The Sun.
London, England, 1823-04-21 00:00:00

[THE
_'TIMES.]

• It will be recollected that it was the acknow-
ledgment, or, to ascribe to them the honour of
yet more candour, that it was the assertion of
the British Ministers themselves, that there never
was a revolution in which the actors more care-
fully abstained from any attempt to push their
principles beyond the frontiers of their own
country, than in that of Spain. This moderation
was a reproach to the enemies of Spain; it left
their aggression without excuse. To remedy,
therefore, such a defect of justice in the
French cause, recourse has been had to forgery ;
and a tale has beds invented of some man
being seized with two Proclamations upon him,
one addressed to the French army, and another
to the French nation, exciting to revolt. We
have no hesitation in declaring both these pro-
ductions to be, as we have intimated above, not
only forgeries, but forgeries of the most daring,
coarse, and palpable kind. We should really
think they were written by Chateaubriand him-
nett', they are so much in his style. Take a
specimen : " A foreign army," he says (that of
tho Allies in 18i 5), " seized on the French capital,
" and imposed on Frenchmen, the law of adopting
44 without choice time government"—of whom, does
the reader think ? Why, of no less a person or
'persons than Louis, Saint, Stanislaus, Xavier de
France. If this he not a Chateaubriand, he
never wrote nonsense in his life. We should
really propose christening him anew, Louis St.
Stanislaus Xavier, de Chateaubriand. At all
events, the Spanish Government knows no-
thing of these proclamations: they are no work
of them, or of their agents,. but are evi-
dently composed- by French Ultras. But the
effrontery of the French in charging the Spanish
Government with foreign interference, and in
forging documents to prove the charge, is the
more disgusting, when it is considered what has
been the real conduct of these accusers in this,
case. If it be a crime in Spain to participate
with the disaffected in France, is it less a crime
in France to support the disaffected in Spain ?
And yet such support is avowed and acknow-
ledged on all parts. 64 We French may excite
44 and perpetuate troubles in Spain by money ;
64 but you Spaniards ought to be destroyed root
44 and branch, if you breathe a single thought in
44 unison with our French'opposition, or cot
" gauche." Lord Liverpool (we suppose he is
some authority), in the debate of Frida,y
evening, said, " that he did not mean to
44 deny that money had been employed by
4g France in the manner stated, or that the
gg. Government were in possession of infor-
" motion respecting it ;" and again, the Earl of
Liverpool said, " that he never denied that
4' France might have instigated insurrection at
" Madrid!" Does it not, then, we ask, behove
the'Spaniards to try whether they cannot shake
a ~dynasty which first encourages insurrection
in their capital, and then makes that insur-
rection a pretext for invading their country ?
Bow Buono parte's iniquities-begin to sink into
the shade by reason of the more recent and snore
glaring enormities of his successors !. They seem
to have all—and more than all—the bad qua-
lities of the tyrant, but. without his talents and
courage.

[lv Elar suzs.]
By a Telegraphic Dispatch received at Calais
on Friday, it appears that the French . army entered Vittoria
and Bilboa, the former the chief City in the interior of Biscay,
the latter.the principal Sea-port and. Capital of that prOvince.
Any thing in the; nature of opposition to the march of the
• French 'does not at all appear, In the memorable Sitting of
the Cortes on the 11th of January, M. Arguelles. said, " I
predict that from the day that a foreign koldier sets his foot up-
on the Spanish territory, there will not be a single Spaniard in
a state-of revolt : all,. even to Mosen Anton, will unite to repel.
the invader." This, prophecy seems as unfortunate as General
Foy's celebrated pretoction that • the Austrian Army would never
escape from the mountains of the.-Abruzzi. The truth is, that
M. Arguelles, a very worthy man, but a visionary, was, for
that reason, completely ignorant of the nature and disposition
of his countrymen. It is no wonder that Knglislimen should be
equally mistakeeeth their estimate of the Spanish character; but
it is a little curious that any body should argue, that because
Buonaparte earning to dethrone King Ferdinand was resisted to
desperation, therefore the Puke d'Angoulemc coming to liberate
this same King Ferdinand must be resisted in the very same
degree, and by the very same. people. The Franck troops are
now on • the banks of tlie,Ebro, and the insurrection of the
Spanish Royalists against the ConStitution is daily spreading;
whilst Ballasteros, who occupies the important pass of Salinas,
and was to have held it against the whole French Army, has
abandoned it without striking a blow, and retired or rather
fled to Tudelit, a distance bfabove 100 miles. The French, on
their part, will advance, it is uralerstoodi.very leisurely. The

