The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-08 00:00:00

NHW STRAND THEATRE.
THIS EVENING

Will be performel OTHELLO. Othello, Mr. Gregory; lago, Mr,
Waldron; Desdemona, Mrs. Percy.
To conclude with the Farce of RAISING THE WIND.
Boxes, 4s. ; Stalls, 4s. ; Pit, 2s. 6d. ; Gallery, Is. Half-price at
Nine o'clock.
Private Boxes, Stalls, &c., to be taken of Mr. Mitchell, Old Bond.
street ; and at the Box-office, from Ten till Four each day.

THE WEATHER.—Surt OFFICE, DEC. 7.
TKERMOMBTER, Lowest, 32; Highest, 41; Noon, 39,
BA/LOUT/ill, 29.78.—W1ND W.N.W.; fine.

DECEMBER 8.
TMERNOMETER, Lowest, 26; Highest, 39; Noon, 38,
BAROMETER, 30.32.—W1ND W.; fine.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE THIS DAY.
Harping .. 3 ninnies after 9 I Evening .. 37 minutes after 9.

strong for them or any Ministry to resist successfully.
Like the religious bigots, who opposed the just claims of
the Dissenters and Catholics, and the patrons of rot-
ten boroughs, who would hear of no reform, they
have blindly remained obstinate to the voice of reason
and justice till general indignation has been roused
against their selfish policy, and a storm is ready to
break, which will sweep away every vestige of a mea-
sure which disgraced the first year of peace. Had they
yielded in time, the corn laws might have existed for
many years in a modified shape; for numbers, and
among the rest the entire Whig party, would have
submitted patiently to a moderate fixed duty, while the
proposition now would be disdainfully rejected by every
corn-law reformer. " Out of evil cometh good,"
and never was the proverb better illustrated than
by the certain prospect at the present :moment
of a total repeal of this mischievous tax. The
agriculturists may scold and frown, but Sir ROBERT
PEEL is accustomed to such treatment from his friends,
and hitherto he has borne it patiently, when expediency
or necessity compelled him to resist their dictates.

