The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-20 00:00:00

LONDON, SATuRDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1845.

meet it as became me, that then, what appeared far
worse than a soldier's sudden and violent death, over-
took me. I was at last utterly broken down, and unable
to move from my bed. My room was filled with noxious
insects, my health was utterly prostrated : at night,
thousands of rats gathered round my bed, and the last
feeble effort of my decaying strength was to use a stick
which the gaolers in mercy gave to me, to prevent those
horrible animals, three times as large as the European
rat, from attacking me in my bed. So frightful were
these days, and so horrible these nights, that I confess,
I was at last so unmanned by them as to wish fordeath.
" That death did not come to me, but it did to those
who were confined in the same horrible prison. One
was a Frenchman, Backly, who died in consequence of
his sufferings, and for whose unjust treatment Buenos
Ayres was subsequently blockaded by the fleet of
France. The other was a German who had been a
captain in the service of Rosas, and who, for some trivial
offence, was placed in this prison, where he had not long
been confined before he was driven to despair, and in the
madness of that despair, he cut his throat. I was not
aware at the time of the manner in which his death had
been produced, but when I saw the dead body carried
from the prison I envied the fate of one who had been
the victim of Rosas, and had at last escaped from him.
" The inte-position of the wife of Rosas had procured
me one respite—another was obtained for me through a
letter which arrived from Paris, in the middle of De-

comber, from General San Martin to the Ministers of
Row, recapitulating the services I had performe./,
pointing to the fact that it was to me those colours than
now waved in the cathedral of Buenos Ayres had been
intrusted—that for eleven days I had been shut up in a
cachuca in the Cordilleras of the Andes in a snow-storm
—that these very colours were for that time my only
covering at night—that I had sacrificed much to gain
and much to preserve them—and that I was a man,
years of experience enabled him to say, incapable of
intrigue or dishonour.

" The generous interference of my old and beloved
commander protracted my fate—but whether it could
have saved my life I know not. It did not procure me
my liberty—that only was obtained by a dispatch from
Lord Palmerston, as Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in-
sisting on my immediate liberation.

" The order for my prison doors being opened was
brought at nine o'clock on Christmas morning. The
chief of police tendered me my discharge, on condition
that I would give security in 60,000 dollars, that in
sailing for England I should not touch at Monte Video
or Rio Janeiro.

" The doors of my prison wore thrown wide—wide
open for me—and the cold, sweet, fresh air was at last
permitted to penetrate the fetid atmosphere in which I had
been expiring. I thought I should never have enough
of air—l tore open my jacket, that I might feel it on my
skin ; that it might be as balm to my body, which had
been withered and wasted without it. This is all I can
recollect ; for I am told I was delirious with pain, with
misery, and suffering. I could not walk—the nerves had
become torpid—my flesh so incapable of pain that I
could prod my thigh with a nail and not feel it.

"Iliad to lie carried, as if I were a child, in a carriage,
from the prison to my hotel. There the watchfulness
of a skilful physician and a valued friend, Dr. Hogan, at
length brought me back to life. Constant friction re-
stored the natural action to my limbs, so that, at the end
of a month, I was able to go on board a ship ; but so ill
was I, on my arrival in England, that Dr. Jefferson, of
Leamington, told me he could not guarantee my life ;
and it required his care and attention for three months
before I was restored to my usual health.
" This is the narrative of my imprisonment by Roses.
I have fulfilled my promise ; for in the course of it I
have not used one harsh epithet in depicting his conduct
towards me, and the sufferings I endured.
" And now the reader—the English reader—will bear
this fact in mind, that neither in word, in thought, nor
in act, had I provoked such treatment. I had done no
act against Rosas—l was ant accused of having done
any act against him. The pretext was that he suspected
me—for that suspicion he never even alleged that he
had the smallest proof —and my imprisonment was, in
his language, a precaution ; and when pressed by my
friends—for I had friends anxious for my release—he
evaded their intercession, by repeated promises that I
should next week, or the week after that, be set at large.
"It appears incredible that a British subject, who
bears with him the right to a habeas corpus, should, in
any country where the British flag is flying, and a Bri-
tish Minister received, be thus incarcerated for six
months and 25 days, and yet no criminal charge pre-
ferred against him before the constituted tribunals of that
country.
" All reason for doubt upon a circumstance seemingly
so improbable, rests upon a want of knowledge of the
perpetrator of this iniquity. Without a knowledge of
the character of Robespierre, of Denton, of Marat, the
crimes of the French revolution would be incredible.
" The reign of Roses in Buenos Ayres is ' a reign of
terror,' and that terror is inspired by him through the
instrumentality, first of his secret assassination society—
the Masorca Club—and next, by his open, avowed, and
audacious cruelties.

