The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-11 00:00:00

On the 23d ult. the same coriespondent says :
" Mr. Ih writes that he wil relinquish his mis-
sion on the 12th of February, whether a auocassor be no-
minated or not. lie will appoint Mr. Causobell, the con-
sul at LondOn, to the post of Charge d'Aftlirep. There
being no Secretary of Legation at the present juncture,
this proceeding way temporarily embarrass our relations,
as the intelligence of Mr. Cratnpton's recall will occupy
Lord Palmerston at the same time.
"No nfteial answer has been received from Denmark
on Mr. Marcy's proposition of the 31 of November to
pay the cost of lighthouses and buoys instead of the capi-.
tolisation suggested front the other side, and now soon
expected. The European Congress on this subject was
abandoned, owing to political complications.

" Mr. Orr's_ n-omii;ation by the Democratic caucus
will not facilitite the organisation of the house. The
platform was reaffirmed to vindicate Mr. Richardson's
withdrawal. The Southern members will not take. Orr,
and therefore the triangular war will be unchanged until
some new, development." •

The steam-ship. Daniel Webster, from San Juan
de Nicaragua, arrived at New Orleans on the 25th
ult., with two weeks' later news from California—
viz., to the sth of January. The United States Mail
steamer Golden Gate left San Francisco on the sth
nit. with 500 passengers and J,300,000 dole in trea-
sure. The steam-ship Star of the West had sailed
frOM San Juan for New York with 350 passengers
and $600,000 in specie, - -The- California news is
generally unimportant. A severe shock of earth-
quake was experienced at' San Francisco on the 2d
inst. The trial of Corey for the murder of General
Richardson was in progress. Attachments had been
issued against Lucien Hermann, an extensive
money agent at Sail Francisco, for nearly 150,000
dole. The Sacramento Valley Railroad had been
opened a distance of 22 miles. 'The news from the
mines is of an, encouraging nature, and new rich,
diggings have been discovered on the American
river. The San Francisco markets were dull, the
demancL from the interior being light. In dour
and grain the transactions were to a limited ex-
tent.

The arrivals at San Francisco from Atlantic ports
comprised the ships Matchless, Wild Rover;
Winged Arrow, and Flying Fish, from Boston ;
the Golden West, Midnight, and Morning Star,
from Now York ; and the. William SturgeF, from
Philadelphia.
In Northern California Indian depredations still
continued.

From Nicaragua we learn that everytking was
prosperous and orderly. General Walker was re'.
ceiving accessions by every steamer, and it is said
that his effective force of Americans numbered be-
tween 800 and 900.

Oregon dates are to the 20th of December. No-
thing had been heard. of Colonel Kinney's party,
which had left to attack Fort•Walla Walla, which'
was in possession of the Indians.
Intelligence from Honduras to • the 22d of De-
cember reports an unusual dulness in trade. The
prices of mahogany were low, wages depreciated,
and a large amount of mortality had existed among
the whites. The. Belize correspondent of the New
York Herald says :
" England was riveting her rule more firmly on the
colony. It has now been ordered that all vessels shall be
registered, and that no foreigner shall own a ship hoist-
ing the British flat, unless he take the oath of allegiance
to that Government and become naturalised. Many
persona had already done sp., A vessel of the West In•
die squady9n was in port,and her commander had canned
some atai.sn'by beating to arms in the night and firing
some broadsides for practice. Shipping business was
more active."

In the New York Money-market money was in
good demand, and the turn of the market was in
favour of the lender. Foreign exchange was irre-
gular, but the tendency of th 4 market was toward
firmer rates. The quotations- for bills on London
for good signatures was 108 to 1081, but most of
the business had been done at 108,1 to ;. The stock
market was very heavy and lower ; thddecline was
not great, but there was little disposition to specu-
late. In hreadstuffs State and Western flour was

heavy, and was quoted at 61tp 12& lower. South-
ern flour was dull for the extreme grades, but me-
dium was in fair demand. Canadian and rye flour
was steady. Wheat was inactive.and oats dull. The
cotton-market continued depressed, and quotations
for some descriptions were reduced lc. Hops con-
tinued dull and heavy at 6to 10. The provision-
market was heavy. A circular, dated Jan. 25, thus
gives the state of the grain market at New York

