Star.
London, England, 1829-12-23 00:00:00

We call the attention of our readers to the thiri letter
of MEXICAN us. The fourth shall appear to-nnrrow.
We regret that unavoidable circumstances have . thlayed
' the publication of the letters from Bogota, illustrative of
the internal state of Colombia ; but they shall tppear
forthwith.

We have not the time to-day to make any commute
upon the despatch of General SANTA ANNA, which,
however, will be found to merit, on various seconds the
greatest attention from our readers.

It is our desire to avoid as much as possible any t.
cussion of the trial for libel, which ended yesterday in
the conviction of the Proprietors of the Norning
Journal. Where the prosecuted matter confnes so
closely upon private reputation, however deeply we
may lament to see the Press the object of ministerial
attack, we confess that we have no sympathies ranged
on the side of those who bring it into so opprobrious
a position. Let it be understood always, tat we
are speaking only of such libels as border upon ineecorous
personal detraction, and which therefore are destitute—
in a proportionate degree—of private dignity or public
object. But when a writer, in the fervour of political
excitation, exceeds the boundary of prudeut animadver-
sion, and reprobates in strong language perhaps the Mi-
nister of the day—especially if he be a SOLDIER,
arrogating to himself unconstitutional power-,-far be it
from us to witness unmoved his jeopardy in the public
cause, or to assent from any dastardly motive to his sacri-
fice at the shrine of tyranny.
We think it necessary to be thus explicit, lest in our
reprehension of the slander against Lord LyNDHIJRST,
we may be conceived as pronouncing also against the
paragraphs under prosecution by the Premier. That
these paragraphs have been managed with a deplorable
want of tact, we shall be among the last to deny ; but
the occasion is too serious--and the interest excited by
it comes too home to our " business and bosoms"—for
us to be indifferent here. The infliction of penal severi-
ties at the will of an arbitrary prosecutor, whenever the
press happens to counteract or expose Ministerial ma-
lignity, may do very well in other countries—has done
very well in this—but can no longer be tolerated as it
has been. There is no safeguard for our Constitutional
' rights —no shield for our popular liberties—if• the
press be trampled in the dust : for at this epoch,
perhaps to a greater degree than retrospective history
fer long years can parallel, the baseness of our
public men has left the country obnoxious to en oligarchal
confederacy, which the voice of the people can alone
hold in salutaty check. Now, the voice of the people is
the PRESS ; and any attempt to intimidate, or silence
that, excites in us a very sensitive suspicion and alarm.
The noble Duke at the head of his MAJESTY'S govern-
ment knows well the uncompromising hostility which
we bear his administration—and ever shall bear—on
constitutional grounds. We have intermitted lately, in
our exhortations to oppose a military ministry, not be-
cause we were growing reconciled to its domination, but
because—from day to day—we have looked for its dissolu-
tion ; and which even yet we sanguinely anticipate at no
distant period. Let us take this opportunity once again to
say, that but for the servility of men, whose professions
can never more deceive the country, the Duke of WEL-
LINGTON could not have mounted to power at all. He,
only reigns, through their degeneracy ; he owes all his
prevalence to their abject sycophancy, or unnatural
alliance.
It is impossible to dismiss this subject, without no-
ticing some of the ominous generalities, which fell in
the course of his speech from Mr. Attorney-Ge-
neral. Sir JAMES SCARLETT Is DOI the man, to
be guilty of aimless utterances, and it is there-
fore we direct attention to, his portentous lan-
guage. After speaking of the introduction of the first
press into England, under the auspices of H n RT. VII.
—and casting a " longing, lingering look"' at the* mo-
wopoly of opinion ,in those good days when it was
d by the KrNo—he contrasts its well-behavedaseo
under the fostering wing of the despot, with its ken-
tiousness and audacity now. At last, no longer capable
Of coercing the vehement antipathies that Swelled within
him, he proclaims • emphatically that the exigenCies of
modern power demand that new chains should be forged
for opinion. " I confess"—says the Right Ho
and Learned Gentleman—" that I am one of those wile
think, that within the last ten years the license if the l
Press has been too much unrestrained. Lam free to
say, that,' have thought the use of the IPresa would haw
been. better preserved, if somewhat more of wholesomm
correction had been exercised' over it." •
No doubt, he thinks so : and so must all his fellow
tevgivereators. Only notice the epoch to which Sir
JAMES refers,- as furnishing his beau -idial of the Press
of England Tex years ago ; that is, in the veinier of 1819-
20 , when the SIX ACTS, of blighting rnetnory--:blighted
be the memory of those who passed them--werelbaposOd
by a damineering Cabinet. Tex years ago! But Si
JAMES was not Attorney-General then Andllad not ratted
for place and pay,

