The Sun.
London, England, 1825-10-15 00:00:00

THE ISLE OF MAN.

Extract of a Letter late fy received from Douglas.
There are few places, we apprehend, so little
known as this island ; and Oren its pro':imity to
England is considered,it..appears not a little Sur-
prising. Providence has been most bountiful in
its dispensations here, and in no case more de-
cidedly than in placing, thisisle,.as it were, in lite
very centre between England, Ireland, and Scot-
laud : from Liverpool it is but 75 miles, or eight
Hours' sail ; from Scotland only 20 miles; and from
Ireland but little more. The ports and harbours
of Douglas, Ramsay, and Castle Town, afford
safe anchorage in all weathers. The gross re-
venue of this island in Ills, year 1776 was under
1,4001. In the year 1824 it exceeded 20,0001.
During the last few years the improvement his
been rapid, originating mainly in the great ad-
vantage d;rieed fron► the steam vessels; it was no
uncommon thing, before their introd u ction, for five
weeks to elapse without a vessel touching at this
port, and mercantile pursuits were frequently
interrupted for six or seven weeks. The mails
are now regularly brought by the Stearn packets
three times a week, and during the summer
and autumnal months, each day brings visiters
of a moderate class to this favoured isle. I say
favoured, for I believe no other can be put in
competition with it. First, it is exempt from
taxes of all sorts ; provisions are not half so
high as in England—in this month (October),
the finest beef and mutton are sold et 54d., and
bread proportionably low ; and French and
Portugal wines and spirits are little more than
they originally cost in those countries. House
rent also is very moderate ; 30 guineas a year is
the price of a good furnished house, and no taxes.
Approaching the walls of Castle Mona, the seat
of the Duke of Athol, two crescents are forming
and will be complete next year ; besides this, •
around the town of Douglas may be seen lots of
excellent residences, adapted to most respectable
visitors. If the climate alone were taken into
consideration, it must give it pre-eminently the
advantage—it is five degrees warmer than at
Sidmouth, and may compete safely with the most
southern parts of France. For beauty of scenery,
it would be idle to compare any watering
place in England to it—the beautiful ine-
quality of the grounds in this territory, the
immense variety of hill and dale, its lofty •
mountains and its terrific glens, are varieties
not to be found elsewhere. But it has been said
the society here is not good. I admit it was fair
to say so a few years since, when persons were
privileged to live here free from English arrest.
This has long since been done away, and every
succeeding year has brought an accession of
respectable visitors, but not to the extent the
Isle deserves. The distance would, at no dis-
tant period, have appeared an insuperable bar,
hut it cannot .operate so now. The distance from
Loudon is two hundred and seventy-five miles :
by leaving the metropolis at night (say Sun-
day), you may dine at Douglas on Tuesday,
and take 16 hours rest, at Liverpool out of the
48. The hotels 'here are well fitted up ; the.one
in the Crescent.may compete with the York, at
Brighton. In this hotel you may be boarded for
twenty-five shillings a week, and sit down regu-
larly to three courses. If to this expence you
add a bottle of wine regularly (and that wine
shall be champagne, if yoit please, the price of
which is here 54s per dozen), you may live here
for 565. a-week; and 'a family upon much easier
terms, as it runty be supposed the !adios will not (for
a long while at least) regularly attack a bottle of
champagne each. The result of Oasis manifest. A
man may have his family here for four months in
a year, and live in princely state all the while,
for 1001. When the Duke of Athol is here his
castle is a constant seat of hospitality and good
fellowship ; and at Bishop's Court, time episcopa
palace, resides the Lord Bishop of Sodor and
Mann. Government, we learn, have at length
come to the resolution to purchase the remaining
sovereign right and vast possessions of the Duke
—the Act of Parliament authorising this sale
passed last Session. It has been the fashion for
some years past, for the " House of Keys" to be
opposed on all occasions to the Duke ; why or
wherefore is best known to themselves. One
thing, however, is very certain, that they show
great inquietude at the change they are about to
undergo. We believe that since the arrival of
Mr. George Robins in this island, they have felt
the uncertain tenure by which they hold their
seats. The object of his visit was at first doubt-
ful, but so soon as it was ascertained he had
taken up his abode alternately at Castle
Mona and Bishop's Court, the mist that co,
vered their eyes at once disappeared, and the
length of their faces demonstrate pretty clear-
ly the sail reverse they now anticipate.--
Mr. Robins has already been in the island a
month, during which time he appears to have
been busily occupied in surveying and valuing
every thing belonging to the Duke; in most,or
' his excursions he was accompanied by the Lord
Bishop, whose local knowledge, no doubt, was
very useful. By the way, a wiseacre in this
town, who has been furnishing a Morning
Paper, with copious extracts of the birth,
parentage, and education" of the people of
this little Isle, has, in one of •his late attacks,
shown too much of the cloven foot ; he has want-
ed the dexterity to conceal that he is employed
by the " 'louse of Keys" to underrate the value
of the Duke's property. To illustrate this fact,
we may state that the Duke of Athol is Sovereign
Lord of an island containing 300 square miles,
the value of which may be .estimated at about
200,000/. a-year, independent of minerals and
mines, with which it abounds • and yet this
Manxman states Mr. Robins's valuation to
have reference only to one point, viz. the fee
simple of the Duke's property, which he says is
only worth 300,000/. ; adding, that Government
I►ad only offered 280,0001. It is not worth while
to controvert such manifest nonsense. 'Mr. Robins
set out on Wednesday on his return to England.
The Duke is expected here from Dunkeld, the
first week in .November. I shall watch the
movements of the Manx Reporter, and be assured
you shall hear again, if it be necessary to expose
his misrepresentations, •

