The Sun. — London, England, 1833-01-12 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS The long-disputed question of the American tariff has now assumed so serious an aspect a , between the general Government of the United States and the local Government of the State of South Carolina, that it seems hardly possible to avert that crisis, when the arguments of reason and the conflicts of opinion are laid aside for the calamitous decision of the sword. Impend ing as that crisis seems to be, we still sincerely hope that it is not altogether inevitable. Of evil consequence, indeed, would it be—not to the interests of the American Union alone, but to the civilization of the New World—if the soil of that great and hitherto flourishing Common. wealth, which has so long pursued, with an in tense ardour, the peaceful glories of political and social improvement, of practical science, and of commercial enterprise, should be polluted with the unnatural conflict a its children. Such a conflict, on which ever side victory might in. dine, would bring nothing but anguish, weak ness, and dishonour to their common coun try, and, if it did not end in the subver sion of the political fabric which the glori ous energies of their ancestors created—which their heroic sacrifices ought to consecrate in the eyes of their descendants, it would long arrest that career of improvement which wa , rapidly raising the republic of America to one of the highest stations among the civilized com munities of the globe. The two Acts or Or dinances passed on the 24th of last November by the Convention of South Carolina, the one called the " Nullifying Ordinance," in relation to the tariff laws of the United States of 1828 and 1832, and the other, entitled an ordinance " To provide for the security and protection of the people of the State of South Carolina," are undoubtedly overt acts of revolt from the Go vernment of the United States. The first of those ordinances declares the tariff laws null and void, and sets up the jurisdiction and process of the Courts of South Carolina against the enforce ment of those laws by the authority of the ge neral Government. The other ordinance goes farther. It contemplates the eventual adoption of force by the Government of the United States, and sanctions and provides the means of resist ing force by force. Thus, then, the gauntlet of defiance is thrown down by the provincial Convention to the power of the Supreme Con gress. The proclamation of President Jackson shows that it has been taken up. This document, however, unlike the imperial decrees of ancient Monarchies, or the ukases of despotic Powers, unites firmness of determination with a reasoning and conciliatory tone. While it shows the dis affected " free-traders" of South Carolina that the authority of the Supreme Power of the Stet( will be vindicated against the violence that pro vokes it, it makes a last effort to convince the malcontents by calm, dispassionate argument, that their course is as erroneous in point of con stitutional doctrine as it is perilous in its obvious consequences. The reasoning upon this sub ject is necessarily long. The errors to be com batted were not few : several fallacious notion: combined to persuade the provincial Legislature that it could constitutionally exempt itself from the authority of an unpopular law of the gene ral Congress. Those fallacies are admirably exposed in the President's proclamation, in drawing up which it appears be had the able assistance of Messrs. Taner and Livingstone. An exposition of the principle of the Federa tive Union is given—of elements on which it is founded, and the obligations which it imposes on each of the family of States, which proves that, notwithstanding the caricature representations which flippant and shallow tourists have given of the American people, there is a political in telligence, and a power of political reasoning in that republic, whose foundations were, about sixty years ago, laid in the wilderness, which is :tot often equalled in the French Chamber of Deputies, and which we do not often see sur passed at the present day even in the Parlia ment of England. We would fain hope that this appeal of the President to the good sense and reflection of the too ardent politicians of the disaffected province may have the desired effect. If the zone be once loosed which binds the several States of the Union together in a condition of regulated freedom and unconquer able strength, it will furnish an argument to the advocates of absolute power in support of their favourite theories, and, what is worse, will pos sibly realise in North America the petty systems of arbitrary misrule or military despotism which, under the prostituted name of freedom, spread their baneful influence over the magnificent but desolated regions of the south. An Evening Con servative Paper (the standard), speaking of the " right" of South Carolina to sever from the Union, says she does so by the same title that the States composing that Union justify their revolt from Great Britain—namely, " that, being the weaker part of a compound State, it suffers hardships and injustice from the stronger sections. There can be no question that in ma terial suffering the people of South Carolina, and their neighbours, endure a great deal more from the laws forced upon them by the prepon deratiog majority of the Northern States than the colonists of the 18th century suffered from a Stamp Act or a Tea Tax." Our con temporary altogether omits the point which con stitutes the essential difference of the two cases. The resistance of the Americans of the 18th century to the Stamp Act or the Tea Tax was not grounded on the hardship of either of those taxes, but was justified on the important principle that they were instances of taxation without re presentation. The Americans insisted that, before they were taxed by the British Parliament, they should be allowed to send