The Sun.
London, England, 1833-04-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The fierce struggle w-ch has been going on for
the last four or five months in the Court of Madrid
between the party of the Queen, who sought her
supporters among the liberal portion of the nation,.
and the party of the King, which, though opposed
to the Carlists, was equally averse to constitutional
improvements, has, for the present, been decided in
favour of the latter. The star of M. Zea Bermudez is
thus in the ascendant. He has been able to dismiss
the three Ministers opposed to his views, and to
supply their places by his own partisans. A com-
mercial courier (of a respectable house in the city)
who left Madrid seven days ago, has brought us the
Gazeta de Madrid of the 26th ult. In that Ga-
zette appear three Royal ordinances dismissing Don
Encima y Piedra, Minister of Finance ; Don Ferd-
nandez del Pino, Minister of Justice; and Don
Francisco de Ulloa, Minister of Marine, from their
departments; and appointing in their stead persons
of opposite sentiments—namely, Don Antonio
Martinez, for Finance ; Don Juan Gualberto Gonza-
lez, for Justice; and Don Jose de la Cruz (at present
Minister of War), for the provisional post of Ma-
rine. Besides these three Ministerial changes in
the higher and essential offices of the state, the Court
has dismissed from their employments the Marquis
of Casa Irujo, Secretary to the Council of State
and to the Cabinet, sending him into honourable
esele, as Ambassador to the United States of Ame-
rica, and the Superintendent-General of Police,
Don Josef Martinez de San Martin. This last ser-
vant of Ferdinand is the only official character to
whom any harshness is shown beyond that of dis-
missal from office. He is ordered immediately to
be transferred to the fortress of Badajos, as a kind
of state prisoner. His successor is Don Mettles
Herrero Prieto. Lest there should be any mistake
either in the nation itself or among the foreigners,
on the object of this strange Ministerial revolution,
Don Jose de la Cruz, the Minister of War (and
now also of Marine), has appended to the five-
Royal ordinances above referred to, a circular
letter, addressed to the captains and commandants-
general of provinces, denouncing equally the sedi-
tious movements of the " conspirators of St. Ildefon-
so," who endeavoured to overturn the fundamental
laws of the kingdom,by disinheriting the young daugh-
ter of the King during his Majesty's illness—
and the opposite or Constitutional party, who,
affecting to support the legitimate succession to the
Crown, convert their loyalty into an engine of fac-
tion, and " threaten political innovations for limit-
ing the rights of the throne, which they pretend to
protect and uphold." The captains-general are
desired in this circular to watch over the intrigues
and unions of both these factions—to restrain them
from any attempt at disturbing the public tran-
quillity, and to prohibit all armed persons within
their districts, unless they belong to the regular
army, to the royalist volunteers, or to the reserve,
" whatever be the authority or title on which they
may pretend to rely." There can be no doubt
that the body of volunteers lately formed under the
patronage of the Queen's party, and called after
her name Oa-Winos, are here designated, and are
thus denounced as contingent disturbers of public
order. We have, therefore, no doubt that the
Spanish Ministerial revolution has been complete—
that the re-action against the Movement, or Queen's
party, has been, (for the reoment at least) decisive
and fatal—and that the Prime Minister, supported
by the King, has succeed in arresting every prepara-
tion for a constitutional change. M. Zea Bermu-
dez is a man of talent and firmness—capable of
forming a system, and resolute in pursuing it to
all its consequences. He was placed at the head of
the Ministry by the King, because, while he had
evinced an ardent zeal for the anti-salic order of
succession, and therefore was hated by the Carlists,
he was equally zealous for maintaining the despotic
power of the Crown, anti was therefore feared by
the Constitutionalists. He has succeeded in send-
ing Don Carlos, his wife, and the Portuguese female
disturbers of the palace, on their travels to Portugal ;
and having thus vanquished one faction, has turned
his power with effect against the other,'having per-
haps convinced the wavering mind of her Majesty
that her daughter's rights are safer against the
former than her husbaud's or her own against the
latter. M. Zea Bermudez has been brought up in
an arbitrary school of politics, and has formed many
sinister predilections. He resided long at the Court
of Sr. Petersburgh, and ever since his return hits
looked more to absolute monarchs than to free
governments for the friends of his master. If King
Ferdinand survives, he will therefore do all he can
to restrict the duties of the approaching Cortes to
the simple recognition of the young Queen's title,
and will resist all attempts at political innova-
tion. If he can thus satisfy the church and the pri-
vileged orders that they will be as safe under a female
and a minor as under an aged bigot or his fana-
tical heir, he may induce them to change their poli-
tical idol while they adhere to their ritual of political
despotism. The consequences of this change of
Cabinet and of system are already perceptible, and
must soon become more striking. It must paralyse
all the efforts of England and France to bring about
an arrangement of the Portuguese question by pro-
curing the aid of Spain in favour of Don Pedro.
