The Sun.
London, England, 1836-01-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

As the Message of the American President shows
the value which he affixes to " the liberal and friendly
relations so happily existing between the two coun-
tries," and the King of the French specially congratu-
lates the Chambers on the " intimate union of France
with Great Britain being drawn closer every day ;"
while a confidence is expressed of the preservation of
peace, which is based upon the continuance of that al-
liance ;—we do not doubt that the settlement, through
our mediation, of the pending dispute between France
and the United States, will bring the three powers even
to a better understanding than has yet prevailed amongst
them, and thus afford new guarantees for -the con-
tinuance of that general peace which is the true in-
terest and happiness of_all nations. The vague allu-
sion which Louis Philippe makes to the state of his re-
lations with the " European Powers," is pregnant with
that dissatisfaction which he feels against the Autocrat
of the North. The necessity, therefore, of marking
that dissatisfaction by an emphatic declaration in favour
of the throne of Isabella 11. was not avoided. It is as full
as we could have wished it to be, and we rejoice the more
in finding it so decisive, as more than one occasion oc-
curred during the last twelve months when we could
not help entertaining doubts to which this decla-
ration has put an end. The reference, also, to fhe
measures lately taken for causing greater vigilance to
be observed on the Pyrenean frontiers, is in every re-
spect satisfactory. Although commercial restrictions
of the most impolitic character still continue to limit
our trade with France, nevertheless we cannot but con-
gratulate that country upon the high degree of prospe-
rity at which it has arrived. Would that both Go-
vernment and people were convinced that her prosperity
would be doubled by a more enlarged spirit of commer-
cial legislation. The allusion made by the King to
the recent laws for the regulation of the Press would
have been more agreeable to us, if it suggested at the
same time any hope that those laws would be modi-
fied, so far at least as the Jury system and the facility
for establishing journals have been affected. It
is with pain we look back upon the inroads made by
these laws upon the charter ; and we observe, with un-
utterable disgust, the unwarrantable measures adopted
by the Questors of the Chamber of Deputies, for
rendering the duties of the agents of the public Press
more difficult even than they were made towards the
close of the last session. We trust that the President
will revoke these contemptible proceedings.—Morning
Chronicle.

