The Statesman. — London, England, 1823-04-11 00:00:00

TI Sir F. the assist ; I tit .6 s . • • LLI :g STATESI air - __________ he Protest tot religion. Of thi s be could adrinee 'lnane Proofs, but be wont! iner• ly state one to the House, Which nould net fail to convince them how great a pro trete the Catholic religion was makino over the we Prerotes64 tant. I n one parish iti Ireland in 1731, there Protestants, and 613 Catholics ; and in 1818, there were but five Protestanti nd no less than 2,400 Catholics. — The union of pa a reductive. of the greatest mis chief. He was cr se respeifible iin-tlernan as zea lously attached the Ptdieetant religion as any man, . that be had seventeen anilets•to go to his racists church. the union extitorillif letee One end to the o ther no less than thirty-six valle - s. 'This evil could he rimeAled if the unions were dispelimed with, and the revenue of the First Fruits made as pgoductive as it might; siva 'applied Seir e to building glebe-I)4**mi' The Earl of Bartteouila, tar yof State in the 'latter years of ( N ero Anne, said " that much was said of the poverty of one, part of V e flerleY. but little of ate vs eslth of the other part, and yet 1111Chnetian Chord' had a larger provision. In the lands d the Deans and thapriters. who were as useless as the Monks and Abbott, were sold and divided amongst the poorer Clergy, it could be productive of no.mischief that Ire knew, males!, perhaps, that the 'Bishops' daughte s r wouldnot to off to well ; and he hoped that t themunder a he begirt latareirould, at some future period. put better regulation." Now, he asked if that time had not arrived? Sorely they were not in a better state now than they had been then. The objectof his motion was to call upon the Crown to make its own members useful to the people. The Hon. Bart. concluded by me in, the following Resolutions:— That the first fruits or & mates, be the first year's in - That come of every Ecclesiastical dignity and benefice in Ireland, became at the time of the Reformations part at the Revenue of the Crown, as head of the Church, and waendered pe able by by instalments, and otherwise, regulated by the Irish statute of thi 2Sth 'Mewl Mt, and continued annexed to the Royal Revenues until the year 1710. That her Majesty Queen Anae, as an act of grace and fa- TOUT tti the Established Church of Ireland, by letters pa tent, confirmed by subsequent Acts of Parliament, did then vest In certain Trustees and Commissioners the produce of this branch of Royal Revenue, for the purposes ebes. of building and repairing churches, tor the purchase of b eg wanting, and of improPriations wherever the benefice was not sufficient for the liberal maintenance of the Clergy hav ing cure of souls. Queen Anne did at the s ame time Cr at her said Majesty Q absolutely exonerate and release the Clergy of Ireland from the payment of the twentieth parts. or twelve pence in the pound, theretofore payable annually to the Crown out of the income of a 1 Ecclesiastic benefices. That it appears from retoros laid before this House that the gross amount of the First Fruit revenue thus vested in trust. as paid in to the Treasurer of the Board of Co mmis li s i o n e ts during ten years , en din g in January. 1621, amount. ed only to three thousa nd seven hundred aid fifty-two pounds. leaving the net amount of produce. applicable to the valua ble purposes of the grant, no more than 2,923 f. averaging eunuelly 2921. after the deduction for salaries and Incidental expenses of the Board, of 5271. That the grants of Parliam for building New Churches ent and glebe-houses, an d the purchase of glebes in Irehusd daring eleven years. That the grants of Parliament for building New Churches end glebe houses, and the purchase of glebes in Ireland during eleven years, endin of WIS. amounted to OSOOOI. being an anneal average4s,oool.; and that provision still continues to be madebay annual grants for these sale • terry purposes from the pub.ic revenue. That four hundred and sixty seven of the dignitaries and benefices of Ireland, being nearly ooe-third part of the whole, have never been r..ted or valued to the payment of tee First Fruits, as directed by the statute of Henry VIII.; all that three hundred and thirty-sis benefices more, al though wen, do not contribu te thereto, in consequence of Et- very early period and the low rates on which the valua tion was effected; and that the whole of the Archbishop