The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

To whom to the Opposition journals imagine they
are addressing themselves in their daily tirades against
the foreign policy of his Majesty's Government ? Do
they suppose that the public mind is so fle%ible and
inconsistent as to bend in every and the most Oppo-
site direction at the capricious bidding of such pliant
politicians ? Or do they think that the common
sense of the country can tolerate, much less encourage,
these illiberal attacks, as contrary to truth as they arc
inconsistent with themselves ? Look at the most recent
example. Look at the Standard and the Post of yes-
terday. Knowing the character of the journal as we
do, we may venture, in anticipation, to ask you to
look at the Times of to-day. What has been the
li„deviating, cry hitherto raised against the course
adopteU by Lord Palmerston in the struggle which
is desolating, Spain ? That he had abandoned an
ally to whom he was bound by the dictates of
justice, of humanity', good policy, by the of
ex-
press terms of a treaty, to afford all the assist-
ance in his power ? No ; this was not the accusation.
But week after week, and day after day, he was taunted,
and arraigned, and maligned, in a tone and spirit that
we solemnly protest has often made us blush for the
profession in which we are engaged, not because the
co-operation of Great Britain had aided the Queen,
but because, in their own strong phrase, it had fallen
like a curse upon her cause. Lord Palmerston was
charged with having destroyed at once the hopes of
our ally and the interests of his own country in Spain.
Every act of treachery or inactivity on the part of the
Queen's generals, every success attending the maraud-
ing expeditions of the Pretender's military chiefs,
even, outbreak of popular feeling from Bayonne to
Barcelona—all were laid to the account of " British
intervention." Mark, we -pray you, the consistency
with which this attack is followed up. The n-rms of the
Queen have been crowned with most important; we
should hope decisive, success ; the object to which the
most persevering and vigorous efforts of the faction
have been directed, upon the success of which they
may be said to have perilled their hopes, has been
defeated, signally defeated—when lo ! the loud
and bitter complaint of the Opposition journals is,
that this has been the effect of Lord Palmer-
ston's policy. Truly, ye are honest and consistent ad-
versaries ! The prospect is somewhat gloomy to-day,
and the fact of its being so is the ground of your ac-
cusation against the Government; it changes, however,
to-morrow, and out of that very change you contrive to
forge a new weapon for attack. It seems the Morning
Chronicle " confesses" that the co-operation of his
Majesty's Government contributed to the relief of Bil-
boa. " Confess it," do we ? Why, we proclaim it
over and over, with pride and with gratification. Let
not these minions of a desperate faction suppose that
the King's Government would descend to fall back
upon any of those paltry subterfuges with which they
themselves are so familiar. The extent of British co-
operation upon this occasion it is not sought either to
deny or to diminish. England did that—and no more
—which she was bound by treaty to do. Had she even
gone farther, we do not hesitate to declare our own
deep conviction that she would have been fully jus-
tified both by the object and the result. We shall
be furnished, we dare say, with another illustra-
tion of the consistency of the Opposition journals in
reply to this opinion. What, let us ask, is the mean-
ing of those elaborate eulogiurns with which the speech
of Louis Philippe is from day to day encumbered ?
