The Sun.
London, England, 1837-08-24 00:00:00

_ .4A:sar,„

LONDON.
THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 24, 1837.

We have just been favoured with an extract from a
private letter, written by a British merchant in Oporto
to his brother in London, dated the 13th inst.—being
three days later than the last arrivals from Portugal--
which announces that the QUEEN'S Government has
declared Oporto in a state of siege. The writer,
who is a gentleman upon the authenticity of
whose statements we feel disposed to place
considerable reliance, adds, that the Ministers
had commanded the suppression of all the public
journals, except one ; and that in that one it was
prominently set forth t;►at the English Government
aided and abettr_a the insurrection against the
Constitution i and that a sum of 6,0001. (qy. 60,0001.?)
had been_ remitted to the Marquis of SALDA NiTA by
the English, to enable him to organize the revolt in
favour of the Charter. The publication of this
atrocious libel upon the conduct of our Government,
naturally filled the English residents at Oporto
with the most serious alarm. The writer
of the letter before us asserts, that they expected to
have their throats cut, u►►less BritiA vessels speedily
arrived for their protection. By to-morrow we expect
letters and papers from Lisbon, which will enable us to
place the details of this lamentable affair before our
reader.

The irruption of the water into the Thames Tunnel,
an account of which will be found iu another column,
however it may be regretted as interrupting the prc-
gross of the work, cannot be attended with any- other
bad consequences. When the last accident of the
same kind occurred, the breach through which the wa-
ter rushed was, perhaps, ten times as large as the pre-
sent aperture, and the tide continued to ebb and flow
through it for nearly twelve months ; yet such was the
excellence of the brickwork with which the Tunnel
is lined, that it sustained not the least damage.
In the present instance, it will be put to no such se-
vere trial. Mr. BRUNEL, the engineer, whom this
great work has immortalized, expected another visit
from old Father Thames, and had made the necessary
preparations for it. A barge, containing sixty tons of
clay in bags, has been fur some time past moored di-
rectly o'er the spot where the shield was plaeed, I.,nd
the moment the state of the tide permitted, which
was about six hours after the acct lent, the clay
was dropped into the river ovze- the hole. This,
it is probable, may be eencien t to stop the gap
itself ; but as the groe.nd immediately in advance of
the shield for 10 or 12 yards is of a very loose tex-
ture, it may be necessary to give it solidity by an addi-
tion of more adhesive material before the work is pro-,
cecded with.

As to any permanent suspension of this great under-
taking, that is not contemplated even by those who
have bean formerly most apt to despair of its final
success. The fact, as we have reason to believe, is,
that the present temporary stoppage would, in pro-
bability, have been prevented, had the funds at the
disposal oldie Parliamentary Commissioners been large
enough to admit of a shaft being sunk on the north
side. By commencing operations there, the tunnel
pumps would have had a double power ovr_r the land
springs, and other sources of inundation, from which,
by the loosening of the soil, so much difficulty has lat-
terly been experienced. We are in hopes that means
may be found to overcome this obstacle, and that the
Commissioners may feel themselves at liberty to further,
with all the resources at their command, Mr. BRUNEL'S
admirable plans for the accomplishment of a work
which, if any does, deserves the title of national.
A, Rr

.t a
.cforin dir.ner given the other day at Sun
derlaml in b0...0ur of H. L A NIBTON, Esq., and Sir
WA t. CtlAyTort, the two Liberal candidates at the
late
election for the Northern Division of the county
of Durham, Mr. LAMBTON, remarking on the apathy
recently exhibited by many of the electors, said—
"
Gentlemen, I tell you honestly, if we are to contend
with our active and subtle opponents, as they have
Chown themselves to be, with the weapons of apathy
and indolence, your Reform Bill is not worth ten
years' possession—nay, if such are to be your
weapons, you do net deserve to have a Refor,n Bill.
The success of your cause, let me remind you, de-
pends on the exertion of every individual elector in
his own particular sphere. It' I might be allowed to
advise you, I would say, co-operate with regard to
the registration of rotes, and never allow a difference
of opinion on any local subject to interfere in a great
public question. The man who so acts is a traitor to
himself, a traitor to his cause, and a traitor to the
country." We do not think this charge of apathy on
the part of many of the Northern electors quite so
merited as Mr. LAMBTON seems to think it is. We
know, at least, that at Hull and Berwick they exerted
themselves to the utmost of their ability ; but no efforts
could withstand the overpowering weight of Tory in-

