The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-09 00:00:00

T

already called on, by order of her MAJESTY, or
of either House, or which, by usage or precedent,
and under statute, it may be bound to supply to
Parliament,—by the earliest period at which it
may be practicable to get such documents ready
for presentation after the re-assemblingofParlia-
ment. Let these regulations enjoin that in every
instance wherein, according to the opinion of the
responsible superior head or officer of a depart-
ment, it may be impracticable to get such papers
prepared by the time suggested in the regula-
tions, such superior officer shall report to him,
the Premier, directly, the reasons or causes of
the delay, and set forth the more distant period
at which it can be guaranteed that such papers
shall be severally ready. Of all Parliamentary
papers, in like manner, which may be still
passing through the press, let the Minister on
the first day of the ensuing session call for a
return, setting out the present stage towards
completion at which the documents may have
arrived, and the date at which the printer under-
takes to have the copies delivered at the Parlia-
mentary Paper-office in Abingdon-street.
By some such measures as these, previously
concocted, it may be possible to avoid that in-
decent hurry, that hopeless confusion, and that
very serious ►nischief which the " clearing off"
the Return and Notice Paper in the penultimate
stages of a session usually exhibit. It is in this
way that the go-by is given for another year,
not only to important Private Bills and muni-
cipal and county business, which have been
introduced or conducted at very heavy expense—
all of which for the most part in such instances
has to be re-incurred—but to public questions,
the progress of which has been anxiously but
vainly watched by the people, whose expecta-
tions in like manner must be pgstponed to the
" next session." We have no wish to see the
important questions of public education, the cur-
rency, the renewal of the Bank charter, the general
policy of free trade, the adjustment of our con-
nexions and dominions on this side and beyond the
Indus, the position and bearings of our foreign
policy, the revision of our domestic taxation, the
reform of our fiscal establishments, especially
the Customs, and the careful retrospect of our
financial system (all of which must, in a shape
more or less substantive and direct, come under
the deliberation of the Legislature in the en-
suing session)—we have no wish to see subjects;
of this vital magnitude sacrificed to defective
arrangements and deficiency of time, which a
little previous management may surely obviate.

The Madrid Gazette of the 31st ult. publishes the
new municipal law, not passed by the Cortes or any
constitutional authority, but ordered by NARVAEZ and
the Camarilla. Against this law nearly the whole of
Spain protested in 1840. Vast numbers of petitions
were, addressed to Queen CHRISTINA, entreating her
not to sanction such a measure. She treated them
with contempt, and then finding such a general out.
cry against her she resigned the Regency and fled
into France. For this despotic measure BRAvo
and his party calculate on obtaining a bill of
indemnity. Time will show whether such
a change has taken place in the political views of the
people since 1840 as to make them accept in 1844 what
they declared three years before to be inadmissable.
The Government in fact have adopted a system of
legislature never before heard of. They pass a num-
ber of acts in a secret conclave, promulgate them to
the country, enforce them by the sword, and in order
to prevent endless talk they propose to call
upon the Cortes to sanction them in a
lump. The Phare des Pyrenees says the suspen-
sion of the Chambers was agreed to by
the Cabinet without any communication with
the heads of their party, and it was only on the ni.,;ht
.previous to the prorogation that the resolution of the
Cabinet was communicated to the President of the
Chambers.

The Gazette contains the following decree r
" Considering the distinguished merit of M. MAR..
TINEZ DE LA ROBA, and the services which he has
rendered the country, I appoint him my Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Court of
his Majesty the King of the FRENCH." The Duke de
Rivas had been named Ambassador to Naples, and
was to bring with him. as Secretary M. AGUSTO DE
CUETO.

The Three per Cents. were done at 25i at 60 days ;
the Five per Cents., at 20i for cash ; and the Float-
ing Debt, at 411 for the 17th inst.

We learn from the Paris papers that the Committee
of the Chamber of Deputies appointed to draw up the
address, continue to sit daily, and had put numerous
questions to Ministers relative to the main points in
the KING'S speech. The answers, in general, were
satisfactory. On Saturday the Ministers of Religion
and Public Instruction were to be heard, and from
the steps taken by the Government lately, we may
infer that their explanations will be in accordance
with the majority of the Chamber. M. GUIZOT is not
at all inclined to support the Jesuits, or allow the
Church to ride over the University, and M. MARTIN
seems to be of his opinion. Having lately ascertained
that the Jesuits have been educating children in some
of the convents of the order, he took immediate steps
to put an end to this breach of the charter. The
Minister of Trade will find some more difficulty in
performing his task, for, if certain accounts were to
be believed, commerce .and domestic manufac-
tures are not at all flourishing. On this sub-
ject the Presse makes the following re-
marks :—" If there he some branches of manufac-
turing industry which produce a profit, there are,
much too many which are not as prosperous as
they were during former years. Had the Ministers
been well informed by their agents, they would have
known that in the eastern departments several manu-
facturers have been obliged to reduce their hands.
The machine makers are likewise complaining. The
iron masters labour under great difficulties in conse-
quence of the high price of fuel, of which the Finance
Minister is perfectly aware. It cannot be said that the
wine-growers are in a prosperous condition, although
the late rise on wines may have for a moment re•
lieved their - distress. The home-made sugar ma-
nufacturers have diminished their production, and
the foreign growers have not benefited. As to
our maritime commerce, it has suffered more than
almost any other species of industry. Our shipments
have been at the same time less important and less
productive. By a deplorable coincidence our ship-
owners have had to encounter difficulties in many
countries where they formerly found an advantageous
commerce. At Mexico our produce has been sud-
denly loaded with an increased duty. At the Brazils
the Custom-house officers have adopted a new mode
of measurement, so arbitrary that it has become im-
possible to land merchandise there without ruin to
the shipowner. At St. Domingo the tonnage duties
have been raised 100 percent. -At the United States
the maintenance of the tariff of 1842 prevents the
extension of all mercantile speculation. In Europe
commercial affairs are not on a better footing. Coun-
tries with which we traded have decreased their pur-
chases without any reasonable motive, and the Ger-
man markets have been closed against much of our
produce. To characterise our foreign commerce in
one figure, it may be asserted that in the year 1842
our exports diminished to the amount of 126,000,000 f.!
The returns for the year 1843 are not yet published,
but we are confident our exports during that year
have not equalled those of theyear 1841."
The Journal des Debats has a curious article on
the late doings of NARVAEZ and Co. It evidently
has no wish to blame them much for violating the
Constitution, provided only the plan could be made
to succeed. "Itis to be believed," says that Minis-
terial paper, " that the Progressist party would not
resign itself to such Platonic acts if it had any hope
of being able by' any means of again throwing the
country Into a state of agitation. But in the pro-
vinces, as well as in the capital, people are tired of
agitation. Catalonia, the permanent focus of insur-
rection, seems, by a strange anomaly, the part of the
kingdom the least disposed to incur the chances oC civil
war. We certainly, at long intervals, hear reports of
the interminable siege of a small castle at Figueras,
the sound of which is smothered by the more noisy
debates in the Congress; but Barcelona has evidently,
for the moment at least, lost its taste for
bombardments, free battalions, and volunteers en
himve. ani m.e1.., to raine it, manufacture,' and it::.
1 commerce from the ruin inta which they hay e
Ibeen thrown by so many disasters. This state of
tranquillity leaves to the Government the exercise of