The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-02 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TIIE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

Another instance of • the bad faith which
characterizes all the proceedings of Spain in her
conduct towards the Government of the
Queen of Portugal, has just been furnished by
M. de Cordova, the Spanish Minister, who was
distinctly seen assisting and encouraging the
Miguelite troops near Lisbon, when they were
defeated by 'Villa Flor. This Minister, who
deserved a different treatment, was allowed to
embark on board a Spanish frigate, bound for
Vigo ; but he has thought proper to land at
Figueiras, in order to resume his system of neu-
trality. He had better take care, however, for
should he be caught a second time in the army
of Don Miguel, perhaps he may not be allowed
so eaGily to escape. Nothing can exceed the
barbarous atrocities committed by the Miguelites
in their retreat from Oporto. Their advocates
here assert that they were justified in destroy-
ing all the wine at Villa Nova, but what
advantage could they gain by blowing up
and setting fire to the warehouses ? It
was a wanton act of pusillanimous revenge,
which will infallibly ruin many families.
It is a positive fact that the several detachments
which were sent by the Generals of I)on Miguel
received orders to destroy and ravage the whole
country through which they passed : those or-
ders were specially ratified to General La Roche
Jacquelin, who was directed to destroy and burn
everything that offered the least resistance in
Alemtejo. Moreover, the declared intention of
Marshal Bourmont is to make Portugal a new
Vendee ; he has ordered the rebel army to move
in the direction of Santarem, and their march is
distinguished by the most atrocious cruelty and
devastation. The French officers have hoisted
the white cockade : they make no secret of their
mad project of placing Don Carlos on the Spa-
nish throne, and excluding the infant Queen, to
whom the Spanish nation have so recently sworn
allegiance. Don Carlos persists in remaining
Portugal, notwithstanding the orders of the King
of Spain to quit that kingdom, and repair to the
destination that was appointed for him. The
Frenchmen, after placing Don Carlos on
the throne of Spain, mean to proclaim
Henry V. in France, and have chosen
Portugal as their first theatre for their magnifi-
cent achievements. Considerable anxiety is felt
by the public, and much more pretended by the
false friends of Portuguese liberty, as to the
result of Bourmont's attempt upon the capital,
with the repeatedly beaten and demoralized re-
mains of the Miguelite army ; but, in fact, there
is nothing to fear : the troops of Villa Flor are
animated with the most determined spirit ; his
forces are strengthened by troops sent from
Oporto, and replenished by numerous levies;
the works of defence are carrying on with the
greatest alacrity ; the best spirit prevails amongst
the people, who are determined not to be ont-
done by the heroic citizens of Oporto. The
following is the opinion of an experienced and
distinguished General upon this subject :—" I
resided at Lisbon in the year 1823 ; I went
over on foot, and observed with the greatest at-
tention the different quarters and the environs
of this capital. I do not think Bourmont rash
enough to attack it ; and I am rersuaded that
if he ventures to do so, he will be completely
beaten, for his forte lies in making la petite
gurre a-la•mode des Vendeens. The capture
of Algiers has gained him a great reputation,
but the glory of that easy conquest is due to the
officers of engineers and artillery who served
under him.—Times.
It is strange that the Speaker, in enume-
rating the measures that had been completed by
the Commons, made no tnention of the Lord
Chancellor's admirable law reforms, though the
Sovereign thought them worthy of a very dis.
tinguished notice. Surely this, if intended as a
slight, was a piece of great indecorum ; and yet
we can hardly suppose such an omission to have
been unintentional. The Speaker, as a lawyer,
must be well able to appreciate the value of
those reforms, and his constant attendance in his

place must have reminded him of the importance
which the Members attached to the Bills when
under discussion. It is at the same time, we
confess, very difficult for us to conceive the
Speaker wanting in personal courtesy or in
official respect.—Times.
What can be the use of Parliament passing
what has absurdly enough been called " The
Cholera Continuation Act" if nothing is done
in the way of precaution to arrest the progress
of the disease ? In the absence of any authen-
tic account, from all that we can gather, there
seems good reason to hope that, instead of
spreading, the disease has very much subsided ;
but if so, no thanks either to the Government

or the parochial authorities, neither one nor the
other of whom have taken, as far as we can learn,
any one step to stay or to arrest its progress, nor
can much gratitude be felt, or compliments paid,
on the score of medical skill, which somehow or

other seems to consider this new disease as an

object rather of fear than of investigation, and
leave it to run its course free from any interrup-
..

