The Sun.
London, England, 1830-04-22 00:00:00

BATTLE OF STIRLING BRIDGE.

Sir Marmaduke Menge, a knight belonging
to the North Riding of Yorkshire, of much ex-
perience and distinguished personal prowess, as-
sisted Cressingham in leading the van. When
nearly one half of the English had cleared the
bridge without opposition, an attempt was made
to dislodge the Scots from thi.ground they had
chosen ; and for that purpose, Sir Marmaduke
rather impatiently charged up a body of
heavy-armed cavalry. The consequence was,
however, fatal to the assailants, as the enemy,
from their vantage-ground, drove them headlong
before them with their long spears. In the mean
time, the communication between the bridge and
the van of the English army was cut off by a
masterly movement of a division of the Scots,
who after,vards kept up such an incessant dis-
charge of arrows, darts, " gavelocks," and other
missiles, as completely interrupted the progress
of the enemy. Wallace contemplated for a mo-
ment, the success of his plan, and instantly
rushed down to the attack with an impetuosity
which the scarcely formed battalions of the Eng-
lish were ill prepared to withstand. Giving way
to the shock, they fell into irretrievable confu-
sion, while the repeated charges of the compact
bodies of the Scottish spearmen were fast cover-
ing the ground with the splendid wreck -of the
chivalry of England. The scene now became
animating beyond measure; and many of those
who had defended the bridge forsook their coin-
panions to join in the desperate Ingei. The
passage being thus left comparatively opevis the
royal standard of England,. displaying " Three
gold leopards courant set is red," was advarc.d
to the cry of—" For God and St. George l" at-
tended by a strong body of knights, who, with
their triangular shields, defending themselves
from the missiles which still showered thick upon
the bridge, rushed forward to aid their fellow-
combatants. The banner of Warren next ap-
peared, chequered with gold and azure, and tot-
lowed by his numerous vassals. The day, how-
ever, was too far gone to be retrieved, even by
this powerful assistance. Finding no room to
form, they only increased the confusion, and
swelled the slaughter made by the Scottish spear-
men, before whose steady and overwhelming
charges thousands were either borne down or
driven into the river.

While Warren, with inexpressible anxiety, be-
held from the opposite bank the destruction of
the flower of his army, the Steward of Scotland
and the Earl of Lennox were seen approaching
with a strong body of horse; but, as might be
expected, instead of joining the English, they
assisted their countrymen in pursuing and killing
t hh
amisvea; l etso.
tshiorsi‘eilavrhmoadwuekree
Tatwteemngpeti
the bridge, and escaped. gngallatioitl;avc:t

The panic now became general, and the face
of the country was soon covered with a confused
mass of terrified fugitives, hurrying on to avoid
the swords of their conquerors, and increasing,
as they fled, the disorder 'of their retreat, by
throwing away,their arias and their standards, in
order to facilitate their flight.
Wallace having crossed the ford alluded to by
Lundin, the pursuit was followed up with the
most destructive perseverance. The day of re-
tribution had arrived ;—the buteheries of Ber-
wick, the carnage of Dunbar, with a long list of
national indignities and persal sufferings!, had
now to be atoned for. Conscious of the pro-
vocation which had roused to frenzy the ven-
geance of an infuriated people, Warren turned
with dismay from the scene of havoc, leaving
twenty thousand of his soldiers to manure the
fields of those they had so lately oppressed.
Cressingliam, the most detested of all the tools
of Edward, was among the number of the slain ;
and when Wallace came up, a party were ern-
ployed in flaying the body. According to the
MS. Chronicle of Lanercost, he is said to have
ordered only as much of the skin to be taken off
as would make a sword-belt ; and his men, per-
haps, imitating his example, might have appro-
priated the rest. This, says a respectable au-
thor, is no doubt the origin of the tale told
by Abercromby and some other historians, of
the Scots having used it as girths to their horses.
An order of this kind, given iu the heat of the
pursuit, was perhaps never thought of after-
wards; at least, we have no account of Wallace
ever wearing such an appendage. The circum-
stance, however, shows the deep-rooted detes-
tation with which the individual seas regarded.
Warren, who fled rapidly to Berwick, was
mast probably, like another English General of
more modern times, the first herald of his own
discomfiture. The consternation which his dis-
aster occasioned among his countrymen in Scot-
land was so great, that few or none would ven-
ture to wait the approach of the enemy ; but,
abaiid
woriiti
jiligue I theirgrestartoesnt precipitation,gholds,
hurriedtljey
justly
south-
wardcon-
ceiving that the terms they were likely to obtain
from one who followed up his victories with so
much energy, were hardly worth staying for.
jaoivrii g
Bothwell.—Colt-
stable's savec ot
The loss on the part of the Scots was compara-
sbt itrvaaebvl
lyee
ssrai.arall
s;
loraen,weiyofivul
orOrita.eyLh

