The Sun.
London, England, 1823-01-01 00:00:00

MERCANTILE SPUPPING.

DraL, Dtc. S.W.--Arrived the stmln, Wil-
liams, from Zante for Grimsby ; and Centurion, from Quehti:
for London. Remain the outward-bourd ax before.

PowcsktouTit, Dro. \V.—Arrived, from the
Dawns the George and James, Dalton, for .I.frica; and NCP.-
tune, Kaston, for Marseilles. It has blown hard the
of this day.
PCYZIOITTII, DEC. 29,--.Wind W. B.lV..—Arrivesi the
Eagle, Pratt, from St. John's, N. 8., in 6 weeks ; Mcsgartt
aral-Jean, dourly, from Seville.
PAt.atouTu, Dac. 2(1,---14'ind S.W.—Arrived ;the Trafal-
gar,. Button', from biverpool'for Leghorn.
LIVERPOOL, DEe. 29.—Arrived the Chwead, Palate,
from Savannah ; Waterloo), --, St. John's, N. Li Tsgo<,
Lens, Lisbon ; and the Hope, ---. from Terelera. Put beck
the Columbia,' for Vera Cruz ; anti the Jane, for the Brazils.
DIDEFOED, DEC. 29.—Arrived the livelnis, Chappell,
from Prince litlward's Island: she fell in with the ship COnle.
coerce, Stone, from Quebec to Liverpool, leaky, and took out
the Master and 13 of. the crew; a 'sale of wind coming on pre-
vented them taking out the remaining six, who Were driven on
shore.

_
ARMOV Dr.c. 30.—Captain Watson, of the Mary, ar-
rived here hom Petersburgh, states that, on the 15th lost., he
passed in a gale of wind under the stern of a brig with her
rudder and boats gone, and s.e emed to be abantkuted by Ler
crew: she seemed to be loaded with flax and limp, and had
Jean, •f Aberdeen, on her stern, and was in lat. Al. long. ti. 27.

I

TI!1 LONDON JOURNALS•'

DAILY
Extrects from the Morning Papers, Dee. 3i.

[MORNING POST.]
French Papers to the 29th inst. reached us last
tight by express. They contain news from
Spain, which the Journal des Debuts declares to
he" very favourable." This very favoufable in-
telligence, however, states nothing more than
that " the new Ministers were employed in ins-
' portant labours ; that the army would be dis-1
banded and organised upon a new plan ; that the
amnesty (which renews the fable of Tantalus)
would appear ii► a few days, and that all the
little regulatory treaties were on the eve of being
'signed." All that is good, it will be seen, is still
In the future tense for Spain : evil alone is pre-
sent, and this we fear will long be the case, un-
less positive want or foreign dictation drive Fer-
tlinaud to the hard necessity of doing justice
to his subjects. These Papers do not mention
the reports contained in private letters, " that a
new Congress was to be holden in Paris on the
affairs of South America, and that both France
and Spain had Intimated a disposition to ac-
'knowledge its independence, provided a sum
should be paid by the South Americans, of a
sufficient magnitude to enable Ferdinand to dis-
pense with a !Oen, and to reimburse in part the
expenses incurred by France during the late
-war." The rumour, however, though not con-
firmed, is not devoid of probability. The pro-
posal does not seem unreasonable, and if really
made wituld most likely be accepted. Such
a recog►►ition would at once place the New
World beyond the chance, not of fortune,
for we consider it to be so already, but of
being delayed in its progress to greatness and
prosperity by those cares and perhaps sacrifices
for defence against internal traitors and foreign
enemies, which are inseparable from an unsettled
state. Some of the letters add, that beside pay-
ing a stipulated sum, the South Americans would
be required to receive all " the Disaffected or
Revolutionists" from Spain who should " wish
to retire to South America." If there be any
truth in this, it seems to signify more than it
avows: for why should the Revolutionists
want an asylum in a distant hemisphere, if
they were allowed to remain tranquil in their
own country ? Is the policy which banished
all the Jews and Moors out of Spain, and ruined
her industry and national wealth for three hun-
dred years, to be now revived, and directed
whist the, friends and supporters of the late
Constitution ? Is banishment to be the first ar-
ticle so long and so pompously promised ? If
so, South America would no doubt accede to the
proposal for she would gain an active and eu-
, ,lightened population for those fertile deserts
which occupy eight-tenths of her extent, and
which only want the presence and culture of
man to teem with abundance, and become sources
"ut inexhaustible wealth.