representatives to that Assembly. But the State of South Carolina is represented in the general Congress, which passed the laws that it assumes the right to resist. Whenever its right of representation is annulled, its right of resistance will begin. The hard ships which it now suffers are incidental to some portion of the community under every represen tative Government. There would be no such thing as moving the wheels of such a Govern ment if the acts of the majority did not bind the minority. If the latter did not think them selves or their constituents would be aggrieved by the laws which they oppose (that is, sup posing they act honestly) we presume they would not oppose them. Nevertheless, itis but a mere truism to say that they and their consti tuents are as much bound by those laws, when passed, as if they had given them their most cordial assent. If the people of South Caro lina have a right to separate from the Union, because they sustain some hardship from laws passed in a Legislative . ,',Assembly, there they appear by their own representatives „and which is presided over by a Supreme Magistrate, in whose election they have a voice, then has Ireland or Yorkshire a right to separate from England, if hardship be inflicted on either by laws of the Imperial Parliament.—Morn. /Jerald. Mr. Cobbett, in his Register of this day, at tributes the recent change of tone of those who affect to speak the sentiments of men in power, as indicative of a junction between the Tories and the Whigs. Alluding to the discussion regarding the Speaker, he says : " Trifling," lie says, "as the thing is in itself, it be. comes of vast importance when it becomes the criterion of the manner in which it is supposed that the King's ser vants mean to treat the new House of Commons; and especially, if we look upon it as a first step towards that junc•ion of the two factions, who have, for so many years, been tearing the country to pieces by their wrangling for the profits attached to the carrying on of the system. For some time the re choosing or reappointment of Manners Sutton, as Speaker of the House of Commons, was a mere rumour. Very gentle feelers were put out ; but nothing in anything like a positive tone. By degrees the parties became bolder." He observes farther : " Most men, who have meddled with public matters, have ranged themselves with one or the other of the parties who have so long been scrambling for the powers of the State. Whet., therefore, a Whig, who, at last, sees his party in power, finds his long and patient attach ment rewarded by an open and flagrant preference being given to the bitterest foes of his own party, I do not say that he is to blame for his discontent, and I do not think it just to impute it to any unworthy motive. And there are a very considerable number of very worthy men in this state of disappointment and discontent." • a a • * a " I repeat, that it appears to me, that these disappointed Mays have only begun to taste of their disappointment. There is scarcely a Lord Lieutenant who has not furnished better grounds for being displaced than those which were ( urnislied by the Duke of Norfolk and Lord Fitzwilliam. Rut what was wanted more than the opposition of these Noblemen to the Reform of the Parliament? The people were for the Reform ; to keep these Lord Lieutenants and these Magistrates in their posts, was to insure a constant hostility between the governing and the governed in every county in the kingdom, and to lay the foundation of civil strife from one end of the kingdom to the other. Of all the things in this world, that which a wise ruler will endeavour to secure, is that which was formerly the treat characteristic in England, namely, an implicit, a prompt, and, above all things, a willing obedience to the law. Whenever the obedience to the law is reluctant, vhenever he who disobeys the law becomes an object of praise, or even of silent approbation with his neighbours in general, the state of things is bad ! a species of slavery exists; for what is slavery, but that state of things in which the mass of the people are compelled to submit to the few by force ? Thus, then, the very first duty of the ruler, or ru'ers of a country is, to secure a willing obe hence to the laws; and, to have this willing obedience is perfectly impossible, if the Magistrates, who are the guar. diens of the peace and the executors of the law, be no toriously inimical to that which the people deem abso lutely necessary to their prosperity and happiness. "All this is so clear; it is so indubitably true ; it is so glaring even to the most superficial of thinkers, that it is impossible to believe that it has not occurred to my Lord Grey ; and, that being the case, he must have had some very powerful motive for retaining in their offices the I present Lord Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace, every man of whom, who was even suspected of being hostile .0 Parliamentary Reform, ought to have been instantly dismissed. And, what wrong would have been done to ,ny of these Lords and gentlemen? None at all ; for, in the first place, they everlastingly remind us that they .erve for nothing; that they take trouble upon them for the public good. And, there could have been no dis srace, unless it were disgraceful to them to be opposed to Reform ! And, if it were disgraceful to be opposed to Reform, then they would have had themselves to thank for the disgrace of dismissal. All this belongs so entirely o the A, B, C, of morals and politics, that it need not rravel to Scotland, nor even go beyond the skull of a Cockney, to make it evident that Lord Grey must have rad some very powerful motive, not to use a power so legitimate, and so necessary to be used upon this occasion, n order to secure a willing obedience to the laws. " Now, not to waste time by mincing the matter, my opinion is, that this powerful motive was neither more nor less than that of a desire to