The Sun. — 1847-04-22 (London, England)

THE PRUSSIAN DIET.  THE ADDRESS IN ANSWER TO THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE.  We have received from Berlin a copy of the Address of the Prussian Diet, in reply to the Speech from the Throne, as adopted unanimously by the Committee appointed to draw it up for the Diet. It is as followb: " Very Gracious Lord and King,—Since your accession to the Throne, your Majesty has laboured incessantly at the noble deielopment of the existence of the nation, and the country enjoys with feelings of gratitude the advantages resulting from the lively interest taken by the people in public affairs. A new and more elevated sphere has been opened for this interest. Recognising the necessity_ of a representative organ, common to the whole nation, and its utility for the unity of the state, your Mejt sty has deigned to convoke in an united Diet the States of all the provinces. By your free and truly royal decision, your Majesty has made a great step, and we accomplish a first and sacred duty in laying at the foot of the Throne the expressions of the gratitude of a faithful people, and of our immutable attachment to the person and family of your Majesty. The country increases in greatness by the elevated mind of its Princes, and the power of public opinion; its future prosperity is based upon this community. It is manifested anew by the fact of your Majesty having, in your letters patent of the 3d of February of this year, announced your intention of continuing to erect on the basis of the laws given by his Majesty the late King, and to which the people are attached as to a patrimony which it has nobly acquired, as a recompense for its fidelity in conflict. Your Majesty having realised the reserve expressed in the law of the sth June, 1823, and given the name of United Diet to the assembly which in the said law is called the General Assembly of States, and in the law of the 17th January, 1820, the Assembly of the States of the Kingdom, the laws founded upon the laws there laid down, and upon other anterior laws, are acquired by the states. The decree of the 17th January, 1820, compels the authority charged with the administration of the public debt to give an account annually to the Assembly of the States of the Kingdom, and thus ensures to it the vital condition of useful action, viz.—its periodical convocation. The same law subjects to the co-guarantee of the States of the Kingdom, not merely the loans for which the entire fortune of the state is given as surety, or whick are destined for the wants of peace, but also every new loan which the state should be compelled to contract to secure its' own existence, or with the view to the increase of the general prosperity. Thus the guarantee of the debts of the states demands a correct knowledge of the financial condition of the country and of the state of the national wealth, and hence the co-operation of the states, when the question affects the disposal of the domains which are not comprised in the dispositions of the law of January 17, 1820, forms part of the attributions which belong of right to the states. The law of the bth June, 1823, determines besides that so long as there shall be no general assemblies of states the Bills of a general nature shall be submitted to the provincial states. Henceforth this decision will cease to have any effect by the creation of a united Diet of the states, so that the advice of the latter is necessary for all the general laws having; for object to effect changes in the rights of persons or property, or to levy taxes, and cannot be replaced by the advice of provincial diets or united committees."  Advices from St. Peterburgh to the Bth inst. state that in the grain-market there was less activity, in conse• quence of the duller reports from England and France, but prices were still firm, on account of the dealers having already sold so largely. The weather having again become wintry, threatened to retard the opening of the navigation. From Riga, under date 10th instant, exchange comes 39 7-16 d. The grain-market was slightly depressed, and there were as yet no symptoms of the breaking up of the ice.  SUICIDE OF A DESPERATE HUSBAND --On Saturday night an inquest was held by Mr. William Payne, the City Coroner, at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, on the body of William Berry, aged forty-five, of Mail Coach-yard, Kingsland-road. It appeared from the evidence that the deceased had recently taken to ill-use his wife, and a month since they were quarrelling together, when he took up a chair, which he threw at her. The same struck her arm with such violence as to break it. That circumstance had preyed heavily on his mind, and ever since he had been in an exceedingly disconsolate state. The night before Good Friday he appeared quite mad ; he came home and told his wife that she should not eat another Sunday's dinner with him. He then attempted to pull the stove out of the fire-place, and afterwards collected a quantity of rags his wife been saving saving up to purchase shoes for her children, which he set fire to. The next day he went to his exployment at Hoxton Old Town, and whilst he was sorting some cotton he took the knife he had swung round his neck and deliberately cut his throat. His employer ran out to procure medical assistance, and, on his return, found him in the act of inflicting another wound in the neck. The deceased was removed to the above hospital, where be expired on Thursday last from the effects of the injuries, Verdict, "Temporary insanity."