The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-16 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1846,

CABINET COUNCIL.

A Cabinet Council was appointed to meet at
half-past two o'clock this afternoon, at the Foreign-
office, Downing-street. Lord JOHN RUSSELL arrived
in town this morning to attend the Council. Lord
CLARENDON also arrived from his country seat in
order to be present at the meeting. Most of the
Cabinet Ministers were expected to attend.

Since our observations upon the temporary resig-
nation and speedy reinstatement of the Isturitz Ad-
ministration, a variety of changes have occurred at
Madrid. The present Government could not be in a
more precarious condition. By the tergiversation of
its leader; by its subserviency to the wishes of King
LOUIS PHILIPPE; by its acquiescence in the odious
marriage of the heir presumptive to the throne ; by
its truckling and unconstitutional policy, the
present Ministry has estranged itself from the
hearts of the Spaniards. Nothing can re-elevate it
to the confidence of the community. It has fallen as
irreparably as ever did the llumpty Dumpty of the
nursery rhyme. Among the non-electoral as well
as among the electoral members of the population it
is abhorred. In the districts to which the franchise
has not yet extended, as well as in those districts
which are entitled to a representative, PIDAL and
MoN, are regarded with detestation. The slight con-
fidence which was originally reposed in the President
and Minister of State has been frittered away by the
readiness with which he connived at the Montpensier
alliance, and the jealousy with which he has been
subsequently regarded is increased by a multitude of
collateral circumstance. Little doubt is now enter-
tained throughout the Peninsula that the days of this
obnoxious Administration are numbered. There is
not, indeed, the slightest probability that a much
longer retention of office will reward Senor ISTURITZ
and his colleagues for their nefarious proceedings
during 1846. Never was a Cabinet composed of
more brittle and fragile materials ; never was an
apparent homogeniety produced from more hetero-
geneous particles ; never did statesmen act more
entirely upon the execrable principle of expediency.
It is satisfaction, however, to reflect that such a
shameful abuse of authority is on the eve of receiv-
ing its invariable recompense. It is some sort of
consolation that the power which the Minis-
ters have endeavoured to retain by so many
atrocious acts, is about to be torn from their
unwilling hands. ISTURITZ and his associates have
aided in the destruction of the Spanish nationality,
but in doing so they have precipitated- their own dis-
comfiture. It is LA FONTAINE'S fable of the rat and
the tree all over again. After a feverish enjoyment
of authority the Afrancesado Administration will be
driven into obscurity ; the members of that Adminis •
tration are pursued by the avenging spirit of the na-
tion ; their NEMESIS is the People.
During the last fortnight intelligence has reached
us at intervals from the Peninsula, clearly indicating
the approach of some Ministerial catastrophe. Every
packet has
‘brought fresh omens of a portentous cha-
racter. The shadow of coming events was clearly
discernible, and from the outline of that shadow it
has continued to be manifest, during many days,
that the Spanish elections will be the ad-
vent of a new epoch. Those elections
are being carried forward with considerable
enthusiasm, and their results are, in a vast majority
of instances, proving inimical to the existing Govern-
ment. Even in the capital itself, where the Cabinet
is presumed to have its stronghold, and where,
according to a very prevalent rumour, votes are being
purchased for so many dollars by the Ministerial can-
didates, even in Madrid the vigour of the Administra-
tion is shown to be a mere phantom, and that phan-
tom is betraying symptoms of its evanescence. In
the six colleges of the metropolis— in Maravillas, in
Prado, in Lavapies, in Vistillas, in Barquillo, and in
El Rio—the want of influence to the Government
assumes a negative and sometimes a positive appear-
ance. On the evening of the 6th ultimo the majority
of votes in the first district was 81 in favour of the
Progressista; in the second, a majority of 113 for the
Progressista; in the third, a majority of 83 for the
Progressista; in the fourth, a majority of
merely 13 for the Ministerialist ; in the fifth,
something like a majority of one for the Ministerialist ;
in the sixth, a majority of six for Don PEDRO JOSE
PIDAL, the Minister of the Interior. By the dis-
patches of the following day, just transmitted to us, it
is almost a matter of certainty that three Progressista
candidates will ultimately be returned for Madrid.
Accounts from the provinces are of a similar descrip-
tion : the Ministerialists are being discomfited in
all directions, and the Progressistas are gaining a
marked ascendancy. The consequence of this is ob-
vious : the Cabinet must succumb to the torrent of
popular sentiments. 'With the tide running against
them, and their oars broken, they must yield to the
current and be drifted away at its pleasure.
If we discovered any signs of the diminution of
French influence in the Peninsula, we should
rejoice at this inevitable dismissal of IsTuairz,
of SANE, of CANEJA, and of their partners
in the Administration. The contrary, however, is in-
disputably the case. Louis PHILIPPE has forged
the chains of Spain with too many precautions, and
with too much art, to admit of their being shaken off
so readily. They differ from fairy gold only
inasmuch as they are changed in character
after a time, instead of disappearing altogether.
They are transformed from hymeneal chains into poli
tical chains. The transition is graduated with in

finite adroitness, but it is perceptible notwithstanding.
With the retirement of the present Ministers the
Afrancesados will not have been subjugated, they
will not have lost one jot of their influence at Court;
the royal couple will still continue to be cbedient to
the direction& of the Count DE BRESSON. A number
of incidents have very recently disclosed the prepon-
derance of French influence not merely in the palaces
of Madrid and Lisbon, but in the bosoms of the most
dissimilar personages. The communication dispatched
by the King-Consort to his brother, Don ENRIQUE,
and the reply of the latter thereto, have
shown very significantly the power of per-
suasion possessed by his Gallic MAJESTT. The
INFANTE has fallen from the elevated situation which
he had attained by his bold and independent pro-
ceedings. Those who anticipated greatness from him
will have been marvellously disappointed by the sud-
den alteration which has been effected by the Royal
logician of the Tuileries. Don Ezinicttra has forfeited
his very enviable popularity for the indolence of a
Court life, for the luxury of a palace, for the softness
of ermine. He has thrown away an opportunity but
seldom granted to so young a Prince. He was the
idol of the Spanish population in his banishment; he
has returned to Madrid, and he is a mockery and a de-

rision. Spain must look elsewhere for the meanso,
extricating herself from her present abasement

Never was she so degraded ; never were her children

more faithless to that nationality for the preservation

of which their forefathers fought and bled ; never
was there a greater necessity for the advent of an in-

corruptible patriot. There is a whisper abroad that
NARVAEZ Aill be restored to authority on the resig-
nation of ISTURITZ. Unless the nature of that ruth-
less soldier be completely metamorphosed Spain
should avoid his domination as a curse.

We have asserted that estates in Ireland are at this
moment as good securities as they have ever been for
the several sums advanced upon them, and that the
greatest inconvenience that any prudent encumbrancer
can be subject to, is the affording of a temporary hi-
dulgence to his debtor, and allowing him a prolonged
period for the payment of his interest, an incon-
venience which h less in amount than that which he
must sustain if he should forthwith file a bill in equity