Though one of our Poets, iu a well-known
line, atiserts that

" chat-ma to soothe the savage [taut,"
it wottlti seem not to have the sews degree of influence
over the dispositions of some of its pi ofeeeors, iti whew the
science mad practice of harcuomy only rave the way to
more then ordinary discord.

A parish near Brighton, consiging of 4,000
acres, paid in poor-rate, witignthe year ending at water
lot, no !tat than 5,0001,

SPIRIT OF TIIE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Once more we invite attention to the designs of
Ferdinand VII, upon the peace and prosperity of
the young American Republics. It i., not the first
or second time that we have pointed out the obvious
deviation from straightforward and even-handed
jestice, which may be fairly charged upon the policy
of our Government, as between the above-named
Powers. When Cuba was garrisoned by no more
than 3000 men, unprotected by any ships of war,
and Mexico and Colombia had prepared a squadron
with a military force in all respects equal to a success-
ful attack upon the island, England laid an injunc-
tion upon the infant states, and, from a regard to
English interests, as it was alleged, restrained them
from accomplishing its easy capture. But when
Ferdinand thought fit to make the Havannali
general rendssvous for expeditions against the people
of Mexico, did England hold up so much as a finger
to discourage him ? Certainly not. His expedition
sailed ; and Great Britain having, for the sake of
" British interests,"—valuable interests, no doubt,
they were,—prevented one party from defending
itself by anticipatng an invasion from Cuba, was

guilty of the injustice of looking on quietly while the
same Cuba was made the source and instrument of
an aggression upon the state whose hands ber
Government had tied up. Now, nobody has ever
advised or importuned the British Government to
interfere by force, or even by remonstrance, in re-
straining Ferdinand from c. crying on hostilities
against the states of what once was Spanish Ame-
rica, from the ports of Spain herself. Ineffectual to
aey military end, and harassing and tormenting to
the commerce of the world, as are and must be all
attacks upon the toast of the Republic (to an infi-
nitely greater extent than the irregular warfare be-
tween Turkey and Greece), there exists no right in
any third power—or, at least, such a right will hardly
be exercised—to prohibit a direct descent from Spain
upon Vera Cruz or Tampico. But by assuming,
from special and selfish motives, a right to protect
Celia from the Mexicans, we net only created a cor-
responding right, but have incurred a positive and in-
superable obligation to protect the Mexicans from
Cuba. Mr. Peel declared in the House of Commons,
that henceforth the British Government, if Ferdinand
should obstinately resist its prayer to acknowledge the
independence of the liberated colonies, would act im-
partially between them. Mr. Peel does not require to
be told that there is no mode of being henceforth im-
partial but this—namely, to inform Ferdinand that he
shall not make Cuba or Porto Rico the depot of his
aggressive expeditions. When Cuba was weak, and
might have been taken in a few hours, we inter-
posed and saved it : now, therefore, when Cuba is
strong, with a garrison of 16,000 men, and rein-
forced by an armed squadron, it will not be " im-
partial justice " to hid the Mexicans go and take
possessioa of Cuba if they tlease. They cannot
take it ; the permission would, at this moment, be
a mockery. The mischief was done when they were
strong and were first prevented from attacking it.
The mischief can in ne manner be repaired but by
saying to Cuba, " You shall not attack Mexico now
that yOU are strong." We do not know what may
be meditated by Members of Parliament, but there
is no denying that one or more of them ought to
take measures for bringing forward a subject so im-
portant to the honour and interest of this country ;
and we shall be surprised if, soon after the recess,
some individual, holding a prominent station in the
House of Commons, do not call forth a full ex-
plenaticn en the part of his Majesty's Ministers.—
Tintes.

