The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 1839.

guises—to abuse it in his name. His position is
a proud one—the proudest which any man in the
British empire could be called upon to occupy.
May he leave Ireland as the Marquis of NOR-
MANDY left it—followed by the prayers and bless-
ings of seven millions of his countrymen !

The Anti-Corn-law League is exerting itself vigo-
rously. We insert a paper which it has just pre-
pared, entitled " Facts for Farmers," which will go
through the country with the high authority of Earl
FITZWILLIAM'S name. They will make, there-
fore a considerable impression, and arouse many
farmers diligently to consider the subject. Between
the pretext of the Legislature, that the Corn-laws
are to put money into the farmers' pockets, and
the fact that it does not get there, they cannot fail
to distinguish. Of all the monstrous delusions that
ever were palmed off by cunning selfish knaves on ig-
norant dupes, none is more monstrous than the
pretext that the Corn-laws benefit, or, as it is called,
protect agriculture. We can excuse poor credulous
timid women, or ignorant superstitious savages, for
believing the fictions of interested priests or fetiche
men, because they refer to things beyond the ken of
the human understanding, and which can neither be
proved nor disproved. But that men of sense
should credit the assertions of interested, selfish
knaves, which are continually and every day contra-
dicted by facts, is one of the strangest phenomena
that habitually fall under our observation. Men
readily believe what they wish. The farmers
wish to be rich by little trouble—the Corn-law
Legislator promised to make them so byldishonestly
taking money out of the pockets of other men, and
the farmers continue to believe the promise though
they are impoverished and gone to decay. They
are overreached by their own avarice. Of the
additional price given to corn by the law,
and which they must pay on everything
they use and consume, including labour, and
including even the bread eaten by paupers, they
know that a large portion goes to colleges and other
corporations which are great landowners, to
companies, to titlieowners, to residents abroad,
to residents in cities, who scarcely ever
see the green fields, and to a great mass
of persons who have no connection whatever
with agriculture, except to consume its products.
The farmers must be sensible that all the revenue of
these corporations and individuals has no more
influence in promoting or improving agriculture
than if it were thrown into the sea, and yet this
revenue is levied on them for the improvement and
protection of agriculture. If they continue to be-
lieve that to enrich corporations and absentee
landlords by raising the price of corn, and so rais-
ing rent, serves the cause of agriculture, they will
believe that a man is served and enriched by being
stripped of his property by swindlers. 'We re-
commend the " Facts" for their careful perusal.

In Mr. FIELDING'S speech on the Corn-laws,

delivered on Monday, March 18, which was not
heard and not reported, but which has since been
placed before the public, we find a passage which
deserves, we think, to be brought rather promi-
nently into notice. Here it is :

The American bankers have, as it would seem, to en.

hance its price, made advances to the cotton planters on
the crops, and engaged to keep the cotton from the mar-
ket, or at any rate from being sold until their object is at-
tained ; fur by a Liverpool broker's circular of the 15th
instant, he found that the import of American cotton into
the port of Liverpool up to that period this year, is only
118,145 bales, whereas up to the same time last year it
was 278,236 bales, that is more than 135 per cent., and
the price has risen within a few months, 25 per cent.
Substitute corn for cotton, and imagine, with a deficient
harvest at home, what an extremely dangerous state the
people of this country would be placed in. But if individu-
als can thus impede supplies, what might governments do to
effect some great political object? Had not tho stock of
cotton in the kingdom, on the 3lst December last (321,000
bales) been larger than at the close of any year since 1828
the inconvenience would have been more severely felt than
it has been ; for instance, had it been only 185,000 bales,
as it was in 1834, the cotton factories would have come to a
stand, for he found that the estimated stock in Liverpool
on the 15th instant, is stated in the same circular to be only
219,000 bales, and the consumption is increased about 50
per cent.

