The Sun.
London, England, 1827-09-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Lisbon . mail which arrived yesterday
brought us papers and letters from that capital
to the I6th instant. If the most valuable inte-
rests of a nation were not involved in the childish
proceedings of the Regent's Court, the capri-
cious play of her Government and the rapid
change of her astonished servants would excite
ridicule. Every packet now brings us some two
or three new dismissals and appointments, ap-
parently without motive or object. A Ministet
has scarcely time to look into the tecitA-tts of his
office, or to learn the details Or its simplest busi-
ness, when the Princess sends for some of his
colleagues, and desires him to look for a succes-
sor. The Gazette; therefore, is filled with
nothing but decrees for the formation of a Cabi-
net, which is generally changed before the change
of the moon. Sometimes the decrees suCceed
each other so rapidly, that new Ministers can-
not be found, and therefore several portfolios
are accumulated in the same hand, or pro.visiOnal
seat-warmers are appointed on condition of sign,-
ing their names to papers preferred by the eierks,
till a fresh recruit is found. In sueli a state
things there can be no Government. 'The atek
'ward squad called a Cabinet is so often changed,
that it never acquires regularity in its move-
ments, or confidence in its strength. Had the
Princess really i:atended to prepare the way for
the return of her brother, and with that return
for the irverthrow of the Charter, she could
not have proceeded more Aireetly to her object,
or employed means better calculated to accom-
plish her purpose. A suspicion of her honesty
must naturally insinuate itself into ottr minds,
when simple folly cannot account for the mischie-
vous tendency of her conduct. Though alarmed
at the idea of Republicans', she could not, with-
Put absolute madness, have destroyed all the
Liberal newspapers—have displaced all her Con-
stitutional servants, and formed renewed inter-
course with the partisans of her mother, unless
she had intended to make her subjects desirous
of seeing the return of her brother. The bold-
ness which the Prince's party now displays is
not so alarming to those who know of his in-
tended accession to power as the principles which
they profess, and which of course they expect
him to favour. We have copied part of an
article from the new paper called The Trombeta,
sent - us by one of our correspondents, which,.
professing to be written in Don Miguel's interest,
breathes a fiercer spirit of fanaticism, and urges
to projects of more murderous vengeance, than
any thing we remember to have heard from the
Trumpets of Jacobinical or anti-Jacobinical
fury. If such are the first sounds rung in the
ears of the Prince on his arrival at Lisbon by
those who surround his person, it will require all
the philosophy which he call have acquired ..at
Vienna, and more than all the liberality for
which he gets credit at the Palace of Queluz, to
remain a friend to the Charter. We recommend
the letters of our two native correspondents, and
the extract above alluded to, as presenting a me-
lancholy picture of the state of affairs at Lisbon.
Let us hope better things from the now inevitable
return of the Prince.—Times.

Under the political changes of the time, and
the consequent fluctuations and excitements of
feeling which they would naturally generate, it
was not to be expected that the Catholic body
should alone be silent amidst the uproar, and
heedless of results on which their friends, and,
in a more conspicuous manner, their foes, are
hourly exhibiting the most sensitive and impor-
tunate anxiety. At a meeting of Catholics in
Dublin, on the 22d inst., the frequent and in-
teresting question was debated,—whether they
ought to press or to relax their efforts in the'cause
of emancipation against the ensuing session of
Parliament. This question has been differently
viewed on the opposite sides of the channel.—
The English advocates of emancipation, witness-
ing the ebb and flow of public sentiment here,
where alone the measure can, through such
• means as the Constitution furnishes, be success-
ful, lean more to the side of patience and temper
in the policy which they recommend. The Irish
are for the most part governed by an opposite
and more unruly spirit, as being, in the first
place, the aggrieved party ; and, in the next, as
being Irishmen. Our own disposition, we con-
fess, has been to let . the subject win its way in
this country by presenting our Irish brethren as
Bpellants to the kindness and generosity of the
ritish nation, for relief from the petty tyranny
as well as legal disabilities which they experienced
at home ; and with that predilection it has been
our conscientious endeavour to advise at all
times a course of forbearance, though not of
tameness or indifference, to the Catholics.—
. At the meeting of last Saturday, the disputed
point—a suspension or an acceleration of activity
