The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-18 00:00:00

NAVIGATION OF TIE& DOURO.

(From the Madrid Gazette of the 7th inst.)
According to the accounts received front Lisbon, it
would appear that the Chambers have closed their dis-
cussions, without approving the regulations for the free
navigation of the Douro. We know not which to ad-
mire most—the constant endeavours of our neighbours
to frustrate the effects of the Treaty of the 3lst of Au-
goat, 1833, or the condescension and friendly conduct
of Spain in implicitly yielding to all the dernends of
Portugal. Tne statements made in the Chambers of
both countries at various times, and the writings of per-
sons employe I as celamissieners upon thie question.
place us in a position to judee of it with effect.
Tiro question at issue is extremely A Treaty
for the tree and common navigation of the Douro by
both countries, having been signed and ratified on
the :Ilst of Aug 1e35, a Committee was next appointed
at Oporto, for the purpose of drawing up and agreeing
in a series of regulations for the navigation of the river.
These regulations having been signed by the Committee,
they were approved by her Majesty at the beginning of
tie year 1536. Portugol, on the other hand,refused to ap-
prove the regulations, alleging that several of the
clauses were injurious to her ceanneree, ;mil demand lig
that it should be inserted that all articles of foreign
ceninierce goiter up the river, and intended for Spain,
should pay the duties in the Portuguese Customhouses.
Notwithstanding the injustice and absurdity of the do-
mend, it was agreed to by Spain, with the hope that the
rest of the regulations would be sanctioned. But, far
from approving them, they next demanded that Spanish
wine intended for foreiga exportation should be subject,
on pissing down the river, to a duty of 300 reels the
pipe ; that is, to a suns double, and sometimes three
time:: the value of the tviae itself. Still, wishing to see
the treaty and regulations in execution, the Spanish Go-
vernment not only ceasented to this proposal, ex•
travagant as it was, but ale° ill'wed the proposal to be
extended to brandies awl liqueurs, although, by the
article of the Tr2aty, un abslinte freedom of duty upon
goods exported from Spain was established. Portu,:,al
text demanded the free introduction of Portuguese silt,
tobacco, aed other colonial productions into Spein ; in
short, a thousand nutters which hid co connect on
whatever with the treaty, It vas then ojeteeeil tit it
the regulations agreed to at Oporto contained tinny
things contrary to the IiVA'S of the country ; and
two Commissioners were in consequence named to
revise and purge the regulations of the cbjectioneble
clauses. Portugal neet added that it was indiepensible
that the subject should be submitted to the Cottes
the their approbation. The Spanish Governen
replied that ie would be preferable, sooner than softer
the delay which such a course would produce to
name another commission to expunge from the re-
gulations everything that was not actually necessary.
A new revising coramission was in consequence
oppointed in Lisbon, which performed its task
to the satisketion of the Portuguese Government;
but the latter, without recollecting their former
promises, now presented the revised and modified
regulations to the Chambers. One of the Cham-
bers of Deputies began its labours by discussing the
treaty itself—that is, a solemn law and agreement
—and next the clauses of the new regulations. With
such slowness and interruptions was the discussion con-
ducted, that it now 'Oeiettlle obvious that tha object was
to gain time, and to permit the Chamber to close 4fore
the discussion would be concluded. This is what has
actually just taken place, and we see the Portuguese
journals, of all shades and colours, not only opposing
the regulations, but calling in question the treaty itself.
In Loch a predicamect what are are the Ministers of
Spain to do to vindicate the national honour and in.
terests, thus obviously trampled upon ? We do not
pretend to know ;!...ut we cannot do less than invite the
whole periodical press to join *re the discussion of this
question, and to urge the Regency, if this he necessary,
to use all the means in its power to effectuate the
conditions and clauses of the treaty and regulations
of Oporto."