!re;

Nos est quails list, boot
job rip* Cynara t

. • •

:

geed ilateama bast otis he spos,,
'"Whealawilsesei Saba. 4.44
Whilerlaiaae penning this notico''itbiin, the '.Right
lionoifsble :Gentian= is followiptip our .wounded
conteniporarf, grounds which: allot et strongly
on the side of the persecuted Party. The Wax.-
Litioxint libels are on to-day, and we bear it ht sill
going in favOur of the Military Premier. ilerttep;
,ask—eip it be. otherwise, with ./peciai /skip. ao'
Spcial 40m to aid thswf
wasp of tbe.lfoble Duke are iretthy':ol44lliii
and countries hole fos:-does he asanit#o?
(4_ .z• 4 "
We eve the Alhjesee!se &shag Al!OMort
.initant. Judging by Whit his liiiittrristittlieirilmil,
here as well es over ell Europe, while the Evoloter;

~,,. ~.
~ ,

NICHOLAS was indisposed, we have to acquiesce with
shame in the position laid down by the Journal now
before us :—" The fears excited by the illness of the
Emperor are now happily allayed by his convalescence ;
but they prove how deeply it is felt that the tranquillity
of Europe depends on the life one great Prince."
VIENNA, Dec. 10.
The bulletins published yesterday in the At Murry have
removed ell apprehensions respecting the health of the Emperor of
Reid% and have not failed to affect the Funds, which have risen a
little. An English and a French courier, from London and Paris,
have passed thVough Vienna, proceeding with all ail haste to Con-

stantinople.
Commercial letters from Lemberg speak with alarm of the pro-
pagation of the plague from the Principalities to OaMeta, and even
intimate ihat symptoms of it have already manifested themselves in
the vicinity of Lemberg. No official notice of such a circumstance
bas yet been given, and it therefore needs confirmation.
FROM THE DANUBE, Deo. 13.
The fears excited by the illness of the Russian Emperor are now
happily allayed by his convalescence, but they prove how deeply it
Is felt that the tranquillity of Europe depends on the life of one
great prince. In the complex, and frequently conflicting interests
which occur in the internal affairs, and foreign relations of state,
the influence of a prince distinguished by talents and energy, and
by wise moderation in the use of victory, is of the utmost im-
portance. The security offered by the life and activity of such a
prince is strengthened by his being in the prime of life,
not attached by his own recollections to a period in which
the straggles of political parties threw every thing into con-
fusion by exciting the most irreconcilable passions, mid pro.,
dyeing a state of things which could not possibly he &Mil&
The Emperor Nicholas has no knowledge of this event except sea
matter of history ; be belongs to the new era which begins with
him, and has already shown the possibility of effectual iaterpositke
in the cause of civilisation, without requiring the aid of revolu-
tions, which seems powerful only In the fever of delusion. That
the great interests of Europe enjoy the effectual protection of a
legitimate power, this it is that has called for the acknowledgment
of the beneficial influence of the Russian Emperor.
Vienna, Dec. 11.—Mstalliques, 1031; Four per Cent. 91j;
Bank Shares, 11141.—Illgentsine_Zeitung, Dee. 10.

Our attention has been called to the negligence of I
many weulthy householders at the west end of the town,
with regard to the state in which they suffer the foot-
way in the front of their mansions to be left, when there
is any fall of snow or bad weather. Surely, the gentle-
men's servants might be allowed to give a sixpence to a
poor man to do this work for them, if they should think
themselves not hired for such service. We trust that
informations will be laid in future against all palaces,
Churchwardens, clubs-, hotels, and great houses, where
the public are endangered and annoyed by this want of
attention to the comfort and safety of foot passengers.
VICTORY OF TAMPICO.

