The Sun.
London, England, 1834-07-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Whatever consequences may follow the entrance of
Carlos into Spain, it must be owned that his departure
has placed the Government of this country in a very
awkward position with respect to the Spaniards.
There can be no question that if we had not interfered,
Rodil would not have soon given a good account of
the Pretender ; and though our motive might have
been most praiseworthy, before we took charge of
Carlos, we ought to have asked ourselves what means
we possessed for ensuring his safe custody. It may
be quite true that no terms were made with him on
his surrender ; but it is implied in the very act of
claiming our interposition, that no advantage would
be taken of it, tending to place us in a situation
of difficulty with regard to the Spanish Govern-
ment. We trust that our own Government will
view the escape of Carlos in the light of an affront,
and that the vigour of our new Cabinet will be dis-
played in the prompt and effective measures pur-
sued to punish it. It behoves us to counteract this
attempt to prop up a tottering despotism, and to show
the Northern Potentates, and his Royal Highness the
Duke of Cumberland, that England will not be made
the instrument of their designs to perpetuate tyranny
in the Peninsula. The presence of Carlos in the
North of Spain may only accelerate the destruction of
his party, and thereby prove favourable to the Con-
stitutional cause. But should his appearance in Na-
varre lead to prolonged hostilities, it will not be easy
for us to satisfy the world that our conduct in this af-
fair has been proper. In that case there is no doubt
that we shall have been the cause of the waste of life
and of treasure consequent on the continuance of the
war. We have therefore incurred a very serious re-
sponsibility towards the Spaniards. Intentions ,in a
case of this kind are not a sufficient justification. Oui
intentions were, no doubt, very good ; but we are not
entitled to display the goodness of our intentions at
the expense of others. It was in our power to de-
cline all interference between Carlos and Rodil; but
having once interfered, we were bound, as a matter of
course, to take care that our interference should not
place Carlos in a more advantageous position with re-
spect to his opponent, than he would otherwise have
been in. If we chose to receive Carlos without
exacting pledges from him that he should not re-appear
in Spain, that was our affair ; but by the mere fact of
receiving him we pledged our honour to the Spaniards
that we should not let Carlos loose on them afterwards.
To rescue him from his perilous position, and, by con-
veying him to this country, to give him facilities to
enter that part. of the Peninsula in which alone a stand
continued to be made for him, was the greatest service to
Carlos which it was possible to render him. The
liberal French Papers attach blame to more parties than
one in this business. The Constitutionnel, for in-
stance, talks of the triple negligence of the Spanish
Ambassador in London, of the English Ministry, who
allowed Don Carlos to escape so quietly from his re-
treat, and of the French Ministry, who permitted him
to traverse the whole of France, " without doubt," adds
that Journal, " to give a second representation of the
ridiculous and pitiable-drama of the Duchess de Berri."
These reflections, as far as the Spanish Ambassador in
London is concerned, are evidently unjust. His Ex-
cellency could not have taken a single step to prevent
Don Carlos from leaving his retreat here, had he done
so ever so publicly. With respect to the English Go-
vernment, the fault consisted in receiving, under pecu-
liar circumstances, a personage whom they could not
secure. Carlos had committed no action against the
English Government which could have warranted
us in seizing his person, or placing him under restraint.
The error, as we have said, consisted in consenting to
receive Carlos at a time when he was on the point of
falling into the hands of his opponent, without stipu-
lating that our hospitality should not be exercised in a
way which might by possibility prove injurious to the
Constitutional Spaniards. We repeat that the honour
of the Government is in some sort compromised in the
affair. We have by our interference rescued Carlos
from his fate, and made ourselves the instruments of
his re-appearance in the north of Spain. Independently
therefore, of the interest we have in the tranquillity of
the Peninsula as a member of the Quadruple Alliance,
we are peculiarly bound to see that the Spaniards de-
rive no injury from our intervention. That the depar-
ture of Carlos was hastened by the prospect of a Tory
Ministry, is extremelyprobable. We regret to say that
the Tories have, throughout the struggle in the Penin-
sula, manifested a sympathy with despotism which re-
flects little honour on them. The Duke of Cumber-
land, and the Duke of Wellington, and Lord Aberdeen,
and the other heads of that party, would lay England
prostrate at the feet of the Holy Alliance, rather than
witness the fruits of a Reform Government. Their
sympathy with foreign despotism operates, however, as
a salutary warning to their countrymen at home, and
only tends to confirm them in their opinion, that of all
calamities the return of a Tory Government would be
the greatest--if it were to be permanent.—Morning
Chronicle.
As the Morning
.Herald has always advocated on
principle, the propriety or rather necessity, of abolish-
ing that species of torture called military flogging, it is
impossible to let pass without some notice a case of
this kind reported in all the London Journals, which
took place at half-past seven o'clock on Monday morn-
ing at the St. George-street Barracks, Charing-cross,
upon a private of the Scotch Fusileer Guards, who
were mustered for the occasion. This unfortunate
man, it seems, was guilty of showing symptoms of in-
toxica.tion when on duty as a sentinel ; this is a most
serious fault in any man, but more particularly offensive
in it soldier on duty, and deserving the severest punishment
That can be inflicted, short of the cruel and revengeful
laceration of "the cat," which is evidently useless as
a preventive to the practice of the low and vicious habit
of drunkenness. From the frequency of those dis-
gusting inflictions for being drunk, it is evident that
Hogging soldiers has not produced any reform whatever
in their morals and manners ; and means, not charac-
terized by revolting cruelty, ought now to be fairly
tried—not for a month or two, but for a proper length
of time—to ascertain whether it may not be possible
to substitute a rational and effective mode of pre-
venting or correcting ' those offences that would
endanger the system of military discipline, to which
those who adopt .a military life ought to submit
with the most scrupulous exactness—and this obser-
vation applies as strictly to the officers as to the pri-
vate soldiers. Profligate habits, or insubordination
should not be tolerated in either class, and yet we fear
that distinctions are sometimes made that have a bad
effect upon the morals of the army ; as, for instance, if
a private knows that some of his superiors are given to
drunkenness, gaming, and libertine practices, is he not
likely to confound all ideas of moral government ? Not
that we could for one instant think it right to overlook
the misconduct of a soldier because his superior in
rank might act improperly, for this would be
subversive of all military government, and there
would be an end to the army ; but what we maintain
is that cruel, and of course, revolting punishments,
never check the progress of crime or insubordination,
and the very frequent floggings in the army prove the
truth of our assertion. Why the freeborn soldiers of
England should be the only persons in Europe sub-
jected to this debasing punishment, is a question that
no brave man will undertake to answer ; all truly good
officers deplore a practice that degrades the man below
the negro slave, and places him on the level of
the brute creation. This practice shows how very
barbarous some of our notions still are, after all the
pompous inanity we have heard spouted forth about
the schoolmaster being abroad, and the march of in-
tellect I As to the particular instance which we have
referred to, the particulars are too disgusting, or rather
too horrid to be repeated. But as the Royal Academy
will be placed in front of this place of execution, the
students will have a fine opportunity of studying the
quivering, the agonized countenance and convulsive
throes of the writhing sufferer very cheaply.—Morning
Herald.

In everything regarding Spain—even in the opinion
formed of the moral character and intellectual acquire-
ments of the Prince destined to heal the wounds of
hat unhappy country—it seems to have been the
peculiar misfortune of Ministers to be completely mis-
taken or wilfully misled. Had this not been the
case, they would never entered into so foul and das-
tardly a league as that which bears the name of the
Quadripartite Treaty ;" a league formed with a view I