tion. But in proportion as medical aid is and
vAlable, in the same degree are we called upon
to provide by every natural means for its dimi•
nution and extinction. It is quite clear that

the Home Secretary, without creating any unne.

cessary alarm, might, on the first reappearance
of the disease, have called upon parishes to adopt
such means of cleanliness and precaution as
are known to have been instrumental in check-
ingprogress last year. To this end a con-
stant itntisn.pection should be kept up of the state
toiflotshee
partswhole
which,from the nature of their in-
habi:ants, are
most likely to generate disease.
That nothing of this sort has been done is appa-
rent froth ace state that the neighhourhootk
alluded to are in,
We would instance the
lower tarts of Westmin
er
report,
tile s:ate of which
is such that, according
to
cautions were
sent to Members of l'arliatp et
abandon their public duty ratherlethan.utrgas far as the
h' g
rtill'enmthtoe
risk they were exposed to.
generality are concerned, even this kind of
rn
inn. is thrown away. I\letnbers of parliament,
it is true, have been released from the danger;
but the Members of the Government, or ,t
some of them, remain to encounter it, without
those obvious remedies the scavenger's cart and
a free supply of water being resorted to, or so
much as thought of. In a large overgrown me-
tropolis like this, as well as in our large pro.
vinctal towns, thoEe objects should never be lost
sight of; nor should the necessary precautions
ever await the moment of alatin which the ap-
proach of contagion gives rise to. But not to
resort to them when the danger stares us in
the face is worse than folly, and leaves those who
disregard them as much without pity as without
excuse.—Morning Herald.
We insert in another column the Report of
the Select Committee of the House of Commons

appointed ti to inquire into the present State of
Agriculture, and of persons employed in Agri-

culture in the United Kingdom." According
to the witnesses examined, " the result of their
careful observations is, that during the last ten
years especially, the tenants have becOme more
and more distressed, their live and dead stocks
have been reduced lower and lower, their capital
rapidly
has been diminishing, and the land has been so
deteriorating, that soils of inferior de-
scription have been taken out of cultivation al-
together." This is a gloomy picture. But let
us examine it a little more closely. The de-
scription applies, it seems, to the following dis-
tricts :—Hampshire, Worcestershire, Glouces-
tershire, Somersetshire, Herefordshire, South
Wales, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Berk-
shire, Lancashire, and Cumberland. With re-
spect to Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex, the Lothians
and Scotland, the evidence is either contradic-
tory or not conclusive ; whilst in Shropshire,
Cheshire, Wiltshire, and the Isle of Thanet, the
cultivation of the land is represented to be either
in an improving condition, or at leas, not dete-
riorated. Here again we are puzzled. How of
neighbouring counties, possessing the same cli-
mate, nearly the same soil, and having the same
market, the one should enjoy agricultural
prosperity and the other should suffer agricul-
tural distress,—this surpasses our comprehen-
sion. We suspect, after all, that the distress is
merely the equalization produced by improved
communications, and especially steam navigation.
The facility afforded for importing animal and
vegetable food from Ireland into Lancashire and
Cumberland, must tend to an equalization of
the prices in both. If we could conceive a
capital of the size and population of London
to derive its supplies from its immediate neigh-
bourhood, prices, and consequently the rent of
land, would be very different from what they
are now, when it derives much of its supplies
even from the most distant parts of the empire.
The Edinburgh papers tell us that the facility of
transporting cattle to London has lately added
greatly to the prices of the Edinburgh market ;
but what raises prices in the distant markets
tends to lower prices in the London market.
We can easily conceive, therefore, that agricul-
ture may be depressed in one part of the island,
and advancing in another at the same time.
But improved communications, while they tend
to equalize prices, and thus to raise the prospe-
rity of the remote districts, produce another
effect in the nearer districts. The wages of
labour do not fall with prices, or rise with prices.
Thus the tenant in Kent and Surrey, who pays
from one-third to one-half more wages than
the tenant in Scotland, cannot lower his
wages when his prices are little, if anything,
higher than those received by the Scotch tenant.
Let us hear what the Committee say respecting
the wages of labour :—ln the course of this
investigation into the condition of the land and
of the farmers, the Committee never lost sight
of the condition of the agricultural labourers,
on which subject the witnesses were unanimous,
and their evidence exhibits a curious anomaly
between the condition of the employed and
their employers. It appears that in all parts of
the country—in the most distressed, as well as
in the most prosperous—the condition of the
labourers is in no instance worse than it was five
or ten years ago ; and that, in most cases, their
condition is greatly improved. The wages of
the labourers, the witnesses state, have not been
reduced in proportion to the reduction in price
of the necessaries of life, and in many parts of
the country no reduction whatever in their money
wages has taken place since the war. This state
of things is the more extraordinary, as the super-
abundance of labourers is represented to be
greater than ever, and the numbers out o

