The Sun.
London, England, 1836-11-03 00:00:00

We regret to say, that we see no immediate prospect
of a termination to this sanguinary and protracted
struggle. At present two courses are open to Don
Carlos—the first, to place himself at the head of his
army and advance upon Madrid ; the second, to remain
in the provinces for another year. The objection to
the first is said to he a want of cavalry, and that to the
second a want of money. But we are given to under-
stand that the principal obstacle in the way of an ad-
vance on Madrid is the disinclination of Erro, the
Minister of Don Carlos, to adopt that measure, from
the truly Spanish dread of losing his paramount influ-
ence in the councils of his master. Erro is now a

sort of universal Minister—a part which he shows
neither disposition to relinquish, nor ability to occupy.
This person it is who persists in upholding the Durango
decree, though Don Carlos himself has expressed his
readiness to recall that most impolitic and inhuman mea-
sure. A little more energy of character on the part of the
Prince, is essential to the well-conducting of his affairs.
Should the Prince remain in the province, and, having
reorganized the bands in the Asturias and Catalonia,
make a combined movement the next year, it is thought
that nothing could resist his progress. In the mean
time he must employ his army in some way. Hence
the attack on Bilboa has been resolved upon, of the
success of which there can be but little doubt. Evans
and his Legion are not far distant ; but he has as yet
made no demonstration of coming to the assistance of
the Christinos. Perhaps he shares in the confidence ex-
pressed bythe Queen Regent in her speech to the Cortes.
Her Majesty thus speaks of her army :—‘, Simultane-
ously with the manifestation of the will of our soldiers
have been their victories ; before them are flying bands
of enemies, which unfortunately have succeeded in pe-
netrating into the interior of the kingdom, without dar-
ing to face our troops, or wait for their approach, caus-
ing by the rapidity of their fight more fatigue in over-
taking them than difficulty in overcoming them." To
heroes of this stamp the defence of Bilboa may be
most safely intrusted without troubling the Legion.
Of this force under General Evans it is difficult to

speak with any degree of calmness. Distrusted and
hated by the Christinos, they are—we scarcely know
how to write the word—despised by the Callists.
Yes ! it is a fact which we are enabled to state on in-

