The Sun.
London, England, 1826-12-15 00:00:00

land ers.

We received this morning the Hamburg, id.-- 0
pondent-of the 9th inst, from whiCh the following $r
the only extracts worth making :
/Trassatlasn, I,i-c. _f
citlNLVhiuovtelerfiTuowexe:ahave an extremely mild autumn and of:6':: (..
winter, we find that they have bad snow for some weeko pal in
the Southern provinces.
On the 25th of Oct. the shipping season at Archangel ".11°
closed. The number of vessels that have arrived during the /lir
was 211, of which 171 were English.
tfhoellonwiginhgt,inodraenivne.ll
gTuheesN:wvareafindreithbeythree chief Wall °I ‘l-
-
neytthheeeiavrerlbiaennfgkasan,ysant4dadriteaagver:roal:p.":.:theeeke oqhfuen7heneet.incititYea;:b:P:
great danger. The lamps sates he Admiralty Were lighted 01.° li:
but we
The new Austrian Loan has been taken til;etbloetclorigt:r'a:taosircis:sgg:6.
---

bedusillt;; poS'
bigD, :tot
ici ht a
iPn asp:nseoaf
etchoeu
n 1
t3st I
ft
roi nms t . j racy:: v
the Dutch
seas little interest, as the struggles between
iled
troops and the rebels have been already fully dela 5
cortsllAo the D.Ec;;:the
Not only the farmers begin to take courage fog? tblsr;,,,, slaut.hv
corn prices, but the West India Planters have bau
2a 8p,:::: 0: productive
sG.cruo:fihpbtlyigelal a.
preceding years. The island of St. Croix ale" has Pr
ILICHANGII6 OW LONDON, ,
WO months, 56 ''
PITIIISBUSCH Nov.
Dzaux D ' 24."--6 11-16
Lieirs ' ".
6.—Three months, 6 271-
tc, Mc. 4.—Three months, 6 Y 7 f.
VIENNA, 9rt.si.t_snill
7; two
good the deficiencies otoduo;1
Ams
ito Nov.• .--Two months, 10 5.
TE ADI, Dxc. 12.-40 I ; two months, 59 11.
. t..

mai!lsisfriOnlat
3; and Rio Janeiro, Oct. 27th. The contents of them'
are by no means important. We subjoin a few e%to.cattli:
.iri‘esitayd'seipzdkaettedbriAgußg.esdr;leiih; aorarihvie:
one of which, we regret, is fraught with the most' rlie,
culous absurdityi in describing the EMPERO'S f
p
sire to have a Celestial Chief Patron of the
Emire °

KW DS JANSIRO, °GT. 12,, ,
March,
ointhiatiociscasmailly
This day being the Emperor's birth-day was ttelebrated nil"'
great pomp.
The Dario of the 14th is filled with lists of promotions old
13th May, 7th September, and 12th October, Jh'il "P has ordered that the 9th January, 0,111
observed throughout the Empire as national festivals.
His Majesty has conferred on the city of St. Salvador, the
capital of the province of Bahia, the title of " Lori 811 "..'
tient."
Oct. 20.—The Diario contains an Edict of the Bishop oi
Rio, announcing that his Majesty, animated by the religion and piety
for which be and all the persons of his Royal liouNe are &oli-
goished, had been sensibk that he could not properly managtithe
affairs of his people, unlegt be procured a celestas! patron, srbo,l4`
his intercession with God, might obtain for him the strength ne.,
emery for good government. He did not went to consider loot;
f" being particularly devoted to bunesake, St. Pedro de
Alcantara, of the order of the hlinorites of St. Francis, he, rt.
solved to choose him for the principal patron of tbe whole ear

Brazil.

pine, and that the election might be made according to the cus-
tom of the Holy Catholic Church, he applied to his Holiness
Pope Leo XII. to confirm this election, with which request his
Holiness has been pleased to comply.

Boston Papers of the 18th November have been re•
ceived at the North and South American Coffee-house,
The following are extracts :

