The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-25 00:00:00

PORTUGAL.

LISBON, JAN. 17. The Braganza steamer arrived
here last night from Falmouth, having, amongst other
passengers, the Pope's Nuncio, Monsignore Cappacini,
commissioned at this Court to regulate, in conjunction
with her Most Faithful Majesty, the ecclesiastical affairs
of the kingdom, which, ever since the breaking out of the
war of succession have been in a most unsettled state.
Some prospect is thus afforded of the hostility of the
Church in Portugal, both to the reigning dynasty and
the actual Government, abating in its intensity, and of
that great corporation becoming reconciled to the exist-
ing order of things. Hitherto the influence of the prin-
cipal Church dignitaries has been added, with
that of the Miguelite partisans, to the weight of Oppo- i
sition. The large confiscations of ecclesiastical property
which have taken place of late years have added fuel to
the flame; but the still sufficient provision which is
awarded to the service of the parochial churches has in
some degree reconciled the most inveterate hostility ;
and it is hoped that, with prudent management, the pre-
sent mission may beget peace and a good understanding,
in the room of jealousies and endless contentions. Mon-
signor Cappacini will make a considerable stay in Por-
tugal, and has taken the mansion and elegant gardens in
the rua Sao Felix, lately occupied by M. Van Zellar.
The first accounts of the results of the municipal elec-
tions have reached Lisbon during the present week; with
the single exception of Aveyra, they will all go in favour
of the Government.

On Friday his Excellency Senhor Rodrigo Da F. Ma-
galhaes, her Majesty's Secretary fur Foreign Affairs,
gave a grand dinner to the Ministers and members of
the diplomatic corps. At his right sat Lord Howard de
Walden, the longest resident Foreign Minister in Lis-
bon, and on his left the French Ambassador. At the
other end of the table the Prime Minister, Senhor Aguiar,
presided, supported on his right by the l)uke of Ter-
ceira, and on his left by the Duke of Palmella.
The embarrassment which the Government is encoun-
tering in reference to their capitalization project is
greatly increased by the conduct of the Directors of
the new Company, who are literally backing out of
the terms of their own contract. Instead of giving
money to those Empregados, whose titulos are stated
at 56 per cent., they merely permit them to subscribe
and send out their runners into the market, with a com-
mission to offer from 48 to 50 per cent. in cash for these
same titulos, so that the Compaay ter•Ly be enabled to
pocket the difference. This conduct, which is little short
of roguery, has produced universal disgust. The Govern-
ment shares the obloquy, although not fairly responsible
for it; and the chief blame rests, not with the Bank Di-
rectors, but with the universally unpopular tobacco
contractors.

Portuguese politics present little to instruct or amuse
during the past week. The only thing of considerable
note which has occurred, is an unsuccessfully and very
quietly exploded attempt on the part of the ultra •Chartists
in Oporto to proclaim the Charter of 1826, in its original
purity, and divest it of the additions made to it by the
revolution of September, 1836. The attempt was exceed-
ingly silly, and even with reference to the principles of its
abettors, illusory, since it could effect no change either
of men or of measures which could at all compensate for
its disastrous consequences, even if successful.
The weight of obloquy which Ministers have drawn
down upon their heads by the late financial operation is
tremendous. It is not alone that the battery which was
opened at first by the Opposition Journals has since kept
up an incessant fire, and that in coffee-house saloon, and
oon,
public lounge, they have encountered the most invete-
rate- hostility, but amongst their own friends, and in the
circle of their most immediate followers the measure
has awakened a rancorous spirit of resistance. It has
revealed the fact, not even suspected before, of a most
extensive traffic in the titulos, about which so much has
been said, in the most improbable and improper quarters.
The jobbers in question have in many instances been Go-
vernment officers, highly placed. The needier class of Em-
pregados have been tempted to dispose of their titulos for a
trifle to other Empregados, more fortunate in their position,
and possessed of some conamand of money. The confidential
employes, to whom these remarks refer, did their best
to depreciate the value of the poor underlings' titulos by
preaching the final insolvency of the Government, and
their peculiar facilities of information made their repre-
sentations readily believed. They thus brought•up the
inferior flactionaries' papers for a song, chuckling in se-
cret ever the success of the manoeuvre, and entertaining
the secret conviction that they would be finally paid to
the uttermost farthing. But behold them caught in
their owa trap. The very event which they painted
to others, but disbelieved themselves, to trick their
dupes out of the documents representing their hard-
earned gains, has in reality occurred, and through their
own underhand dealings has visited their own doors.
The tardy arrival of the Braganza, which should have
been here on Friday, and did not reach till Sunday night,
is the only cause which delayed Senhor Aguilar's de-
parture for Madrid. His Excellency is an Andalusian
by birth, and makes this coasting detour for the purpose
of visiting his native province en route. There is a con-
siderable affinity between the Andalusian and the Gascon
character ; and it is no wonder, therefore, that his Excel-
lency should have been heard to brag that he will shortly
be back again in Lisbon in the same capacity (query,
incapacity ?) of Ambassador, and that he, forsooth, isnot
to be removed at the beck of Portufal. In the language
however, of the Garcon and quasi-Andalusian, Thiers,
the final ram:mai of Seam Aguilar from the diplomacy

