The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-28 00:00:00

/itt 'Lt Tut

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1848.

Intelligence which from any other country would
bo surprising, has just reached us from the capital of
the Spanish peninsula. NARVAEZ is threatened with
expulsion from office because of his disinclination to
connive at the capitalization of the property of
CIIRISTINA. How much longer, we ask, are the in-
terests of a great nation, like Spain, to be rendered
subservient to the private cupidity of an unprincipled
and licentious Princess? Are the Spaniards—that
proud and heroic race which gained glory under the
banners of the CID, under those of CORTES, under
these of PIZARRO, and under those of the nrst IsAk-
BELLA—are the Spaniards, the children of those illus-
trious men who fought against the Moors in one
hemisphere, and in the other hemisphere against the
Mexicans, and the Peruvians, are the Spaniards,
of all men in the wide world, to remain for ever the
passive spectators of a debauched Court and of a syco.
phantic Government ? We think not. We are sa-
tisfied, on the contrary, that the day will very speedily
dawn whic►h is destined to behold the expiation of

Already we have reminded the people of England
and of the peninsula, of that remarkable declaration of
Don V. M. DE PEREDA, that the ancient law of Spain
is compatible with true liberty ; and we have laid the
more stress upon that assertion because its correctness
is regarded as unimpeachable
,by a vast body of the
Spanish multitude. " The ancient law," says this
impartial pamphleteer, " is compatible with true li-
berty, and can accommodate itself to the exigencies of
the age." Further on the writer explains his meaning,
and enforces (logically speaking) his position at greater
length. Without pretending to give an elegant and
perspicuous translation of the original, we will
rapidly convey the gist of the arguments contained in
a later portion of the pamphlet "La Nacion y los
Partidos," pp. 71-73. In order to found a national
party, Don VICENTE DE PEREDA maintains that it
is necessary to calm those animosities which incite
one faction against another to the detriment of the
common interests of the country. He considers,
nevertheless, that it would be in vain to endea-
to effect anything like an univer-
combination, if the interests of the ma-
ority were sacrificed for the exclusive aggrandize-

your

1 ment of any particular faction. On the contrary,
he insists that the difficulties which impede such a
reconciliation as the one desired by himself and his
compatriots, should be at once discovered and dealt

with—bearing in mind the fact that all party dis•
sensions are born from the divergence of interests,
and that those incongruous interests are visible in the
various principles professed by individuals. In order to
secure the success of these endeavours, he considers it
advisable to destroy the causes in which all such
animosities originate; causes which to all appearance
seem to be unfortunately destined to maintain a per-
petual discord not only between the politicians of the
Peninsula, but between those scattered over the
whole surface of the globe—since, says he, we find
that society everywhere presents the deplorable spec-
tacle of internal dissensions, of more or less violence,
dissensions which, be it said to the disgrace of
humanity, are apparently the inevitable results
of the imperfect state of the human family.
He afterwards declares it to be impera-
♦. I

ively necessary to reconstitute the society of
;he Peninsula upon a basis more solid and more

analogous to the character and necessities of the
times—" que es necessario'reconstituirle en una base
mas selida y mas analoga al caracter y necesidad de
los tiempos." After enlarging upon the advantages

arising from progressive reform, as contrasted
with a sudden interference with the fundamental

taws of a state (laws which, says he, sheuld in

all cases be unalterable), and after maintaining

that certain casualities may arise compelling a

nation to alter the line of succession, he pro-

claims such a casualty to be the fact, that the nation-

ality of Spain is jeopardized, if, in compliance with
the new law (la nueva ley), the Crown is permitted
to descend to the children of the spouse of a French
Prince, to the grand-children—(the pamphlet was
written, be it remembered, before the 23d of February)
—of such a King as Louis PHILIPPE.

Let the Spaniards meditate well upon these argu-
ments, let them combine with them a remembrance
of the law of Pump V., let them consider the depth
of the shame, and the extremity of the danger into
which they have been driven by la nueva ley, and
then let them coalesce in a National Party, a party
bound together by an oath as stringent as the oath of
the Tennis-court, an oath pledging them to revive to
the Spaniards their liberty, their nationality, and their
constitution !

