The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-20 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1844.

In the House of Lords the Three-and-a Half per
'Cei. Annuities Bills were read a third time and
passed. They will receive the Royal assent in a
few days, and one of the greatest financial operations
of the age will be completed without a murmur.
This shows the advantage of keeping faith with the
public creditor.
In the Commons, Mr. HumE gave notice of a mo-
tion for abolishing the office of Lord Lieutenant for
Ireland.

Mr. PETER BORTHWICK gave notice, that in a fort-
night he should move an address to the Crown, for
the purpose of referring all matters ecclesiastical to a
Convocation of the Clergy—in other words, for re-
storing a system which experience had shown was in-
compatible with free legislation, and which was only
intended to give power to the Church.
Sir ROBERT PEEL gave notice that on an early
day he would move for a Select Committee on Con-
troverted Elections.

In answer to a question from Mr. LABOUCHERE,
Lord ASHLEY said on Friday night he should en-
treat the House to affirm the proposition that the
words " ten hours' " labour in manufactories should
be substituted for " twelve."
Sir JAMES GRAHAM said the Government would
take the sense of the House on the motion of the No
ble Lord.

In answer to a question from Captain Rous, rela-
tive to rumours that the QUEEN was, in the course of
the summer, to pay a visit to the King of PRUSSIA,
sir ROBERT PEEL said; he believed those rumours
to be entirely without foundation.
Mr. RICARDO moved for an Address to the Crown,
the object of which was to make alterations in the
Customs' duties without any reference to the com-
mercial policy of other nations. Mr. GLADSTONE,
Lora HOWICK, and Mr. HUME spoke on the motion,
but the House did not seem to take any interest in
the affair. At a quarter to eight o'clock, a Member
moved that the House be counted, and there being
only thirty-nine Members present, it adjourned.

The " appeal from PHILIP drunk to PHILIP sober"
never could have developed a more impressive con-
trast than the comparison of the natural advantages,
and resources, and riches of Spain with her present
disabled, degraded, and ruinous position, must suggest
to every reflecting mind. This comparison has been
forcibly recalled to us by a perusal of the "Thirteenth
Part" of Mr. MACGREGOR'S invaluable work, "Com-
mercial Tariffs and. Regulations of the several States
of Europe and America ;" for the Part in question is
devoted to " Spain."
if it be no longer THE Spain of those palmy and hn-
verial ages in which her Sovereigns justly claimed a
pre-eminence among the Monarchs of Europe, as being
" Lords of Spain and of the Indies"—if their proud
boast may no more be heard " that, on their domi-
nions the sun never set" a (a prestige which has long
since quitted the sceptre of FERDINAND or of CFIARLEs,
to attach to that which has been wielded by our
GEoaoEs and WILLIAMS, and is now sustained by
VICTORIA the FIRST)—it is still one of the most mag-
,iliticent countries and most anciently-settled kingdoms
or the Old 'World. It is not necessary to insist on
the entire accuracy of the Count DE LABORDE'S
assertion, that "no country in Europe is so generally
fertile as Spain, or has equal advantages at all sea-
sons of the year." Nor are we bound to accept, with-
out
large qualifications indeed, the recent estimate of
M. Aaouum.us, which assumes the total. annual
value of her territorial wealth to be so much as
.8,572,220,591 reals, equal to nearly 90,000,000/.
sterling. But the fact seems certain, that in spite of
All the foreign and domestic convulsions to which the
pursuits of her native agriculture have been subject
ever since the commencement of the present century,
the amount of grain, especially of wheat, produced in
Spain, even at this time, is very enormous. After
making every allowance on account of the disastrous
operation upon all the prospects of husbandry, of
civil wars and dilapidated finances, and of the more
-primary elements of inadequate tillage and defective
cultivation, and the precariousness of all investments
in land, arising from the impolitic and oppressive
.character of such tenures as the " inalienable, indi-
visible Mayorazgos," for instance ; and still more
from the paralysing influence of that great corporate
monopoly, the " Mesta," or associated land pro.
prietors (for Spain, among her other visitations, is
cursed with agricultural protection (!) to the most
orthodox extent of that delusion)—we may yet
marvel at the extent of her flocks and her herds, the
variety and the quantity of her wines, and the
-abundance and richness of her mineral products.
In these last there is reason to believe
tiot, could her mining operations be conducted
the application of sufficient capital, and main-
tained without interruption from violence or their
exterval causes—and always assuming in the first
place, that the spirit of her Government could be
so amei.Aorated as to maintain its relations with
foreign cayitalists, with some pretensions to a small
stock of common faith and honesty—Spain would
find herself licher, at this moment, than she has ever
&and herself at any former period of her history.
The lead ore:3 of that country have long been cele-
brated for their surpassing richness ; the quality of
the lead is unexceptionable ; and its argentiferous
production is Angularly rich. " The silver and lead

