The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-12 00:00:00

*Mt.

• LONDON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1844.

The Irish State trials, after a duration of four
iveeks, are now about to close. The Chief Justice
*commenced his address to the jury on Friday, and
continued it up to Saturday till about seven o'clock,
Ivhen the jury retired to consider their verdict. If
the jury decide according to the law laid down by
Vie Judge, there can be no doubt about the result.
The language of the Chief Justice was remarkable
fur its amenity and apparent impartiality, but it was
remarkable also for a determination to convince the
ry that the conspiracy had been sufficiently proved.
Ti le Bench, it would appear from his speech, are
unanimous, and we, therefore, do not impute to him
dividual blame, but whether the jury be unani-
in 00 or not, is another question. All we can say
( , that the accused have not been tried by their
p ers, and that the new system adopted under the
Q avernment of the Citizen King, by which all State
• iminals are tried by the Upper Chamber, is as con-
ey tent with constitutional liberty as that which pre-
Tai is in the sister island. Will a conviction make
tb e union of the two countries more acceptable to the
sh nation ?

j Since the above was written, we have received
?lligence that the Jury returned a verdict of

GUILTY.

The House of Commons met on Saturday, in rn-
t
ience of no House being made on
the p
&v. The only subject brought forward
wrae:mus
h
)611'1 of Sir JAMES GRAHAM for an alteration in thee
Dos Poor-law Act, and we are gratified to find that
sbie bastardy clause, which we opposed from the be-
& ning, is to he materially altered. The unfortu-
Tax to victim is not to be thrown on the wide world
an d compelled to maintain her offspring, or go into a
• ,rkhouse. Her oath as to the putative father is
sl)* be taken before two Magistrates, with corroborative
:fence, and the Magistrates are to judge according
Jo- the evidence. If the evidence is sufficient, the
fel ter is to provide for the maintenance of the child,
ot!.go to prison, according to the old law. This is
Just 1% The new law in this respect was unjust and
• .10l,and has been inoperative, because it was unjust
ecrWSlsiifildieruel. Why throw the whole punishment of crime
weaker sex, and allow wea!thy and heartless
_to escape We believe this eauss has done
*lie damage the Act than any other. It advo-
-40,1,.1,.\ 174 &tip most barefaced cruelty. But this is not
Zrd 6
- A

the only modification required. More out-door re-
lief should be given, and persons in certai circum-
stances, because they have a little income, but not
enough to keep body and soul together, should not
be thrust out of society and immured in a work-
house. There are means for ascertaining whether
they are really objects of charity, and, with the ex-
pensive machinery of the new Act, there must be
egregious fault in some department, if measures are
not adopted for making a distinction between the idle
and the worthless, and those who have been subjected
to all the ills of poverty from events which no fore-
sight could prevent. There were great abuses under
the old system, but that is no justification for ex-
treme severity under the new. What the public want
is to keep down the enormous amount of the poor-
rates by discouraging idleness and profligacy, and
not by a wholesale condemnation of all who are com-
pelled by adversity to solicit parish relief.