It will be seen that Mr. FIELDING uses the im•
portant fact, he states, to draw an inference against
making the nation dependent on other countries for

a supply of food, and with the acumen of a prac-
tised statesman, for which we had not given the
skilful gentleman credit, the existing evil is wholly
overlooked, in order to terrify us against an ima-
ginary evil. He displays our present dependence
which has grown up without one endeavour on
the part of our Statesmen to prevent it, nay, they
have encouraged it, in a most striking manner, and
he forgets the existence of what he describes, in
order to warn us against that which might never
exist, and could not possibly exist in so aggravated
a form as that which does not alarm him at all. He
tells us that the bankers of the United States have
contrived to keep cotton from our markets till the
price rose 25 per cent., which, on the amount of
cotton imported from the United States in 1836,
289,615,692 lbs., at 6d. a-pound, makes an in-
crease of price of 1,310,0981. The bankers and
cotton owners of the United States have been able

to levy a tax on our people to the extent of nearly
one million and a half in the price of cotton.
On the one hand then, the cotton-grower,
and on the other the English corn-grower,
combine to enhance the price of the raw
material, and the food of the labourer, and

together to ruin the manufacture of England. With
such harpies sucking at the two ends of our in-
dustry it must soon be dry ; and as it is at present,
little or nothing is left to encourage or reward the
labourer, wanting which, we have the authority of
the Quarterly Review for saying the nation cannot
be prosperous. If it be the business, however, of
the Legislature, as the Corn-law advocates say, to
keep us independent of foreigners, how grossly has
it neglected its duty in allowing this grievous
dependence to have grown up 1 But this assump-
tion of the Legislature is a precious piece of hum-
bug, invented to cover the scoundrel avarice by
which the English gentry set the American bankers
the example of plundering their fellow men.
It is worth noticing that England herself does
not grow a pound of cotton, and her Colonies only
supply her with a ninth part of what we use.
Fro►n the United States we obtain four-fifths of all
we import. From no other part of the world could
we obtain one-fifth of the quantity we obtain from
that country, and from the whole world we could
not obtain the half. Thus are we bound, slavishly
bound—and the Legislature, if commercial depend-
ence be an evil, is to blame for it—to the United
States, and completely are we at the mercy of its
bankers and cotton-growers. What might en-
sue if the Government were to join with

them is the source of Mr. FIELDEN'S alarm,
and we are not at all alarmed at that. The
whole of the bankers and cotton-growers who
can at their pleasure levy this additional 1,300,0001.
on us more than the value of their cotton,
would rise in arms against Mr. VAN BUREN and
the Congress in an hour, were they to impede
them in gaining one penny of this sum ; and while
they can tax us they will take care that their Go-
vernment, which is their creature and servant, shall
not deprive them of the means. Thus we have
not the smallest apprehension of the United States
stopping our supply of cotton—nor should we have
any apprehension of its stopping our supplies of
wheat, were we as dependent on that country for
corn as we are for cotton. But that rever could
be. We grow corn ourselves ; every other country
grows corn—and a perfect free trade in corn could
never make us as dependent on any one
country for food as our negligent land-
owning Legislature has allowed us to become for
cotton. If the supply of cotton from the
United States were stopped for three months, two
millions of our people would be without bread.

To that calamity we are now exposed, and on the
principles of the landowners they are the most
guilty of men for reducing the nation to this con-
dition of degrading dependence.

An important question is now undergoing dis-
cussion by the public press, the question which the
Duke of WELLINGTON put emphatically during the '
progress of the Ri form Bill, " How is the QUEEN'S
Government to be carried on?" How is any Govern-
ment to be carried on ? On old principles or on new
principles ? On the doctrines and practices which
grew up in conjunction with the rotten boroughs, or
o 1 the doctrines and practices which are growing
up under the Reform Act ? Is Government to be
carried on by the opinions fashioned, and routine
established by the 'Ministers, Statesmen, and writers
of GEORGE the THIRD'S reign, or by the opinions
now formed on facts which are perceived by the
living generation to warrant a new line of conduct ?
These questions thus stated abstractedly, are in truth
now undergoing daily discussion in the press, and
as the present circumstances of society were wholly
unknown and unforeseen, wholly unprovided for by
the Ministersand Statesmen of a former period, these
questions are of great practical importance.
To us it is clear that the present and the next ge-
neration will never submit to be governed by the igno-
rance of the past. What is there in all the combined
wisdom of all the Ministers of GEORGES 111 and
IV. which should make us for one instant suppose
our judgment of things as they exist ought to
take the law from their thoughts ? Even Sir
ROBERT PEEL has given up old principles and
practiCes, and has shaped out for himself a course
totally different from that of the Tories of the last
generation. The priesthood also, roused from its
slumbers, is sensible that to stand by the old prin-
ciples and practices, would soon involve the Church
in utter ruin. A new-born zeal inflames the
bosom of the clergy ; they dispute and quarrel
amongst themselves, as to the extent to which
reform ought to go, but all agree that even the
Church cannot hold fast to its old principles. The
Government, then, cannot be carried on by the old,
and must be carried on by the new principles.

