The Sun.
London, England, 1826-11-02 00:00:00

from the, fountain in the market-place, to the confla-
gration, and by thus keeping up a constant supply of
water, got the fire under and ultimately extinguished
it. The Authorities subsequently expressed their
grateful sense of the services of Captain CHAMBERS
and his brave men on this occasion ; and the British
merchants resident at La Guayra, unanimously agreed,
at a meeting held for the purpose on the 6th Septem-
ber, to present Captain CHAMBERS with a piece of
plate of the value of 150 guineas.
On every occasion where gallantry and humanity
can be displayed by the officers and men of our fleet, we
find them conspicuous ; willing and ready to assist in
every case of emergency, they are always foremost in dan-
ger, and by the presence of mind and resource which a
British seaman possesses, can effect often what no
other being would attempt. It is these men who win
respect for, as well as add lustre to, the British
name ; and by their conduct, obtain for Great Britain
that acknowledged superiority which is yielded to her
in every part of the world.

Newfoundland Papers to the 4th ult., 'and private
letters to the 10th, were received yesterday. An alarm-
ing fire took place on the 26th September, which oc-
easioried the destruction of seven houses. The price
fish had grettly risen in consequence of the bad
success of the present season. Many vessels, in con-
sequence of delay in loading with fish of a proper
quality, had changed their destination. The Gover-
ner had embarked in his yacht, for the purpose of
proceeding to inspect Conception and Trinity Bays.

The political crisis through which Portugal is at
present passing, presents matter of no small interest to

all curious observer* of the progress of nations, but it

must be especially interesting to the people of this
country. Independently of our general sympathy with

- - -
ell nations that seek to establish a well-regulated

►stein of liberty; and in addition to the strong par-

-
titular feeling which we must entertain in regard to a

Country so long connected in friendship and alliance
I'4 our own ; a special interest is excited by the con-
trast between the course of a State which has admitted
in a great degree the influence of our counsels and

•zample,,and that of its immediate neighbour, placed
essentially under a rival influence. This contrast is

the more woxthy of observation, from the strong simi.
6'4 wi:Ach, to a very recent period, was discoverable
ttit characters and institutions of the two countries.
~throughout the whole of the eighteenth century, both
Spain and Portugal slumbered in a sluggish quiescence,

Which, compared with the advances made in all the other
European States, was in fact a retrogression. Not even

the French Revolution, which produced such ex
citement in most other quarters, had any sensible
044 on the governments or population of the Penin-
eula; and at the period of the invasion of the French
'Thies, they were both found in the same state of
languour and debility. The circumstances of this in-
Ilsitut, and the oppressions of the invaders, forcibly
roused the two nations from their apathy ; but some
contrast soon became observable between the efforts made
by them against the common enemy. Those of Spain
were more independent ; but they were so ill-orga-
nised so ill directed, that if her cause had not
been wholly upheld by an Ally, whose controul she
Perversely resisted, and whose services she never fully
acknowledged, the contest could have had no other
end but her subjugation, and her return to her former
abasement. With a better estimate of her own weak-
ness, and a wiser reliance on the same ally, Portu-
gal threw herself more entirely into the arms of the
latter, and placed herself with more docility under
his guidance. Her exertions were in consequence far
better regulated ; the character of her army was
altogether reformed by that commander, who is, we
confidently hope, now about to afford Portugal
a renewal of his most valuable services ; and
whatever may be considered the share of Portugal, in
the great atchievement of the liberation of the Penin-
sula, if compared with that of England, it was very
superior to that of Spain. The contrast we see corn-
Mences with the more or less connexion with England ;
IVs shall find subsequent events materially affected by
th
• e Same circumstance ; and we expect that the final
due will not be less so. After the pacification of
Europe, that connexion was very quickly renounced
by Spain ; its dissolution indeed took place earlier
than was Wtes
uite honourable to the party so deeply
in-
debd .pther ; and bitter have been the conse-
quence*. ,
Rid FE exmaAN
listened to the counsels of an
ally, to whom he
and his return to owedthe
obie liberation from captivity
y Lene ; had he allowed of the
interposition of this all
his subjects who, previouslyweto his en himself and those of
ad-
ministered the powers of his kin release, had
thttism in oconcert with
that ally ; who so well as a Minister could
have taught the SOVEREIGN
he might safely
concede to his people, and the people what
they ought
to leave to their SOVEREIGN ? Had the advice been
followed, of an ally as disinterested from his general
well-known character as from his position, the revolution
of 1820, the invasion and counter revolution of
1823, and all the consequent calamities, past, present,
and yet to come, might have been spared to the KING
and the nation. Between England and Portugal no
such arrangement took place, although the full benefit
of the connexion was no doubt interrupted by the un-
natural situation in which Portugal was placed, through
the residence of her Sovereign in a distant colony.
The application of the fostering aid, and of the wise
and disinterested counsels of England, was, by that
circumstance, divided and disturbed ; and when, in
1820, in imitation of her neighbours, Portugal en-
deavoured to find out a short way to a constitutional
%yam, her best, her only friend, appeared to her in a
suspicious light, because the friend of her Sovereign
also. She madly repelled from her shores that very
reunitinder to whom she owed the organization of
,r 41111 Y ; to whom, we trust, both the people and
}i
army are now about to give a very different re-
ception ; and under whose influence, we firmly
hope, that army rill shortly become the fit and ef-