The Sun.
London, England, 1832-10-08 00:00:00

respectable and intelligent agents, whom the
contracting party may depute to look after
his interests ; and with insolence repels
any remonstrance that is made. What has
happened before; we have too much reason to be-
lieve has happened with the present cause of Don
Pedro. The cause, indeed, has been exposed
to the utmost jeopardy. Until the arrival at
Oporto on the 2fid of the Britomart, the heavy
artillery were without shot, and obliged to fill
shells up with lead as a substitute. The tardy
and scanty manner in which supplies have been
sent has been enough to ruin the cause, at a
moment when the fate of it depended upon
prompt and energetic measures. The cannon
last sent out were destitute of carriages, conse-
quently they were useless for a long time ; hut
this may have been intentional. The Wellington,
which might have been at sea a fortnight or
three weeks ago, will be ready in about ten
days. Hundreds of men, and abundance of
officers, paying their own expenses, have been
waiting this month past for conveyance. Indeed
officers who have raised thirty and forty men,
and maintained them at their own expense for
three weeks, waiting transport, have at length
paid them off and dismissed them. One or two
officers, thus situated, paid their men off on
Saturday, and, accompanied by sixteen other
officers, yesterday took conveyance for themselves
and left for Oporto. Mechanics and respectable
individuals, burning with zeal in the cause, had
sold their implements of trade to equip them-
selves to serve as soldiers, having been in the
army before, after expending their little all, have
been obliged to return to their homes. The
Tory influence in the City has been exerted to
the utmost to ruin the cause of Don Pedro,
knowing full well that it would embarrass Mi-
nisters, by mining the interest of Great Britain
in Portugal for ever. But for their influence,
there is no doubt that the Wellington would
long since have been at sea ; Oporto would
have been garrisoned with two or three thou-
sand more British soldiers ; the consequence
of which would have been, that the Miguel
army would have been totally ruined on the 29th.
We trust Don Pedro will take instant measures
to adjust the accounts of the present agents,
and make such arrangements as will be more
conducive to the success of his cause than those
which have hitherto been made. It is lamenta-
ble to think that a cause like that of Don Pedro's
should be exposed to imminent hazard from mis-
management in this country.—Morning Citron.

The deliberate and wanton firing by the troops
of Don Miguel upon two British vessels an-
chored for the protection of British life and pro-
perty in the quarantine station, or neutral part
of the Douro, is one of the natural results of

the wavering, equivocal, and pusillanimous spirit
which has characterised our foreign policy
There can be no doubt of the act being deli•

lerate and wanton, because when the two yes.

sels, the Childers and the Orestes, crossed the
bar, the Commodore, Captain Browne, sent an
officer of his ship, with an interpreter, to the
head-quarters of Don Miguel's forces, to corn-
miinicate the necessity which existed for station-
ing those ships in the river, and to offer assur-
ances that the strictest neutrality would be ob-
served. It is true, the British officer intrusted
with this mission was grossly insulted, as all ac-
counts of the matter concur in stating, by Gas-
par Teixeira and his suite, among whom Sir
John Campbell is mentioned as being one of the
most violent in applying terms of coarse reproach
to the British Government, which Government
has, in fact, by playing something like the game
of" fast and loose" with each party, lost the re-
spect of both. Not content, however, with re-
ceiving one insult at the Portuguese head-
quarters, the British authorities in the Douro,
its if desirous of showing how changed the Bri-
tish character has become since our Statesmen
have learned to place all their trust in protocols,
actually sent another humble mission to the Mi-
guelite head-quarters, to repeat the same assur-
',iiices, in the name of Admiral Parker, which
had already been forwarded by Captain Browne
The consequence was another insult; for the offi-
cer was not allowed even to approach the head-
qUarters, but was sent back from the outposts, hav-
ing first received a written answer, and being in-
formed that " strict orders had been given not
to permit any person to enter the lines." This
occurred on the 26th ult.; and in two days
after these renewed assurances of strict neutrality

had been given, touching the British vessels 0
war in the quarantine station, those two vessels
wOe fired upon by Miguel's troops, and a Bri-
Tish sailor slain ! Under the very folds of our
ocean-flag one of our brave seamen was slain,
and the British thunders were silent ! The mur-
d6rers continued to pour in their fire upon the
Orestes for some time after the tars, who longed
to chastise them, were ordered below. Our
ships of war now bear guns for ornament—not
use : we discharge nothing now but protocols !
—Our intelligent correspondent at Oporto
states that the Amelia, one of Don
Pedro's ships, the crew of which had de-
stroyed a Miguelite battery, lay under the lee of
he Childers, when the Miguelite troops on the
heights " deliberately fired not only into the
Amelia, but into the Childers and Orestes."
Now, whatever may be said as to the Childers
having received only a part of the fire which was
intended for the Amelia, there can be no pretext
for any such explanation as regards the Orestes,
for the Amelia lay quite clear of her. Our Cor-
respondent expressly declares that " there can
be no possible excuse for the wanton insult of-
fered to the latter ship," and the correspondent
of another Morning Paper says " One thing is
plain—the Orestes was out of the way alto-
gether,
and could neither directly nor indirectly
shelter the Amelia ; and vet upon her the chief
brunt of the fire fell." He adds that " upwards
of 200 bullets were fired at the Orestes. From
her copper-mark to her hammock-rails she is
spotted with balls." But the British officers, in
not repelling the murderous attack, acted, we are
told, " only in compliance with their orders,
which are of the strictest possible nature." We
may presume, therefore, that, if they found their
vessels were about to be blown out of the
water, they would have thought it necessary to
wait, before they acted in self-defence, for
Lord Palmerston 's opinion upon taking the sense
of the Plenipotentiaries of the Holy Alliance.
It was only a few days before this atrocious
affair that Captain Browne was fired upon by
the Miguelites in Villa Nova, while in a boat
with his Chaplain, and the British ensign flying
at its bow ! Thirty musket shots, of which
two struck the bow of the boat, gave pretty
decisive proof of the sort of respect which
the Miguelites have learned to entertain for the
British flag. Had Captain Browne taken the
proper course which, in our humble opinion, a
British officer ought to take for so gross an in-
sult to the flag under which he sails, the attack
upon the Childers and the Orestes would not
have occurred, and the life of the unfortunate
man whose blood has been so wantonly shed