The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-09 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

An immediate move of all the regiments in Ireland will be
the consequence of the withdrawal of troops now under
orders for Canada. The Ist battalion of the Coldstream
Guards, at present in Dublin, will most likely return to Lon-
don, and take their share of the household duties.

The Hercules, 74, is to take on board 500 of the men in-
tended to be added to the service companies of the regiments
in Canada. The Inconstant has already embarked a portion
of the 93d Highlanders, and the head-quarters and remaining
companies are to be conveyed out by the Pique, daily ex-
pected at Cork.

- The Boadicea freight-ship is to take out the draught of the
11th and 73d Regiments to Gibraltar, where they are to join
the service companies ; thence the entire will be conveyed to
Quebec by ships of war.

A correspondent recommends that no resignations of officers
in the Guards should be accepted until they join their regi-
ments in Canada, and also that such vacancies should be filled
up by promotions from regiments of the line.
Major W. F. Williams, K. H., has sailed for Canada by the
last packet, with despatches for Sir John Colborne. This dis-
tinguished officer was formerly iu the 85th Light Infantry,
and received several wounds during the Peninsular war : he
is also known for a very beautifully drawn survey of the island
of Malta.

We consider it necessary to state, that the number of men
intended for Canada, as announced by the United Service
Gazette of Saturday, is incorrect, inasmuch as our Contem-
porary states the entire to be only 3,900, whereas the troops
at present under orders, including the Artillery, amount to
very nearly 7,000 rank and file.

FALMOUTH, SATURDAY MORNING.—The Soho
steamer, Baines, arrived in the night with the Peninsular and
Mediterranean mails. Left Gibraltar, 30th ult. ; Cadiz, 28th;
Lisbon, 31st ; Oporto, Ist instant, and Vigo, the 2d. Only
two passengers. Public attention at Lisbon was occupied
with the plans of the Minister of Finance, which all condemned,
but for which none could propose a substitute. The state of
the whole country was awful. By an official report presented
by the Minister of the Interior to the Cortes, it appeared that
in nine districts only, out of the twenty-one into which Portu-
gal is divided, there had been committed in six months more
than six hundred and ninety murders, and 1,750 highway and
other robberies 11l—Falmouth Express, a new paper just
started.

HENRY OF CASTILE.—The Queen's levity might
have sought some justification in the unveiled licentiousness
of her husband. One of the maids of honour whom she brought
in her train, acquired an ascendancy over Henry which he
did not attempt to disguise ; and the palace, after the exhibi-
tion of the most disgraceful scenes, became divided by the
factions of the hostile fair ones. The Archbishop of Seville
did not blush to espouse the cause of the paramour, who
maintained a magnificence of state which rivalled that of
royalty itself. The public were still more scandalised by
Henry's sacriligious intrusion of another of his mistresses into
the post of abbess of a convent in Toledo, after the expulsion
of her predecessor, a lady of noble rank and irreproachable
character. The stream of corruption soon finds its way from
the higher to the more humble walks of life. The middling
cla,ses, imitating their superiors, indulged in an excess of
luxury ecia:y dc moralising and ruinous to their fortunes. The
contagion of example infected even tile higher ecclesiastics;
and we find the Archbishop of St James hunted from his
see by the indignant populace, in consequence of an outrage
attempted on a youthful bride, as she was returning from
Church, after the performance of the nuptial ceremony. The
rights of the people could be but little consulted, or cared for,
in a Court thus abandoned to unbounded licence. Accordingly
we find a repetition of most of the unconstitutional and op-
pressive acts ehich occurred under John the Second of Cas-
tile ; attc mpts at arbitrary taxation, interference in the free.
ilom of elections, and in the right exercised by the cities of
nominating the commanders of such contingents of troops as
they might contribute to the public defence. Their territories
were repeatedly alienated, and, as well as the immense sums
raised by the sale of Papal indulgences for the prosecution of
the Moorish war, were la, ished on the Royal satellites. But
perhaps the most crying evil of this period was the shameless
adulteration of the coin. Instead of fire Royal mints, which
formerly existed, there were now one hundred and fifty in the
hands of authorised indiv:duals, who debased the coin to such
a deplorable extent, that the most common articles
.of
life were enhanced in value three, four, and even six-
fold. Those who owed deb:s, eagerly anticipated the sea-
son of payment—and, as the creditors decidedly refused
to accept it in the depreciated currency, it became a fruitful
source of litigation and tumult, until the whole nation seemed
on the verge of bankruptcy. Iu this general license, the right.
of the strongest was the only one which could make itself
heard. The nobles, converting their castles into dens of
robbers, plundered the property of the traveller, which was
afterwards sold publicly in the cities. One of these robber.
alert:ens, who held an import ant command on the frontiers of
Murcia, was in the habit of carrying on an infamous traffic
with the Moors, by selling to them as slaves the Christian
prisoners of either sex whom he had captured in his marauding
expeditions. When subdued by Henry, after a sturdy resist-
ance, he was again received into favour, and reinstated in his
possessions. The pusillanimous monarch kneiv neither whose
to pardon nor to punish. —Prescott's History of Ferdinand and
Isabella of Spain.

