The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-09 00:00:00

Everybody recollects the extraordinary session
of the winter of 1854, convened, like the present,
for the despatch of important business. It was,
until last week, the latest Christmas Parliament
the English public could call to their recollection.
And the golden fruit of legislation forced into
premature growth and immature ripeness by the
hot-house influence of that extraordinary session
—is it forgotten ? Hardly, by this time, we
should conjecture. The product of those winter
labours of the Lords and Commons was altogether
too monstrous of its kind, was in every particular
too much of a phenomenon to be lost so very soon
to the popular memory. Was it not literally one
of the most laughable specimens on record of the
parturient montes, with a result not a jot less
absurd in its way than the old hackneyed Hora-
tian—nascitur ridi4ultis macs ? Was it not, in
other words, the solemn convocation of the Impe-
rial Legislature of Great Britain during the crisis
of a grand European War for—what ? Actually,
for the purpose of surrounding the Empire with a
befitting defence by the creation of a contemptible
little fribbling German Legion ! Outrageous as
it seems to talk thus nowadays, so it unquestion,
ably was in the winter of 1854: when Parlia-
ment was hastily assembled at an unusual season
for that express object, for the creation of that
odious and ludicrous phalanx, the German Legion !
A proceeding that only resulted in entailing a
most unnecessary expense upon us ; in our caret
fully disciplining a set of ungracious mercenaries,
to the end (as events proved) that they might
occasionally indulge in the dastardly use of the
poignard whenever they were sufficiently flushed
with English beer, and that they might ultimately
be disbanded at the close of the Crimean conflict
without ever once having participated in its perils,
or by the stroke of a sword, or the flash of a
musket, earned their salt, their rations, or their
regimentals !

Another extraordinary session for the despatch
of urgent public business has again commenced.
The winter of 1854 is repeated in that of 1857.
Shall it be repeated as bootlessly, as perversely,
as frivolously? Incredible though it may sound
—it really threatens to do so deliberately ! Exa-
mine the prospectus of this extraordinary session,
and answer whether or no we are correct in
hazarding this unwelcome declaration ? What id
the drift, what is the gist of that Prospectus ? A
worthy pendant to the German Legion—a Bill of
Indemnity ! That is distinctly about the begin-
ning, the middle, and the end of it all—a Bill of
Indemnity ! Yes, to be sure there is yet some-

thing more—the reappointment of the Bank
Charter Committee ! Just to keep up appearances!
For we know already perfectly well all that a
commiCee of this kind can possibly extract upon
a subject long ago threadbare and transparent.
Consequently, to all intents and purposes, the
object of this newly-inaugurated Extraordinary
Session, is—as we have said before—a Bill of
Indemnity. Literally another "ridiculous mouse"
to be born from " parturient mountains," with
the throes as of an earthquake ! Not a whisper
about the scheme of a reorganised Government
for Hindostan ! Not a hint as to the bearing or
tendency of the new Reform Bill. Up3n that head
in particular, Lord PALMERSTON feels himself

constrained to illustrate, as adroitly as possible,
the matchtes3 machiavellian reserve, combining
the frank deportment with the hidden thought,
ii volto sciolto, g/i pensieri stretti. The noble lord
at the head of the Government has, indeed,
resolved upon this course so definitively, that, upon
the very first evening of debate, in the archest

;one of banter imaginable, he assured the Righ

Honourable Gentleman the leader of her MAJESTY'S
Opposition, that it was hopeless for him to look
for any Ministerial explanations prior to the Christ

Inas recess ; recommending Mr. DISRAELI, there-
fore, in the interval to amuse himself as he best
might with his own speculations. Cool, this, cer-
tainly I What HAMLET speaks of, iu a famous
soliloquy, as " the insolence of office !" However,
it is just within the bare limits of possibility that
the leader of the Opposition may by chanco muse
over some things in those speculations of his, not
dreamt of in Lord PALMERSTON'S political philo-

sophy ! As dear, toad-eating Mr. RIIIKE3 used to
delight in saying, hugging himself with all kinds
of fantastic anticipations while saying it through

his nose with the true Parisian twang—nous
verrons ! All depends certainly, for that matter,
in a very groat measure upon Viscount PALMERSTON
himself—still to the eleventh hour it depends,
more than upon any one else, upon him ! While,
therefore, Mr. DISRAELI is (according to the Pre-

raior's recommendation) indulging himself during
the approaching Christmas Holidays with his

speculations—it nto b 3 hoped for his own sake,
if not for that of the country at largo, that Lord
PALMERSTON will be recreating himself during the
same interval—with his preparations

Lord and Lady Rollo, after a lengthened tour in
France, have arrived in Paris fcr the winter.
The Princes of Siam, with eight members of their
suite, kit Claridge's Hotel, yeatorday morning, on ato Birmingham and the principal manufacturing towns.
The Marquis Camden came to town on Monday, from
the Wilderneae, near Szvenoaks.
and CounieB3 of Cheisttafitild ha,vo 4rlived
a toWD froal Bretby Park,