The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-08 00:00:00

THE MARRIAGE BETWEEN THE
INFANTA OF SPAIN AND THE DUKE DE
MONTPENSIEH.
(From the Chronicle.)
Vie have to call attention to an erroneous supposition
of the Journal des DCbats, with reference to the view
taken by England of the diplomatih abduction of the In-
fanta of Spain by the Duke de Montpensier, now in con-
templation. We do not think that the time is arrived
for enteral.. at length into the question as between
France and England ; we do not think it becoming the
dignity of this country to put forward the pretension of
settling at London an affair which should find its proper
solution at Madrid. England is ready to pay that
deference and that respect to every foreign nation which
she exacts from others in her own case, and which she
does well to exact. We never supposed for a moment
that England had a right to intervene in Spanish affairs
to the detriment of Spain, or to shackle the free play of
the wishes of the Spanish people. But at the same time,
until we find it declared through the legitimate chan-
nels of public opinion in Spain, that the Spanish nation
give a free, unbiassed, and intelligible assent to the future
subordination of their country to France, we must pro-
test against the gratuitous supposition of the Journal des
Daats, that this nation is either a party to, or looks
with indifference at, the intended union between the
Infanta and the Duke de Montpensier.
In the meanwhile we refrain from any discussion of
the subject as between France and England. Such a
discussion would be premature and needless. For we
believe we shall be borne out by the result in saying,
either that the marriage between the Infanta of Spain
and the Duke de Montpensier will never take place, for
reasons purely Spanish; or, if the marriage be forced on,
that the Peninsula will once more become the scene of a
bloody and protracted war.
Let us, then, look at this question as though England
were for the moment struck out of the list of nations.
What is the feeling of Spain upon the subject? Where
does the strength of France in that country lie? What
are the means of resistance that Spaniards have at their
disposal? What is likely to be the result of this coup de
main as between France and Spain?
Are we wrong in giving credit to the statement of our
Madrid correspondent, that never at any period, not
even during the Peninsular war, was the name of
Frenchman held in such deep execration in Spain as at
the present moment The rash attempt of M. de
Bresson, we are assured, has kindled a flame in the
Peninsula which is likely to lay the country waste far
and wide, from San Sebastian to Gibraltar, from the
frontiers of Portugal to the Mediterranean. But one
feeling seems to prevail upon the subject—there is a
coalition of every political party in Spain to thwart the
views of France. In whatever other points disagreeing,
Progressistas, Carlists, the most important section of
the Moderadoes (all of them, indeed, who are removed
from Camarilla influence), appear determined to oppose
this intended marriage to the death.
A large branch of the Moderado party have already
openly expressed their dissatisfaction—that party of
which M. Pacheco is the leader ; and the opposition of
that party is the more formidable because it hes a consi-
derable number of adherents in the Cortes. We have,
besides, received unquestionable evidence of the strong
disposition of the Carlist party to unite in this oppo-
sition.

With regard to the popular feeling throughout Spain,
it has already found its expression in an article in Li
Espectador. We believe that the representatives of the
Spanish nation, who are to meet in the Cortes on the
14th of this month, will be able to oppose a successful
resistance to this intrigue ; or, if it be carried out—but
we shrink from contemplating what the result in that
case must be.

Spaniards are busy asking each other what line of
policy this ill-omened union would impose upon Spain.
Nor can they anticipate anything but the continuance of
that faction in power by whom it has been brought about,
and, as a necessary consequence, a systematic opposition
to the development of constitutional liberty in Spain, an
opposition no longer maintained by the debile and un-
certain hand of the Queen-Mother, but openly sup-
ported by all the formidable power of France. Had
Louis Philippe—such is their language—intended fairly
by Spain, had he not sunk every consideration in the
one selfish and overpowering consideration of the ag-
grandisement of his own family, this marriage would
have been laid openty and fairly before the representa-
tives of the people, with all the solemnity and delibera-
tion such a subject deserves. The welfare of Spain,
they say, was, however, far from his thought ; Spain
must be used against France—France against Spain.
The real object of all this intrigue they consider to be
the securing of the Orleans dynasty at the Tuileries, let
them govern the French people as they will.
Spaniards ask, how was this match brought about ?
Without notice, in the Queen-Mother's Cabinet, by the
orders of the French Ambassador, and through the in-
strumentality of 'a few place-holders—the mere creatures
of the Court—the young Queen herself in tears, and
the nation absent. So nicely was the affair timed, that
the arrival of the Duke de Montpensier and the meeting
of the Cortes should be nearly simultaneous, in order to
forbid all opportunity of deliberation. A bridegroom,
and not a candidate, was to be presented to the Cortes ;
and lest, in the midst of this trickery and delusion, the
indignatien of the people might manifest itself by an
uncontrollable impulse, we are told that the man whom
Spain has rejected as the oppressor of her liberties is to be
flung back upon the country—that Narvaez is to be sent
to dragoon the dissentients into submission. Those
whom M. de Bresson cannot beguile General Narvaez
will cause to be shot ; and so the wedding cortege of the
Duke de Montpmsier will pass in peace along the streets
of Madrid. Such are the speculations upon the subject
which are current at Madrid.

