The Sun.
London, England, 1847-09-14 00:00:00

TilthJ

LOND' )N, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1847.

A majority of Whigs in the newly•elected Con-
gress of the United States affords the more sanguine
friends of peace a prospect of witnessing the speedy
termination of the hostilities which have so long
desolated the plains, and raged among the mountains
of Mexico. Whether these expectations will be
realised remains to us a problem as inexplicable as
the oneness of sentiment which is said to animate the
political parties of Washington, but which has never yet
manifested itself in their legislative discussions. Ac-
cording to the phraseology of those who enunciate
this pacific aspiration, the Whigs are prepared to
bring the war between Mexico and the United States,
if possible, to a rapid and amicable conclusion—upon
conditions honourable to the American Government I
What a modest and feasible basis for a pacifica-
tion ! What paths of roseleaves for the plenipo-
tentiaries to traverse ! What fragile and sur-
mountable barriers to be overcome by the nego-
tiators of a treaty ! Conditions honourable to the
American Government, forsooth ! We should like to
know uncommonly what conditions would be regarded
by the citizens of the United States as honourable,
saving such as would imply the spoliation of Guate-
mala, the annexation of California, and the indirect
subsidization of different provinces of the invaded
territories, from Valladolid and Guanaxata to Costa
Rica and the northern banks of the Dorados. What
would he simple honesty to all impartial speculators
in Europe would savour of disgrace and pusillani-
mity to the " good men and true" of Tennessee and
Massachussetts. To every right-thinking observer
in England the unconditional evacuation of La Puebla
and Vera Cruz would be simple honesty—
the compensation, in a monetary as well
in a moral and territorial way, of the Mexican
Government would be- simple honesty—the acknow-
ledgment of the original bound iry line between
Texas and New Leon would be simple h.,nesty—the
reparation of the wanton blood.hed perpetrated in
the occupation of Vera Cruz would be simple honesty.
The insertion, however, of such clauses in a treaty,
signed by the plenipotentiaries of the belligerent
republics, would, in the estimation of every United
States' man possessed of the most ordinary amount
Of national 'cuteness, appear nothing better
than the everlasting ignominy of the Govern-
ment of Washington -- tantamount, in fact,
to a national tar-and-feathering. The significa-
tion therefor of the preliminary conditions
honourable to the United States is the postponement
of the expected pacification sine die. It is precisely
for the prevention of just such conditions as those
which would be demanded by the Whig peace-
makers that Mexico is roused from its habitual
torpor, is throwing all its resources into the military
chest, is transforming its lazzaroni into guerillas, and
accustoming those fingers to the rifle and the sword
hilt which have hitherto only handled the dice-box
and the cigarette.
Ever since ZACHARY TAYLOR —" rough and tough
old Zacu," as he calls himself, in the true spirit of
Major BAGSTOCK—went sauntering through the Rio
Grande, and culling garlands of laurel from heaven
knows what but a few straggling regiments,
until he seized Monterey, and made himself
comfortable for several protracted months
of inactivity scandals and misrepresentations
have been promulgated respecting the proceedings of
the most patriotic defender of Mexico. It is scarcely
worthy the consideration of the authors of these erro-
neous rumours that' one after another they have been
glaringly disproved by occurrences—theif spleen is
as plentiful as ever, and their imaginations
are
as - fruitful. - It cannot be forgotten that
when Satays.
,ANNA. escaped from and
advanced i)a
h
sdvanced to 'evade, the vigilance of the:. American
vessels blockading the coasts of Yucatan and ..Vera
a
Cruz—there was a positive declaration
ustihoat
its
re-
turning soldier was forsaking h
to deliver his native land into the poSsessnion of its
assailants. So prevalent was this report that the
Cabinet of Washington was deluded into a most ex-
travagant credulity—the blockade was wilfully re-
laze 1 to permit the entrance of the ex-President, and
what was the consequence ? Why, so far from
the difficulties in the way of the United
States being removed by the revival of
the traitorous spirit of the Duke of ALBEMARLE,
Mexico leapt up in arms, and the war, atter
many months of marching, and sweating, and
butchering, and strategy, and persistance, is as far, it
not farther, from a termination than it was before the
overthrow of the authority of HERRERA-. ' Then it
was declared that SANTA AN$O. would from religious
scruples jeopardise the safety of his native land, and
how
was that insidious report fulfilled? Heavy sub-
sidies were raised upon the property of church
for the prosecution of the military defences I -'Then-
again SANTA ANNA was ietuatia an-ignoblesolelyty
greed of power and a latent thirst for peculation The
denial of that calumny has been found in the fact
that the Dictator of Mexico has pawned his personal
and patrimonial estates to obtain supplies for his
=on and in his repeated endeavours to relea,a him
from the re4onernilitizi of directing the Alnainigra-

