The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-26 00:00:00

disgrace to this country, and he hoped the Government time, and at the rising of the House Lord CAMPEELL
would do everything they could to remove it. gave notice that on Tue May he would move the third
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE expressed himself i reading of the Law of Libel Bill.
highly gratified at the Bill.
After a few words from Lord WHARNCLIFFE, t! e In the Commons, after many Petitions had been
Bill was read a second time. presented, Lord J. RUSSELL put some questions to
LAW OF LIBEL BILL.
Sir R. PEEL relative to the state of affairs between
Lord CAMPBELL gave notice that, on Tuesday next,
ho ivould move the third reading of the. Law of Libel Morocco and France, and intimated, in language not to
be misunderstood, that the appointment of the Prince
Their Lordships then adjgurned. DE JOINVILLE to command the expedition was a matter
of serious importance. We have no apprehensions of
the kind. The young Admiral goes out with instruc-
tions from his father, and though he may be very an-
xious to make a dash and show off among the Moors
of Tanjiers and Mogador, the affair will all end
in mere display. The Emperor of Moaocco
has conducted himself, as far as we can judge from
the French papers, with the greatest imprudence, and
cannot expect support from this country. Sir R.
PEEL said he knew nothing more of the last affair
than what had been communicated by the telegraphic
dispatch. The French Government, however, had
assured Lord ABERDEEN that nothing was further
from their intention than to enter into hostilities with
Morocco.
Lord JOLIN RUSSELL said he might, possibly, at
another period, call the attention of the house to the
subject.

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LETTERS OF CREDIT ON INDIA.—The
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Sir ROBERT PEEL then stated the course which he
intended to pursue with respect to the business before
the House, for which we refer to the Parliamentary
report, because it is impossible, in a summary, to
state what is likely to take place. No positive fact
was stated. Everything depended on contingencies.
The strong Government has lost all its power, and
trusts to the chapter of accidents. It would appear,
however, that the obnoxious and partial Bill, called
the Irish Registration Bill, is to be pressed on the
House on Monday. We trust every Liberal Member
will be in his place, and fight the battle on
this question to the last. Why make Ire-
land an exception ? 'Why interfere with the
registration of electors in that country, while Eng-
land and Scotland are to be left as they were by the
Reform Bill ? While Ireland calls out for a repeal of
the union, the British Parliament is doing everything
in its power to make that call more effectual.
Lord PALMERSTON put a question to Sir JAMES
GRAHAM relative to the gaming laws, but the Home
Secretary could give no satisfactory answer.
In answer to a question from Mr. B. COCHRANE,
relative to the fate of Colonel STODDART and Captain
CONOLLY, Sir ROBERT PEEL said that on Thursday
or Friday next he would give him the latest informa-
tion in possession of the Government.
Mr. 'VILLIERS then brought on his motion for a
repeal of the corn-laws.
Mr. FERRAND moved an amendment, which will
be found in the Parliamentary report.
This motion occupied the House for the remainder
of the evening. The debate was adjourned.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of,
and the House adjourned at Half-past One.

