The Sun.
London, England, 1826-12-15 00:00:00

than in security against foreign: aggression, and to re-
store to them the indefeasible right, which has been vio-
lated, of regulating their internal affairs according to
their own taste. Let us perform this duty—let us dis-
charge this obligation. Let us thoroUghly disperse
and annihilate, as a military body, the rebel force which
has been organized in Spain for the invasion of its na-
tive laud ; and then let the French and English troops
quit the Peninsula together,—on the same day, if such
an arrangement suit,—in which case neither force can
be said to retire, from the other ;, for we would not
di'sgi'ace brave men by an act that might seem to
cast a reproach on their courage. Frenchmen, you
have bad possession of the Spanish part of the
Peninsula for three years, and, great wrong has
been rrpetrated under your powerful protec-
tion. You cannot think it much to suffer the
English to aid the Portuguese part of the same
PemnSula for , a few months, and, meanwhile,
so to have arranged the measures necessary for Your
departure, that the last .squadron or detachment of
each protecting force may quit the peninsular territory at
the same time. The conclusion of the King of France's
speech, as it may be thought, and as indeed we hinted
yesterday, is warlike. But it may be asked, in reply,
how could the Sovereign in such a case pay his people a
less courteous compliment, that to say that " they will
again display their military virtues should honour oblige
them ?" "Whether the French advance or recede,—and
perhaps in the latter case more particularly,it may have
been proper to assert that fear had no part in their de-
cision. For ourselves as Englishmen, we only expect
justice at their hands—that is, such justice as the case
will admit now, for we have already, as Mr. Canning said,
borne much wrong in suffering the invasion and occupa-
tion of the Peninsula. If France, urged by a fanatical
party, persevere in this wrong, the guilt of opening the
wounds of the civilized world afresh be her's; the guilt
be her's of recommencing a war which cannot but be ruin•
ous to her,—,to her fairest hopes of improvement,—to her
incipient commerce and mannfacturesand which is un-
necessary to prove her courage. The correspondence of
Mr. Lamb, our Ambassador at the Court of Madrid, in-
serted in yesterday's Journal, shows that gentleman, 'we
should think, to be an active-minded and able diplomatist,
and evinces the treachery—no doubt the prescribed
treachery—of the Spanish Generals on the Portuguese
frontier.—lbid.
Our readers will see from a brief notice in another
column, that the question, whether. the 'Magistrates of
. Middlesex should continue to deliberate with closed

• doors, was yesterday agitated at the Sessions House,
Clerkenwell, and that formal notice of a motion on the
subject was given for a future day. Understanding
that one subject to be discussed yesterday was of great
interest, namely, the comparative advantages of a
County ASylum, and private hotises for the reception
of pauper lunatics, we had several reporters in attend-
ance to convey an account of it to the public,. who
ought to know the grounds for a decision which con-
cerns them so deeply ; but, as will be seen from the
notice, they could not obtain an introduction. It is,
as was truly obser'ved by the Noblemen and Gentle-
men at the late County of Norfolk Meeting, contrary
to the spirit of' the Constitution that any set of men
should have the power of taxing heavily their fellow-
subjectS without responsibility. The Magistrates of
the County of Middlesex have certainly no claim to
an exemption from accountability on the ground of
the irreproachable manner in which they have always
executed their trust. great period. has, elapsed
since disclosures of a very serious nature were made,
affecting die character; of some of their body, and
proving an astonishing degree of carelessness, if we
should give it no harsher term, on the part of some of
• •
our functionaries. We allude mom particularly to
the very suspicious disappearance of many im-
portant records 'and papers, containing the only
evidence by which certain transactions could be
cleared up. In short, the public have long been taught
'to believe, that in the disposal of their money. by the Mid-
dlesex Magistrates, a great improVement in more respects
than.one would be effected by publicity. They may reeol-
leet the statements which one of their number, Mr. Mum-
:ion, of Hummeremith, was some time ago compelled to
make in vindication (himself, in which that worthy Ma-
gistrate showed, pretty satiSfactOrily, that he had drawn
down on himself the hostility of some of his brethren, be-
cause he had endeavoured to oppose himself -to the jobs
promoted by them. We trust, therefore, that those Mal,
gistrates (and there must be many such), whose conduct
is.above suspicion, will disdain to lend themselves to the
concealment of the unworthy conduct of some of their
brethren, who make' their office subservient to private
ends. n these days Magistrates, who wish the support.
of publie.eonfidence,must show that they are entitled to it.
If the House of Commons do not hesitate to confess, that
when screened in Committees from the public eye, they
have lent themselves to the grossest acts of injustice, are
we to be asked by Middlesex Magistrates, to believe their
virtue of so much a more elevated description, that secrecy
and opportunity will always be unavailing against it? The
Middlesex Magistrates will not surely have the effrontery
to lay claim to any such superiority over other men. If
Mr. Peel thought thatiAtting in light on Committees of
the House of Commons would, improve them, we may
safely infer that a similar course would produce no bad ef-
fect on the Middlesex Magistrates.--Morning Chronicle.
In the repOrt which we gave of the sitting of the
instant,
the Chamber of Deputies of the 4th-
the- Minister for Foreign Affairs, after giving an ac-
count of the situation in which Portugal was 'placed
with reference to foreign powers, made use of the fol-
lowing remarkable words The Apostolic Junta
rules the Cabinet of Madrid, and has, unfortunately,
ramified in Portugal, and must be considered as the
greatest pest of monarchies-4e most infamous league
agaiifst Kings, and the civilixation of Europe." But
by whose aid does the. Apostolic Junta rule the Cabinet
of Madrid ? By the armed aid of France. The
power of the Apostolic Junta, great as it has been,
was put down in Spain, and by Spaniards only, until
French armies came to restore it. Ever since that
period. the Apostolic Junta has been engaged hi
crushing every principle of thought and action in
Spain which is not in conformity with passive submis-
sion to the ,civil despotism of the Monarch,
.and the
ecclesiastical tyranny of the Court of Rome. To es-
tablish this twofold power, in opposition to all rational
freedom--all independence of mind—all intelligence—
all civil virtue, is the unceasing endeavour of the
Spanish Priesthood. . A sithilar power has un-
happily but too evident a controul over time politics
of the French Government. Its .fatal ascendancy
was seen in that scandalons violation of the peace
I_Of EUrope, which, for the first the, after the
iti°lttun declaration of the Allied Sovereigns to the
contrary, subverted. the principle of the independence.
of "lions by -sending -70,000 bayonets to settle
the internal affairs of Spain. As bad examples are sooner
copied than good eite,,, Austria speedily acted Upon this
precedent, and interfered with the GoVernment of Naples
by the stone mode Or armed legislation. But let us sup-
pose for an instant that Spaju and Naples. had originally
Constitutional Cioveramenta instead of despotic ones, and,
for some reason orother, did, at the timo to we
allude, get rid of those Constitutional GovernMents, and
set up despotic ones in their stead—and• let us suppose
that.the English' Ministers, dislihiugthe diffusion of den-
pons: principles principles as much as the ;Comic of France and
Austria dislike.the extension of. frea'principles,. had sent