The Sun.
London, England, 1833-10-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

A French evening paper of Wednesday tells
us, under the head of " Disturbances in Spain,"
that news had been received on Monday night,
by a consular agent at Paris, " that troubles had
broken out in the Biscayan provinces of Alava
and Guipuscoa." The same reports have been
stated by other journals, and maintained upon
the authority of private letters from Bayonne,
but they appear too vague and unsupported to
be entitled to the slightest credit. The occur-
rence of an insurrectionary movement in favour
of Don Carlos in Biscay is not at all improbable,
and the probability has perhaps been substituted
for the fact. No positive intelligence has yet
been received from the Spanish provinces bor-
dering on Portugal since the death of the King,
and nothing seems known of the first movements
of the Pretender in that quarter. It is well
known that an army of observation had been for
some time established on the Portuguese fron-
tier, if not to encourage Don Miguel in his
usurpation, at least to prevent the interference of
foreign Powers to put him down. The friends
of Don Carlos, in this country and in France,
imagine that this is an army already made for
proclaiming the rights of the exiled Infante, and
thence conclude that he is at the present moment
on his way to Madrid, advancing in triumph at
its head: but must not every impartial and reflect-
ing person see the improbability that Ferdinand,
who was so anxious for the succession of his
daughter, and his Ministers, who, in addition
to their desire of serving their master's dynasty,
had embroiled themselves with his fanatical
brother, should have sent officers or troops on
such a service, or exposed to such temptations,
of whose fidelity they could entertain the slightest
suspicion ? The Prime Minister, M. Zea Ber-
mudez, had long known the precarious state of
the late King's health ; he was equally acquainted
with the ambitious pretensions of his brother,
in case of his Majesty's demise ; he had himself
advised the banishment of Don Carlos from the
Spanish court and kingdom ; he knew that from
the day of his exile his Royal Highness had never
quitted Portugal, and that, as soon as the King's
death should be announced, he would endea-
vour to return to assert his rights—and yet,
with a knowledge of all these facts, it is pre-
tended that he would leave an army on the
Portuguese frontier favourable to the accession
of the Infante ! If he has done so, he has
committed an act of the blackest treason, and
of the most shameless perfidy, for which his
life would be but a poor atonement, as an offer-
ing to the insulted honour of the Government,
and to the betrayed interests of the nation. Ii
Don Carlos cannot instantly succeed in gaining
over this army, it is not likely that he wiil
be able to procure the support of the garrisons
stationed on any other part of the Portuguese
frontier. The Captains-General of Gallicia,
Estremadura, and Andalusia, are all stanch
friends of the Queen, and must have inspired
their officers and troops with their own loyal
sentiments. No doubt they must have been re-
milady day by day instructed from Madrid of
the varying state of the King's health, and must
have concerted the measures best adapted to
support his daughter's title on the emergency of
his decease. Should this be the case, Don
Carlos would be unable to penetrate into Spain
by any of the routes where he could obtain mi-
litary aid, or excite a military insurrection ;
and the march of the Royal rebel, attended only
by a body of unarmed priests, and scattering
treasonable proclamations, could be easily ar-
rested. Unless the movement comes from the
frontier, and the rebels are encouraged in their
treason by the presence of their idol, it is dif-
ficult to imagine how the Carlist faction could
bare the hardihood to raise the standard of re-
volt in the interior, where they must be carefully
watched by the authorities, and promptly op-
posed by the troops of the Queen. The friends
of the Pretender lie chiefly among the ecclesias-
tics and their dependants—among the support-
ers of superstition and the enemies of reform.
The common people in the country districts,
or the numerous rabble who are fed by the alms
or directed by the counsels of monastic orders, may
be ready to flock to his banners ; but those banners
must be raised by other hands than a number of
isolated monks, in distant and unconnected dis-
tricts. As the great mass of ignorance and su-
perstition in the nation is for the system of Don
Carlos, who is the favourite of the lower orders,
the ranks of his party could be easily recruited
for a civil war, were any leaders bold enough to
marshal them. Then the " Royalist Volun-
teers," called out by Ferdinand against the Con-
stitutionalists, and since disbanded, as dangerous
to the throne, might again resume their arms,
and have their plundering fanatical loyalty again
put in requisition. But, whatever may be done,
or left undone, by the followers of the Infante,
nothing will be wanting on his part or on the
part of his family which frantic ambition, reli-
gious zeal, or unbridled personal passion can
accomplish. His wife, the sister of Don Mi-
guel, is a woman of energetic and imperious
character, furious temper, and uncontrollable
violence of disposition. Her hatred to her sister-
in-law, the Queen Regent, is only equalled by her
dloppointment at not occupying her place. Be-
fore she, along with her congenial sister,
the Princess of Beira, were banished from
Madrid, they kept the Court in a per-
petual turmoil: they had actually threatened the
Queen with manual violence, and scenes of ob-
streporous discord took place between them in
the palace which would have disgraced a rendez-
vous of " the ladies of the British fishery."
These Princesses, ssithout taking counsel of
prudence, fear, or modesty, will, no doubt,
impel the unhappy Pretender to the most vio-
lent excesses, to secure their return to Madrid,
and to obtain vengeance on their enemies. Here
are elements of discord sufficient for a sansui-
nasv civil war, were not its chances in favour of
the exiled Prince rendered hopeless by the firm
tenure of administrative power in the hands of
the Queen Regent—by the support of the most
active and enlightened portion of the nation—
by the recognition and Alliance of the powerful
Governments of France and England—and,
above all, by the unshaken fidelity o the army,
of the provincial militia, and the higher nobi-
lity. We shall wait, however, with much anxiety
for the next arrivals ; for we place little reliance
on a report in circulation at Paris that a recoil-
eiliation was about to take place between Don
cansuqs and the Regent, by a proposed marriage
alliance •ctween the infant Queen and the son
' of the former.-.- Times.
Had the sevices
0-.4. Lord Grey and his col-
leagues in the cause of rOfolin been confined to
the carrying of the Bill itself a.irouigh Parliament,
although they might have !wastes'. of I.tiPa°lllitithale
undertaking more vast and noble
greatest that had been attempted by any other
British Ministers on record, it could not have
been said that their work was otherwise than