The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-06-04 00:00:00

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Witt sptattontan.

WEDNE3PkY EVENING, JUNE 4, 1823.
1181111LIAINENTARV COMMENTARY.
MOUSE OF LORDS. •
The Notate Lords is amusing itself with an mend-
ed Marriage Act. It is really a pity that the mania of le.
gislatiou will let nothing alone. Oar sticklers for old
institutions are the drollest creatures imaginable. They
are always exclaiming against innovation I and yet are
thry as constantly innovating, by piecemeal, until every
marry completely changes the nature of the old and ve-
nerable institutions of the country. We have scarcelran
operative clause In the statute-book that can count a
bandrvd years since its enactment, or alteration, or
amendment. . Yet when a proposal is made to
make an unpalatable alteration, however wise, or
necessary, we are met with the cry of—" What !
would you encroach upon our. venerable insti-
tutions'?" While with all our veneration for antiquity, we
only resemble the fellow with the old family knife, which
bad beep handed down from father to son, for fifty genera-
tions ; and had only been furnished with a dozen or so of
JILIN blades, mad half as mini- new handles.
A °lease for rendering the marriages of minors nail and
•void. if solemnized without The consent of parents and guar-
dians, provided the milt of nullity was commenced within 12
months fro% the marriage, was negatived by s majority of
eight. The debate was warmly maintained upon it ; and
produced the remarkable declaration from the Chancellor,
(act:outing to the Morning Herald) that "if the laws of
" CiOrt were to be relied upon alone, he would no longer lire
" in this country.‘" If these are the Chancellor's sentiments,
they may account for an odd description of law, with which
it has been the custom to patch up, and eke out the laws of
the Deity ; such, for instance, as the law relative to construc-
tive treason

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
W. have not space to enter into soy minute examine
tin!t of the debate of last night, on the subject of the-
" Beacon." And it is the less necessary, as the pablic
mind is fully made up to the unalterable conviction that
a more base endeavour to mislead the public mind, by
sue propagation .of slander and falsehood, was never
Made by the most mercenary hireling of the most despi-
cable and desperate faction that ever disturbed the peace
cf a community, than this endeavhur of the" ministerial
party" in Scotland, with the Scotch Law Officers at their
I•ead, to establish a medium of cowardly abase and ma.
licious misrepresentation. Foiled at every point in argu-
ment : their ignorance, their cupidity, their presumption,
their despnristn, their mercenary motives fully exposed;
nothing remained for the party but the impudence of
direct falsehood, and the audacity of the bee-
turing knave, who thinks to bear down all op-.
pwition by the violence of his invective. Tim
discovery of this villainous league incensed then
to madness. There was no railing away their
toed. Their bands and seals were against them
and neither evasion nor bullying could do them any sett
voce. But the odium of the tranlaction was all they bad
to fear. in Parliament they were sure to find a fellow-
feeling among their Friends'. They therefore set to
work to persecute, and, if possible, to destroy the pars,
-ties who had contributed to unmask their atrocity; and
Mr. Borthwick found the Scotch law as pliant as India
robber in their hands. They had no dread of being
• called to any account, let them play what fantastic tricks
they might. They tad " Friends at Court." The mask-
ed patrons of the " John Bull" were sure to patronize
ths flosoarable proprietors of the Beacon. The cause was
a common one ; and from the " lowest deeps" its mini•
one rush to one another's aid. That Mr. Abercrombie's
motion would be lost, was as certain as that it ought to
have been carried; but to try a Minister, or a Minister's-
friend in that House, is to throw •a lobster into the sea,
in the hope of drowning it.

The Paris papers of Sunday have brought us very toter-
eating intelligence from Catatonic By the dend•oflicial re-
ports from Moncey'sarmy, inserted below, it appears, that
Mina, •while supposed by the French to have been forced to
shut himself up in Barcelona, had again so entirely out-ma-
Louvred his enemies, that he had once more passed between
their divisions, and unexpectedly fell upon Vick which, not-
wittudeading its gerrison, he had nearly carried, had he not
bees seciousiy wounded in the action. To this event the
French ascribe is some measure the retreat of his troops :-
1 " Gerona. 27th May. 1923.

" Yesterdiy the Stith instant. at four o'clock in the morn-
ing, Mina bating eluded by a niightlyparch General Donna-
dim' and Biros d'groles, who °couples Mattress, came and
attacked Vich with 4,000 men, and a company carrying lad-
deirsto scale the wails. The garrison of Vich at the time of
the attack consisted of only 400 men of the Bth of the line.
and 400 of the Royal Spanish corps of Romegosa. The
enemy attacked furiously on every point, and the great so-
Periority of their numbers gave that hopes of success ; but
our troops received their ckarges of infantry and cavalry
with calm intrepidity, directed spoil them a well supported
Ire, and obliged them to make a busty retreat. A great
number of dead and wounded whom the Constitution Maks'
had not time to take away, have been found. In this en;
prawn,. of 800 men against 4,000, the French and Spanish
• Royalist Army has displayed the greatest courage and the
most admirable sang froid. Whilst these things were
passing at Vich, the garrison of ilostairich made a sortie.
Equally beaten oa all points, the Constitutionalists have met
with so success ; and at Hostalrich, as well as at Vick, they
bare been obliged to retreat, leaving in our power some
dead and wounded. It is said that Mina was seriously
wounded daring the action, and that this event hastened
the onaray's retreat."
The Vienne also contains the following Telegraphic
Despatch trout Madrid, dated May Nth, and received in
Paris ow the SIM of *sumo solidi:—
. .