rics. Bishoprics, and other Ecclesiastical Dignitaries of Ireland, are estimated as amountirg to only 4,247/. yearly value. That the receipt and management of this Revenue hed as been always reierv eri to and continued in officers appoinletters t by the Crown , and th at the duties thereof were, by patent, in the year Idl2. entrusted tocertain Commissioners, w ith power, as therein specified, from time t o time, to col lect, levy, and receive, and to comities and search for the just and true value of all and singular the dignities and be eefiees of fretted, but that no veuntion appears to have been made under authority of this patent. That these Resolutions be laid before his Majesty, toge ther with our humble rep resentation , that itappearsjust end eitable that this branch of Royal R e venue, be- st qu o wed on the Church of Ireland, for wise and sliberallyalutary put, pales. shonid be rendered of necessity for the the attainm of Inent of t-e objects of Royal bounty. without - creasing annually the public burdens by Parliamentary grants; and that w e humbly pray his Majesty may be pleased to authorize and direct the patentees of the Crown to proceed orthwith in the execution of such measres all may he deemedf necessary for ex amining Red searchi u ng for , the just and trite value of all and singular the dignities and benefiees of Ireland, and for rendering all such es shall be fiend to exceed the annual value of one hundred and ft pounds rateable contributors to the Fi r st Fruit Fund g a s escalades in such dignities and benefices may hereafter take place. Mr. GOULBURN said that he would not be back v sr., in supporting this motion, if he thought the mea slier! was likely to prove benefit io to Ireland. So frr from being opposed by to the Right Hon. Bart. in toto I,e coincided with in many of the views which he had taken of this subject. But the consideration of the ques tion at this particular time, he considered unreasonable, because in his opinion it would be more properly intro- decel in the discussion upon a Gill for the regulation of Welt tithes, which he (Mr. U.) meant to submit in a foie days t' the House, alien the whole question could be gone into. Upon this understanding then. he should decline framing the Right Hon. Baronet into the great' variety of details obi It he had thought it his dirty to lay I I before the House. There could be no difficulty, how- ever, in shoeing that what he now called upon the House to adopt was nos sanctioned either by statute law or modern practice. The Right 100 . to Bar increaseonet's o hj-et, if he understood him r ightly, sae the first fruits and annates of benefices in 1 relaad, in the seine proportion with the increarred value of these benoe Tice lie considered this a partial and unjust exactionl front a particular class of persons. Besides the whole', tenour of te ancient Statu - es established the ivies:lin, that those psym h ents being once freed could uot be increased. Their increase, when demanded by the Pope, who made the se sa me claim as that nos preferred by the Right Hon. Barone, was positively - dischimed by several Statutes. On the t contrary, these Statutes are filled with complaints against the Pope for the unreasonableness of his demands, in e ndeavouring to exact an increase of these assess ments. The Right Hon. Gentleman quoted all the an cient Statutes upon the subject, through the reigns of Richard the First , E dward the Second, and up to Henry the Eighth. In all these, as well as the Patent of Queen Anne, and the . 9th Geo. 11. cap. 12. the principle was dierinct ronized, that valuation having been once tnade. c o ul d n o t be increased. He chall eng ed the Right Bin. Baronet to adduce any i nstan ce• in which a secon d vat n,ition had been made. any several Statutes that had been made upon the subject were not directed ases w with here a view to lucre:ore the original valuation, in any valuation had been male, but only to parishes in which no valuation whatever up to that time had been pre,iously made. The great error then in the Right dm Baronet's statement was an assumption that the first fruits had been originally intended to be increased in the cause proportion as the value of the benefice in. &easel. He hoped be bad shown that the First Fruitats' i r swe were framed with a ver y different spirit, and th, on :he contrary, they firmly established the principle that these valuations were not to be at any time increase he d. For all