disputable authority, that the Carlist forces entertain
no fear of the British Legion, while of the French
troops they have the greatest dread. Let our readers,
remembering the relative situations in which the sol-
diers of England and France once stood towards each
other on this same soil of Spain, think of the wither-
ing humiliation brought on the English name by Lord
Palmerston and his protege General Evans ! Well, in-
deed, may our countrymen exclaim, in the language
quoted by Sir Robert Peel on a different occasion,
"We never blushed before I" Never, till now,
were we subject to the intolerable degradation of
feeling ourselves the scoff of Europe through the
imbecile and sneaking policy of a brainless Mi-
nister and his useless tool. Of this latter person
we have yet something else to say. We ask by what
authority he sentenced 63 British subjects belonging
°to the Legion to one year's hard labour at the fortifi-
cations of Bilboa, for no other crime than that of hav-
ing claimed a right to return home in comformity with
the very terms of the contract under which they quitted
England ? By that agreement they bound themselves
to one year's service ; at the expiration of which period
they were either to remain with the Legion, or return
home, as they pleased. The wretched men, having
endured every privation with unexampled fortitude, and'
feeling desirous of abandoning a service which they
saw could have no honourable or advantageous issue,
demanded the fulfilment of the contract—i. e. permis-
sion to return home. And for this heinous offence, the
magnanimous General, the liberal Member for West-
minster, sentenced them to one year's hard labour on
the public works I We call on Lord Palmerston to pro-
tect these our fellow-countrymen, and to rescue them
from this atrocious act of Whig-Radical tyranny. It
is absolutely infamous that Englishmen should be
subject to such reckless cruelty as this, after all they
have endured in the " bucaneering expedition" into
which they were betrayed under pretences the most
false and illusory. We must not omit to mention, that
the officers who made the same request with these
oppressed soldiers for leave to return at the expiration
of the year, were permitted to do so on forfeiting their
arrears of pay. The poor men, on the contrary, were
sentenced to the cruel and ignominious punishment we
have mentioned (exile with hard labour for one year),
from which sentence they have no appeal. Nor would
they have any if Parliament were now sitting. If
questioned on the subject, Lord Palmerston would no
doubt, as he had done before, simper and tell the questioner
that the " individuals" were in the service of the Queen
of Spain, and that consequently he could not interfere.
Where, then, are our unhappy countrymen to turn ?
The Spanish Government will of course decline to in-
terfere between the British General and the British
Legion. So that these men, in violation of all law,
are to undergo a long year of labour and privation in a
strange land, for having claimed that fulfilment of their
contract which General Evans dared not refuse to
their officers. It is wholly out of the question that
this matter should be suffered to rest as it is. The
Whigs may be assured that the spirit of their govern-
ment—oppression of the poor—has not yet prevailed
so far as to leave our humbler countrymen wholly
friendless. If Lord Palmerston cannot control Gene-
ral Evans, his Lordship, must be responsible for that
officer's treatment of the King's subjects, and it will
go hard but the nation will find a way to control Lord
Palmerston.—'Times.
The result of the Municipal Elections exceeds our
most sanguine expectations. We knew that the Tories
could not deceive the Reformers, whomsover they
might succeed in deceiving. We point to the returns
received yesterday, as affording the most conclusive
evidence of the sound spirit of the town population of
this country. The Tories, we were told, had succeeded
in making a conquest of the urban population. For
the sake of this object they have been squandering
money with profusion on dinners, believing, no doubt,
that Reformers could be purchased by a mess of pottage.
The Tories know nothing of the middle classes of
Englishmen. They judge of them by their poor hungry
retainers, and their time-serving dependents. In the
days before the boroughmongering constitution of
Blackwood was overthrown, the Tories purchased from
the venal constituencies the right to plunder the
nation by dividing among them a share of the spoil.
These days are over, thank God, and the indepen-
dent householders of the boroughs of England will
teach the Tories that they are neither to be bribed
nor bullied. In Liverpool circumstances would seem
to have filled the Tories with the most sanguine hopes
of success ; and they have accordingly made the great-
est exertions in that city. Of the 17 Members elected,
8 are Tories and 9 Reformers. The Reformers last
year obtained 44 and the Tories 4 Members, and the
preponderance of Reformers is so great that many Re-
formers voted for Tories in the belief that a stronger
opposition in the Council would be beneficial. In
Leeds 13 Reformers and 3 Tories have been returned.
This result will open the eyes of Sir John Beckett.
In Bristol 11. Reformers and 5 Tories have been re-
turned. In the Bristol ward, which contains up-
wards of 900 burgesses, the three retiring councillors
were all Tories, and two Reformers have been re-
turned, the one Tory Councillor being lowest on
the poll. This is proof of reaction 1 In Oxford
the twelve vacancies hare been supplied by ten
Reformers, one Conservative, and one ultra-Tory. In
Devizes Reformers were chosen without opposition.
In Leicester, where, according to the Tory organs,
such wonders have been wrought by the Conservative
Association, of the fourteen councillors elected two
only are Tories. In Chichester liberal candidates
were elected in both wards. These are all the returns
which we have yet received ; but they leave no doubt
as to the general result. For a week or more, per-
haps, the Tory gatherings will be paraded in their
journals, with a view to effect in a higher quarter.
We knew that the Municipal Elections would furnish
a conclusive answer to all their boasting. The Duke
of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel are not to be en-
trapped a second time. The game of the Tories, is in
fact, desperate, if the Ministry do not disappoint the ex-
pectations of the nation. So long as the Reformers are not
divided, Ministers are safe. But they can only hope to
prevent division by satisfying the just expectations
of the nation. They must endeavor to put the people
in possession of the fruits of the Reform Bill. The