The House of Commons has been occupied for the
greater portion of the three last nights of its sitting
in discussions arising out of rash and unwarranted
charges, brought forward by the Noble Lord the
Member for King's Lynn, upon the conduct and
motives of his political opponents. The House of
Lords was last night also engaged in a similar man-
ner. Thus legislation is suspended, the business of
the country is brought to a stand-still, and a spririt
of personality infused into the debates, alike deroga.
tory to the character of Parliament and injurious to
the national interests.

It would be impossible to desire a more complete
and triumphant refutation of the unjust imputations
that had been put forward than was given by the
Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies on
Monday evening, as well fur himself personally
as for the department of which he is an able
and efficient administrator. And the effect of
this vindication was greatly enhanced by the
admirable tone and temper in which his explanations
were conveyed. There was no bandying of re-
proaches, no uncourteous or stinging retorts to
which the Noble Lord had undoubtedly exposed
himself, in consequence of the unjustifiable language
he had used. The statements were those of a gentle-
man, who felt keenly the injurious nature of the ac-
cusations that had been so unjustly preferred against
him, who would not suffer any imputation to rest
upon his character, but who, in the strength of con-
scious innocence, and recollecting what was due to
himself, and to the assembly of which he was a dis-
tinguished member, abstained from any vituperation
in return; and he had his reward. His plain and
simple statement carried with it the fullest conviction ,

dynastic immoralities and the vindication of the fame,
of the dignity, and of the independence of the Spanish
population.
Before this memorable and auspicious day arrives,
at the moment, in fact, when the Cabinet of the
Duque DE VALENCIA is oscillating in the balance of
Political Accident, and when the wife of RIANZARES
is making her last struggle for the preservation of her
malign supremacy, it becomes advisable to consider once
more the precise position of affairs in the administrative
circles of Madrid, and not only in the administrative
circles of Madrid but in like manner throughout the
whole breadth of the peninsula. Nothing can blind
the people, either of Spain or of England, to the fact
that the Narvaez Ministry are deplorably em•
barrassed by the blundering insult offered by So-
TOMAIOR to the British Government, an insult
which has led at once to the adoption of an indignant
retaliation by Viscount PALMERSTON. Had the
under-clerk of M. GUIZOT—cet excellente ABERDEEN
—been at the head of the Foreign Department in
Downing-street, the dismissal of Sir HENRY 1313L-
WER might, perchance, have been meekly submitted
to, and rendered, if possible, the cause for
a still closer alliance between the two Ca-
binets. But, luckily, the insolence of SOTO'
MAYOR manifested itself when Lord ABER-
DEEN bad dwindled into a cipher in the House of
Peers, and when the character of England in all her
foreign relations was entrusted to the guardianship of
a vigilant and courageous statesman. On this ac-
count NARYAEZ and his colleagues suddenly found
themselves in a false position as regarded the Eng-
lish, in a position in short quite as perilous as that
in which they already stood in reference to the
Spaniards themselves. Upon the head of this dilemma
comes now the belligerent avarice of the widow of
FERDINAND VII. ; and, harassed on all sides, the
Cabinet of the Duque DE VALENCIA trembles on the
brink of destruction. If it falls where is the re-
source ? An administration under the Presidency of
General CONCHA is spoken of —as well
might they expect stability in the rule
exercised by SANCHO PANZA over the Baratariaias !
They whisper again of a compromise between NMI.
VAEZ and CHRISTINA, whereby the former will be
nominated to the superior command of the army in
Catalonia—as well might they talk of a compromise
on the brink of a burning mountain, at the very time
when it is preparing its eruptive powers for an appal-
ling and unprecedented explosion ! No, the neces-
sity rests at this moment, not with SOTOMAYOR, not
with NARYAEZ, not with CHRISTINA, but with the
whole Spanish population. The happiness and re-
organization of Spanish society are dependent
not upon a clique of courtiers, but upon'
a coalition among the honest men of the two
great political parties—the Moderados and the
Progresistas. Such a coalition as has been recom-
mended by ESCOSURA. Such a coalition, again, as
has been demanded by the disinterested voice of
...I>EREDA. Shall there not be such a coalition ? Is
not this the very moment for it ? Shall not the
patriots of Spain gird up their loins for the occasion,
shah they not inquire into the continued validity of the
law of PHILIP V., shall they not march boldly along
the only path which can lead the nation to its pris
tine strength, greatness, prosperity, and indepen
dence ?

