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

THV

ourselves or any, either permanently or as tt seettrity for
the repayment of debts due to us, she has only to adopt
the straightforward, honest policy of performing the
stipulations guaranted by the quadruple treaty. Her
honour and good faith the at stake=-=We point out the
only iii ails by which she can prevent a sacrifice of
them. The King of the FRENCH solemnly engaged
in the face of Europe to co-operate with three other
great powers in guaranteeing the peace of a fourth power.
The occasion for such co-operation presented itself, and
the most Christian King, in common with the sovereigns
of Great Biritain and Portugal, was called upon to re-
deem the p:edge which he had given in the name of
the French nation. The manner in which LOUIS
PHILIPPE responded to the supplications of Spain is
sufficiently notorious. The QUEEN'S Government was
amused with promises, while substantial aid was given
to Don CARLOS—under the pretext of keeping up the
dignity of an embassy, the Spanish capital was swarmed
with spies worthy of the Palais Royale in 1792
and a birth day compliment paid to a beautiful woman,
and an insincere promise made to a too-confiding Mi-
nister, were presumed sufficient:for the exaction of a
confidence, and the enforcing of councils, alike fatal to
the cause of constitutional liberty. England has hi-
therto manifested the sincerity of her desire to tranquil-
lize Spain in conjunction with her allies. Her fleet, her
military stores, and many of her able officers have been
all at the service of the Spanish Government. But if she
be left unassisted, not only to guarantee the triumph of
the Queen of SPAIN over the Carlists, but to neutra-
lize the enmity of a treacherous ally—if she be called
upon to subsidize a Government reduced to the last
extremity by the bad faith of France—is she therefore
to be blamed for accepting such security as Spain may
voluntarily offer for the repayment of such subsidy ? We
are arguing the question inferentially, for as yet
we have received no authentic intelligeirce on the
subject of the occupation of San Sebastian by Great
Britain. The rumour in circulation is to this effect :
Spain stipulates to give up San Sebastian to Great
Britain as a guarantee for the repayment of a subsidy
of 60,0001. sterling, a month—the monthly subsidy to
be regularly paid during the continuance of the
civil war, on condition that England will eva-
cuate the town as soon as the debt so contracted
shall be repaid. Admitting this statement to
be correct, what advantage can England hope to
derive from such a contract ? Her garrison at San
Sebastian could not mortify the Spaniards, for we are
not in arms against them ; and the same reasoning ap-
plies with still more force to the French. The town
itself could be of no earthly service to us, even
as a commercial depot, as a handful of troops
could easily form a cordon sufficient to cut off all
intercourse with the interior. The only advantage
we would, or could, derive from its possession,
would be the certainty that the money due to us would,
sooner or later, be repaid—a certainty of which France
has never shown herself regardless under similar cir-
cumstances. But as we have already observed, the
French Government has only to perform the stipula-
tions of the Quadruple Treaty, to secure San Sebastian
and every other eity:in Spain, in the safe and undis-
irbed possession of Queen ISABELLA 11.

We learn, from the French papers of Tuesday, that
the Government has received an official communication
from the President of the Spanish Council, Senor
CALATRAVA, expressive of that Minister's satisfac-

tion of the FrenchGovernments' observance of the sti-
pulations of the quadruple treaty. In conjunction
with the statement of this curious fact, a Ministerial
Journal quotes the following extract from a speech de-

livered in the Cortes on the 6th instant, by CALA-
TRAVA, in answer to the serious and heavy charges
preferred against France by Senor ARGUELLEs
" I will give some explanation on matters which concern
a neighbouring Government, our friend and ally. The in-
tentions of men are in the hands of God, and to 11131 who
knoxs there must be left the power of judging them. We
can only judge of acts. Heving said this much, I can here
only repeat the declaration made by her Majesty on the
occasion of the opening of the Cortes, that the French Go-
vernment, since the beginning of the new Administration,
has constantly shown itself disposed to give full effect to
the stipulations of the quadruple treaty. Her Majesty's
Government receives from the French Cabinet repeated as-
surances of its amicable dispositions. There may be some
complaint on the mode of the execution of the treaty, and
on this point I beg to refer to the explanations I gave in
the report of my Administration. I must now declare
that the French Government is extremely favourable to the
Queen's cause, and that I found in the personal character
of the Minister, who represents Franca at Madrid, a man of
honour in the full extent of the term. It must not
be forgotten that the stipulations of the quadruple treaty
are neither as extended nor as explicit as is generally thought.
This false idea has no doubt given rise to many of the re-
proaches made against the French Government, which has
in reality contracted, neither by the treaty of the quadruple
alliance nor by the additional articles, any express obliga-
tion to afford us a compensation of any nature whatever. In
the 4th article of the treaty, if I am not mistaken, it. is said,
in speaking of the co-operation, that if at a later period it
should be thought necessary, the conditions must be regu-
listed by a new convention between the Powers who signed
the treaty. This supposes a new treaty, and the Ministry
has entered into none. There is no other obligation imposed
on the French Government, but that of the first article of
the additional convention, by which his Majesty the King of
the French engages to prevent the rebels from receiving
arms from the frontier. To this alone, does the obliga-
tion of the French Government extend. We cannot, there-
fore say or prove that the French Government has violated
the only obligation which it expressly contracted. The
co-operation to which M. Arguelles has made allusion is
quite foreign from the treaty ; it was demanded and granted,
not as an obligation resulting from the treaty, but as a work
of supererogation which the French Government might ac-
complish or not, just as it pleased."
Had we any wish to expose the gross ignorance of
Senor CALATRAVA with respect to the Quadruple
Treaty, we should here quote the several articles com-
prised in that document. We, however, confess that
we are sincerely sorry to find a Minister, in whom we
had placed such confidence, thus pander to the dis-
honest schemes of the French Cabinet, at the expense
of truth and the public safety. If, indeed, CALATRAVA
have written such a letter as is imputed to him—
if be have positively assured France that Spain
is satisfied with the conduct of the French Cabinet, as
far as regards theybservance of the stipulations of the
Quadruple Treat7—then do we accuse him of betraying
the interests and misrepresenting the sentiments of the
Spanish nation.
There is no news of any great importance from
Spain. The latest advices from Madrid are to the
13th inst., up to which time the debate on the articles
borantin, extraordinary powers to the Government
had continued, almost without intermission, in
the Cortes. The sixth and last article was then under
discussion. Bilboa continued to hold out on the
14th, although ESPARTERO had allowed the preced-
ing day to pass over without attempting to relieve it.
Gom EZ was reported to have reached the village of Agre-
da, within seven leagues of the Ebro, with the remains
of his division. A Christino force was organized to
oppose his passage of the river. For the detailed in-
telligence in the French Journals, with eespect to the
African expedition, we refer to our extracts under the
head " Foreign Intelligence."

BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY.—This; new periodical
work, which will make its appearance on the Ist of Ja-
nuary, will be expressly devoted to original contributions of
wit, humour, and satire, by the most distinguished writers of
the day. In addition to " Boz " (the editor), whose " Pick-
wick Papers" have conferred upon him an extent of popula-
rity unequalled by any living humourist, we shall have in this
publication the combined talents of Theodore Hook," Father
Prout," Samuel Lover, Sheridan Knowles, Douglas Jer-
rold, and a host of other eminent writers. This will be
the first instance, we believe, of a monthly work entirely
devoted to mirth. To all , Christmas firesides it cannot
fail to be heartily welcome.
The typhus fever is very prevalent in Bradford, and
several fatal cases have occurred,