The Sun.
London, England, 1827-08-09 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 9, 1827.

CALEDONIAN CANAL.

The late official report on the subject of the Ca-
ledonian Canal is by no means of a pleasant descrip-
tion. A clear revenue could not have been reason-
ably expected from that source; but it is certainly
calculated to afford great facility and accommodation
to ouf.commerce even in time of peace; and in the
event of war with the United States, or the North-
ern Powers, the benefit of it must be very great in-
deed. It will then offer not only a speedy, safe,
and convenient passage, but also complete security
' from the; enemy's cruisers, over a very extensive
range of coast, adapted, above all others to. the pur-
poses of naval predatOry warfare. In insurance
alone, this Canal will then save the country annually
double the interest of the money it cost. The first
year this navigation was, opened, although the
dePtla of water was but small, the resort of shipping
was very considerable; indeed greater than could,
have been expected under all the circumstances, and
there was every reasonable prospect of its rapid in-,
crease; butunfortunately, and as we thought at the
time unwisely, the dues were doubled the year fol-
lowing. They were raised from a farthing per mile,
including the locks, to a halfpenny, and the imme-
diate consequence was,, that, excepting vessels con-
nected with the•country through which the Ca,:al
passes and its immediate vicinity, the intercourse
through it may be• considered to have ceased, and
the benefit which the nation should have obtained
from the expenditure of • a million •of the public
money to have been lbst. The above report
proves this ; for the amount of revenue is little,
if at all, increased by doubling the dues, and it
will most , probably fall below its present mi-
serable amount. The remedy, is, however, very
simple and obvious; and it is indeed strange that a
system so perfectly calculated to renderinugatortall
the purposes for which this magnificent work was
undertaken, should be persisted in. If the object is
to favour the Forth and Clyde Canal, why was the
Caledonian Canal ever made? .We trust that more
need not be said on the subject ; a change is leafy'
called for, and we cannot doubt that it will speedily.
take place. The American navy will soon be our
most formidable rival, and we must bestow more at-
tention on our western coast than was hitherto
necessary. We rejoice to observe, that light-houses
:are' now building on the very remarkable group
Of rocks called Skervore, off the island of Tyree.
That extensive and dangerous range is perhaps
one of the most destructive shoals anywhere
to be found, and it lies in the direct tract of
our commerce between the North of Europe and

Ireland, as well as the West of Scotland and of
England. The hiss of lives and property on these
fatal rock's is immense ; and the largest of them
affords a good site for a light-house, being always
above water. Barra head also demands attention,
and we are happy to understand that the Commis-
sioners for Northern Lights are of this opinion. The
utmost care and consideration is required in placing
lights in the most proper situations ; a circumstance
which was at one time too little attended to, as the
recent shifting and rebuilding of so many light
houses on our coasts demonstrate. It is curious to
observe, from the names and local situations of ruins
on the shores of the Hebrides, that when this coun-
try was possessed by the Norwegians it was much
better lighted than at present.—CakdonianMerculy.

MADRID, JULY 16.

I have visited almost every village within ten
miles round Madrid, and it would hardly be
imagined that there are such desolate places in
the immediate vicinity Of what is called a fine
capital. At Carravandiel, which is not distant

,
mor4, than three mileS, the inhabitants seem td-
tally composed of• beggars and. thieves. The po-
pulation must be .about a thousand ; and the
houses or rather.huts, in which they are huddled
together, present a picture of filth and desolation:
not easily td be-surpassed. In the centre of the

place there is what is called an inn, the entrance
to which is merely an opening in the bricks ; and
the sleeping room appropriated to travellers is on
a level with the stable. It is very rare that any
provisions are to be had ; and altogether, with-
out much stretch'of fancy, a person might sup-
pose himself to be at some remote and uncivi-

lised part of the globe. It is true that there is a
public- garden just before the entrance to the vil-
lage, which, in summer time, is fashioniibly at-
tended ; but nobody ever thinks of entering the
village itself, unless obliged to do so.
A few nights ago I sought shelter from a storm
at a sort of road-side inn, not four miles irom
the city ; and it is a fact that they had no fire,
no water nothing but bread to eat ; and if I
'had wanted a bed, I must have slept in a mere
dog-hole—to which, no doubt, all the family
had access—or have taken up my lodging in the
:stable.

