The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TUE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We have been considerably interested by the
perusal of two political articles which appeared
in the Courier des Pays Bas on the 22d and 23d
of October. They were inserted in the form of
extracts from a Madrid correspondence, and flit,
objects of the writer are at once to paint in its
true colours the actual Government of Spain, and
to trace the wretched and barbarous condition of
that country to its proper causes. The task has
been executed with powerful ability. The share
which the French Bourbon Government is charg-
ed with having borne in the overthrow of what-
ever was most valuable to the Spaniards in their
free institutions, and in the prospects resulting
from them—the unequivocal and solemn manner:in
which the Spanish Constitution was recognized
at home and abroad, as legitimate in its, origin,
and beneficial in its tendency, by all those who
afterwards destroyed it,—the numberless and in-
consistent acts of perfidy through which Ferdi-
nand has floundered on, with no apparent object
but to preserve a life which to any other human
creature would long since have been burdensome
from its baseness,—the moving principle of the
present military disturbances,—the extensive and
complicated questions of foreign policy, which
drag by a force that cannot long be resisted more
than one of the Powers of Europe into the vor-
tex of that great moral struggle which now distracts
the Peninsula;—all these are stated and deve-
loped with a force of language well worthy of at-
tention from English readers ; and we regret the
want of space which precludes us from giving
them entire. In dwelling long upon political
transactions which have taken place on a single
theatre, the mind relieves itself from the minute
and painful meditation of particulars, however
important, and is satisfied with retaining general
impressions as to the character of parties, and
the chance of consequences ;, but let those im-
pressions be ever so just, it is desirable that we
should always have in remembrance the detailed
facts and testimonies on which they were founded
—that the artifices of those who are interested
in effacing them may be foiled, and the motives to
honourable action on our own parts left unim-
paired by broad, vague, and. impudent misrepre-
sentations. The official Papers of the French
Ministry have laboured hard for many months to
cast what we have already described to be a
" rose-coloured" veil over the present state of the
Peninsula, over the history of the French Bour-
bon interference with the concerns of Spain, and
occupation of the Spanish territory. With re-
gard to Portugal, we need advert to only one
branch of the gross abuse of public credulity by
the Moniteur. After insisting, with a suspi-
cious and even offensive eagerness, that Don
Pedro had already abdicated the Crown of Por-
tugal, and that the sovereignty of the kingdom
belonged* thenceforth to Don Miguel of right,
there comes from Rio de :Janeiro a royal decla-
ration that Miguel should Oven as Lieutenant
or Viceroy, for his brother, and from Vienna
a dutiful assurance that the young Prince ac'-
cepted; and would hold from the elder, this dele-
gated and vicarial office. Now, as to Spain, the
Madrid correspondence above alluded co reminds
us, that by the third article of the treaty of Veliki
Louki, the Emperor of Russia—the father ofle-
gitimaev—acknowledged the Spanish Constitu-
tion, of which that of the year 1820 was but the
revival, and that Louis XVIII., by a letter to
Ferdinand of the 20th of April, 1820, congra-
tulated him on the re-establishment of the same
Constitution of Cadiz, in these terms—" I have
taken the most lively interest in this your resolu-
tion, as well for the sincere affection which I
profess towards your Majesty—as for that with
which I am inspired .towards the Spanish nation."
The Pope addressed Ferdinait' dI in a:eimilar. way.
But for the " ansrchy" with which-the Constitu-'
tional regime in Spain has been reproached, the
writer asks, who it was that provoked, cherished,
clothed, and paid it from the year 1821 to
1823 ?—who received with open arms the
agents of the Apostolicals at the Pavillon Mar-
can 9—who arbitrated between the Regencies of
Urgel and Bayonne ?—who authorised the loans
of Ouvrard and Rougement, to levy war, on the
part of the Urgel Regency, against the constitu-
tional King of Spain ?—who received the Spa-
nish rebels, and sent them back, armed and
equipped, against their own country ? This,
by the way, would have justified as com-
pletely a declaration of war by the Cortes
against Louis XVIII., as a similar course
,f hostile treachery, in the case of Fer-
dirsand against Portugal, a year ago, would
have sanctioned a war by the latter power. Let
the Ministers of Charles X. answer those trying
interrogatories. But Louts XVIII. gave at the
Royal sitting of the 28th of January, 1823, a
solemn pledge to pacify Spain " by engaging
Ferdinand to establish free zustitutzons: The
Duke d'Angouleme, in his Andalusian ordinance,
guaranteed the Royal promise of his Uncle, by
commanding " all those to be set at liberty wh(,),
had been imprisoned for political motives."