To his circular in November last, M. Zea Bermudez
still obstinately clings, and even the number of the
Gazeta de Madrid which contains the Ministerial
changes affords us a proof of the leaning of the
Court and the Cabinet to the side of Don Miguel.
It ostentatiously announces the loan for the Dey of
Lisbon, contracted for in Paris and London, and
says, that as he is on the eve " of a final triumph,"
the subscribers are justified in their highest antici-
pations of security and reimbursement. The 'Ministry
of Zea Bermudez, though relieved from their liberal
colleagues, will be too wise to attempt any military
diversion against the Constitutional force in Oporto,
but they will assuredly enter into no terms to pro-
mote its success.—Times.

The report of the Commissioners on the poor
laws, to which allusion was made in Parliament on
Tuesday night, and a printed copy of which was
laid on the table of the House of Commons, con-
tains merely a part of that immense body of infor-
mation which the members of this Commission have
been enabled to collect on the subject of its in-
quiries. The printed portion is entitled " Extracts
from the Information received by his Majesty's Com-
missioners as to the Administration and Operation
of the Poor Laws," and is contained in an octavo
volume of 430 pages. The separate reports of
the assistant commissioners, together with the ge-
neral report of the central commission, will probably
occupy a space of 600 or 700 folio pages. But
these " extracts," though from their very title ad-
mitted to be incomplete, will probably be allowed
to contain more information on the subject to which
they refer than all the reports of Parliamentary com-
mittees hitherto framed ; and are destined, unless
we are much mistaken, to produce a more striking
effect, or to lead to more salutary changes,
than any official notices on the administration
of the poor laws ever published. Indeed, even
to those who have read all former official reports,
and who have perused the most interesting pub-
lications on pauperism which have lately appeared,
this extraordinary volume must give new light, or
afford fresh interest. Though we have been loud
and persevering in our demand for the establishment
of poor laws iu Ireland, we have never been blind
to the terrible consequences of their mal-administra-
lion in this country ; but if we had before been in-
different to the progress of the evil, this astounding
book would have awakened us to a sense of its enor-
rni!y, irresistible evidence is here brought forward
to prove the tendency of the poor laws, as at Pre-
sent administered, to destroy the resources of the i
country ; and, while they ncrease the numbers to be
supported on a common ft.ind, to paritlye that
and main-
in-
dustry by which the fund 13 feproduced
tained. The most direct and irresistible evidence is
likewise afforded of their tendency to discourage
prudence or foresight,—to confer a premium on pro-
fligacy and improvidence,—to render economy a use-
less incumbrance on poverty,—to annihilate all the
relations of kindness and sympathy between the

deb and the poor,—to dissolve domestic ties'
among the poor themselves, and to convert our
rural parishes into West India plantations, peopled
with harsh masters and refractory slaves. Three
alarming facts are established in these extracts
which demand immediate attention :-1, in some
places intimidation is carried to such an extent that
neither the vestry nor the overseers are left any
choice in fixing the amount of pauper allowances,
in adjusting the claims on the parish fund to its
amount, or in extending relief even where labour is
refused. In the second place, we find numerous in-
stances in which labourers, being left sums of money,
have been compelled to squander these legacies or
gifts in order to re-establish their claim for indus-
trious employment—all employment being considered
as a parish charity. Could the ingenuity of man
invent a better device to destroy economical habits—
to stifle every idea of independence, and to encou-
rage vice and profligacy? In the third place, it is
proved in many instances that cultivation is posi-
tively going backward from a deficiency of labour
expended on the land, while supernumerary la-
bourers are increasing. In. one parish the paupers
have banished the farmers, and are supported by a
rate in aid from another parish ! ! But we must
defer to another opportunity the statements of facts
necessary to establish these and other points to
which we shall advert.—Times.