have the assistance of these -nemies of Reform, in preventing the people from obtain ing those great changes which he saw the people had in contemplation ! Every thing that we have recently wit nessed tends to strengthen and confirm this opinion ; the nanifesto of Stanley, Spring Rice (ah, Spring ! Spring !), Sir James Graham, Lord Althorp, and even the tallow man privy -counsellor, when lie was got snug in at a /inner ; this manifesto, especially as put forth by Sir James Graham, almost openly tells us, that the two parties ire resolved to unite against what is the well-known wish and anxious desire of the people; and, now, when we are , old, in this demi-official manner, that Ltrd Grey has himself proposed to cause the well-known Tory Speaker to e re.chosen, there can hardly remain a doubt in the mind of any rational man of the correctness of my opinion, which opinion, we shall soon see verified, I imagine, by events." We have never been able to comprehend why Ministers should have been anxious to retain all their opponents in power ; but still we were nclined to put a more charitable conclusion on their conduct than Mr. Cobbett does. The first thing that startled us was an article in the Edinburgh Review for October, attributed to one of the highest authorities in the kingdom, evidently written under a much stronger feeling against Reformers than against Tories, and in which a leaf was borrowed out of the book of the Tories—namely, the trick was resorted to of calling ugly names. When the Whigs were in opposition, a Tory used to think he could not annoy them more than by calling them Jacobins and Radicals. The distinguished author of the article in the Edinburgh Review, with the cunning for which the Tories used to be dis ,inguished, attributes Republicanism to those who differ with him, though we believe there is really no disposition to Republicanism at present in this country. The Globe takes the hint, and endeavours to attach odium to the advocates for the ballot, by observing, that it would be less indisposed to it if it did not find it in great favour with all the Republicans. There are many men in this country anxious to see a much more eco nomical expenditure of the public money than has hitherto taken place; and they are convinced that economy and retrenchment, by depriving the aris cracy of the means they now possess of providing 'or their children at the public expense, will gradu ally effect a better distribution, of property ; but these men are not Republicans. They believe that a fair representation of the people will ma terially alter the character of Parliament. They believe, that if the House of Commons have the control of the expenditure, and the House of Commons fairly represent the wishes of the people, the House of Lords and the House of Commons will speedily come into collision ; because the great majority of the Members of the House of Lords are poor, and have interests at variance with the interests of the people, and they will, consequently, hold out against all searching measures of economy. So long as the House of Commons was merely nominees of the House of Lords, this collision could not take place, but now it seems almost inevitable ; and the only means of placing a really Reformed House of Commons and the House of Lords in bar tnony with each other would be, to place the House of Lords in harmony, as far as interests are concerned, with those who return the Members of the House of Commons. But these are merely speculative views, which may or may not be confirmed by events. The holders of these views are not, how ever, Republicans. They take the Consti tution as it is, and believe that under it all the objects which they have in view can be attained. They wish only good government, and they believe that the people have now in their power the means of securing good government, let who will be in power. In the Chronicle of the 21st November, we observed that " we had again and again alluded to the difficulties with which the Ministerial and Reform candidates have to con tend, from the Ministry, with a weakness and pusillanimity without example, leaving almost the whole power of Government in the hands of their adversaries. The. most bitter complaints continually reach us on this subject. The Lieutenancy and Magistracy are almost ex clusively Tory. The Magistracy, so far from improving under the Whigs are be coming worse and worse every day." And then we alluded to the Gazette, containing ten Tory Magistrates for Berwickshire on the eve of an election, lnd the appointment of Mr. Hope, the Tory Candidate for Manchester, Lieutenant- Colonel of the Fife Militia, by the .Tory Lord- Lieutenant of that county. We concluded with the observation, that " it is certainly very ge nerous in Ministers thus to supply their political opponents with funds for defraying their ex penses. They must have a high idea of the virtue and disinterestedness of their own sup. porters, as they in this unequivocal manner al low the public to see that the best way to ob tain money and honour is to support the Tories." Our contemporary (the Globe) the very next day adopted the above, observing, that he fully subscribed to our view::, and he followed them up by an extract from the Dublin Morning Register, censuring Mr. Stanley for employing Conservative instead of Reform barristers to conduct Government prosecutions ; and another extract from the Norwich East Anglian, on the appointment by the Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk of Tory Magistrates to the injury of the Whig Candidates. In fact, our contemporary went farther in condemning the policy of Mi nisters than we did. But a new light would seem to have broken on him : " It is singular enough," said our contemporary on Wednesday last (and the remark is not altogether uncon nected with this subject), "that at this particular moment, some of those who are most solicitous on the subject of