The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-06 00:00:00

of the magnitude of the resources at
the disposal of his Sovereign, could have capacitated
the British representative at Madrid to pen a contra-
diction combining so much of amenity with so little
of compromise or of superfluous conciliation. Upon
the spirit of the correspondence published in the
Clamor Publico might be decided the relative can-
dour and secresy which have latterly distinguished
the peninsular and insular diplomacy.
Notwithstanding the decisive protest entered
against this marriage by Great Britain on interna-
tional and constitutional grounds, in open defiance of
the fundamental stipulations of the treaty of Utrecht,
and despite the unmistakeable dissatisfaction ex-
pressed by the population of the Spanish pro-
vinces, the melancholy (because ominous) cere-
monial is being precipitated by every
possible device. While the communication of Lord
NORMANDY is lying unanswered by M. GUIZOT, the
Dukes D'AUMALE and DE MONTPENSIER are passing
with an enormous escort from Bayonne to Vittoria,
and from Burgos to the capital. While no satisfac-
tory response is forwarded to the British Embassy by
the advisers of ISABELLA 11., the apartments of the
Count DE BRESSON are being elaborately decorated
for the reception of the bridegroom of the possible
Sovereign of the Spanish territories. Infinitely,
however, as the Afrancesados may be inclined to
congratulate themselves upon the apparently pro-
pitious consequences of their machinations, they must,
on mature consideration, acknowledge the un-
soundness of their present position, and
the probable evanescense of their existing
prosperity. While they may rejoice over
the patronising serenity with which the Duke of
VALENCIA watches their proceedings in the metro-
polis, have they not cause for trepidation in the sullen
tranquillity of the populace ? They demonstrate
their temporary puissance by mulcting a sum of
50,000 reels (5001.) from the Eco del Comercio, as a
penalty for the boldness of its language, but are there
not proclamations of a more incendiary character
flying about the valleys of the Pyrenees, calling
upon the Basques and Navarrese to rise in behalf
of the Count DE MONTEMOLIN ; adjuring them,
as they love their nationality, and as they pine
for the acknowledgment of their political rights, to de-
clare for that constitutional liberty which had been
previously lost by " the incautious, the credulous,
and the docile children of Biscay and Navarre," and
proclaiming to the ripened imaginations of the pea-
santry that " CHARLES VI. is no despot," that he is
no antagonist of progress, that he is, on the contrary,
desirous of insuring to his people the soundest civil
and municipal liberty. These Afrancesados may
rejoice in the contemplation of the success which ha,
hitherto attended their wily undertakings ; but
while CHRISTINA and the Duke DE MAN -
zARES are tranquilly located in their palace,
are there not rumours of the appearance
of CABnERA in Valencia? The cathedral porches
may be hung with damask tissue in anticipation of
the expected nuptials, the royal brides may be already
vesting themselves in their marital garments, and the
restricted amnesty by which the twin mar-
tiages aie to be commemorated may be al-
ready prepared for the sign-manual of her most
Catholic MAJESTY, but are there not prospects of the
Spanish people requiring themselves to be forced to
swallow the gilded bolus ' Do not the recent
enmities in the Faubourg St. Antoine show that the
French Government may have its own internal embar-
rassments, fur the Journal des Daa's appears to hay(
considerable reason in conjecturing that the disturb
ances have not originated in any scarcity of pro-
visions ? There is a hollowness about all these
Afrancesado arrangements which promises their
speedy subjugation. To say the very least of it, the
prosecution of the Montpensier marriage, in open
defiance of the British protest, is singularly indica
five of an anxiety on the part of the Gallic Adminis•
tration to splinter the entente cordiele. If there be
honour, and honesty, and security in the consumma-
tion of these proceedings, how is it that they have-
been throughout characterised by so much secres‘
and so much precipitation ? The proper response to
that inquiry would ensure to the Spanish people the
preservation of their nationality.