The following paragraph appeared in a leading
article of the Post, a day or two since, and we quote
it for the purpose of making a few comments on it :
" A rumour has found its way into some of the news-
papers respecting a Central Association for the Pro-
tection of Agriculture, to be formed in London. Some
names have been mentioned of Members of both
Houses of Parliament, who are to take a leading part
in this Association; if anything of the kind be on
foot, it would be well that the honest and zealous
friends of Protection should be on their guard
against the possible construction of a Society
which, under the name of protection for agri-
culture, might, in reality and truth, be merely
a protection for Ministerial policy." In another
part of the same article our Contemporary
repeats his warning to the Monopolists in these
terms :—" The agriculturists of England cannot be
too cautious not to fetter themselves in any way.
Those to whom they trusted in 1841 have as yet
done nothing to show that their championship may
be confided in." It is clear from this that, notwith-
standing his late declaration in Parliament that he
contemplated not the slightest alteration in the exist-
ing corn-law, the Monopolists have no great confi-
dence in Sir ROBERT PEEL. They still regard him
with as much distrust as ever, knowing well that
%%hen expediency forces him to alter his views, and
to regard the sliding-scale in a different light to
that in which he now views it, he will not hesitate to
make a sacrifice of the few tattered shreds of consist-
ency that still remain to him. We deny not—we
never have denied—that the Premier is placed in a
peculiarly difficult position, and that, turn which way
he will, he is beset with obstructions of no ordinary
character; still, it must be borne in mind that his diffi-
culties are in a great degree of his own creation, and
that if he be now hampered at every step of his pro-
gress, it is wholly in consequence of his own timid,
tortuous policy. Had he adopted a decided, ener-
getic course of action when he first took the
reins of Government in 1841, instead of flirting—
like a political coquette as he is, now with one party
and now with another, paying unmeaning attentions
to both, and winning the affections of neither, he
would not have been in the situation in which he at
present finds himself. His majorities might have been
less in Parliament, but they would have been more
steady—more worthy to be relied on ; and though he
would have had fiercer enemies, he would have had
warmer and stauncher friends. When ALEXANDER
found, after several strenuous endeavours, that he
could not untie the Gordian knot, he at once
adopted the bold resolution of cutting it
with his sword ; and in a similar energetic
spirit should Sir ROBERT PEEL have acted with the
Monopolists. When he found that he could not make
them amenable to reason—that they slighted all his
attempts to engage them in an enlightened course of
policy, and would persist in adhering to their own
narrow prejudices, he should at once have cut all
connection with them, and boldly thrown himself into
the arms of the Liberal party. He might possibly
have lost by this conduct for a season, but he would
have gained by it in the long run, for he
would have had an ardent, grateful, and confiding
people at his back, and they would have taken
good care to see him handsomely through his
difficulties. No really honest statesman ever yet
appealed—or ever will appeal—to his countrymen in
vain. CHATHAM did so when the KING and the aris-
tocracy were both leagued against him—and his ap-
peal was triumphantly answered. His far inferior
son did so, when Fox, with his Coalition Ministry,
was all-powerful in the House of Commons, and com-
manded a majority in the Lords—and his appeal, also,
was successful. Earl GREY did so, when a selfish,
dominant aristocracy arrayed itself in des-
perate hostility to the Reform Bill—and his
appeal, too, was triumphantly replied to by
the people. But all these were statesmen of
lofty, energetic character; and the most obsequious
flatterer of our present Premier will scarcely go the
length of stating that he has one single particle of
energy or decision in his nature. No, he is a
pliant, submissive waiter on the chapter of
accidents a methodistical worshipper at the
shrine of expediency, who, even if he see
the right course to pursue, dare not for his
life pursue it. His sole object seems to be, to main-
tain himself in power, and let things take their own
course, without putting himself to the trouble of
directing them. He will not side boldly with the
Monopolists—for his late declaration is a mere feint—
and he will not side boldly with the Free-traders ; but
he stands hesitating between two bundles of motives,
like the long-eared animal in the fable. He is the
PA LINURUS of the State-vessel, who, trusting to
the present serene aspect of the weather, nods at the
helm, when he should be busy directing her course
into the appointed haven. Well, this state of things
cannot last long, and the instant the winds begin to
roar, and the waves to rise, right overboard will go
the inactive, drowsy pilot, to be cast, helpless and
hopeless, on the bleak, inhospitable coast of Opposition.
" 0 nimium pelago et cselo confise sereno,
Nudus in ignota, Palinure, jacebis arenA !"

We have little to add to the intelligenee already
published, and the extracts of this day from the
French papers respecting Spain. The liberty of the
press at Madrid was said to be destroyed, and all
journalists were threatened with prosecution who
should write about the rising at Alicant, but of these
we see no proofs in the journals. The Eco del Com-
mercio is more violent than at any former period, and
exhorts all who love their country rather to die in
the cause than submit to oppression. " Threatened
in our personal safety," it says, "and confiding in
their physical strength, they struggle face to face
against devotedness and patriotism. A horrible
struggle, in which.the liberty and the fate of Spain
are made the stakes—a struggle in which we are de-
termined to die, as are all who have at heart the love
of liberty, and who know how to defend to the utter-
most the Constitution which is threatened by the Mus-
sulman sabre of a cursed power. May the curses of
all good Spaniards—may the brand of ignominy fall
on the heads of whoever recedes one pace, or who
gives way either from weakness or fear before the
persecution of the tyrants. Let us repulse the blows
directed against the sanctity of our institutions, and
if we must perish in the defence of so noble a cause,
we will have avengers and imitators."

