The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-02 00:00:00

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SUN OFFICE Three o'Cloch:

One of the most important debates.-of "the present
Session of Parliament took..:place in,the House of Com-
mons last night, upon Mr. WALLACE'S motion for an
inquiry into the extent and causes' of tlje: present dis-
tressed state of the country. The Ministers oppOsed the
motion, on various grounds, some of whiCh were ab-
surd, and others an insult to the oinmon sense of the
House of Commons. Sir 'ROBERT. PEEL, for example,
taunted the Honourable Member for Greenock with not
bringing forward his notion earlier in the Session.
Doss the Right Hon.: Baronet forget that Lord KIN-
NAIRD some weeks 'ago brought forward a similar mo-
tion in the Heiise of Lords, and that the subservient
tools of ..Ministers in that House rejected it in the
most: contemptuous manner ? Would they have done
So had they not been so commanded by the Right
Honourable Baronet ? Most certainly they would
not. Their Lordships have had nothing to em-
ploy them all the Session,,and doubtless would have had
no objection to appoint a Select Committee of Inquiry.
The Right Hon. Baronet hinted at the close of his
speech that unless the people submitted patiently to be
starved he would take care to repress them. The working
classes want bread, and Sir ROBERT PEEL is preparing
bayonets for them. His remedies are the musket and the.
sabre. The patient manifests restiveness under the
forcible administration of nauseous drugs, and the Doctor
has at once recourse to a strait waistcoat. Sir ROBERT
PEEL further objected to the motion, on the ground that
the Hon. Mover proposed no remedy for the general dis-
tress. Now we regard the omission of a specific remedy
as a reason which strongly recommended the motion to
the House. Remedies are best proposed when the ex-
tent of the evil is known. Had a remedy been proposed,
all who objected to it would vote against the motion on
that ground alone, professing at the same time to have
no objections to simple inquiry. Lord J. RUSSELL, too, op-
posed the 'motion, because it was too vague. Is there any
vagueness in the fact that there are thousands of indus-
trious families in Paisley, Glasgow, Manchester, Shef-
field, and all the other manufacturing towns of Eng-
land and Scotland in a state of actual starvation ? Is
there any vagueness in proposing to ascertain their ex-
act numbers, and attempting to discover in what
way they can be relieved ? The fact is that Lord
J. RUSSELL is perfectly aware that much of the distress
of the country is attributable to the supineness and bad
legislation of the late Government. They withheld their
remedies till they knew it was useless to apply them—
till they were certain that they would
.be defeated.
How long the debate, which we are very glad
'was adjourned till Monday, will:continue, depends
upon those Liberal Members who represent starving
constituencies. We trust, however, that it will .be ad-
journed night after night till Sir ROBERT PEEL is Com-
pelled' to give a simple answer to the questicin—Are
the people to perish with hunger, or will the Govern-
ment adopt any means of relieving them ?

' We have Madrid Papers of the 23d ult., but they con-
tain no news of any moment. Tranquillity prevailed in
3iurcia, Valencia, Galicia, Estremadura, Castile, and
' Seville. Catalonia Only was disturbed.
On the Madrid Bourse on the 23d one bargain t was done in
the Three per Cents. for 1,400,000 reals, at 22 '4.'46, at. sixty
days; thirty bargains in the Five per Cents. for 19,600,000
reals at -304 31 and 31i at various dates with II coupons, and.
one in .the Five per. Cents. Inscriptions for 2 00,000 reals,
.at
251, at sixty days with 1/ prem., and the eleven expired
six months' div. One, transaction was effected in the St. Fer-
dinand Bank Shires for 92,800 reals at 132 for- cash, and two
operations took place in the Treasury Floating Debt for
213,000 reals, at 40 for cash without the divid lends, and at 47
with the six months' interest and div. Exchaisge on London.at ninety days 378 paper.

There is nothing but election news in .‘be Paris Jour-
nals of Thursday. This class of intelli! ce ace has no in
terest for English readers, to whom hallf the names o
the different candidates are utterly unkn o wn.

A letter from Madrid in the Courrier de la Gironde of the
28th of June, says :—" It is known to our readers that the
English ship Cambria was seized a fortnigb t ago, because it
had on board prohibited goods which, were r iot entered in its
manifesto. A Custom-house officer; named' Cosmo Sanz, who
was. put on board the English ship to keep watch, has disap-
peared, and the most minute search, ordere d by the Spanish
authorities, has not been able to discover swl ant has become of
him. It is unanimously believed that this rm fortunate Custom-
house officer has been basely assassinated e,n I thrown into the
sea by the English, who think any means .Igood provided they
can insure the triumph of their commercial:. monopoly."
The Courrier de Cadiz. which arrived. • yesterday, informs
us that the greatest agitation prevailed in. tii: st city, and that
British subjects were hardly safe.— Comn serce. •