The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-27 00:00:00

ness. His schemes are bursting and vanishing like
bubbles ; his subtle contrivances are proving, one
after another, to be barren and void ; his diplomatic
craft is being overruled by the simple energies of a
girl not yet out of her teens ; his elaborate cruelty is
rendered innocuous by the decision of a Princess
heretofore regarded as nothing better than a puppet.
It cannot possibly be forgotten that at the period
of the double marriages at Madrid it was noto-
rious that ISABELLA. 11. evinced the utmost re-
pugnance to an alliance with her cousin, Don FRAN-
CIS CO D'ASSIS. It cannot be forgotten that the con-
sent of this unfortunate lady was only wrung from
her in an agony of tears and supplications, when she
was closetted for a whole night with her Ministerial
advisers and her infamous mother. These things,
indeed, can never be forgotten, they are among the
darkest revelations of modern history. They have
been written—they have been read—they will be
remembered. Everything has latterly testified to the
accuracy of these statements concerning the royal
marriages. It is now not more certain that
the Due DE MON TPENSIER was hurried to
the Peninsular metropolis and back again,
under the protection of a military escort, than that
Queen ISABELLA abhors the man whom a flagitious
conspiracy has bound to her by the solemn vows of
matrimony. So violent, however, has this abhorrence
become that a divorce or a catastrophe are inevitable.
The knot that was fastened before the altar of Atocha
must either be untwisted or cut in twain. Her
MAJESTY has as much moral resolution as the Mace-
donian Conqueror. If she finds a difficulty in un-
ravelling the Gordian knot of the nuptial ceremony,
she will assuredly sever it by force. Virtually she
only lives at present bound to a corpse; her exist-
'ell- finder such circumstances, is a curse. It can-
not be borne longer by a woman so psumiu.....-

resolute. Hence, therefore, we are convinced that
these long-continued and pertinacious squabbles be-
tween herself and her despised husband must be soon
brought to a decisive termination.
While these quarrels were raging in the palace of
Madrid, and finding even an echo in the audience:.
chamber of Aranjuez, the military cruelties which
have been so repeatedly practised among the provin-
cial captains of the Spanish armies are continued with
unabated energy and frequency. Foremost among
their recent brutalities is unquestionably the murder
of the old Carlist chieftain, Canon TRISTANT, a brave
and naturally generous soldier, seventy years of age.
It would appear that this venerable adherent of the
Prince who has latterly resigned his claims to the
diadem of Spain to his son, the Conde DE MONTE-
MOLINO, was captured at Puiguarnau Llanera, and was,
by the inhuman command of General PAVIA,
forthwith carried to Solsona and shot there, in
his birthplace. Such ruthless effusions of blood
merely for the gratification of ancient animosities
cannot do otherwise than prejudice the cause they
are intended to advance ; and it is heartily to be desired
that among her other innovations Queen ISABELLA
may take measures for the prevention of such atro-
cious acts of barbarity.
Under all circumstances the young SOVEREIGN of
the Spaniards may rest satisfied that her endeavours
to release herself and her country from the yoke of
the perfidious persons by whom she and her subjects
have hitherto been betrayed will elicit the sympathy
of every free and generous nation. By a persistence
in her present movements for the political regenera-
tion of the Peninsula, IsasELLA may free herself from
all foreign and detestable restraints, if she cannot ac-
quire for herself the glory which invests her illustrious
namesake. Let her, like BASSANI°, select the right
casket and she will ensure for herself a happy and
prosperous future.

a fitting punishment for their offences. But the mis-
fortune that has hitherto attended the legislation on
this subject is, that the innocent have been subjected
to the same treatment as the guilty—the unfor-
tunate man, who sinks under the pressure of un-
foreseen difficulties, as the wilfully dishonest and
fraudulent debtor. Credit is essential amongst a
commercial people. Nothing, therefore, is more
important to the community in general than a
well-regulated and maturely digested law of debtor
and creditor, the object of which should be at
the lame time to protect from oppression the honest
but unfortunate debtor, and strenuously to repress
the knaveries of the dishonest.

The attention of many of our most eminent legal
reformers has of late years been directed to the im-
provement of the law, and many valuable alterations
have unquestionably already been effected, while
others have been submitted to the Legislature for
approval, and are now actually before the Senate.
The Society for Promoting the Amendment of
the Law, in the progress of their useful labours,
has also entered into the consideration of the sub-
ject, and have obtained a valuable report from one
of their members (Mr. Commissioner Ruiz), a gen-
tleman whose intelligence and ability, added to his
great experience, must command the greatest respect
for any opinions he may form on a topic so peculiarly
within his sphere.
On Monday we published a letter from Mr. Farm,
with which he kindly sent a copy of his report, which
want of space has hitherto prevented us from giving in
extenso. It is the first of a series of papers, in which
he proposes to consider the subjects referred by the
society to its committee. In the present document
the Learned Commissioner enters into the question of
the power given to individual creditors to seize the
. •- •• • , --LL-3. hp considers to be a
delusive remedy, injurious to all p0,,ch..,
—creditors as well as debtors—as it enables the
latter more effectually to cheat the former under the
forms of law, and he submits for the reasons which
he sets forth, " that the committee should report that
the power which each creditor now possesses of seiz-
ing his debtor's goods under a fieri facias for his own
exclusive benefit, is a mischievous power which ought
to be abolished." This will no doubt at first appear a
strange conclusion, but it will be difficult to combat
the arguments by which the proposition is supported,
and by which the injurious effects of the system
is made apparent, as well in the cases of dishonest
debtors, where the creditor is too frequently not only
deprived of his debt, but also amerced in heavy costs
for attempting to set aside some conveyance by which
he is cheated, as also in cases sustained by fraud,
where it produces a great inequality, some being paid
in full, while others will not obtain even ls. in the
pound ; also a scrambling for and destruction of pro-
perty, lamentable sacrifices in mismanaged and hur-
ried sales, and, finally, that it enables a knave to put
out of the creditor's reach even the means of paying
for inquiry, which he will not willingly undertake at
his own expense. We shall shortly return to this
subject, our time not at present permitting the full
consideration which its great importance calls for.