fluence, which was exercised in the most unscrupulous
and unconstitutional manner. " What was it,'' asked
Mr. L A MBTON, " that caused tln ft'ilaval of

Sir It UFA NE DOZ•iiiill fiVIIS the representation
of Berwick, and Mr. HUTT from that of Hull ?
It was money and intimidation. By these means the
Tories are endeavouring to undermine the Reform Bill ;
and the only way to meet their attacks is by the ccun-
termine of the Ballot. Before long the Ballot must be
carried. Had it been in operation during the recent
elections, we should have had Fox MA ULE for Perth-
shire, and BA RCLAY for Sunderland." It is to the
want of this adequate protection, and not to the apathy
of the electors, that the successes of the Tories must
be attr.buted ; and thus will it ever be, till th 2. Go-
vernment has come to a decision on the subject.
Without the Ballot, the Reform Bill is incomplete. It
was projected in the first draught of that measure, and
should never have been abandoned. However, we
entertain a sanguine conviction that it will be carried
at no distant date, for its supporters are multiplying in
all quarters, as are also the practical proofs of its
pressing necessity. In that ably-conducted Journal,
the Bolton Free Press, occurs the following para-
graph :--" Several farmers near Rochdale have re-
ceived notice to leave their farms since the county
elections, thus affording another instance of the neces-
sity of the Ballot." In many other districts, espe-
cially those in the South and South-West, the Tories
have had recourse to the same species of vindictive
persecution ; and when by such scandalous means they
have succeeded in returning a tolerable number of
Members to Parliament, they cry out, " Behold a
reaction 1 We told you how it would be. The coun-
try is sick of a Reform Cabinet, and is fast relapsing
into its old Tory habits." Now, to show the utter
fallacy of this cry of " reaction," there is no argument
like the Ballot. Give us this, and it will soon be
seen how much truth the Tories hive on their side,
when they allege that they—and they only—are the real
representatives of the country. We are glad to
perceive, from a letter read at the Sunderland din-
ner, that it is Lord DURHAM'S intention to
take the field against this anti-national faction
next Session, with as much vigour and uncom-
promising determination as ever. " I have but one
political object," observes his Lordship, " to serve my
country. This may be called ambition. If so, I
plead guilty to the charge, and request my accusers to
be assured that if life and health are spared me, their
malignant feelings will be amply gratified by the re
peated opportunities which I shall endeavour thus to
afford them for the exercise of their chief weapon o
offence—calumny and misrepresentation."

'he Post of this morning most touchingly and
pathetically remonstrates against the cruelty of the
Standard, who last night insisted that Don CA RLOS'
accession to the throne of Spain would be the com-
mencement of a tyranny which could not be " endured
by France," and ought not to be " countenanced by
England." We are always affected by an extraordinary
display of sensibility on the part of our fashionable
morning Contemporary; though, like C. LAMB on
awful occasions, we choose to manifest our sympathy
by a fit of laughter. As our readers have hearts,
and many of them no doubt very tender ones, we can-
not resist the temptation to try what effect the
plaints of our disconsolate Contemporary will have
upon them. But to exhibit in the most touching
point of view the lucubrations of the Post, we must
first quote the hard-hearted declaration of the
Standard :---