• —was discussed by Mr. Shiel, in a striking
speech, of which good temper was the most
useful characteristic ; yet we must add, that
the learned gentleman grappled with the ques-
tion like a man who had studied and under-
stood it. The matter stands thus :—Do the
Catholics run a more serious risk by irritating
occasionally the feelings of Englishmen, or by
suffering, through a'disuse of the means and
powers of popular excitement among themselves,
.the mind of Ireland to stagnate? It appears to
us, that after-a fair statement of the premises,
.Mr. Shiers conclusion was just,-.--that- the Ca-
tholics ought, in good and sober policy, to keep
the subject so far alive in Ireland, as to produce
a sort of prospective uneasiness here, and to pro-
voke more or less of a gradually declining oppo-
sition, rather than either be swallowed up in ob-
livion or suffer their apparent acquiescence Un-
'der injury to be alleged (and it has often been
_so misconstrued) as an argument " that they
have nothing to " complain of." To • this ex-
tent, then, we agree with the Catholic orators—
,that they ought not to let their question sleep :
but we do not concur with any of them in ima-
gining that they ought at the same time to rouse
the angry passions of Enaland. In a fit key,
and write, and murmur,
the more they speak,
and reason, and remonstrate, the better for them ;
but a single jarring note is a note too many.
.Mr. Shiel is manifestly wrong when he assumes
that any Minister friendly to emancipation would
deprecate even the most indiscreet exertions of
the Catholics, merely because they might: mo-
lest" him, or " ruffle the pillow of office. The
fear of every wise and honest friend of the Ca-
*tholics is, that they may frustrate or retard the
fulfilment of their own expectations, not that
-they can inflict any personal annoyance on their
political allies. As for a diScussion, ever so
.early, or otherwise inconvenient, of the Catholic
clann in Parliament being likely to endanger
the existence of a Cabinet, three-fourths of whose
members, whon they accepted office, were avow-
edlyadvocates for the prineiple and grant of
emancipation, it
ence, but would may do to alarm an Irish audi-
don.—Thid. scarcely be listened to in Lon-
It is observed, we believe, by Hume, that
those men who would have go back to for-
mer "vs 191 P"l_,C__49.llui vii itigitutitinh

unknown in the present day, are. either very ig-
norant or very designing. We are; for our own
parts, thoroughly convinced that there is not a
single coun4 in Enrope which is not in every
respect in a more improved state now than it.
was in a hundred years age. ,So late as the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, spoliatiolis were
effected through the instrumentality of Courts of
Law, which WtAid not be tolerated in Spain at
the tvesent moment. For instance, in the Se-
cret Memoirs of the Earl of Leicester, it is
stated—" N9w for the Change of lands, I think
I have been reasonably plainefore, yet, for your
further satisfiretion ytits shall understand his
further ‘dealing therein to be of this sort :—Be-
sides the good lands, and of ancient possession
of the Crown procured of her Majesty's hands,
and used as before is declared, he useth the
`same trick for Ms worst lands he possesseth any
way, Whether they come unto him by extort
Means and plain oppression, be through mainte-
nance or broken titles, or by couzening of single
gentlemen to make him their heir, or by what
hard title or unhonest means soever (for he prac-
tiseth store of such, and' thinketh little of the
reckoning), after he hath tried them, likewise to
the uttermost touch, and let them out to such as
shall gain but little by the bargain ; then goeth
he and. changeth the same with her Majesty for
the best lands he can pick but of the Crown, to
the end that thereby he may both enforce her
Majesty to the defence of his bad titles, and
himself fill his coffers with the fines, and utmost
commodity of both the lands .•
. . And
his license of alienation of lands, which as in
part I have opened before, served) him not
only to excessive gain, but also for an
eXtreme scourge to plague, whom he listeth,
in the realm ; for seeing that without this his
license no man can buy or sell, pass or alienate
any land, that any ways may be drawn to that
tenure, as holden in chiefof the Prince, as com-
monly now most lands may, he called' into
question whatsoever liketh him best, be it never
so clear. And under this colour, not only en-
rieheth himself without measure, but revengeth
himself also where he will without all order." If
we go back a little farther, to the time of Edward
VI., we find Bishop Latimer charging IVlagi-
stratus with selling. justice openly ; Allowing
murderers and thieves to escape for money. Take
any fifty years of our history, and it will be
found that things which were done with-
out challenge at the commencement of the pe-
riod, could no longer be done at the end of it.
