The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-04 00:00:00

it has been stated, that the treaty for the navigation of the
Douro would certainly form one of the earliest subjects of
consideration on the reassembling of the Cortes in the first
week of the present year ; but the Spanish Government,
impatient of further delay, or distrusting the sincerity of
these representation l, threatens immediate hostilities if the
treaty is not ratified. Now, it ie obvious that a treaty
which has been so long in a course of adjustment could
suffer no material detriment by the delay of a few days ;
and the. Spanish Government, by a precipitation for which it
is not easy to offer any excuse, have subjected themselves
to the imputation of a design to throw Portugal into con-
fusion, and at all events to pick a quarrel with that
country. All the shew of reason therefore that belongs
to the Spanish side of the question arises out of the
belief that Portugal is insincere in the promise to
bring the treaty under consideration as soon as the
Cortcs shall reassemble. We believe that not only
have explicit assurances to that effect been given to
the Spanish Government, but that they have been re-
peated to our Government as one of the stronge\t of the
erounds on which interference is solicited. Thus is the
question reduced to the narrowest compass possible ; and
the belief of the Cabinet of London that Portugal is
ready to fulfil the Teaty—that no evasion, 110 secret sub-
terfuge, is to be oraets.sed, being made known to the
Spanish Government, must place them so completely in
the wrong, as to dispose of this whole question, if it is to
be governed by reason at all, without difficulty and with-
out danger. Portugal undoubtedly appears to be well
prepared for hostilities, should they be actually resorted to
by Spain, and the threat of invasion has had the ex-
actly contrary effect to that which was intended, by
rousing and uniting all parties to meet the insulting
menace and its consequences. She does not, how-
ever, trust to arms for the issue, but appeals to
her ancient a! y, and asks fur mediation. These
are the simple elements of this question, so
tar Cs Spain, Portugal, and Great B itain are concerned.
It his been imagined by a set of reasoners whose uniform
objeet it is, out of is limited and almost privato quarrel, to
deduce a general one, which shall gradually involve the
whole of Europe, that nut of the arrangement of ails dis-
pute new grounds of difference must arise between France
aiid England ; but we fully believe that such reasonings
leave no foundation of fact to rely upon. We understand
that the language of M. Guizot, when appealed to on this
subject, has been exact:y that which is in harmony with
his character as an enlightened statesman and lover of
peace, and that the Representatives in Paris of both the
contending parties have been assured by him that France
Will certainly not interfere in this dispute. We may per-
haps go further, and add that his cordial recom-
mendation has been offered to the Ministers of
both countries to leave the adjustment of this dispute en-
tirely in the hands of Great Britain, their natural ally and
protector. Whether in a private or in a public quarrel,
it is one obvious means of bringing about a reconciliation,
to divest the matter in dispute of all circumstances that
are extraneous, or that do not properly belong to it.
This has been our en.J.eavour in the preceding remarks as
applicable to the differences between Spain and Portugal.
1: has been well said that when people are of one mind,
whetlnr to sight or to marry, they are not long in coming
to the desired conclusion. No man can say who dues not
know the exact animus of the parties how such a case will
terminate, but if it should end in an open quarrel, it will
be one of the most reckless and unjustifiable wars that
ever assisted in the depopulation of mankind.

cFrom the Morning Advertiser.)
'rime wears on, but Tories wear not in. Year suc-
ceeds year, but Tories succeed not to office. In other
cases hope deferred is said to make the heart sick, but
with the Tories defeated hope seems only to make expec-
tation more sanguine. Accordingly, with the opening of
the new year our ears are assailed with the exulting shout
of Anticipation, and the Tory organs, unmindful of the
failure of all their previous prophecies, demonstrate, as
infallibly as Murphy's Almanach exhibits the state of the
weather, that their party must be installed in Downing-
street before the close of the present year. It is a pitiable
delusion, and one that, like the ignis fatuus which allures
the confiding traveller to his destruction, may accelerate
the annihilation of those who place trust in it. The
Standard, however, evinces a more accurate appreciation
of the true bearing of its political position, and, with equal
frankness and discrimination, makes the following pro.
fession of its faith and its fears :—." It would be enough,
however, for us to know that the Premier's conduct is
good. as far as England is concerned. We will not
rob Lord Palmerston of his just praise by any re-
ference to the foreign policy of the Government ;
it would be enough—we repeat it—for us to
know, that, with whatever motive, Lord Melbourne
governs well, to be satisfied with his government ; but
when we remember that among the aspirants to his Lord-
ship's succession there are persons, like Lord Ellenho-
rough, whose fear of a • Catholic question' would cause
them to strangle the Reformation itself ; and when we
further know that an Ellenborough Ministry would, in-
stead of being, like the present, pressed into the right
path, be pressed from that path, we see abundant reason
for contentment with things as they are. This feeling is
pretty generally the feeling of the country." Such of the
Tories as are not goaded on by the lust of office, or blinded
by bigotry or party zeal, may discover, like the Standard,
"abundant reason for contentment with things as they
are ;" for the worst thing that could possibly befal Tory-
ism would be a Tory majority in the House of Commons.
