Political Affairs iti April. (May I j 



2J.— English, 3«. lOd. to —Hay, 60s. to 90«.— Clover, do. 70s. to 

 lOOs.— Straw, 42s. to 60s. 



Coals in the pool, 33s. 6d. to 48s. 6d, 

 niiddlescx ; April 21. 



370 



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Corn Exchange: —Whefnt, 40s. to 66s. 

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 — London price of best bread, 4lb. for 9d. 



POLITICAL AFFAIRS IN APRIL. 



GREAT BRITAIN. 



THE unprincipled invasion of 

 Spain is the topic whicii has en- 

 grossed tlie attention oftiie public dur- 

 ing the past month. The diplomatic 

 papers have been laid before parlia- 

 ment; and it appears, that the French 

 ministry have had the address to secure 

 a pledge of the neutrality of tiie British 

 government, come what may; that this 

 government, so forward to resist ag- 

 gressions of popular governments, 

 chooses to be neutral while despots 

 commit aggressions ; and that the 

 British ministers laboured, at the same 

 time, to persuade the Spanish patriots 

 to submit to such modifications of their 

 constitution as woidd place their lives, 

 fortunes, and liberties, at the mercy of 

 the perfidious Ferdinand. This crooked 

 policy has led to various interesting 

 debates in both Houses of Parliament, 

 in which Earl Grey, Lord Ellenbo- 

 rougii, Mr. Brougham, Mr. Macdonald, 

 Sir R. Wilson, and others, have 

 arraigned ministers; wiiilc tliey have 

 been defended by Mr, Canning, tlie 

 Duke of Wellington, Lord Harrowby, 

 and the Duke of Buckingham, sup- 

 ported by large majorities. We are 

 friends of peace, or rather enemies of 

 war; and, as such, deprecate the equi- 

 vocal conduct of ministers, persuaded 

 that, if they bad evinced a determina- 

 tion to support the just and holy 

 cause of Spain, the attack of France 

 dare not have been made, and peace 

 Mould thus have been preserved. But 

 by pledging themselves to neutrality, 

 ■while a strong power was assailing a 

 weaker one, they have countenanced 

 the injustice; and will, indirectly, be 

 answerable for the consequences wiiich 

 may ensue. We have no apprehen- 

 sions in regard to the issue of the 

 contest; but the discordance of opi- 

 nions, and the conflict of interests in 

 Spain, encouraged by foreign armies, 

 must lead to slaughters, proscriptions, 

 and bloodshed, at the contemplation of 

 which we shudder; while, as appears 

 to us, the whole migiit have been pre- 

 vented by a different attitude being 

 assumed by the British government. 



On the 23d, Lord Ellenborough operred 

 a debate in tlie House of Peers, and stated 

 that, when King Ferdinand returned to 

 Spain in 1814, lie had determined to 

 march upon Madrid with whatever troopa 

 he could collect, and destroy the Consti- 

 tution of the Cortes, When subsequently, 

 he reached Madrid, he put an end to the 

 Constitution, and ordered the arrest of 

 those individuals who had been the chief 

 advocates of freedom, and the chief means 

 of bringing that Constitution into ope- 

 ration, and many of whom were prose- 

 cuted, and severely punished. In 1815, 

 King Ferdinand, finding that 32 indivi- 

 duals of those be had alluded to still 

 remained unsentenced, himself sent to the 

 Tribunals a command to hasten their 

 proceedings; they returned for answer 

 that they could find nothing against the 

 individuals pointed out. A Special Tri- 

 bunal was then resorted to, whicli came 

 to the same conclusion. King Ferdinand 

 then, on bis own despotic authority, 

 although no Tribunal could find any thing 

 against them, sentenced these individuals 

 to various punishments. Amongst others 

 Arguelles, who had been eminently dis- 

 tinguished for his eloquence and patriot- 

 ism, was sentenced to serve for eight 

 years as a common soldier in tlie garrison 

 of Ceuta. It was here that King Ferdi- 

 nand, on suppressing the Constitution of 

 the Cortes, issued a Declaration, slating his 

 intention of summoning the ancient Cortes, 

 and promising that there should be a 

 limited liberty of the press, and that 

 Taxes should not in future be levied 

 without the common consent of the King 

 and the representatives of the people. 

 It was a matter of notoriety that none of 

 these promises were fulfilled ; and the 

 circumstances were also matter of noto- 

 riety, which at length led to the revo- 

 lution, which restored the Constitution of 

 the Cortes. At the meeting of the Sove- 

 reigns at Trappau iji December 1820, 

 the alfairs of Spain were mentioned, but 

 the protest of the late Marquess of 

 Londonderry effectually prevented any 

 foreign interference in the internal affairs 

 of Spain, and it appeared that when the 

 Spanish Governmeiii, alarmed by the 

 foreign intervention in the affairs of 

 Naples and Piedmont, requested a dis- 

 tinct disavowal of any intention to inter- 

 fere in the affairs of Spain, an express 

 assurance was given that no such inten- 

 tion 