these rea sons he should oppose the motion. T Right Hon. Gentleman concluded by moving the previous question. Sir J. NEWPORT, in hie reply, contended that answer had been given to the - case which be had made out. Even admitting that there parishes l* which salon lions had bees made owe four or five htmdred years ego should not be interferred with, what did the Right Hon. Oentiemap say of parishes in which the first fruit da y had never been valued ? He eonele ded by eressing his termina.ion of taking the sense of the House upon tin quotation. The House divided upon the .first Resolidioa,..whisa• there appeared— - - For the original motion, 39-east it, rity 9. All the Resolutions were then negatived without a di vision. APPRINTICS LAWS. • 0: Sir JOHN BOUGHEY obtained leave to Wog lo a Bill to extend the powers of Junket in matters cos cerning the laws of master and servant, and master and apprentice. SLAVS TRADE. . Dr. LUSHINGTON obtained leave to bring in a Bill ,leo f ur c li ° tron ti of dai the in aliveginto o t r ad A e. ct all the laws relating to tbit CROWN DEBTORS. Mr. HUME nid he rose to move for certain returns I connected with Crown Debtors, confined in the several gaols of England. This return was but a continuation of an account which had been presented to this House in 1619, when it appeared, that at that ti me there were 200 perm); confined for Crown Debts, and 75 for other debts of the same nature. His object was to ascertain the I exact number now in durance under similar circumstan ces, with a view of seeing whether it were not possible to put these debtors of the Crown un the same footing ;with all other classes of debtors whatever: Such was the practice already in Scotland, and as it was contem plated to assimilate the customs of both countries, he thought it would be well to make the English practice,ia this respect, conform to that of Scotland. He saw n 3 I reason why there should be any difference between the Crown and any other creditor, or why the former should possess advantages which every individual creditor did not enjoy. In the return l ast p resented, it appeared that there had been persons imp risoned for years were no more than from 201. to 251. Another objection which he had to the system was, that of the discretion exercised by the Secretary of State of setting free such persons as lie thought fit. He also objected to a gradua -1 tion of terms of imprisonment laid down by the Right IHonourable Secretary for the Home Department, as a n• l aisliment upon those who were unable to pay tines. The *abject, the Hon. Member said, he considered of the greatest i m p or tance, and be regretted that some lawyer in the House had not taken it up, who would do it more justice. He had also to move fur another return, which was in continnati..n of that preeen ted on tbe 1 lth of July, 1820, respertiog the number of persons confined in the Fleet Prison for contempt of the Courts of Chancery and Exchequer. In these commitments be undertook to show the existence of the greatest abuses. The numbers committed on this charge were incredible. In 1620 alone, 21 persons were so committed; and by the returns, it would appear that there were some persons in the Fleet who had been there 31 years, some 20, and some _l4, for contempt of Court. The case of Hannah Barker WAS a remarkable instance of this harsh treatmwasent. She bad been imprisoned in 17159, and in 1820 she still in prison, on the charge of not paying 401. pursuant to an order of the Court of Chancery. From 1812 to 1820 no less than 12 persons died in prison who had been eon-' , mited for contempt. One of these was Thos. Williams, who had pined away no less than 31 years and 10 months in prison, charged with a contempt of Court. Another, named James Dvke, had spent 14 years in gaol under the same charge. Tints, it appeared, the imprieonment ex tended to the whole term of a mans life. Now this was a power which, by the laws of England, he contended, no Judge whatever was warranted in assuming. In every other case, when a man was accused of an offence, he bad the benefit of a Jury; but he (Mr. H.) saw no reason why, in a cssa where his liberty fur life was committed, an Englishmen should be debarred that invaluable privi lege. lie concluded by moving for returns of all persons confined either as Crown Debtors, or for contempt of the Courts of Chancery and Exchequer, with a specification of the sums for which they were confined, the