The Sun.
London, England, 1827-06-25 00:00:00

THE HARVEST AND FRUIT SEASON

IN PORTUGAL.

ELVAS, Jugt I.—As the weather has jus • t
changed from unusually cold to the regular heat
of this clime, and the harvest in all this part of
the Peninsula commenced, we can now speak with
certainty respecting the crops of wheat and
barley. In the memory of the oldest person it
has never been so regularly good. In the pro-
vince of Alentejo, and the neighbouring one of
Estremadura, it is astonishingly great, and the
quality never surpassed. The farmers say that
it is too great ; that the scarcity of labourers will
cause the expence of getting it in so much—
after which, the prices will be so low, that their
Igains will not be so much as with a less crop.
The price of new barley is a picetta, or 16 reals
per alquira (19i are an English quarter). The
new wheats are not yet in the market ; but in
Spain the old wheats were selling for 24 reals
per fanega—equal to five alquiras. It is ex-
pected it will be lower. Next week I will give
you the prices of different Spanish markets in
this neighbourhood.
From the unsettled state of the weather and
unusual coldness, it was expected that the olives
would have suffered ; but, on the contrary, the
blossoms are of the most promising kind, and in
all parts of this province uncommonly luxurious ;
a very great crop may be calculated upon. The
appearance of the vines is not generally good ;
in many vineyards they have been attacked by
locusts, which have nearly stripped them of their
leaves ; but this is not general, and I have seen
many look very promising ; as the very fine
weather will soon fix the fruit, we shall be able
in a week to speak more decidedly.' For the
last eight months the asparagus, which grows
wild in the fields, has been uncommonly abun-
dant, and never exceeded 25 reis the bundle.
Too idle to cultivate it, they are quite satisfied
with it in its wild 'state ; and although it is
smaller than our cultivated, it is of excellent fla-
vour ; the method of cooking it is, mixed with
eggs, and fried, as our omelet. Artichokes wild,
but excellent, sell 25 for a vintim.
Cherries are extremely abundant ; the white
and black-heart cherries sell from a vintim per
lb. of 18 oz.—We have uncommonly fine cherries
brought from Olivenca, which sell for four reals ;
they are much larger than any I ever saw in any
quarter, extremely fleshy, and fairer, and are sold
without stalks ; so that a plate of them has the
appearance of a plate of plums.
Oranges are here of an exquisite flavour, but
this year they have not been very plentiful. Le-
mons are of superior quality, and some of a size
not to be credited. The citrons are most excel-
lent ; but the pomegranates are of a very superior
quality and flavour, and will preserve very good
for eight months. Of all these fruits there is a
very great trade to Spain, where they are ad-
mitted on paying a duty ; whilst at what is called
a very dear house at Elves, .you have to pay 20
reels for eight ; and at Badajos you pay the same
for one—three leagues distant.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

BUXTON RACES, JUNE V.

SECOND DAL—The Ckadsworth Stakes of 10 sous. each,
p.p. ; all ages. Two miles.
Mr. White's b. c. Euston (Arthur) I
Lord Normanby's b. c. Saladin
Sir W. Wynn's Signorina

Seven paid.

The Noblemen and Gentlemen's Subscription Plate of 50
sous. ; all ages. Heats.
Sir W. Wynn's hr. c. Sancredo (Whitehouse) I I
Mr. Hayward's b. c. Sceptre 2 2
The Farmer's Stakes of 3 sovs. each ; all ages, not
thorough-bred, but bred in the County of Derby, &e.
&c. Heats.
Mr. W. Moore's br. g. Jack•of-all-work 1 1
Mr. Sybray's b. f. Lady Day 2 2
Mr. Buxton's Jane Grey..
Mr. Stacey's bl. g.

sprRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNAL.

