The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-20 00:00:00

THE AFFAIRS OF SPAIN.
(From the Times.)
MADRID, DEC. W.—There would still seem to be
a hope that the lives of Col. Rengifo and his unfortu-
nate companions, who were lately condemned to death
by the court-martial of which General Cordova was
the President, may be saved and, perhaps, the penal-
ties to which the other prisoners were sentenced com-
muted or diminished.* A protest has been made on
the part of the prisoners against the competency of
the court-martial, as constituted, to try them. The
first article of the 6th section of the ordenanzos has
the following :—" In all that relates to military
crimes, Sac., against the officers of my royal service, it
is my will and pleasure that they should be submitted
to
a junta of officers of superior rank, and that the
said junta should bear the denomination of a Council
of War of General Officers.' " And by a subsequent
royal order, of the 14th May, 1801, it was provided,
that even in the causes submitted legitimately to
thejudgment of ordinary courts-martial, if military
officers shou! d be implicated, no penalty can beim-
posed on them by the said ordinary courts, but the
charges must be referred to the Captain-General, in
order to be examined by a council of General Officers.
It is on the above regulation that the complaint of
Rengifo and his companions is founded, inasmuch as
the court that passed the various sentences already
mentioned was not composed of officers equal to the
rank of several of the accused. For instance, the
President of the court himself is a Major-General,
whilst Evaristo San Miguel is a Lieutenant-General ;
and Rengifo himself, being a Colonel, was superior in
rank to any of the other members.
1 The matter had been referred to the Supreme Tri-
bunal of War and Marine; and that court has ad-
dressed a report to her Majesty on the subject, and in
support of the ordenanza thus violated in the persons
of the prisoners. Notwithstanding the belief that the
sentence would be carried into execution on the ap-
probation of the Captain-General of Madrid, it was
yet thought impossible that so flagrant an injustice
could be committed until at least the result of the
report of the Supreme Tribunal could be known.
The Baron de Meer is well-matched by his brother,
Captain-General of Aragon, who, in a late Lando ad-
dressed to the Aragonese, threatens that if any new
attempt be made at insurrection he will destroy the
very towns, and not allow one stone to remain upon
another, in what he calls the nests of robbers, contra-
bandists, and rebels. The following is the bando :
" Saragossa, Dec. 4.
" Inhabitants of the valleys of Hecht) and Anso !
You have beheld with what rapidity chastisement has
been inflicted on your treason, your robberies, and your
murders. If you have the audacity to repeat similar at-
tempts against the Government of the Queen (whom God
Almighty preserve) and the laws, be certain that your
haunts of robbers, contrabandists, and malefactors will
cease to exist. Respectable inhabitants of Arragon, as-
sist the Government of her Maje,ty in annihilating those
inalignants, and reckon with certainty on the co-opera•
tion of your Captain-General,

