The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-06 00:00:00

experiment the abolition of capital punishment would
be proved to be in the event of its failure ! If the
crime of murder were largely to increase upon the
extinction of expiation by the gallows, we should
incur the hazard of the revival of extreme punishment,
to be administered, not as it now is, in a spirit of
leniency, but as it might, and probably would be, in
a spirit of excessive and deplorable severity.
We must again repeat that this serious question has
been treated with great inaptitude, and attempted to
be illustrated by arguments of a most ungrateful
character, to a discerning and high-minded people.
We shall, therefore, shortly revert to this subject,
with the view of putting the abolitionists upon their
guard against effectually marring the ultimate success
of what they so ardently desire to accomplish.

The Revue de Geneve, of the 30th ult., publishes
the project for a new constitution by the committee
of the Grand Constituent Council. It comprises
14 chapters and 153 articles. Among them are the
following :—Under chapter 2 (declaration of the
rights of persons) is found a promise that no fiscal
measure shall be imposed upon publications by the
press, and a guarantee for freedom of education
to all natives of Geneva. Under chapter 3 it
is declared that no corporation or congrega-
tion can be established at Geneva without pre-
vious notice to and license from the Council
of State, which may be revoked by the Grand
Council. Under section 2 it is declared that
the maintenance of the Catholic religion is at the
charge of the State. According to chapter 11, pri-
mary instruction only is to be given gratuitously by
the State and the communes in every canton.
Chapter 13 prescribes that every fifteen years the
question of a total revision of the constitution shall
be put in the Council General—the assembly of the
people. By chapter 14 it is established that all the
organic laws of the present constitution shall be drawn
up within a period not exceeding, at the most, two
years.
M. PART PASTEUR has given in his resignation
as president of the Grand Council of Geneva, de-
claring that he could not any longer share the
opinions of the majority which had called him to
that post.

Madrid papers of the 29th Dec. have arrived.
Intelligence has, however, been received by express
from Madrid to the 31st ult., on which day the ses-
sion of the Corks was opened by the QUEEN in
person. Her MAJESTY'S speech is given in extenso
in another column. A telegraphic dispatch received
by the French Government states that the QUEEN
was received with numerous acclamations, and that
the news from the provinces is everywhere good.
The Gaceta publishes a decree, abolishing the tax
on the nobility called " Service of Lances," by which
they were compelled to furnish a certain number of
men for the army, or a sum of money equivalent to
the expense of raising them. In place of this obliga-
tion there is to be a fixed tax upon titles, varying,
according to rank, from 40,000 reals (10,0001.) for a
grandee of Spain, with the title of Duke, Marquis,
or Count, down to 8,000 reals, the title of Baron.
This tax is not of course to be an annual one, and
being once paid, the titled person has nothing more
to puy to the Government than the taxation to which,
like all others, he is subject by his property.

The Cabinet has determined that Senor
CASTROY Onozco, shall be the Ministerial can-
didate for the presidency of the Chamber of
Deputies, and that the Absolutist Marquis DE
VILLuazA shall be the Ministerial candidate for
the presidency of the Senate. The nomination of
the Marquis DE VILLUMA has given great offence not
only to the Progressistas but also to the great bulk of
the Moderado party.
The ileraldo is much annoyed, and not a little
alarmed, at the courtesy with which the Count DE
MONTEMOLIN has been received,in London. Large
reinforcements have been ordered by forced marches
to the Basque Provinces, where a Carlist outbreak is
apprehended.

According to the Espanol, the parts more particu-
larly threatened by the partisans of the Count DE
MONTEMOLIN (" who will present himself with the
Constitution of 1837 in his hand ") are NaTarre, the
Basque Provinces, Catalonia, Gallicia, the Maeztrazgo,
and the Balearic Islands. " Ministers," says El Eco
del Comercio, " met in council last night. Their po-
sition is, above all, critical, owing to the information
received from abroad as to designs which may expose
our Liberal institutions and the QUEEN'S throne to
the greatest peril."

