The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-20 00:00:00

AMED OCCLTPATION OF
ANGIERS BY TILE FRENCH.
The Patrie, Paris journal, of Saturday evening,
has the following article :
" Rumours of the highest importance were circu-
lated to-day •at the Bourse. It was said that the
Prince de Joinville had landed, and had taken posses-
sion of Tangiers, where the tri-coloured flag was
waving at the present moment.
" It was added, that the English Consul had imme-
diately protested against this measure.
" The complication of these events, the strange si-
lence on the part of Government—all this has caused
a real panic, which has produced a considerable fall
in the prices of public securities, as will be seen in
our report below, that the Three per Cents. fell 75
centimes and the Fives lf. 10c.
" There were other reports mentioned, besides
these. It would appear that the King received the
imprtant news we have just mentioned, last evening,
at the moment he was going to dinner, and the
Ministers were instantly sent for to meet in council,
over which his Majesty presided. After the council,
extraordinary couriers were dispatched in all di-
rections.
" Finally, persons who pretend to be well informed
assert that Tangiers, immediately after the bombard-
ment, had been pillaged, plundered, and laid waste by
the Moors themselves. Some exaggeration there may
be in these rumours; but public anxiety is extreme
and fur the Government to remain silent longer would
ba an unpardonable fault."

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM TrIE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
esLOBE.—The bombardment of Tang.ers—even
though the active intelligence should lack confirma-
tion—would be sufficiently threatening to the dura-
tion of peace, with which the essent;al interests of I
England and France are identified. Ili re is, how-
ever,
hope that war yet will be averted. The forbear-
ance of Lord Aberdeen is proverbial. The lamb-like
patience that has hitherto shown itself invulnerable,
still promises to be proof against this additional in-
stance of French aggression. The Herald—which,
in all the qualities that separates our Foreign Minister
from the sympathies that have been roused
throughout the nation against the reiterated inso-
lence and injuries of France, bears a striking resem-
blance to its patron and prompter—bestows a reproof
upon us for our remarks on this now all-absorbing
event. Tangiers is not, it seems, of sufficient im-
portance to warrant a moment's regard from a nation so
great and glorions as England ! France may, accord-
ing to the Herald, be permitted to play what pranks
she pleases on the entire line of the African coast ;
bombard what towns she pleases, and occupy what ter-
ritory she pleases, without calling forth any expression
from England, beyond, perhaps, an expostulation uttered
with" bated breath," against what cannot be altogether
approved. If a remark, prompted by surprise and
indignation at fhe indifference or pusillanimity which
characterises the Ministers of this country, be
uttered, the complaint is met by the ready excla-
mation, " England is great; and Sir Robert
Peel is Minister !" What necessity can exist for
uneasiness ; eve though one event after another,
each indicative the aggressive policy of France,
tread each other's heel? " Who's afraid ?" The
Iteraldtassigns a long string of reasons—some of
them veiy strange ones; which are adduced for the pur-
se of making out a justification for ministerial for-
bearance :—" England has nothing to fear, in the vul-
gar sense of the word, from a war. At this moment
the surplus revenue of the country, beyond its expen-
diture, represents a capital of nearly one hundred
millions sterling, which might be doubled or trebled
if necessary, and true economy would dictate to engage
in war ' cum toto corpore regni,' should the cruel
necessity of war be forced upon us. And not
only are the pecuniary resources, but all the
other elements of military power at hand. We have
an ample, if not a redundant, population. We, too,
have a bold and high-spirited youth, whom we do not
always find it easy to provide for in peaceful occupa-
tions. We have an enormous amount of capital (the
Three per Cents. have been hovering about par), the
possessors of which would not be sorry for a more active
demand for it. We have manufacturers who do not
forget the prodigious fortunes acquired between
1793 and 1815 ; and agriculturists not unacquainted
with the prices of that period—even our labourers
sometimes think of war wages." What is this but a
repetition of the old story of the countryman, who
sought improvement of a good state of health, and be-
took himself to a quack ? To the questions, "Do
you eat well ?—Drink well ?—Sleep well ? "—the
answers were " Yes." "Oh !" said the quack, " I
will give you something which shall speedily cure you
of all that." The nation's " surplus revenue," derived
from th income-tax, will give place to formi-
dable deficiency. " A redundant population"
will be readily got rid of by the wholesale
destruction of life that is occasioned by war.