LATE AND L;TORTANT 111.031 COLOMBIA.—By the Gertrude
from Porte Cavello, a gentleman of this city has received a letter
from hie friend at La Guayra, dated Oct. 17, communicating the
important intelligence that Paez is retracing his steps, and that
the insurteetionary movements in Venezuela are about to subside
of their own accord without even the interference of the General
Government. The following are extracts:—
LA GUATRA, OcT. 17.—Great changes, and for the better,
have taken place; the leaders and promoters of the faction are, by
their recent acts, convinced that the people are not to be ruled,
or even urged into civil war, and that their devotion is not
so absolute as in the first instance their vanity led them to
suppose ; at the meeting of the people called by order of General
Paez upon his arrival at Caraccas, it was resolved to discharge
the forces 'raised for defence or other purposes, that a deputation
of three of the most respectable men in Caraccas be forthwith dis-
patched to Bogota, humbly to represent the wishes of Vene-
, zuela--in short, to place things as near as possible as they stood
ere this unfortunate event took place. All this has been done, and
the consequence is, confidence is about to be restored. We cer-
tainly consider the affair quite at an end. So far as concerns the
power of the general Government in this district, Bolivar is ab-
solute in the hearts of the people; we have certain accounts of
hie being on his way, and from what has taken place in affairs,
and the great intimacy that subsists between Paez and Madame
Bolivar, some of the wise ones augur, nay assert as a fact, that
Paez and Bolivar have a perfect understanding, but that great sa-
crifices are to be made,—names are mentioned, &c. Upon this
we are silent, congratulating ourselves on the happy tamination
of this Jain—New Vork Gazette.

The following has been received at Lloyd's this
morning, dated Portsmouth, 14th inst. :

Arrived the Fanny Voase, Lister, from Oporto, sailed the 7th
jug. She has brought passengers, who report the Spanish Am
hattador was ordered away from Lisbon at 24 hours notice, but le
11441 petitioned to remain a few days as a private individual.
The Rebels had pillaged, burnt, and destroyed the town of Bra-
ganca, and ill-treated the inhabitants. The Marquis of Chaves,
alias Silveira, the Commander of the Rebels, had reached Miran-
dolls, according to report, and fears were entertained that they
would attack Oporto. It was likewise reported that the Ministers
of State, with the exception of two, had proved faithless. Nina
English vessels were left at Oporto.

The following letter was received from Portsmouth
Yesterday

PORTSIIIOUTM, DEC. IS.

"His Majesty's ship Alligator, 28 guns, Captain Chads, arri-
ved this afternoon from the East Indies. Left Madras on the 3d
of August, Trincomalee on the Ist September, and the Cape of
Good Hope 48 days since, bringing dispatches and letters from
~.thtle places. No news of any great importance. No specie.—
The 2d division of the army had arrived at Madras from Rangooon.
" Orders came to-day to embark the 4th Regiment of Foot, now
la this garrison, on board the Romney, 50 guns, Capt. Lockyer,
or Lisbon. They go on board at day=light to-morrow.
" His Majesty's ship Melville, 74 guns, Captain Hill, ordered
It!, take troops to Lisbon, has, by great exertions, been got ready
*". sea. She will go out of harbour to-morrow. A part of the
63d Regiment, which is to come in on Friday and Saturday, is
to embark in her.
" The first division of the Guards is to march in on Sunday
and Monday, to embark in the Wellesley, 74, for Lisbon.
"The Royal Horse Artillery, 900 men, ate quite ready for
active service. They expect orders to embark immediately.
" As much activity and zeal prevail in our public departments
as at the commencement of hostilities which were likely to last
for another quarter of a century."

By letters received from Halifax, dated Nov. 20,
we learn that Captain WALLIS, of the Niemen, has
been invalided ; Captain CANNING, of the Grass-
hopper, had been promoted into the Niemen ; and
Lieutenant COURTENAY BOYLE, son of the Hon.
Commissioner BOYLE, had been promoted to the
rank of Commander into the Grasshopper.

It was our painful duty about a fortnight ago to
Mention the alarming state of the health of the Mar-
91iis of HASTINGS, and the melancholy duty devolved
open us last night of recording the death of that dis-
tinguished person. By a letter which we have re-
ceived from Naples, dated the 30th of November, we
!earn that the Noble Marquis died on board his Ma-
Jeuy's ship Revenge on the 28th, and that his re-
m,ains were to be conveyed by his Majesty's ship
-iriarine, Capt. FITZCL A RENCE, to Malta, for inter-
inent, in conformity with the wishes his Lordship had
expressed. Tlie Marchioness of HASTINGS would
te,main at Naples for some time. Vice-Admiral Sir
k. NEALE, in the Revenge, was to proceed on the 3d
Inst. to Marseilles.

