Star.
London, England, 1827-07-13 00:00:00

FRIDAY EVENING, JULY 13, 1827.

the persons employed in the ceremony t,300 piastres.
It is said that M. de Ribeaupierre has brought a pelisse
worth 60.000 piastres, as a present from the Emperor
to the Sultan, as well as other presents for the Ministers.
Today M. de Ribeaupierre had his solemn audience
of the Sultan.

Since the news of the capitulation of Athens, we have
heard nothing important from that quarter. The Se.
raskier has sent 3,000 men to .legara, to drive away
the Greeks, who are spread over the country. Alter
the Greeks had evacuated the entrenched camp in the
Phalerus in the night of the 27th May, the Turks hoisted
their colours on the Monastery of St. Spiridion, which
they seem to have occupied without resistance, for some
Greek stragglers who could not reach in time the vessels
sent from Salamis, were cut down by the Turkish ca-
val&y which overtook them.
The Seraskier receives reinforcements every day;
among others are 5,000 men, brought towards the end
of May, by Ibrahim Bey, of Vallo. a, which gave rise
to the report that I'srahim Pacha had arrived at Corinth.
The latter was at Pains, where he bad set at liberty the
garrison of Castle Tornese, which he had brought to.
that place. I'he Egyptian fleet, which arrived at Mo
son on the 22d April, with ammunition and money,
dailed on the 10th May to return to Alexandria. Four
days afterwards the fleet from Constantinople, of So
sail, which arrived from the D irdanelles under the com•
rand of Taber Pacha, arrived at blavarin. Aust. Ms.

FROM ?Re CANSTITUTIONNZL.
PARIS, Jinx 9.
The Mateiliar has now joined its voice to the voices
of the Journals of the departments, and congratulates
us on what we say, or rather on what we are allowed.
to say. We wish to take no praise which we have not
deserved. If we have been exposed as the interprets•
dons of mslevolence, we shall content ourselves with
referring to all our articles, to our words and our silence,
and to the general spirit in which our Government is
conducted. We have sail, since the Censorship under
the present Ministry will not put in our urn any other
than black balls, and as we expose them to broad day.
we refer to the good sense of our readers to distinguish
the colour,
The Quotidienne says, " That a Ministerial Paper
applauded itself, two days back, for what it had not
seen in the newspapers since the establishment of the
Censorship. It would represent silence as a benefit,
and the repose of the Press as a new era for society.
There was a time when this happiness was complete,
and when the people knew no other emotions than those
of private life, and when public affairs were only known
to them as uninteresting reports of what occurred at a
distance. What can be gained by returning to a prac-
tice which has already conducted the State to the brink
of a precipice ?
44 We shall not favoisr this political apathy; on the
contrary, we shall endeavour to keep the public atten-
tion alive by facts. being persuaded that the existence
of a people is not altogether in the vicissitudes of fine
weather and rain.'—" Since the establishment of the
Censorship, the Aloniteur throughout all its long co-
lumns writes Vive b Liberte ; and every evening the
Gazette de France, like the Moniteur, cries Vive la
Lilierte. Perhaps the Editors of these two Papers will
end by crying Vise la License, for is there not license
in mocking at other people as we list?"