Our Irish letters present some accounts which
must be curious, and indeed not quite intelligible,
to persons little conversant with the habits and lo-
cal politics of Irelaud. The Fermanagh trials, and
their comparative results, as they severally affected
the Protestant and Catholic misdoers, have pro-
duced, it seems, a good deal of that sort of com-
ment which goes by the name of murmuring. A
riot, amounting to a battle between two parties,
having cut a number of lives, many individuals of
each party were put upon their trial. Some of the
.Catholics were found guilty, and all the others,
fourteen, pleaded " guilty" of the crime with
which they stood charged in common. This, we
find from the Irish newspapers, was regarded much
less as a proof of guilt than as a despair of justice,
and gave rise to sundry insinuations that the Ca-
tholics had been iniquitously dealt by—the more,
because Mr. Justice Jebb, reputed to be a po—
litician of the old leaven, had the tnisfor-
tune to be Judge on the occasion. Then came the
trial of the Protestants; and it is made a mat-
ter of charge against them, as a party, that
the witnesses for the prosecution were unwilling to
give evidence on which they could have been found
guilty ; vet was one of the Protestants identified by
these repugnant witnesses as the man who shot a
Catholic through the body. But if his acquittal be
made a reproach to the administration of justice, it
ought to be acknowledged that be was knocked
down and nearly disabled before he fired the shot—
a fact which, in our poor apprehension, would fully
sanction the verdict of acquittal. Every thing will
be looked at with a jauediced eye in Ireland, until
every abettor of disturbance on both sides shall have
been effectually crushed. An extract from a
Dublin journal has been sent to us, containing two
documents worthy of some notice. The first
is a very short address from the Knight of
Kerry to his constituents, announcing hie appoint-
ment as Vice-Treasurer of Ireland and asking their
suffrages at the new election for the county, occae
eioned by his acceptance of that office. The Vice-
Treasurership of Ireland was lately held by Sir
George Hill ; and if the post were to continue as it
existed while in his possession, with just official
business enough to swear by, so as to cheat the devil
in alleging that it was " not a sinecure," we might
say that it ought to have been abolished at once,
instead of being turned over to the Right Hon,
Gentleman who now holds it. But there is good
reason to believe that as great en irspeovement was
designed by Ministers in the character of the office,
as in that of the occupant, when they required it at
the hands of Sir George Hill, and transferred it to
the Knight of Kerry. We understand that the
Vice-Treasurership is henceforth to constitute an
active, laborious, and efficient office, bearing a rela-
tion to the Board of Treasury here, somewhat re-
sembling that which the Chief Secretaryship
(the functions of which are discharged by Lord
Francis Lemon Gower) bears to the Home
Department. The new Vice-Treasurer, it is
stated, will have to superintend and check the
wasteful expenditure of the grand jury system,
or so mucii of that system as may be found
impossible to eradicate,—to watch over the various
branches of the finance department, at present run-
ning even more wild in Ireland that here,—and to
direct its more especial vigilance to the several stages
and perils enconntered by the public money, from its
first grose collection by the revenue officer, to its final
and net lodgment in the King's Exchequer. On this
condition, arid on this condition only,—viz., that the
Vice:-Treasurership shall become an effective office
of supervision, controul, and audit, reuiring the
constant industry of an able and faithful public ser-
vant, capable of 'indemnifying the State for hie sa-
lary, and eatisfied to toil for income and reputation,
—do we conceive the Duke of Wellington justified
is tendering this arrangement to, we believe, an old
personal friend, or the Right /lon. Gentleman in
acceding to it. The next of these papers is a letter
from-Mr. Daniel O'Connell, containing at the outset
many fine, and doubtless unaffected, eulogies upon
the political history and merits at' the Knight of
Kerry ; but proceeding to detail, at unmerciful
length, the reasons why the E.ight lion. Geotle-
man ought not to have joined the Duke of Welling- •
ton's Adreinietration,—..why he (Mr. O'Connell)
expects that the Knight will soon be found
" repudiating the trammels of office,"—why Mr.
Fitzgerald ought not to have calle(I the Duke of
Wellington a " great Minister,"—why the Duke
Las no " ardent desire to advance the prosperity of'
Ireland"—and why, in short, though Mr. O'Con-
man adwires And loves the Knight of 4erri too