the ballot, and who would establish the principle that, in the most important political actions of his life, every man should be enabled to conceal his political opinions, should yet rage so furiously against the Ministers because they do not disturb the ordinary course of the most insignificant appointments, in order to talc , . vengeance on men whose only offence is that of conscientiously differing, or having conscientiously differed, from them in opinion. Thus we hear the most ridiculous complaints because this or that gentleman, who is a Tory, has been made a Justice of the Peace ; and it was actually made a charge against the Government that some Doctor of Physic, who received two guineas a week as Inspector of Anatomy, iu spite of this important office, gave a plumper with impunity— perhaps even with his two guineas in his pocket—for an Anti-Ministerial candidate, who, nevertheless, in spite of the undivided good will of the ungrateful Doctor, was , very far from gaining his election. Monstrous as it seems to the friends of freedom, the Doctor still walks about ' unpunished. "' This combination of complaints against the Ministry for some degree of tolerance and liberality towards its open opponents, with a clamour for the means of secrecy to avoid political persecution—does indeed harmonize. If the Government set the example in the highest station of prescribing those who differ from it—of excluding all op ponents or non-supporters from non-political or even honorary appointments, and of condescending for this purpose to jobbing and extravagance—good buinour and toleration, which, in spite of a few exceptions (which have been punished by public opinion), are the prevailing feeling and practice in England towards political adver. saries, would be eradicated ; and then, indeed, the gloomy pictures which we see on paper of ar stocratical tyranny over dependents who gnash their teeth might be realized —men, as a matter of common prudence, would habitually conceal their opinions, and the balloting box would be a relief. If we are to have the ballot, we do not desire to see the Government precipitate its introduction by setting the example of petty partiality." It is now ridiculous to complain, because this or that gentleman who is a Tory has been made a Justice of the Peace ; but it was not, we sup pose, ridiculous a few weeks ago—except we were to suppose our contemporary ambitious of appearing ridiculous. How, then, are we to account for the change? The Doctor of Physic was instanced by the Scotsman, because the candidate for the office he obtained was not merely a Whig, but had the recommendation of the College of Physicians anti all who were authorities on the subject of his claim. The appointment was given not to the fittest lout the most favoured ; and the only thing wonderful in the thing was, how the most favoured should be a Tory. It would be absurd, no doubt, to dwell on one instance ; it was the uniformity of the practice that we complained of, and that our contemporary complained of before he obtained his new . light. We do not complain against Ministers, for some degree of tolerance and liberality towards their open opponents ; but we complained of the injustice of exercising patronage in such a way as to array all the power of Government against the Re formers. We did not complain that a physi cian plumped for the Tory candidate in Edin burgh ; but we complained of a Tory physician having been preferred to an office to which a Whig was more competent. When the present President of the United States entered on office, there was a complete sweep in all the offices. The President imagined that they who approved of the policy of the Government were the most likely to serve it faithfully. But our Govern ment is carried on by men who, if Ministers are to be believed, differed from them, toto ccelo, in political opinion. The Lieutenancy and the Magistracy throughout the country are almost exclusively Tories ; and they will continue to be almost exclusively Tories ; for it seems the Lord Lieutenant does not recommend any gentle man to the commission, who has not previously been approved of by the corps of Magistrates of his county or division. The Magistrates being once Tory, must, therefore, continue Tory. In the same manner, the main expense of collecting the revenue must continue to be fingered by Tories. By a regulation, only one-third of the patronage belongs to the Treasury, the rest belongs to the boards and offices, and these being all Tories, continue, of course, to name Tories. Even the Treasury part of the patronage must go ci pr i - pally to Tories; for the Treasury is confined to appointments of men already in the offices. Thus the Tories have contrived so to manage matters, as to insure the carrying on the Go vernment by Tories in all time to come. The remark of the Globe as to the inconsistency of those who claim to vote in secret, and yet would prescribe toleration to political opponents, is purely absurd. There is no analogy in the cases. It is unjust to punish a man. for conscientious voting, and we know that open voting infallibly subjects many voters to punishment. But it is not unjust to exclude from office men who dis- approve of the principles on which a Government is carried on.—Morning Chronicle. The fate of the Duchess of Berry seems now to have been left to the decision of the Minis- ters, and, from their speeches, it would appear they intend to keep the infatuated lady where she is. Whether the French nation will long be contented with this strange course of proceed ing, remains to be seen; but it must be con fessed that, to talk of consigning any person to indefinite imprisonment without a trial, sounds • , ... vs. • • •.