The Sun.
London, England, 1834-08-19 00:00:00

(From the National.)

The people of Spain are seriously bent on the revolutionary
movement which has commenced since the death of Ferdi-
nand VII. They call for positive reform, and real ameliora-
tions, and do not seem inclined to remain content, as we did
in 1830, merely with a few changes in men. It is on this
account that the Minister of Finance has introduced a variety
of very proper modifications as to the levying of the duty on
salt and other branches of the public administration. Two
decrees to that effect appear in the Madrid Gazette. The
following are the terms of those decrees :--

" Having taken into consideration the repeated complaints which
the existing form of the administration of the revenue arising from
salt has produced, and still is producing, and desirous of affording
to the people every relief compatible with the wants of the State, I
have ordered in the name of my august daughter, Isabel 11., as
follows :

" 1. The supplies of salt to which localities are made subject
shall be suppressed from the Ist of January, 1835.
" 2. With respect to the salt revenue, the delivery and the admi-
nistration shall be established on the same footing as the delivery
and administration of tobacco. _ . _

" 3. The price of salt shall be the same in all localities, what-
ever may be the distance from the place where it is made. The
price is fixed at 52 reals the fanega.
" 4. Agents, outfitters, fishers, or proprietors of salting establish-
ments for meat and fish, shall pay the same price for their salt.
" 5. The individuals in the preceding article shall receive the
quantity of salt they need, anal shall be allowed to postpone the
payment for six months.
"6. The proprietors of salting establishments may compound at
tha rate of 30 per cent. for salt meat or fish destined for foreign

LONDON,
TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 19, 1834.

Arrivals from Madrid, dated 9th of August, bring
us a variety of conjectures relative to the expected re-
-signation of Ministers, and the Members of the
Chambers most likely to succeed them in office.
Already has the Finance Committee declared its dis-
sent from many of the arrangements proposed by the
Minister, Count TORENO, and the general impression
on the public mind in Madrid is, that M. DE LA
ROSA will resign if defeated in carrying his plans for
the management of the national debt. In the sitting
of the Chamber of Proceres or Peers of the Bth
instant, he entered into a long statement of the
relation in which Spain stood to foreign powers, and
enumerated the States in which the young QUEEN
had been recognised as the rightful sovereign, in which
were included France, England, the United States,
Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, Greece, and
Morocco. He also spoke of the Powers by whom
the QUEENS right had not been officially acknow-
lelie clgeQd, as favourable to her claims ; particularly Aus-
tria, Russia and the Federal States of Germany. The
Ministry, he assured the Chamber, had from the
exerted themselves to
moment they accepted office,

the utmost extent of their authority in endeavouring
to remove every impediment to an universal acknow-
ledgement of the justice andlegitiniacy of the QUEEN'S
right to the Throne of Spain, by all Foreign Powers
with whom that kingdom had formerly any alliance ;
and he had pleasure in assuring them that their labours
would be shortly crowned with entire success. This
statement, which was made in the absence of the other
members of the Ministry, was well received by the
Chamber.

