The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-10 00:00:00

RAILWAY RETURNS.

We extract from the Railway Illagaz;ne the sums
received on the principal Railways of Great Britain
for the, week ending on the day of the month prefixed
to each. The return includes the money received for
passengers, parcels, carriages, horses, mails, and mer-
chandize

_
Week Total.
ended Name of Railway. Opened. £. s. d.
Jan. 1 Birmingham & Derby Junct. 381 1,195 511
Dec.3l Birmingham and Gloucester 55 1,4115 6 3
25 Brandling Junction 23 606 1 7
Jan. 1 Chester and Birkenhead ..
2 Dundee and Arbroath
2 Eastern Counties
1 Glasgow and Ayr ,
1 Glasgow, Paisley, & Greenock 221 789 1 5
. Grand Junet., Chester &Crewe 1031 No returns
1 Great North of England 45 889 0 11
2 Great Western
1 Hull and Selby
1 Lancaster & Preston Junction 20a 449 2 9J
Dec.3l Liverpool and Manchester.-- 31 4,129 19 0
Jan. 1 London and Birmingham ll2l 11,716 19 7
6 London and Blackwell
1 London and Brighton
4 .
1 Ditto Shoreham Branch
4 London and Croydon lOl 349 12 oir
6 London and Greenwich 3l 799 1 5
1 London and South Western
Dec.3o Manchester, Bolton, and Bury 10 592 13 9
Jan. 3 Manchester & Birmingham
1 Manchester and Leeds
1 Midland Counties 57 2,111 14 4}
1 Newcastle and Carlisle 6oi 1,356 18 10
2 Northern and Eastern ...
1 North Midland
.. North Union
I Preston and Wyre l9l 176 5 5
3 Sheffield and Manchester 7 442 1 3
2 Ulster
2 York and North Midland 23 1,339 14 9

SUDDEN DEATH OF THE REV. R. RAT-
CLIFF E.—On Tuesday last the Rev. Gentleman left Acton
Burnell, at an early hour, and on his arrival at Harley,
two miles from Wenlock, about nine o'clock, two cotta-
gers saw him passing down the road, when he suddenly
staggered and fell to the ground in a fit of apoplexy.
They hastened to his assistance, and lifted him up ;
but after breathing several heavy sighs, he expired.
The body was removed to Acton Burnell the same
day, and will be interred in the chapel to-morrow.
The deceased was in his 70th year. He was a
student at Douai College when the horrors of the
French Revolution compelled the inmates of that semi-
nary to fly from France, and seek a shelter under the
hospitable roofs of the wealthy members of the Catholic
faith in Great Britain and other countries. He arrived
at Acton Burnell, the seat of Sir Edward Smythe
with other refugees, in 1793, where he remained up to
the time of his death ; and, during the last twenty-six
years, officiated as the Domestic Chaplain of the family.
He was the last descendant of the house of Dement-
water, which suffered so much, in property and life, for
their adheretc: to the cause of the Stuarts.—Shrewsbury
Chronicle.

THE SPANISH REGENCY.
TO THE EDITOR. OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE.