• 10 very oddly to an English ear ; and we should have thought that even the infant liberty of France would have been _ shocked at the bare enunciation of such a project. If, however,-the Ministers of Louis Philip be resolved upon this course, and the nation allow them to execute their purpose, it will be quite clear that our French neighbours, who talk so fluently about Liberty and Rights, have not the slightest notion of what is due to either in practice. They have shown that they possess physical courage enough to rise against public tyranny, and strength enough to expel it from their soil ; but if they allow the pro jected course with regard to the Duchess of Berry to he pursued, they will demonstrate to the whole world that they have not yet acquired those moral and higher attributes of liberty' which teach men to respect personal freedom and to preserve invio late, in practice, those maxims of justice and of right which, in theory, no people have contended for so loudly as they have. It would be worse than idle to say that there can be any sound notions of freedom in a nation which suffers any one within its territory to be kept in inde finite imprisonment, unheard, untried, uncon victed, uncondemned. As to the conduct of the French Ministers in this affair, it is, to us, wholly inexplicable, when coupled with their speeches in the recent discussion in the Chamber of Deputies. They have told the nation that there would be danger in bringing the Duchess to trial ; but the very confession of that fact, if fact it be, has created an actual existing danger —a danger which there seems now no chance of counteracting but by facing the hypothetical peril which their fears have urged them to avoid, and putting the Duchess on her trial. If the nation would not endure to see her tried, how will it bear to behold her suffering at the hands of a confessedly weak and timid Government, a punishment as great, at least, as any which would have been passed upon her had she been formally convicted before a competent tribunal ? —Times. The proclamation of General Jackson, de nouncing as an act of positive rebellion the disobedience of South Carolina to the tariff law of the United States, is one of the ablest and most interesting documents which we have ever read, as it has been called forth by one of the most curious and striking events of modern history. It is admitted on all hands that the policy or impolicy of the tariff, as a fiscal or com mercial question, has nothing to do with the point at issue between the general Government and the refractory state. Congress willed the tariff to be wise and just. The Convention of South Carolina has, by a large majority, willed it to be in;quitous and oppressive. There exists no earthly tribunal whose decision upon the merits of the law will be listened to by either party, nor, we fear, will the right of resistance or coercion be otherwise adjusted than by the pre ponderance of actual power. The first sentence of the President's manifesto, wherein he attempts to characterize the measures of the South Caro lina convention, describes them as " a course of conduct in direct violation of the duty of citizens of the United States." This, then, is the understanding of the federal constitution put forth by the Government of the Union. The jurists of South Carolina, on the contrary, con tend that the imposts resisted by that state were in direct and arbitrary " violation" of the federal compact itself, and are therefore not entitled to observance. It is obvious, therefore, if neither party recede from pretensions which admit no compromise, that the difference can be no other wise decided than by the ultima ratio, the me lancholy recourse to arms. If ever one appeal to a reasonable community was, by its eloquence, more calculated than another to give effect to friendly persuasion, and to recall the minds of fellow-citizens from extreme excitement to a just value for mutual forbearance and general har mony, it is the manifesto now before us. After asserting the principle of the supremacy pos sessed by Congress in relation to the enforce ment of the tariff law over the people of South Carolina, and stating that "strict duty" would require nothing more from the President than to exercise his prerogative for preserving the peace and executing the laws of the republic, General Jackson proceeds to say, that " the imposing as pect which opposition has assumed in this case, by clothing itself with State authority, and the deep interest which the people of the United States must all feel in preventing a resort to stronger measures, while there is a hope that anything will be yielded to reasoning and remonstrance, per haps demand, and will certainly justify, a full exposition to South Carolina and the nation, of the views I entertain of this important question, as well as a distinct enunciation of the course which my sense of duty will require me to pur sue." The President then enters upon a line of argument, which he directs with convincing force and success against the assumption of the right of resistance on the part of any individual state or portion of the Union to laws which have been passed by authority of the collective Legis lature. Indeed, without calling in aid the powers of reasoning, of which General Jackson in this document has shown himself so respectable a master, nothing can be more plain than the absur dity of imputing to the founders of the American Constitution that they had vested in Congress the right of making laws, and in particular members of the Union the right of disobeying them with impunity. The original act which made the United States a single nation im posed upon each corporate member of the Union, as well as upon each individual citi zen, the positive and indefeasible duty of im plicit obedience to that formal expression of the general will which is maintained in every law of Congress. Two of our Evening Con temporaries have anticipated us in deducing from this sound doctrine of General Jackson some significant, and, we trust, not useless hints for the guidance of the Government of Great Britain in that crisis which may