The accounts from 'the provinces are so contra4ic-

tory, that no reliance can be placed on them. The
French journalists, who seem to know more of what
is passing in Spain than the Madrid Cabinet,
assure us that the insurgents are flying in every direc-
tion, pursued by different divisions of the army under
the command of RODIL. The present movements of
the rebels are towards Biscay, in the expectation of
securing a retreat by sea ; but such is the watchful-
ness of the French an English fleets cruising off the
coast, that there is no possibility of their being able
to escape, or to receive any reinforcement from that
quarter in the shape of provisions and military
stores, of which they stand in the greatest need.
In the Spanish Cabinet, and among the Cortes,
no serious apprehensions are entertained respecting
the speedy termination of the civil war, and the paci-
fication of the provinces, though rumours of rather a
gloomy character had reached Madrid on the evening
of the Bth instant. The fears of the Government are
from the extent of Republican influence in the Cham-
bers, and the probability that the grant of a Consti-
tution, embodying some of the most objectionable
clauses of the Constitution of Cadiz, will yet be
insisted upon. In Madrid there are numerous po-
litical coteries, with extensive influence, who openly
declare for the restoration of the Constitution
of 1812, and who do not hesitate to declare pub-
licly, that M. DE LA ROSA. and his colleagues
would found a despotism in Spain more iron
in its sway than that of Austria or Prussia, did
they not fear that a revolution would be the conse-
quence. We are ourselves of opinion that the Spanish
Cabinet ought to evince, with less appearance of sus-
picion, a wish to meet the just demands of the people.
It is madness for them to suppose that half measures
will satisfy men who are contending for the recog-
nition of abstract principles ; and it is as idle -and
extravagant, as it is absurd and ridiculous, to thrust it
down the throats of the Spaniards, that Englishmen
have never derived any advantages from Magna
Charta, and the Bill of Rights—the pillars of the
British Constitution—nay, the very Constitution itself.
Why, it was our Constitution—it was Magna Charta,
wrung by the Iron Barons of England from King
JOHN at Runnymede, which made us, and preserved
us, what we really are—the freest people in the world
under a kingly government. As to M. DE LA
ROSA'S harangues about the impossibility of defining
the rights of sovereigns and subjects," we are likewise a
very apposite example of the extreme facility with which
that may be effected. There is no need of entering as
minutely into the divisions on this point as did the
doctors of the Sorbonne on the precise moment when
a foetus might be efficaciously laved in the waters of
Christian regeneration. It is sufficient that a line be
drawn somewhere, to which all approximations of con-
duct, whether in princes or people, should be regarded
with suspicion. Neither do we hold that the people
of Spain ought not to demand a constitution, if they
suspect the intentions of the REGENT and her Cabi-
net. 'Tis very true that the time is unfavourable
for deliberations on such a document, but it may be
worth while to ask, would the people have an equally
favourable chance of succeeding, were no other dan-
gers pressing upon the heels of the Government ?
Seldom have we heard of constitutions being granted
by the " mere motion" of kings ; the general rule
is, that people who know how to take advan-
tage of the necessities of Cabinets always come
111-

1 11

-9Ptve"

Spanish Ministry are perfectly aware of the situa-
tion in which they stand. They know that assistance
is not to be expected from the Holy Alliance,
to whom they are as obnoxious as they need dread ever
being,—they see themselves forced into collision with
the Conservatives in every part of Spain,—and they
are assailed by the violent republicans every where,
so that to obtain and secure public confidence, they
must declare their intentions; and avow their determi-
nation, not to swerve from them. The present is not
a time for half measures ; and whatever be the result
of the report of the Finance Committee, the Ministry
will find, sooner or later, that without the confidence
of the people, they can only protract the period of
their downfall.

The French Journals received this day contain no
local news of any interest to the people of this coun-
try. There is a rumour prevailing in Paris, that the
Ministry are about to resign, though no reason is as-
signed but the absurd one of their being defeated on
an address, to which they offered no opposition,
and on the merits of which they expressed
no opinion. The chief grounds for this report,
we believe to be the desertion of the Journal
des Debats, a leading Newspaper never known to quit
any party before the eve of its
,dissolution. It is by
no means unlikely that such may be the case ; but we
could name a country, in which a Journal, not the
least among the leading Journals of Europe, signally
failed in an attempt to oust a Government which it had
made foolish people believe only existed by its permis-
sion. Neither is it very probable that the Cabinet
should resign before the 29th of December, the earliest
day appointed for the sitting of the Chambers. We
know that M. THIERS bears himself somewhat loftily,
and is not much disposed to brook restraint from any
quarter, much less from the people ; but for all that,
he is not so indifferent to the solade of power and the
charms of place, as wilfully to resign both during the
summer solstice of a prorogation, when all is ease and
sunshine. If a resignation be contemplated by the
French Ministry, there must be some other reasons for
it besides the foolish affair of a very foolish address.

The main causes of the distress under which the
country now labours are restraints upon its industry,
arising from improper interference of the Legislature,
and particularly by the Commons, in matters with
which they never should have meddled. Such inter-
ference is on the increase. The late session has closed
with one hundred and two notices of motions, given
by individual Members, for next session. Among
these we find few, the effect of which will be to re-
move old restraints, but many that will impose new,
with manifold absurdities. We have notices repeated
for the observance of the Sabbath, and to pre-
vent drunkenness. Do Sir ANDREW AGNEW and Mr.
POULTER, or does Mr. BUCKINGHAM really believe
that mankind are to be made religious or moral by Act of
Parliament ? Such persons set out at the wrong end.
They should begin with the training of youth, by which
alone men can become either moral or religious.
Then we have Colonel WILLIA-MS gravely telling us,
by notice of four resolutions, that we are to promote
industry and increase the revenue by putting down the
distilleries, and that after his exposition, any Govern-
ment that will suffer the manufacture and traffic of
spirits to continue, will, violate the first principles of
political economy, which, with all due deference 'to

