The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-10 00:00:00

quencies of the present Government, who had brought
the country into a condition in which it was impossi-
ble it could continue much longer ;—Mr. MACKIN-
NON, we say, after a few common-places of this sort,
suddenly quitted the level ground of mere sober dull-
ness, and spreading his wings, launched into the airy
regions of imagination. In other words, he waxed
poetical—a freak which we never should have ex-
pected from the Hon. Member for Lymington, for he has
about as much fancy in his composition, as a steam-
engine. " There must be (quoth this new-born bard)
a change in the affairs of the country. When he got
up that morning there was a mist in the horizon, which
cleared away towards noon. The mist was gone, and
the sun shone in meridian splendour. Although John
Bull was under a certain mist, and had been distracted
between two parties, yet now the clouds began to dis-
pense, his natural good sense was returning, and he
clapped his hands on his purse and said, he'd be d--d
if he'd be humbugged any longer." Bravo Mr. MAC-
KINNON I Who, after this exalted outburst, shall say that
we have not a poet in the House of Commons ? The
Hon. Gentleman's high-flown, imaginative allusion to
the mist, and the meridian splendor of the sun, so
gracefully and gradually sobering down to the mntter-
of-fact, pot-house oath of John Bull, is a sample of
the bathos in fancy, worthy of MARTINUs SCRIBLE-
RUS himself. But as poets are proverbially indiffe-
rent statesman—as it is one thing to bronze on
Parnassus, and another to tread the thorny fields
of politics—Mr. MACKINNON must take special
care that his constituents do not address him
in the language of his own John Bull, and
tell him that " they'll be d--d if they'll be
humbugged any longer I" We have known more
surprising things than this happen, and the Horn.
Member's speech is certainly not calculated to impress
the Lymington electors with any very favourable no-
tion of his political sagacity. We throw out these
remarks in no wanton spirit of spleen or irreverence—
GOD forbid, for we dislike of all things to be severe on
the vagaries of acknowledged genius !—but simply in
the hope that they may have the effect of inducing the
Lymington poet to moderate henceforth the exuberant
sallies of his too-dazzling imagination.
Mr. DAwsoN—who does not know Derry DAW-
SON. and knowing, does not appreciate ?—was as
droll and sportive in his speech, as Mr. 'MACKINNON
was elevated and poetical. If the one startled his
Brighton audience, as though he were a rapt
and inspired seer, the other convulsed them
with laughter, as though he were a Merry-
Andrew grinning through a horse-collar. " Ac-
cording to the ancient laws of Greece," said Mr.
DAWSON, "senators usually went to the House with
a rope about their necks ; and if the measures they
brought in were just, the rope was taken from their
necks ; but if they proved to be absurd, the rope was
applied to the proper place." Fortunately for the Tories,
the laws of Greece are not the laws of England ; or we
do verily believe that there is not one Tory legislator,
who has lived for the last thirty years, that would not
have died of strangulation We are by no means in-
human in our nature ; but we cannot say that we
that we should have been altogether heart-broken,
had the faction's exit from life been effected by
such means!

Letters from Lisbon of the sth inst. have been re-
ceived this morning!. On the 2d the Lisbon Mer-
cantile Association called a public meeting of their
body, at which the Members of the Cortes and Foreign
merchants were invited to attend, with a view to deli-
berate upon the present financial state of Portugal.
The majority agreed that it was incumbent on the Go-
vernment to take some step to relieve the pressing
wants of the Treasury ; but no one ventured to support
the Ministerial scheme for issuing three hundred con-
tos of rein of paper money to be employed as so much
current coin. They seemed to apprehend that if
paper was once made a legal tender, the Government
would not stop with the supply of its more pressing
wants—that a system of ruinous extravagance would
be the inevitable consequence. The meeting separated
without coming to any resolution, except that another
meeting would be called to adopt a petition to the
Cortes on the subject.
The Miguelite insurgents on the Spanish frontier
have been defeated with great slaughter by the QUEEN'S
troops, under Brigadier-General MENDEZ. On the
IGth the Miguelite bands, commanded by MoNTEGo,
were attacked by a Spanish force, who killed forty of
them, and captured the treasures collected by the
rebels together with a great store of arms and military
accoutrements. At Lisbon it was supposed that the
neck of the insurrection was completely broken by this
seasonable victory.