•of Lisbon may be considered " un fait accompli." The
new Spanish Charge d'Affaires, Senhor Tehran, has
already arrived. This gentleman has for a considerable
time past been an attache of the Foreign-office at Ma-
drid, and is said to be a competent person.
Amongst the numerous objections whieh have been
raised against Senhor Avila 's financial plan is the fol-
lowing, viz.—That of the holders of the 2,375 contos of
Portuguese bonds in London, a portion of which it is
proposed to convert into the "internal debt." Many will
not consent to the operation.
Contemporaneous with this great financial operation
is an extensive sale by auction of national property, con-
sisting of convents in Lisbon and other places, together
with confiscated property, and property accruing to the
Crown in default of legal heirs. This sale is in pursu-
ance of a law passed on the Bth of June last year. It
commences this day, and will continue during the space
of a month. The ecclesiastical property which is thus to
be disposed of is very considerable, and consists of the
convent of our Lady of Mount Olivet, reformed Augusti-
nians in the suburbs of Lisbon ; convent of our Lady of
Grace, Augustinian eremites in Torres Vedras ; convent
of St. Dominic in Lisbon ; monastery of Santa Cruz in
Coimbra ; monastery of St. Mary, of the order of St.
Bernard, in Alcobaca ; convent of St. Francis in Curia ;
and house of the order of Christ in Castro Marira.

Exchange on London at 30 days' sight 53d. per milrei

FROM THE AMERICAN PAPERS.
IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING COTTON.--.Whit..
ney's cotton gin seems likely to be superseded by a new
machine for cleaning cotton and wool, which appears to
have been introduced with success at Lowell, Mass.
It consists of a common feed apron from which the
cotton passes through the rollers, is thence taken by a
common picker and thrown into comb-teeth arranged
on a solid iron cylinder, and is then taken forward under
a revolving floated wheel guard. The fibres of cotton
are then doffed from the comb-teeth by revolving
brushes, and turned out freed from all foreign sub-
stances. The secret of the success of this machine in
cleansing cotton lies in the ingenious arrangement of
the floated wheel-guard in connexion with the comb-
teeth. The advantages of this machine over Whitney's
cotton gin, may be easily seen. The latter has been in
use successfully ever since its invention, but does not
leave the cotton perfectly clean, and injures the staple
in some degree. With this machine there is no chance
for foreign substances to pass through ; and the opera-
tion of it shows that the cotton is much better cleansed
by it, and with far less injury to the staple. Even cotton
waste, no matter how much dirt it contains, may be per-
fectly cleaned and rendered fit for use.
THE AMISTAD AFRICANS.—A. letter from Port
Principe, Cuba, to a gentleman in this city, dated No-
vember 16, says—" The Captain General of the Island
has demanded of Mr. Carrias all his accounts, including
interest, damages, &c., of the negroes of the Amistad ;
and insists that Mr. Carrias shall be paid the whole of
it. And it appears that the Captain General intends
to deduct the amount from 570,000 which the Spanish
Government has to pay to the United States."
The Philadelphia papers report a case as occurring
lately in Delaware, which discloses more barbarism than
we believed extant in the United States. It is a■ follows :
The Court at Newcastle county, Delaware, was in ses-
sion last week. Several persons were convicted of lar-1
ceny, and sentenced to receive twenty-one lashes on the
bare back. One man pleaded guilty to three indict-
meats, and was sentenced to receive twenty-one lashes
for each indictment. But a more extraordinary sen-
tence is that of a young girl, who pleaded guilty on
ten different indictments for larceny. She was sen-
tenced to pay twofold value of goods stolen to the
owners, to wear ten T's on her outer garment, and to
receive twenty-one lashes on the bare back, well laid
on, in each case, making 210 in all. The Governor,
who was prabably shocked at the idea of a young girl
being stripped, tied, and scored with a whip, humanely
remitted the corporeal punishment.
LATEST FROM BARBADOES,--Frolll Kingston, Ja-
maica, papers of the 30th ult. we learn that the distress
which has been experienced in Jamaica, and the heavy
taxation to which we are subject, seem to be equally
felt in Barbadoes. In a petition to the Governor, pray-
ing that a vacancy in the Magistracy might not be filled
up, there appears the following paragraph :—" That the
state of the country at this time is one of unprecedented
depression, and the distress which pervades all ranks,
but presses with peculiar severity on the poor and mid-
dle classes, is greatly augmented by excessive taxation
to support an extravagant expenditure, created within
the last few years, and maintained without due consi-
deration of the actual wants of the country, or the pecu-
niary ability of the inhabitants."
BARQUE AMERICA FROM SICILY Sum—Yester-
day morning, about ten o'clock, the pilot-boat Phantom,
while off Sandy Hook put a pilot on board of the barque
America, Captain Faulkner, from Sicily ; at which
time the barque was leaking at the rate of four feet of
water an hour, with her pumps in such a bad condition,
having been in constant use for fifty days, that it was
impossible to make any use of them. The pilot disco-
vering that he would be unable to get her into port, im-
mediately hoisted a signal of distress, which soon brought
the pilot boat alongside tho barque, notwithstanding it
was blowing ♦ery heavily from the northwest. The
America at this time was filling very fast, and all on
board had to make their escape so precipitately that
not a soul belonging to the barque saved anything ex-
cept what they had on. She went down about twelve
o'clock, only a few minutes after all hands had got safely
on board the pilot boat. The captain and crew came
up to the city last night in the Phantom. The barque
hid been out ninety-five days, being unable to carry
sufficient canvas., on account of her leaky condition.
On the 23d inst. Eyvan Nyhn, one of the crew of the
America, fell from the maintopsail yard into the sea
and was drowned,

