The Sun.
London, England, 1822-10-03 00:00:00

[BRITISH PRESS.]

The last Government contract for Irish provi.
sions was taken (we understand) at the follow.
ing prices on the '27th ult. by Messrs. Callaghat
and Sons, of Cork :

DELIVERED IN TILE WEST INDIES.
Beef, at the rate of - - - 2s. sd. per 81bs,
Pork, ditto - - - Is. 2d. per 41bs.
DELIVERED AT DEPTFORD.
Navy tierces Beef - - - - £4 11 10
Navy barrels ditto - - 32 10
Navy tierces Pork - 4 16 8
Navy barrels ditto - - 32 10
How these prices can support the present rate of
rents, tithes, and taxes, we leave to Mr. Vansit-
tart and his financial friends to discover. It is a
mystery beyond our shallow and narrow compre-
hension.

[MORNING HERALD.]
Two incidents, in the course of the late insur-
rectionary proceedings in France, are not un-
worthy of notice, though of little moment in
themselves. They show to what a degree of
coarseness the sentiment of honour (upon which
the French so much pique themselves) has ar-
rived in the immediate partisans and satellites of
party and power. It will be remembered that
a Quarter-master, named Woelfel, in one of the
regiments of the French army, was the person
who, by turning what the French call mouchard
—the most odious description of spy, and
confined only to the lowest agents of the Police
—gained from Berton the secret of his place of
retreat. Now we are far from meaning to censure
the Government of France for making use of
this man, nor yet for promoting him to the rank
of a commissioned Officer, though we are sure
that, in England, there is not a' corps that would
not reject with disgust the contamination of his
fellowship. But what shall we say of the Attor.
ney-General, who, in examining this Woelfel
as a witness, in opposition to the depositions of
others, apostrophizes him with such an appeal to
his chivalry as this—" Now, M. de Woelfel,
you have the honour to be a French Officer ;
I ask . you, upon your honour," &c. This
happy, but unconscious stroke of burlesque from
the Attorney General—the fruit, it is said, of the
bad taste and grateful servility of a man, elevated
beyond his merits and beyond his expectations—
has produced a power of epigrams at Paris and
in the French army. Unhappily none of those
that we have heard will bear publication. The
second circumstance relates to the same trans-
actions. It has been observed from our extracts
from the Paris Papers, that a retired officer,
named Caron, has been capitally convicted
at Strasburgh of having attempted to seduce
a squadron of cavalry into open insurrection.
The soldiers merely affected to enter into his
views, but Fnarched under his orders a consider-
able distance—until they thought it right to ar-
rest him and throw off the mask. They were
highly eulogised for their fidelity. That, however,
which gained them the palm of "devoted loyalty,"
" heroic zeal," &c. &c. from all the Ultra Jour-
nals, was, their having dashed among the pea-
santry, with cries of Ave l'Empereur! in order
to betray the unwary into a fatal expression of
any lurking sentiment of Buonapurtism, and thus

diminish the number of the King's enemies. We
thought that those who could offer such ptaise
for conduct, which has its example only in the
craft and cruelty of individual tyrants ;—and
those who could receive praise, so insulting
to the frankness and generosity of the mi-
litary_ character, must be essentially debased in
mind. As to the fatter, we ire glad to find, for the
honour of the profession of arms, that the Officer
in command of these troops openly declared, on
the trial of Caron, in, the face of France and Eu-
rope, that the men did not descend to so barba-
rous a stratagem, and rejected indignantly the
slanderous panegyric, But still, incidents of this
kind cannot be the effect of party blindness
alone ; they manifest the existence of moral de-
basement.

PROVINCIAL JOURNALS.

( From the Bury Gazette, October 2.)