Friday the 2d inst. being a holiday at Madrid, no
business was done in the funds.

The alarming intelligence from Spain has caused
much excitement in Paris, and furnished topics for
all the papers. Most of them, especially those favour-
able to the Government, comment on the occurrences
at Alicant and St. Sebastian with much caution, and
evidently wait for further news, and possibly also to
ascertain the views of the Court, while those of the
Opposition regard the outbreak as the commencement
of a general rising against the Government of NAR-
vAEz and GONZALES BRAVO. The National and the
Siecle are justly most indignant against the ar-
bitrary and violent conduct pursued ever since
the downfal of ESPARTERO. " Whom," it asks,
" have they arrested—LOPEZ, CORTINA, and
MADOZ, the most eminent men in Spain,
those who procured the expulsion of ESPARTERO
and through whose good offices the majority of the
QUEEN was declared. The mask has now falltehne,
and the counter-revolution is exposed to view. The
Moderado party has launched, at all risks, on
ocean of violence, and its first act is more violent
than all other despotic Governments have ventured
on doing." " There is this difference," says the
Siecle, " between the conduct of the ex-Regent
ESPARTERO and the present Camarillo, that the

letter, if not the spirit of the Constitution was re-
spected by one, and both are despised and derided by
the other. Spain is again delivered to all the horrors
of civil war, and the whole country cries out against
a dictatorship which is without talent, dignity, or
grandeur." The Commerce and the France malig-
nantly accuse England of instigating the insurgents ;
but the opinions of men who can state such wicked,
such ungenerous falsehoods, are utterly unworthy of
notice. The following telegraphic dispatches have
been received by the French Government, one of
which leaves no doubt that NARVAEZ, after having
abrogated the Constitution, and put an end to the
Cortes, is resolved to disarm the National Guards,
and establish a military despotism :

TELEGRAPHIC DISPATCHES.

" BAYONNE, FEB. 4.

" In the evening of yesterday the disarming of the
National Guard of Irun and St. Sebastian was effected
without opposition. It is said that this is a general
measure, taken in virtue of an order of Government
which reached on the 2d."

" BAYONNE, FED. 6.

" On the 30th Alicant was still in the power of the
insurgents. The Captain-General of Valencia, RoN-
CALI, is marching on Alicant with troops, and a
moveable brigade under the command of General
CONCHA, has also left Madrid.
" Attempts at insurrection took place on the 29th
at Alcoy Elche, Cocentirna, and Muro, all in the
neighbourhood of Alicant, but they were promptly
checked by the inhabitants, who captured and killed
several of the seditious."

The Memorial Bordelais of the 6th publishes the
following, but will not vouch for its veracity :

" MADRID, FEB. 1. TiE O'CLOCK, P.M.
"A Council of Ministers has, it is said, just been held, and
a Cabinet courier is to start immediately for Paris. It is
added, that a loan of 10,000,000 francs is demanded, in order
to provide for the difficulties in which the Alicant insurrec-
tion has thrown the Government. It is also said that the
Government demand that the New Spanish Three per Cents.
be quoted at the Spanish Bourse, and that M. Martinez de
Rosa is to apply for the armed intervention of France, should
it be required, to support the young Queen against the
machinations of the anarchists."

The observations made by Lord BROUGHAM and
the Earl of ABERDEEN in the House of Lords re-
lative to the slave trade have excited some severe
comments in the Opposition journals. Some of them
declare that the assertions of M. GUIZOT in the
Chamber were not founded on truth, and that the
scene in the House of Lords was previously concerted
between Lord BROUGHAM and Lord ABERDEEN, in
order to arrange hatters for M. GUIZOT.
The French Funds, on Thursday, continued firm,
the Three per Cents. closing at 81f. 95c., and the
Fives at 125 f. 10c. ; Orleans Shares at 855 f.; Rouen,
841 f. 25c.; Havre, 695 f. ; Avignon, 775 f.; Spanish
Actives, 301.

THE BOURSE-THURSDAY, FEB. 9.