by possi bility arise out of the new-fangled and frantic outcry for a " repeal of the Union." The cry is, indeed, frantic ; but bold and diaboli cal hypocrites are those who first raised and have encouraged it. The clamour for that dis location of the British empire is, like the threat of Carolina to withdraw from the American Union, an appeal to all the traitors in the com munity to commit overt high treason and wage 0 rebel war against the state. The " United Kingdom" is, far less than the " United States," a name written on dry parchment, to be effaced at the pleasure of either party to the com pact. If Ireland may withdraw at the bidding of a domestic faction, why might not Scotland hold her Parliament at Edinburgh, or Wales too fling off the Saxon yoke, adjure the shades of tier Celtic ancestors, and summon up once more her theocracy of Druids? We would recom mend to British statesmen and to Irish waverers a perusal of General Jackson's argument on this main point of a capricious invitation to savage internal war. The argument is calm, keen, and incontrovertible. The measures by which he will meet the threatened emergency, it compelled to use any such, resolve themselves into one—he will crush the rebels and execute the laws. Such is the wise policy of a free Republic—such the spirit of its chief Magistrate, chosen by the people. To the authors and abet tors of the conspiracy for Irish revolt we offer no counsel and address no prayer. Let them run their course and abide its consequences,—a course which will be short, with consequences fatal. General Jackson, however, amidst the admirable temper and judgment with which he treats this subject, does not hesitate for one ; moment in his determination to coerce the recu sant citizens of Carolina, should that extremity be entailed upon him by their persevering violence. Nor can any Government which deserves the ' name pursue a less manly system ; as he well declares, the existence of " all free Governments may depend" upon' the issue, as well as that of the United States. That the hour of sepa ration between those States may arrive in the fulness of years is unquestionable, but let it not be forced on prematurely,—let it be peaceful ' when it does arrive, that its results may be happy. In the mean time, and once more, we commend the President's manifesto, and admire it for its merits, as an exposition of cool and sagacious policy,—for its animating and affecting patriotism,—for its aptitude as a precious, and we fear somewhat called for, lesson.— Times. IMPORTANT NEWS FROM SPAIN.—It is useless to do more than merely prefix the above heading to the following letter from our Madrid correspondent, the importance of which will be duly appreciated by all who are either personally interested in the affairs of Spain, or who enter tain good wishes for the progress of civilization and human freedom. The good cause triumphs in all q tarters—even in Spain the chains of the Liberals are unlocked, in order to be fastened with a firmer grasp upon the wrists of their ene mies. The Queen has fairly thrown herself and the cause of her daughter into their arms, and that she may triumph ought to be the daily and nightly prayer of every friend of freedom—of every well-wisher of Spain. We trust it is need less for us to add, after the repeated acknowledg ments of the importance of our Spanish corres pondence, that it deserves the most unbounded confidence " MADRID, DEC. 31.--I am very happy to be able to communicate to you the most important and flattering news, and which you are not unprepared for, as I asserted in my last, that things were to ehange for the better. I was sufficiently acquainted with the state of the proceeding, and did not entertain the least doubt of the energetic measures that were already in contemplation, and shortly to he carried into execution. One of the most urgent was to arrest the progress of the Carlist machinations, by an exemplary punishment, which at last fell upon those who have b-en already found concerned in the plot. Airs sieurs Zorrilla and Pedr•aa, two Alculdes de Corte, Judges of the Superior Criminal Court of Justice of MArid, the Senior of the Supreme Council of the Indies, the President of the Provincial Superior Court of Estremadura, and the police chief of Cazeres Snarer, an enraged Apostolical, have been discharged—the two first are also exiled from Madrid. Four colonels and forty-three officers of the Royal Guard of Infantry have received the same chastisement. M. Sacanel, Ayuda dC Camara, c! , amber•groom to the Infante, Din Carlos, is in prison, in consequence of some papers and correspond ence of a traitorous tendency found in his lodgings. Many other p-reons, his accomplices, are likewise arrested, or orders issued for the purpose, tor 4 amongst them is the General of all the Dominican Friars of the Roma/1 Church, who is ex-officio grandee of Spain, and resides actually in Valladolid. " When these important steps, taken by the Queen, are generally known, I am sure they will meet with universal approbation, and the confidence of the liberals be again alive. The Queen is not satisfied even with these things. "General Monte., a well-known liberal, who held an important command in the time of the Cortes, is appointed Commandante Chief of the Royal Foot Guard. This circumstance, and that of the appointment of General Freire to be Commandante of the Royal Cavalry Guard, give the best security for the triumph of the Queen and her daughter in the event of the King's death. The offi cers who succeed those already discharged, will be, undoubtedly, of approved loyalty and adhesion to the new political system, which, although not developed, has an indirect tendency to produce a better order of things. Tile policy is certainly, as I have said before, timid ; but circutnitances lead imperceptibly to the necessity for a more decisive course. The introduction of Count Ofalia and General Cruz into