18 FEBRUARY 1843, Page 2

ESPARTERO has succumbed to necessity, and has disavowed the charges

against M. DE LESSEPS, the French Consul at Barcelona, so as to have made what is tantamount to an apology. That France should have exacted such a submission, is not creditable to the spirit of that nation or to the good taste and feeling of her King. French interests, French objects, are blindly pursued, with- out thought of saving an injury to a great country struggling with adversity. So be it. Under the circumstances, it does not appear that ESPARTERO could have done better. Peace at all price (ex- cept, of course, such price as would be a premium to rebellion and renewed war) is the policy of Spain. Like a distracted patient, there is no curing her ills until she can be quieted for a time. Let any one imagine war arrested in Spain for ten years to come, and that country open to the political and commercial influences of England and France, and disposed for the growth of her own re- sources ; and he will perceive that no cost could be too great for the profit thus obtained. In that sense, the remission of the Barcelona fine, if it do not embolden the turbulent, is a stroke of policy rather then a defeat. A long peace is the only preparative for the rege- neration of Spain.