SlR—Absence fr)m London prevented my seeing
until recently the speeches of the Lord Mayor of Dub-
lir, in which he assails the Regent, Government, and
present institutions of Spain. I have read at the same
time your just and admirable comments on them, with
those of other Lfluential journals
Connected by military service, as well as by valued
relations of friendship, with that country, and feeling
that if the imputations thus thrown out have any
foundation, I am myself liable to a share of them, I
trust I may be excused in offering a few remarks ou the
subject.
The facts specified in these speeches would seem,
even if proved, scarcely in proportion to the sweeping
inferences of criminality indulged in, and the fearful
remedies invoked. But they are urged in the name of
liberty by one long known as one of its ablest advocates,
and, therefore, appear to challenge, in a peculiar de-
gree, acquiescence, or a frank avowal to the contrary.
The Regent, it is alleged, " courted the aid of the
most brutal and sanguinary mob in the world—that of
Madrid ; who, when two gallant young gentlemen were
on their trial, and the Court conceived that the terrible
punishment of ten years' imprisonment would be suffi-
cient for their crime, the mob called for their destruc-
tion, and, with the approbation of Espartero, these
young men were sacrificed."
There is here an obvious mistake. It was the pro-
secutor appointed by Government, and not the Court,
who conceived that ten years' imprisonment would be
sufficient. And it was the Court, and not the mob, or
the Regent, who, overruling this more lenient sugges-
tion, sentenced the prisoners to capital punishment.
The approval of this finding of the Court by the Re-
gent, under the advice of his Ministers, is styled
" slaughtering his brother officers." With as much
propriety might (in my humble opinion) the punishment
of Courvoisier be termed a " slaughter."
The law which decrees death for high treason is com-
mon to all nations. Tae Legislatures which enact it
may or may not be in the wrong. But in either case it
would surely be an abuse of the privilege of discussion
to heap contumely on public functionaries for not de-
viating from that which they have neither the power
nor the right to alter.:
The other prominent illustrations of the " despotism"
of the Regent, dwelt on more than once, is that of an
" eminent lawyer," tried (we are told) by some provin-
cial court and imprisoned for " merely defending his
client, a clergyman." I have inquired from the only
official source within reach, and am positively assured
that no occurrence whatever, admitting of this applica-
tion of it, has taken place.
The people of Madrid are, it is stated, the " most
brutal and sanguinary mob in the world." How is this
borne out by the event referred to? Notwithstanding
the confusion and excited passions of a prolonged night
conflict (except in the combat) neither loss of life nor
injury of person or property appears to have occurred.
The victory of the Constitution, the safety of the
Queen, the presence of the Executive Chief of the
State, were indeed hailed on the following morning
with fervent enthusiasm. But so satisfied were the
Government of the good and loyal disposition of the
population, that the whole of the troops were with-
drawn to the frontiers ; the palace, Sovereign, and ca-
pital being left in the exclusive charge of the armed
citizens.

But though anxious to remonstrate, however reluct
antly, against these injurious inaccuracies, I have far
too strong a sense of Mr. O'Connell's memorable
exertions in almost every good and just cause not to
attribute them solely to the want of impartial informa-
tion, or of time (from the multiplicity of his functions)
to attend to the transactions of foreign countries. But
this conviction does not exonerate one from the duty of
endeavouring to render justice to a friendly people
struggling for the same sacred objects with ourselves.

The leaders of the revolt at Madrid had ample time
to prepare for trial. No discouragements were offered
to the military or legal Counsel who honourably under-
took their defence. Five of them paid the forfeit of
their lives for their error. No one has uttered a doubt
of the completeness of the evidence against them ; and,
as to the numbers thus subjected to punishment, you have
already, Mr. Editor, pertinently suggested whether con-
siderably more might not have been deemed requisite,
were the Palace of a British Sovereign similarly attacked.

Why, the rigour of our own code-has been proverbial ;
nor has its mitigation in practice been by any means
conspicuous. For instances, the execution of Thistle-
wood and his wretched accomplices, whose crime, how-
ever atrocious, was only intended—not committed ; tbat
of the many hundreds banged, drawn, and quartered,
beside vist numbers left to perish in crowded gaols and
holds of ships after the last rebellion in England, not a
century since ; and even coming down to present times,
were not comparatively far harsher penalties exacted
for the mere local riots at Bristol ? We may leave out
of question the barbarous system of razzias (for warfare
it does not deserve to be called), prosecuted at this day
in Africa, not owing to any casual excitements of the
soldiery, but deliberately adopted as a process of exter-
mination, by authority of successive ministries of France,
that of the present Conservative M. Guizot inclusive!
The present Government of Spain is, io my opinion, to
say the least, amongst the ,most lenient and forbearing
of Europe.
I cordially concur in Mr. O'Connell's regrets for the
fate of tle young officers tp whom he has alluded, as
well as for that of their few unfortunate companions.
They were each of them distinguished by an honourable
military career ; but pre-eminently so their deeply la-
mented chief, the chivalrous General Diego Leon,
whose last aspirations in this life were for the preserve-
tion of those rights for which he had so often fought,
and against which he had unconsciously, therefore, we
must believe, on a single occasion raised his arm. But
what other sentiment can this suggest than that of ad-
ditional resentment against the heartless and shallow
instigators, whether foreign or not, who could hale de-
ceived and misled to his ruin so guileless and noble a
spirit !
The unfairness, however, bas been adverted to of
thus restricting our sympathy. It was obviously far
better deserved by the soldiers of the line and national
guards, who fell, while faithfully as well as gallantly re-
sisting this deplorable enterprise ; and by none more
than by the valiant inhabitants of Pamplona, who—
acquainted by sad experience with the horrors of civil
war, and yet preferring the destruction of their city and
every consequent peril, to compromise with the enemies
(according to their belief) of the Constitution and a
patriot Regent—resolutely withstood in their open and
defenceless streets, at musket-shot distance, a protracted
bombardment, remorselessly poured on them, from the
ramparts of their own citadel.
In what country has this been surpassed—whether as
a fete of arms, or as a trait of devotion to public interest?
The National Guards, under the direction of the
municipalities of San Sebastian, Santander, Sarragossa,
and almost every other town of the kingdom, either ac-
tually took the field with the same intent, or equally de-