But what new principles? One statesman teaches
finality, another gradual, and a third speedy, pro-
gress. One is for no further changes in the laws ;
another is for only a small bit-by-bit change ; and a
third is for a sweeping alteration. The Journals
take a similar view, and each one has something of
its own to recommend. In a multitude of coun-
cillors, if there be not wisdom, there is certainly
confusion, and so many opinions are now pro-
pounded—there are so many thinkers and advisers,
that the Government, from the conflicting forces
striking it on all sides, seems incapable of motion.
One of the new principles adopted by all par-
ties is, that public opinion must be deferred to. The
Tories allow that, the Radicals make it the corner-
stone of their creed. They would carry everything
only by the majority, and what the majority
does not will they would not ask. Under
such circumstances we are invited to
rally round a new standard of Reform, without it
being shown how the majority is to be gathered
under it, or how anything can be obtained unless
by the aid of the majority. How are we to gain the
Universal Suffrage men by the promise of House-
hold Suffrage, or overcome the landowners and their
forces by a smaller and more divided army than that
they have already defeated ? We are Radicals
enough to defer to the majority ; we look to that as
our guide, and are rational enough to wish to see
it brought to our views by argument, not by con-
straint or force. We arc not acquainted with j
any arguments, or any facts, which have
lately made the imperfections of the Constitution
more prominent than they were three months ago,
or which are likely to spread a conviction through
the land that it ought immediately to be further
altered. We- except always the divisions on the
Corn-laws ; but if we cannot carry the abolition of
those laws, when we have justice so clearly
lon our side, when large masses even of the
Chartists have petitioned against them, how can
we carry Household Suffrage, the justice of which
is positively, and perhaps justly, denied by the
Universal Suffrage men, and when they, with nearly
all the advocates of the Corn-laws, and many of
the opponents of those laws, are against it ? We want
this question practically answered before we desert
practical objects for any scheme however flattering.
Till we see some means likely to accomplish that,
strenuous and radical Reformers as we are, we
maintain that we must let the present system
work till its imperfections become more mani-
fest, and till the majority desire to have it
amended. It is the duty, undoubtedly, of Jour-
nalists continually to call public attention to
the proofs of such imperfections, such as the
couduct of the Legislature in reference to the
Corn-laws, the continuance of which is enough to
make all but the landlords, the tithe lords, their
tenants, and their serfs rise in open rebellion.

We must ask—and we do it with no animosity
towards individuals, with no wish to injure the feel-
ings of any human being, but with a warm desire
to make known to the country at large—the
true reasons why our ships cannot get men,
whether one of her Majesty's ships was not paid off
at Plymouth recently ; whether th• Captain did not
announce that he was going to have another
ship, beating up, as it were, for volunteers amongst
his late crew, and whether a single man offered to
go with him ? If the whole crew declined, was that
in consequence of their having been subjected to an
extraordinary quantity of flogging ? Was it the
practice in the ship always to punish the last
man up when all hands were piped, whereby
some one was, en every occasion that
the whole crew were required, sure to be
punished ? Was every man and boy in the ship
flogged at some time or another except two, thereby
degrading the whole crew, except two, into crimi-
nals ? We earnestly hope that these questions
will be answered in the negative ; but having
ourselves witnessed things quite as bad or worse
than are here alluded to, we think it our duty
to call attention to them, that the sort of stories that
are put into circulation, and believed to terrify the
people from entering into the Navy, may be known.
We shall put one question more and we have done.
Was the W-- paid off at the same time as the
S—, and were the officers of the former cheered
on quitting, and were those of the latter a:lowed to
depart in sullen silence ?

