The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-12 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We are much obliged by the information supplied by a
" Corn-law Repealer," Sheffield, but we think it would
1)e 'inadvisable to publish his strictures.
whe;, we first received Mr. Ryan's letter relative to Mr.
Frost, the examination it referred to was so long prece-
dent, that we doubted the propriety of publishing it ; and
haviug several days subsequently not found room for it,
the opport unity passed away.
'We did not believe Mr. Fisher serious till we received his
second letter. Is it reasonable to expect that we should
give an ex parte statement of a quarrel in an inn, about
hich we know nothing, and which does not even ap-
pear to ha-ie been brought under the cognisance of any
M. gistrate ?

.Hlr;H-WATER AT LONDON BRID TO-MORROW.
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LONDON:
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1839.

DISMISSAL OF THE PORTUGUESE
MINISTRY.
Letters from Portugal, of the 3d inst. announce
the dismissal of the whole of the Portuguese Ali-
\ rtistry on the 25th ult. When Baron SABaosA

„nd his colleagues were summoned by the QUEEN
to I,'e Palace to receive this proof of her most
faithful MAJESTY'S regard for the welfare of her
they ,I\ail not the remotest idea of the fate
that awaited them, Queen DONNA MARIA is
( not remarkable for extigme courtesy in the dis-
charge of her regal functions, and on this occasion
&played more than her wonted abruptness. Were
t'►c act performed by a Sovereign of the other sex
it would be designated ” kicking out g Cabinet."
The following is a list of the new Cabinet :---
Count BOMFIAI, President of the Council and I
Minister of War.

Viscount CAREIRA, Foreign Affairs.
FLORID() FERRAZ, Finance.
FONSECA MAGALHAES, Interior.
COSTA CABRAL, Grace and Justice.
COMA VILLA REAL, Marine.
As Viscount CAREIRA and Count VILLA
REAL arc at present in France, the QUEEN en-
trusted their portefertilles to the President 01
the Council. With the exception of BONIFIN and
COSTA CABRAL the new Ministry is composed
of decided Charterists ; but the President of the
Council and the Minister of Justice belong to the
Ultra Liberal party. A great outcry was raised
by the Opposition Press of Lisbon about the
change of Ministry being a conces'ion to Eng-
land—which it doubtless is—hut the public peace
remained undisturbed. " The last act of SA-
. BIiOSA'S Ministerial career was," says the corres-
pondent of a Contemporary, " the publication of

two more notes which had passed between him

and the British Embassy. - That from Lord
k-lOWA RD to him contained a statement of the

several claims, amounting to 376,0001., which he
was directed to urge upon the Portuguese Go•
vernment on behalf of English subjects, and a
posit►ve demand for their immediate payment.
I Baron SABROSA'S reply was to the effect that he
would submit the matter to his colleagues, with-

01;t whose concurrence he could not take any step
in it, but that meanwhile he had a counter claim
to presen,, founded on the 14th article of the treaty
f 1661, whereby England bound herself, in case
she should recover the Island of Ceylon from the
Dutch, to give to Portugal the port of Columbo, in
that island, and that, therefore, as England had
become mistress of Ceylon by the treaty of Amiens,
he demanded the delivery of Columbo to Portugal,
tosrether with an its revenues accrued since 1802."
It is a thousand pities that a man
so industrious in the perusal of forgotten
treaties as the Baron DE SA B ROSA was
not appointed perpetual keeper of the State
archives. Who can tell but that among the old
parchments he might discover a treaty for con-
verting Great Britain into a Portuguese colony ?
Let the A'acional of Lisbon, so furious against
the " proud and insolent Islanders," bethink how
very easily this hint might be improved upon.

The commencement of the important proceed-
ings at 'Monmouth naturally excites great and pain-
ful interest. VC ith one report we felt especial
pleasure. A belief prevails at Monmouth and
Newport, that let what will be the result of the
trials no blood will be shed. Her MAJESTY's
announced and approaching marriage is the cir-
cumstance which gives countenance to the sup-
position. The graceful pardon of any misleading
and misled delinquents would recommend to the
people the contribution they will probably be called
on to make for the support of her MAJESTY'S
husband, and would hallow the marriage in the
eyes of the multitude. The blessings of mercy
have never yet been fathomed, and we have a
thorough conviction that the pardon of LovETT
COLLINS, for which we pressed, three months
ago, would, by soothing the people, and restoring
16 them a cautious leader, hare prevented the out-
brvak in Wales. Our voice was then disregarded
--we hope that our present anticipations may not

be falsified. The above report, which we would
fain persuade ourselves has some foundation, is the
only part of the history of the first day's proceed-
ings at Monmouth in which we can find any satis-
faction.

They began by a solemn procession of the
Judges to the County Hall, who afterwards re-
paired to church, where a sermon was preached,
not on forgiveness of injuries. Whatever might be
the practices of the heathens in offering up human
and other sacrifices on the altars of their idols,
which they began and ended with religious rites,
we have no recollection of any passage in the
Gospels of CHRIST which warrants the Church in
connecting His peaceful religion with the commence-
ment of a great, and perhaps sanguinary sacrifice,
by the law. But it is part of that system which
connects the Church with the State, that the former
should sanction by its presence and its precepts all
the acts, whether good or evil, of the latter. If
religion be benefited by the alliance, we have no
reason to believe that the power of the law will be
strengthened.

