The Sun.
London, England, 1836-12-22 00:00:00

VICE-CHANCERY.-(THIS DAY.)

MACINTOSH V. BIRCH AND OTHERS.
Mr. KNIGHT applied this morning, cv jmitc, for
an injunction against three persons, to restrain them
from infringing the patent of the plaintiff, the celebrated
water-proof cloak manufacturer. Mr. Knight stated that
it would be in the recollection of the Court that sonic
time since it had granted similar injunctions against
other parties, and that an action at law had also taken
place, for the purpose of establishing the validity of
the patent, the verdict on which had fully done so.
In the present instance two of the cases of infringement
had only been discovered within a week, and the third
within a fortnight. In one instance the infringement was
in a cloak, in another a:bag,, and the third a piece of cloth.
As the patent had been so recently established, the Learned
Counsel felt confident the Court would have no difficulty
in granting the injunction.
The VICE-CHANcELLott granted the injunction, observ-
ing that a petition had been presented to the Privy Coun-
cil, which was opposed to extend the patent.

THE SPA-N-ISII CONTEST.

BY PELAGIUS

LETTER 111.
The comparative unimportance of the Spanista
capital, while it is a considerable advantage in a con-
test with a foreign enemy, is extremely inconvenient
to the Government during a civil war. When Na-
poleon possessed Madrid, it added but little to his ad-
lantages.. The various provincial chief towns were, at
least, ns important in the eyes of the inhabitants as a
city which they looked upon more as the capital of
Castile than as the capital of SPAIN ; but h.( the pre-
sent contest the want of a dense populatiot: in the
centre of the empire is daily felt. Instead of the scat
of Government and the surrounding country being the
strongest, it is the weakest part of the Monarchy.
While London contains an eighth part of the popu-
lation of England, and Paris a fortieth of that of
France, the proportion of the inhabitants of Madrid
to those of Spain is but as one to a hunclred ; and
while the ten thousand square miles of which London
is the centre contain at last four millions of souls'
an equal space in Spain, radiating from and including
Madrid, does not present seven hundred thousand.
It becomes, therefore, difficult to assemble on °'
sudden emergency any considerable force from the pa-
pulation of the capital and vicinity—either to rein-
force the corps acting at a distance, or to defend the
metropolis from anv inroad of the insurgents—neither
is it easy to find provisions for the maintenance of the

troops.
Nor is the security of the capital aided by fortificzv
tions—so that it is at all times open to insult from any
force numbering :a dozen battalions—that of Gomez''
for example, might become formidable to the seat of
Government, if he were not closely pursued by Alai%
and Narvaez ; and the chief fortresses and important
towns, from whence aid might be derived, are all at so
great a distance that nothing could be done, by detach-
ments from their garrisons, in less than a fortnight.
It was this central weakness which enabled the Con-
stitutionalists to throw off the yoke of the Court. The
Liberals were organized in Barcelona, Valencia, Cadiz,
Badajoz, Ferrol, &c., before troops could be marched
against them from Madrid ; and, threatened on so manY
points of the circumference, the Government knew 11°
which antagonist to make head against. A division
of its force ensured defeat, and, if the whole had been
directed against one city, the remainder would have
gained sufficient time to have completed their prepara-
tions for effectual defence.
The very same cause enhances the difficulty of crush-
ing the marauding bands which infest the provinces,
and compels the Government to transfer the duty °f
combating the enemy mainly to the militia--a duty
which the latter are far from being qualified success'
fully to discharge.
Much mischief, moreover, arises to the Constitu-
tional cause, from one peculiarity in the character of
the Spanish people. I allude to the extraordinary
want of precaution which marks their proceedings.
Confident, to a nearly inconceivable degree, in their
powers, prowess, and resources, they never prepare for
danger, although they confront it with marvellous for
titude—as the sieges of Zaragoza, Gerona, Hostalrieh,
and other fortresses, in the war of independence, an
of Bilboa, in the present contest,
_testify.
A marked instance of this infatuation was exhibited
during the war of 1808-1814, when the French in'
vaded Andalusia. Although Seville was filled with
military stores of immense value, the Spaniards never
took the trouble of placing them in security, by re-
moving them to Cadiz ; but supinely trusting to the
defence of the Sierra Morena, and the 30,000 rabble
who were called the army of Arrizaga, quietly slept ou/
till they saw the enemy entering the gates of the
city ; nay, so utterly unprepared were they for any re'
verse, that Cadiz itself, (absolutely INVALUABLE W
to the cause), was left with scarcely a battalion to gar"
rison it, and that all-important city would have fallen,
without the firing of a shot, had not the Duke el
Albuquerque marched his division of 8,000 men (00.
his own responsibility) two hundred and fifty miles in
nine days, and arrived about a dozen hours before the
French appeared under the walls.
A similar want of forethought has been shown
regard to Bilboa ; since the former siege a year has
elapsed, during which period the garrison might have
drawn a deep and wide canal round the town, fed frog'
the river Nervion ; and the Government might have
established on the river a flotilla of boats, drawing verY,
little water, and armed with carronades, which would
have been a defence ten times more availing than the
trivial forts, in which seven hundred men and manY
pieces of cannon were thrown away.
Such a flotilla, moreover, could, in two or three,
hours, have destroyed the bridges, and thus rendered
it impossible for the Carlists on one bank to common"
cate with and support those on the other. Had
Esc
partero been able, after crossing from the left bank, t°
destroy the bridges before Villareal had crossed, thea
Carlists on the right would have been destroyed an
Bilboa relieved.