Such an event would prove the defective state of the re-
presentation, and the necessity of further reform in the
people's House so provokingly conclusive, that the whole
nation would, in its own justification, make an effort for its
correction to which no less injurious manifestation could sti-
mulate it. The present quiescent state of the country is earl..
butable, not, as the Standard would intimate, to the " go..
neral feeling" of " contentment with things as they are,"
but to a difference of opinion as to the grievances to be
first redressed, and as to the mode by which all abuses may
be most effectually removed. Neither is it, as the Globe
would have it believed, by " itinerant incendiaries or resi-
dent demagogues" that the " discontent of the industrious
classes" has been principally excited. The cause of pub-.
lie discontent has its source far deeper than the mere
flashes of incendiary declamation. The discontent arises
from a burning sense of wrong, and a strong stimulus
from actual physical suffering and privation. Though
popular rights have recently attracted a more than ordi-
nary share of discussion, had the people an adequate
provision for their physical wants they would ca c but
tittle for the assertion of their abstract rights. This
indifference to political station is to us rather a matt, r
of regret than of congratulation—it evinces a low state
of mental cultivation, and a brutal attachment to
animal indulgence. When, therefore, the herald pro-
poses to " correct" Chartism by education, it recom-
mends the very application best calculated to give Char-
tism the faculty of irresistible progression. Such is the
opinion of Messrs. Lovett and Collins, to whom the warm-
est admirers of the Herald will not hesitate to accord the
merit of more practical knowledge of Chartism than is
possessed by the good old lady, who, in reference to Cli
tism, exclaims, "We cry—' correct it.' Teach men that
they are something more than blood and bone and sinew ;
consider them not as beasts of burthen, but make them
feel the true value, the just dignity of labour. Endow
them with self-respect, by inculcating within them the ever-
lasting truth of Christianity ; compel them, by self-exa-
mination, to know the great end and purpose of their
being ; and such knowledge, be sure of it, will be fruitful
of a contented and a peaceful spirit." Teach men but
this, and will they fur a moment tolerate Toryism ? This
is a question which, while it solves the motives of the
Tories in resisting education, may furnish she said party
ample food for reflection before they endeavour to usurp
that losition from which, before a month, the nation would
hurl them to irretrievable destruction.
(From the Globe.)
The Standard bade farewell to the old year, an:l on
the threshold of the new, indulged in prognostications
and thanksgivings for the prospect unfolded to its view,
in strains so singular that, at the first reading of the
strange composition, we were absolutely unable to under-
stand its design, and were almost ready to aperehendsome
hallucination, either in ourselves, or in our Contemporary.
That any supposed " progressive improvement in the
House of Commons towards a decided Conservative
majority," should excite pleasurable sensations, aid in-
spire grateful thanksgivings in our Conservative Con-
temporary, would not hive been matter of surprise.
The Slumlord, however, finds cause of thankfulness in
a circumstance which, we apprehend, had cell«I forth
very different sensations in those who have become
wearied with looking for a change of Governinen:, and
arc now suffering that sickness of heart which is pro-
duced by " hope deferred." The Standard is absolutely
" gratified," and has no alloy in its gratification, " that
Lord Melbourne and his colleagues are yet in oiice
This feeling does not, however, spring from any
liking in our Contemporary towards Lord Melbourne.
It has another source—antipathy to Lord Elletibo-
ough, and to persons likej him I—a remembrance,
" that among the aspirants to his Lordship's succession,
there are persons like Lord Ellenborough, whose fear
of a Catholic question' would cause them to strangle
the Reformation itself ; and when we further know
that an Ellenborough Ministry would, instead of
being, like the present, pressed into the right peth, be
pressed from that path, we see abundant reason for
contentment with things as they are." We have be-
come familiar.with all sorts of dangers impending over
a Whig Cabinet ; but an " Ellenborough Ministry,"
struck us as something supremely comical. Suppos-
ing the Whigs to have all the tenacity of office as-
cribed to them, the firmest sitter among them may
feel, like the Standard, "abundant contentment with
things as they are," if sure of his seat till so disp'aced.
Our Contemporary, however, will not allow such a hope
to be cherished. There is, it seems, little to be ex-
pected from the ari,stecracthye, for
Eoiso
etrheinr
Tnhean,
igeen,
tss
uonnd.
The Carlton Club,' with
the
eso e o
Twiss
wages
gpr officialp l e
who
sal aarrey,,p_ panting
notot
exchange newspaper
welcome" the Standard's truths, nor aid him in
tars Horace
bringing about the deliv.erance from Popery which he
is raised up to accompilzh.
(From the Standard.)
Same cases of real or seeming hardship, arising out
of proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Courts,: have been
lately brought forward by the enemies of the Church
with great ostentation : the purpose of
fthis exposure
bad, but its effect will probably be
Ifex is
goa debt be
fairly and lally due and the fairness and legal obli-
gation of the debts in the cases to which we refer is
not disputed—it matters little in what Court the
fair and legal claim be prosecuted, unless, as the
process of one Court be more
effica-
cious to promote the ends of justice on the one side,
orsnore expensive or otherwise oppressive on the
which promises
pTrohmeispeslainmtioffstprompt and
,vialce r
tnaturally
rseecloegentistehe
his Courtf,tir
legal claim, and most speedily to enforce it.
The defendant will as naturally complain of his
inability to meet the plaintiff's demand—and in 19
cases out of twenty, suits eritle out of the inability, tern- j