It is to be presumed that the letter of the brother of
the late Major MACKIE to the editor of the United
Service Magazine, which we this day publish, will set at
rest the controversy as to the respective services of the
late Major MACKIE and Colonel GURWOOD at the
storming of Ciudad Rodrigo ; and we hope that the
gallant Colonel, content with " the distinguished conse-
quences," as he calls them, which have resulted to him
from a mistake, will not further seek to deprive the
brave dead of his well-won fame. The late Major
MACKIE, " so well known for his bravery, worth, and
modesty" (we quote General NAPIER, in his admir-
able " History of the Peninsular War") as a subaltern,
led the forlorn hope at the great breach of Ciudad
Rodrigo. He volunteered for this service under very
peculiar circumstances ; he was not what Colonel (then
Lieutenant) GURWOOD, who led the forlorn hope at the
lesser breach, describes himself as having been, a soldier
of fortune. He was the senior lieutenant of his regiment,
and therefore his promotion was certain ; and his com-
rades expressed surprise at his thus volunteering.
" Why, you must be a captain the day after to-morrow,"
said they, " yet do you still volunteer ?" He did still
volunteer—he led the forlorn hope—he reached the
citadel where the Governor and garrison had taken
refuge : the rest shall be told in his own words :
" The outer gate of the inclosure being open, I entered
at the bead of the party, composed of men of different
regiments, who by this time bad joined the advance.
Immediately on entering I was hailed by a French officer
asking for an English general to whom they might sur-
render. Pointing to my epaulets in token of their secu-
rity, the door of the keep, a stronghold, was opened, and
a sword presented to me in token of surrender, which
sword I accordingly received. This I had scarcely done
when two of their officers laid hold of me for protection,
one on each arm, and it was while 1 was thus situated
that Lieutenant Gurwood came up and obtained the sword
of the Governor.' " We think Major MACKIE is wrong
in this last sentence. It was not the sword of the Go-
♦ernor which Lieutenant GURWOOD obtained under these
circumstances ; it was the sword of a French gentleman,
ci-devant Governor of Ciudad Rodrigo, but at that
moment prisoner of war to Lieutenant MACKIE. This
narrative was drawn from Major MACKIE by a claim
made, after a lapse of more than twenty years, by Colonel
GURWOOD to the honour of having taken the French Go-
vernor-General BARRIE in the citadel, and put forward
by the Colonel in his capacity of editor of the " Welling-
ton Dispatches." Major MACKIE'S narrative, which is
dated October, 1838, is inserted among the justificatory
pieces in the sixth volume of Napier's "History of the
Peninsular War ;" and somewhere about the year 1842 or
1843, after the death of Major MACKIE, the accuracy of
that narrative was impugned by Colonel GURWOOD in
the pages of the United Service Magazine, whereupon
Major MACKIE'S brother came forward in defence of the
fair fame of the departed hero. Among the corrobora-
ti►e evidence brought forward in support of Major
Kamm's claim, is a letter from Sergeant BRAZIL, who
was of the storming party on the occasion, and "who
saw the door opened and the sword received in token of
surrender, and who expressed his willingness to verify
on oath the evidence he gives." Now, here is positive
and direct testimony in support of Major MACKIE'S
claim, which cannot be shaken by any indirect
evidence. How does Colonel GURWOOD reply to
this evidence thus publicly given ? He prints, not pub-
lishes, a pamphlet, impugning the claims of MACKIE, and
circulates it privately amongst his own friends. The
futility of the arguments he has employed in that
pamphlet have been excellently shown in the letter of
Major MACKIE'S brother to which we have referred,
although we really think that he has paid more atten-
tion to many of them than they deserve. For instance,
Mr. MACKIE is at great pains to show that his brother.
the Major, understood French, because Colonel GUR-
WOOD makes sundry observations on Major MACKIE'S
presumed ignorance of that language, and would infer
rom that alleged ignorance that the fortress could not
have surrendered to him. We commend this argument
of the Gallant Colonel to the careful attention of M.
TRIERS, as it will enable that most impartial and accu-
rate historian, in his next edition, to dispose satisfactorily
of another of our naval victories, and to prove, by the
GURWOOD syllogism, that DE WINTER could not have
surrendered to DUNCAN at the battle of Camperdown
because DUNCAN did not understand Dutch. It is not
by attempts at argument such as these that the positive
testimony of Sergeant BRAZIL can be impugned. He is
corroborated by Mr. GRATTAN, who was present at the
storming, and who states—
" I pressed forward with the crowd towards the citadel,
and I met Mackie returning from it, with the captured
sword in one hand, and his own sword in the other. I asked
him if all was right, for there was still an odd shot here and
there. He replied, All is not only right, but over.' Look at
this,' said he, as he held up the sword, 4 I was the first man
at the citadel ; and the Governor has been sent off to Lord
Wellington ;' "
and supported by Colonel OATES, whose evidence, most
important as showing what was the general opinion of
those who were present at the time, is as follows:
" Not being present myself at the assault of Ciudad
Rodrigo, but joining very soon after, the general conversation
among the officers of the regiment was the very intrepid and
gallant conduct of Lieut. Mackie, in volunteering the for-
lorn hope of the great breach, and being the first officer at
the citadel, receiving, as he thought, the Governor's sword in
token of surrender, but which sword proved afterwards to
belong to an officer of the Governor's staff."
Nothing that Colonel GURWOOD has brought forward
tends in the least to shake the credibility of either of
these witnesses, and unless their credibility is shaken
their testimony proves satisfactorily that to Major
MACKIE, not to Colonel GURWOOD, was the fortress
surrendered, and that the latter, in receiving a sword
from General BARRIE, received not the sword of the
Governor of Ciudad Rodrigo, but the sword of Major
Maxim's prisoner. We do not impute to Colonel G un-
wool) that at the time he received the sword he was
aware of the circumstances of the case.