" MANUEL BRETON."
As the Qaeen was leaving the Royal Chapel the
day before yesterday, and proceeding to her apart-
ments, she was met in the corridor of the Palace by
the father of one of the persons condemned to death
by the late court-martial. The old man threw him-
self at her feet, imploring mercy in the most heart-
rending terms, and presented to her Majesty a petition,
which she took from his hand and retired. It will, in
all likelihood, produce much the same effect as the
prayers of the young wife of the son of Zurbano to
the same personage.
The Cortes did not meet to-day.
A rather lengthened correspondence between
a gentleman of the name of Cochrane and Mr.
Bulwer, the British Minister, has given occa-
sion to a good deal of gossip here. Mr. Coch-
rane has thought proper to publish the whole of
his correspondence ;with Mr. Bulwer in the Eco del
Conzercio. To give you an idea of the taste of Mr.
Cochrane, it will be sufficient to say that having
been invited to partake of Mr. Bulwer 's hospitality,
he has thought proper, in the published correspond-
ence, to critiseise the style of the dinners, &c., of
which he had, as an invited guest, partaken at the
private table of our Minister. Whether Mr. Cochrane
may be taken as a good specimen of the modest and
retiring Englishman, I know not; but the gossips of
Madrid laugh heartily at the proofs of what they call
"English eccentricity, so abundantly exhibited in his
correspondence.
The history of the affair, in a few words, is this :
—lt appears that Mr. Cochrane, some time since,
amused himself in travelling about England as an
itinerant musician, playing the violin or guitar, I do
not well know which, collecting money in that
capacity, which he subsequently handed over to some
Spanish refugees then in England. On his arrival
here, some short time since, there suddenly appeared
in most of the Madrid journals articles and para-
graphs bestowing the greatest praise on the " illus-
trious Englishman" who had come amongst us. He
paid visits to the hospitals and other places of public
beneficence, and praised everything he saw. In some
of the paragraphs it was even more than hinted that
a cross of distinction should be bestowed by the
Government on Mr. Cochrane for his services to the
Spanish nation. The above-mentioned paragraphs
were sent by Mr. Cochrane to Mr. Bulwer, as
documents proving his merits, and, in some sort,
his right to the cross, which was the object
of his ambition ; and it was intimated by
M. Martinez de la Rosa, that if the gentleman was
recommended by the British Minister, there would
not be much difficulty in granting it to him. The
letter of Mr. Bulwer which, it would appear, gave
most offence to Mr. Cochrane, was that in which he
intimated the insufficiency of such documents as
paragraphs to give a claim to decorations
bld estowed
bo
ant
tpleer, soorn who hadexc
eslel
er
nv ecde
e
or the arts, had obtained for
ttin"nhhe' heewmi
sccschopi
auelvieetlrerr]
European
lonni
ptyrha
aenbt eufisret oe
celebrity; and he hinted that the
laudatory paragraphs referred to were owing to his
own exertions, or to those of certain partial friends
who had influence enough with the press to get them
inserted. Mr. Cochrane appealed to the journals to
declare whether he had solicited the insertion of para-
graphs praising himself. The editor of the Posdata
declares that the paragraphs alluded to were delivered
by Mr. Cochrane himself for insertion. The Herald()
of this evening, amongst other observations, has the
following :

" Mr.C'ochrane, whose name has appeared more than
once in the Herald°, has published in certain periodicals
a correspondence between him and the worthy British
Minister at this Court, Mr. H. L. Bulwer. Mr. Cochrane
reminds us that he sent us a copy of the correspondence
referred to ; and as, in some measure, he complains that
we have not inserted these extraordinary documents, we
feel ourselves obliged to say that we have not done so
from respect to the private chatacter of those letters.
" Besides, Mr. Cochrane appears to be ungrateful to-
wards us and accuses us of want of attention; but he surely
must remember that we have heretofore published para-
graphs relating to him which he himself or his friends
have communicated to us. We yielded merely from a
hospitable deference towards a stranger, as well as to-
wards the estimable person who presented him to us
and because the paragraphs furnished us were rather of
a curious kind. Nothing of this possesses importance ;
though, in truth, these circumstances justify the asser-
tions of Mr. Bulwer respecting the paragraphs alluded to.
The conduct of the British Minister was delicate and
scrupulous in this affair, inasmuch as, from his position
with relation to our overnment, as well as from his
distinguished qualities, he exercises a necessary influence
where honours are to be bestowed upon the subjects of
his nation ; and he was not disposed to demand honours
which were net founded on merits, in his judgment, un-
equivocal."

The editor of the Globo states something of a
similar kind, that the paragraphs in question were in-
serted at the request of persons interested in Mr.
Cochrane. The misfortune is that the papers have
already made it a political question, and thereby an
importance has been bestowed on the matter which it
never deserved. There can, however, be but one
opinion as to the publication by Mr. Cochrane of
letters which were never intended to meet the light;
and every one must condemn the taste which could
prompt that person to attempt to hold up to public
ridicule the dinners of which he had partaken as the
guest of Mr. Bulwer.
The public will best judge whether travelling about
England for his own amusement, as an itinerant
musician ; collecting money, which he distributed to
the refugees; visiting some public establishments
here, and procuring by himself, directly or indirectly,
through two or three acquaintances (as has been
seen from the above), the insertion of his own praises
in some of the Madrid papers, form sufficient grounds
for a claim to honours, which, as Mr. Bulwer pro-
perly remarks, are only due to distinguished acts of
valour in the field, or a European fame acquired
by great excellence in the arts, in science, or in
literature.
Operations in the Three per Cents., 102. Account
done, 127,274,018 reals. Closed at 321- to the 25th
inst., or will. Fives, seven operations ; amount,
6,200,000 reals, closed at 211 at 60 days. Floating
* Intelligence has singe reached is, that the lives of
these prisours will he saved,

