The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-08 00:00:00

" To THE EDITOR, &C.

- ,
" Sir,—Permit me to make a few remarks in
reference to the report of my speech at the Walsall
Reform meeting, in your columns of this day.
• • "In condensing hastily a• long speech' much of
the context is necessarily omitted. In many parts
of my speech a reading totally different from that I
intended has been produced. Thus, lam made to
charge whole sections of the house with something
like corruption. I made no-such charge. I referred
only to' certain systems,' and not to individuals.
Among other things I am reported to have said that,
one-half the house was- filled with colonels and
captains, and the other half with nobles and cadets,'
&c. This is incorrect. That which I did say was,
(hat one section of the house might be said to be
colonels captains, and those who represented the
large and special interests attached to their profes-.
sion ; another large section was composed of lords
and the cadets of noble houses, whose sympathies
might well be expected to be more with the aristo-
cracy than with the people; while a narrow and
limited section represented the independent party,
and therefore there was but comparatively a small
party that represented in an- impartial way the
corn wercial. and labourin g classes of the country.'
"These corrections will serve as a guide to explain
several other parts of the speech which, as affecting
individuals, are not in effect a proper construction-
of that which I did say.
" ram, Sir, your obedient servant,
")~1. B. SHERIDAN.

" Bellefield-house, Fulham, April 5."
Now, Sir, 1 do not write this letter for the pur-
pose of retracting opinions I have expressed, but
for the purpose of showing that you have commen-
ted on that which I have not said ; and I feel sure
that under these circumstances you will allow me
to set myself right.
Your first comment is on the following words:—
" He went, he tells us, to represent the great com-
munity of Dudley, and the whole of the inhabitants
naturally had their eyes upon him." I never ut-
tered these words. That which I did say was,
that the inhabitants of Dudley, through me,
would regard with curious oyes that house to which
they had hitherto been prevented from sending a
member of their own selection."
You then comment on the words "before he was
elected. &c., he did not know the difficulties which
woad beset him and surround his path."
I never used these words nor any resemb►ing
them. You next comment on the words "he
thought he might eventually win his way in the
assembly of which he was a member." I never used
these words, nor any resembling them. You then
comment on the word you call " agnomen." I never
used this word, nor do I find it in the report of my
speech made by the reporter who was present, which
is at this moment before me. _

-- -
With reference to the Speaker the quotation is
again incorrect. I said " that by the present sys-
tem an independent member might rise a dozen
times without being permitted to take part in a
political debate, but if noble, right honourable, or
other privileged persons presented themselves they
were at once seen and obtained an immediate re-
.
cogrntion ; it seemed," I said, " as if the house ex-
pected the Speaker to wear spectacles of peculiar
powerin the one case and to remove them in the
other." I spoke of the system and not of the in-
dividual.

I may be unfortunate in considering that the
House of Commons as at present constituted does
not truly represent the great interests of the nation,
but it has not been my intention to express that
opinion offensively.—l am, sir, your obedient ser-
vant, H. B. SHERIDAN.

Bellafield-house, Fulham, April 6.
[We took the report from the Daily News, a.
journal which is supposed to represent the opinions
of the party to which Mr. Sheridan belongs.—Ed.
t'tnesj

AUSTRIA.

A letter from Vienna, dated April 3, says :

The German members of the Cabinet have con-
sented to remain in office, but it can hardly be said
that the crisis is over, as the question which was at
issue has been settled in a way which must be highly
displeasing to Baron Vay and Count Szechen, the
two Hungarian Ministers. When Count G. Ap•

ponyi was here, the Emperor
.told him he should
not object to give his sanction to the resolutions
which,had been.taken by the Judicial Conference
at PeSth, and the Judex Curim lost no time in for-

warding the glad tidings to the Hungarian capital,

On the 30th of March Count G. Apponyi returned
to Pesth, and informed his friends that the contest
between the German and Hungarian members of
the Cabinet had been a very sharp one, and that
the latter would have been worsted had they not
nad the support of the Emperor. He further stated
that he was furnished with the necessary powers
for opening the Diet on the 6th inst., and the
Royal Curie (Supreme Court of Justice), on Wed-
nesday the 3d. The news made a very favourable
impression on the inhabitants of Pest'n, and for a
short time they believed the representatives of
Hungary in the Cabinet to be " masters of the
situation." On Easter Monday, the Ist inst., it
was generally known at Pesth that there was a
Ministerial crisis, and that Count Apponvi had been
summoned by telegraph to return to Vienna as
speedily as possible. The Judex Curiae was on the
point of leaving for this city when he received a
second telegram, which induced him to remain at
Pesth. I know not what information the despatch
contained, but it must have been of importance,
as copies of the document were sent to the princi-
pal railway stations between Vienna and the
Hungarian capital. During the whole of Sunday
and Monday the inhabitants of this city were very
uneasy, as they feared that Bohemian and Hun-
garian Federalists would be appointed to the vacant
posts if the German Ministers should quit the
Cabinet. Everything and everybody was in sus-
pense until yesterday afternoon, when a Cabinet
Council was held at which the Archduke Reignier
stated that his Majesty would not give his sanction
to the resolutions taken by the Hungarian Judicial
Conference, as he believed the matter had better be
settled by the representatives of the nation. As
the declaration was considered satisfactory by the
Gentian Ministers, they all expressed their will-
ingness to remain in office, but the Hungarians
did not make their intentions known to the Presi-
dent of the Council. The Viennese are well pleased
that the German Centralists have obtained such a
signal victory over the Federalists, but their
triumph will hardly be of any duration, as the
Hungarian statesmen are more than a match for
their political opponents. Prince F. Liechtenstein,
the Commander of the Forces in Hungary, has
come to Vienna, in obedience, to telegraphic
orders received from the Emperor. There are no
fewer than 80,000 soldiers stationed in different
parts of Hungary, but the Government is not likely
to have recourse to extreme measures unless there
should be revolutionary movements of a serious
nature. It may be observed that no taxes are now
paid by the Hungarians, who persist in saying that
they will not bear any part of the burdens of the
State until supplies of men and money have been
granted " in a constitutional manner" by the Diet.
We now learn that a memorial, which was signed
by the Ministers of State, Finances, and Commerce,
was sent to the Archduke Reignier in the afternoon
of Saturday, the 30th ult., and that it was placed
in the hands of the Emperor in the evening of the
same day. The memorial is said to contain an ac-
count of the actual state of affairs, and the reasons
why the Gertnan Ministers deemed it advisable to
retire from office. As soon as the few Bohemian,
Moravian, and Austrian nobles who do not belong to
the Federal party learned that there was such a tre-
mendous crisis, they held a meeting, and resolved