EXTRACT OF A PRIVATE LETTER.
AUGSBURG, JULT 4.
It might have been believed, after the categorical re-
fusal of the Turkish Minister, that the Christian Diplck
matists would have immediately asked their passports;
but all the Ambassadors have remained at their posts,
contenting themselves with informing their respective
Courts of the want of success of these missions. A
private letter from St. Petersburgh states, that the
Emperor Nicholas is fit mly determined to oppose with
energy the total extermination of his brethren in reli-
gion, in Greece- This le:ter bears a date anterior to the
period when the last dispatches from Constantinople
could have been received in that city ; nevertheless, the
actual presence of Field Marshal Count d'Ossen-Sacken,
at St. Petersburg!), is mentioned there, as formerly, to
have a direct reference to the measures which are im-
mediately about to be taken, after it is definitiVely ascer-
tained that the attempts of Diplomacy will be unavail-
ing. Count d'Ossen-Sacken, they say, is designed for
the chief command of the army of operation, and it is
in order to receive the commands of the Emperor on
that head that he has been called to St. Petersburgh,
where he will problably prolong hit stay until the ar-
rival of dispatches from M. de Ribeaupierre communi•
cafe the definitive issue of the negotiations with which
he is charged, and which are expected from day to day.
YROK THE QUOTIDIEN V E.--(PRI VATE CORRESPO ND ens.)
LISBON, Justin.
It appears that the fate of Portugal is about to be ir-
revocably fixed ; it will be indebted to the patronage of
Austria, which has taken up the facts, and the cause,
with peculiar interest. We expect, with much anxiety,
a message which is to arrive from Vienna; the piece of
news has contributed to calm our spirits. No doubt is
entertained that Don Miguel is speedily to reign over
us ; it is even asserted that he will be crowned on the
first of August this year. The whole of this is planned
with the consent of England, which is well aware that
its position is untenable. In fact, all the contracts for
provisions have been cancelled, and the paymaster of the
English army, who had made a treaty for the exchange
of London bills with the French house of Guillot and
Company, has announced to that house, that in a month
their transactions will terminate. It is added, that the
English troops, instead of returning to England, will
be sent to Gibraltar and Malta.
ON THE ENGLISH OPPOSITION.
Mr. Canning is exposed to a violent Opposition, and
he is reproached with having united himself to the mo-
derate Whigs, who represent the enlightened classes of
England. This Minister is not shaken; he knows that
an Opposition is a necessary element of a flee Govern-
ment, and that an Administration, strong in its princi-
ples and good intuitions, must abide the corkequences.
The sy,•ew he has adopted is a popular system; advan-
tageous to the commercial prosperity of England, and
he pursues it with firmness in the midst of contradic-
tions. Some men of talents, and s4r. Peel among
others, have separated themselves from Mr. Canning ;
but as a compensation, he receives the support of see&

ral members of both Houses, of the most honourable
character, of approved capacity, and who enjoy the
highest consideration. The names of Lord Lansdown,
Lord Holland, and Lord Dudley and Ward, are gua-
rantees that the Ministry will never forsake the pin-
cipl..s of legal liberty, and will follow, both in foreign
and home policy, that line of conduct which has raised
British influence to so high a pitclt.. It is a good thing
for the Greeks that the English Administration is thus
composed. The interests of religion and humanity will
not again be sacrificed to that political selfishness
which degrade.. nations, as vulgar selfishness degrades
individuals. The news of the accession of England
to the res lotions of Rossi', ihough it comes late, is a
fortunate event. We hope that tie intererence will
be immediate and active, and that we shall not have
to groan over the an•,ihilation of Greece. The more we
know that people, the more we are convinced that it is
worthy of receiving the benefits of independence and
liberty. They have escaped too recently from the fetters
14 despotism, which corrupts and degrades everything.
not yet to bear some of its Marks; but as instruction is
spreaJ among them, as they give themselves up to pro-
ductive industry,and to the developments of their natural
genius, they will shorten the dist-ince which separate
them from those nations which are advanced in civili-
zation. The heroes of 'Nara. Missnlonghi, of the Acro-
polis, the companions of MiaOlissand of the unfortunate
Karaiskaki, are worthy of living under the empire of
law and justice.

PRIVATE CnRRI4PONDENCIL
MADRID, Jouz 21.
Sedition, placards were lately affixed at Cuenca,
where the Police have endeavoured to discover the au•
thors of this crime. In consequence of this, a lively
altercation ensued between the Secretary of the Intend-
' ant of Police and one of the Regidors, whom the Secre-
tary accused of being himself the author of the placards.
The Regidor complained to Madrid, and had sufficient
interest to procure the dismissal of the Secretary.
The salary assigned to the Duke of Satz Carlo. is
twelve thousand doubloons ; that of M. Vitlalba is fixed
at one thousand dollars. Some persons, who dislike
the latter, sent a representation to the King, to which
the has not deigned to reply.

