The Sun.
London, England, 1828-03-14 00:00:00

r•it
steitV
e-f,"
A 41,
(IA r.

LONDON,
FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 14, MS.

The Morning Papers will have h that war has
actually been declared by Russia, and that her
armies have crossed the Pruth. Ail this may he
very true, but no authentic intel:igence to that effect
bas yet transpired.
The reasons ascribed to Russia for this proceed-
ing will be found under the " Spirit of the Public
Journals."

There can be little doubt, after the prolonged ex-
citement of the last twelve months, that the Russian
soldiery ardently covet war, with its prolific train of
adventurous enterprise and prospective plunder;
and it may be the policy as well as the interest
of the Emperor Nicuor.As to gratify their desires,
while he thereby forwards his own ambitious views.
His present intention is said only to be—the occu-
pation of the Principalities, in consequence of,
and as an indemnity for, the nonfulfilment of
the treaty of Alterman, by the' PoRTE.

The Gazette de France dated yesterday, has been
received by Express. The Austrian Observer of
the 3d of March, contains some remarks upon what
it terms the Manifesto of the Ottoman Porte, which
it declares to be, a rhapsody in the form in which it
circulates in Europe, and not meriting the name of
an authentic document, much less of a diplomaticnote.
It states, what we have already said, that it had
never been printed in Turkey, nor read in the
mosques, but only circulated to the Ayans through-
out the Turkish provinces, for their information and
governmem. The REIS EFFENDI has even gone so
far as to say that many passages of it, as circulated
in Europe, are either forged or disfigured. Under
these circumstances it was expected at Vienna that
the Divan would yield.
The French Minister of Finance presented his
Budget to the Chamber, on the 12th. The fol-
lowing is an abstract of its contents, as far as they
Could be collected from the Minister's speech :

" The statement of the accounts of 1826 offers an excess
of receipts above the expenditure of 6,164,443 f.
" The view of the receipt and expenditure of 1827 gives
an excess of expenditure of 35,200,000 f.
" But we found in other parts of the speech that this
deficit is covered to the amount of 31,600,000 francs, by
a eredit on the Spanish Government, and other items.
" As for the extraordinary expellees which the affairs of
the East, America, or Spain, may render necessary in 1828,
they are all eventual, and are not to be covered by the ordi-
nary revenues of the State."

We received yesterday afternoon, by Express,
New York Papers to the 16th ult. They contain the
important fact of the death of DE WITT CLINTON,
Governor of the State of New York. He died
of apoplexy on the 11th of February, in the
evening, whilst sitting in his chair in the midst
of his family. The event created a great sensation
in New York, as will be seen by extracts which we
have given in another column. The Senate, Public
Bodies, and Courts of Law, suspended public busi-
ness in respect to his memory.

Lisbon Gazettes have been received to the 2d of
March. On the 26th of February the Infant Don
MIGUEL took the oath to the Constitutional Char-
ter, in the presence of the two Chambers, the Court,
and Diplomatic Body. On the 27th the PRINCESS
REGENT published a Proclamation, resigning the
office of Regent to her August Brother :

LISBON, FEB. 24.

To day at noon his Serene Highness the Infant Don
Miguel, accompanied by his august sister, went in state
from the Palace of Ajuda to attend the solemn Te Deum
performed by the Cardinal Patriarch, on occasion of the
happy arrival of his Highness in this city.
It is wholly out of our power to find words to deseribe
the enthusiasm of the immense numbers of persons who
crowded the streets through which his Highness had to pacs.
On the 26th there is to be a Royal Sitting of the two
Chambers, united at the Palace of Ajuda, in which his
Royal Highness the Infant Don Miguel will take the oath.

LISBON, FEB. 26.

