The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-25 00:00:00

PORTUGAL.

We have just received, by the City of Londonderrn
steamer, which arrived at Falmouth on Saturday evenine
• with the India and Peninsular mails, the accompanyiee
despatches from our Correspondent at Lisbon ; her dates
are from Gibraltar 14th, Cadiz lAth, Lisbon 18. b
Oporto 19th, and from Vigo 20th instant : ,
LISBON, MARCH 18, Two, r M.—The Minister ,e'
Finance has declared in the Cortes that no less then thir-
teen months' pay are due to the troops in the secend mili-
tary district, as many to those in the third, s-:venteen
months to those in the fourth, ten months to those in the
fifth, sixteen months to those in in the seventh, and
fourteen months to those in the eighth; but it is es
well that I should acquaint you that there are net,
most probably, four thousand men in these provinces.
The troops in the Lisbon district have netteng due
to them, and they amount to about 3,000 men. Tl;e 04.
puty Leonel Tavaus having moved that the Minister at
War be desired to equalise the payment of the various co.'
of the army with all possible expedition, that is to say, to
let them all be paid up to the same day, the Minister
of Finance, in the absence of his colleagues, declared the',
such a thing could not be done, because, if the garrison
of Lisbon did not continue to be punctually paid, 4' they
would rise against the Government." The Pseputies
Jose Estevao and M. A. Vasconcellos made serree cutting
remarks, in consequence of the unguarded. txpressiam
to which his Excellency gave utterance, sn touch so that
the latter declared it to be his intention to resign on the
next day. No sooner did this become known in our Meney
Market than the prices of public securities experienced a
fall of from 3to 4 percent., and no time was lost in getting '
up a petition of the merchants, most numerously, signed,
praying her Majesty not to accept the threatened resign,.
tion, which being presented by a deputation of five gentle-
men, was most graciously received, and a reply given to tiee i
effect, " that her Majesty's opinions coincided with these
of the petitioners respecting " a Government to which the
country owes so much." Of course, this means that the
Queen has approved of the manner in which her Ministet s
have carried on the Administration of the country, at which
the ultra- Septcmhrist party feel highly indignaet.
The project of law for regulating the mode to be here-
after
adopted in the levying the decium tax was submitted:
to the sanction of the Cortes, and, having the full concur-
rence of the respectable Minister of Finance, was approved
of. The ten reis per alquier of wheat, levied by the Cern
Board on the exportation of that article, will be discontinued
in conformity to a project of law submitted on Saturday,
but I regret to say that another was presented to the erne- mittee named to report on the subject, recommending that ,t.
the extra duties of 120 reis per arrobe of rice, 100 reis on
cocoa, 200 reis on coffee, 200 reis on fish oils, 400 reis on
balsam copaiba, 200 reis on salt fish, or 4s. per ccvt., 250
reis on white sugar, and 120 reis on bron n sugar, &c.,
which have been lately imposed, in virtue of the decree of
31st of October, should be continued for the present; aril
I fear it will pass into a law, in which event the consump.
tion of those articles will experience a still further dimses-
tion.—Morning Post.

MANCHESTER and BIRMENGI;Ai
EXTENSION RAILWAY.

(From the Manchester Courier.)
We last week briefly noticed the quibbliiir- and vexa-
tious opposition which has been so long carried on agqiest
the Railway Bill, and, in another eolunin, vie have cited
case which occurred on Tuesday. After a month's cot.-
test about ti ifles, before the " Committee•on pe!iton." at
an enormous expense, it is expected that the Bill will to
reported to the Selcct Committee on Standing Orders
previous to the recess, and that their decision will be given
immediately after the Easter holidays.
When we consider that the Railway, now claimed by
the towns of Manchester and Stockport, and by other
importiant commercial communities, is no new sch,m,
that a sum of about 100,0001. has been deposited ia the
Bank of England as a guarantee that its promoters are
in earnest ; that the notices to landowners cud riecti
piers, ariil the lodgments of plans and sections required
by the /kw " Standing Orders," are such as to re::,•cr
it almost impossible that any one having property on the
line should be ignorant of the manner in whiith his
interests may be affected; and that out of.nearly 400 nUri•
compliances with the " orders" alleged by the ititereA:
and would-be monopolist opponents of the measure,- they
have only been able to establish between thirty and

