The Sun.
London, England, 1826-12-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The deStiatic party, 'Spanish and Portuguese, en-
couraged by the French Ambassador at Madrid, and
by a certain faction in the Salons, perhaps the Conn-
ors of Paris,
,which M. tie Moustier. not unworthily
represented—,this baud of confederates knew full well
that they were insulting the English nation when they
despised the warnings of our Minister, and that wheii
they, openly invaded a British Ally, they made war
upon,(ireat Britain herself. To what can such con-
duct be attributed ? That au outrage so heinous on
English honour' could have been conceived without
anyaerious forethought as to the consequences, we for
our parts are far from being satisfied. The spirit of
calculation, such as it was, has been at work through-
out ; that sort of calculation, indeed, which Locke de-
fines as constituting madness ; the conclusions of a
madman being right enough, while the error Hee only
in his premises. Now, . the hallucination of these
.Apostolic madmen, of whom, however, we beg dis-
tinetly 'to state, that noisy anti intriguing as they are,
they' are held in no less contempt by all enlightened'
Frenchnien, than hy ths friss:est of freedom in ati other
parts of the globe, was in the original hypothesis on
which their plans were founded. They did not blun-
der at all in imagining, that hy the, overthrow of the
Conatitutional Government at Lisbon, they, would in
effect make a conquest, of the whole of Portugal, and
thus tear away that kingdom from the house
of Eraganza, protected by Great Britain, to
place the crown on the head of • a -Prince,
who would bold from the 'House of Bourbon,-,'
and follow in the wake of France s-7-No, there:
could not he a more natural or sound speculation:
on the effects of a successful invasion of Porttigal!
than that which saw in such a victory, the conversic
of a friend and ally of Great Britain into a vassal
France, or, to speak more pointedly, of the House
Bourbon. Had, the project been in all its parts at;
cessful, the family pride which had been wounded
the loss of South America, would have enjoined )
nieauseparation, and the family compact of the I! a
century would have in some degree recovered its sti ;.
But the blunder, the delusion of the enterprise was in
this, viz.—in the belief that England was so tame, or
so enfeebled; as to look on quietly„ While the mist: of
was perpetrating, and to tolerate the developemei of
such an indignity, without flying at once to arms. If
.1,-;1,0411a has preferred and cultivated a pacific pc cy,
since the restoration of the hmise of Bourbon, din
her efforts and those of her brave ulliea, to the two
thrones of France and Spain, the faction of whit we
speak indulges an egregious error in supposing that
her poverty alone, and not her will, consented the
general repose of. Europe. They misjudge the feel-
alga, as. weans the resources, of this country, ii flat-
tering themselves that on a comparison with the tmst
powerful States on earth, Great Britain has, t iring
any period of the ten years peace which she has con-
tribined by the activity and forbearance of her atm-
aft to secure, to the greater portion, of Christi dam,
been actuated by the least apprehension that w ca-
pacity to undertake and maintain a war fell short
of that poissessed by either neighbouring.
taut 0,414)ri5, If men had been wanting for :lea Or
shore, what Government could command then more
abundantly? If money—see how many millions In e beeti
lent all over the world by. our •capitilists, from ; e mere
overflow and offal of their treasures. Here then we re-
peat, was the real insanity of that contemptible faction,
equally odious in Pritiiiv and England, who I ve 'just
risked this criminal attempt upon our. known All) They
hoped that England, in the consciousness of that i potence
and bumitiation to which their
.fancies taut red !ea her,
would still negotiate when she ought to act; and v gild end
by pocketting, instead of punishing, an insult. Co con-
clude: Portuguese independence must not be let exposed
to a renewal of those imminent dangers from wh k we, at
the expense and trouble of a warlike armament, we now
been compelled to save her, It would be insuffe ,ble, that
by the perpetuity of an unprincipled anti perfi, out► des-
potism in Spain, England, with her Ally, shoal( be kept
in everlasting dread of hostile machinations from he Cabi-
net of Madrid, having for their first object, the verthrow
of civil freedom in Portugal, and for their Be) , the for-
cible separation of the Portuguese monarchy'fri t its alli-
ance with Great Britain. In resisting both nese per-
nicious purposes, the British Goverment, Foreign
Governments too, may assure themselves,- that the senti-
ment of national honour unites the people of E; land us if
they had but a single heart among then,—Tirs r.
