The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-25 00:00:00

titie -uttt

LONDON:
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1841.

The Spanish Cortes is to be opened to-mor-
row, and great, indeed, is the interest which this
event has already excited in the political circles
of Madrid. Senor SURRA. Y ROLL, the Minister
of Finance, has devoted much of his time to the
study of political economy, and during the brief
period since his taking office has certainly
performed wonders in the way of retrieving
the national credit. The long out-standing
claims of the British and French Auxiliary
Legions were liquidated in the midst of a domes-
tic
insurrection, known to be countenanced by
the French Government, and no efforts have
been left untried to meet the demands of other
classes of public creditors. This able and honest
Minister has arrived at the conclusion that,
without adopting the principles of free trade,
Spain can never arrive at any high degree
of prosperity, and therefore he has armed him-
self with Reports of Committees upon the
subject, which will be early laid before the Cham-
ber of Deputies. He expects to be ably sup-
ported by Senor MARLIANI, a political economist
of the RUSKISSON school, who, after the most di-
ligent inquiry,
has found that what is called the
" protective system" has been the ruin of Spain.
Still we have our fears that the Opposition will
prove too strong
ng for them. If, after the advan-
tageshas derived from commerce
during a period
of two centuries, and with
the aid of an unfettered Press to guide
public opinion, there be at this day in Parliament
a majority of our legislators who pretend to see
national ruin in the free importation of corn, can
we wonder that there should be in King-trodden,
priest-ridded
decidedly opposed den Spain, a majority of the National
Representatives to any inva-
sionprivileges claimed by Spanish mono-
iolistosfie
?tTi
i s there anything more natural than that
they should retort upon Senors Suit
BA Y. RULI.
i i
and MARLIANI, the sophistries urged against the
MELBOURNE Cabinet by free-trade policy of the
Ps EL aid Co. ?
And yet nothing would, at this moment, tend
so much to enrich Spain, and to place her once
more in the list of great Powers, as a good
tariff, based as closely as possible upon the
,
principle of free trade. By concluding a com-
mercial treaty with England, reciprocally based
on that principle, Spain would open to her-
self the best market in the world for her
corn, her wine, her oil, her wool, and her fruits,
while in return she would receive manufactures
thirty per cent. cheaper than any protective sys-
tem will ever enable her to produce them. Add
to this that England would supply her with that
agricultural skill of which she stands in such
need, and which applied to her genial soils
would render them the most productive in Eu-
rope. Capital, too, an industrious neighbouring

State would have no difficulty in raising to any
amount in this country.
Spain is eminently an agricultural country,
just as England is a manufacturing one. To
enrich both they have only to agree to a fair
exchange of their respective products. Mutually
to strive to excel in producing the same
things is to injure both their interests. A
man having four sons does not make them all
farmers, or tailors, or watchmakers, or weavers.
He puts one upon the loom to weave cloth,
another he apprentices to a tailor to make
garments for his brethren, a third is brought up to
till the ground to grow them all food, and the
fourth is taught to construct watches. Thus,
by a mutual exchange of labour, they are
all clothed, fed, and provided with watches.
Now nations should study the wise economy
of this father of a family. To try to be
independent of each other is to endeavour, to
extend and perpetuate beggary and barbarism.
The more nations are dependent one upon an-
other the wealthier, and the happier they must
become. This mutual dependence has also the
effect of preventing wars, by making it the in-

terest of every citizen to endeavour to maintain
peace. We therefore trust that every advance
made by the present Government of Spain to a
closer commercial intercourse with England will
meet with the support of every party in this
country.

The Paris Journals have all been re-
ceived. There is not a word about the case
of M. DUPOTY in the Liberal Press. The
National, instead of denouncing the infamous
proceedings before the Court of Peers, has a ge-
neral article upon a work published by M. Du-
VERGIER DE HAURANNE upon the interior and
exterior pblitics of France. The Commerce
has a long article upon M. ODILON BAR-
ROT'S letter to the Siecle relative to the fortifica-
tions of Paris, and another upon a petition ad-
dressed to the President of the Council by the
shipowners of St. Brieux, praying for a reduc-
tion of the French Navy as a measure necessary
for the encouragement of the merchant service.
This petition is also the subject of articles in the
Debats and (Jonstitutionncl, but as the question
is but of local interest, we shall not now en-
ter upon any discussion of its merits. Neither
would we so particularly allude to it, except to
show to what uninteresting topics the French
press is obliged to have recourse to avoid dwel-
ling upon the proceedings of the French Star-
Chamber, the Court of Peers. The Paris Jour-
nals have had enough of fines and imprison-
ments, and these await the publishers of any
strictures upon judicial roguery which may be
brought, during the sitting of the Court, under
the notice of the President, Baron PASQUIER.
Whatever may be the immediate effects of the
terrible examples of political offenders, made by
the Court of Peers, the next revolution in France
will mainly stand indebted for its origin to the
outrages upon national liberty now in course of
perpetration by that base tribunal. The idea of
such a revolution may appear preposterous to the
Court i but reflecting men, placed in a
situation to mark the signs of the times
more correctly than can be done within
the precincts of a palace, cannot but have