THE NOTTINGHAM DEPUTATION
AND SIR ROBERT PEEL.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR—It will no doubt be with some surprise
and no small pain, that you and every one
pledged to seek the entire repeal of the Corn
and Provision-laws, must have read the report
of what is said to have taken place at an inter-
view betwixt three influential gentlemen who
took an active part at the late Derby meeting,
and the Prime Minister, on the subject of the
Corn-laws.
From the high character' of those gentlemen,
and from the sound information and zeal some of
them are said to possess on that question, the
writer of this is led to believe that, in the reported
conversation said to have taken place, there must
be some mistake. It was as follows :
" The Deputation, in a few brief and forcible remarks,
showed, that the • sliding scale,' under almost any modi-
fication, would be unfair towards distant countnes, and
more especially injurious to the trade with the United
States of America ; and therefore urged upon the atten-
tion of the Right Hon. Baronet the adoption of a moderate
fixed duty, whereby the importation of grain from Ame-
rica might be rendered a safe operation for the mer-
chant. The Deputation proceeded to show that, if such
fixed duty were adopted, we should furnish the Ameri-
cans with the means of paying for an increased amount
of British goods, and thus accomplish two important ob-
jects—obtain a supply of food for our operatives, and the
employment of their labour in purchasing it.
" Sir Robert Peel, after cautioning the members of
the Deputation against drawing any other infertile()
from such questions as he might puts than that he was
desirous of obtaining 4very possible information on the
subject, asked them, whether an improved mode of taking
the averages, and such a modification of the sliding scale
as would lessen materially the extent and suddenness of
the fluctuations, would not meet the case.
"In reply, the Deputation assured the Right Hon.
Baronet, that it was the almost unanimous conviction of
those engaged in commerce, that a fluctuating duty was
essentially mischievous; but at the same time suggested,
that, if Government were determined to adhere to a
fluctuating duty, its ejects might to some extent be counter
acted, if time were allowed to exporters from distant comp
tries to bring their corn into the British market, without
being subjected to any higher rate of duty than that
charged on the earlier importations from the Continent
of Europe."
If this were true, if the Deputation did urge
upon the attention of the Minister a moderate
fixed duty, or, if needs must be, some new curi-
ous contrivance of the sliding scale (which I do
notbelieve), what will the working-classes of this
country say, what will the stocking-makers of
the Midland Counties say to this, think you?
Shall it be said that men calling themselves
free traders, Corn-law repealers, or may be Radi-
cal Reformers, shall take credit fdr, and assist in,
padding and bolstering the galling collar to make
it just to be borne before it is again rivetted on
the neck of the starving stocking-maker?
Who shall blame Sir Robert Peel should he
bring forward some such abortion as one of those
said to have been suggested by these gentlemen?
Nobody; it will be the scheme ofsuch Deputation,
and they will be fairly entitled to all the merit
or odium to which such a scheme may entitle
them.
Such a measure may suit a manufacturer for,
or a merchant trading to, the United States. But
it will not give satisfaction to the working man,
to the maker of such goods, who under such a
continental fboaty
the scheme
price
Vilplaliidavebyto esautchhis
manufac-
turers with which he will have to compete in the
American markets, and at three times the price,
taking into account the duty the English manu-
facturer will have to pay at the American Cus-
tom-house; the disadvantage will be against the
English manufacturer and the English workman
(for it is the workmen that compete) as one is to
three, that is the American manufacturer, and
of course the American workman, will receive
three times as much fbod for the same amount of
labour.
What will the Anti-Corn-law League say to
this? I have much mistaken the men if they
do not at once repudiate it. FRANKLIN.

FOOT RACE.-(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
—A grand foot race for 501., distance 130 yards, between
E. Smith and R. Nash, will take place at Lord's Cricket
Grounds on Wednesday neit, at two o'clock.