mines (writes Mr. MACGREGOR, p.. 81) lately dis-
covered in the Sierra Almagrera, in Almeira, near the
borders of Murcia, are described as remarkably rich."
Coal is found in great plenty in the Pyrenees, in
the Asturias, in Andalusia, Valencia, and other parts.
Iron is chiefly smelted in the Basque provinces, the
ore of Somorrostro is there made to yield one-third
of good iron ; that of Ibendragon forty per cent.
Copper abounds in Navarre and the Asturias. In
Arragon, Andalusia, Valencia, and Catalonia there
are (especially, in Arragon, neglected), mines of gold
and silver, cobalt, antimony, zinc, arsenic, salt,
manganese, &c.—in Alma-lAm (La Mancha) some of
the finest mines of quicksilver in the world, a great
part of whose treasures is raised by English capital,
and exported hither.
Yet with these elements of wealth, with "a climate
preferable to that of Greece, Italy, or France, with a
sea coast affording infinite commercial facilities on
the shores of the Mediterranean and the coasts of the
Atlantic ; with noble rivers watering her compact and
naturally fortified home territory, 640 miles in length
by 550 in breadth, with her valuable possessions of
the Balearic and Canary Islands and their important
trade ; with her noble colonies in the West of Cuba
and Porto Rico, in the East of the Phillippines—the
foreign commerce of Spain is of comparative insigni-
ficance." All the accidents of climate, of geographical
position, of territorial surface, and colonial connexion
are in favour ,of its extension to any point which
could be predicated of their capacity for pushing it.
But centuries of the most vicious and immoral go-
vernment, a succession of feeble or wicked Princes,
the lamentably degraded state of public character
throughout the whole administration of the State,
and the debasing and destructive results of the
suc-
cessive factions which, since the death of FERDINAND
VII., have fought out their sordid feuds and steeped
their ambitious swords in the best and bravest blood
of the kingdom, have diverted or choked up the
stream of that country which PROVIDENCE intended
for the maintenance and the happiness of a whole
people. A grin. yet despicable, timid ygt•fero-
cious, military despotilm tramples in the dust of the
most abject bondage, the posterity of the
old conquerors of Italy—the former terror
of France ; the discoverers and vanquishers of
a new world, in which, as if in expiation of their
cruelty, they founded some of the most beneficent of
the municipal institutions of their ancestors. To
what has the once imperial revenue of their PHILIPS
and their CHARLESES dwindled, in these days—a salu-
tory lesson to the suicidal criminality of those who
govern, that from the wrong and oppression of the
governed the only permanent spoil which can be
reaped consists in the alienated affections, corrupted
morals, the vanished virtues, and torpid spirit of the
latter; the restless jealousies, incessant treasons, and
insatiable demands for blood and sacrifice which is the
righteous legacy of their own crimes.
The whole of the present revenue of Spain does not
exceed about 9,000,0001. sterling. " The debt of
Spain in January, 1842, is stated to amount," says
Mr. MACGREGOR, "to 14,160,968,047 reals, or
157,344,080/. sterling. Of this debt, about
65,000,000/. is only admitted to be due to foreigners,
the interest of which has not ben discharged for
several years." The above statement evidently does not
include " the amount stated in 1833, as debt without
interest, which see." Now on referring to the
table here indicated (it is at p. 85), we find that the
leading " debt without interest" is composed of these
items :

Francs.
Amount of arrears of public debt ... 2,537,050,574
Unsettled debt of Treasury, prior to 18th
March, 1808
Ditto of the first restoration
Ditto of the Constitutional Government
and of second restoration.

