The Sun.
London, England, 1825-01-19 00:00:00

'DIVIDENDS.

Feb. 12, F. Warneford, Wakefield, tea-dealer—Jan. 29, J,
Salter and J. S. Foster, Kingston; brewers—Jan. 28, J. Parke,
Liverpool, druggist—Feb. 10, J. W. Wightwick, Oreenharn—
merton, Yorkshire, vintner —Feb. 11, J. Narraway, Bristol,
felltuonger—Feb. 9, M. Wilson, Newcastle-upon-Tine, spirit-
merchant—Feb. 14, W. Banton, Northwich, Cheshire, grocei.
—Feb. 8. D. Troup, Goodman's-yard, Minories, merchant—
Feb. 12, J. Browne and J. Gregson, Charles-street, Grosvenor—
square, and Liverpool, upholsterers.
CERTIFICATES, FEB. 8.
E. J. Port, Rugeley, Staffordshire, chymist—W. Starkey,
Lower-road, Deptford, butcher—J. Carican, Abingdon, Berk,
shire, banker —W. Clark, Speldhurst-street, Burton-crescent;
coal-merchant—J. Noyes, Tooley-street, Southwark, oilman.
PARTNERSHIPS DISSOLVED.
R. and J. Swallow, Newhall-Colliery, near Sheffield, master.
colliers—D. Barnfather. and W. Hartley, Wigton, Cumber-
land, joiners—J. M. and W. Leech, Newmarket, painters_j.
and W. MiLaren, and W. Denby, Manchester, manufacturers
of muslins—B. and B. Itawling, Leeds, woollen-drapers--W.
Ashmore, T. Wingfield, and T. P. G. Osborne, Sheffield,
opticians ;so far as regards'!.. 'Wingfield—E. and M. AUStin,
wi.s and J. Condor,
Red Lion-street, and Northampton-square, Clerkenwell, our..
geons--J. Groom, sen., and W. Wright,
_j_un-, Burnhari?..
Overy, Norfolk, veterinary-surgeons—J. and T. Brough, Man:,
.Slienlith, T. Skelton, J.
' cheater, tailors-J. Brooks, H. Knowles, and T. Pinnington,
Trowbridge, Wiltshire, and W.
Bolton-le-Moors, cotton-spinners—J. J. Cook and W. Keay
Blackfriars-road, coach-makers--J. Wilmalturst and W. COVe.
ney, Cranbrook; Kent, woolstaplers-W. D. Wells and T.
Potter-Newton, Yorkshire, stone.:
sptrleeetotn,
wool-brokers.,
BNsima,oodyitltiey:st,ii.
Wood-street,
Sussex,n.t:gac,nhae
up,.sidl Ingle,
lcpeae: paper-makers—J. lat
carpenters—J.
se r....
„Is J.
-nplaerevish
,sußtas.injghaSllta-

A DEFENCE of the PROTESTANT CHURCH from
the ATTACK of the MODERN HISTORIAN of the
REFORMATION, W. COBBETT.

Ma. EDITOR—As I have long known The Sun
to be the Church Paper, which is willing to rally
as many advocates as it can round the good old
standard, I make no apology for sending some
thoughts that have arisen from the numbers of this
modern History of ,the Reformation which have
just fallen into my hands. It is a work likely to
attract, not only from the novelty of its subject,
but also from the character of the Historian,
who once declared himself a Protestant of the
Established Church yetnow protests against Pro-
testantism ; who was once our renovator general,
yet now is struck blind with a veneration for an-
tiquity ; and once a Radical Reformer, yet now
seems horrified at the very idea of the Refor-
mation.