The Speech of Louis Phillippe, delivered on Tues-
day last, forms a curious, and not unexpected, contrast
to that of Mr. President Jackson. Instead of en-
tering minutely and precisely into the several qnestions,
foreign or domestic, which involve the national inte-
rests, and communicating frankly, or reasoning clearly,
with regard to them, after the example of the American
Message, the King of the French takes a hop-skip-
and-jump over the whole policy of his Government, at
home and abroad, - and leaves every matter, great and
small, precisely where he found it. This might an-
swer for a little while the ends of a mysterious and
left-handed, rather than an open, system of Govern-
ment, could we suppose that the King of the French
and his Ministers were capable of preferring trick to,
magnanimity ; but what other interest or purpose
could be promoted by it, we have yet to learn ; and
even to the shallow game of mystification it cannot be
long made subservient. For unless the national opinion
be arrogantly set at nought, and the mad scheme of
ruling by downright force be adopted, the solicitudes of
men about their own most serious concerns must be
more or less consulted ; and the interrogatories of the
Chambers touching many of those important matters
on which the King's speech observes a studied, and
indeed a provoking, silence, must be-answereawith some
decent re.srct fur truth. The dispute with America,
which o.'eupies in the " Message " two full columns
of powerful and. hi ;ply interesting exposition, is dis-
posed (or undisposed) of in the " Speech by exactly
half-a-dozen lines. Two points only are referred to,
even in this meaTre form, by his Majesty. Ist. The
" non-execution of the treaty of July, 1831, which,
to do the Kinf, justice, he regrets. 2d. The friendly
mediation of the King of England, which Louis Phil-
lippe has accepted, "and the desire of the latter Sove-
reign that the dispute should." terminate in a manner
equally honourable to two great nations." .Equallil
honourable. we are afraid the termination of this quar-
rel can hardly be ; for if ever there was a conntry which
seemed to run with headlong eagerness upon a course
of wanton and puerile injustice, we are bound to say
that such a country is France, in relation to the
United- States of North America, on this question
of pecuniary indemnity for an admitted -.7rong. It
may have been very obliging- in Lord Palinerston to
tender the " friendly mediation " of King William,
but the proposal seems to have been a long
time struggling with the Noble Lord for utterance,
and now come' forth just at that suspicious moment
when all parties are fortunate if it be not too late.
Louis Philippe, however amiable and estimable in pri-
vate life, is perhaps, as a statesman, one of the
least straightforward, personages known to modern
history. 'His youth was spent amidst political per-
plexities. The pressure upon him was never uniform
or- regular. The expediency of one moment was not
that of the succeeding. Hence his life was one of
iriversified shifts and small dexterities down to the hour
when his harlequin leap into the calculated vacancy
of the French Throne enabled him to Scapin-ize on
a larger scale than he had ever before attempted.
His whole reign has been a series of subtleties, ma-
noeuvres, and evasions, hitherto- successful. 'With a
person so elaborately ruse, it is difficult to decide
what may have been from the first his intention to-
wards the United States ; but sufficient appears to
have been brought home to King Louis Philippe
and his Ministers by General Jackson on the
score of studied delays and unexecuted promises,
to convince the most candid that more was medi-
tated throughout their diplomatic intercourse with the
Jackson Government, on the subject of this in-
demnity than met the-public eye or ear. What room
for mediation can be discovered in a case which has
been made so thoroughly perspicuously the facts as
they occurred, mid by the truth-telling statements of
the Republican Chief, is more than we are able to
answer. To nothing further remains for France
than.to retrace her steps, and to repent of her indis-
cretions. There is not an inch of doubtful or dispu-
table ground, whereon a mediator could be called upon
to exercise his judgment. If America have not yet
acted upon the knowledge of Mr. Barton's last fruit-
less appeal to the justice and honour of the French
Government, and upon his consequent return home,
she will have shown exemplary moderation under cir-
cumstances well calculated to rouse the national resent-
ment : if she have so acted, the mediation may have
come too late. The other portions of the King's short
speech require little comment. He speaks with a degree
of confidence and complacency upon the Fieschi laws
against the Press, which to Englishmen must seem a
little surprising. To stop the natural vent for public
feeling, and satisfy discontent by gagging the expres-
,sion of it, might have been characteristic of the Na-
poleon policy, when every murmur was drowned in the
cannon's roar, and moral suffering lost amidst the
agony of battle. But in the " best of republics,"
under the dynasty of the three days, the extinction of
the Press seems, we say, rather a strange couch for
freedom to repose upon. The expedition undertaken
for the security " of our African possessions" appears
to have infinitely gratified the Royal mind. Would
Louis Phillippe like to be reminded of the solemn
assurances repeatedly given to the Duke of Wellington
by the Ministers of Charles X., and afterwards con-
firmed by those of Louis Phillippe, that the Algerinc
territory should not become a permanent French
" possession ?" But Lord Palmerston is a different
guess personage to deal with from the Duke of Wel-
lington.—Times.

Our observations upon the Message of the Ame-
rican President to Congress having been written on
Wednesday night, before the arrival of the Speech of
the King of the French to the Chamber of Deputies,
we were not aware of the fact that the British Govern-
ment had offered its mediation between the Govern-
ments of France and America. We therefore put the
subject hypothetically. We asked " will England
allow herself to be made the cat's-paw of the Court of
the Tuileries—will her kind offices with the stern Re-

