The Sun. — 1836-04-18 (London, England)

FRAN. ESPOZ Z MINA. " Head-quarters of Cervera, April 1, 1836. " To his Excellency the Secretary of War."  The details of the conspiracy at Tortosa are given at considerable length in a letter from MINA to the Catalonians, which is otherwise unimportant. It will be seen by the following passage, that NOGUERASI at least, was intentionally guilty of this brutal outrage : " The Government of her Majesty transmitted to me, by a Royal order, the copy of a deposition made at Soria by a rebel who gave himself up to the authorities, wherein were disclosed the particulars of a plot formed in Tortosa, for delivering over the castle of that place to the enemies of the country. Upon this information, I instantly dispatched Brigadier Fox, with one of my Aids-de-camp, to the spot, when the circumstances of the conspiracy were fully developed, a confidential servant of the Episcopal Palace, the mother of Cabrera, and some of the sth Light Infantry, appearing to be the principals. Three of the latter fled ; but the others were tried by an ordinary military tribunal, and all sentenced to suffer capital punishment. It happened at this time that the petition of General Nogueras reached me, supplicating me to put the woman above named to death, on account of her son's having atrociously assassinated the authorities of four different towns, as well as many of the principal inhabitants thereof. To this petition I answered, that reprisals should be limited to the places in which the crimes had been committed, in order to produce a salutary effect ; but, as the mother of Cabrera had been sentenced to capital punishment, I ordered her to be shot, together with the servant of the Bishop and the soldiers of the sth Light Infantry in custody, as the chastisement due to their crimes. What, then, is there in this pro. cceding contrary to the strictletter of the law ?" Such is MINA'S defence, which after all does not greatly lessen the atrocity of his guilt. A conspiracy, of which an old woman, upwards of sixty years of age was the principal, could not have been very serious. The Minister of War, however, declared that the documents alluded to by MINA had not been received, and that he was not aware that a conspiracy had existed at Tortosa. This, of course, will be enquired into, and sifted to the bottom ; and if the facts of the conspiracy b 3 not proved, MINA ought to be. tried for the murder of the old woman.  The accounts from the Basques are favourable ; and with the assistance which the British Government is prepared to render to the QUEEN, there must be a speedy termination of the war.  The Paris Journals of Friday and Saturday have all been received. The Chamber of Deputies closed its discussion on the Customs' Tariff Bill on Friday. In the course of Thursday's sittings M. DE LAMARTINE defended the conduct and principles of Dr. BOWRING, in answer to an attack which Count JAUBERT had thought proper to make upon that gentleman. Count JAUBERT replied by observing that he spoke of Dr. BOWRING in language as measured as was generally applied to, him by persons in his own country. M. DE LAMARTINE might boast of his personal regard for Dr. BOWRING, and even defend his principles as a politician, but be (M. JAUBERT) was confident that if a Frenchman played the same part in England as the learned Doctor had played' in France, by delivering such views of commercial freedom, the populace would undoubtedly stone him to death. This statement was received with loud laughter and ironical cheers, which did not serve to soothe the excited feelings of the Hon. Deputy. With regard to the Customs' Bill, the Journal des Debats is of opinion that the Government will agree to the counter-project sent up by the Committee—a measure which differs in no essential point from the Government project. The same journal says that the to the duties on iron, cottons, woollen stuffs, and cattle, will remain untouched ; and that, in fact, the national industry of France, will undergo no change. We are ourselves astonished at the ignorance of Frenchmen on all commercial questions. 'With respect to the working of the reciprocity system, they are, at the very least, half a century behind England.  In these journals we have advices from Bayonn2 to the 13th inst. The Bishop of LEON had been arrested on his way to Elorrio, the head-quarters of Don