The Sun.
London, England, 1837-06-17 00:00:00

dered an unconquerable spirit of hostility to the
►neasure and all connected with it. Whatever be
the cause of this phenomenon, the Journal in
question, and the few insignificant -persons whom

it has been able to influence, have no great rea-
son to plume themselves upon the success of the war-
fare they have been carrying on against the Act, and
against the general feeling of the country. Mr. JOHN
WALTER put himself forward in the House of Corn-
mons, about three months ago, as the public organ of
the malcontents, and obtained a Select Committee to
inquire into the operation of the new law, edifying the
country, at the same time, with a detail of horrors
which he had collected for the occasion. Well, the
Committee immediately after its appointment set to
Work—and that they have worked pretty hard is evi-
dent from the fact that they have already put upwards
of seventeen thousand questions to the witnesses
brought before them. Mr. WALTER'S cases are all
minutely gone into, and a great many others besides.
The Hon. Gentleman, for his own hand, put 3,370 of
these questions, and called more than half of the wit-
nesses ; and now, when the enquiry is only half
finished, he—the originator of the enquiry—the de-
nouncer of the law—the prime agent in the petty cla-
mour that has been raised against it—comes forward,
and by his motion of last night virtually confesses
that he has completely failed in making good
his charges. We say virtually, because he has
not the manliness to say in so many words what
his motion really implies. He moves that the
Committee be instructed to close their proceedings at
the point at which they have now arrived, -under the
pretence that they arc getting on very slowly, and that
he himself is not sufficiently expert in the examination
of the witnesses ! Lord Roux RUSSELL took pity
upon the apparently bewildered Member ; and in op-
posing the motion told him that he was stultifying
hithself and his cause ; for the Committee were just
about to enter upon that part of the enquiry that might
he expected to be most favourable to his views,
namely, the operation of the new law in the manu-
facturing districts. The Hon. Gentleman was left in
a minority of 30, in a House of 149 Members.