COMMERCE OF FRANCE AND AFRICA. —The French Go-
vernment have long been jealous of the commercial power of
Great Britain in the Mediterranean and the northern coast of
Africa, to the great detriment of the industry of this coun-
try. She has been allowed to take possession of Algiers and
Constantine, without receiving the most distant remonstrance
on the part of the supine Secretary of State for Foreign Af-
fairs, Lord Palmerston ; and Louis Phillippe finds that to keep
himself and his descendants firm upon the throne, it is only by
encouraging the vain glory of conquest of the French people,
whose ambition will not be satisfied until the whole of northern
Africa, which offers so many resources, becomes under their
dominion as a Colony, and thereby destroy British trade and
influence in that part of the globe. The Ministers of Com-
merce and Marine are well aware of the advantages that arc to
.be derived by this conquest, and a secret plan has been for
some time on the Lapis to invade Tunis, and take possession of
that Regency, without giving offence to the British Govern-
ment; and a favourable opportunity is only looked forward to
by the Doctr:nnaire Ministry, so as to render themselves more
popular, to declare war with the Bey of Tunis, who they al-
ready pretend as an avante garde has insulted the French na-
tion by not fulfilling his engagements in allowing the erection
of a Catholic Chapel to the memory of Saint Louis on the spot
where it is said that Holy Monarch died. The army of Africa
is to be reinforced by new and fresh troops, which will amount
to an effective force of 35,000 men, with a good materiel of
artillery, and those that are sick will be recalled home. Great
inducements are held out to the different regiments for this
service, and the Minister of War has received more applications
from the Colonels of various corps to form part of the African
army than he can possibly comply with. In the meantime the
Minister of Marine is most indefatigable in increasing the
French navy at Toulon, Brest, Rochfort, Bayonne, Cherbourg,
and other Government dock-yards. Several new ships of war
are ordered to be immediately put upon the stocks. Russia,
with unbounded ambition and jealousy of the commercial ma-
ritime power of Great Britain, is also building ships of war in
every direction, and equipping a numerous fleet in the Black
Sea and the Dardanelles, in the hope that she will be
able to contend against the naval forces of England in
the grand enterprise she has in view in subjugating
Turkey under her despotic sway, and rendering Con-
stantinople the Palace of her Czars, which was predicted by
the sanguinary Empress Catherine. This attack on Turkey
has been in contemplation for some time by the Russian Mi-
nistry, as the spirit of liberty is increasing too rapidly in Egypt
and the East against the tyrannic views of the Autocrat, and
the Paella is too closely allied with England not to cause alarm
to the Grand Sultan, who is willing to submit to the Cabinet
of St. Petersburg if reigning under their bayonets and hordes
of Cossacks. The East India possessions of Great Britain are
likely to become much endancered by such an alliance, border-
ing- as the Russian empire will then be upon that vast commer-
cial resource to English industry ; and still, with all these ma-
ritime preparations on the part of this country and Russia, the
British navy is allowed by the Whig Ministry, on the score of
economy, to remain in that state, that in the event of a sudden
war, she would not be able to man forty, or even twenty, ships
of the line, without having recourse to that unconstitutional
practice—the press-gang.
The following is the return of the French naval force in the
Mediterranean :