Mr. Plumptre had the courage last night, on pre-
senting a petition for the better observance of the
Sabbath, to say, that " he trusted, that notwith-
standing the clamour that had been made against
the Bill introduced by the Hon. Baronet (Sir A.
Agnew) both in and out of that House, it would
be persevered in, and passed into a law." Mr.
Wilks hoped " that the Bill would be allowed to be
read a second time, and then referred to a Select
Committee, in order to make such alterations in it
as would promote public morals, without the insti-
tution of a tyrannous system, which would only
create the deepest disgust." The better way
would be to throw the 811 out at once. It would
be far easier to draw up a proper Bill than to mend
such a monstrous one as that introduced by the
pious Scotch Baronet. We have already observed
that a Scotchman, who can know little of the habits
of the people of England, ought not to take upon
himself to legislate for them in such a matter as this.
We meant no disrespect to the Scotch when we
made this observation. Every country has its cus-
toms, which prudent men will observe. At present,
no stage-coach enters or leaves even the capital of
Scotland on a Sunday; and if we are not mistaken,
steam-boats dare not leave any of the ports of that
country on that day. The Scotch have taken
it into their heads that they cannot better please
Heaven than by abstaining from all manifestation of
signs of pleasure or satisfaction on a Sunday. To hum
a tune, or whistle, in any town on a Sunday,
might endanger the life of the person making the
attempt. In Ma elaurin's Criminal Cases, there is a
report of a trial of an English gentleman, who, not
aware of the dancer, had a dinner-party on a
Sunday, being the King's birthday, which gave oc-
casion to a riot. We remember a case of an English
gentleman, of some note in the literary world, who,
during his temporary residence in Edinburgh, took
up a flute on Sunday, and played a bar or two b-e-
-fore his landlady had time to parley with him on
the subject. A neighbour cited the landlady before
the Police Court for keeping a disorderly tertise,
and the English gentleman appeared before the
Judge of Police (then a Mr. Tait), and pleaded his
ignorance of the customs of the country, on which
the case was dismissed, after a suitable caution from
the Magistrate. The puritanical system took
thorough root in Scotland. The people are de-
lighted with it—they conceive a gloomy look a ne-
cessary part of the Sunday's devotion. We find no
fault with this ; we merely mention it to show how
little suited the Scotch are to legislate for England
in such matters. The Puritans never made any
great way in England; at all events, their opinions
are not so prevalent as to justify any attempt to en-
force them by law. We are assured, that in many
parts of England, cricket and football continue to
he played on Sunday after service is concluded.
We have the best authority for stating that this is
the case in the North Riding of Yorkshire, and we
believe it is also the case in other agricultural dis-
tricts; for Puritanism has mostly been confined to
towns. Under these circumstances, it requires
some tact to legislate in such a way as shall secure
the co-operation of the people. The English are
neither disposed to make the Sunday a day of mer-
riment as on the Continent, nor to shut themselves
up and look as if they were to be hanged on the
Monday morning, like the Scotch.—Morn. Chron.