The approaching Congress at Verona may be
considered a sort of Parliament of the civilized world. Mighty
and manifold are the blessings it will be enabled to diffuse
among the nations of the earth, by a just and wise exercise of
its potency ; but grievous and enduring are the ills it may in-
flict, by a weak or wicked misapplication of its power to any
purpose but the welfare of mankind. The enemies of Kings,
and principalities, and powers, who yet idolize a dead tyrant,
arc loud and bitter in their exclamations against the Holy Al-
liance, as an union of despots to destroy the common freedom
of man. They see in its views, nothing but lust of dominion—
in its acts, nothing but struggles for individual aggrandise-
ment ; yet, all the vehement ravings of faction fail to convince
us, that there is cause to fear the congregating of the rulers of
the earth. We rather rejoice that he "by whom Kings govern
and Princes ordain wisdom," has taught them to assemble and
adjust their conflicting interests in amity and accord, instead of
seeking to redress their wrongs by war and desolation, and
blood and homicide. We look towards the Congress of Nations
with hope and expectation ; we expect from it the preservation
of "peace on earth," the precursor of "good-will towards
men." An alliance for such a purpose is holy ; and he should
be held accursed who would slander the intents, or im-
pede the acts, of those who unite to benefit the human race.
Of the line of policy it may be deemed wise to adopt, in regard
to those unhappy states now convulsed by revolutions, all
must at present necessarily be surmise ; but if we may venture
to hazard a conjecture of the future from the past, there
exists no inclination in the 4reat powers of Europe to interfere
in any of those civil dissentrons which now occupy so large a
portion of the public mind in this country. The policy which
induces this forbearance is obvious to any common observer; and
it must never be forgotten, that the government of a country
must be matter of prudence and policy, rather than sympathy.
It may'be very amiable to weep over the fate of fighting pa-
triots, but very foolish to fight with them ; and were this country
to involve itself in warfor the degenerate descendants of Theseus,
the very men who are now loudest in demanding the interfer-
ence of Britain in the wars of Greece, would be the first to
murmur at the expence, and the last to enlist in the under-
taking.
The neutrality rigidly observed by this country, and
the other States in alliance with it, in regard to the intestinal
commotions of neighbour nations, is pretty strong evidence that
they, have united for nobler purposes than either to suppress
freedom, or support faction : they have combined not to op-
pose the march of the hfiman mind in knowledge, and wisdom,
and power, but to guard the human mind from the pollution of
blasphemy, infidelity, and treason ; not to set nation against
nation, but to protect the people from the deadly mischiefs of
anarchy and atheism, which, although at present subdued, lie
smouldering, but not quenched, ready to burst forth with the
first encouraging breath, and again spread war, and woe, and
crime, where now dwell peace, content, and virtue.—lf the fiber-
ties of mankind be endangered, it is not from the tyranny of those
who govern, but front the vices of those' who disdain all govern-
ment. The despotism of our day is not in our rulers, but in those
who should be ruled. The acts of Kings in our times have all a
tendency to better the state of man ; and the only Sovereign in Eu-
rope, during the present century, whose every act was. the. act
of a tyrant, whose every motive was unrestrained ambition,
unmitigated by one " compunctious visiting of nature," was
the man whose memory the pretended friends of freedom fall
down and worship—whose name is hallowed by those who
scorn to hallow the name of God. Let not men who hold Na-
poleon in honour, presume to charge any Monarch on the earth
with a deed' of shame. All the acts of policy in apportioning
and dividing Empire, which appear to common eyes unjust
and cruel, may have expediency' for their extenuating plea,
may possibly be intended as a means of good to all; but let
them be as criminal as faction can proclaim, as base as imagi-
nation can conceive, still' they will find an apology, as far as
precedent can be apology, in acts ten times more criminal in
the life of him whom fraction has ridiculously canonized as a
martyr.

Much speculation has been afloat of late re-
specting the expedition under Captain PARRY,
especially as no tidings have been brought by
any of the whale-ships recently arrived. But it
seems that no information could be expected,
the expedition not being in the track of the
whale-ships, having entered by Hudson's Bay,
which is to the southward of the fishing ground.
Besides, if they had made any progress to the
Westward last year, and were returning next
year unsuccessful, there can be no accounts of
them for some time ; for the ice inland (as Capt.
PARRY found on his last expedition), does not
break up till August, and then there is a tedious
navigation before they can reach the sea.—(Hull
Packet.)
LUNAR IRIS, OR RAINBOW BY MOONLIGHT.
The Iris Lunaris is so seldom seen, that Dr. PLOT
asserts, in his History of Oxfordshire, that he
knew several learned and eminent observers who
never saw one in their lives; and that ARISTOTLE
noticed only one in the course of fifty years.—
An exceedingly interesting Iris, of this descrip-
tion,which made its appearance nearly due north,
was distinctly observed by several persons in the
neighbourhood of Boston, about half-past eight
o'clock on Saturday evening. This bow in the
heavens was every way complete ; the curvature
entire, though its span was extensive ; and the
altitude of its apex seemed to us to be more than
20 degrees. With that blackness or darkness
which the rain-fraught clouds had then assumed
in the back ground, this white arch of beauty
formed .a striking contrast; whilst several stars
in the constellation of the Bear, which were, for
a time, conspicuous above, imparted additional
grandeur to the scene.
CROYDON FAra.—Yesterday morning this fair
commenced with great spirit., and was much
crowded. The theatrical booths of RICHARD -
SON, GYNGELL, COOK, and BRYDGES, and other
itinerants of the sock and buskin, as usual, ex-
cited much attention, and met with due support.
All the sleight of hand talent from London at-
tended numerously, and the joskins in that neigh-
bourhood suffered materially from this mode of
performance by the light fingered gentry. Life
in London was not forgotten, and it was played
off in prime style.
About seven o'clock yesterday morning, the
inhabitants of Swan-yard, facing Somerset House,
in the Strand, were dreadfully alarmed at a great
part of the street falling in, and exposing to view
a most fearful abyss,'the bottom of which the eye
could not reach. On examination, it appears to
have been an old covered well, and upwards of
100 feet in depth; 80 of which is now full of water.