It looks as if Mr. O'Connell wart always termined
to be the greatest enemy of the cause whit he most
affects to advocate. The absurd' intern er ice of his
speeches—his abuse of every thing English. -his Gal-
lic predilections—his avowed sympathies with the
Jesuits, and other priestly incendiaries on 'te Conti-
nent, all betoken him to be as unfit a perst to guide
the cause of the Irish Roman Catholics a happy
consummation as accident or malicious foi nine could
Iplace at their ;lead. We speak of him m as a po-
tician. In other relations of life he may b for aught
we know, judicious and discreet ; but it is a a politi-
cian only that his existence affects the irate; sts of Ire-
land ; and surely no man that ever yet til lertook to
advocate the claims of Millions of his felh v-subjects,
had less of that government of mind, or tl it enlarged
sense of patriotism, that merges personal )elings, in-
terest, and paasions in the great consi erasion of
country. Mr. O'Connell calls for speed emancipa-
tion ; but he could do nothing more grati Ong to the
powerful body in this country, who are alit adverse
to the demand, than to adopt the line ,f conduct
which he at present pursues. That eon( ict has not
the excuse of, inexperience, for he is no lon ;er a young
man. If years ever ripen the judgment his ought,
before now, to have attained its maturi! . An old
lover makes himself ridiculous enough is m his pas-
sions betray a youthful exuberance; but an undisci-
plined violence of temper is still worse in in old
titian, It is certain that Mr. O'Connor rather en,
courages than represses his—and the C ques-
tion feels the fatal effect% of it. Let us s ppose, for a
moment, that the claims of the it„man
latholics are
founded in the purest principled of rearan ii supported
by the strongest dictates of political justice, Why, then,
dote not Mr. O'Connell condescend to use the re-
- sources of argument and reason, instead o brandishing
for ever the weapons that passion and b otry
to a mind which distinguishes itself a for a ove
of national freedom, than for a desire to establish the
supremaeyof Priests. • The better a can; is, thetassa
it can afford to be reasoned, and the rater abhor-
rence ought its adviseatee to have of the t Id and into.
'went declamation that expresses only th overflowings
of an exasperated ignorance. Nothing t n surpass the
riotous joy which this gentleman now ives vent to,
in the hope that England is about to be nvolved in a
war with France and Spain. Ile says tl " name of
England is detested in every country in Europe, and
that even the cry in Portugal is death o the Eng-
lish I" What a sentiment for a " Pat) at" to exult
in 1 What a happy occasion for a lover of constitu-
tional liberty to express his raptures. So, because
England, the creator of the freedom of the New
World-,; and the, only protection of the 3 ries of the
t,

Old, is detested, or supposed to be detested, where-
ever : r name is heard, Mr. O'Connell, who pleads for
the o stitutional privileges of six millions of " here-
ditary tondsmen; is to rejoice. Mr. O'Connell thinks
it stre ;e too that England should give the Portuguese
libertt and refuse the claims of the Irish
,Rothan Ca-
tholic -A -little reflection would have-shown him
that it,
,our allies in tlis cause are:RoMin: Catholics, so
are o enemies. We fight With the Portuguese ; we
oppo , the Spaniards. Consequently, on our part,
this I s noth-mg of the character of a religious war.
td entered into treaties with Portugal—whether
on w eor unwise grounds is another question, but not
cute Ailing the doctrine, that we ought not to keep faith
with heretics, our Government acted on the same prin-
cipl of good faith to a Roman Catholic State, which
wo have guided their policy with respect to a Protes-
tar one : and unless Mr. O'Connell loves the "Aposto-
lic of Spain better than the welfare .of Portugal and
th honour,. of England, he ought to, have spoken of
th matter in different language. 'We can only account
ft. his own conduct, by believing him ,tobe a tool in the
h ds
_oldie Priests. As long as he continues under that
rtinatior, tie will be unfit fur feeeihim. Weed, he never
:aks of the: Roman Catholic Clergy but in the language
the most fulsome flattery, approaching nearly to adorn-
m ; while he lavishes all the - terms in the vocabulary of

,
now on the Protestant Clergy whenever be alludes to them.