123,651,243
225,000,000

125,000,000

3,010,705,817
If, on Mr. MACGREGOR'S authority we are to add this
amount to the capital above stated, the aggregate of
the debt of Spain will be, not 157,344,0801., but
282,790,155/. sterling. What must he the Court
venality, the unprincipled profligacy of administra-
tions, and the rapacity of soldiers of fortune, and Mi-
nisters like those we see now in power in a country,
which a judge as competent as Mr. MACGREGOR deems
to be still so gifted with natural wealth, and the
means of rapidly multiplying capital, could she but
find trusty and able ministers, that he does not hesi-
tate thus to notice what she might become, despite of
what she is.

" Spain, however, need not, in her financial burdens or
obligations, be considered in a desperate condition. She
has abundant resources, and requires only an honest
and enlightened administration, a wise and sound re-
form of her customs-laws and duties, and of her direct
taxation, to attain, in ten years at furthest, from the
adoption of such reforms, an independent treasury,
and the honourable distinction of fulfilling her na-
tional obligations."

A Morning Contemporary contains an article on
the subject of our political relations with France,
which, to say the least of it, is penned in a very per-
verse and crotchety spirit. After adducing the evidence
of some convenient anonymous gentleman to prove
that there never was a stronger feeling of national
hostility than that which the French entertain at the
present' moment towards the English, our Contem-
porary goes on to remark—" Their Government may
mean very well towards us, but the French people do
not, and who can tell how soon all the powers and
resources of the nation may be put in action against
us ? We therefore say that if our Government
sees nothing to excite its watchful attention in the
gathering elements of French force, our Government
ought to be warned to attend better to its duties.
The pretence, that our safety lies in the sound public
opinion of France, is as great nonsense as ever was
written." Nonsensical as this "pretence" may appear
in the eyes of the quick-witted, eagle-eyed Post, we
are among the number of those who place great faith in
it, and who hold it with the force of a strong moral
conviction that there is an enlightened public opinion in
France, daily increasing in soundness, energy, and
intelligence, but which already is quite sound and
strong enough to prevent the likelihood of any serins
rupture with this country. Doubtless, there are many
jealous, discontented, inflammable people in
the neighbouring kingdom—sturdy Republicans, and
soured ultra-Democrats, who would gladly see a
flame kindled between France and England, in the
fond hope that their own political views would be
assisted by such an "untoward" event as a war;
but these, though a noisy set, constitute the minority;
by far the more numerous, and respectable, and in-
fluential portion of the French people are strongly in
favour of the maintenance of peace, well-knowing
that while they could not gain much, they would risk
all by an outbreak between the two countries, and
might in the end see themselves consigned over once
again to the tender mercies of some such fierce
democracy—the most exacting of all despotisms—as
enslaved and demoralised them during the memoraMe
Reign of Terror. Time was when Paris was Frante,
and Club-law the law of the nation; but though it is not
to be denied that the opinions of the capital still exer-
cise great influence in the provinces yet that influence
is nolonger paramount ; a rich, steady, thinking, power-
ful middle class has sprung up, in all the towns in the
kingdom, who are quite capable of forming a sound
edigrm
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metropolis ; and this class—the " Bourgeoisie," as
Mr. L. BLANC calls them—are to a man opposed to a
war between France and England. Besides, it
must be borne in mind that our neighbour is now,
what she never was before, a commercial, as well
as an agricultural, country; since the battle
of Waterloo her commerce has increased tenfold,
and continues yearly on the increase; and these are
grave considerations, which will always indispose her
to embark in hostilities, of which the wisest of her
sons can foresee no other issue than such as will be
detrimental, if not ruinous, to her interests. Glory
is, no doubt, a very fine thing, but a prosperous
trade is still finer ; the one is a mere showy phan-
tom, the other a solid substance—something to eat
and drink, wax fat, and be merry upon ; and the
French have quite shrewdness enough to see this, and
will be slow henceforth to allow their
national
vanity to
get the better of their discretion. Notwithstanding,
therefore, our Contemporary's sneer, we have great
faith in the public opinion of France—in that opinion
which, despite a thousand difficulties and dangers,
has enabled Louis PHILIPPE to maintain the peace
of Europe, and which still keeps him on a throne
which, but for him, would have had no existence,
superseded, as it would have been—had not the
Bourgeoisie, who are his chief supporters, interfered

