Star.
London, England, 1830-08-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TRW JOURNALS.

CHRONICLE.—The Duke of Wellington may have approved of the
overthrow of the French Constitution, and yet not approved of such a,
hazardous attempt as that which has so signally failed. The duke is a
cool as well as a crafty man ; and his habit is not to place his all on the
turn of one die. And the sentiments expressed by the duke, as they
were reported to us, when the news of the issuing of the ordonnances
reached this country, certainly led to the inference that he bad his mis-
givings as to the prudence of the attempt. His language could not easily
be construed into anything like reprobation of the attempt, though it cer-
tainly was expressive of a fear least the coup d'etat might be unsuccessful.
But the opinion, as to the participation of 31inisters in she attempt, so
far from losing ground, seems, on the contrary, to gain fresh strength.
Whether the documents discovered at Paris have anything to do with
this we know not. A Sunday Contemporary (The £ramiuer) goes
almost the length of direct accusation ; and as the language is re- 11
markable, we shall here quote it :—" With regard to the question in dim-
putt (between The Times and Mr. Brougham) we do not hesitate to de-
clare our conviction that Ministers, and persons connected with the
Government of the country, have, throughout, had a guilty sympathy
with the traitors of France, and that they have been so true in attach.
ment to the bad cause, so faithful in attachment to the worst treachery,
that even disaster, the touchstone of constancy, has not shaken
their friendship, though policy has prescribed concealment. lire do
not write this unadvisedly. The wi,prision of crime has been sig-
nificantly indicated, and enough will be known before any very dis.
(ant day." As to some of the Members of tile Cabinet, they are cu.-
tainly better adapted for Vienna than London. We have never heard
Lord Aberdeen spoken of favourably by any human being. Part of
the dislike to him may, perhaps, be caused by his arrogance and super.
ciliousness ; but as he does not atone for these qualities by the posses-
sion of talent, the inference naturally is, that his Metternich principles
are his great recommendation to the Duke of Wellington. The readi-
ness of the public to mix up his Grace with the Polignac Ministry,
may have partly been caused by the known hostility of Lord Aberdeen
to popular Governments in every part of the world.

HERALD—The reception which the proposition of M. De Tracy for
abolishing the punishment of death met with in the Chamber of Depu.
ties, proves, beyond all dispute, that the present race of French legis-
lators are not deficient in feelings of humanity. In supporting that
proposition the venerable Lafayette said, " I shall ask for the abolition
of death, until I have the infallibility Of human judgment demonstrated
to me. The punishment of death has always inspired me with feelings
of horror since the execral,:e use made of it duel's!' the former revolu-
tion." In our own House of Commons Sir Hubert Peel perpetuates
the punishment of death for forging a one-pound promissory-note, not
because that punishment is propo7tiiinate to the moral guilt of the
offender, but because— hear it, humane legislators of France !—because
it is in his opinion the most effeerve punishment. When morality
is left out of the penal code, the question of inflicting death for the
most venial as well as the most heinous legal or political offences, be-
comes a mere question of expediency. Hanlon, Murat, and Robes.
pierre, at whose crimes the Home Secretary, no doubt, would shudder,
thought i: expedient that all who resisted their political supremacy
should suffer the same punishment which certain Directors of the
Bank of England thought it expedient should be inflicted on
those who counterfeited their one pound notes! In the one case 'nor-
silty and a regard for human We were dispensed with for the sake
of ambition--in the other for the Rake of mammon. Hecatombs of
human victims have been offered up on the altars of both. The day
is coming when sanguinary legielato:s anti sanguinary politicians
will be equally execrated. It will he seen, from our Frerch news to-
day, that the King of the French has been addressed on the subject of
NI. de Tracy's motion by the Advocate Lucas, at the head of a deputa-
tion from St. Brieux, who expressed a noN that the country would owe
him the boon of the abolition of the punishment of death, to whom
France owed the extinction of civil war. The King replied that he de-
sired the abolition from a conviction which lie had entertained throughout
life, and added, " I will do all in my power to realise your wish, which
Is also mine."—A press of matter prevents us proceeding further with
this subject at present ; but we shall take an early opportunity to re-
turn to it.