" Th. man who thus dared to defy the British flag
and to reduce a British Minister to silence, whilst he tried,
by a torturing incarceration, to kill a British subject, is
a man, the world may be assured, who, when his pas-
sions`and his interests are bound by no check, will
commit crimes that nature itself will shudder to hear of.
" If men did not know that an innocent subject of the
Queen of Britain had been thus treated by Rosas, they
would, for the sake of humanity, doubt that such crimes
would be committed as those that I am now about to
mentic.n. They will be found appalling ; but, what is
more appalling than their dreadful details, is the reflec-
tion that they are not all the evil Ruses has done—they
are specimens of the crimes that he has committed, and
that he is even now perpetrating."

ONLY A FIDDLER .r and O. T.; or, LIFE IN
DENMARK. Ti apish:lid by Mary Howitt. 3 Vols.
This is another of Mrs. Howitt's admirable transla-
tions. The English public owe her a debt of gratitude
for thus enabling them to enjoy the literature of the
North, which has, hitherto, been as a sealed book. it
is only a few months since we were first introduced to
Christian Anderson, in his beautiful tale of the " Impro-
visator° ;" and already we have a second work by the
same author, translated with equal fidelity and spirit.
Mrs. Howitt seems to have thoroughly understood the
authou, and gives us his ideas in her own beautiful lan-
guage. These volumes contain two stories of a very dif-
ferent character—they show the versatility of the
writer's genius. The second tale, "O. T.; or, Life in
Denmark,' is, apparently intended to contrast with the
" Improvisator° ; or, Life in Italy." Instead of the rap-
turous descriptions of American skies, or the glowing
language with which he panted the fair country of his
heart, we have minute details of domestic life, finished
portraits of private individuals, and admirable sketches
of Danish life, both in. the country and the capital. But
it is in the first story of Only a Fiddler!" that we recog-
nise the author of the "Improvisatore." Here the poet is
himself again. It is a beautiful and melancholy history,
full of tenderness and truth ; the sorrows of the child of
poverty and genius, toiling on his weary way, unknown
and unloved, are powerfully pourtrayed by one who has
felt them all. In writing the history of Christian, the
author remembered his own adventurous childhood,
and, probably, the following advice has been more than
once offered to himself :
" The Count looked compassionately on him, and Christian
pressed the hand of the kind gentleman to his lips, wetted
it with his tears, and besought him to let him be his servant.
He would clean his boots and shoes, rim errands for him, or
whatever else it might be, if he would only assist him, so
that he might be able to learn what was necessary, that at
length he might become such an artist as those of whom he
had told him.
" ' Yet, my good youth,' said the Count, ' that is not so
easy as you fancy it to be. Besides this, you must be pos-
sessed of a great deal of genius; and whether that is the case
or no, time can only prove. You must never forget that you
are a poor child! If you are possessed of real genius it will
make for itself a track, though you may have to buffet about
en the sea for yet another long year. Per aspera ad astra
Adversity purifi(m If it be so that anything is to come out
of you, a higher power will help you ; that you may of a
surety believe! I, alas! can do nothing for you; I have so
many others to care for'
" Withithese words he drew out his purse and gave the boy
a silver dollar, repeating at the same time the consoling
assurance that real talent always made for itself a way. Ile
then folded his cloak more closely about him, and leaned his
head on the wall in order to sleep.
" Those wore Icarus-wings which he fixed on the shoulers
of Genius—boldly formed wings ; but they were of lead. His
words, however, were the old theme, which from generation
to generation has sounded in the ears of Genius, and which
will yet, for centuries to come, be variously sounded, as long
as the world remains the same as that which gave the poison-
cup to Socrates and to Christ the crown of thorns."
The history of the poor youth, who was " Only a
Fiddler," is full of interest, for it is full of truth ; while
the adventures of the beautiful Jewess, Naomi, possess
all the adventitious charms of romance. Every page
contains some beautiful expression or some bright
thought, like the following :
" Dead! a world of sorrow lies in this one word. It is a
two-edged sword, which, at the same time that it murders
the beloved of our heart, penetrates so deeply into the bosom
that everything around us becomes dark, even though the
sun shine upon millions of happy beings. A single word,
short as the other, is able to drop consolation into the sick
heart and vouchsafe assistance ; it is
We find here the same ardent love of Italy which cha-
racterised the former work, but it is no longer a joyous
description of the beautiful country—it is the distant as-
pirations of a child of the North for the road of smiles
and sunshine. The Alps are the goal of all his desires.
He wishes to fly with the storks from the snows of his own
home, and seek the land of his love and his dreams.
The following is one of his numerous allusions to his be-
loved Italy :
" Her thoughts were dreaming of the peninsular, and
therefore she did not enjoy the present; they flew to the true
country of the Fata Morgana, towards Italy's sacred halls of
art. The Alps are their portals, the eagle a sparrow, which
builds its nest in their cornice; the pine-trees lift up their
lofty columns with their evergreen capitals. Here is the
home of music ; here blooms the rose in the Alpine snow.
The earth on which thy foot treads is drunken with the blood
of her noblest, is sanctified by the marble with which the
temples of antiquity are raised. Into the dead stone is life
breathed; it becomes an image which ravishes thy soul.
The sea is beautifully blue as the petal of the corn-Bower,
transparent as the drops of the fountain. Houris, lovely as
those from the paradise of Mahomet, smile on thee, land of
music and of colouring—ltalia!
" Thither! ' sang the poet of Mignon, and a thousand
hearts repeat, as a lamenting echo, the words of painfully
sweet longing, which will never be realised."