.'his is bad. taste, as well as had feeling. : There are good
aid unworthy men in both classes—but Protestants do
cot surrender their reason to the direction of their Priest.
They do not full at the knees of any confessor, or allow
their wives and daughters to do so, and believe,: contrary
to the evidence of their senses, that bad Clergymen are
immaculate beings, or that any priestly power on earth
has possession of tt grandest attribute of God—a mo-
ral infallibility. Does Mr. O'Connell think that if Franklin
or Washington had been the slaves of a crafty-ambitious
priesthood, they would ever have laid the foundation of
a great empire in America ? Does he believe that this
island would have ever become the first power in Europe
if its kings continued to be governed by the Pope's Le-
gate, and the Priest, who gives law to the kingdoms in
the midst of the ruins of an ancient Italian city, still treated
our Sovereign as the representative of his power, -and
reserved to himself the.. paramount allegiance of his peo-
ple P - We can tell Mr O'Connell and- his' that if
they think to bully. the -English people, by menacing
them with the vengeance of the Apostolic party, they-will
only enlist the stubborn pride and manly feeling of this
-conntry, against a cause that relies for support on so odi-
oils a contederacy.Morning Herald.

It is curious to see the anxiety. of the French Mi-
nisters to have it believed—" that they had re-called
their Ambassador from Madrid, in order to testify to
the Court of Spain their formal disapprobation of the
support which the Spanish Authorities had given to
the enterprise of the, Portuguese Refugees. This,
however, is a complete diplomatic fiction, for it will
be remembered, that in the Portuguese Chamber of
Deputies, the Ministers submitted a series of docu-
ments connected with the conduct of Spain ; and
among them was a complaint addressed to the French
on the Subject of the Marquess de Moustier's inter-
ference, urgently demanding his recal, and confi-
dently expressing an expectation that the Paris Cabi-
net wbuld accede to this demand, which it has since
turned out they actually did. Whether or not the
AmbasSador deviated from his instructions, is a mat-
ter which he alone is able to explain ; but when the
order for his recal was-originally given, it was cer-
tainly intended as a disapprobation of his own parti-
cular conduct, rather than that of King Ferdinand,
and his reception in Paris' on his return proves the
fact. The manner in which he interfered in eneou.
raging or aiding the aggression on. the PortugueSe
, territory, is not distinctly stated : but it is well known,
that during his residence at Madrid, he has shown

himself extremely hostile to the new order of things
in Portugal, and is considered as one of the chief
causes of the non-recognition by Spain of the Govern-
ment established by Don Pedro IV., .the chief topic
of complaint alleged by Portugal, previous to
the entry of the Marquess de Chaves, and the first
point to be settled before amicable relations can be re-
stored. This fact is distinctly proved by the letter of
Count de Villa Real, addressed, on the 10th Nov.,
to the French Ambassador in Madrid ; and, at least,
what were the private sentiments of the latter, on the
subject of the remonstrance so made, may be collected
from the laconic answer he returned—an answer which,
from the nature of the appeal which gave rise to it,
and the very language in which it is couched, breathes
little short of actual contempt. The first indignation
expressed against M. de Mouldier was in Lisbon, and
if the French Cabinet, who have since had an oppor-
tunity of weighing well the consequences of the truth
being told, as to what actually occurred in Madrid, now
feel desirous of shielding their Envoy, by throwing
the blame on King Ferdinand—the whole transaction
can he considered in no other light than as au expe-
dient. This pointed demonstration of displeasure
against Ferdinand—for as such the French (2abinet
evidently wish the removal of their Ambassador to
appear—is certainly singular, when it is remembered
that Mr. Lamb, our own Envoy, is, still at Madrid ;
and certainly he had much more to complain of, on
the part of his Government, than the French, who are
only indirectly implicated in the affairs of Portugal.
If we are not much mistaken, the expedient resorted
to by the French Ministry will turn out to be a piece
of diplomatic finesse, and such is the opinion in Paris.