His Royal Highness the Infant Don Miguel, Regent of
these Kingdoms, this day took the oath in the Royal Sit-
ting of the Chambers. At one o'clock the Members of the
two Chambers, and the Officers of the Court and the Royal
Household, and the Diplomatic Body, being present, his
4ighness the Infant Don Miguel entered the hall, accom-
Allnied.by his august sisters, and took his seat on the left
hand of the Infanta Donna Isabella Maria. Her Royal
Highness having delivered her discourse on laying down
the Government; took another seat next to the Infanta D.
Maria da Assempcao. • After this, his Royal Highness Don
Miguel took the oath, as prescribed by Articles 76 and 97
of the Constitutional Charter, which was announced by
three salutes of artillery.
The :Lisbon Gazette of Feb. 27, contains, in the offi-
cial part, the following article :
DEPARTMENT OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE
• " ' KINGDOM.
WORTHY PEERS OF THE KINGDOM, AND SENORES DE-
PUTIES or -THE 'PORTUGUESE NATION,--

An' extraordinary circumstance, which at' this moment
calls the attention of all Europe, and fixes the wishes of all
its Governments, and which must completely satisfy the
wishes of all the Portuguese, unites you to-day in this Hall.'
My beloved Brother, the Infant Don Miguel appointed to
assume the regency of these kingdoms, has at length hap-
pily arrived, and is going to-day, by the most solemn act,
to ratify and confirm in the midst of the nation the seine
oath which he has long since voluntarily taken.
Under these circumstances my august Brother the In-
fant Don Miguel, lawfully called to so exalted a destiny,
welcomed by the desires of all the nation, and accompanied
by the unanimous wish of all the powers, whom an en-
lightened policy unites in the common interest of Europe,
is going to be placed for the happiness of the country in a
situation which is 'in 'every respect adapted to show the
wisdern'of his intentions, the firmness of his character, and
the-moderation of his principles—principles of which the
nation has already received in his own words Ithe mast
secure pledge.
It may, therefore, be hoped that this European event,
which will for ever mark a distinguished period in the
annals of Portuguese history, which as it completely ful-
fils the wishes of the people, will also entirely satisfy their
wants and their desires.
As for me, relieved to-day from a burden so superior to
my strength, which I resignedly accepted out of obedience,
and which, from obedience, Most joyfully lay down, I shall
always form the most ardentiwishes for the happiness of a

nation, whose true interests were always dear to me, and
shall consider the honour of having governed it as the most
valuable title of my glory.

CHAMBER OF PEERS.

In the Sittings of the 21st and 22d, the trial of the four
Peers was continued, and in the latter the Count Taipa
declared that he and the other Peers wished to decline any
defence beyond what resulted from the witnesses already
examined, and desired that the Chamber might pass
sentence upon them that day, because, if that
was not done, they should not be able to be pre-
sent at the Royal Sitting, and this would be a punish-
ment which, if innocent, they ought not to suffer. The
Count de Linhares proposed to let the cause fall to the
ground, because there was no foundation for it. After
some debate, it being observed by the Count Rio Pardo
that it would be contrary to all rules to conclude the pro-
ceedings so abruptly, and the time being come when they
were to go to meet the Infant Don Miguel whose landing
had just been announced, it was resolved to dose the sitting.

Hamburgh, Dutch, and Brussels Papers to a late
date have been received. An article from Berlin
discredits the report that the Emperor of PERSIA
refuses to ratify the treaty concluded by ABBAS
MIRZA with the Russian Generals :

LENTZBERG, FEB. 17.

On the 14th February the Great Council of the Canton
of Arau, in a sitting which lasted from nine in the morn-
ing till eight in the evening, rejected almost unanimously
the Concordat for the re-organization of the Bishopric of
Basle, which had been accepted by the Cantons of Berne,
Soleure, Lucerne, Basle, and Zug, but on condition that
it should be accepted by all the cantons belonging to the
diocese. This event has excited the greatest joy, not only
in the town and canton, but in other parts of Switzer-
land, and even as far as the public is concerned in Soleure.

BERLIN, MARCH 4.

Our journals repeat the report given by the Concilia-
Our, but which deserves no credit, that the Emperor of
Persia refuses to ratify the treaty concluded by.his son,
Abbas Mirza, with the Russian Generals.

BRUSULS, MARCH 8.

The return of his Excellency Viscount Dubois to Gi-
signies, his Majesty's Commissioner-General in the East
Indies, is put off for two years.
The accounts from the sea coast of the sth say, that
there was on that day a very violent tempest, accompanied
with the highest tide there has been this year.
The 2d Chamber of the States-General is still occupied
in discussing the several chapters of the new Code. The
first Chamber is summoned for the 20th of this month.
MARCH 11.—Great fears have been entertained for the
safety of twenty fishing vessels from Scheveningen, which
were at sea in the late storm ; unhappily these fears were
well-founded : one of the vessels is totally lost,- and of the
others, seven have returned, six have been seen since the
storm, and nothing is known of the other six, but it is
hoped they are safe, because no articles have been picked
up at sea, but such as belonged to the one that is lost.
ST. PETERSEURGH, ran. 26.