" The character and temper of Carlos afford, we fear,
too certain indications that he will rule as a tyrant—even
did not his Russian connections, and the necessity of his
own condition, the novitas regni, force him to play the des-
pot. This cannot be endured by France, and it ought not
be countenanced by England.
" A French and Spanish war will follow, and in that
war we shall be involved through a whole tissue of para-
doxes : fighting against our natural allies in behalf of our
English principles of government."
The Post commences its pathetic observations upon
this paragraph as follows :
" As our Contemporary is a religious and conscientious
journal, which would on no account willingly ' bear false
witness against its neighbours,' we beg leave, with all due
courtesy, to ask it on what evidence it asserts that the
character and temper of Don Carlos afford too certain indi-
cations that he will prove a tyrant ?' Is the Standard ac-
quainted with the life of Don Carlos while resident at Ma-
drid, and since he has placed himself at the head of the de-
voted followers who have risked life and fortune in his
name ; or is the aspersion which is thus thrown on the
character of that most amiable personage a part of the
system of which we observed the indication a short time
since, and which we thought we had suppressed for ever ?"
Mark the innocent, the touching, the delicate air of
simplicity with which our fashionable Contemporary
puts these interesting queries. Observe, too, the
nicety with which the second question is made to in-
volve an answer to the first, and thus give a flat con-
tradiction to the witness borne by the " religious and
ccnscientious " (fudge !) Standard to the character
of the Spanish Pretender. Has the Post a standard
of morality peculiar to itself—or has it so very soon for-
gotten all about the Durango Decree ? Does it remem-
ber nothing about the wilful murder of a number of En-
glichrnen taken, without arms in their hands, by the
brigands commanded by this " most amiable person-
age ?" But if the fate of its own countrymen are
mal,rers of indlfference to the Post—if to shed their
blood he rather a virtue than a ♦ice in its opinion--
has it forgotten all about the poisoning of ZUMALA...
CARREGUY? We protest we are ashamed to witness the
immoral lengths to which a spirit of bigotted partizan-
ship frequently carries the Tory Press. Latterly, this
evil manifests itself in a way disgraceful alike to the
moral sentiments and patriotic feelings of many public
writers ; and unless, checked, must produce a corres-
ponding laxity of principle in the public mind. The
Post, for instance, calls Don CA rums " a most
amiable personage ;" and yet this Journal published
the Durango Decree—chronicled the murder of seve-
ral Englishmen and a host of Spaniards, in
accordance with its atrocious provisions—and daily
devotes its columns to the narration of the bloodshed
and turnings perpetrated by command of this monster
in human form. What must the public infer from
this, but that in the estimation of certain political
writers morality is a farce, and vices of the clar:sest hue
virtues when they are, shortsightedly, presumed calcu-
lated to promote the interests of a faction ? But
enough of this. The Post continues
We have had frequent and direct opportunities of
ascertaining the opinions of the Infante on religious sub-
jects, which aprear to be such bugbears to our pious Con-
temporary ; and we can assure it that, though he is a re-
ligious man so fur as. the public observance of the worship
of his country goes, he is in no sense of the word a bigot,
and there is neither Monk nor Friar in his train, nor any
other ecelesisastics but the regular Chaplains of the Palace."
Our Contemporary must covertly intend this as a
"fling" at the Catholics ; for in what other way can
we reconcile religion in a Prince with the murder

of six defenceless Englishmen executed in one day at
Hernani ? The Post evidently means to insinuate that

Don CARLOS is a religious observer of the alleged
doctrine that " no faith is to be kept with heretics"
a doctrine, by the way, more Spanish than
Catholic, and never countenanced by the Holy
See. Our Contemporary manifestly writes as
an officer of the Holy Office, not as an English
Protestant, in thus prominently alluding to the piety
of the Pretender. But is the Post's memory gone
upon every point ? In dwelling upon the absence of
monks and friars, did no recollection of the impious
scenes at Solsona occur to our Contemporary ? Don
Cantos was a traitor during the life-time of his bro-
ther, and he is now a rebel and a murderer. This is