The Sun.
London, England, 1833-10-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.:

It would appear by the Paris Papers of Sun-
day that the partisans of Don Carlos have not
vet renounced all their power of committing
petty mischief on the frontiers, and that at Vit-
toria they still intercepted the regular communi-
cations between Bayonne and Madrid. They
have, however, allowed private or diplomatic
couriers to "pass, and by their despatches we
learn that all was quiet in the Spanish capital on
the 14th inst. ; indeed, the privilege of intercept.
ing correspondence, or of plundering stage-
coaches—a privilege often exercised in Spain
without a diploma from any Prince of the blood,
or any pretender to the throne—seems to be the
chief power which the rebels have ever yet ac-
quired or possessed. The Biscayan insurgents
seem to avoid as much as possible every chance
of encountering the Queen's troops ; and when
they do meet, are generally defeated. In Na-
varre, according to positive statements, the apos-
tolical leader, called Santos Ladron, has been
captured, along with some 40 of his band. These
accounts do not mention his fate ; but if he
had been ordered immediately to be shot, his
friends might have consoled themselves with
the reflection that he himself, when in the ser-
vice of the triumphant party, was 'never sparing
of the blood of his prisoners. The Captain-
General of Guipuscoa, General Castagnos, who
is collecting from the interior and recruiting among
the exiled Constitutionalists a sufficient force to
make head against the rebels of all the Basque
provinces, has appointed a military commission
at St. Sebastian to try such of the, insurgents of
Bilboa and Vittoria as shall be take'n with arms
in their hands. The insurrection in these quarters
is evidently on the decline, from the want of exter-
nal support, from the feebleness of its original re-
sources, or the timidity of its monkish leaders.
The terrors of a military tribunal, and the collection
of an imposing force (it is to be hoped), will
soon extinguish its ardour or disperse its ranks,
—sending its chiefs to exchange places in
Bayonne and along the French frontier
with the Constitutionalists who have been
invited home to support the new Government.
It must have been an overwhelming mortifica-
tion to the militant ecclesiastics, who appear to
have been the ringleaders in these disturbances,
to find themselves so entirely deserted by their
friends in other parts of Spain. Between Ma-
drid and the Ebro there is said not to have
been a single symptom of insurrectionary vio-
lence, and in no part of the country has a single
company of the regular troops joined the
rebel standard. All the Captains-General of
provinces, and all the divisions of the army,
have sent in their zealous adhesion to the '
young Queen's Government and title. There
seems to be only one sentiment of loyalty felt,
and one language of attachment held, from
Barcelona to Corunna, from Saragossa to Se-
ville. The Madrid Gazette contains renewed
professions of fidelity from the military com-
manders in Galicia, Estremadura, Andalusia,
Cordova, Granada, Valencia, Catalonia, and
Arragon, and other provinces. Among the
number of ecclesiastical adhesions already an-
nounced is that of the Archbishop of Valencia.
The Primate of all Spain, the Archbishop of
Toledo, who declined (it will be remembered)
attendance on the ceremony of acknowledging
the Queen's title in June last, is not likely to be
very forward now in the expression of his alle-
giance, but at any rate the power of public
opinion, or the force of circumstances, is shown
in keeping him quiet. He dares not stir up
his clergy, cr risk his mitre, in the cause of his
patron and idol, Don Carlos. A deputation
from the Order of Grandees has conveyed to
the Queen Regent the zealous allegiance of the
chief nobility. Such is the state of Spain, as
painted by the Madrid Gazette and the jcur-
nals of all colours in the south of France. It seems
in its general features to be satisfactory and tran-
quillizing ; but it is quite evident that we have not
yet approached a final settlement of the Spanish
dynasty, and that the new Government must
look for some of its most energetic support from
the party whom it has hitherto repulsed. On
the frontier of France the Queen's military
chiefs have already called in (probably without
any authority from Madrid) some of the banished
Constitutional leaders to oppose the Carlists of
Biscay. Will these brave men be again pro-
scribed, after having contributed to put down a
rebellion against their Sovereign, and acquired
new claims to the'gratitude of their country ? or
will they be only pardoned for their military
virtues, and persecuted for their political opi-
nions ? If Mina, Admiral Valdez, Arguelles,
Bauza, and other leaders, whose swords or
counsels ought to be put in requisition in the
present crisis, were to appear on the frontier,
like El Pastor (who has been recalled from
banishment to fight for his persecutors), would
they be warned off as enemies or welcomed as
friends ? If the latter, what confidence could
they repose in a Minister like Zea Bermudez,
who has been always their most bitter enemy--
in a minister who pursued them with in-
cessant rancour and malignity in this coun-
try, when it was the land of their exile
and the seat of his ambassadorial power ?