Notwithstanding the severity of the September

laws against the Press in France, scarcely a day
passes without violent articles appearing in some
of the journals, not only against the Government,
but the personal conduct of the KING. Never at
any period of the Reform crisis, or during the Ad-
ministration of Sir ROBERT PEEL, when the
Court was arrayed against the Representatives of
the people, was stronger language used in this
country, where prosecutions for political libels
have ceased to exist. When attacks are made
on Louis PHILIPPE, his name is not men-

tioned, but a great variety of synonymes used,
which are well, understood. " High regions,"
" the faction," " the coterie," the auxiliaries of
the Court," " the enemies of freedom," and
twenty others all have the same meaning, and
though prosecuted one day, the same Journalist
prepares for carrying on the attack, a little varied
in shape, the next. The National but a few days
ago was summoned to answer a libel, and on Sun-
day it put forth the following :—" If things go on
thus the coup d'etat will turn out for the good of
the nation ; for the Chambers, the National Guard,

the electors, the entire nation will oppose it una-
nimously, as they opposed the mad attempts of
CHARLES X.; and everything leads to the inference
that affairs will go on so, for there is only one chance
that they will take a different course, that chance
is, that the machinations of the police may induce
some peaceable but impatient citizens to exceed the
bounds of prudence, and seek guarantees of security
against a power which they now estimate at its just
value. But this chance will not occur. Our
pledge is the good sense of all patriots who know
how to reject perfidious provocations, and en-
dure their misery patiently, for the sake of not
compromising the safety of their noble cause. The
faction, then, must of necessity proceed beyond
legal bounds. Terrible alternative, the consequence
of which it does not pretend to conceal ; for, but a
few days ago, one of the chief leaders of the fac-
tion said to an intimate friend, we will not yield ;
but we will take good care not to attack.
CHARLES the TENTH was a fool in doing so. In
every crisis like that in which we are, the party
that begins ought to lose the battle. On the
14th of July, the 10th of August, and the
the 26th of July 1830, the Court attacked and was
defeated. On the 9th Thermidor, on the days of
Prairial and Vendemaire, and on the 13th of April
1834, all those who attacked were likewise beaten.
We will profit from the lesson and force our ene-
mies to strike the first blow.' This is the language
spoken in high places, and we readily admit the
prudence of the plan. It remains to be seen if they
can adhere to it. As regards the nation, it ought to
profit by it. The nation may suffer, but it is imperish-
able. It can wait. Let it then bide its time, which
cannot be long. To attempt to hasten the tri-
umph might perhaps lead to its defeat. What
would be said of a General who would offer
battle to an enemy besieged and reduced to
three da-ys provisions ?" The whole of the article
from which this is taken is in the same style, and
says in substance this—" The KING will not
yield—he will prorogue the Chambers anew, or open
them with a contemptible Ministry, and the discon-
tent will go on increasing till at last they stop the
supplies, and refuse to pay taxes, Foreign Powers
will then press him to put an end to such a state
of disquietude, and then will come the coup d'etat,
of which the KING dreams One l'on reve deja au
chateau).

We are not at all surprised that the Times does
not like the movements of the Chartists. Though hos-
tile to the Whigs, they are ten times more hostile, as
we have all always stated, to the Tories. The Times
has sagacity enough to see this, and laments this
morning their success at Edinburgh. The stern re-
solves of the people terrify it and its party from their
prey. Two years ago that Journal was for reconquer-
ing Ireland. The people were to be put to the sword,
rather than do them justice. Now the Tory
bullies speak the nation fair, and talk mealy-
mouthed of redressing grievances and abolishing
abuses. Such an alteration in their tone is due in
a great measure to the spirit and determination
evinced by the people. But something is also due
to .the conviction the Tories have obtained by having
been kept so long out of office, that they are
not so powerful as they fancied. Opposed as they
are by the bulk of the enlightened inhabitants of
the towns, they could only occupy office as the
servants of the squires and the parsons. Sir Ro-
lm:yr PEEL must come into power, if at all, as
one of Lord RODEN'S tail, pledged to the
Irish Church and the Corn-laws. With all his
boasting, there never was any statesman in a more
degraded situation than he is, for he thinks it an
honour to take office as the menial instrument of a
faction bent on maintaining bigotry, and on starv-
ing the people. The Times is opposed to the
Corn-laws, and must therefore agree with us that
Sir R. PEEL will be degraded by taking office as
the lacquey of the Bumpkin squad.