SPANISH DEBT.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sin,—as the time for announcing the nature of M. Mon's
new arrangement approaches, the different creditors seem on
the qui rice as to their allotments under it. Some say,
" Carry out the arrangement of 1843," and they are forth-
with answercdby other creditors, who say, " It never has been
carried out in its real meaning, and at any rate is now de-
funct by bankruptcy." One thing appears tolerably clear,
viz :—That it was unfair to the Cortes bondholders, ab initio,
and therefore that a just Minister of Finance would hail any
lawful opening for adjusting the equities of the various
claimants upon the Spanish Treasury; at the Pame time the
odds are fearful, and it needs a firm mind to resist the many
importunities assailing him to continue the dishonest advan-
tages which appear hitherto to have been practically obtained
( whatever was the intent) by the previous French creditors, and
those who became new creditors in 11134, over the Cortes loan
holders in respect to their unpaid interest. The parties either
by themselves, or by representation, are as follows :—Gueb-
herd's Loan, Rentes Perpetuelles Loan, New Loan of 1834,
and all holders of principal with simple interest, r. Arrear of
interest from 1823 to 1834 on the Cortes Loans, and its com-
pound intores—or, four to one. Will the righteous and just
principles of the gpanish financier turn the scale ? Verrons.
Your obedient servant, and subscriber,
AN OLD HOLDER OF CORTES BONDS.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
SOUTHAMPTON RACES.—MONDAY.
The Southampton Handicap of 10 sovs. each, h ft, with 50
added ; the second to save his stake. One mile and three
quarters.
Mr. Roles Hampton, 6 yr 5......
Mr. Death's Misdeal, 6 yrs
••• •• 00000 2
Mr. Treen's Wild Rose, 3 yrs
The Maiden Plate of 30 sovs., added to a Sweepstake of
3 sovs. each ; three yrs old, 7st 51b ; four, Bst 61b ; five
Bst 101 b; six and aged, 9st; mares and geldings allowed
31b. The winner to be sold for 100 sovs. if demanded, &c.
If entered to be sold for 80 sovs. allowed 51b ; for 60/., 101 b ;
for 40/., 141 b. Heats, once round and a distance.
Mr. R. J. Southby's b g Waterloo, 6 yrs (Parr) 0 1 1
Mr. Wilson's Jessie Hammond, 3 yrs (40) 1 0 3
Mr. Hardy's Corinthian Tom, 3 yrs
Mr. Goldsworthy's br g Strap, 6 yrs (40)
The Shirley Stakes of 5 sovs. each, with 25 added; two yrs
old, Est; three, 7st 71b; four, Bst 101 b; five, 9st; six and
aged, 9st 41b ; mares and geldings allowed 31b. The
winner to be sod for 120 soya., if demanded, &c. Winners
extra. T.Y.C.
Mr. E Dyson's b h Devil-to-pay, 4 yrs (Mann) 1
Lord G. Bentinek's br f Malvoisie, 2 yrs 2
Mr. Wilson's ch f Miss Diggory Diddle, 4 yrs 3
The Member's Plate of 501, added to a Sweepstakes of 5
soya. each. Three-yrs-old, 7st 21b; four, Bst 61b ; five,
9st ; six and aged, 9st. 41b. Mares and geldings allowed
31bs. Winners, &c. Heath, once round and a distance.
Mr. Bray's Paul Clifford, 5 yrs
TUESDAY.
The Stoneham Park Stakes of 5 sovs. each, with 50 added.
Weights, &c., the same as for the Member's Plate. Heats,
once round and a distance.
Mr. Treen's Wild Roe, 3 yrs (150) ... 1
• ....

