The Sun. — 1844-10-14 (London, England)

STANDARD.—The Duke of Victory has availed himself of the legal and constitutional termination of his official career—his regency de jure—to offer a brief justification of his conduct during the period that he actively performed the duties of that office, and we confess we can discover nothing ridiculous or ill-timed in his apology. It appears to us to have been penned in the spirit of modesty and moderation which has characterised his whole official career. A capricious :Contemporary, who is " everything by turns, and nothing long,' sneers at the fact, "so illus trative of the actual position of Espartero at the present moment," that it bears date London. That it does so is owing to the very " purity of conduct and motive," which is admitted by his assailant to have actuated him throughout the difficulties with which he has been surrounded. Had the Duke of Victory dared to exercise the power which had been so tyrannically enforced by his successor; could he have reconciled it with his conscience to have employed the means of maintaining his position which have been resorted to by that semi-brigand dictator; Spain, in spite of the intrigues which had been fomented against him, might still have been at his feet, and his resignation of his trust might have borne the date of Madrid instead of London. It has been well remarked that the unostentatious privacy in which he has lived since his arrival in this country affords the best reply that could be given to the imputation on him of any ambitious desires or motives in the course he has adopted ; whilst it has supplied his enemies with a pretext for repeating the charges of apathy and irresolution to which his stedfast anxiety to avoid unnecessary bloodshed have given rise. The qualities of Espartero as a soldier have never been denied, and it cannot, therefore, be believed that his extraordinary forbearance during the first few weeks of the insurrection which was organised, against him, could have been dictated by other than the purest and noblest motives. Throughout the entire struggle he acted wholly-on the defensive ; avoiding on all occasions collisions which he appears to have been conscious would have been fruitso far as the general tranquillity was concerned. In all violent changes, and more especially such as have lately agitated Spain, the people are almost invariably the losers; for it is on such occasions that military despotism finds the most advantageous opportunities for its exercise. The Spanish people Here brought to believe that they had reason to complain of Espartero; but the series of atrocious violations of their constitution ; the total disregard of law and justice, and the despotic tyranny of their present military dictator ; must have satisfied them, to apply a Spanish figure of speech, that they have " got out of the frying-pan into the fire. All the recent advices from Spain are of one character—anarchy, open or concealed, pervading all parts of the country ; daily, almost hourly, violations of constitutional liberty ; massacres ithout trials, and trials without justice; a Government which commands no confidence; and a Senate selected at the point of the bayonet, and prepared to turn upon its creators the instant it is enabled to assume an independent position. And what manner of person is the successor of him of whose government the besotted people of Spain became impatient P—An Ishmael, against whom every man's arm is raised—a dictator, whose tender mercies were hardly exceeded by the stork, sent by Hercules to punish the eternal croaking of the frogs, after their appeal to him for a new regime. Need we point at the late cold-blooded massacres; murders unsupported by even the pretext of judicial deliberation ; the imprisonment of members of the Senate on the mere ground of a difference of political opinion ; the summary rejection of the decisions of such constituencies as were not disposed to return Moderado candidates ; and the total disregard of the privileges enjoyed by