employ, who are provided for from the poor's-
rates, are very considerably increased." It is
quite clear, that if prices are not much higher
in the Home Counties than in Scotland and
Ireland, while the Scotch labourer does not re-
ceive one-half the wages of the labourer of the
Home Counties, and the Irish labourer not

one-fourth, there must be a strong tem-
tation to employ capital in agriculture
in Ireland and Scotland, rather than in the
Home Counties. The wages in Scotland may
in time also equal the wages in England ; but
this effect will only be produced gradually. We
thus see why the capital of the tenants in one part
may decrease, while the tenants of another dis-
trict are adding to their capital. The Conitnittee
seem to be much struck with the contrast be-
tween the condition of the tenant and that of
the labourer. " The condition (they say) of
the labourers, and of the cottiers (in Ireland), is
represented as not corresponding with the
improving state of the country, and whilst in
England, the agricultural labourer, who can ob-
tain employment, -has increased his comforts in
an inverse ratio to the distress of his employer,
the condition of the Irish labourer seems to have
retrograded with the progress of cultivation. It
must be admitted, however, that the evidence
respecting Ireland as well as Scotland, is contra-
dictory, and is not sufficient to enable us to draw
any just conclusion as to the real condition of agri-
culture in that country." We are glad to find that
it is no longer assumed that agricultural distress
means the distress of the labourer as well as of

the tenant and landlord. The labourer may be
thriving while the tenant is fast posting to the
workhouse, and the landlord is obliged to make
way for the mortgagee. We are not sure that
the diminution of capital of the tenantry of the
home counties will not produce some beneficial
results. When it is found that wages and poor
rates are so high that the occupant of a large
farm must soon be ruined, a smaller class of

tanners must follow. Between this class and
the labourer the distance is not great. The
labourer, seeing a possibility of raising himself,

will be more frugal and careful, that he may
become in time a cultivator of the soil. In all
the districts where the farms are small, the
farmers and labourers understand one another,

and there are no glaring abuses of the Poor
Laws. A great number of the supposed im-
provements of agriculture during the last war
turn out to be no improvements at all. The
theory of agriculture, with regard to rotation of
' crops, &e., is very simple. The great point is skill
and diligence. It has been found, during agricul-
tural distress in England, that the small farmers
have
stood their ground while the large ones have
gone into the Gazette. In fact there is an essen-
tial difference between farming and manufactures.
One wheel may set in motion machinery on
o
which one or two
thousandrat.,
epxetoepnlsei v
ear
fea r
emme r
cannot have the vari-
ployed. But in agirii t°terations going on on
thousand
his farm under his eye.
must trust to others,
rnalisi.eletiotinreusntiltlytiloil
and whoever is at the mere
be defrauded. For one of mercy
eof otters
will
always
horn extensive farms is, that
feeling between the farmer and labourer has been
destroyed ; and the latter, with the condition ofi
a hopeless serf; gets in time the vices of one.
But things will find their natural level. If it be
found more profitable to have sni-.11 thin large
lams, we shall have small farms. It has, for .R A