tion, so that his energies might be concentrated .
up )n his duties as Comina),der-in-Chief. One by
one these imputations have been cast against his
character—one by one they have proved most mon-
strously unfounded. And now a similar insinuation
is noised abroad, that the Mexican Dictator is
ready to sign a treaty of peace upon almost any
conditions, so long as his own individual in.
terests are guaranteed. We do not wish, by any
means, to paint Don ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA
ANN.& as a man of infallible wisdom, of unstainable
reputation, of sublime and preternatural valour, of a
supreme and unconquerable genius. Such pic-
tures we leave to the fantastic eloquence of THOMAS
CARLYLE, and the rest of the race of Hero Worship-
pers. We have no disposition to imbue a single mind
with the notion that the man who is at present at the
head of affairs in Mexico is a paragon or monster of
perfections—civil, warlike, and ministerial. But
there is a generous old principle still enforced in the
administration of the criminal laws of Great Britain,
to the effect that every one should be regarded as in-
nocent until proved to be guilty. Acting upon this
principle, we have raised our solitary voice against
the traducers of SANTA ANNA since the moment of
his escape from Havannah, or, rather, since the moment
when, stepping upon the shores of Mexico, he drew
his sword from its scabbard to fight the good fight
in the defence of his fatherland. Hitherto our
hopes as to his integrity of purpose have - been sig-
nally fulfilled. Again he is taxed with a guilty con-
nivance with his antagonists, and, in the absence of
testimony to his guilt, we still. continue to regard
him as innocent. It is impossible - not to recognise
•the origin of all these imputations against the
Mexican captain ; namely, that the friends of the
invading power are solicitous to abstract in some
measure from the European sympathies already aroused
in behalf of the aggrieved Republic. If SANTA ANNA
prove faithless, then say we, be he covered with per-
petual infamy, be his name a byeword among the
nations. Until then we should remember, with a
sanguine enthusiasm, that the Dictator is at this time
at the head of thirty-five thousand men on the forti-
fications of El Pinon—that he is, as it were, at hay
under the walls of the capital, under the banners of a
Republic, fighting for its independence. -

We fear that the example so nobly set by the Mar-
quis of WATERFORD, and so promptly responded to
by the rate-payers of all classes—landlords and
tenants—of the electoral division of Rathgormac, is
not likely to be extensively followed throughout
Ireland. The repudiators and the grumblers are
more generally sympathised with by those who find it
easier to utter complaints and remonstrances, and to
pass long resolutions declaring their inability to
repay the Government advances in aid of the rates,
than to liquidate it in the manner demanded by the
Commissioners. Some are not satisfied with
obtaining the extension of time, they have de-
manded, and the consent of the authorities, that they
should for the present, at least, refrain from striking
a rate for that purpose (a concession which has
been made to the Kilkenny Board of Guardians),
but they desire a final settlement of the ques-
tion. It would appear from the answer sent
by the Commissioners to the Enniscorthy board, that
the demand has been modified to a certain extent, the
Commissioners being satisfied not to insist on a rate
being made on any electoral division exceeding 3s. in
the pound. The sum to be raised by the collection
of such a rate is to be applicable, in the first instance,
to the ordinary purposes of the union, so that the re-
payment is to be made only out of the surplus which
may remain after providing for the support and
maintenance of the destitute poor within the district,
and for all the expenses connected with the work-
house, &c., incidental to the administration of the
law. In every case, however, in which the amount
estimated for the repayment of the advances
mad the ordinary expenditure do not to-
gether
carry the entire poundage beyond 35.,
the Commissioners declare that they are not
authorised to forego the making of immediate rates
for the repay:nent of such advances, and that it is
necessary that the guardians should include them in
the rate ; and Alley further announce that in the event
of the guardians proving contumacious, and refusing
to comply with the demand made on them, that the
power granted by the 18th section of the Poor-law
Act, 10th Vic., c. 31, Kill be resorted to, the pre-
sent board dissolved, and pail guardians appointed
in their place.

