The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-17 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1844.

In the Lords, the Marquis of NORMANDY moved
that leave be given on Monday to sign a protest
against the decision of the House on the state of
Ireland.

The Bishop of LONDON, in consequence of the in-
disposition of the Bishop of EXETER, postponed that
Prelate's motion relative to the Poor-laws till Friday
next.

Lord DENMAN adverted to the statements made by
Mr. FERRAND in the Commons, relative to his re-
marks about a clause of the Poor-law Bill. He denied
that he had made any such expressions as those im-
puted to him.
Lord BROUGHAM presented a petition from -Lord
DUNDONALD relative to improvements in steam-
ships; and stated that the Gallant Officer prayed that
Parliament would extend the term of his patent to
fourteen years, or until such period as might seem
meet. _

....,___
The Earl of HADDINGTON concurred in the re-
marks made by Lord BROUGHAM, expressed the
highest admiration of the skill and gallantry of Lord
DUNDONALD, and hoped that justice would be done
to that Gallant and Noble Officer by the prolongation
of his patent.
The Duke of RICHMOND brought in a BiJI to in-
demnify any witnesses for the evidence they might
give in a Committee of the House, appointed to in-
quire into the laws relating to gambling. The Duke
of BUCCLEUCII brought in a Bill to carry into effect
certain projected improvements in the City of London.
In the House of Commons, after the presentation
of petitions, Igr.WALLACE gave notice that, on Mon-
day, he would move for a return of the names of the
Commissioners of Customs, the age of each, and the
,period at which they entered the service; also a re-
turn of the number of actions commenced, and what

informationthad been filed with respect to the frauds
on the Customs.

In answer to a question from Mr. WILLIAMS, Sir
ROBERT PEEL said the Navy Estimates would be
brought on before those of the Army ; and, for the
convenience of the House, he would postpone the
Committee of Supply till Monday.
In answer to a question from Mr. HUME, Sir RO-
BERT PEEL said several communications had taken
place between the Dean and Chapter of Westminster
with regard to the admission fees to the Cathedral,
but no final arrangement had yet been made.
Captain BERNAL resumed the adjourned debate
on the state of Ireland, and in strong terms
denounced the policy pursued towards that country.
If they wishei to govern Ireland, he said, with ad-
vantage to England, they must govern according to
Irish notions—above all, they must cherish the Ca-
tholic religion es a good, and not tolerate it as an
evil.
Mr. DISRAELI followed.

Mr. tVARD, who has taken much interest in the
affairs of Ireland, made an excellent speech, and con-
trasted the monster meetings which had taken place
in England with those for which Mr. O'CONNELL
and his friends had been convicted in Ireland.

Colonel CONOLLY defended the course pursued by
the Government, and asserted that the Protestants,
and not the Catholics of Ire Lind, were the objects
of persecution.
He was followed by Mr. Sergeant MURPHY, Mr.
Escorr, Mr. C. BULLER, and Lord STANLEY, when
the debate was again adjourned. _ _

The other Orders of the Day were then disposed of,
and the Hbuse adjourned at a Quarter to One o'Clock.