It is perfectly plain, therefore, that in
regard to persons and opinions called liberal,
some concessions must immediately be made,
and that some suitable modification in the Ca-
binet must take place, however strongly pru-
dence, policy, or consistency may dictate to the
Queen Regent a postponement of constitutional
changes. The whole rage of the Carlists,
wherever they have risen against the Govern.
ment, has been directed to the plusder and mas-
sacre of the Constitutionalists. Are the latter
to be at once persecuted by the Queen's Go-
vernment, which they support, and assassinated
by the Queen's enemies, whom they oppose ?
With respect to her external policy, some change
will be found no less indispensable to the
Queen's success. She must not let her Minis-
ters or her agents secretly assist the pretensions
of Don Niguel, which, so long as his contest
lasts, must be identified with the rebellion of
Don Carlos. She must immediately, therefore,
withdraw her envoy from the camp of the
Usurper, and accredit an Ambassador to
the Court of the legitimate Queen. Zea Ber-
mudez, if he continues Minister, must not allow
himself to be considered the emissary of Russia,
but must cordially unite with the more power-
ful frier.ds of the monarchy, who have been the
most prompt in recognizing, and
Sovereign'seawho will be
title. bethe
most steady in supporting, his
—Times.

The 'Standard, alluding to our article of yes.
terday on private libels, observes—. There is
not one word of explanation why, during three
years of office, the Whigs have never whispered
an intention of ameliorating the odious, tyran-
nical, and unjust Libel Laws—why all their de-
clarations upon this head are consigned to the
limbo of their other unredeemed pledges—no
allusion is made to the imputations upon Lord

Durham respecting the ensign with his family
e'cutcheon, said to have been hoisted above the
British flag at Cherbourg—nor to the display in
the Tyne of the execrable blood-stained tri-
colour ; though if his Lordship is prosecuting a
system of calumny, and not an insulated offence
—if offence it be—the exposure of these im-
portant members of the system, would seem as
indefensible as the exposure of any other part."
Our contemporary here furnishes the best answer
to those who exclaim, cannot his Lordship make
use of one part of the press to refute the calum-
nies of another ? Why, all these calumnies have
been over and over again repeated in one portion
of the press ; but Conservative readers continue
to repeat the calumnies, as if not refuted, because
Conservative writers repeat them. Our contem-
porary, for instance, is ignorant of these calum-
nieshavingbeen repeated. We were not inquiring
into the life of Lord Durham, and we were not
bound to advert to all the particulars of this
system of calumny. We were merely examining
how far a Nobleman like Lord Durham was
justified in appealing to a tribunal for protection
against a system of calumny. Again, with
regard to the law of libel—we have our opinions
on it as well as our contemporary. But because
the Whigs in the first Session of a Reformed
Parliament, have not, among other changes,
altered the law of libel, it does not follow that
the law of libel will not be altered. We have
no doubt it will be altered ere long. It cannot
remain in its present state. It is absurd to speak
of the three years the Whigs have been in office
as a period during which the libel law might
have been altered. During the Reform struggle,
they would have been deemed very silly had
they diverted their attention from that great
question. Their apology for not having in
the last Session improved the law of libel,
is the multitude of pressing objects they had
on their hands last Session. Among several
valuable articles in the forthcoming number
of the Edinburgh Review, we observe a very
able review of the Evidence taken by a Com-
mittee of the House of Commons last ses-
sion, on the present state of Manufactures,
Trade, and Shipping. Such a review becomes
particularly necessary, from the evidence having
been published without a report—owing to cir-
cumstances which deserve some mention. The
Chairman of the Committee, it seems, drew up
a series of comprehensive resolutions, in exact
conformity with the evidence, but they were re-
jected by the Committee ; not because they
were not satisfied with the truth of the state-
ments, but because they were afraid they might
be unpalatable to their constituents. Some
people would not admit that the country was in
a prosperous state, even if the description of
Lubberly Land were realised, where geese and
turkeys ready roasted, with knives and forks be-
sides them, constantly invite the passer-by to a
gratuitous meal. It appears, from the evidence
of the most intelligent witnesses, that the indus-
try of the country never was in a more sa-
tisfactory state than at the present moment.
