The Sun.
London, England, 1824-08-27 00:00:00

VIE LONDON JUUIt,NALs.

• DA IIN •
g.tilzacts from 00,,,Norning,Perpers, Aug. 27.
ATlrc TIMES.]
'T he intellierce undel._• the head of South
Anierica (sett another column of THE SUN),
though not of a very stormy nuts re, possesses a
certain degree of interest anti animation. An an-
niversary dinner has been given at Demme Ayres,
where the North American Minister played first
foreign personage, and Mr. Parish, our Copse!.
General, the second. NOtti,, America has,
ttfrough her public Minister, representing the so-
vereignty of the United States, aCknOwledged•
he sovereignty of her sister ,republic,--that is
to say, she is bold enough to admit a truth which
haiulong stared the whole world in the face, and
has ceased to be questionable by any rational
being; Why Great Britain is behind in this con-
test of friendly intercourse and of national jus-
tice, we fain would have Mr. Canning explain
to his countrymen; for Mr. Parish has left the
matter just where he found it, not even going
the length of his associate Consuls, who have
dined and made speeches in others of the Inde-
pendent States, by promising that their existence
Rhould be recognized at some time hereafter.—
Mr, Parish's dry reserve, however, might not, if
considered ht all its bearings, be without a tsetse-
hens! 'effect. He took care to apprise the authoe
ritie3 of La Plata, that a portion of 44 his duty
was to Collect information on the actual cop-
" dition'of affairs in_ their Government.;" which
was, in other words, admonishing the Buenos-
Ayrearas to behave well, mind their business, and
kick up no riots with each other, or he should
be compelled to make of them such a report as
wonlcl justify his Government in postponing
indefinitely the much-desired homage to their
independence. We are not sure whether
w arising of this kind might not have
produced more advantage eitewhere, than
the confident and flattering language of some
other British functionaries. if the American
Patriots be given fully to understand that a rea-
sortable amount of union amongst themselves is a
sine qua non in that body of evidence on which
must hinge their speedy admission
,into the com-
munity of settled states, a powerful medicine
may be thereby administered to the prominent
disease of countries under process of revolution.
We are, at all events, happy to learn, on au-
thority which there seems no reason to distrust,
that the•basis of a commercial treaty has been ac-
tually laid down between Great Britain and La
Plata : and that it is probable the public may see
a representative from that commonwealth, form-
elly accredited and accepted as Minister Pleni-
potentiaryto the Court of St. James's, so soon as
the conditions of that treaty shall have beets in
every particular matured. If this be the case, it
amounts to 'a recognition at least of this
State from which an Ambassador is so ace
credited and received ; if not, it should be
underitood that mere consular missions do not.
imply, of necessity, a positive acknowledgment
of the States to which they are accredited—
no principle' being better established-, than that a
Consul, as such, does not enjoy the immunities
of a public 'Minister, .and is not under the pro.
tection of the law of nations; although the hove-
reign employing him may, without the title, Con-
fer upon bin), by the very nature of the instruc-
tions which he has to execute, the character and
prerogative of an envoy.—The Papal power, it
seems, Ws been playing - off some characteristic
mantzuvres among the Chilies's, which, neverthe-
less, not having yet produced the mischiefs anti-
cipeted from them by the Holy Alliance, may do
eventual good, by raising., in the minds of the
patriots, a timely and salutary suspicion.

