The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-09 00:00:00

SUMMARY OF NEWS

AND

publtr Optitton.

" Who runs may read."

POTLEIGN.

The Constitutionnel of Tuesday states that the Regent
of Spain has resolved to dissolve the Cortes and to
change the Cabinet. M. Olozaga is to be President of
the Council of the new Ministry.
The National denounces as infamously partial and dis-
graceful the indulgences and honours heaped, upon
Christina Munoz and the abettors of her treason by the
French Government. -
The Madrid journal the Espectador, having stated that
there has been no negotiation between Great Britain and
Spain for a treaty of commerce, the Temps contradicts
the assertion as follows :—" We are assured that not
only have there been serious negotiations on this sub-
ject, but that this moment, perhaps, the treaty is
actually signed ; and if it be not signed, the signature
has only been postponed by some incident which has
recently taken place, and baulked the hopes of the
British Ambassador at the Court of Madrid. The treaty
once signed, the English Government would no longer
have any objection to make to a Congress on the affairs
of Spain, and Lord Aberdeen would lend his concur-
rence to the other Powers even at the risk of being ac-
cused of ingratitude . towards Espartero. The policy of
England has never been one of sentiment. It calculates
the utility of the moment, and invariably sacrifices men
to things."
The Presse has the following remarks on the same
statement of the Espectador :—" The greatest satire upon
this treaty is the clandestine way in which its promoters
and partisans have acted. For four years past they have
constantly thought themselves on the point of seeing
their efforts crowned with success, and yet they have
always been compelled to disavow in public what they
had been carrying on in private. The history of these
checks would be a curious one, and there is a certain person
connected with the Spanish Embassy who could take upon
himself better than any body else to write it. As we also
know something of it, and of the obstacles which have
been in the way of the treaty, we shall not cease to urge
the parties in Spain whose interests are menaced by this
treaty to remain on their guard, and not to be deceived
by the contradictions which have been given as to the ex-
istence of negotiations. We regard the statement of the
Espectador, not as a proof that there have been no nego-
tiations on the subject, but as a condemnation beforehand
of what may be done, or perhaps has already been done
by secret diplomacy."
The Commerce has an article on the fortifications. It
says :—" The fortifications at Paris, although scarcely
commenced, have already produced the most disastrous
results ; but we have yet to become acquainted
with the disastrous consequences of this odious
project to national power and prosperity. We
can, however, at the 'present moment, assert,
that it has been the ruin of most of those who have had
to do with it, and almost all the contractors are in a
state of bankruptcy. The unpopularity of this act of
madness to which posterity can give no name, if, as we
hope, it will not be completed, is extreme in the depart-
ments, where it is justly regarded as a gulph which swal-
lows up the wealth and liberties of France."
The Debats, alluding to the sentence upon Mr. Smith
for the Exchequer bills fraud, makes the following ob-
servations :—" It is impossible to read without emotion
the repentant confession of a man who appears to have
been criminal from weakness of character rather than
depravity of nature, and who has been the victim
and the prey of minds stronger and more corrupt
than his own. We are far from desirous of en-
couraging the unfortunate tendency of the present day
to feel sympathy for offenders of a certain cast, and if we
direct attention to the defence offered by Smith, it is
because it was couched in the becoming language of hu-
mility. We perceive in this affair the eternal fact of
human weakness, the history of an unfortunate man, who,
having once deviated from the straight path, finds'him-
self at the mercy of men more bold than himself, and
exposed to a power which he is unable to resist."
The Hanoverian States were opened on the 2d inst.
PUBLIC OPINION,