Not to dwell, however, upon the Historian
who is here -to be put into the scale with the most
--splendid for their talents and integrity who have
been the patrons of that Reformation ever since
it began ; and as it is our own disposition, and
accords with the spirit of the times, to weigh ar-
.guments and not authorities, we will just look
into the History itself, that we may be able to
.tell whether there is any such reason for believ-
ing that this Historian is right, while all other
,Protestants are wrong; and by what address or
ingenuity he can all at once so fascinate the minds
of the people as to bring them back again into
-what. they have _been. brought up from their in-
• fancy to consider the abominations of Popery.
The outset of. this History breathes by no
means the spirit lu which all History should be
ritten, but such, perhaps,.as is more likely to
.attract the people to whous he chiefly addresses
:himself, than abstract reasoning for which they
,have but little taste. He sets out•with person-
ality; and upon whom doesilefix for its object?
•The man of all men the most likely to call forth
the irony of an adversary to the good cause which
be takes every opportunity to support. Mr.
,Joshua Watson, it seems, is appointed " Trea-
surer to receive the sums collected in the several
parishs‘s by an order from the Bishops ;" and this
-same Mr. Watson is declared to be " the head
-.man of a Society for promoting Christian Know-
-. ledge, and he is, or lately was, a Wine and Spirit
dealer in Mincing-lane.'' He is, therefore, sup-
posed unfit to be the Treasurer of an " educa-
tion concern," though he has nothing to do with
the education itself, and has- only to keep the
_purse ; for which duty, as a merchant too of the
most unexceptionable integrity, he might have
'beets presumed to be the most competent. He is
declared to be also, in the same spirit of irony,
-tbs. " Head man of that Society," but with what
authority, remains to be proved. If we look to
_facts, we find upon inquiry that this very disinte-
rested layman,amoug the rest of the good deeds by
:which he exposes himself to calumny, some little
while ago purchased a chapel out of the hands
of the Evangelicals, and having laid out another
_Atm of money to repair and improve it, made a
,handsome present of it to the Church ; thus ac-
t•ozninodating, at his own expellee, a great num-
,ber of the Establishment in a very populous
-parish, in which the Minister who performed it
'has so recommended himself by his zeal in the
service, as to he appointed one of the Bishops
stately made to fulfil the most arduous duties.
This honourable layman presumes not however
ao be the " Head man of the Christian Society,"
-or to be the " teacher of religion to the people."
Like every good and honest man, who has the
comforts of the people at heart, and reckons
'among their chief comforts a religious education,
ftuditog a Society already formed to his hand for
'that laudable purpose, he naturally comes for-
s-ard to assist it with all of his time and purse
he can afford, without affecting any pre-eminence,
to which his own Christian httinility would for-
bid him to aspire, and which his own good sense
..would inform hiir. he would never be able to
attain in a Society so coestituted of the highest
dignitaries of the Church and State. This we
veature to assert, upon the strength of Mr. Wat-
soe's general character ; and we cannot hut con-
gratulate the country that there are such good
feristians among its laity, who, having reared
- a fortune far exceeding their own wants, are
ready to minister to the wants of others
s from their superfluity ; merchants, the rich
and honourable of the land, rich in good
- works, and honourable in humility, emulating
one another not in vain distinctions, but in the
labour of love, and not to be deterred from this
their generous pursuit in the several charitable
societies, which adorn while they support the
country, either as Treasurers or in some other
t:haracter, however subordinate, in which they
can do good. In whatever trade or profession
they may have been bred, how low soever its
degree or mercenary its nature, their motive is
excellent, and their example most salutary to
the people among whom they are eager to spread
their good principles, which, in the midst of all
their attention to this world, they have been able
:Jo cherish in their own minds, to prepare them-
selves for the next.
Such Christians are not surprised at any irony
—or ridicule which is attempted to be cast upon
them by the malignant jealousy of men who have
sprung from the same Plebeian order, but breathe
not the sameingenuous and truly Patrician spirit ;
and they are proud to share the censure passed
by such men so naturally Upon the Society for
Propagating a-ny thing so useful as religion among
the people, and upon the Bishop of Winchester
'for calling that " Society the correct expounders
of Evangelical Truth, and firm support of the
Established Church." All this they take for
• granted from their own observation and expe-
rience, just as all good Protestants take for
iranted the blessings of the Reformation, and
reqUire something more than mere personality
but demonstration itself to shake their firm con-
viction. • -

A PROTESTANT.

ON THE RECOGNITION OF TrIE INDEPENDENCE

OF SOUTH AMERICA.

( From the Journal des Debats of Sunday lost.)

PARIS, Jaw. 15.

A great cry of alarm has been raised iri consequence of the
recognition of the Spanish American States. It is pretended that.
we may perceive ip this Measure a triumph of revolutionary
principles ; that it is a signal for disclaiming the principle of
legitimacy, and that it gives encouragement to all Colonies to
revolt. However, the question of the Independence of the
new States of America has been often and so fully treated
in this Journal, that, in order to bring it back to its seal
point of view, we need only recapitulate our previous ar-
guments on the subject. It is the interest of civilization
and true liberty to support everywhere the legitimate autho-
rity against all usurpations effected by violence and disor-
der. Society will never be able to advance towards a state
of peace and solidity, while the people are misled by the
idea that revolt is the only road to liberty. But the legi-
timate power ought to fulfil the purposes for which it is
designed without delay ; that is ft condition annexed to all
authority ; so that if the religion, the institutions, the se-
curity of the territory, the preservation of the existence of
the country as a nation, can no longer be reconciled with
the extreme weakness, or the remote distance of the seat of the
legitimate authority, then these revolutions seem td come as the
will of Heaven—" rine vent l'ordrc celeste." Then the sceptre
is transferred from the 'house of Saul to the house of David,
for society must subsist; that alone is clothed in the character
of absolute legitimacy; that alone is necessary to the world,
and which emanates from God alone.