• ________—
We request attention—the most earnest and
diligent attention -4o a letter in this day's Tint
on the never-to-be-exhausted subject of to d
Charles Somerset and his Colorti-q administratio .
The writer notices Lord Charles Somerset's
complaints in his letter to which we gave inset-T.
tion last Fridays that he was not accused lief+
the proper tribunal, and that he was . not en-
countered by 'any direct or specific charges. N 47
we know the writer of the present letter to lie
°no- of those numerous individuals at the Cape
who have brought forward heavy and grievous
complaints of his Majesty's Government againSt
their oppressor. It is not, therefore, so much
upon the.. force and severity of this "writer's lan-
guage; provoked by the agony of his irreparable
wrongs, that we are anxious' to fix the reflections
of the reader, its- Olt the many and important
extracts•with which he figs furnished tis from th 6
Report, of - the Commissioner Of Inquiry at the
Cape, who, after foOr'ears of ari. investigation
carried on, we are hold to say, in a' spirit by lib
means unfriendly .to Lord Charles' Somerset, or
exempt from the suspicion of a frequent endeavour
to• screen this gallant specimen of the House Of
P!?a11f00, from ruin, have stated under their handle
striii things, that if they are not used by the Authol-
rities of this realm as grounds in the first instance of
formal impeachment against Lord Charles. Somerset
and afterwards, 'if the declarations of the Commis
sioners be proved, as grounds of a sentence of con-
• digit punishment upon him, will, we do not hesitate
to.prononnCe; hand down this Ministry, or this gel.
negation,
of the Peerage, or both, as abettors of the
foulest acts of misgovernment, and accomplices in
the most irretrievable and indelible disgrace. We
leave the 'extracts from the official report to work
their own way with the community.—Times. i
The law of averages, which was the subject
pitched upon to be tormented on Friday last in
the Howit of Lords, exhibits at once the vigi,
lance and consistency of a certain portion of their
Lordships. It is not that the Bill for the cor4
rection of the system of averages, if suffered td
pass in the state in which Ministers proposed itl
, would, when coupled with the rejection of th 4
general Corn Bill, have placed the landed monol
polists in a situation at all more unfavourabll
than at present, when, up to 80s., there is ati
actual prohibitory law against foreign corn ; buff
it seerns that the noble majority who now go-i
very the Upper House of Parliament are nos
contented with leaving matters as they stand
Having the power, their Lordships resolved to
use it vigorously, and to lower, by a new expe-.
client, the quotation of averages throughout the
kingdom ; thus enhancing yet further the price
at which foreign grain would be admissible, and
prolonging the period during which the poorer
classes of their countrymen may be forced to eat
high-priced bread. The-scheme of taking Irish
and Scot' prices into the general account of
average:s has, when adopted, the manifest effect'
of towering the nominal price of corn, and, con-'
se.ltiently, preventing its importation. In Ireland,
and Scotland the article is cheaper than in thegreat,
maritime districts of England, being regularly'
imported from the former 'countries into this :'
but it is the inhabitants of these very ma-i
ritime English districts who require to be'
supported, by foreign corn ; and it is by the'
higher or lower price in these districts that the!
amount of suffering or of comfort among the bread-i
eating community of England must be deter-
mined. He, therefore, who makes the value of corn
in the Irish market the standard for deciding whe-t
ther a family in London shall have bread at a mode-
rate or at a famine price, has the merit of annexing'
—what we really thought was impossible—an ingei
nious and effectual aggravation of cruelty to the old
CA:2m ...t.,aT w system of Great Britain. Instead of ad-,
ilinnistering some slight approach to relief, as Go-
vernment had intended, and as the people hoped,
the consequence of the vote of Friday evening, had.
it been such as certain Noble 'Lards anticipated,;
'would have been to work a miracle upon the Corn
Laws, by making them worse than ever. We are;
careless what becomes, during the present year, of
the projected legislation on this subject. Whatever
attachesan increase of public odium to the brutal
system of monopoly in corn by which the nation has
been so long oppressed, might, be cheaply bought at
even an extension of momentary inconvenience, be-
cause a redress of the wrong would in that case force
itself, in spite of all attempts—whether factious, ra-
pacious, or purely capricious—to prolong it.—lbid.
The Liverpool .Mercury of Friday contains
what is stated to be a corrected report of Mr.
Etrougham's speech, in relation to Mr. H. Earle's
o'oservations on the Corn Bill, which did not
appear in any of the accounts in the daily Papers
of the Metropolis. In this speech Mr. Brougham,
after expressing his regret at seeing some names
in the late majorities in the House of Lords, ob-
served, that—
" He well knew that feelings the most honourable, and
principles the.most pure from all taint of either interest
or faction, regulated the whole conduct of the men he al-
luded to. Every feeling of unabated prlvate friendship
and unity of public principles let] him to express these sen-
timents towards such men as Lord Grey and Lord Fitz-
William; and the Duke of Bedford and Lord Derby. Who
could ever dream of mixing them with the factious oppo-
sers of an enlightened and liberal Government ? But, in-
deed; he had himself, with his own ears, heard Lord Grey
deny, positively, his wish to fOrm such an unnatural union
with men whose whole opinions separated them from him-
self ' Wide as the poles.' There was no public man in all
England so little biassed by motives of interest as Lord
Grey, except it be Lord Fitzwilliam. See the prodigious
sacrifices they have made to honour and principle ! Why
was it that Lord Grey had not been Prime Minister of this
country for the last twenty years ? Why, but because he
was the fast friend of civil and religious liberty ; and aban-
doned power and place, and their patronage and wealth,
rather than sanction what might wear the semblance of
a compromise of principle ow so sacred a subject ? To
hold fast by this scrupulous devotion to his principles, he
preferred a private station : he, with a moderate for-
tune, a large family, and not devoid of ambition, con-
demned himself voluntarily to the loss, almost for his whole
life, of all the profits and all the •power of the highest
offices in the state. .His whole life was devoted to the ser-
vice of the people, to his own detriment ; and the people
would show themselves utterly unworthy of having such
champions, if, when he happened
a different light from their views of the
.matter, they ever
suffered the least doubt of his unsullied Integrity to cross
their minds but for a moment. Mr. B. then dwelt on Lord
Grey's conduct in 18P7 and •JBl2, the Duke of Bedford's
sacrifice of the Viceioyalty, in 1797 ; and on Lord
II
F,
...i9t es-
william's nobleisacrifice of place and honours, both in
and in 1819, because, feeling for the peoples wrongs at
Manchester, he had, attended the great Yorkshire meeting
of Reformers." ; -
,The Noblemen alluded to by Mr. Brougham
have always received credit for the profession of
high honour and scrupulous regard for principle ;
and though it cannot be doubted that mistaken
views of the interests of the order to which they
belong, rather than a regard to the interests of
the community, have had .but too much influence
with .many of those who constituted the majori-
ties, it would be unfair to include the above dis-
tinguished individuals among the worshippers e
Mammon. Indeed the public in general have
not only separated them from the five Ex-MiniB..
tersjor *hose factious conduct no apology can
be offered that would not open a door to the
abandonment from motives of convenience of all
that is deemed binding among men, but also dis-
tinguished therm frarirtifenwested herd. What
has draWn so much' obloquy On Lord Grey in
particular is, the apparently unfeeling language
used by him
.with respect to the suffering people,

