The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-14 00:00:00

EVENING T 7 .

SPAIN.
OF THE SPANISH GOVERNMENI
IN EEPLY TO THE PROTEST OF MARL,
CHRISTINA.
It is now some time since the Government became cc-
painted with the plans which the enemies of the Consti-
tution were concerting, as their last hope of exciting r
reaction in Spain. In the frenzy of .;their passion:
they sought a pretext, and imagined they had found 1.
suitable one, in the question of the guardianship of
the august orphans, the Queen Dona Isabel 11., and
Dona Maria Louisa Fernando, immediate successor t(
the throne.
Through this question, however, alone they could not
greet their wicked purposes without a leader, a centre of
their party. Difficult, if not impossible, it was to find
such a person in Spain, and fir this reason they
had to seek one without the precincts of the
kingdom. With this intent disaffected Councillors sur-
rounded an illustrious personage in a foreigt,
country to make themselves masters of her will ;
and it is to be feared that others no less dis-
affected, residing in Spain, directed- their effort
from hence to compromise that illustrious person,
without considering the consequences which should, un-
der all circumstances, have been fatal to her. -Without
other object than the accomplishment of their own
ambitious views, and realisation of their own desires of
depriving the nation of those very institutions which they
themselves accepted and approved at the hands of this
same illustrious personage—in short, .not for any atten-
tention towards her, or wish to preserve those rights
contended for, unless they tended to their own interest
And aggrandisement, these men put into action all the
means they supposed conducive to their ends.
That such a scheme should have been hearkened to
appears incredible. The Royal word, pledged in per-
fect liberty, and voluntarily pronounced—the interposi-
tion of sacred rights—regards of the last importance—
all tended_ to guarantee in the strongest manner the cer-
tainty of these plans, which could only lead to horrors
and crimes, being rejected.
It is difficult to conceive, indeed, how that august per-
sonage could have lent herself to schemes as wicked as
they were.unworthy of the dignity, and contrary to her
word of honour and dearest interests. The Government,
notwithstanding, learnt that Spaniards, unworthy of the
name, had succeeded in compromising her in not only an
act unworthy of her, but completely in opposition to
others, not very remote, of her own, but also to violate
the laws, the sovereignty of the nation, the authority of
the Cortes, and legality of the Government.
The latter neglected not for a moment the duty re-
quired by this new state of things. Well aware that the
proposed scheme could only recoil upon its authors, the
Government was of opinion that it was prudent to await
the attempt to execute the plan, in order that punish-
ment might the more certainly fall upon them, and the
laws and Cortes, whom they pretended to set at defiance,
be fully vindicated.
The imprudence of the parties concerned in this
scheme has gone so far as to hurl amidst the people the
protest of the Queen Mother, Dona Maria Christina de
Borbon, in contradiction of the solemn declaration made,
by the Cortes, that the guardianship of her august
daughters was vacant, in contradiction of the appoint-
inent of the guardian, and in opposition to the interfer-
ence represented in that ill-advised document as having
been exercised in these acts by the Regent of Spain and
his Government.
The situation of the country, the melancholy division
yet existing between Spaniards, and consequent excita-
bility of the passions, entered, no doubt, as elements
into the calculation of our enemies ; and reckoning upon
these deplorable circumstances, have introduced into
Spain, by means of foreign newspapers and printed
copies, a document, which they looked upon as the in-
cendiary torch which was to set the kingdom in flames.
But the Government, whose strength increases with the
difficulties and dangers with which it has been sought to
surround them, neither fears these machinations, nor any
others to which the enemies of the country think proper
to have recourse, and are prepared in such a manner, that
these attempts can only fall upon the authors of them.
Having, first, attended to the necessity of the pre-
servation of social order, the moment has arrived for re-
futing and repudiating with energy the false arguments
upon which the protest has been based ; to vindicate the
laws from the insults offered to them ; and protect the
Cortes and the whole nation from the unmerited offence
given to them.
Spain and Europe will behold with astonishment a
document as singular as it is inconsistent, as devoid
of truth as it is destitute of circumspection and propriety.
But before treating of it in detail, it is necessary to
premise that it not only protests against the declara-
tion of the Cortes that the guardianship is vacant, but
in the letter which accompanies it a new offence is
added to the Cortes and the nation by not recognizing
the Constitutional authority of the Supreme Head of the
State, and pretending to preserve the Queen-Mother
in that position which she before occupied, and which,
contra*, to the reiterated advice of the Government, she
had voluntarily resigned.
This letter, addressed to Don Baldomero Espartero,
might be considered private, if it did not contain an ex-
press command to him to have the document immediately
published in the official Gazette of Madrid. It was thus
it was discovered that the letter was really directed to the
Regent -of the kingdom—a letter which, upon one hand,
is addressed as private ; while, upon the other, it assumes
the possession of an authority, on the part of the Queen
Mother, which she did not possess since its voluntary
abdication.
In this pretension there is a novelty contradicted by the
Queen Mother herself. As yet it is too soon to forget
the well-known event at Valencia of her Majesty's abdi-
cation, the address to the Cortes on the occasion, and
the remonstrances of the Government appointed by her-
self, and of which I was then the President. The ma-
nifesto also published by her Majesty at Marseilles on
the Bth of November last, must also be still fresh in the
memory of all Spaniards, and at the conclusion of which
she states thus :—" That she who had been Queen now