terms of their imprisonments, the nature and amounts of their securities, tke. The SOLICITOR GENERAL opposed the motion. He contended that the Hon. Member was misinformed of the state of the law in respect of Crown Debtors. — He had forgotten that, by the present Insolvent De t b to an tors' Act, any person declining to pay money pursuan order of the Court, might take the benefit of the Act, and be discharged from prison like any other debtor. — As to limiting the power of Courts for committing for Contempt, he (the Learned Solicitor) was sure the Dm nourable alember, upon reflection, would not be art ad vocate for such limitation!. There could not be said to be any hardship in the imprisonment for refusing to do a deed ordered by the Court, when it was considered that the individual suffering was himself a party to it. — The case of common contempt was this : an investiga tion took place before a Court, and in the result, in order to bate justice done to all parties, an individual was or dered to perform a certain deed. This lie refused to do. What power then bad the Court to compel him, but im prisonment; and this was a punishment which ceased the moment the party complied with the order of the Court. A person so confined, therefore, could not com plain, since his imprisonment was in fact voluntary.— (Hear.) But if the individual was committed for an in sult upon the Court, it was usual to set him free, as a matter of course, as soon as he avowed contrition for his ottence, by acknowledging the jurisdiction of the Court. In that respect, therefore, there was no reason to quarrel with the power assumed by the Judges of the several Courts. With regard to the other p ant in the case, namely, the placing of Crown Debtors on t t he ; , same foop t- ing with the debtors. of private individlthis a peared to-him to he inconsistent with the due collection of the revenue. Many of the Crown Debtors were con• fined for offences against the Excise Laws, but if there was a prospect of ge tting emancipation from the fines' . imposed on smuggling, a very great temptation would be held out to illicit traffic, and the revenue would be there fore greatly prejudiced. Besides, in all cases where there appeared to be any hardship used, or when the party was proved to be totally unable to discharge the debt, an appeal to the Lords of the Treasury always met' with the greatest attention. Cie challenged the Honour-', able Member tdmention any case in which the party, seemed to have been hardly dealt with, in which the Lords of the Treasury did not interfere, and give such equitable redress as the case merited. For all these, reasons, he considered any alteration in the present law unnecessary, and he should th erefore oppose the motion.. Mr. Secretary PE EL denied that he lild ever suggest ed the substitution of a scale of terms of imprisonment in lieu of tines, when the parties were unable to pay them. He had no liesi'ation, however, in saying that he would oppose the unqualified discharge of Crown Debt ors from prison, for he thought the Crown should have some discretion in awarding at least such a terns of im prisonment on those who could nut . pay fines, as would deter others from engaging in illicit trade on the spe culmion of a complete indemnity against the conse quences. Dr. LUSHINOTON thought it would be an improve ment of the law tb give certein officers a powerof cluing certain acts, for persons contumaciously. remaining in prison, more particularly where their obst inacy worked a prejudice to their parties. Mr. WYNN opposed the motion. Mr. RICARDO conceived, after the doctrines held iolth that day by the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite, the best came te pursue, would be to pass pursue , law, duke: ing that there should be only one punishment fur every offence; let it be the punishment of death, if kliOsters thought fit; and then to have it in the discretion of the Secretary of State, to say whether the same should be in -dieted, or bow far it ought to be mitigated. t — Mr. SecreteryPEEL explained; be said the discretion of inflicting punishments did net rest with the Crown. The motion was then put and agreed to. - Mr. HUME said he had another motion to make on the subject of these penalties, which were adjedged by law, and with the amount of which Government had nothing to do. On referring to certain docurneotst he found that on the 30th of July, 1789, a persdriliad been committed on