hundred years past, been found more profitable
in Flanders, where the agriculture is tar better
than h ever has been in any part of England.-
--Morning Chronicle.

MEETINGS OF CREDITORS
AT THE COURT, BASINGHALL-STREET.
TO-MORROW, Sept. 2. M. 31

(From the London Gazette.)
G. K Clark, linen-draper, Bath 2 10
W. Brown, cattle-dealer, Wilmington, Kent
T. J. Dimsdale, corn-lictor, Trinity-square
J. Jackson, jeweller, Old City Chambers 1 1

- DIVIDEND.
W. Crowther, apo• heeary, Sam's-buildings, Islington

THE FIRE IN MONMOUTH-STREET.

(FURTHER PARTICULARS.)
It appears that four families occupied the house.
Mr. Josephs, his brother and his sister, and Mrs.
Josephs, to whom the house belonged, occupied the
shop and first floor. On the second floor there
were two famili es—a cab-driver, named Pymas, and
his wife, who occupied the back room ; and in the
front lived the unfortunate family which has
perished. In the third floor a carpenter, named
Robinson, his wife, and a large family, resided.
The origin of the fire is as yet unknown, though
therehave been several reports respecting it. Mr.
Josephs was the last person up; he had borrowed
a newspaper from the opposite puhlic-house, the in-
mates of which retired to bed at eleven o'clock, and
tirey then saw Mr, Josephs reading the paper at the
window of the first floor, by the light of a gas
lamp near the house. It is generally thought that
the fire origitured from some accident with the
gas. Mr. Josephs had scarcely gone to bed
when the alarm of fire was rai'ed, and he was
fortunate enough to arouse his brother and sister,
who had gone to bed, and assist them in making
their escape. The progress of the flames is
stated to have been most terrific, and this accounts
for the unfortunate situation in which the family in
the front room on the second floor found themselves.
It is supposed that their escape was totally cut off
before they were arot.sed from their slumber. It
had been stated that several persons were found to
he missing, and that the bodies of five persons had
been discovered in the ruins. It is now, however,
beyond a doubt that the total loss of human life is
confined to four persons, and that the distressing
reports arose from the following circumstances :
Pymas, the cabman, and his wife, were generally in
bed at an early hour, but on this particular occasion
Pymas was compelled to be out late, and his wife
had left home to meet him, so that they were both
absent when the fire occurred. The carpenter, Ro-
binson, was likewise out, and his wife and children
being alarmed in time, made their way to the trap-
door in the loft; but their feelings and agony may
be imagined, when it is stated that they found the
trap bolted in such a way that all their attempts to
open it were unsuccessful. They heard the flames
rushing up the stairs, and saw the frightful glow
of the Ere. The eldest daughter, a girl about 16,
was severely burnt, and several of the children
scorched; and in this dilemma they knew not what
to do, when on a sudden the door was burst in, and
they were called on to save themselves. It appears
that some of the neig hbours, knowing that there were
several lodgers in the house, had got upon the top
of the house from their own Idrs, and burst in the
trap-door. The eldest daughter was so injured that
it was necessary to convey her to the hospital. The
mother and other childr.ti were received into the
house of a kind neighbour, Mrs. Reed, who keeps n
clothes-shop two doors distant from Mr. Josephs',
and they were afterwards taken to the workhouse.
The whole of their property has been destroyed.
Mr. Josephs' furniture and stock were burnt, and it
is said they were not insured, but the house, which
belongs to Mr. Josephs, was insured. The fire,
which completely gutted the house, was got under
in half an hour, the adjoining houses hutting sus-
tained no serious damage. The inquest on the dead
bodies will take place this day.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
In addition to the particulars already published
of this lamen,able arid tragical event, we have ob-
tained the following account of the nearly milacu-
