The Sun.
London, England, 1827-09-29 00:00:00

oppression ; and that the liberty of the press,
even though of later growth, and operating.on
better materials, has been used as a means of
tearing lowa the pillars of the State, and involv-
ing the country in the horrors of civil war.—
We do not say that such considerations ought to
keep us from attempting to introduce into other
countries forms from which we derive so much
benefit ; but they ought to render us less san-
guine than we usually are, that their mere intro-
duction will suffice to assimilate other countries
to ourselves. We are prepared, if Don Miguel
should in the slightest way attempt to modify the
regulations of the Charter—whose aptitude to
the.wants of the Portuguese Nation none but the
Portuguese can possibly determine—for a cla-
mour long and loud against the change, however
salutary it may be. And we even see it propo-
sed gravely to take the pledges of an oath from
that Prince before he enters on his Government,
that he shall make no such attempt. Who is to
take the pledge is not very distinctly stated ; but
as it has been reported that he is to visit this
country on his way to Lisbon, we suppose his
Highness intends to make affidavit before the
Lord Mayor. But we need not stop to point '
out the absurdity of any Foreign Power attempt-
ing to impose obligations on the Regent of an ,
independent Monarch, proceeding, under his
Sovereign's order, to take charge of a trust, sub-
ject to the regulations which that Sovereign has
seen fit to lay down. There is a circum-
stance connected with the anticipated return
of Don Miguel, which has been caught
up as a matter for declamation. That
return will, it has been said, show the folly of
our interference with the affairs of Portugal, and
of the expedition thither, which has been the
theme of such general approbation. - All that
we have been doing is lIGIV to be undone. We
sent troops to Lisbon to support the Princess
Regent and the Charter, and now we must aban-
don both. It might puzzle these worthies to
show how we are made parties to a violation of
the Charter, by the appointment' of Don Miguel
to the Regency, for which it expressly provides.
But the whole argument proceeds, as the argu-
ments of the party have invariably done, on a
complete misrepresentation of the facts of the
case. We did not send troops to Portugal to
I support a particular officiary, or to support a par-
ticular Constitution. Neither the one nor the
other came within our view, or formed an ele-
ment in the judgment to which Government so
promptly, so energetically, and, as the event has
fully proved, so judiciously came. It was no
feeling of general benevolence, no sympathy with
struggling liberty, no regard for congenial insti-
tutions, which prompted Mr. Canning to advise,
and Parliament so unanimously to applaud, the
plan of assisting Portugal, by our influence and
our troops. We do not decry those feelings, and
no man was more deeply embued with them than
the late Premier ; and while he felt as a man,
he reasoned and acted as a Minister. He was'
the last person to recommend a crusade
in favour of liberty. He stated expressly
in that never-to-be-forgotten speech which
he pronounced on the occasion—the echo
of which has been heard from the Tanais
to the Orinoco—that in answering the call of
our ancient Ally for succour, we were acting in
strict accordance with treaties long entered into,
and he claimed the approbation of the world to
that act of Great Britain, not as one of romantic
benevolence, but as a proof of her sacred regard
to the faith which she had solemnly pledged.
He spoke to the nations of Europe as an Eng-.
lish Statesman ought to speak. We are not a
nation of sentiotentaiista—we are not to be won
by fine appeals to feelings and sympathies—but
show us the bond, and as honest plain-dealing
men of business, we will pay to the utmost
farthing, though we go beggared in consequence.
Such was the principle on which the English
Cabinet acted. The demand was made on their
justice in terms of an existing compact, and
they answered it. Such being the real state of
the question, whether the internal Government
of Portugal is to be managed by the sister or
the brother of her King—whether, putting the
extreme case, it is to be managed by the preser-
vation, or by the abrogation of the Charter—the
conduct of England remains unimpeachable.
She has acted as became herself. She has car-
ried into her foreign the same feelings which re-
gulate her conduct in her domestic policy. Eng-
land is the land of fixed rules—the land of im-
mutable laws-.--the land where the inviolability
of compacts is best understood, and most reli-
giously guarded. She can spare to her more
mercurial neighbours the fame of generosity, con-
tenting herielf with the less dazzling and better
understood virtue of justice.—New Times.

STATE OF TRADE.—For the last three
weeks the demand for goods in our market has been much
more limited than it was for some time previous. On
Tuesday last the demand for grey cloth was particularly
dull, and we believe few sales were effected without a par-
tial sacrifice in price. There has been, however, a con-
siderable number of London and country buyers in the
market, and the business done by calico printers has been
very considerable. Yarns continue in a very distressed
state, and we believe were never more unprofitable to the
spinner. Upon the whole the present state of the cotton
trade is by no means flattering ; but, on the other hand,
we do not perceive any jut grounds for despondency. The
circumstances of the labouring classes in this district afford
a gratifying contrast to the situation of this class of persons
at the same period last year, the wages of weaving having
advanced in many instances to nearly double, and in some
to more than double the sum they obtained at the time we
speak of ; in addition to which the poor can now purchase
potatoes on lower terms than they were ever able to do so
before, and the full in the price of oatmeal and other pro-
visions, which has just taken place, enables their earnings
to purchase not only the necessaries but the comforts of
life.—Manchester Herald.
WHALE.--A female whale, of the Finnert
species, was discovered about five o'clock en Saturday
morning last, in Cairndow Bay, by James Farquharson
and Andrew Kimmon, fishermen to his grace the Duke of
Argyll. They both went out in a small boat, and when
they first approached her, she was lying with great com-
posure
shallow
boat round her head, they came close in to the one side,
posure upon the surface of the water. After rowing the
and gave her a stab with a large knife (the only offensive
weapond theyher Ladso
as ttvoi tthedra
drag
ilioettv
water ; but on making an attempt to fasten a rope round
her, by two or three successful struggles she got off, and
enablehi them
themt nearo
swam pick into the deep. The two fishermen pursued,
and in earning up to the animal, inflicted several wounds
which they considered to be mortal, and, securing her with
a rope, they again dragged her on shore. Supposing she
was dead, they both went away, with the intention of chang-
ing their clothes. The tide was flowing at the time, and the
whale was observed, after it had been surrounded by the water,
to make off a second time, and before the men could reach
the spot, she had drawn upwards of 40 fathoms of the
cord, along with the boat and anchor, after her. They
succeeded in recovering the boat, when they again set out
to reconnoitre the monster. From the wounds it had pre-
viously received, it was much exhausted ; and after giving
it a very deep stab with a long spear they had brought
with them the second time, they finally got it on shore,
with considerable hazard, where it heat the sand furiously
with its tail, and made the water rise to the height of 40
feet. It expired about half an hour after. It was towed
to Greenock in the course of the day, from whence it was
brought tip to the Broomielaw on Monday night, in tow
with the Gulliver steamer. It measures about 30 feet in
length, IS in circumference, and the ta;l is 74 feet broad.
The Magistrates have given the fishermen liberty toexhibit
it for two days,
in a yard at the foot of York-street.--
Glasgow Free Press,