and his profession of readiness to combat for the
order to 'which he belongrid.--z4ainely; -the Aris-
tocracy as 'distinguished from the People.
Be-
sides, the public gave Earl Grey credit for natural
abilities of a high order, and they are.mortified to
find that he is so
,much behind the age in his know-
ledge brttie subjects which have occupied so
much of late. the attention of the Legislature...
Much is required from him to whom much is given.
In the third volume of Mr.Qodwin's History
the Commonwealth, just published, an observation
is quoted, as having been made by the late William
Nicholwn, which serves to account for the re-
luctance, by no means, peculiar to Earl Grey,
but rather the characteristic of age, to enter on
new subjects of inquiry. " Speaking (says Mr.
Godwin) of the excellence of the system of the
universe, in, relation to the way in which one
generation of men goes off the stage and is suc-
ceeded by another," Mr. Nicholson observed,
" that we are by the constitution of our nature the
creatures of habit, so as inevitably fOr each man
to become by certain degrees the enemy of
novelty and bold innovation. But in science, in
art, in political institutions, and in morals, hu-
man nature is susceptible of perpetual improve-
ment. It is therefore good and desirable that
there should be a perpetual succession of youth,
ut silvte foliis pronos mutantur in annos, the
better to adapt itself to this invaluable feature in
human intellect." Mr. Brougham alluded also
to some of the peculiarities which distinguish
the House of Lords. He said,
" He, in England, was not a republican at all, but a
warm friend of the mixed Government, which had been so
friendly to our liberties, after the experience of near a cen-
tury and a half. He only desired to see all its branches re-
stored to their original purity; and were the Commons in
possession of their just share in it, as well as the other two
branches, he deemed it as perfect a form of polity as could
be framed. In this spirit he rejoiced at the late activity
of the Upper House. He looked for permanent good com-
ing out of passing evil. He always had lamented that the
Lords met so seldom, and attended so little to public affairs.
He had often said so to leading men, of liberal principles,
among themselves. They now had become extremely
active and regular in attendance ; the Lords' House was
become a great place of discussion. As long as it delibe-
rated with open doors, and a free press to record and pub-
lish their debates and their votes, there must be good in the
end ensue to the country. For the present they had erred,
and the country was disappointed. He looked forward to
their redeeming themselves in the country's opinion, and
using their influence, augmented by the exercise of their
power, as a barrier between the Crown and the Country
which excess, on either side, might render useful to the
State."