ETIII4 TI M Eol.]
We published yesterday the account of the
violent proceedings at Harbedoes against the
Wesleyan chapel and minister, without a word
of comment. Neither are we disposed to add
much to-dray. We may, however, observe, that
the most effectual method of tranquillizing po-
pular insubordination of every kind, is by re.
2.ieving distress. The Manchester mutturactureri
1l in trent and riot when, their employers cans
not pay them sufficient to support life. The
egricultural interests are on the point of rebellion
when the produce of their lands •will not support
.them,in their accustomed ease. In like manner
the West India planters and their adherents, it
appears to us, rise up into tumult, when they find
by sad experience that the European markets no
lortgernfrord an adequate return for. their commo-
dities. The. Missionaries are the nearest, objects of
iengeance,and upon them the public dissatisfaction
falls. It is most unlucky for the cause of hu-
nonity that the distress of the, planters, and the
endeavour to introduce final emancipation, should
be contemporaneous occurrence.. There are some
abolitimdsts we fear—we hope there are not
many---4ith whom it is as dear an object to
distress the master as to emancipate the slave.—
Three • are others, on the contrary, who regret
the sufferings of both alike ; and indeed the
distress of the planter has risen to that pitch
(his previous habits, and the just expectations
resulting from his station in society, being taken
into consideration), that it inflicts even greater
mental anguish than the protracted deprivation of
liberty, the enjoyment of which Was never
known. We would therefore beseech the more
respectable advocates of the abolition to consider
thin &aims Of the planter as operating against
their views, and to urge Covernment-tddevise
end enforce measures for the relief of that dis-
tress under which the British West India posses-
sions ere, suffering. Thus at least will the plan
'of emancipation be allowed to take its. chance
withoutsty of those disgraceful riots which it
was yesterday our business to communicate. If it
Meet with opposition, as no doubt it will, from
the planters, it ,will meet with the opposition of
law and reason, or at least of something which
pretends to be law and reason—not the opposi-
tion of despair, which, even if it be defeated,
leaves the justice of the cause doubtful, and
creates as much misery as it removes.

[MORNING IigRALD.]
The following paragraph, in the Brussels Pa-
pets ik a striking proof of thigrowth of a burnous,
spirit in Penal. Legislation—
The Faculty ofdurisprudorice of the University of Liege
has proposed the following qtamtion for the prize of 1423.24 ;
"t4uglit the punishmentoldeith to be admitted in a well.re-
aated,htitat end if witnissibio; for what crimes should it be
Kioted ?' The writers arc at liberty to adept the affirmative
oi-the •rifegatitie hut in such case the second pert of the ques.
tiftVaustleconsidered.
I not long - since that the very entertaining
this question as a SttkieCt of investigation or
debate would have been regarded as fit only
for a spouting-clubi—hut now it is solemnly
proposed' as ' a matter for Inquiry 'by a grave
andlearned Vniversity. To prevent 'th© suppo-
sition that it was proposed as a thesis of which
one side onlyishould.:be maintained, an,ekpreis
•

notice it given. Either side may be, and even
must be, supported and balenced with the oppo.
site, according to the terms of the proposition.
This shows that the object is to obtain light upon
a doubtful question. Upon the moral right of
society to talc, away the life of one of its mem-
bers, we shalt not touch, mooted as that has been
farther than to observe, that though called a piece
of Quixotism in ethics, it has never been sa-
tisfactorily refuted. The expediency of capital
punishments is a main point, and upon this phi-
losophy and experience itself have greatly and
unaccountably the start of legislation. Consi-
derable progress has been made on the Con-
tinent since the publication of Beccaria, and Vol-
taire's eulogies and annotations on that book,
as well as his other notices of the subject.
It has been proved beyond contradiction, by
experience in different countries, that of-
fences punished with death became much more
rare, when milder punishments were substi-
tuted. A more decisive experiment is in progress
in Spain. One of the earliest amendments of the
laws made by the Cortes, was the abolition of
capital punishments, with certain accompanying
horrors, in an extensive class of cases. All these
mitigations have been swept away by King Fer-
dinand, and all the ancient savagery revived.—
The mode of the execution of The unhappy Riego
was not .the capricious will of the bigoted and
blood-thirsty authors of that horrible act—it was
a form revived from the old Spanish code. The
short duration of the Cortes hardly allowed time
for a sufficient trial. There could be little peril,
however, in staking the value of the two systems
of penal legislation, upon the issue, on a compari-
son of the state of crime and punishment under
the Constitution and under the absolute King.
Singular as it may appear in this country, the
Legislature seems farther behind the voice of
humanity, and the conviction of reason on the
subject, than any other, except Spain.