That a Ministry so obnoxious to ridicule as the
ad interim Cabinet of Louts PHILIPPE should
call forth all the epigramatic talent of the Paris
Press, is only what might be expected, and with
the exception of such satirical sallies, we find no-
thing of much moment in the French Journals of
Wednesday. It appears that Marshal SOULT has
not given up all hope of being able to form
a strong Cabinet. He was still negotiating,
but we believe with little chance of success.
The Commerce of Wednesday, states that
the Marshal proposed to himself the being
able to meet the Chambers on Thursday, sur-
rounded by colleagues able to command a Parlia-
mentary majority. Marshal SoULT miscalculates
his own influence. In conjunction with TRIERS
he was everything ; without THlEtts he is but a
name—a glorious reminiscence.
It was finally determined on Wednesday that the
Chambers should be opened yesterday by commis-
sion. The King shrunk from presenting himself to
the National Representatives, surrounded by such
a troop of official responsibilities as MONTOBELLO
and Co. This manifests a sense of shame at least
in the Royal breast.

Several-days must elapse before the real busi-
nass of the Chambers can commence, and conse-
quently before the upshot of this long struggle
can be fully ascertained. We regard nothing
which may take place before the voting the
Address, as decisive of the convictions of the
Chamber of Deputies. Personal considerations
have so much influence in the election of the Presi-
dent, Vice-Presidents, Secretaries, and Qutestors,
that they cannot be regarded as conclusive upon the
question of the Representatives' policy.
We find in Galignani's Messenger of Wednes-
day the following article on the influence of the
Ministerial crisis upon the trade of France :
The unsettled state of the Ministry, and the political
agitation which the late dissolution of the Chambers, and
the threatening debates which preceded that measure, has
been, as was to be expected, a severe blow to trade. Con-
siderable commercial pressure is felt in Paris in the minor
branches of commerce, and among the manufacturing and
working population. Reports had for some time been cir-
culated as to the increase of bankruptcies in the first quar-
ter of the present year, as compered with the correspond-
ing period in the year 1838 ; we hare taken the trouble to
inquire into this subject, and find that the statement is un-
fortunately too true, a; will be perceived by the following
table of bankruptcies made from the returns at the Tribu-
nal of Commerce

1838. 1839.
January 3B 59
February
March

113 204
The amount of liabilities of the bankrupts during the
first three months of 1839 is nearly 18,000,000 of francs.
The increase of causes brought before the Tribunal of
Commerce within the same period has also been great,
about 2,000 new causes having been added to the list
every week during, the last month. A heavy run on
the Savings' Bank, not only of Paris, but of Bout,.
deaux, Nantes, Lyons, and other towns in France, has
existed for the last month or six weeks, the sums drawn
out exceeding those deposited ; and in particular at
the Savings' Bank of Paris, according to last week's
report the sums withdrawn amounted to 872,000 francs,
while those deposited were only 352,793 francs; the
number of weekly depositors have also sunk since the be-
ginning of February, from 5,996 to 2,832. It is remark-
able that the funds have not participated in this commercial
depression, as they have in the same period risen, and are
now actually higher than they were on the Ist of January
last. On the whole, no serious or prolonged difficulties
are at all anticipated from the Ministerial crisis, during
which we may remark, though efforts to create disorder
have not been wanting, public tranquillity has never been
for a moment broken. Happily the sources of prosperity
in France now lie too deep to be seriously disturbed by any
temporary or inadequate cause.
The funds have not fallen, because a combina-
tion was entered into by the stock-jobbers to keep
them up, and hence to the surprise of the good
folks of Paris they rose on Wednesday. No man
in France understands these matters better than
Louts PIIILII'I'E, and his connection with certain
gentlemen on the I3ourse is not so secret as to leave
it doubtful whose capital was employed to prevent a
panic, which would have filled France with confu-
sion, and of which a Revolution would be an im-
mediate consequence.
The accounts from Madrid are of the 27th ult.,
but they are unimportant. The chief topic of
conversation was the probability of a speedy change
in the Cabinet. General ALAIX had become
exceedingly unpopular. Genoral VALDEZ was
spoken of as his successor in office.

We subjoin extracts from the French Journals :
The tomb has just closed on one of the :noble remnants
of ancient France. The Count de Calonne has terminated
his honourable career at the Chateau of Li& mieres-Cha-
telain, at the age of 91 years.
The Toulonnais has the following letter
" ALGILRA, MARCH 23._General Rulhiero assembled

on the 21st, in the plain of Mustapha, the cavalry, the
division of Algiers, which he reviewed. The appearance
of these troops was as fine as those of the garrisons in
France.

