The Sun.
London, England, 1824-08-18 00:00:00

sail of ships and brigS were sunk or driien on
shore, and the plantations on the island destroy-
ed.- • The following extract records a melancholy

event :

" HALIFAX, JUNE 21.—A fishing vessel has lately return-
ed to Margaret from St. Paul's Island, oil' Cape North, where
they. discovered eleven dead bodies of persons lying in a tent on
the island, supposed to have perished from cold and starvation,
as there appeared signs of their living on each other.—Part of
a vessel was on shore, but no papers were found by which her
name could be discovered."
CHARLESTON, JULY 16.—Arrived, the schooner Ann and
Adelina, Little, from Matanzas, in four'days. The brig John,
of Boston, for Matanzas; was captured on the 4th of June, off
that harbour, by threeyiratical boats, and plundered of money,
clothing, Etc. Pirates near Matanzas have become very
numerous.

Bahia Papers to the 19th of June reached us
yesterday. In the Independent Constitutional there
are several long articles upon the threatened at-
tack of Brazil by an expedition from Portugal ;
and in that of June the 7th is a Proclamation
from Senhor FRANCISCO VICENTV VIANNA, Pre-
sident of the Province of 13:thia, in which he

says•"
I announce to all the inhabitants of this province, that
though the news from England of 3(1 April contradicts the re.
ports brought by an American ship front Lisbon, and though
the weakness of Portugal, and its convulsed state, are sufficient
to allay our apprehensions of an attack on this province or other
parts of Brazil, yet as it is better to have troops well disciplin.
ed, and arms in our hands, till the conclusion of the treaty of
recognition, independence, and peace, to negociate which there
are Portuguese Envoys in London, waiting for the Envoys of
the Efiwire of Brazil ; and as it is advisable to animate by these
preparations those timid persons, who, instead of defending
their houses as it is their duty, already begin to leave them, I
call, therefore, upon all the inhabitants of this Province, from
the age of fifteen to that of forty, to appear at the Palace of the
Government, to be enrolled in the troops eof the first and
second line."
In the number of the I4th June, there is a
second Proclamation, in which the Governor
states, that •
" A sufficient number of persons not having appeared in an-
swer to his first summons, he declares that it is absolutely ne-
cessary, for the defence of the country, that is invitation be at-
tended to ; he promises that those who appear within eight days
shall receive a certificate exempting them from military service,
as soon as the independence of Brazil shall be recognized.
Those who do not conic of their own accord, are liable to the
usual regulations for the recruiting of the army."

The Paris Papers of:Sunday last contain a let-
ter from Augsburg, .from which it would appear
that the influence of the Court of Austria is at
present employed in' endeavOuring to bring about
a reconciliation between Portugal and Brazil ;
for this purpose an extraordinary courier is said
to have been recently dispatched to London,-
with fresh instructions to Prince ESTERIIAZY on
the subject of the negociations. Prince WILT-
TERNICU, the Marquis de CARAMAN, and M. de
TATISCHEFF, are expected to return to Vienna
between the 20th and 25th of the present mouth.
It is mentioned by the Quotidienne, as a pre-
veiling report, that General DIGEON, the Com-
mander of the French army in Spain, is about to
be recalled. The reason assigned for this mea-
sure is the supposed necessity of confiding the
command of the troops and the embassy to the
Court of Madrid to the same person. The
Court of Cassation has rejected the appeal of the.
Crown Lawyers against the decision of the inte-
rior Courts in favour of the Journal called the
.dristarque Francais.

