The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-05 00:00:00

Zfilu

LONDON,
FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 5, 1834.

We have received by express the whole of the Paris
papers of Wednesday. They contain no news worth
giving ; and in their leading articles the only topics
touched upon are the security or insecurity of the Spanish
creditors, and the extent of the Royal prerogative—an
old theme, which has been revived in consequence of the
recent acquittal of M. CARRELL, the editor of the Na-
tional, for an alleged libel on Louis PHILIPPE. The
arguments on the Royal and opposition sides are too
threadbare—too worn out among ourselves to entitle
them to any further notice.
_ _ . .

The Monitcur contains the following telegraphic
information from Bayonne, bearing date the 2nd
instant :—" It is affirmed that two battalions of Gui-
puscoans have been dissolved ; the men have gone to
their homes in the neighbourhood of St. Sebastian.
Don CARLOS proceeded to Araiz, on the 30th."

We have just received an express from Lisbon, via
Madrid, dated the 25th of August. The Committee
of the Chamber of Deputies, appointed to inquire
into the effects of the paper currency had just brought
up their report, in which it was unanimously re-
solved, that after the Ist of September, specie
only should be a legal tender in Portugal. But
with respect to all debts contracted before the 23d of
July, the committee resolved that payment should
be made in accordance with the spirit of their ori-
ginal contract. This report of the committee, which
was brought up on the 25th ult., appeared to give uni-
versal satisfaction, and will be to the Ministry a tower
of strength. The expediency of continuing Don
PEDRO Regent of the Kingdom, was, likewise dis-
cussed, when only five were found to vote against it.

The more intelligent among the people of this
country will doubtless smile on learning, that the first
petition of the Chamber of Procuradores, presented at
the sitting of the 25th ult., was for the abolition of an
ecclesiastical tax levied on the several provinces of the
ancient kingdom of Castile, and payable to the church
of Santiago, in gratitude to St. JAMES the Apostle
for having defeated the Moors in a great battle fought
in the 9th century I This tax fell exclusively on the
agriculturists, who were bound to provide for 'the
military saint a certain quantity of corn and other
grain, provided they owned a pair of oxen. Where the
peasantry were too poor to afford to keep an ox, the
saint was beatifically pleased to forego his offering in
favour of St. Francis of Assisium, St. Catherine of
Sienna, St. Dominic and their poor followers, by

whom its collection was never long overlooked. The
Spanish historian MARI ANA, by whom the account of
the miraculous battle from whence this ecclesiastical ex-
action originated, is recorded, states that St. James ap-
peared to Don RAMIRO, King of Castile, on the eve of
the great battle of Clavijo, and promised him his as-
sistance, with the certainty of victory over the Infidel
host. The historian goes on to relate, that the
Saint was as good as his word, took the field well
mounted, and sword in band charged the enemies
of the Cross. The result was the discomfiture of the
Moorish army, with the loss of sixty thousand killed,
and many wounded. It would be acting unjustly to-
wards the Saint, were we to omit remarking that he
had no sordid motives in his chivalrous defence of the
Castilian Monarch, and that the tribute paid to the
church of Santiago was an act of Royal gratitude for
celestial assistance so opportunely rendered. Ot
course the munificence of the KING must have had a
good effect with a number of the other saints--so say
the Priests at least—and so believe the poor Spanish
peasantry. The absurdity of this legend, notorious as
it must have appeared, was not sufficient to in-
duce the Spanish Clergy to abolish the im- '
pious tax, which it was trumped up for the pur-
pose of sanctioning. The most they did, when the
people began to outgrow such " Jack and the Bean
Stalk" wonders, was to disguise the mystery as much
as they could, but they had no thought of curtailing
their revenue. The legend filled their coffers, and that
was all they cared for ; and though there were
among them many who, seeing with a prophetic
eye that such abuses would be one day abolished,
and perhaps lead to the abolition of more
sacred things, recommended the purification of the
Spanish Church from such puerile impositions ; still
the majority, after the fashion of as blind a hierarchy
nearer home, pertinaciously resisted what they denomi-
nated heretical innovation. The consequence is that
the subject is one of the first recommended to the con-
sideration of the Chambers. The following is a copy
of the petition of the Procuradores, with the annexed

ames :

" The Procuradorcs of the kingdom pray that the Polo de Santiago
may be abolished for ever, the provinces exempted from paying the said
tribute, and the pending arrears In that branch of revenue remitted.
" Conde de las NAVAS. " MIGUEL CALDERON de la
_ _ _

" TOM AS DOMINGUES.
" ANDREZ BISEDO.
" MIGUEL CHACON.
" NI ARCOS MARIN.
" FERMIN CABALLERO.
" JOSE CLAROS.

BARCA.
" MIGUEL de PEDRO.
" JOA Q. MARIA LOPEZ.
" AUG. GARCIA ATOCHA
" MATEO BELMONTE.
" ANTONIO GONZALEZ."

On the presentation of this petition, M. M. DE LA
ROsA, addressed the Chamber at great length, stating
that the Ministry had already given their attention to
the subject, and that a law was being prepared which
would entirely put an end to so odious an exaction.
He treated the story on which the impost was raised
as a fiction in which no man possessinab com-
mon understanding could believe—as a delusion
which the supreme courts of Granada,, and Val-
ladolid, bad again and again rejected as impious.
The evil would be reformed, but it would devolve
upon the Government to make some compensation to
the ecclesiastics whose interests would be affected by