The Sun.
London, England, 1833-12-05 00:00:00

the water will flow over a great extent of ground to the
north-east of Santarem, and prevent the possibility of the
army of Miguel retiring on Abrantes, without first fighting
a hattle with the Queen's army.
Although the weather is at present fine, the heavy rains
must soon come on, which will not only augment the
difficulty of marching on Abrantes, or any place north of
the Tagus, hut also prevent their crossing that river to
fulfil their design of getting into Elvas, for which they
have long been preparing. They are evidently without
the means of transporting the army over to the Alemtejo,
and if they had the means, a number of gun-boats, under
the command of able officers, are stationed in the river to
annoy them. We are daily expecting to hear of some
important movement. Fresh British troops are arriving
daily, and in another fortnight the auxiliaries will amount
to 8,000 British, Irish, French, and Belgians, and by that
time his Imperial Majesty's army will be nearly 30,000
strong, with the addition of numbers of guerillas, daily
augmenting, and clearing the country in all directions.
A considerable force, both naval and military, is now
collecting at St. Übes, which will soon be able to make

important movements.
I am sorry to say some unpleasant circumstances have
taken place in the Irish and British brigade, which,
although not materially affecting the general service, are a
disgrace to our countrymen holding commands in the
Queen's army. Whatever difference there might be in the
engagements made by her Majesty's agents in London,
elsewhere there certainly was a general understanding that
all were bound to adhere to the general regulations of the
British Army. This has not been adhered to, hut a system
of unjust oppression, tyranny, and favouritism, has been
substituted for it, by which several meritorious officers, on
pretences the most frivolous, have been dismissed without
ceremony, after expendiag large sums of money, and
having distinguished themselves in every engagement
during upwards of two years that this unhappy contest
has lasted. In vain they solicit investigation, or to be
permitted to return home. Some are now starving in
Lisbon, and others confined in prison. The fault rests
with British commanding officers ; men now pl iced in
power, who never rose higher than subalterns in the
British service, are not, and never can be, from their age
and habits, able to put a battalion through the movements ;
and, forgetful of their situations, exercise a system of
tyranny which is insupportable to men who know their
duty. Foriunately Don Pedro has at length been made
acquainted with these proceedings, and has expressed a
wish to see and examine every case of dissatisfaction with
the service himself, from which, and his own love of
justice, happy results are expected to arise.
I give you this information in jus,ice to the Portuguese
Gov,rnment, who have been frequently blamed without
cause, and are anxious that every justice should he done to
all foreign officers in their service, as the sequel will clearly
prove when their accounts are settled.
A contract has been given for 400 German horses, I
understand at 151. each, to be accompanied by some weli-
disciplined men. A General of some distinction is also
expected, with 1,200 Be!gians, to be embodied with the
French, of which he is to have the command.
Nothing further has transpired respecting the change
of Ministers, still it is hoped and expected the Duke of
Palmella will shortly be at the head of an efficient Mini-
stry, and give additional facilities to the good cause of
Constitutional liberty, already placed beyond doubt.
Our merchants are displeased with the revocation of
the order which declared Spanish dollars a legal currency,
at 910 reis, and sovereigns at 4,200 reis. This revocation
has taken several parties by surprise, and caused some
trifling losses.
To-day the importation of foreign flour was also prohi

kited, but will, according to the decree, be still admitted
until the 23d of December. This order was also not
looked for so soon, and proves the confidence of Govern-
ment in the resources of the country.
The Emperor had the gallantry to present Admiral
Napier with a diamond star (placar) of the order of the
Tower and Sword, which he had made specially for the
purpose.
Manoel Goncalves de Miranda and the Minister of
Finance, Joze da Silva Carvalho, have been restored to the
honours of which they had been deprived, in virtue of a
decree of Don John VI., of the 18th of June, 1823.
His Majesty left to-day for the army, from whence
nothing new has occurred. Don Carlos is still in Castello
Branco.

_........._
S'lr Thomas Stubbs, the Governor of Oporto, I regret
to find, has been definitively exonerated of his command,
his successor, General Torres, having yesterday received
the Emperor's final instructions to proceed to this
important point, which be will, no doubt, as gloriously
defend as the Serra Convent.

" A Rood of Land the Labourer's best
Friend," is the title of a threepenny pamphlet,
giving an account of what the writer calls the
successful result of the allottnent plan in the
—. .

parish of Great Missenden, Bucks. The plan
was only commenced at Michaelmas, 1832, so
that no fair argument of its ultimate benefit can
be urged from so short an experience. But we
are willing to admit that where the poor laws are
properly administered, and education is at the
same time properly advanced, the allotment plan
may be a useful aid in giving a higher tone of
independence to the agricultural labourer, now
debased almost to the level of the beasts of the
field by the manner in which his ignorant supe-
riors have administered the poor laws ; but it is
a dangerous error to suppose that it can remove
the source of the anxiety at present felt by large
classes of society. The landowners, in all their
plans, forget that there is any human being to
be cared for but themselves and their labourers,
although it so happens that the majority of the
nation are neither landlords nor farm labourers,
but persons upon whose prosperity their wel-
fare depends. Hence their corn laws, and, now
that they find themselves distressed in spite of the
corn laws, hence their desire to spread the allot-
ment plan. But what is in the mean time
thought by them of the laborious manufacturer,
of the ingenious artisan, of the toiling children
whose excessive exertions to earn a morsel of
food they last year affected to pity ? Abso-
lutely nothing. The manufacturer wants to get
his food as cheaply as he can, representing that
it will not hurt the owners of land, for that he
and his family will then be able to pay a higher
rent for land than if it were to be cultivated in
corn. The land owner will not listen to him ;
or perhaps laughs in his face, and tells him
that to pay the farmer a high price for his corn
must be good for him, because the farmer will
be able to give him more for his goods. As,
however, the manufacturer prefers keeping his
money in his pocket to giving it to the landlord,
on the chance of having a portion back, not for
nothing, but for goods, that-is money's worth,
he were allowed to sell them abroad, and as

the landowners find they can now provide so
comfortably for their labourers by allotments
of land, for which they get high rents.,
we trust that they will be ready to con-
sent to the repeal of the corn laws, and
thus give some thought to the poor depending
upon the rates in towns as well as those upon
the rates in the country.
Although we look upon the idea of solely
depending upon the allotment system for a re-
moval of the evils in which our rural population
is immersed as mischievous, it would perhaps
be thought unfair not to give what Mr. CAR.
RINGTON, jun., justly thinks the strongest ar-
gument in favour of his plan. He says:—
" It employs at once the labourer's spare time and spare

money.
"On this third point I feel myself particularly
strong ; I say that no other plan affords a savings-bank to
the labourer at once for his time and for his money. It is
here that neither a mere change in the administration of
the poor laws nor school education can help us. The la-