Times—The situation of Spain has for some time past excited an in.
terest at onoe powerful and general tnr.iughout Rurope.—We have no
hesitation in affirming it to be unquestionable, that un entire overthrow
of the tyranny of" Ferdinand the perfidious" is now on the point of
taking place.—Those who are not accurately informed with regard to
the Spaniards, seem disposed to found their anticipation of this great
and happy occurrence on the recent establishment of constitutional li-
berty on the other side of the Pyrenees. They arc altogether deceived.
The destruction of that horrible system under which Spain has groaned
ever since (with one short interval) the restoration of the Bourbons to
the Sovereignty of France, was actually prepared, and would, in a
very few months, perhaps a few weeks. hove been accomplished.
although Charles X. had still kept possession of his throne. Spain in '
1822-23 was torn to pieces by faction, overrun by a French army of
100,000 men, di,,couraged by the menaces of Russia, and we must add,
though with shame and self-reproach, was betrayed by the paltry and
unmanly policy of the British Government of that period. There is
no form of hatred, persecution, or barbarous vengeance, to which the
, friends of liberty in Spain have not been subjected from that day to the
present. Powers more odious and intolerable than those of the lnqui.
sitlon have been abused with worse than Inquisitorial crueltyby the civil
functionaries of the Court : all the most respectable men who were per-
mitted or compelled to remain in their country were trampled on ;
the most fortunate of the Spaniards— those considered the most formida.
ble—were proscribed and banished. But Mr. Canning never made a
mistake so deplorable, as in believing that freedom could be more highly
appreciated by the Portuguese than by the Spanish nation. Had the
constitutional Spaniards found only Spaniards to contend with, they
would have made a somewhat different stand from war which was dis-
played by the patriots of Portugal on the Douro. It was heartless, as
well as inconsistent, to taunt the people of Spain with indifference to the
rights of freemen, when their earnestness in the cause had been alleged
by the Holy Alliance as a sufficient motive for commanding an
enormous French army to attack their territory,: and reduce them to
bondage. The nation, however, was not annihilated. From the hour
at which the last French division marched homewards —we suspect be.
fore it—an active and well-managed correspondence has been carried on
through all the provinces of the Peninsula; and the brave and distin-
guished exiles in foreign lands have willingly answered the invitations
of their countrymen to join them in striking one more blow for freedom.
The consequence was painted without exaggeration, as we are in-
formed, in a letter from une of our Paris correspondents on Wednes-
day last, where the writer asserts, on the authority of Fenntwown
himself, that the people were against him, the army devoted
to the constitutional chiefs, even the bulk of the tyrant's own
Guards disaffected towards him, and no chance of safety left for the
estimable race of Syanish Bourbons, but the Ronk of asakerFreneA
army to their support. It cannot, therefore, be alleged with any jus-
tice to the constitutional Spaniards, that they took their cue from
France, or that their enterprise for the redemption of their noble coun-
try, was but an offshoot from the victory of the French people. The fact
is, that Spain was already ripe. The Polignac Government, however