This description applies to all the great
branches of our industry, and to the internal
trade of the country. If the shipping trade
be in a less satisfactory state than the others,
the cause is not the increased employment of
foreign shipping, but a fall in the price of the
articles employed in ship-building. A ship, in
consequence of the fall in price of all the articles
used in its construction, can be built now for
much less than it could be built for several years
ago; so that a shipowner, whose stock in trade
might then be worth 100,0001., is not now
worth 50,0001. But this cause, though it may
have operated injuriously to individual ship-
owners, is a benefit to the country; and it ap-
pears that the number of ships built is continually
increasing every year. The ships built and regis-
tered in England and Scotland were, for the
year ending sth Jan., 1832, for England, 555
vessels, 67,973 tonnage; for Scotland, 148
vessels, 13,454 tonnage ; for the year ending sth
January, 1833, for England, 550 vessels, 71,036
tonnage ; for Scotland, 156 vessels, 17,055
tonnage. The cotton manufacture is rapidly
advancing, and, what is more satisfactory, the
workmen are well paid. " Mr. Bates (says the
Reviewer), managing partner of the houae of Ba-
ring Brothers and Co., perhaps the most extensive
and certainly one of the best-informed merchants
in the country, made a tour through some of
the principal manufacturing districts in Spring
last, at the time that the complaints of distress
were at their acme. Mr. Bates had not been in
those parts of the country tbr some two or three
years previously ; and being asked by the Com-
mittee whether he was much struck with the in-
I crease of manufactures, &c., in the interval, he
answered, Everything in that part of the
country seems to be increasing, resembling very
much a new country ; in Liverpool there are
whole streets building, and everything has the
appearance of a new town about it ; and I see a
great difference in going along through Man-
chester and that part of the country ; and in
Yorkshire there seemed to me to be occasionally
entire villages, just out of the hands of the
mason, consisting of beautiful little cottages.
* * * * To my view there never
was so secure and healthy a stale of things,
whether you look to the present state of things
here, or to the probable state of things for
several years to come, supposing that everything
remains tranquil here, and that there is nothing
to shake public confidence.' of Ed. p. 49.)
Mr. Kirkman Finlay, whose intimate acquaint-
ance with the cotton trade, as well as with most
departments of' business, is too well known to
require any notice of ours, informed the Com-
mittee, that though profits were very moderate,'
the present character of the cotton trade was one
ofgreat extension, and ofa rapid sale and acti-
vity' (p. 36). With respect to the condition of the
work people employed in cotton factories, Mr. Fin-
lay gave the following conclusive evidence :
The wages in the establishments with which Jam
connected, and I believe generally throughout
the country, are quite the same now as they
were many years ago ; the employment at
such establishments is regular and constant ;
it never varies; the prices do not vary ; every-
body is paid according to the work done to the
individual himself; or according to the work
done in the particular room in which he may
work, according to the nature of the employment ;
and therefore the wages in such establishments
being quite the same as they were many
yews ago, when the prices of provisions were a
great deal higher than they now are, it follows as
a natural consequence that the labourers must
be much better off now, in such employment,
than they were at any period I can name for
many years back' (p. 37). The evidence of
other witnesses is to the same effect." The
tqiuoannthiatys,off.rocornttollsi2,eisit2e9re,d633for home consump-
-1831, pounds, risen, in
to 273,249,653
Ht r aedner
yi alsosHugh
Hughes,
aa:Oexstt'ensasti
pounds. The woolenvisefawctooorl_ybsrtoaktee.r,
says, l r
" I consider that the woollen
manufacturers of

this country were never better employed than at
the present moment ; there is more mannfi2c-
lured at present than there has been in any year
within the memory of the oldest man living.