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
(From the Morning chronicle.)
We have culled from two of our Contemporaries two
communications on the subject of the correspondence
respecting the conduct of Mr. William Tooke, in his
capacity of Treasurer of the Society for the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge, which appeared in the Chronicle
of Tuesday last. The correspondence, which com-
menced with a letter from Mr. Thomas Duncombe to
the Committee of the Society, on July 8, 1840, charg-
ing Mr. William Tooke with having perverted the in-
fluence and resources of the Society to electioneering
purposes, closed with a communication from Mr. Tho-
mas Coates, their Secretary, to Mr. Duncombe, dated
the 10th December instant, informing him that " the
Committee regret that in two cases the influence of
the Society has been used in a matter foreign to the
objects of the Society," thereby'deciding that the charge
brought by Mr. Duncombe egainst Mr. Tooke bad
been fully proved. The correspondence, however, ta-
bhshes another point, besides the decision of the Commit-
tee, that Mr. Tooke had perverted the influence and re-
sources of the Society to his own electioneering purposes.
viz. that " Mr. Tooke had solemnly derted, at a 'fleeting
rf the General Committee, tiiat there was any truth in
the charges which had been brought against him." 'rite
Committee, therefore, decide that their Treasurer was
guilty of the charge, and guilty of the falsehood of de-
nying it. It cannot be said that there was any undue
eagerness on the part of the Society to sustain the
charges against their Treasurer. So far from this being
the case, the Society have compromised themselves not
a little by the evasions, savouring . almost of chicanery,
to which they resorted, wieh the view of defeating Mr.
Duncombe, and screening Mr. Tooke from inquiry.
When, after much ado, Mr. D. uncombc obtained the
appointment of a Sub. exnm:ttee to investigate t 1
0
forday--was th 7 inycsti„.,atioo the
Treasurer, though he had recei red d t,;metion, del not
attend. On diet oeca x D
s'en,
sho ever, Mr. uncoinhe
not NJ to attend, though he reniar::,...•l," that be thought
the absence of the Tie aitircr was ri.'ithir respeetrulto the
Correnittee,nor creditable to Mr.T at.id lie ..Iy es-
tablished his case. Now, under these grave circumstance s,
Mr. Tooke addresses to tine Morniv lleraid a letter
(the first of the communications which appear in our
columns ibis day, under the head " Mr. William
Tooke") which, with all due submission to him, we
c?nceivo insulting, bo:h to the public End to the
So-
ciety kr the Diefa.:iori of Useful Kno.ayil.fe. .‘ Al.
though," he begins, •• revoltin; to ail my be:ter feel•
ings to submit voluntarily. to bring my name in juxta-
pos.tion with that of Mr. Thomae Duncombe, yet
his trumpery darge 111-ought against me," Ste. We
should suppose that Mr. 'l' buncombe can have no
particular anxiety to place either his
person or his
name in plata-position with the person or name of
Mr. Tocke ; but to call ale charge of perverting
the influence nod resources of a great and noble
institution to Mr. Tooke'e own electioneering pur-
poses teumPo'.l/ 661/gee merely proves that the
Treasurer of the Seeley for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge has yet to learn that most useful branch

of knowledge—a proper sense of moral obligation.
He betrayed the trust reposed in him by the Society,
and placed its efficiency in peril by perverting its
inflaence to his own purposes. He insults the
Society, by calling that trumpery, the occurrence of
which draws an expression of regret from its Commit-
tee. Levity under such circumstances is anything but
becoming. The charge is a very serious one, whatever
he may think of it ; and he would have evinced a more
correct sense of what was due to the public had be en-
deavoured to account satisfactorily for his direspeet to
the Society in failing to attend before its Committee on
the day appointed for the investigation. But Mr.
Tooke impeaches the decision of the Committee—
" The resolution of the Committee of the Society for
the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge on the supposed use of
its influence, and which I utterly deny, was opposed by Sir
G. Staunton, who moved the previous question of it, and
which was carried by an actual majority of the few mem-
bers present, the numbers being eight for, and seven
against, the previous question ; when Lord Nugent, who
rarely, if ever, met the Committee before, having hers, no
doubt by special accident, induced to attend on this occa-
sion, was, owing to his rank, inadvertently called to the
chair, and by his two votes, an original and a casting one,
turned the scale in favour of the resolution."