The death of Lord SIDMOUTII, who died on Thurs-
day last, at the advanced age of eighty-seven, reminds
us that a peer of the realm has just passed from
among us who, by sheer luck and the proverbial
caprice of fortune, attained those honours which are
often denied to talents a thousand times superior to
any of which he could boast. Without eloquence—
without statesmanship—without energy of character
or family connexions—without even a solitary claim
on the gratitude or confidence of his country—the
deceased nobleman gained the highest and proudest
post which a British subject can possibly gain —.
namely, that of Prime Minister ! And, as if
this fact were not of itself sufficiently astonishing, he
succeeded the second PITT as Premier—a statesman
who, whatever other disqualifications he may have
possessed, was certainly not wanting in a certain
commanding energy and loftiness of mind, in which
his twaddling, common-place successor was noto-
riously—not to-say, ridiculously—deficient! Among
the many strange events that marked the commence-
' meat of the present century, few are more strange
than Mr. ADDINGTON'S acquisition of supreme power—
at such a period, too, when the restless and enterprising
NAPOLEON was Chief Consul of the French republic !
and none more completely exemplifies the truth of the
old adage that " the race is not always to the swift,
nor the battle to the strong." The late Lord SID-
MOUTH was the son of an able Berkshire physician,
who had the honour of practising in the family of the
first Lord CHATHAM. In due time young ADDING-
TON was elected Member for Devizes, in which capa-
city he exhibited not the slightest talent of any sort;
being punctual, however, in his attendance in Parlia-
ment, annolerably well acquainted with its forms and
usages, he was appointed, through the influence of his
patron, PITT, Speaker of the House of Commons, and by
all accounts discharged the duties of his office with de-
corum and impartiality. On the
_retirement of Mr.
PITT from place, Mr. ADDINGTON was appointed his
successor—doubtless as much to his own surprise as
to that of the whole country. The peace of Amiens
followed, but the distrust of the French Govern-
ment continuing as active as ever, hostilities
soon re-commenced; and then came the Premier's
hour of trial. A very brief period sufficed to con-
vince both parties in the House of Commons of his
utter incapacity ; his measures were all marked by
imbecility and short-sightedness, such as might be
expected from a mere red-tape official; and the con.
sequence was that PITT and Fox coalesced in order
to drive him from the helm. On his resignation,
Mr. ADDINGTON was raised to the peerage
by the title of Viscount SIDaIOUTII. Shortly
after he joined the Fox and GRENVILLE party ;
and when, on Mr. PITT'S death, that party came
into power, he was made Privy Seal. On their re-
tirement, in consequence of their attempts to force a
Catholic Relief Bill on the KING, Lord SIDMOUTH
was once again dispossessed of office, notwithstanding
that he held the same sentiments as his Royal master
on the subject of Emancipation. His last official
appointment was that of Secretary of State for the
"Home Department, which he held during many years
of the LIVERPOOL Administration. He finally quitted
public life in the year 1822; from which period to the day
of his death he lived in a state of tranquil, domestic
retirement. As Home Secretary, Lord SIDMOUTH
obtained just about the same amount of popularity
that he obtained during his dull, but brief, burlesque
of the Premiership. His colleagues may have re-
spected him as a man, but they could not but have
contedined him as a Minister; and as for the coun •
try, it scarcely thought of him at all, except when
he came prominently forward with the thanks
of Government to the Manchester magistrates
for their conduct during the Peterloo massacre,
on which occasion he was visited with just and gene-
ral approbrium. We sum up our brief, hasty notice
of Lord SIDMOUTH by observing, that he was a use-
ful party drudge—a subservient, unhesitating Tory
tool—whom Prejudice confided in for his mediocrity,
and Bigotry for his narrow-mindedness. A capi-
tal office-clerk was spoiled when he first as-
pired to political distinction. His proper place
was at a desk in the Treasury or Somerset-house,
with a pen behind his ear, and a bundle of red
tape-tyed documents under his nose. When, instead
of copying official instructions he dictated them,
he got completely beyond his depth—a notorious
fact, which furnished an inexhaustible theme for the
sarcastic wit of CANNING. If Lord SIDMOUTH -be
ever remembered at all, it will be—first, as a prodigy
of political ineptitude, and secondly, as the hero of the
Anti-Jacobin's famous parody on NORVAL'S soliloquy
" My name's the Doctor; on the Berkshire hills
My father bleeds his patients," &c.

Queen CHRISTINA has at length, after much
wavering, left Paris for Madrid. She took her
departure on Thursday at one o'clock, and was ac-
companied in her travelling carriage by a daughter
of Don FRANCISCO DE PAULA, and preceded by the
Duke DE LA ROCA, the Countess BELASCOIN, the
widow of Don DIEGO LEON, and two other daugh-
ters of Don FRANCISCO. Her MAJESTY proceeds in
the first instance to Chalons, where a steamer is in
waiting to convey her to Lyons, and from that place
she will go by water to Avignon, with the intention,
says the Courrier de Lyon, of embarking at Port
Vendres for Spain, unless she should decide enter
ing that country from Perpignan by land. The
Constitutionnel, alluding to the QUEEN'S departure,
says :—" Only two days ago the resolution of
Queen CHRISTINA was still wavering ; but at
a grand dinner given on Monday at the Tuileries,
Marshal SOULT, M. GUIZOT, and the Spanish
Ambassador, expressed their joint opinion that her
departure should not be any longer deferred. All the
other Spaniards present thought otherwise, but their
advice did not prevail." No business of importance
has been transacted in either of the French Chambers
during the week. On Wednesday the Committee of
the Chamber of Deputies, charged to examine the
demand for permission to prosecute M. E. DE GI-
RARDIN for libel, decided that the petition was well
founded, and that the prosecution ought to be per-
mitted. The French Cabinet, not being able to de-
cide on any plan for the construction of railroads, have
resolved to refer the question to the Chamber of
Deputies. " The Minister," says the Journal des
Travaux Publics, " saw no other mode of extricating
himself from the difficulty arising out of the question,
than by consulting the Chamber on the system advisable
to pursue. With that object he will shortly bring in
a Bill, containing no designation of lines, or bidders'
names, but merely indicating the basis of the plan
which he recommends as most eligible. The legis •
lators having terminated their task, the Minister, in
virtue of the powers vested in him by the Chambers,
will definitively treat with such of the companies as
shall propose to acquies-e in the conditions stipulated
in the law. The roads for which no contractors shall
present themselves are to be constructed at the public
expense, and the Minister intends in the course of

the session to apply for the funds necessary to execute
and complete the works."

The accounts from Stockholm of the KING'S health
are more favourable. A bulletin of the 2d announces
that the swelling in the legs had considerably abated,
and that the KING had eaten with appetite, and slept
occasionally.

A decree dated February 1, had been issued by the
KING, conferring the Regency on his son OSCAR,
until the Ist_of March, It begins in these terms—
" We CHARLHS JOHN, by the Grace of GOD, King
of Sweden and Norway, of the Goths and Van-
dals," &c.
The Madrid mail of the 9th had not reached Paris
on Thursday.

On the Paris Bourse the Three per Cents closed
on Thursday at 82f. 40c. ; the Five per Cents. at 125 f.
80c.; Orleans shares at 847 f. 50c. ; Rouen 830 f. ;
Havre, 675 f. ; Avignon, 760 f.; Spanish Active, 31i.