THE CARNIVAL AT LISBON.
The Vigil of Ash-Wednesday is observed in an true
Catholic countries as an evening of rare festivity. In
Ireland they toss you pancakes, in one of which a
wedding-ring ii enclosed. Happy is the man or maid
to whom a slice of that pancake falls. In Italy it is
upheld with a romantic and poetical splendour. Like
everything else at Lisbon, the whole day is a compound
of the disgusting and the delightful. The entire popu-
lation in the morning are employed in excesses, which
none but a Portuguese could tolerate or invent. The
night happily ends in dancing and music.
The three days, commencing on the Sunday called
Fat Sunday, and ending on this night, are denominated
the Carnival. The two first days are in no ways -dis-
tinguished but by the deaths of undigestiug Pietists,
who overeat themselves in a devout farewell to meat. I
On the Tuesday, with the dawn of light. the spirit of
the hour begins. I wish that I were poetical, for how
can plain prose describe it? You observe. for some
days previous, how busily the gallegos are employed in
(etching water to the various houses in your vicinity,
and what mighty stores of chalk-flour, eggs, and
oranges are collected. You see all the urchins around
you preparing tiny hollow reeds, from which water is to
be ejected in the eyes of the unsuspecting victors; and
all the ruffians arranging large s)ringes for the same
purpose. I would not venture to say that Ladies use
such deadly weapons, were I not aware that a Captain
of the Lancers, who came down from the country for
the ball, was disabled from attending it by the shower
with which a damsel of quality did defile his shirt-frill.
You also see masses of clay collected in each balcony,
and you hear a general advice given to strangers, not to
trust themselves in the streets. The children of every
family are all alive with expectation at the coming frolic,
and to speak the truth, the grown-up world are no less
impatient. If the character of a people be taken from
their amusements, the Portuguese will rank on this occa-
sion about the lowest in the scale of civilization. The
whole farce consists in throwing eggs and oranges at
every person whose business compels him to appear in the
streets, or showering flour and then dropping water upon
it, on every man's coat that has the least pretension to
gentility, and in pouring pail-fulls of water, com-
bined with all villainous mixtures in it, on every hat
that covers a head. Ail the artifices which we employ
in England, to entrap each other from the house by
false letters and messages on the Ist of April, is resorted
to here on this day. Commands from uncles—mes-
sages from dying relations orders from public-offices,
and all sorts of fictitious formalities are circulated. Old
birds are sometimes caught by the ingenuity in which
these deceits are wrapped up. Strangers are sure to
catch it. If you venture on horse Sack, you are a mark
for the whole range of batteries, angular and diagonal;
if you take a sege, the a Wows are battered in, and
gallego ruffians deliberately throw every thing revolting
on you. The safest way, if it be lite and death, which
compels you to go out, is to steal along the sides of the
streets under the cover, which the balconies afford. A;
every open space, however, you must make up your
mind to suffer; for up to the seventh story. are devils
lying in wait with basins of water simultaneously to let
tall upon you. • While you loathe the tormentoss, you
cannot help laughing at the tormented, provided you be
safe yourself. A pour fellow creeps along in safety for
some time, till getting into one of these connecting
spaces, he takes a sly look up to see how the mischief
is best to be avoided—on the instant down comes the
deluge; if his moth oe open, he only swallows a pint
full—his eyes, his lace, and chest, receive the remainder
of a gallon or two.

This sport is not confined to children or servants, or
the lower classes only. I assure you there is scarcely a
Gentleman or Lady in Lisbon, who is not as active as
toe humblest person. The love of mischief, and the
pleasure of seeing others suffer those fixed principles of
noble human nature set us all at work. There is no re-
sisting the inward man. Were I to tell you the dignified
persons whom I saw tapping innumerable barrels of dirty

[PRICE SEVENPENCE.

