The Sun.
London, England, 1834-06-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The intelligence received from Lisbon by the
last arrivals is of considerable importance. The
departure of the Usurper for Genoa had already
taken place. He has further, it appears, entered
into a solemn engagement to abstain hereafter from
interfering directly or indirectly in the affairs of
Portugal, or its dependencies—an engagement to
which we should not attach the slightest value, if
the fulfilment or the violation of it were ever, by
any combination of circumstances, to depend upon
his sense of honour. He has shown the world that
he could despise the most sacred oaths, and
trample under foot the dearest ties of family con-
nection, without hesitation or repentance. He
sacrificed the peace, the industry, and commerce
of his country to his unjustifiable ambition ; he
persecuted the patriot, dishonoured the wise,
exiled the wealthy, broke down the fair fabric of
society at home, which had only been just rising
anew from the ruins of the war, and severed the
territory, which he afflicted by his rule, from in-
tercourse with all other nations—and for what ?
To gratify a selfish lust for power which he knew
not how to wield. There is something about
usurpation firmly maintained by the aid of tran-
scendent ability, which renders it not only formida-
ble, but splendid in the eyes of mankind. But in
the recent history of Portugal, we have had all the
evils of usurpation without one of its redeeming
qualities. There was not a single decree passed
during the reign of Don Miguel to which he can
now point as a favourable memorial of his transitory
swa:,7. He can tell of many brave hearts which he
'has broken, of many princely mercantile establish-
ments which he has destroyed, of many families in
private life whose happiness he has overthrown, but
not one act done for the promotion of the public
good, not a solitary tear wiped from the cheek of
the wretched, attests the wisdom of the king or the
virtues of the man. To Miguel, therefore, let no
thanks be given, if, deprived of the crown which he
gained by perfidy, he pass henceforth into the
deepest gloom of retirement from public affairs. He
had abundant time to blot out that stain from hi:
escutcheon, had he been capable of listening to
generous counsels. Had he granted the am-
nesty, he would have been recognized by
Lord Aberdeen, who thought a perjured
traitor a very good King for Portugal, and
a worthy member of the monarchical con-
fraternity of Europe. We do not dispute
his Lordship's taste, whatever opinion we may en-
tertain of his sagacity. But Miguel was impracti-
cable. His thirst for power was only equalled by
his avarice of revenge. He refused to purchase the
good will of England by even a small display of the
attribute of mercy. It was a sacrifice which he
could not bring himself to make ; and thus we have
seen that in this, as well as in every other act of
his life, he has proved his utter want not only of
good feeling; but of common prudence. A blunder-
ing statesman, an unrelenting judge, a conquered
tyrant, and a fugitive pretender, he quits his late
dominions branded by every kind of ignominy, and
therefore powerless to violate the last pledges which
he has given, however disposed he may be to trea-
chery, and however practised in intrigue. The de-
rite for the total suppression of the monastic orders,
and for the incorporation of their estates with the
national domains of Portugal, is perhaps, under all
the circumstances, perfectly justifiable. It cannot
be doubted that those establishments furnished the
principal_ resources, both in arms and money, by
which the usurper was enabled to seize the throne,
and to protract the contest into which he entered
for its preservation. It is equally clear that by thus
involving themselves in the vicissitudes of secular
affairs, those institutions, originally intended exclu-
sively for the cultivation of religion and learning, dese-
crated their own altars, and surrendered their pro-
perty to the chances of a civil war. We know
that it was from the recesses of those cloistered
abodes that emanated the thousand abominable
sophistries by which the advisers of Miguel at Lis-
bon and his friends in this country endeavoured to
give an innocent character to his treason, and an
appearance of legitimacy to his assumption of the
crown. If monks will throw off their cowls and
put on the helmet, they must take the conse-
quences. But it may be doubted whether a law
affecting so large a mass of property as that held
by the Portuguese monasteries, ought to have been
passed by a mere provisional government. The
subject will be considered by some persons as too
vast for such hurried and undiscussed legislation ;
and it may be said that, coming out as it does at
this moment, it wears a complexion rather of anger
than of policy. Let us not be misunderstood. Our
settled opinion is, that Christianity never can prevail
in the world, in all its purity, until the churches of
every country shall be effectually separated from
their concubinage with the State. The voluntary
principle is the only one that can bind mankind
to the cheerful and sincere observance of the pre-
cepts of religion, and bring home to their bosoms a
thorough conviction of its importance. We should
rejoice, therefore, at the decree which has divested
the Portuguese monasteries of their wealth, had we
not been apprehensive that the mode in which it is
about to be carried into execution may be attended
with inconvenience. The article which provides
for pensioning the tenants of the extinguished con-
vents is followed by so many exceptions, that the
great majority must be turned loose on the world
without the means of subsistence. The Portuguese
people have been accustomed to the ministry of
these men and .of their predecessors, for upwards of
700 hundred years. The houseless pauper will
have nothing to do but to foment resistance to the
government of the Queen throughout the country.
The cessation of the monopoly so long exercised by
the Alto Douro Wine Company, will afford great
relief to the wine growers of Portugal, who were
entirely subject to the control of that corporation.
No Portuguese could bring the produce of his vin-
tage to the market, or rather there was no market
for it, unless he chose to submit to the prices and
regulations prescribed by the junta, which managed
the affairs of that anomalous institution. The be-
nefits likely to arise from this commencement of the
free-trade system in Portugal will also be felt mate-
rially in our own country, where the monopoly has
long been complained of, not only for its artificial
regulation of prices, but also for the many annoy-
ances which were inseparable from its existence.—
Morning Chronicle.
From the very advanced period of the session, it
being now the 16th day of June, much uneasiness
prevails as to the fate of those important measures,
viz., the tithe bills, chiefly that for Ireland, and the
bill or bills for the relief of dissenters, without the
speedy and satisfactory settlement ,of which, it is
impossible to calculate on any thing like tranquil-
lity in either country. The commutation of tithe
ought by right to have been accomplished before
the end of the session of 1833. The principle was
agreed upon and recognized, as well by his Majesty's
speech as by the resolutions of Parliament, so long
ago as in the preceding session. People have de-
manded ever since, why nothing has been done ?
and when anything is to be done ?—and how long
this urgent question is to be kept afloat in men's
minds, and society disturbed by the passions con-
nected with it ? A million of money was last year
voted to the unfortunate Irish clergy for arrears of
tithe with it was impracticable to collect. Another
shilling of tithe, it is notorious, can never be
wrung from the parishioners of Ireland, and as no
honest or humane man could require that the
Protestant clergy should perish for want of
common necessaries, the alternative is simply this
—either a substitute for tithe under the proposed
form of
,*Ax must be forthwith provided as a
mein qa*-- rforlll6 existing clergy, or more mil-
lio 'lutist be voter vout of the general revenue of
th kingdom to nieef-the further arrears of tithe,?le
which are still hourly accruing by reason of these
deTays in the promised measure of commutation.
What. may be the shape, or amount of resistance
about to be offered to these bills, so far as the
House of Commons is concerned, we do not con-
ceive to be a subjee -of any great anxiety. Even