In applying these principles to Spanish America, it is not
necessary for us at present to inquire whether Spain has go-
verned it well or ill.a question obscured first, by the calumnies of
a false philosophy, but certainly an idle question, since the Ame-
ricans were contented with their situation ; they had not revolt-
ed for ages, and their actual separation from their mother coun-
try was not the effect of an insurrection directed against the
legitimate King. It was the destruction of the throne of the
Bourbons of Spain—it was the prolonged captivity of the legi-
timate Monarch—it was the total dissolution of the Spanish
monarchy, which in 1810 compelled all the men of influence
among the Spaniards of AMerica to embrace a society separated
from its legitimate Chief. It was even in the name of Ferdi-
nand VII., and conformably to his order addressed to the
Council of Castile, that the first American Juntas proclaimed
their independence of every Government residing in Europe,
at the same time that they invoked, with their most ardent
wishes, the presence either of Ferdinand or of one of his
brothers. The separation of the Americas was directed not
against legitimacy, but against the usurpation of Joseph ;
years passed over, public opinion became divided, the com-
mercial interest in some of the cities was anxious for
.an
organization similar to that of the Hanseatic towns ;
the proprietors of the soil and the Catholic Clergy re
jected all republican ideas ; and the principal States, even
whilst adopting the external forms of a republic, pre-
served their old civil and religious institutions, which, as well
as the manners and social existence of these people are incom-
patible with the ideas of political and religious indifference.--
But Ferdinand was restored to the throne °fills ancestors. Why
did not the Americans throw themselves immediately at the feet
of their legitimate King ? They have done so, at least a great
portion of them, but they have done it as free, as enlightened
nations, who understand the principle of legitimacy in its true
sense, as a principle of society, not as the mysterious expression
Of an absolute hereditary power. They have said to King
Ferdinand, " We are, we wish to remain, Spaniards; we at-
tach ourselves once more to your throne, distant as it is, but we
require that you guarantee to us the improvements of our in-
stitutions, of which we have tasted the beneficial results. We
ask for local representation and a certain liberty of commerce.
These conditions, just, wise, and in all respects calculated to
support the true interests of legitimacy, were repelled with all
the arrogance of incapacity. The avaricious Camarilla grasped
at absolete power; that it might partake of the plunder of the
Americas, it transported to the new Continent armies adequate
to conquer, but who could not retain their conquests. America,
ravaged, exasperated, became more and more alienated from
the mother country. There were, moreover, some loyal and
generous propositions which failed to effect a reconciliation
between the countries. There was proposed in the second Ses-
sion of the Cortes at Madrid a plan of union, which had
for its foundation a representative system, local as well as
general, under the supreme authority of the King, who was
to take the title of Emperor of the confederation of Spain and
the Americas, the latter having for Viceroys the Princes of the
Blood. At a later period, Mexico, the most important portion
of Spanish America, declared itself ready to acknowlege either
the King himself or one of his brothers, provided he establish-
ed his residence in the country. The most considerable per-
sons at Buenos Ayres, at Guetimala, at Lima, repeatedly ex-
pressed their anxiety to see a Bourbon at their head. All these
loyal propositions, all these views of sound policy, were sacri-
ficed to the chimera of an absolute legitimacy, as if there could
be a.-y thing absolute upon the earth—as if there was any right
which was not subject to conditions—as if reason could ever
approve or a principle being acted on which was in direct oppo-
sition to all moral and physical possibility.
Such has been the conduct of Spain to the Americas. Now
what has been the policy of France and England, the only
two great powers who, having a considerable navy, could
have interfered in an efficient manner —let us consider what
have been the antics and the interests of these two Powers ?
The Treaty of Chaumont, which was the basis of the alliance
Of the five great Powers, imposes upon England the duty of
repressing every attempt at renewing those troubles, spring-
ing from the anarchical principles of the French Revolu-
tion. NVe have seen that the independence of Spanish
America is not founded upon revolutionary spirit, but,
the contrary, it was first provoked by a legitimate resistance to
usurpation, and afterwards continued by the refusal of the an-
cient authority to give any guarantee to those people, whom
an event, independent of their inclinations, had placed under.
new inetirutions. England represented to the Cabinet of Ma-
drid the necessity and the utility of treating with nations not
actually in a state of rebellion. Spain refused this wise coun-
sel. England then declared herself neutral ; she denied to both
the belligerent parties the power of recruiting or making hostile
pteparations upon British soil. This was an injurious denial
to the Americans ; she renewed her offers of mediation ; they
were once more refused. She announced that she would wait some
months, to give Spain time to arrange her affliirs. She has wait-
ed a year ; her duties to Europe are fulfilled ; but England
has also duties to perform towards the Americas, which,
with the consent of the Royalist Regency of Spain, she sup-
ported in 1810 against the effbrts of the partisans of Jost ph.
She has also duties towards her own subjects, to whom at
the period above mentioned she gave encouragement to
furnish arms and ammunition to all Spanish subjects who
had risen against the Usurper. The consequence of these
connexions has been the employment of a great amount
of English capital in American commerce. England has
fulfilled this double duty in regulating, by commercial
treaties, her existing relations with America, and she
cannot conclude a treaty with a State without acknowledging
the fact of its independent existence. The interest of England,
as a -free, industrious, and commercial nation, he comprised
in these words, liberty, civil, religious, and commercial,
throughout the entire world. Let us now consider what have
been the duties and interests of France. As a Member of
two great European Alliances, it owed all its efforts and
all its counsels to the re-establishment and consolidation
of general order. As a Constitutional Monarchy it ought, in
justice to itself, to have assisted in effecting a state of peace be-
tween the rights of thrones and the rights of the people. It
owed to the glory of its ancient dynasty the maintaining the
Bourbons upon the greatest possible number of thrones; it
owed, in short, to the prosperity of the French nation the in-
crease of our channels for exporting the products of our manu-
factures, and the extension of our commercial activity. In
enumerating its duties, we have enumerated its interests. No-
thing was more easy than to have performed the one, and to
have secured the other.
France, too wise not to have judged it impossible to regain
America by arms, ought to have essentially applied to the pre-
serving of that which could have been so easily preserved in
the American Colonies—the Monarchical Government, and
the Dynasty of the Bourbons. We speak not of the Ca-
tholic Church, which in that country defends itself, and go-
verns, even now, all the other moral powers. It was by
instantly enlightening the Cabinet at Madrid, and in case of
failing to do that, by supporting the plans of the American
landed Aristocracy, and of the Catholic Clergy, for creating
at Mexico, Lima, and Buenos Ayres, three new throne,,
upon which there should he placed as many branches of the
House of Bourbon. There would then have resulted a system
of Bourbon Monarchies, embracing the finest part of the two
hemispheres, a system of which France would have been the
centre, as much by her naval power as by the influence of her
civilization. There have been moments, when, with a little firm-
ness and a little address, it would have been easier anti less expen-
sive to have executed this project than to have gone to Cadiz.
England would have had no means of opposing the wishes.of the