observed growing indications of a tendency
in the public mind to such a catastrophe. The
dynasty of ORLEANS has no more dangerous
enemy than the Court of Peers. By trampling
under foot all the defences of national liberty it
accustoms the French people to regard no insti-
tutions as sacred which they have the power to
set aside. From the moment the Court of Peers
shall have pronounced M. DUPOTY guilty of
participation in QUENISSET'S attack upon the
Royal Dukes, the Charter, the palladium of
French freedom, will be of no more value than
one of the ballads of that late eminent Grub-

street publisher, CATNACH.
In justification of the conduct of the Peers,
their only British apologist, the Post, urges
" the necessity of restraining, in some way,
those French political writers, whose pestilent
breath spreads the contagion of treasonable and
infamous doctrines throughout the land." Star-
Chamberprosecutions of the Press will never cor-
rect this evil. It is only to be done by removing the

abuses in the Administration, which call forth

the violent reprehensions of the press. The in-
stitutions of France are wholly unsuited to a free
people, and before the press can be made to
suggest reforms in the mild language common to
British journalists, they must be wholly re-mo-
delled. What, for instance, can be more op-
posed to civil liberty, than the whole passport
system ?
A Ministerial Journal of this morning says, " An ar-
rangement between the Court of Rome and Espartero is
seriously contemplated. We are assured that the Inter-
nuncio of his Holiness at Paris has received overtures on
this subject."
Yesterday morning the King received successively
MM. Guizot, Martin du Nord, Mole, Sauzet, and de
Broglie.
At one o'clock there was a Council of Ministers. The
decision of the Court of Peers will be pronounced this
evening, or to-morrow (Thursday), at the opening of the
Sitting.
The Arnwnican of Brest, •' the 18th of December,
says, the order to dismiss all the seamen of the class of
1834 has arrived. On the 21st the landing of the men
to be discharged from the Suffren, the Jupiter, and the
Scipion will begin. They will be immediately sent to
their homes. Those from the Jena, Neptune, and
Triton, will be discharged the 23d, and in a few days
afterwards the same measure will be applied to the sea-
men in those belonging to the division.

Already 300 naval apprentices have gone on board in
place of those who are to be discharged, and as the sea-
men included in the permament levy, begin to arrive in
considerable numbers, and as orders have been given at
L'Orient and Cherbourg to send to Brest the sailors who
can be spared at those two ports, it is probable that in a
short time there will be sufficient to fill up the vacancies
in the vessels at Brest.—Constitutionnel.

In the sitting of the Council-General of Agriculture,
held on Thursday, the sugar question was taken into
lengthened consideration. M. de Tocqueville was op-
posed to the beet-root or indigenous system as tending to
injure shipping interests. M. C. Dupin wished to see all
branches of national industry equally prosperous, and
was for promoting the interests of agriculturists at home,
as well ac those of the growers in the colonies. He la-
mented that so much versatility should have been shown
by the Legislature on this subject, and that the measures
affecting the question should have been adopted rather
on the spur of the moment than after mature and well-
founded deliberation. M. G. de Beaumont complained
of the mode in which the duties on indigenous sugar are
collected. He observed that they were calculated only
on presumed produce, whereas they ought to be reckon-
ed according to the quantities actually made. He con-
ceived that the mercantile ports were not justified in the
complaints they had made of the depressed condition of
the colonial sugar trade, because, during the first months
of the year, they had imported more sugar than they had
done for a long time. It was notorious, he added, that the
trade was injured, both in the colonies and at home, by
contraband proceedings, and at Bourbon, in particular,
28 millions of kilogrammes of sugar had been sold in a
year, more than what the island had produced or could
produce. M.' de Lamartine was an advocate for the
equal prosperity of both systems ; he thought there
ought to be a perfect equality established for the two
classes of products, and that a just indemnity should be
allowed to the home growers, whose operations extended
over only 57,000 hectares (144,000 acres), of land. He
was for protecting the colonial interests. M. Desjoberts
would establish an equality of duties, and then if the
colonies could not support the competition, he would
allow them to select their own markets. No decision
was come to. The Committee of the Council on the

Sugar question is composed of Messrs. de Mornay, Ju-
lien Lefebvre, Leroi de Pommiere, de Tocqueville, de
Bethune, Saunac and Briffet.