" The soldiers who have been committed to hard labour
continue to work at the demolition of the Moorish houses,
situated in the Place du Gouvernement. The day before
yesterday one of the houses, next to that which was being
pulled down, fell, and buried three men in the ruins, one
of whom was killed on the spot.' —Moniteur.

PARIS, APRIL 2.—The Madrid journal, called El Cas-
tellano, of 26th March, contains the following paragraph:—
There have arrived at Bermeo, a post occupied by the
Carlists, six French ships, bringing 30,000 great coats,
25,000 pairs of shoes, other articles, and ammunition, the
last a present, amongst others, from M. Mole to the Carlists."
On the 24th March, a new violation of the French terri-
tory was committed by a detachment of 150 Christinos,
who came from Valcarlos. In the evening they pillaged
the two villages of Erratese and Halriseen, killed several
inoffensive individuals, and were carrying off a rich inha-
bitant as a hostage, and 17 Carlist prisoners, when they
were stopped by the National Guard and the Gendarmes,
as they were crossing our territory on their return, on the
25th, in the morning.
" The victims and the vanquished," says a letter from
Oyarzun, of the 27th, " having all arrived at the same Com-
mune of La Fonderie, were escorted disarmed, and con-
veyed to St. Jean Pied de Port. By order of Count
Harispe, the Carlist prisoners were sent to their houses
except one, who, being seriously wounded, remains in the
military hospital. The detachment from Valcarlos has re-
turned to Spain, and its arms were restored to it on the fron-
tiers."—Le Commerce.
BOURSS.—PARis, WILDNESDAY, Aram 3.

HALF-PAST Tun/lc—The French Funds have continued to ad-
vance. Far the Account the Three per Cents. opened at 80f,
20c , and closed at $Ol. 40c , being a rise of 20c. The Five per
Cents., from 109 f. 55c., rose to 108 f. 75c., being also a rise of 20c.
For money the Three per Cents. are 25c., and the Five per Cents.
10c. higher. The Bank of France Shares have Improved 15f.
No alteration in the Laffitte Bank Shares. The Belgian Five per
Cents. are better, and the Three per Cents. 70c. For the account
the Threes are 711. sdc. The Belgian Bank Shares have declined
5f., and the Coupons 2f. 50c. The Spanish Active has nut been
quoted. The St. Germain Railway Shares arc 10f. better, and the
Versailles Left Bank, 7f. 50c. The Strasburg to Basle are 21. 50c.
lower, and the Havre unvaried.
First highest Lowest Last
Price. Price. Price. Price.
French 5 per Cents lO9 35 109 .50 ... 100 35 109 45
4% per Cents lO4 5$ ... 101 50 1,:4 50 ... 101 50
3 per Cents BO 20 ... 80 30 ... 80 95 80 15
Bank of trance

Lalfitte Batik I,ooor. Sh 1050 ...1060 ...1050 ...1060
5,410Jf. Sh 519(1 ...5190 ...5190 ...5 51
Belgian i per Cents 102% ... 102% ... 102% ... 102%
S per Cents 7l 40 ... '7l 70 ... 71 40 ... 71 '7O
Bank 695 ... 695 ... 691 ... 690
Coupons
Neapolitan
Roman
RAILWAY SHARE,.
_ _ .

St. Germain
Versailles, E. B 660 ... 670 660 665
L.B. 225 ... 241 225 237 50
Havre
Orleans . . 465 ... 465 ... 465 465
Strasburg t• Sale
Hulhausen t• Thann 350 ... 360 ... 3.50 ... 360

ASPHALTES AND BITUSIENS.
Seyssel (A)

THE MURDER AT PORTSMOUTH

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN•

Sia,—l have with astonishment this day read an ac-
count in The Sun of a horrible murder said to have
been committed at Gosport. The paragraph (under
the head of " From a Correspondent") states, "That
a man had killed his wife, murdered his foreman, who
ran to her assistance, and, for the sake of securing se-
crecy, had hung his two apprentices, who were twins,
and that the whole town was in a state of excitement,"

Now, I beg to inform you there is not one word of
truth in the statement—no murder has been committed
in this parish for upwards of thirty years, and a more or-
derly, regulated town there is not
.in the kingdom. I
much regret that any one should have amused himself
by inventing a story so truly horrible, and without a
shadow of truth in it. If you can discover your Ports.
mouth Correspondent, you will oblige a Constant
Reader by exposing him to the public.