The division on Mr. Hume's motion on Corporeal
Punishment in the United Kingdom must be con-
sidered as expressing the opinion of the House of
Commons so unequivocally against that kind of pu-
nishment, that we may consider the ques'ion to be
carried as completely as if the clause had been added
to the Bill—nay, perhaps even more so; and we
doubt not that the military authorities will act ac-
cordingly. Although there were only 295 Members
in the House, it is understood that neither party
had made the smallest exertion to have tht it sup-
porters present; and it may be considered as the
fair expression of the public opinion in that House.
Sir R. Fergusson and several other stanch sup-
porters of the Ministers went away and did not
vote, (kerning it, doubtless, best not to add their
votes to the majority, as their opinions were against
the Ministers. The number of the Ministers' ma-

jority was only 153; and if 18 or 20 actual Mem-
bers of the Government voting in that division are
deducted, there will remain only 133, being seven
less than those who voted for Mr. Ilume's clause.
The following Members of the Government were in
the majority of 153, viz.:—
Althorn, Lord Grant, Rt. Hon. R. Rice, Rt. Hon. T. S.
Baring, Francis T. Grosvenor, Lord R. Russell, Lord J.
Bernal, Ralph - Howick, Lord Spencer, Hon. Capt.
Duncannon, Lord Labouchere, H. Thomson,Rt. Hon I'.
Fox, Colonel Maberley, Colonel Kennedy, Thos. F.
Graham, Sir J. Palmerston, Lord Lamb, Hon. Geo.
—Morning Chronicle.
The reformed House of Commons, which refused

to inquire into the causes of public distress and the
state of the currency—the reformed House of Com-
mons, which refused to substitute a property tax for
the taxes on productive industry—the reformed
House of Commons, which gave martial law to
Ireland as a sequel to " Catholic Emancipation"—
which also rejected a motion for the abolition of
military and naval sinecures, has given a further
" taste of its quality" to the public by supporting
the Ministers and their Tory friends in refusing to
allow even a partial abolition of the barbarous,diF,-
gusting, and wholly unnecessary practice of military
flogging. It is some time ago since the Ministerial
papers induced the public to expect that flogging,
both in the army and navy, would be speedily
abolished, and that his Majesty had a decided aver-
sion to that species of punishment. In the first
session of the first reformed Parliament, Mr. Hume
takes the opportunity of putting the sincerity of
Ministers on this important subject to the test. He
moves the introduction of a clause into the Mutiny
Act, providing that " it shall not be lawful to inflict
corporeal punishment by flogging on any private sol-
dier, corporal, or non-commissioned officer, in the
army or militia of the United Kingdom within the
United Kingdom." This motion Sir Francis Bur-
dett, the once indignant and uncompromising de-
nouncer of flogging in all its varieties, prevails
upon the Hon. Member for Middlesex to soften
down to something very unlike a "radical reform" of
the system—viz., a qualified amendment, stating
that " the Mutiny Act shall confine this punishment
to open mutiny, thieving, and being drunk on
guard." This mitigated reform of the military
system of punishment the reformed representatives
' of the people refused to sanction. It is true, Mi-
nisters had a very small majority. But it is enough
to say that, in a House of Commons where no be-
ougmonger any longer holds dominion, there was
a majority in favour of military flogging ! It is
worth observing that the philanthropy which
stretches forth its arm to rescue the black slave of
the sugar islands from the lash of the driver did not
raise its voice to save white men and Britons from
undergoing the degrading punishment of the whip-

galled slave. We, too, have raised our voice for
the deliverance of the West Indian negro. We
would not see his flesh torn by the 39 stripes of the
driver's whip. But, whether this feeling be a virtue
or a weakness, it is not one which we exercise
exclusively in the case of a negro's wrongs.