That the youth of the present day are better in-
formed than those of a former generation, could
be easily show ; and we, have no hesitation in
stating, that Pitt, Fox, and Sheridan would not,
on the stock of knowledge they possessed, enjoy
the reputation now they possessed in their day.
When Sir Francis Burdett stated, a little more
than a year ago, that one single clause in Magna
Ghana was worth all the pretended discoveries
of modern Philosophers, he was partly pitied
and partly laughed at ; but the same sort of
vague assertion, which the most devoted of his
Westminster Constituents would hardly stomach
new, would have been received with cheers at
the hustings in Palace-yard twenty years before.
In other countries the same change for the better
is constantly going on. The Committee of the
Society for the Improvement of Prison Dis-
cipline inform us, in their last Report, that
" the criminal codes throughput the cantons of
Switzerland need considerable reform ; nor do
the institutions of that country in general appear
to partake of that enlightened spirit for which
the people of England have long been disposed
to give them credit. In confirmation of this re-
mark, the Committee cannot refrain from the rela-
tion of a fact which will excite surprize, if not
indignation. There was lately in the. prison of
Friburg a robber, who, by the decree of Legis-
lative and Executive Authorities, underwent.
three several times the punishment of torture."
That formerly the people of England should have
supposed an enlightened spirit to pervade the in-
stitutions of a set of Highlanders, who, from
the nature of their country, can only communi-
cate with each other with great difficulty, and of
whom, in consequence, the characteristic must
necessarily be a blind and obstinate attachment
to all old customs and practices, is a proof of the
improvement of which we have been speaking,
for Englishmen of the present day would display
more discernMent and more judgment. But
Switzerland is improving, though slowly. The
instance of torture occurs in Friburg,. one of the
most benighted of all the Cantons. But, in the
Canton of Glaruz, the inhabitants of which are
chiefly Protestants, and are noted for their in-
dustry and enterprise, a woman was judicially
burnt for. a witch so late as 1783 ; an event
which could not take place •in the wildest of
the Forest Cantons in the present day.—
Though the inhabitants of the Peninsula may not
have been generally prepared for the political re-
forms which have been attempted these during
the last 20 years, it is beyond question that,
even in these regions the people are advancing.
If Spain is now in a disordered state, it is, even,
in the midst of the present convulsions, less dis-
ordered than it was habitually, at no remote pe-
riod. The celebrated French Missionary, Father
Labat, who visited Spain. in 1705, informs us,
that the garrison of Cadiz " went through their
Exercise in their cloaks, mounted guard in their
doaks,.stood sentry in their cloaks, and the
Officers who commanded them had all the same
dress ; for, without the aid of the cloak, they.
would have been allowing to be seen what de-
cency required to be concealed." It may easily
be imagined that troops so ill clothed would be
at least equally ill paid. In other States they
would have deserted, but three reasons prevented
the Spaniards from deserting. The first is, the
point of honour, for they themselves say they are
too honest tO quit a military life when they have]
once embraced it. The second is, that for want,'
of pay they rob with impunity wherever they can
find any thing to take : and when they are de-
tected, and happen to be the weaker party, they
claim the privilege of the Gipsies, and 'are let ofU
on giving back th€ir prey. The third is, that
when they can find nothing to take, they beg.
