The Sun.
London, England, 1823-12-15 00:00:00

THE MARKETS.

CORN-EXCHANGE', Dzc. 15.
The arrivals of all kinds of Grain last week were large ;
there was also a considerable quantity of Flour. This morning
our supplies again come rather short ; and as the top price of
Flour is fully established at 555. per sack, there has therefore
been a brisk demand for Wheat, and the prices have expe-
rienced a further advance of 2s. to 3s. per quarter On the quo-
tations of this day se'nnight ; there has beta sonic demand for
Barley to ship for the North. and this article is 2s. per quarter
higher; Beans are advanced Is. per quarter; Boiling 'Peas re-
main much the same as last quoted. The sale of they Leas is
lively, and they are ls. per quarter dearer; more business has
been done in the Oat trade this morning, and the prices of last
Monday are fully maintained. In the Seed trade there is no
alteration.

Wheat, Red 4os 114* 1 Pease, 'White .... ....... 28s 42*
White 441 641 i --- (hey 'lla k 3
Itys
Burley t2l, 21is Oats ')os %la
Malt —s ...-S Mar 4 641 s
... . .w.ARICIVALS LAST. WEr}C.
. ..

English %neat, 10,112—Barloy, o,ol7.—Malt, 0,72.1—0at5,
1k,120-11.ye, o—Beans, 3080—Peas,3047—Portign Wheat, 0
Irish Oats, 2,4lo—English Flour, 111,1182 sacks. •

ATTILAUTI rnicE OF COT IN ENGLANO AND WALES,
IN TIIK WEEK ENDING DECEMTIEIt 6.
Wheat, M. 10d. ; Barley, 2.85. 4d. ; Oats, 21s. 7d.; Rye,
325, Ud. ; Beans, 365. ad. ; Peas, 345. ad.
The Average Price of Brown or ..Vluscovatio Sugar, computed
from the Returns made in the Wick ending the 10th d 4 of
December, 1823, is 365. O'd. per cwt.

SMITHFIELD MARKET, DEC. 15.
The show and numbers of Cattle at market this morning far
exceeded any thing seen for several years past. The number
of Oxen are supposed to have been from I to 6,000, and they'
extended down snow.hill as far as the, :Saracen's Dead., The
interior of the market was cranun'd with them ; amongst Which
e observed a great many of the finest we over saw —and the
salesmen were not back in asking a good price, particularly for
prime Scots, which obtained near s. per stone ; also tine soma,.
down Sheep sold at high prices.
• To sink the Offal, per stone of Dib.
But' 3p lid to 4s Oa Veal
IYitittoa 3* tkl w 44 641 Pork ls lid to 4s tht
Lamb Os th to Os sd. •

NAT AIM STRAW, PER LOAD.
nay lOs to .C 5 Clover .—... 1:5 O. to £G 04
Straw Lt lBtt to LI 2s.

Crtant.us MaTiatws has been givhu his enter-
tainments two nights at axford, under the
mediato sanction' Of the Heads of the Colleges.
The crowd on each evening was exCessive; from
the Seniors down the Undergraduates, ilcaily 1111
were present.

THE LONDON JOURNALS.

. .
DAILY
gaaracts from the Morning Papers, Doe• 15.

[MORNING CU 110N1
Our confidential advices written from Madrid

subsequent to the formation of the new Ministry,
• give us to understand that no,material alteration
tan be expected from the late change, either as
regards the private sentiments of the King, or
the policy he intends to pursue. Casa Irujo has
certainly had .more opportunities of seeing the
world and 'knowing •what good government is,
than perhaps any man who could he called to the
heed of affairs in Spain, as he commenced his dip-
lothatic carreer in London many years ego under
the Marquess del Campo, and afterwards resided
a long time in the United States, as the Spanish
Envoy, where he married • the daughter of
M'Ke.an, Governor of Pensylvattia, and one of
the most determined republicans of that State.—
it was.afterwards accredited to the Court of
Brav,ils,...nd recently to that of France, and he
has besides. visited nearly every country in Eu-
rope. With talents and suitable information he
may, therefore, be considered as amply supplied ;
but he has not the necessary courage, nor the re.
qnisite principle, to clash with the Ultra and
Clerical Party that has overthrown the Con-
st)tntinn, or foresight enough to urge conci-
liatory measures, us the best means to cure the
wounds of- the country over which he presides.
His new nomination as Minister of Foreign

Affairs is supposed to have been brought
about through French influence, to which he
also owed his having been sent as Envoy to the
French Court, for it is well known that he ob-
tained this distinction through M. Laval, then in
Aladrid. It will be remembered that M. Bar-
daxi was chosen Minister of Foreign Affairs soon
after Arguelles and his party went out, at which
time the former was absent from Spain. In the
interval, Cusa-Irujo was named., by the King
Envoy to France, and when the other Ministers
remonstrated with him on the nomination, as one

not likely to givo satisfaction to the country,
and as also being indelicate during the absence,
and consequently without the concurrence, of the
Prime Minister, the King bluntly asked whether
.there- was . any Constitutional objection to his
choice, and being answered in the negative—
"-Then (said he), my, nomination shall stand
good." It was soon discovered that the
King had acted under the influence of
Monsieur Laval, although he must himself
haVe been well aware that he . had made
choice of a man upon whose co-operation he
could rely, in the plots against the Constitution
in. which he was already engaged. The sequel
proved that he was. -not Mistaken. During the
time Casa4rujo was acting as Spanish Envoy in
Paris, he kept up a. constant correspondence with
the Pavillon Marstin, and completely deluded
his own Government, by assurances that the in-
tentions of the French were honourable and
pacific, and that no external danger threatened
them. Subsequent to the famous diplomatic notes
being exchanged, when the hostile views of France
against Spain were at once completely unveiled,
Pozio di Barge gave a grand entertainment in
Paris, to which Casa-Irujo was the only Spa-
niard invited, and the only one who attended.—
To the cause of the King and his Allies it is well
known that the new Prime Minister rendered
effective services, whilst acting us Constitutional
Eavoy to the Court of Paris ; and it was natural
to expect that he would now ask his reward, at
a moment when, in addition to French influence,
he could also command the personal services of
his friend and patron, Pozzo di Borgo.