well inclined, durst not form another cordon sanitaire, or despatch ago•
cher army to destroy the Spaniards. The constitutional leaders resident in
Spain, assisted or directed by the more distinguished of the exiles, were
waiting but the signal to begin. The Ambassadors of Ferdinand
in England and elsewhere, were driven to desperation by the proofs
which reached them of the magnitude of the enterprise, and of the saga-
city and energy with which it had been planned and prosecuted under
tremendous embarrassments; and the most atrocious measures were
pressed upon certain Governments by these minions of the Cama-
rillo, for the unlawful treatment of many noble-minded men,
on whom Ferdinand, while he refused them admission to
Spain, inviked severe punishments for their endeavours to
reach it through some channel independent of his pleasure.—
It is only fair to acknowledge, nevertheless, that if the Spaniards had
prepared themselves to act, without waiting for any impulse from Paris,
the glorious example which has been set them in that capital must in.
finitely Meditate and expedite the success of their own national project.
There is now in France a Government front which liberty, at home or
abtoad, has nothing, we trust, of which to be apprehensive. Vainly
will the tyrant appeal to the " Citizen-King;' who occupies the Palais
Royal, for support. A single regiment ordered to the Pyrenees os sus-
picion merely of such a purpose, would hod Louis Philip from his yet
unsteady eminence. But there is a colour, we find, given to the cause
of the Spanish Constitutionalist*, which is not merely false, but full of
danger. It has been said, that instead of Spain being henceforth, as
formerly, dragged along at the chariot wheels of whoever may be reign.
ing King of France, she will be guided by her sympathies with the
French "people." We believe no such thing. We are satisfied that the
sympathy of Spaniards is with Spain, and with Spain only,—that the
genuine and sole aim of the movers of Spanish liberty, is to make their
country independent—thoroughly independent—of }ranee, of Austria,
Russia, England, or any other power ; and as there is nothing servile in
the plans of the Constitutionalists, (we speak from good authority), so
is there nothing extravagant or wild. They are oneand all convinced of
the manifold errors exhibited in the constitution of the (tortes. Their
first wish is to shun such errors. The constitution of England, so far
as may be practicable for Spain, is, we understand, the model which
they liope to imitate. They must have a King so checked and
controlled, that he cannot, if he would, betray the interests of
his subjects. Ferdinand, they are insane if they suffer again
to deceive them. But whoever may be their Sovereign, his nails must
be pared. The constitutional Spaniards arc well aware of the blunder
that was formerly committed, in the creation of a single legislative as-
sembly. There arc in Spain a large body of noblemen possessed of great
landed and other property, 19-20ths of dem warmly attached to the
principles of a free constitutional monarchy ; this distinguished and most
useful class of men was absurdly thrown aside by the constitution of 1812
and 1820, and therefore wantonly exasperated : they form the legiti-
mate, natural, and powerful materials of a House of Lords for Spain,
and we may be assured that when law and order succeed to the pre-
sent more than Turkish anarchy of licentious despotism, an Upper
Chamber will be constituted simultaneously with King and Cortes.—
This body, more analogous to the English nobility than any other class
of noblemen in Europe, sent repeated deputations to Sir Henry Welles-
ley, requesting him to lay before Ferdinand their desire that he would
be content to govern as constitutional King of Spain, in which case they
would support his authority with all their power. The memorable
answer of the autocrat was this—" 1 will be nothing but absolute
King." We pray to Heaven, then, that lie may be " nothing,"—
obsolute King he will not be, in all human probability, for another
month. As for the other measures of' the constitutional party
in Spain, we have been told that their intention is to establish as a prin.
ciple the " freedom of commerce ;" and, as the exception to that prin.
ciple, only such imposts as may be requisite for the purposes of reve.l
nue ;—that immediate care will be taken to repair the injustice done to
individuals oy the outrages on property perpetrated at the instigation of
the monks, in whose favour the national domains were re-annexed to the
monasteries, and all purchases made under the laws of the Cones an-
nulled. It is likewise decided to proclaim an immediate recognition of
the debts contracted by the C•ortes, and to re-appropriate, as security
to the public creditors, the national domains of which they were
pillaged when Ferdinand thought proper to commit the unexampled
iniquity of disclaiming the national debt. It is further the feeling, as
we have been informed, of the Spanish patriots, to refer to the ancient
laws of Spain, (as much trampled on by Ferdinand as any other public
securities,) in all cases where provision can be discovered in them for
the maintenance of the subject's right, whether civil or politicaL This,
we are lid to believe on high authority, is the spirit, equally circunt.
spect and honest, in which the Spanish re-founders of their country's
liberty have pledged themselves to each other and to their fellow-
citizens to proceed. If they act, as we trust they will, on such principles,
every good man in England, and from north to south of Europe, will be-
friend them. If,—which Gun forbid, and which we at least cannot an.
ticipate—those who direct the councils of Great Britain should attempt
to damp or discountenance this virtuous effort on the part of the Spa-1
nisi* nation, to shake off a yoke which never could have been imposed,
hail England done her duty, the immediate effect will be, to
throw Spain into the arms of the liberal Government, now esta-
blished in a neighbouring country, and to forMit all title to Spanish
confidence for ever. The family compact, now broken by the hand
of PROVIDENCE, will thus have been revived in another and more
terrible form—that of a national compact between the people of two
countries, each, in that case, animated by excusable hostility to Great
Britain. But we hope for better things. England and Spain are
in that condition which renders them natural allies. The commer-
cial interests of both nations—we say nothing of what general policy
would dictate—prescribe to them the most unrestricted intercourse.
Abounding in raw materials of every kind for which there is no demand
on earth so constant as that afforded by the British capitalist, how could
Spain, in her turn, dispose of them to such advantage as by procuring I
for herself an equivalent in our unrivalled manufactures ? The wants
of 13,000,000 of people at our own doors would soon supply a vent for
British industry more ample than that to which the expectations of our
merchants bad for so many years been directed in the great South Ame-
rican Continent, and would entitle us to treat with good-humoured in-
difference the restless tariffs of the United States, no matter how dex-
terously constructed.