what was called a writ of rebellion; the offence was a breach of a writ of execution, and for not paying the Sum of 4601. The • person so committed re mained in the Fleet Prison for the space of 30 years. There were,instances of persons having been confined there for the non-payment of penalties of 201., and there did not appear to be any existing law by which they could obtain relief. What he contended for was, that Ministers should not have a power to grant partial relief to one party and refuse it to another. He concluded with moving for a return of all persons confined, and now in custody since July, 1820, for contempts, by order of the Court of Chancery or Exchequer, or in conse quence of any processes issning from the Ecclesiastical Courts; also he number of persons who, ing confined for contempt,t died since that period.—Ord b e e rcd. REGISTRY or VESSELS. On the Order of the Day for the second reading of the Registry of Vessels Bill, hlr. SYKES obsirved, dip this was a measure i n which g entleman connected - With trade and commerce, were highly interested; and he hoped that some fur• thee time would be allowed them for, dm due consider ation of it. Mr. HERRIES said, there could no objection to the postponement wished for, by the Honourable Mem ber. The Bill was, therefore, put off to the 18th instant. Mr. HUME moved fur a return of the income and ex penditure of the country for each year, between the year 1792 and 1798.—Ordered. At half-past seven o'clock the House adjourned. INSOLVENT DEBTORS' ACT. .V -h) ) Id be happy t%gl,t4/11 P ; $ - 4th WESTMINSTER MEETING YESTERDAY AT WILM 9 S ROOMS. In consequence of there not having been cient no tice given to the citizens of Westminster of their , meet ing to take into consideration the laws as they it pre sent stand respecting Debtor and Creditor, the meeting was not at first so num erously at as was ei pated. Shortly before two o'clock, John Cam HobhOU , sq. M.P., accompanied by Sir Francis Burdett, Bart. cater ed the great room. On the motion of Mr. FRANCIS (the framer of the Pe tition) John C. Hobbouse, Esq. was called to the Chair. The CHAIRMAN said it was now f o ur rears ago since the Insolvent Acts were passed, since which returns hail been moved for by several Members of the House of Coot- MOM. Petition on petition had been presented from various parts of the country, complaining of the evil ten dency of the Insolvent Law as it now stood, and stating that those Acts pressed beyond all conception on the merchants and traders of Great Britain. On looking to the returns made to the House of Commons, it appeared that only a sum of 60,0001. bad been received from the estates of insolvent Debtors; which in the whole amount of debts, was scarcely a penny in the pound. This show ed the n ecessity of considerable amendments in the law as it now stood, and he was happy to inform the Meet ing that his Majesty's Solicitor-General was preparing a bill to remedy the defects and evils complained of.— (Hear, hear.) Every person concerned in trade, must be considered as acting in a double capacity, namely, that of debtor and creditor. Imprisonment for debt, he thought, should be done away with altogether, as it tend ed to corrupt the morals of the people. The individual who runs into debt, knowing that he was unable to pay, acted criminally, and ought to be punished ; but then lie submitted, it ought to be left to the verdict of a Jury. He did not wish to dictate—he bad looked to the subject himself carefully and p atientl y , and he should be happy to hear such observations as the Gentlemen present might have to make on so important a subject. Resolutions and Petitions had been prepared for the signatures of merchants and bankers residing in the city of Westmin ster, M which would now be read to the Meeting. Mr. LONG read the following Resolutions:— " I. That the Insolvent Acts were intended to be avail able only to unfottunate debtors, hut have been converted into Instruments for the advantages of the most fraudulent portion of society. " '. That many fraudulent debtors escape, in consequence of their creditors being unacquainted with legal technicali ties, or too indigent to employ professional ads isers to op pose their discharge. " 3. 