The manufacture has so much Increased, that
no man, a few years back, would have supposed
that Yorkshire would have been in the state in
which it is at present ; I am just returned from
Yorkshire, and I never knew the trade in it so
prosperous as at present, and particularly the
stuff business." (Minutes of Evidence, p.
68.) " Being asked whether, in his recent
journey to Yorkshire, he had remarked any ap-
pearance of mills being built ? lie replied,
Immense, enough to astonish anybody.' It is
gratifying, also, to observe that the state of the
manufacture in the west of England has been
materially improved within these few years, and
that it is now recovering some branches which it
was supposed were wholly transferred to the north."
The iron manufacture had, in consequence of
the excitement of 1825, increased its produce
from 470,000 tons, in 1823, to above 700,000
tons. The manufacture in consequence suffered a
depression, but it is rapidly recovering from it.
The silk trade, about which so much noise was
made some years ago, has increased upwards of
50 per cent. since the adoption of the liberal
measures so much decried. The declared value
of all sorts of manufactured silk goods exported
in 1820 was 371,775/. In 1831 it was 578,7841.
" It is plain, therefore (observes the Reviewer),
that the manufacture is not increasing merely
because of an increased demand in the home
market, but that we are rapidly gaining on our
rivals in the markets of foreign countries. This
affords unquestionable evidence of the improve-
ment as well as the extension of the manufac-
ture." It appears that the manuL;tl‘..• has now
left all its former seats for Manchester. Even
Macclesfield is sharing the fate of Spitalfields
and Norwich. A number of most unexception-
able witnesses bear evidence to the improvement
of the retail trade throughout the country. Mr.
James, of the firm of Moore, James, and Co.,
stated, " I should say that the retail dealers of
this country are in a situation to pay closer than
I ever knew them ; they have been gradually
improving their method of managing their busi-
ness, and are now enabled to pay for their goods
in about half the time that they used to pay
some twenty years ago, when I was first a part-
ner in the house in which lam now." Mr.
Cook, an extensive and intelligent broker, of
Mincing-lane, observed, " I never recollect a
period when there was so little mercantile and
trading pressure as at the present time, and for
the last six or seven months. Since the Ist of
May I have given credit to the extent of
250,0001. for sugar placed in my hands, sold
and delivered to different consumers in the country.
The amounts to each party have varied from as
low as 401. to as high as 10,0001., depending
upon the credit of the individual ; and it is a
singular fact, that not a bad debt of any amount
has been incurred ; the warrants have also been
regularly taken away at the prompt. From my
knowledge of the sugar trade, I believe the
grocers are a thriving body of traders." Mr.
Lewis Loyd, the well-known banker, " speaks
strongly of the improved habits and the
greater economy and industry of the manufac-
turing and commercial classes," and that bills
" are now paid more regularly than he ever
knew them." The reviewer has little difficulty
in showing that the present state of things is
satisfactory, at least that " the condition of the
industrious classes in general, and particularly
of the great mass of the labouring population,
is now decidedly better than it has been for a
lengthened series of years." But he looks with
apprehension as to the future from the low rate
of profit. By way of arresting the efflux of
capital which such a state of things has a ten-
tency to cause, he strongly urges the adoption
of means for making industry more productive.
" It is not possible," he observes, "to say
beforehand how much a reasonable modification
of the Corn Laws, the equalization of the timber
duties, and the abolition of the oppressive discri-
minatory duties on foreign colonial produce, might
raise the rate of profit; but that they will do so to a
considerable extent does not admit of any doubt
whatever. Such measures are, besides, highly
expedient on other grounds. The Corn Laws,
in their present state, inflict the most serious
injury on the commerce and manufactures of the
country, without conferring any real benefit on
the agriculturists. They render the importation
of corn uncertain, and a matter indeed of ha-
zardous and extraordinary speculation ; instead
of that secure and regular trade which it would
be, under a system of moderate fixed duties on
importation, with a corresponding drawback on
exportation. At present the principal equivalent
that most foreign nations have to exchange for
our manufacturerd goods is at one time capri-
ciously excluded from our markets, while at
another time it is forced upon them in excessive
quantities." We are glad to see so many indi-
cations of a disposition to grapple fairly with
this unsound part of our system, the Corn Laws.