, -
The Morning Post contains the following observatiofis,
which occur in a leading article on the conduct of the
Whig and Tory party during the last six or eight years:—
"rn the propriety of the new views of opposition now
expressed by a legal organ of Whig-Radicalism, we fully
concur; the difficulty is to believe that they will be acted
upon. It is hard for men to break through the long-
confirmed habits of their political lives, and without this
the Whig-Radicals cannot possibly proceed in. the path
which their own organ has pointed out. We are now
told that the struggle is to be for good measures from
any Government, and 'that the attainment of these mea-
sures is to be made sure of ere a question shall arise
about the men by whom they are to be proposed. Again,
we say, this is very well as a theory, and we shall be
glad to see it acted upon in practice ; but we fear
that the leading Whig-Radicals will find it
quite impossible, at this period of their political
lives, to begin a course of action so totally new
to them as this would unquestionably be."—This
sneer at the Liberal party, as if, notwithstanding
their declaration to the contrary, they were anxious only
to regain power for themselves, comes with a peculiar
ill grace from a Tory journal. Who was it that so dis-
interestedly supported all Sir Robert Peel's Law Reforms,
when some of his own party, if not absolutely hostile,
were lukewarm ? Who helped him through his diffi-
culties on the Test and Corporation Acts ? Who pre-
vented him from foundering, and kept him safely afloat
on the Catholic Question ? In fine, who supported him,
careless of their own personal interests, in every public
measure he projected that seemed likely to do good ?
Who, but the Liberal Opposition in Parliament, but for
whose timely and disinterested assistance, he must have
lost all influence as the leader of a great party? Had it
not been for the Liberals, Lord Eldon, and the bigoted
section of the Tories would have been too strong for Sir
Robert ; and he would,have miscarried in all his judi-
cious schemes of improvement. It is not, therefore,
for a Tory journal to taunt the Liberals with interested
motives.
The Herald thus expresses itself on the subject of
Lord Dungannon's late letter respecting the Oxford Pro-
fessorship of Poetry :--" When the Noble Lord says of
Popery, that it is not at:the present time the monster of
my apprehensions. An evil of a very opposite, yet not
less dangerous kind, is making rapid strides, I mean
Puritanism; and let us well beware whether in seeking to
escape an imaginary Scylla we are not falling into a real
Charybdis,' he is dealing with a metaphor more irrele-
vant than anything he condemns in the matter or the
mode of the anti-Puseyite controversy. He himself allows
that there is one alternative in this case which is a prefer-
able one. We should be puzzled for .our option between
Scylla or Charybdis--even if favoured with an additional
candidate for our choice in the analogous, though less: clas-
sical vortex of the Maelstrom. But in sober parlance what is
the phantom alternative which Lord Dungannon thinks
he sees if Puseyism be discouraged in the stern manner
in which we hope to see it rebuked ? Not between
two gulfs, or three ; but between Popery and Calvinism,
which latter he seems actually to consider identical
with Puritanism. May we ask his Lordship whether, at
this game of three competitors, the Established Church
of the empire, alone, is not allowed a seat ? Cannot
Puseyism be avoided, or Popery abjured, without re-
course to Calvinism as the only ' third term ?' "—The
dispute about the Oxford Professorship is, without ex-
ception, the most ridiculous that ever set wise men by
the ears together. It is as absurd as the squabble about
the " Homorision " and the " Homoorision," that so
long convulsed the Catholic world. The qualifications
for the Professorship are the only things lost sight of,
while everything that is utterly irrelevant to the matter
is diligently brought forward, and as diligently insisted on.
The Times refers as follows to the late African expe-
dition :—" Let any one read the authentic details which
we published on Tuesday, and then say if this infatuated
enterprise be not sufficient to consign African philan-
thropy to everlasting ridicule and scorn. Compassion
for the unhappy sufferers who have lost their lives and
health in this mad scheme, will doubtless be extensively
felt ; but how can the wretched charlatans who
have occasioned the mischief be regarded with
any other feelings than those of disgust and in-
aignation ? The expedition, as we confidently pre-
dicted, has turned out a complete failure. Disease
and death have attended its movements throughout.
A judicial miasmatic infection is blighting it at every
stage. And what is to be the upshot? Why, your
humane philanthropists, who always contrive to keep in
sound skins at home, will relentlessly persevere in pam-
pering their own vanity and self-importance, till their
thinned and diseased agents are hardly able to work the
vessels in which they have jeopardied their existence.
A lavish expenditure of money and life, involving no
personal sacrifices, will not easily discourage such imper-
turbable nerve as Sir Fowell and Co.'s. But what will
the country say to all this? Sooner or later the preten-
sions of these philanthropic canters will find their proper
level. It is really sickening to think of them."
The Advertiser says :—" The sudden termination of
the proceedings against the parties in custody on the
charge of having been concerned in the forgery of Ex-
chequer bills, has naturally caused the greatest dissatis-
faction in the public mind, for it is evident that disclo-
sures which ought to have been made, have been checked,
if not at the desire, at least by the connivance of the
Government. It is all very well for the persons in
power to declare themselves satisfied with what has
already been divulged to them, but the holders of the
forged bills are entitled to demand that every pos-
sible exertion should be made to bring to justice the
individuals by whom the fraud has been carried on,
particularly as there seems to be a doubt whether the
Treasury will honour the fictitious documents. Even
supposing, however, that innocent holders' are not to
be allowed to lose, it is clear that the fraud must take
effect somewhere ; and if the forged bills are to be paid,
the loss will fall on the public, as it must be made good
from the resources of the Treasury. Under these cir-
cumstances we demand to know, how the Government
can be justified in compromising a matter, over which,
as individuals, they have no discretion ; but which,
as servants of the public —the really interested party—
it was their duty to follow up with the most utter disre-
gard of persons, and the most earnest vigilance."
We quote the following from the Chronicle :—" Some
of the active opponents of the Corn-laws have, rather
unadvisedly, as we think, turned aside to moot the ques-
tion of Emigration. It will be quite time enough to
discuss Sir Robert Peel's scheme, if indeed he has a
scheme, when it shall have assumed some tangible shape.
The monopolists are not unlikely, in their wisdom, to
dream of exporting a portion of the population,
until it is thinned clown to their means of supplying
it with food at a profitable rate. But such a plan
is obviously impracticable. No extent of emigration
would accomplish the result ; for no emigration
would relieve our manufactures from that pressure
of the restrictive system which weighs upon them like

