The Sun.
London, England, 1823-05-20 00:00:00

,
'at to concede the whole or the political ques-
tion between himself and the Members of a Fo-
reign Cabinet, was certainly not to be expected ;
but it must be gratifying to every rightly con-
stituted mind to see the manners of a gentle-
man maintained amidst the differences of poli-
ticians. How much better is this than to speak
of Foreign Sovereigns and Ministers (as some of
our Opposition Orators have unfortunately done)
in the revolutionary slang and Billingsgate epi-
thetiof The Times and The Statesman ! The
conclusion of the Duke de Montmorency's speech
cannot fail to- meet the approbation of every
loyal Englishman. 441 think,"- said his Griner
" that all men who are enlightened- by the ex-
perience of our last thirty years, all friends to=
the welfare of their country, wherever that
country may be, all who desire to render a wise
and true liberty respected and triumphant, must,
above all things, be disposed to join in a com-
mon vow, and an indissoluble union against dis-
organising doctrines,- revolutions, arid military
insurrections."

[MORNING lIEnALn.)
The sovereignty of Spain appears to be the
subject of complicated litigation. There are
nearly as many pretenders to it, as sometimes
started for the Roman Empire. A new claim has
been set up at Paris-by two Members of the Ex-
Regency of Urgel—the Marquis of Mata-Florida
and Archbishop of Tarragona. They may talk
of cabals and intrigues for power under the regime
of the eortes and the Constitutional King,—
but it would appear that the apostles of pure
Monarchy and the Holy Tribunal of the Faith,
are floe' backward in the use of the same arts.
The two Ex-Regents of Urgel have put forth
their griefs in a demi-official expose, which has
appeared in one of the Paris Papers. The Re-
gency, it appears, Went on smoothly, and with
all possible prosperity, until Mina, aided and
abetted by the powers of darkness, dispersed
two men- of the Faith, and made the Regency
scamper from Urgel to Tholouse. All might,
however, still have been well. The King of
France promised them 100,000 men to escort
them back. But General Eguia, hitherto
represented the chief prop of the Regency
and the cause, turns out to be an old in-
triguerr and excites the Chiefs of the Faith
against these Members of the Sovereignty—as
they describe themselves. Then followed cri-
minations and recriminations—An which the
Chiefs attribute to the Regent some very scan-
dalous practices and indulgences. All, how-
ever, might even yet be well. The French Mi-
nistry still protected " the Sovereignty."' But
soon came 6‘ 66 unkindest cut of all." Baron
d'Eroles, the Champion of the Faith, came to
Paris, whispered something in the ear of the
Council—the consequence was, that the " se-
rene " and 66 heroic" " Regency " was turned
adrift, and a new 6‘ Sovereignty of Spain and
the Indies" set up by the Duke of Angouleme,
the principal Members of which are the rene.
godes Eguia and Eroles. It is curious that
the main charge which each brings against the
other is luxurious prodigality and embezzlement
of the common funds. The complainant's
say that the men of the Faith in Spain are tilled
with indignation and dismay at the treatment
they have received, and it would seem that divi-
sion reigns in the camp of the Faith. The Ex-
Sovereigns appeal, throegh the French Journals,
to their Spanish adherents, whom they expect to
withhold their allegiance from Eguia and Eroles.
It is stated that the Insurgent General, O'Don-
nell, is in their interest. The Spanish Sovereignty,
however, is not yet quite in abeyance, and we
should think these pretenders to it would do well
to wait the result of events which seem rapidly ap-
proaching. It cannot be many days before the'spirit
arid resources of the Constitutional Government
will be brought to the test. It is now admitted that
Abisbal has several thousand men under his corn-
mand—but, say the Paris Journals, these troops
only wait an opportunity to desert. Morillo, it
is said, has no troops, and is unable to collect
any. Is it to be believed that this General—
certainly a man of capacity, as he proved himself
in South America—would risk his fortunes or his
reputation in a situation so hopeless as that In
which he is described I The forces and the
movements of Ballasteros and Mina are repre-
sented, even in the French Ultra Journals, to be
such as proves their importance. 13ut in a very
short time, probably, much of the uncertainty
which prevails at present will be removed.

[MORNING POST.]

The late rapid rise in the price of agricultural
'produce, fatal as it is to the objects, and exposing
as it does to just derision the assumed political sa-
gacity of faction, has naturally produced attempts
to assign causes and to anticipate effects the most
preposterous and the most gloomy. It would be
idle to waste a word upon the glaring inconsis-
tency of this course. The fall of produce is, ac-
cording to these patriotic and enlightened reason-
ers, to be viewed as the certain harbinger of ruin to
the agricultural classes, but its advance is pregnant

with equal evil to them. They would make it ap-
pear that in every possible fluctuation of price this
great and valuable interest is doomed to a certain
and unceasing decay. This is a stretch of absur-
dity much too violent to be ascribed to a mere
error of the understanding—it implies of neces-
sity such perverseness of the will as would insure
tts,p rejection of any symptoms or of any evidence
in proof of Rational prosperity or renovation. It
was evident to every man capable of forming a ra-
tional opinion upon the subject, that the ruinously
low price of agricultural produce for so long a
period could be adequately explained only upon
the supposition that the average rate of production
had exceeded that of demand. It was quite
certain that this excess could not be permanent.
By less profuse cultivation, by encreased con-
sumption, or more probably by these two causes
operating together, the just and wholesome
balance was sure to be restored. Reflecting
men, although it could not be distinctly foretold
at what precise period the signs of this restora.
tion would first become visible, entertained an
expectation, more or less confident, that the full
completion of the progressive plan for perfecting
the national currency, would mark very nearly

