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

Obitnin4

LONDON, TUESDAY. SEYTEXIBER 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!
What a modest and feasible basis for a pacifica-
tion! 'Whit 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 be 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-
ledgiaent of the original boundary line between
Texas and New Leon would be simple honesty—the
reparation of the wanton bloodshed 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 ZAcix," 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—their spleen is
as plentiful as ever, and their imaginations
are as fruitful. It cannot be forgotten that
when SANTA ANNA escaped from Hasannah, and
advanced to evade the vigilance of the American
vessels blockading the coasts of Yucatan and Vera
Cruz—there was a positive declaration that the re-
turning
soldier was forsaking his seclusion in Cuba
to deliver his native land into the possession 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-
laxed to per nit 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, alter
many months of marching, and sweating, and
butchering, and strategy, and persistance, is as far, if
not farther, from a termination than it was before the
overthrow of the authority of HERRERA. Then it
was declared that SANTA ANNA 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 the church
For the prosecution of the military defences ! Then
again SANTA ANNA was actuated solely by an ignoble
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
army, and in his repeated endeavours to release himself
from the responsibilities of directing the A.dministra-

tion, so that his energies might be concentrated
upon his duties as Commander-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 Ds SANTA
ANNA 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 bay
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 put pose (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
aad 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 repayment of such advances, and that it is
necessary that the guardians should include them in
the rate ; and they further announce that in the event
1 of the guardians preying contumacious, and refusing
to comply with the demand made on them, that the
power granted by the lath section of the Poor-law
Act, 14th Vic., c. 31, will be resorted to, the pre-
sent board dissolved, and paii guardians appointed
1 in their place.
This, we presume, may be looked upon as the :da-
-1 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. &c.),
were it not for the promises held out in the Legisla-
ture by the most influential 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 for
the use of the nominal proprietors, should grievously
complain of the amount being insisted on
so much sooner than they bad 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
1 their estates; yet, if it were occasioned by the
operation of the new law, it would expose
it to great odium, and r.....ibir ]ca,l to an or-
ganized opposition thereto. The breach of pro-
mise
is more apparent than real, for the
Commissioners are prepared to grant donations, as in
the Rathgormac 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 reason 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, whether legal or illegal.
within which the payment of the moiety was o
.
As to the
ttimbee
lrna taudree, , tenit c3e,eratrasi certainly
only
beingwas nomt
mentioned
dd
as in t
bthe e
xLt
re
egr
al s
e-.
period that could be granted even to the most destitut , e
but it was nowhere said that it would be demanded
without any interval being afforded to enable the
parties liable, to recover from the serious difficulties in
which they were placed during the past year, and
although there is no doubt that the Commissioners
are legally entitled to insist on immediate satisfac-
tion, we fear that, if enforced, it will eventually
prove to be a very injudicious exercise of that autho-
rity. We trust that they may reconsider their de-
cision, and that a more conciliatory course may be
adopted, so that every reasonable and well-grounded
cause of complaint may be removed.

It appears that an outbreak has taken place in
Sicily. The flying sheet of the Corriere Livornese,
of 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 first-snentioned place."

The Leghorn correspondent of the Presse Gaye that

" people of Messina had risen en masse, and oh-
tainod at first some advantages, but that the troops,
having received reinforcements, regained possession
of the posts they had ?ost, and compelled the people
to re lire."

A grani manifestation took place at Leghorn on
the • sth, in commemoration of the institution of the
Civi c Guard by the Grand Duke of TUSCANY.
Upm yards of 10,000 men, preceded by the busts of
Pies IX. and LEOPOLD IL, decked out with the
national colours, traversed the streets by the light
of" torches, and singing patriotic hymns. All the
v indows were illuminated and decorated with flags.
O'n the Bth, the festivity of the Holy Virgin, an-
other popular demonstration was to take place, in
v rhich the whole female population, dressed in white
taxi adorned with the national colours—green, white,
:Ind red—were to participate.

On the 4th the Grand Duke of TUSCANY So-
lemnly received M. CORBOLI BCSSI, the extraordi-
maxy 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-

-Letters from Berne, of the 9th, state that the
Fcderal Diet resolved by a majority of 12 cantons
and two half cantons to adjourn to the 18th of Octo•
lam The seven-and-a-half cantons of the Sonder-
bu nd 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•
(len, Friburg, and Valais, acknowledging the receipt
'of the decrees of the Diet of the 20th of July and the
11th of August, relative to the Sonderbund ; and in
which they give their entire adhesion to the protest
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 had 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 Lavisr, of Ticino (a Deputy), were
elected members of the Federal Council of War, by
a majority of 12 votes, and declared duly returned.
31. FREI-HEROSE was, moreover, appointed Vice•
President of the Council, the Presidency belonging
by right to M. OCHSENBEIN, 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
3eizcd a convoy of gunpowder intended fur Lucerne.

According to the latest accounts the cholera was
rapidly approaching Odessa. Letters from that city,
of the 22d ult., state that it had manifested itself at
Rostoff, Marianopolis, and other towns of Sou'ihern
Ru-sia. At itostoff, 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 MANUAL 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 bad
taken place at Targa, in Catalonia, between a detach-
ment of the QUEEN'S troops and a band of Cariists,
in which the former had been routed, and put to the
sword.

MADRID BOLSA, SEPT. 7.—The Three per Cents,
were done at 26} for paper, and the Five per Cents,
at 171 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 DUCHATEL 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 MONTPENSIER 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 GUISE.

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 BD-EL-K AD ER.

The Journal des Debuts 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 cLmmon accord between
the Government and the people. To tramfer to the
public streets the initiative which 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 th'b
" 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 repudiate% the nat;nn.l -
" Q.. of th. Tinlro," mays the
Debats," all the population (men, women, children,
soldiers, students, ecclesiastics) wearing the national
colours, assembled in the Great Square to salute the
SOVEREIGN, and in passing before the residence of
the Commandant of the place, where the Italian flag
was hoisted, the multitude uttered frenzied cries.
Afraid, probably, that this fact, so significant in itself,
should not be sufficiently remarked, the official
journal of Lucca takes pains to print in capital let-
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 M. Gulzoz
and his friends.

The Duke DE BEOGLIE paid a visit to Lord Ng
MANDY on Friday. The Duke had, on the same doay-
a long audience from Queen CHRISTINA at Mal:
maison, and on Sunday he was received by the KING
at St. Cloud. The visits of Count APPONT, the
Austrian Ambassador, to M. GUIZOT and the Yixo
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,"
says the National, " that proofs of this malversation
are in the hands of the Administration, but that
powerful influences have intervened to put a stop
to investigation." The Emancipation •,a)s that *.bo
curate of Muissac, who was exau,itied at a
trial at the assizes of Tarn and Garonne,
declared in his evidence that he had been threatened ,

4 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 300 f.
I gave 220 f. 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.—Marseille• and Avignon,
580 f. ; Penis and Lyons, 450 f.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, SEPTEMBER 13.
Boulogne and Amiens, 13142—Northern of Fraßee, 101/2
—Orleans and Bordeaux, 4—West Flanders, 34.