This, we presume, may be looked upon as the ulti-
matum of the Commissioners, and the amount of the
repayment will be proportioned to the means of the
rate-payers. Nothing will be demanded from the
poorer districts, where the whole amount of
the 3s. rate will be absorbed in the re-
lief of the poor ; while in those divisions
where there is less poverty and distress, where full
employment is provided, and improvements taking
place, so that a small sum only will be required, the
whole amount of the debt due to the national ex-
chequer will be immediately required. There could
be no possible complaint against the justice and
equity of this course (which completely gets rid of
every allegation that has been made with respect to
spoliation, confiscation, inability to pay, &c.
were it not for the promises held out in the Legisla•
ture by the most itiflu,ntial members of the Govern-
ment to the effect that of the whole amount ex-
pended for the relief of the people under the Labour-
rate Act, and the temporary relief operations by which
it was succeeded, one moiety would be borne by the
State while thepayment of the remainder would be
accepted by easy instalments, spread over a term of
years—ten years being the longest period allowed for
the full liquidation. The demand now made, that a
rate should be struck sufficient to satisfy the full
amount, apparently violates these promises, and it is
hardly surprising that a people, many of whom are
unable to meet their responsibilities even in the
most propitious seasons, whose properties are heavily
encumbered, so that a small portion. only remains fur
the use of the nominal proprietors, should grievously
complain of the amount being insisted on
so much sooner than they had any reason to
anticipate, and that, too, at a time when they
have been subjected to a new responsibility, the
amount of which it is impossible to calculate with
any degree of certainty ; those only who possess
unencumbered estates will be able to sustain the
'burden ; the others—and we fear the great majority
must sink under the weight; and although such a
result might ultimately prove most beneficial for
Ireland, her greatest evils being occasioned by the em-
barrassments of her gentry and landed proprietors,
who are thus disabled from effecting valuable im-
provements and giving due
,encouragement to their
tenantry, and employment to the hardy labourers on
their estates; yet; if it were occasioned by the
operation of the new law, it would, expose
it to great odium,, 21.114., 205§ibly lead to an or-
ganized- opposition thereto. :The breach of pro-
mise is more- apparent than real, for the
C'ommisAoners are prepared to grant dunatiOns, as 10
the Itathgormao case, to the • extent of one moiety,
when a certificate has. been obtained that the residue
.has been actually paid into the hands of the district
treasurer. What rea•,on then is there for insisting
on a rate being- struck of double the necessary
amount, which may terrify the rate-payers, and per-
haps induce them to oppose the collection by every
means, v.hether legal or illegal. As to the tune
within which the payment of the moiety was to be
made, it certainly was net specified in the Legis-
lature, ten years only being mentioned as the extreme
Period that could be granted even to the most destitute ;
but it was nowhere said that it would be •demanded
without any interval being afforded to enable the
t
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cision, and that a more conciliatory course may be
adopted, so that every reasonable and well-grounded
cause of complaint may be removed.

•
It •Eippears that an outbreak has taken-place in
Sicily. The flying sheet of the Corriere. liromese,
,if the sth, says :—" The Ercolano steamer brings
word this morning that Messina and Pizzo are in the
hands of the people ; and that they have taken pos-
session of the Bank of the &A- mentioned place."

Tna Let'aza covesvadta 'of the ?reg.: say3fDat

• • '

" the people of Messina had risen en masse, and oh-
taMed at first some advantages, but that the troops,
having received reinforcements, regained possession
of the posts they had lost, and compelled the people
to retire."

A grand manifestation took place at Leghorn on
the sth, in commemoration of the institution of the
Civic Guard by the Grand Duke of TUSCANY.
Upwards of 10,000 men, preceded by the busts of
Pius IX. and LEoroLD 11., decked out with the
national colours, traversed the streets by the light
of torches, and singing patriotic hymns. All the
windows were illuminated and decorated with flags.
On the Bth, the festivity of the Holy Virgin, an-
other popular demonstration was to take place, in
which the whole female population, dressed in white
and adorned with the national colours—green, white,
and red—were to participate.

