The Sun.
London, England, 1824-05-28 00:00:00

[NEW TIMES.]

Yesterday was-a
holiday at the Bank, but
.both Exchanges were open. Consols continued
with little variation throughout the day at 0614
for the Account. Bank Stock was again lower
in price, In Foreign-. Securities but little busi-
nesss was transacted ;,,Mexican Scrip, however,
advanced full one per cent., and that of Colombia
about one-half per cent. The others remained
without alteration. The Alliance shares which,
from the interest existing at ptesent with regard
to the progress of the Bill through its final stages
were objects of speculation, have varied between
14 and 16 premium. The other shares remain
stationary at our former quotations.

[BRITISH PItESS.J
Lord Lauderdale's Bill to repeal the Acts of
the late reign, relating to the wages of persons
employed in the manufacture of silk, and of silk
mixed with other materials, has been printed,
after passing the ordeal of the Upper House, and
is now before us. We can discover nothing in
this Bill to create the alarm betrayed by the
body. of journeymen silk weavers who attended
the discussion with so much anxiety. The Acts
which interfered with the silk trade, and com-
pelled a certain rate of wages, were equally im-
politic and unjust. " Laissez faire" is the best
rule on these occasions. The produce of labour
constitutes the natural recompence or wages of
labour, and will almost generally ensure an ade-
quate return. It is true the common wages of
labour depend every %%here upon the contract
usually made between two parties, whose inte-
rests are by no means the same. The workmen
generally desire to get as much—the masters to
give as little as possible. The former are
disposed to' combine to raise the latter
to lower the wages of labour. The latter,
however, under the past system of the Com-
bination Laws, must on most occasions have had
a decided advantage, and been able to force the
workmen into a compliance with their wishes.—
The masters, being fewer in number and more
wealthy, could combine with greater ease and
effect, and the law did not prohibit their com-
bination, while it denounced those of the work-
men. There have been no acts of Parliament
against combining to lower the price of work,
while many have-been passed against cotnbina7
tions to raise it. In all disputes of this sort, too,
the masters can hold out much longer•; the
master manufacturer may find other workmen,
or even if his trade stands still he could gene-
rally live for a long time on the property he had
already acquired. Many artisans could not sub-
sist a week, and few for many months, without
employment. The workman in the long run may
be as necessary to his master as the master is to
him ; but the necessity of the last is not so
pressing or immediate, though, in disputes with
their workmen, masters must generally have the
advantage.

[MORNING CHRONICLE.]

Letters have been received from Malta, by the
way of France, datt•d on the 4th current. His

Majesty's ship the Revenge, Admiral Sir H. B.

Neale,
.had again sailed for Algiers, and the
Cambrian frigate for Genoa, to convey the Mar.
uis of Hastings to the seat of his Government.
The accounts received 'there from Candia were
not favourable to the Greeks, a
°division of the
Turkish fleet having appeared off, that Island,
and compelled the Ckristians to raise the siege
of the different stations in which•the Turks had
previously been confined. This success, hori-
ever, will be only short-lived, for 18 ships of.
war, of various descriptions, had sailed from
Hydra with rej.g9rcements, and it was therefore
expected That the superiority of the Greeks in
Candia -would be again immediately restored. In
the'Morea the greatest unanimity prevailed
amongst all descriptions of the veople, and the ne.
cessary means were in progress, which will spee-
dily reduce Patras and the castles of Lepanto.
—There being .no enemy elsewhere in that part
of Greece, the inhabitants were engaged in the'
cultivation of the fields., and the Senators in eh-
acting laws for the protection of property and
the future Government of the confederation. At
Messolongili the head-quarters of the army re.,
warned, and great exertions were making -up to
the 27th ult. to discipline the soldiers in the Eu-
ropean manner. The independence of Greece is
now established. too firmly to be enda trgered by
the Ottomans:olnd in a few years a Power will
be consolidatiild at the head of the Mediterranean
Sea, little inferi.or to: any of the European na-
tions,. This new Empire, from position and
from mutual • convenience, will become
consitteralii addition to the society of ci-
vilizr;d nations, and will furnish particularly
it most valuable wart for the' consumption of a
part of the surplus of labour of British industry
and intelligence. Strong and ,confident hopes
were entertained at Messolonghi that before die
cose of this summer the whole of Albania will be

cleared of its oppressors. In Lwadia, Thessaly
and Macedonia, the prospects of civilization were
equally cheering. The part which England has
taken in this contest will form one of not the least
important pages in her future history, fbr, by the
assistance of her citizens, tl►e contest will be
brought to a conclusion years sooner than the
most brilliant conduct of the Christian population
could by any possibility have effected.

