The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-01 00:00:00

ebetnilltt Ant

LONDON, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1850.

A more comprehensive, a more propitious, or,
altogether, a more satisfactory Speech from the
Throne, has never within our recollection been deli-
vered either by the lips of the SOVEREIGN or by those
of her Commissioners, than the one which yesterday
inaugurated the third session of the present Parlia-
ment. Generally speaking no document elicits more
invariably or more universally the cavils and con-
demnations of the community than that Ministerial
manifesto, which i 3 designated by courtesy the Royal
Speech. Scarcely ever is even one solitary section
of the multitude disposed to regard it with any degree
of complacency. All recognise in it faults of omission ;
some of commission. All perceive in it the absence
of allusions which they would have fain seen intro-
duced; some the presence of allusions which they
would have fain seen differently expressed. The
advisers of the Crown may usually with implicit
confidence anticipate the expression of more various
and virulent opposition against this one effusion of
their statesmanship than against all the rest
of the voluminous harangues which during
the remainder of .the session may emanate
from the Government. IVhatever sentiments
they may place in the mouth of the SOVE-
REIGN, under ordinary circumstances, those senti-
ments they may be sure will be violently assailed by
a crowd resolved to be unsatisfied. In the present
instance, however, it is we are satisfied otherwise.
One class of the population doubtless will articulate

its displeasure in no measured terms—we mean, of

course, the Protectionists. But with the vast ma-
jority of the inhabitants of the United Kingdom the
prevalent feeling on the perusal of the Royal Speech
will be that of peculiar and almost unalloyed satisfac-
tion. Each of us, to be sure, will regret that so and
so was unnoticed, that such and such a matter was
overlooked, that one or other of our individual hob •
bies was passed over with indifference—but of this

we are satisfied, that the mass of the population
will exult in the tone of every paragraph comprised
in this important document, and will rejoice
that matters of such moment have been mentioned in
language so singularly felicitous.
After a solemn and feeling allusion to the demlie of
ADELAIDE the Queen Dowager,her MAJESTY, through
the medium
congratulates
her Royal Commissioners, felicitates
herself
fan o
and
the country upon the
uninterrupted and honourable maintenance of the
Most amicable relations with the various countries cf
the globe, but more especially with the different states
of Christeridom. .The reference made immediately
afterwards to the happy settlement of the autumn
differences which had arisen between the Austrian
and Russian Governments on the one hand, and the
Government of the Sublime Porte on the other—dif-
ferences which are acknowledged in so many words
to have been "of a serious character"—will
have been observed with profound interest
by all those whose sympathies are with
the expatriated heroes of Hungary. To these
individuals, and they are numerous, the announce-
ment made indirectly from the lips of the SOVE-
REIGN of England, that all such differences have been
amicably arranged through the united mediation of
the Cabinets of the French Republic and of the
English Monarchy, will be a source of inexpressible
gratification, more particularly seeing that that an-
nouncement is accompanied with the assurance that
the advocacy of the cause of the SULTAN, in opposi-
tion to the demands of the Austrian EMPEROR and of
the Russian AUTOCRAT, has been conducted throughout
in a manner " consistent with his dignity and indepen-
dence." Nothing again could be more peculiarly
satisfactory than the declaration which thereupon
follows, seeing that it affords an augury indirectly of
improvement to the commerce of Great Britain,
and directly to the advancement and general eman-
cipation of the commerce of all the countries of
the earth, in both hemispheres. Her MAJESTY
graciously informs her Parliament that not only
have the Governments of Sweden and of the
U:ited States of America responded to the generous
r€furms made by the British L-gislature in the r,-
lasation of the restrictions formerly imposed by the
laws relating to navigation, lint that propitious
assurances have been received from the reA cf the
for. igu states that, ultimately, their own codes of
navigutirin will be similarly modified, thereby con.
dicing in the end to a perfect freedom cf marine in-
tercourse.