ions escape of a woman named Robinson, who oc-
cupied the attics in Josephs' house, and her four
children, through the heroic conduct of her eldest
daughter. Her husband, who is a brass-founder,
and works at Mr. Pontifex's in Upper Martin's-
lane, was returning from Clerken well on Thursday
night, when the Sun fire-engine passed him on
Holborn-hill, and on inquiring of the driver where
the fire was, he ascertained that it was in Mon-
mouth-street. Feeling anxious about the safety of
his own family, Robinson followed the engine, and
on arriving in Morimouih-strect, found the house in
which he lodged on fire. The whole of the lower
part was then in flames, and there was no possibi-
lity of rescuing his wife and children from the ap-
parently inevitable destruction with which they
were threatened. The flames rapidly communicated
to the attics, and, amidst the cries and shrieks of, he
wretched sufferers, the whole roof fell in with a
tremendous crash, arid every soul in the house was
supposed to have perished; however, in a few mi-
nuses afterwards, the inmates of rite adjoining house
were seen bearing out Robinson's wife and children
in their arms, they having effected their escape in
the following manner :—Robinson's eldest daughter,
through some misconduct, was forbidden her father's
dwelling, but taking advantage of his absence from
home on Thursday night went to see her mother,and
just as she was about to depart, the house %vas
discovered to be on fire, and the flames had gained
such an ascendancy on the staircase as to prevent
any person descending from any of the upper apart-
ments. The daughter, seeing the perilous situation
in which her mother, and sisters, and herself were
placed, seized a poker, and, jumping on the table,
succeeded in making a hole in the ceiling and roof
sufficient to admit a person creeping through. The
mother then fist ascended, and drew the children
up, one by one, after her. On reaching the fourth
child she became exhausted, and let it fall. At this
time the flames were bursting through the floor in
several places, and the child's clothes instantly
caught fire. Still the young woman's courage and
presence of mind did not forsake her, and, although
her own dress was then blazing around her, she
seized her sister in her arms, and succeeded in clam-
bering through the hole on to the roof, and the
whole party then took refuge in the adjoining house,
and scarcely had they entered it when the flooring
on which they had been standing but a few seconds
previously, gave way. Mr-. Robinson and the four
children were conveyed to St. Giles's workhouse,
and the eldest daughter to the Middlesex Hospital,.
having been severely burnt about the arms and legs
We are happy to state, however, that she is not
considered in any immediate danger. Robinson has
lost the whole of his furniture and tools.
One house in the neighbourhood of Monmouth-
street, where the above (buffol fire took place, was
a short time since let out to various families, con.
sisting of 53 human beings, and yielded a rent to the
landlord of between 904 and 1001. per annum. The
under-ground floor consisting of one apartment was
occupied by one man, one woman, and five children.
Ground-floor, two apartments, occupied by two men,
two women, and eight children. First-floor, two
apartments, stuffed with two men, three women, and
five children. Stcond-floor, two apartments, con-
taining three me,,, four women, and six children.
Garrets, two rooms, occupied by three men, three
women, and five hildrr n. Thus it appears that a
house—and there*are hundreds let in a similar
manner—in a densely populated and extremely un-
healthy neighboul boo t, consisting of nine small
rooms, was occupied by no less than 11 men, 13
women, and 29 children, breathing the air of pesti-
ience in the dog days; and such is the confined state
of the neighbourhood that a breath of air can scarcely
enter within its purlieus.

The protest against the third reading of the
Slavery Abolition Bill by three ConNervative Lords, is
uuderstoou to have been drdwn up by a certain ex-Seere-
tary, wl,o was sent for from the Continent, by express,
and who arrived "just in time."j