In his last negociations with the Spanish Gene-
rals,. the same Prince engaged for " an entire
amnesty, and a positive grant of representative
institutions." How, then, have these pledges
of honour and duty been fulfilled? What sys-
tem of government in Spain has the King of
France really supported ? What sort of Minis-
ters and Agents has he taken for partisans in his
office of peacemaker and liberator ? What is
now the condition of the people whom he has
cursed with his protection ? The scaffold, red
with the blood of every distinguished patriot
who could be laid hold of,—none escaped but at
the price of exile and famine on every foreign
shore ! Instead of representative institutions
being established, or preparations made for them.
under the shield of France, her armies are kept
there for the undisguised purpose of enabling
Ferdinand to publish with impunity " that he
will never permit the slightest change of the
despotism, and to protect him while
existing
he invades the liberties of Portugal, for the
sake of oppressing Spain more effectually, and
of turning into perpetual ridicule the engage-
ments of Louis and his nephew. It appears,
that on two occasions a few Spaniards more
moderate than the habitual councillors of Fer-
dinand found their way to his closet, and
succeeded in opening his eyes to the gulf
that was before him. A correspondence with
these men (of the old Afranchesade pasty)
was carried on by the King, and their substitu-
tion for the fanatics and tyrants of the servile
faction was agreed upon. Ferdinand retired to
La Grange, taking with him, for the first time,
the seals of office. The Apostolicals got scent
of it : they had recourse to two Foreign Ambas-
sadors (French and Russian) and the Bishops ;
an ordinance was obtained by threats from the
pusillanimous or-treacherous King, Ist, binding
hint to the above. engagement " against any in-
novations ;" and, 2d, annulling any and every
fiture act by which he might appear to sanction
a reform ! What then, let us ask, can be done
svith such a Prince, or with such a dynasty ?

What faith can be kept with them ? What faith
expected from them ? Is there not ample proof
afforded that the first, and last, and only folly of
the Liberals, was the suffering Ferdinand, and
his family to live in the 6osom of the Constitu-

Lion, only that they might sting it to destruc-
tion ? On the next occasion, the moderate
party proposed to Ferdinand, to gratify the
Apostolicals, who cry out for the ancient Con-
stitution of the State, by giving it to them as it
really existed with the Cortes of 1789—a gene-
ral amnesty—a distinct acknowledgment of the
public debt, and of the sales of ecclesiastical
property. This scheme was said to be enter-
tained by Ferdinand, but, like the former pro-
ject, was discovered by the Church, and being
simultaneous with the Portuguese Charter, filled
the whole despotic interest with consternation.
What was to be done ? The powers at the
Tuileries were applied to for money and instruc-
tions. The Bourbon Ministers and the Jesuits
combine—resources are found—and it is the
French Apostolicals who urge upon their
Spanish brethren an attack upon Portugal as the
!fittest hostile manoeuvre. This invasion of the
Tagus, 'we are told, was " equally in the
spirit of French and Spanish (Bourbon)
policy—inasmuch as it embraced three fa-
vourite projects, viz. the dethronement of the
• House of Braganza—the re-union of Spain
and Portugal—and the expulsion of British in.
fluence front the Peninsula !" This threefold
key to the attack upon our ally is worth the
deep attention of those who have yet but imper-
fectly considered the position of Portugal. Eng-
land threw the responsibility of this outrage on
the French Ministers, who took immediate fright.
The French Ambassador at Madrid, the chief
agent of the Jesuits, was recalled, but he has ex-
perienced no other mark of disapprobation from
:the Bourbon Government. The French Ministry,
in its alarm at the exposures threatened by Mr.