(From the 41forning Chronicle.)
MADRID, DEC. 10.—The great matter of talk here
fur the last day or two has been the correspondence
which has taken place between our Minister, Mr.
11. L. Bulwer, and a Mr. Cochrane, who has pub.•
lished the letters that passed between them in the Eco
del Comercio and Esperanza journals. It is now
some months past that many of the Madrid papers
copied from the French an account of the expected
visit of a " wealthy English gentleman, named Coch-
rane," who had formerly rendered services to the
Spanish emigrants in England, by travelling through-
out the country with a guitar as a Spanish minstrel,
and collecting subscriptions, which he handed over
to them. Some short time after, Mr. Cochrane's
arrival here was announced, and since then
his name has been continually before the pub-
lic through paragraphs in the newspapers, and
letters from the directors of public establish-
ments which he visited and eulogised. Some of the
journals had latterly hinted at the propriety of the
Government bestowing some decoration upon him
previous to his departure for the south. Then came
letters to all the papers taking leave, and thanking the
public for the favourable reception he had met with
during his visit ; and lastly, in the Eco of Saturday,
came out an extensive correspondence with Mr.
Bulwer, _the publication of which is to be regretted
in every sense, and the subject is the general
topic of conversation. It appears, by Mr. Coch-
rane's first letter, that he had spoken with Senor
Martinez de la Rosa on the subject of a
Spanish order, which the latter expressed him-
self willing to confer upon him, but suggested that
the application should come through his Minister,
upon which he addressed a letter to Mr. Bulwer,
dated Nov. 24, in which he inclosed a collection o
extracts from all the journals that had made mention
of him, as showing that public opinion was in his
favour, and that the bestowal of a decoration upon
him for his " humble services and sympathies towards
the country in 1828 and 1829" would be " highly
satisfactory to the inhabitants of Madrid." The letter
contained three extracts from the Castellano, three
from the Eco, three from the Esperanza, two from
the Espectador, one from the Clamor Publico, three
from the Heraldo, two from the Globo, two from the
Tiempo, and two from the Posdeta.

i3ulwer replied on the 28th, that, having read
all the extracts, he could not see anything in them to
authorise his desire ; that some wore evidently
written by persons who hail no knowledge of Mr.
Cochrane or his services, while others appeared the
production of a friendly or partial hand, and that
whatever might be his own opinion of Mr. Cochrane's
merits, his celebrity was scarcely so extensive or
so European, as to have set all the journals of a
capital writing in his favour with such eloquence,
unless some trouble had been taken to draw their
attention to the subject, and obtain► their
suffrages. At the same time he expressed his
Willingness, in deference to the letters he had
brought, and the sympathies he had manifested for the
unfortunate on other occasions, to communicate to
the Spanish Foreign Minister, that provided her Bri-
tannic Majesty would permit Mr. Cochrane to wear
a Spanish order, and the Spanish Government chose
to confer it, he should be very well satisfied that Mr.
Cochrane should receive it.

Mr. Cochrane appears to have considered Mr. Bul-
wer's reply as involving very grave charges against
him, and several other letters passed which he finally
published, calling upon the editors of the Madrid
journals, in a letter of the sth inst., to say whether
their remarks respecting him had been inserted
through favour, or had emanated from their own con-
victions, and whether they wished to modify them.
Most of the journals have responded, in one sense
or other, to this appeal. The Posdata last night says,
" We are bound to declare that the notices we pub-
lished respecting Mr. Cochrane were taken from
another journal, and communicated by himself."
The Heraklo says that Mr. Cochrane " cannot be
ignorant that we have lent ourselves, up to this
moment, to publish the different notices relative to
his person, which he himself or his friends have in-
dicated to us, which we have done from hospitable
regard for a foreigner, and the estimable person who
presented him to us, and because the news we com-
municated were curious." The Globo has not de-

dared itself publicly, but its editor has addressed
a letter to Mr. Bulwer, stating that Mr. Cochrane
was introduced with a request that mention
should he made of him in the journal. The editors
_ _

of the Heraldo and Posdata have addressed private
letters to Mr. Bulwer in the same sense. The Tiempo
merely refers its readers to the Eco to read the cor-

