The Sun.
London, England, 1824-07-03 00:00:00

[NIOUNING POST.]

The proceedings in Trinidad on the receipt of
his Majesty's Order in Council for regulating the
future treatment of slaves and promoting their
manumission, have grieved
and somewhat sue
prised us. -
With the tone of the petition to the
Governor (which we inserted yesterday) to sus-
pend the Proclamation of the Order, there is loss
cause to be dissatisfied than with that of certain
speeches said to be delivered when that petition
was proposed and agreed to. Fur every reason-
able apprehension of n'egro insurrection, the
horrors of which we duly estimate, it is meet that
allowance should be made in judging of the sen-
timents ascribed to planters resident in our Wes-
tern Colonies. But even the just fears of those
Gentlemen must not be suffered to protect the
absurd principles which they occasionally ad-
vance from exposure and chastisement. They
certainly labour under the grossest delusion,
whether as regards the theory or practice of
politics, in imagining that the state of any por-
tion of his Majesty's subjects is, or even, has
been, by law immutable. The general will
of the Empire constitutionally ascertained and
declared, governs all things, including the fate
of the Negroes in the West Indies. In a general
sense, too, the Government of this country must
he as much awake and as interested in the wel-
fare of the Colonies—as vigilant to prevent real
danger to the lives and properties of the Planters
as the largest proprietor of slaves and sugar
estates. The diqance, indeed, at which those
possessions are placed may render mistakes in le.
gislatiug for them more possible than in legis-
lating for the inhabitants of the United Kingdom,
and so far as the Colonists may contribute to en-
lighten Parliament or the Council on the actual
state of affairs in the West Indies, such efforts
:are not only praiseworthy, but desirable and ex-
pedient. With respect to Trinidad, however,
it appears to us that the facts in posses-
sion of Government, previous to the issuing of
the Order in Council, which seems to have created
the lute display of terror and intemperance, fully
warranted every provision in those admirable in-
structions. The simple object in view is to'en.
courage the manumission of slaves, and of coarse,
where manumission has been naturally pro-
gressing, there is both the greatest reason to' faci-
litate its extension, and the greatest eertahkty,of
success, and security in doing so. Let us see

then what, according to the Papers laid before
the House of Commons in the Session of 182.3,
was the actual state of the coloured population
of Trinidad. It is as follows :
Free. Slaves. Proportion.
In 1818 - 10,655 a 24,848 . Ito 2 1.3
1821 - 13,388 - 21,719 - Ito 1 2-3
From other parts of these Papers, it appears that
in the 14 years between 1808 to 18/3, the num-,
ber of manumissons in Trinidad 1331, or about
1-18th of the whole coloured population, while
in Jamaica during the same period the manumis-
sions did not exceed 1-50th of the black inha-
bitants.

[MORNING CURONICLE.]
We had yesterday an opportunity of reading a
letter from Madrid, received by the last post,
written by a Gentleman of considerable know-
ledge and observation. After going into a com-
plete exposition of the financial state of Spain,
which he represents to be as deplorable as can
possibly be imagined, he comes to the conclusion,
that the Spanish Government cannot any longer
go on without a Loan, so great are the arrears
due to the Military and Public Functionaries,
and so clamorous are the creditors of the State.
From these premises, and the fact that no Loan
can be negociated in France, he proceeds to
assert that recurrence must be had to Eng-
land, and consequently that the Constitu-
tional Loans must be acknowledged, directly or
indirectly, or some equivalent allowed for them.
From motives of false pride and obstinacy, the
evil day is put off—but it must come. The si-
tuation of the King is really precarious. He has
expended all the money which the cathedrals,
ecclesiastical chapters, and the fanatic hoarders,
were able to scrape together, and he has spent
and squandered it in pursuits which have been
attended with results totally opposite to those
fondly anticipated by the lenders. Plenty and
prosperity were expected to follow the overthrow
of the Constitution, and it was thought that every
one concerned in this great and pious under-
taking, will be crowned with laurels, emblazoned
with ribbons and crosses, and loaded with
wealth. In short, it was confidently hoped that
the church militant would become pre-eminently
triumphant, and that the inquisition would inevi-
tably be restored. The reverse of all this,

however, has been the case, and the King's
late auxiliaries cry now out that they have
been duped and sacrificed. The Monks
and Friars who had taken arms to join
in the crusade against the Constitution,—
and who had gone up to tl►e cap►tal to join in
the scramble for the loaves and fisher, have
been stripped of their epaulettes, and politely
sent back to their convents, under the pretext

that offence cannot be given to the Holy See, by
patronising men who had been carrying on war,
whilst their calling was one of pence and brother-
ly love. In fact, nothing, it is said, can equal
the chagrin and disappointment of the Servile
party, and they lay the greatest share of the
blame to the account of the French, who, they
conceive, have been a complete bar to the re-
alization of their humane intentions. They say

that the French have taken to themselves the
whole credit of the campaign, and now thwart
them in their schemes of persecution.. They

have gained an undue ascendancy over the
King, and the Councils of the country, and
they are even irreligious enough to pro-
tect and favour those Constitutionalists who
have remained behind, or taken refuge in those
towns in which French garrisons are placed.—
Hence have the pulpits, in those parts of Spain
which are not immediately over-awed by the
presence of Bourbon legions, begun to ring with
anathemas against the impious invaders, of a Ca-
tholic land, and in the Confessionals they
are held up to execration. The very same
party, in fact, which, two years ago, united
against the Constitution, is now forming against
the French, its real overthrowers. The latter
have taken the alarm ; this spirit of hostility has
been denounced to the King, and he has felt him-
self compelled to write to several towns, re-
questing the people to view the French in the
light of friends and benefactors, and conse-
quently to lay aside all animosity against then).
This spirit of hostility nevertheless increases, and
the military commanders have at length found
themselves compelled to write to Paris, com-
plaining of the ingratitude of the Spaniards, and
their distrust of their benefactors, and actually
demanding mere troops. If things go on thus,
strange things may yet be expected in Spain.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.