requested nothing more of the Spanish people than that
they would love her children and respect her memory."
And after declarations so explicit and voluntary, how can
it be pretended to preserve still an authority renounced
by the former act, and confirmed and recognised by her-
self in the second ?
Notwithstanding this, the letter just alluded to makes the
Queen Mother say that the Regency -was wrested from
her. So palpable an inconsistency can only be accounted
for, by keeping in view the plans of the instigators of this
idea, and of the ruin and desolation of the empire.
In this letter it is also asserted that every effort for a
prudent arrangement of this question of the guardianship
had been made, consistent with the dignity of the Queen
Mother, but ineffectually. It is but right the country
should know what those proposals were which are here
called prudent. Her proposal was, that the nomination of
the guardians of the Queen should be loft entirely to her,
and upon this condition she offered to resign the office her-
self. This obviously amounted to holding the guardianship
in ;her own hands, which would be contrary to the Constitu-
tion, which grants to none but the Royal father, or to the
Cortes, the right of naming the guardian of the Sovereign.
In short, to comply with this proposal would be to arro-
gate those faculties which the nation had conferred upon
its representatives alone. The Government, which exists
in power by the will of the nation, and faithful to the
Constitution and Cortes, could not admit such an uncon-
stitutional proposition, and which, on the other hand,
disclosed objects sought to be concealed. And, finally, it
should be alsolnown that this much boasted proposal of
conciliation implied the perpetual absence of the Queen
Mother; and that all the negotiations with the Govern-
ment upon this subject assumed her Majesty's residing
in a foreign country. The necessity of appointing a
guardian being thus created by her Majesty herself, y
should it be wondered at that the Cortes would comply
with that necessity in the only way in which the 60th
article of the Constitution ordains in the absence of a
guardian named in the will of the Sovereign, or of the
father or Mother of the Royal minor when widows ?
On coming to treat of the protest, it will be observed
that it has been sought to make this document a means
of disturbing the tranquillity of the country, and that this
war-cry has been raised by the august personage who de-
clared as follows, in her manifesto from Marseilles :—" I
could have rekindled the civil war, but that war, the ter-
mination of which had just given you the peace you de-
sired, ought not to be revived—a peace, too, based upon
an oblivion of the past. For this reason, my maternal
eyes turned away with horror from such a frightful pro-
posal, saying within myself, that when children are un-
grateful, it is better the parent suffer even to death than
kindle civil war amongst them."
Without remarking that the Spanish people have never
been ungrateful to their Sovereigns, is it possible that in
so short a time the mother of your Queen should have for-
gotten duties so plainly recognised, and that she should
turn her eyes towards the horrible scheme of plunging you
in that civil war which she so lately asserted ought never
respect
her
Niaj e
to be revived? Yet so it appears, for the protest with
guardianshipsty,s a
is but
Itilsmertsoitxuq
rekindle
desiel
thisgn for
that pe c t
purposeo he
y
civil war, and which might have taken effect had the
spark not fallen amongst a people distinguished for their
good sense.
It has never been denied that the late King, Ferdinand
the Seventh, had appointed his august wife as the guar-
dian and protectress of his illustrious children; but it
cannot either be denied that these august Princesses,
the one as Queen and the other as heiress-apparent of
the Throne, belong to the nation, and that their being is
so intimately connected with the political system of the
Constitution, that the one cannot be separated from the
other. For this reason the Constitution provides for the
care of these august persons, places them under the pro-
tection of the nation, and charges its legitimate represen-
tatives with the selection of a guardian to see duly admi-
nistered that care and protection.
Thus the question of the guardianship became to be
limited to the consideration, whether the august minors
required this protection or not ; because, if once shown
that they did stand in need of such protection, it then
became the duty of the Cortes to provide them with it by
the appointment of a guardian. This question her Ma-
jesty herself decided, when in perfect liberty in a foreign
country, she stated, in her address at Marseilles, "I
thrown the sceptre from my hands, and abandoned my
children !"
Abandoned her children undoubtedly were ; mind in
want of this protection, they required that the Cortes
would provide it for them, in the appointment of a guar-
dian. In this state of the question, the will of Ferdinand
o VII. was to no purpose. It neither provided, nor could
To-morrow will be ttie anniversary of the birth-
provide, this protection for the august minors. It is also
day of three remarkable and distinguished individuals—
inyain to refer to the laws of Partida in the case—laws
Admiral Blake, who was born in 1599 ; Napoleon Bona-
-Parte, born in 1769 ;and Sir Walter Scott, born 1771. have which,
no cab efl
y referring to CAWS of ordinary life, can
STRIKE OF COLLIERS.--According to accounts The qupesptiiucuatoiofn in cases of Princes.o
o ing the o •-
• from Dudley, a gre_ut number of the Bilston colliers had pion of the august
the.
withoutguardianshipspp
propers protePci-
!nrned out for an advance of wages on Thursday even- tion to be well founded and
ittine•other various
'ng ; and serious apprehensions being entertained that a considerations, was in the anon'
if Ferdinand VII.
nut might be the result, as the Bilston colliers came in a had never appointed a guardian—insaine state as
same state, in
the
• body to compel the Dudley colliers to join them, a mes- short, as if the august mother nor
minors had neither
senger was sent to Birmingham for military aid. A
, Queen Mother,
troop of dragoons was in consequence immediately dis- appoint them a guardian.
notched to Dudley, where considerable excitement pro•; For
these reasons the Cortes performed one of the

