Star.
London, England, 1823-08-23 00:00:00

SIR JOHN DOIVNIE.

Copy of a Petition transmitted to the Spanish Mi-
nister at War, in order to be presented to the King :
" Sire—Don John Downie, Field- Marshal of the
National Armies, Knight of the Orders of St. Ferdi-
nand, Charles 111. and Great Britain, and decorated
with seven crosses for distinguished actions in the field,
with sentiments of the most profound respect, appeals
to the ConstitutiOnal throne of your Majesty for jus-
tice, and complains of an act of personal oppression,
rarely occurring in the most uncivilized countries,
and still more rarely among nations which boast of
being free.
" Sire, your petitioner was arrested by order of
the Government, together with seventeen other Of-
ficers, at that time residing in your Majesty's Royal
Palace of Seville, at nine o'clock on the night of the
I lth of the present month. These Officers were there
with the knowledge and approbation of the Governor
of the Palace, Lieutenant-General Don Francisco co-
pons, and some of them were also there on the night
of the Ist, when they volunteered to defend the persons
of your Majesty and the Royal Family against the
attacks then apprehended from a part of the Local
Militia, who had already plundered, with the most
alarming outcries, the houses of many of the more
peaceable citizens. Those Officers did not separate
until twelve o'clock of the same night, when the
above-named General expressed himself grateful for
their services, and permitted them to retire after the
city had recovered its tranquillity. Your petitioner,
Sue, might cite, in confirmation of these statements,
the testimony of ell the General Officers, and among
others, of the Commander himself, General Vi-
godet, with whom he was in conference during the
greater part of the night ; but as he is not now upon
his defence, and does not even know what offences
are imputed to him, he proceeds to inform your Ma-
jesty of the treatment and conduct which have been
observed towards hint and his brother Officers since
the night of then. arrest.
" On the morning of the 12th they were taken from
the dungeon of the town, to the bank of the river,
and there were exposed for two hours to the gaze of
crowds of people, who did not cease to cover them
ith insul:s, and excited each other to assassinate them
all. From Seville to San Lucar, the petitioner, to-
getLer «ith his nephew (an Officer who was not pre-
sent on the night of the 11th, and whose name was
not on the list of those art eqed), was conducted in a
boat, .separate from the others, under the guard of a
party of militia, commanded by Captain Don Epifa-
nio Mancha, exposed to the gross and insulting lan-
guage of a fe.v soldiers from Madrid, without edu-
cation or the feelings of men. At San Lucar, the
prisoners were again united, and conducted from that
place to Cadiz, where they arrived late on the 15th,
and exposed, as before, on the public quay, for eight
hours, an object of curiosity to some, of disgraceful
and ferocious abuse to others, and sometimes to acts
which humanity can scarcely conceive, but of which,
unhappily, the history of these times furnishes too,
m my examples. At length, Sire, we were brought
to this arsenal, and on the 17th, underwent an exa-
mination. Instead, however, of allowing us to com-
municate with each other, as the Constitution pre-
scribes, and as is the custom in every civilized nation,
we were all confined in the Four Towers without any
c.immunication, and your petitioner was, in addition,
subjected to have a sentinel placed over him.
" Sire—Throughout Europe the pi inciple has al-
ways been recognized that every prisoner is innocent
until the law has condemned him ; but here is a Spa-
nish General, descended from a nation truly free, of
whose services in the war of independence (in which I
heexpendcd2oo,ooo dollars in the formation andequip-
anent of the Estremena Legion) all Spain and his own,
wounds are ample witness—here is a General imprk
soned • in the same building with the vilest convicts,,
rigorously cut off from all communication, overlooked
constantly by a sentinel, for the period of eight days
after an examination, and without having received a
farthing of pay for more than three months. Europe,.
Sire, will not believe that Spaniards, so celebrated in'

other times for the nobleness of their character, could
present an example so opposite when enjoying the
blessings of a freer system. Your petitioner is not,
ignorant of the consideration which ought to be paid
to that fervour of mind which belongs to periods of
political convulsion, and that it ought to he received
as some excuse for the insults which he has received
in his progress to this place ; but your petitioner
cannot excuse the treatment which he has experienced
liere,since he presumes it to have been with the know.
ledge and through the authoi ization of the Constitu-
tional Authorities, against whose conduct, he owes it
to the country of his birth, to his rank, to his ser-
vices, and his reputation, until now without a stain,
to rotest in the face of the world, as being illegal,
barbarous, and unjust.
" The conscience of your Petitioner cannot find
any other motive for their proceedings, than the re-
solution, which he has never concealed from them,
nor from others, of perishing in defence of your Ma-
jesty and the Royal Family, sooner than allow a set
of frantic men to fling upon the heroic Spanish nation
the le.rtful degradation which now menaces it.
" Your Petitioner, therefore, beseeches your Ma-
jesty, that as long as the law has not declared him
guilty, he may be treated with the distinction and
respect due to his rank and his services, and that the
same consideration be strewn to the Officers who v ei e
arrested with him. He requests, also, that some as-
sistance should be sent to him, together with a month's
pay, and, at the same time, an order for terminating
the inquiry as soon as possible, so that he and his
fellow-sufferers may be restored to that freedom and
honour which they value beyond a thousand lives.
He asks for. justice, which he deserves at the hands
of your Majesty, whose life may HEAVEN long pre-
serve, for the happiness of the Monarchy.
" From the Four Towers, in the Arsenal of Caracea, June 2R,
1823. Your Majesty's most obedient, devoted, &c.
" J. DOWNIE."

THE EVENING STAR.

LONDON.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 1823.
THE FUNDS.

STOCK EXCHANGE. TWELVE O'CLOCK.
This morning Consols opened at 82i, 83, went up to 838,
but declined again to 828.
The Expreases from Paris this morning have brought the
Rentes of Thursday at 93f. 50c. Spanish 44i.
It is still,the opinion that it will be some days before we hear
the result of the negotiation at Cadiz, but great hopes are enter-
tained at Paris of its being favourable.
In the early part of the morning much business was done.