Mr. Sadler's Idleness, 4 y-rs (150)
Mr. Death's Isleworth, 6 yrs (60)
Mr. Pearce's Florine, 3 yrS (CO)

Mr. Dorrien's b c by Slane, Out.of Adela, 3 yrs 5 dr
The Hunters' Stakes of 5 soya. each, with 20 added; four
vrs old lOst, five 1 Ist, six and aged list 71b; thorough-
bred and winners extra. The winner to be sold for 200
sm. if demanded, &c.; gentlemen riders. Mile and three
quarters.
Mr. R. Southby's Waterloo, 6 yrs
Mr. Hardy's Little Dan, aged
Mr. Bray's Paul Clifford, 5 yrs
The Borough Stakes of 3 sous. each, with 25 added (three
yrs old 7st 41b, four Bst 61b, five Bst 121 b. six and aged 9st
llb ; mares, &c., allowed 31b; heats, once round and a dis-
tance) were won in three heats. by Mr. Bray's Adrian, aged,
Bst, beating Mr. Godsworthy's Strap, 6 yrs, Bst, Mr. Sadler's
b fby Venison, out of Folly, 3 yrs, 6st 31b, and Mr. Wil-
son's Freystrop, 4 yrs.
The Champagne Stakes of 3 sovs. each, with 30 added, for three
yrs old and upwards (winner to be sold for 80/., once round
(6 Subs.), were won in four heats by Mr. Hardy's Corinthian
Tom, 3 yrs, beating Mr. King's The Artful Dodger, 6 yrs,
and Mr. J. Southby's Waterloo, 6 yrs.
The Handicap for the beaten horses was won by Mr.
Death's Isleworth, 6 yrs, Bst 71b (Wakefield), beating Mr.
Wilson's Miss Diggory Diddle, 4 yrs, 7st 131 b, and three
others.

UXBRIDGE YEOMANRY RACES.—TUESDAY.
The Handicap race was won in four heats by Mr. Draper's
Bobby, 12st (owner), beating Mr. T. Williamson's Maid of
the Mill, 12st, Mr. F. Norman's King of the Gipsies, and three
others.
The Sweepstakes, catch weights, were won, in two heats,
by Mr. Roadnight's Ten of Trumps, beating Rubens.i
The Yeomanry race was won, in two heats, by Mr. Bayley's
Gardener (owner), beating Alice Gray, Beeswing, Fanny, and
several others.

REDDITCH RACES—MONDAY. •
The Hack Stakes of 3 sovs. each, with 15 added. Heats,
once round and a distance.
Mr. Haly's br g The Bird, 6 yrs, I Ist 71b (Bradley) 1 0 1
Mr. Wycherley's g Heir-at-Law, 3 yrs, 9st 41b
Mr. Dan's br g Fickle, 6 yrs, list, 71b
Mr. Hatherley's b h Young Economy, 6 )79, list
101 b
Mr. Palmer's bm by Wamba, 6 yrs, 1 Ist lib
Mr. Perks na Ranger, aged, 11 st 71b
The Hurdle Stakes of 3 sovs each, with 15 added, two
miles, were won in two heats, by Mr. Perks na Ranger,
aged, list 91b, beating Mr. Williamson's Lawyer, Ilst 91b,
and Mr. Godwin's Pretty Doe, I Ist 91b.
The Sweepstakes of 1 soy. each, with a purse added, were
won in two heats by Mr. Custree's na Jem Crow, 6 yrs,
beating Mr. Perks na Warwickshire Lass, aged, Mr. Hum-
phrey's Little Fanny, and Mr. Richards's Young Deputy,
3 yrs.