much to admit of his (at present) voting or can-
vassing against him in his own person, the electors
of Kerry would be amply justified in doing both
one and the other. Mr. O'Connell, as a pretty
significant confirmation of his last remark upon the
real, though unavowed, object of his letter, expresses
much anxiety to the Editor of the Pilot, " lest it
should not appear before the election !" We have
heard it whispered that a certain family of Roman
Catholics, some of whom are resident in Kerry,
have been for a considerable period preparing to
undermine the Knight of Kerry with his consti-
tuents, with a view to succeed him in the represen-
tation ; and that a local print has been set up, the
chief purpose of which was to abuse him. It is
hinted to us, but with what approach to truth we
know not, that the present letter of Mr. O'Connell
may be regarded as letting in a ray or two of light
upon the above-mentioned rumour.—Times.
We confess we cannot imagine on what principle,
civil or religious, the same "liberal" Government
that admitted the Roman Catholics to political
power can refuse a similar participation in constitu-
tional privileges to the Jews. An Evening Minis-
terial Paper does indeed advance something intended
for an argument, but it is too weak and absurd to
deserve to be considered even as a plausible pretext.
That Paper says, " The admission of Catholics to
the Legislature was denied on the ground that Pro-
testantism ought to be the religion of the State—the
admission of the Jews is denied on the ground that
Christianity ought to be the religion of the land.
These two propositions are widely different—the
liberalism that would confound them must be very
enlarged indeed." Now, it so happens that the
same Protestant Constitution ' which excluded
Judaism denounced the Roman Catholic religion as
idolatrous, and consequently unchristian ;—whether
rightly or not is another question ; we only state the
fact, and state it- for the purpose of showing that
our Government and the Prelates of the Church of
England did not refuse to confer the privileges of
the Constitution on that sect on whom they had cast
the Anti-Christian imputation of idolatry;—nay, they
invested that class whom they so stigmatised with the
power to legislate for the Church of England—so en-
larged was their liberalism, so comprehensive theirpo-
litical and religious benevolence. If an invidious dis-
tinction be drawn between the Roman Catholics and
Jews, we did not commence it ; let the servile apo-
logists of Government answer the charge. It is too
late for our Prelates—it is too late for the Admin'-
stration, at whose feet the venerable guardians of
the ark of the Protestant religion so lately surren-
dered their orthodox scruples—to affect any con-
scientious zeal for the security of the Church. It
must now stand or fall by opinio: , and that higher
Power which overrules the policy of men—the Pro-
vidence which established it. It must not look any
longer for protection to the solemn assurances
of Princes or the hely intrepidity of Prelates.
It must not trust to temporal power ;—it found
that reliance frail as a reed when opposed to
the demands of the Roman Catholic. It must not
invoke it against the solicitations of the Jews. The
members of the Papal faith are now within the pale
of the Constitution, which excluded them for cen-
turies as enemies to the State. We wish them to
continue to enjoy all its advantages as long as their
conduct proves that they have learned to respect the
civil and religious liberty of others,and thus cultivate
the characteristic principles of genuine Christianity.
But, while we express our fidelity and devotion to
the Christian faith, let us recollect that the Jewish
nation was front time immemorial the chosen depo-
sitary of the imperishable truths on which that
Divine dispensation is founded. Let us recollect
that in the midst of idolatrous nations they pre-
served pure and undefiled the knowledge and wor-
ship of the One Supreme Being, and handed down
to us that volume of faith and prophecy which is
the foundation of the glorious superstructure of
Christianity itself. Nor should it be forgotten that
they owe no allegiance to any foreign Power, nor
that they have borne with exemplary patience the
civil and political privations to which they have
been subjected. It is true that they are not seven
millions—nor do they recommend their claims to
Government by popular agitatt,a. This rummy die-
entitle them to political consideration in the eyes of
those statesmen who act only upon expediency, but
will have a far different effect with those who would
rather do justice for its own sake than upon corn-
pulsion.—Morning Herald.
The new world which Mr. Canning called into
existence has in some of its departments evinced
rather questionable and scurvy gratitude for the
liberality shown it by its famous creator. Colombia,
which has, within the last few years, undergone as
many changes as the moon—being one day under an
arbitrary dictatorship—another day almost an empire
like black Brazil—a third day governed by what is
called an oligarchy—and a fourth day by the savages
who form the mob—this Colombia has at length
settled down into a sort of republic, and promul-
gated a paper constitution, consisting of sixteen ar-
ticles, written apparently by some clever attorney in
the pay and confidence of the Catholic priests.
Republicans of the " glorious" olden time, and
some even of modern date, have generally been at
some pains to profess a regard for civil liberty and
toleration. They have also in most cases not only
professed but even practised tolerance and libe-
rality. But the republics of the new world, much
more enlightened of course, have taken care not to
stumble on any such acts of folly. The school-
master who is abroad has instructed them that civil
liberty is a comedy and religious liberty a farce, and
that they being respectable and genteel performers
it would be derogatory to their fame to enact the
latter. In Colombia the good citizens have accord-
ingly dispensed with the farce, and voted religious
liberty to be a nuisance. The fifteenth article of
this promulgated Constitution is, therefore, in these
words :