the gallant Colonel, we beg leave to say is
political
twaddle. Lastly, we have a MI. BisH, who Avo
uld
have his Majesty hold his court and Parliament oc
casionally in Ireland. These are a sample of the
one hundred and two notices now standing tin the
ffer
SPEAKER'S book. The House cannot
sult
its time to be wasted by such fooleries. •
has been suggested that every measure proposed
by a Member not of the Government, or
with
out the sanction of the Government, should on'
dergo the ordeal of a Committee up stairs be-
fore it is obtruded 'upon the House. Whatever
t
may be thought of this suggestion, it is manifest
that means must be devised to prevent the public bust' •
ness from being obstructed as it has been in the tWo
last sessions. Such means should be considered
in
the vacation by his Majesty's Government, which should!
at all events have every one of its measures matured,
and every one of its Bills prepared and settled, so that
they may all be brought forward as soon as the address
is voted, to the exclusion of the trash that is upon the
notice book.
We are not insensible to the defects and errors of
either House of Parliament. Both mainly proceed
from the same cause, namely, the faulty education of
the upper ranks, who are standing still in the acquisiti°9
of useful information, while those below them are making
rapid advances in the attainment of it. As honest ion
and faithful journalists, we shall not fail to speak whole-
some truths, without the least desire to give °lre'lce'
but not without the hope that the truths we present
will make their impression. Both Houses have been
put in a new situation. Some, but only some, of the
Peers have lost an influence which until lately 04
possessed in the Lower House through the nomirlati°
of Members there—and many men, who never other;
wise would have found a seat there, like unfiedgie
birds, have not attained any strength of wing, or know-
ledge of what is new to them. Some allowance, there'
fore, is to be made for both Houses, until their ele'
bers shall be properly shaken into their proper placcsi:
With a deep sense of the importance of hltie
Houses, and of their labours, to the well-being of the
country, we shall continue to uphold both. But tt, t
same regard to the well-being of the country requires t7ae
the functions should be properly discharged, for the un
performance of which great privileges have been Ira
ferred upon them by the Constitution, which they 'nut
all good subjects are bound to maintain to the exte _e
to which they are necessary; but there are some of tbeo
bt
privileges, which either House of itself would do.well
in
relinquish, and there are others of such privileges'
es
the exercise of which the Members of both Onus
ought to observe extreme caution.

BOW-STREET.—(THIS DAY.)
ared
Paul Smith, a most miserable-looking object, who elntbe
to be almost unable to move, was charged by an officer owl
Mendicity Society, before Sir F. ROE, with begging futket,
pertinacious manner of the people in Covent-arden ow obi
The officer stated that the offence was cogmmitted W 1
less than half an hour, and then the prisoner was actually
ning after every lady and gentleman he met.
and
The prisoner stoutly denied that he was begging at all,
positively declared that his infirmities were all real. red a
The Magistrate committed him for a month, and °rlCot•
special report to be made to the surgeon of the House o,_bour
rection, upon whose decision it would rest whether hard 1%31,,
would be dispensed with. The prisoner had to be almost
ried out of the office. bo has
Jacobs, a salesman in Covent-garden market, vt coo-
been in custody for some time, charged with having sour and
nection with the Post-office robbery for which Goodwin
another stand committed for trial, was placed at the WI, Fri,
Mr. Peacock, the post-office solicitor, asked that f pees'soner should be remanded again, because there was one .! tbeY
sary witness ke,ming out of the way, but in a few days
ca uccc cu ge: ann.
pr's Mr. Parker, a barrister, who appeared for the Pr al-
trusted that there had been remands enough in the 05 -di,.
ready, and contended his client was now entitled to his
charge. Mr,
Sir F. ROE said he could not accede to the wishes cj
Peacock—the prisoner could not be longer kept upon the ";(1•
dence that was before him, and must therefore be dischargn d
The prisoner was saying something of his previous gy°
character ROE
recalled him, and offered that the whole ° tors
evidence taken should be read.—( All the former exatahin`
wer
Tehep rivate. ) eish
prisoner said he was quite satisfied, and did 11°t
any thing further. ;.'