The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-28 00:00:00

folly; but a spirit of justicb mutt make us, reflect teat it
was pnbliAed by Don Carles when the repeal of the Act of
Parliament took place, for die ,phrpr.i.se br preventing the en-
listment of adventurers of all classes, by informing them that
the Eliot COn t-t:,lion was intended for the protection of the
SoanNh belligerents, and not for strangers who came to sail
their blood. Let the Standard pour out the phial of its
wrath against Don Carlos; still it ;tug it tdrget that the
poor Basque people are to be considered: Can It justify the
war as It is directed against them Can it applaud the
motives of any number of tnglishmen, no matter what
be their station, who take pay for the purpose of reducing
a brace and noble people to the slavish condition of the
Spaniards of the low country ? What matters it that
those Englishmen have received the permission of their
Government ? What right had the Government to give that
permission ? Is there any power which authorises Lord
Palmerston to dispense with the common law of our religion—
" Thou shalt do no murder ?" What ! Are we and the
Standard, that are daily occupied in proving that the present
Administration are engaged in destroying by piecemeal the
Constitution of this kingdom, of subverting the Church and
the Establishment—of placing Old .England under the domina-
tion of a wicked faction—are we now to admit that in this
great question of foreign policy Lord Palmerston has been just,
and that the question of legitimacy, which alone concerns the
Spanish people to decide upon, is to be tried at his pleasure ?
It is a monstrous doctrine, and we marvel at the Standard to
give it utterance—and so late too."
The animus of this extract is too manifest to be
mistaken. It admits as distinctly as language can do,
that the common bond of Union among the Conser-
vative Journals is not principle, but hatred of the
Whigs. The Post is horror-stricken that a fellow-la-
bourer in the field of faction would for an instant allow
that a Government so mischievous at home could by
any possibility be right in its foreign policy. " And
so late, too," plaintively sighs forth our Contemporary,
as if the act portended a tardy conversion to more
liberal opinions. The Post did not expect to find
the Standard eulogising the motives and conduct
of the Auxiliary Legion. Why ? Because the men
composing the Legion receive the " pay of merce-
naries ?" Because " they murder the Basque pea-
santry, who are in arms for their fueros ?" Nothing
of the kind. The reason the Post was not prepared
for such eulogy, was because it would give " valuable
aid to the Whig Administration !" The Post, too,
looks upon the Durango decree—that decree by which
the monster CARLOS has bathed himself in the blood
of Englishmen, taken even without arms in their
hands--" not merely as a crime, but a folly."
Casuists less acute than our Contemporary would not
scruple to call folly a necessary adjunct and concomitant
of all crime. But the logical acumen of the Post is best
demonstrated in its favourite system of reasoning, which
consists in attempts to deduce the major cause from
the minor effect—a system which the world has not
yet learned to comprehend.
We now come to the Post's own account of the ob-
jects for which Don CARLOS and the Basque peasan-
try are fighting, which is followed by a sort of amateur
apology for the " not only criminal but foolish" edict
of Durango. Mark well the words of our Contem-
porary :
" The Basques are fighting for the liberties which their
forefathers have fought for and maintained at the point of the
sword. Will the Standard justify the invasion of their coun-
try by a foreign force? Don Carlos is fighting for the entail
that is his by right of birth, and which a large portion of the
Spanish people have called on him to sustain. Will the
Standard sanction the interference of strangers in that ques-
tion, and not leave it to the Spanish people, whom it alone
concerns, to decide on? Can the Standard justify the em-
ployment of mercenaries on principle ? No. If it cannot we
fear the amount of Don Carlos's cruelty will be reduced in an
extraordinary degree. He, being in possession of the Basque
provinces, by the advice of the Juntas proclaims that any
stranger who lands upon the coast to plunder and to murder
shall, if taken, -be shot. That is the law of the land. A
stranger comes, and violates the law of the land, and he is
shot."