respondence, if they wish to " form an idea of what
i 3 now called the eccentricity of the English charac-
ter." The Esperanza, Carlist journal, declares that
no efforts were made to procure the insertion of the

paragraphs in that paper; nor were they inserted
intimacy; -
through personal that the first para-
graph was copied from Galignants Messenger,
and those since were founded on facts ; and finally,
that they confirm all that they had said. The Cas•
tellano,:Eco, and Especlador, treat Mr. Bulwer's re-
flections as a charge against the independence of the
Spanish press, and declare that they praised Mr.
Cochrane on public grounds alone, expressing them-
selves, consequently, offended; particularly the Es-
pectador, which writes with considerable violence on
the subject, forgetting that Mr. Bulwer's letter was
not intended for publication, and bringing strong po-
litical feelings into a question purely personal. The
Clamor Publico has not yet taken any notice of the
subject. The general feeling among impartial persons
is one of regret that Mr. Bul wer should have allowed
himself to be drawn into the correspondence, and of
decided reprobation of its publication, many of the
topics introduced being quite irrelevant to the ques-
tion, and the whole calculated to bring the British
name into ridicule.

REPEAL OF THE DUTY ON
COTTON WOOL.
(Abridged from the Manchester Guardian.)
The Mayor had convened a public meeting of the
merchants, manufacturers, cotton. spinners, and others,
of the borough, which was held on Tuesday afternoon,
in the large room of the Town-hall, " for the purpose
of promoting the repeal of the tax upon cotton wool."
The requisition was signed by upwards of 130 firms
and individuals, including many of the principal
houses, both mercantile and manufacturing, and
individuals of all classes and shades of political
opinions.
Amongst the gentlemen present we observed—
Messrs. R. H. Greg, Robert Gardner, J. B. Smith,
Robert Stuart, Thomas Cooke, Henry Ashworth,
Malcolm Ross, John Shawcross, Alderman Harvey,
Thomas Bazley, jun., Alderman Kershaw, Alderman
Hopkins, Lewis Williams, Edward Shawcross, &c.
Shortly after three o'clock Alexander Kay, Esq.,
the Mayor, took the chair, and having opened the
proceedings,

Mr. RonERT HYDE GREG, in coming forward to
move the first resolution, said he was sure no one
present, and no intelligent person absent, had the
slightest doubt of the impolicy of a tax on the raw
material of the largest branch of the !rational manu-
facture ; or of the double impolicy of that tax, seeing
that the great bulk of that manufacture was exported
to foreign countries; or of the treble impolicy (if he
might say so) of such a tax, where the country that
supplied us with this raw material, or at least the
great bulk of it, was engaged in an active, a suc-
cessful, and a constantly increasing competition with
the manufacturers of this country. Such was the
cotton-tax, the immediate repeal of whi :h they had
met to petition the Legislature for. He would not
bring forward any long array of figures to show the
large proportion of our manufactures that was ex-
ported, but he believed the very lowest we could
take it at was three-fourths; and in the latest state-
ments, those made at the Chamber of Commerce and
in the Glasgow memorial of last spring, the quantity
exported was stated to amount to five-sixths of the
whole quantity in 1842, and to six-sevenths in 1843.
The point to which he wished to direct attention was
the nature and extent of the competition to which we
were exposed by the United States of America ; for,
although a very considerable competition had arisen
in Switzerland and Germany, in medium qualities of
goods, almost entirely perhaps in hand-loom cloth,
still the rival we had to fear, more immediately and
extensively in every point of view, was the United
States. That country had every advantage in having
the raw material on the spot, and paying no duty.
The advantage in favour of the Americans in the im-
porting here of raw cotton, in the expense of freight
and insurance alone, was, he believed, on an average,
exactly equal to one-half of those expenses of impor-
tation to Liverpool. When the Americans had such
immense advantages, could we wonder at the rapid
increase of their manufactures ? Could ' wonder,
after having supplied the Whole of their own con-
sumption, because we must not suppose that English
goods had been excluded by their high tariff; for
our coarse soods were excluded I.),cforc that b' the