OFFICIAL BULLETIN.
Copy of a despatch addressed to the Secretary of War,
and Marine by General SANTA ANNA :
ARM! OF OPERATIONS.
HAD QUAILTWI, OLD talitleo, Seer. IS, I Sidi
•
MOST EXCELLENT SIR,
In my former communications I detailed to your
Excellency my operations against the enemy, and you
will have been informed of the arrangements I made either
to induce him to surrender or force him into a battle.
Owing to the scarcity of provisions which prevailed, I
was unable to collect any of the divisions destined for
this service, except two hundred men of the bat-
talion of Mextitlan, seventy of the first civic of
Mexico, with 100 dragoons of the third regiment,
who had arrived after the other troops, under the General
of Brigade, VELasoukz. I was thus enabled 'to esta-
blish my batteries at the points 'called Las Piedras and
ii Humo, on this side the river. I then ordered the
General of Brigade, TERAN, my second in command, to
.march from Altamira, bringing with him all the light ar-
tillery and disposable troops that might be there, except
500 cavalry which were to remain for its defence,
under the command of General Fernandez. GeneralTeran
accordingly came and posted himself at the pass of Cecilia,
on the shore between the entrance of the river and Tam-
pion di Tamaulipas. He, arrived on the evening of the
7th with three field-pieces, five hundred infantry, and
five hundred cavalry, being the whole force he could
remove from Altamira, owing to the non-arrival
of the reinforcements so anxiously expected there
from the interior. Being joined immediately by a select
novpa of 600 infantry, trenches were cut, and the
communications between the enemy centirely cut off,
leaving him without resources or any chance
if /del, at his head quarters. In this state of
things, summoned the Spanish General to surrender
at discretion, with his troops, to the generosity of
Mexico, within forty-eight hours, and that in the event
.nf refusal, I should attack him with the brave men under
my command, and give no quarter. But before my com-
munication had time to reach the enemy's head-
quarters, he bad hoisted a white gag, and sent
ah . officer to my camp with a despatch in which
he offered to evacuate the republic, for which ob-
ject he war ready to enter into negociations. I replied
to his communication by a direct negative, repeating the
intimation already sent, as your Excellency will perceive
by the documents marked 1,2, and 3. On the following
morning, the enemy again demanded a parley, by sanding
Brigadier D. JOSS SALOMON to reiterate the solicitations
of the preceding diy, and endeavour to convince me of the
justice of his propositions. I now rejected the overtures,.
adding, I would enter into no father discussions, or
suffer my operations to be interrupted, except by the
enemy's surrendering at discretion, and that in case of
"his adopting r different cause, be must' be an-
swerable for the catastrophe which must :otherwise
ensue. Your Excellenc will see who'll/ma is
the
this point by referring to letters No. 4 '6. The
Spanish officer on hearing my answer, requested a man
pension of arms until four o'clock on the following day ip
deliberate on so important a matter. -During lise *OR
of:the same day, a furious hurricane commenced, whites
besides its usual ravages, increased in an extraordinary
manner, the river and lake Arierflowing my encamp-
, mein, destroying' in part the redoubts, and the .detach-
, meat at Humo, maid ecaresly itself from pe-
rishing in the bxendation wb reached the 'fishery.
This unfortunate: ea:idiot led a great influence
on my elfwatiOn. The total want of supplies, the Mari
of lids ti inch my entrenchments, the detention of
drop **pond As the weather is damp and putrid
Wishrogeoffoilltewl sat in the painful situation. of
Alt I be obliged *to • &bend= my pass-
. thi essesniy 'submitted. At lour o'clock
semi* of the Stowing day the storm, sub-
.seal I wig informed drat the enemy ha
•' :the. Feet of the • Bar, and had sought
rapunmin during the tompost---11
issinuaaidy monsent, and mucking to the
camp of the second'division, put in motion anolumn of a
thousand men, under the immediate commend of Lieut.-