That " wise and sagacious" Monarch did not hesitate
to declare he had fulfilled the Quadruple Treaty in
" the spirit" in which it was dictated. It is for those
who believe and applaud this declaration to turn upon
Lord Palmerston for having fulfilled it, in this in-
stance, barely to the letter. Away, then, with the
hypocritical cant which, regardless of all consistency,
finds ground of virulent accusation equally in the sup-
posed reverses of yesterday and the unquestioned suc-
cesses of to-day. Well, but even if the cause of con-
stitutional government should triumph, it will be at the
expense of British interests and British influence. And
we are told to look at Portugal as an example. We
have looked at Portugal, and apprehend we have fixed
the public gaze upon it to some good effect. We
have shown the condition of British interests and
British influence during the domination of the
kindred spirits of absolutism in Lisbon and
Toryism in London. We have seen Lord Aber-
deen looking on with the most stoical composure at
the unavenged murder of British subjects, the ruin of
British property, the unredressed seizure of British
ships, even to his Majesty's packet ; and in vain have
we asked for a single fact that could be alleged in ac-
cusation against Lord Palmerston. No, not even the
shadow of a charge could be made out. "It is evi-
dent to the world," says Lord Aberdeen's Consul in
one of his dispatches—" it is evident to time world, that
wherever there are British subjects in Portugal the
arm of persecution weighs heavily over them with im-
punity.' And:again, as if at a loss to what to attribute
the terrible extent of this sanguinary warfare against
our people, the same gentleman ascribes it to " a
rooted hatred against every thing Protestant and Bri-
tish !" And this is the country in which British in-
terests and influence have declined under the Adminis-
tration of Lord Palmerston ! We spoke of the " con-
sistency" of the Opposition journals a few moments
since, and in taking leave of this part of the subject we
cannot forbear quoting one other felicitous illustration.
It may possibly be in the recollection of our readers,
that in the clamour raised against the presence of
our fleet in the Tagus in November, our Contempo-
rary, the Morning Post, was amongt the loudest of
the brawlers. We cannot afford to go through the se-
ries of charges which our industrious Contemporary
brought against the Government on this occasion ; but
even had they been trore serious arid more mischievous
the Post deserves all the credit of having made an
ample antende. In the fifth column- of a formidably
long article in its Number of Monday, we find it
stated that we maintained a naval force in time Tagus,
for—what think you reader?—" For no other appa-
rent purpose than that of preventing the Portuguese
from murdering the young Queen !" How will our
Contemporary reconcile this to all the other apparent
—so apparent as to be obvious to the most stupid Ga-
lego in the streets of Lisbon—reasons ascribed fcr the
presence of our fleet in the Tagus ? Let it be
thought that, by referring to Portugal, we wish to
evade any, the most minute, count of the indictmen
so laboriously framed against the foreign policy of our
Government. This is not our habit, and it never
shall be. Nor will we imitate the bad example that
is set us, by treating a question of the most vital im-
portance in the same tone of scandalous objurgation
in which we are ourselves too often assailed. We
fight with other weapons—and—for the unfounded
declamations of our opponents, we throw back
facts which cannot be questioned, and which - I
WS,
know the public will rightly and fully a t
Where is the evidence that Bririst• r,r
...lion is that thypreciate.
lected—that British iy,o
1.. .. &Any co 'the publiciaithfulhests are neg-
scientiously. Occasions mnuence has declined in Spain
-lstmithg•-...reltdministration of Lord Palmerston? Even
in the track of that political storm that has swept over,
and still desolates that unhappy land, making a wreck
of its_ oldest and most deeply-rooted institutions, show
us the abolition of uric British privilege, the confisca-
tion of one pound's worth of British property, and,
above ad, the sacrifice of a single British life. On the
contrary, we know the feeling of heartfelt gratitude
`with which British subjects of all classes, in every
town of every province in Spain, acknowledge the
watchful and efficient guardianship of their Govern-
inent. Were we so disposed, we might crowd our
columns with conclusive evidence of the existence of
this feeling. From Valencia, from Alicant, from
Carthagena, from Malaga—in fact, from every town
in which a British community exists, have we abun-
dant evidence to support us. We shall content our-
selves with quoting the following address of the mer-
chants of Cadiz to Mr. Villiers :

" Cadiz, Oct. 18,1836.
" Sir,—We, the undersigned British merchants resident
in this city and neighbourhood, have, on numerous occasions
since your appointment as Minister to the Court of Madrid,
experienced the good effects of that zeal and ability with
'which you have advocated the rights of British subjects
when exposed to injurious and unjust exactions.
" In no instance have we felt more decidedly the benefit
of your able exertions than on a very recent occasion, when
a demand under the denomination of a' Forced Loan' was