by one equally
low in 1833, but we will add that any one who
will take the trouble to look about him as he
walks through many of the streets of London

,we do not mean Pall-mall, or St. James's
Street, for we suppose the baker's charges are
there in proportion to the tailor's, or as any
other tradesman's must be who wants such
situations) will perceive numerous bakers sell-
ing the best bread at 6d., 6-id. and 7d. the four
pound loaf. The average price of wheat for
the week ending 6th of December, 1833, was
according to the returns of the inspectors in the
different cities and towns in England and
Wales, 495. 8(1. per quarter. Taking the aggre-
gate average of the six preceding weeks, the
price was more than a shilling higher, but that
would be still more against COBBETT'S argu-
ment. Such is the state of facts in December,
1833. Let us now turn to December, 1792
We find, upon reference to the market lists of
that year, that the average price of wheat for
England and Wales was found on the 21st of
December to be 495. 2d., within a trifle_ of the
price we have quoted above. But what was the
price of bread by this same list ? Fivepence-
halfpenny, as Mr. COBBETT unblushingly
asserts ? Not at all, but seven pence one
farthing the quartern loaf, in other words, as
near to the average price at present as can be-
So much for Mr. COBBETT'S facts, which " he
should like to hear some one give an answer to.''
The argument he founds upon his assertions is
quite beside the question, and need not, there-
fore, be noticed ; but the facts we have adduced
will, it is to be hoped, be sufficient to remind
those inclined to quote his writings, that every
word he puts down is not to be taken fur
absolute gospel.

The trial of the 27 conspirators, as they are
called, has terminated, as we were sure it
would, in an acquittal. The French Govern-
ment, in the rage of disappointment, gave in-
structions to the Advocate-General to apply for
the suspension of three of the advocates—M.
DUPONT, M. PINART, and M. MicHEL—
on the ground of their having exceeded the la-

titude allowed to the counsel of the accused.
The Court, to its infinite discredit, complied
with the application. We refer to a report of
the trial in another part of this day's Sun for
the particulars.

ILA another column will be found a report o

the proceedings of a meeting at Glasgow to esta-
blish an Anti-Corn Law Society in that town.
The LORD PROVOST presided at it, and Mr.
OSWALD, one of the Members for the borough,
took the lead in moving the necessary resolu-

tions. This is as it should be. The Glasgow
people have dune themselves honour, and set an
example which, we trust, will be followed
-throughout the kingdom. They and their re-
presentatives see clearly, and feel strongly, the
enormous evils of a restricted commerce in food
and resolve, like men of sense, to make an exer-
tion which shall rid themselves and their posterity
of a law which nothing but the most ignorant
selfishness, the most grinding tyranny, could have
devised. The Glasgow Argus, from which we
take the account of the proceedings, in the com-
ments it makes upon them, suggests that there
is no need to fix a maximum to the contribu-
tions. We quite agree in this suggestion. There
can be no reason for placing a limit to a man's
desire to forward a good object. The one
commonly assigned, that the subscription of
large sums prevents small subscribers coming
forward, cannot, we should think, apply in the
present case, for if the matter be properly con-
ducted, the vast mass of the subscribers will
certainly be among the labouring classes, who,
every time they want work, feel that were it not
for the landlord's law to prevent them, they might
be making something which could be exchanged
abroad for food. We are glad, however, to see
a beginning made in a town of such wealth and
importance as Glasgow. Any mistakes in the
details of management can be easily corrected as
they proceed.

FRENCH PAPERS.

OPENING OF THE SESSION.