I am, Mr. Editor,
AN OLD INHABITANT.

Gosport, April 4, 1839.

[The letter to which this refers came to us through the
post, and bore about it such marks of authenticity as in-
duced us, though with doubt and reluctance, to publish it.
The mischievous and malignant person who fabricated the
tale will not, perhaps, escape, and if we can detect him,
as we are not without hopes we may, we shall spare
neither expense nor pains to punish him. Will our Cor-
respondent help us P We should willingly give a suit-
able reward to detect the knave. The inhabitants of
Gosport are all interested, we think, in assisting us to
drag into light the person who could so calumniate
them.—ED.]

BRUSSELS and GERMAN PAPERS

BRUSSELS, APRIL 2.—The average prices of wheat
during the last week was 23,71 f., and of rye 13,02 f. per
hectolitre. In consequence both are still admitted free of
duty till the 15th July, 1839. Wheat in grain and in flour
cannot be exported.
APRIL 3.—Rye and rye flour may be exported till the
9th of this month, on payment of a duty of 25 centimes
per 1,000 kilogrammes.
After the last mentioned day, the exportation of rye
and' ,rye lloaf--%111 be prohibited. The exportation of
potatoes and pots too flour continues to be prohibited.
Another article adds—That the exportation of rye and
rye flour is now prohibited.

- The Minister Of Public Works has sent the following
official letter to the Governor of Brabant :
" BRUSSELS, MARCH 21.

" Sir,—l have the honour to request of you that the
duty performed by the Civic Guard of Brussels, may cease
from this day.
" In acquainting the Commander of the Civic Guard
with this measure, you will be so good as to direct him to
signify to all the corps which compose it, the satisfaction
of the Government at the zeal with which they have done
the duty assigned to them, and the readiness with which
they have lent their valuable assistance in maintaining order.
" I feel pleasure in openly declaring, that the Civic
Guard of Brussels has shown that it fully understands the
nature of the duty entrusted to it.
" The Minister of Public Works,

" NOTHOMB."

—Moniteur Beige.
Count Lalang, our Charge d'Affaires at Madrid, re-
turned to Brussels a few days ago, and will stay some weeks.
We learn that he has, through a convention which he ha!
concluded with the Spanish Government, abolished the
droit d'aubaine, and giving to Belgium and Spanish
subjects the right to inherit and acquire property recipro-
cally in the two States. Connt Lalang will return to
Madrid, with the ratification of this treaty by the King.
Count Lalang has received from the king of Sardinia the
title and insignia of Commander of the Order of St.
Maurici and St. Lazarus. his is a mark of his Ma-
jesty's acknowledgement of the zeal of Count Lalang in
serving the subjects of the King of Sardinia in Spain
during these last two years, in which the diplomatic re-
lations between the two countries have been suspended.
AUGSBURG, MARCII 31.—We have received with our
letter from Alexandria, the following communication :
•' DSCIIEDDA, FEB. 10.--The English are now really
in possession of the town of Aden. After they had landed
troops in the beginning of January, and bombarded from
two men of war the ►ery ill fortified towns, it was surren-
dered to them on condition of their leaving the inhabitants
sufficient time to withdraaw with their property to the
neighbouring mountains. Thus you see that the Arabs by
no means wish for the dominion of the English. The
Sheiks of Aden have hitherto been independent, and even
the Turks themselves were able 200 years ago to exercise
but a very short-lived authority over them. But now the
son of the Sheik who was compelled to sell Aden to the
English, has sent deputies to the General of Mehemet Ali,
commanding in Yemen, requesting his aid against the
Christians, and offering to place himself under the autho-
rity of the Pasha of Egypt—" As Musselmans and, above
all, as Sunnitcs, which we also are, you are bound to
assist us, and, with the help of Allah, we shall so expel
the .nfidels," such are the expressions. Ibrahim Pasha,
and the nephew, not the son, of the Viceroy, immediately
sent despatches to Mehemet Ali. We do not knowwhether
the English intend to extend their conquests in the terri-
tory of Aden, but the inhabitants will certainly resist. The
occupation causes a great sensation here, and the Scheriffs
of Mecca whisper all sorts of suspicious things which fill us
Europeans in the service of the Pasha with appre-
hensions. It is lucky that an English Corvette is
stationed hare, which may take us on board
in case of need. Some battalions of regular infantry have
lately arrived here, the destination of which is not known.
The last accounts from Kourschid Pacha, are from El
Khardsch, the eastern part of the Nidschidchere, be levies
large contributions and compels the country to submit.
lie expects orders to advance. The taking of Derrach is
cried up here as a great feat, but Kourschid might have
taken that miserable fort in two days, by a well directed
attack, instead of spending forty-one before it. Achmct
Pacha, the Governor of Arabia is not pleased with the
success of Kourschid, which throws him in the back ground,
and may occasion his recal. It it is thought that he has
views to the dominion of Arabia in favour of Mehemet
Ali, which he will hardly realize without aid from Egypt.
DUTCH FUNDS.—AataTEanam, APRIL 3
Money. Bills.
Actual Debt, 2yz per Cent
Ditto, ditto 5 per sent.
Amen Syndic, 4 per cent .. 94% 954
Ditto, ditto, 314 per cent. SO SO%
Commercial Company, 4 per cent 17934 180
Ditto (IKI2 and 1833) 5 per cent.
Ditto 1837, 5 per cent.
Loan 1537, 5 per cent.
LAchante on London, One month ll 95
Two months
BELGIAN /. U NDS—Bstussm.s, APRIL 3
Actual Debt, per Cent.
Rothschild's Loan, 5 per Cent. 1 OA,
Loan of Thirty Millions, 4 per Cent.
3 per Cent. 70%
Loan of City, 1932, 4 per Cent 95
Society of Commerce, 4 % per Cent 123
Bank of Belgium, 5 per Cent 8134
National Society