nublican be solicited? Have they been solicited,al-
- ? Have they been conceded ? If so, might not
the English Government be better employed in pro-
tecting the interests of Great Britain, which have been
so shamefully neglected, than in interfering in the dis-
putes of France and America ?" The supposition has
already become fact. The crafty Louis Philippe, who
some time ago made so egregious a " cat's-paw" of
our Noble Foreign Secretary, in relation to Belgian
-affairs, is now about to honour him in a similar
manner. Only, in this instance, the " mediation,"
unlike that which was signalised by the Anglo-
Gallic Convention, and the murderous siege of
Antwerp, is not to be a fighting mediation. No ;
we presume that even Lord Palmerston is not foolish
enough to involve this country in a " peaceful war"
with America for the promotion of the interests of the
French King. We say the French King, for so long
as Louis Phillippe reigns for his own aggrandisement,
and tramples upon the principles of the Charter, we
cannot identify his interests with those of France.
With regard to the American question Louis Philippe
says, " I regret that the treaty of July 4, 1831, with
the United States of America, has not been able yet to
receive its complete execution. The King of Great
Britain has offered to me, as well as to the United
States, his friendly mediation. I have accepted it ;
and you will partiCipate in my desire that this difference
may be terminated in a manner equally honourable to
two great nrtions." What caused the difference ?
What created the difficulty in the way of the execution
of the treaty ?—The dishonesty of the French Govern-
ment, who refused to pay a debt acknowledged to
be due, until the American President was compelled
to apply strong language to the shuffling conduct of
that Government. For that strong language an apo-
logy has been demanded of the American President.
He repeats his demand for payment, and most posi-
tively refuses to submit to the degradation of making
any apology. Will Lord Palmerstbn work an apo-
logy out of him to save the " honour and dignity of
France" by bringing dishonour and degradation upon
America? Credat Judaus. He who crouches in
supple submission before the Autocrat of Russia, will
not induce the President of the American Republic
to humble himself before Louis Phillippe, and ask par-
don of the " King of the Barricades" for insisting
upon his paying what he owed. In other respects the
Speech of the King of the French is a most meagre
and uninteresting production. He says, " I was deeply
affected with the sentiments which France manifested
towards thyself and family, when, at a moment which
it is painful to remember, Providence deigned to pre-
serve to me a life for ever devoted to the service of my
country." What was the reward of France for the expres.7
sion of that sympathy which so deeply affected the grate-
ful and sincereheart of Louis Philippe? The subversion
of the liberties of France by the atrocious Fieschi laws.
This was the reward of French loyalty—though it
looks more like a punishment for a French rebellion.
The isolated crime of one or two ruffians is seized upon
as a pretext to rob a whole people of their political and
civil rights. The national expression of loyalty is ad-
mitted from the throne, but it is visited by the acts of
the Government and a corrupt Chamber as a national
crime. Foi- had France rebelled, and been defeated by
the Royal power, the Fieschi laws ought to have
... satisfied the vengeance of the King. If those laws
be proofs of Louis Philippe's gratitude to au affec-
tionate and confiding people, the French must be
the most silly of mankind if they continue to de-
serve any more such proofs of - Royal gratitude !
The only other point worth noticing is the clap-trap
introduction of the allusion to the expedition to Mas-
cara, which we must take the liberty of saying termi-
noted in a most dis.raceful manner for French glory as
well as humanity% The King says, "An expedition un-
dcrtaleil for the security of our possessions in Africa has
lysel, tonatx,tell and ace.comilisileLlas....tiomaLugiti, to
the honour of Mance. It is with emon trati;',7tr---;

held the eldest of my family share &iiardsciipsl;:d
dangers of onr brave soldiers." The mclo-dramatic
expedition to Mascara was got up for this very occa-
sion ; but we believe its results were much more tra-
gical to the conquerors than the despatches, " doc-
tored" as they were by the Camarilla, have given the
world to understand. The destruction of Mascara
subsequently to its capture was an act •of indefensible
barbarity, and reflects the greatest disgrace upon the
French am is. Enough of truth has peeped forth from
the drapery of French gasconade to convince us that
the military glory of the " great-nation" will not de-
rive much additional lustre from the run-away conquest
of Mascara, for a run-away conquest it most assuredly
was. Abdel Icader's-dominions were evidently too hot
for the French legions, and they made as rapid a re-
treat out of them as the rallying and pursuing enemy
would allow.—Morning Herald.