The officers as well as soldiers, begged publicly'
at Cadiz, and in all the environs which I visited
while waiting the departure of our vessel. I
should have been surprised had I not seen the
Spanish troops in garrison in Flanders follow the
same practice. I believe notwithstanding these:,
three reasons which cause them to remain in the
service without being paid, and force them to.,
beg,- they are still better off in the service than
they would otherwise be, for they would still be
obliged to beg, and would not have the quality
of soldier or officer, which is no small advantage
for them in the way of pretext. Whenever the
Peres de la Mercy and myself happened to be
taking the air, we were sure to be accosted by
officers, who, after asking the news and a pinch
of snuff, regularly demanded alms. I some-
times expressed my astonishment that an officer
should descend to such meanness, and I told,
them that such a thing would in France cause

altar to be cashiered, and would ruin him in
reputation for ever. They answered me that
every country had its usages, but that they were
persuaded there was no dishonour in asking
alms, as in that they only imitated our Saviour
Jesus Christ, Who- set them an example of beg-
ging when he was on earth. It is true our Lord
was poor, and that the holy women mentioned in
the Scriptures assisted him in hii necessities—
Ministrabant ci dedracuitatibus sztis
The Governor assembled the principal Merchants
and Consuls, and told them, that the garrison
had not been paid for a long time, and that it
was to be feared they would proceed to some
excesses, and pillage their houses, and that the
only way to avoid this disorder was to contri-
bute thirty-five or forty thousand crowns, to pre-
vent the Soldiers from breaking out. As these
hints are quite frequent in Cadiz, the merchants
ate used to them, and never dispute either the
necessity or the justice or the demand. On this
occasion they made the best bargain they could,
and got off for 14,000 crowns and a present of
a thousand pistoles to the Governor. In con-
sequence of this, the soldiers no longer went in
bands through the streets robbing in the markets
in open day. They confined themselves to rob-
bing as usual during the night ; for in this
country, without being Well armed and well ac-
companied, whoever leaves his houee.a, little late,
or even about twilight, are sure to find valets to
spare them the trouble of undressing for bed."
It is observed, in an able article on Revolutions,
in the Hermes (of Leipsic) for August, 1827,
" that if we compare the condition of the coun-
tries of Europe from century to century, it
not to be questioned, that from the foundation
of modern States to the present period, the ad-
ministration of justice has at the end of every
section been incomparably better than some ge-
nerations before, if we exclude extraordinary
periods from the comparison—that is, particular
reigns and the times of great wars and convul-
sions. . ..... About the middle of

last century the feeling for right had been ex-
cited in the nations of Europe but at the same
time the abuses derived from a former period,
and absurd laws, deeply wounded that feel-
ing. In most countries, England and a few
of the States of Germany excepted, there pre-
vailed about that period an arbitrariness in men in
office, of the possibility of which we have now no
idea. Imprisonments for a time, or for life'
without trial, were common in other countries as
well as France ; there was a peculiar technical
expression for them—Prisoners of State, by
which it was understood that there was no room
for trial. In very many tribunals nothing could
be done without connexions or presents. Cer-
tain descriptions of property, that of minors, for
instance, were considered a fair booty of the
Judge; whoever complained of the injustice
done him to a superior tribunal, was at once
called a turbulent person, who ought to be
taught his duty by imprisonment, caning, or
other means ; and, if he still persisted, delivered
over to foreign crimps. In many countries, no
man in office ever thought of yielding obedience
to the commands of Authorities, if he did not
know that the President or influential Councillor
was interested ; and, if a Commission was nameill,
to inquire into abuses when they became too
glaring, the business began with guttling ; and,
when the eyes of the Commissioners were not
duly opened by wine, all other means were put
in motion to discover their weak sides, and turn
them to account. How matters proceeded in
the administration of Criminal Law, that much
torture and cudgelling were put in requisition is
universally known." So much for the hopes of
improvement, which we contend must constantly
be going on, and which no government can pre-
vent. The lovers of darkness in this country
hold Mr. Brongham in peculiar abhorrence, be-
cause he has laboured so much and so effectually
for the improvement of the people. But Mr.
BrOugliam appeared at the time when a Mr.
Brougham was required. He belongs to this
age ; and those who come after us will willingly
acknowledge that the country owes far more to
his labours for education, than it owes to a Pitt,
a Fox, or a Burke.—Morning Chronicle.
Our relations with Turkey have assumed a
serious aspect, and we shall soon discover whe-
ther the policy which our Governmeht has adop-
ted is not much more chivalrous than prudent.