very low price at which they were produced in the
United States. In 1823, the total amount of cotton
manufactures exported from the United States was
1,763 packages ; he had not the valuation ; in 1827, it
was 2,494 packages ; in 1830, 5,306 packages ; in
1833, 13,207 packages.—(Hear, hear.) In 1834, he
had only the return of the valuation, and riot of the
packages ; but it was a considerable increase, amount-
ing to 2,085,000 dollars. In 1835, it was 2,858,000
dollars; for 1836 and 1837 he had no returns—[they
were 2,255,000 dollars, and 2,831,000 dollars re-
spectively.—Reporter]—in 1838, it was 3,758.000
dollars ; in 1839, 2,97.5,000 dollars ; in 1840, 3,549,000
dollars ; 1841, 3,122,000 dollars; in 1842, 4,500,000
dollars ; for 1843, he had not an exact return, but it
would amount, according to Messrs. Jones, Gibson,
and Ord's circular, to between six and seven millions
of dollars.—(Hear, hear.) In 1843, one-half of the
exports to China consisted of American domestics ;
they equalled one-half the entire shipments from
Europe and America. What was to become of our
shipping interests, and many other interests, if the
coarse cotton manufacture of this country was to
decline ? It would not take many ships to carry out
shipments of lace, even though these were increased
largely in value. He would merely add, that he
believed Sir Robert Peel, in his opening speech, when
he brought forward the existing tariff, stated that his
intention was, that no raw material of manufacture
should be exposed to any duty beyond that of five
per cent. He saw also in the appendix to the Glas-
gow memorial, a quotation from his speech in 1835,
in which he stated the great desirability of as speedy
a removal of the cotton-tax as it was possible
to effect it. The only argument that, within the
verge of possibility, could be adduced in favour of a
tax upon the importation of cotton wool was furnished
by the prohibition to export machinery. That prohi-
bition was now removed ; our machinery was ex-
?portable, and was exporting most rapidly to every
part of the world, and to America amongst other
places ; and we had now no monopoly, if he might
use the term—(though it was only a partial one be-
fore, for there was much smuggled)—we had now
not the shadow of a monopoly left, to urge in defence
of continuing this tax. And, if the income-tax were
retained, as it was said it would he, then it would be
utterly inexcusable to retain the cotton-tax for a day
longer. But even if it were not retained, still he
would say that there was no tax that demanded such
an immediate removal as the cotton-tax.—(Applause.)
In conformity with these views, he. would move the
first resolution—" That the tax on cotton wool, the
staple raw material of the manufacture of this district,
is grossly impolitic, and operates, as experience has
proved, to the injury of our trade and commerce; and
ought, therefore, to be forthwith repealed."
Mr. ROBERT GARDNER, in seconding the resolu-
tion, said, with respect to the cotton-tax, there could
be no difference of opinion in that room. It was a
tax, as he had stated on a former occasion, which
pressed directly upon the operative. With respect to
wages, it was well known that in this part of the
country they were formerly exceedingly low. In
one point of view, wages were perhaps reduced by the
manufacturers considerably below the point to which
they ought to have been reduced, but they followed a
noble example—the example of the aristocracy—and,
when the wages of the manufacturing operatives were
at the very lowest point, they were never reduced to
the level of the agricultural labourers—(Hear)—nor
were the wages of the manufacturing operatives here
ever reduced to the level of those paid for the same
work either in Germany or America. Therefore, he
would correct himself, and say that the English manu-
facturers had not reduced wages lower than they had
been compelled to do; for, when they paid the lowest
wages, they were still paying more than the agricul-
tural labourer received, and more than was paid for
the same kind of work in America or the continent of
Europe. He would therefore turn round and say
that the operative did not suffer in this country
in consequence of the reduction of wages, but
in consequence of the extravagantly high price of
f iod.—(llear, hear.) A great deal was said about
rural population, and about protection and encourage-
ment to native industry. If there was any truth in
the report of the Commissioners appointed to examine
into the condition of the agricultural population, they
were in a much worse state than our own. What
were the earnings of the agricultural labourer, and
what did they contribute to the revenue ?—(Hear.)
They principally lived upon potatoes and bread, and
could contribute nothing to the revenue, which was
dependent almost exclusively upon the commerce of