When we hear of a British soldier undergoing the
" mitigated " complement of torture which consists in
the application of 300 or 500 lashes to his bare back,
with an instrument that makes nine lacerations
at every stroke, we cannot in common consistency
but appeal to the Legislature to wrest the instru-
ment, only worthy of the spirit of Russian discipline
(which, by the way, Lord Palmerston adverted to
as an authority on the subject of military torture),
from the hand of British power, whether in our army
or navy. We have said this mode of punishment is
as unnecessary as it is barbarous. We believe it is
not only unnecessary, but that it does great mis-
chief to the British army. Wherever cruel and de-
grading punishments are used, whether in military
or civil life, they lower the tone of morality—they
prevent the great object of punishment, which
ought to be not vengeance, but reformation, and
harden and brutalise offenders. That flogging is
unnecessary to military subordination we are forti-
fied in saying, not only from the example of culti•
vated nations, such as the Romans in former times,
and the French of the present day, but from the
opinion of one of the greatest authorities on all mat-
ters relating to the science of the camp that the
world ever produced. We allude to the opinion
of Napoleon Bonaparte, which is recorded in
Mr, Barry o'3leata's work, the " Voice from
St. Helena." The Ex-Emperor, after paying a
compliment to the personal bravery of the British
soldier, goes on to say, " I would alter the
system; instead of the lash, I would lead them by
the stimulus of honour. I would instil a degree of
emulation into their minds. I would promote every
deserving soldier, as I did in France. After an ac-
tion I assembled the officers and soldiers, and asked
who have acquitted themselves best ? and pro-
moted such of them as were capable of reading and
writing. Those who were not, I ordered to study
five hours a day until they had learned a sufficiency,
and then promoted them. What might be expected
from an English army if every soldier hoped to be
made a general if he behaved well ? Bingham says,
however, that the greater part of your soldiers are
brutes, and must be driven by the stick. But
surely the English soldiers must be possessed
of sentiments sufficient to put them, at least,
on a level with the ' soldiers of other nations
where the degrading system of the lash is not
u-ed. Whatever debases man cannot be service-
able. Bingham says that none but the dregs of
the canaille voluntarily enlist as soldiers. This
disgraceful punishment is the cause of it. I
would remove it. I would substitute err fine-
ment—bread and water—the contempt of his com-
rades, and such other punishments, for the lash. What
honour can a man possibly have who is flogged be-
fore his comrades ? He loses all feeling." Napoleon
also giVes a remarkable instance of the beneficial
effects of substituting the moral treatment for the
lash, in Italy. He says, " When the Austrians had
posn.ession of Italy, they in vain attempted to make
soldiers of the Italians. They either deserted is
fast as they raised them, or else, when compelled to
advance against an enemy, they ran away at the
first fire. It was impossible to keep together a
single regiment. When I got to Italy, and began
to raise soldiers, the Austrians laughed at me, and
said that it was in vain—that they had been trying
for a long time, and that it was not in the nature of
the Italians to fight or make good soldiers. Not-
withstanding this, I raised many thousands of Italians,
who fought with a bravery equal to that of the
French, and did not desert me even in my adver-
sity. What was the cause? I abolished flogging
and the stick which the Austrians adopted. I pro-
moted those among the soldiers who had talents,
arid made many of them Generals. I substituted
honour and emulation for terror and the lash." We
suspect this sort of promotion is not likely to come
in favour soon at the Horse-Guards; yet might our
Whig Ministry, both in the wisdom and humanity
requisite for the judicious and efficient government
of an army, take a lesson from the despotic con-
queror Napoleon—a warrior who raised the most
Powerful armies the world ever saw, and whose le-
gions that perished in the snows of Russia had
planted the standard of French dominion in every
capital from Mad,id to Moscow. It was stated by
Sir F. Burdett, that he was certain Sir J. lloblionse
would have proposed a clause against flogging if he
had continued in office. Why, then, did he riot con-
tinue Secretary at War a few days longer, in order
to redeem a character a good deal tarnished on this
point ? If he wished to escape the opportunity he
could not have sounded a more timely retreat !
Morning Herald.

The iniquities and cruelties of the factory system
formed the chief object of discussion last night in
the House of Commons, upon a motion of Mr. W.