Even at places to w hick numbers Of persons re-
sort occasionally. upon parties of pleasure, the
accommodation is not much better. At the
village where the
.Escurial is situated, about
thirty Miles from Madrid, for instance, the
inn is miserable in the extreme ; and a cit.-
lcumstance occurred there only, a few days since.
which shows that it is: not politic to resist any
Icharge, however enormous. It may be said gene-
rally, that in proportion to the want of comforts at
a Spanish inn, is the length of the bill increased.
Two English gentlemen, who had a very indiffer-
ent dinner, supper, and bed, resisted the heavy
demand made by the landlady the next morning.;
but, as she refused to take less, they put down
about double the value of the accommodation ;
and, as the man who had driven them in a chaise
refused to take them back..until the bill Was paid,
they took their departure for Madrid on foot.—
They had riot, however, proceeded above a mile,
when they perceived that the whole town were at
their backs—men, women, and children—to the

number of about a hundred. Among them were
about ten soldiers, or Volunteer Royalists, armed
with muskets, and others with sticks, swords,
and knives. A more fearful array of half-starved
ragamuffins could hardly have been got together,
and the attitude assumed by some of them was
so menacing, that you would have supposed, as
my informant says, that they had been in pursuit
either of an assassin, Constitutionalist, or some
other desperate character. The landlady, in-
deed, had given no regular account of the delin-
quency, but had summoned every soul she could
get about her to go in pursuit of two men; and,
to use her own expression,' to bring them back
again, " dead or alive." Of course the gentle-
. men, upon hearing a man cry out that, if they
did not stop, they would be " fired upon," felt
no inclination to proceed, and they were escorted
back between four armed men, like felons. One
of the gentlemen, I hear, is a British Officer ;
but this character di& not prevent their being
treated with the utmost indignity, and they were.
both locked in the guard-house several hours,
while the landlady explained the matter to the
Alcade. She at first denied having received any
money at all ; but when the prisoners explained
the matter, and'ihe bill was produced, she ac-
knowledged that a sum had been put upon the
table by one of the gentlemen before they
left the inn. It is only justice to tachtneoiwte
Ma-
gistrate
towards
im-
partiality to
rarely
fs oa ry, ,
upon
exercised
lie
withSpainoking a t h
items,
he bill was extravagant, ,hut ;had-
visedfl'oerigsanietdrhse - prisoners, as the most politic plan,
" to appease both the landlady and the multi-
tude" by paying the deficiency. This being
done, they were set at liberty,. and, quite con-
trary to their expectation, and the general prac-
tice, no money was extorted from them, though
the soldiers seemed by no means pleased at get-
ting nothing for their trouble. From the expe-
rience which I have had of inns in the different
parts of Spain, I would strongly recominerid the
traveller always to pay the bill without demur,
for, iu nine disputes out of ten, the decision of
the Alcade will be in favour of the innkeeper,
consequences worse than delay will ensue, and
costs perhaps exacted to treble the amount of
the original bill. Bargaining beforehand is
out of the question, though it is the usual
practice in France ; and, besides, a man
who arrives late at an inn in Spain is glad
to get a bed at aq price, for travelling by
night is any thing but advisable. The inn-
keepers area sort of privileged class ; and it is
well known that in many places, where a traveller
it; almost a rarity; they could not keep up their
houses unless they made the few pay for the
many., I could dame towns where the duties
exacted by the convents, and other imposts le-
vied, amount to about seventy per cent. ; and
thus it is not to be wondered at that exorbitant
charges are often made for wretched entertain-
ment. In the instance in question, you may
judge of the accommodation from the fact that,
when the chambermaid came to make the beds,
she gratuitously told the gentlemen that, as the
bedsteads were filled with vermin, they had bet-
ter sleep upon the ground ; which was followed
by the one, and his friend slept upon the table
at which they had dined !
People continue to talk a great deal of high-
. - way robberies here, and two hats were found a
day or two ago, upon the road to Alcala, about
twenty-miles from Madrid, which are supposed
to.have belonged to travellers who had been as-
sassinated. Mr. Lamb was 'returning in a ca-•
briolet, with a friend, a few evenings ago—but
I did not hear in what direction—and, when at
about ten miles from the city, a gate-keeper ad-
vised them to take an escort, as two persons had
been robbed and ill-treated upon the same stop a
short time previously.

PRICE 7D.

THE ARMY.

. The 3d battalion of the Ist Regiment of Guards arri-
ved, on Tuesday, at Liverpool, from London, on their
route to Dublin. _ .

A detachment of the 57th Regiment embarked, on
Tuesday, at Liverpool, on hoard the Lady Suffield tran-
sport, for Chatham, with a fair wind.