CMOILNING CURONICLE:i
If, the advices received yesterday from Madrid
ire correet, the Constitutionalists who-landed at
Tarifa on the 3d, moved forwards to Ximena,
that is, towards the mountains. This is as we
expiieted ; and though at first, perhaps, they
cannot boast of more open protection and sup-
port:than that of the smugglers (a circumstance
at which' some of our contemporaries sneer), it
will be found, on inquiry, that they are in no
very bad company. These men force a trade, in
opposition to the regiments of regulars sent against
them. On the roads, they are sometimes met
in a party of 5 or 600, mounted on the best
horses, armed with a carbine, pistols, and
titibtfb, and clothed in such a way, ag to be
ProteciPd from the inclemency of the wea-
ther, as a great part of tire time they are out.
isispfint in the open Or. These were the
hardy and daring men who, during the late war,
formed the nneleus of the 'best guerrilla parties
knawn in Spain, anci'many of thern returned to
their old profession, when their corps were dis-
banded. Their numbers have greatly increased
slate the French entered' Spain, for the smug-
gling parties have been joined by the best of the
men 'whil formerly belonged to the army of La
Isla, and those regiments were disbanded by
order of the King, because they could not be
trusted. Smuggling has, in fact, become an ho-
siourahib lucrative occupation to melt who
have spent the greatesi.part of their lives in tire
army, in which many have attained rank, and who
now cannot return to the plough or the pruning
knife. The chiefs of these enterprises possess
large capitals, and are well known in Gibraltar.
To them indeed are the merchant; of the latter
place indebted for the little trade they carry on
drtgoods; for the. French have filled Spain
with s,nch enormous quantities of their own ma-
nufactures, under the mask of Military Stares,
therlt-ssiOuld be impOssible'for ones to compete
with them, if they were not equally smuggled
I_ll6. the .country, . A smuggler in Spain, there-
fore, is not. a discreditable occupation, since
nearly the where- French army is engaged in it.
Thw ierranlas of Ronda, and neighbouring coun-
try can furnish uPwaida'of 2000 of these enter.
prisi:lg men, most of wheat cease to be
from • th the
e momentsmugglers
re is a political object- in
thei‘ country to pursue.

CHEW TI iS.I
The Funds yesterday dindined in a slight de-
gree, in consequence of the arrangement of the

,account; but soon recovered., Consols for,money
opened at 93? i, and closed at gni.; and for the
new account (after being at 94k) at 934 .—The
businesS transtiCted in Foreign Securities was less
than for some days past. Reports, continue re.
pectiug tke reception of Yturbide; and from the
length of time that has elapsed since his departure,
expectation almost reacllns impatience to learn
something of: his movements. Mexican' Bonds,
however, were rather higher yesterday,and closed
at 48i.-.Colombian Scrip was at .8 dis. Spanish
Bonds were lower, viz. 2l{-. The other Secu-
rities remained as on the preceding day. The
report of M. liurtado's having received an invi.
tatiOn from the French Nlinister to visit Paris is

now wholly discredited ; his excursion to that
capital is understood to have been quite sponta-
neous ; nor is it thought likely that nay negocia-
tion of the kind alluded to will be entered upon
by the French Government at present. , Private
letters from Paris state, that 111. Bermudez has
declared that the Spanish Government stilt per-
sists in its determination not- to recognise the
Bonds of ,the Cortes ; this circumstance, it is
added, has occasioned a suspension of the nego-
ciations which were carrying on for a new Loan.

[siottsmso mcitAr.o.]
The Commission of the Censorship at Paris,
which was to have consisted of six Members,
Only counts four us yet. The Directeur of Po-
lice, who ought to be President, is only there for
form sake. The real President is M. Mutin,
married Priest, forMerly editor of the Journal des
NbaLi—attached to the Secret Police of the
Minister of the Interior ever since the restora-
tion, and under every form of Ministry ; and who
has been charged in the last place with the revi.;
sion of all the political pamphlets. The second
Censor is M. Dupont, who performed for the Mi-
nistry, but in a subordinate capacity, the same
functions that M. Mutin did. The other two are
M. Laudrieux, a forther Censor, and M. Deliege,
who is named Secretary of the Commission, and us
such, signs its decisions. The latter has been for
a' longtime attached to the Minister, and was
employed in the late electiOns. He was noto-
rious before the tribunals, as having taken a very
active part in the purchase of the Jour-
nals which agreed to sell themselves. M. Deliege
had been Advocate at the Court of Cessation,
but having neither fortune nor clients, he was
obliged to relinquish that title. As to further
information respecting the Censorship, we can
only say that iris invisible. When it finds in an
article of two columns% phrase, or even a word
which is displeasing, it suppresses the entire ar-
ticle, without giving any explanation for so doing.
It is said the establishing of this measure has oc-
casioned a reconciliation between the Minister
• •
and his colleagues. For a long lime M. Peyron-
net had been on distant terms with M. Villete,
and evei, seemed tottering in his situation; but
being aided -by a powerful patronage (Madame
du Cayla), he was hiMielf less anxious on this
subject than his friends.