On the 4th the Grand Duke of TUSCANY so-
lemnly received M. Coanou Bussr, the extraordi-
nary legate sent by the POPE. Their first interview
lasted two hours, after which the Grand Duke im-
mediately convoked a Cabinet Council, to which he
repaired with his Prime Minister, Councillor CEM-
PINI.

Letters from Berne, of the 9th, state that the
Federal Diet resolved by a majority of 12 cantons
and two half cantons to adjourn to the 18th of Octo-
ber. The seven-and-a-half cantons of the Sonder-
bund had moved its dissolution, and Neufchatel and
Basle City an adjournment for an indefinite period.
The President next communicated to the assembly
dispatches from the Governments of •Zug, Unterwal-
den, Friburg, and Valais, acknowledging the receipt
of the decrees of the Diet of fhe 20th of July and the
11th of August, relative to the Sonderbund ; and in
which they give their entire adhesion to the prote,t
entered into by their Deputies, and reserved all the
rights of their respective states. The Diet, subsequently
proceeded to replace the three members of the
Federal Council of War, Messrs. RUTTIMANN,
MAILLARDOZ, and ZEIGLER, who bad been dismissed
in consequence of their relations with the Catholic
league. The federal colonels, FREI-HEROSE, of Ar-
gau (a Deputy), RILLIET CONSTANT. of Geneva (a
Deputy), and LAVINI, of Ticino (a Deputy), were
elected members of the Federal Council of War, by
a majority of 12 votes, and declared duly returned.
M. FREI-HEROSE was, moreover, appointed Vice-
President of the Council, the Presidency belonging
by right to M. OCLISENBEIN, as chief of the Di-
rectory.

The accounts from St. Gall were most re-assuring.
The ultramontane party was still actively labouring
to prevent the deputation from voting coercive mea-
sures for the dissolution of the Catholic league. But
M. WEDER, the only Catholic Councillor of State,
who at first appeared opposed to those measures, had
ultimately concurred in them, so that a majority in
the Grand Council on the Liberal side was then
certain. The inhabitants of Basle Country had
seized a convoy of gunpowder intended for Lucerne.

According to the latest accounts the cholera was
rapidly approaching Odessa. Letters from that city,
of the 221 ult., state that it had manifested itself at
Rostoff, Marianopolis, and other toss is of Southern
Ru,sia. At Rostoff, in less than three weeks, it had
swept off 2,000 persons out of a population of about
8,000. The invasion of the malady had caused so
great a terror, that all communication between
Rostoff and Odessa was interrupted, the postmasters
along the road having abandoned their establishments.

Letters from Oporto of the 7th complain of the vio-
lence of the military, and the rigour of the conscrip-
tion, and the attempts made by the Government to
overawe the people at the elections.
Madrid papers of the 7th have arrived.

Previous to the departure of General MANUEL DE LA
CONCHA for Catalonia, the assurance which had been
previously given to the Catalonian Deputies was
reiterated to him, that it was not the intention of the
Government to propose any alteration in the tariff on
cotton goods.
The Duke DE FRIAS was expected to arrive in
Madrid on the Bth.

Don FRANCISCO DE PAULA and his daughter are
about to remove from St. Sebastian to Burgos.
It was reported that a sanguinary conflict had
taken place at Targa, in Cltalonia, between a detach-
ment of the QUEEN'S troops and a band of Carli6ts,
in which the former had been routed, and put to the
sword.

MADRID BOLSA, SEPT. 7.—The Three per Cents,
were done at 26f for paper, and the Five per Cents.
at 17f for cash.

We have received the Paris papers of Sunday.
On Saturday a Cabinet Council was held at St.
Cloud, over which the KING presided, and at which
MM.. GuizoT and DuctiATEL were present. Queen
CHRISTINA, the Duke of RIANZARES (MUNOZ), her
husband, and the Marquis of SANTA CRUZ, were at
St. Cloud, and remained closeted with the KING and
the Duke of MoNTrENSIER up to the moment of the
assembling of the Council.