to every section of the House, to every district
throughout the entire country.
It is to be regretted, for his own sake, that Lord
GEORGE BENTINCIE did not at once fully and unequivo-
cally withdraw his charges, and apologise for having
in the heat of the debate so far forgotten himself a 3
to make them. it would surely have been more
to his credit if he had abandoned his un-
tenable position, and freely acknowledged his
error, than to repeat a portion of his charges
in another form, and even after he was in possession
of the explanation given by Mr. HAWES, to use such
language es the following :—" Sir, my part is to show
that these great possessions of the British Crown
have not had a fair trial—that the Government,
whose business it is to guard and protect these colo-
nies, has acted as if they were hostile suitors, if not
criminals, upon their trial—as if the Government had
cause of complaint against them, and the Attorney-
General were prosecuting. Sir, the charge which I
make against the Government is that of a systematic
suppression of the truth, of a misleading of the
House as regards the West Indies ; and the Hon.
Gentleman, the Under-Secretary for the Colonies,
and the Right Hon. Gentleman the President of the
Board of Trade (if he knew of these dispatches having
been withheld, which lam convinced he did not) have
not dealt frankly with those who dealt frankly with
them, when they were asked to give an opinion.''
And, again, when speaking of the Noble Secretary
for the Colonies, he added, " I repeat that Ido make
a charge against him of politically holding back this
information for a political purpose." Here is a
reiteration of the accusation, if not in the
coarse and offensive terms in which it was
originally
couched, at least in such a manner
that no gentleman could rest under the im-
putation. Earl GREY was, therefore, compelled to
make his defence to the charge, and it was equally
satisfactory and conclusive with that which his col-
league had the preceding evening delivered in the
House of Commons.

We may now shortly allude to the nature of
the charge. Fraud and forgery were either
freely imputed, not to one or two, but to
several high-minded and honourable gentlemen, or
that a Member of the House and of the Government,
when under examination, had kaowin;ly returned
untrue answers ; in fact, that he had been guilty of

wilful and corrupt perjury. It could bear no
other interpretation. The words used by the
Noble Lord were " I said that if these
minutes and memorandums were not got up
subsequently to his examination of the sth of April,
he was troubled with the shortest memory since the
days of green bag notoriety, when THEODORE
MAJOCCHI gave his answer of non mi ricordo.'
This allusion to a notorious personage could not for
a moment be mistaken, it amounted to this—either
memoranda had been made with fictitious dates,
which did not previously exist, in which case
Lord GREY, Mr. HAwEs, Mr. Cox, and
Mr. ELIOT, have conspired together to
deceive Parliament by means that are tanta-
mount to fraud and forgery, or Mr. HAwEs
wilfully deceived the Committee by means of untrue
answers to the interrogatories exhibited to him-
These were "the horns of the dilemma," from which
the Noble Lord stated that Mr. IliwEs "could not
escape."

The answer to that accusation is now before
the country. Lord GREY and Mr. HAwEs have
both repeated it. We shall not weaken its force
by any abbreviation. It is impossible not to
be fully convinced that the mistake which
undoubtedly occurred was purely accidental and
when the circumstances of the case are taken
into consideration, " that no less than 308 dispatches
had been called for, in the course of the inquiry, by
the House of Commons and the Committee, and with
respect to miscellaneous questions, 295 other dispatches,
making a total of 630 printed folio pages, which had to
be furnished by the department," it appears to be by
no means an extraordinary or surprising accident.
Lord GEORGE BENTINCIE is now for the fourth time
in the unpleasant position of having made unjust
and unwarranted accusations, which a little
discretion and prudence, a closer examination into
the circumstances, might have enabled him to avoid.
Sir R. PEEL, Mr. PORTER, Mr. J. WOOD, and now
Lord GREY, and Messrs. HAWES, ELIOT, and. Cox,
have in turn been made the subjects of his vitupera-
tion, and the charges have in every instance been
most triumphantly refuted. We trust the Noble
Lord will be taught for the future to abstain from
such a course, that must inflict infinitely greater mis-

chief upon himself than upon the person whom it is
intended to injure.

SPAIN.

Madrid journals of the 21st announce the arrival of
Count MIRASOL in the Capitol on the preceding day.
The arrival of ISTUBITZ was hourly expected.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.