Canning, advised and threatened the Cabinet of
Madrid, withdrew the Swiss guard, and talked
plausibly about reform. The Spanish Serviles
complain aloud of being abandoned,—the French
Ultras re-assure them,—a scheme is hit upon by
which at the same time Ferdinand may find de-
fenders of his despotic power and the Cabinet of
the Tuileries a pretext for putting off the de-
parture of its troops. The military rebellion of
Catalonia is the consequence. Indefatigable ac-
tivity, and but little money, have effected this
extraordinary demonstration, of which the watch-
words are, the " return of the Inquisition,—
" freedom to the King,—absolute power,—and
respect for Frenchmen !" The journey of Fer-
dinand to Catalonia was to be productive of good,
whether its ostensible object failed or succeeded,
Should he by fair words pacify the insurgents,
he would prove the reverence of Spaniards for
despotic power ; should he, on the other hand,
treat them roughly, and provoke them to greater
violence, he would evince the impossibility of
reform. England is said to five penetrated the
whole machination, which will be prolonged or
repeated just according to the exigencies of the
cause of tyranny. The spirit of the Court
policy is made manifest by the nomination and
influence of the furious Calomarde,—bv the dis-
missal of Campo Sagrado, a moderate and honest
man—by the inactivity of the Count d'Espagne,
an able officer with a powerful army,—by the
seeming apathy of the French garrisons,—by the
retreat assured to the rebels within the French
frontier, by the conventional deference shown to
the French on the part of the Catalans, who no-

toriously hate them; and this devastation of two
of the finest Spanish provinces, where robbery,
rape, and massacre are as common as the ap-
pearance of the rebel troops, is suffered, and
therefore encouraged, by the armed " pacifica-
tors" of Spanish violence, and " protectors" of
free institutions,—the troops, counsellors, and
Confidants of the French House of Bourbon !—.
Times.

The Marquis of Lansdowne, it is said, is to
have the vacant Lord Lieutenantcy of Wilt-
shire ; and some even add, Lord Pembroke's
blue ribbon ; and at all this great wonder is ex-
pressed, as if there were any thing unusual in
the Whigs getting all they can ; or as if there
were any more harm in Lord Goderich's giving
one or both of these appointments to one of his
own colleagues, than there was in Mr. Pitt or
Lord Liverpool giving themselves the Warden-
ship of the Cinque Ports. The office of Lord
Lieutenant generally is, and always should be,
bestowed upon some person of rank and pro-
perty in the county ; and that Lord Lansdowne
is every way entitled to it on these grounds,
cannot for a moment be doubted ; nor do we
know of any man, even independent of office, on
whom the order of the Garter could be with

more propriety bestowed. Laying his peculiar
politics out of the question, few men stand higher
in point of general' character than Lord Lans-
downe does, and ever has done. But though
charity begins at home, and these honours could
not probably be more worthily bestowed, we
doubt exceedingly whether the Ministry can well
afford to be quite so regardful of one of their
own body as bestowing both these honours upon
him would appear to be. .It would augur rather
more Parliamentary strength than, at the close
of the last Session, appearances, at least, would
justify us in giving them credit for. SuCh wind-
falls as these are generally made use of to secure
Parliamentary support ; and if the present Mini-
sters feel that they can do without such baits,
they are very right in avoiding the imputation of
so using them.--Morning Herald.
Throughout the procrastinated discussion to
which the armed intervention of England,
Russia, and France in the affairs of Turkey has
given rise---a discussion in which every political
writer in Europe has in some way or other taken
a part—it is remarkable, that not a single writer has
been found bold enough to advance the proposition,
that the interference is conformable to the esta-
blished law of nations, and to attempt to sustain
such proposition either by reference to the prin-
ciples laid down by those who have been hitherto
considered the authoritative expounders of that
law, or by quoting from history instances of si-
milar conduct, which have obtained any degree
of sanction from the subsequent approbation of
mankind. This tone of confident defence has
never been assumed by the advocates of the tri-
partite treaty. Every variety of subterfuge and
apology, all the forms of vague and unmeaning
panegyric, have been exhausted ; but no man
has yet been heard to say that the confederates
are united in the pursuit of a just object, and
have limited themselves to the employment of
just means. It is tacitly admitted by the whole
body of their advocates, that they have set them-
selves above the law of nations ; and they are
defended by the ever ready plea of imperious ne-
cessity, and even glorified the more en account
of the arbitrary illegality of their compact ; since
that but proves their greater zeal and devotion to
the interests of humanity—of commerce—of re-
li ion—all by the- continuance of the
state of things which it is their purpose to abolish.