Our agriculture must always be in a precarious
state till this matter is settled, mice fur all, on
sound principles. It is well observed by Mr.
Oliver, that the Corn Laws are altogether the
landlords' business, and that all that the farmer
requires is certainty. That certainty, however,
he can never have till die trade be placed on
a proper footing. Some little derangement
would be felt at first, but perhaps it is better
manfully to meet the evil at once than to sacri-
fice the farmers, as we have been doing for a
long time, merely with a view to keep up, what
cannot be kept up—war rents. The landlords
who are insolvent, must share the fate of other
insolvents. With respect to landowners not
insolvent, they must benefit by whatever im.
proves the industry of the country. " Their
interests— i. e. the interests of the agriculturists
(says the Reviewer)—are not in opposition to,
but in perfect harmony with, those of the rest
of the community. What, may we ask, is the
real and effectual encouragement of agriculture ?
The obvious answer is the number and wealth
diminishsla eadt adding
htaeon
doprrtoods the same
et
ixtlhet
eens,eitg:
of the manufacturing and commercial classes.
perity of
riyr(ou at the
uldltutroistosr.
Ncuio(ti
unfoundedturists dieierrive
efot
aleal,lnyetaroen be
aslii
suppose
omsl
lasting
sr,
teti
hncontradictory
_
by upholding a system injurious to the con-
sumers of their produce." We believe that a
vigorous effort is about to be made in the com-
mercial and manufacturing districts, to obtain a
change in the corn laws.—=Morning Chronicle.
The whig journals labour hard to justify
Lord Durham in having recourse, for the de-
fence of his character, to the law 9f libel. Their
efforts have not placed his case in a better posi-
tionutt than his own letter to his solicitor had
placed it, which
letter
has
been
°st
ostentatiously
ti
published to prejudge a cause
plainant declares his determination of bringing

into a Court of Justice. It is the first time we
have known the instructions to a solicitor to
institute proceedings for libel to be sent to the
newspapers, more especially when thoseinstruc-
tions betray, on the part of the writer, an in-
firmity of temper which induces him to apply
such epithets as " base" and " cowardly" to
the acts of the party against whom he claims the
calm and dignified protection of the law. Per-
haps it was thought that such a letter, under the
signature of the Noble complainant himself,
might assist in forestalling a verdict. If so,
the writer of the letter, if it has been published
either by his desire or permission, subjects him-
self to a more severe imputation than what arises
from his being the author of an intemperate and
undignified production. He who repels attacks
on his character in a newspaper, by publishing in
other newspapers language as abusive as any
libeller can have applied to himself, ought to rest
contented with taking such revenge. It
is rather too much of him, after that, to ask the
law for either its penal or pecuniary compensa-
tion. It is the lot of every man who takes a
busy or a prominent station in public life to
become, at times, the object of misrepresenta-
tion in both his public and private actions.