the epoch of their appearance. This conjec-
ture was founded upon the peculiar circumstances
of the case, and upon the general principles of
human conduct. The exaggerated notions with
respect to the continued and increasing influence
of the change of currencey upon the price, which
had been propagated with no less industry than
talent, were seen to have obtained great autho-
rity over the minds and conduct of men. All the
smaller currents of speculation, by which in the
natural state of a commercial and enterprising
community the- minds of. men are drawn into the
desire of holding some kind or other of commo-
dity in preference to currency, had been greatly
weakened by that great tide of speculation which
the prevalent and erroneous notions respecting
currency had caused to flow in favour of that
species of possessioi ;—scarcely any commodity
had escaped the influence of this delusion, so far
as to have maintained constantly during the last
four years a price equal to the cost of its pro-
duction. That this general depreciation should
extend also to agricultural produce, was natural
and inevitable. T hat the agricultural interest
has suffered a more grievous and protracted
depression than any other, is a fact to be ex-
plained in part by the nature of its pursuits,
which require the application of industry and
capital with a view to- very distant returns,
and by the circumstance of a previous excessive
application of capital and labour to the soil, and
in part also by the accidental succession of several
very productive seasons. The great delusion
having already lost its influence upon the price
of most other commodities, found from this
concurrence of favourable circumstances, its
last object, and its final refuge in the dim-
tresses of Agriculture. The general deter-
tnination to hold currency rather than any thing
else, which bad so seriously affected the price
of all other commodities, still retained its in-
flUence upon the price of agricultural produce,
till the near approach of that period when the
currency was to assume its permanent character
and value served to dispel those vague and un-
founded apprehensions which had so much pre-
vailed, and to give a direction to the great tide
of opinion and enterprize, entirely opposite to
that it had so long pursued.

[BRITISH- PRESS.]
_ _ .

Brussels papers to the 16th reached us yester•
'day, and from them it appears that Russia and
Austria still menaced Spain with aimed inter-
ference, and had addressed a formal application
to the cantons of Switzerland for leave to march
their armies through that country. The demand,
the statement adds, has been unanimously reject-
ed ; but it was feared by the writer that the two
great powers would not respect the neutrality of
Switzerland. That such a demand has been

addressed to the government of Switzerland by
- Russia and Austria we have no doubt, nor of the
feelings of these despots towards Spain. They
would pour their hordes of Pandours and Cat-
mucs within the Pyrenees at once, without re-
garding for one moment the neutrality of Swit-
zerland, could they be assured on two points--
first,. that Great Britain, who already pro.!
tested against their armed interference, would
look on With indifference,. and not support
Spain against them ; and next, that France
' would defray all the expences of their move.
ments, and provide subsistence for them while
in Spain, without which the voracious Bohemian,
and the savages `of the North, would starve on
the rocks of that country in thousands. England
could not behold such monstrous and unjustifi-
able aggression unmoved; it is true she has seen
Spain overrun by Frenth troops, and been pas-
sive; bat were Russia and Austria to advance,
her own political existence would be endangered ;
it would be plain at once, which few now can
doubt, that the Sovereigns who assembled at Ve-
rona had confederated indissolubly against
every thing like rising liberty through_Europe ;
that among any people where it was fostered or
sought to be cherished, the spirit was to be put
down at once by armed force, and extinguished
if necessary in the blood of its supporters. Such
a confederation as this, so acting, would be at
once utter annihilation to every weaker power,
and complete destruction of any balance of power
surviving the late Congresses iu Europe. If Swit-
zerland (which we must doubt) has refused a pas-
sage through her territory for these hordes, the des-
pots who required it,while they affect the slightest
respect for the tights of nations, cannot by main
force trample on the neutrality of an unoffending
power, and march through Switzerland in de-
fiance of her refusal. The resources and influence
of Great Britain are still vast. She might, by a
decisive attitude and language worthy of her Ca-
binet, have averted the present alarming conetest
from Spain. lIei• Minister paltered where deci-
sion should have been used, and hostility and me-
nace are now thickening, both from the north
and south, not only around Spain but England
herself. If freedom be crushed in western Eu-
rope, the next interference will be with the
institutions and press of Great. Britain'. That
under such an event remonstrances, accompanied
by menace, will be addressed to her Cabinet
against both, we have no doubt whatever. The
wretched policy of Ministers has not only sa-
crified the character and influence of the coun-
try, but involved her in difficulties which
are every day growing thicker and more alarming.
She cannot remain neutral, with enmity and ag-
gression all around her. Peace is essential to her

happiness. She needs repose after the tremendous
struggle in which she was so long engaged. But
war may become indispensible from circum-
stances ; and anxious as we are that it may be
avoided, if consistent with the honour of Eng.
land, we yet fear another tremendous contest,
not against one tyrant but against several, cannot
much longer be deterred, and we must prepare
our whole strength for the day of peril.

Fla E.--Yesterday morning, about 9 o'clock, a
small manufactory at the back of the Coburg
Theatre, took fire, and at first excited consider-
able apprehension in consequence of the close-
ness of the adjacent premises ; but fortunately
the building being a detached one, and the early ar-
rival of engines preveuted any extension of the con.
flagration beyond the house in which it broke out.l