monstrated their determination to stand by the Govern-
ment, and emulate the spirit of Madrid and Pamplona.
The difficulty was to restrain, not stimulate the general
zeal. The conspiracy, though not wanting, it was said,
in the sinews of war—though emanating, as generally
believed, from a powerful external source, was thus, by
a spontaneous national effort, crushed in its birth. %Vas
there ever a people, in the history of the world, who
thus came forward, at a moment of need, for the sup-
port of one whom they deemed a tyrant, or of laws
which had not their esteem ? No ; these are not the
men whom the champion of Irish liberty would, on being
reminded of these facts, deliver up again, bound with
ignominious chains, to the tender mercies of a French
army ! But what is more satisfactory, is the conviction,
that the accoropliiihment of any such project would sig-
nally fail. and assuredly recoil on whoever should at-
tempt it, in the present day.
The Regent is charged with being a " robber of the
Church." You have already shown that not an act
of the Cortes, touching this class of property, has
originated with Ministers of his choice. All these
measures date from the Regency of Christina, and
the Ministries of Mendizabal and Calatrava. Should
it be yet contended, however, that spoliation of this
kind has really been perpetrated, then I must take
leave to say, that the Lord Mayor himself can no more
disclaim than I can, having been a zealous accomplice
in that unholy deed. To prove this, it seems only
necessary to enumerate the strenuous aid afforded by

himself and family towards raising some regiments of
the British Legion in Ireland ; the numerous officers
appointed at his recommendation to the Queen's army,
all of whom assisted in fighting the battles of clerical
robbery ; the coincidence of the acts of the Legislature
for abolishing monasteries—for appropriating their
landed possessions to the State—for regulating a pro-
vision for ecclesiastics from the public funds, and even
that of the Constitution itself, having been all passed or
adopted during the co-operation of the British Auxi-
liaries in the ranks of the Liberal army. Neither
should we omit to mention his generous support of this
corps, and the cause it was engaged in, against all their
assailants in Parliament ; and not merely by a lawyer's
opinion on the right of succession to the throne, but by
a vigorous, impassioned eloquence, which he may, it ap-
pears, forget, but of which I preserve a fresh and grate-
ful recollection.
Spain is taunted for the embarrassment of her trea-
sury, and the clergy may, it is deeply to be regretted,
be amongst the sufferers. Few countries, however,
have passed through a similar ordeal without a similar
result. The North American States were for a long
time unable, and seemingly not yell willing, to settle
accounts, even with their own native army. The French
were bankrupt repeatedly during their revolution. The
guillotine and bayonet supplied their deficiencies. The
anguish of a violent internal contest has but ceased in
Spain, and she is already straining every nerve, by
peaceful and useful means, to meet her obligations,
gradually, but to the utmost of her ability. And if dis-
appointments on this bead in future occur, it must be
distinctly attributable to the unprovoked policy of a
powerful neighbour, which will not allow her to deve-
lope her resources or reduce her military establishments.
Louis Philippe receives in these speeches a warm
eulogium ; on which, I will only beg to say, that there