AN ELECTIONEERING FIDDLER.—An 'unsuc-
cessful candidate in Ohio ascribes the loss of his election to
the circumstance' that his opponent had taken the field
against him with a fiddle. The latter politician, it seems,
set the whole constituency incontinently to dancing, until
they became so charmed by his music, that they gave him
all their votes. This fellow would be invaluable to the
Tammany party at this season of its calamity, and it would
be well worth while to import him for the special purpose
of harznoniziag the pugnacious elements of that virtuous
concern. -He might fiddle together the whole disjecta
nzenzbra, loco focos and all, and set them to dancing a fa-
mily jig in concert, according to the " usages of the Re-
publican party." W 6 doubt not that Job Haskell and the
venerable shoemaker, now doing battle for infidelity at
Euterpian Hall, have "music in their soles".—New York
Paper.

Mr. Sharpe, the ventriloquist, who performed (kiting
the last season at Vauxhall-gardens, and was afterwards en-
gaged at the Collosseum, was the other evening suddenly
deprived of his reason, at his residence, 48, Tothill-street,
Westminster. It appears that, after having returned home,
he had not been long in his apartment before he started
from his scat, and exclaimed—" I am a Blood Red Knight."
He then strutted backwards and forwards, and conducted
himself in a most strange manner. He afterwards corn-
plained of a headache, and said that the pavement was rolling
under his feet ; he at length became exceedingly violent to
his wife, towards whom he had previously exhibited the
greatest kindness, and he passed a restless night. On the
following day Mr. Newman, a professional friend and com-
panion, called at his residence, and found him labouring un-
der the above delusion ; and, on his entering the apartment,
he seized thepoker, and, making a desperate rush at him,
attempted to strike him on the head, declaring that he
would dash out his brains, as he had set his father's house
on fire ; and had not Mr. Newman run down stairs, the
consequences, no doubt, would have ended fatally to him.
Mr. Sharpe was immediately placed under restraint, and
conveyed to Bethlehem hospital, where he has been during
the last week in a deplorable condition. His wife, who has
been exceedingly ill ever since, is left with three children, at
her residence, in a state of great distress.

A wherry was upset near Bembridge last Sunday
evening, by which six persons were drowned. Every ex-
ertion was made by the Preventative Service and others to
save the unfortunate individuals from a watery grave, but
without effect.—Brighton Guardian.

A shocking murder has been committed by an Ame-
rican master of a merchantman, from Smyrna, which put
into the Tagus from distress, upon his cook, a Maltese,
by shooting away his nether jaw, and then confining him
in the hold of the vessel, without food or assistance, until
he died. The matter has been investigated by the British
and American authorities here, and if proved, will display
an act of inhuman cruelty such as was hardly ever heard of.
The man murdered was a British subject.—Lisbon Letter,
Dec. 19.
NEW YEAR'S DAY.—New Year's gifts are of an-
cient origin. Honest old Latimer, instead of presenting
Henry VIII. with a purse of gold, as was customary, put
into his hand a New Testament. The wardrobe and jew-
ellery of Queen Elizabeth were chiefly supported by these
presents, which she received ftom her apothecary and at-
tendants down to the cook, but made suitable returns.
Pins on this day were acceptable to the ladies instead of
the wooden skewers which they used till the end of the
fifteenth century': Sometimes they received a compensa-
tion in money, from which the allowances for their sepa-
rate use is still denominated "pin money." Gloves were
customary New Years' Gifts. They were more expensive
than in our time. Sometimes a present was tendered in-
stead, and this was called "glove money."
An accident, similar to that which happened on the
Serpentine, in Hyde-park, London, occurred on Saturday
last at Lyons, where the ice broke suddenly near the Pont
de Tilsit, and all the persons who were upon it at the time
were submerged. The greater part of them were saved,
but it is feared that four or five were drowned. The late
severe frost began to abate in the course of Monday night,
in Paris, and the next day a general and rapid thaw came on.
The work done by machinery in England is calcu-
lated to equal what would be the labour of 400,000,000
of men.