"Common superfine State flour is in demand at S 8 to
$Bl, extra $8(. Extra Ohio and southern brands 81
dole, to 9 dole. At Philadelphia holders are asking 81
dole., and at Baltimore there are no more sellers at 8
dole, for City Mills and Howard-street ;,3,000 barrels
sold yesterday for February delivery at 8/ dole.
" Wbeat is generally held above the views of buyers.
Prime red southern, 1 aol. 95c, to 2 dole. White, 2
dole. to 2 dole. sc. for Canadian, and 4 dole. 10e. to 2
dole. 15e. for southern. Frozen rivers prevent southern
markets being supplied. At Philadelphia red is nomi-
nally 1 del. 25c. to 1 dol. 98c. ; white, 2 dole. sc. to 2
dole. 15e. At Baltimore there are no supplies, and rates
quite nominal.
" Rye has kept very steady during the depression of
other breadstuffs, and was not at any time obtainable
below 1 dol. 303. for prime samples; at this price there
are now no sellers, as there is nothing arriving, and in
store more money is asked. At Philadelphia rye sells
readily at 1 dol. 20e. iu 'store, and more buyere than
sellers ; small vessels for Europe much wanted.
"Indian corn is quiet, there being little demand for
shipment. Arrivals from the south are scanty, and
there is nothing pressing on the market. Prime yellow
c =wands 88e. to 90c. ; white,' 90e. to 920, ; and mixed
old crop. 90c. in store. At Philadelphia prime yellow
sells at 80c. in store ; and at Baltimore; 760. to 780. per
bushel measure, according to quality. . • ,
" Freights are dull and lower. To Liverpool, flour,
2s. 6d. to 2e. 9d. ; grain, 84d. in balk, and 81d. in ships'
bags ; to London, 4s. and 12d. ; to Antwerp, 4s. 3d.
and 13d. ; to Havre' nominally 75c. and 20c. ; to Rot-
terdam, 4s. 6d. and 13d.; to Hamburg, Is. in shippers'
bags ; to Bremen, 23c." ,

A6l2,fles-7"),
lor—aband ed the charge of illega • altoge r,
expatiating in that style of orat of wil• the
noble leader of the Opposition is so d Xteroes a
manager, in fervent appeals to the p its, the
prejudices, and the. fears of the audie c he ad- :4
dressed.
But amidst all this parade of antagoni ~at was .1
impossible to discover the precise ground on which j.
the opponents of the step intended to give battle.
Or as lawyers would say, they never defined the
points whereon they could venture to "join issue."
In fact, they seeni to have'had nothing like a clear
notion of such a point themselves, or at all events
no sincere Wish to arrive at it. They argued like
suitors, who feel that if once their " case' shall be
accurately defined, judgment must at once go
against them. Accordingly they threw up a cloud
of indistinct and incoherent objections, merely
with the view of making out something that
should look like an excuse for referring the ques-
tion to the of Privileges. Beyond this
tlieydicl Committeenotventire to look. What points the
Committee of Privileges could have to examine—
what process it could initiate—what evidence it
could command—or what power it possessed of
giving its .decision any. practical efficacy, they
never dreamt, of inquiring. Lord Brougham, in
winding up the debate, confessed this " lame and
impotent conclusion," when- he pleaded that by
adopting the motion for reference, their lordships
affirthed nothing more than an opinion that the
subject required further investigation. Under that
impression the vote was, carried, and from what
passed in the house on Friday evening, it appears
that the victors are already becoming frightened at
the possible censequonces of thek own success.
The legal issue which the Opposition had in-
volved in such elaborate obscurity was defined by
the Lord Chancellor with inexorable distinctness.
It was, lie said, nothing more nor less than tlris
" Whether the House of Peers had a right to de-
cide that a patent granted by the Crown was or
was not valid t" From this position there is no
retreating. What is the attitude thus assumed by
the House ? Here is a single estate of the realm
—every one of whose members owe their place in
the Legislature to the swill, and summons of the
sCrown,:and many of whOin derive their titles from
.patents under the Great Seal, in whicli the lines
of 'descent were extended; limited, or varied in
almost every_spossible way from the customary
mode of inheritance—absolutely taking upon itself,
and by its single suffrage, te question, or perhaps
to cancer, the royal grants, to whose authority its
own existence is due. Some Peers, no doubt,
there are who date their nobility from times an-
terior to the issue of letters patent, and who may,
therefore, lay claim to a more independent place
and. title. But, at all events, it is absurd that
Peers by patent—who constitute the far larger ma-
jority of the Upper House—should arrogate to
themselves the right of criticising and deter-
mining the validity of patents. In this case, it
is not a question of natural right, but of arti-
ficial privilege.- -An assembly of freemen may
be fully entitled to discuss and arrange the condi-
tions under which freedom shall be enjoyed, be-
cause. it' is the inherent right Of
.men to be free.
The Peeks, on the other hand, exercise functions
and enjoy privileges which do not come to them of
natural right, abut by gift
.froni some authority e
confesso superior to their own. The granter of
privileges must, in the very nature of things, be
higher than the granteeat any rate, in so far as
the power of granting such privileges is concerned.
How, then, can the inferior body pretend to ad-
judicate upon the acts of the superior—or the
created to criticise the terms and tenour of their
creation? • - -
This, however, as the Lord Chancellor pre-
ceeded to show, is not all. Peernenjoy privileges,
and hold a status elsewhere, than in their own
peculiar House. Even supposing that their Lord-
ships, by a vote of the Committee of Privileges or in
any other mode, should decide that LordWensley-
dale could not take his seat, how is that decision to
operate upon his standing and relationships else-
where Asallaron he will have a certain place
allotted to him on all occasions, when the magnate
of the land mine into the Sovereign's presence—
he will take a certain precedence in all public cere-
monials—he will enjoy immunity from legal pro-
cess against his person—he will be entitled to claim
trial from his peers if indicted before a criminal
tribunal. In these, and many other cases which
may ari4e, or which would inevitably be contrived.
if only for the pm•pose Of deciding the question,
the House of Lords must set itself iu antagonism
to the Crown, the judges, and the public generally.
The peers are thus committed to a conflict of autho-
rity, which will, in great measure, be carried on in
regions wholly inaccessible to themselves. Barons
Lyndhurst, St. Leonards, and Campbell may per-
suade the Committee of Privileges to decide that
Sir -J. Parke has no right under his patent
to sit in the House of Lords. But what will
they do, when they find him placed beside them-
selves as a Baron, in some Royal procession ; or
wlies, by some decision of the Law Courts, they
find themselves' called upon to sit in judgment on
a case in which ho, as a Peer,' has demanded to be
tried by his Peers ? Col isiona like these are in-
evitable from the vote of Thursday night, unless,
indeed, some means of escape can be discovered by
a species of compromise. Yet it is not too much to
say, that the. Upper Branch of the Legislature
would lose more prestige, would incur more danger,
and sacrifice more dignity from one such conflict,
than if a hundred life-peers were seated in a batch
upon its benches.
The apprehension of a calamity like this we have
just mentioned constitutes, indeed, the chief ground
for terror and opposition on part of their lord-
ships. They dread lest the independence of the He-
reditary House should be "swamped" by an irrup-
tion of Peers nominated by the Minister of the
day, and holding their titles by a life tenure. In
former ages a similar fear prevailed from other
sources. At the Union with Scotland, the English
House of Lords were terrified at the prospect of a
large infusion of Scotch peers, who, for the most
part, were equally distinguished fer their antiquity
and their poverty, and to whom it was believed
the Court could always resort as a sure expedient
of manufacturing a majority. To this apprehen-
sion must be attributed, the resistance exhibited
against the English peerage conferred by Queen
Anne upen the Duke of rhinilton, so trium-
bantly2 but, as the Lord Chancellor proved, so
I)
erroneously, cited by Lord St. Leonards. When
the Union with Ireland was accomplished, a si-
milar dread revived—rendered more acute by the
circumstance that for the purpose of carrying
the act the Irish House" of Peers had been
swelled by a flood of new creations. In this case,
by a formal statute, the Crowu consented to limit
its prerogative, and undertook that three peerages
should lapse for every new title 'conferred in Ire-
land.