The whole of the Paris journals cf Sunday and
Monday have been received. They bring no intelli-
gence of any moment. The discussion on the address
opened in the Chamber of Deputies on Monday, but
up to 3 o'clock no amendment of any importance was
moved. The defeat of Basilio Garcia, on the Ebro, is
confirmed. The following are extracts :

" News has been received—from St. Sebastian of the ap-
proaching arrival in that port of steam-boats to take back to
England the discharged soldiers of the Legion. It appears
that the cavalry and artillery which were attached to the
legion remain in the service of the Spanish government, which
has provided the necessary funds.
" If we may credit another private letter, the Spanish go-
vernment has sent the necessary instructions for the re-organi-
zation of the whole of the English Legion.
" A Journal publishes an extract from a letter from Madrid,
which says The Spanish Government has resolved to ask
for the re-organization of the British Legion, and it is said to
have already given the necessary instructions ; but it is not yet
known whether the Cabinet of St. James's will authorize the
promotion of the new legion on the same basis as the old one ;
it is affirmed, on the contrary, that it will only grant the
creation of an auxiliary corps.'

" Though the official_ details of the defeat of the Carlist expe-
dition had not yet been received at Bayonne on the 3d, yet
it seems that the defeat was complete. The other expedi-
tion under Merino, and the Marquis de Boleida, acting at
the same time with Gureia, had advanced some leagues beyond
the Ebro, by way of Trees and Villa. Perlatta has been ob-
liged to retrogade, and return to this side of the Ebro, in con-
sequence of the rapid march of Firman Iriarte's column, which
was advancing from Meria del Pomar, into Old Castile to meet
them. The Moniteur of the Bth has no official part.
FRENCH FUNDS.-PARIS, JAN. 8.

Five per Cents.. I.SI 10111 sc.
Four per Cents., 1011. 25c.
Three per Cents., 78f. 95c. 90c. 85c.
Bank Actions, 2,560 f.
nente de Naples, 98f. sc. 9Sf. 9Sf. Sc,
Roman Five per Cents., 10034% 101.
Spanish Actives, 20% 21.
Spanish Passives, 4%.
Belgian Bank, 1,485 f. 1,490 f. 1,487 f. 50e.
Portuguese Loan, Three per Cents. 19.
Dutch Two and a Half per Cents., 5334.
Haytian Loan, 5801. 3110 f.
13XCIIANGe ON LONDON.
Onemonth, paper, -f. -c. •, money, 25f. 47%e.
Three months, paper, 26f. c. ; money, 251. 30r.
LAST PRICES,
Five per Cents. 10Sf. 15c.
Three per Cents. 79f.
Bank Actions, 2,5501.
Romans, 100%.
Belgian Bank, 1,427 f. 50c.
Portuguese Three per Cents., 19%.
Spanish Actives, 21.
Spanish Passives, 4%.
Spanish Differes, 5%.
Haytian Loan, 3901.
Dutch Two and a Half per Cents., 53%.
AUSTRIAN FUNDS.-Vresnva, Dec. 31
Five per Cents. Metalliques
Four per Cents.
Three per Cents.
Hank Shares
-Allgemeine Zeitung, Jan. 4.

The Countess of Essex still continues indisposed.
We hare accounts from Bombay to the end of Oc-
tober. The prospects of the cotton crops were generally fa-
vourable. There had been less activity in piece goods, which
was attributed in a great measnre to the near approach of the
Dewallee bolydays, and little business would be cone until they
were over. The price of metal generally was firmly main-
tained, with a tendency to advance on some descriptions. The
stock of woollens was more than sufficient for the inactive
demand ; and there was an abundant supply of wines and
spirits, which were offered at very low prices. In the Money
Market Government securities were inquired: after. The ex-
change had not undergone any material alteration. There was
a slight reaction in the freights to England, which were
quoted at 43 to 56 per ton ; but it was far from being abundant.