. [NtoitNiNG Pos•r.l
•
We published a few days ago the Report of
the Select-Committee appointed to empire into the state and
salubrity of the Penitentiary at Milbank. In soma respects the
Report meets with our entire concurrence; but in others, we
confess it has.rathcr encreased than allayed doubts which we
previouslyi entertained. The extension of the Royal clemency
to many of those unfortunate beings who had endured disease
as well as 'imprisonment, was a proceeding equally humane
and consonant with the benevolent dispositioo of our Uracious
Sovereign,- to whom the tribute of mercy belongs. We also
applaud the recommendation for shortening in some cases
the confinement of delinquents in the Penitentiary from ten
to seven years, though we do not altogether approve of the
principle on which the suggestion is founded. 'Too wide or
general a discretion in those who administer or execute the law,
we admit, should be as much as possible avoided. Still, how-
ever, some discretion must be permitted, and it is on the whole
better that the privilege were occasionally misapplied than
that severity, unnecessary and unjust, should be inflicted on
individuals. Upon these grounda, we think whatever the term
of confinement to which a prisoner was condemned, a certain
period (not of course a brief one) of uniform good conduct
and evident improvement of principles as well as habits, ought
to make a legal justification for remitting, or at least midget.:
ing the remainder of the original sentence. Example and re-
form are the two great objects of penal inflictions; and as soon
as the latter can be effected without weakening the former,
the intention of the Law and the Legislature is fulfilled. We
shall not, however, ush these points farther ;it present.
Another principal topic of the Report demands more imme-
diate consideration—we mean the healthiness or unhealthiness
of the Penitentiary at Milbank, with reference to local causes.
Nothing, we must say, in this -last, or the former results of
Parliamentary inquiries upon that subject, has completely sa-
tisfied us, nor, we believe we may add, the Public generally.
l.et any man who hai the least regard for his own health, or
that of his family, walk down Milbank, and ask himself,
would he build or live in a housoerected on the same level and
in the saute swamp as the Penitentiary ? We ventureto answer
for him—" No." The fundamental error "(we are involuntarily
compelled to employ a pun) was not in the situation chosen
for the building, but in the manner in which its foundation
was erected. Had the morass on which the immense pile of cells
is built been first filled up with rubbish to the level of the
quay at present dividing it from the river, or had the same'
end been gained by mean* of arches, which would have placed
the lower story of the prison above the reach of floods or
damp; we are convinced none of the melancholy effects which
have occasioned so much enquiry and regret would have oc-
curred. IT individuals had appropriated the ground to private
houses, the above would have been the case. But what is the
fact even now ? Why, that the penitentiary is surrounded by
a wide belt of mere swamp, divided by a broad ditch of
stagnant water ; and thus, supposing the inner court-yards
superficially dry, an exhalation of mephitic vapour arises
from without sufficient to destroy the constitution, should it for
a time spare the lives of the unhappy convicts subjected to he
influeoce. In short, to imagine a moment that the Penitentiary
in its actual state can be wholesome, savours to our mind very
strongly of a rank absurdity. We, however, are not unwilling
to let another trial of it he made, provided on the first symp-
toms of any general or contagious illness among the prisoners,
measures be taken to save thetti, and prevent the aubsequent re-
' currence of' 10 great and disgraceful' a calaMity. At the Same'
time we may be allowed to express our fears that the only mode
of rendering the building safely habitable, is by shutting up the
lower story of it—raising the inner yards proportionably—and
filling up the circutnjacent bog which is at once an eyesore and
a nuisance.