The extremely unfavourable state of the
weather this morning rendered the crowd assem-
bled to witness the royal procession from the
Tuileries to the Chamber of Deputies, on the
occasion of the opening of the legislative session,
much less numerous than upon former occasions,
but the spectators in the windows and other
places which afforded a shelter to the curious,
and commanded a view of the cortege, were in
consequence more crowded than we recollect to
have seen them. The passage for the procession
was, as usual, lined by detachments of National
Guards and troops of the line. Her Majesty
and the Princesses, with their suites, and escorted
as on similar occasions, left the palace in the
royal carriages a short time previous to the
departure of the King, who quitted the Tuileries
at one o'clock, surrounded by a numerous staff.
His Majesty, owing to the inclemency of the
weather, went in a carriage. He was received
with cries of " Vive le Roi !" which were fre-
quently repeated by the crowds during his pas-
sage to the Chamber.
The appearance of the interior of the Chamber
was similar to that of last year. The place on
ordinary occasions occupied by the President's
chair and the orators' tribune was converted
into a raised platform, upon which were placed
an arm-chair and three pliants richly ornamented
with crimson velvet and gold lace, destined for
the King and the Dukes of Orleans, Nemours,
and J oinville. In front of the platform were
ranged on a flight of steps several benches
covered with common velvet, for the Ministers,
the Marshals, and Admirals of France, and the
members of the Council of State.
The only addition to the decorations of the
Chamber made since last session consists in
two bas-reliefs, inserted in the wall behind the
place occupied by the President's chair, and two
statutes, one representing Liberty, and the other
Public Order, fixed in niches'over the bas-reliefs;
one of the latter represents Louis Philip con-
fiding the tricoloured standard to the National
Guard. The other (still only a cast in plaster)
exhibits the Duke of Orleans receiving at the
Palais Royal, in August, 1830, a commission of
the Chamber of Deputies with the new charter.
The tribunes to which the public are ad-
mitted were chiefly filled by ladies in elegant
morning costume. At one o'clock the cannon
of the Invalides being heard, announcing the
King's departure from the Tuileries, the corps
diplomatique entered the tribune reserved for
them, and in a few minutes after, the Queen,
accompanied by 'Madame Adelaide and the
younger branches of the Royal Family, made
their appearance. All the Ministers, in grand
costume, several Marshals and Admirals, and a
deputation of twelve Members of the Council of
State, were present. The attendance of Peers
and Deputies was numerous, there being about
100 of the former, and 300 of the latter, pre-
sent. At 25 minutes past 1 o'clock the
King, accompanied by the Dukes of Orleans and
Nemours, and the Prince de Joinville, entered
the Chamber, and took his seat on the royal
estrade, amidst repeated cries of " Vice le Roi."
When these had ceased the King read the fol-
lowing speech in a firm and distinct voice :
THE KING'S SPEECH.
Peers and Deputies—Gentlemen.
" The tranquillity of France has not been disturbed
since your last session. It is in the enjoyment of
the blessings of order and peace. Throughout the
country industry and labour meet with their reward.
The population, occupied and peaceful, feels assured
of the stability of our institutions, of my fidelity in
watching over them, and the public security is the
pledge of national prosperity.
" It was by guaranteeing our rights, protecting
our interests, and by the equity and moderation of
our policy, that we have obtained these happy re-
sults.
" In order to render them lasting, we shall per-
severe with energy and patience in the same sys-
tem. An unceasing vigilance is still necessary;
insensate passions and culpable manoeuvres are at
work to undermine the foundations of social order.
We will oppose to them your loyal concurrence, the
firmness of the magistrates, the activity of the admi-
nistration, the courage and patriotism of the National
Guard and of the army; the wisdom of the nation,
enlightened as to the danger of the allusions which
those who ettack liberty, in pretending to defend it,
seek still to propogate,and weshall insure the triumo
of constitutional order and our progress in civi-
lization. It is thus, gentlemen, that we shall at
length put an end to revolution, and that we shall
fulfil the wishes of France. I thank her for the
support she has given me; I thank her for the
tokens of confidence and affection with which she
has surrounded me. I received them with emotion
in such of the provinces as I have been able to
visit, and I render thanks to Providence for the
blessings which our country already enjoys, and for
those which the future promises.
" You will also second me, gentlemen, in my en•
deavours to protect the increase of our nationa

.....
wealth, in opening to our commerce and industry
new sources of prosperity, and in spreading comfort,
combined with labour, throughout all classes of the
population.

I hope that the new law of customs, while it
evinces the progress of our industry, will reconcile
the protection which is due to it with those prin-
ciples of prudent freedom which enlightened go-
vernments are disposed to admit.
" Popular instruction has received, thanks to your
concurrence, a salutary impulse.
" The finance laws, and these which the execu-
tion of treaties requires, will be speedily presented
to you. The public revenue improves, and every-
thing promises that it will continue to follow the
ascending movement of our prosperity.
" Several projects of law, some of which have
been already presented to you, will be submitted to

your deliberation again. I have reason to hope that
the promises of the Charter will be accomplished in
the course of this session.

t ionslvia'im happy
thall the to
Powers,announce d tot
he youas s
ut hatra
nce ours ela
that
r I-
receive from them as to their dispositions, leave no
doubt as to the maintenance of the general peace.
" The Peninsula has become the theatre of im-
portant thetablisheG mdoivnetLmisbeonnt, olf
renewed
Queen
wedour
Mdpoipa‘rlrtoajAamntslalteivscoewroneartlssa.tions with Portugal.
" In Spain, the death of the King, Ferdinand VII.,
has called the Princess, his daughter, to the throne.
I hastened to acknowledge the Queen Isabella 11.,
hoping that such prompt acknowledgment, and the
relations it established between my Government
and the Queen Regent, would contribute to pre-
serve Spain from the convulsions with which she
was threatened. Already tranquillity is beginning
to be restored to the provinces in which rebellion
has broken out. The corps d'arnzec which I have
ordered to be formed at all events protects our
frontiers.

" Continuing to be intimately united with Great
Britain, we have every reason to hope that the dif-
ficulties which still retard the conclusion of a defini-

tive treaty between the King of the Belgians and
the King of the Netherlands will compromise nei-
ther the great interests of Belgium nor the tian-
quillity of Europe.
. _

" Switzeilana has been momentarily disturbed by
dissensions, which the prudent firmness of her Go-
vernment in a short time put down. I hastened to