First Highest Lowest Last

Price. Price. Price. Price.
French Five per Cents. 124 90 .. 125 .. 124 85 • • 124 85
Three per Cents.• •• • 81 80 • • 81 90 .. 81 80 .. 81 90
Bank of France.. .• • • •••••3280 ..3280 • • 3280 —3280
Lanltte Think, I,ooof. Shareslllo ..1110 ..1110 ..1110
5,000 f. Sharesso7o ..5070 ..5070 ..5070
Belgian Bank ..•• • • •• • • 670 .. 672 50 • • 670 .. 672 50
Belgian Fives . 107 .. 107 .. 107 .. 107
1840 •••••••• 109 .. 1091 109 .. 1091
1842. •••••••• 1101 .. 1101 1101 1101
Threes . 76 50 .. 76 50 .. 76 50 76 50
Spanish Active •• • ...... ••• 301 .. 301 .. 301 .. 301
Passive 5l .. 5 .. 5 ..
5+
New Deferred
Portuguese Five per Cents 4Bl .. 481 • . 481 •. 481
Neapolitan • • •• • • 106 60 .. 106 60 .. 106 60 .. 106 60
Roman lO6l .. 1061 1061 .. 106/
-•— RAILWAY SHARES.

Versailles, R. 8... •. • . 3.50 .. 350 .. 350 .. 350
L.B.
Rouen 840 .. 840 .. 840 .. 840
Rouen to Havre.... • ..... • • 700 • • 700 • • 695 • • 695
Orleans ........... • . ..... 852 50 .. 855 • • 852 50 .. 855
Strasburg to Bale— • • .. • • •• 243 75 248 75 .. 243 75 .. 248 75
Montpellier to Cette........ 510 512 50 .. 510 .. 512 50
Avignon to Marseilles.... • • 775 • • 775 • • 775 .. 775
RAILWAY SHARES, FOR THE ACCOUNT.

Versailles, R.B.
L.B lB5 .. 187 50 .. 185 .. 187 60
Rouen ..•.......... ....... 842 50 .. 842 50 • • 841 25 • • 841 25
Rouen to Havre• • ..... 702 50 .. 702 50 695 .. 695
Orleans •.......,..
Strasburg to 8a1e.•........ 243 75 .. 251 25 .. 243 75 .. 251 25
Montpellier to Cette • • .. • • • . 510 • . 510 . • 510 . • 510
Avignon to Marseilles 775 .. 778 75 .. 775 .. 775