object which they have always announced is to enable the
Spaniards to deliver themselves from the yoke of a Govern-
ment which they abhor; but it is no part of the French
scheme to impose on them another which they might equally
dislike. A glance at the Diplomatic Correspondence will
shew how anxious the French Ministers were that the Spa-
niards should have prevented the necessity of the War, by
adopting any of those changes in their Constitution; which all
confessed to be necessary, and which their best friends strenuous-
ly recommended. So late as the 23d of .4n. Sir C. Stuart says,
" The language of the French Ministers shews that they would
be glad to avail themselves of the publication of an amnesty accom-
panied by any change, however triflingt if brought about by the'
authority of the King of Spain, which might enable them to avoid
a declaration of war." In the same spirit our Private Correspond-
ents informs us, that it is the intention of the French Government
to halt its unopposed armies on the Ebro, and to enter into fresh
negoeiations for the double purpose of
_procuring the liberation
of King Ferdinand, and the establishment of a Constitution
suited to the Spanish people, and conformable to the views of
their most enlightened Statesmen. In this respect the assist-
ance of 111. de Martignac, the eminent Diplomatist who attends
the Duke d'Angouleme, will be particularly useful.

[MORNING POST.]
Perpetually defeated in the fair, open, and
manly conflicts of argument, the Opposition in the House of
Commons have at length in their despair betaken themselves
to the desperate experiment of dramatic artifice. Unable to
make any impression on the public mind by more legitimate
means, they have not disdained the vain and despicable effort,
to beguile this reflecting people by, the surprises, and the invo-
lutions of theatrical effect. Of the merits of that great
question, which
,has given rise to the first display of this
kind of manoeuvre, we have no wish to speak. It has
been in the :public eye for so long a period, its discussion
has been maintained on both sides, by Statesmen so eminent
for talent, and so distinguished on this particular question, for
their'perseverance and zeal, that novelty of argument or illus-,
tration is now impossible. The case on either side has been
long perfect ; the national determination is suspended—if sus-
pended at all, by the equipoise of argument, and not by the
deficiency of information. But if the main subject, that of
Catholic Emancipation, .be exhausted, the aitifices of a restless
Faction, which may be displayed upon this subject as well as
any other, will still force themselves into notice, and unrestrained
as they are by any principle either of probity or wisdom, will
afford to mankind, in the eccentricity, their folly, and their base.
ness, the successive objects of amusement, and wonder, and dis-
gust. On a question which divides the opinions of the wisest and
best men, and the decision of which is on all hands admitted to
he pregnant with the most important and enduring effect, the
constitutional advisers of the Sovereign partake of that diversity
of sentiment which peivades every rank and description of
their countrymen. Each individual of this distinguished and
enlightened body of Statesmen is too candid and generous
to dissemble, and too high minded to surrender his con-
scientious opinion. The subject is therefore left to make
its way on the mind of Parliament and of the nation
without either assistance or obstruction from the influence
and authority of Government. We do not hesitate to
say, that a question so, little dependent, as this is, on any
kind of. knowledge or information, but such as is equally
accessible to every educated man i that a question involving
national consequences so perpetual and so vast ; that a ques-
tion interesting to feelings so general and so deeply rooted as
to form a distinct element of national character—would be left
most safely and most wisely, even by an unanimous Admini-
stration, to the uninfluenced, undisturbed, and matured deci-
sion of the national mind. Upon this subject the neutrality of
Government is -a positive good, and it is secured by a cause,
which, far from reflecting disgrace, redounds highly to the
honour of every member of Administration.