[MORNING POST.]
French Papers to the 26th instant reached us
last night by Express ; but the Etoile of Wed-
nesday alone contains important intelligence. Its
details relate exclusively to the attempted revo-
lution at Lisbon, and are extracted from the
Madrid Gazette of the 20th inst. It appears that
our faithful and venerable ally was a second time
obliged to have recourse to the protection of a
British man of war. The first time indeed the
necessity was less painful. It proceeded from
the advance of an invading army, and from an
heroic determination to abandon a throne
rather than to surrender its independence to the
grasping ambition of a foreign despot. This time
the blow was aimed by kindred hands. It was a
wife who struck at the authority and liberty of
her husband—it was a son who threatened the
life and crown of his father and his King ! In the
former instance flight was one of the vicissitudes
of war—in the present it' was the only preven-
tive to dethronement and parricide ! Whatever
might be the injustice which occasioned the first,
it sinks into insignificance before the deep crimi-
nality and sacrilege of the second. As the chain
of intelligence is interrupted from the 6th to the
llth, at which period the King of Portugal and
his Ministers were on board the Windsor Castle,
we know not exactly by what means his
-Majesty effected his escape from the per-
sonal confinement in which he was kept at the
Palace of Bemposta.- It is probable, however,
that besides the firmness and energy of The Di-
plomatic Body, which were displayed in a most
honourable and beneficial manner, the threats of
the British Admiral, may have had some weight.'
However this may be, his Majesty succeeded in
" transporting himself on board the ship Windsor
Castle, belonging to one of his most ancient,
powerful, and affectionate Allies," from whence,
" as from a point inaccessible to all dissen-
lions, good order and tranquillity were ex-
pected to emanate." On the 10th his rebel-
lious, his infamous son, was ordered to repair on
board the Windsor Castle. The wretch dared not
disobey the mandate, and on arriving fell at his
father's feet, and pretended to explain the means
of artifice and seduction which had been, used to
induce him to act as he had done. He was par-
doned, but detained ; and we trust that after the
various atrocious attempts which lie made to rob
his father of his Crown, he will no longer be per-
mitted to go at large. As to the Queen, who
was the secret spring of the whole, the best
thing which can be done is to send her back to
her brother Ferdinand. They seem related in
feelings as well as in,blood, and she will have
some difficulty in making him worse than he al-
ready is. It will be seen by our'extracts that
wise and energetic measures had been taken and
were taking, and that it was thought•that in a
few days it would be safe for the King to land
and return to his palace.

[MORNING HERALD.]
Extract of a letter from Madrid, dated May
13, 1824 :—" The principal subject of conversa-
tion and conjecture here at present, is the affair
which has taken place at Lisbon, but of the true
nature of which we are ignorant. The account
given of it in our Gazette of to-day, cannot of
course be relied on. However, our Government
seems to attach some importance to it, as the po-
lice are actively employed in inquiring into the
characters, occupation, and correspondence of
the Portuguese of every class who are here
some of whom have been already arrested. The
day before yesterday, there was a full meeting of
the members of the Council of Castile, which
lasted from nine o'clock in the morning till one
o'clock. In the paper of this morning, there ap-
peared the following notice To day,at twelve
o'clock, will be put in execution the sentence of
death passed by the executive military commis-
sion, on Thomas Franco, accused of treason, and
convicted of having uttered in the square de
Budia, in the month of November, 1823,
the following frightful expression—My sabre
is tarnished; 1 wish I could brighten it in
the blood of the King; to which he added se-
veral other equally criminal expressions." This
unfortunate young man was, in fact, hanged to-
day ; his fate excited a great deal of commisera-
tion, for it was suspected that he fell a victim to
' private malice and false swearing. He was only
twenty-seven years of age, and.remarkably hand-
some and genteel in his deportment. He bore
himself with great firmness on his trial, and
in his defence spoke with so much good sense
and good feeling, that few of those present pre- •
saged that his fate would have been so deplor-
able. He had been educated at the University
of Salamanca, and had already entered into the
first ecclesiastical orders. He was the son of a
notary, in Taressa (a village of New Castile). As
he passed to execution, there were very few
.dry
eyes,at least amongst the female spectators. Yes-
terday Gen. Digeon set out for Araiquez. The day
before the officers of the garrison and the municipal
authorities went to felicitate him upon his ar-
rival. It caused some astonishment that on his
entering Madrid he was unaccompanied by a
single French General Officer. The Secretaries
of State and the President of the Royal Council
are summoned for to-morrow to Araujuez. A
report prevails here that a French Garde du
Corps has been shot at Aranjuez, for having vio-
lated a young tadv. the daughter of one of the
first families there. After to-morrow will be
celebrated the Feast of Saint Isidore, the
Patron • Saint of Madrid, a day upon which
the populace get drunk,. in honour of their
celestial protector, and during which, ac-
cording to immemorial custom, several poignard
wounds are given and taken. There is no doubt
but that this year the number will rather be in-
creased than diminished, seeing the bad blood that
exists between the Negroes and Blancos."