" The bold and high-spirited youth, for whom it
is not easy to find employment in peaceful occupa-
tions," will be provided for by commissions in the sud-
denly-raised fleets and armies that will be required in
the war, on a grand scale, which England is suffi-
ciently wealthy and powerful to undertake. " The
Three per Cents., which have been hovering about
par," will rapidly sink to 60 ; and the fundholders
" will not be sorry for a more active demand for their
capital," in the loans which the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer will be compelled to raise to provide the sinews
of war. " Our manufacturers," continues this profound
lecturer on the commercial advantages of war, " do
not forget the prodigious fortunes acquired between
1793 and 1815." The manufacturers who profited
by the war were chiefly those who fabricated the
munitions of war, which were purchased by the
Government with the money raised by means of
enormous taxes imposed upon every imaginable article
consumed by the people. There are " agricultu-
rists who still remember the prices of that period.
Even our labourers," adds this approved Govern-
ment guide, " sometimes think of war-wages!"
Yes; and these different classes, whom the Herald
represents as desirous of war, have also a salutary
recollection of the widely-spread ruin caused by a
return to peace, and to peace-prices. The immense
increase to the National Debt, and the perpetuity of
the immense load of annual taxation imposed on the
country to pay the interest of that sum ; with
the °tiler numerous calamities which were entailed
non the nation by the " just and necessary war," in
which England was engaged from 1793 to 1815 ; are,
we trust, sufficiently impressed upon the memories, and
seen and felt in the daily privations of the community,
to cause a renewal of war to be deprecated as a fearful
visitation, and an aversion of its threatened curse to be
anxiously hoped for, as a deliverance from the worst
of national evils. As to the insignificance of Tangiers,
on which the Herald expatiates, as a reason for
allowing the French to occupy it, and the
whole territory of Morocco, if they please,
without the remonstrance or interference of
England—we are happy to find that at present
there is no response to the disgraceful hint. It
would be a shorter and a less troublesome
course to surrender Gibraltar to the French, without
further question, than to allow England's power to be
frittered away by the occupancy of Tangiers by ?
French army. Could not the dispute be arranged by
a French "Protectorate" being established on the old
rock, in order to keep the English in order, and as a
retaliation for some fancied affront to thegreat nation,
in not allowing them to do as they please upon it ?
STANDARD.—Whoever has had the misfortune
to be intimately acquainted with an hypochondriac
(and it is a plague that few escape through life) must
Le aware that there is nothing more unac-
ceptable to the sufferer from imaginary ma-
ladies than the plain, and what ought to be
the consolatory truth, that there is nothing
really the matter. Flatter his delusion, assure him
that he is in a dying state, and if friend you will
I.e welcome, if physician well fed, and if relation
duly considered in the ready will : but dare to tell
the truth, promise length of days, recommend beef
stakes, port, and an excursion on the moors,
and you are sure to lose friend, patient, or in-
heritance, according to the relation in which you
stand. Nor is it only in respect to bodily ail-
ments that this unreasonable hypochondria pre-
vails, though doubtless the high and palmy state of
in. edieal quackery in our day demonstrates its preva-
lence in that department. There are hypochondriacs
upon all subjects —every one remembers the doleful
gentleman in Goldsmith's
always visited
with his bitterest resentment,' those
who told him that his fears and his resentments were
groundless. Weatetempted to quote a passage for thebenefit of our Contemporary
tn.it will
i alarmists.My v " y
with
deari t
lloneywood—Look atfreeze you terror—andyet my wife can read it—can read •t
and laughs.' The friend i ,
appealed to gives no en-
couragement to fear, and our disappointed liypochon-
&Lie proceeds, " How, sir, do you •
I should lie down under such an maintain that
d
show neither by my tears nor complaints,
that a
I have something of the spirit of a man in
me ?" Whoever will compare this last touch-
ing appeal with some recent articles of the
Morning Chronicle, Times, &c., and, comparing,
will observe the community not only of principle,
but almost of phrase, between the apostrophe
of Goldsmith's humouriet and the remonstrances of
, our public instruct ,'s, will, N we think, agree with us
s : that all nervous .tucies are not limited to corporal
ailments, and that there is much quackery which has
ao concern with pills, draughts, or lotions. The public,
Tin fact, always has been, and always will be a
• complex giant hypochondriac. And the press, we
anust say it to our shame, lives in a great
measure by exciting the absurd fears of this
REWSpAritice. Take the history of Great Britain for
' ' last fifty years—that history is, certainly,
ills.-4-- re(F.ttie
~k which. prosperity predominates. But be-
t et seee • ,
~,.---1:..
._._ c v., . te )10 predictions of the press, and the coun-
t ...,-.--t,! :.o ...401,0 t have perished at least twenty years ago,
i
of the press been adopted
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