The numberless inconsistencies which the present
law of libel daily brings forth, make us look with more
than common attention to this branch of our jurispru-
dence. That a party libelled should he permitted to
seek his remedy against the several persons who have,
by their publications, disseminated the libel, does ap-
Pear, at first.sight, but little more than common jus-
tice. But, on reflexion, it will be found to bring with
't a series of extensive evils, that seem loudly to de-
It''''lld a cure. The parties most immediately affected
"Y this state of the law are the public journalists, who
144 a task imposed upon them, at all times suf-
ficiently laborious and anxious without being
loaded with this additional responsibility ; a re-
sponsibility, be it known, without bounds, and
which therefore the longest and weightiest purse
cannot withstand. Their duty to the
public is to
give them the current news of the day, and as long as
that current news appears ill the shape of original
articles of any particular journal, that journal and its
Proprietors and Editor, have always disdained to shrink
from any responsibility, and have held themselves at
all times liable to vindicate the truth of the statement,
or to make amends to any injured party by a counter-
statement co-extensive in numbers with the statement
complained of. The public journalists, however, do
loudly and justly complain, that all who copy an
article from another journal, should be made respon-
sible for the contents of that article, when they annex
to it the name of the journal from which it was copied.
.They do complain of this, because they conceive the law
to this respect does not proceed upon the immutable prin-
ciples of justice, andis at variance with the object of a
Itbelled party in seeking redress in a Court of Law, viz.
the vindication of his character. Every person who mul-
t FiPlies his actions against the different journals which
Pave published the article he complains of; seems to
!Word pa
ground for the slander to rest upon, by show-
'''g himself more anxious to make a trade of his dia-
., racter, than to seek to vindicate it from detraction and
t
Ibtl• In all actions for libels it is necessary to charge
1 7 I:114kt against the libeller. Now' this allegation the
tudgea hold may be presumed, from the simple fact
that a libel published. By this sort of violent pre-
, 44 .
~
tliPtion' We often see that one of two persons, utter
atra ,-
ngerkto
one another, the existence ofneither of whom
Lah ,nol to the other at the time the libel was pub-
, eu, is 'convicted of entertaining malice towards the

other, in the very teeth of evidence and of every rea-
sonable presumption to the contrary. This we do af-
firm is unjust, and do stoutly maintain, that at least
the existence of some ill-will, some misunderstanding,
however slight, between the two, should be shown
before the Jury is instructed to take that for granted
which, in nine out of every ten cases, really does not
exist.

Verbal slander may be repeated by thousands with
impunity, subject to the condition of naming the ori-
ginal author at the time. Now, here is a fine oppor-
tunity for malice to work upon. It repeats the
slander with industrious activity, and dissemi-
nates it through the immediate neighbourhood
of its victim with rapid circulation ; and yet
in this case this malicious slanderer shall escape,
whilst, under similar circumstances in libels, the first
and every subsequent publisher is held responsible,
although no malice did or could exist. What great
difference is there between a libel and slander, that
so great, so strong a limit is placed to the responsibi-
lity of the repeaters of a tale, but is denied to the
publishers of printed libels ?
Truth is said (perhaps justly) to be a libel. A plea
of truth, however, is allowed to go in mitigation of
damages, but not to be a full answer to the action, and
is none at all to an indictment. If a plea of truth is
to be allowed at all, it ought to be permitted to have
a full operation, and be allowed to be a perfect answer
to any action or indictment, whether for libel or slan-
der. It would also only be just to permit the plea to
state generally, that all or certain specified parts
of a libel or of verbal slander are true, without com-
pelling the plaintiff to allege the truth of the libel in the
same words as the libel itself was written. This would
be a decided improvement in the law, and one against
which no possible objection can be urged.
If it shall be deemed improper to limit the respon-
sibility in cases of libel in the same manner as in cases
of verbal slander, then we say that some protection
should be granted against the extortion of low attor-
nies, who very frequently bring actions against innocent
parties who, in the course 'of their employment as pub-
lic journalists, have unwittingly published an article
which reflects, perhaps truly, on this or that
individual. Such actions are only brought for
the sake of the costs which a verdict, however small
the damages may be, causes the defendant to
pay. 'We therefore wish that actions for libels
should be placed on a similar footing with many ac-
tions of trespass, where the plaintiff is not allowed to
recover any greater costs than damages. Such a
provision would at all events operate as a restraint, and
prevent parties from multiplying actions for the same
libel, except in eases where the,legitimate object, " vin-
dication of private 'character, is really and truly ill
view.

City, Two o'Clock.

Our City Reporter states, that information has
been received from Paris, which positively mentions
that our Ambassador there has had an interview with
VILLELE on the affltirs 'of Portugal. Lord GRAN-
vIL LE informed VILLELE that it was the determina-
tion of the British Government to land five thousand
British troops at Lisbon. VILLELE expressed him-
self much satisfied in the conduct of the English
Government, and immediately entered into an ar-
rangement with Lord GRANVILLE on the subject.
He also states that the accounts by private letters
from Oporto to the 7th inst. are not quite so alarm-
ing as at first reported. The alarm which had ex-
isted, much abated on its being known that the
British Troops were landing at Lisbon from
Gibraltar, and that more were expected.--The
insurgents had only reached Mirandola, which is
about 100 miles from Oporto. Reports are said to
have existed in Paris that the Royalists had been de-
feated.