No two objects could be more distinct than the
liberties of the Basques, and the legitimacy of Don
Carlos. For once, therefore, the Post is quite right.
Don Carlos foments the discontent, and alarms the
fears of the Basques, because he expects by means of
them to ascend the Spanish throne ; and they follow
his standard as their last protection against a Govern-
ment which they have been led to believe aims at the
total suppression of their feudal privileges. Loyalty
is altogether out of the question. A supposed
community of danger alone prompts unity of
hostile action. But by far the most outra-
geously extravagant part of this article is the
Post's shameful defence of, or rather apology for,
the bloody edict of Durango. When was Don CAR-
LOS in possession of the Basques, that he assumes
a right of making or sanctioning laws for it ? Has
he a single capital of its four provinces ? Is San
Sebastian, or Bilboa, or Vittoria, or Pampeluna, in his
possession ? Has he even Durango ? And if he
neither has nor had possession of any important city
in the Basques, under what pretence can he im-
piously dare to make any offence, unknown to the
established laws of the country, punishable with
death ? Our Contemporary talks of the " advice of
the Juntas ?" Of what Juntas ? The Post knows as
well as we do that Don CARLOS consulted no Junta,
but the knot of fugitives vo horn he mocked with the
title of his Court. These rebels knew too well what
they might expect were they to gainsay his san-
guinary will.

The Paris Papers of Sunday predict an almost im-
mediate change in the Cabinet. GUIZOT, GAS-
PA RIN, and BERNARD, are—according to the cur-
rent rumours, to be succeeded by MONTALI-
VET, SOULT, and lIUMANN. But as yet nothing
certain relative to the new appointments is known.
Tir Eits continues to protest that he has given up
every hope of re-entering the Cabinet, and therefore
that a Liberal Administration formed without him
shall not want his support. There is not a
word of important news from Spain, except
that General EVANS is really preparing to take
the field again in a few days. He has ad-
dressed two " General Orders" to the auxiliaries, ap-
prising the troops of his determination to lead them to
victory, which for want of space we are compelled to
leave over till to-morrow. The following are extracts
from the French Papers :

PARIS, MARCH 26.—Lieutenant-General Baron de Ri-
chemont, Counsellor of State, and Deputy of the depart-
ment of the Allier, has just distributed among his col-
leagues a lithographed memoir, entitled, " Paris fortified,
the only and incontestable guarantee of the independence
of France." After saying that the expense would amount
to fifty millions, General Richemont expresses himself as
follows :—" Fifty millions would surround Paris with an
impregnable inclosure, and Paris is all France—it is the
constitutional Government, it is the dynasty of July. With
Paris fortified, all becomes eternal. If Paris remains open,
all may have perished in a few years, even the race of kings
of our choice. In these days of fatal audacity and political
fanaticism, in which the fate of the State is at the discretion of
some assassins, when factious, political portions of those who
encourage them have perhaps placed their hopes on the
success of a crime, we give up to the chance of events those
precious heads on which the destinies of the country rest.
Who will answer to us that foreigners, under the pretext of
revenging a crime, may not conic at the first moment of
disorder and confusion, to make an irruption into the heart
of France, accompanied by another Pretender, using, for
their own advantage, the rights which they would consent
to allow him, and to support with their arms."
From all the private accounts sent us from Bayonne, it is
confirmed that the loss of the Anglo-Christinos in materiel
was considerable in the affair of the 16th. It is stated at
3 howitzers, cannon, 140 powder waggons, and about
6,000 muskets.
We learn from St. Sebastian, that Gen. Evans is giving
way to the most violent despair, and that it is necessary
to watch him closely to hinder him from proceeding to
some fatal extremity. A letter from Behobie to the llfe-
nto/ial des Pyrenees says—St. Sebastian is one vast hos-
pital ; consternation prevails in the city, and to this con-
sternation is added great discontent with the English.
They are openly accused of having ruined everything by
their want of skill, after having attempted haughtily to do-
mineer in everything. The insurgents profit by their pos-
session of the great road ; on the 18th thuy sent from Be-
hobie a large supply of provision of all kinds, and a good
quantity of bales of leather fit for soles.
The same journal says, according to a report on the
frontier, it was contemplated in • the camp of the Royalists
to send 15,000 men against Madrid.—Gazette de Fiance, i
March 26.