This mode of reasoning is in truth to subvert
the law of nations altogether. , It leaves every.
Power at liberty to pursue whatever schemes of
ambition and injustice it may have formed, sub-
ject only to the tax of finding plausible pretexts
or apologies, which not only may in every case
be boldly alleged, whether they exist or not,
but the materials of which may in most cases be
easily created. If the state and the duration of
the contest between Turkey and Greece is such
as to furnish these pretexts and apologies upon
the present occasion, it must be remembered that
it is a contest which the agents of Russia first
excited, and which would long ago have expired
had it received no nourishment from the subjects
of England and France. The truth, however
is, that fertile as injustice generally is of pretexts
and. apologies—those which have been resorted
to in the present instance are without the ap-
pearance of decent plausibility. The interests
of neither religion nor humanity were consulted,
when under the pretence of putting an end to
war upon a small scale, the risk of war upon a
large scale was voluntarily encountered ; nor were
the interests of commerce consulted in a trans-
action which gave not merely the hope of impu-
nity, but political dignity and importance to a
nation of pirates, and threatened and still further
humbled the Government, the temporary cessa-
tion of whose power had produced the boundless
dominion of piracy. The pretexts alleged on
behalf of the Allies are too absurd to be any
thing but hypocritical. As the friends of reli-
gion and humanity, they were. bound, it seems,
to sow by injustice the seeds of future bloodshed
and devastation—as the protectors of com-
merce, they were bound to become the zealous
patrons and the steadfast allies of pirates. These:.
atrocious and revolting absurdities could not be
expected to satisfy for any lengthened period the
civilized communities of England and France
and accordingly we find, that for the English and
French Governments a new:apology has been
discovered, and perhaps it may be the true one.
This apology makes a perfect separation between
Russia on the one hand, and England and
France on the other. It amounts in substance
to this, that Russia having determined to inter-
fere in the quarrel between Turkey and Greece—
not at all upon the Philhellenist principle, so
worthy of a sixth form boy in a grammar school
—not at all upon the humanity principle, so
worthy of the grandmothers of such a boy ; or at
all upon the sagacious principle of protecting
commerce, by releasing a nation of pirates from
the only lawful authority which they know, or
can understand, but for purposes of Russian
ambition, and solely for such purposes ; that
England and France knowing this to be the de-
termination, and these the motives of Russia,
resolved upon uniting their unjust interference
to hers, in order to acquire the means and the
right of saying to this ambitious State, " thus far
shalt thou go and no farther." Of the French Go-
vernment we mean to express no opinion ; but
the motives which this apology expresses
are, we think, very likely to have actuated
the Government of England at the period
when the Treaty of London of July the 6th was
concluded. It was a Government which we
should have expected to pursue its ends, let
them have been what they might, by indirect in
preference to direct causes. The apology, how-
ever, whether true or false, is good for nothing.
It imputes determined injustice to Russia ; but
it also imputes injustice to the Governments of
England and France, implying as against the
two latter, the superadded charges of con-
temptible meanness and egregious folly. We
know English Statesmen who would have done
what could be.done to assuage the .fury and to
Shorten the-atiation of the 'war in Greece, with-
out assailing the independent sovereignty of
Turkey7-,.who Would have abstained themselves,
and compelled every other Power also to ab-
stain, from direct interference in that war—who
would never have consented to go one single
,
step in conjunction withßussia or any other
State in a career of injustice, with a view
eventually to limit that career—who would
have said at once, "if you will interfere,
we must interfere also, but it shall be
on the opposite side ; if Moldavia and
Wallachia are tempting provinces, bethink your-
self first of the defence of Poland ; if you must
needs extend your boundaries, we shall annihi-
late your commerce ; if Constantinople is to be
threatened, St. Petersburgh shall lie in ruins."—
If Russia really entertain's the ambitious views
imputed to her, this language on the part of Eng-
land would have been at once the most dignified,
and the most safe. The success of the joint in-
tervention may pacify Russia for a moment, but
it ,will be for a moment only. Russia will find
another early opportunity of pursuing her real
designs ; and England will then have to combat
against her ambitious purposes, having first in a
disgraceful alliance with that very Power tar-
nished her own exalted character, abated the
confidence of her own natural allies, and impaired
her own moral and political strength.—Morning
Post.