ILLNESS of the KING of SWEDEN.
The following are the latest particulars relative to the
health of his Majesty, received from Stockholm and
Copenhagen. Theintelligence is up to the 30th ult. :-
STOCICHOI.III, JAN. 27.-This day prayers were put up in
the Palace chapel for his Majesty's recovery. All the Royal
Family, the Court, the superior military and civil authorities,
and as many of the inhabitants as could find room
were present. On the following days there were prayers in
the Royal Chapel, and in all the churches of the city, both
morning and evening.
The following bulletins show that the state of his Majesty's
health is more satisfactory :-
JAN. 28.-1 O'CLOCK, P.M.—Since the last bulletin his
Majesty has slumbered several hours, and, when awake, ap-
peared more sensible than during the night. The fever con-
tinues.
71 P.M.—Since one o'clock, his Majesty has had uninter-
rupted repose and less fever, and been more sensible than in
the preceding part of the twenty-four hours.
29th, 7 A.M.—His Majesty's more composed state continued
till past 10 o'clock yesterday evening, when increased fever
with delirium ensued, and continued with more or less vio-
lence till 5 o'clock this morning, when his Majesty fell into
a quiet slumber, which still continues.
2 O'CLOCK, P.M.—His Majesty has had some good sleep since
the morning's bulletin, and the fever has abated.
5 O'CLOCK, P.M.—His Majesty is now quite sensible, less
faint, and almost free from fever.
JAN. 30, 7 O'CLOCK, A.M.—Yesterday, towards evening
his Majesty had more fever, with delirium, but both in a less
degree than in the two preceding nights. After midnight he
had, with some interruption, refreshing sleep, which still con-
tinues.
5 o'cLocK, P.M.—His Majesty awaking at 10 o'clock in
the forenoon, was free from fever, and took, with good appe-
tite, some spoonfuls of broth, but complains this afternoon of
being faint, and of severe pains in the right foot.
The Queen is said to have nearly fainted several times from
grief, on the 28th.
The Aftenblad publishes, at a late hour every evening
since the King's illness, a supplement of which thousands are
disposed of, and which causes such a crowd in the street, that
part of the palace guard is obliged to be called out to pre-
serve order.
On Saturday reports were spread here of the death of the
Emperor of Russia, with circumstances which alone are suf-
ficient to show that they are unworthy of credit.
It is reported that an ordnance will,be putolished this even-
ing relative to the adiiiiiiistration of Ihe'g§verminent during
the King's illness.
(From the Berlin Gazette:)
COPENHAGEN.-A private letter from Stockholm, of the
30th of January, at three o'clock, par., ,which- may be de-
pended upon, says-4' So satisfactory:a change. in the state of
the King's health has taken place „since yesterday, that no-
body has the least doubt that he is pow quite out of danger.
Though the fever has not quite left him 41s Majesty's head
is entirely freed, and he has no particular pain. The King
himself is to-day fully convinced of his recovery, of which he
had so little hope that he took leave of his family."
RUSSIAN FRONTIER, JAN. 16.-Letters from 'Moscow say
that a report is spread in that city that Russia intends
again to allow the transit of German manufactures, with cer-
tain restrictions. However improbable this news may be we
thought it our duty to mention it, as :one of the letters
adds, that the Russian merchants have several times peti-
tioned the Government to adopt such a measure, because
they imagine that it will be the means of animating the
trade of Russia with China.
DUTCH FUND!.-AMSTERDAM, Fxs. 8.
Money. Bills.
Actual Debt, 2% per Cent ...... 55 55
Jitto, ditto 5 per cent
Amu t Syndic, 4% per cent......... ..... 95 95
Ditto, ditto, 3% per cent BO •80
Commercial Company, 4% per cent 140% 142%
Loan 1837, 5 per cent. •••••••••••••••••••••.••••• 99h 9J%
Exchange on Londe*, 0nem0nth.......
Two months 12 04
Hamburgb, One ms nth 37. 43%
Two months 57 18%
Dutch Papers, Feb. 9.
BELGIAN FUNDS.-BnuaseLs, Fen. 8.
Actual Debt, 236 per Cent
Rothschild's Loan, Five per Cent.... ........
Loan of Thirty Millions, Four per 99
Three per -
--- Thirty-seven Milli. ns, ditto ............... 774,
(1840).....-........ 101
Loan of City, 1832, Four per:Cent 102%
1843 ......... ... . * 103%
Society of Commerce, Four and a Half per Cent.
Bank of Belgium, Five per Cent 67%
I sue of 1841 lob
National Society
t../change on London (short)
-Brussels Papers, Feb. 9
A vSTRIAN FUNDS.-VIENNA, FED. I.
Five per Cents. Metalliques
Four par cents. •••••••••••••••• ....... ••••••••••• ............ 100%
Three per Cents ........ ..... 77%
Bank Shares .... .............H. 1631
Allgemeine Zeitung, Feb. 5.
PRUSSIAN:FUNDS.-41xnun, FEB. 6.
Bills. Mont
St. Schuld Sch., 4 per cent. lO2 101
Prussian English Bonds, 1530, 4 per cent. 101% 101
Exchange on London
Prussian State Gazette. Feb. 5.
HA MBURGH BORSENHALLE. FEL S.
Bills. Money.
Austrian 5 per Cents.
Bank Shares Ices
Anglo. Russian Loan 112)4 112
Russian 5 per Cent., Ist series, Certificate lO5 -
Inscription, Ist series lO5 -
Russian 5 per Cent. Hope and Co., 3d and 4th
Series — 9936
Ditto in Certificates — 99%.
New 4 per Cent. (1840) 91% 91%
Dutch Actual Debt, 2% per Cent. 54% 54
Ditto 5 per Cent. .........
Polish Bonds
New Tickets —
Anglo-Danish Loan, 3 per CORt. ........... 84% Ai
Spanish, New 5 per Cents. 17,7. 17%