" The Catholic Apostolic Roman religion is the reli-
gion of the state. The Government exercising the office
of protectorate of the Colombian Church, no other public
worship will he permitted."
The idea of a republic in which every citizen is
either compelled to do worship before the idola-
trous mnrnmery of the mass or do no public wor-
ship at all is truly a beautiful specimen of liberty.
The Colombians forbid any Protestant, Lutheran,
Episcopalian, or Presbyterian, or any number of
such Protestants, from building a chapel and therein
worshipping the Deity after the mariner of their
sect ; and yet these bigots call themselves republi-
cans, boast of their love of liberty, and dress up the
drab goddess in all the flaunting decorations of a
sans culotte This, no doubt, is the work of the
priests, but it is a proof that where such priests
have such influence it is impossible there can be
anything like rational liberty. This article of the
Constitution shows that these people are undeserv-
ing of liberty—are incapacitated from appreciating
its value—and ought to be drilled into obedience
by some single-handed tyrant. Their vaunted
love of freedom is a mere pretence—or rather
a license to practice oppression by the cheapest
method. They are ignorant of its first principles;
for he who cannot tolemte the faith of an oppo-
nent is a bigot whose creed is a fraud, or a barba-
rian who cannot distinguish between right or wrong
from any other sense than self-possession. Where
Popery is in the ascendant there can be no free-
dom, and in Colombia the priests rule and the peo-
ple obey. It would appear diet all that is required
to give protection, and toleration, and the right of
fr,ea discussion to a people, is to write with a pen
certain dry articles upon paper or parchment. The
scribe indites and the republic is formed. The con-
stitution is promulgated, and the savages dance
round it with joy, and call themselves freemen.
Certain cant phrases are employed, and the pew
state is called into existence, and the purblind bigots
who use them bye the vanity and the insolence to
call themselves the regenerators of the world. The
sixteenth article decrees the following
" The Constitution guarantees personal security, the
right of property, equality before the law, the liberty of :lie
Prelkar liberty of employment, and the right of petition."
Thu liberty of employment! What do these

