The Sun.
London, England, 1823-09-19 00:00:00

[NEW TIMkf•J

The general de'pressiiin of the Funds in our
tnatket is to,be ascribed to the fall of Tuesday
on the French Ex-change. The Routes for

money opened on that, clay in Paris at 91f. 30c4
rose to 91f. 50c., Afterwards sank to 90f. 15c.,
and closed at 90f. 40c.--The laSt price for ac.
count is said to have'been* 90f; 45c.—NO sans-
factory reason is given for this -fall. The
Papers, whiCh' we have . received to Tuesday
evening, contain nothing whateVer calculated to
affect public credit unfavottrably, Rumour was of
course busy with all sorts.of inventions; the as-
sassination of King Ferdinand—the assassination
of the Duke d'Angoulemer—an: insurrection in
the French army—the yellow fever broken out
at Port St. Mary—these are a. few of _the extra-
vagancies of popular credulity. Perhaps the
most whimsical, fancy of all is that Of The Cou-
rier, which gravelfspeculates on the Duke
d'Angouleme s resignation of his command!--
We shall not pretend to explain, what may
turn out to have been a mere StoCk.jobbing
transaction; but if the decline of the Funds
is to be traced to any political cause, it may pos-
sibly be to some loss sustained by the French
in an attack on Cadiz. We have strong reason
to believe that 'that attack, was made on the 10th
or 11th, unless prevented by an earlier surrender:
and if it was not immediately and perfeCtly success_
fa; no doubt the impressiim On the French Funds
would he unfavourable. Even if t!iis should
we should not doubt of
prove to be the case,
the final result. The negociations which The
Courier supposes to have been for SoMe time
going on with the Cortes, exist but iri 'its own
misinformed speculation. The time has been
long past since the French Government detlined
to treat with the 'Cortes es 'a SoVereign
The Members of that Body have been offered
their persOnal safety ; but since the Duke
d'Angettleme left Madrid he- has unifornity
demanded the King's liberation, as a preli-
minary to the cessation of hostilities: Mean-
while it is amusing to see how The Times
and Chronicle turn round on their friends and ac-
cuse-thern of treason. • Valdez must be a traitor,`'
because the fall of Cadiz-is at hand ;-and Novella
must be a traitor, because he surrendered Co.
runna! To listen to the Times and Chronicle,
treason has led' the French every step of the way
from the Bidassoa to Cadiz—treason. made the
armies" of Morino, Abiibal,, and • Ballasterbs
subunit to them—find the same, no doubt, will be
said of Rozello, Palarea; and the others from
whom the Chronicle expected such wonders in
Gallicia, but who are now on their way. to
France as prisoners of war ! According to
this account, the Spaniards must' be the
most profligate or the most imbecile nation
on the face of the earth. But common sense
will explain these occurrences in a much more
simple manner. The' French have advanced
from one extremity of Spain to the other al-
most without resistance, because the greatmajo-
rity of the Spanish nation regarded them as De-1
liVerers from therintOlerable Tyranny of the pre-
tended Constitution. Abisbal, Murillo, Billies-
teres, Valdes have seen their inability to re-
sist the will of their countrymen; and. therefore
they have been successively compelled to yield to
the forCe of events. If Cadiz should not fall at
the first assault, it must soon open its gates:
simply because the Rebels within have no feel-
big in conunon with the nation.

"To Bet a,min4t at ,e!‘ge., 4 *tter than to fill- a pocket with
Mr. S. felt confident that the success 'of this day did
not depend upon his exertion, or he could not have consented
to take npon himself the responsibility of presidency. was
convinced, that'when'the subject been candidly'diseussed
it would:Cali forth the best feelings-of the heart, and the
portent obect would be effected. •
Mr. Alderman Tir!rira)rir concurred in the Sentiments which
had been- eiressed by the Mayor,. He said, that it this o&
ject was carried, it would 'cost the henevolent g.entleman.who
tad made thesliberal offer the sum of 0,0001. When he first
heard th'at.such a proposal was made, he thought it had been
made without'due consideration; but when he heard the 'mine
Of the gentleman, his fears were dissipated. After such a mu.!
nificent offer as this had been made, we surely could not be so
ungrateful or so blind to our interest, as to retuie our exertioni,
and suffer an opportunity to
-escape of emancipating ourselves
and future generations. If we did suffer the golden opportunity-
to.escape, we should be subjected to the bitterest reflections and
reproached by ouriosterity. • 'observed that it wa.s hot the
valUe of the twopences and sixpences that the parishioners-were'
called to pay, that was.so much an object, but it was the vexa-
dons- feelings that were so often excited both in the mind of the
payer and receiver that rendered the commutation so desirable;
and if it were effected, it probably would produce the union and
goodwill which ought to, exist between the head of the parish
church 'and the parishioners, and would remove thoie angry
feeling's and' those. sullen looks which had been too often dis.:
played.
Mr. Fox wished to observe, that. there was at present some
litigation betvYeen hiin and the Vicar reipecting Easter Offer-
ings and complained of cruel treatment. He had searched
gently for the existence of a law, that authorized the levying of
those tythes, but could not find one. He considered the tythes
to be the Vicar's curse.—(The feelings of Mr. Fox's mind, at.
this moment, exhibited an effect which has too often been
and presented a convinting argument for the necessity,
of removing this public grievance. For a moment the har-
mony of the meeting was interrupted, hut by the interference
of.the Mayor order was restored; and Mi. Fox expressed s wish
that no impediment might be thrown in the way to prevent the
attainment of the object in view.)
Mr. CaWoofi and Mr. WiLks shortly addressed the Meet-
ing,.and expressed themselves decidedly in favour of the' in-
tended commutation.