That the Members of the House of Lords
would be improved by an attention to business,
will hardly be questioned. But the very circum-
stances which have produced the very unusual
attendances of late forbid us to hope their con-
tinuance. The Lords have attended, not be-
cause the questions were interesting to the com-
munity, but because they deemed their incomes
were at stake. We are strongly disposed to
doubt the possibility of any great improvement
in the character of their Lordships' House. In
the first place, there is one grand distinction be-
tween Peers and a Representative Body---that
the members of the latter, if not always chosen
for their fitness, must generally have the wish to
distinguish themselves. They are generally the
elite of the orders to which they belong. But,
of individuals inheriting, by birth, merely a right
to a seat, few can be supposed either to have the
ability or the wish to distinguish themselves. In
the second place, of all circumstances calculated
to disqualify men for application and exertion,
the knowledge from infancy upwards that they
will be possession of rank and _
_wealth_.of
forma the' greav-ararnunrs to exertion, is surely
the circumstance the most disqualifying. There
is hardly a Landholder of large possessions in
England who possesses sufficient application to
induce him to look into the state of his own
affairs. They are, in fact, generally ridden by
their stewards. There are, no doubt, distinguish-
ed exceptions. But it is contrary to every ana-
logy to expect labour and application from men
already in possession of all that for which men
labour and toil.—Morning Chronicle.
The pure and effective dispensation of justice
is a subject of the first interest to the community.
Of all abuses, those which are connected with the
administration of the lams are the worst and most
mischievous—and of all legal abuses, there is
none so bad as the present practice of special-
pleading. Originally, special-pleading was no-
thing more than a simple and concise notification
upon record of the points in dispute in a suit ;
but it has, for many years, been made the vehicle
of the most absurd, redundant, and expensive
verbiage, which has no more to do with the
merits of a case than the idlest language of ro-
mance has to do with the actions of real life.
The fictions of poetry are either instructive or
entertahing, but the fictions of special-pleading
are as dull and stupid as they are offensive to
common sense. The system, as now practised,
is an excrescence that overlays the principles of
law, and is afi-aud upon justice. We are glad
to see that Chief Justice Best perseveres in his
laudable purpose of correcting this scandalous
and intolerable abuse of the forms of law. Some
time ago the Learned Chief Justice spoke in
strong terms of the mode which special-pleaders
use of drawing pleas with such a profusion and
perplexity of verbiage as to cover twenty, forty,
or a hundred folios with unintelligible jargon,
when the legal matter to be described could have
been clearly and satisfactorily expressed in as
many lines, or, frequently, in as many words.
On that occasion, Mr. Justice Burrough stated
that the practice had become most shameful—
that he often met with pleadings extended over
forty or more folios, that ought to have been
comprised in the space of the palm of one's
hand ; and that he would do all in his power to
discourage so great and scandalous an abuse. In
a case of no importance, in the Common Pleas,
on Friday last, Chief Justice Best felt it ne-
cessary again to recur to the subject. He
said, the practice had become abominable ;
but that " the Court could not remedy it; they
could only call the attention of the public to it; and
there were those who, from their situation, had an
influence over the public, and by whom it might be
pointed out, and, perhaps, thereby be partly cor-
rected." This appeal to the moral influence of the
Press, from so high an authority on the Bench, is
an unexpected acknowledgment, from such a quar-
ter, of the service which that great engine of opinion
has rendered, and can render, to the community.
Too many Judges have been in the habit of regard-
ing the Press as an object of alarm and jealousy,
rather than of encouragement—and hence it is that
the vilest characters, the exposure of whose frauds
and vices is a public benefit, when they find them-
selves thwarted in
.their nefarious designs against
society by the light which the Press throws upon
their conduct, fly for refuge to Courts of Law, with
the hope that the prejudice which Judges are sup-
posed to entertain against the Press may afford them
the protection which is due only to honesty and
virtue. We are surprised, however, to hear Chief
Justice Best say that the Court have no power to
remedy the evil of which he complains. We know
the Judges cannot correct it altogether, but we also
know that they can do a great deal, to repress it.
They have, for instance, the power of striking out
unnecessary counts in declarations, and likewise of
striking out of pleadings in general what they con-