'that fraudulent debtors frequently invite arrests by irritating their creditors, or by collusive engagements with pretended creditors; their effects being previously assigned to friends, or converted into cash, to evade the penal clauses of those Acts. " 4. That numerous evils arise from the practice ofthe Attorneys of the Insolvent Court, and tneir agents, who are found upon the services of the prisoners, and who frequently instruct them how to frame their schedules and balance sheets, so as to leave their assets under 2t9. or to insert a sum too trifling to be of the slightest benefit to the creditor; ahough he same prisoners,whice under errest,are se lt rved to t live In greater profusion and luxury than ( when at large. " 6. That this Meeting is of opinion that no good has been derived from lithe imprisonment of Debtors, as'at pre sent carried into effect ; but on the contrary that many who had gone into gaol merely unfortunate, came out completely void of principle. " 6. That experience has fully proved that the Insolvent Laws, end the administration of them are defective; and ought therefore to be ameuded. " 7. That this Meeting deprecates the practice which visits with punishment those who are sufferers from tosses to whom every person in business is liable—punishments only due to fraudulent and criminal Debtors. "EL That Petitions be presented to both Houses of Par liament, praying the Amendment of the insolvent Laws. 11 " 9. That the Committee do prepare the said Petitions: I l with power to add to their number." The Petition was then read. Mr. SLOPER wished to know if the Resolutions were 1 1 to be printed and embodied with the Petition ? Sir FRANCIS BURDETT said lie did not see the neces sity of printing the Resolutions, as it would create un necessary expense. The Petition was the ground-work of the proceeding, and a new one might be framed if it were found necessary. The citizens of Westminster would thereby have an opportunity of jullging for ohs em-1 selves, and might suggest to th e Committee such Mi vations Irons time to nine previous to their next Meeting as might tend to benefit themselves and their brother ciizens. The Petition was ordered to be printed and circulated, and expenses to be paid by the Committee. A Committee was appointed to carry the proceedings into elect. After some further c onversation, the CHAIRMAN d dared the business of the day to be concluded, wh e. en • Mr. FORBES proposed, that the Thanks of the Meeting be given to John Cam llobliouse, Esq. for his impartial conduct in the Chair, which was seconded by Mr. Luxe, and carried unanimously. CHAIRMAN returned Thanks, and said, he should be happy to farther the object in view. The Meeting then edjournel' till Thursday tl instant, at 12 for one o'clock recively. -----------iiIAILS. ARR. RUC ARR. Dt. Z. 1 ... .Dublin 0 I .llolland U o....Watertord.• • .. 1 o....Hatnbro (I 0....0 & Jersey. :. :0 - o.... France 0 o.... Lisbon ........ 1 o.... Flanders . . ... —0 0....00ttenburg,,,,0 . .„ _O. • ..meta A PRICE OF STOOKS THIS DAY; AT •ONIS O'CLOCK. Bank Stock sou India Stock 4391 9 3 per Ct.Oltd. .. ~. . , • ..7411 Ditto Bonds 30s. 31s —spot. 3 n•Ct.Cos t n 74/ 76/1 Ex.Bill.2d. 2 —s Ils IGs pwl }per Cent. SOH 1009/. j 4 per Cents. . 9gll SOOI. —s 17s—spot. Small —s—s —spn? New Fur c .. OS 941 931 1 Long Ann-1 . 416- 1 0 19 1-16 I LotteryTtekets ... 25/. HP. Imp. 3 per Ct . 7l 7bl I Con.tortect... .7411 7411 . Zite Abtate%ntan. FRIDAY EVENINO, APRIL 11, 1823. PARLIAMENTARY COMMENTARY. The two Houses met last night. In the Loans nothing took place of any consequence.—lN THE COMMONS, Mr. PLUNKETT be asked, when he intended to bring forward the Catholic question, answered, on the 17th instate. So that, we really are, it seems, to have another grand boat at this work! It has been going on now for just twent2,- two years ; and, if the interest of the debt could continue to be paid in full to all eternity, to all eternity this thing would be going on. Is it not clear to every man, who is not an idiot, that there could be no real change in favour of the Catholics, as long as the domination of the Church continues ? The man that does not see this must be a poor blind thing, indeed. And, who does not see, that this domination is bound up with that of the Boroughs? —And who is so nonsense sreickes as to suppose that the Boroughs will give way as long as the paper thing .can be kept going? Look, therefore, to the Debt, Catholics, and to nothing else ; unless, in deed, you like to be doped.