Not an individual in these islands but will nppre-
elate the beauty of the acknowledgment sub-
sequently made as to the cessation of the
ravages of the Cholere, ALmIGHTY GOD,
in his mercy, having been pleased " to arrest
the progress of mortality, and to stay that fearful

pes; ilence." " ILe 11..1 JENTY persuaded," continues
the Royal Speech in terms eminently noble, an,i in
a spirit at once ratiot tal and hurntnizing, " that we
shal best evince our gt at itude by vigilant precauti,,ns
against Ole more obviou i causes of sickness, snit an
e trued ratios t for those- who are most ^X-
posed to its titt.ckfz." In that sentence is pron(nticcd
an it.dire:t eul.gituo np )n those sanitary ialpiov.
ments, which are declared, , -further On, to he ilcvol,ping
themselves in all quarrel s of the Unia d Kingdem
in a manner highly sat ,i,factory to their promo-
ter. Comprehensive but, at the same time,
cautious diminutions of t he national expenditure are
hinted at by the Royal ; ;peech in that portion of it
where, on commending the yearly estimates to the
Gentlemen of the House. of Commons, it is intimated
that those estimates " hi .ve been framed with a strict
regard to economy, wkti le the efficiency of the va-
rious branches of the pi tblic service has not been
neglected." Meanwhile, it t making that concession to
the popular ambition fur inancial improvement, it is
remarked, as if in justifiel stion, that " her MAJESTY
50,-•
has seen ltrith satit•fact .on the present state of
the revenue." In referen :.e to Ireland, the allumions
of the Royal Speech hay, t in this instance acquired
an especial interest from the circumstance that the
Monarch is enabled to (el saerve, that in her late visit
to that portion of her tinpire, her MAJESTY " de-
rived the highest gratifi cation front the loyalty and
attachment manifested by all classes of her subjects."
Those allusions, moreove have happily become on
the present occasion fre ,ught with some degree of
encouragement,.seeinz, t; eat while they announce the
effects of former years o f scarcity to be considerably
mitigated by the general ; ibundance and the prevailing
tranquillity, they intima• te various measures for the
improvement of the coed .ition of Ireland, particularis-
ing those ameliorative me :asures by name, and asserting
that they will be brough t in due succession under the
consideration of Parliament. Besides announcing to
the country the probal ele speedy resumption of all
postponed improveinents„ the Speech from the Throne
contains two important ; paragraphs not yet speci-
fied, the most remarks' ele and felicitous -portions
of this most remarkali ie and felicitous document.
The first of these admirable divisions of the Royal
Speech is the following • reference to the increased and
increasing prosperity of the country, to the vociferous
and interminable complr ,ints of the agriculturists, and
to the latent determine ,tion of the Government to
maintain their Free-trs ,de policy in opposition to all
the noisy demands of tl te Monopolists :
" Ller Majesty has gre at satisfaction in congratuhving
you on the improved con dition of commerce and manu-
factures. It is with refire t that her Majesty has observed
the complaints which in many parts of the kingdom have
proceeded from the own 3rs and occupiers of the land.
Her Majesty greatly lame .nts that any portion of her sub-
jects should be suffering distress; but it is a source of
sinew gratification to I ter Majesty to witness the in-
creased enjoyment of the necessaries and comforts of Lie
which cheapness and p leaty have bestows c 1 upon the
great body of her people. "
Than this nothing c ould by possibility have been
more admirably, more justly, or more emphatically
expressed, indicating a sympathy for whatever
sufferings have really fi illen upon the landowners, but
intimating at the same time a resolute determination
to adhere to .a cause up on which the comfort and hap-
piness of the "great be dy of the people" are entirely
dependent.

The other important paragraph of the Royal Speech
not yet particularised is the following majestic and
eloquent peroration-1. Inguage worthy of a constitu-
tional SOVEREIGN, w•urthy of the Patriot Monarch
idealized by BOLINGI3 I :OKE :
" The favour of Div i ac Providence has hitherto pre-
served this kingdom 3 'rom the wars and convulsions
which, during the last t wo years, have shaken so many
of the States of the con tinent of Europe. It is hcr Ma-
jesty's hope and belief that by combining liberty with
order, by preserving a tat is valuable, and amending
what is defective, you will sustain the fabric of our k-
stitutions as the abocii ) and the shelter of a free and
happy people."

Rfrgarding the Roy; 11 Speech as an augury of the
session just commence, I, we are now more than ever
sanguine of its proving • one calculated to advance the
interests of the community, and to conduce to an ex-
traordinary iinprovemt mt of the Constitution ; a hope
materially heightened by the masterly speech deli-
vered last night in the Commons by the Hon.
CammEs ViLLIERS, and the noble and decisive
oration pronounced ii s the Lords by the Earl of
CARLISLE.