—Brussels Papers, April 3.
AUSTRIAN FUNDS.—VIENNA, Mamen 25
Five per Cents. Metalliqucs
FoMr per Cents.
Three per Cents.
Bank Shares ILO7

—AligemeineZeitung, March 31
HAMBURG BORSEN HALLE, MARCH 30.
Bills. Money.
Austrian 5 per Cents.
Bank Snares 118.4 142
An 10-Rialian Loan 1i.7!4 107.yi
Russian 5 per Cent. Ist series, Certificate
Russian 5 per Cent. Hop: and Co. 3d and 4th
Se irs
Ditto in Certificates
Dutch .. ctual Lebt, 2y4 pe- Cent
Ditto S per Cent 99.1, 1i94
Polish Bond,
New Icket
Anglo..l anish Lean, 3 per Cent 72% 72
Norwegian Loan, 141, 4 per Cent......... ine 993,
PRUSSIAN FUNDS.—BERLIN, Maui; 23.
Bills Money.
St. Schuld. Sch., 4 per cent. lO3 102 42
Prussian Eng.ish Loan, 1830, 4 per cent 102 1015
:,xel)ange on Loodoo, three months 6 -.Kota
—Prussian State Gazette. March ..9.

THE MARKETS.-(THIS DAY.)

CORN EXCHANGE.

The ar►ivals of English Grain and Flour this week have
been small, and of Foreign Wheat much less than of late.
The weather being ungenial to vegetation, all descriptions
of Wheat obtained 2s. per quarter advance on Monday's
prices, and the factors were reluctant sellers, in the pros-
pect of the duty on Foreign Wheat advancing. Barley
and Beans firmly supported their last currency. For good
Oats rather higher prices were asked, and the sales made
showed some improvement on Monday's rates. There has
been rather more done in the Flour trade this week.

ARRIVALS.
Wheat. I
Barley. Oats. Flour
I 1810 qrs 2,720 qrs. 3,010 vs 1,205 acks
1 70
525

English
Irish - -
I I
Foreign
SMITHFIELD.

--- br Is.

Supplies generally short, and trade was very heavy, and
with the exception of the prime sorts of Veal, the cur-
rency of Monday was barely maintained. Beef, 3s. 4d. to
4s. 2d. ; Mutton, 4s. 6d. to ss. 4d. ; Veal, ss. to ss. Bd. ;
Pork, 4s. 4d. to ss. 4d. ; Lamb, 6s. to 7s. Beasts, 515 ;
Sheep and Lambs, 3,120_;_ Pigs, 390; Calves, 121.