The Sun.
London, England, 1832-08-23 00:00:00

Portugal. They have imprisoned their persons
and plundered their estates, In their fanatical
umorance and barbar?,uS 'superstition, they are
taught to regard the name of an Englishman as
equivalent to that of anarchist or infidel. Hence
our fellow-subjects are liable to he attacked
whenever they are seen without protection, and
redress can only he obtained from the bey of
Lisbon, as from the bey of Algiers, at the
mouth of our cannon. Such a monstrous state
of things ought not to continue, if consistently
with the honour and neutral 'eligagements of our
Government, it can be overthrown. If permitted
to last for any considerable time longer Porte-
gal is ruined, and the interestt merchants
are sacrified for many years to come, whatever
he the rest It of the contest. The body of brave
men Who now support the interests of freedom and
of legitimate right at Oporto) hare long known
the bitterness of exile-, and long felt the pressure of
want arising from decrees of unjust banishment,
and acts of shameless confiscation. They will
not, therefore, again relinquish their country,
on which they have afresh planted their foot,
without a desperate struggle to maintain their
ground. They know the cruel tortures,—the
midnight masacres,—or the bloody scaffolds,
which await their captivity, if unhappily they
should be defeated and taken prisoners. They
will, therefore, sell their lives dear. Thus a pre-
paration is laid for one of the most sanguinary
tragedies recorded in history, should the fleet of
the Usurper be successful in blockading the
mouth of the Douro, and his army in forcing the
intrenehments of Oporto. In the mean time,
English commerce and English property must be
sacrificed, either by the continuance of the civil
war, or by the calamities of a Miguelite triumph.
In the foregoing observations and statements we
think we have said enough to induce our ge-
nerous countrymen,—if we cannot prevail upon
our Government,—to concur in some public ex-
pression of their sentiments towards the Portu-
guese Constitutionalists, and some declaration of
sympathy in their cause. They will thus be
able to make some atonement for their past ne-
glect,—to wipe away some of the stains of
righteous blood from our national policy, if not
to secure a triumph to the side of freedom. It
would, indeed, be disgraceful to the character of
Englishmen,—who are justly proud of the
courage and magnanimity of their ancestors in
fighting against oppressions which, compared
to the despotism under which Portugal now
groans, were liberty itself, if they did not come
forward and make some effort to prevent the
horrors of which Oporto may shortly, by our su-
pineness, become the theatre. Such, we are
persuaded, will not be the case ; for we have
reason to believe, that a public meeting is about
to be convened on the affairs of Portugal, at
..vhich that excellent Prince and ardent lover of
freedom, his Royal Highness the Duke of
Sussex, is to preside. We invite our patriotic
countrymen to attend the call, and we beseech
those who have undertaken the arrangement of
the business to indulge hi no delay. Whatever
is to be done, let it be done with an earnestness,
—a promptitude,—and a zeal, befitting the im-
portant interests at stake, and the urgency of
the crisis which we are anxious to avert. The

shout of eager congratulation and exulting tri-
umph will doubtless be heard from the banks of
the Tagus to the walls of St. Petersburgh,
Through all the tortuous windings of despotic
Courts, should the Usurper be successful. Let
it at least be interrupted by the execrations of
Englishmen, should it reach this land of free-
dom.—Since writing the foregoing observations,
and making the foregoing appeal to our country-
men, we have received a letter from our Fal-
mouth correspondent, containing all the news
which he could collect from the A/ban steamer,
which had arrived at that port on Monday,
with papers and letters from Oporto to
he 15th instant. We insert our correspon-
dent's letter in another column, as well as
extracts from the Oporto journals. The in-
telligence which they contain, though encouraging
for the cause of the Constitutionalists, speaks'
of no decisive result. It is certain, that Sari o-
rius had attacked the squadron of Don Miguel
on the 10th and 11th, and that, though not
successffil at first, from the smallness of his force,

he hoped when he had collected all his ships to
give a good account of the enemy. His loss, it
would appear from his own despatch, was but
rifling. It will require a more decided success
over a superior squadron, to regain him such an
ascendancy at sea as will enable him to continue,
without interruption, the blockade of the two
great rivers of Portugal. By one of the accounts,
;he ships of Don Miguel had approached the
mouth of the Douro. lithe blockade of Oporto
was the object of the expedition from the Tagus,
it would seem that its purpose was temporarily
accomplished. As the mouth of the river is well

fortified, it will be dangerous for the Miguelite
squadron to approach the land ; and if Sartorius,
by the union of all his naval force, can success-
fully attack it from without, a most important
advantage will be obtained for the constitutional
cause. On land, it would seem that the army
of Don Pedro, though always more than a match
for the enemy in the field, had been hemmed in
by superior numbers. Our correspondent's let-
ter, however, gives all the details which we know
on that part of the subject, and it would be
needless to repeat them in other words.-Tunes.
Some persons, we perceive, are confidently as-
serting that Parliament will be dissolved imme-
diately—others that the dissolution cannot take
place before Decembcr—and a third that the
present Parliament will assemble again for a
short Session before any dissolution. Now all
these parties, though equally confident in their
tone, are, we are persuaded, equally without any
good ground for their assertions ; and that • for
this' plain reason, that Ministers thetoselves are
as yet quite unsettled and uncertain as to the
course which they may ultimately pursue. They
have not, as far as we can judge from the past,
any greater liking to their Parliamentry labours
than theirpredecessors,and would especially rejoice
at never meeting the present Parliament again if'they
were all of them secure of seats in the next, and

the present state of the reformed constituency
could justify their appealing to a new election in
what must in that case necessarily be the defec-

tive state of the registers ii every town
and county in the Kingdom. Though
reports and assertions are not a little at
variance upon the subject, from all that we can
gather we should be inclined to think that, were
the general election to take place with the several
constituencies as they now stand qualified, not
more than half the electors throughout the king-
dom would be found entitled to vote. Whether
this be owing to their own fault, or to the con-
tracted period and arbitrary terms within which
the law has circumscribed the attainment of their
rights, seems but of little consequence to in-
quire. The real question is, will the country be
satisfied with a Parliament so chosen ? We look
to a reformed Parliament, duly chosen, as that
which is calculated to effect more good to the