All this round about merely says that the decision
would hare been different bad Lord Nugent not been
present, that then Mr. Tooke would have been screened
by a majority of one in favour of the previous question.
We do not know what the Society may think of this
disclosure of what otherwise would have remained
unknown to the public, but we think Sir George
Staunton has been very poorly requited by Dlr. Tooke
for his exertions in his behalf, for assuredly the publica-
tion of the part taken by Sir George Staunton will not
raise the honourable baronet in the estimation of the
public. But even if Mr. Tooke had bean screened by the
previous question, and there had been no Lord Nugent
present, the votes of seven members of the Committee,
that he had perverted the influence of the Society, the
other eight merely shrinking from an opinion, would, we
should think, have afforded little cause for exultation.
Some insult appears to be intended to Lord Nugent,
by the expression, brother paymaster, with the com-
ment in a note of " Lucus a non lucendo, par nobilz.,
Arcades ambo." His Lordship's title to be present, or
to vote at all in the Committee, is questioned ; and it
seems Mr. 'Tooke has applied to the Noble Chairman of
the Society (Lord Brougham) to convene a special ge-
neral meeting of the Committee for the purpose of ex-
punging Lord Nugent's double vote and establishing
the previous question. This, to be sure, would be a
mighty triumph. We suspect, however, Sir G. Staunton,
by this time, by no means shares Mr. Tooke's anxiety for
this victory. But the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge must feel that they have already, in endea-
couring to screen their Trßasurzr, done no small injury
to themselves without benefiting that individual. They
have laid themselves open to strong and not altogether
unmerited censure from the Times, for the somewhat
disingenuous manner in which they sought to escape
from their duty. In seeking to screen Mr. Tooke they
have drawn down on themselves an accusation of not
being sufiieiently alive to the demands of honour and
principle. The public eye is upon them ; and it must
be aliowed that the conduct of the Society has not been
such as to justify the public is laying aside all anxiety
as to their future conduct. Mr. Tooke, too, has added
to his former offence that of insult to the Society, in the
language in which he has chosen to indulg4-..• tov.etrds Lord
Nugent, the chairman of their cenimittee.

(From th

The tranquil and unoffendine issue of the grand cere-
monial of Tues.:lay last in the French capital, s report
of which was published yesterday exclusively in the
limes, was a relief to rn my timid and :3 ainfermed :ar-
sons, both in France and England, who dreaded lest
the excitement of sued a scene, and of the recollections
associated with it might -have led to disastrous corne-
quences. Not only, hoe ever, was there no attempt at
violence, but, so fir as the private letters Isom Paris
can be looked upon as authority, there is is not amen;
the spectaters of the funeral any symptom of en inc.i-
nation for mischief. Teat silly nuisance, calling its if
" La Jeuee. France," or rathsr the apothecary-notion
of young France, midis a noise, hut nothing in ire, and
had the mortification of fieding itself suffered to dis-
perse without either punishteent or notice. Never-
theless, the zeal, ,amounting to enthusiasm, wh'ell
seemed to pervade the vest tILIA; of pop ul a•
titan te;sembled about Paris on that critical day is
not uowortiry of attention. In to far as it was earnest
and unanimous, it was not a feeling to be treated by fo-
reieners with disrespect. As a ieere show, the spec-
tacle was a fine one ; but, deducting from the impression
made by it all that belonged to or was produced by a
mere plecant,—in bath which charecters the lees:races
of the day had an importance for the people of Paris
which no such cabioitien could have here—there was
left behind a mass of strong emotion, powerfully iudice-
tire, nut alone of the public sentiment which prevails
towards other nations at this moment, but of the rulitig
passion which at all times predominates in France, and
which both distinguishes, and unfortunately too often
separates, the French from every other people. While
the rest of Europe has been taught by sad experien,:e
1 to reprobate the name of Bonaparte as the greattst
cli,turaer and destroyer of mankind Irmewn to mod, rn
l history, France regerds him as her petrel) and her :del.
\Vey is tills ? lie shed more Frenchmen's blood in
:20 5...nrs than had been spirt for a century hsfere
ihim ; lea heel gone further towards eradiceting Cie
%Tr: seuds and principles of honest industry—towards
I - •
wasting on unjust ambition the resources and the
1 fruits of commerce—towerde rendering successful
Itieleuce the standard both of policy and honour—
; towards perverting useful knowledge to the ends of
desolating barbarism—trampling on religion end its
ministers, and utterly depraving the whole mind of
France, thee had been effeeted front the accessioa of
Louis XLV. and the massacre of St. Bartholomew to
1793 inclusive. It the French, in their political and
military character, be a M. Mentalcm. bort described
them, " detested thronghout Europe for the exorbi-
taney of their pretensions over surrounclieg states," it
is to Bonaparte himself they owe that universal oblo-
quy, and to his system of heartless and excruciating
eppeession inflicted upon the nations of the earth.
It. France, from the downfal of the Executive Direc-
tory to the day on which Louis XVIII. was restored,
had no atom nor shadow of civil liberty, no rights,
no institutions, no freedom of speech, no privilege of
action in public affairs or private, no law, no protec-
tion, but one man's will, it is to Bonaparte alone
they are indebted for such moral burniliatioes. Again,
we say, is it not almost beyond the belief that the agent
and author of all those tremendous ea;'s should be next
to deified by the people upon whose heads they fell?
He gave them one thing in return ; it was to France
collectively a phantom ; yet it was all sufficient ; it was
" military glory," slaughter, devastation, and bulletins
which mocked at truth. It was to individuals promo-
tion, rapine, the license of tyranny over all foreign lands,
and the unbridled indulgence of every schist' and vicious
passion. The French are the only people in Europe
who make love to war for the sake of war. That it is
a war of unprovoked aggression, and therefore abhor-
rent to God and man moults no feather in the soldier's
mind, and under Bonaparte ail the French were
soldiers. His appetite, like the instinct of the nation,
was for war. Seconded by the martial prowess of a
brave army, his genius long secured them victory.
It would be too much to expect of a people go-
verned by incorrigible impulses, that they should even
yet look with an eye sobered by experience and
reflection, at the debt side of the account, and ask them-
selves " What solid fruit has Bonaparte left us of his
triumphs ? What have we now to show for them but
the proved necessily of turning the French capital into
a fortress, that it nay be able to withstand for a fort-
night the assaults of another coalition !" No ; the
French multitude cannot thus reflect. They look back
to the premises of the Bonaparte school of logic : the
conclusion they are eager to forget. But it is this very
spirit of reckless, uncalculating war, to which M.
Thiers, though not himself the dupe of it, has been ap-
pealing from first to last of his negotiations with the
Allies, and more especially since his fall from of-
fice, when he boasted of projects which it is pos-
sible he had never seriously entertained. know-
ing that be had no longer the responsibility of
a Minister to fear, and at all events a large
share of rabble popularity on which to reckon. The
Ministerial Papers affect to make light of any ill con-
sequence to be dreaded front the refusal of the Porte
to sanction the continuance of Mehemet Ali in Egypt.
We devoutly hope that the sanguine expectations of
our Downing-street brethren may be realized without
delay. But there are so many quarters whence dif-
ficulties may be looked for, and acme quarters so
much interested in their aggravation, that we confess
the next advices from Constantinople will be expected
by us with deep anxiety. If the Porte be prudent
or well advised, there can be little doubt of the mut-
ter being speedily settled. But if Lord Ponsonby, as
we have heard it positively stated, has Leen the in-
stigator of this fresh back-handed blow, the chances of
a happy result are not in our minds of the most cheering
nature.