The extorted admissions of the Secretary of State
for the Home Department touching the violation of
private letters passing through the General Post-
office, under the authority of his warrant to the Post-
master-General for that purpose, continue to form an
absorbing topic of public attention. We are glad that
this is so. If the British public did not feel indig-
nant at the exposures elicited by the motion of the
Hon. Member for Finsbnry from the reluctant ac-
knowledgements of Sir JAMES GRAHAM, we should
blush for our countrymen. The sacredness of private
communications, contained in sealed letters, has been,
ever since the Revolution, a subject of gratulation
among all classes of Englishmen, jealous of their own
honour, and alive to the eminent reputation of this
country for the good faith and integrity of its admi-
nistrative departments. The dangerous and disgrace-
ful profligacy of the Revolutionary Government of
Prance was in nothing so execrable as in its matured
and wholesale system of letter-violation. From the
closing years of the reign of Louis XV. to those of
the Emperor NAPOLEON, this political felony had at-
tained the maximum of its extent, its insolence, and
its impunity. FOUCUE, in these latter days
the unprincipled and unscrupulous Foucn E—
has survived. the termination of his natural
career, only to live in the recollection of this
generation as " the " arch letter-opener, purloiner,
eaves-dropper—" the" official burglar of a bureau,
" the" seal-breaker, "the" spy upon the thoughts
and hearts of social existence in France. Hitherto
the crafty ex-Minister of the most nefarious Go-
vernment which had ever been spawned by political
convulsion and anarchy, occupied an individual, ex-
clusive, isolated, unapproached notoriety. In the
year 1844, Sir J. GRAHAM, the Home Secretary in
the constitution of a Tory Government, being minded
to have a " little go" of his own in the lottery of
" Eminent Living Statesmen," put in for a chance,
and drew—the enviable distinction of a case or two of
seal-breaking "a la FoucnE," with a warranty for
practising in these new arts of a British Minister,
under an obscure clause in a forgotten statute of Queen
ANNE. This clause, it seems, has been revived
by, and smuggled into, the labyrinth of clauses in
a " Consolidating" Act passed in the first year of her
present MAJESTY.
In the House of Lords, however, last night, the
Earl of RADNOR, not at all satisfied with the defence
attempted for Sir JAaxE', on the enactments in
question, moved the Peers to address the Throne,
praying her MAJESTY to direct to be laid before
them the several warrants_ which had been issued
by that functionary, authorising any letters to be
opened at the General Post-office. Although the
Noble Earl subsequently withdrew his motion, it
led to an animated and very important discus-
sion, upon which we have a few words to offer.
Had the matter been pressed to a division and
affirmed, it is evident that their Lordships would have
got at the solution of the important question, whether
snore than one warrant was issued by the Home
Secretary in this instance—and what were the specific
letters such warrant or warrants authorised and re -
quired to be opened. Sir J. GRAHAM has hitherto
been doggedly silent as to the main points pressed in
the interrogatories addressed to him in the House of
Commons ; but he is abundantly credulous if he
suppose that that silence is not accurately understood
by the public. They put their own unhesitating con-
struction upon it, on the principle that "dum tacet
clamat." Lord it ADNOR, in propounding his motion,
after a very cursory allusion to the complaints of Al.
MAzziss and others, stated that he
" Was not going into a consideration of the subject as to
whether the Secretary of State ought to have this power;
his own opinion led him to the conclusion that he ought not
—that it ought to be confined to cases in which the security of
the State or the safety of the person of the Sovereign re-
quired such an exercise of it. But it appeared that it had
been used for other purposes, as letters of foreigners had been
opened and their contents e-xamined—a thing unheard of
before."

Earl of HADDINGTON admitted that no Minister could

assume a more dangerous responsibility—but thought
Sir JAMES justified by the statute referred to.

But Lord CAMPBELL, in an excellent little speech
(the constitutional principles of which were so well
developed that they cause us to lament their feebler
advocacy by Lord BROUGHAM), put the whole ques-
tion in a succinct, intelligible form. " If," said he,
"any Member of her Majesty's Government will rise
up in his place and declare that upon his
own knowledge, there was reason for the exer-
cise of this power by the Secretary of State, I will
not say a single word more about the matter I will
be satisfied." Could any suggestion be fairer—more
reasonable—less vexatious. But the challenge was
declined by Ministers. What must we think of their
case, when they damd not accept it? Lord CAMP-
BELL went on to reinat'k, " That bath .N
Duke and the Noble Fii:st Lord of the Admiralty
(Earl of lIADDINGToN) had said—each of them—that
he knew nothing of this mattter." Now, in his
manly and admirable address at the close of
the debate, Lord DENMAN, arguing on the
constiutional objection to the power, if it existed,
and on its political inexpediency from its disuetude,

said that, as he read the clause relied on in the Act of
ANNE, he inferred that the warrant was meant to be
one flowing from the united act of the whole Go-
vernment under which it might be issued, not from
the Secretary of State alone. Yet Sir J. GRAHAM,
whose proceedings were " not known" to the Duke
of WELLINGTON or others of his colleagues, refused to
give any information, and said "his mouth was closed."
Nothing could exceed the force and eloquence
with which Lord DENMAN demonstrated the shallow-
ness of the pretext of his " responsibility'
set up by Sir JAMES GRAHAM; and the utter absence
of any sufficient ground, in the facts of M. MAZZINI'S
case, for the exercise of this abominable power. A r.d,
after all, if there be a case to justify the Home Secre-
tary—a case of reasonable: suspicion to be shown--
what difficulty can Sir JAMES GRAHAM have in stat-
ing it,—if not in open Parliament, yet—before a
Secret Committee of both Houses, who might re-
port simply on the issue " that there 'was, or
was not" such a case, without disclos-
ing any evidence ? At present the mere wording of
the clause will not sustain the conduct of the Home
Secretary—for it is evident the words require
a specific warrant for each letter opened. Only one
warrant issued ; more than one letter was opened.
The public feeling demands, and will be satisfied
with, nothing less than, some responsible and trust-
worthy explanation of the motives that actuated the
Home Secretary in the course he has adopted. They
will never consent to be appeased by the half-defying
half-indifferent tone of his own assurances on the
matter. Nor are' we aware of any passages in the
public career of such a Minister that can entitle him
to anticipate success for such assurances. Sir
JAMES'S own personal views of public expediency or
official morality will need ample corroboration,--at the
bar of public opinion.