Major MACKIE'S own statement shows that the our
render had taken place to him before the arrival of
Colonel GURWOOD ; therefore, probably, the latter
would not at the time have been aware of the occurrence.
It was on the part of Colonel Guawoon a mistake.
Let him be content with the good fortune which that
mistake has brought him, and leave to poor MACKIE
that glory which was the only reward he desired or
received for one of the most gallant exploits of the Pe-
ninsular War.

We have received Madrid journals of the 29th and
30th ult. According to some of them, the new tariff
Bill to be presented to the Cortes is prepared, and, ou
the whole, is more liberal than was anticipated. The
prohibitive system is to be entirely abandoned, and rea-
sonable import duties are to be imposed chiefly for the
protection of native manufactures. The Finance Minis-
ter wished to include cotton in the measure, but the
Council of Ministers considered it of such importance as
to require a separate Bill. It was understood that
CASTRO Oaosco, the Government candidate, would be
appointed President of the Chamber of Deputies. On
the 29th, the Three per Cents. fell to 35 at sixty days,
6,600,000 done ; the Five per Cents., 24 at sixty days,
2,000,000 done. The other funds were not quoted.

The only intelligence of importance in the Paris
journals relates to the measures in progress for the ad-
judication of the Paris and Lyons and the Creil and St.
Quentin Railway lines. Two Companies have de-
pisited their plans for the Paris and Lyons, viz., I.
MM. Charles Laffitte, Ganneron, and Gen. Baudran ;
2. Duc de Caumont Laforce, and General Lagrange.
For the Creil and St. Quentin there are five
competing Companies ; viz., 1. Cordier ; 2. De
Rothschild, Hottinguer, and Charles Laffitte ; 3.
General Colbert ; 4. Skuin ; and 5. Duc de Vicence.
A very keen competition for the last is anticipated, and
in the other it is generally believed that a fusion of seve-
ral companies has been formed, of which the following
version appears in the Chemins de Fer, which that jour-
nal says is the only correct statement :

p.lOO
Messageries
Receveurs- Oneraux ..
Union 42,364 10 59
Laffitte, Blount
Caton
Ganneron
Lapinsonniflre
Griolet (Sud-Est)
Ardoin Verdeau
Hottinguer 43,334
10,000
Rothschild freres

400,000
Onthis amalgiemation that ournal makes the following

remarks:—" We have indicated the amount per cent.
which each Company will have to divide amongst the
subscribers, leaving aside the houses of Hottinguer and
Rothschild, which, not having officially opened any sub-
scriptions, will only have to divide with their regular
clients, if they think fit. We know that the Company
Griolet will follow the example of the Company Rosa-
mel for the northern line ; that is to say, reimburse im-
mediately after the adjudication, without making any
deduction from the deposits. It will even give a little
more than the quantity of shares indicated. Each sub-
scriber will obtain one for fourteen of the numbers under
one hundred, and seven per cent. for one hundred and
upwards. The competing Company for the Paris and
Lyons road is composed as follows :—Compagnie des
Maitres de Postes ; Compagnie Francaise, and Com-
pagnie des Ingoinieurs. The Compagnie Friant (Cas-
tellux), not having been admitted to the fusion, with-
drew. The Decan and Roulage companies had previously
united with those of Griolet and the Messageries."
On Saturday we mentioned that a misunderstanding
had taken place between M. SALVANDY, the Minister of
Public Instruction, and M. QUINET, one of the pro-
fessors of the University. The students of the Sor-
bonne, it appears, considered that the question could
not be settled without them, and they resolved, there-
fore, to make a demonstration. On Saturday, about one
o'clock, upwards of 2,000 of them assembled at the
Sorbonne, and went in procession to the quarter of the
Luxembourg, where M. QUINET resides. The proces
sion was very orderly, though occasionally enlivened by
cries of " Vive Quinet," " A bas les Jesuites," &c. On
the arrival of the procession at M. QUINET'S residence
that gentleman appeared, and received a deputation
sent to compliment him. He thanked the students for
their sympathy, but requested that they would quietly
disperse. Notice having been received by the authori-
ties of the intended procession, a large body of the
municipal guards were on the spot; and on the young
men crying out " A bas les Jesuites," they charged
along the streets, and several were run down. A few of
the ringleaders were arrested. Some of the journals
continue their remarks on the Oregon question,
but the virulence towards England is much
abated. Indeed, the Opposition writers cannot
forget that Brother Jonathan treated M. TRIERS and
his party in a very rude manner in reference to his im-
perious demands for the sum of one million sterling, in
compensation for injury done by NAPOLBON to American
merchants. The Constitutionnel says :