Spanish people of America ; neither would she have any in-
terest in doing it, for good sense would have dictated to these new
monarchs the maxim of commercial liberty. The example of
such an emancipation would have given no advantage to revolu-
tionary principles, even though there were left sonic free cities
in the vast whole. It would have extinguished those liabilities
to political strife which the forced and unnatural situation of
some of these republics still presents. They would he combated
by manners, customs, and religion. This emancipation would
have presented an event as fortunate for legitimate thrones as
for civilized people. France has done nothing either to fulfil
its duties or to assure its interests. Whose is the fault? As-
suredly it is not that of France. In lieu of all answer, the 111 i,
nisters tell us—Can we believe that England, a Power with co-
lonies, can ever think of acknowledging the independence of the
Spanish colonies, so as to provoke a revolt of her own ? and no
doubt you may, you ought to believe it. The view which
appears to have inspired us with such a fatal sloth, is founded
upon our ignorance of the English colonial system. India is
an empire held by military occupation, where there are 100,000
English and foreigners in the service of the Company. Canada
is a free country governed by its Parliament. Jamaica has its
two Chambers ; everywhere, except, perhaps, at the Cape,
English policy has calculated upon the institutions and even
the illusions which gratify the moral wants of the inhabitants
of these distant possessions. How then can these colonies be
compared with the Spanish Americas ? The latter are real
nations, which cannot be governed as colonies ; their emancipa-
tion, therefore, will not have the least influence upon the inha-
bitants of the English colonies.