The Sun.
London, England, 1813-11-15 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

IMP one of those who read the letter
latc!y published on the capture of St. Sebastian's,
with contempt: for it as a vulgar and inartiticial
labrication.•. The robbery of 'ehurch-,plate in a
town held for six years by successive French gar-
risons;
the loss of the chastity which, was left
. woo)* its fenuiles, after the usual cottat el of pro-
. .......
among so many Inonsands of Frenchmen,
"and the stripping of a.Priest, who; to ?Wappear-
.
ances, was a phinderer'of his own altar, were ca-
• L11'11.11103 that could. not weigh viry sietionsly with
any of its readers. Lord BATHURST,
• mirable speech, has answered the heavier clarges
. of massacre nnd horning, .with a clearness that
can leave no doubt in the Mimi of A rational maq.
•.,/fis Lordship probably thought it beneath the
, pity of debate to notice the propagators of the
calumny among ourselves. , A few days since, the
Number of the korning. Clvoniele which contained
.. this letter catire into uty hands. To spread ca-
lumny with the Vague idco of thus- exposing it to
refutation may'be foolish, but to spread it with
its venom 'pointed and augmented. 'cannot be less
than 'criminal. The letter of Senor NittaiNOut
VELAVEED was reinforced by the following cum-
- went; which I give verbatim fro-m the Paper.
"The hortiSlaareount of the excesses ciumpitied by the
soldiery in St. Sebastian's, as related in. a Cadiz Journal, is
• too ninnstrous for belief. We publish the libel,/ that it may
Annulate Govrrnment to procure tin inquify to be made into
• • the facts, and demand a public refutation of the atrocious
, calumny, if provvd to he false. Let it he remeurbded that
this is not a publicationsby an enemy, but out feivii4----hy the
Ally whose ctruse we have espoused, and for VehoSe deliver.:
• ackce front-the tyranny 'of an iuvarier, we have sacrificed many
tiMusands cif our yantli, and many millions of-our money. If
Arch, things ncini he published under the eye of the c,ortes,
wlthout-truth, we must either suppose them to be without
, power or without prinaiple. etate?nent he genuine,
yip euieat to hick our Aeues in dianzay, hut we cannot With's?:
•i lof Englishmen, of Christians—of the inhabitants of a count'
try, who feeling. in theaselves the Mused' eifect, of their
religiOn, wit/ forth ent4Tariet to .inculcut,c its precepts in
Ilse Minds of others. If mcc.it bie an rxuddcinut foltwiaol"
Here we have the whole.course df ihe'Editor's
cogitations in 4 very happy and obvious train.
• - He,begirts with a flaming declaration of hvrilde
-eitcessci committed by the Soldiery, and finds them
tuts uunstroas for belief. Not too inprobable, not
coming front too obscure a source, not too
uu-
xuhtaoite'd by other testimony, het of too, Iwo-.
ciotts an order nOt to excite that suspension cf
belief which is naturally felt for the' first rooment
after ..tt frightful recital. The Editor 'then recut-
' teeth% that the age of pillorieS is not past, turns •
craven., and in at strain of tenderness for himself,
avows that he publishes the libel 'simply.
," to
stimulate GoKernineet to procure an inquiry to
he made into the facts,!' ash it was ;o he pre;
Luuled 'oaf Government were to be indebted to
the superier information Of this -person fur the
existence. of the libel, or that knowing it, they
were not competent or inclined to do their duty,
-until they were Startled Imo it ,by the stimulus of
the Mol:tting .Chronicle. Sheltered by this inge.!..
.nious proviso, he ventures forth egiiin, mid so-
• letritily desires us to recollect that this is, "'not
n puhliCation by an enemy, but by a friend, by thc
Ally whose cause we have espoused, and for
whose deliverance from tyranny we have sacri-
. beet'," &c, Did he look'at the signature of the
letter ) Did he find it nuthenticated by the seal
of the Regency ? Did he take the trouble of in-
forming himself who the '' Senor MiaiIINGUI
Vim/wt.:Aire" might have been ? Ur, did he not
in la conscience believe, that if it were the name
of an individual, it miist have been that Of some
odious and unnoted traitor to both Spain and
England, who, abusing the privileges at his
country's freedom, under, the pretexts of huiva-
silty and justice, propagated slanders, which
could neither !tete been conceived in the head,
• nor transmitted by the pen of a wise, an honest,
or a patriotic man '' But if such things can be'
published under .the eye of the Cortes without
• truth, we mast suppose them either without power
or principle." Might it•not have suggested itself
to this watt's personal recollection, that an incur-
: rigihle libeller might sonietimeS.escape the lash of
Govciument deeply employed in public coil-
cents, or that the groisue-s of hint calumny might
be despised and left to its own conviction, or that
it might be 'inconsistent with the dignity, and
therefore the duty of the highest body in the.
State to feel itself. iuterested
.in throwing oil
charges levelled by so low an agent of the enemy.
Does he venture to assert that the British Govern-
ment is without principle, it' their punt snifernce
lkaa given hint a doubt: of. their power.? and yet,
er that (internment, the following sLitement
published by him, nOtoriondy without
tiq' and hitherto without punishment
'l!*itt:uv,!,,t.l3:l.st, 1 y ,;eito an Offict7r of ninkaiiii of great ex:.
who 114, r oceot :7 returned ft urn Spain in consetovOcr
of bad heulth, awl who has. Writ dwiiig the is hole war in
the renitAuln; whether his opir,ions be well or ill
we ktitnt nut, but hi.; Oak:petit i,, that !•lintin, unantkotted,
never can =Wain its own ind,:petiderice; that tli..-.lipation
and haloknee connate to be prevalent charactcri:tiev ;
the ahhatrerge of the rhe is get io animated Or noel
ver:ial ft 4 generally baleoell to Le; that Mere la a reli-
getouc intolerance, Which areauonally in a de-
coleaeoer tridy Tejo:44c to protestant feelinyc,' and darer-
,tive of the Vic:M.la be e:rpecierl /ram a perowinent oaf ,fl~dl
union; that the aystem cj 06:3.roment exhibit). weAri.:o:3l; and
VACiLeATON in all ii.r2RANClfes; that tree policy of else
lending Members 4 confineot la terporetTy expediency, and
enceel4tt by »tog:iffy; tif partial discrlinitation; that t‘e re'
irourat of the country are incompaeal to gr;:at el4res, anti
' the *camel int:Wawa; exhauttcil." -
And :yet if this attack,- which carried false-
hood. in every feature of itk, which described the
Spo.nish Government as untrue to the faith of
solemn Treaties, and slandered the entire of
a •Itation whose cauce is our own, was- taken

that