The French Papers received last night have no-
thing of political interest in th.,m. Extracts, how-
ever, will be found in a preceding column. The
Eloile, dated Thursday, Oct. 13, contains a Bull
of the POPE to the Catholics of Holland, declaring
the election of WILLIAM VET to the Bishopric of
Deventer or Utrecht void ; and anathematizes
and excommunicates the Bil-hop and all who
have had auy thing to do in this elec-
ion and consecration. The document is too
long to admit of insertion. The issuing of
the Bull in question is referred to in the news
from Rome given below. This proceeding seems
to be usual, and has been taken by all the Popes
fur the last century, on occasion of the election
of Bishops by the schismatics of Holland.
Letters in these papers from Constantinople,
dated 10th September, state that the Porte is
about to send a INlihmidar to the isle of Tenedos
to receive the American Agent, who lately arrived
in the Mediterranean, charged to negotiate for
the free navigation of the Black Sea, for the
merchant vessels of the United States. This con-
duct on the part of the Porte has excited no little
sensation, as it is taken as an augury of success.
The American fleet had quitted Smyrna and re-
turned to Napoli. The Pacha of the former
place had forwarded the dispatches of the Diplo-
matic Agent to Constantin p le.

The Allgemeine Zeilung contains no intelli-
gence except the subjoined. This article says,
that the French Cabinet had tendered its media-
tion to the Court of Rome, in order to forward
the Concordat which the POPE desires to con-
clude with the New States of South America.
The Neapolitan exiles who resided in Rome have
been recalled. The freedom of the press, it
seems, is about to he controuled by the establish.
ment of a Censorship of no very limited nature.
The pretence for this measure is the alleged ne-
cessity of prohibiting works which may lead to
disputes with Foreign Governments. Of course
the administration of his Holness to his own sub-
jects
exclude d is
e of
the t h
ideaa tpaternal
as entirely to
e
be intended to
prevent any animadversions upon him, or his
x tlta ti t o nature,
could
d
Government and measures.

ItOMZ, SEPT. 24.

It is affirmed that the Cabinet of the Tuileries has offered to
the Roman Court its mediation, with respect to the concordat
which it desires to conclude with the new States in America.—
It is probable that this affair will be settled in a satisfactory
manner, as the Holy See thews a very conciliatory disposition.
flis Holiness has made Mr. Calandrelli, a celebrated astro-
nomer, a Canon in the Church of St. John de Latteran, dis-
pensing him from attending in the choir. This nomination is
a new proof of the encouragement which the Pope gives to
men of learning. The greater part of the Neapolitan exiles,
who lived at Rome and in the environs, have received from their
Sovereign pert/link-xi to return to their own country. They
take with them the reputation of good and peaceable behavi-
our. On the 18th of August a law respecting the Censorship
of the Press was published. A Council of Revision, consist.
ing of four Members of each of the five Colleges of the Univer-
sity is formed for the purpose of examining the works in.
tended to be printed, to see that they contain nothing that
may lead to disputes with a foreign Government. This