not one of the most ignoranlmust be among the
most impudent of Ministers. The debate An the
proposition of M. GLASS Bizc had not terminated
when the post left.
The Echo de l' Agriculturetates that all its ac-
counts from the departments ticurred in describing
the prospects of the approachi. harvest as extremely
cheering—a circumstance wch had induced the
hOlders to send their grain isgreater abundance to
the markets, and rendered bters more circumspect.
In Brittany and Normandy Thad been ascertained
that there was plenty of graifor the local consump-
tion until the ripening of th next crop. A fall in
prices had accordingly takenlace, as also in Picardy
and Alsace. At Strasbur the diminution had
amounted to 4f. per hectolre. At Lyons, Dijon,
Besancon, and throughout a south of France, prices
either declined or remained wionary.
The produce of vegetablesf all kinds in the French
provinces is said to be astoshing, and all fear of
famine is at an end. There s also every prospect of
au abundant produce of apph.
The condition of Portugi appears to excite con-
siderable alarm in the politial circles of Paris. The
Union Monarchique says, tht on Monday
6, Towards the close of tb, sitting of the Chambers,
several deputies, known to hive intimate relations with
the Cabinet, mentioned tha the Government had re-
ceived via England, iispatetes of a very serious nature
respecting the situation of Yortugal, and the definitive
resolution of the British Gorernment to interfere with
force of arms in the afairs cf that country. If that an-
nouncement be confirmed, it will suggest a difficulty re-
specting the interpretation of the treaty of the Quadruple
Alliance, a temporary treaty concluded for a special ob-
ject, and of which it is impossible, in point of law and
fact, to revive the stipulations henceforth without ap-
plication."

The Courrier Francais publishes the following from
Otaheite :

Prevention is better than cure. We fear it will
soon be discovered that the wisdom involved in the
above apophthegm, in so far as it is applicable to sana-
tory regulations, has been most indiscreetly con-
temned by the authorities of the city of London. A
most important statement was made to the Lord
Mayor the day before yesterday by Dr. LYNCH, on
behalf of the ward of Farringdon Without, evincing
the immediate necessity for the adoption of the most
active precautionary measures to guard the public
frem the spread of tearful diseases already engendered,
and which, at this season of the year, should
sultry weather prevail, will, unless checked-in the
outset, certainly commit awful ravages amongst the
community, and especially amongst its poarer classes.
A want of ventilation and an inadequate supply of
water to the different courts and alleys, now
crowded to suffocation in consequence of the
great influx of Irish poor, constitute two of the
chief predisposing causes of epidemics. It is revolt-
ing to contemplate the description given of the dwel-
lings of the indigent in many parts of the City. '
Overflowing cesspools, charged with the foulest im-
purities, from which pestiferous gases are being per-
petually exhaled, infecting the immediate atmos-
phere, in consequence of the absence of ventilation, to
a degree wholly insupportable to human nature, and
poisoning the water, with which some of the poor in-
habitants are only supplied for one hour, three times
a week, form another powerful incentive to the
' creation of malignant diseases. It seems, moreover,
that the Commissioners of Sewers have no authority
to compel landlords to trap and open the drains of
their houses into the common sewer ; the result is
that wherever a landlord is indisposed to incur any
expense, his premises become a separate source of
infection. A compulsory law should, therefore, be
forthwith obtained for this essential object, and, look-
ing to the advanced period of the session, no time is
to be lost. There can be no doubt that, should the
Corporation move in the matter, Government
will cordially and promptly- co- operate with them.
We perceive with satisfaction that the Lord
Mayor, impressed with the perilous condition in
which the public health is placed, has appointed a
court to be held on Monday next, for the purpose of
discussing the merits of the representation which has
been made to him by Dr. LYNCH and others; and,
considering that Lord MORPETU has recently con-
sented not to include the city of London in his
Health of Towns' Bill, we trust that the members of
the Corporation will now do all that lies in their
power to minister to the cleanliness and comfort of
the poor, and preserve the health of the thousands
located within their jurisdiction. The poor must be
protected against the oppressive conduct of the dust
contractors. It appears that they have suffered offal
to remain from one to nine months ; and that then
the men whom they instruct to remove the accumu-
lated filth, refuse to perform their duty until they
have extorted a gratuity from the miserable inhabi-
tants. This is an abominable grievance, and should
be instantly redressed.
The mortality of the metropolis has already begun
to increase, and, by reason of the dearness of provi-
sions, the poor are unable, to recruit their physical
strength as heretofore, and are consequently more
disposed to become ♦ictims to epidemic disease. The
hospitals are crowded. Numbers of their inmates
are being hourly numbered with the dead. The
safety of society demands that every exertion should
at this moment be put forth throughout this metro-
polis in the cause of the poor. Humanity and
skill must be tasked to deliver the people from the
imminent danger by which they are now unhappily
beset.