LITER AT URE.

771 e ,PARLIAMENTARY COMPANION fin. 1841.
By CluTrle.s B. Dodd, Esq.—Whittaker and Co. -
Mr. Dida,'with hiS usual skill and expedition,
Las just brought out a new edition of this valu-
atle, and entertaining publication. It contains a
complete list of all the Members of the New
House of Commons, with a great variety of in-
teresting details. personal as well as local, the
state of the poll at every contested election, the
number of 101. electors, the amount of assessed
taxes for each borough, and the constituency of
each county, city, and borough throughout the
United Kingdom, forming altogether, perhaps,
the most useful Parliamentary guide yet pub-
lished. As a specithen of the information fur-
'fished respecting Members of the House of
Commons, we take at random the description
of Mr. Muntz, the Member for Birmingham,
*hick is thus briefly given • ,
MUNTZ, GEORGE FREDERlCK—(Birmingham.)—S.
of o German merchant of great respectability, who
settled in Birmingham in the year 1783, and married a
kiss Purden, of that town. B. 1794, in. in 1818 d. of
Rev. John Pryce. Is a merchant, a metal roller, and in-
i'entor and manufacturer of patent yellow metal ship
sheathing and bolts. Was the first Vice-Chairman of
the Birmingham Political Union, and one -of its most
strenuous supporters : underwent several prosecutions on
account of an alleged riot at a Church-rate meeting in
Birmingham—was convicted upon this charge in 1837,
hut the proceedings were quashed, the Judge (the late
Sir J. A. Park) and the Court of Queen's Bench being
of opinion that they were illegal, and that the prosecu-
tion should never have been instituted. A Radical Re-
former, " wishing to remove all abuses without injury to
the just rights of any." Has written several pamphlets
commercial, financial, and
.politico-economical sub-
Jects.—Reform : Brittonferry House, Glamorgansh.
It contains also a list of the Peerage, with the
dates of creation, and the ages of the Members;
411(1 in addition to the usual information given in
former editions, has a new department, under
the title " Explanation of Parliamentary Terms
and Proceedings." This will be found useful to
new Members, of whom there, are about 190 who
did not sit in the last Parliament, and nearly 150
Who never sat in any Parliament. It will be of
service even to some of the old stagers, and to
the common reader will furnish no little insight
lute the mode of conducting business in the Re-
formed House of Commons. The boOk is beau-
tifully printed, and the arrangement altogether
is well adapted for speedy reference.