TURKEY SQUADRON.—Commanded by Vice-Admiral Gal-
lois. The frigates Jupiter ( Admiral's Ship) Santa Petri, Triton,
Montebello, and the Trident ; Brigs—the Palinure, Petit
Thouars, Bongainville, Surprise, and the Argus.
AFRICAN SQUADRON.—Commanded by Rear-Admiral La-
!antic. The frigates Tena ( Admiral Ship), Suffren, Algesiras,
and the corvette the Diligente.
ON THE AFRICAN STATlON.—Brigs—the Dragon, Conedie,
Liamone, Cornet, Egerie, Emulation, Riberach, Seyboure,
Tafna, Colombo, Iris, Marne, Caravane, Agate, Fortune,
Durance, and the Menagerie sloops. Steam-boats—Castor,
Cerbere, Papin, Sphinx, Etna, Crocodile, Tartare, Chimere,
Foulton, Acheron, Vantour, Styx, Ranvier, and the Phare.
ON THE COAST OF SPAIN.—The frigates Iphigenie, Egle,
Fleche, Volage, Meleagre, and Alum'.
Coast of Italy, the Perle. On foreign stations, the Diadem,
Alert, Hercule, Favorite, Lutin, Indienne, Expeditienne, and
Chaurnois. At Toulon, the brig Alcibiade, Sylph, Merange,
and le Furet, besides several sloops of war and cutters. These
ships are all well manned and armed. With this naval force
France can easily take possession of Tunis and Tripoli with-
out fearing any opposition from England by sea. The favor-
able opportunity is, therefore, only wanting to declare war, and
those two cities sill fall like Algiers and Constantine into the
hands of the sworn commercial enemy of Great Britain. By
a return that has been printed for the purpose of proving to
the Minister of Commerce, and the Chamber of Deputies,
the importance of that Regency to France, it will be seen
what perhaps are the views of the Board of Trade, or Chambre
de Commerce, on that point.
Return of the importations and exportations from France
to the Regency of Tunis from 1830 to 1835.
Exportations from France to Tunis. Francs.
Cloths of French manufacture
Cotton and thread tissues
Silks
258,000
Gilt works
289,000
Wines and spirits . 638,000
Tin wares,
261,000
Colonial produce, sugar, coffee, tea, &c 2,228,000
Spanish wools 1,726,000
Vermillions and silk
Wood for dying, burning, &c.
Sundry articles

Total exportations 9,6:36,500
Importations from Tunis to France. Francs.
Olive oil
13,048,132
Wool
3,538,785
Grains
231,60()
Cattle for Algiers
Hides and wax
Fruits, dates, almonds, &c.
Sheep skins, &c.
Caps, &c.
Woolen manufactures 126,259
Various articles

Total importations 19,199,054
Grand recapitulation of the general Importations and Ex-
portations of the Regency of Tunis from foreign parts from
1830 to 1835.
Importations from

Exportations to.
Francs. Francs.
France
Tuseany
Sardinia
England
Turkey 4,472,000 5,909,985
Grcece
Austria
Russia .........
Spain
Two Sicilics 1,468,500 1,006,084

It will
infernal 38,568 800 48,642,467
be seen how very important to the commerce of
France it is for Government to take possessions of Tunis.
P. S. All is tranquil here, and nothing more is said of the
machine plots got up by the Plefet de Police, end
his gang of
mouchards or spies. The weather is extremely
cold and fuggy at freezing point.

Their Majesties the King and Queen of the Bel-
gians gave a ball on Wednesday evening, at which nearly all
the English residents in Brussels were present.
COAIBINATION.— Mr. O'Connell will meet the
Trades on Monday (this day) ; and it is needless to say that
we augur the best results from the conference.—Dublin Even-
ing Post.