" What will Mr. Polk do at last? The President has com-
prehended the imprudence he has committed, and thinks to
get out of the scrape by renewing the offers made to England
at anterior negotiations. It is quite certain, however, that
England will never accede to what she has already refused
three times ; that she will not relinquish that part of the
Oregon on which are seated all the establishments of the
Hudson's Bay Company, and the only cultivable part of the
country. Mr. Polk may now say, with some appearance of
"reason, that he has exhausted all means of conciliation. We
believe, therefore, that in his Message he will be more re-
served in making declarations than he was last year, and will
propose the denunciation of the Convention of 1828, and
some of those measures which he recommended to Mr. Tyler.
We must expect, therefore, to see re-appear in the Congress a
Bill for the occupation of the Oregon, which will be passed
with an eagerness in proportion to the conviction of its being
rejected by the Senate. All will depend this year upon the
Senate. The Democrats have 32 votes in it, and the Whigs
only 24; but the two senators from South Carolina will on
this question vote with the "Whigs. There may, therefore,
when it comes to the point, be a majority of six votes in
favour of an occupation—that is to say, for war. But should
Mr. Calhoun decide upon taking his seat in the Senate, he
will declaim loudly against the policy of Mr. Polk, and may
cause many defections from the ranks of the Democratic
party. If the treaty of 1828 be denounced, all must be
brought to a conclusion within a year, or war must break
out. We, however, can scarcely believe that war will spring
from this question, because both countries must lose so much
by it. Whatever may be the end of this dispute, France
ought to remain perfectly neutral. We trust that our Go-
vernment will not repeat the fault committed on the oc-
casion of the Texas dispute, and compromise, without any
motive, our pacific relations with both England and the
United States."

The following account of the commercial relations be-
tween China and France during the year 1844, and the
first quarter of 1845, has just been published by the Mi-
nister of Finance. It has been drawn up from returns
made by the French mission to Canton :