It is not always very easy to draw the line
between the two, and to say where the public
existence of a man terminates and his private
life begins—for instance, one of the calumnies
imputed to the assailants of Lord Durham's
private character is that he entered the river
Tyne in his pleasure yacht with the French
tri-colour at the mast-head. In this action
a manifestation of political principles is involved
which hardly allows it to be an incident only
affecting private character. The hoisting the
tri-colour signifies nothing, or else it signifies
that Lord Durham has certain political prin-
ciples of which the French tri-colour is sup-
posed to be the symbol. Thus, though taking
his pleasure in a private capacity, the action
imputed to him is one of a political com-
plexion. As to the alleged fact itself, if it
were true it would only go to prove that Lord
Durham is as fond of a little melodramatic
display as his Royal friend the " King of the Barri-
cades," who cordially hates liberty though he hoists
its colours. Ata time when the French nation is in
a close bond of peace and amity with us, there is
certainly no treason in decorating the Louisa
with the French ensign, though in by-gone days
such an act might have seriously impeached the
loyalty of a British subject. At the worst,
Lord Durham cannot give more countenance to
the French " tri-colour" than the ci-devant
Tory, Lord Palmerston, and the rest of his
Majesty's Ministers, who sent it, floating in
conjunction with the " meteor flag of England,"
to the coast of Holland, in the month of fogs
and storms, to strike terror into the mind of an
ancient ally, and one of the best customers of
English commerce, because he dared to resist
the decrees of the " citizen King." We are
told, however, that there is no truth in the
statement. That " the assertion has been con-
tradicted by the Captain of the vessel, and that
the bit of bunting so blunderingly described as
the national flag of France, was neither more
nor less than the signal No. 3 of the Yacht
Club." Well, then, the whole affair, even on
the showing of Lord Durham's sycophants, ori-
ginated in a blunder. If this be true, on what
ground does his Lordship seek redress in a
Court of Justice ? It surely cannot be to this
" blunder," that he applies the epithets " base"
and " cowardly." If it be an important mat-
ter, however, to have the thing cleared up,
for the satisfaction of the public, surely the
published explanation of the Whig Journal
has answered the purpose. The public
will, we are sure, acquit his Lordship of
any intention of carrying terror and dismay
along the banks of the Tyne by hoisting the
tri-couloured flag. Nay, if he sailed up the
Thames under that comet-like sign, which for-
merly scattered along its wild career " pestilence
and war," we do not think he would set the
venerable river on fire. Why, then, should the
Tyne be frightened from its propriety at the
sight of the riband of Cherbourg floating along
its tide ? But it seems that the calumny of the
Tory press is not confined to this solitary in-
stance. That press has gone so far as gravely
and solemnly to state that the Noble Lord, in
being vexed with some coalheavers, who, while
his carriage was passing through some village in
the north, " stopped the way," actually vocife-
rated in an excess of anger from the carriage
window, " I will not suffer this interruption ;
the village shall be removed." This was truly
an awful declaration—but what followed ? The
village remained where it was. But then we are
told that his Lordship actually gave orders "to
sweep the devoted village from the face oldie earth."
Still the village remains in its original situation
to refute the ridiculous malice that invented
such a tale. The Noble Lord is not satisfied,
it appears, with this proof of his innocence of
the charge. What better he could have we do
not know. No Court of Justice could have
evidence so good, although the village itself
should be brought into Court. The absurdity
of this invention can only be surpassed by the
weakness and folly of him who makes it a sub-
ject of serious complaint. We would advise
Lord Durham to beware of the insidious advice
of his Whig followers. He can reap no honour
from a hostile collision with the Press in a Court
of Justice. He may, indeed, gratify a vindictive
feeling ; but, if he does not rely, for the defence
of his character and the vindication of his
honour, on something else than the law of libel,
he had better give up the work of a Statesman,
and confess that nature never intended him to
gather that pure and exalted fame to which the
protection of the law would be an insult, and
the certificate of a Court of Justice a disgrace.--
Morning Herald.

The Speech of the King of the Netherlands
on the opening of the States General on Monday
had not reached us when we went to press,
although we have some reason to believe that
one copy had arrived in London by means of a
mercantile express. We learn from our corres-
pondents in Holland that, preparatory to the
meetingthe _
of R
tates, the Baron Verstolk had
resumed the portfoli.) of Foreign Affairs at the
Hague. We understand also, from the same
sources of intelligence, that the Speech of his
Majesty was expected, by those who generally
b
have access to the best and earliest information,
to intimate the probability of a speedy renewal
of the discussions in the Conference of London.
Anything more silly than the ground upon
whicher t
verdisdcitsigrasslocnesd thevvere suspended has
ai n l y rie
diplomacy of en-
lightened nations. The King of the Nether.
lands was peremptorily required to apply to the
German Diet for its consent to a new arrange-
ment of territory, to take effect in the event of
c
all the other questions in dispute between Hol-
land and Belgium, and they are neither few nor
unimportant, being settled by a general Treaty ;