" A letter from Otsheite informs us of a fact which
With M. Brus,hebn_Queen Pomarli, after her
great number of English families mane IrrePPY4llle a for
their departure, in order not to live under the protecto-
rate of France. They were expected to leave the island
in the course of a few days. The Methodist mission-
aries, on their part, do not abandon the field, but remain
at their post. They asked the commandant of the En-
glish station to nominate, provisionally, a consul in the
Island, in order to protect English subjects ; but the
Admiral replied that he could not take upon himself to
do such a thing, and that he would refer the matter to
the Government."

It was reported in Paris that General NARVAEZ
had received orders to return immediately to Madrid
to assume the Presidency of the Council.
The National de l'Ouest, of Nantes, gives the fol-
lowing letter from the Island of Bourbon, dated Feb-
ruary 14:—

" We have this morning received afflicting accounts
from Madagascar, which lead us to fear that the sloop of
war the Berceau, Captain Gout, has been totally lost. In
December, the frigate Belle Poule and this sloop, i❑
going to Sainte Marie, Madagascar, were caught in a
violent hurricane. The frigate reached Sainte Marie
after having sustained severe damage, but the Berceau
has never made her appearance after being two months
at sea, and having come within 50 leagues of Sainte
Marie. Another ship has been round Madagascar in
search of her, but without being able to gain the least
tidings. She bad a crew of 250 men and several pas-
sengers for Sainte Marie."

The Minister of the Marine, it appears, has not re-
ceived any information of thin kind. The Berceau,
which carried 30 guns, was built at Brest in 1834.)
Intelligence from Algiers to the 20th has been
received. On the 14th, Marshal BEUGEAUD was in
the Kabyle country, negotiating with, and receiving
the submission of, the native tribes.

A letter from Bayonne of the 22d inst. says—
" Monsignor Brunelli, the newly-appointed Nuncio to
the Court of Isabella Segunda, has just arrived here from
Rome on his way to Madrid. He sleeps to-night in the
Palace of the Bishop of Bayonne, and, as to-morrow is
Sunday, his Eminence will probably resume his journey
on Monday morning. The Bishop of Pampeluna will
receive him at the Spanish frontier, and conduct him to
the limits of his diocese."
The Three per Cents. closed on the Paris Bourse on Tues-
day at 78f. 10c.; the Five per Cents., 116 f. 15c.; the
Orleans Railroad Shares, 1,235 f. ; Rouen, 950 f ; Havre,
645 E ; Great Northern, 602 f. 50c. ; Avignon, 735 f. ;
Vierzon, 585 f. ; Basle, 187 E 50c. ; Dieppe, 325 f. ; Paris and
Strasburg, 427 E 50c. ; Tours and Nantes, 412 f. 50c. ; Paris
and Lyons, 438 f 75c. ; Lyons and Avignon, 450 f. ; Bor-
deaux and Cette, 450 f.; Spanish Active, 30%; Ditto Three
per Cents., 35; Ditto Domestic Debt, 29; Ditto Passive, 4i.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, MAY 26.
Boulogne and' Amiens, 16—Namur and Liege, 354—
Northern of France, 11%—Paris and Lyons, s%—Paris
and Strasbourg, 11.

England is essentially a mercantile and trading
community. We have been termed " a nation of
shopkeepers ;" and, although the title was given as a
mark of depreciation and contempt, we willingly ac-
cepted it. We are not ashamed of the fountain and
origin of all our greatness—of that which has placed
a small island in the foremost rank amongst nations—
which has made the English character respected
throughout the civilized world—which has induced
the most implicit confidence in our probity and
honour—a confidence which has rarely, indeed, been
misplaced. We owe every thing to our commerce,
and that commerce has
attained its extraordinary
pre-eminence from the care with which it was fos-
anian the
eie unbendingg:eat m
' te
which,r d ,
rectitude and integrity by
majorrriistydof instances, all our
ity
and dishonest
must, how-
dealings have been characterised.
failingdishonest men
in bwi-
ever, be many evil
among so great a multitude, who,
ness, and being unable to obtain
hood by their honest industry, would liveli-
hood
defraud their creditors of their just rights, and, when
unable to pay in full, would make away with every-
thing,n and leave nothing to be divided. For such
rain there must be stringent and binding laws, and

THE SUN, LONDON,
_THURSDA/ EVENING, MAY 27, 1847.