—by a stormy Republic, that would inevitably have
brought in its train, to say nothing of a host
of domestic evils, a general war with Europe.
We are no very ardent admirers of the CITI-
ZEN KING ; we think that, in not a few in-
stances, he has pushed his prerogative far beyond
the just limits assigned it by the Constitution; but
his position was a trying one, and—despot as he is—
it must not be forgotten that he has proved a sterling
benefactor to the best interests of his country, by
preserving her from the horrors of a European
convulsion.

Earl FITZWILLIAM, on popenting a petition on Mon-
day to the House of Lords from Glasgow, praying
for a searching Reform in the Irish Protestant
Church, took the opportunity of enunciating some
stern, wholesome truths respecting that same Church,
which as might have been expected, called up the
Duke of WELLINGTON, who filled with a holy horror
at the idea of the Establishment being subjected to
the slightest process of purification, emphatically con-
jured their Lordships to pay no attention to the pes-
tilent doctrines of the Noble Earl, adding—by way,
we presume, of giving increased effect to his exhorta-
tion—that the Protestant Church had existed in Ire-
land for nearly three hundred years, during periods
of conflict, rebellion, and massacre. We must frankly
confess we do not see the force of this ducal logic, and
are wholly at a loss to understand the principle upon
which an acknowledged grievance is to be kept up
that has no other argument in its favour than that of
mere antiquity. If such reasoning is to be allowed
to possess any cogency, it should have prevented the
Noble Duke from striking off the manacles from the
limbs of the Catholics, seeing that their chains
had been worn for ages. The same reason
should have prevented him from granting
relief to the Dissenters, for their wrongs too
were of ancient date ; and should have induced
him also to oppose, tooth and nail, Lord STANLEY'S
project for emancipating the West Indian negroes, for
no man can doubt that black slavery is another in-
stitution as old as the hills, and sanctioned by the
wisdom of our ancestors, for Heaven knows how
many generations ! If the venerableness of a griev-
ance is to he urged as a plea in favour of its con-
tinuance, and if this plea is to be admitted, an end is
at once put to all prospect of national improvement ;
we must consent to stand still while the world
about us is in motion, and idly and stupidly to lag
behind, while more active and enlightened nations
are pre.sing forward to the goal. The Irish Church
being an acknowledged grievance, and of the most
oppressive character—for none but Tory bigots,
and interested parsons, deny this fact—it becomes
the duty of Government to reform it without
delay, the more especially as it has been an incubus
on the energies of Ireland for three hundred years.
Its age, so far from being a sound argument in its
favour, is the soundest of all arguments against it,
and we hope to live to see the day when this shall be
held as valid reasoning, even in the House of Lords.
Trace half the evils that oppress the sister-country
to their source, and they shall be found to
have their origin in the Protestant Establish-
ment—an establishment which is an insult to thG
people, and a living record of their humiliation. So
long as this gigantic nuisance lasts, there never can be
any sure guarantee for the tranquillity of Ireland
from one year's end to another ; and no sane man can
doubt that it supplies Mr. O'CONNELL with his most
cogent and successful argument in favour of a repeal
of the union. The Bishop of EXETER was of course
enraptured with the Duke of WELLINGTON'S
strenuous exhortation in behalf of the Irish Church,
and boldly told their Lordships that " among
the many great services which it had been the lot of
that illustrious man to render to his country, he be-
lieved from his heart that he had never conferred on
it a greater service than by his declaration that even-

ing on the subject of the Church of Ireland." The
Rev. Prelate remarked in addition, that Parliament
had no right to " despoil"—as he whimsically phrased
it—the Establishment in question ; but this is not the
fact, for Parliament has as much right to deal with
its temporalities, by way of improving its efficiency,
as Ministers had to deprive the Bishop, despite his
ghostly protests and maledictions, of the rich rectory
of Stanhope.