We have intelligence from Lisbon, to the 20th,
announcing the temporary retirement of the Minister
of the Interior, Senhor CABRAL, on account of im-
paired health, and of the President of the Council,
the Duke of TERCEIRA. being chargQd, during the
retirement of Senhor CABRAL, with the duties of his
office. Affairs are, according to all accounts in a very
unsatisfactory state. There was no prospect of the
Cortes being summoned, and several of the journals,
in consequence, seriously urge the people to refuse to
pay taxes. The wine trade was more depressed than
ever.

Accounts from Madrid of the 18th state that the
Minister of Finance, and the public creditors had come,
to an understanding respecting the price at which the
New Three per Cent. Stock should be issued. The
creditors agreed to accept it at 3.5, and deliver up
the bills and other securities received from the Go-
vernment.

The 'Three per Cents. closed at 2711 for cash, and
28i at 60 days, and the Five per Cents. at 20 7-16ths
at 60 days.

The intelligence from Morocco has caused mush
excitement at Paris, and most of the Opposition
journals call upon the Governmnnt to take prompt
and decisive steps to vindicate the honour of France.
The National, as might be expected, is peculiarly
warlike. " War," it says, "is not declared against
us, it is actually waged, and whilst you are idly
talking, Ann-EL-KaDER is kindling the fire of fanati-
cism, recruiting and re-organising his army, and you
will presently see him attack you, and stir up in
Algiers the tribes that have submitted to your rule.
Every day that is lost strips you of a part of your
power, for we repeat what we said the other day ; it
is not only the Emperor of MOROCCO that you
will strike by carrying war to the heart of his
states and bombarding some of his towns on the
coast; it is thrOughout Algeria that those blows will
be felt; it is your domination that you will strengthen
over all the Arabs. Force and victory, such are the
signs of the will of Heaven unto all nations; and vic-
tory is not enough—the rapidity of the chastisement
must stifle at their birth the elements of rebellion. It
is AB-EL-KADER that you will pursue and overtake
at Fez and Tangier. You will settle your affairs
afterwards with 'England, but at this hour it is war—
war after two provocations, and war on our territory.
Will 31. GUIZOT at length understand it ? or will he
again ask the advice of Lord COWLEY ?"
According to accounts from Toulon of the 20th the
greatest activity had been exerted in getting the ex-
pedition ready. The Prince de JOINVILLE ar-
rived there on the morning of that day, and
after receiving the official authorities, he went
on board the Suffren, which carries his flag. On
his being seen afloat, the salvos were fired from
all the ships in the roadstead. They were also dressed,
and their yards manned, the sailors hailing him with
acclamations of " Vive le Rol." At one o'clock all
the ships took in their colours, and the flag of his
Royal Highness was substituted on board the Suffren
for the royal standard. The wind was favourable,
and the squadron was to sail next day. The PRINCE,
it is said, had received orders to strike a heavy blew,
but r.t the same time to take the advice of M. DE NION,
the French Consul-General at Tangier. His plan is
to destroy all the sea ports of Morocco, and if that
should not be sufficient, an army will be sent with
orders to march upon Fez.
The vote passed by the Chamber of. Deputies on
Saturday, in opposition to the Government plan for
the construction of railways, had also caused some
excitement. After the Chamber rose, a Cabinet
Council was held at the residence of Marshal SOULT,
and on Sunday another was held at Neuilly, at which
the KING presided. On Monday the Chamber as-
sembled in large numbers, and the Minister of Fi-.
nance, supported by the Ministers of the Interior and
Public Works, moved that the consideration of the
question whether the Government should lay down
the rails be postponed till next session. The motion
was twice put to the vote, but as the PRESIDENT could
not decide which party had the majority, the ballot
was taken, but the result was not known at the hour
of post. Little doubt however remained that the Mi
nistry would have a majority, as a previous vote had
been carried by a majority of 28, rejecting the sub
sequent clauses of 31. DE Rumfids's;amendment.