There are two plans which at present occupy
no small portion of the public attention. We
mean the Ship Canal and the Opposition Bank.
There is indeed a third—Mr. Willson's Pyra-
mid—but as we have devoted, as was meet, an
article to the separate consideration of that fu-
ture wonder of our Isle, we shall not touch upon
the merits of its mightiness here. To the Canal
we are decidedly favourable, and only wonder
that though long talked of, it has not sooner
been attempted to be executed. The Pro-
spectus is extremely fair, and we should be
sorry if it did not fill. There is, indeed, a little
appearance in the title of " Grand
addswhich nothing to the value of
Imperial," o f puffery
the project ; but the magniloquent style is per-
haps judged necessary in mentioning one of
the greatest of those useful undertakings which
give a character to the age. The estimate of
Mr. Cundy has been objected to, and we were fa-
voured with a letter on the subject on Saturday.
We are inclined to give that gentleman credit,
the rather as it does not appear that in the article
of expense his calculations are at all deficient.
lhe whole length of the canal will be, in round
numbers, eighty miles, and the cost four mil-
' lions ; which, if there be any truth in arith-
metic, is at the rate of some fifty thousand
pounds per mile, and very nearly thirty pounds
a yard. We should, at the first view, unless
the obstacles to be encountered were very
great, pronounce such a sum to be more than
sufficient. Now it so happens that the obstacles
in the proposed line are extremely few ; we might
say there are none. The ground is one dead
flat for almost the whole way, and the materials
through which the cut is proposed to be made
are of the most yielding nature. And as 5-Bths
of the canal will be tide-level—a difficulty of no
unformidable nature in so broad and deep a wa-

ter-way—the supply of a sufficiency of fluid is
at once removed. • To tlitose ditches, as we have
more than once had occasion to designate them,
of mud and malaria, the mere barge canals, we
are decidedly opposed, unless where very pecu-
liar circumstances concur to render their con-
struction advisable. In other cases, and, were

it not that we' are already in possession of a great
many in Which much capital is sunk, we should
be disposed to say, in all cases, railways are
much cheaper and much more convenient. A
ship canal has other objects than the mere trans-
port of heavy goods ; and that which is contem-
plated may, at some future period, be employed
to strike a blow on which the salvation of the
empire depends. But, laying aside its in-
estimable value in the event of another war, which.
however we may deprecate it, we are not so fool-
ish as to suppose will not happen, even in our day,
there is no equivalent for such a work. The load-
ing of a vessel may be carried over the dry
land, but we possess no mechanical resources
sufficiently powerful to convey the vessel itself in
the same way. Railways, which, in our opinion,
are the means best calculated for the intercourse
of town with town in the interior of a country,
here fail us, and a canal is the only method by
which the proposed object is attainable. It is,
indeed, matter of surprise that so little in the
way of what may properly be called navigable
canals has hitherto been effected in Great Britain
—an empire which is not only maritime above
all that ever existed before it, but whose dura-
tion and prosperity has long been admitted de-
pendent on its wooden walls. It may be, that
the enormous discrepancy between the first esti-
mate and the ultimate cost of the Caledonian
Canal has alarmed many otherwise favourable to
such undertakings ; but, the circumstances of
that case fairly considered, it affords no ground
for rational alarm in respect of similar attempts.