The Berlin papers state that a few days ago a duel was
fought, at Potsdam, by two officers, both sons of Prus-
sian Generals of distinction. One of the combatants was

dangerously wounded in the neck by his adversary's ball.
It arose from hasty words passed at the theatre more
than twelve months ago. A Court of Honour had de-

tided that theo&neegiven was not sufficient to warrant

a hostile meeting, but the officer now wounded persisted
in fighting.
They write from Cronstadt that, on the 3d inst., the
gulf was entirely free from ice from the shore as far as
the eye could reach; an unusual instance of mild weather
at this time of Cie year in Russia.
The Popular of Barcelona of the 9th instant states that
a feud has arisen in Catalonia, which threatens to revive
the sanguinary
conflicts of the old factions of the Caps
and llats in Italy. The students at Barcelona in medi-
cine pharmacy, and surgery have adopted as a distinc-
tive mark of their profession grey mushroom-shaped
hats, with bands and loops of different colours, according
to the branches to which they respectively confine their
studies. The different journeymen have sworn to put
down this innocent distinction, and having insulted seve-
ral of the students violent conflicts have ensued. The
journeymen have also
adopted a hat of their own, made
much the same as that of the students, but white, with
larger flaps, bands, and loops. If this competition con-
tinues, the manufacturers who confine themselves to
making caps may leave off business.
The Diario di Roma of the 11th inst., shows that the

report of the Pope having been at the point of death,
was entirely false. On the 10th, the Pope was present
seated on his throne at mass, and on the same day, in
the chapel of the Vatican, gave the benediction of the
sacrament. The Dictrio informs us that Prince Leopold
of Bavaria, and Prince Frederick of Prussia had arrived
at Rome. Don Juan and Don Fernand, sons of Don
Carlos, were still there. On the 6th, the Pope received
the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg Strelitz, and the
Duchess Caroline, her daughter. As a ;sovereign
Princess, the Grand Duchess, who was presented by the
Prussian Minister, was received in the apartments to
which generally ladies are not admitted.

DUTCH FUN DS....IIISTERDAM, DSc. 21.
Money. Bill
Actual Debt. 2% per Cent
Jitto, ditto 5 per cent.
Ainef t Syndic, 4% per cent 90% 91%
Ditto, ditto, 3% per cent 15% 76%
Commercial Company, 4% per cent 154% 155%
Ditto (1t35 and 1837) 5 per cent.
Loan 1837, 5 per con t............
Exchange on London, One month l2 0%
Two months
Haniburgh, One month ' 35 81%
Two months 35 52%
Dutch Papers, Dec. 22.
ttELOtAN I' UNDS—Bauseite, DEc. 22.
Actual Debt, 2% per Cent.
Rothschild's Lean, 5 per Cent IOI%
Loan of Thirty Millions, 4 per Cent. 9:1%
3 per Cent. .....
-- 71%
1849) 10134
Loan of City, 1932, 4 per Cent. 96%
Society of Commerce, 4 % per Cent —
Bank of Belgium, 5 per Cent 74%
National Society. ...... .................. —
Exchange on London (short) .... ........ ......
—Brussels Papers, Dec. 2 .

Thirty.sevi

EXCHEQUER BlLLS.—Extraordinary as it may
appear, we have reason to believe, that upwards
of eighty thousand pounds of Exchequer bills,
which have been stamped by the Government
as genuine, are spurious, notwithstanding that
warranty.
METROPOLITAN DISTRICT LETTERS. This
day, the district letters must be put into the
General Post-office by 12 o'clock, noon, when the
last despatch for the town and suburbs will be
sent off. At the receiving houses no letters
will be received for delivery to-day after nine
o'clock.

