The Sun.
London, England, 1827-01-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALg.

The American President's Message attracted a painful
kind of notice to the existing relations between this coun-
try and the United States. The key, touched by the
Chief Magistrate of the Republic, certainly vibrated for a
while on our Stock Exchange, and the sound has since
died away. It is still, however, of importance to
to the public that measures are in operation for
healing the imperfections of the Ghent treat, and remor-
ing the difficulties that have hitherto stood in the way of
a frank and easy commercial intercourse between the two
nations. A Commission, if a negociator on each side and
a common secretary may be so called—has betn sitting for
some weeks, for the purpose above described. Mr. Gal-
latin, the American Ambassador, acts in this particular
case, also, for his Government, and Mr. Huskisson for
ours, and Mr. Abercrombie, jun., is joint Secretary.—
These gentlemen, we are Assured, have nearly brought
their labours to an amicable conclusion. It is further
pleasing to state, which we do on no slight grounds, that
the American people have not taxed, and do not complain
of us, as having impeded the satisfactory arrangement of
the commercial relations between the two countries..--
Time:.

it seems probable that among the mass of petitions by
which Ministers are likely to be importuned, and more or
Less embarrassed, in the course of this Session of Parlia-
ment, they may find some from quarters where little has
been hitherto looked for beyond the most loyal, and edify-
ing acquiescence in the will of his Majesty's advisers. The
Scotch counties, which have been deeply affected by the
pressure of difficulties and the consequent convulsions of
trade within the last fifteen months, are coming forward
with language not often heard beyond the Frith of Sol-
way. So long ago as the 21st of November, a county
meeting for Renfrewshire was held at Paisley, with the
declared object of considering " the distress which pre-
vailed among the productive tiasses, and the propriety of
petitioning Parliament thereupon." At this meeting, the
Member for the county (Mr. Maxwell) came early for-
ward, and pledged himself to support the petition pre-
pared and agreed upon, in hopes that it would help to
contribute that relief which he and others had vainly
urged upon the King's Ministers. Mr. Wallace, a great
proprietor in the county, and likewise an opulent inein-
bie‘of the West Indian body, was equally strenuous with'
the former gentleman in his approbation of the petition.
It may be some index of the change of sentiment which
is beginning to show itself in large classes of the inha-
bitants of Scotland, when we perceive in a Scotch county
petition the distresses of the people at large dwelt upon
with bitter force; and, as chief among the causes or those
sufferings, the immense amount of the taxes, aggravated
by their unequal pressure ; the fictitious meney, which
renders property uncertain and morals corrttpt; the change
in the value 6f money, which bears down the whole
commercial community, end entails a necessity for "
ad-
justing contracts ;" the Corn Laws, which paralyze our
manufactures, and which starve the poor; finally, the dis-
honest state of the representation, by which all the above
evils are perpetuated. This is undoubtedly a strong tone
of complaint for any Scotch -composition, and ought to
be well meditated by those to whom it addresses itself, as
a curious, and rather serious, characteristic of the times.—
Ibid.

