The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-21 00:00:00

.4)oinpieted according t) their designs, and certainly
it would have bet n tt worthy ceutreto a lerge r and
!nore intro •tan t capital than Madrid. Three
years weuld have sufficed te x ,•ate the work, by
on-) in 2 e very large number of workmen, se that
sit.w mid now be nearly completed hail it been begun
all,-41) proposed. It was thought proper to put it
up to public competition. Carriquiri, a hanker
here, acting—l believe there can be no doubt—as
the agent of Queen COristista, made a rather more
favourable tencieu in,, Messrs. Manby and llama.
The object of Queen Christina, in desiring to obtain
the concession of the work is matter of conjecture.
It it were likely to yield a good profit, that would
sufficiently explain it, for it is well known how eager
she is after money ; but it has also been supposed
that she would have been glad of the pretext it
would have afforded to her and to her friends of
hav,, e some thousand labourers and artisans
ass: in Madrid in their pay. This, however,
is beside the present question. Perhaps the
intention was merely to prevent the work being
done at all, and so to discredit the Progresista
Government, and to prevent employment being
given' to a large number of the necessitous classes;
perhaps the views of the persons concerned changed
after they had obtained the concession ; but the fact
is, that after paying the first instalment (L 20,000)
of the sum to be deposited, they preferred forfeiting
it to paying the remainder and proceeding with
the work. They are now endeavouring to obtain the
restitution of the £20,000, and it is believed that they
will very likely succeed in so doing—on what pre-
tended grounds I know not, but such transactions are
not uncommon in this country, however strange
they may appear to benighted foreigners who are
not yet aware that, in many respects, Africa begins
at the Pyrenees But, on learning this, the original
prejeetors, whose tender had been rejected in
favour of that of Carriquiri, demanded of the Go—
ment that, if the £20,000 deposit were to be
returned to the latter, they should first be paid out
of it, 30,000 dollars which they claim for expenses
incurred time, labour, and prejudice suffered
Notwithstan ling the encouragement given to them
by the Government of the day, and which led them
into greater expenditure than they otherwise would
have thought it prudent to incur, they have never
put forward any claim on that score, nor made one
at all. But the state of the case is entirely altered
if the forfeit money is to be restored to the contrac-
tors who prevented their getting the concession, and
then failed to execute the work, and the justice of
their present claims appears to me evident and un-
deniable. In the Gazette of the sth instant a
Royal order appeared, rejecting their demand, but
leaving them, at liberty to apply to the tribunals
for the redress to which they may consider
themselves entitled Before Spanish tribunals,
however, the chances are decidedly against
foreigners, and moreover there may be some
difficulty in ascertaining when and if the £20,000
are refunded, there being various ingenious ways
of arranging such cosas de Espana. A good com-
ment on Spanish justice was made by a Spaniard,
when speaking of a person who had been
arrested, charged with a serious offence. " The
case is so clear against him," was the artless
remark, " that unless he has plenty of money he
will certainly be condemned."
Senor Lafragua, the Mexican Envoy, has arrived
in Madrid, and has had a conference with the
Minister of Foreign Affairs I think there is little
doubt that the dispute between Mexico and Spain
will be amicably settled. The squadron conveying
troops to the Havannah, which lett Cadiz last week,
returned to port, and this gave rise to a rumour
that the Government had changed its its inten
tions, bat the real cause of the return was an
accident which happened to the rudder of one -of
the ships, the Isabel 11., she having touched on e
rock or come in contact with some sunken wreck.
The accounts from Catalonia are very unfavour-
able. The warehouses are full of manufactures,
which find no sale, and the manufacturers cannot,
give employment to the workmen.

To day's Gazette contains a decree, extending to
the 31st of December the permission for the free
importation into Spain of wheAt, flour, barley, and
maize, the produce of foreign countries; also that
of all other alimentary grains, with the exception
of rice.