With such a feeling as this in Spain—and we believe
of Europe stand by quietly, -arm -
Spaniards to fight it out? Unless it takes place with
the full and free consent of the Spanish people, it will,
we repeat, be the cause of terrible misery to Spain, and
add a yet unwritten and a bloody page to her history.
But, as we think that this consent will not be given, we
are still of opinion that the marriage between the In-
fanta of Spain and the Duke de Montpensier will never
take place.

TEN THOUSAND A YEAR.—" Pray, Madame," said
a young romantic-looking gentleman, addressing the
daughter of a West-end bookseller, whom her father
had deputed to stop in the shop just while he went next
door—an amiable creature, about the age of sweet six-
teen—" Pray, Madame," he said, " May I ask you if
you have ten thousand a year?" "No, Sir," she sweetly
but simply replied, letting her finely-lashed eyelids fall
—" No, Sir, but father says he'll settle the house in --
street on me ; that, though, aint worth more than two
hundred a year !" The young, book-buyer had like to
die a larfin, as Sam Slick says.
THE OLD PALACE OF BRIDEWELL.—A few days
since, as the workmen were excavating on the site of
Cogers' Hall, in Bride-lane, they came to a vault or
dungeon belonging to the Old Palace of Bridewell, which
in the reigns of William 1., John, and Henry 111., was
used for holding their courts. Stow, in his " Survey,"
makes mention of this place as extending from the
Thames nearly to Fleet-street. The portion laid open,
and now totally destroyed, consisted of a series of six
groins, of elegant construction, supporting the roof of
the apartment, 34 feet long and 17 feet broad, on the
west side of which was discovered a window completely
blocked up with rubbish ; but, by the judicious sug-
gestions of the British Archmological Association, the
work of removal proceeded with care, and, by their
well-organised plans, drawings were made of the more
interesting portions of the building. The window proved
to be of very early work, and retained portions of the
iron bars. In the rubbish was found a leaden bull of
Pope Nicholas V., a small jutton or abbey piece, besides
vast quantities of pottery, glass, and tiles, all of early
construction, with human bones, as well as those of
animals.
LETTER OF "THE DUKE." —On Saturday the
Mayor of Plymouth, Mr. B. Parham, summoned a
meeting of the members of the town council, who una-
nimously resolved to present an address to the Duke,
provided it were agreeable to his Grace. Messrs. G.
W. Soltau and N. Lockyer, the members of the corpo..
ration who waited on she Duke to ascertain his wishes,
were, however, courteously informed that he must de-
cline the proposed compliment. but that the reception of
an address would have been highly gratifying to his
Grace if his time had permitted. Subsequently his Grace
wrote a letter to the Mayor, of which the following is a

copy :—" Plymouth, August 29, 1846 (at niglit).—
Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington presents his
compliments to the Mayor of Plymouth. He has been
much flattered by the declaration of the mayor and cor-
poration to present him an address. Having been out
on horseback all the morning, he was changing his
clothes when the deputation reached the Royal Hotel to
announce that his worship intended thus to honour the
Duke, and he regrets that, being under the necessity of
returning to Lonon to-morrow morning, he cannot have
the satisfaction of receiving in person the record intended
for him.—The worshipful the Mayor of Plymouth."
THE DEATH'S HEAD MOTH.—We have been fa-
voured by Mr. Denny, of Downing-terrace, the success-
ful breeder of this rare and interesting insect, with an
inspection of several of his magnificent specimens of she
fly. It will be in the recollection of our reader. that
about a month since we stated the singular fact that
above twenty of the full grown larvm were taken by Mr.
Denny from a tea tree growing over the top of a house
at the back of Downing-terrace. These have all been
successfully reared, and are now splendid samples of the
genus. An interest beyond its mere beauty of appear-
ance attaches to this insect ; it received its name of the
death's head from a figure on the back of the thorax
closely resembling a death's head and cross bones ;
and this circumstance, coupled with its power of pro-
ducing a shrill, squeaking noise, has long rendered it an
object of mysterious terror to the vulgar, by'
whom its sound is regarded as the harbinger of
calamity or death. Entomologists have been long
puzzled to explain whence the cry of the insect
proceeded. The naturalist world has been divided on
the subject—Reamer, Johet, Lorey, and other eminent
cntomologists each advancing a different theory, but
none of them have succeeded in explaining the mystery.
The credit of the discovery we think we can now assert
belongs to Mr. Denny. He has ascertained, beyond a
doubt, the organ of the sound—viz., a large moveable
horny scale at the base of each of the upper pair of
wings, fixed on the thorax and covering a small aperture,
which is also of a horny substance. The vibration of
this scale is the cause of the sound, as is incontestably
proved by all other parts of the insect being perfectly
at rest when the noise proceeds from it, while these
valves are in a state of strong vibration. It remains,
however, to discover how this valve acts, and to accom-
plish that requires a minute dissection of the insect, and
it is much to be desired that the subject should g
ithnseecatttaelnlatitoonmiosft,Abl.yr:
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fully developed,--Cambridge Chronicle.