\%e yesterday saw a letter, received by the ordinary
post, from Portalegre, near the Spanish Frontiers, and
dated December 17, which states that the rebel leader,
Magessi, and his party, after having been defeated by the
Count de Villa Flor, entered Spain, in the vicinity of Al-
buquerque, and proceeded on to the town of San Vicente,
where they were publicly and magnificently received by
the Mayor c.f the town, named Casillas, the Military Com-
mandant, Brigadier Toro, and Cid dc Ribero, a Canon of
Badajot who, after furnishing them with every thing they
required, accompanied them, in their march, towards Al..'
cantara—the line the rebels pursued, for the purpose of
again invading Portugal, on the side of Lower Beira.
If any thing was wanting to prove the duplicity and bad
faith with which the Spanish Government is-acting to-
wards Portugal, it is the fact mentioned in the above
letter, which we can vouch, comes from a highly respec-
table quarter. In the very teeth of the assurances re-
peatedly given by the imbecile Ferdinand, and in open
violation of the diplomatic note, sent to all the Ambassa-
dors in Madrid, by the Minister Salmon, on 28th Novem-
ber, in which he affirms, that orders had been conimuni-
rated to all the Military Commanders and Civil Autho-
rities on the Portuguese frontiers, not to allow any aid to
he given to the Refugees, or suffer any deserters to be re-
!eived, but to observe, in the most strict manner, the
Treaties and Conventions existing with Portugal, we see
that the Military Commander, the Chief Civil Autlio
rity, and Church Dignitary, not only receive, with open
arms, the defeated rebels who had a second time taken
refuge on the Spanish territory, but supply them with
fresh stores and means of attack, and even accompany
them a considerable distance on the new road they tool(
towards the Portuguese lines, which they were about to
cross a second time, for the purpose of carrying terror
and desolation among their insulted countrymen. This
direct aid and co-operation with the Portuguese refugee*
coupled with the favours bestowed on Gen. Longa, the.
Commander of the district in which the rebels were first
equipped, and the formation of an army under Rodil, to
act on the frontiers, are circumstances in themselves strong.
enough to show the feelings of the Madrid Government,
as well as the influence of the Apostolicals over its acts.
No one can fora moment imagine that the armament of.
the Portuguese refugees took place without the knowledge
and consent of the King, when, as we a few days ago
proved to a demonstration, not a single musket, for ae
extraordinary service, can be taken - from the royal maga-
zines without a special order under his sign manual, so
srrict are the regulations in this respect. The fact is,
Ferdinand is swayed by the Aposticale ;- nay, his life is
in danger if he separates from them. They have sworn to
put clown the Constitutioii of Portugal, and offered to do
it at-their awn expellee. All' the ostensible orders
Salmon may feel disposed, as a blind, to send to the Atee
thorities on the frontiers, as so many stimulants for them
to do the reverse of what they contain. Secret instiiit:
tions, no doubt, are appended to them, and if there were
none, the agents of the Apostolicals would take all on`
their own responsibility, and in Spain they now wield
a power infinitely greater than the isolated Minister in
Madrid. Dissimulation is Ferdinand'sforte ;itis a game
he has played at all his life, and in it no one can excel him.
—Remakes promises with the intention only of breaking
them, and then laughs at those who have had the credu-
lity to believe him. His anger against England will be
redoubled the moment he learns the nature of the late de-
bates in Parliament, in which he was so roughly handled.
Whatever demonstrations, 'therefore, he may evince to-
wards us or Portugal for the present, are insincere,. and
intended only to delude both.—Morning Chronicle.
The Birmingham Journal, which was cast in 4001. da-
mages, for copying from the Salopian Journal the libel
respecting the idiot Smith, the subject of two subsequent
prosecutions—one against the Sa2opian Journal, and ano-
ther, lately, against the Times (the latter memorable on
account of the charge of the Lord Chief Baron Alexander)
observed on Saturday last :
" The difficulties that have pressed upon the country have
been fully participated in by ourselves; and we have had to
struggle against greater obstacles than perhaps were ever before
encountered by a Provincial Journal. We refer more particularly
to the heavy damages given against the Birmingham Journal,
for a libel on William Smith, charging him with cruelty to his
idiot brother ; the whole expence of which will not be much less
than 17001, It is souse satisfaction, however, to find, that from
~ne extremity of the country to the other, no difference of opinion
exists respecting the merits of the case. '
Seventeen hundred pounds! And this passes as a mat-
ter of course. The Jury little think, when they give a
hundred pounds or two of
.damages for what they see no
great harm in themselves, but which they deem theme
selves bound to believe a libel because the Judge tells theM
so, and they do not like to contradict a Judge—that they
are, in reality, giving thousands. The costs of law pro-