" The commerce and navigation of France with China en-
gaged in 1844, according to information gathered at Canton,
six ships, whose moveMents are thus given. One of them
arrived at the end of 1843 and left in 1844; four arrived and
departed in the course of 1844; the last arrived in 1844, but
did not sail again till 1845. These six ships touched or
stopped at Manilla before coming to China, and three pat in
to Hong-Kong, and two at Whampoa. The first was freighted
at Bourbon for Manilla and China with a cargo of cloves, and
small quantities of liqueurs and preserves, estimated together
at about 108,000 f. She took back to Bourbon a freight of
teas and China and Japan ware, estimated at about 75,600 f.
The venture was profitable. The second took into China a
cargo of wine, brandy, oils, alimentary preserves, cloths,
&c., the whole being the produce of France.
It had also some pepper taken in at Batavia, and other
goods. This vessel left China for Bordeaux, laden with
92,300 kilos of tea, besides cinnamon and curiosities. The
third was freighted by the Government for the Marquesas,
and brought to China only about 400 common shawls, origi-
nally destined for South America, and to which country
they were ultimately obliged to be sent. She took back with
her only seven or eight tons of goods, the nature of which is
not known. The fourth carried to China only a small quan-
tity of liqueurs and preserves. She was almost completely
loaded at Manilla, and took on board from China only a com-
plement of cinnamon. The fifth came to China on account
of two foreign houses, one Dutch and the other American,
with about 17,000 or 18,000 metres of Prussian cloths, which,
as we are told, were sold at Macao at from 6f. Bc. to llf.
.55c. the metre, but we are ignorant of their quality. The
sixth, which was hired by the Government to carry out pro-
visions to the naval division in the China seas, had no other
French produce on board than a small quantity of wine and
coal, and 40,000 f. in sf. pieces. She sailed again from
China on December 29th for Manilla, without having taken
in any cargo, but will probably return for cinnamon, as she
has left her wine, taking with her her money and coal, be-
sides a few tons of Chinese goods, worth about 20,000 f. Se-
veral of the vessels coming from Manilla were laden for Hong-
Kong and Macao with rice and timber. During the first
quarter of 1845, the port of Canton has been visited by two
French ships, which have taken with them 587,0006 worth
of camphor, tea, silk, cinnamon, and squina, a Chinese plant,
from which sarsaparilla is extracted. Beth these vessels,
after taking in their freights, proceeded to Manilla. All the
foregoing particulars were collected at Canton. We now give
a summary of those furnished by the returns of the Custom-
house relating to our direct commerce with China, the Philip
pines, and the islands of Oceania, in 1844. The total amount
of the imports and exports was 3,116,000 f. (not including the
produce of the whale fisheries in the Pacific Ocean). The
amount of the exchanges is as follows :—Tea, 835,000 f. ;
cinnamon, 249,000 f. ; indigo, 267,000 f. ; tobacco, 150,000 f. ;
coffee, 159,000 f. ; mother of pearl, 112,000 f., &e. Our direct
imports amount to only 589,000 f. ; but it must be ob-
served that much of our merchandise is conveyed to China by
foreign ships. In our direct exports to China and the Philip-
pines, cloths figured for 119,000 f., cottonades and various
other useful articles for 125,000 f., and wines for the sum of
81,000 f. All the other articles (such as perfumery, silks, mei,
cery, glass, and preserves), are of Paris manufacture. The
movement of our merchant navigation in the seas of China
and Oceania (not including the fisheries) was as follows :
In 1844 them sailed from the ports of France for these desti-
nations six ships of an aggregate burthen of 1,683 tons, and
crews amounting to 94 men. The returns during the same
year comprised only three ships of tother 1,083 tons and
59 sailors. All these sailed under the French flag. In these
seas the amount of tonnage engaged in trade in 1844 was
nearly 27,000, and the total value of tho exchanges direct
from our ports or for our ports rose to 53 millions of francs.
These results warrant a hope that our relations will extend."

We are glad to learn that Lord COWLEY is going on
favourably, and is recovering from the effects of his
severe accident.

"The Moniteur publishes two royal ordonnances, dated the
2d inst., for opening the ports of Stora and La Calle, in
Algeria, in addition to those already opened, and declaring
that they shall be free for the import and export of merchan-
dise between France and Algeria.
:"A conference on the subject of the Swiss Customs duties is
about to be held shortly by delegates from the cantons of
Berne, Soleure, Argau, and Bale country. It will take into
consideration a plan for a Customs Union, so that the dues at
all the frontiers shall be uniform, and the commercial traffic
thus relieved from the embarrassments with which it has
hitherto been attended. The negotiations are already far
advanced."