emancipated swindlers mean by this ? Is it the
liberty of working in the fields, digging in the mines,
or breaking stones on the highway P Or is it the
liberty of borrowing and employing capital ? They
are adepts at this we all know—men of cunning
fence in bleeding their neigbours—expert loan-job-
bers who bubble poor Bull out of his money, not
one sixpence of which do they ever intend to pay.
The liberty of employment, therefore, is a funda-
mental article of the new Colombian Constitution.
They might as well decree the liberty of a
Scotch haggis ! The thing is nonsense. But
they, moreover, decree the liberty of the Press!
The liberty of the Press in a country where
there is no religious toleration I They may
mean the liberty of imposing a censorship—the
liberty of their countryman Scarlett—but, in good
faith, they cannot mean what they thus formally de-
cree. With the liberty of the Press we should
undertake to write down their constitution in a
week—tear all their fundamental articles to rags—
and send the priests rav)ag over the country with
with the cross in the one hand and the scalping-
knife in the other. Bolivar was wrong in permitting
these people to form a Constitution for themselves.
He should have made the Dictatorship perpetual,
and dragooned the rogues into subordination and
civilization. They are not yet in a condition to
understand, far less enjoy, the blessings of liberty.
Their proceedings have only a tendency to bring
republicanism into contempt. They should be taught
to read before they are allowed to write Constitn-
tions. The fundamental articles of Colombia arc a
libel upon the United States, or rather a sort of
political larceny, in which only the worst parts are
stolen. This, however, is bad and insidious enough,
and therefore' we trust Congress will go to war.
—Morning Journal.
A " Lover of Justice," as he styles himself, is
most urgent with us for the publication of a letter,
which he alleges to have addressed to us on the sub-
ject of the beer trade. The letter we have not
now by us ; but to prove to him, and to all others
entertaining similar opinions, how little we are
averse to the publication of opinions adverse to our
own, we here subjoin the points which he is so
anxious to bring to the notice of our readers :
" Ist. That new establishments cannot compete with
old ones, unless they deal in a superior article.
" 2d. That the only sufferers by this measure will be
those persons who adulterate the beer, and by so doing in-
duce strangers to deal in a genuine article in opposition to
them.

" 3d. That it is impossible to retail genuine porter at
a less price than threepence per quart on the usual standard.
" 4th. That if porter is retailed at a less price than
this, it must necessarily be a mixture of drugs and ingre-
dients injurious to health.
" sth. That it is a duty incumbent on the brewers to
deal only with persons who are fair dealing cud honest
men, and who deal in a genuine article."

Now we have published the remarks of our Cor-
respondent, and we will venture to add, that he will
not find fifty persons in the whole trade to join in
opinion with him. The writer of the letter seems
to forget two main points connected with the ques-
tio❑ at issue; first, that the proposed measure has
already deteriorated the property of the licenced
victuallers to an enormous extent, and that public-
house property is at the present moment actually
unsaleable; secondly, that it being competent for
every one who can pay the sum of two guineas for
a licence to retail beer, there is nothing to prevent
every owner of a cook-shop, eating-house, or coffee-
shop, from supplying his customers himself, and
thus depriving the licenced victualler of a consider-
able portion of his profits, as well as with the means
of supplying the public with a better and sounder
beverage; for the fact, we believe, is undoubted,
that the greater the consumption of beer, the
better is its quality. The licenced victualler is in
fact likely to be ruined, on the one hand, by the
measure, and the public to be injured, on the other;
for under the new Bill we are confident that adul-
teration will be carried to an enormous extent while
in many neighbourhoods the new beet-shops will
prove an intolerable nuisance, and form so many
rallying points for thieves and prostitutes.—Morning
Advertiser.