The Sun.
London, England, 1827-05-21 00:00:00

formers from all quarters, in hopes of '• entrapping" the
man who ventures to appliithis it:fide-to any new purpose.
The new manufactures which are stifled by the Excise
regulations are numerous. Instead of permitting a manu-
facturer to conduct his business in the manner which the
increasing lights of science may show him, they absolutely
confine him to a particular mode of work, and prohibit him
from deviating from it ; they keep him in the beaten track,
and, narrow as it is, they dare him to touch the confines
of it by threats of numerous penalties. I therefore trust
that, as the time is fast approaching when the thunder of
your oratorical demonstrations will again be required to
overthrow the pretended (pinions of tbe'remaining part of
the state quo men of this country, you will then, by the
previous necessary alterations, be prepared to repeat ver-
batim the passage of your eloquent speech which I have
herein selected, with the substitution merely of the word
"excise" for " customs ;" and the gratitude of thousands
will then be secured to you, who, to quote your own
words, have now no means " of preserving themselves
from those difficulties and embarrassments, into which,
under such a system they_ are every moment in danger of
being unwittingly entrapped."
I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient hum-
ble servant, A SLA VE TRADER.
Bristol, May 18.—Ibid.

A question was asked by Lord Ellenborough,
in the House of Lords on Friday, touching the
state of Portugal, and of those negociations now
carried on by the British Government, which
have the interests of Portugal and of the Penin-
sula generally fur their object. The question
was accompanied by the Noble Lord with a no-
tice, that if some satisfaction should not be
speedily given to the public upon that very im-
portant subject, he would move for information
respecting it before the ensuing adjournment.
Were the execution of the Noble Lord's pur-
pose in this instance likely to embarrass Mini-
sters in their conduct of a negociation of which
none can deny the intimate connection with
some of our most critical relations abroad, we
should be among the foremost in deprecating his
Lordship's project ; but the fact is, that rea-
sonable men will admit the occurrence of events
on the side of Spain and Portugal, quite suffi-
cient to render the friends of British policy and
of general liberty uneasy under the darkness
which now envelopes them. The Constitutional
cause in Portugal has not made any apparent ad-
vances under our protection ; and, whatever may
have been the predominant feeling among the Por-
tuguese, where Mr. Canning assumed that the mo-
ral power of the country was with the Charter, it
is undoubted, that if Ferdinand were left un-
protected by foreign troops to morrow, he would
not, in the present condition of his kingdom,remain
Sovereign of it for a single month. Was this a
state of affairs in which the liberal Spaniards
ought to have been, by the joint Administrations
of. Great Britain and Portugal, rebuked and
even persecuted wherever they showed themselves,
while every violation of public right and decency
on the part of their tyrant was endured ? ,It is
not, unquestionably, a time to talk of entering
into collisions with other Powers, when the
finances of the empire afford so little ground of
confidence or satisfaction in their prosperity ; but
we must recall to the minds of gentlemen, that
measures of energy are often resorted to, and
more especially by enlightened statesmen, as the
best securities for peace. Mr. Canning was loud
in his assurances that the despatch of troops to
Portugal, was, in its essence, a pacific measure.
He then not merely hinted at, but enlarged and
acted on the principle, that a timid and ac-
quiescing policy is but an invitation to further in-
sult. Well, then, as a continuance of the pacific
system, we would have the British Government
afford no ground for the accusation that it shifts
from vigour, and takes refuge in fear. They are
not called upon to give direct or open support to
the Spanish Liberals as a political power : still
less ought a free Government severely to repress
and discourage unwisely—to mortify, disgust,
and alienate its only natural friends-now existing
visibly on the Continent of Europe. If it will
not be the ally of freedom, which courts it, let it not
(the British Government) seek the partnership
of despotism, civil and religious, by which its
overtures are naturally distrusted, and its very
existence bated. Now fears are entertained at Lis-
bon, and hopes in many other quarters, that the
Apostolical advisers of Ferdinand do at this moment
meditate a military invasion of Portugal through the
province of Alentejo; and there is something to be
said for the sagacity of such an attempt, the decision
and splendour of which might possibly affect the
;minds of thousands among the Spanish nation with
vis;ons flattering to their Castilian pride, and thus
divert the current of feeling from contempt for their
present rulers and eagerness for public reforms, into
a new, definit:, and highly dangerous channel. The
British Ministers ought to anticipate such chances
as this, and be preps:ed against them. The Spa-
Piards who desert to Port:igal, or fly thither for an
asylum from misery and bondage, ought not to be
treated with cruelty and scorn, and. expelled with
mitumely, to spread among their liberal country-
men despondency for themselves, and disgust against
England and her ally. The patriotic spirit ought,
as is most obvious, to be discreetly cherished and
encouraged in Spain, by every effort short of those
which might attract the notice, and sanction the di-
rect hostility, of the Government. Ferdinand has
never yet been required to send.back the Portuguese
refugees, or to expel them from his states. Why,
then, should we suffer the Spanish refugees to be
inhospitably pursued and tormented at his bidding ?
The crisis demands a firm and uncompromising, but
strictly defensive and guarded policy; for on none
other can we build at any time those claims to the
respect of other nations, which are the surest pledges
,of continued peace.—lbid.

The union of Church and State works plea-
sandy eliough when the reins of Government are
held by ot2creet and sober-minded men, who
have the tact to, administer the public affairs in
such a way as to satisfy the best-informed aii2
most influential part of the community. If the
State move in a proper track, it necessarily
draws the Church in the same track. But when
it unfortunately happens that the power which
influences the Church moves in a wrong direction
~.—that is, in a direction not justified by sound
sense—the confusion thereby occasioned through-
out the country is indescribable. Fronrthe im-
mense 11,fluence necessarily possessed by the
Church in England, it can always command a
number of adlierents to any opinion or system
which it is led to espouse. Many of the Clergy
are beloved in their parishes, and consequently
have great personal influence. They are gene-
rally on good terms with the female portion of
their parishioners, and the good will of the wife
has often much to do with the favourable opinion•
of the husband. Then the ownership, of great
and small tithes places the parishioners in a hun-
dred ways at the mercy of the Clergyman, and
all who are connected with the cultivation of the
soil have, therefore, the most powerful motives
for being on good terms with him. The
generality of mankind have no very de-
cided opinions on any subject ; and when
a Clergyman is on good terms with his pa-
rishioners, they will seldom feel disposed to refuse
gratifying him with subscriptions to any Petition
or Address proposed by him. Hence the
.great
difficulty in this country of ascertaining, in all
vises in which the Clergy interfere in a body,
the extent to which the opinions expressed by
the people are genuine. It not unfrequently
happens, that opinions expressed with much noise