the Cabinet has created such a difficulty for the permanence of M. Zea in bis office, that he must persist in his retirement, unless he renounce en•• tirely the principles which he has professed. —Morning Advertiser. We propose to offer some additional observa• tions on the speech of Mr. P. Thomson, which he gives us to understand embodies his opinions and those of " his colleagues." He tells us France has, by the advice of our Government, abolished the prohibitory system of trade, and decided on embracing the principle of free trade. We should like to know to what article this new system is bona fide applied. Do the French consent to receive our iron manufactures at other than prohibitory duties ? Do they take our cotton goods ? Do they take our earthen wares ? Is there any one article they will con sent to take from us on terms that will admit of commercial exchange ? If so, we beg Mr. P. Thomson will give to the public the tariff on which it is based. But he knows, and we know, that he was practising sheer humbug on his Manchester audience when he indulged in this statement. The French Government profess a great willingness to do many things which they have no intention of doing ; for the people of that country are opposed to the projects that are recommended. They see how keen our rulers are in the desire of reorganizing the commercial system, and they profess to feel in unison with them, but they commit themselves to no acts of acquiescence. They think it sufficient to show such agreement of sentiment as may answer their end of binding the imbecile Government of Lord Grey, in foreign policy, to their views. The 'French Government, nearly twelve months ago, entered into an equivocal treaty to abolish the slave trade, honestly, as respected France, and this document served to make a flourish about the liberality of France for one evening last Session of Parliament ; but we beg to ask Lord Palmerston if this treaty has been carried into effect. The foreign slave trade is carried on as extensively as ever. Our rulers are anxious to keep this fact in the back ground, but they en deavour to drive out West India colonists into equal competition in the sale of their produce with foreigners who carry on the slave trade, and who have by this means labour at nearly one half the price of our colonists. The name of " free trade" and " liberal systems" leads men who do not undervand the questions they are conducting into very absurd mea sures. To forward " free trade" and our in- tercourse with France we last year equalized the duties on French, Spanish, and Portuguese wines. It was then said, "We shall all drink delightful French wine at cheap prices." The public now learn, by experience, what every wine-merchant would have told them at the outset, that we have for years imported nearly all the good wine that France produces, and that it is only drank by the higher classes. The result of this " liberal measure," therefore, is not to increase the consumption of French wine ; it remains stationary, the revenue is diminished, and the only point established is the ignorance ,‘ of the Government. Mr. P. Thomson, on hi, own part and for his colleagu es ," ca ll s the Government the " People's Governmeel the King's Government. We wish the much joy of their intelligent rulers.—Mott COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JAN. THE KING V. BENNETT. Mr. DAMPIER stated that this was an iodic for a nuisance, and the defendant was founds as his attorney had not instructed Counselt j d"fenda n t w as th e p ropr i etor o f a cart w hi° drawn up in the garden of a house in the Nett and was converted into a shop for the sa le of g beer awl other articles, and the indictment WI under the Metropolis Roads Act, which el that no building should be erected within a .4 distance of the road side. The Jury, as thel no defence, found the defendant guilty, and Learned Counsel) now proposed that a s pecis should be framed, that the question of the place the cart there might be argued befol Judges. The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE said he mightl rule either for a special case, or for a new Int the payment of costs. Mr. DANFIER said his client was a pooh and could not well a ff or d t h e expense, b ut as P. no alternative, he must accept it—Rule grantr DIXON V. BROWN. This was an action brought to recover the 1 0 of a bill of exch a ng e a ll ege d to h ave b een d r ag ' the plaintiff, and accepted by the defendan t ', came before the Lord Chief Justice as an fended cause, at the last sittings in London, " verd.ct was given for the plaintiff. Mr. WIGHTMAN now moved for a rule tol cause why a new trial should not be had, 00 ground that the defendant's father had been with the vtrit,in,tead of the son, and that, Om he was not properly before the Court. The Couirr thought it was rather late t° / such a statement, but granted the Rule Nisi, ° S dition that the father wo u ld p a y t h e costs in c " CRIMINAL INFORMATION.—REX TEAZI Mr. KELLY was instructed to apply for a, NiSi, for a criminal information to be filed el, Mr. Teazle (or Teesdale), for rioting and es j the populace to riotous ac t s d ur i ng the pro cer i at the election for the city of N orw i c h. The dates were Lord Stormont, Sir J. Scarlet', Mr. ney, and Mr. Bellenden Ker ; the two forma l candidates on th e one , an d t h e two l atter were, didates on the oppo s it e i n t eres t. Th e po llint ceeded on the first day very peaceably until to° the close, when the declaration of the nunlbg votes for the different candidates was about P I male, and then there was some rioting and soroe l r. ges committed by a large crowd which had bled. He (Mr. K.) should observe that it wastre l to everybody i n t h e town as t h e sun at n oon l that Lord Stormont and Sir J. Scarlett bade jori'y of votes, not only from the announeetned, the Monday evening, but also from the inforo lv given to the electors on