sider surplusage. This power, ought _to .be car,
stantly and severely 'exercised; but there are vices
in the system of speciahpleading whiclive are aware
cannot be remedied.without the interposition Of the
Legislature, and to those vices Shill again,
Cording to tha stiggentiOn of Chief JuStice Best,
call the attention of Parliament and the public.--
'Morning Herald. •

As we have some reason to believe that rit-
ietnp.4 will, yet be made in the llonse of Lollls
to add to the number of markets by which tne
averages under the temporary Corn Bill are
directed to be struck, we think it necessary to
advert once more to the subject. We have
already stated the general objection to such an
addition; but there is a special objection noticed
by Lord Goderich in the debate on Friday
night, so: perfectly conclusive, that had it been
addressed to an unprejudiced audience, it could
not possibly have failed of compelling their
assent. The Corn Averages Bill is not an
insulated measure ; it is, in fact, part and parcel
of the rejected Corn Bill. The two parts were
separated, not because they were actually two
Bills, but' because they could be with more faci-
lity legislated upon singly. Were the Averages
Bill a 'separate measure, did it not directly in-
fluence the details of the Corn Bill, there could
be no possible objection. to include every market,
great orsmall, in the kingdom. Abstractedly,
Lord Farnham's proposition, except so far as it
entails a great and most unnecessary expense, is
not objectionable. But, when viewed in connec-
tion with the Corn Bill, the *addition or sub_
straction of one market is, so far as its operation
goes, calculated to derange the whole working of
the latter. When Mr. Canning, speaking, as he
said a few nights ago, from the brief of his Noble
Colleague, lord Liverpool, moved his Re-
solutions on the Corn Acts, on the Ist of
_ _

March, he was careful to explain the. reason
which led him to select 60s. in preference to
any other sum, as the middle point between
the ascending and descending scales of duties ;
or, as it is familiarly called, as the protection
price. It was no theory of numbers that led to
the choice, but a plain and simple deduction
from facts. From 1815 to 11327, the average
price of wheat was, in round numbers, 655.,
but this average was greatly enhanced by the high
prices of some of the earlier years of that period.
During the latter six years, namely, from 1820
to 1827, the average was only 555. 9d. It was
from these data that the Earl of Liverpool was
led to adopt 60s. as a protecting price, being a
little less than the average of the last twelve, and
a little more than the average of the last six
years. Now what were the markets by the price
of which the data above mentioned were fur-
nished ? The markets of those towns which it
is proposed by Ministers to insert in the Corn
Averages Bill. It is obvious, therefore, that if
any be added, or if any be taken away, both of
which have been suggested, the proposed pro-
tecting price will be no longer applicable, but a
new one must be drawn from the markets thus
augmented or 'diminished. Suppose that the
addition of the Scotch and Irish markets
should lower the averages, it is evident
that, in that case, 60s. would be too
high ; and if, on the other hand, that
addition should heighten them, then 60s.
would be too low. There would be no harm in
including all of them, provided, at the same time,
the price were regulated accordingly; but there would
be no good. In striking the protecting price, and the
averages by the maritime counties, we really do all

CO be imported by the prices. in t7iose -Pra-CeiTvhfirei
corn is to be imported. By taking into the calcula-
tion markets whither no corn can be imported, we
are merely adding similar quantities to the two
sides of an equation, and leaving their proportion, of
course, precisely as it was. We have dwelt on this
argument of Lord Goderich's at rather greater length
than its extreme simplicity, and absolute conclusive=
ness, may seem to demand ; but we are anxious, to
use the language of the Primer, to make it " plain
and easy to the meanest capacity."—New Times.