Three of the greatest Powers in Europe have
allied for the ostensible purpose of bringing the
contest in Greece to a conclusion ;but the Porte
appears firmly resolved not to acquiesce in their
demands, and though resistance may be altoge-
ther unavailing on the part of Turkey, yet no
man can tell bow far Great Britain may be in-
volved when once an appeal is made to arms.—
It is quite obvious that the same motives which
have induced our Ministers to interfere, do not
actuate the Cabinets of Russia and France. We
believe that Mr. Canning never contemplated
any thing nlore than to obtain for Greece, a sort
of modified independence, which should secure
her from Turkish aggression, without at the same
time releasing her from her allegiance to the
Sultan ; but Count Nesselrode and M. Villele,
though apparently concurring in the views of the
British Minister, would fain take from the Turks
not only the revolted States in the Archipelago,
but every inch of ground they possess on the
European side of the Bosphorus. They would
do so with the view of aggrandizing their respec-
tive countries at the expellee of a State 'which,
however barbarous, has still the strongest claim
on the protection of England, offering as it does
a powerful though inert support to our possessions
in the East. The immense regions which Russia
already holds under her despotic sway are not suffi-
cient for her ambition; she has long entertained the
design of expelling the Saracens from the Lower
Empire, and of becoming as absolute at Con-
is always
t int
eMpoos
power
oe wr .
of FErna
leaen,
d, and
jsetaarilotumsoloAfe
tahseslmiea
desirous to extend her own, would gladly see
our flag excluded from the Dardanelles, or allow-
ed to float there only with the permission of
Russia, having herself nothing to apprehend from
the further aggrandizement of that vast Empire..
In the meantime Austria and Prussia, though
apparently silent spectators of the scene now go-
ing forward, still cannot be supposed to be either'
uninterested] or inactive. Austria in particular,
from her geographical situation, must naturally
feel the deepest interest in the result, and we may,
readily imagine that so cautious and vigilant a
Statesman as Prince Metternich does not sleep
at his post. If Turkey is destined to become a'
political spoil, he will take care that his Imperial'
master shall come in for a god share of it. We'
may, perhaps, find it
necessary to send a much
larger fleet to the Dardanelles than is stipulated
for by the late treaty, and for a very different:
purpose.—Morning Herald.
All the writers who have treated of Turkey,,
speak of it as the garden of Europe. The nu-i
merous ridges of hills with which the surface.ofl
the land is broken, contribute, even in the midst
of summer, to keep up a degree of coolness in
the airs whiCh moderates the otherwise powerful

influence of the sun ; and the same diversity of
hill and. valley, by the shelter it affords, renders
the winters delightfully mild. ' The rose, the
favourite of the eastern poets, and from which
so Many of their similes are derived, blossoms
luxuriantly even in January. The fertility of
the land would be proportional to the mildness
of the clime, were there the slightest security
to the husbandman, that he who sowed should
reap. But the despotism, whose more hateful
features are somewhat softened down in the
great towns, and their immediate neighbourhood,
stalks abroad in the country in all its oppression
and deformity, and industry, farther than it is
exerted to procure for the day its daily bread, dis-
appears before it. The facilities which Turkey
enjoys for external commerce, are commensurate
to the •abundance . of her natural riches.—
The extensive shore is every where ideated
into harbours, and the central situation of the
capital, stretching forth its arms to Europe on
the one hand, and to Asia on the other, having
the Mediterranean as a channel of communica-
tion with Africa and the Atlantic, and the Red
Sea, and the Arabian Gulf, opening on the
Indian Ocean—all these advantages seem to
mark out Constantinople as the emporium of
the world. They have,. however, been given to
Turkey only .to show how many of the most
•exeellent gifts. of Providence may be rendered
unavailing by the perversity and incapacity of
man. The population of Turkey in Europe is
variously stated by different writers. Nothing like
a census has ever been allowed by the GoVern-
metit, or attempted by individuals, and but a
very loose approximation can be .expected from
calculations founded on false, or, at best, uncer-
tin data. Exclusiv.e of that portion of its sub-
jects who, if the. Allies succeed in their object,
' are. now, after nearly four .centuries of bon-
dage, unexampled in the history of conquests,
to be severed from it, we hope for ever,
the population of Turkey in Europe has been
estimated at ten millions. It probably falls
considerably short of that number. The army
of Turkey used to be about -125,000, but of
these the Yenicheri, it must be remembered, con-
stituted . nearly two-thirds. Mutinous and dis-
orderly as those cohorts were, they formed the
most valuable portion of the Turkish forces, and
there can be no doubt that all the discipline of
the new levies will render them but an indifferent
substitute.. Of irregular troops the Porte pos-
sesses about 100,000, which are valuable only,
but that is no unimportant consideration, as a
nursery of recruits for the Regiments of the Line.