The attempt made in the French Chamber of Peers by
the Minister of Foreign Aflairs, to throw the blame of
jthe aid given to the Portuguese Refugees on King For-
; dinand himself, presents a singular contrast to what
some of our own Noble Lords said on the subject of the
aggression, the night the address to the throne was
voted. Some were disposed to furnish a loop-hole for
the Spanish King to get out at, by expressing a hope •
that the aid to the Portuguese Refugees would rather
turn out to be the act of the local authorities, than
that of the King. Yet, we should be glad to ask, in
what way could supplies of arms, clothing, ammuni-
tion, and a variety of other military stores, collected
from various points, be taken out of the depots with-
out superior orders ? If such articles as these were
in charge of the Bishops and Monks, we conceive it
, possible ; but at all times, and more particularly at the
present moment, when scarcely' a fowling-piece can be
found in the hands of a Spanish peasant, the public
magazines are under the most vigilant 'controul. The
following are the forms observed in Spain, in the ex-
traction of arms and ammunitien from the depots.—
Every thing belonging to the ordinary supply and
consumption of the fortified towns and army is oh-
tained by the immediate orders of the commander of
the district, in which the depots are situated ; but no
supplies even for extraordinary service, even if they are
to be sent from one district to another, can issue with-
out the King's special mandate, communicated
through the War Minister. The dock-yards, and
depots of arms and ammunition, are under the imme-
diate charge of the department of artillery, and by it
the necessary stores are obtained and kept, till they
regiments in want of them ;
are delivered over to the.
and when no longer wanted, the supplies so issued

return to the quarter from which they came. There-
fore, to obtain the issue of any ,military stores, -for an
extraordinaryturpose, the first ate') required is a Me-
morial to the King. If the,_prilyer is granted, three
Royal • Ordera, are made , Ale 'War_ Minister ; the
first addressed to. the Directors General: of com-
manding him to, make the issue; .the latter-forwards the
Order to the Sub-Director of the department of Artillery,
in whose care-the stores are placed;.of- the above depart-
ments there are five in Spain. The 'Snb-Director trans-
mits it to the 'Artillery Officer commanding the point
where the magazine is situated, and he, together with the
store-keeper, makes the: delivery, The second Royal
Order is addressed to the Captain;General of the province,
announcing the King's resolution. The Captain-General
sends the Order to the Governor of the fortified town in
which the magazine is placed, and also to the party who
is to sign the receipt. The Governor also advises the
Commander of Artillery of the day on which the issue is
to be made, and of the nuns() of the person who is to give
a receipt. The third Royal Order is forwarded to the
Minister of Finance, in order that he may give orders to
meet the expenses of the issue. The latter sends a Royal
Order to the Intendant of the Army, for the province in
which the magazine in question is situated, and the latter
forwards the corresponding notice to the respective pay-
department, and also notifies it to the Captain-General of
the Province. The offices and hands through which rut
order must pass in Spain for the issue of even 100 muskets
not required for, local consumption, are consequently so
numerous,, even 'eftei the King's sanction . has been ob-
taind (and without which 'it has been clearly shown no
delivery of 'warlike stores can be made), that we deem it
utterly impossible for the blame of the Portuguese anna-
ment to rest with any, isolated commander or authority,
and much less a combination of them.-.-Morning chronicle.
NO part of our empire ever received so much bene,
fit, from their connection with the other members of
the same State, as our Irish neighbours have for many
years derived from their union with us. They have
had the advantage of a Constitution, which the low
state of society among them, and the character of the
religion of the majority, would not have permitted to
arise spontaneously, 'The mass of the people have
every privilege which the mass of the people in Eng-
land or Scotland. enjoy. Facilities have been given
for the diffusion of English knowledge and English
improvements among them. English capital has been
invited to call forth the resources of the country, and
put its industry into motion. Their incorporation with
England has laid the. commerce of the world open to
their enterprise. Our own home market ensures to
them a speedy demand for every article,: which. they
can produce, and that, too, at a higher price, than
could be obtained any where else, and they enjoy be-
sides, the additional 'advantage of an almost total ex-
emption from taxes. Ireland bears nothing like a fair
proportiOn of the :public burdens of the empire.