--There was, last night, a " Sir Josue BOUGRET," who he is Goo only knows, who got leave to bring in a bill to extend the power of Jas lice: as to matters between masters and servants, mate.: and apprentices, and others. if we were in Parliament, this is the sort of work that we should look after. The r Register has recently given some very pretty instances of tbe extension of the power of Justices. In short, the Government is very fast becoming a Government of Justices. If we go on at this rate mach longer the Judges and Juries will have very little to do. What this I , Bill really is, we cannot say ; but h is described to bete I l extend the power of Justices ; that is to say, to extend the power of men, who are Judges in certaiu cases, who have already very great powers, and who hold their offi ces at the absolute pleasure of the Crown and its Minis , tees. We will endeavour to get at a sight of this Bill. land to see whether it have a tendency to " soften the Cri s' mind Code." Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH has, we be lieve, obtained a certain degree of softening in behalf of the poor witches; bat these Justices of the Peace Laws Sr JAMES does not appear to have yet found time to meddle with. Sir Jouse NEWPORT made a motion fur taking away *little matter from The Church Revenue! of Ireland, under the name of First Fruits. He lost his emo tion, however, and every such motion will be lost as long as the interest of the Debt shall be paid in full : that is the paint: all depends upon that. It is right to go on exposing; but this Nation will see nothing effectual done for its relief as long as the Interest of the Debt shed be paid in full. The Bourbon War came up last night; that is to say, Colonel Davies asked Mr. Caw wtsme, whether it was his intention to accompany the pa pers on Monday next, with any statement justifying the conduct of the Ministers ; because, said the Colonel, if t you intend to make any such statement, you ought to give us time to read the papers before you make it. Mr. CANNING said, that it was his inrention to make a state ment; but not to propose any measure or vote to the House; and that, therefore, it was not necessary to give any time. This seems to have been but a very unsatis factory sort of answer. if the King communicate the mere, there must be thanks to the King fre the com munication; and that is a vac, at any ra'e. Bat, the question is, what can Colonel DAVIES and his friends d o ? What fault have they to find of the Minis ters? The Ministers say they are not going to to war; and the only fault any body can find of them is, that they do not go to war. The Morning Chronicle of to-day exclaims, " England, degraded England, after an " expenditure of five hundred millions. dares not defend " her own freedom, when attacked in the person of her " friends. The constancy, power and wealth of Eng " land places LOUIS the fat and ungrateful on his " Throne." The Chronicle goes on, in this way, to a great length ;• but what avail these exclamatious? They do not stop the march of the French. What avail the exclamations, unless the Chronicle be prepared to say, that we ought to go to war ? And the Chronicle is prepared to say and does say, that we ought not 0 think of going to war ; and so mast the Whigs sat. too. They dare not talk of going to war. They may stand and cry, as the Jews do in Gibraltar, whes the Soldiers knock the Orange baskets off their heads ; but that is all they can do. While they have Batton and Old Sarum they cannot go to war; awl the more the matter is discussed, the clearer this will bets the eyes of time people.—This day brings us the Doh that the French crossed the Bidassao on the 7th instaeL Now, this was not chit on the part of the Duke d'As noulaims, who must have known that we prophesid, early in November, that the French would enter Spain early ila the month of March, perhaps his Royal Iligle ness thought that we meant Old Style! However, ve confess that, for once, we were out in our calculations: the army was not ready so soon as we expected by seves days. We are aware how great a triumph this mast be to the Stock-Jobbing Press, generally, and especia!ly to AO Brodie and Bott Smith. Nevertheless, we do mit wish to disguise it. We were seven days out in our calcolatioes and we confess it, Here we arc, then! Here is this Breit" Empire," as they call it, down by time side of the 'Plumes, Here stands the GATTON and OLD SARCA " Empire", and sees a French Army march to take pet . session of a country, o drive the French army smatot which, added a hundred and fifty millions Oslo: