The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-29 00:00:00

HIGFI. WATER. AT LONDON BRIDGE.

- -
THIS DAY—Morn. 0 min. aft. o—Evening0—Evening 58 vain, aft. 11
Tel-Ilifoltsow—Morn. 11 min. aft.l2 —Evening 0 min. aft. 1

THE WEATHER—Sux Onus, JULY 29,

THEMOMICTER, IY THE SHAM
75 —highest sine noon yesterday.
60 —lowest this morning and during the night.
75 —this day at noon.
EA ROM rma-30 28—rising.
WIND, SW.—Liet, with fine summer weather.

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LONDON, TUESDAY, JULY 29, 1856,

This day terminates the Session, in which more
has been said and less accomplished than in any
previous one within the memory of man. B)th
Houses, in many respects, abdicated their consti-
tutional functions. So far as the management of
the War was concerned, and the arrangement of
the terms on which Peace was concluded, they
permitted themselves to be made mere cyphers
in the hands of the Government—bodies whose
sole duty it was to register the decrees, and pro-
vide funds to meet the demands of Ministeri.
And yet each branch of the Legislature displayed
a striking instance of independence, an unflinch-
ing determination to resent what it considered to
be an attack on its own peculiar rights and pri-
vileges. In matters of the most vital importance
to the honour and welfare of the nation, the policy
of "abstention" as it was termed, was carried
to an unparalleled and almost slavish extent ;
but the moment questions were ventilated which
ran counter to the prejudices and feelings of the
members themselves, they immediately displayed
a degree of firmness and resolution deserving the
highest praise.
The session found the nation engaged in a
sanguinary and expensive War. Great sacrifices
had been cheerfully made great successes
achieved. A golden opportunity was before us,
but it was grossly neglected, or rather wilfully
and deliberately relinquished, and an inglorious
truce was patched-up, which gave neither credit
for the past nor security for the future. The
British people were regularly sold. They were
made the laughing-stock of Europe, for suffering
themselves to be made the tools of
Imperialism and Germanism. One Hundred
Millions of money, and tens of thousands
of valuable lives, were literally waated without
producing any adequate result.
The first Ministerial defeat of the session was
inflicted by the House of Lords. The Govern.
ment had conferred a Peerage for life on an emi-
nent Judge who had recently resigned his judicial
seat. It was universally admitted that Mr.
Baron PARKS was eminently worthy of a Peerage,
and that the aid which he could afford in the hear•
ing of appeals would be of the greatest possible
value. He had no male issue, and therefore it
made to him no possible difference whether the
limitation had been for life, or in the usual form.
He was, therefore, selected as a fitting subject
for the great experiment which, if successful,
would have completely swamped any portion of
independence that remained to the House. The

attempted subversion of the hereditary attribute at
once alarmed thesusceptibilities'of indignant Peers.
In such a matter they felt that it was no time for
the extension of a more than doubtful prerogative
of the Crown. The claim of Lord WENSLEY-
DALE to a seat in the House was, therefore, re-
jected by a considerable majority. And the com-
promise bill was introduced, which, although
tarried with unparalleled unanimity in the Lords.
and Supported by all the leaders of the different