But the power to create British Peers is wholly
unlimited by law. Lord Lyndhurst recognised the
full right of the Crown io send a whole regiment
of the Guards into the House of Lords if it thought
proper. Legal and cotiiititutional competence is
already enjoyed by the Sovereign to "swamp" the
House to any extent, even without resorting to the
device oflife peerages. Its preservation from such aca-
taclysm rests, says the Lord Chancellor, not in legal
technicalities, notin the Coinmitteeof Privileges, but
in more powerful influences. " The checkwh ich would
now prevent the Government from creating an
improper number of peernwas to be found, not in
the absence of the power of granting peerages for
life, but in the wholesome ever-acting control of
public opinion, which would render it, as impossible
to adopt any step of that kind, as it would be to
ennoble all the regiments of the Guards." Justly,
therefore, was the Lord Chancellor entitled to con-
clude, that no reasonable objections could be urged
against the exercise of a prerogative which Was
only to be used, with the view of augmenting the
dignity and usetulness of the House of Lords.
Morning Chronicte.

- -
SIR Jamss BuooKE.—A letter ieeeivecl in Norfolk
sitt:
jtne sh that
fsCa ar
al)
xtv.
aßk
,r o
ioko en,oa wislete ngavgeo
do f
inS i rLJoaamdeoso Bi
ic•lo rooks,
chasing steam-boats for Sir James.
The amount paid. into the treasury,of the East Ind;a•
house for bills on India from the 23d of January to .the
Bth of February was 134,8312,-
FALL OP A RAILWAY BRILOIL-1-TWO MEN KILLED.
On Wednesday two arches of a bridge in course of erec-
tion over the river Doon, on the Maybale lineof railway,
suddenly fell-to the ground with aloud crash. The arches
were,built with brick, and were about 30 feet high.
Among the rubbish attention was immediately called to
Patrick Brannigan, bricklayer, whose head and shoul-
ders were alone perceptible sticking out front among a
mass of bricks and stones. He was relieved as quickly
as possible, but died in about ten minutes. John
zie, another labourer, was found after two ortbre°.l;.uorg:
search, fearfully mangled and crusher), and one of hii3a,!g!
completely severed from his body. Brannigan issuag
__t.l7
of Belfast, and Tanzie of Longford. It has b!gle:pt R
that the heavy rains of Monday eight, following
itnhge recent
th li
msevere
Somefrosts,pitaaoytiphaaivemheand,
bdoubtsythe aesetthoetrhiteiepeo.—licAyyorfAbdurieilda.yin,sg
with
__.nd
o.ell; : undergoing
ftei
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ao
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