The subsoil which the excavators of the Caledo-
nian Canal had to encounter was, in many in-
stances, of the most obstinate character ; the price
of labour was, during a large part of the time
that the work was in progress, gradually rising ;
the work was carried on by Government,
which even the most rigid of the righteous
count small harm to cheat if they can ; and,
perhaps, from this last feeling, the sums de-
manded for the surface of the barren muirs,
and bare rocks through which the line runs,
were beyond all measure unconscionable, as any
one, by a very slight glance at the annual reports,
may perceive. We have little doubt that Go-
vernment might, previous to the war of 1793,
have purchased the fee-simple of the Highlands
for less than was sought to be extorted from them
for the three or four thousand acres occupied by
the Canal, by men to whose properties nothing
[hut such an undertaking could possibl have con-
ferred marketable value. While adverting to
this Canal we may repeat what has been often
stated before, that one great aim of Government
has been fully accomplished, namely, the em-
ployment of thousands, whom the general intro-
duction of grazing farms would otherwise have
left unprovided for. The silly story that the
Canal has been formed entirely by Irishmen, im-
ported for the purpose, is utterly destitute of
foundation. In fact there has „not been above
one labourer in forty employed belonging to any
country but Scotland. Upon the whole, then,
when the merits of the " Grand Imperial Ship
Canal," if we must so term it, are discussed, no
argument against the estimated cost can be
drawn from that of the Caledonian. The plan
of a sank which is to xival the Bank of Eng-
land is the subject of much conversation, we
are e;old, in the city. It certail.ly militates
agAiat such an establishment that, for six years
at least, it cannot take up its abode in London,
where a Bank upon the scale which is contem-
plated can alone look for success. We should
have augured better of the plan, did we not
think we see under it more of the principle of
retaliation than of real business. The country
bankers seem to have said to each other----" The
Bank of England is pushing its branches into all
those quarters of which we have enjoyed a snug
monopoly for many years ; let us, in our turn,
attack her strong hold." Even had not the
Bank Charter opposed its exclusory clauses to
the attempt, we should have pronounced it
unwise. If there were room for two such Com-
panies as the Bank of England, we should say,
" Let there be two," without any consideration
of Branch Banks at all ; but this, though
taken for granted in a new project, is by
no means so visible to the • public as it
is to the ' Country Bankers. We have,
indeed, very little doubt that if the Bank
were, by way of compromise, to withdraw its
branches; the scheme of an opposition bank
would be allowed to drop into the oblivion
whither so many have descended, which have
tpooo gratify
rsa suffering people people of
been got up ostensibly for the behoof of the
England, but
su u v
t si
e reality
Ntlfliree
petty interests, ofp eat t handful apnadsfsEui lonigoislf; oindividuals.
are ,prepared to hear from the advocates of the
new, and the opponents of the old Bank, a great
deal of nonsense about monopoly, a word on
which the changes have been rung every day
these forty years, until the public have well nigh,
forgotten what it originally meant. We are as
decided enemies to monopolies as the most libe-
ral of our•contemporaries ; one of whom, by the
by, has been very earnestly labouring to compass
a monopoly in its way for several years. We
are however of opinion, that in national banks,
in such an empire as Great Britain, a monopoly,
virtual or real, is unavoidable, and that were the
projected establishment once fairly got up, we
should only have two monopolies playing to
each other's hands instead of one. We often
hear of the monopoly of the porter brewers,
and whence does it arise ? Certainly, because
large capitals are necessary to such undertakings.
Now, we think it will hardly be denied,
that for a National Bank, which pretends to
compete with the establishment in Threadneedle-
street, something more than the sum of all the
beer brewers' capitals in the metropolis will be
required. What chance, then, is there that par-
ties, where so much is at stake, should dream of
running against each other, for the accommoda-
tion of their employers, like a couple of stage-
coach proprietors ? Is it not infinitely more
likely that they will form a coalition, and, as they
must then be divided among a greater number of
claimants,_oin in ark attempt to raise the rate of
profit ? his has been the issue in every ana-
logous case that ever we have heard !of, and we
can see no reason for *doubtinethat:it would be
so in the one under consideration. Meanwhile,
if capitalists do incline to vest their money in the
way proposed, unquestionably it is not the part
of a Public Journalist to aim at opposing them.
They may do as they please for us, undisturbed
by our counsel, but we will not let them per-
; suede the public that the plan is intended for its
profit, or that it has any tendency towards it,
without endeavouring to strip off the veil from
professions which mean nothing and lead to no-
, thing.—Netv Times.