Mr. BAINES (in moving a vote of thanks to Mr.lVilson)
thought, that the intended measures would be generally ap-
proved ; for his own.part. he felt a peculiar interest in its suc,
cess. He considered the town of Leeds under the. greatest
obligations of gratitude to the -munificent doner,-and we COuld
not too strongly mark the sense of obligation we entertained for
this distinguished liberality, which he considered as almost un-
precedented. This waxen age of combined effort for public
purposes,-but such .an 'instance _of individual-benevolence, in
reference to the town of Leeds, did not come within his recol.
lection. It was not only the gift that called for his admira-
tion, but the motive that had induced it. It was a peace
offering at the shrine' of religion and justly in unison with
the sentiments of the author of the words—" Blessed are
the peace makers." But he must restrain himself, lest he
should offend against the hand 'of benevolence. The indivi-
dual in question was the very opposite of ostentation; and he
knew that it was his wish that thelniblie should solsider the
merit as emanating from the pArithioners; and that he should
be only regarded as an auxiliary:.
On this occasion it was resolved that it-slava money should
be raised by 'voluntary contribinioni, to effect the coffin-Motion
of the Vidarial Tithes and Eastei Offerings, and at the close of
the Meeting a subscription was entered into, whichin a few
minutes amounted to the staff of 1,9251.

CITY AND FORTRESB OF PAMPELUNA:

( From the Courier Francois.)
the frontiers
'
of. Navarre, seven leagues from
Pampeluna, the capitatof the ancient kinder--•
of France, 17 south of Bayonne, and 69 north-
east of Madrid, is situated partly'on a smallemii.
nence, and partly in a fertile plain, at the left
bank of,the Arga,a,river which dis.charges:itself
into the Ebro. Pampeluna was' founded, it is
said, by 'Pompey, after he had defeated Sartori-
us ; and-this is indicated by its Latin name of
Pompeiopolis, of which Pampeluna' is evidentlye
Icorruption. The population of Pampeluna was
never more than' 14 or 15,000 souls; its- com-
merce is very limited,and generally speaking, it
is a poor city : it is. tolerably well built, and
clean though badly dralued. Pampeluna has
within its walls,.and in its immediate vicinity, a
great number of convents : the principal of those
without the city are, St. Ingratia ; the monastery
of St. Peter, in Which'-" there is an hospital ; and
that of Capuchins. These three- convents- are
situated wear the Arp, on the. rightbank of the
river. .0w the same side there are two suburbs-,
that of the Rocheappea to ihe north-west of the
city,. and, that of the Midaleine to the north-
east.---Pampeluna, lilted an important page-. in
the history of the middle ages. This city fol-
lowed the fate of the kingdom of Navarre,.
which: by turns fell into the hands of the
• Moors, the- Spaniardss. and the French ;, final-
: ly, howeier it was postessed by the- Spaniards,
who succeeded in holding it, after Jean- d'A-1-.
bret and Catherine MS wife were expelled in the
memorable reign of Ferdinand and Isabelle,—
'The ancient walls of Pampeluna were replaced-
in the 16th century by ramparts' constructed ac-
cording to the system of fortification adopted:
after the invention of gunpowder; and it is weft
known that Pampeluna at this day is a very strong
place. Its defence consisted,. at the period of
.the last war, of an inelosure of eight bastions,
with half-moons and counter-gards wherever
they were necessary ; a citadel', of which we
'shall speak. hereafter ; end two exterior forts,
besides an entrenched out-past to which we may
give the name of fort. One half of the circum-
ference of the city is covered by the Argil, which.
forms an excellent moat to. it, Thin circem,
stance, joined- to- the steepness of the river's
bank next to the. place, has rendered it unneces-
sary to multiply the works, and even the bas-
tions in this part are at the distanceof from 250
to 280 tosses of each other. The front towards
the plain is fortified in every respect.. At the
south of the place is the citadel constructed dur-
ing the reign of Phillip the Second, who spared
nothing to make it the most formidable bulwark
Of the Spanish Monarchy. This citadel, in short,
is one of the best in Europe ; and is fortified
most strongly ; it contains all the establishments
nessary for a fortified place.; and there is a hand,
mill preServed there of which the mechanism is
so combined that it' turns five stones at a time,
and grinds three hundred and sixty quin-
tals of corn a.day. The two exterior works
mentioned above are the forts of the Infanta and
the Prince. These forts, situated the one in
advance of the other on the road from Pampe-,
luna to Madrid, are two horn-works strongly en-
trenched at their breasts. We 40 not know pre-
cisely if these bastions have been maintained since
1813, or if new ones have been since constructed.*
It does not appear that Parnpehma has ever been
besieged since it has bean surrounded by its mei,
dent fortifications ; at least the works which we
have eensultOd make no mention of any siege