MONEY and COMMERCIAL NEWS.
CITY, FRIDAY EVENING.
The Stock Market closed this evening, no trans-
fers being, of course, permitted during Christmas day.
There seemed some disposition to purchase, and the quo-
tations advanced a little. Consols for opening were 89*
to I; Exchequer Bills brought 11s. to 12s. premium;
Bank Stock was firm at 165 to 1651 ; Reduced Three-
and-a-Half per Cents. obtained 981 to 99i; and the Three
per Cents. 89 to
Spanish and Portuguese Bonds were a shade firmer,
but it was in the entire absence of any animation in ei-
ther of them. The former were at 24, and the latter at
33. Mexican were at 26 and Dutch Five per Cents. at
99i tu 1.
We have still to notice a better market for Shares than
for Stocks. Great Western were higher to-day, viz.
19 to 21 ; York and North Midland New, 164 ; Bir-
mingham Quarters, 18f ; ditto Thirds, 24 ; ditto New,
254 ; and South Western, 19a to 20* prem. ; Brighton
were 11i ; Eastern Counties, 14; ; Hull and Selby, 111;
Manchester and Leeds 5 ; Midland Counties, 141 ;
Northern and Eastern, 8i ; and South Eastern, 23 dis. ;
London Joint-stock Bank Shares were 2f prem. ; and
National Provincial Bank of England 1 dis.
Bills were taken upon the Continental Exchange Cities
at very nearly the rates of last post-day. Paris 25 72i
to 77* ; Amsterdam, 12 44 to 4i ; Antwerp, 12 3:-.1 to 4 ;
Frankfort, 150 ; Hamburgh, 13 10,1- to 10A- ; and Trieste,
9 50 to 51.

Our advices from Liverpool state that Messrs. Crofts,
soap-boilers, whose failure was announced some days
since, have made a very satisfactory settlement of their
affairs with their creditors.

(From The Sun of Last Night.)
LIVERPOOL COTTON MARKET, DEC. 23.—We have
had a good business doing in the Cotton Market to-day,
upwards of 5,000 bales having been disposed of to the
trade, inciuding 1,000 Surats, at 31d. to 4d. Nothing
done in export or speculation.
LIVERPOOL SHARE MARKET, DEC. 23.—The trans-
actions at the Stock Exchange this day comprise, Great
Western, at 84 ; Ditto 201. Shares, 9/. 11s. 3d. ; Great
North of England, 674 ; London and Birmingham New
Shares, 27 ; North Midland Thirds, 16.
MANCHESTER STOCK EXCHANGE, DEC. 23.—Our
market continues firm, and Railway Shares are in good
demand. The following transactions have been re-
ported:—Bristol and Exeter, 28 ; Lancaster and Bristol,
Three-Fourth Shares, 16i; London and Birmingham New
321. 261 • South Eastern and Dover, 204 ; Manchester
and Leeds, Quarters, 31. 14s 6d. ; Manchester and Sal-
ford Water Works, 531.
Both the English and Foreign Markets opened steady
this morning, with scarcely a bargain doing. Consols
for the Account are 898 ; Three per Cents. Reduced,
898 ; Three-and-a. Half per Cents. Reduced, 981 ;
Exchequer Bills, 10 12 prem.
Spanish Active Stock 234 244 ; Portuguese Five per
Cents., 324 33; Ditto Threes, 194 20.
Thre has been but little business doing in the Stock
Market, but prices have improved since the opening.
Consols are now 89ii for the Account ; Three per
Cents. Reduced, 894. ; Three-and-a-Half per Cents. Re-
duced, 994; Bank Stock, 1651 ; Exchequer Bills, 11 12.
In the Foreign Market there are only throe quotations
to notice, viz. :—Mexican Bonds, 26 ; Spanish Active
Stock, 244 ; Dutch Five per Cents., 994 100.
Very little doing in Shares. London and Brighton
has advanced to 38i ; London and Birmingham Quarter
Shares are 231- ; ditto Thirds, 56 ; South Western, 581 ;
South Eastern and Dover, 20 ; York and North Midland
New Shares, 31+. _ _ _

Papers from New I ork, of the Ist instant have been
received. They are one day later than the former ac-
counts, but do not contain any news of the least interest.
Consols, 89i 1; Colombian, 20i. i; Mexican, 264 42-;
Spanish, 24+.
It is suggested that the visit of the King of Prussia to
this country might be turned to some good account in a
commercial point of view, should the etiquette of
Courts permit his Majesty to entertain any pro-
positions, or listen to any representations in such
a matter. The intention of the German Customs'
Union to establish a war marine of its own, renders its
strict alliance as a union daily of more importance to us,
especially if we are to give credence to the report that
France is coquetting for the favours of the German
Powers.

CLOSING PRICES.
BRITISH FUNDS.