en incubus. Nor is the spirit of the people yet so sub-
dued by the Tory restoration that they would bear an
involuntary emigration, viz., the punishment of trans-
portation for the crime of having been born in a land
that is cursed with Corn-laws. Nor would the Govern-
ment find' it convenient to raise taxes for defraying the
cost. The double burden of paying bread-tax to the
landlords, and paying to enable people to run away from
bread-tax, would fall rather heavily on those who re-
mained behind. We may safely wait, therefore, the re-
sult of any consideration' which Sir Robert Peel may
be bestowing, amid the multitude of his thoughts for the
coming session, on this subject of emigration."
The Dublin Evening Post, alluding to the proposed
changes in the Horse Guards, says—•' Lord Hill, at
length, retires, and Sir George Murray takes his place.
We cannot say. we blame this arrangement. The truth
is, we rejoice in it : for it will smooth the way of our
friends when they return to power. The services and
the advanced age, and, let us add, the quiet and mode-
rate character of Lord Hill, prevented his removal during
the last ten or twelve years, although it was known that
his Lordship was Conservative in his tendencies, and
Tory in too many of his acts. As to Sir George Murray,
when the time comes, there can be no question at all
about him. He must troop."
The Cheltenham Examiner thus expresses itself on the
subject of the Government emigration scheme :—" We
made a few remarks on this subject in our last, and in
doing so, we ventured to point out some of the objections
to which, even at first sight, the plan was liable. Further
consideration has only tended to confirm our former
opinion and to afford us new ground of dissent from any
plan by which Government should seek a temporary re-
lief for the public distress, in lieu of those wise measures
of commercial policy, which offer a more efficacious and
less objectionable remedy."
The Stockport Chronicle observes :—" The deep and
generally pervading distress which is known to exist all
over this much-oppressed, priest-ridden, and monopoly-
cursed country, forms a subject of deep interest and of
much inquiry and speculation amongst all classes of the
community. Legislators, monopolists, and interested
law-makers, judging of coming events by present 6:sha-
dows cast before, and spurred to action by the porten-
tous warnings of that terrible crisis, which, as observant
beings, they cannot be unaware is fast coming upon
them, are profuse in their devises to remedy and to pal-
liate the evil, but in such manner as must prove unac-
ceptable with the people at large, and utterly impotent
in effecting the object they desire."