The Sun.
London, England, 1826-01-21 00:00:00

bassador of Austria at Madrid, is said to have
had Ids life granted him, by the Emperor Nicho.
las in a private interview, but to have been exiled
to Fliberia. The other prisoners (some of the ac.
counts make them amount to 600) were to be
speedily put upon their trial. The coronation of
the new Emperor was already talked of as likely
to take place at Moscow in, the month of May,
but the report was considered premature. A
statement of much greater importance, if correct,
is that which announces that all the military co-
lonies between St. Petersburgh and Moscow, had
taken the oath to Nicholas.

[IIIE PUBLIC LEDGER.]
Last night we received Hamburgh Papers to
the 14th, and Dutch to the I.Bth instant. The
former contain advices from St. Petersburgh to
the Slst ult. inclusive, but they throw little or
no light upon the state of that capital or of the
rest of the Empire. An order of the day of the
Emperor Nicholas to the Russian army (a copy
of which will be found amongst our extracts) was
pablished on the 27th, in which, after condoling
with it on the loss it has sustained in the death
of the late Emperor, who is called " a father,
a benefactor, and the companion of its immortal
deeds," he alludes, with extraordinary reserve
and circumspection, to the mutiny, which took
place the day before. Several regiments of the
Guards are then complimented for their conduct
on that critical occasion, iu a strain that strongly
reminds
•of that period of Roman history,
when the Pretorian guards were in the habit
of knocking down the Empire to the high-
est bidder. It did not strike the late Em-
peror, when he boasteol that Providence had
given him 800,000 soldiers, that they would
in so short a time, play so important a part ns
that of being the masters of the master of the rest
of the nation. To prove the high sense that the
present Emperor entertains of the conduct of
those regiments that adhered to him during the
revolt, he has made them a present of the uni-
forms of his predecessor, which they are in-
structed to retain as a sacred deposit. Other
distinctions of a similar character are awarded ;
but, if the rules of rigid discipline would have
allowed it, the grant of an additional month's
pay would have been more acceptable to tine troops
and more advantageous to the Imperial donor.—
We have already noticed theextraordinary reserve
with which the affair of the revolt is alluded to ;
and this order of the day absolutely adds to the.
mystery in which it was previously involved.
However, an article in one of the
llam-
burgh Papers (with the insertion of which the
Russian agent in that city had of course no-
thing to do) effects to treat the matter very
lightly, and says that the public tranquillity has
not been in the slightest degree interrupted ever
since. It also pretends to laugh at the appre-
hensions expressed in the French and English
Journals, respecting the line of policy that the
Russian Court will now pursue. It says that
there is not the least notion of a change and that
the Emperor is determined to adhere faithfully
to the engagement contracted by his predecessor.
We learn from the same authority that the taking
of the oaths in the military colonies at Novogorod
has been effected with the greatest order ; and,
moreover, that the new Sovereign, whenever he
shows himself, receives the strongest demonstra-
tions of respect and attachment from his subjects.
That part of the nation which loves quiet and mild
rule, is in all probability pleased at the exclusion
of Constantine ; but its influence is very limited
in a country here the army is every thing,
and finally decides every question like the one
we are speaking of.

peoltsriNcs. 21ceards..1
Whatever may be the opinion as to the con-
duct of affairs within the United Kingdom, there
cannot be a doubt that a remarkable change for
the better has taken place in the distant depen-
dencies of the empire. It is not only the passing
of laws, but the spirit in which justice is admi-
nistered, and the vigilance exercised from the
seat of Government in the mother country, that
have improved the colonial administration. Lord
G. Somerset, it appears, is recalled from his go.
vernment of the Cape of Good Hope—for the per-
mission given hint to return amounts to a recall.
This Noble Lord is distinctly and unequivocally
'ruder an accusation—and he is pledged by his
friends, in his name, to vindicate himself. Now
here the matter•certainly should rest until he enters
upon his vindication. An unpopular Governor is
recalled from a distant and not very important
Colony, and put upon his trial. This is sufficient
homage to justice and the rights of his Ma-
jesty's subjects in the Colonies. It skews that
an unjust exercise of power is not screened by
the highest title in the realm, great family con-
nections, and even distinguished public services
—for the name of Somerset, is, we believe, dis-
tinguished in the Annals of the British cavalry
during the late war. This Is enough--public'
opinion has beets referred to„and should be satis-
fied to await the issue. Till then the public
judgment should he suspended, The presump-
tions against hint should not be aggravated or pre.
judged, or his means of vindication attacked by
obloquy or. insinuatiou. The Noble Lord is uns
popular and accused, but may still be innocent.
The charge of an abuse of power is always listen.
ed to with a dangerous bias :—it is one of the
'exceptions to the general disposition in favour of
persons having to defend themselves against ac.
cusittion. But in this instance, as in others, accu-
sation should not be taken for proof—and the
individual should be judged only by the evi-
' deuce.. .Be it remembered, tooohat the friends
of Lord Charles Somerset are as sanguine
In their declarations of his ionocence„ and as
confident. of his having satisfactory rnears.s for his
vindication, •as those who furnish or they who
bring ,forward the charges against him. Perhaps
.4; mosee appropriate choice of a Governor nitwit,
in the first instance), .4ays been made for this co.
lony. , A person of military capacity may be tier
ricessary to resist
the formidableincursions to which
that territory is exposted
--,but he should be one
,more exorcised inistssiness and experience, and
snore likely to enter considerately into the wants.
, and interests of the governed. One of the disad-