The French and German Journals of St. Petersburgh
of this date, contain only a few promotions, but no poli-
tical news whatever.

Mr. SLANEY had given notice of a motion for
yesterday, to reform the abuses of the Poor Laws,
respecting payments made to and for able-bodied
labourers from the Poor Rates ; but the House of
Commons having only met to adjourn, the motion of
course stands over.

We have so often expressed our opinion of these
wretched laws,that it' is with reluctance we revert
to them; in consequence of the infatuation which,
still leads some persons to consider as wise and cha-
ritable a system .founded on the grossest injustice
and the most mistaken views of human nature. All
other taxes are levied, directly 'or indirectly, for the
benefit of the taxed, or of those who have rendered
them services; but it should never ,be forgotten that
the Poor Rates are a solitary instance of enormous
taxation for the benefit of a third party, not of the
State, or the servants of the State, but of a set of
mendicants, to whom Parliament is pleased to be
vastly generous, at the expence of its constituents.
The evil has now reached such a height, that it is
impossible to contemplate even its speedy diminu-
tion; but those Members of Parliament deserve well
of their country who place its enormity before the
eyes of the public, and, at all events, endeavour to
arrest its progress. . • .

The radical error evidently was in extending a
provision humanely instituted for the aged and
infirm,— to the young and able-bodied, by madly
engaging to find them food and occupation, instead
of letting them find it for themselves. The esta-
blishment of such a bounty for indolence and im-
providence never before suggested itself to the
mind of man, as substituting the collective wisdom
of Church-wardens and Parish Overseers for that
individual enterprise which attends man from the
cradle to the grave, unless where it is extinguished
by an announcement that the indolent shall fare as
well as the industrious, who is bound to divide with
the ill-doing sluggard, that which he earns with the
sweat of his brow.

The nation, in short, is now nothing better than
a great Joint Stock Company, of which the Parish
Overseers are Directors, doling out to some that
which they rob from others ; and who, in commenc-
ing life, would not prefer acting on his own account,
with all the chances of ruin and starvation, to join-
ing a firm so respectably conducted ? But Mem-
bers of Parliament are often afraid of speaking their
sentiments on this subject, as HUNT or COBBETT
might turn it against them on the hustings at the
next General Election. How very pitiful is such
conduct !

It is positively stated, from an authority which
has seldom proved incorrect, that the five Allied
Powers have sanctioned the Russians in taking pos-
session of the two Principalities.

We are sorry to announce that the Terra• bomb,
bound to the Mediterranean, has been totally lost
near St. Übe's, on the coast of Portugal.

The Sphynx packet has arrived at Fal-
mouth with a Buenos Ayres Mail, having sailed 'on the
4th day of December ; she left Monte Video on the
10th, and •Rio de. Janeiro on. the 22d of January. The
private letters from the latter city, are of a most deplor-
able character, all hopes of peace being concluded had been
totally given up, and both parties were preparing for the
contest with the utmost energy, and Don PEDRO was -en-
deavouring to recruit his forces in the provinces. The
EMPEROR had, it seems, refused all the offers 'which had
been made him at 64, for the small loan of about 150,000/.,
and a notice had been given on the .21st January that re-
newed offers would be received on the 24th, for.which they
demanded 75 ; but it was believed no one would offer.
Another letter we have seen reports that it. was, believed
the loan had actually been contracted for,• but terms are
not named : it is added that it had been taken by the na-
tive merchants. The exchange had fallen to 31k, and was
still looking worse. Produce high—first rate sugars 3 mil.
600 reas ; brown ditto 2 mil. 700 reas ; coffees 3. mil.
100 reas to 150. Lieut. PAGET had arrived with des-
patches from the Admiral to Lord Poxsorrav, but the
nature of them was unknown. The Goldfinch packet
sailed from Rio de Janeiro for England, having on board
more than 8001bs. weight of gold for the Brazilian• Mining
Company, worth 40,0001.