The Sun.
London, England, 1834-01-01 00:00:00

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the other. " The Life of Ferdinand the Se-
venth of Spain" is upon the whole tolerably
well put together, although exhibiting here and
there too great carelessness in adopting the very
words, as well as facts, of the newspaper matter
of which it in part consists. The low meanness,
the hypocritical cruelty, the profound ignorance,
and unbounded selfishness of the royal blood-
spiller who has now gone to render up his
account to that tribunal whose justice he so
often outraged, are vividly and succinctly nar-
rated. The following anecdotes are not, we
believe, generally known :

" A curious anecdote which, incredible as it may appear,
is well known to the inhabitants of Madrid, will place the
Government and public character of Ferdinand in a pro-
per light.
" Some time in 1815 or 1816, a scarcity, nearly
amounting to a famine, made itself felt in the metropolis of
Spain. The magistrates charged with the superintendence
of the supply of corn were sadly puzzled about finding
means to have the desirable article in abundance. The
King was displeased, with their conduct, and resolved to
try if he could not do better himself. He walked out of
his palace with a numerous retinue. Before him went the
celebrated Chamorro (one of those low menials of the
palace, and most important members of the Camarill3),
with a little naked sword in Isis hand, shouting forth to
the surrounding crowd, ' Who wants justice done ?' That
singular procession happened to stumble upon a warehouse
full of wheat. The King entered it, wondering how the
people could want bread when wheat was to be found.
The warehouse was sacked, and its contents distributed.
A neighbouring magazine filled with bacon partook of the
sante fate. The Monarch returned to his royal residence
evidently proud of his successful expedition. The less
fortunate magistrates were summon!d before their half-
indignant Sovereign, who put, however, sonic good humour
and even jocularity in his reproof. ' said his Majesty,
to them, you could find no corn, eh ? A pretty parcel
of fellows you are ! I myself have been out only a few
hours, and I have found plenty of wheat—aye, and not
only that, but bacon too.' "

" Yet on one occasion Ferdinand visibly departed from
his respect for the sacred rights of the priesthood. In the
year 1816, a priest murdered a girl of loose manners, his
mistress. Tne murder was attended with horrid circum-
stances, showing in the criminal an incredible combination
of lust, superstition, passion, and cruelty. He was seized
and tried, and yet the interest of the whole church was
employed in his behalf—not indeed to screen him from all
punishment, but in order that his Id:: might be saved, and
a sentence of confinement for life, should spare his
brethren and the population the scandal of seeing a priest
Ltd to the scaffold. Under the reign of Charles 111., a
friar, convicted of the murder of an innocent young lady,
whom he vainly tried to seduce, had been only sentenced
to close imprisonment for life. Under the reign of Charles
IV., a Capuchin friar, convicted of the cool deliberate
murder of a man, with whose wife he lived in criminal
connexion, had been condemned to death ; but, through
the interest of his brethren, the sentence had not been
carried into effect, and after many protracted reprieves, the
French invasion, which threw Spain into confusion, had
broke❑ open the doors of the gaol where the criminal still
pitied, and sent him free over the world, where he was
never more heard of. The known great devotion el
Ferdinand gave hopes that he would imitate the mildness
of his predecessors, and like them show his respect for the
church, by not allowing the murderer to suffer death by
execution. The King of Spain wavered between two
strong partialities—that which he felt, or affected for the
clergy, and that which be invariably showed to merciless
justice, and the use of capital punishments. The latter
feeling prevailed. The criminal was sentenced to death,
and suffered, tench to the astonishment and delight of the
crowd, who, notwithstanding the supposed regard of all
Spaniards for monks and priests, loudly, and with some
savage ferocity, applauded this act of Justice."