Patten for the appointment of a commission to col-

lect further evidence upon the subject, as a neces-
sary antecedent to legi-lation. It was repeatedly
asserted, and we think satisfactorily proved, in the
course of the debate, that this proceeding, whatever
might be the intention of the proposer, would have
the effect of postponing, at least till the next ses-
sion of Parliament, the application of any legislative
remedy to an evil of which the existence was not
denied by any party in the House. The mill interest
even admitted, in the most distinct and intelligible
manner, the existence of a state of things which is
a foul disgrace to the character of the country,
when some of their leaders alleged, as an objection
to the proposed Bill of Lord Ashley, that to limit
the labour of children to ten hours in the day would
be thtrimental to their prosperity. Had they said
that the unprotected infants employed in the
factories, were now kept to work only nine,
eight, seven, or six hours a day ; and that,
therefore, the proposed measure of protection
was necessary, that would have spoken to
the purpose, in opposition to its enactment. But
when they set up their pecuniary advantage in com-
petition with the loud and urgent claims of huma-
nity—when they state that if forbidden to work
children of tender age more than ten hours out of
the twenty-four their profits will be reduced—what
did they supply but the strongest conceivable al--
which will appear in the lists of the majority and
gument to establish the necessity of the imme-
diate interference of the Legislature? From
the proceedings of last night the labouring-
classes of the community will be enabled to dis-
tinguish their enemies from their friends. They
will see, when they come to scan the names
minority upon this occasion, that men may be
zealous or noisy political reformers, without having
in their character the least tincture of ju,tice or
humanity. They will perceive the liberal reform-
ing Ministers of the Crown lending their aid to
prolong a system of bn
in barous and revolting op-
pression, order to conciliate powerful interests
in a reformed Parliament. It must be evident
to every man who is neither a mill tyrant nor
a reforming Minister of the Crown that the pro-
crastinatinginquiry which a majority of taro de-
cided to be necessary was demanded upon false pre.
tences, and for a dishonest purpose. The factory
masters must have the opportunity of repelling the
calumnies contained in the evidence given before
Mr. Sadler's Committee, under which calumnies
they have manifested exemplary patience for a ‘viiole
year, and up to the very moment when a Bill to
protect the lives, and health, and morals of children
was to he defeated or delayed. The case must be
more thoroughly examined, although every word
they utter conveys a full admission of much more
than can ever be required to show the necessity of
all the restrictions which the measure they thus im.
pede is intended to enforce. The evidence now be
before the world is ex-parte, although, if it be so, it
is only because they despaired of rebutting it, and
therefore never thought of making the attempt until
they now find it expedient for the purpose of delay
and evasion. The Bill of Lord Ashley is required,
not because a large volume of revolting evidence has
been published, but because master manufacturers

and their representatives in the House of Commons
get up in their places and say that it is essential to
their interest that infants should be compelled to
labour more than ten hours in the day. We can
afford now to burn the volume of evidence, and yet
insist with unimpaired force on the necessity of the
protective measure. The evidence was required to
draw public attention to the subject, but, having
effectually accomplished the object, it may now be
entirely dispensed with. The best possible evidence
now is the course pursued by the master manufac-
turers, and the liberal Ministers who carry on with
them a traffic the most brutal and corrupt, in which
the commodities given and taken in exchange are
the lives of children on one side and votes in the
House of Commons on the other. The master ma-
nufac'urers require the appointment of a Commis-
sion for the redemption of their characters. We
should say, let them have it by all means, provided
only that Lord Ashley's Bill be not delayed pending
its progress. It is a notion which none but a re-
formed Parliament could have entertained that to
afford one class of human beings the chance (a hope-
less one we fear it is in this instance) of redeeming
their character for humanity, another and more nu•
merous class shall continue for a whole year exposed
to a system which has been shown to produce into-
lerable wretchedness, fright ful depravity, excru-
ciating disease, lingering and cruel death.—Morning
Post.