The French Papers of Thursday, the whole of
which we have received, announce the occurrence of a
dreadful accident, which has cast a gloom over the Court.
On Wednesday, being the first day of the fetes in
honour of the Royal nuptials, a military spectacle was
presented to the people in the Champs de Mars,
which had scarcely terminated, when a groundless cry
of alarm was raised among the crowd. A panic
seized the assembled spectators. They rushed
with one accord towards the Military-school, where
they got so wedged together as to be unable to
move for several minutes. Many fainted, and during
the confusion thirty persons were killed, having been
trodden to death by the multitude around them. One
hundred and twenty others were so bruised and
wounded that it was found necessary to convey them
to the public hospitals, and we regret to add that the
lives of several are despaired off'. This melancholy
catastrophe has cast a gloom over Paris, in consequence
of the recollection of a similar event having oc-
curred during the celebration of the nuptial fes-
tivities of LOUIS XVI. and MARIA ANTOI-
NETTE. The loss of life was much greater on
the occasion referred to ; but the coincidence is too
marked to escape the notice of such as pretend to dis-
cover in every evil a foreshadowing of something worse.
In consequence of this fatal accident the grand ball,
announced for Thursday evening at the Hotel de
Ville, stands postponed to Monday next. A rumour
prevailed that the ball would not take place at all, in
consequence of the discovery of a regicidal plot, which
was to have been executed during its celebration. But
no credit whatever is due to such reports. They are
among the natural consequences of the very lamentable
catastrophe which we have just related.
We copy from the illoniteur of Thursday the fol-
lowing telegraphic dispatches, which include the only
news in these papers from the Spanish frontier :
" BORDEAUX, JUNE 13, 7 P.M..—Letters from Saragossa
state, that on the 9th the troops of Oraa occupied Tamarite
and its environs. The Carlist expedition was between Be-
navarre and Ager. Four battalions, detached from the corps
of Espartero, arrived on the 9th at Saragossa, whence they
were to march again on the 11th to join Oraa. The letters
from Saragossa do not announce that Cabrera had passed the
Ebro at Caspe.
" BAYONNE, JUNE 13, 5 P.M —On the 10th Espartero ar-
rived at Lerin, which he found deserted. Oraa wrote on the
Bth, from Fraga, that the Cerlist expedition was in Catalonia
The number of prisoners taken on the sth was 170, of whom
12 were officers. He makes no mention of Cabrera, whose
approach so Saragossa was apprehended on the 10th, but con..
fidence was restored by the arrival of Iriarte's division, sent by
Espartero.
" NARBONNE, JUNE 14, HALF-PAST 5 A.M.-011 the 9th the
Baron de Meer, with a strong force, was in occupation of
Balaguer, Camarassa, Castello, Alf,,Terri, and Mettarguet.
Don Carlos was at Alos, leaving some troops and wounded at
Ager. Ros d'Erolles and a party of Nav2rrese, after having
traversed the Segre at Alos, were at Cubella on the same
day. The defeat of Brigadier Osorio, has thrown open the
access of the mountains to the rebels. Many of the 400 pri-
soners have taken service in the bands, which threaten several
fortified points. They had not made their appearance before
Scu d'Urgel on the 12th."
The following account of the engagement at l3asbas-
tro in which the brave General CONRAD lost his life,
will be read with interest. It is dated " l3ubegal,
June 3," so that the writer may be presumed well ac-
quainted with all the circumstances :
" Conrad was killed at the head of his legion : a ball struck
him on the head, and made its way through the socket of the
right eye, at the very moment that brave General was rallying
the remnant of his troops.
" Yesterday General Orfta's intention was merely to make
a reconnoissance in the direction of Barbastro. He had as-
sembled 16 battalions, with 16th pieces of cannon, and 1,300
cavalry. The enemy were shut up in Barbastro with 18
battalions and 1,000 horse. The Christine forces were
drawn up in three colunans, but this movement was ef-
fected with extreme tardiness. The right column (composed
of four battalions) under the command of Villa Podierna, had
not come up till a late hour. Buerens commanded the centre,
and the left column was led on by Conrad ; each of these
columns consisted of six battalions, of nearly the entire of the
cavalry, having each eight pieces of artillery, and Buerens'
guns were mounted on harnessed carriages. Barbastro pre-
sents the form of an amphitheatre, surrounded by olive trees
to the extent of nearly a league; on one side of the town runs
a brook almost dried up at this season, and the river Cinca
flows in the opposite direction. A vigorous attack was to have
been commenced upon the left, whilst the centre would hare
been supported by the cavalry. The great mass of this army
ought to have borne down upon the right, but the reserve
corps did not follow the evolutions dictated by the very
nature of things. General Conrad had arrived within mus-
ket-shot of the town ; the two battalions of the Guards and
and
two
nvoc mountain
in the
the African battalion formed the first brigade, supported by
forty light horse, under the orders of Contreras, a brave officer.
guns,Tbe six s
t Frenchskiuu
skilfully
pieces
worked,(ifu
e a artillerysed
dre dreadful
enemy's ranks, but at the same instant confusion and disorder
had arisen from some unknown cause amongst the battalions
Del Principe, and of the Guides in the centre, and the enemy,
near
taking advantage of this unfortunate panic, rushed towards the
opening. Conrad's artillery was immediately directed upon
that point, its heavy fire drove back the enemy, but the brigade
wasin dbyanfherreeof
freshbei tal
io
being cut
whichtliel lay
ef twingn being then at-
tackedi
ambuscade
the Huesca road. Oraa finding himself unsupported by the
reserve corps, gave directions for commencing a retreat
in good order ; but this determination put an end to all
discipline in the ranks. The arrival of a battalion of
the Legion, and another of the 6th, might have warded
off the impending disaster, but the former fled in con-
fusion. It was at that moment that Conrad, despair-
ing of success, rushed into the thickest of the combat,
to meet death, which he preferred to dishonour; at the same
time fell Marra, Aide-de-Camp of General Oraa. At last
the Legion and the other battalions were restored to order
under the protection of the rear-guard. A squadron of the
6th Light Infantry, stationed at the centre, had given way
before the enemy's cavalry ; the retreat, however, began to
assume a more regular appearance, the enemy not daring to
carry the pursuit beyond the limits of the olive trees. Our
communications with Saragossa have not been interrupted for
an instant. Although the real loss of the Christinos in the
above affair was not considerable, and that the enemy was com-
paratively the greater sufferers, it was an unfortunate circum-
stance for the Queen's troops to be forced to retreat to their
former positions, and to turn their backs upon the enemy."
In a letter from San Sebastian, which will be found
in another part of The Sun, an account is given of
General EVANS'S final departure from the capital