STORMER; A TALE OF MESMERISM,WITII
OTHER SKETCHES FROM LIFE. Bentley.

t The tale, which giVes a title to the'three interest-
olg volumes before us, is by no means worthy of
k leading place ia the beautiful series of sketches
Which must be, not merely shadowed, but ob-
scured by the associations connected with its
loysterious name. Indeed, of the five stories,
three, at least, might furnish each sufficient ma-
terials for a full-sized romance, of library dimen-
sions, to any author gifted with equal powers of
ltuagination, but restricted by a less pragmatical
habit, and less scrupulous in squaring the fancy
t) the recollection of facts than Mrs. Romer.
u Pon reading the sketch of the ill-fated Mesme-
rist Stunner, which, after all, is not only like,
but nearly equal to, the German Shakspeare's,
`1 Werter," we were reminded at once of the ex-
clamation of Vives, when he read. the earlier
uipositions of the Princess Elizabeth, to whom
ne had just been appointed Latin tutor :—" Ves-
tigium nec adhuc leonis !" We saw deeply im-

pressed upon every page the footmarks^ of the
41100, but not yet full grown. As we advanced
"Irough the volumes, the marks of approaching
loaturity became evident, and in the pathetic and
libwerful .histories—(such we must call them)—
°r " The Grisettes," and the " Mother and
"aughter " every manifestation of the poet dis-
-I.)thralled from artificial shackles,, and every
Nbellishment which natural grace and culti-
ted taste can give to written expression. Nor
)4ste we certain that a blemish, which we must
'point to, and which to us is very glaring; should
Oblige us to qualify that commendation. The
4uthor has travelled so much, and has had so
much intercourse with foreigners, that she may
eel translation to be inadequate to the expres-
-14011 of sentiments which, although common to
every race and tongue, are intelligible only in
The dialect in which they are purely uttered.
1 lqrs. Romer seems herself conscious of her fault
1n this respect; and in her preface to the ex-
trisite tale of the Grisettes, endeavours to pal-
late it. The blemish still exists; and, admitting
.4.;% We cheerfully do, with our " friend Flaccus,"
that it is only ''a freckle upon a fair skin," we
Illost avow our opinion that it looks more like one
41' those unseemly patches with which, a century
40, the beauties of the Court used to set off, not
the fairness of their complexions, but the pu-
rity of the paint with which they were
,e‘overed. Still we may talk of blemishes
nd imperfections in this rare work of genius,
Reich has only one parallel in our language,
end that Mrs. Shelley's cs Frankenstein." But
neither our praise nor dispraise can prevent or
11,.tornote the reading of " Stunner." It is
Printed, and as powerless as the _Edinburgh Review
the case of " Childe Harold," would be any
Ilttempt to.write it down, or to restrict its eircu-
atioa by malignant criticism. Even with this
knowledgment we cannot lay down these vo-
miles without avowing our conviction that the
411thor has ill-advisedly given up half her
I)')wers in making the admission that the basis
"T her tale was strictly historical. In the ex.er-
°lBe of those powers she has here fettered herself
'i,'''‘eessively, in a style too pragmatical, and tied
') closely to facts an imagination capable of
r • auging spheres to which the spirit neither of By-
puo nor Mrs. Shelley could travel.