the country.—(Hear.) He had no hesitation in say-
ing that more wages were paid by the manufacturers
of Lancashire than were paid for all the rural labour
of England, Ireland, and Scotland—while, as he had
said, the revenue, almost exclusively depended
upon manufacturing industry. Some person
said, " What has manufactures done ?" It had
reduced the expenditure not only of the labourer,
but of the noble.—(Hear, hear.) It had reduced
everything, in the article of cotton, from three-
fourths to four-fifths of its original value; every-
thing in the shape of linen from one-half to three-
fourths ; everything in the shape of woollens, as far
as the manufacturing process of woollens was con-
cerned, it had reduced in value three-fourths. It had
reduced the expenditure of the noble, as well as the
poor, in everything connected with furniture,
clothing, and everything of that sort, from one-half
to three-fourths, or even four-fifths in some cases ;
and yet those who cried down machinery and manu-
factures were the friends, the manufacturers, and the
enemies of the labourer.—(Hear, hear.) It must be
borne in mind, also, that in proportion as the la-
bourer's expenditure in clothing had been reduced,
just in the same proportion had his food been in-
creased.—(Hear.) The Duke of Richmond was of
opinion that foreigners would continue to take our
cloth, though we refused their wool. A friend of his
(Mr. Gardner's) who was deeply interested in the
wool trade, predicted that in fourteen years of
the time of the duty being imposed, foreigners would
meet us in every neutral market, and beat us out of
it ; and we had found the truth of it by experience.
Yet some persons never profited by experience. When
the pesent Government proposed to take off the only
remaining duty upon wool, the Duke of Richmond
came down and said something about destroying the
agricultural interest, and that he would move for an
inquiry. He (Mr. Gardner) thought was Lord
Dalhougie who said, that if his Grace moved for an in-
quiry into the wool trade, he might meet with many
things which were most unpleasant to him ; so he got
up and, without moving for an inquiry, talked about
inflicting injury upon the landed interest by reducing
the price of English wool. What was the result ?
The price of English wool, since the lowest prices of
1845, had risen from 35 to 40 per cent., and the in-
crease in the import of foreign wool was now 60 per
cent. upon that of 1843, and 90 per cent. upon that
of 1842.—(Hear.) And that, notwithstanding the
increase of price of British wool to the extent of 35
to 40 per cent., all this had arisen, not from protec-
tion, but in consequence of taking off protection.
Then our exports of woollens in 1842 were
4,869,0001 b.; in 1844, they were 8,065,0001 b. What
should they have been if the sixpence duty had been
retained ? Why, before thdt injurious tax was
inflicted on Yorkshire, the population of which
county some years ago was larger than that of Lan-
cashire. (its area being thrice as large as this county),
and probably, but for this mischievous law, the popu-
lation of Yorkshire would now have been as far a
head of Lancashire as Lancashire was of Yorkshire.
Where was, then, the talk of " native industry" and
" the English labourer," of which we now read so
much ? At the meeting of the Society for the Pro-
tection of Agriculture the other day, at which the
Dukes of Richmond and Cleveland and many others
were present, they approved of Sir R. Peel's Corn
Bill, but especially of the entire reduction of the wool
duty; though, previously, the same Dukes had pro-
tested strongly against such removal. Mr. Gardner
then adverted to the corn-law, and said he could de-
monstrate, to any man who would reflect on the sub-
ject, that the sliding-scale was one of the greatest
curses that ever befel this country.—(Great applause.)
If ever a law came from below, that was the law.—
(Laughter and applause.) He was also prepared to
show that three-fourths of the revenue was levied en-
tirely from the working people, and it was quite time
there should be an end of that.—(Hear.) The teas,
for instance, that cost from 2d. to 10d. per pound,
paid as heavy a duty as those that cost from 35. to 4s,
The MAYOR—You are taking too wide a field, Mr.
Gardner.

Mr. GARDNER concluded by recommending mas-
ters and workmen to unite together to get these re-
strictions removed, which, if not abolished, would moat
assuredly ruin the country.—(Applause.)
The MAYOR then put the resQlAtic,n, which passed
unanimously.
Mr. Aldarrnau HOPKINS moved the adoption of a
memorial to the Lords of the Treasury; that it be
signed on behalf of the meeting by the Mayor, and be
forwarded by him

TlioidAs BATLEY, jun., read the memorie,),
which, after embodying the facts of the case, con-
chides with a declaration that the best interests of the
tt