The intelligence from Spain is of a most distressing
character. The murder of BONET and twenty-three
of his companions (for they had not even the semblance
of a trial) is unhappily confirmed. It appears that
the Commandant of the Castle of Alicant, a place of
great strength, had been bribed to betray BONET,
and deliver into the hands of this public executioner the
unfortunate man who at the commencement of the
insurrection had spared his life. His name is LA-
SALLA, and if there is a particle of honour or justice
left in Spain, will be held in detestation even by
his savage countrymen. The sum paid for this
cruel act of treachery is said to be 75,000 dollars.
BONET having discovered the plot against his life
made his escape with many officers, but they were
pursued and captured, some of them by the
peasantry. The following is the account of the
transaction transmitted by RONCALI to the Captain-
General on the Bth instant,—" Various parties of the
Lusitanis regiment of cavalry, sent out by different
roads under the direction cf Colonel CoNTREnAs, and
the good spirit of the people, gave the result that I ex-
pected. He was taken, and brought to this place in
the course of yesterday, with those who followed him.
His declaration having been taken, his person identi-
fied, as well as those who took an active part in the
rebellion, as comprised in the accompanying state-
ment, the military men have been degraded, and all
of them put to death by shooting in the back, to add
to the ignominy of the punishment, this morning, in
front of the troops, to whom the general order which
I send herewith was read." Among tha unhappy
victims, besides BONET, are several Captains and Lieu-
tenants of the National Guards and three or four
soldiers, twenty-four in all. RONcALI on the same
day published the following address to the army :
" Soldiers ! Terrible is the act which you have
just witnessed. May the ALMIGHTY permit it may
be the last in our unfortunate country. May the
ambitious contain themselves, and the deluded unde-
ceive themselves. Alas ! for those who are not con-
vinced that the hour of revolution has passed ! You
have closed it for Spain with the keys of this place,
conquered by your loyalty, your constancy, and your
discipline. Go on al ways as you have till now, and you
save the throne of your QUEEN." He thus impiously
prays that this bloody tragedy may be the last, while he
marches from Alicant to Carthagena, to repeat a si-
milar act of cold-blooded cruelty, and what adds to
the atrocity of NARVARZ and his coadjutor BRAVO,
the young QUEEN is instructed to thank RONCALI
for his operations and executions. 'I he words put
into her mouth are, "the blindness and immorality of
the Revolutionists have rendered the application of
the whole rigour of the laws indispensable."

On the receipt of the intelligence the Three per
Cents. roses per cent., and closed on the 11th at 3O
cash, and 31 at 60 clays. The Fives were quoted at
22i at 60 clays.

The disputes between the clergy of France and
.he University, or rather the Government, seem to

increase in violence, and probably will end in a corn-

plete rupture between Church and State. It will be
recollected that an Abbe, of the name of COMBALOT,
was convicted, some days ago, of a libel on certain
public schools, and condemned to fine and imprison-
ment. This has given great offence to many of the
Bishops, and one of them, the Bishop of CHALONS, has
had the effrontery to praise the conduct of the convicted
priest, and thereby impugn the law and the jury by
which he was tried. "The Bishop and clergy ofChalons,"
he says, " eagerly add their congratulations to those of
the whole Church and all good men, which the Abbe
COMBALOT has received. It was worthy of him to set
so bright an example, and assume so openly the de-
fence of our Catholic truths against the University,
which is their declared enemy. We have not left the
Minister unaware of our opinion upon this important
question. But the principal honour of it belongs to
the Abbe COMBALOT. We,therefore, take the deepest
interest in all that concerns him, and would deem
ourselves happy if on any occasion we could prove it
to him. Let him rest assured that nothing can be
added to our profound esteem and to all the senti-
ments of which we hereby offer him the expression."
The subjoined remarks in -the Journal des Debats
show that the affair has excited much indignation in
the Cabinet :

"It appears that insolent contempt of law and justice is
hereafter to be reckoned amongst the number of Christian
virtues. The Bishop of Chalons, who was condemned by the