THEATRICALS DURING THE

PAST WEEK.

4 The past week has been prolific in the production of
rtiniatic novelties, and, with the exception of the Italian
t`iPera House, the season of which is drawing fast to a
s,°se, every- theatre of importance has contributed its
h are. At the English Opera House, on Monday even-
Mr. C. Selby contrived to place Mr. Keeley and
p"'s• Waylett in a peculiarly perplexing situation."
t:yery evening since that gentleman and lady have found
rmselves equally perplexed,and there is every probability
°F their perplexities being renewed nightly to the end of the
Cason. Atthe Strand Theatre on the same evening Hall
produced as an afterpiece a version of Barnaby Budge,
jitil the pen of Mr. Stirling. It was, as stated at the
P(', completely successful, and with The Frolics of the
;,(4iries will carry on the management triumphantly to
end of the season. At the Olympic the
-tiornt-out" dramatic company of Astley's still con-
their performances, and have been fortunate in
Jleeiving the assistance of various minor stars. This
1"1( Miss Mitchell, from the Philadelphia Theatre, vo-
lnteered her services in their behalf, and performed the
aracter of Agnes de Yore on Monday. Another ver-
et of Barnaby Rudge. was on the same evening pro-
„aced at Sadler's Wells, where Elton has been
ILarrino• it during the past • week, and htt been
''erg illy supported by Marston and Mrs. R. lion-
sr• Ducrow commenced his engagement at the
tkarrey, on Monday, with llfazeppa, and the scenes in
",c circle. The manner in which the pit has been
lit`Japtect for the equestrian performance& reflects the
't'igitest credit on the skill and ingenuity of Mr. Lowe,
03 mechanist.. It is needless to say that the theatre has
I'en crowded every evening—who ever knew the Sur-
„3' otherwise ? At the Victoria, which, under
judicious management of Mr. Osbaldistou,
'1,44 completely regained its former high character,
Lkte 'as produced on Monday one of those touching
dramas for which this theatre has of late
14-e°4le so celebrated It is founded on the story of
Brownrigg's cruelties, and as Miss Vincent
acted the part of the heroine, it is almost a.
Worl-
of supererogation to say that the drama
8 completely successful. This. theatre, like
its rival, is crowded every evening. On Wed
-esuaY, 'at the Haymarket, a very pleasant two
Oct comedy was produced, entitled Foreign Affitirs.
Rill 4t is well written, well acted, and superbly got up ; an,d
therefore run through the remainder of Celeste s
engagement, whose personation of the Count St.
Louis (the hero of the comedy), is excessively
clever. At the same theatre last evening Mr. Placide, the
celebrated American comedian made his'bow to anEnglish
Public in the characters of Sir Peter Teazle and Lingo.
leis Sir Peter bad—his Lingo good. While on
tl►i very
s subject, we would just hint to those concerned, that
the dialogue of the School for Scandal is so carefully
)vritten, that it is exceedingly improbable that
it can be amended, and therefore it would be advis-
able for those who act in it to adhere •strictiv
to the text. Where, for instance, does Mr. Placide find
that Sir Peter Teazle ever addressed Sir Joseph Surface
ayJoe. It is a vulgar familiarity of which the polished
, 1r Peter Teazle could never have been guilty. Joe, per •
oaps, to his servant, but Joseph to his equal. Again,
Air. Wrench, as Sir Benjamin Backbite, talks of
It rivulet of letter-press murmuring through a
Meadow of mlrgin. Sheridan's Sir Benjamin speaks
(A• a rivulet of letter-press meandering through a meadow
(4 margin. Now letter-press may meander, but it can-
tut murmur, and therefore Mr. Wrench is wrong and
Sheridan is right. At the Queen's Theatre, which closes
this evening, Mrs. Honey has been starring it foe the last
16v weeks, to. 'the Mutual satisfaction of herself and the
anager.ill
• and down in the far East, we understand that
fir. ienvil is drawing crowds to the Pavilion every
evening.