The regulations imposed by the late Order in
Council, respecting the treatment of slaves, have been carried
into effect in Trinidad ; and it has been found that they are in
practice as full of difficulties and impediments us the planters
had anticipated. In many respects these regulations, which
it Will be borne in mind were framed in this country, have been
discovered to be no ambiguous, that numerous applications
haVe been already made to the Governor for explanations of
their apparently unintelligible provisions. The experience
of a few days has demonstrated the impossibility of legi,lat..
ing, in detail, at such a distance, with regard to the mode
in which the negrnes shall be compelled to labour. Obso•
lete devices have been revived, and new punishments in-
vented, to coerce the female slaves, on whom it is no longer
permitted, for any offence, to use the whip. Amongst the
substitutes sanctioned by authority, and recommended, in a
Proclamation by the Governor, are solitary confinemement,
field stocks, handcuffs, collars, and padlocks. Some of these
revolting instruments of coercion had been generally laid aside,
and are now again resorted to, only because some means of com-
pulsion are absolutely necessary. While slavery is allowed to
exist, the master must have the power of inflicting such a
degree. •of corporal chastisement on his slaves as may be
requisite to compel them to labour. All beyoisd that is
mere cruelty, and should be rigorously prohibited ; but we
do not understand how slavery can be continued without the
arbitrary right of punishment being invested in the master ;
and it matters little, we think, whether the punishment in-
flicted be of one description or another, provided it be not
contrary to public decency, nor extending beyond the necessity
of the case. But the main evil of this kind of interference by
the mother country is, that •dissensions are thereby sown be-
t Ween the negroes and the proprietors, • and the former are, as
at Jamaica, induced to believe that the British Government in-
tends to grant their freedom, or, perhaps, has actually de-
clared them free. Hence-arises insurrections, and a long train
of consequent crimes and outrages. The new rekulations had
not been in force at Trinidad four-and-twenty hours, when the
slaves on sonic estates manifested adisposition to insubordination.
The delusion they had embraced was, that they had ceased to
be the privateproperty of their owners, and were now " work-
g .for the King." Indeed, this notion is not very sur,
prising nor ridiculous. They probably knew that these re-
gulations were imposed by some Power which controuled
the authority .gf their masters •, and, dull as their facul-
ties may be,—we dare say they thoroughly comprehend
the proposition, that that cannot be the property of one
man which may, in spite of his wishes and retnonstrances,
be lawfully disposed of or destroyed by another.., We
are anxious to see measures of practical improvement
carried into execution in our Colonies, according to sonic
well digested plan, by which the welfare of the negroes,
and the safety of the proprietary, will be equally consulted ;
and it is therefore that we regret, that these lam:attire plans
have been adopted, and with such undue precipitation forced
upon tire colonists. These regulations, after producing much
confusion and mischief, will finally be found abortive, and the
great work of amelioration perhaps abandoned in despair, or
forgotten amidst the dangers that will result from the rash at-
tempts making to compress into the space of a few years, what
must, in the nature'of things, be spread over the face of ages.

Yesterday morning Mr.,BEGO, an Italian Cou-
rier, arrived at the Foreign Office, with dis-
patches for Mr. Secretary CANNING, from Sir
WILLIAM A'COURT, our Ambassador at Madrid,
dated up to the 6th inst. Mr. BEGO also brought
dispatches for the Right Hon. Secretary from Sir
CHARLES STUART, our Ambassador at Paris, at
which city he stopped on his way to England.
PORTSMOUTH, AUG. 16.—This afternoon his
Grace the Duke of Wellington arrived here in his travelling
carriage and four, and immediately proceeded to view the dock•
yard, after which his Grace went on board Sir George Martin's
flagship, the Victory, where he was received with the salute
due to his exalted rank. On Sunday, at the New Sally Port,
his Grace was met by Sir George artin, the Port Admiral,
Sir James Lyon, the Lieut.-Governor, and the respective heads
of departments.—This mornin,m arrived the Duchess of York
transport, Lieut. Scrymgour, Royal Navy Agent, from the
West Indies. She left Barbadoes on the 12th of July, at which
time all the islands were remarkably healthy, and every thing
very quiet, and had been so for some time. The transport has
brought home invalids under the charge of Lieut. Rainsforth,
of the 35th, and Staff Surgeon Dense.
T lla VICE•CHANCELLOR.—The report yester-
day was even more favourable than that of the
preceding day :•*" Every thing is going on as
favourably as can be wished."