An investigation of considerable interest took place
at Ryme, in Dvsetshire, on Thursday last. It was
not undertaken or conducted by any authority, no
official or legal personage presided on the occasion,

and yet matters were elicited respecting the conditioi
of the agricultural labourers in that locality the im
portance of which cannot be overrated. As there was
no person or persons authorised to come to a con-
clusion, and to bring in a verdict, or publish a report
as to the result of the evidence taken, the public must
form their own opinions thereon.
It will be in the recollection of our readers that
the Hon. and Rev. SYDNEY GODOLPHIN OSBORNE, a
gentleman who has earned for himself the highest
character as a philanthropist, the greatest honour for
the disinterested zeal which he has exhibited, in his
capacity as a country clergyman, for the amelioration
of the condition, the increase of the comforts of the
labouring classes, by whom he is surrounded, pub-
lished a letter on the 24th of August last, in which
he exposed several abuses to which the labourers of
Ryme and the surrounding parishes had been sub-
jected. He called attention to existing laws directed
against the practice of master manufacturers being
retailers of goods to their workmen, to what is com-
monly called the truck system, which has ever been
found most injurious in its effects upon those of the
humbler classes who have been brought within its
operation, where the parties purchasing are afraid to
question the quality or the price of the goods with
which they are supplied by their employers, who
would have it in their power to dismiss them from
their work in case of any complaints, no matter how
well founded. He stated that he found meat which
would have been condemned in Newgate Market sold
to the labouring poor; that the wages of at least nine
out of ten of the labourers in husbandry was paid in
'the shape of goods, sold to them by their masters, in-
cluding meat of the above character ; that the wages
of able-bodied, married men was 7s. a week, those of
single men and lads, from 16 to 25 years of age, from
2s. 6d. to 65.; that for about two months in the year
the mowing and harvest afforded some task work,
• at which about 10s. per week, besides an allowance
of cider, might be earned, but for which the work
must be from five in the morning until seven at night.
He then detailed the exorbitant prices they were
charged under this truck system for articles of the
worst description. The sheep killed just before they
were (to use the labourers' expression) cold dead ;

the diseased cows, in like manner, and the flesh
retailed to the working men, who were thus obliged
to participate in the farmer's loss ; and that it would
be hard to find any man who had drawn 21. in
money for his wages in any one year.
Such a statement proceeding from so trustworthy

a source naturally excited great attention. Mr.
OSBORNE did not shelter himself under the disguise
of a fictitious signature, but manfully gave his name
to the world as the author of these charges, which he
did not bring forward until he had by the strictest
examination satisfied himself of their truth. At the
end of three weeks a formal contradiction was put
forward signed by Mr. DANIEL BRAKE, the principal
farmer in Ryme, his son-in-law, his nephew, and two
other farmers. Mr. OSBORNE having replied, stating
the grounds on which he had made his assertions, was
challenged by Mr. BRAKE to a public investigation into
the truth thereof before the rector of the parish and a
reporter, an offer which was immediately accepted by
Mr. OSBORNE, and hence originated the meeting and
investigation to which we have alluded. Mr. OSBORNE
conducted his own case, while the farmers were re-
presented by a neighbouring attorney. The wit-
nesses that were examined were subjected to the
strictest cross-examination ; their employers were
present, prepared to impeach any exaggerated account,
if any such should be offered ; the witnesses who hail
been examined were kept separate from those who
had not as yet given their testimony, in fact every
advantage was given to the employers, even to a
speech to evidence from their attorney. The
proceedings and the evidence have been fully
published, and we confess it appears to us
that the statements made have been fully substan-
tiated. We are told by one witness of a bullock
found dead in a ditch, and pulled out by horses. It
had been apparently dead for some hours, and yet it
was stabbed, and its flesh retailed. Another speaks
of mutton—part of a sheep found dead in the fold—
salted, and sold to the people at 2d. per pound.