During the time the Council remained in delibera-
tion the Duchesse D'AUMALE was safely delivered of
a Prince, on whom the KING immediately conferred
the title of Duke of

It is said that at this Council the affairs of Spain
and of Morocco were considered, and that it was
determined to march an army into Morocco, to
oppose A 13D-EL- K ADER.

The Journal des Debats rails in good set terms at
the Lucchese for the manner in which they have
accomplished their revolution. The organ of the
dynasty of the Barricades gives itself all the airs of
the purest " right divine" legitimacy. M. GUIZOT
must surely imagine that all the world are as oblivi-
ous as himself of July, 1830, or he surely would
never indulge in such reflections as the following:—
" We had hoped that, abandoning for the future their
former habits, the Italians would turn their efforts
towards legal and peaceable improvements, and that
they would never more attempt to extort violently
from their Sovereigns concessions which can be dur-
able only when made with ccmmon accord between
the Government and the people. To transfer to the
public streets the initiative H hich ought to be re-
served for the Government—to reduce the power of
the Sovereign to the mere ratification of the proposi-
tions of a revolted people—would be to open the
path of revolution, and to recommence those melan-
choly attempts the recollection of which ought never
to be lost beyond the Alps."
Can it be that M. GUIZOT, disgusted with the
" sham" of "the best of republics," is about to turn
Legitimatist, and set off on another journey, to Ghent.
it would really almost seem as if such were the case,
for, not only does he protest against " transferring to
the public streets the initiative which ought to be
reserved for the Government (and according to which
doctrine the ordonnances of CHARLES X. were legal),
but he actually repudiates the national colour, the
tricolor. " On the return of the Duke," says the.
Debuts, " all the population (men, women, children,
soldiers, students, ecclesiastics) wearing the national
colours, assembled in the Great Square to salute the
the Commandant inof passingthe p lae
,b theewfte th e residenceltalltalian
fl
flag
:3-thinatulthtitisn-fdaect:istotered frenzied cries.Awafrsaihdo,ispterotabltyb
significantth in itself,
pains to print in capital let-
should not he sufficiently remarked, the official
journal of Lucca takes
ters that this flag so saluted was the Italian flag.
Every one knows that this flag bearing the national
colours is a tricolour, white, red, and green."
We may judge from this passage of the respect in
which the national tricolour is held by AL GUIZOT
and his friends.
The Duke DE BROGLIE, paid a visit to Lord NOR.
MANDY on Friday. The Duke had, on the same day,
a long audience from Queen CHRISTINA at Mai.
!liaison, and on Sunday he was received by the KING
at St. Cloud. The visits; of Count APPONY, the
Austrian Ambassador, to M. GUIZOT and the KING
were frequent. •
The National says that every day brings to light
fresh instances of corruption on the part-of the Go-
vernment and its officers. It appears that for some
time past the nation has been defrauded to a consider-
able amount in the supply of coals to the administra-
tion of the marine at Havre. " We are assured,"
t 6 National, "-that proofs of this malversation_
are in the hands of the Administratian, but that
powerful influences have intervened to put a stop
to investigation." The Emancipation says that the
curate of Muissac, who was examined at a
trial at the assizes- -af- Tarn and Garonne,
decl6o4 la his Cideun that ha hal hten threstansd

ith a prosecution if he bore hard on the accused,
and when asked with what prosecution he was
threatened, the curate replied, " One of my neigh-
bours asked me if I could get his son withdrawn
from the conscription. As I had powerful friends, I
undertook to do so. The peasant gave me 3001.
I gave 2201. to a friend, and returned 80f. to the
young man's father. The son was exempted from
the conscription, and for this they threatened to pro-
secute me." If, adds the Emancipation, the Attor-
ney General had asked this obliging curate the name
of the person who received the money, he would
have told him without hesitation.

The Bank of France is to commence issuing notes
of 200 f. on the Ist of October.

MARSEILLES, SEPT. B.—Marseilles and Avignon,
580 f. ; Paris and Lyons. 4501.
BUSINESS DONE IN -FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT TIIE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, SEPTEMBER 13.
Boulogne and Amiens, l3l2—Northern of Frames, 101•/2
—Orleans and Bordeaux, 4—West Flanders, .317.

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