[We have had the communication by us for some days on which the
preceding article is founded, but think there is lOW no risk in publish-
ing it.]

FRENCH REVOLUTION-EDINBURGH PUBLIC MEETING.

Friday a meeting of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, called by the Lord
Provost, on the requisition of upwards of a hundred respectable inha-
bitants, was held in the great room of the Waterloo Tavern, " to con.
shier the propriety of expressing their admiration of the energy and
promptitude with which the French people have lately resisted the vie.
lation of their public rights, aid the moderation with which they have
hitherto used the sudeen and unexampled triumph by which their
patriotism has been rewarded."

Mr. Jeffrey concluded a splendid speech, by moving " That the people
of France having, with unexampled efforts of courage, and under every
disadvantage of preparation, baffl,d the profligate attempt of their late
Monarch to violate the sacred compact by which he held his crown, and
to support that aggression by the most atrocious abuse of his military au.
thority ; and having in the very moment of their sudden triumph, and
while yet excited by the sanguinary struggle through which it had been
obtained, made no other use of the power with which it invested
them, than to exclude from the throne the tyrant and his Cescend.
ants, and to make such alterations only in the charter of their liber.
ties as were calculated to prevent the recurrence of s' 'lse calamities,
and give security and permanence to their free institutions ; have, by thus
uniting wisdom with heroism, and moderation with victory, not only
vindicated their own right in a manner the most glorious, but done all
that in them lay to maintain the peace of Europe, and have consequently
entitled themselves to the high admiration and gratitude of all the friends
of good order, and especially of the people of Britain, who wrought out
and established their awn freedom by kindred measures, and have, of
all nations, most cause to rejoice in the liberty and happintss of
France."

The meeting, says the Mercury, was in all respects worthy of the
memorable occasion which it was intended to celebrate. In point of
numbers, it was perhaps the fullest inee,ing ever rosembled ; reckoning
by the shillings received at the door, there were about 900 persons in
the room, but as a great many more were admitted without payment,
between one thousand and 1,100 persons, including several ladies, were
present. On the platform, iii the centre, there were, beedes the Right
Hon. the Lord Provost, the Dean of Faculty, J. Hume, Esq. M.P. Mr.
Cockburn, Mr. J. A. Murray, Mr. Gibson Craig, Mr. Allan, Mr. Jas.
Simpson, Dr. Nlaclagan, and :several other gentlemen. The opening
speech of the Lord Provost was exceedingly neat and well expressed, and
the sentitnents, which evidently flowed from the heart, did him great
honour. It is not saying too much to affirm, that the whole of the large
audience seemed to be actuated but by one sentiment, and it was really
gratifying to hear the bursts of applause which, broke forth Omelet invo.
luntarily, rind of one accord, whenever any remarkable point of the do.
quent speeches of the Dean of Faculty and of Mr. Cockburn struck a
chord to which their bosoms responded.

THE Moons.—The morning of the 12th of August did
not dawn very auspiciously this year. It was dull and drizzling, and
altogether little calculated to excite the hopes or animation of the
sportsman. We are glad, however, to find that some parties were
pretty successful. Alajor Towers killed fifty brace and a bare in Bade.
noch ; and on the second day fifty-two brace. In Stratherrick, Lovat,
Lord Mexborough and party had good sport in the Nlonna Leadh
Lord Saltoun and brother, Culduthel and brother, and the Captains
Vernon bagged about one hundred brace. Sir Francis blacken:lr and
Mr. Halket killed seventy brace in Ross-shire. OLnerally speakir g,
the grouse here, as in the Yorkshire moors, are small and scarce, in
consequence of the wet weather. Hence, several sportsmen have post-
-7:giilnzerations for a fortnight, of which number are Messrs Dilke and
, with their friends at Strathgarve.—lnverness Courier.