th e T ues d a y, an d Ebe l stables were desired, in consequence of that id!s tioi., to keep themselves together, and guer u l booths and books. Everything appeared to-g 1 peaceably until a q :aver before 4 o'clock, at WSIW time he (Mr. Kelly) m us t aga i n o b serve, i t, known in whose fav our t h e e l ec ti on w o u ld rep nate ; in fact, the polling had then virtually a' when Mr. Teazle, at the head of 300 persoil peared before one o f th e l arges t b oot h s , .sou tire!) , occupied the space in front. Mr. Teal!, mediately advanced to the booth, quickly pager, the constables, knocked down the poll-clerks disappe,ired amongst the mob with the book, Mr. Justice LITTLEDALE-111 what condit'?" life does Mr. Teazle move ? :p Mr KELLY—He is a Common Councilman City of N .rwich. LORD CHIEF JUSTICE—Then take the rule• COURT OF EXCHEQUER, JAN. THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY V. ROBEIt 0 ; This %. as an action against the surety, in ee ministration bond given, under the statue of CP ... IL, to secure the du e a d m i n i strat i on of the tes fil 4 : i effects. It was t r i e d at G u i l dh all, i n the s ill after last term, w h en i t appeare d that. one Sk e i had taken out administration to a person or Schwitzer, and had given the bond, in which.," defendant was surety. Skelt on squan d ere d c hi p perty, and became a bankrupt. Proceedings. l4 ; instituted in the Ec c l e si as ti ca l C ourt to com pe , admiuistration, but Sir John Nicholl wa s of orl that the certificate of bankruptcy w as a b a r t° , further progres of the suit. The Cou r t tnitie order on the bankrupt to pay over the resido: the effects. At the trial it was insisted that; breach of the bond had been committed, as the I) , required to pay to the order of the Court, cr. l such order had been obtained. A verdict was t ; for the plaintiff, with Is. damages, with liforti i raove to raise the damages t o 10,0001., the sued for. Mr. PoLLocx now moved accordingly. The COURT should grant a rule to show CI but recommended to make it a special case, for purpose time was given to consult the other sid, ARCHES' COURT, JAN. 11. This being the first day of Hilary Tern" JOHN NicnoLL attended by the civilians and P tors who practise in the Ecclesiastical Courts, prayers in the ante-room of the Court. SWIFT V. SWIFT. Io this case, which is a suit promoted to eats a nullity of marriage alleged to have taken 1 between the parties at Rome, the King's Ado applied for further time to complete the cans hearing. Commissions had been sent out to ft Florence, and other places, for the examined' witnesses; but at Rome only has the Commi been executed. He, therefore, trusted further till the third Session would be granted. Sir J. Nicnom granted the motion. WESTMEA'FII V. WESTMEATH. In this case the Court was informed that Marquis of Westmeath would be ready in 1 days with his answers, in support of a reductio alimony granted to the Marchioness of West Further time was consequently given. BIRTHS. On the 9th inst. at Kenilworth, the lady of the Hon. 01 Thomas Clifford, of a daughter. On the 9th inst. Mrs. Temple Frere, of Roydon, Norfolk daughter. On the 11th inst. in Gloucester-place, Portman.squal* lady of John Kingston, Esq., of a daughter. On the Bth inst. at Eton, the wife of the Rev. W. G. Cod o f a son. On the 10th inst . i n Torrington-square, the lady of 0 Upham Barry, Esq., of a daughter. On the 11th inst. in Bedford-place, the lady of Fra' Rougemont, Esq. ' of a son. On the 10th inst at the Vicarage, Tottenham, MiddleS* lady of the Rev. H. W. Gleed Armstrong, of a son. Theodore, son of the Hon. G. Godolprn Osborne. On the Bth inst. in South-street, Charles Pannett, a fter year's suffering, leaving a widow and six children. Un the 11th inst. at Dartmouth-terrace, Blackheath , Eleanor Ledger, aged 36. On the 10th inst. Mr. William Mathews, of Crook aged 64. On the Bth inst. Sarah, the wife of Mr. John Whiting, of °. Audley.street, and Heston, Middlesex. On the 10th inst. at Hamstead, Dorothy, the wife O f Charles Cooper, of Fleet-street, in the 68th year of her age; PRINTED AND PUBLIstiED By MURDO YOU N 0, AT SUN OFFICE, 11:4 STRAND LONDON. OFF] THE • MA, that th ey a be * m in. ., and mth s in stor e , it whi c h hav . °Pan apph h e fixed f or to tue several g bee ' r n Pu —ce, in Pal nu mber of illuashmr C ONTRA( CREI DART THE ' 14IRAL U 13 11ITA IN °4 T RU, tierea " dY to Contract foi namely AU3I the British P L t W i es siN l ' F p , Nay atir r tn a, fr ettt ER... ESE ts cuir 13, 8! 1 ‘ D' clea Oanpl e aa c ging. P ' e `aidtbe o n eo ' clock L .Part al '" u tt b riti ng. 4:APery an d e e t a ,, ace° t l , O of the , the re spoti P er loo tf • for tl n.‘ I , lf"v bßbic A titterous3 THE Pro°l T the Th -y tb kn,\" exce l . tfegal t : our ext raurdi \ V 11 e 1 "13 to erdea! C l r OSS'; ; ik Non-Al l -ng from Hui s a ," baneful e " 1 1 &e., ! I bris on Sex' I ' i teresting 14 Part 11. is % I v Jetts, expl GOS, Lodge, near Middlewic ,11 Cheshire. Ma O r t y l , th yo e u 9 n th ge i s n t s d t. James .ug,t e Ar3olcAfkßerils, Benjamin l fqs D . of h ~ lvitllieamHse,aEth,sq.,o Esq., of Rickmansworth, and late of W., Hedge, On t the ef 10thcain Camden-street, t r a e t e t, R t i o c k m Lo a u n i s s w a ort, Mary, H eldesterts, M d r a.ll On the 10th inst. at St. Matthew's, Brixton, Charles 6 ,.., Esq., late of Calcutta, to Annetta, only daughter of tri Thomas Willis, Esq.! 1,. On the Bth inst. at St. George's, Hanover-square, __,. na n Alexander c e _oi fi c e. Bayne, Crichton Agnew, Esq., of Green-street, Grosvenor-sqw" i Miss Maria Patros. lif On the 10th inst. at S t. Dunstan's in the East, Mr. C ,ii Nairne, surgeon, Lambeth, to Sarah, youngest daughter late Captain Bass. ,), DIED. On the 10th i nst. at Plaistow Lodge, after a long and lin.4 illness, Harriet A nne, t h e w if e of Walter Boyd, Lsq., in t" year of her age. On the 10th inst. in Eaton. place, aged 13 months, Gra",