water, you would not believe me. A, the day wears on,
the combined armies in the various balconies. for want
of fresh victims in the streets, turn their arms against
each other. Those in the upper balconies watch those
who pop their heads out of the lower, to play the same
pranks on them which they have pestered the pedestrian
with. The devils at the top of the house, like him who
'looks over Lincoln," have a supremacy of mischief.—
The only annoyance which the lower residents can give
the upper, is by a discharge of water from syringe., but
then for every pint full he receives a pail full. One
rascal, who had a small garden engine, swept the world
before him. When the home artillery are exhausted,
then the gallegos and boatmen begin their horse play.
They pelt each other with all sorts of defilements,
The shops have been closed all the day; a nice hand
the man must have who takes dawn the shutteh the
next warning.
This is the Carnival at Lisbon. I assure you I do
not exaggerate nor burlesque it. The time was, I un-
derstand, when gallantry, romance, and music, corn•
hinei to tender the days delightful; but as. Portuguese
report is me, that on maters of taste there is no
disputing, perhaps the present system is by much the
better. As to gallantry, no doubt you have the esters.
teal still ; romance is all nonsense and street music they
say, is but a waste of sweetness. Tuesday being the
last meat day, is devoted to a great dinner festivity
among the natives. The poorest man has pork,
Bologna sausages, and a roast ; the rich stuff themselves
with all sorts of fleshiness. A physician has assured
me that there are very few persons who are not made
ill by the surfeit on this occasion. 'Formerly the day
was closed by a popular masquerade; at present there
are but a few private houses who open their rooms to
receivi such company. I could not hear of any one
respectable person who did so this year.
The ball at the Portuguese Rooms Is the grand at-
traction, for which all minor entertainments are de-
serted. Those who are not subscribers, or who cannot
proem invitations, content themselves with throwing
squibs and crackers at the singers, and at each other,
at throperw—with the happy number who hold tickets
all is bustle and prepararion. I was told the fete WA*
to be a combination of masquerade, fancy ball, and
dress ball. 1 was anxious that the first should pre-
ponderate, as I was desirous to compare Southern wit
end hilarity with our broad doings at the Opera. House
and Argyll Rooms, where Mr. Wright and Mr. Ebers
assemble the world, as they say, under the direction
of sit Noblemen; and I was also solicitous •to see to
what extremities would Portuguese fancies reduce the
natiee beauties of their belles. From the result, how-
ever, I have to learn that London is a very superior
place for a masquerade to Lisbon, and that the Ladies
here roe too sensible dt the impression which the reality
of their beauty makes, to awaken it by any ill-suited
and 'extravagient fancy costume.
The rooms were filled at an early hour ; every one
agreed that such a crowd had not been seen since the
days the late King honoured them with his preence.--
All the lower benches were illuminated at eight o'clock
by the brilliant eyes of two or three hundred diustrious
damsels, and ,the still more piercing and expressive
eyes of a few Spanish maidens. Their mammas were
seated on an upper tier, As the mourning soil donii-
tined, every one was dres-ed in black, with the excep-
tion of a few English Ladies, whose tasteful white
dresses relieved the general sombre character of the
costume. All the Ambassadors, with the 'excepti -n of
him of .Vlacli id, were preseat ; and in short nothing
wanted to complete the triumph of the Directors of
the Assembly, who generally find that the Foreign
Rooms, as the English are called, excel them in the
number and the character of the company. There
were no fancy dresses unless that of a Spanish girl—
who realized ail that Lord Byron tells of ihe 'night and
majesty of loveliness—might be so termed. One young
Lady was masqued, but she made n st the least attempt
to support a character. Unhappily we had mine of bur
Huss as, Lancers, or Guardsmen present, to sustain the
fame which the former ball had bestowed on them.
Their places were taken by the Officers of his Majesty's
Navy, who were, as they deserved, to win all the ho-
flours of the night. I prote;t the Portuguese Ladies
have quite enough to do to a ithstand the tremendous
assaults making this season on their hearts by so many
branches of service. The most beautiful are captured
by the Commanders at bath sides and even those who
escape the great guns of the Majors, Captains, and
Lieutenants, are certain to be picked up by the Mid-
shipmen and Ensigns—not to speak of the Marines,
who have a monstrous swallow for beauty of all shapes
and sizes. Talk of the British fleet in the Tagus pre-
serving a neutrality—why, Sir, they have nr.t left an
enemy in petticoats unconquered at either side of the
river—they have invaded every man's and woman's
house where fl daughter's black eyes held out a Motive
of conquest, and secured, I know nut how, good-will
free quarters, and a good name every where. s
About six masks appeared in the course of the night.
A duller half dozen arver ventured on busiuess in that
line. One of them bad a small plain looking-glass, and
a concave initror, which -increased every deformity,
which he went about presenting to the company. Toe
character might be mitre a great deal of, particularly
in a place where every body is so well known as in Lis- -
boti ; but he did not make a single point worth notice.
Another dressed as Giovanni, but Heaven knows, he
was perfectly innocent in art and intention. Your
grandmother and grand-daughter were equally safe in
his hands. A third, with a paper butterfly stuck on the
end of a wire projecting flow his hat, played the great
booby, and pretended to chase it. His dress was like
that of Billy Lackaaiay, done by Liston; his dullness
was his own, and done to a turn. The best character
was that of au English Naval Officer, battered by hard
service, and soured by disappointment. The task itself
was inimitably moulded, the lower lip projected dis-
dainfully over the upper, and the eyes were contracted
to maintain an ill-natured villainous squint for the whole
evening. He had a good idea of the character, and
attracted a considerable share of attention.
Dancing was kept up with great spirit till three in
the morning—an hour unusually late for Lisbon. There
was one waltz in which a few only joined, as it is not
considered good taste by the Portuguese Lathe, to eza
Libit in puulic in the dance. At a private ball they