EMORNIN* POST.]
The high price of coals in the metropolis is so
important a subject, and so vitally affects the
comfort of the inhabitants, but particularly the
poor, at that season when their other various
privations are most felt,as to render any apology
superfluous for again bringing it before our
readers. There is also such a general, and we
are satisfied, well-fouttded conviction of the pre-
sent enhancement of this prime necessary of life
being unnatural, that we only discharge a duty
in endeavouring to trace the evil to its real
causes. One of the great mischiefs attendant
upon an injudicious interference with the
operations trade is the facility, indeed
the irresistible temptation which is thereby
afforded for successful combinations against
the public—and if we mistake not the high
price of Coals is in part resolvable into a
fact of the latter description. We would ask
those better acquainted with the arcatiu of the
coal trade than we pretend to be, if it is not true
that the Coal Proprietors of the North, who
almost exclusively monopolize the London market,
hold frequent private, meetings, for the purpose
of regulating the supply of the metropolis ? We
have reason to think this really is the case, and
that owing .;,to the' perfect understanding pre-
vailing at those meetings, coals are always in
London considerably above their natural price.
Nay, it is a fact, that the harmony on such oc-
casions is so omnipotent as to soothe the most
violent political amid personal acrimony. That in
a great and wealthy city like London men should
be able to combine against the interests of the in.
habitants, is of itself sufficient proof of the bad.
ness of the existing regulations respecting the sale
of coals.—Another point to which we would di.
rect attention is ;he inutility (to say the least) of
those appendages-to the Corporation, called Coal-
Meters. It appears from some statements which
have been published, that the present number of
these officers is quite inadequate to the duty which
they are employed to perforn; and, in conse-
quence, that intioitely'more vessels are generally
lying in the River, with cargoes of coals, which
they cannot discharge for want of meters, than
are enabled to deliver themselves of their freight
under the auspices of these municipal attendants.
1,4* coal-meters were necessary or useful, this in
Itself would he a serious grievance. But what ad-
vantae can the public at large derive from such
officers presiding at the measurement of coals
merely on board the ships which bring them into
the harbour? Are the inhabitants of London sup-
plied directly out of the coal vessels. On the

contrary, they obtain their coals by every other
channel but that, viz: from the owners of coal-
wharfs along the River above and below bridge,
and from the retailers of the article, who vend it
to the poor in different parts ot the metropolis
in the several portions between half a peck
and one or more chaldrons. The great, we
might almost say tine sole purpose, therefore,
for which those Corporation excrescences, call-
ed meters, are inflicted on the community, is
to prevent the niasters of coal vessels from
cheating—not the Public, but the coal sellers,
who are so well qualified to see justice done to
themselves? Why then not leave that part of
the trade unobstructed upon which the quick
and ample supply of the Metropolis in the first
place and principally depends ? Coal sellers,
whether wholesale or retail, would then have the
same resort against fraud on the part of
the Masters of vessels, as the public now
have against there, and which- is proved by
experience to he perfectly efficient. The pre-
sent system, in short, is so absurd, that we only
wonder it has been so long tolerated. Whore
prOtection is least necessary, it affects to inter-
pose a safeguard, and in doing so increases the
cost of the article by delaying its sale ; but
where protection is most needed—between the
retailer and the consumer--it has no jurisdiction,
and the poor, to whom fuel is not only a neces-
sary but a luxury, may be defrauded without
measure, for aught the Coal-meters of the Cor-
poration can or will do to prevent or punish the
abuse.

[Tits TtivtEs.]
A Custom-house Tariff has come out for the
several ports in the Republic of Colombia. The
several descriptions of articles made liable to im-
portation duties are classed under five distinct
heads, embracing every sort of foreign manufac-
ture and produce. The lowest rate of duty is
on goods imported from parent States in Co-
lombian bottoms, and amounts to no more
than 74 per cent. The highest is imposed
on cargoes brought from Colonies, and in fo-
reign bottoms, and amounts to 30 per cent.
It appears to us, on looking over the details
of the Tariff, that England may land her sta-
ple manufactures of woollen and cotton, from
British vessels, at the Custom-houses of the new
Republic, for a duty of 171 per cent.; and in
Colombian vessels, for 10 per cent. English
iron, tin, copper, paper, surgical instruments,
and anchors, will have to pay, in British bot-
toms, 15 per cent. ; and in national bottoms,
71 per cent. while articles of leather, house-
hold furniture, clothes, and hardware uten-
sils generally, pay, in British vessels, 2A per
cent. ; and in Colombian, 174. Thus, it looks
as if the object of the Colombian Legislature
was, with regard to foreign manufactures, revenue
rather than protection ; and that protection is
meant to be provided for no other interest than
that of the republican marine. It is difficult to
conceive, should the above duties on foreign
merchandise be continued, even to the actual ex-
tent of the tariff, a more encouraging prospect
than is here held out to British industry.