and those of a most unimportant character, we cann:,:: ;or a
moment anticipate that a body of upright, sound-judging
men of business, will allow the Bill to be rf.l2ctclit on the
very threshold of inquiry, but that ti will, at
the same time that they adequately protect the inte-
rests of the landowner, permit the promoters of the
measure fairly to state their case to a Conireittee on
merits. As to those merits, we shall, on future ttecaslonG,

be prepared to express our opinion; at present we will
merely remark, that a rejection of the 13i:I, without 1U in-
quiry, will prove must unsatisfactory to a'l panics except
the monopolists. For the last thr,:e years the quesi.i,.in
involved in the present undertaking has been agit.►:eu,
that question is, whether Manchester is entitled to
and quickest communication, by ►ailway, with the ru
polis; and, in our opinion, it ought now to b:'
principle. However, we await the judgment of the "8;
lect Committee" with perfect confidence.

MANCHESTER AND BIRMINGIMII EXTENSION RAILWAY.—
We are glad to hear that in the face of the extrtiordinarl
and unfair oppcsition set up against the Extension Line, th,.
cause of its projectors is progressing rapidly before the o,era..
mittee on Standing Orders, and that the Lill Will e
the Select Committee immediately after Eager, fa order
to show the sort of opposition with which tiee Exteestou
people have to contend, we will just give Ar, outline of a
case that occurred on Tuesday; By the Standing OlcL
of the House of Commons, it is required that a copy of the
plan, sections, and reference of a Railway, so far as re-
lates to each parish through which the line passes, shall be
deposited with the parish eleik of each such parish on or be-
fore the Ist of April. Among the SSO allegations ag,:inst
the promoters of the Extension Bill, were some to the
that in several parishes the deposits had not been made. One
of the allegations related to the parish of Stafford, and to
substantiate it the parish clerk was called as a witness. fie
stated, in the most positive 'tanner, that those documents re-
quired to'be deposited on or before the Ist of April, had not
been delivered until May or June. His own receipt for them,
dated the 31st of .March, and bearing his own signature, pri;duced; another receipt (for the deposit required, by the
Lords' orders, to be made at the end of the year), only siLre
was also produced; but in the teeth of these documents, I(Ze
avowed positively that the April deposit was not made
until
the time above named. He was closely eross.examined,
both by the committee and by Mr. Hayward, for the pro-
moters, but he stuck doggedly to his text. To rebut this
barefaced testimony, whicu would never have been receiv4d
by a properly constituted tribunal, in the face of the man's
own handwriting (it being contrary to all rule to allow a man
to stultify and falsify his own acts), the promoters called
the person who made the deposit, who stated rnnst ee.
tinctly that the:deposit was made on Saturda:— the
of March, the day named in the receipt, and that though
the form of receipt was drawn out by hie), he read it
to the man before he signed it ; that he opened acid
showed him the papers he was leaving with him, and that
he paid him his fee, and he stated various circumstances
to fix the day and hour beyond all possibility of doubt.
Mr. Bell, a respectable surgeon, who accompaaied
him, confirmed him strongly in all pavticulars.
And Mr. Atkinson, an accountant, and Mr. —, anoti.r
person of undoubted credit, stated facts, as to the subse-
quent deposits, which proved that the man could not pos.
sibly have confounded one transaction with another, but
that he must have been guilty in his statement either of the
most flagrant wickedness, or of such stupidity as diqtr:!
him for his office. Ile stated, for example, in res,raid to thr
deposit of some standing orders (which, for recurity'i: sake,
was made after the deposit strictly required), that the parts
depositing had sent for him to an inn, whet, it (dearly tie
peered that, though probably the man had been at .e:e;es
tavern on the evening in question, the person had go;. ;f.
him at his house, and (though the hour was an elviy.
in the evening) had called him out of bed. The Cretnnet-
tee at once decided against the objection, and i,, all the
other cases of a similar nature,where the attertiedt, as in this
case, would have been to set up men to nee;euve their nen
handwriting, decided that they could 1101 her a..y further
objections founded on such questionable testimony.