The Rev. Mr. IR vfNo, who was the officiating
clergyman on the occasion, seems to have had it
in view to cumulate on the unhappy persons who
are charged with high treason the additional of-
fences of schism and apostacy. He dwelt on infi-
delity as the cause of treason, and implied that those
who had violated the laws were at enmity with
GOD. The Judge, at the close of his charge,
adopted Mr. IR`•ING'S principles, and said that
men were bound to yield obedience to the laws from
a thorough belief that the powers which be " are
ordained of GoD." Is the law then of no validity un-
less it be sanctioned by the Church, as the Church
can only stand by the help of the law? Why should
not each rest on its own merits ?

It may be very satisfactory to Judges and Clergy-
men in their pulpits, who can speak without fear of
contradiction, and who are personally and selfishly
much interested in inculcating obedience, to invest it
with the sacred:sanction of religion ; but the persons
whom the former are about to try, and the latter
wish to persuade, set out on the principle that the
authorities they resist are not of GOD, and unless
that conviction be first overturned, the presumption
is, that connecting religion with obedience will only
serve to bring it and its ministers into contempt.
In truth, there are so many bad laws, including the
Devil's laws, now heaped on the community, that it
is trespassing on most dangerous ground to describe
obedience to them as a religious duty. If obedi-
ence cannot be defended on its own merits, nor
proved to be useful to those who are required to
obey, it will not be recommended to the Welsh by
being described as a religious duty by pastors with
whom they have long ceased to have any friendly
connection.

Mr. IrtviNG dwelt very much on the wicked-
ness of man's will ; we wish we could believe that
he meant it as a warning to those who have gene-
rally indulged their own arrogant lust of power.
But we believe it was directed against those whom
the law never allows to have a will of their own.
Somehow or other, the Clergy, who pursue wealth,
the Judges who seek distinction, and the Legisla-
tors who frame systems, never suppose that such
admonitions apply to their proceedings ; and, how-
ever much their conduct may be in direct opposition
to the humility, poverty, charity, and kindness, in-
culcated by the Gospel, they set it down as quite in
accordance with the will of GOD. They consider
themselves as exempt from the laws they say are
prescribed for others, and though, arrogantly grasp-
lag after wealth and power, and inflicting much
misery to secure them, they conclude that their will
is perfect righteousness. We differ from them, and
think both the religious ceremony and the religious
doctrines expounded on the occasion very much
misplaced.
The Judge's charge was clear and distinct. It
explains all that is essential in the law of treason in
a short compass. We cannot, however, say that the
law is reasonable, or calculated to make the enor-
mity of which Mr. FROST and his followers were
guilty apparent either to themselves or the commu-
nity. Their offence in coming armed to invade a
peaceful town, using violence to achieve their ends,
is great and palpable ; but they are to be tried for
treason. Now the law of treason is chiefly founded
on the statute of EDWARD 111., when such acts of
Iviolence, as those committed by Mr. FROST, were
an every day occurrence, and when a fictitious tie
between liege lord and vassal was of infinite
more importance in the public estimation than the
laws of GOD. ;fence the great offence under this
law is levying war against the King, and so violating
this fictitious tie, a violation of which is at the same
time solemnly sanctioned by the Bill of Rights, and
is always virtuous if it succeed. A law passed in the
reign of EDWARD 111., when the condition of so-
ciety was so totally' different from its present condi
tion, cannot command approbation, and to
punish under it an act, which wo then no crime at
all, will not be supported by public sympathy.
The law of treason has another origin. In the
year 1796, when Tory apprehensions were rife in
the Legislature, another law was passed very much
extending the doctrine of treason, and including,
amongst other things, the " publishing any writing
or printing to intimidate or overawe both houses of
Parliament." At that period authority was fright-
ened by a violent commotion abroad, and the pre-
sent law of treason was the result of its terror.
One or two words will show that it is not un-
worthy of its origin. " The law knows no dis-
tinction," said the Judge, " between principal and
accessory ; all who partake in the treason incur
the same guilt and are liable to the same
punishment." It is treason, 3ccording to the Judge,
"to intimidate or overawe both Houses or either
House of Parliament," "by publishing any
printing or writing." "Or whe:e the object
of the treason has not bean actua;.ly perpe-
trated, meetings to propose, to plan, to ;nature,
or to accelerate its completion," such as ovenoting
either House of Parliament, are classed by tlm
Judges as overt acts, coming within the definition,
and liable to the punishment of treason. We are
hound, therefore, on this doctrine, to agree in
what we believe the Standard has sometimes said,
that the whole of the proceedings to procure the
passing of the Reform Act were treason ; the
numbers engaged in it secured them against
prosecution, and on the same principle it
was only necessary that Mr, FROST should
have been well supported and successful to
to be exonerated from guilt. Nay, all the efforts
now making to get up meetings of the manufactur-
ing classes throughout the country to overawe and
intimidate the Legislature, which is daily recom-
mended by speakers and writers, in order to pro-
cure the repeal of the Corn-laws are overt acts of
treason. Moreover, Journalists who, like our-
selves, think it their duty almost daily to denounce
those laws, and do their best to excite the
people to demand a repeal of them, because
they are a violation of the laws of GoD, and the
first principles of society, are, according to the 36th
of Geo. 111., as laid down by the Judge, guilty
of treason. But such an absurd conclusion is
a proof that the law is absurd, or worthy of the
terror in which it originated ; and knowing that
absurdity, we say that to try Mr. FROST and his
associates for treason is not likely to impress him
and them, and the bulk of the community, with a
correct idea either of the nature or the enormity of
his offence. An attempt to sack the town of New-
port is by the law of treason confounded in one
and the same description of crime with WI attempt
to repeal the Corn-laws.
There may, however, be some hidden, merciful