She has been not only defended from foreign enemies,
but, in a great measure, governed and achnbris-
tered at the expense of England. " Yet all this
availed' me nothing, so long as. I I see Mor-
decai, the Jew, sitting at the King's gate." , All the
benefits for which Ireland ought, to be grateful to Eng-
land are to be held, forsooth, as nothing, because Ca-
tholic lawyers are not admitted into Parliament, and a
few Catholic Peers are not • allowed to vote in the
House of Lords. We are far from underrating the im-
portanee of what is called the Catholic Question. It is
a matter of no small moment, whether we -shall retain
or reject that old maxim of our State policy, which
holds, that Catholics, thmigh entitled to same
the
pro-
tection with other subjects, are not tne most proper
depositaries for administering the highest functions of
a Constitution, of which a Protestant Church and a
Protestant King are two essential parts. But its im-
portance lies,
,not in any connection with the situa-
tion of the Irish people, but in the influence which it
may exercise on the liberties of the empire,
,and, in
the tendency which .it may have either to weaken or
to strengthen Roman Catholic superstition. Grant
to the Catholic's to-morrow all that they demand—the
people of Ireland would not be one iota the better
for the change, except so far as the efforts of such
incendiaries as the spouters at the Catholic Meetings
in Dublin might, for a time at least, be paralyzed.
—These Meetings have of late become a disgrace to
the Catholics, and even to the country. It is almost
inseparable from the nature of such assemblies that
the greatest ruffian and ranter becomes the leading man
in them. Reason and sense are of course excluded ;
bombast, and nonsense, arid' raying exaggerations of
•• • i
counterfeit passion7lartieularly f tricked out with
the borrowed tinsel, half-faded„fineiy, of meretricious
rhetoric—call forth universal applause. " Ireland 1"
exclaims Sheil, " young, beautiffil, devoted, glowing,
ardent, impassioned, enthusiastic Ireland"! I-! Such
an apostrophe excites only our laughter, particularly
when uttered by a man who has been shameless
enough to become the harlequin of a faction,. only as
a means of emerging from poverty. But our laughter
is changed into contemptuous scorn, when we find the
ranter proceed to heap on the head of England every
epithet of opprobrium which his collection of synony-
mes can supply—m perfidy, baseness, turpitude, thank-
lessness, selfishness, cruelty." The extension of the
blessings of good administration to Ireland (so
far as their extension depends mi official authority'
and conduct, and not on the habits of the people
themselves) is perfidy : baseness and turpitude are
to be found in our endeavours
_to diffuse know-
ledge and improvement , throughout the people ;
our thanklessness is shown • in the lightness of the
taxes' imposed on Ireland, in .the unrestrained ad-
mission of her productions into Our Markets,and her free
participation in the commerce of the world'; our heartless.;
ness and cruelty are established, beyond all question, by.the
abiindant charity which we have often administered to the
starving peaiantry of Ireland—a peasantry which remains
constantly on the verge of starvation, principally by reason
of habits of life, which the Catholic spouters and their con-
federatei contribute, in no small degree, to. perpetuate.
These Dublin Meetings have long been the scorn of the
country. They are merely assemblages of insignificant
persons, trying to preserve a disgraceful notoriety, and to
elevate themselves to a dignity similar to that which was
once possessed by Cobbett and by I-hint. But, of lute,
their language has become so infamous, that it is incum-
bent on the respectable portion of the Catholics to state
explicitly how fur they concur in, or disavow, the atrocities
that issue from the lips of O'Cennell and Sheil. Silence
is not sufficient ; for silence is, by these charlatans,
construed into implied approbation ; upon the faith of
which they hold themselves out as the true heayen-ap-
pointed rulers of Ireland. It does not surprise us that such
persons as O'Connell and Sheil should utter what it shocks
every man of sense, or taste, or. virtue, to read; but it does
surprise us that the Catholic' should not have sufficient
spirit and courage, or sufficient honesty and prudence, either
to controul, by their language and votes, the proceedings
of the meetings which purport to be convoked in relation
to their affairs) or, at least, to disavow sentiments not less
disgraceful to those who entertain them, than the worst
doctrines of the.worst times of the Catholic Church, from
the imputation of which they are always most anxious to
vindicate themselves.---New Time'.

A fellow wee a few days since committed from one
of the Police offices, who had gone the round of moat of the pas-
try cook shops, living luxuriously upon soups and jellies, and in-
-17:i:1:1;1 4
1,1s1:7 in! a Plated spoon in lieu of the silyer one furnished