Notwithstanding th a many procf6 which have been
afforded during the las t twelve months of the reckless
misrepresentations in which the partisans cf the
reactionary movement ; habitually indulge, we cer-
tainly were not prei >tired for the assertion which
has recently been put forth by the friends
of obscurantism and liegemen of King BOMBA,
that Great Britain never guaranteed to the
Sicilians their const' Aution. 'We had imagined
that the debates whit; a took place in the House of
Lords last session, whe n even the Earl cf ABERDEEN
only ventured to hin t a doubt, and when Lord
HEYTESBURY was com pelled to admit the authen-
ticity of the memora adum of 1814, had set that
question at rest. It would appear, however, that
King BOMBA and parti tans in this country are pre-
pared again to raise th e issue of guarantee or no
guarantee, and they f nind their pretensions on the
following note from Lord PALMERSTON to L9rd
NORMANDY, which wil 1 be found in page 2 of the
Parliamentary Papers::—

No. IL
" VISCOUNT PALME, Et,STON TO LORD NORMANDY.
" Fol 'eigr-offico, January 13, 1848.
" My Lord,—Report s basso of late Lean circulated
that, in some way or ot: ler, the constitution, which was
granted to the Sicilia, is in 1812, was guaranteed by
the British Governmei it. I think it right to inform
your Excellency that t he corresponeence is this Office
with Sicily in the years 1811-12, while the reversion cf
the constitution of the island was under consideration,
and in the year 1813, alter that constitution was finally
sanctioned by the King, contains no mention of any pro-
posal for the guarantee of Great Britain to that consti-
tution having been either required or offered; nor does
that constitution, whit h was finally sanctioned by the
King of the Two Sicili RS in February, 1813, allude to
any such guarantee.—l am, &c.,
(Signed) " PALMERSTON."
There can he no do,. tbt but that no written gua-
rantee on the part of C irreat Britain of the Constitu-
tion of Sicily was requ ired either in 1811, 1812, or
1813, because during tl le whole of those years the
forces of Great. B ritain were in military
possession of the island of Sicily ; during
those years Great, Britain guaranteed the
Sicilian Constitution by her acts, and so far were
those acts carried, dud when the intrigues of the
notorious Queen CAnc,LINE of Naples for the over-
throw of the Sicilia a Constitution were detected
by Lord W. BEN TINCK, his Lordship did not
hesitate to deport her from the island, wife
though she was of the. idiot Bourbon who at that time
wore the Sicilian crov rn; it was not therefore before
1814, the date of the t vacuation of the island by the
British troops, that v to should expect to find in the
British Foreign-office any record of a guarantee of
the Sicilian Constitutic n on the part of Great Britain,
and that such guarantt !e was then given appears from
the memorandum, date d Palermo, October 20, 1814,
signed WILLIAM A'Gouarr, addressed to the Neapoli-
tan Government, and. published to the Sicilian people;
which memorandurr i was never presented to Parlia •
ment until 1849, w'nen it was laid before the House
of Peers on the motion of Lord BEAUMONT. This
memorandum I had be en withheld from Parliament by
Lord CASTVEREIGII ;a 1821, when other papers re-
lating to Si( were presented ; and when questioned

on the sub!,ect by Lord W. BENTINCK, his Lordship
inuendoed rather than asserted its non-existence.
Copies a it, which had been circulated in Sicily,
arrive d in England in 1849, and search was again
made t'or it at the Foreign-office without eff4ct, the
Sicilia n copies not bearing any date which
could guide the searchers; at length the date
was ascertained, and on searching again in
the ;Foreign-office the memorandum was f fund.

Tin this memorandum (which is published in extens;in
the core aspondence relating to Sicilian affairs, presented
to the I louse of Lords, pp. 3 and 4), in speaking of the
appeal made to England by the Sicilians in 1811 on
beh of c >f the Constitution, the British Minister says—
," -En
";land could not be insensible to the appeal
•
wa-4 made to Intl., and wcilst she el a-ge.l herself
with till) protection of Sicily from any foreign invader,
she a t same Vine lent tierielf t ► the invitation she
had r Avvd, and became the protectress and supporter
of alto ratioiis founded upon prinApes FO just iu them-
86vcs and s.lcreditP.ble to these from whoa t'ley had
or4.it•Ally emanated."
V'Jis surely reads not very unlike a written
guar lnte e of constitutional government to Sicily.
The t. 74:morandum then proceeds thus :
"In vay temperate and prudent modiflcation of the Go-
verniut tit-, England would willingly lend that aid and sup-