few weeks—if we except the ordinary policereports—deserv-
ing of the special attention of the quid nuncs. O'Connell's
collision with the trades, and the insurrection in Canada, have
ceased to produce so much excitement in the news-rooms and
clubs as was manifest a few days ago. Though the news-
papers, however, are less anxiously sought after, or pored over
with less intensity of attention than when almost filled with
the Liberator's exhortations to his fellow-citizens, or with the
details of the reecontres between Papincau's followers and our
fellow subjects on the other side of the Atlantic, Irishmen are
not one whit less speculative and curious than they have always
been respecting the progress of public affairs. And all those
who have not some deep and substantial interest in being other-
wise engaged, are everywhere very busy in discussing the re-
sult of the great metropolitan dinner which is to take place
here or, Thursday next—(and of which more by and bye)—
the consequences of the Canadian strike for more freedom, on
that country and on Ireland—and, though last not least, the
effects of the junction between your late contemporary, the
True Sun, and your own steady-going, perennial, and truth-
telling luminary.
It is, indeed, no exaggeration to state, that, as far as the
observation of an individual during the last ten days is wor-
thy of belief, a great portion of the people of Ireland, in-
cluding persons of every rank and shade of Liberal—and per-
haps some of anti-Liberal—opinions, feel considerable interest
in the circumstance last mentioned. As the reason for this
may not be very obvious to all your readers, I shall endeavour
to explain it. During the last six or seven years your journal
has taken a leading, if not the foremost part, of all your Lon.
don contemporaries in Irish politics. It has advocated the
part of the people, and exposed the corruption of their op-
pressors. We have in this country several publications, both
in the metropolis and the provinces, conducted by liberal and
I enlightened individuals, who have been earnest and eloquent
is reprobating many public abuses, which, during the long pe-
riod of Tory misgovernment and Orange ascendancy, by irri-
tating and oppressing, have nearly demoralized and degraded
several millions of the most laborious, sensitive, and intelli-
gent people in the universe. But their circulation being
comparatively limited in England, they had little or no effect
on the other side of the channel, much less on the British Le-
gislature. By your commentaries, however, on such passing
events in this country as came under your observation, you not
only stimulated the exertions of O'Connell, aid, and other
Irish patriots and representatives in the discharge of their pub-
lic duties, but your example induced your contemporaries to
consider the same objects deserving of attention ; and thus,
within the short period already mentioned, the affairs of Ire-
land, from having been as little regarded as those of Canada,
if not less, have become matters of paramount consideration
with the press, the public, the Legislature and the Govern-
ment of the United Kingdom. This circumstance, together
with the Express Editions of The Sun, had greatly increased
the number of your readers in this country amongst all the
moderate, liberal, and independent politicians. The True
Sun had also become a general favourite with the Radicals,
and was likely to advance rather than retrograde latterly,
among those who may be called Independents—that is, who
belong neither to the present Government, to the O'Connell,
or to the Orange party. They, to be sure, are not very nu-
merous as contradistinguished from the Liberals, for since Earl
Alulgrave's Government has conciliated O'Connell, and uni-
versal confidence amongst Reformers, society is almost com-
pletely divided into two parties—the Conservatives and their
opponents. There are, however, some few persons standing
aloof from either; and truth obliges me to say, they are in
every sense respectable and independent—whose respect for
the True Sun and its line of politics has been fomented, if
not altogether erected, by the notice taken of that journal, as
well as of some others of the same politics, by the Orange
press, for their own purposes. The Evening:Mail has had
frequent quotations from the Radical press since the opening
of Parliament, with the view of injuring the present Govern-
ment, by showing that that great pillar of Reform was not
likely to continue a steadfast support to them. These quota-
tions were--fortunately for the good cause, like other Tory
doings—some of the best specimens of public sentiment and
a true regard for the people's welfare that have been pub-
lished, and if the organs of the faction knew their effect upon
some of their own readers, they would, no doubt, be slow in
increasing their publicity. All these circumstances are now
favourable to your journal, provided it continues to pursue that
same straightforward course which has hitherto distinguished it
—neither pampering the people in their inconsiderate postu-
lations, nor apologising for the Government in their dilatory
pleas and plausible professions. If the Liberal press of both
colititries had avoided these extremes since the last formation
of the Melbourne Cabinet, the real interests of the nation
would have made a greater progress than they have done.
You arc now in a position to command " the administration
of national justice," by exercising with energy and discretion
that censorial power which properly belongs to a free press in
an enlightened age. Use this privilege boldly, and you can.
not fail in securing increased benefits for yourself and the
country. _ _