Rank Stock ... 165,i India Stock
3 per Cent Red. B9l- Ditto Bonds pm
3 per Cent Cons Ditto Old Annuities ...
3i per Cent Red 99A ,Ditto New Annuities...
New 34 per Cent ;Es. Bills, 1,000/....21d 11 pm
New 5 per Cent I Ditto 5001 ll pin
Long Annuities toexpire I Ditto Small. 11 pm
Jan! 1860 .. 12 9-16 Bank Stock for Acct...
Oct 1859 — India Stock for Acct....
Jan. 1860. — Consols for Open B9h
FOREIGN FUNDS.

Austrian, 5 per cent
Belgian, 5 per cent
Brazilian 80nd5....
Buenos Ayres, 6 per cea
Chilian, 6 per cent —
Colombian, 6 per cent..
Ditto, 1824.
Danish, 3 per cent
Greek, 1825, 5 per cent —
Mexican, 5 per cent —
Ditto, 6 per cent, 1825
Peruvian,lB2s, 6 per et.
SHA
Eastern Counties Railwa
Great Western Railway(
Ditto Fifth (4 paid)
Hull and Selby (50 paid) 3Bi
London and Brighton (50 paid) 3B&
London and Birmingham (90)
Ditto Quarter Shares ( 5 paid) 23i
Ditto Thirds (32 paid) 56
Ditto New Shares ( 2 paid) ........ 274
London and South Western
Manchester and Leeds (70 paid)
Ditto Quarter Shares ( 2 paid) ... 3i
Midland Counties Railway (100 paid)
Northern and Eastern (35 paid)
North Midland Railway (100)
Ditto Thirds (15 paid)
South Eastern and Dover (43 paid)... .....
Ditto New Shares ( 5 paid)
York and North Midland Railway (50 paid)
Ditto New Shares (15 paid 3li
COURSE OF EXCHANGE—(YESTERDAY).
Amsterdam CF. 12 74 Gibraltar ...
Ditto, at sight
Rotterdam ...2 U. 12 8 Genoa ... 25 90
Antwerp l2 7 Milan
Hamburgh M.B. 13 134 Venice ..
Altona
Paris, 3 days' sight 25 60 Palermo, per oz 1194
Ditto, 3 months 25 85 Lisbon
Marseilles
Bourdeaux 25 90 Rio Janeiro 27

Portuguese, 5 per cent.
Ditto, New Ditto 33
Prussian, 5 per cent —
Russian, 5 per cent
Ditto, Metallic
Spanish, 5 per cent 24
Ditto, Deferred ...
French, 5 per cent. —f. —c.
Exchange --f. —c.
French, 3 per cent —f. —c
Dutch, 2i per cent
Ditto, 5 per cent.
RES.
Ly (23 paid) ........ Si
( 65 paid) B4i

Frankfort on Maine... 1501
Petersburgh, 3 Us 37
8er1in..... 7
Vienna, effee. fl. 3 M 952
Trieste, ditto 9 55
Madrid
Cadiz
Bilbao 36

Bahia
Buenos Ayres .....
New York, 21days sigkt 461
Philadelphia
PRICES OF BULLION, PER oz
Foreign Gold, bars £3 17 9
Portugal Gold Coin —.3 17 5
New Doubloons 0 0 0

Barcelona
Seville

New Dollars.... ........ 0 4 10
Silver in Bars... 041 li

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Six,—ln justice to my character, which I hold as dear
as any Noble Lord possibly can, may I request the fa-
vour of you to allow me to correct the statement of
counsel
iin the case of Maybury v. Lord W. Paget, re-
ported n your paper of this day, that I was " offered a
very handsome sum."
It is true 81. fur debt and costs was offered on Saturday
last to my solicitor, who, of course, owing to the ex-
penses incurred at that stage of the proceedings, refused
" the very handsome sum."
Until Saturday last no offer was made, notwithstand-
ing the fact of over two years having elapsed, and my
having addressed several letters to his Lordship, about
twelve months afro, without receiving a single answer.
As the inference deducible from this incorrect asser-
tion of an offer " of a very handsome sum" is likely to
injure me as a professional man, I hope you will be kind
enough to give insertion to this letter. Your's, &c.,
3, Little Tower-street, Dec. 23. W. A. MAYBURY.

POST-OFFICE NOTIOE.—The following notice
was put up on Thursday at the General Post-office, St.
Martin's•le•Grand: The Oriental steamer for Gib-
raltar, Malta, Greece, the lonian Islands, Egypt, and
Indian Mails of the 31st, via Falmouth." " The Over-
land Mail to India and Egypt, via Marseilles, will be
made up here on the 4th of January, 1842. The Bri-
tannia, for the American Mail of the 3d of January,
1842, via Liverpool.

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