In artillery the Turks have always been ex-
tremely deficient, and the Russians, who have
gradually beaten them into the adoption of mo-
dern tactics, are not in that department the best
of masters, it being one in which they themselves
have yet much to learn. The Turkish cavalry,
which is about 12,000 in number, is generally
accounted excellent. The navy of Turkey is
' below contempt, considered as a national force.
It has never recovered even its numerical
strength since the terrible defeat it sustained in
the harbour of Tchesme, from the fire ships
of our countryman, Greig, in the war of 1772. -
It used to muster 30, ships of the line, and as
many frigates, but, according to the latest ac-
counts, it consists only of 15 sail of the line,
15 frigates, and about 30 of a smaller descrip-
tion. The Turks are bad sailors every
where, but their men-of-war are infinitely
worse manned than. their merchant-men ; for
the crews of the former are chiefly made up of
refuse of society, who are sent thither to expiate
their offences on shore.. The numerous bays
and harbours, which would, to a commercial
nation, be the principal source of its greatness,
render Turkey only the more easily assailed by, a
maritime enemy. The passage of the Darda-
nelles is formidable in- appearance only. The
western. entrance is nearly three miles wide, and,
consequently, the forts on each side, even were
their guns well served, can offer but little oppo-
sition to the passage of a fleet, which can keep
the centre of the channel. About one-third of
the way up the channel narrows greatly. But
there the, forts are completely open to a coup de
main from the land side ; and as the strait
presents no natural obstacles, with a fair
wind vessels of the largest size may safely
pass though it at midnight. Arrived in
the sea of Marmon', the only difficulty
that presents itself to a naval attack is
the current which sets through the Bospho-
rus and the Dardanelles towards the Me-
diterranean, and which can only be stemmed by
a favourable wind. This obstacle, which pre-
vented Admiral Duckworth from acting , with
effect, has, however, since the invention of steam-
boats, ceased to be one. One of those vessels
could not only tow a fleet through the narrows
leading to the Propontis, but could anchor it un-
der the walls of Constantinople, independently
of the wind, and in spite of the current. The
shore presents ,no danger or difficulty. From
very careful surveys, it appearS, that from the
castle of the Seven Towers, in the south-west of
the Seraglio, in.the south-east point of the city,
the depth of water varies from six to thirty
fathoms within a few hundred feet of the shore,
so that a 74 might lie within a cable's length of
the wall, from the one extremity to the other.
To blockade or to besiege the capital of the
Turks, as the progress of events or the exigen-
cies of war might require, would therefore be a
matter of equal facility. Turkey is not less open
to attack by land than by sea., In Asia, gene-
rally, her uncertain boundaries are exposed to
the perpetual
.insults of her neighbours. The
Arabs trample on her authority in Syria,
and in the Pachalics of Bagdad and. of
Koordistan, she receives • but a dubious
and unwilling homa,ge. In Europe, Russia
has pushed forward her conquests to the
Danube, and in Asia her troops press
upon the Phasis. Austria, which was, before
the peace 'of 1814, separated from Turkey
by the mountains of Transylvania, and the
waters of the Danube and the Save, has now
a free access to Scrvia anti Bosnia, by her ac-;
quisitions in Venetian Dalmatia. That, so sur,.
rounded, so exposed, and so feeble, Turkey,
must one day fall, requires not the gift of pro-
phecy to foresee, nor is it more difficult to pre-
dict, that once fallen she will never more lift her
head. He who tumbles from the effect of a
blow may get up again ; but the case of him who
tumbles, not from his enemies' strength, but his
own weakness, is desperate. Still the day of
the humiliation of Islamism in Europe may be
far distant, nor will the interference of the Allies
tend t_o hasten it. The erection of the Greeks
into an independent state, will, indeed, operate
rather to retard that consummation. '
hardly put forth their hand to assist their'
ancient eir'
ancient tyrants, but they may be induced, They
though the cause is her's, to fight to protect
period, attempting to make aggressions.
themselves in the event of any Power, at any,
futureupon Turkey, which could hardly be done ;hi:l,-
Eu) Times.
out bringing -the • t '
zard.--N egrity of Greece into 1.1,11.-1