The sanguinary General BRETON, the Captain-
General of Catalonia, has established his head-quar-
ters at Banolas, from whence he has issued the fol-
lowing proclamation
" A band of fugitive malefactors, actively pursued in
all directions by the military, are scouring the country,
concealing themselves in the woods, ravines, and marshes
of this country, with the view of reviving a fratricide
war, which, at a very recent period, caused so much
misfortune and so many disasters. Being resolved on
exterminating them, I have come among you, confident
that your own interest will make you efficiently co-
operate in promoting an enteprise which will free you
from the evils and calamities a culpable apathy
would lead to. Six months ago, a party of rebels
penetrated into this province, but were soon compelled
to abandon it ; for, far from finding protection in the
country, they were pursued and compelled to seek re-
fuge in the neighbouring kingdom. Being the authority
of tranquillity in this
make no distinction between the colours
and shades of such as disturb order. All of them are
principality,
lity w,itlh the matntmaintenancee
enemies to the Queen and Government—all are enemies
yyour government, that your
part, I shall do my best : as
to their country ; and we are all obliged to endeavour
ftoordeysoturo,yl them. Forf my
tell
you, fo
conduct shall regulate mine.
(Signed)
" Head-quarters at Banolas."
MADRID BOLSA, DEC. 29.—The Three per Cents,
were done at 33i for cash. The Five per Cents. at 20j
o
The Debt without interest at 6i. The Coupons at 19
and the Vales at 81.

" MANUEL BRETON.

papers of Monday.
Epoque has the following on the
eawtioYheoadry's
giadvdernestsoes:
the—
thteheKCinognstitationn el may
in the name of
important has taken
sayallsubject
,1
the
ee: Ministerialhtt ohkiafnevntbehoa wesrsencacodent
ohigyr
contrary,asret. ad
tt
huti
fh.
el congratulatory t
Whateveradonrp Parisy o New
place during the year the person who •
t his is to deliver the
speech always communicates
.o colleagues at leaat the
Nuncio the right of addressing the
of the Duke de Montpensier, respecting which it was
passage that has reference to it. This year the marriage
natural to felicitate the King, became a subject of diffi-
culty for the address of the diplomatic corps, on account
of the protest of the British Cabinet, and the instructions
given to Lord Normanby. On the one hand, the Am-
bassadors of the Cabinets which had favoured and ac-
cepted the marriage were naturally desirous of compli-
menting the Royal Family upon it; on the other hand, it
was necessary that the compliment, being paid in the
name of England also, should be drawn up in terms
which would permit Lord Normanby to subscribe to it.
On this account, therefore, the Nuncio had submitted
them to the British Ambassador, who alone could
appreciate them with reference to his official position.
might
therefore desired that
tt
ho
ea frphraseien d l ye
on
tnhdee rms taarnr
ideign
eg .
saying
that he neglects no effort to bring the two Governments
t
We must here do justice to thhetNboebilne
sLuocrhdtberynassa
he could adhere to them without violating his instruc-
tions; and the visit which he afterwards paid to the
King was the most eloquent comment that could be made
upon them. It is impossible, in our opinion, to appre-
ciate too highly in the Noble Lord so prudent a conduct,
each step of which has its value for the peace and liberty
of Europe. Thus the speech of the diplomatic corps
contains a felicitation to the King on the marriage of the
youngest of his children; everybody finds this in it, and
the King has replied to it. The speaker, indeed, had
turned it in such a way as to induce the British Ambas-
sador to accept it, but this fact, far from making us regret
the delicacy of the terms of the Nuncio, is, on the con-
trary, a reason for thanking him for doing so."
We are rejoiced to find the French Ministerial
journal thus bearing witness to the prudence, the
tact, and the kindly feeling of the Marquis of NOR-
MANDY. Let us hope that his efforts in Paris to re-
concile conflicting interests will be as successful as
they were in Jamaica and in Ireland. According to
the Courrier Francais there is to be an European
Congress, at which the renunciations demanded by
England will be made by France. The following is
the article of Courrier :
" It is known how the Papal Nuncio found means to
adjust matters with regard to the Spanish marriages in
such a way that the British Ambassador had reason to
t
congratulate himself on his discretion, and the Court of
the
FatherTu i
received e nod righth e
eentogrfeaetelit:tjes
oTuecfhtdhiescroepnrteenset.etaTtivehe
of the diplomatic body on the renewal of his family joys,
fanzille replied in his own name and in that
but the King had nothing to reply to, and was silent.
The Pere de
of his family, that Providence had reserved to him one
of the sweetest cousolationa which could be accorded to
him. It would have been difficult for the British Ambas-
sador to have found fault with these legitimate effusions.
One of the sweetest consolations, even to the distrustful
eyes of a European Cone,r,3s,wonld apply as much to th^
birth or a grandson as to the marriage of a son. Lord
Normanby will not therefore have much trouble in justi-
fying himself to Lord Palmerston for having been pre-