In a° few days all Ireland will be on the qui vive, preparing
petitions to Parliament for Corporate Reform, Vote by Bal-
lot, and the Abolition of Tithes. These are objects in which
the inhabitants of the entire kingdom have a common interest,
and which will not be delayed or lost sight of, no matter how
pressing the affairs of Canada, or other matters deserving the
consideration of Parliament, may be. They must, conse-
quently, be pressed forward immediately after the recess with
undiminished perseverance, whether successfully or otherwise
in the present state of parties and general politics it is im-
possible to say. The people of Ireland will do their
duty ; and it is to be hoped their representatives will
do the same. The latter may not be able to obtain
such a measure—if any—of Corporate Reform, Poor-
laws, and Tithe Abolition, as their constituents expect.
There are, however, several other measures of minor and
local advantage, which might be obtained, notwitstanding the
strong opposition ; because they depend upon the abolition of
abuses which no one—no matter how Tory or Orange he may
be—can have the hardihood to defend. Among these is the
statement of the St. George's Church nuisance, or job in
this city, the full particulars of which were given in The
Sun of the 11th of November last. The history of this jeb
is the most extraordinary of any ever yet detailed in the cata-
logues of public abuses and corruptions. Some of the Dublin
Liberal Press, the Evening Post and Register, have abridged
the statement from The Sun, and promised to direct attention
to it again and again. In the meantime a requisition is being
prepared to convene a public meeting on the subject, when
the whole business will be exposed. It may turn out that no
person now alive is legally culpable, much less accountable
for, the 60,0001. already extorted from the parhhioners under
the sanction of three private Acts of Parliament. But the
transaction will net appear the less nefarious on that account ;
it being, in fact, the clearest illustration that can be referred
to of the audacious peculations and profligacy of the Ascend-
ancy faction of Ireland during the nineteenth century. And
what is most strange is, that though thousands are still
mulcted annually for the sustainment of this jcb, and are ex-
claiming against it, no wail organised endeavour has yet been
made, either to try the legality of the demand in a Court cf
Law, since the passing of the Church Temporalities Act, or
to petition Parliament for the redress affo:deil by that Act to
all the other parishes of Ire'a.ml. It is a strong proof that
the gentry, or that portion of the community who call them-
selves gentry—and who constitute the majority of persons
liable to this tax—arc, when left to themselves, averse to
Reform, and unwilling to promote it, even where. their own
pockets are concerned.

There will be no marked expression of public opinion in
this country on the great political crisis now approaching till
Thursday next, when the great dinner to O'Connell and our
County Members is expected to afford an opportunity for that
purpose. The preparations for this banyto.t are oa the most
extensive scale. Five hundred tickets are already disposed
of. The great circus of the Theatre in which it is to take
place cannot accommodate more than 600 gentlemen at the
tables, and about 1,000 ladies in the boxes ; but arrangements
are in progress to have an ante-rocm, capable cf containing
200, in readiness for the occasion.

ANECDOTE OF HER MAJESTY.—On Wednesday
last, while her Majesty and the Duchess of Kent, attended by
the Royal suite, were returning on horseback towards Windsor
from Colnbrook, a heavy shower of rain came on just as the
Royal party approached Ditton Farm, belonging to Mr. White,
where they entered the rickyard, and the whole of the party
took shelter from the " pelting of the pitiless storm"—which
showers alike on the Peer and the peasant—in a shed, which
was used by one of Mr. White's area in the manufacture of
hurdles, in which occupation the man was then busily em-
ployed, when he was suddenly aroused from his labours by the
unexpected visit of Royalty under his humble roof. Her
Majesty, while under shelter, entered into conversation with
the man respecting the manufacture of hurdles, and seemed
highly pleased with the explanations given her. As soon as
the rain ceased the. Royal I.a-ty departed, her Maj- sty leav
ing a sovereign with the hurdle- manufactur, r, who afterwards
assembled his companions, and in:rtd a bumper wass.wallowed
in drinking health and long life to their aini.tble Sovereign
The hurdle-maker has since got the cognomen among his
fellow-labourers of the manufacturer of those articles to her
Majesty. On this occasion, as usual, a close carriage we-'s
in attendance on her Majesty, but the storm came on so sud-
dee,ly that she cculd not at the moment avail herself of it.—
lirindsor Paper.

The adjourned ►necting of the Guardians for ti►c
Huddersfield Poor-law Un;oti, will take place on Mond,y,
the 29th inst. They are all, with one or two exceptions, op
posed to the new Poor law, and it is expected that they gill
again adjourn the meeting without choosing a clerk, unl ss
the two new magistrates, W. Brook, Esq., and T. Starkey,
Esq , attend, and along with the two or three elected guar-
dians, Who are in favour of the law, choose one. Owing to
a clerk not having been elected, the inhabitants of the Hud-
dersfield Union are deprived of the benefit of the Registra-
tion Act.