(From the Morning 4I• .1.• •
An articl;,oarpptelared in thefiL;altetg7 'P'Pols.t)of Tuesday
I,,lt":"o__hei,r'h.,nt
s..ele sake of justice, it is impossible to
; vnaloo over
w'
iniailm.nee. A person.; says it, "of tit?.
hers for the towns'
cal harangue to. some fwcho appears to be one of the Mem-
.oventivir, has iate:y made a poi.i-
peopiki there." Now the P. st
1 boasts of being ehgaenteel anti well-conducted newspaper.
zpsecrinrtco characterise Mr. Williams,
How it should
one .of the riletr:
person" un-
known to it,
flied)/ true that Mr. „r.lt.uasins.b.o to ima4tne. It is per-
il sr.:tritely ...,_c_n'n, trY, 03 " 0
architect
of
his
own"flol:tonets a. g.entleman who is the
equally true that
from poverLy lie has attain,-,(1 w. eal't.: ::.
, and if there be
anythi:; in the ftielintr of Ervrlishinen
able than any thin; clsrt, it i, t,o honour more commend-
and inde-
pendcrwe acquired by in:'.ividual meri.
Flow the P I
could for one moment so f s
`for betray itself o - "1
raeterise Mr. \V. Williams, the M.P. ror
co„etnot
Yclia-
a person unknown to it, it i 3 utterly impossible forr as
1
to couccive. We believe it to he a mistak, in the ulll3
S2l3Ce Of tile Edi:or. Mr. Williams is a gentlernuu of
high character—of grelt 14lowledge, so far as in,tzu.