On Saturday the Three per Cents closed at 83f. ; the Five
per Cents., 117 f. 65c. ; the Orleans Railroad Shares, 1,155 f. ;
Rouen, 950 f. ; Northerns, 705 f. ; Havre, 740 f. ; Avignon,
860 f. ; Vierzon, 6401. ; Bordeaux, 6021. 50c. ' • Boulogne,
500 f. ; Troyes and Montereau, 425 f. • Basle, 237 f. 50c. ; Fain-
doux, 450 f. ; Spanish Three per eents, 371/2 ; ditto, Pas-
sives, 61/2.

The following are the quotations for other lines:—
Paris and Lyons Railroad (Laffitte), 9f. premium; ditto
(Calon), sf; ditto( Gann eron ), 4f. 25c. ; ditto (Lapinsoaniere),
4f. 25c. • Sud Est, 3f. 50c. ; Messageries, 31. 50c. ; Ardoin, If
50c. ; Receveura-Genereaux, 3f. ; Paris aid Strasbourg (Gan-
neron), 2f. ; ditto (Hinguerlot), 50c. ; ditto (Bechet), par;
Tours and Nantes (Mackenzie), 2f. 25c. ; Lyons and Avig-
non (Talabot), 5f.; Bordeaux and Cette (Mackenzie), par;
ditto (Espeleta), 3f. ; Lyons definitive skares sold for 65f.
premium ; Strasburg ditto, 20f. ; Tours and Nantes, 35f.
LYONS, DEC. 4.—Marseilles and Avignon, 835 f.; Paris
and Orleans, I,llof. ; Paris and Rouen, 9101.75 e. ; Orleans
and Vierzon, 623 f. 75c. ; Northern, 663 f. 75c.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, DEO. 6.
Anglo-Belgian — IMauritias
Boulogne and Amiens.. 814 Namur and Liege
Bordeaux &Alediterran 'North Jamaica ...

Bordeaux and Toulouse
Do. & Cette (Espeleta)
Do. (Mackenzie's) l%
Callao, Lima, and Pa-
cific Cast —
Central of Spain ..
Ceylon . —
Demi

Orleans and Vierzon ..
Orleans and Bordeaux 10
Over Yseel •••
Paris &Lyons (Laffitte) 2%
Ditto (Ganneroa's). 3
Ditto 2
Ditto (Sad Est)
Paris Orle9-

,erara
Deadre Valley ......
Dutch Rhenish ...
Dieppe & Paris Janet —
Dijon and Mulhoue
East Indian ......
Faaspenx. & Haaebrouk
Grt Northern of France
Constituted l3
Do. Pepin le Halleur —
Great Paris and Lyons 2
Great Western Bengal
Great Western Canada
Jamaica& Mid. Junction

. an. Orleans
Paris and bonen . B7B
Paris and Strasburg
(Ganneron's)
Do. (Compe is L'Eet) 2
De. (Ayniard's) 2%
Paris and St. Quentin —
Rouen and Haws.— 28%
Royal North of Spain.
Sambre and Meuse
Strasburg and Basle
Teumay,Jurbise, Lon-
de", and Hasselt ...
Tours and Nantes

Do. North Midland
Do. Extension
Jersey.
Louvain and Jemappe —
Lyons and Avignon —
Luxembourg
Madrid and Valencia ll4

(Mackenzie's) 4%
Do. ( Lefebvre's) ...-
De. (O'Neill's)
Trinidad
Verona and Ancona....
West Flanders 31,4

Sir Robert Peel is expected to arrive in town this after-
noon from a visit to her Majesty, at Osborne House, Isle
of Wight.

„
),..,7%,,
,r 54
,; •
vt :,:,. ' , - 4.06-- 004' • ~„,E7l);.'•
'44,;',.,,e,.....-- ir:Agdit,,,,:`,l-j,',15 z- , 1 vf.,..•-•
:. s 7.Alfil-ilows,..,r,,,,,,,_______lii '7frAtte,
--w-a.a3uw\l'u'arC-
` • ' ''',„4.'77-4& ''''.o!- -;. - - wine'